TEST
When I wrote a blog post for AAR called “Male fatphobia in romance novels,” I didn’t dare hope or ask for the bigger guys I find attractive to be heroes; I just begged authors to avoid stereotyping them as pathetic losers. Clearly, I had to try Jessa Kane’s short story Husky, which stars an overweight hero. It was a successful read, but one which comes with some caveats.
Parker Hauser won a reality design competition, and while most of her new collection is ready for unveiling at Fashion Week, she has nothing for her menswear line. Going for a walk to clear her head, she winds up at Daws Mulloy’s bar. One look at the bulky bartender, Daws himself, and Parker’s a goner. She needs him to model for her, but she needs something else from him even more.
While this is listed under Erotica on Amazon, I think the single core relationship and happy ending make Erotic Romance a better categorization. But yes, the sex scenes are scorching and well written, and they help the narrative progress. That’s important, because there are a lot of them, and there’s not enough page count in a short story to do sex and character separately.
Speaking of character… Daws is great. He’s gruff and loyal, and he questions that a banged-up, heavy, older guy like him could possibly be landing a girl like Parker. On her end of things, while I liked that she was genuinely good at sewing and design once inspired, I thought her young age (twenty-one) came across as immaturity when she had zilch for her menswear collection twenty-four hours out from her fashion week debut. Honey, I don’t care if you’re “uninspired.” Have SOMETHING to show, even if you hate it.
Part of what I liked about this book was the novelty of the reading experience. I usually glaze over descriptions of male torsos because, frankly, they don’t appeal. I’m not into hard ridges of muscle or smooth lines which carve a trail towards his belt buckle or whatever. Husky boldly gives me this:
“I watch in breathless anticipation as he reveals the thick hill of his stomach, the whorl of hair around his belly button. There is extra weight there and I’ve never, ever wanted to rub my face in anything so badly.”
This is the first time I’ve ever read an idea or an image like this from any place besides my own brain, and it was revelatory.
The downside is that I definitely felt a ‘fetish’ vibe from both Parker and Daws towards each other. It’s nice that Parker is captivated by Daws’ non-traditional body, but I wanted other reasons to be developed. Parker, meanwhile, draws appeal from being smaller, younger, gorgeous, and a virgin. She and Daws both use the nickname “Daddy” during sex, which hits me like doing the Ice Bucket Challenge mid-boink.
There’s a lot of financial potential for people who can prolifically crank out search-engine optimized specific sex scenarios, and that’s clearly the Jessa Kane business model. Her many fantasy premises, from nuns to stepbrothers to preachers and more, will run you ninety-nine cents for about sixty pages. However, unlike a lot of this stuff, there is quality in here. My vote? If she’s written something with a trope you like, go for it. You’ll get a lot of well-written banging for your buck.
Buy it at: Amazon
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Grade: B+
Book Type: Erotic Romance
Sensuality: Burning
Review Date: 27/08/20
Publication Date: 07/2020
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.
I'm a history geek and educator, and I've lived in five different countries in North America, Asia, and Europe. In addition to the usual subgenres, I'm partial to YA, Sci-fi/Fantasy, and graphic novels. I love to cook.
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Thank you for reviewing this book – I reckon I’d have never known it even existed otherwise (I very rarely read erotica) and I definitely want to check it out. Sure, it has some stuff that isn’t really my cup of tea such as Daddy kink, but that short excerpt was really something special. I mean, you just don’t find passages like that anywhere – or at least I haven’t been able to, and I’ve been looking. So I guess at this point I’m willing to overlook kind of a lot to be able to read something that lovely. And by lovely I mean well, lovely obviously but also hot.
I was all in until I heard they use “Daddy” during sex. Sorry, but I can’t. It just makes me cringe in mortification but the rest of it sounds interesting and I’ll definitely be on a look out for her next book.
Well. I hated this! Bummer. And I definitely think Hefty is the better book, despite its age issues, so maybe if you liked this one, you’d like it, too. Yes, Hefty features a pair of 18-year olds who secretly love each other & pined after each other since they met as young kids. I’d say I’m dubious about “love” at 18…but I met my husband when I was 15 & it’s 31 years later & he’s still the best. So there’s that. Anyway. It wasn’t a stretch for the story to go from friends to hand jobs on the bus in short order because they had lots of history with each other. I still have LOADS of issues with no condoms/sex at school, but those are separate from the ‘believability’ factor.
