Review: Bare-knuckle bitching and other delights
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 15, 2014
There were so many things I liked about this earthy, energetic little number. I found it a fabulous, totally fabulous, read.The book is set mostly in Australia and in the time before Amy's story (in Irrepressible You) which makes it a prequel. The story centers around Jo, Amy's older sister. Jo is an interesting character who works on an oil rig as an engineer. Her speciality is lubrication. (No sniggering or jokes, please.) I found the detail about life on the oil rigs fascinating, along with the rig humour and terms roughnecks use, and can see how Jo would have to develop a thick skin in such a cramped, blokey environment.She’s one tough bunny, but she has a softer side despite being wildly protective of her little sister, her underwear-eating kitty, and her privacy. Privacy is important to Jo because she doesn’t want anyone knowing the truth about her dad. He’s a violent alcoholic who has managed to maintain his reputation as a ‘good bloke’ in the small country town while making his family’s life a misery. Jo and Amy escaped the house when young but constantly worry about how he’s treating their mother. The author captures the two-faced deception of the father very well.Jo’s father works for Stephen’s farming family and Jo and Stephen have known each other since childhood, although without Stephen or his family realizing what was going on in Jo’s family.While Jo has a dark past, her friendship with Scott and sister Amy keep the tone of the book mostly light, as do the problems of Stephen (the hero of the story) and his family.Much of the story revolves around Jo and Stephen overcoming their past, revealing their secrets and changing for the better before they can come together as a couple, and the story is told with great warmth and much laugh-out-loud dialogue. Some of my favourite dialogue included the term "bare-knuckle bitching" and the following when talking to her cat:“I’d love to know what Amy feeds you, but I suspect it’s her pansy ex-boyfriends, and we wouldn’t want to knowingly be accessories to murder, now would we?”Readers will love the characters and the dialogue, and the funny scenes sprinkled throughout the story. At the same time, the characters and their core conflicts are very believable.And the sex scenes? Oh, my, smokin' hot.