Tracy’s review of The Year of Living Shamelessly by Susanna Carr.
Every year, Katie makes the same New Year’s resolution: have an affair with her brother’s kinky and wild best friend, Ryder. Every year, she faces the same disappointment. It doesn’t help that her good-girl reputation can’t stand up to the hot competition, or that Ryder’s always seen Katie as just his friend’s innocent little sister.
Until Katie makes the first move-and matches him, kink for kink. Because this year, Katie knows what she wants. And she’s going to get it.
Katie has been in love with Ryder for forever. But even though she makes these resolutions each New Year she doesn’t actually do anything about it. She wants Ryder to just do it. After many years she finally realizes (not quite sure what took her so long) that she needs to take matters into her own hands. She gets a complete makeover and the soft, kind of shy woman turns into every man’s dream.
After a year of watching Katie turn herself into someone else Ryder has just 8 more days to witness her transformation. That’s right he’s moving out of town to get away from Katie. He pretty much thinks he’s not good enough for her so he’s not even willing to make a move with her and he’s just hightailing it out of town.
When Katie finds out that Ryder is leaving and she has very little time to make a move with him she pulls out all the stops. Ryder starts to give in and they do have some pretty hot sex (which was written very well), but he’s still not willing to stay in town.
This book was a bit all over the place for me. Katie’s shy but willing to be outgoing and change herself but she’s not willing to actually do anything to get Ryder. I don’t get the person who makes all of those changes and then doesn’t help herself. I understand that she wanted Ryder to make the first move but come on! After all of these years do you really think that he’s going to?
For Ryder’s part, I have to be honest with you, I kind of thought he was a coward. He finds himself so unlovable that he has to leave town and move to Dubai. Really? Dubai? Are you sure that’s far enough? lol I understand that he didn’t want to ruin the friendship between him and Katie but from the sound of it that hadn’t been all that close in the past few years. IDK, I just got the impression that he was taking the easy way out – and I wasn’t all that impressed with his dawning realizations by the end of the book. He wasn’t portrayed as a stupid man but for all that he did incredibly stupid things.
The book did have some cute moments with Katie and her friends – they seemed very close and it was fun to watch them together. Overall I was just a little annoyed with the hero and heroine. When I have a problem with the characters I just can’t enjoy the book as much as I’d like.
Rating: 3 out of 5
You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place
This book is available from NAL Trade. You can buy it here.
Good review. I read this one last week because I enjoyed one of her older books Lip Lock, but this one was just OK. It is interesting that you mention not liking the hero, because this author wrote my all-time-worse hero ever in her book ‘Ex, Why & Me’. Now that guy was a mega wimp! (He lived at home in his parents basement, still had his same highschool job working in a bowling ally, was afraid of heights and let the heroine run roughshot over him the entire story. That book was a total bomb.)
May I enquire as to whether the hero had any sensible reasons for the low self esteem? Because frankly, he sounds like a chump.
I am SO OVER ‘not good enough for you’ used as a plot device to create conflict.
I could understand a pantswettingly nervous nerdy bloke going in terror of asking the desired object out – that’s real enough, but it’s never that. It’s always, oh no not good enough for you, so therefore I won’t ask – not I’m afraid to ask.
It feels to me like the author wants to have the tasty self esteem angst and the alpha confidentyness combined in one package. And that’s just a cop out to my mind – a way of writing a problem without actually writing about the problem. Kinda like like all those heroines whose rape / abuse trauma magically resolves itself when it’s no longer needed in the plot to explain her commitment phobia.
Phew. I feel better now. Thanks for reading that book – my bridgework thanks you.
FD – In short, he is a super hot hunk who sleeps with the hottest/sluttiest chicks in town, he has a close relationship with the heroines entire family and his best friendship is with her older brother. He has a good career too. Life is good for this guy, but yep he thinks he is not good enough due to childhood issues. Not too believable, and as you pointed out way overdone. You read this book for the sex scenes, but take the story itself with a big grain of salt.
Yeah – what KarLynP said. lol She nailed it. He was a hunk but because of how his parents treated him he felt that he was unlovable. This was even after he’s been shown total love and affection by the heroine’s entire family most of his life. I just couldn’t get into his pity party.
KarLynP – I can’t believe that anyone would write a hero that way (the guy from the other book). Did he have redeeming qualities to make the heroine want him? And she doesn’t sound like a prize either if she was mowing all over him. Bummer.
FD – lol I’d say my pleasure for reading the book for you but you’ve seen my thoughts. 🙂