Review: A Royal Flush
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 13, 2011
Brody, formerly a special ops officer in the Marine Corp, is a 30-something Renaissance Literature professor with a thing for one of the students who just completed this semester's class.  Missy is 26 and working her way through college with dreams of going to medical school.  One night, when her crush, Professor Brody, comes into the adult store where Missy works, a little chit chat leads Brody to volunteer to teach Missy to play poker.  When a few friendly lessons in cards turn into lessons in the bedroom, Missy's inhibitions about her weight threaten to crush their relationship.  Can Brody convince Missy to up the ante and turn this two of a kind into a full house or will Missy fold instead?Do you remember those first few romance novels you read?  If you were at all like me, you snatched them from your mother (or aunt) and alternately grinned and giggled through them.  Part of it was because of the intimacy of the subject matter (even if the books were sedate compared to what you read today) and part of it was reading something maybe you shouldn't have been.  That's exactly what this book was like for me - I found myself grinning and giggling like a happy fool throughout the story.For me, this book had it all... a slightly dangerous, slightly possessive, handsy hero, a mouthy but shy-about-her-weight heroine, a whole lot of sexy banter, sweet but hot monkey love, and a couple of girlfriends (from previous books) that are supportive and maybe a little crazy.  I loved that Brody and Missy have a good time together, whether they're fooling around, fighting, or just having a simple conversation.  Brody is a little unreasonable sometimes, but Missy doesn't just let him run her over - she pushes back.  The back and forth repartee between Brody and his brother is funny and demonstrates their good relationship.Missy is somewhere around a size 16/18 (according to Brody's estimation, though a definitive size is never given for her).  As a result of the encouragement and self-confidence that Brody and her friends help to build up, Missy undergoes a bit of a physical transformation.  I can't explain, as a plus-sized woman, how thrilled I was to watch her change without having to lose weight and to see how well-received it was by her circle of friends.  So many stories about curvy heroines require that she loses weight to finally get the attention/love of the hero.  I was so pleased that Brody helped her to reveal this hidden part of herself while her curves remained unchanged.Since this book is listed as erotica, the story is explicit, but it's the parts outside of the proverbial bedroom that made this book so great to me.  When writing a story, an author can develop characters by telling you what they are like or by showing you.  For example, suppose you have a character that readers should believe is dangerous.  With "telling", the author has narrative in the story that basically says the Hero is dangerous - he used to be a Marine, he knows how to fight, etc.  With showing, there's a fight and the Hero takes on five armed men while he only has a broken pool stick.  With "showing", you get to experience and see for yourself that the character is who the author wants you to think they are.  It's much easier to tell readers about the hero/heroine, especially in erotica where so many authors think the storyline is just about the sex.  With this story, however, there's a magical balance of telling and showing.  We know Brody wants Missy, but then we get to see it.  He constantly touches her when they're together, he can scan a crowd to find her, he likes to hold her hand, he encourages her to be sexually open with him because he loves her body as is, etc.I've read several of Lena Matthews' books in the past and they're always well written with creative but still sweet love scenes.  This story was probably my favorite of her books and a fantastic value for the current (Kindle) price.  The story is probably a 3 to 4 hour read.  Highly recommended.