But, for me, Husky had no believability factor whatsoever. From a meet cute (I hesitate to call it that) to I think I’m in love with her (and vice versa) only FIVE HOURS later, I just couldn’t. Nope. Casual sex? Sure. Okay. True love in five hours? Not so much. No plot development, a virgin flashing her panties to A COMPLETE STRANGER SHE’S BROUGHT TO AN EMPTY OFFICE at night after picking him up in a bar by accidentally mentioning she’s a virgin in a bar full of men. Oh man. And again, Jessa Kane’s female heroines can’t get pregnant? No one uses condoms or discusses birth control, and these scenes ARE MESSY but how are they cleaning up?????
The only thing I liked about Husky was…nothing. This husky sized hero is all over the Highlands, often wears a kilt, and carries a claymore around in the event he might need to cut an English soldier in half after he steals his girl. I’m currently reading The Blood of Roses, by Marsha Canham, & there are at least 2 of husky Scottish heroes in this story.
I’m glad that you enjoyed this one & that we reviewed it here at AAR. Sorry to be a downer, but it was a D-/F+ for me.
Oh, thanks for commenting Em! I’m glad Caroline enjoyed the story too, but I wondered at several things mentioned in her review (no menswear line, but she (a 21-year-old virgin?) has time for sex? not to mention the whole “Daddy” thing) and thought no way would this be close to any kind of an A read for me.
I understand the appeal of this story & I can see how a different reader could enjoy – like! – it. I think my first mistake was reading Hefty first and then comparing the two. The speed of the relationship, even more than the Daddy and Baby kink, was the deal breaker for me. That said – the sex scenes are hot & I think a lot of Kane readers come for them more than anything else. I’ll amend and give her a D for the story, and a B for the sexy times.
“And again, Jessa Kane’s female heroines can’t get pregnant? No one uses condoms or discusses birth control, and these scenes ARE MESSY but how are they cleaning up?????”
That’s one of the things about erotica, even more so than in romance. A lot of erotica authors don’t consider discussions of birth control, condoms, clean-up, or aftercare sexy. So they just leave that stuff out to focus on the explicit sex scenes. But some erotica authors feel differently and incorporate a lot of what you mention. When it comes to something that’s essentially a sex story, it’s often a matter of reader/writer taste.
By the way, wasn’t there a discussion on AAR’s Ask a long time ago about this topic too?
I also vaguely remember one! It’s not a deal breaker for me, and I don’t read a lot of erotica. Any? I didn’t know that! Interesting.
You might enjoy this 2015 article in Salon entitled “Do condoms kill the mood of a book? Erotica authors don’t agree on safe sex demands.” Interesting reading: https://www.salon.com/2015/01/31/do_condoms_kill_the_mood_of_a_book_erotica_authors_dont_agree_on_safe_sex_demands/.
Even by short story standards I agree it was rushed. But it is a short story, and it does achieve a lot in the page count. I also find it not that different from “instalust” novels that take a lot of pages to say the same thing, which is that the characters had it figured out at first sight.
The only romance novel I can think of in recent memory that doesn’t go on about the hero’s rock hard abs and flat muscular stomach is Kristen Ashley’s “Bounty” from a few years back. The hero Deke is a big mountain of a guy who works constructing houses amongst some other jobs and the heroine thinks of his physique saying:
‘Not abs.
A manly stomach.
I had to admit, I was over the cut leanness that was all the rage. In the beginning, it was hot. But now it seemed daunting, men being so developed they didn’t have an inch of extra flesh on them, not like they were human beings but like they were diagrams of a body’s muscularity.
Not Deke.
Sure, with his line of work, it probably was impossible that he not have a powerful physique (which he did) including a defined ridge outlining the outer abdominals. He also had faint contours marking the two upper boxes.
The rest was a fur-covered stomach that didn’t protrude like a beer belly but instead declared him a man who lived his life, ate what he wanted¸ drank what he wanted, and if that gave him a hint of a gut, he didn’t give a f-“
He’s definitely not super heavy but it’s the first time that a hero was described as having a hint of a gut, or any kind of gut. And as most of Ashley’s heroines are described as being hot- but frequently softer around the middle than they would like it seemed very fair that a hero wasn’t all cut muscle perfection and I enjoyed it for a change.
