Review: Sheltered
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 9, 2012
First of all, before you go any further, pay no attention to the WTF cover. Seriously, cover your eyes, and just read this review - or just go straight to the book because it is that good.Evie is nineteen years old and has lived a very sheltered life. Her father is very abusive, not only pulling out his belt, but oppressing her to intense degrees. She is not allowed to listen to music, she must go to Bible College and she is really quite naive about the world. She understands this but she sees no way out of this life. Lately she has noticed a very different sort of man that visits her neighbor's house. This big man has a punkish sort of hair style. He has tattoos, piercings and just looks like an all around bad ass. Quite the opposite of Evie, but she can't stop looking at him. She even knows he is buying drugs, but that doesn't lessen his appeal to her. On Wednesday's her parents go out to play bridge, so she knows she has a few hours to get around her father's extremely strict rules.Van notices Evie is watching him and he is immediately drawn to her. Evie is not embarrassed that he catches her. She perceives him to be everything she isn't - cool and free. She sees in him independence and rebellion. Things she wants but hasn't been able to dream of. Breathing wrong in front of her father can bring down his wrath. Van presents a very overwhelming desire.Every Wednesday, Van sticks around, almost to the point where he comes for her rather than his pot. Van might be all punk, but he is first, a gentleman. He has such strong feelings for Evie, and he knows her situation and because of that he never once takes advantage of her. He doesn't want to be "that guy" that bangs a sheltered virgin and then walks away. He wants to watch movies with her and talk about their day - something that is almost impossible with her living situation. So instead, they covet the small hours they have together every Wednesday. And while they do talk about themselves, it also becomes a sexual exploration for EvieIn her dreams, Evie likes to think she can explore things sexually, but as she states:****But even her free-flying dream-self didn't know what a naked man looked like. Or at least, her dream-self didn't know entirely. It just guessed some of it and filled the rest in with Calvin Klein ads she'd seen on billboards, shoulders broad and torso covered in delicious bumps, everything gray and black, black and gray.****And Evie's nativity to men comes through quite well. She is not scared to try new things, it's almost as if Van refuses to let her try things for fear he is rushing. Evie is ready. She has to push Van, to reassure him all will be ok:****There were times, many, many times, when she just didn't get him. She'd heard on numerous occasions that men were bad, wicked creatures, who'd do terrible things at a moment's notice. You wore the wrong skirt or bent over at an inopportune time and BAM. They slipped their penises into you.But not Van. He actively back away - heck, he backed away from it even after he'd said he wanted more. And though she suspected that sex wasn't exactly what he'd meant, even so, Even so.It was what she'd meant. She wanted it to be in there, meaning something.****This author does an amazing job with the sex scenes. So erotic and sensual. These two have amazing chemistry together. The kind where I started reading this book late one afternoon and dinner was definitely late getting to the table. I had to know how things would turn out for these two. There is also great tension as you know they are risking the father's wrath every time they are alone together in her house.Two things keep me from giving this one an A. First, I wanted to see the evil side of the father just a little more. I believed him to be abusive but I wanted to be scared by him more. And second, I needed more pages at the end. More reassurance Evie would be okay. I could use an entire second book exploring their relationship.I highly recommend this erotic book and I will definitely be checking out Charlotte Stein's back list.