Review: hot and steamy romance, with - Hurrah - an older lady and younger man:)
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 12, 2013
Dirty Distractions Cari QuinnARC supplied by author.I love a romance with a HEA and some heat :) and Cari has done just that with this book. There needs to be a decent journey to that HEA though, and I found it here. Sara, "older " lady ( and what a treat after all the endless college/uni kids...it sometimes seems as if anyone over 25 is dead so far as romance is concerned so Thanks Cari - we're not dead !!)  is staying with her best friend Kim and Kims' brother Brad while her flat is being renovated. Brad is deliciously hot, presses all Saras' buttons but.. he's younger. Much younger and she doesn't want to be seen as a cougar. Not only that he has a reputation as a womaniser, and she  doesn't want to be one in a line of many. Still, the colleagues she has seem to be her only hope for romance and they leave her cold.Brad keeps up the smile and flirting though, showing her his finely toned body, making her mouth water, keeping up the sexy glances and teasing til he catches her in a vulnerable moment - and the heat from them is sizzling. Cari writes sex that is sensual and erotic not smutty and cringing, scenes that really make you feel the attraction between Brad and Sara, and their connection. She's worried about what her friend will think though and so asks Brad to be discreet. Brad isn't content to be someone just there for a fling though - he knows Sara thinks he's too young but he's old enough to make up his own mind and Sara is it for him.The tension between them is incredible, the sexual tension while they're flirting then the conflict when Sara wants him to keep quiet so Kim doesn't know they're together. It makes for some riveting reading. The characters are so well fleshed out I feel I know them, I understand Sara's caution - she thinks she knows Brad, but in reality its gossip she knows and not the true story. Then there's Brad, what a man, sensual and erotic, full of teasing and smouldering glances, he wants Sara but wants her openly and forever - I feel for him. Somehow we're primed to see age different of twelve years as so as nothing when its the woman that's younger but when its the man the names come out, the doubts whether it will last etc. Its always seemed unfair to me - and ironic given that women tend to live longer too...so its great to read a book that makes it work in a good way while pointing out all the quirks that people come up with against this sort of gap.Its a fun read, made me smile lots of times - him indoors kept saying "that must be a funny book, you're smiling again". Its really well written and the characters are great from good friend Kim, lovely older(!!) Sara, the fabulous Brad ( I can't rave about him enough) and the slim-ball neighbour Derek (I think that was his name) he typified so many men who think they're God's gift but in reality make us poor ladies cringe with their touching and innuendo. Its always the creeps that are worst for that isn't it?So, a great book, fabulous journey and escape for a while reading it, I was lost to the world while engrossed in their story, and some hot and steamy moments, along with some great humour. I loved when Kim mentioned finding King Kong in Brad's bathroom.....all in all a book to read and reread, a great story and at 2.01 for 136 pages fine on my VFM scaleStars: five.