Jen Nicholas

Fuzzy Logic by Erin McCarthy – Fuzzy Logic was another cute, sexy, romantic short story from Erin McCarthy. Ms. McCarthy's full-length novels have been hit and miss with me, but her novellas almost never fail to satisfy. Lucas was another of her adorable, geeky, beta heroes. It was so sweet that he'd been in love with Ashley since they were kids but hadn't pursued her because he was afraid of loosing their friendship and because Ashley had never showed any interest in him as anything more than her little brother's best friend. I love how he's so curious, wanting to know how everything works. His scientific mind could go into overdrive, but when it came to exploring Ashley's “romance enhancers” and her body, his analytic nature came in handy by helping him learn how to pleasure her. Lucas was definitely the kind of hero who could get my motor humming.;-)

Ashley is a fun, outgoing shopaholic. She decided to become a Pleasure Party consultant to pay off her mounting credit card debt. Everyone seems to think of Ashley as a dumb blonde until she has decided that she's not all that smart either. No one but Lucas seems to realize that she has a lot to offer, and I appreciated him being insightful as well as her vulnerability in that area. I will admit that Ashely fell for Lucas a little to quickly to be totally believable, but I was willing to buy into it because I could see how she might have been harboring a subconscious attraction for him all along. The fact that she wasn't the type to sleep around and he was able to turn her on so easily might suggest that. I guess the super-fast marriage proposal pushed the bounds of credibility too, but again, I was willing to give them a pass, because they had know each other for so long. I also enjoyed that Ashley was a few years older than Lucas. Overall, I thought that these two were a good fit and that they made a really cute couple.

Fuzzy Logic is the second novella in Erin McCarthy's Bowling Friends series. Kindra (Hard Drive from Bad Boys Online) and Ashley's other two best friends, Violet and Trish attended Ashley's Pleasure Party. Violet is a bit of a geek herself, so I'm really looking forward to reading her story, The Lady of the Lake, which is the next in the series. Overall, Fuzzy Logic was a sweet, fun and very steamy read that I really enjoyed. Star Rating: ****1/2

The Cupid Curse by Jen Nicholas – The Cupid Curse was a cute romance novella about a young woman who has been unlucky in love, so she asks Cupid for help with finding Mr. Right. Unfortunately, the Cupid she gets accidentally shoots himself with his own arrow, leading to an awkward situation but eventual love. Gideon was adorable. He's trying so hard to pass his Cupid exams to become a full-fledged Cupid. He's very eager to take on Val's case, but feels terrible when he botches it up. He then spends the rest of the story trying to convince Val that he loves her and that they would make a great couple. It was very sweet that he was a 132 year old virgin, but with great sensual instincts. Valentine was a nice heroine with strong family ties. She feels the clock ticking away and desperately wants to have a man in her life and to get married.

Valentine and Gideon are a cute couple but they spent a large part of the novella feeling very uncomfortable with each other. They are both quite attracted to one another, but Val goes back and forth between that attraction and being angry with Gideon for messing up her chance with Mr. Right. Of course, Gideon feel terribly guilty about that. By the end, they give into that attraction, and their one love scene was pretty sensuous. Still, I can't quite say that I truly felt the love connection between them, and it seems to me that if Cupid's magic was working on both of them, they should have been unmistakably and passionately in love. The story was a bit narrative heavy too. If it had been any longer than it was, it probably would have gotten bogged down. In spite of my criticisms though, I still have to give the author some extra points for originality and creativity. The Cupid Curse was certainly not like any other romances I've read before which made it pretty entertaining. This was my first read by Jen Nicholas, and although it appears she only has two other published works, I would be open to trying them sometime. Star Rating: ****

Mesmerized by Jordan Summers - Mesmerized was my least favorite of the three novellas in this anthology. This was mainly because I had a hard time buying into the premise and the idea of the hero and heroine falling in love so quickly. However, I also have to admit that I wasn't overly enamored with the main characters themselves. Amanda was a very experienced hypnotist who had put people in trances for her show many times before, so it just seemed odd to me that she wouldn't start to suspect something when she wasn't able to “wake” Derek after several days. Even her assistant suspected he was faking right after the show. I also wasn't thrilled with her making love to Derek when she thought he was still in a trance. Of course, he wasn't, but she didn't know that which from her perspective should have made it a non-consensual act. She at least had the decency to feel badly about it, but I would have preferred that she simply take the high road and not do it at all until she knew he was fully conscious. Derek wasn't much better, because he had attended Amanda's show and agreed to be put in a trance under false pretenses. Then he pretended that he wasn't coming out of the trance just to get her to take him home, so he could get the scoop on her for his magazine story. In the end, he realizes that Amanda means more to him than the story, but his deceptions had already put a bad taste in my mouth.

As a couple, I just didn't feel the love connection between Amanda and Derek. They both had the hots for one another right from the minute they see each other, and they shared a couple of pretty steamy love scenes, but without those loving emotions, it was little more than a casual fling to me. They seemed to fall in love just because they had great sex which is something I simply couldn't buy. It was also hard to believe that Amanda would forgive Derek so easily after finding out that he was only pretending to get his story, especially after her father's life had been ruined by a reporter. Mesmerized wasn't a terrible story, but it was just OK. This was my first read by Jordan Summers, and I can say that the actual writing is fairly strong and quite readable. I just felt like there were some big holes in the plotting and characterizations. If those weaknesses had been shored up or the narrative had been a little longer to flesh out those details, I thought it could have been a very good novella. Star Rating: ***… (más)