Review - Naked

Title: Naked
Author: Megan Hart
Publishing Date: August 2010
Genre: Contemporary (Erotic)
Rating: C+
Sensuality: Burning
Book Disclosure: I purchased an ebook from Barnes and Noble for my Nook.

Naked is loosely connected to Megan Hart's book Tempted. It continues with Alex Kennedy meeting Olivia Mackey the morning after a Holiday celebration. It turns out that Alex needs a place to stay for a few months and Olivia has an apartment she can rent out to him while he is in town on business. Both are attracted to each other but Olivia is very hesitant to become involved in a relationship with a man who might swing both ways. She was already hurt once by her former fiancé Patrick who finally came out of the closet.

Megan Hart's writing is so difficult for me to give a grade when reviewing. I think she is such a fabulous writer. Her characters are completely fleshed out and so human that it is hard not to be drawn in by them and have an emotional reaction. But at the same time sometimes the characters are so human, faults and all, that the very same thing that drew you in pushes you away. Am I making any sense at all?

Let's start with Alex. On the outside he seems so completely put together. All posh and circumstance, yet just past the surface the man is a mess. He thinks he knows what he wants, but I am not convinced that he does. Olivia's perception when it comes to relationships is very skewed and much of this is due to the fact that the only serious relationship she has had is with a gay man.

But despite all these obstacles it is obvious that these two when together are happy. They have baggage that they will have to work to overcome. I like that the author doesn't sugar coat things and faces the fact that for the relationship to be successful, Olivia and Alex will have to work for it. I really liked how Ms. Hart ties themes of acceptance throughout the book. She took religion, race and sexual orientation all without being preachy, and showed how these things can affect a person or people. I thought that was very well done of her and it gave the book quite a bit of depth.

I must admit the way the book was going I thought it was going to end badly. Fortunately, things were resolved in the end, but I felt that the ending was VERY abrupt. I wish that things could have been hammered out a little better and eventually this is what led me to lower the grade rating. I am not entirely convinced of the happy ever after.

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Review - Switch

Title: Switch
Author: Megan Hart
Publishing Date: January 2010
Genre: Erotic Fiction
Rating: B+
Sensuality: Burning
Book Disclosure: Bought new

Paige finds an anonymous note in her mailbox. It's not meant for her, but instead it’s meant for her neighbor. She can't help but be intrigued by the strange command on the expensive paper. The anonymous notes keep coming, getting bolder and bolder. They take Paige on a journey of self discovery.

I am being sort of vague with my summary of the plot because I think one of the strengths of Switch is the unusual method through which it's told. Paige narrates in first person point of view in present time, but there are little clips of her past seen though her memories especially her past relationship with Austin. The twists and turns the story takes and the fact that the reader has no idea where the story is going leads to a very fun and intriguing journey.

At first, I didn't completely like Paige. She seemed cold, emotionally distancing herself from others and her own perception on life. Eventually, I realized that her faults are what make her a great character and seem truly genuine. This is what I love about Hart's writing. Her characters always seem so real, as if they aren't characters in a book acting out their lives for the enjoyment of the reader, but real people with problems they have to work through.

My one quibble would have been to expand more on Paige and Austin's relationship. I felt like I was just given a glimpse of what went on in their relationship and I would have loved to have been shown more. I think Switch was much more focused on Paige's own self discovery, rather than her relationship with Austin. However, Paige’s self discovery is what made this book work for me. Megan Hart has another winner on her hands with Switch!

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This book can be purchased in print or kindle format from Amazon

Taking Care of Business

Title: Taking Care of Business
Author: Lauren Dane and Megan Hart
Publishing Date: April 2009
Genre: Contemporary/Erotic
Rating: B
Sensuality: Hot
Book Disclosure: I purchased this book new.


Taking Care of Business is one story with two heroines. Leah and Kathrine are two women who have been friends since they were young girls. Over the years they have gone their separate ways but have managed to maintain their friendship. They are attending a business conference. Leah has just broken up with her boyfriend and finds herself drawn to the hotel manager, who happens to be younger than her. She begins to explore new facets of her sexuality by dominating him. Katherine is a lawyer who has been having a secret affair with Dix who works at the company which she is providing legal advice. She has recently moved from the West coast to the East coast bringing her much closer to Dix. She is worried by moving closer she might push him farther away.

Both relationships get equal time on the page and blend together seamlessly. I found myself more interested in Katherine and Dix's relationship. Dix is an appealing hero in that whenever Katherine would push him, instead of withdrawing he would push back. I love it when couples work through their problems and don't run away.

I am not a big fan of women playing the dominant role in the sexual relationship, nor do I tend to like older women with younger men. It's my own personal bias. However, Leah and Brandon's relationship was a pleasant surprise. At first it was slow moving, but in the middle it heated up quite nicely.

