Review: Foreplay for bookworms
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 6, 2014
I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.Some ladies require flowers, a prestigious bottle of wine, and a date night including appetizers and dessert to get in the mood; I have kids and sitters are expensive, while a good libido-enhancing book is not. Books in the style of I See London by Chanel Cleeton are textbook foreplay for bookworms.A book as foreplay? Let me explain and possibly get you in the mood for under $20.  LovePanky.com lists “The 9 Sexiest Foreplay Tips You Can Ever Use in Bed!” that coincidentally align with the plot in I See London.First tip, foreplay begins outside of the bedroom. I See London cheats this a bit with a teasing scene of lacy panties on the first page, but the story quickly transitions into a setting outside, outside in London, England where Maggie Carpenter, the femme fatale of the tale, arrives on campus of the International School for her freshman year. Maggie’s a shy studious student from a small town in South Carolina. Fresh out of the taxi, she’s confronted by a group of students standing outside the doors of her co-ed dorm.  And, this is where the foreplay begins as one of the guys utters, “American. Not my type.” A flirtation or conviction?Next on LovePanky’s list is “Shock each other.” How’s being caught in a vulnerable position by your roommate’s male friend who drops by unannounced? The scene’s humor and playfulness plant a stake for more shocking interludes.Third, LovePanky recommends passionate kissing. The never-been-kissed Maggie plunges right in to executing this tip. Her first kiss threatens to turn on the fire sprinklers as well as readers.Having tasted the pleasures of a good kiss, Maggie presses on to tips 4 and 5, explore each other’s bodies and talk dirty. Banter between Maggie and the future admirer of the lacy panties from the first scene builds tension climatically.Then comes tip 7, watch a movie. Maggie checks this tip off with aplomb. The film isn’t the porn genre that LovePanky advises, but the room is darkened and the conversation is intimate, driving the story to tip 8, enact fantasies.Maggie majors in fantasy. Her inexperience blinds her to the complexity of dating and long term relationships. When her fantasies collide with reality, she realizes she might have been focusing on the wrong guy which takes us to the final tip, play naughty games. Cleeton inserts a well-played scene of strip rummy for Maggie to perform that sensually completes this requirement.If you’re like me and your literary foreplay requires more than the heroine being bonded with zip ties, then I See London promises to wet your plot-fantasies as well. Tips and foreplay aside, I See London is not centered solely on sexual tension. Author Cleeton bestows detailed, engaging backstories on her characters. Maggie, Samir, and Fleur are complex and solicit empathy. Cleeton’s characters represent youth becoming adults, dragging baggage from their childhoods and past relationships into their new independence and trying to merge past, present, and future so they can declare their own identities. Their individual stories evoke a hope that life turns out well for each of them, while stirring nostalgia in this reader for a time when novel meant a new experience, which brings us back to spicing up life in and outside of the bedroom. I suggest starting with a copy of I See London.And for those of you reading closely or who count better than a two-year old, tip six, use a mirror, was not covered in I See London. But have patience, maybe Cleeton’s reserving that tip for her next book in the series, London Falling, coming out in July!