Customer Reviews

All Tied Up (Harlequin Blaze, No 24)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Macy Webb is a good time girl more interested in partying today than worrying about tomorrow. Her arrested adulthood looks like Peter Pan syndrome as she thrives on mayhem and chaos for the creative spark that gives her work dazzle. Even her work is really play as she ponders editorial content and design for the interactive e-commerce Web site and mail order catalog gIRL-gEAR, iNC. wearing flannel pajamas in her living room "office." She uses her friends on "game night" to test fun and advice columns for the Web site. Her latest game is an adult scavenger hunt that leads to unexpected results.

Leo Redding accompanies his friend after their soccer match, not realizing what he's getting himself into. Participation is mandatory from all inside the loft of game night. The starch on his collar leaves Macy questioning how he can possibly play her game, but play he does with explosive results. A sizzling passion ignites as they become partners competing against each other in the scavenger hunt. Macy doesn't fit his preferred type, so Leo persuades himself he's only responding to the mystery of the unknown. Her wild child looks and playful approach to life clash with his lawyerly, logical view of the world. Yet Leo is irresistibly drawn into the chaos of her life, even as he struggles against it.

Alison Kent captures the unique entanglements facing modern women in ALL TIED UP. With the sexual revolution has come permission to indulge one's fantasies, to pursue those delightfully erotic relationships that titillate and please. Unfortunately, demands on time by career and other concerns make pursuing the emotional sides of those relationships even more challenging than ever before; a conundrum that Kent exploits with delightful results. Both the plot and subplot explore sexual relationships and the accompanying emotional ramifications with entertaining flair. Extremely erotic and daring, while tasteful and tantalizing, with a marvelously subtle subtext of emotional complications, ALL TIED UP comes very highly recommended.

First of all I'm not sure karenml read this book as every reference beginning with page one refers to the story taking place in TEXAS, not California, duh.

Secondly. Read This Book. I can't recommend it highly enough. I haven't read anything so kick[ing] in years. Can't wait for more of Ms. Kent's most excellent portrayal of city girls!

Favorite scene with Macy-
Pouring her heart out to Leo about her family, esp. her father.

Favorite scene with Leo-
Angry that Macy and her friends were talking about him.

Together-
The ending, admitting how much they love each other.

What did you like about Macy-
Macy was Macy. She didn't change like a lot of heroines do. She stayed the same.
She was fun and goofy.

What didn't you like about Macy-
She was too critical of Leo.

What did you like about Leo-
Sensitive. Although he was stuffy, he joined in Macy's fun and got wild.

What didn't you like about Leo-
That he thought Macy should grow up.

Macy Webb enjoys partying so much she has made it an intricate part of her work as content editor at e-commerce and mail order catalog gIRL-gEAR, Inc. To help her accurately write her web page column she drafts her friends, employing them in her latest wild idea. Her newest concept is an adult scavenger hunt.

Following a soccer game, Leo Redding joins a friend visiting Macy's loft on the night of the scavenger hunt. He is a buttoned down attorney so Macy thinks he will either stiffen up like a corpse or go home running for cover. Instead, Leo competes with Macy in a competition that is more than just a game as the stakes are a lifetime of happiness.

Alison Kent provides an amusing look at opposites united by passion that on the surface appears to not be enough to forge anything permanent. The story line of ALL TIED UP engages the audience as Macy and Leo struggle with their emotions and their sexual desires becaus they both know the other is wrong for them. Though happily ever after still looks doubtful in spite of the ending, readers will enjoy Ms. Kent's contemporary look at the relationships of sex and Peter(ette) Pan as well as future books in the miniseries.

Harriet Klausner

Of the dozens of Harlequin Temptations and Blaze romances I have read, this is probably the worst. I'd guess the author is trying to emulate Sex and the City, but falls far far short. Every page has howlingly bad writing (I'd give examples, but I left the book at the beach) and the characters' motivations literally make no sense. Worst of all, flat and unbelievable sex scenes. What happened to the editors at Harlequin?

This book is the first in a series about a group of 6 young women who successfully started an internet site in California. Macy is the main character in this book and is a self-proclaimed "wild child" who does not want to grow up. This image is further abetted by her fashion style - dressing like a teenager, which compounds the childish appearance of her body and face. Macy hooks up with lawyer Leo, who is a stuffed shirt who barely smiles, let alone is interested in having a "wild" lifestyle. What do they see in each other? Cheap sex is all they have in common as far as I can tell. The author's goals were too ambitious for this first novel in the series and the story would have been greatly improved by judicious editing. There were too many details that were extraneous to this story and future installments, for example, paragraphs were spent on describing the food at Macy's parties and the interactions between the other and men at the parties. I suppose the latter was designed to pique interest in future installments, but all it did was decrease the amount of space devoted to the main characters in this book. The secondary story about Macy's roommate and her boyfriend should have been greatly trimmed in favor of much greater character development of Macy and especially Leo. I never understood the main characters and more importantly, could not figure out what they saw in each other - especially Macy's interest in Leo because the guy never talked, he always just walked. He walked out every time something out of routine happened without saying a word. This would get old really fast. As far as I could tell Leo was interested in Macy because she was easy. And because the couple did not truly have what I would consider a real relationship at any time in the book - including the end, their sexual behavior was cheap adn tawdry and hardly what I am looking for even in a Blaze romance. I don't see this couple lasting longer than it takes for the flare of sexual attraction to pass.