Samhain Publishing, $3.50, ISBN 978-1-60504-273-2
Contemporary Romance, 2008
Sweet Charity refers to our heroine whose name is, of course, Charity. Charity Harris. She loves Gabe Bettencourt but that man keeps pulling that “let’s just be friends” line on her. In real life, that will mean that he’s really not that into her, but since this is a romance story, we all know that he’s secretly really, really, really into her but he’s just worried that he’s not good enough for her. You see, Gabe likes it, er, edgy. In his own words, he likes candlewax but he believes Charity prefers candlelight. Of course, we both know by the end of this story that those two are going to be going at it like happy rabbits on Easter so more power to these two and the relevant parts of their anatomies.
The thing is, after sitting through all that talk from Gabe about liking to take things in the bedroom further in a way that Charity may not appreciate, I wait for him to pull out the butt plugs, leather masks, studded gloves, riding crops, and who knows what else. Why else would he make sad faces about being that much of a big boy, right? And yet by the time the story ends, I’m still waiting. Come on, Ms Dane, not even a scene where Gabe hangs Charity from a leather harness suspended from the ceiling and whips her rear end with a leather crop while calling her all kinds of naughty words in a fake Russian accent?
This is a readable and sexy story, yes, but I still think I’ve been cheated of a really grand payoff by the time I reach the last page. That silly Gabe, he certainly overestimated how adventurous he can be in the bedroom, hmmph.
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