Saturday, August 7, 2010

Review: TALK ME DOWN by Victoria Dahl


When Molly Jennings moves back to her hometown of Tumble Creek, CO after ten years, she brings with her a secret that even her family does not know about.  She is a best-selling erotic romance writer.  Soon after arriving, Molly discovers the flames of her old crush on Ben Lawson, now the Chief of Police, have never burnt out.  In fact, the chemistry between them is still red-hot.  Chief Lawson abhors gossip and scandal in his small town, and he is determined to hold Molly off until he discovers her secrets.  Unfortunately, Molly’s crazy stalker is on the loose and Ben’s duty-bound to protect her. 

Molly is a force of nature and not easily swayed.  I like that about her.  She is sexually empowered, but not trampy about it.  Ben is reserved and professional, yet he also has a soft artistic side that few people know about.  These characters have excellent chemistry on the page and make for an entertaining novel. 

The mystery of Molly’s stalker is slightly predictable; yet, not annoyingly so.  Even if the reader figures it out early, the love story is engaging enough to keep you hooked.  At first, I liked Molly’s keeping her profession a secret.  I understand the need for discretion and I love the idea of having a secret life.  However, her secret-keeping became annoying and blown out of proportion toward the end.  Writing erotica might require some delicate handling, but it’s not shameful.  Molly kept saying she was proud of her work and what she did, so why all the need to be Secret Squirrel about it?  Yes, I know she used Ben as her muse at times, but he probably would have handled it better had she been honest up front. 

Overall, I give Talk Me Down by Victoria Dahl…

Plot – 2 ½ bookmarks
Character Development – 3 bookmarks
Love Story – 3 ½ bookmarks
Mystery Story  – 2 bookmarks
Sex Scenes – 4 bookmarks
Dream Cast (otherwise known as who I pictured while reading) – Allison Munn (Molly), Galen Gering (Ben)

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