Throwback Thursday (On Friday)

Today's Throwback is written by one of my Wonderful Tasty Readers, Amy!!  This book sounds HOTT!  A great read for anyone looking for a little Smut!! (Oh Yeah!)


Breaking All the Rules
Monica Robinson
Released Nov 1st, 2008
240 Pages
Samhain Publishing
Reviewed By: Amy L.

It’s Christmas time, so along with the garland and the ornaments in my home, my Kindle takes a decidedly seasonal tilt. And one of my favorite Christmas (but not Christmas) reads is Breaking All the Rules by Monica Robinson.

Let me preface this discussion by saying Monica Robinson rivals clean baseboards, a size four waist, and Bigfoot on the mighty Lineaweaver Elusiveness Scale. Seriously, this gal wrote three books (insofar as I can tell) and all three on are in the "Greatest Hits Collection" on my Kindle. I haven’t found her on the Internet, and her posted website hasn’t been updated since the Macarena was in style. But she wove a tale and Breaking All the Rules is an oldie, but a goody.

The Premise: Allie, a successful romance author, when she isn’t dealing with the mother of all writer’s blocks, works as a hostess in a trendy writer’s bar in Raleigh, NC. (They call it fiction because it is. Take the leap.) When she isn’t hosting in the bar, offering body shots to the highest bidder, and strutting across the bar like the spunky hipster she is, she mentors aspiring writers. The thing is, the writers are male and she sleeps with them, but only for the six month term of their mentor-mentee relationship. After 180 days, they split and she moves on. All of her partners need to be writers – no exceptions.

In walks a very handsome, incredibly appealing attorney (not an oxymoron) – Adam. Adam takes an instant shine to Allie, spending the contents of his considerably deep litigating pockets to bid on a body shot. He wins and takes her home. She even gives the shot a little something extra (wink, wink). Spoiler alert: He takes her home on his motorcycle and they knock boots but good.

Adam can’t get enough of her, so he fibs and says that he wants to be a new tutor in Allie’s School of Novelist Instruction. She takes him through the lessons, which require a lot of togetherness and a lot of "experimentation" in the name of literary research. Allie discovers that Adam’s mom is her favorite novelist and Adam discovers Allie’s catalog on his mom’s shelves. It’s KISMET!

He woos her. He romances her. He feels incredibly guilty that Allie believes he is actively writing the Great American Novel when all he is doing to writing briefs and shopping for gifts and restaurant seats for the girl for whom he is smitten. He’s not an eely attorney, so he honestly feels terrible about his trickery. But, he’s hoping that the burgeoning feelings between them will overcome the lie. It’s clear that Allie feels genuine care about Adam. She skirts around her commitment phobia by hinting that they could change the terms of their agreement; she’s not ready to lose Adam, either.

Well, come Thanksgiving, Allie and Adam fall solidly in love with each other. All is good for roughly the time it takes to watch a game, dish up the potatoes, and eat some pie. Then the lid is blown off the whole shebang. They deconstruct in especially dramatic fashion, wounded and crushed.

I’ve discovered that the VERY BEST element I appreciate in romance novels is male pain and subsequent redemption. I love the agony and the ecstasy. Maybe it’s my inner dominatrix talking, but I adore the feeling of the heart-wrench. And boy, does this have heart-wrench-and-a-half.

So, Amy, you may be thinking, what does this have to do with Christmas. Well, ladies, let’s just say that Santa isn’t Allie’s ONLY visitor late that night.

The book itself is a fun, easy, lively read that alludes perfectly to the holidays without being a "husband for Christmas/daddy for Christmas/fiancé for Christmas" kind of scenario, so prevalent in the genre. It describes the compromises one makes for their partner – not because they are asked, but because they LOVE them. It’s nicely sad. It’s nicely funny. It’s nicely heartbreaking. It’s the perfect treat for the holidays.

P.S. If anyone knows anything about Monica Robinson, let me know. And you should also read her other releases, Alex and the more obvious holiday choice, Twelve Days of Bliss. Delicious!


Today's Tasty Reader

Amy Lineaweaver is a mother, wife, and speech-language pathologist who is a recently moved home to the Pacific Northwest. When not responding to the beck and call of motherhood and wifedom, she is an obsessive reader of romantic fiction. She loves a clean house, a dirty mind, and a filthy mouth.