Semi Finalist
Assessment:
Plot: Parkerson’s contemporary romance about a young widowed minister and the wild-child he wants to save is lively and engaging. The book is skillfully plotted, with believable twists and good pacing.
Prose: The prose here is solid, though it does feature some awkward turns of phrase (e.g. "nether lips") during more racy moments.
Originality: A minister as hero isn’t definitely original, particularly in a story that is earthly and decidedly explicit in terms of sexuality.
Character Development: Tristan is well drawn and multi-dimensional. Riley is also well rendered, though she does border on the stereotypical misunderstood bad girl -- but she’s never one dimensional. The secondary characters tend to be less developed and more types than fully formed players.
Date Submitted: April 10, 2017
Saint vs. Sinner…who will come out on top? Or bottom…whatever's hotter…
Riley Henderson's life just sucks. After leaving her boyfriend of 2 years, Riley heads east....and lands herself a flat tire just before reaching her aunt's town. An angel in the form of a sexy blond and blue eyed God comes to her rescue, but wouldn't you just know he's the last true gentleman in this world?
Tristan Daniels is immediately smitten when the foul-mouthed woman approaches him in the rain, drenched to the bone. Everyone is so GOOD around him, he's forgotten how refreshing it is to be treated like a man instead of a minister. Riley certainly sees him as a man, and despite her wayward ways, Tristan wants her more than he's ever wanted a woman…he feels ALIVE in her presence. He wants her by his side and is proud to have her on his arm, wild woman or not. But when Riley's past comes looking for her, will he be able to convince her not to run again?
A DASH OF DESIRE is book 2 in the Spiced Life series and can be read as a stand alone. I was a little concerned when reading the synopsis that it would be heavily religious, but Riley's first MF'ing tirade soon convinced me I may be wrong. I actually really liked this book, and I'm not one to enjoy any sort of religion in my erotic romance. It's easy to forget that clergy are just men and women underneath their cloak of religiousness, we tend to put them all onto these huge pedestals that are unrealistic at best. Ms. Parkerson really wrote a novel that didn't diminish or demean the church or religion at all, but gave us an amazing story about a minister and a damaged woman who fall in love. He doesn't want to save her or change her, he likes her fiery spirit and giving heart just as she is. And while Riley just wants in his pants in the beginning, Tristan's inherent goodness just speaks to something in her heart that she's always wanted in her life. Being a man of God was just a part of who he was, not the total sum of his parts, and that kind of character in an erotic romance was fascinating. This book was simply exquisite and I can't wait for more in this series!
