It seems like over half of what I read these days would qualify for this challenge, so now that I find myself in the airport with a delayed flight and a Bloody Mary in front of me, I’m not sure which book to write about. Included in the books I could have written about that I read from my TBR pile include Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich (which I followed with Plum Spooky) and Blood Brothers by Nora Roberts. I’m a fan of both Janet Evanovich and Nora Roberts, so these are pretty easy recommends for me. Even though I constantly tell myself I’m going to quit Evanovich because her books never seem to move forward with anything, I still find myself going back to them because they’re light and fluffy and never fail to make me giggle. And let’s face it, Ranger and Joe are hot.

But I think my favorite TBR book this month was Flat-Out Sexy by Erin McCarthy. This is one I picked up on the recommendation of Jane from Dear Author. I’ve been trying to branch out my reading to more genres other than just fantasy and paranormal, and contemporary is one I don’t read as much of. Plus, this book seems right up my alley because, hello! Nascar!

So the blurb:

“One of the romance writing industry’s brightest stars”(Romance Reviews Today) returns with a flat-out delightful, new, and sexy contemporary romance about a woman who’s happy being single—and the man determined to change her mind.

Independent single mother Tamara Briggs wanted to find a new, sexy, no-strings-attached man—just not one as young as NASCAR driver Elec Monroe. But he sure does get her heart racing. And after she’s tricked into a blind date with him, Tamara gives in to her passion. Things screech to a halt, though, when he asks to meet her children. Whatever happened to wham-bam-thank-youma’am? Suddenly Tamara has to decide how much risk she’s willing to take to experience the power of true love.

I’ll be honest, for whatever reason I didn’t expect to like this book, I think partly because of the widowed mom aspect of the heroine and the younger hero. Also, I have liked but not loved some of Erin’s previous books. But to my surprise, I liked both the hero and the heroine quite a bit. I enjoyed the relationship between them and found the conflict, while not overly complicated, to be both believable and relevant. I’m not an overly huge fan of children in romance but I didn’t find them to be either intrusive or just wallpaper either. I think that with this contemporary series, the author has found both her niche and a powerful storytelling voice.

To make this brief (because my battery is dying), the characters have wonderful chemistry, but also a really believable growth in both their relationships and their own personal demons. The secondary characters add a depth to both the characters’ relationship and the book itself. There wasn’t anything concrete I would point to and say that I overly disliked about the book and I’m very much looking forward to the next release, Hard and Fast, which releases in May.

Tags: Recommended, TBR