Review: Two Week Trial by Missy Jane.

Posted July 9, 2010 by Rowena in Reviews | 4 Comments

Rowena’s review of Two Week Trial by Missy Jane.

Hi. My name is Mari. I’m of average height, average weight, average looks and I hold an average position at Hardy’s All Goods, my personal version of retail hell. To sum up, I’m nothing special. So why has Devon Campbell, the city’s Most Eligible Bachelor—and my unrequited high-school crush—suddenly crashed back into my life, claiming I’m the one who got away? Devon can’t possibly want to keep me for the long haul, right? My screwed-up past is enough to make anyone run screaming in the opposite direction. Still, he’s determined I give him a chance…and I’d be crazy to turn down his offer of a two-week trial.

The good thing about these stories from Ellora’s Cave are that they’re such short stories that you can zip right through them. The problem with them? I always walk away from each story that I read, wanting more.

This story is about an average, everyday woman named Marisela who works in retail. She graduated from high school a while ago and she’s still having fantasies about a boy from high school named Devon Campbell. One random day out of the ordinary, the boy of her dreams (literally) comes into her store and asks for her help…and then he asks her to dinner.

Of course she accepts and then her life is changed dramatically. Devon Campbell steps out of her dreams and into her life and her life is thrown for a loop. Mari knows that she’s nothing extraordinary, she wasn’t that popular in high school and she’s a simple woman, living a simple life and she’s okay with that. But when Devon Campbell, her high school big man on campus comes back into her life and wants to take her to dinner and then later on, wants a chance to prove to her that he wants something lasting with her and then goes about trying to prove to her that he means what he says…it’s cute.

He’s that Prince Charming coming through to sweep her off her feet and you can see the struggle it takes for her to actually come to believing everything that he has to say.

This story actually started out pretty good. It held a lot of promise but over the course of the book, I was less and less interested in what came next. I love the whole Prince Charming theme but Devon was too effing perfect. He went out of his way to make Mari feel special and he was just …too good. Too perfect. I couldn’t connect with Mari to save my life. I should have been able to but she never felt, real to me.

It didn’t take me long at all to read this story but after I finished reading the book, I wasn’t really satisfied. The romance to me, felt rushed and what could have been a fantastic story, fell flat for me and though it had its moments, this book just wasn’t for me.

Grade: 2.75 out of 5

This book is available from Ellora’s Cave. You can buy it here in e-format.

4 Comments

Tagged: 2.75 Reviews, Contemporary Erotica, Ellora's Cave, Erotica, Missy Jane, Reviews, Rowena's Reviews

What I Read Last Week

Posted July 5, 2010 by Tracy in Features | 10 Comments

Happy Monday!

I hope you all had a good week last week. I seriously did not. lol It was really the week from hell. I’m getting ready to go on vacation and there’s always so much work to do in preparation that sometimes it just doesn’t feel like it’s worth the effort. Of course I won’t say that once I’m actually on vacation. 🙂 More about that in another post.

On to what I read last week. Fair warning…most of what I read was for review on The Book Binge as I was catching up with reviews before vacation. Most were novella’s or shorts:

First up was Experimenting With Ed by Katie Allen. Novella – Read for The Book Binge. This was a damn good story about a women scientist, her boss who’s after her and Ed. Ed is a quiet, unassuming, soft spoken man who has no clue who he really is. He’s been altered, along with 4 other men, by the government to be the perfect soldier – but they all escaped. Reading about Ed and Claire and their race to get away from Claire’s boss was great and funny too. I just love Allen’s writing. 4.5 out of 5

Next I read Snow Play by Barbara Elsborg. Read for The Book Binge. This was a cute little quickie about a woman who goes on vacation and has a rotten time. When things seem to be going as bad as they can she meets Zach and has a great time. My first read by Elsborg but I liked her writing style and humor – I’ll have to look into reading more of her books. 4 out of 5

After that it was Take It Off, Warrior by Eliza Knight. Read for The Book Binge. A cute novella about a women interviewing strippers for her friends’ bachelorette party and ends up meeting the time travelling warrior of her dreams.

Next was Ghost Flute by Kimberly Dean. Novella – Read for The Book Binge. Another good novella that takes place on an Indian reservation. It involves a legend about a ghost playing a flute that lures women in a sexual way. While house sitting Serena is being pulled by the music of the flute while Chayton, the man who’s attracted to her tries to stop it all. 3.75 out of 5

Winner Takes All by Jenny Urban and Elizabeth Silver was my next read. This was a very hot book about 2 friends who make a bet and one literally has his ass on the line. You can read my review here. 3.75 out of 5

Good Cop, Bad Girl by Paige Tyler was next on the agenda. Quickie – Read for The Book Binge. I gotta say – right off – that this is my second book by Tyler and they are some good, cute reads. However, of both of those books the covers have been horrid. What is with that? The poor woman! There are some EC Exotika books that have some decent covers…hers aren’t any of them. Anyway, a cute story about a woman who is having a birthday party at her home and her and her friends are a little too loud. A copy comes to the door to give her a citation for being too loud and she thinks he’s a stripper posing as a cop. Oops. She’s thrilled of course when he comes back later to give her her birthday spanking. 3.75 out of 5 You can read my review here.

My next read was Tropical Exposure by Wynter Daniels. Quickie – Read for The Book Binge. The story of a famous woman who just wants to go on vacation and have some peace and quiet. What she gets is two weeks of smexin with her bodyguards. But one is actually a tabloid reporter. What will happen? Cute story. 3.5 out of 5

I started reading Demon Blood by Meljean Brook earlier in the week and after 2 chapters decided that I wanted to re-read Demon Forged again. Let me tell you it was just as good the second time around…maybe better than the first. I just love the series and this book has so much going on that it’s mind boggling – but it never was too much. Love it! 5 out of 5 (again)

I read Demon Blood by Meljean Brook right after that and it was great. I read a review by Ana at The Book Smugglers that says it perfectly:“If Demon Forged was essentially a Big Picture book without losing sight of the romance then Demon Blood is a Romance book without losing sight of the Big Picture”. Rosalia and Deacon’s story. Just a darned good read. Also read for The Book Binge. 4.5 out of 5

And last on the list was Two-Week Trial by Missy Jane. Novella – Read for The Book Binge. A cute novella about a wealthy man who finds the woman he’s wanted for years and goes about winning her over. The woman is leery since she doesn’t think much of herself but eventually gives in to a two week trial. 3 out of 5

I just read over my summaries and realized that this was obviously the “cute” week. lol Yes, a lot of the books were cute.

My reviews that posted at The Book Binge this week:
Kidnapping Kara by Alyssa Brooks
Good Cop, Bad Girl by Paige Tyler
Lion’s Heat by Lora Leigh

Also, my entire list of reads from June is up here.

Happy Reading!