Review: Turn It Up by Vivian Arend
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 10, 2011
Tasha can hear her biological clock ticking. At 34 years old, she wants to have a baby and has decided to go at it alone. As one last hurrah before she gives up coffee, sweets and alcohol, she goes out and drinks way too much. Very drunk, she spills her secret about her plans for having a child to her good friend Maxwell Turner.Max has been very attracted to Tasha for a long time. But because he is only 24 and his family is good friends with her, he has never initiated a romantic relationship. But he now sees an opportunity. He offers himself to be the father - but he also offers marriage. He secretly wants this agreement to eventually turn to love, but tries to keep it low key as to not scare off Tasha. Tasha is very hesitant about this arrangement, but the stability for her and the eventual baby is too much for her to pass upI've been wanting to try something by Vivian Arend for a long time so when Turn It Up came my way I grabbed it, even though this type of set up is not really my favorite. The idea of two best friends getting married so the girl can achieve her goal of having a baby is a little silly to me. Especially with their intent to remain in this marriage as friends for the rest of their lives (even though this is a romance book so you know that is not going to happen).That aside, I really did find Turn It Up to be a cute book. I think the cover makes it look a little dark but this is definitely not the case. This is more light-hearted with a geeky hero. Win!I enjoy Vivian Arend's writing style. The characters are funny, very sexy, and entertaining. It took me a good while to warm up to Tasha. I needed a better understanding of why she is so scared of commitment sooner in the story. It wasn't until about 70% in until I realized or comprehended why she was afraid to show her true feelings to Max. Until then she came across as immature and confusing to me. She is the one that has been planning to have this baby for quite some time, Max learns about it in one night, and the next day he is the one with the plan and the one that never freaks out.I enjoyed Max from the start. I love geeky heroes - he finished college when he was 17 and is into computers and games. But he is also super sexy and pursues and seduces Tasha in the most wicked of ways.  I was surprised at how dirty, dirty the sex scenes are in this book. Tasha and Max have great chemistry and their romance is very cute yet very naughty. Hello to smex on Grandma's porch swing!Tasha's best friend Lila is a great character in this book. She vehemently opposes their marriage and overall situation and I really enjoyed bringing that conflict in since everyone else in Max's large family seemed perfectly content with this sudden marriage and baby. I assume Lila is getting her own book and I look forward to it!Turn It Up definitely turned me on to Vivian Arend. Cute story and I look forward to more.Rating: B