C2’s review of Double Down (Vegas Top Guns, Book 1) by Katie Porter
Contemporary Romance published by Samhain 31 Jul 12
A new name in romance brings us a sizzling new series set in Las Vegas and starring Air Force fighter pilots. I mean, really, where is the bad in that setup? Katie Porter is actually the team of Lorelie Brown and Carrie Lofty – and the result of their teamwork is most enjoyable, indeed.
Major Ryan Haverty is stationed at an Air Force base near Las Vegas. Ryan has some romantic issues left from being dumped by his fiancée in college. Apparently, she and Ryan did not have similar…tastes. Since then, Ryan has tried very, very hard to be happy with more mainstream ideas of what couples should and should not enjoy and has done his best to shape his life into his vision of what it should be – even if it means suppressing some of his more unusual desires. However, one look at the seamed stockings of a waitress and he can’t resist…
Cassandra Whitman is waiting tables to support herself until she gets a full-time paying position at a local museum. Cass does not enjoy her waitressing job – not since she is no longer dating her manager (the owner’s son, no less). Awkward! Of course, she’s been hit on by customers before and usually just laughs it off, but there’s something about Ryan…When he asks her to go out with him after her shift, she agrees.
Cass could tell that Ryan liked the stockings and her braids and was quite willing to play along. Little did he know they would end up steaming up a dressing room at an adult toy store and then role-playing at a hotel on the Strip later. And little did Cassandra realize just how much she would enjoy the games. Ryan enjoys it too – more than he’s comfortable with. All through their first weekend together (some first date, yes?), he keeps telling himself it is okay because he hadn’t asked her to wear the stockings or braid her hair or play dress-up but, in the end, he still feels like a pervert and just wants to be normal.
Even as their relationship continues and Ryan and Cass get closer, he continues to be embarrassed by his desires – even though Cass has never said anything about feeling uncomfortable or implied that she didn’t enjoy everything (because she DOES enjoy it!). Ryan tries to keep in mind his vision of what normal is. And even as he encourages Cassandra to reach for what she wants in life, he stays stuck in place. That is my only issue with the book. I’m mad at Ryan for letting one uptight girlfriend color his whole view of himself forever. I mean, he’s a smart guy…he surely knows that whatever two consenting adults do in the privacy of their home or anyplace else is fine. But he continues to tell himself he is a pervert and so wrong for wanting what he wants. If this were set in a different era, I would understand it, but I struggle with his idea of perversion in 2012. Maybe that says something about me instead of him… Heh.
However, that quibble aside, I very much enjoyed Double Down and am ever so excited to read the next two books. Faithful reader, if you are looking for a sizzling contemporary and like men in (or out of) uniform, you should definitely check out this new series.
Grade: B+
Summary:
Desire as reckless as a fighter jet in freefall…and just as dangerous.
Vegas Top Guns, Book 1As part of the 64th Aggressor Squadron, Major Ryan “Fang” Haverty flies like the enemy to teach Allied pilots how not to die. The glittering excess of the Strip can’t compare to the glowing jet engines of his F-16. But a sexy, redheaded waitress in seamed stockings? Now she gets his blood pumping.
Cassandra Whitman’s good-girl ways haven’t earned any slack from her manager ex-boyfriend, or prevented a bad case of frazzle from holding down two and a half jobs. She sure wouldn’t mind letting the handsome Southern charmer shake up her routine.
Their wild weekend lives up to Sin City’s reputation. Especially when they discover a matched passion for roleplaying. For Cass, it’s an exciting departure from her normal, shy persona. But for Ryan, it triggers memories of a time when his fetish drove away the woman he loved–leaving him reluctant to risk a repeat performance.
Except Cass refuses to settle for ordinary ever again. She’s about to show the man with hair-trigger hands that she’s got a few surprise moves of her own.
Warning: This book contains dirty-hot roleplaying, featuring an all-alpha fighter pilot and an ambitious waitress with a fabulous imagination. Also: dressing-room sex, a plaid schoolgirl skirt, and a sprinkling of spankings.
Read an excerpt.
Other books in the series (coming soon):
I felt pretty much the same about this book, but just as I was getting really fed up with Ryan, there was a scene that made me much more understanding of his hang-up. Because other people finding out about that kink? Yeah, awkward and embarrassing. And I know a lot, A LOT, of people who feel that “normal” means “what everybody does,” and it can be hard to accept that you’re not “normal.” So in the end, I was okay with the time it took him to acknowledge his desires.
This is definitely a good start to the series.
SonomaLass – I know you’re right…and I understood where Ryan was coming from but he was being so hard on himself and no one else. 🙁 I’ve just started the second book – so far, so good! Yay!