Review: Pretty Much Everything I Could Want From a Sexy Novella
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 14, 2014
This little novella totally blew me away! I've come to expect that these little Cosmo Red-Hot Reads are quick and fun, and this one definitely was, but it was also so much more.After I requested this one on Netgalley I actually got cold feet. I was worried that the fact that the main lady character, Jessica, was hesitant about dating a waiter would bother me. I mean, it's a job, it's respectable, let's not be a snob about it. But that never came up when I was reading and Sam, the main guy character, put Jessica in her place when she kind of implied he shouldn't want to be a waiter his whole life.I'm getting ahead of myself though. This book first surprised me by having the book open with Sam's POV. I don't know why, but I always expect the female POV first. Sam owns the hot restaurant in Seattle and he's acting as a waiter, something he occasionally does to interact with diners, the night that Jessica comes in on a first date. A first date that does not go well. Luckily Sam and Jessica get a little flirty together and after she mistakenly leaves her hotel room key rather than her credit card and he has to chase her down (why was she leaving without her credit card? I mean wouldn't he have to chase her down if she just left her credit card?) and they end up back in her hotel room for some steamy sexy times. Another surprise was how much of the book actually takes place after Sam and Jessica's hot one-night stand. The book follows them both afterwards as they both spend quite a bit of time thinking about each other.Sometimes novellas leave me underwhelmed and wanting more, but not in a good way. I know it's hard to tell a complete story in less than 100 pages, but Nancy Warren pretty much beat all my expectations. Unlike many novellas I really felt like I had a good grasp on Sam and Jessica's backgrounds, who they are, and who they want to be. This novella left me wanting more, not because I felt sold short, but because I loved the writing and the characters so much that I wanted their story to continue.Bottom Line: This is a great short read that features likable, interesting characters and fun situations. It's very modern feeling and, for those like me who are kind of "meh" on Valentine's Day, not any mushy, over-the-top Valentine's things.I received an electronic review copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley (thank you!). All opinions are my own.