Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Review: Dating Mr. December by Phillipa Ashley

Synopsis (Goodreads):
When a nice girl asks twelve men to get naked, it’s sure to cause a scandal…

Emma Tremayne leaves her high-powered PR job and moves to the Lake District looking for peace, quiet—and celibacy. So perhaps it’s not the best idea when, in the spirit of “community-mindedness,” she agrees to help the local mountain rescue team fund raise by putting together a “tasteful” nude calendar. Especially since quite a lot of the community seems to mind what she’s up to—including the tall, dark and handsome Mr. December, Will Tennant, who appears to have gotten the wrong impression about Emma’s intentions. So how does she convince him that he’s more than just the flavor of the month?
My Thoughts:  I think I would have liked this book a lot more if there weren't regional speech differences creating a chasm of WTF? between me and the characters.  I've read plenty of books by authors who don't live in the US and I rarely have a tough time with the vocabulary quirks that come from them living on one continent and me on another.  This book got me, though.  It got me good.

Now, this has nothing to do with the writing style, the plot (which I actually enjoyed.  And there weren't even any werewolves.  Don't worry, I'm shocked by this strange turn of events too.) or the characters and everything to do with me.  Another way to look at this is that I read this book, beginning to end, in one day.  Sure, parts of it went over my head (it took me a while to figure out what a "kit" was.  Like, a seriously long time.  I feel shame.) but I girded my loins, ignored the things I couldn't understand and read until those characters got their happy ending.

So, yeah.  Regional differences aside, I liked this book.  Like I said, I would have enjoyed it a lot more if it had been a little more ... approachable, but I think it would be arrogant of me to assume that everyone should write books that a California girl who wears skulls and dyes her hair black and red can relate to.  Heck, contemporary romances aren't usually my type of book PERIOD, so the fact that the characters and plot were engaging and kept my interest despite my lack of understanding of some of the slang used says a lot.

More books by Phillipa Ashley

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