**** - I'm not usually a fan of contemporaries, though I'm not really sure why. This book really won me over, though. It had its issues, but every time I came back to it, I had a huge grin on my face.
Molly Jennings has a naughty little secret that she keeps even from her family. She works as a successful erotica writer under a pseudonym to keep her career private. But now that some trouble with her ex is forcing her to move back to her snow-bound small hometown of Tumble Creek, she just may get a chance to experiment with her favorite inspiration - police chief Ben Lawson. But a scandal he suffered through in his teens means that Ben hates anything that smacks of secrecy, and he knows Molly's got one that she's not telling. But he just can't seem to keep away.
There's a lot to like in this novel. Molly is a lot of fun - spunky and determined to get what she wants (Ben). She's unafraid and unashamed of sex, and she's not ashamed of her career, either. The secret is kept for other reasons. There are bits of this that are downright hilarious (like accidentally setting the siren off in his truck), fun scenes when Molly is out with her girl pals and absolutely set on tantalizing the police chief out of his wits.
Dahl also captures the charm of an old relationship reawakening as something new - all of the pent-up sexual tension that Ben didn't allow himself to feel and Molly's fantasies. But also tender scenes like when Ben refuses to take nude photos of Molly, but leaves beautiful shots of her ear and the curve of her neck next to her on the bed when she wakes up. Their relationship is, of course, made more difficult by the town's gleeful gossip and Ben's fear of public attention. And all of that works.
What definitely doesn't work as well is the stalker subplot. Although I could sympathize with Molly's fears that Ben would fall for her ex's charm just like everyone else did, stalking crimes are dangerous. And while Molly showed good sense in calling the cops when she did see someone, it was incredibly stupid not to tell someone (particularly her law enforcement boyfriend) about her ex harassing her. She never fell over the line into TSTL for me, but I was definitely exasperated that she kept THAT a secret.
I had the whodunnit angle figured out quite early on, and I thought the stalking subplot went on too long - which weakened the eventual get-together and dealing with each other's secrets. That said, the climactic scene definitely had me jumpy. A quick read, and once things got going, I tore right through it. Certainly one I would recommend.
Click here to read an excerpt!
Liked it? Read the others in the Tumble Creek series:
Book 1: Talk Me Down
Book 2: Start Me Up
Book 3: Lead Me On
Interested in other opinions?
Katiebabs at BlogHer
Buddy review at Breezing Through Books
This looks really good. Kind of reminds me of Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl with the idea of hiding someone's sex/career life. Thanks for the excerpt!
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