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What a great little book! Emily McKay’s Perfectly Sexy is a charmer. A sweet story with warm, likable characters, it put a smile on my face and kept it there just about the whole way through.
Mattie Wilcox always had a crush on her best friend’s brother. Brad Sumners was the golden boy of their small Northern California hometown. High school quarterback. Harvard graduate. Successful businessman. But when his marriage ends, Brad comes to his sister for advice with women. Except that his sister isn’t home, having been sent out of the country suddenly for her job. The only person in her house is her roommate, Mattie.
Brad remembers Mattie all too well. He took notice when his sister’s best friend developed from a girl to a woman. But her father was his high school football coach, and when the coach warned him to stay away from his little girl, Brad listened. There’s no one standing in their way now, though. Brad had planned to stay with his sister until his new home is ready in a couple of weeks, and Mattie lets him stay in the house with her. Mattie is also divorced, and before long they’re both acting on their mutual attraction for each other.
The premise is the book’s only slight flaw. The way Mattie let her adolescent crush carry on into adulthood and affect her other relationships seems a little juvenile. She and Brad are both immediately struck with the feelings they had for each other when they were teenagers, and while the author delivers a potent amount of chemistry to make it believable, some readers may find it a shaky basis to start an adult relationship. But anyone who can get past those quibbles should find a fun, sweet and sexy story here.
It’s very much a dialogue-driven character story. There’s no external plot. It’s all focused on these people and their relationship. Even the few secondary characters only serve to help the romance. The key to keeping this type of story from becoming boring is how interesting the characters and their interactions are. In this case, I loved how much they talked to each other and had actual substantive conversations with one another. It’s not the kind of dialogue that’s really clever and entertains the reader with witty lines. The dialogue is more natural, things you can imagine real people saying, as they open up about their mutual attraction and their individual hopes and insecurities. It was nice, as a reader, to get the chance to get to know the characters on a personal level like this as they get to know each other.
What’s especially welcome is how human these characters are. They’re not a couple of clichéd types or larger-than-life figures, but real, regular people. Their normalcy is part of what makes them so appealing. Even Brad’s laughably thickheaded behavior in the end doesn’t make him any less likable. There’s just a touch of angst for each of them to add some depth to the story, but for the most part, the story remains light and fun. They slowly get to know each other, they have small disagreements, they make up again, etc. There’s no huge conflict, just some minor character issues that require some growth before they find their happy ending in the end.
What really makes the book work, though, is something more indefinable than the story. It’s the author’s voice and the assuredness of her writing. This is only Emily McKay’s second book. If her writing is this assured and polished already, then she’s one to watch. Her storytelling is warm and engaging, with a real sweetness and nicely romantic touches. This is probably why the premise didn’t bother me as much as it might have. It was easy to look past the possible flaws because the storytelling was so charming.
Perfectly Sexy is a lighter-than-air confection, a sweet, romantic story that completely won me over. I’d heard good things about McKay’s first book, Baby Be Mine which was nominated for two RITA’s earlier this year, but was turned off by the awful cover picture of the hero blowing a raspberry against the heroine’s pregnant belly. After reading Perfectly Sexy, I’m going to order it. If it’s anywhere near as good, it’ll be worth it.
Grade: B+
Book Type: Series Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 27/05/04
Publication Date: 2004/05
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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.