REVIEW: One Sexy Mistake by Sarah Ballance
A Reviews / Book Reviews / Recommended Readscabin romance / computer programmers / computer science / hacker / New York City / novella / one night stand / winter3 Comments
Olivia Patton’s life just imploded. One night with sexy hacker Grady Donovan seems like the perfect, ego-soothing plan—until an epic snowstorm shuts down the city and thwarts her morning-after escape. Now the only walk-of-shame she’ll be taking is right back to Grady’s door.
Forced to actually talk, Grady and Olivia realize they can’t stand each other. Forget another round in the bedroom—if it wasn’t his apartment, she’d shove Grady outside to freeze. But with all the blistering sexual tension flying around, a second night with the hacker might be exactly what she needs…if they don’t kill each other first.
Dear Ms. Balance,
The blurb for this one sounded too cute to not try though I think it doesn’t quite hit on where the tension originates between Grady and Olivia. This is the kind of story that starts off great and makes me hold my breath. Will it hold on to its greatness for the length? Let’s just say I could quote half of it I enjoyed it so much.
Grady’s done romance but in this day of social media he’s tired of his efforts being compared to all her bestie’s boyfriends’ efforts and (in his girlfriend’s opinion) coming up short. So a sex app and a one night stand with no strings attached it is. Olivia has just suffered a painful break up after losing her job and only wants mindless sex with the option to leave in the AM being hers. Grady might not want too much conversation but he does try and make sure they have something in common so their shared interest in computers is what clinches the deal. Olivia does make sure her roomie has all the info – she’s not stupid. A winter storm might be approaching but hey, this is NYC, no one ever gets stranded by the weather. Ticking bomb #1
A little talking before heading off to bed – Grady’s attempts to get Olivia’s bra off are hysterical – and being stared at through the window by Grady’s little old lady neighbor’s frightening looking cat leads to Best. Sex. Ever. Which doesn’t stop Olivia from ghosting out early the next morning because they had an agreement. That agreement didn’t include an overnight dump of snow and ice and a ban on non-essential travel. Her walk of shame cut short when the first plot bomb explodes, it’s back to Grady’s apartment where they might actually have to talk after the power cuts out and they have nothing better to do – for a while.
Grady soon guesses something about Olivia that he’d rather not say anything more about which is ticking bomb #2. Grady is seriously impressed by Olivia’s ability to hack into a governmental site that he’s been paid to see if it could be done. Their differences of opinion about Star Wars v Star Trek are unearthed before it’s time for round two of Even. Better. Sex wipes them out.
Olivia noticed something about the way Grady acted when she mentioned her job and after confirming her fears and confronting him (Bomb #2 going off), she vows to dig her way home through the snow with a spoon if need be. Luckily there’s a passing snowplow driver willing to be bribed. Grady feels badly enough about what he did and impressed enough with her computer skills to do what Olivia couldn’t and makes a bit of a grand romantic gesture computer hacker style. It’s not enough though and after binging on watching rom-coms until he’s ready to puke, Grady pulls out all the stops in full view of an appreciative public. Yeah, he got it right this time.
This one is cute and funny and (fairly) believable. A quick pick me up romance that left me smiling and wanting to read bits of it again so I could smile some more. It might be the last (?) book in a series, and usually I loathe jumping in at that point, but this one makes me want to go back and read the others without even having much of any sequel bait dangled in front of me. Alright I saved the quoting for one epic scene. A
“… there are about four hundred people staring at us right now, and I’m actually a bit of an introvert.”
“You didn’t need to do all this. These gestures,” she said, still sniffling. God, she must look terrible. Her mascara had probably run to her knees. “Turns out they don’t mean anything if they’re not from the right person. And the right person, it seems, is going to be right whether or not he believes in grand gestures.”
“I want to be that guy,” he said, gray eyes dark, the intensity she loved now brimming with emotion. “The right guy. And I want a relationship with you. I want strings. And I promise it’ll be amazing, if you’ll give me a chance. I have no idea where this might go, but I’m willing to do anything to find out.”
“Clearly,” she said, fresh tears falling. “I’m pretty much obligated to give you a chance. The mob might turn on me if I don’t.”
“That’s all I need,” he said. “A chance, out of the airport and without all these people staring. So will you kindly take this thing?”
She accepted the rose to the sound of thunderous applause.
~Jayne
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And it’s only $0.99 on the Kindle. Yes! Thanks for the review.
When I checked, the first book – which I bought – was also $0.99.
Sold!