Taboo prison inmate/county-librarian-who-works-one-day-a-week-at-the-prison/epistolary romance. So yes this is taboo and a lot of the first several chapters of the book deal with this tension. I had some frustration with how Annie was just not able to recognize her privilege - she came from a white, "stable" middle-class home - so she would just refuse to empathize with Eric on many issues. But, I think the romance element of the book was excellent. ( )

Annie Goodhouse knows she should stay away from bad boys. After all, her ex-boyfriend was the violent type and the reason she has stayed away from relationships. What she didn't expect was meeting, on her first day as outreach librarian for Cousins Correctional Facility, inmate Eric Collier. Annie knows that she should stay away from him. But then Eric starts courting Annie through letters...

Erotica isn't really my favorite genre. Hell, I'm extremely picky when it comes to romance in books. But I'm weak when it comes to forbidden romance. So when I got the chance to read this book I said yes because of that. Also, one never knows, one could find a hidden gem...

I had hope in the beginning that I actually would like the book. It was not perfect, but I enjoyed reading it. (Sometimes I need something easy to read) but soon I felt that the story really wasn't up to my liking. That bothered me that Annie was so smitten by Eric that she fantasized about him being a bank robber instead of just checking up what he had done. I mean she only checked up what he had done do land himself in prison because he was going to get paroled. It was safe to fantasize about him when he was in prison, but as soon as he gets out, then she needed to know. I would have checked him up directly.

I felt that the story had potentials but, in the end, the books never addressed interesting issues like, how does the community see on a relationship between an ex-inmate and a librarian that works in a prison, can she keep her job since she met him in the prison? How will her family react to it? That bothered me that her parents never found out that she is dating an ex-inmate. They only got to know what she had met someone. Most of the story dealt with his family, she got to meet his mother and sister and but he never got to meet her father and mother. I would have liked to see how it would have gone.

I was a bit annoyed about his overprotective attitude towards his sister. Yes I know, he wants to protect his sister. But after spending 5 years in jail, for her, he is ready to do it all again if she asked him to? Seriously?

Also, one should never judge a book by its cover...but this cover...was not to my liking!

Thank you Piatkus for providing me with a free copy for an honest review! ( )

I really enjoyed this book. The hero was so wonderful, sweet, kind, gentle and loyal but with a core of steel. The story depends a whole lot on letters they write to each other while he is in prison and even after he is paroled. They are some super hot but beautiful letters. The eventual love scenes are lovely too. It's odd how some people can write incandescent love scenes and other authos' are so blah and boring when they are all talking about the same thing. These are, in my opinion, some of the best. The heroine was a little weak, a bit of a mary sue. But all in all she choose the hero over her own prejudices so I forgave her. ( )

Have you ever thought "gosh I want a weirdly sweet yet raw erotic romance between a person who's done 5 years in prison and the librarian who works there once a week set in a small rust belt town in mid-Michigan. And make it epistolary."

And then Cara McKenna's like "amateur" and also"watch out cause like whoa intense"

I had to take a break from them. But seriously. Erm. Those letters. And I don't think I'll soon forget the hero. It is weirdly sweet, sexy, and romantic and a bit OTT.

But it's got lusty letters. And he addresses her as "darling" so you know, I'm in. (Also: consent. Cause Eric could be scary). I highlighted some passages even, but I realize they are perfect in context and so that's where I'm leaving them.

3.5 rounded up, bc I could see revisiting this


( )

omg the cover is hilarious.

this surprised me a lot! i actually enjoyed it. or, most of it, anyway. thanks to anya, my girl, for recommending this book to me.
You learn something new every day. ( )