Publisher: Samhain
Publish Date: Out now
How we got this book: ARC from the author
The road to passion is paved with guilty pleasures.
Faith Hillman is in a bit of a pickle. She’s been commissioned to write a series of magazine articles on spicing up your love life. She’s got the theme—the “Seven Sexy Sins”—but there’s one major problem. She hasn’t experienced any of them.
Ever since Faith’s older brother gave Rusty Thorne a black eye for kissing her on her eighteenth birthday, he’s kept his distance, waiting for the right time to make his move. This is it. She needs a research partner? He’s the man for the job.
When sex-on-legs Rusty offers his services, Faith is all over it—with one caveat. The notorious heartbreaker must sign a confidentiality contract. Just to keep him safe from her brother’s wrath, of course…and her heart off Rusty’s long list of conquests.
As they work their wicked way through the list, the implications of the contract hit Rusty as hard as the handcuffs binding his wrists to the bed. It isn’t just Faith’s touch that rocks his world. It’s the way his heart likes it that blows his defenses out of the water. And makes him wonder, when the contract ends, if he can bear to let her go.
Warning: Includes rebellious hero who enjoys inserting Tab A into Slots B, C, and even occasionally D. Also includes highly inappropriate use of a Mars Bar.
This blurb came from the author’s website here.
E: I was browsing my list of book blogs that I frequent when I came across an excerpt of Seven Sexy Sins on RR@H Novel Thoughts & Book Talk and I loved it. It looked like this story contained two of my favorite tropes; friends to lovers and childhood crush on big brother’s friend. I had to share the excerpt with MinnChica. She loved it too. After talking about it a bit more we decided we would try to contact the author and ask about the possibility of getting a review copy or if she had a point of contact we should talk to. Woods graciously agreed and provided us with a copy. I was very glad to see that the story lived up to the promise I saw in her excerpt.
MinnChica: Yeah, the excerpt in this book was awesome, and after reading it, knew I would enjoy the book in it’s entirety. I was so glad that Woods gave us the chance to review this book. I’m a huge fan of my smutty romances, and I am happy to announce that Woods has just added herself as an author that I will be able to count on for some quality smut, good romance, and overall great storyline.
E: This book certainly provided quality smut. I also liked that despite their pre-established friendship or maybe because of it Faith and Rusty had to actually work on their romance. They accepted their physical lust for each other but even then the doubts between their knowledge of each other’s prowess, their imagination and then the actual situations were great to see. That made both characters seem more realistic and allowed me to buy into their relationship as it grew from “research” into something more. I also enjoyed the interaction within the circle of friends. Some of those conversations had me laughing so hard I had to find a tissue for my eyes.
MinnChica: I couldn’t agree more. I loved the fact that because they were such good friends, the romance and sexy times didn’t come easily for them. Not only were they both nervous at times, but they also doubted themselves, each other, and the situations they kept putting themselves into. It made for a strained courtship, but I liked it. I am always hesitant in friends to lovers stories when the hero and heroine don’t consider how the sex will change things between them. For Faith and Rusty, that seemed to be constant thought at the back of their minds the whole time. I liked the added tension it brought into play, both between them and between their group of friends, whom they left in the dark regarding their arragement.
E: Yes! I don’t care what anyone else says sex is going to change things. The inclusion of that was wonderfully done. The one area that I thought was a little weak was how Rusty’s students knew more of what was going on then their circle of friends. Given how both Faith and Rusty were trying to keep what was going on secret I thought they would have acted with a bit more discretion around his students. It did make me wonder if word was going to get back to other people through those students.
MinnChica: Yeah, it didn’t bother me so much that his students seemed suspicious of them, however I wondered why none of their friends caught onto the somewhat obvious undertones and changes in their relationship. I was actually surprised that it took so long for Faith’s best friend to pick up on it, and that it took them so long to come clean about it. I do have to say though, I did enjoy the way that Faith’s older brother handled finding out one of his best friends was her “mystery man.” I thought his reaction was real and honest and I loved the bickering, fighting and acceptance when Rusty came clean with his feelings. That aspect of it really worked for me!
E: I both dreaded and then loved that scene. I could tell it was hard enough on Faith’s brother finding out that his sister not only wasn’t innocent but was fully enjoying her lack of innocence and then learning that it was one of his best friends. I also have to say that I think my favorite part was how the friends grouped together to help Rusty overcome his understandable fear of commitment. That made me fall a little in love with Faith’s brother because it showed that he really loved his sister and wanted her happy above all else. He also wanted his friend happy.
MinnChica: I don’t know that I agreed with the way Rusty’s friends tried to help him overcome his fear of commitment. Without giving away too much, I didn’t think it was very supportive of his friends to throw him in the deep end, especially in that particular situation.
However, all in all, I really enjoyed this book. I loved the romance between Rusty and Faith, especially the tender moments while they were getting ready to get down-and-dirty. Add in the smutty times that were not cheap, instead sexy and emotional. With the great cast of secondary characters this was an all around wonderful friends to lovers book.
I give Seven Sexy Sins a B-
E: I enjoyed this book as well. Like MinnChica said the characters went through the full spectrum of emotions which added so much depth. Even in the beginning when it was purely “research” their caring for each other was evident which made their encounters worth so much more. I enjoyed how Woods took the tropes and gave them a breath of fresh air. I am looking forward to seeing what she comes up with next.
I give Seven Sexy Sins a B
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