Customer Reviews

Blushing Pink

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book was great. I had never read anything by author Jill Winters and I picked up Blushing Pink on a whim, but I am so glad I did! The story of Reese Brock and Brian Doren was passionate, sexy, funny, and romantic.

Reese Brock was working on her PhD, helping Professor Kimble write his book, or ghostwrite it in any case, and semi dating Kimble's other assistant, Kenneth Peel when she comes home for winter break to help plan her younger sister Ally's wedding. Brian was the best man and Reese's secret crush for two years. She had met him at a New Years Eve party two years earlier and had gotten a passionate kiss from him, but the he disappeared, and they both assumed neither wanted anything serious.

When Reese and Brian meet again, Brian is struck by how wonderful and sweet Reese is. He also thinks she is incredibly sexy. Brian is struggling with some family issues and feels an incredible emptiness that only Reese seems to fill. They meet at Reese's work, a cafe/bookstore where Brian goes everyday for lunch and a friendship is formed, a friendship filled with a lot of lust.

But of course, something had to screw up a blossoming relationship, and in this case, it was Veronica, the catalyst, and Brian's ex-fiancee of eight years ago who all of a a sudden wants to get back together. But, on another level, the problem is the lack of trust Brian and Reese have in each other and themselves.

But love wins out in the end, of course. The wedding, the secondary characters (especially Joanna, Reese's mom, who keeps pushing her at Kenneth and volunteering Reese to be doing everything that supposedly she is the best at and no one else can even manage these things), a side relationship between oldest sister Angela and hubby Drew, all make for a wonderful story. I am eagerly awaiting Jill Winter's next story and I am on the lookout for Plum Girl, her first novel.

Plenty of romance, comedy, sex, and family time make Blushing Pink a great story that any reader should enjoy, romance fan or not.

Ms Winters scores high marks with this wonderful and funny novel.
Reese Brock is working on her PhD. She has a fellowship in a university in NY. She's dating a nerd that knows about basic human interaction as Britney Spears knows about singing (not much). In exchange for free room and tuition she must work as a Professor's Assistant to one of the most hated, conceited and not original, professors in her university. She's trying really hard to get her disertation going, but try as she might, she can't even think about it, much less write it. Now, to spice up her life, her baby sister is getting married. And Reese, with her older sister, Angela, is the maid of honor. Reese's mom, means well, but she thinks Reese is close to wonder woman, hence she delegates everything on Reese. And Reese is always too sweet to say no. She is very kind and gentle soul, but she is not stupid at all.
What Reese did not expect was to have Brian Dorean back in her life so soon, or that he would cause such a heated reaction just by being in the same room as Reese. You see, Reese and Brian had met 2 years ago at a party that Amy (Reese's baby sister) invited Reese to go. A little peck for New Year's congratulation became a heated, rip-out-your-clothe kiss. But the kiss was left at that, and they both assumed neither wanted to proceed based only on that kiss.
But the minute they are thrown at each other, or rather sitted next to each other, in a dinner, Reese and Brian begin to wonder if that kiss had only been a moment thing, or something else, because at the moment, they seemed to be having very passionate thoughts.
Then, turns out, Brian lunches everyday in the same place Reese works (a bookstore), and suddenly they begin to get to know each other. And the best part is that they really like what they see. Of course things can not be too easy for our heros. So we are introduced to Veronica, Brian's ex-fiancee, who wants to reconecile. Brian's family, and especially his sister, who is going through a rough time. And of course Kenneth, Reese's nerdy love interest, who all of a sudden decides to pursue Reese a bit harder, just when Reese was wondering how to dump him without hurting him. And as a plus there's also a short second story in Angela and her hubby, which I found beautiful.
I really loved this book, first because the characters are very well developed, all of them. Second because the heroine is not anorexically thin, but well endowed. And third because I trully felt that the progression, in terms of Reese and Brian's relationship, evolved natually. It did not feel forced. it felt natural, like it was meant to happen right at that point, not sooner, not later. Reese was a strong women and Brian only brings that out on her. Her changes are very subtle, yet we as readers can see them and we can only applaud her for coming to terms with her life and who she really is and wants to be.
There are other romance books in which the love scenes occur in pages 250 and up, and the realization of love, only from one of teh characters, comes by pages 100 and up. This doesnt occur here. I think Jill Winters found her own formula, her own voice and she is not afraid to use it!
I highly reccomed this book to anyone.
Now I'm in search for Plum Girl (her 1st novel) which I havent read yet. But be sure, from now on, if it says Jill Winters in it, I'm buying it!

This book rocks! I can't say it enough. Great characters, witty writing, sexy love scenes, and a truly memorable story! This book will have you laughing, maybe crying a tiny bit, and most of all, BLUSHING!