I was also almost sold on this story until you mentioned “Daddy” talk (and thank you so much for doing so!) which is just a huge no for me.
I’ve noticed in recent novels that the hero is “lean” not heavily muscled.
I’ve seen “whipcord” thin and bulky, brawny, even “thickly” muscled guys.
You don’t often see a guy with a “belly” or a “gut” even though the heroines are often described as “curved” “soft” “rounded” or even self described as “chubby” etc.
“Lean” is the definitive adjective for Harlequin Presents. The heroes are handsome and well-built, but not six-pack abs or massive biceps, etc.
I also noticed that Rachel Reid’s TOUGH GUY refers to the hero having “a flat stomach but not a six-pack” (then they used a model on the cover with, you guessed it, six-pack abs).
You’re welcome! I’m always glad to hear something in the review was useful!
The whole review was great and I was on my way to probably one click it when I saw the dreaded Daddy. I really appreciate the variety of books AAR is reviewing and posting all the time! I
Funny. I just finished Xeni by Rebekah Weatherspoon last night, and it has an unapologetically large hero. I’m not sure where I got the rec to give the book a try.(I thought it was the comments section of Caroline’s essay but couldn’t find it with a quick skim.) Xeni was an “ok” read for me. It is the first Weatherspoon I’ve ever read. I really liked the characters (all of them, not just the main ones) and I really liked the lack of shame around sex by everyone involved. I really liked that the characters acted like real adults – no silly miscommunications or not talking about something because they couldn’t bring themselves to address an issue. But something about story overall just didn’t click for me. But for readers looking for a big guy, you might give Xeni a try.
I tried a Witherspoon about – I think – a lesbian vampire sorority and couldn’t even get through it, so she was off my list. I could try again though.
Yes, I saw your F review . . . and can’t blame you. It sounded like a bit of a mess. And as I said above, Xeni was only “ok”. I’m not sure I’ll read anything by her again without some improvement in the overall quality of the storytelling. If I were a reviewer maybe I could explain why all the good stuff I mentioned just doesn’t come together for me as a reader. I liked both MCs. I just didn’t buy them together? So, forewarned is fore-armed. But you did say you are looking for big guy MCs, so . . . ;-)
You tempted me with this one!
I did a bit of Kane research to decide if this might be for me, and based on reviews (and since most of her books are available on KU), I decided to read Hefty. Her fans seem to like it just a smidge better than Husky & I figured it would be a good “try it,” book. I liked it – but obv, too short to develop the characters & their relationship. And teenagers having sex without condoms, in school, is never going to work for me. I’m going to give Husky a try based on your review and the age level of the principal characters. Maybe I will like it better. I like to call books like these “sneakies,” – I can read them between/during other books I’m reading just for a diversion. Easy, breezy. Thanks for the review C! I love little finds like this.
I did the same but settled on Husky because I was worried Hefty would do what you said – involve teens (maybe even underage) having explicit sex. Thanks for reporting back and saving me from it.
Kane is skating on thin ice by setting a self-published erotica in high school, even if all the sexually active characters are 18-year old seniors. Amazon doesn’t list their smut rules, probably because they don’t want to project that image of themselves, but according to the stories I’ve read on Reddit, high school characters are a huge no-no because of the possible underage implications. College freshmen is sort of the unwritten minimum.
Honestly I had some qualms about reviewing this story because her backlist is definitely age-questionable. She has pieces which are not even on Amazon with titles like “Jailbait.” However, I didn’t read them to confirm unacceptable content. That’s outside the scope of a review. Also I’d have to know more about Kane’s own location to calL something Illegal (ex US is generally 18 for age of consent but many countries are 16 or 17). Anyway, it’s something I did grapple with before deciding to review this story.
“She has pieces which are not even on Amazon with titles like ‘Jailbait.'”
I have a hunch “Jailbait” was originally on Amazon but got blocked for content violations, because it’s no longer there. Her own website doesn’t list a book by that title. I found it on an old Goodreads link, no other references found.
