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Kayla Perrin’s latest, Gimme An O, is a fun read with believable characters and a witty dialogue that keeps the pages turning. The book hit one of my romance novel hot buttons, though, limiting my enjoyment somewhat.
Lecia Calhoun, a.k.a Dr. Love, worked for years as a medical doctor and then a sex therapist. Now her dreams have finally come true: her first book, Gimme An O, is published and garnering rave reviews, making her the latest pop culture sensation. Nothing could be better – except maybe the good doctors’ love life.
Anthony Beal’s life, on the other hand, is a total a mess. Two short weeks ago he had it all the money, fame, and endorsements befitting his status as a professional football player with a beautiful wife. But in the space of ten minutes his life went to hell. He was just trying to help what he thought was a women in distress, but it turns out she was a hooker, and now he has been labeled the latest pro athlete bad boy. His wife of five months has filed for divorce and is leaving him and taking five million with her in accordance with their prenuptial agreement. Anthony just wants his life back, he wants the media to go away, and he wants his wife to at least talk to him. But first he needs a little help.
Lecia’s new book has affected many of her readers’ lives, including star quarterback Anthony Beal’s wife, Ginger. After the incident with a hooker and some advice from Lecia, Ginger decides to leave her husband. Anthony wants to explain it’s all a big mistake, but Ginger’s not listening. Anthony figures if he can get Lecia’s help then he can get his wife and his life back to normal. Instead, with Lecia’s help, things get far worse really quickly.
Ginger turns up missing and foul play is suspected. Anthony and Lecia go on a road trip to try to find her and instead find an attraction to one another. Anthony soon discovers his estranged wife is not at all who she seemed to be and the good doctor may just be the woman for him. What to do?
Herein lies my biggest problem with the book: infidelity to me in romance novels is unacceptable. He is not divorced, so pursuing a woman who you want to help you get your wife back just does not work for me. I know there were a lot of extenuating circumstances (she lied, she had already filed for divorce, the reader knows early on she is cheating) but these excuses still do not make his behavior acceptable to me. If I had been reading the book for pleasure and not for review the minute the romance with Lecia started I would have put the book down and moved on. Since this is a book for review I tried to set aside my romance novel biases and continued reading.
I’m glad I did, because aside from the whole infidelity thing, the book is quite enjoyable. Instead of one-dimensionality, Anthony is very complex, and likable in that he drew on his past experiences and tried not to make the same mistakes as his father. I also liked how Lecia used her knowledge as a therapist to analyze what was happening between her and Anthony. She knew logically with her brain she was falling in love but could not stop her heart from loving him. Although Perrin used the clichĂ© of the shy-in-bed sex therapist, Lecia’s character still worked for me.
All things combined, Gimme An O was fun read. The story was quite humorous at points, and the main characters make the book worth reading. The mystery of who is Ginger played out rather predictably and the infidelity bothered me, but I still walked away liking the book.
Grade: B-
Book Type: Contemporary Romance
Sensuality: Hot
Review Date: 06/01/05
Publication Date: 2005
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.