LynneC’s review of Dare She Kiss and Tell? by Aimee Carson
Contemporary Romance published by Mills and Boon 1 Jun 12
Hunter Philips is an ex-FBI agent, who is now in business with his best friend, and has made a mint developing apps. One of them is the Ditchinator, a so-called witty way to break off an affair. Carly Wolfe objects to this approach, and challenges Hunter to a TV meet on a popular talk show. The network is owned by her father, but he has nothing to do with his daughter’s challenge, although Hunter suspects the show might be weighted against him. He turns up anyway.
In person, Hunter is more than Carly bargains for, and they start a hot and heavy affair, although neither are looking for permanence. Hunter has dated a journalist before, and lost his job over it, when she leaked something he didn’t have anything to do with. He misses his life as an agent, despite making a fortune with his business.
Hunter and Carly both refuse to admit what is happening to them, and while they do, we get to go along for the ride. The sex is hot and fun, more than in many books from this line, and the tone is modern, sassy, and believable. I enjoyed this read, and it was a breath of fresh air among all the sheikhs, virgins, waifs, and billionaires.
The one time I noticed when the author’s research let her down is when Hunter takes Carly onto the firing range and lets her fire his Glock 9mm (a 17 or a Gen4 19 presumably). Glocks don’t have external safety switches, though when Hunter is instructing Carly, he constantly refers to it and tells her to be careful. And handguns aren’t loaded with magazines, they have clips or cartridges. The mental feature that evokes made me stop and smile, even though at that point I think we’re supposed to be thinking about the badass Hunter. And the recoil from a Glock isn’t that bad, especially with a 9mm. He keeps telling her to brace herself for it. However, that I could gloss over without the safety catch and the magazine. I’m not sure why that scene was there, since guns don’t feature in the story and Carly is never in the kind of situation where she might need one. It didn’t develop the characters, either, just emphasized Hunter’s badassery and his protectiveness, elements that are explained elsewhere. The space given to this scene could have been spent developing or resolving plot elements that aren’t fully explored. Like her issues with her father, her previous mistakes, or his.
The banter between the hero and heroine is fun and makes the characters come to life. The problem I have is the sudden wrapping up of the issues and their happy-ever-after. It doesn’t quite ring true for me. They have some issues yet to resolve, which could break them up. It also has villain turned hero in the image of her father, who isn’t as black as Carly painted him for most of the book. I did enjoy that Carly is neither a virgin nor a pseudo virgin (tried it once, didn’t like it), and her experience adds to the scenes between the pair.
Grade: B
Summary:
Introducing Hunter Philips – the heartbreaker of Miami… Hunter Philips sends Carly Wolfe’s journalistic radar into overdrive – what kind of heartless man invents a callous break-up app called The Ditchinator? Challenging him to a TV showdown, she doesn’t bank on Hunter’s ice-blue stare and lethal charisma setting her heart racing… After a professional scandal resulted in her losing her job, Carly has relegated love to the back page. A sizzling fling with Hunter would definitely stretch her ‘no emotional involvement’ rule to breaking point, but what’s an enterprising journalist to do? It might be all to get a headline – but Carly’s hoping her plan won’t backfire in her usual spectacular style…
Read an excerpt.