The subreddit “eroticauthors” has an entire FAQ section devoted to what erotica authors have figured out by trial and error is and is not acceptable to publish through Amazon, since Amazon won’t come out and state the rules. Basically, all characters must be eighteen or older, not blood related (PI or pseudo-incest involving step-relations and in-laws used to fly under the radar, but not so much anymore), consent to all sexual activity (no rape, dubcon, hypnosis, sleep-sex, or drunken flings), and not do extremely kinky things like urinate or defecate on each other (sorry for that image). There has also been a crackdown on pseudo-bestiality like monsters, Big Foot, and paranormal stories where characters have sex mid-shift or in non-human form. In other words, shifter stories are okay, but all the characters have to be in full human form while doing the deed.
Plus, there are unwritten rules for what authors can put on “front facing matter” such as titles, covers, and blurbs. You can’t, for example, have naked people on the cover of the book or swear words in the title or description. Basically, Amazon doesn’t want somebody browsing books to be accidentally assailed by gratuitous butt cracks and overtly sexual titles. A title like “Jailbait” would definitely send up a red flag given its rape connotations.
These aren’t necessarily bad rules, but they are enforced inconsistently. And major famous authors with Big 5 publishers behind them can get away with pretty much anything. Self-published authors who write dubious content might slip through the censors initially or maybe get away with it long-term, but there is always the possibility that someone will complain about the content. When that happens, an Amazon reviewer can audit the author’s catalog and “adult flag” the book, meaning it can’t be found during a general search. This is known in the industry as “getting thrown in the Amazon dungeon,” because the book just languishes there unless a customer has a direct link. Worse, a book can be blocked, which puts a bad mark on the author’s record. Too many bad marks (nobody knows how many), and an author can be banned from publishing on KDP forever. Not a good thing considering they’re the biggest game in town!
Now, as for the really nasty stuff, there are markets for it. But Jessa Kane better watch her step if she wants to stay on Amazon’s good side.
16 here in the UK – I always have to stop and think when someone mentions underage sex and characters are 16/17 and remind myself they’re probably in the US. (Not that I’m condoning underage sex, just that “underage” is different in different places so the term should be qualified.)
Trouble is in the US there is no standard definition underage/age of consent. Federal law makes it criminal to engage in a sexual act with another person who is between the age of 12 and 16 if they are at least four years younger than you. However each state sets it’s own standard which may be an absolute age but more common is a minimum age with an allowable age difference. States must be more restrictive than federal law.
I am fine with 16 year olds having sex if they’re educated about birth control and making safe and deliberative choices. I have always found the idea that teens shouldn’t have sex to be Puritanical. But that’s just me.
I think the problem is that a line has to be drawn somewhere to protect young people whose brains aren’t fully developed from potentially predatory, full-grown adults. As for where that line actually is, it’s hard to say. If a culture wanted to be really stringent based on brain development, no one would be legally allowed to have sex until 24 or 25 years of age since brains develop until about that point. But it would be kind of silly to make 24 or 25 the minimum age for consent, wouldn’t it?
Aside from at what age does it become appropriate for characters to have sex, I just don’t have any interest in reading about teens and sex, especially in contemporary settings. I had sex at 16, and I’ve raised 5 teens. I’m not prudish, just uninterested. It still feels squiky to me to look in on a teens sexual relationships.I guess there is too much real life exploitation of teens and sex for me to feel comfortable with it.
I read a lot of “dark” romance—and many books begin with the heroine being underage, but there’s very rarely any full-on intercourse sex until the woman turns 18 (right off the top of my head, I can think of two recent romances where the heroine lost her virginity a few minutes after midnight on the day of her 18th birthday). Oddly enough, as long as nothing is described in any detail, I’ve seen references in romances to women losing their virginity much earlier. I hardly ever read anything that has a teenage hero, but there are often throwaway comments made by older heroes about how young they were when they started having sex—and it’s usually less than 18, but, again, nothing is explicitly described. I’m assuming this is how writers get around the prohibitions against anything that implies an underage character is sexually active.
“Daddy” during sex scene–nope, just nope.
I second that “nope!” It must be a thing though, because I see it in a lot of NSFW places.
I wonder if there are any romances where the hero calls the heroine “Mommy’ during sex.
I can’t recall ever reading that in a romance (thank God!), but I don’t think it would be unheard of in certain erotica niches like MILF (stands for “mothers I’d like f——“), such as a young college man getting seduced by an older neighbor who’s about the same age as his mother.
But believe me, “Mommy” talk and “Daddy” talk in romance or erotica are both icky to me.
