REVIEW: Love, Unexpectedly by Susan Fox

ISBN 978-0-7582-3826-9

Series: Wild Ride to Love series, Book 2

Genre: Contemporary Romance, Erotic Romance
(c) April 2010, Kensington Brava
Susan Fox's website 

Rating: 4.5 stars




Buy Links (paper): Amazon, Book Depository, Barnes and Noble 
Buy Link (ebook): Barnes and Noble Ebook 

"Wonderful characterization, magnificent story. A great read!"

Susan Fox did it again! In Love, Unexpectedly, she takes us on an exhilarating ride on the train of love. Her compelling love stories will tug at your heartstrings and make you root for an HEA for the characters. In case nobody knows, Susan Fox is also Susan Lyons, who wrote Sex Drive, book 1 of this series.

Kat Fallon is the second child in the family, insecure and overshadowed by her brainy sister. To find a niche for herself, she became Ms. Sociability, cultivating lots of friendships, only to find out later on that her friendships were all shallow and she never let anyone gets too close to her. In her relationships with men, she ran at the first sight of trouble, not staying long enough to work things out with the guy. The longest relationship she has is her friendship with Nav Bharani, her neighbor, and consequently, she treasured their friendship very much and wouldn't do anything to jeopardize it.

Nav, on the other hand, had slowly been falling in love with Kat over the two-year period of their friendship, yet each time he mentioned them dating, Kat brushed him off. When Kat asked him to stand in as her boyfriend at her sister's wedding, Nav was hit by an idea so crazy that if he could pull it off, he just might get his heart's desire.

Ms. Fox excels in characterization and character development. As I read, I could see that Kat is so different from Theresa (the heroine in Sex Drive), and I like how we learn to know about Kat at the same time that she discovers things about herself and her family. Kat and her sisters are close as siblings could be, with the usual squabbles, and it was fun to see this family dynamic in their interactions and even better to see them move past their misconceptions about each other and develop a more mature relationship.

(It reminds me of me and my own siblings, and coincidentally [perhaps not?] the middle sibling is also Mr. Sociability, the one with the most number of friends among the three of us.)

As for Nav, I love the hope that burns bright in his heart and the persistence with which he pursued Kat, never giving up despite the numerous brush-offs she'd given him. I like that in a man, one who knows what he wants and goes after it, but of course, he shouldn't bulldoze her into accepting him. Which Nav doesn't. He just opens her eyes and mind to possibilities and waits for her to come to her own conclusions. Sexy traits in a man, and even sexier is his confidence, especially when there was no encouragement or whatever from Kat. Nav, end of Chapter 1: 

"Token good guy? Screw that.
He was going to be the sexy guy on the train." 

Their encounters as Nav flowed from one alter-ego to the other are exciting and stimulating. Nav is certainly unpredictable and one never knows what one would get when with him. I'm sure that was now Kat came to see him--exciting, stimulating yet safe. I don't believe for one moment that Kat failed to remember that he was Nav, in whatever guise he put on. And we can see this in the way she sometimes lapsed into thinking of him as Nav and the desperate way she convinced herself that he was Pritam or Dhiraj. I think she recognized subconsciously that he was giving her a reason to indulge in their attraction and she seized upon it, because she wanted it as well.

The set up disturbed me a bit, because Kat comes across as someone who wants to have her cake and eat it and not have to own up to the responsiblity. A bit cowardly and not as likeable as Theresa (Sex Drive).

However, I like the way we get to see what happens after the end of events in Sex Drive and how Kat's family interacted with Nav. Love, Unexpectedly is a great read in itself and as part of the series. I anxiously await the third in the series, flaky sister Jenna's story. I know I've labeled her as flaky, and may I say I "borrowed" the term from the books, but we all know that things aren't always what they seem. Plus, as I've said, Susan Fox aka Susan Lyons, is great at character development and characterization. Thus, it would be interesting to see Jenna as seen from Jenna's eyes.

As with Sex Drive, this book is written in alternate points of view per chapter, with Nav in third person POV and Kat in first person POV. Like I said, it didn't bother me, however, I find myself being more interested to read Nav's chapters than Kat. What can I say? I'm a girl. Of course, I'm more fascinated by the sexy hunk.

