Marry Me by Karen Stivali
Erotic Romance Contemporary
March 24, 2016
Tule Publishing

Reviewed by Tori

Ben Davis, a drummer in a famous British rock band, hasn’t been interested in anyone romantically since he lost his wife in an auto accident. His interest from that day on was in nothing but his music and random hook ups until he meets the band’s beautiful new clothing stylist.

Julia Jones gave up on men when her ex-boyfriend went from controlling to violent. A very talented clothing designer, Julia chooses to put all her focus on her career until she meets the very determined Ben Davis. Gorgeous and sweet, Julia is powerless to resist his charms.

Innocent flirting turns into hot steamy nights of passion with both parties falling hard and deep. But when an incident endangers Julia, Ben’s reaction sends Julia running away. Can Julia trust Ben will never hurt her? Or will she close her heart off to the one man who opened it back up?

Marry Me is a short, sweet, and sexy novella that brings two love shy individuals to their happily ever after. Ben is a total sweetheart-a bad boy rocker whose stage persona is nothing like the one woman man he really is. I didn’t connect with Julia as well as I did Ben. She gave off a lot of mixed singles which made it hard to see what she really wanted. Witty dialogue helps to build the connection between them; allowing readers to see their growing attraction.

The romance is pretty straightforward and to the point. It has a very strong scripted feel to it. Couple meet, hero pursues, heroine is indecisive, they finally meet in middle, sexy shenanigans commence, the requisite misunderstanding, heroine finally listens to her heart, all is forgiven, the end. I think I would have enjoyed it more had we been able to see some emotion infused scenes from their respective pasts or their memories of what happened. Instead we get some light narrative on it that doesn’t match some of the extreme reactions the characters have (especially Julia)

Nicely written sex scenes round out the story. Stivali doesn’t skimp on the details and I liked that both parties were fully invested and sexually adventurous. It’s two people making love; a steamy emotional blend of give and take. This was the strongest element in the book.

Stivali wraps it up pretty quickly with a predictable conflict which is solved with minor fanfare. Marry Me is a decent enough romance and good for a quick pick me up but nothing I would write home about.

Grade: C

Recent Reviews:
Janine’s Cool Cat Reviews
Keeper Bookshelf
Goodsreads I Author Website I Kindle I Nook