Heroine: Average/Plump

Reese Brock appears to have it all: a great part-time job in her favorite bookstore (working under the teeny-bopper-bitch-boss from Hades), an almost completed Ph.D. in History (with yet another boss from Hades, who calls her day and night, and NO dissertation in sight), a loving family (with a mother guaranteed to make a girl neurotic), and a terrific boyfriend (if you really go for a guy who kisses like a gagging goldfish).

What Reese really wants though, is to ditch playing it safe with the bland boyfriend of convenience and the ghostwriting of dry textbooks, and instead pen the succulent novel she just knows she has hidden away in her soul. And she wants to find a man she can truly connect with, someone who can make her burn. Someone one like Brian Doren, who shared a magnificently hot New Year's Eve kiss with her two years ago and then promptly dropped out of her life, only to now reappear as the best man at her little sister's upcoming wedding!

Does Reese have the guts to make her fantasies a reality, or will she be forever stuck playing it safe?

What worked for me:

This book was wickedly funny, and the terrific sexual tension was sizzling not only between the main characters but in the secondary romance as well.

Ms. Winters has a real knack for vividly portraying antagonists; you just love to hate them!

Size-wise this is another case of a character being assigned a small dress size size but whose descriptions are definitely friendly to larger women. Reese thought she was chubby and pear-shaped; the hero thought she was soft and voluptuous.

What didn't work for me:

The book just cruised along for me until I hit the wedding rehearsal and ceremony scenes; then things fell a bit flat, mainly because the hero and heroine got locked into a downward spiral of juvenile attitudes and behaviors. Fortunately the yummy ending, all tied up in a pretty little bow, made up for this.

Can I just say that I really hated the mother in this story?? Imagine Ross and Monica's mother from "Friends" . . then make her ten times worse!

Overall:

Fans of Chick Lit who want more steamy romance in their stories should enjoy this one.

Warning: this book features coarse language, spicy sex scenes, and a bit of weight loss.

If you liked "Blushing Pink" you might also enjoy "Coffee and Kung Fu", "Plum Girl", "The Bridesmaid's Reward", "Fast Women", "Welcome to Temptation", "Faking It", "Switcheroo", "Infernal Affairs", "Princess Charming", "Good in Bed", "Bridget Jones's Diary", "Jemima J.", "Getting Over It", "Lola Carlyle Reveals All", "It Had to be You", or "This Heart of Mine"

I was glancing haphazzardly at the newly released soft-backs when I spotted this book. I bought it on a whim, and am so glad that I did. "Blushing Pink" is funny, sexy, smart and light-hearted, all the things that a summer read should be. I'm glad I found this book!

Wow! This was the most fun contemporary romance I've read in soooo long! The heroine was so adorable and smart and funny, and the hero was sexy but also a REAL GUY. Not an overblown alpha male type that you'd never meet in real life. Brian was every girl's dream: sweet, smart, handsome, successful, caring, and really good between the sheets! But at the same time he was a real person, with real vulnerabilities and doubts. I just loved this book!!

Funny, sexy, original with warm engaging characters, 'Blushing Pink' by Jill Winters is now at the top of my A-List Keeper Shelf. Even if you don't normally go for romance, you will love this book!

A totally uplifting, highly original read! The characters are real, and the passion is steamy and moving. Definitely read this book!!!

All of the characters in Blushing Pink are so real they could walk off the page and into my life. I rooted for Brian and Reese's relationship through every misstep they made. Reese's wacky professor, her bookstore boss, her interfering mom, and the wanna-be boyfriend Reese keeps trying to ditch add great fun to the mix. Put this one on your list.

Ph.D. candidate and teaching assistant at Crelwyn College Reese Brock leaves Manhattan for her hometown of Goldwood, New Jersey to attend her sister's wedding. Reese has not started on her dissertation, has no incentive to begin work on it, prefers to write a novel, and loathes slaving for an obnoxious professor. Even worse her love life is in the tank.

As her mother bugs her over the men or lack of in her life and her father is so proud of his Ph.D. daughter, Reese worries about seeing the best man. Two years ago at a New Year's Eve party, Reese and Brian Doren shared a heavenly kiss, but he never followed up on it. It is bad enough that she will see him at the ceremony but she also has to serve him when he visits everyday the coffee shop section of the Roland and Fisk bookstore where Reese works part time. This time Brian plans to follow up on what he let slip away two years ago due to distraction and ignorance. He plans to explore his attraction for Reese if she is willing.

BLUSHING PINK is an entertaining contemporary romance that is at its best when Reese's irritating mom stays off stage. The lead couple and the rest of the vast support ensemble have distinct personalities that enable the audience to understand Reese from her non-confident heart to the warts and icons that make up her brain. Though mom deserves a PCU afternoon delight locked in a room hearing a non-stop recording of her nagging, readers will overall appreciate this fine tale.

Harriet Klausner