Buy Links (paper): Amazon, Book Depository, Barnes and Noble 

Buy Link (ebook): Barnes and Noble Ebook

*Note: The review copy was provided by the author.

INTERVIEW with Susan Lyons

We'd like to welcome Susan Lyons, amazing author of Sex Drive to The Raving Readers! Thank you for joining us!

The Raving Readers: Susan, we understand Sex Drive is the first book in the series Wild Ride to Love. What an apt series title! How did your idea for the series come about?

Susan Lyons: In casual chat one day, an idea came out of the blue that it would be fun to write a "planes, trains, and automobiles" series of romances. I think different modes of transportation are sexy in their own way. Also, travel is a journey, a transition time, and so is the development of a romance--that wild ride to love!--so together I could see them making for intriguing stories.

That idea fermented in my mind for at least a couple of years, as I wrote my Awesome Foursome series starring four 20-something best friends. I loved writing about female relationships (in addition, of course, to the romance and the heroine's and hero's growth arcs) and I loved writing a linked series. But, rather than doing friends again, I was intrigued by sisters--in part because I'm an only child and have always been the outsider looking in. Well, a writer gets to go anywhere she wants, so I decided to step into the world of sisters.

All those ideas wove together into the concept of the Wild Ride to Love series. Four sisters, four modes of transportation (yes, a cruise ship got thrown in there!), four very sexy and romantic wild rides to love.

TRR: How exciting! So that's how series are made. Now, let's talk about Sex Drive, the first book in the Wild Ride to Love series. The hero, Damien Black, is so sexy and charming and too good to be true! How did he come into being? Where did you get the idea for his character? Like, is he modeled after someone--or many someone's--that you know or did he spring purely from your imagination?

SL: Thanks. I love Damien too. Another joy of being a writer is that we get to create and spend time with the sexiest men in the world. Even if only in our imaginations! (No, sigh, he's not based on a real someone in my life…)

Because I was writing about sisters, I envisioned the heroine first. Professor Theresa Fallon is a studious type who's been unlucky in love, who believes herself unattractive to men, who figures her sex drive has pretty much shrivelled up and died. So, what kind of hero would most challenge and attract Theresa? Of course she thinks it's the professorial type, so I gave her the opposite. Damien is a celebrity author who writes paranormal thrillers--books that an intellectual like her considers to be superficial and a waste of time. Not only is he a hottie, he's been voted one of Australia's 10 sexiest bachelors and he could have pretty much any woman he wants.

And he chooses her.

TRR: We should all be so lucky! *sighs with envy* Still about Damien, in your opinion, how is he different from the other sexy and gorgeous heroes we read about in books? In other words, what makes him unique?

SL: One thing I love about Damien is that he's a writer. Not a wimpy, intellectual one, but a guy who writes paranormal thrillers. He loves his job and he knows the industry, and that's fun for a writer to write about. He's also a man who sees beyond the obvious--like the flight attendant with fake boobs and too much makeup--to the more subtly beautiful Theresa. And he sees her as a real, multi-faceted person: he flirts with her, he gives her sensual and sexual pleasure, and he challenges her intellectually. He also has strong enough self-esteem that he doesn't always have to be right, and he can learn from her. (Plus, did I mention, he really is sexy and gorgeous. LOL.)

TRR: No doubt about it, Damien is such a sexy guy and I don't just mean the physical. What makes him perfect for the heroine, Dr. Theresa Fallon?

SL: He genuinely finds her feminine and sexy, while most men don't see beyond her rather buttoned-up image. He brings out that side of her until she actually believes she's feminine and sexy. He's spontaneous and fun, whereas she tends to operate by rules and lists, and he helps her lighten up and learn how to have fun. They're both intelligent and they challenge each other to grow and become better people--and they have fun sparring while they're doing it.

TRR: Lucky Tezzie, that's all I can say. Would that I could be a heroine in your novel... So, what do you like about Theresa Fallon?

SL: Personally, as an only child, I relate to the pressures put on a bright oldest child. I like her responsibility and reliability. I like that she's found a career she's passionate about and that she wants to make the world a better place (she's a sociology prof, specializing in indigenous peoples, and she wants to improve their situation). I like how, even though she's a pretty structured person, she can move past that to see things in new ways, whether it's coming to realize her own sexuality, or to decide she can do more good if she comes out of the ivory tower and talks to the non-academic world. She's a good but flawed human being, as we all are, and she learns about herself and is willing to do the hard work of becoming a better person.

