23013977Title: Vanilla

Author: Megan Hart

Publisher: Harlequin MIRA

Publication Date: February 2015

Genre: Adult Fiction/Erotica

Series or Stand Alone: Stand Alone

 

 

Synopsis can be found here.
I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

 

 

Review:

Elise is confident in the bedroom. But then she meets Niall, sweet yet seemingly conservative Niall. And her heart beats faster.  But this isn’t a mere lustful encounter. This is courting. Something Elise isn’t confident in at all…

Megan Hart is known for her heavy-panting writing and strong emotional stories. And while Vanilla does deliver some truly heart hammering scenes and a bit of an emotional punch, it wasn’t as luring as some of her other books. Truth is that I wasn’t going to request to review it and had held off because I’m behind in reviewing other books. But I had a weak moment and I can’t resist Megan Hart. And then I devoured it.

I didn’t mind Elise, but I didn’t like her. For most of the book she is confident, sexy and powerful in the bedroom but secretly yearning for a long lost love who she still texts at night making her emotionally unavailable. And while this is probably supposed to make me like her more, sympathize and give her more depth, it instead takes me out of it. Because Elise speaks with pain and passion about this long lost lover and even as things heat up with Niall, I never felt the spark between them, the main couple, as much as I felt it when Elise pines away for Mr. Gone.

Niall is a sweet guy, flirtatious and warm and patient. He’s exactly what Elise needs. But it’s so hard to compete with a ghost and I felt this did a real injustice to the main characters. I wanted to want Niall and Elise together, to figure it out. But instead, I was more intrigued by this vacant ex-boyfriend who Elise couldn’t stop obsessing over.

That said, Vanilla is still erotic and well written. Hart’s characters are always layered and more defined than a lot of erotica out there. You can tell that she cares about the people she writes about, almost as if they know her personally and come around for dinner.

The cover is gorgeous, drawing you in on so many levels and is the perfect representation for the story. Bravo!

Rating 6 Good