Review: I Want Beth's Bathtub!
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 02 9, 2014
There's a lot of goodness in this short story. The texture and use of Hurricane Sabrina were wonderful; I felt like I was there (and didn't want to be). I really liked Beth, the kick-ass heroine. Donovan, the hero who might be a murderer, is sufficiently pretty to interest both me and Beth.But... Mostly we're in Beth's head, knowing only what she knows and seeing only what she sees, but pulling back and taking an omniscient view at odd times, like when Beth is in her "peaceful" bedroom. This is something that took me out of the story. There's also some things that made no sense; she's boarded up ALL the windows, yet they seem to be seeing each other pretty well in there even after the power goes out. There's mention later of a battery powered lantern being moved, but not ever a mention of it being turned on, or them straining to see their cards.My biggest problem was ***spoiler alert*** the bathtub love scene. I get it - during severe winds, a bathtub is one of the safest places to wait it out. But they don't pad it with blankets or towels, just hop on in there - and they both fit well enough to not only have hot sex (liked the sex scene, mostly) but fall asleep afterwards. Maybe they are both very small people, or it's a huge bathtub (it would be unusual for a woman without enough money for a decent car to have a big tub, but possible), but if so, it's never mentioned. And they are both pretty banged up; him with a possible concussion, cut-up face, and major chest bruising from the seat belt; her with a shoulder so badly bruised she couldn't even use her arm, pages earlier. Yet they are smoothly able to have wonderful sex, in the limited confines of said bathtub, without ever hurting themselves or each other, banging an ankle into a faucet handle, etc.I wanted to lose myself in the sex scene, but the choreography didn't work, IMO.  A few extra words here and there would've made all the difference.  **end spoiler**Insta-love almost never works for me. Life threatening circumstances gets people's libidos ramped up, no question, but it bugs me when characters who barely know each other are using the L word within days, or in this case, within hours of their first meet. Other readers who enjoy insta-love, may feel extremely satisfied with this story.The tension was high throughout and some of the twists about whether Donovan was a good guy or a bad guy were especially well-done.