TRR: Yes, I like that about herself too, that she's willing to change and accept another person's criticism/suggestion. In fact, both Damien and Theresa were part of the reason Sex Drive was a fast, easy read for me. They were so compelling I just couldn't help but turn the page, or in my case, scroll down (ebook ARC). Was that how it was for you when you wrote it? Did you ever find yourself arguing with your characters, like when they decided the story has to go in the opposite direction for what you've planned? How do you handle such an event?

SL: Most books go by fits and starts, for me. I rarely plot ahead of time, except to know that the story's a romance so it's going to have a happy ending. How the characters get there . . . well, that's something I discover along the way. (I have my own wild ride, too. LOL.)

TRR:  Ooooh... sounds exciting! Oops, sorry, please go on.

SL: Sometimes I stall, then I have to go walk around, puzzle things out, wait for inspiration. Often the characters do kind of take over the keyboard, and it's always fun when that happens. Because I don't really do much plotting, I'm pretty open to where the characters want to go. Once, when I was writing She's on Top, the final book in the Awesome Foursome series, the hero decided how the story was going to end, and it took me by surprise and I had a mental argument with him. He won, and he was right!

TRR: The way you put it, writing sounds so exciting. How long does it usually take you to write a book from conceptualization to research to the finished draft? Let's take, for example, Sex Drive.

SL: I usually allow four months to write a book, but often some of the brainstorming happens ahead of time. The idea's in my mind, germinating, before I actually get started. Recently, I've been lucky enough to have back-to-back contracts, so I haven't had spare time to play with ideas. I finish one book, and it's time to start the next, and I'm on a relatively tight time line. With series books, the first one is very interesting – e.g., with Sex Drive, I wasn't just learning about Theresa and Damien, I needed to get a fairly clear idea of Theresa's three younger sisters. Whatever I said about them in Sex Drive, I'd have to live with in three more books. Then, when I get to the next books (the second, Love Unexpectedly, comes out in April and I'll be starting to write the third in two or three weeks), I at least have a fair idea about the heroine's personality and issues, which makes it a little easier. Unless of course I have some brilliant inspiration and want to change things, and get frustrated if I can't!

TRR: You have another series, I believe, this one about four friends. Please tell us a little bit about this series and how different is it from the Wild Love to Ride series.

SL: Yes, that's the Awesome Foursome series. Champagne Rules, the first book in that series, was the first book I sold. I wasn't planning a series, but when I developed my heroine, I gave her three girlfriends. I have several 4-women groups in my life, and I've loved Sex And The City and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. There's a certain magic about 4-girlfriend groups.

TRR: Sorry, I couldn't help but comment. Maybe I should get one more person to complete my own magical 4-girlfriend group!

SL: You certainly should! Anyway, by the time I'd written Champagne Rules, of course I'd gotten to love the heroine's three friends, and of course they all deserved their own sexy heroes and their own love stories. So, it became a series. Each book follows one couple's romance, and they go in chronological order. Each book has all four of the women in it, and the reader gets to follow what's happening in each of their lives. Also, each heroine has an issue that resonates for contemporary women: e.g., balancing career and personal life, respecting your parents but making your own way in life, having body image issues. I've had lots of great feedback on those books.

TRR: Sound like my kind of books. I've often heard that writers are readers, too. Your own books aside, what books have you read that you wouldn't hesitate recommending, because you believe other people will love it as you do?

SL: I'm definitely a reader. I'm addicted to reading. I read when I'm brushing my teeth. Seriously. But I do know we all have distinct tastes, so I'm reluctant to make recommendations. Also, I have so many writer friends now, I don't want to recommend one writer over another!

TRR: Speaking of writers, Damien mentioned that he has a beach cottage where he goes to write. What is your special place?

SL: I have a bright, ergonomically set up home office in downtown Vancouver that looks out on a garden courtyard. I love nature, love plants, have orchid plants on my desk. I do a lot of writing there, but sometimes the desk starts to get associated with the business aspects of the writing life rather than the creative ones, so then I take my laptop and go work in a chair in the living room. We also have a fixer-upper country home in Victoria, with a gorgeous ocean view, and I often work there as well. Or on the ferry, going back and forth.

