Review: Short and sweet, and oh so good!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 21, 2013
I absolutely loved this novella! Braxton Cole is one bad biyotch! Usually in an erotic novella I feel like the plot is rushed, the dialogue is bad and unbelievable, and the characters are flat. And I always feel sort of embarrassed that I'm reading it because it's written just like a straight up trashy, bad, porno. There's no story, nothing to sink your teeth into - just bad dialogue and then vulgar, explicit sex. Birthday Wishes is the exact opposite of everything I mentioned above.Even though it is a novella, everything in the story is well-paced, and the writing is super tight so not one word goes to waste. Every sentence has intention and purpose behind it, and it all works towards driving the story. The main characters, Mira and Luca, are well developed and their personalities are dynamic and breathing on the page, instead of being flat and lifeless. Braxton had me laughing out loud with some of the internal monologues that goes on in Mira's head, and Luca was just so damn sexy and commanding during the sex scenes that I wanted to melt. As just a sample, here are a few of my favorite lines from the book:"His hair was longer than shown on his online profile picture, and the ends curled around his ears. It was too long to be short, but too short to be long, stuck in that unruly middle stage. It was perfectly tuggable and I wanted nothing more than to run my hands through it, grab a fist full, and ride his face until I came.""All I knew about him could be summed up in one sentence: He was too beautiful for words, he had a smile that inspired me to do very naughty things, and he was hard for me when we arrived here an hour ago."And as the icing on the cake, I actually was really in love with the whole idea behind the story line. I would have still been a fan just because of the exceptional writing and the hot sex scenes, but the plot just sucked me right in. Luca and Marie met online through a sex site where people go to find sex partners - no strings attached. They have been exchanging e-mails back and forth for a while, detailing their rules and boundaries, and swapping their sexual fantasy lists. Birthday Wishes starts with the first time they are going to actually meet each other in person and start working on those lists!I could tell by the way that Mari and Luca interacted immediately that they were not going to be able to pull off the casual sex routine. Their attraction was too intense, and Luca was just so dang sweet and considerate and perfect, that it would have been a shame had they not developed feelings for each other. I can only hope that their relationship grows into something real in book two, which I can't wait to go read immediately!