Uncommon Pleasure

Look, this took a turn I was not expecting in Book 1. And I reveled in it. It was kind of genius, and the whole thing was pretty hot. Both novellas are compelling and take themselves seriously enough for investment.

And I like both of the novellas a whole lot for *ahem* type reasons I have deep reservations about the second, which is unfortunate because it was better characterization and more emotionally balanced. Sean is undoubtedly the more straightforward, nice hero type...but the book opens with him watching/meeting his former lover outside of her current lover's house - like - on purpose. At this point I'm like "stalking"-and there's more behaviors that were equally troubling. Still, I read on.
Ben (guy who Abby's hooking up w/ while show more Sean is deployed) is a police officer. None of this really stops me in my tracks until there's a incident between the three-Ben, Sean, and Abby. Because Ben and Sean decide Abby is too tired to drive and that it's unsafe and besides, she needs to talk to Sean anyway, they make sure she stays at Sean's house. They take her keys. They smash the door when she opens it and threatens to walk, Ben says he'll call any patrol for a routine traffic stop if Sean says she's left, and they'll make sure she gets a ticket. And herein lies my issue w/ so many police officer books. If he's the least bit off-like he's an imperfect hero, he's problematic. Ben wasn't the hero, but still used his power to take Abby's away, and Sean is thankful for him.

A marine and a cop. A tired woman. Just give her a fucking ride, you assholes. Because that was terrible-I think the author clearly plays with power dynamics and really does make some sexy situations out of it. But that one was too much for me. (less) [edit]
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Jun 12, 2021 [edit] show less

I really loved both stories especially the second one. Anne Calhoun's writing is brilliant but the threesomes in both of the short stories bothered me. It was always used to show how much one of the characters didn't care for the other and used sex to push the other one away. I'm not a fan of that.