TRR: I've heard that a change of scenery does wonders for the creative juices. Looks like that works for you! So, what do you have upcoming for your fans?

SL: In January, I have Sex on the Beach, from Berkley Heat. It has three intertwined romances set around a destination wedding in Belize. In January, February, and March, I have three Harlequin Spice Briefs, the Erotique series, about three "average" women who find erotic, romantic adventures at a private sex club. In March, I have a novella in a Kensington Aphrodisia anthology called Some Like It Rough. My story's about a buttoned-up admin assistant who goes undercover as an exotic dancer and discovers her wild side – and her female power over the sexy PI who's "keeping an eye on her." In April, there's the second Wild Ride to Love book, Love, Unexpectedly. This one is in the Kensington Brava line, under the pen name Susan Fox. It's about the second sister, and explores what it takes for best friends to turn into passionate lovers.

TRR: Now that you mention it, it's interesting that Sex Drive is published under the name Susan Lyons, and Love, Unexpectedly plus the 3rd and 4th books in the series are under the name Susan Fox. Why would different books in the same series be published under different pen names when both Susan Lyons and Susan Fox are you?

SL: Well, it wasn't my decision and I wasn't a fly on the wall at Kensington's editorial meeting, so I can't answer that one. After Sex Drive was in the works, Kensington asked me if I'd like to move from the Aphrodisia line to the Brava line. Aphrodisia is explicitly erotic; Brava is very spicy but doesn't go quite as far. I'd always thought my writing was better suited to Brava, so I was delighted to have the opportunity to write for them. It was weird timing, being in the middle of a series, but that's just how it worked out. I think the publisher's general idea is to have somewhat different branding for the two lines and my two names. I could certainly understand that if I was, for example, writing both erotic romance and sweet romance. But in fact, my writing is pretty much the same. My focus is always on the romance rather than the sex, and the sex is one woman and one man (no ménage, shapeshifters, or vampires!) and not incredibly kinky (no BDSM), and the books under both names are very spicy. Oh, and just to confuse matters further, I also write very sweet short romances for The Wild Rose Press under the Susan Lyons name (they're collected in an anthology called Calendar of Love).

All I can say is, I hope this works out for the best! I hope readers who find me under one name will be savvy enough to track me down under the other name as well. I have to figure the publisher knows what they're doing. In this business, we all have our expertise and role. Mine is to write the books.

TRR: True enough. With the Internet, I think it's safe to say we're all getting savvier every day. Any last words for us?

SL: Just that I love, love, love hearing from fans. They can contact me via my website.

TRR: Not only that, but Susan's website is stuffed full of goodies for the readers. I know I had a fun time browsing the site.

SL: Thanks, Shana. Yes, I have excerpts, trailers, behind-the-scenes notes, discussion guides, recipes, review quotes, a monthly contest, and an e-newsletter. Thanks so much for having me here. It's been a blast, and I'm looking forward to chatting with readers. Ask me anything and I'll do my best to answer.

TRR: Thank you so much for this interview! It's great having you here with us.

Interested to read Sex Drive?

Buy Links (paper): Amazon, Book Depository, Barnes and Noble
Buy Link (ebook): Barnes and Noble Ebook

Interested to read Sex On The Beach?

Buy Links (paper): Amazon, Book Depository, Barnes and Noble 
Buy Link (ebook): Barnes and Noble Ebook


Enter for the chance to win an autographed copy of Sex On The Beach!

How to Enter:  You can do any or all of the following:

1. Comment on any of the posts on January 13 and 14.

2. Ask questions. Susan will be dropping by the blog from time to time and will answer any questions you might have.

3. Answer this question: ("stolen" from Susan's book discussion questions in Sex Drive. More discussion questions can be found on Susan's website.)

Birth order. Theresa is the oldest of four sisters. How has that fact, and family history, shaped her personality? What's been the influence of birth order on her younger sisters? And how about you? What's your order in your family, and do you think that's affected you?

Who Can Enter: Anybody on this planet.

Contest Deadline:  11:59pm EST on January 14, 2010

Winner Announcement:  The name of the winner will be posted on the blog on January 15, 2010. Instructions will be given then on how to claim the prize.

* Check out our review of Sex Drive and a Sneak Peek of Sex On The Beach!

