Lush (Pleasures At Home, #2) by Beth Yarnall
Romance Contemporary/Thriller
E book, 300 pages
October 2014
Self Published

Reviewed by Tori

Favorite Quote: “It would be laughable if it wasn’t so tragic.”

All the money in the world can’t buy billionaire Cal Sellers what he wants more than anything in the world…Lucy Monroe back in his life. Cal screwed up royally when he let Lucy walk out his life,  but he won’t make that mistake again. When she shows up at his office to get her old job back, Cal makes a better offer.

Marriage.

Lucy Monroe was heartbroken when she left Cal. She then thought she had found happiness with a new man only to discover that buried under his charm was an abusive control freak. Lucy escaped her abusive marriage but now her ex is back and more than ever determined to get her and their daughter back. Lucy needs help and if that means marrying Cal, then so be it.

As Lucy’s ex husband’s attacks escalate, Cal not only have to fight to save Poppy and Lucy, he will also have to fight to prove his love for them.

Lush is the second installment in Beth Yarnall’s Pleasures At Home series. I enjoy second chance stories and Yarnall pens a story filled with love, loss, and forgiveness with some very nice and explicit love scenes. I do enjoy a hero and heroine who aren’t afraid to get down and dirty in the bedroom.

Easily read as a standalone, I never felt I was missing out on anything story or character wise by not reading book one. Steady pacing and personable characters dig deep into your heart and don’t let go. The second chance at love is a favorite trope of mine, especially when one of the characters realizes the mistakes they made and honestly try to repair the damage they caused. Yarnall uses dual POVs to give us a complete story with all the facts.  The characters are all delightfully quirky and wonderfully flawed. The story is written in an enjoyable conversational style with bits of humor and angst that blend together to round out the experience.

“Oh, like a frat house bed and breakfast. Yes, that’s exactly the environment I want my daughter raised in while her mother prostitutes herself for a twenty percent salary bump.”

The book opens with our heroine, Lucy Monroe, coming to see the man she vowed never to have anything to do with again-her ex boyfriend. They broke up because of something he did; something that hurt her deeply and caused her to doubt their entire relationship and herself. When she left, she had every intention of never seeing him again but circumstances have forced her to seek him out. She wants him to rehire her as his co host of his popular sex toy tv program. The man she married on the rebound turned out to be an abusive bigamist and now he wants their daughter. Lucy has no money and nowhere left to go. Cal is her only hope to save her daughter, Poppy.

Emotionally satisfying and humorous to boot, we get a ringside seat as we watch Cal try to mend his relationship with Lucy. Cal’s regrets are genuine and he has matured in his separation from Lucy. The playboy of the past is gone. Cal made me laugh and cringe at times as he tries to worm his way back into Lucy’s good graces. He hurt her badly and accepts that he may never get her back into his life to stay.

“He was so sick and tired of being the asshole who’d broken her heart by being the careless, unthinking bastard he was.”

Lucy gives an honest portrayal of a woman who’s been given nothing but disappointment by those who promised to love and care her. A strong women who deserved better far better than what she got. Her life didn’t stop that day she left Cal but it did leave her in a lot of pain. She’s scared and confused by the emotions Cal still invokes in her but determined not to fall for him again. She also has a tiny secret that further impairs her ability to allow Cal back into her life fully.

He had earned his bad boy reputation honestly. She’d been hurt by him before. She couldn’t bear the thought of him hurting Poppy as well if she got too attached to him.

A strong main conflict and various subplots intertwine with an equally strong romance. Lucy and Cal circle one while trying to stay one step ahead of her ex husband. Though I enjoyed the characterization of the ex husband and the lengths he goes to get Lucy and Poppy back, I was dismayed by how often he was able to get to Lucy. Of course, this is eventually explained but with the constant security upgrades Cal institutes with each new attack, I couldn’t help but wonder just how skilled these experts he hired were. There are numerous transparent tropes that push the main conflict to resolution, some interesting and others irritating and questionable in their necessity. One such plot device is a swinger couple who Cal needs for his business. Overly obnoxious in their quest to get Lucy and Cal into bed with them, you instantly know this is a “test” the author uses to prove to Lucy that Cal can be trusted. I found it annoying and couldn’t understand why Cal didn’t just tell them that he and his wife weren’t interested.

The ending is predictable with the huge requisite misunderstanding that mimics the original reason Lucy left Cal. This time Cal fights to prove his innocence and Lucy learns to trust herself and Cal. Regardless of the predetermined path the book takes, the story is entertaining with it’s steamy chemistry, engaging characters, and the hints of danger and suspense that permeate it. I enjoyed watching Cal and Lucy find their way back to one another for good.

RATING: C+

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