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Review: A Girl’s Guide to (Man) Hunting by Jessica Clare
Once, Miranda felt a little exposed…
Miranda Hill can’t believe her eyes–her cocky ex-boyfriend, pro hockey player Dane Croft, is back in Bluebonnet, Texas, after all these years. He ditched her–and their little town–just as some rather shocking photos showed up on the Internet for everyone to see. Miranda wasn’t so lucky. Stuck in Bluebonnet and left to fend for herself, she’s never really shaken the scandal–or his betrayal. After nine long years, Dane’s back, and she has the chance to turn the tables on him…
It’s time she gets even.
Former NHL hotshot playboy Dane Croft has returned home to open a survival training school on an old ranch and reinvent himself. When his former high-school girlfriend enrolls in the program, he has no idea that Miranda’s plan is to get him in a compromising position–not the one he’s imagining, anyway. But soon Miranda realizes that to carry out her deviously sexy revenge, she’ll have to get up close and personal with Dane all over again. Being a good girl got her nowhere for nine years; now it’s time to be a little naughty. But falling in love with the man who broke her heart was never part of the plan…
- Paperback: 336 pages
- Publisher: Berkley Trade; 1 edition (May 1, 2012)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 042524735X
- ISBN-13: 978-0425247358
- FTC Disclosure: I bought this book with my own money.
So a funny thing happened on my way to get a GRE study guide from Barnes and Noble. I ran across this book. It was interesting, since I wasn’t really looking for it, I happened upon it next to someone’s empty coffee cup and a bunch of other books near the Starbucks counter. I figured that the literary gods were intervening upon my study habits, since I saw an advertisement for this book on my second favorite romance novel review site, Smart Bitches, Trashy Books (Can you guess which my first favorite is?), and who am I to mess with fate, right? Right. Not paying too much attention to the study guides, I grabbed my venti passion tea (iced, unsweetened) and sat down for a spell to read the first few pages or so. And I got hooked. Taking this baby home, I knew that I found a new favorite contemporary erotica. Yes, I’ve harped on my very stringent criterion for erotica novels in the past, but really, this was a good erotica. Let me tell you why:
It found the balance between story and sex.
While there was sex—a lot of it, all over the place—the story could stand independently from the erotic interludes. The heat of the scenes were matched appropriately at the right time (it wasn’t random, every scene had a purpose), and the prose was unpretentious. I as reader didn’t feel that there was too much of anything, sex or plot, so that it was unbalanced.
The characters weren’t sex starved or sex-crazed nymphomaniacs.
I find too often that some erotica authors write in characters (especially the males) that are ultra-dominant or sex-crazed borderline rapists (especially when foiled with the ever-annoying damsel in distress or the wilting virgin who damn near faints at everything). The circumstances that brought these characters together are so elemental to the storyline (read: it actually matters!). Also, the personalities of these characters cannot—and should not—be overlooked. While Miranda and Dane are not the brightest shade on the paint sample wall, they are loveable, and the reader is able to see why this story is more than just another erotica.
There is a genuine connection between the characters.
While there is mindless sex and meaningful sex in this novel, it is important to note that the characters are given adequate space to develop their relationship and for the reader to develop a relationship with the characters. While I do agree the story is at the very end, a little strange, it is pretty original, and that I can definitely respect.
5 out of 5 meows, no doubt.