SNEAK PEEK: Sex On The Beach by Susan Lyons

ISBN 978-0425232163

(c) January 2010, Berkley Trade

Susan Lyons' website 

Sex On The Beach is Susan's newest release! It's an erotic contemporary romance featuring three couples who were brought together by a wedding in Belize. I haven't read it yet, but from the excerpts I've read, it's sure to be hot!

THE STORY

 
An exotic wedding turns into an erotic escapade for three unlikely couples who find lust—and maybe even love—on the white sands of Belize. Get ready to get wet!

"War of the Sexes" 
When wedding planner Sarah McCann learns that the groom's best friend, Free Lafontaine, intends to save his pal from the mistake of marriage, it's an all-out war between the sexes. Turns out, the prize could be much more than either of them expected, and this war just may have two winners.

"Sex With the Proper Stranger"
Model Tamiko Sato comes to the wedding as arm-candy for the groom's deep-in-the-closet uncle. What's she to do when resort manager Ric Nuñez proves far too tempting? Ric just might be the man who can help her heal the wounds left by past abuse, and open her heart to love.

"Sexy Exes"
Giovanna Moncrieff and her ex, James, mix as well as Italian olive oil and English tonic water. How embarrassing—and exciting!—to find that their passion for each other still burns hot and heavy. Is it possible to find true love the second time around?

Excerpt:

This is from the second story, "Sex With The Proper Stranger." Tamiko, a gorgeous New York model, has a history of abuse and is very surprised to find herself attracted to Ric, the owner of the resort in Belize. 

She sank down on the towel on the moonlit beach, sitting with her legs curled to one side.

Ric sprawled beside her, a man at ease with his body. He held up the bottle he'd brought. "I'd have brought a picnic basket, proper glasses, but if anyone had seen me, it would have looked suspicious."

"What's in the bottle?"

White teeth flashed. "Sex on the beach."

"Seriously?"

"Is it too cliché?" He unscrewed the lid and handed her the bottle.

Not cliché, but it didn't help her nerves. Of course he was expecting sex, even though he'd said he would go slow.

She took a sip, hoping the alcohol would loosen her up.

When she handed him the bottle, he drank, too. She liked the intimacy of his lips covering the place where hers had been, liked the way he threw his head back, and his throat rippled as he swallowed. He was so physical compared to the men she knew in Manhattan, so outdoorsy and natural, yet just as intelligent and successful.

"I like your style, Ricardo," she said shyly.

"I like yours." He touched the flower she'd tucked behind her ear. "You're wearing a hibiscus again. It suits you." His fingers plucked it from her hair and brushed its petals across her cheek.

She'd worn it because it made her think of him. And in hopes it would make her feel new and fresh, sensual and free.

He drifted the blossom across her lips then down her neck, and she arched, shivering with pleasure at the gentle, sensuous touch. The hibiscus traced the neckline of her sundress, lingered in the cleft between her small breasts. He tucked it there, like a decoration, and the tight top of her dress held it in place.

His touch made her body hum, her nipples tighten, but she tensed. Would he reach under her dress, fondle her breasts? Did she want him to?

Instead, he used both hands to smooth her long hair behind her ears, running his fingers through it again and again. "Like silk," he said. "A waterfall of black silk."

She'd wanted to touch his hair since she'd first seen him, and now she did. It might be the same color as hers, but the texture was the opposite. It was so thick and almost wiry, she couldn't weave her fingers through it. She chuckled. "How do you comb it?"

"Fro pick," he said. "My dad was African American. When I was in my teens, I had dreads."

"I like it like this." The conventional choice for a businessman would have been to cut it short, but she was glad he hadn't. "It's sexy." Wasn't there supposed to be a tie between a man's hair and his virility?

"You're sexy." He leaned toward her and touched his lips to hers, light as a butterfly wing or hibiscus petal.

Nice. Not the least bit threatening, just tantalizing.

"More," she whispered against his mouth.

He began to kiss her the way he had in his office, teasing her flesh until she opened her lips and begged him to come inside.

The times she'd had sex, nothing had felt natural to her, not even the kissing and foreplay. She'd felt pressured and anxious. Inhibited, scared.

But with Ric, kissing was wonderful. He took things so slowly, she could savor, enjoy the heady pulse of growing arousal.

