Part-Time Lovers (Clare Chronicles, #1) by Shelley Munro
Erotic Romance
E book, Novella
November 25, 2014
Samhain Publishing
Reviewed by Tori
Part Time Lovers is a short erotic novella and follow up to Farmer Wants A Wife; giving us Nolan’s story. Nolan Penrith was roped into participating in a reality show and abandoned his lover, Yvonne McDonald, to star in it. Before the show even started though, Nolan had treated Yvonne carelessly, keeping their relationship a dirty little secret. When the show is over, Nolan figures he can pick right back off where he and Yvonne left off but Yvonne was hurt by his actions and decides she isn’t going to give him another chance to break her heart again. She advocates for a friends with benefits relationship only to find herself once again falling for Nolan’s wicked charms.
Though you don’t have to read Farmer Wants A Wife to read Part-Time Lovers; Munro does allude to certain characters and events without much background information. The series spins off of the Friendship series and it almost behooves you to read it first in order to understand. Part Time Lovers jumps straight in to the fray, moving extremely fast and somewhat jerky at times. I was left with the feeling, during certain scenes, that I needed to see for myself more about how Yvonne and Nolan were before the reality show in order to fully appreciate the scenes unfolding before me.
Nolan comes off a bit dense in the beginning. It’s as if he can’t fully grasp why him being on a reality show about finding a new wife and dating various other women would make Yvonne angry. Huh? Plus, we learn that his mother spread malicious gossip about Yvonne during the taping which hurt her terribly. Nolan honestly expects to pick up right where they left off. Yvonne tells him repeatedly why she’s angry but he just bowls over her objections and pushes the issue, claiming that she should have known better and to ignore his mother. Really? This is a tiny town where everyone knows everyone’s business. There is no possible way to “ignore” anyone.
This is where my misgivings about not reading Farmer Wants A Wife come in. Too much is based on the assumption you’re read it. Nolan eventually grew on me as you begin to hear his thoughts and you see his moment of truth as he realizes he treated Yvonne terribly and that the reality show may not have been his best move. We also find out why he really got involved with it, and it wasn’t to find him a wife.
Overall I liked Yvonne though it seemed at times her attraction to Nolan is only physical. Munro does well in making me see when Yvonne begins to fall in love with Nolan. She is a divorced mother of two boys and is portrayed realistically. She is angry and hurt by Nolan’s actions and who wouldn’t be? She has issues from her ex husband that only compounds how she’s feeling and that adds to the conflict. I admit to laughing at some of the things she does to get back at Nolan while ensuring she gets what she wants from him-sex. And though this relationship is on the rocks, there are absolutely no problems in the bedroom between these two. The chemistry between Nolan and Yvonne is amazing and I like that both are sexually open and curious. Munro writes some extremely sexy and fun erotic love scenes with flavors of kink sprinkled throughout.
The main conflict and resolution is pretty predictable. Miscommunication pushes Yvonne to come clean about her issues and make some decisions based on the present and not the past.
RATING: C+
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