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This is my first foray into reading a Tracie Podger romance. Prior to receiving this book as an ARC, I did a little investigation into her books and noticed her 5-star ratings. With that, I decided to sign-up for the ARC for The Facilitator, and I was NOT disappointed.

The story centers around Veronica, a woman who is settled in a life after enduring her husband cheating on her. On the eve of her company’s conference, Veronica meets a mystery man in the bar of her hotel and engages in a sexy one-night stand with said mystery man. Unbeknownst to Veronica, this man is the new owner of her company. The rest of the story follows her transformation from an unfulfilled life to a life with shades of color, thanks to her connection with her mystery man.

Characters: 💙 💙 💙 💙

I loved the characters of this story. As a middle-aged woman, I could relate to Veronica’s ennui. While I don’t have a husband who has cheated on me, I could understand the rut of her life. There was something sympathetic about her. Mackenzie is a bit more difficult to characterize. There were many times during the story in which I wanted to reach through the story and smack him, as the distance he set between Veronica and himself could be frustrating. I would like to see more of their relationship, and Podger has promised her readers a second book, so we can see more character development.

Story: 💙 💙 💙 💙 💙

I haven’t read this story too much. Yes, I’ve read of the spouse who has been cheated on and faces a life dilemma. However, the power of this story is the empowerment of women. While the romance is meant to be the focus, there is a secondary storyline of empowering women to embrace their sexual beings and their power in the workplace. It isn’t blatant, and it doesn’t read as preachy. It shows the necessary need for change in male-dominated workplaces, and these changes come from a male, making it a bit more meaningful for the reader. I appreciated this part of the story, and it is the thing that sets it apart.

Sexiness Quotient: 💙 💙 💙 💙 💙
This is WOW! For one, Mackenzie seeks to fulfill Veronica’s unspoken sexual fantasies. This makes for some 5-star scenes.

Style: 💙 💙 💙 💙
I love British writers. The language and way they present the ideas keep the story interesting. Even more, Podger’s style is such that the story breathes. I did think the resolution of the story comes fairly late in the story, so I thought the last part felt a bit rushed. However, she has promised a second book, so I gave the style 4 stars.

Overall: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

I highly recommend this book. I was engaged in it immediately, feeling Veronica’s pain and hoping for her to find more meaning in her life. Podger doesn’t disappoint in giving us that story. I can’t wait for the second book to read the next part of Veronica and Mackenzie’s story.

In love and romance,

Professor A

My love affair with LJ Shen began with her book, Midnight Blue. I believe I found it on Kindle as a recommendation and thought the book cover looked interesting, so I began reading it. It did NOT disappoint. It grabbed my tender heart, tore it into a million pieces through the characters’ stories, and mushed those pieces back together again. After that, I read Vicious (gutted me again), Scandalous, The End Zone, and Bane. Each book reminded me of the genius of Shen’s ability to create flawed characters who find redemption in the end. This redemption, however, unlike in other stories, doesn’t make them weaker or desperately changed. Instead, Shen maintains her characters’ flaws but she allows their foils to love them through those flaws. It’s a thing of mastery.

Recently, she released Dirty Headlines. This post features my review for that book.

Characters:  💙💙💙💙💙 For me, the strength of this book is its characters: Celian and Judith “Jude”/Chucks. The chemistry between these two is a thing of beauty. Their verbal sparring builds their relationship, and it’s the glue of the chemistry. Both characters are broken in some way. Shen shows us that they can only find healing in each other. It takes 7/8ths of the book for that to happen, but it’s that dysfunction that pulls the reader into their world and keeps you there.

It’s easy to think that Celian is irredeemable. For lack of a better phrase, he is a world-class asshole. Some of the words that escape his mouth are so cringe-worthy that you almost don’t want to keep reading. However, Jude shovels it back ten-fold. That’s the beauty of their relationship, and it was my favorite part of this book.

Story: 💙💙💙💙 The story is secondary to the characters in this book. I loved the story, don’t get me wrong. I simply don’t think the story is the anything new to the romance world: god-like billionaire with family problems falls for the income-deficient woman who works for him and has a father who adores her. There are a few other surprises in the story, but they aren’t unusual to this romance trope. Again, the characters are the power of this story.

Sexiness Quotient: 💙💙💙💙💙 Off the charts. Celian Laurent is a kinky bastard. He loves sex, and he loves it with Jude. Their sexy is “fan your face” fun.

Style: 💙💙💙💙💙 When I read other romance review blogs, this isn’t something I find other’s considering. In the romance world, it’s easy to get trapped in characters and story and the “HAWT” factor (by the way, I HATE the word “hot” to explain the sex in a romance book). For me, the style is EVERYTHING. I’ve read books wherein I could have LOVED the characters and story BUT the writer’s style didn’t develop the nuances of those parts. That is DEFINITELY not Shen’s issue. Her writing flows, it’s witty, and it isn’t overly descriptive in the way that some romance novels love to overexplain every point. She gives enough detail so that you’re engaged from start to finish. I gobbled this book in a mighty book binge gulp. Her connection between words and ideas and characters allowed me to satiate my appetite in one fell swoop.

Overall, I am a HUGE fan of LJ Shen. This book did not disappoint, and I found two new favorite romantic characters in Celian and Jude.

Overall:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“The circumstances were pure semantics. Sins wrapped in sugar so I could swallow them more easily.”

In love and romance,

Professor A

Here’s a little background behind this blog. In December of 2017, I was coming off of my fall semester of my 11th year of teaching, and I was feeling drained. I had been an English major who earned her BA and MA degrees in English literature. If you have never majored in this, there is something you should know: reading for fun is not the same as reading to analyze and write. I loved the books I read in my college programs, but I learned the skill of reading with your brain engaged, and it makes your brain hurt at times.

When I graduated, I began teaching college writing, freshman level. For the past 12 years, I have read student writing carefully and provided feedback in the form of response. I’ve read inspired writing and a lot of uninspired writing. Going into that December, the uninspired writing overwhelmed my brain, and I was drained. I was drained from reading, from thinking, and from missing out on reading for fun. So…I decided to go back to a genre of my teenhood: romances. I thought I need to find writing that allows me to feel and turn my brain off, so I started with the 50 Shades books. Why? Because they were a huge hit a few years ago, and I felt I should begin there. I wasn’t disappointed.  Erika James’s books allowed me to turn off my overworked brain and just feel for the characters. From there, a very dry part of my soul was whetted, and I thirsted for more, so I kept reading.

Since December (it is now Sept 2018), I have probably read 200 – 250 books. I cannot get enough of them. I have fallen in love with so many wonderful romance authors, Jewel E. Ann being my most favorite to date. However, there are A LOT who are right behind her, too many to list here. I also enrolled in an ARC program through Hidden Gems because I wanted to start reviewing books informally on Amazon. I secretly (or maybe not so secretively) want to become an ARC reviewer for more authors, a beta reader, and maybe even an editor some time. I thought it was time to use my writing skills to really put my reviews out into the Websphere, so I’ve created this space to share my thoughts about the books I’m reading. I do not profess to be an amazing reviewer. I need to grow that skill here. Also, romance novel reading feels like my dirty little secret in the world of academia, so we’ll see if this space stays my hidden dirty little secret or if it will find other’s eyes. Either way, I’m proud of this space. I hope you enjoy it, along with my reviews of the books I am reading.

In love and romance,

Professor A