And she did the same things back to him, not because she had to but because she wanted to.

He clasped her shoulders and tipped her backward until she was lying on the towel with him leaning over her, and for a moment she felt the familiar, instinctive panic. But he didn't quicken the pace, just nibbled her lips and explored her mouth with his tongue, and soon her tongue was slow dancing with his again.

Her arms circled his back, and his soft T-shirt brushed her chest. Last night his torso had been bare, and she wanted that again. She wanted to see him, to feel his firm, warm brownness. She tugged on the shirt, pulling it upward.

He broke the kiss, peeled the shirt over his head, tossed it aside, then waited for her to decide what to do next.

What she did was stare. Ric could have been a model. Put him in an ad for expensive cars, watches, or cologne, and buyers would flock to the stores.

But that would never be his world. Taking him to New York and sticking him in front of cameras and lights would be like caging one of those soaring black frigate birds.
 
She stroked his skin wonderingly. Her fingers weren't used to touching people in anything but the most superficial way, and now they lingered.

His skin quivered under her touch, but other than that, he didn't move, as if he sensed she needed to be in control.

Muscles, strength. And yet he didn't scare her. Power and gentleness were a potent combination, one that made a hungry pulse beat between her legs, a throb of arousal that was so rare, so welcome.

His skin was smooth, rich chocolate. She raised her head and licked his shoulder, almost surprised to find the taste of salt on her tongue rather than chocolate. "You taste good," she whispered. "You feel good."

Leaning on one arm, he lifted the hair that fell over her shoulder and kissed the skin he'd revealed: the cap of her shoulder, her neck, the vulnerable hollow at the base of her throat where her pulse fluttered.

He reached behind her and touched the top of the zipper that ran down the back of her sundress. "Yes?"

She wanted those kisses to move lower, wanted his tongue to lave her aching nipples. "Yes."

He drew the zipper down slowly, fingers brushing the knobs of her spine with soft deliberation.

As the dress loosened, the blossom it had held in place tumbled free, drifting down between her breasts.

When he'd lowered the zipper fully, he circled the base of her spine with his thumb, brushing the upper curves of her buttocks, the cleft between.

As he slowly drew her dress straps over her shoulders and began to ease the top of her dress over her breasts, she had a nervous impulse to cross her arms over her chest and stop him.

Yes, she wanted his touch, but she had a fashion model's body: skinny, with barely there hips, butt, and breasts. The camera loved her, but was she woman enough to please a vital man like Ric?

Time to find out.

As he stared at the body he was revealing inch by inch, she watched his face. She saw the glitter of his eyes, the flare of his nostrils, the way his lips parted.
 
The dress cleared her breasts, the cotton whispered across her ribs, her flat stomach. The hibiscus flower tumbled to the towel beside her.

She lifted up so he could keep going. Now her lower body, clad only in a tiny flesh-colored thong, was exposed, and then he was pulling her dress off.

"You lying there in the moonlight . . ." His voice was husky. "Someone should paint that picture. You're so lovely. A moon goddess."

"Not a goddess. Just a woman." A woman who had never, before coming to Belize, felt the breath of a tropical night on her naked skin or yearned for a man's touch the way she craved Ric's.


Interested to read more?

Buy Links (paper): Amazon, Book Depository, Barnes and Noble 
Buy Link (ebook): Barnes and Noble Ebook

Enter for the chance to win an autographed copy of Sex On The Beach!

How to Enter:  You can do any or all of the following:
1. Comment on any of the posts on January 13 and 14.
2. Ask questions. Susan will be dropping by the blog from time to time and will answer any questions you might have.
3. Answer any one or both questions below: ("stolen" from Susan's book discussion questions in Sex On The Beach. More on her website.)

From "War of the Sexes": Sarah believes that pheromones are a product of evolution, of centuries of Darwinian fine-tuning, honing the mating instinct. What do you think?

From "Sexy Eyes": What is the opposite of love: hatred or indifference?

Who Can Enter: Anybody on this planet.

Contest Deadline:  11:59pm EST on January 14, 2010

Winner Announcement:  The name of the winner will be posted on the blog on January 15, 2010. Instructions will be given then on how to claim the prize.

* Check out our review of Sex Drive and Interview with Susan Lyons!

