Review: I wanted it to be over.  I skimmed a lot, including sex scenes.
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 03 6, 2013
SHELTERED by Charlotte Stein.STORY BRIEF:Evie is 19.  Her father physically abuses Evie and her mother.  He forces Evie to go to bible school.  She is not allowed to go anywhere else or do most normal things.  Van sees Evie when he visits her neighbor.  On future visits, he and Evie kiss and do a little more toward sex.OPINION:Odd and mysterious writing.  Not enough normal action.  Not enough description of what's going on.  Several times a fear or conflict is described, but it's all in Evie's imagination.  The next page or paragraph shows that she was wrong.  For example, Van leaves and Evie thinks "he finds me repulsive and he'll never come back."  But he comes back.  Or she sees someone doing something bad, believes it is Van, and feels angst.  But soon she learns it was someone else, not Van.  There were too many conflicts "all in her mind."  Toward the end it was better because there was some interaction with a bad guy, fighting, fleeing, and resolving it.More than once, Van says "I have to go" but he doesn't say why.  So Evie fears the worst and thinks she'll never see him again.  But later we learn he left because he was sexually aroused.  I don't think Van's actions fit his motivations.  He liked her so he should want to calm her and have her not be anxious.  If he was an insensitive jerk his actions fit, but he wasn't.  He was gentle and cared about her.  That part didn't make sense.The sex scenes didn't do anything for me.  Evie was having her imaginary fears during sex, like "he'll think Im repulsive."DATA:Narrative mode: 3rd person.  Kindle count length: 3,358 (309 KB) 162 pages.  Swearing language: strong including religious swear words.  Sexual language: strong.  Number of sex scenes: 5, most of them very long.  Setting: current day U.S.  Copyright: 2012.  Genre: erotic contemporary romance.