Review: Sometimes you have to suffer for a little while to get to the good stuff.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 07 1, 2014
That's kinda how I felt about The Virgin's Guide to Misbehaving. Whew. There were definitely some bumps in the road for me as two unlikely souls found each other and helped heal the other's hurts and insecurities. It was a lovely romance with an entirely swoon-worthy hero that by the end easily had me smiling even if there were parts that had me reading to bite someone. And not in a fun way. *nods*Okay the quick of it is that Elise has led a very sheltered life and while visiting her brother at his survival camp she decided she's had enough and it's time to live a little and get some experience--including losing her virginity--and she knows just the man to help her...her brother's newest employee. If she can just work up the courage to actually talk to him. There were some funny moments along the way, some painful, some sad and some so very endearing and sweet as these two get to know each other.I loved Rome. He was just so tasty. Covered in tattoos, pierced everywhere (though alas he didn't have my favorite piercing--sobs!) and just a sweet guy that's had a hell of a hard life. Including some prison time. He's trying to start his life over and is used to being treated like trash because of his appearance and past and had a bit of a chip on his shoulder from that but honestly I totally got it and I really felt for him. And wanted to wrap him up and hug him fiercely. He's also dirt broke because of it all. Something you don't see often in romance, right? He's just an average guy who's had a rough go and really needs a break in life. I loved pretty much everything about him and how he was with Elise.Elise though. Yep. She was the one I had to suffer through for a while before things got good. She's painfully excruciatingly shy because of a birth "defect" and medical issues she had when younger that have really had an impact on how she saw herself and how others saw her. I had a hard time with her for a good half of the book. Instead of sympathy I just felt annoyed when she couldn't let go of thoughts of being imperfect and how ugly she was, etc. Even after having all of her "problems" had been fixed she still saw that damaged girl from her childhood. And I got it. But I had to really fight with myself to not put the book down at one point I was so over her wallowing and whining. With Rome's help she did grow as the book went along though and by the mid-way point I was starting to climb on board where she was concerned. She was making better choices and wasn't so exasperating to be around though her insecurities did sneak in now and again. She also turned into a fierce mama bear towards the end which I loved seeing and was just good to and for Rome. Saw him and not what was on paper or on his skin.The chemistry was pretty killer and was so working for me. Once they got past that initial shyness of Elise's whew, yeah, the two had trouble keeping their hands off each other. There were some very sweet moments between them and things got nicely heated. Gotta say, I enjoyed that bit. *nods* There were some pretty silly/funny moments because of her being all innocent and learning her way around things. Plus Rome was... not a dirty talker exactly, but just a talker when things were going down which was oddly entertaining to me. While they were as different as night and day they still had things that weighed on both of them. They each knew loneliness and were good people who just wanted or needed a new life and someone to call their own. Who loved them for exactly who they were. And seeing them bring out the best in each other was really rather sweet and had me going all girly.All in all, The Virgin's Guide to Misbehaving was a decent read. It took me a little while to get into it but by the end I was actually pretty on board. I don't know that I'd go back and read the earlier books though--those characters just didn't grab my attention or flat out annoyed me--but I wouldn't mind reading a little about Rome's big brother Jerico. He was rather yummy and seemed interesting.