Uncommon Passion

So Ben is a real jackass, a detached commitment-phobe and we all know how those books can easily slip over the line into harsh and terrible. And this is erotic romance without a doubt, and the heroine who is extremely to my liking (Rachel) balances Ben's world-weary cynicism with a refreshing, believable curiosity and independence. And I'm just absolutely *into* the sex tutor premise. Ugh - love them.

In such a book, with so much time devoted to sex on page it could be extremely easy to feel detached from the couple...

But I really shed more tears than I care to admit. For them, both of them, each of them, and I really thought it was on my angst list but apparently it was another from this author, but I will be stunned if this doesn't end show more up my favorite of hers.

And what? He's LE! But guess what, it really folds into his character.

As I said, Ben could have easily fallen flat, but the author does this wonderful stuff with his backstory and his brother, and you find out he's actually incredibly tethered, just a defensive idiot. And it's glorious. And angsty.

I haven't been reading much and I didn't really want to read this either, it was due back and the library in 4 days and I thought I wouldn't finish. Instead, here I sit approximately 5.5 hours later, eyes stinging and truly appreciating how this author exposed the characters and their vulnerability.

I didn't even want to write a review and here I am, still gushing .... show less

I love stories with strong emotional undercurrents, they're like my crack - just like broken boys. This story gave me both. Very much a character driven story about the journey of a broken man who finds not only himself, but his relationship with his family, his twin brother and a woman he finally loves.

I don't think I need to state that Ben was by far my favorite character in this; but Sam, his twin, and Rachael, the woman he falls for were also very strong characters. It's nice to see a woman have such a strong role; Rachael was pretty fierce. And despite the sheltered life she'd led, she stayed true to herself regardless of what was thrown at her. I haven't seen that in many books lately. Quite refreshing. And Ben's relationship show more with his brother was beautifully written, a little codependent at times, but beautiful nonetheless.

It's written in both POV's, but in such a way that's not annoying. I never minded the periodic switches because I became so invested in both of them that I wanted to be in their heads.

I don't think it was intended for Ben to be the main character, but for me he was. And I say that because he was the character who changed the most throughout the book. He's also the one that brought out the most emotion in me as I was reading. (Whether or not it's because of my own preferences, I honestly can't say. He just did.) For some, his redemption may have come too late. For me, once he'd let Rachael in, I knew he'd get there eventually, so I wasn't worried. (If it had been different, there'd be a whole different tone to this review.) I think Rachael always knew what she wanted. She just needed to find the confidence to go after it. Ben gave her that.

This was a new author for me, and while it's not terribly original or teeming with plot twists, the writing is good and solid. I will probably look into her other works and give a couple of them a try.

I haven't given out many five star or would read again ratings lately, but this one did it for me. I really enjoyed it. show less

Reading all the reviews online I wasn't sure, if I even wanted to try out Uncommon Passion by Anne Calhoun, as the hero wasn't portrayed to be the nicest person around the corner and I have little tolerance for jerks. Funnily, as it turned out I was able to connect more with Ben than the heroine who is probably one of the strangest of her kind I have ever read about in a romance novel.

After having grown up in a very religious and strict community, Rachel Hill decided to run away from home to discover "out there in the wild world" who she really was. One item on her list is getting rid of her virginity without the emotional entanglement and pity most men would probably feel because of her past. She decides that Ben is the right choice show more for this task and pays 2000$ for him during a charity bachelor auction.

What follows are rounds and lessons in sex while slowly Ben's stoic and detached behaviour he uses to shield his heart from more hurt starts to crumble.

Ben isn't what I would call a nice person, but there is some ingrained decency in him which is constantly shown as the story progresses. At the age of sixteen he learned to shut down his heart when his gay twin brother left home because of their homophobic father. During the story I get more insight into Ben's motivations and feelings than Rachel's. In a way she is one of the coldest and most perfect heroine's I have encountered in a book. Yes, leaving her home was hurtful, but she always appears so damn composed. While I absolutely love her straight and forward behaviour and the lack of coyness, she has absolutely no flaws. Growing up in the surrounding she has, it was forbidden to show any emotions but happiness. During the story I get a few hints that she is capable of other feelings, but they are so few and far in between. I wanted to shake her to please show some emotions that would make her more human. She doesn't cry, she doesn't show anger, there's apparently no hurt in her, no exuberant joy. And frankly, trying just now to put my thoughts into words, I realise how boring she was in her demeanour. A good book is all about character growth, and I think Rachel would have earned the right to show some real explosions of feelings.

I guess that my problems with Rachel are the reasons why I didn't find the explicit sex scenes all that scorching. I felt distanced from them and they often read more like a clinical description than a hot encounter. Rachel and Ben's relationship really does progress with the sex scenes and the author could have used those encounters to show the love growing between them, but as soon as they have finished they jump apart and get clothed. I didn't except an hour long cuddling, but a slight caress here and there would have made the growing love more realistic. I am deeply disappointed with this story because there was so much potential to it. D (the for the ending which was done in a lovely way). show less

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: A 25-year-old virgin who’s lived a very cloistered life decides to put all that to rest by bidding on a bachelor at an auction. They decide to embark on a no strings attached sexual journey designed to show this virgin exactly what she’s been missing.

