This RITA® Reader Challenge 2016 review was written by Turophile. This story was nominated for the RITA® in the Short Contemporary Romance category.

Here is Turophile's review:

I find it hard to enjoy a book when the writing style distracts me from paying attention to the story. If I hadn’t committed to reviewing this book for the RITA Challenge, I don’t think I would have made it past chapter two. Be warned, this is not a book for readers who value logic or crisp writing.

The first few chapters contained a catalog of style and grammar pet peeves and errors: clunky, run-on sentences; sentences that were missing words or clauses; punctuation fails; incorrect pronouns. Character descriptions felt overly dramatic. For example, the heroine referred to the hero as “high and mighty” even though she’s never met him before. There was also a lot more telling when I’d have preferred to see showing. After the first few chapters, either the writing improved, or I noticed the errors and ticks less and settled in to enjoy the story.

One thing that is less forgivable were the statements that sent the wrong message. For example, the hero, Tyrone, chastises the heroine, Zelda, about jumping in the water in her underwear by telling her, “You’re lucky you didn’t get raped.”

ARGH! I know he’s not suggesting she deserved it, but any suggestion that clothing, or lack thereof, causes rape is wrong. WRONG!

Now on to the rest of the book . . .

The story begins with a flash-back to a private school where we meet Zelda and her friends, who populate the other books in this series. Zelda and her friends have been hauled before Mother Superior after they got drunk on communion wine. Tyrone, the brother of Zelda’s friend Dawn, is there to support his sister. The two of them develop an unnecessary and somewhat inexplicable dislike for each other at first glance. Zelda’s emotionally unavailable brother Seb is also there, fresh out of the French Foreign Legion. Their wealthy parents had died a few years earlier and Seb had shipped Zelda off to Catholic boarding school.

The pair reunites a few years later after Zelda decides to make a career change. She begins by taking her clothing off and jumping in the river, as one does when you want to make a career change. She’s promptly arrested, brought to jail, and charged with a misdemeanor. So she calls Dawn to get Tyrone’s phone number so he can bail her out. Except, it probably wasn’t necessary. Unless New York has some strange quirk in its legal system, you don’t need a lawyer to show up and pay your fine for you. And why was she in jail in the first place? And why did she claim she only got one phone call when she had to call Dawn first to get the phone number? Stop thinking and you’ll enjoy the story.

To avoid the press, Zelda retreats to Tyrone’s boat. Then it starts getting interesting. Two people, closed quarters. You know what’s next – badonga-donga. Really good badonga-donga. Zelda decides she wants more, so she presents Tyrone with her terms and conditions. The most important is that this is a one-weekend affair. He agrees, but as you might expect they both begin to recognize the flaw in this plan. You can guess what happens from there.

There’s aspects to like about this book. I enjoyed how their attraction unfolded. The way Zelda protects her sobriety while learning to have a relationship felt real. If you can get beyond some of the writing challenges, you may enjoy this book.