I can think of few things that would wilt my desire faster than being called Mommy. So. Much. Ugh.
That was basically the difference between a B+ and an A-
Totally agree with this. There are many things one can call one’s lover, but this one is just the opposite of sexy to me. BTW, how old is he? The review says she is 21 but I didn’t see anything about his age (other than that he’s older).
Thanks for the review, Caroline. I’ve actually seen this on the top slot in the Amazon Erotica category for a few days, and it intrigued me. Imagine my surprise at seeing a review on AAR!
As for classifying “Hefty” as an erotic romance, there is a category for that on Amazon, but I’ve read on forums that it’s not good business sense to use it. I can’t remember the rationale for this- maybe because customers confuse it with steamy romance? But that could be the reason why Jessa Kane labeled her work as erotica instead. Also, I’ve noticed the erotic romance label just tends to disappear on search results for my own work, which may be why forums say it’s a “wasted category.” Amazon’s algorithms can be weird.
I like that description of the hero’s belly. I think a good romance or erotica author can make you feel the character’s attraction to the love interest even if it’s not the reader’s cup of tea. And when it is the reader’s cup of tea- that’s all the better! Glad you finally found a steamy story that’s right for you, Caroline.
On that note, it’s interesting there’s an erotica subcategory/official keyword on Amazon for BBW (big beautiful woman) but not BBM (big beautiful man). Double standard, much?
“There’s a lot of financial potential for people who can prolifically crank out search-engine optimized specific sex scenarios, and that’s clearly the Jessa Kane business model.” Definitely. Wish I could speak from experience…
Thanks for the explanation of the Amazon listing! I guessed it was a sales thing.
And yes, you’re right that we need to feel the character’s attraction, which is something I’ve often said about working class characters. The author can’t skate by on trappings – we actually have to fall for the character, not the clothes and the luxuries and the grounds at Pemberley (so to speak!)
You’re welcome!
“The author can’t skate by on trappings – we actually have to fall for the character, not the clothes and luxuries and the grounds at Pemberley (so to speak!)” I think that one’s, unfortunately, up for debate. AAR readers are pretty savvy and won’t fall for a generic Regency Duke story, but there are a lot of readers out there for whom the “trappings” are more than adequate.
I think that’s why you see so many erotica and romance alpha heroes who are over six feet tall with chiseled abs and square jawlines with perhaps a five o’clock shadow and a socially acceptable battle scar. Writers who want to make a living often have to play to the standard. And as much as AAR readers clamor for a variety of body types, we only make up a small minority of the population.
In short, I don’t think a romance writer/publisher ever went broke pumping out nothing but 25-year old ripped, war-scarred, broody Regency-era alpha dukes With A Tragic Past.
There’s definitely a lot of romance readers out there with a thing for really tall men. I don’t just mean well over 6 feet tall. Since I’ve fallen into the whole Kindle Unlimited thing I have been just astonished by the number of books with gods, shifters, aliens and you name it who are all like 7 feet tall. Does anyone realize how big 7 feet is on a human? I’ve known male professional athletes in the 6’5-6’8 range and it’s astonishing how they tower over even a 6 foot tall man. And the women in the novels range from petite to 6 feet tall. It’s just over top.
7 feet tall? Good heavens! I realize a lot of romance readers are into tall men (as are a lot of women in general if statistics are to be believed), but can’t they see the problem with logistics? It might be sexy for a heroine to tilt her lips upward to meet the hero’s in a long, ardent kiss, but how sexy is it for a 7 foot tall alien shifter god to pick up the petite heroine 2 feet off the ground like a ragdoll to make their mouths meet? (Maybe it is… not judging.)
I’m still waiting for short and/or androgynous heroes to have their day in the romance spotlight. But maybe that’s just me…
Not to mention the on-going expenses of large houses with large rooms to accommodate large beds and extra-large (ergo expensive) bedding and business class flights for that extra leg room and the physio therapy for your neck from looking up at that 7′ tall chap. And poorly feet from wearing 5″ heels to see his face. Really, it’s so silly!!!
My husband was 6’6″ when we met–I’m 5’8″–and, let me tell you, it’s tall. I have a nephew who is 6’10” he towers over my husband. 7 feet is crazy!
I think we can all agree there’s a lot of, um, “size-ism” in romance novels—and I’m not just referring to the hero’s height!