Dear Ms. Galace:

I struggled with this review because I consider you a friend. I couldn’t tell if I was being too hard on you because I wanted to appear impartial or not hard enough because I am predisposed to like your material. Ultimately, I can only state my feelings toward the book and leave it to the readers to judge the fairness of the review for themselves.

Leilani, a mixed race beauty, lives next door to hot cop, Oliver Clayton. Since Ollie’s arrival in the neighborhood, Leilani has done everything she can to attract his attention from walking her neighbor’s dog by his house while Ollie was washing his truck to wearing nearly illegally short skirts, halter tops and lip gloss that made her lips the envy of even Angelina Jolie. Ollie has remained steadfastly dis-interested, even to go so far as suggesting to Leilani that the problem is she is too aggressive for his taste.

The truth is that Oliver is recovering from a gunshot wound in an inconvenient place and everytime he even thinks of Leilani let alone looks at her criminally hot body, he gets excrutiating pain. While he would have, at any other time, taken her up on her offers, right now he just wants to lay in his house like a wounded dog. The unrelieved sexual tension and the pain from his wound is making Oliver incredibly testy.

To top it off, the residents of San Diego are melting under a heatwave and Oliver Clayton has the only pool in sight. Leilani can’t seem to resist either Clayton or his pool but her unauthorized dip into her neighbor’s waters is not without retribution.

Leilani’s character was a breath of fresh air. She’s unconventional and proud of her body. Whether she had a life or interest outside of her physicality, however, seemed un explored. I did appreciate that she wasn’t a passive observer of life, but an active participant. Oliver read like a very authentic male and I appreciate the plot twist on his injury because I did wonder how he was going to recover in time to enjoy physical intimacy with Leilani before the conclusion of the story.

I did miss the humor and irreverence that I know that are a strong part of your blog voice. The biggest shortcoming was that I never felt that there was a strong emotional connection between the two characters. Most of the story was about their physical attraction and the consummation of that attraction. Overall, though, it was a refreshing and sexy story. B-

Best regards

Jane

This book can be purchased at Samhain.