Tracy’s review of Too Good To be True by Penelope Friday
Mandy thinks her love life, not to mention her sex life, is over for good when her husband leaves her—for an older woman. A chance encounter with a gorgeous man begins to change her mind. Scarcely daring to believe her luck when Jon asks her to meet him again, she agrees. One dizzyingly fantastic night of lust later, Mandy is in heaven.
But Jon has a secret. Has Mandy moved from a cheating husband to a man with an even more sinister past? Will she get the chance to explore the range of sexual possibilities Jon is introducing her to, or is her new life too good to be true?
Mandy’s out one night to meet her 3 friends when Jon sits next to her at the bar. Mandy thinks that her friends, who she calls the witches, have gone too far and have hired her a male escort. No, Jon’s not a male escort and after a few drinks and some fun and laughter Jon asks Mandy to meet him again. They do and end up in bed and the sofa, and the kitchen. Anyway, things are great until on of Mandy’s friends remember seeing Jon’s name in the paper. Turns out he’s being brought up on criminal charges! Just when Mandy thought things were going well. But Mandy isn’t one to just completely throw in the towel. Mandy and Jon end up meeting as friends and truly get to know each other. The meet and talk and laugh and drink and just have a great friendship going.
Several months pass with Jon and Mandy being friends when the trial begins. Now Jon has told Mandy he’s innocent and she really hopes that things go his way in the trial. She goes every day and after 4 days a decision is made. But what will this mean for their relationship when everything is said and done?
When I started the book I have to say that I was bit turned off, almost immediately, by the first sentence of the story:
I was fat, frumpy and forty and I was never going to have sex again.
Did I really want to read a story about a woman who had such low self-esteem? But as the story went on I could see that she was just reacting to the fact that her husband had left her for an older woman – quite a kick in the teeth for her. But when she met Jon, he gave her the attention that had been lacking in her marriage – and they were really just friends. Yes, she had to restrain herself from jumping him on a regular basis but she I enjoyed her loyalty in sticking with him when everyone else just knew that he was guilty.
Overall this was a very cute, quick (45 pages), sexy read that I enjoyed reading.
Rating: 3.75 out of 5
You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place
This book is available from Ellora’s Cave. You can buy it here in e-format.
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