Opening Sentence: When a big black pickup truck zoomed up and parked in the fire zone in front of Silent Circle Farm’s educational center, Rachel Hill got to her feet.

The Review:

To be completely honest, this really isn’t my normal type of book. While I love romance, I tend to gravitate more towards romantic suspense or paranormal romances rather than contemporary romances because I like a little action thrown in with a love story. show more So, I wasn’t initially very excited to read this book. For the most part, my initial feelings were justified; however, the last 10-15 percent of the book made me bump up my rating to 3 stars.

Rachel Hill is a 25-year-old virgin. She has spent the majority of her life in a religious commune where women were raised to be wives and mothers. When she began to show interest in the realm of science, her elders chastised her for behaving incorrectly. Eventually, this became too much for her to bear, and she left, leaving the world she knew behind. It’s been six months, and Rachel is now helping out on a farm, with hopes of going to vet tech school in the fall. To raise money, the farm holds a bachelor auction. It is here Rachel first sees Ben Harris. Rachel wants to start experiencing life and everything it has to offer, and she feels Ben is the perfect person to introduce her to the carnal side of life. He’s a man who doesn’t form attachments, the very definition of a “love them and leave them” kind of guy. When Ben realizes after their first night together that Rachel was a virgin, he offers to help her gain experience, no strings attached. Thus begins a relationship that will change both of them forever.

I think my biggest problem with this book is that I didn’t feel I was given the chance to really get to know the characters. From the moment Ben and Rachel meet, the reader gets very little opportunity to see either of them in their day to day lives; instead, we see them every time they meet to have sex, which really got old for me and didn’t offer much in the way of character development. What I did get to see of Rachel, I really liked. I admire how she basically uprooted her whole life in an effort to figure out who she was. It takes a very strong person to be able to do that, especially when it means your family may never speak to you again.

Ben, on the other hand, I didn’t like at all. He’s cocky, emotionally closed off, and sleeps with a different person every week. When Rachel tries to have a conversation with him to find out more about him, he completely shuts her down. He is just not a likeable character, and remains that way for a large majority of the book. The book occasionally hints at why he’s like this, but we didn’t get the full story until much too late for me to really change how I felt about him as a character.

The last 10 to 15 percent of the book really showed me how good of a book this could have been. We get more interaction with secondary characters, and both Rachel and Ben grow individually. I found myself reading faster to see how things were going to turn out. If the whole book could have been like this, my rating would have been much higher. As it is, the last portion of the book only served to bump up what would have been a 2-star rating to a 3-star one. While the end of the book showed promise, I’m really not interested in reading more in this series and most likely will not do so.

Notable Scene:

“It’s okay. Tell me why you like coming here.”

She considered this for a moment, working through answers in her head. “I like watching them,” she said. “I can tell that some of them are scared, but being brave. Some of them are so confident I’m envious. Emotion is so close to the surface here. They’ve chosen the song or the poem or whatever because it’s meaningful, so there’s that. Then there’s all the emotion that goes into going up on stage and performing. Fear, dread, anxiety, hope, pride, shame, humor, everything.”

He was silent for a moment, then said, “I don’t get it.”

People were returning to their seats carrying desserts, wedges of the café’s specialty carrot cake, crème brûlèe, or truffles. She used the increased noise and activity to cover the length of time it took to gather her thoughts.

“Everyone thinks the worst part about being at Elysian Fields was the superficial things,” she said, keeping her voice low. “Not being fashionable, or keeping my hair long, or not going to college, or not having sex. And it was bad…although I didn’t know that until later. What I did know is that any time I felt sad, or angry, or hurt, I was chastised for it. Anything but a joyous countenance is considered being disrespectful to parents or authority figures. Even a sin. Everyone assumes I left to have sex, to choose my own husband, to direct my own life. And I did. But I left because I’d been disciplined when I felt anything else. I wanted to feel. To have experiences that made me feel.”

FTC Advisory: Berkley/Penguin provided me with a copy of Uncommon Passion. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. show less

4.5 stars

Such a unique romantic novel! I would have loved to see some more of Ben and Rachel together in the end.

(The cover is nice to look at but so unsuitable for this book.)

I was given Uncommon Passion for an honest review by Manic Readers

Rachel Hill lived a very shelter religious life in a place where her opinion meant nothing because she was a woman. She gave up her only living relative to find her own dream. She is ready to experience all life has to offer including the pleasure to be found with a man. That is where Ben Harris comes in. Purchasing Ben in the auction, he will be the perfect man to take her virginity from her and he probably wouldn't even notice.

Uncommon Passion's cover is definitely an eye catcher for Uncommon Passion and the blurb sold me on getting this book for review.

To see rest of review please visit http://lauralusbookreviews.blogspot.com/2014/12/uncommon-passion-by-anne-calhoun...

May have to return to this. Just couldn't get into the heroine or the hero for that matter. Meh.