I was hoping for more relationship building between the two women. According to the back story they had been friends forever. But they didn't have a lot of bonding going on during the story between them. Nothing really stood out about their friendship. I guess I was expecting more girl time with laughs and fun conversation, but it was notably lacking. I don't know if it was more evident because I read this right after I read Vision in White by Nora Roberts which had it in spades. Who knows? I try not to be biased, but this is my review site and I can do what I want!

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This book can be purchased in print or kindle format from Amazon.

Review - Deeper

Title: Deeper
Author: Megan Hart
Publishing Date: July 2009
Genre: Contemporary (Erotic)
Rating: B-
Sensuality: Hot

Deeper is the heartbreaking story of Bess Walsh told from two different vantage points, Then and Now. Then was one summer twenty years ago when Bess met bad boy Nick who consumed all her waking thoughts. They had a whirlwind romance and promised to meet, but something happened along the way to interfere. Now is Bess separated from her husband Andy and has decided to reevaluate her life. She is staying back at the beach house where it all began and she begins to think about Nick and what happened to him. As if she conjured him up herself he appears to her unchanged by twenty years. Strangely enough Nick is as real as any other person, only he has no heartbeat and doesn't need to eat or sleep. Finally, Bess finds out what happened that fateful night long ago.

Megan Hart is a fantastic storyteller. Her writing will engross readers the minute they turn that first page. She has a way of evoking a wide spectrum of emotions, due in a large part to her great, realistic characters. She chooses Beth and Nick with whom readers will largely relate too. They share the same hopes and dreams, fears and concerns that everyone faces at some point in their lives. Hart doesn't shy away from the gritty details and she is certainly not afraid to have her characters make some tough decisions. Sure enough Bess and Nick both face heartbreaking choices and they don't always make the right decision. They have to live with their mistakes and learn from them.

For some readers, Bess and Nick will frustrate them. Bess has a tendency to make choices she deems safe, even though it may not be the right choice for her. Look where her safe choices lead her - to constantly wondering what might have been. Nick constantly refers to himself as an asshole. At times he does act like a jerk, but he isn't an asshole. It's just that he is a young kid who is unsure of himself and he needs to grow up.

Deeper is not a romance. This is a book about self discovery. It is about learning who you are, what you are capable of and learning that if something is worth while then you have to take a risk. I will be honest, the ending of this book is heart wrenching. There is not a traditional HEA (happily ever after) and I am fairly certain that readers of romance will not be satisfied with the ending of this book. I had a very difficult time rating this book. It is a deeply moving book, one that will resonate with readers long after they finish it. Even though the book is capable of making such an impact, it is not one that I would likely read again or place among my cherished favorites. It's just too bittersweet.

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This book is available through Amazon in both print and kindle format.

Review - Stranger

Title: Stranger
Author: Megan Hart
Publishing Date: January 2009
Genre: Contemporary (Erotic)
Rating: B-
Sensuality: Burning

Grace Frawley is the owner and funeral director for Frawley and Sons Funeral Home. She took over the business from her father, and he from his father. She has always been aware of death as a part of life, even as a young child. Her dealing with death on a daily basis has stunted Grace's need for a permanent relationship. Instead of Grace going on dates like a normal woman, she pays men for companionship. It's safer emotionally for Grace. If she never becomes attached to someone than she won't have to worry about dealing with the loss later on when they die. Grace is not afraid of death herself, it's being left behind because those she loves have passed on without her that she fears the most.

Grace was to meet Jack, her paid companion in a hotel bar. She mistakenly picks up Sam, a regular guy who is visiting in town. Within fifteen minutes of meeting each other, they go back to his room and have sex. She leaves without a phone number or anything signifying they will continue their relationship. This is a one time only deal. A few days later though, fate throws them together once more and Grace embarks on a new journey.

When I first started reading Stranger, I will admit that I had reservations about liking the book. I was afraid that Grace would be too damaged for me to relate to her. I am glad to say that this wasn't the case at all. Grace was very likable. Even though she pays for sex, she explains her reasoning and it all seems so very practical and matter of fact. I started think this was a pretty good idea myself. Then as the book progresses, the reader sees Grace move into a more permanent relationship with Sam. Her emotional journey through this new uncharted territory is quite an adventure.

I will admit, I am not a big fan of the artistic, drifter type hero. I prefer a more concrete sequential type of guy. Give me a corporate executive any day of the week. That's just me though. Sam is a struggling musician with his own emotional baggage. At first he seems like a fun guy, but after learning more about him I felt he wasn't quite good enough for Grace. Grace has other ideas, though, so I guess I should respect her opinion.

I think a lot of readers might be put off with the way things are resolved at the end of this book. I personally thought the ending was very cleverly done. Not all of my questions and hang ups I had about this relationship were clearly answered. Am I completely convinced that this relationship will last for all time? Nope. But as a true testimony to Megan Hart as an author, I still felt deeply connected to the characters. Stranger is not a bad read by far, but it is not my favorite by Hart.

