Showing posts with label Donovan Brewery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Donovan Brewery. Show all posts

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Real Men Will by Victoria Dahl

Ah! Finally, a return to Dahl's best form. The first two books in this series featured characters I wasn't very fond of. Tessa was whiny and needy, Jamie refused to be saved, and Eric was just a know-it-all jerk. The three are siblings whose parents died leaving Eric in charge. He felt like he had to become the man his father was. Well, the man who had adopted him and then fathered Jamie and Tessa. Even though Eric took over the family brewery, he never really felt like a Donovan, even after all these years.
He's incredibly uptight and has only let loose with a woman once in recent history. It was the manager of the local sex store, Beth Cantrell, and he pretended to be his brother Jamie (who is a man-slut, at least in Eric's view.) They had a torrid one-night-stand, he couldn't figure out how to admit the truth to her and, frankly, was a little scared of how much she did rock his world.
Beth has her own problems. She's not nearly as adventurous as she appears to be. The sex column she supposedly writes is actually authored by several of the employees in her store. Meanwhile, the scars of a horrible high school rumor still haunt her to this day, making her relationship with her father nonexistent. 
But the two are massively attracted to each other and there are some s-t-e-a-m-y sex scenes. The writing was awesome.
I couldn't give the book five stars because both Tessa and Jamie, who had come pretty far in their own books, seemed to regress back to their original personalities. That being said, I have to repeat that this is probably my favorite of the trilogy.
Read alikes: Lead Me On by Victoria Dahl, Dream a Little Dream by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Good Girls Don't by Victoria Dahl


Good Girls Don't (Donovan Brothers Brewery, #1)A break-in at a family restaurant usually has siblings circling the wagons. But the Donovans are a little different. Tessa is the youngest but she has been desperately trying to hold the three of them together for years. Ever sine their parents died, Eric has been raising both Tessa and their brother Jamie ("the irresponsible one.") The bickering between the two brothers threatens to tear the family apart and ruin a pending business deal. It seems that Jamie went home with the daughter of Roland Kendall, got caught by Roland, and may or may not have let her see the alarm code, thus creating more suspects for the break-in.

Luke Asher is on the scene as a detective investigating the crime. He's a friend of Jamie's who is rumored to have impregnated his partner. He and Tessa are immediately attracted to each other and when she asks him to dinner, Luke immediately accepts. Of course, Jamie and Eric aren't too happy about this but Tessa doesn't seem to care. She's too busy telling little white lies to keep her family whole. She doesn't want a reationship... but she can't seem to let Luke go.

I'll put it out there. Tessa irritated me. Alot. She had some issues stemming from her parent's death but it wasn't explained until the end. And really,, even with those issues, it doesn't explain why she's willing to risk the family business just to cover up for a brother who is old enough to take care of himself. Enable much? I like characters to have flaws but this Tessa is beyond annoying. It really took the entire experience of reading this book down a couple of notches for me. It is probably the least favorite of my books by this author.

That being said, I love Victoria Dahl and am looking forward to the rest of the series.