 "Too Hot" | 2009-06-21 |
| - Reviewed By C. McInnes from Spain |
| I like Shannon McKennas books on the whole, although they can get a bit bogged down with the very explicit sex scenes. Her books are now starting to become set in the way that they are written so you know before hand what is going to happen. Tend to skip parts of the sex scenes as there are too many. I like hot sauce in my books but too much...... |
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 "Wonderful erotic romance" | 2007-06-12 |
| - Reviewed By JJN-1313 from Pennsylvania |
What an utterly fantastic book! I wasn't sure what to expect from it since it was a book I randomly picked up the library. It just looked interesting, and since I love romantic suspense (and that's what it was labeled as) I thought, what the hell, why not? And I ended up loving the book, even though it was completely not what I expected.
Return To Me is best described as a thoroughly primal, raw, passionate, story. It's extremely erotic. It might not be the most sophisticated story in terms of language, style, and plot, but it more than makes up for it with bold sexuality, strong characters, and an interesting storyline. Though the book is classified as a romantic suspense, it is not on the level on your typical book of that genre. The suspense plot is subtle, more of a background aspect, and there's not a lot of guess-work involved. The story is more focused on the characters themselves, but it works for the book.
Simon is the typical tortured, bad boy hero and I was instantly fascinated by him. He's so internally conflicted about what he wants, what he deserves, and the demons from his past, but yet he doesn't lost that Alpha male personality. I just wanted to give him a big hug. Ellen is the polar opposite...the shy, wealthy, good girl. It's one of my favorite dynamics in romance books. The depth of the characters is fairly thorough. There were a few points I thought could have been better explored, but for the most they had nice dimension. They had a powerful chemistry together, but were constantly fighting themselves over preconceptions, deservedness, and a host of other issues. Their relationship was very push-pull. I was rooting for them from the beginning.
The book - though I adored it - isn't for everyone. With such a strong, in-your-face sexuality throughout the entire story, there are a lot of people who won't care for it. There's nothing pretty or tame about the sex in the book. It's down and dirty and raw, but passionate at the same time. It's one of the things I loved most about the story. I've always wanted to read a romance book with a high level of eroticism but yet a complete romance. It's just not something you tend to find in the mainstream. Sex is more pretty and mild in those and more about the romance, which is fine most of the time. There's a lot of erotica on the 'net, but those are generally just gratuitous sex with no romance or just a smidge. So it was exciting to find a book with a bold sexuality and yet a wonderful romance to go with it. But with that said, like I stated previously, Return To Me won't appeal to everyone. If you like your sex on the vanilla side and sporadically occurring, then you'll hate the book so DON'T READ IT!, but if you like some chocolate with your sex you'll love it as much as much as I did.
So...fantastic book in my opinion. I can't wait to go find more of McKenna's stories. |
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| "Great read" | 2007-02-03 |
| - Reviewed By Jane Stewart from Illinois USA |
| I have read and loved all five of Shannon McKenna's books. Her characters are different and interesting. Her books are thrillers, with terrible bad guys and a lot of suspense, and always a happy ending. She's one of my favorite authors. |
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| "A much better than average book in the erotic suspense genre" | 2007-01-07 |
| - Reviewed By Extensive reader from CO |
This book is similar to Hot Night and Jaid Black's One Dark Night in that the villain is a psychotic sociopath. Simon is a photojournalist who is convinced that he brings disasters with him where ever he goes and a child hood lover of El who is very beautiful and engaged to the son of wealthy socialites; Brad but the engagement is in trouble because they thought she owned the mansion her bead and breakfast is in when she paid her mother for it and owes the bank big time. The problems are compounded by Brads overbearing ways and his bitch of a mother. The plot is OK but not nearly as well done as Hot Night and Simon's inability to commit to EL is not convincing. The characters are alright and the sex scenes well written with a little Ds (Simon and El both switch roles).
Flawed but not horrid and a decent read. |
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 "Not a fan" | 2006-06-30 |
| - Reviewed By cass from Melbourne, Australia |
I purchased this book to try out a new author, but I must say I am not a fan if this is a typical example of her work.
What a whiney, pathetic, emotional wreck this "Alpha male hero" is. Why would anyone put up with being treated like that!
The heroine is not much better - she is successful, independant, knows what she wants and yet keeps coming back for more. I am sorry I ordered more of this authors books before I had sampled this one. In my opinion there was not much substance to the story, the plot was flakey, the characters were entirely unbeliveable and the whole book did not make much sense. |
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| "Totally hot" | 2005-08-29 |
| - Reviewed By maries20 |
This is the fourth or fifth book I've read by Shannon Mckenna. I've loved them all, and this one is just as good as the others. Basically, hot bad boy Simon is back in town to investigate his uncle's mysterious death, and he hooks up with the girl whose heart he broke 17 years ago. There's a little mystery and some danger, and Simon does some struggling with his inner demons, but it's mostly love story and love scenes and overall, pretty convincing. And very, very hot.
Simon is a bit different from the author's other heros - not as needy, and he doesn't whine as much. He does speak in slightly too flowery prose for a studly bad boy on occasion, but it's not as bad as some of the out-of-character moments in the author's other books.
There is the usual bad guy stalker plot going on in the background, but for once it stays in the background, which was kind of a relief since the hot love scenes were more interesting anyway. And although the bad guy is yet another whacko serial killer, he's ever so slightly more believable than the author's other whacko serial killers, who are always a bit too evil to be taken seriously.
Another plus for this book is that there is less conversation in the midst of the love scenes - this author has a tendency to have characters speak in whole paragraphs while making love, which is always a little annoying. It's more toned down, here.
To sum up, I couldn't put it down and read the whole thing in about two days.
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