REVIEW: Sex Drive by Susan Lyons

ISBN 9780758238252

Series: Wild Ride to Love, Book 1

(c) December 2009, Aphrodisia, Kensington

Susan Lyons' website

Buy Links (paper): Amazon, Book Depository, Barnes and Noble
Buy Link (ebook): Barnes and Noble Ebook

"Characters that wrap around your heart, sizzling passion, a true romance. What's not to love?"

Sex Drive truly is one Wild Ride to Love! The title alone tells me this book is gonna be one yummy read.

As I understand it, the four books in the series will feature a particular type of transportation wherein the characters will meet and mayhem--delicious ones, that is--ensues. In Sex Drive, the characters are seatmates on the long flight to Honolulu and our sexy hero initiates the heroine into the mile-high club.

Damien Black makes a sexy hero because he doesn't have any angst. Although angsty heroes make for tortured, conflicted, compelling characters, it's very refreshing to read a hero who doesn't have much baggage. He's easy-going and fun and I love his banter with Theresa, how he makes her feel at ease and how he appreciates her. Truthfully, Damien is a very easy man to fall in love with, not to mention that he possessed the requisite gorgeous hero looks. He said and did all the right things to make a girl's heart melt, and the best is that he's sincere about it. To top that, he's voted one of the top 10 sexiest bachelors in Australia (reminds me of Hugh Jackman). Theresa is one lucky woman indeed!

On the other hand, Dr. Theresa Fallon is a genius who got her PhD when she was twenty-two! (gulp) All work and no play, she's a control freak, likes to do things by herself as other people's work standards aren't up to hers, and Damien is just what she needs to loosen up. It's fun seeing her have fun and gaining confidence in herself with everything Damien does and says. And did I mention that Damien is such a sexy guy?

Though the intimate scenes were hot and plenty, the author takes us through the characters' progressing feelings about himself/herself and with each other in every scene such that the intimate acts don't come across as gratuitous. For me, the first few pages started out as slow with Theresa (in the first POV) in a monologue explaining how she came to be at the airport looking through bridal magazines, but once she's on the plane and found out that Damien's her seatmate, the book takes off.

And it's one wild ride, for both the characters and the reader. I like the way the Damien and Theresa gradually developed feelings for one another, fraught with all the highs and joys, doubts and uncertainties of a new romance. Like how Damien found himself floundering, wanting to say the right words at the right time, because it mattered now in the way it didn't before. I also like the way they helped each other to grow and expand beyond what they already are into better persons.

Susan Lyons is an amazing storyteller, creating characters that wrap around your heart. She really set Theresa up for the "big fall" (you have to read it and see), but I'm glad to see the issue resolved without employing the "big misunderstanding" trope and move on to the next. It made for an action-packed, tension-filled read. A true fairy tale for the romantic at heart. The next book in the series is Love, Unexpectedly and I can't wait to get it in April!

A note for readers: The book is written partly from the first person point of view (Theresa's) and third person point of view (Damien's) in alternating chapters, except for the grand finale/conclusion, which is all Theresa's. Though I was disconcerted at first by this format, it didn't detract from my enjoyment of the story.

Rating: 5 stars

Buy Links (paper): Amazon, Book Depository, Barnes and Noble
Buy Link (ebook): Barnes and Noble Ebook

* Note: The review copy is supplied by the author.

More fun stuff here, including a copy of Damien's Aussie barbecue recipe!

Want to win an autographed copy of Sex On The Beach?

How to Enter in the Drawing:  You can do any or all of the following:
1. Comment on any of the posts on January 13 and 14.
2. Ask questions. Susan will be dropping by the blog from time to time and will answer any questions you might have.

3. Answer this question: ("stolen" from Susan's book discussion questions)

Damien and Theresa met while on a flight to Honolulu. It’s a different world on an airplane, particularly on a very long flight. What’s been your experience on airplanes? Do you keep to yourself or chat to the person beside you, or even flirt? Is your behavior different on a plane than anywhere else? Why? 

Who Can Enter: Anybody on this planet.

Contest Deadline:  11:59pm EST on January 14, 2010

Winner Announcement:  The name of the winner will be posted on the blog on January 15, 2010. Instructions will be given then on how to claim the prize.

* Update: Check out the Sneak Peek of Sex On The Beach and an Interview with Susan Lyons!