Talk nerdy to me…Samuel Tucker is absolutely the last person scientist Cassie Barclay would ever date. So when he asks her to dance at her friend Reese's non-wedding she's wondering why on earth she says yes!
Tuck is used to people assuming he's all brawn and no brain, but when he finally takes her to bed, suddenly it's Tuck who can show Cassie a thing or two! Can he convince her that love and sex have nothing to do with logic but everything to do with chemistry?
I like Amy Andrews’ writing. And I mean a lot. Innocent ‘Til Proven Otherwise is probably my favourite Riva book (this may have something to do with the best phonesex scene that I’ve ever read midway through) and was one of the first books that I downloaded onto my kindle due to its sheer awesomeness. So understandably I was delighted to see that she was writing the second book in The Wedding Season Quartet, and even more delighted when it lived up to my expectation.
Firstly, Cassie Barclay, full name Cassiopeia, is pretty much a genius. We’re talking Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory levels of genius. Plus more than a little socially inept. But I like this. As previously highlighted, I’m not a massive fan of perfect heroines – I find perfection daunting real life, let alone in fiction – so Cassie suits me down to the ground. And there’s one significant thing that makes her stand out; the fact that she’s a PhD student.
Those who know my background know that I had a place to my PhD at Nottingham (on Shakespeare and appropriation) a couple of years ago but lack of funding meant that my plans were thwarted. Those who have known me even longer will remember my slight obsession (slight being an understatement) with astronomy as a child - at 10 I produced a one hundred page project, complete with hand-drawn diagrams of all the planets to the dismay of my primary school teacher who had to mark the thing.
So yes. I’m a fan of being geeky. And Cassie is a geek. So when she meets up with the divine Tuck, who’s sporty, male and more than a little dreamy, all her preconceptions about relationships, companionship and even sex get thrown off base. Tuck’s patient with her and in some ways we see an inversion of the usual emotional roles in an “archetypical Mills & Boon relationship”. (I’m using quotation marks there because I don’t actually think that there is an archetypical Mills & Boon relationship, beyond the fact that it’s usually heterosexual, and not even then in some of their Spice releases).
Cassie doesn’t recognise the strength of her feelings, or indeed that they are feelings, until far far later than Tuck. He knows how he feels, and is even is acting on them, trying to persuade her that what she’s feeling is real before she fully comprehends the situation she’s in.
And the sex scenes are great. Really great. They’re sexy and saucy and also delightful innocent. Despite the fact that Cassie’s no virgin, she seems to experiencing everything for the first time with Tuck – she also has a thing for his scent, and seems fascinated by his pheromones.
All in all? Utterly delightful. And sets us up well for the next in the Quartet (Maid of Dishonour by Heidi Rice).
Mills & Boon Boy 3:
Nick (aka Man of Flame)
Response to Photograph Request:
Immediately got a beer and turned to the sauciest page he could find.
"Response to Photograph Request:
ReplyDeleteImmediately got a beer and turned to the sauciest page he could find."
Ahh, a man after my own heart!