Well, I just awoke to a foot of snow on the ground and the weather guy on t.v. is telling me we're getting 28 inches by the time it's all over...all I know is, I just tried to let the dog out the front door and we both tumbled down the three marble steps leading to my house. It was kind of fun but you had to see me scrambling to get back up before said dog...never mind.
But I also woke up to some great news indeed and to make it even better, I need a little help from my friends. As I mentioned in an earlier post, my latest book, Bitten to the Core, received an absolute stellar review from Whipped Cream Reviews.
Here's the email they sent me:
"We offer a weekend poll at Whipped Cream erotic romance reviews-- we want to know which book or story sounds like the best read based on our reviews. The winning author gets a nifty button and the privilege of having their book or story featured at the top of that page the entire next week!
Your story " Bitten to the Core" was reviewed by us this week and is up for Book of the Week honor this weekend (voting runs from Saturday, 2/6, through Sunday, 2/7). We thought you might like to know. You can find the information here on Saturday.
Thanks and good luck!
Judy"
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So what I need you all to do is click on that "here" link in her above email and vote for Bitten to the Core.
And because it is such a great review, I want to post it in its entirety now.
"In Three Days in New York City, she fled a stagnant marriage and a job she hated, looking for a temporary fix of passion. Instead she found the courage to be herself for the first time in years. In Another Bite of the Apple, she persued her dream and pined for the man she loved, and won both. Or did she?
Yes, Elizabeth is back, and this time...she's in New Jersey.
Frustrated by the disintegration of her relationship with the absentee restaurateur Rob, Elizabeth flees to the Jersey Shore to paint and wallow in self-pity. A chance encounter with the handsome (and younger) writer Andrew spins her into a whirlwind of domestic and sexual bliss. Question is, will it last, and what becomes of Andrew when it's time to return to normal?
What is normal for Elizabeth, anyway? Find out in the long-awaited third novel of Robin's Slick's bestselling series!
Bitten to the Core is a first person POV hysterical romantic journey of a woman falling in love with a younger man.
Elizabeth’s personality is total fun. I have never read a first person POV where I truly felt I was experiencing a person’s thoughts as they have them. Ms. Slick has her character doing monologues that would have done Johnny Carson proud. At no time did I ever feel the internal dialogue spiraled into an info dump. It was fresh, witty, comical, and relatable. When she made reference to the old Match Game game show from the 1970s, I found myself bobbing my head in agreement, excitement heating my veins. I remembered that show! I loved that panel and the tongue-in-cheek comments they would make that would just squeak by the censors.
I found myself relating to Elizabeth in the way she over thinks things. You know, when you think about it and you know you shouldn’t so you feel guilty about over thinking so you do it some more because you are over thinking? And you still just can’t help it? I understood her character and I really liked her. I even enjoyed the fact that she was a woman who escaped a loveless marriage, went on to make mistakes but learned from them and whose attitude is onward and upward, just don’t buy that T-shirt ever again.
I commend Ms. Slick with imbuing Elizabeth with a well rounded and healthy attitude. I could respect her, cheer for her and be envious of her. I even enjoyed how she pleasured herself because even then, I found reasons to smile and giggle. Most books have the person oh, so serious and passionate about it all, but Elizabeth has this extra something that not only makes it sexy and hot, but endearingly adorable too. Hard to imagine it being both but Ms. Slick pulls it off remarkably well.
And speaking of hot, the love interest, Andrew, is a total dream. At times I thought the author was making him too perfect for Elizabeth, and then he’d do the opposite of what you’d expect a man to do. By doing that, Ms. Slick made him unique and a strong character in his own right. He might be young, compared to Elizabeth, but he’s already lived through a period of intense, for lack of a better term, debauchery, and had matured enough to realize the truth of Elizabeth when he saw her. Timing is everything.
I think any woman would adore having a man like Andrew for real in her life, even if only for a few times a year because it would revitalize any long standing marriage. I mean the husbands out there could take some lessons from someone like Andrew. Sometimes you need to be in touch with that impulsive, happy youngster inside to see the world again in all its optimistic potential. And that is what I think Andrew does. He embodies the positive and the hopeful that should be part of a healthy relationship. He showed that men are capable of communication, compromise and empathy in their masculine way that is just as effective as the feminine version. Andrew was a man you wanted to hug, squeeze, pinch his cheeks and then go at him like a frenzied bunny. I liked him too.
The conflict is an internal one and is focused solely on Elizabeth making the choice to let go and accept that what she thought she had wasn’t real and to accept what she thinks is temporary and too good to be true is actually the very thing that is real. It’s that waffling that made her character all too human and believable. It’s a major decision she has to make and she doesn’t shy away from the guilt and uncertainty that dogs her throughout the story. It’s what makes her strong and what makes her final decision all the more realistic. And satisfying.
There are a few secondary characters that help showcase their relationship and Elizabeth and Andrew’s individual personalities. Again, Ms. Slick shows she has a tap into the emotions of her characters because of how she leads us down one path of thought and then hits us readers and her characters with the other side of the coin. Every story has two sides and people shouldn’t jump to conclusions and pass judgment on others until you’ve heard both. I just said, “Wow” when I found out about Dottie. I never expected it.
Bitten to the Core is a very hot, sexually open, hysterically funny and enlightening story about love and trust, following impulses, getting second chances and giving yourself permission to be happy. Although the tone was humorous, the message is as serious as it gets. No matter how old you are, be young at heart, believe you deserve happiness and grab it with both hands. For real love is the greatest gift of all. This is a must read story."
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So yes, if you think that's a good review, please vote here. You don't need to have read the book; you are voting on the review which, in a perfect world, will make you want to buy it...and if you do, of course you'll find the link on the cool little revolving widget I have on the upper right hand side of this blog. And thank you!
I'll be back later with more from the Dr. Dog tour and some snow photos...this is truly a blizzard and I am truly as excited as a little child right now. And holy cow, I am hearing gusts of wind through my fireplace...I just turned around...I half expected to see a huge rush of snow falling down the chimney onto the logs. This is CRAZY and I'm loving it!
Later,
xo