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Review - Tempted

Title: Tempted
Author: Megan Hart
Publishing Date: 2008
Genre: Contemporary (Erotic)
Rating: B+
Sensuality: Burning

I feel that Tempted is not classically a romance. I am going to let it fall in the category of women’s fiction, because this is not a book just about Anne’s relationship with her husband and best friend, but also her relationship with her parents and her three sisters, and also Anne’s own emotional growth throughout the story.

Anne has been happily married to her husband James for six years now. She has heard stories from her husband about his best friend Alex, but never met him. Out of the blue Alex calls up James. His company in Singapore has been bought out and he is moving back to the states. He asks James if he can stay with him until he gets things settled. So Alex moves in for the summer. James, Alex and Anne form a relationship triangle. What starts out as a summer fling begins to have consequences no one predicted. It becomes complicated and tangled.

I was really surprised at the depth to this book. The author was not afraid to delve into the dark side of relationships. She was not afraid of making the reader uncomfortable with the choices the characters faced in her book. She did not shy away from it and that is what made this book so great. She touches on subjects that make most people uncomfortable such as jealousy, alcoholism, adultery and failure. But she was able to do it in a way that never felt preachy. She made the characters feel so genuine. People who you could relate to and empathize with; or at least I could.

There are no easy answers for these characters and things don’t exactly fall magically into place. I do wish that there would have been more resolution between James, Anne and Alex at the end of the story. I wanted more confrontation and therefore a more definitive solution to every ones’ problems. I guess I wanted everyone to have a happy ending, but it just can’t work out that way and it doesn’t. I really like Megan Hart’s writing. I love that she broaches subjects that take the reader out of their comfort zone. I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.

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Review - Broken

Title: Broken
Author: Megan Hart
Publishing Date: 2007
Genre: Contemporary (Erotic)
Rating: A-
Sensuality: Burning

Sadie Danning meets Joe for lunch the first Friday of every month. During their lunch Joe tells Sadie a story, an erotic story, about his encounter from his long list of his many one night stands. Sadie’s husband is a quadriplegic and she hasn’t had someone touch her for four years. When Sadie listens to Joe’s stories, she imagines that it’s her in the story with Joe. She is the one being caressed and held.

Sadie’s marriage is broken and she doesn’t know how to fix it. Ever since the accident that left her husband Adam paralyzed from the neck down, she has felt closed off from him and he from her. There is a wall between them that they can’t seem to get around. Sadie is a very lonely woman who doesn’t seem to know who she is anymore.

I find it very hard to give this book a grade. It is definitely not your typical romance since the heroine of the story is married and although, not physically cheating on her husband, she has inappropriate feelings for Joe. She still loves her husband, but it’s obvious to the reader that their marriage is not working. Sadie and Adam are not the same people they were when they were first married.

What I really liked about this book was how different it is from other romance novels. Each erotic story Joes tells, slowly reveals little pieces of who he is. This is the only way Sadie and the reader get information about Joe. The true strength is also how much emotion the author is able to convey to the reader. I really feel this book deserves a high grade because of the range of emotions and the strength of these emotions that the reader is forced to experience right along with the characters. Each character was portrayed realistically and no one character was singled out or vilified. The story itself is sad and poignant. Yet it does have a happy ending. I don’t know if it’s the happy ending I was looking for because someone does have to lose in the end, but I would still consider it a happy ending. This is not a light fluffy read. Ms. Hart has written a dark book but it is definitely worth a chance and I highly recommend it.

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Review - Dirty

Title: Dirty
Author: Megan Hart
Publishing Date: 2007
Genre: Contemporary (Erotic)
Rating: B+
Sensuality: Burning

I decided to read Dirty because so many people have been talking about how good it is. Wendy, Super Librarian, reviewed it; which you can read "here".
I am not sure I would categorize this book as a romance. Yes, it does have the requisite HEA (Happy Ever After) but it does have a very dark and disturbed heroine, and reaching that HEA is a very painful trip with one unusual, haunting woman.

This story is told in first person by Elle, which means we only see her perspective of things. I don’t mind the first person narrative, I happen to enjoy it, but I know that a lot of people don’t. Elle meets Dan in a candy store and he immediately asks her to join him for a drink at a bar he knows. Elle accepts his invitation, which becomes the start of their relationship. What kind of relationship will they have? Elle has a lot of problems with intimacy because of her screwed up past. This leads to the book being not just the story of her falling in love with Dan, but also the story of her internal struggle to forgive herself, for something that has happened in her past.

The one drawback to this book is that we don’t learn a lot about Dan. Actually, we receive very little back story on him. Having learned a little more about Dan would have made the story better for me. But what I did know about Dan is that he is a wonderful man and really great for poor, messed-up Elle. Dan was patient with Elle, and really paid attention to all her little quirks. He was quite the hero and very likable. I would have liked to read a more in depth ending between Elle and Dan, but all in all, it was a really beautiful story.