IOU Sex by Calista Fox

First Published: 1 August 2011
Publisher: Carina Press
Pages: 66
Format: Ebook
Finished Date: 15 November 2011

Blurb from Goodreads

Fiona Carlisle didn't think anything could hurt as much as finding her fiancé in bed with her sister. But receiving an invitation to the happy couple's engagement party comes a close second. Determined to prove to her family and herself that she's moved on, Fiona has every intention of attending, looking red-hot and with an even hotter man on her arm. And there's only one man who will do: renowned photographer and reputed playboy Michael Houston.
Fiona's rebound fling with Michael was a brief but erotic romp. Michael has made no secret of the fact that he's still interested. So when Fiona asks him to escort her to the engagement party, he agrees, with one condition: she must spend a sensual weekend with him picking up where they left off.

Intensely attracted to Michael, Fiona can't resist his offer for long. But when the weekend is over, will she be able to resist giving him her heart?

My Rating

My Review

So I kinda hated the ending of this book. It’s so stupid! It’s like after the whole book, I practically didn’t read anything! So this was a novella. An erotic one. Basically, after reading it, I felt super dirty. I mean, if it was a romance with erotic elements in it, I wouldn’t have hated it. But this, I can’t even classify as a romance. Major spoiler. There was no HEA. How can a romance not have a HEA? And thus, this isn’t a romance, short or long either way. It’s simply an erotic novella. Gosh, there was like what, two whole chapters dedicated to how they had sex? And the book had 7 chapters. There was no time spent on building the romance part. Its like we were suddenly thrown into the middle of the book. Let me explain properly. So the two protagonists, I forgot their names already. They had a past relationship where they were both crazy in lust for each other. Then she needed a favour from him. So in return they had sex. Then she realised she was in love with him. Then the end.

Now, I actually quite liked the start and was kinda anxiously waiting for their HEA. But surprise surprise, it didn’t come. It just left the reader hanging. I was expecting an epilogue to wrap it all up nicely, but it never came! I just don’t get the book. Like seriously. There’s really nothing I can say about this book, because its so short. But I certainly would not recommend this to anyone. Unless they want to read a pure erotica.

Alright, the book wasn’t THAT bad. The storyline was interesting, and the dialogue rather witty. The thing that really got to me was the terrible ending. I know, I shouldn’t be so mean, but that IS the truth. The ending was not a proper one and thus I cannot bring myself to like it. If the book had a good ending, I would certainly have given it a higher rating. Now, that’s about all I have to say about the book.

A Wedding Blunder in the Black Hills by Kim O'Brien

First Published: 01 September 2011
Number of Pages: 320
Finished Date: 11 November 2011

Blurb from Goodreads

David and Millie both have big problems. A widowed dentist with an almost-teen son, he’s being stalked by an amorous patient. Millie’s mom keeps sending her on blind dates, even though the café owner has trust issues. So when a lost filling lands Millie in David’s office, the two of them find a solution—a faux relationship. No one gets hurt and no one gets nagged. It’s a great plan—until they really start to care. Now what will they do?

My Rating

My Review

Wow, I actually really liked this book. When I first started reading it, I expected it to be a rather slow and boring book. It just shows you really can't judge a book by its cover. Not only was the book not slow-moving, the characters and the entire story plot was very interesting.

This book made me laugh several times. I was in the bus reading today, and I nearly burst out in laughter after reading several scenes. The beginning was a little slow but as time passed, the book picked up speed and became better and better.

The main characters in the book, namely, David and Millie were pretty interesting characters. At the beginning, I really liked Millie and I liked her attitude. But somehow, towards the end of the book, I felt that she got more and more insecure about little things. Like her father being in prison showed that there was something wrong with her. But I'm happy that she kinda changed at the end. I especially liked seeing how she started to trust in God once more. That really touched my heart.

David was just so funny and really a typical dad who simply does not know how to handle his kid. Every time he spoke to his kid, forgot his name, sorry!, I could just sense that father's desperation to connect with his kid, yet at the same time knowing that he was losing him. He was definitely a very believable character and I really adored him. The way he treated Millie was so sweet and through his actions, I could really tell that he had fallen in love with her. Heh its just so cute to think about it! When they were both young, he asked her out and she turned him down. But now, after all these years, they finally got together! And their love for each other is so sweet and the type of love that you know lasts forever.

So the plot WAS very interesting. They were pretending to date in order to get people off their backs! For Millie, it was her mum. And for David, it was Cynthia. I tell you, that woman is a joke! Gosh, she stalks him everywhere! Heh, its really funny to read how David tries to avoid her but yet she tracks him down every time, like she has the senses of a bloodhound! From their first pretend date, the attraction between them was sizzling. They were both attracted to each other from the start, and when they found that out it was so cute haha!

Ok I realise my review is pretty random. I apologise, its almost 2 here and I'm dead tired! Back to topic!

I loved their pretend dates, they were always so funny! Both of them were trying to pretend they didn't like each other but it was so obvious! OH, I loved their pretend date in the forest! It was so funny haha:) Some animal was going to attack them and haha they ran to hide in the toilet! It was kinda hot actually, I was hoping their mutual attraction would boil over and they would just kiss each other! Sadly, it didn't happen:)

But when it did, it was really sweet. As I said earlier, Millie got to be more unlikable as the book went on while David got more likable. Overall, the plot was very good and it certainly captured my attention. Characters were funny and easy to like. I especially the way Millie managed to open her heart and trust God again. Earlier, I was kinda getting pissed with her for thinking that she was bad, that God wouldn’t love her and basically all the self-pity she was doing.

I really enjoyed their love story and it was really a very sweet ending. Its this kind of love that you know will just last forever. It isn’t crazy passion, a lot of lust for each other, though its certainly there, but rather a love that was true, that was really from the heart. The book did touch me and that was something I certainly was not expecting.

I did find some parts of the book a little slow and not important enough to be so elaborated. Like, the building of the sled. I kinda didn’t really need to know all the things they were doing for the sled! Um, this isn’t a book that would fire your passion or anything. Rather, it’s a book that is just so sweet, one that you just want to savor and really see their love story.

All in all, I loved the book. It was definitely not something I was expecting and I was dreading to read it at first. But once I did, I had no regrets. I wouldn’t say it was amazing and all that, but it was a good book. However, its definitely not for people who enjoy fast-paced books or romances with hot, steamy sex scenes. This had none, and it was actually a very good thing in my opinion! I would recommend this book to people who can appreciate love stories and don’t mind sitting through boring scenes. Because there were boring scenes. And the book was slow-paced, but I still loved it, I dunno why.

Well, that’s just about all I have to say for this book! I really did enjoy this book. Though I may never re-read it again, I will have fond memories of this book. I laughed, I sighed, I hoped. This book did take me through a range of emotions. Its been a long time since I read a truly sweet book and though this isn’t the type of book I usually read, I really did enjoy the experience.

This ebook was given to me by Netgalley:)

P.S. Sorry this review is so... disjointed. I have no idea what I'm doing! If you can be high on sleep deprivation, then that's what was happening to me as I wrote this!