Customer Reviews

Flat-Out Sexy (Fast Track)

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After losing her husband to a stock car accident two years ago, Tamara Riggs is a single mother and widow at the age of 32. She is just getting back into the dating scene when she meets a young rookie driver, Elec. Not really wanting to get involved with another race car driver, Tamara is convinced that keeping it light and casual is the only way to go, unfortunately that gets harder and harder to do.

I loved this book and I think it is going to be an awesome series. Erin McCarthy cracks me up and she had me laughing out loud throughout this book. Tamara's friend Suzanne was a laugh riot and her outspoken and blunt ways quickly won me over. Erin McCarthy books are always extremely fun, humorous and a whole lot sexy. This one was no exception; I loved it from start to finish.

Mixed in with all the sizzle and humor is a lot of emotion and depth. Tamara has a lot of reservations about herself and dating after all these years and is concerned about doing what's best for her kids. I adored Elic from the start; he has a lot of heart and was a hell of a good guy. It's great to read about a hero that can be sexy as hell, genuinely decent, and incredibly exciting. I can't wait to read the next one and look forward to more stories about this group of characters!

Hard and Fast

Cherise Everhard, November 2008

Widow Professor Tamara Briggs raises her two children in quiet safe environs. After her husband died in a fiery NASCAR accident, she vowed to keep her kids safe and her heart too.

Driver Elec Monroe has had his fill of groupies. Instead he wants Tamara even if she is a few years older than him and he even likes her two kids. He scores with her in the tryst of a lifetime, but she obstinately refuses his efforts to shift their relationship beyond a one night stand into first gear as he is a dreaded driver like her children's late dad. He begins a campaign that NASCAR would love as a victory to him is winning Tamara's heart permanently.

The opening line by Tamara's friend Suzanne sets the stage of an engaging often humorous contemporary romance when she says Tamara's boyfriend anthropology Professor Geoffrey Ayers has less testosterone than a teenage girl. The story line accelerates from that terrific observation and never slows down as Elec tries to keep up with his racing heart to win the greatest prize of all, the love of a lifetime while his checkered flag in this race is an obstinate single mom.

Harriet Klausner

Flat Out Sexy was just Flat Out Adorable. The story starts with the heroine Tamara Briggs at a cocktail party trying to talk herself into then out of feelings for the guy she's been seeing and brought to the cocktail party when she bumps - literally - into the hero Elec Monroe. Through a series of events, they end up in a cab together headed to a friends trailer, where she is planning on spending the night. Elec ends up spending the night too, but they do not so much sleeping.
But things take a down turn in the morning when Tamara finds out first Elec's age, which is a few years younger than her own and second the fact that he's a race car driver. You see Tamara is a widow with two children whose husband was killed in a race. She doesn't want to be involved with another driver again.
Elec is so endearing in this book. He's so totally gone for Tamara right from the beginning. I've mentioned before that I love books when the hero is gone for the heroine. Add to the fact that this is a younger guy/older woman book and I loved it even more. It's adorable getting inside his head and seeing how smitten he is with her. Tamara has a number of issues against getting involved with Elec - issues I could really understand. She's insecure about her body and Elec is wonderful about allaying those insecurities and though she has a few qualms about the age difference, she isn't stuck on it. All in all, she's a great heroine. And the secondary characters are also very well drawn, from Suzanne, her best friend to Evan and Eve, Elec's siblings. There was one scene in particular, the dinner party scene for anyone who's read the book, that had me laughing out loud in a number of places.
Although this is a race car themed book and I don't know didly about the race car scene, it didn't overwhelm the book and wasn't a problem at all in the reading. In fact it looks like her next book is the same setting and after reading the excerpt, I'm really looking forward to it's release so I can get back into this world.

I was very pleasantly surprised by this book. Even though it's not normally the type of book I go for, I tried it for a couple of reasons: 1) I like the author's Vegas Vampires series and 2) the story is based in the Mooresville/Charlotte area. I live in Mooresville, which is also known as 'Race City USA' because there are so many NASCAR teams based here. I'm not personally into racing, but I know a little about it since my hubby is a fan. I thought it'd be interesting to try story based where I live and about the sport that's so popular in this area. I'm glad I did!

This is a great summer beach read style book. An entertaining contemporary romance, it's not too heavy on the race stuff (so it won't get on your nerves if you aren't into the sport). Actually the drivers the way they were described were a lot of fun and, well, HOT. The story is about Tamara and Elec. Tamara's hubby was a popular driver who was killed two years ago. She's been focusing on raising her kids and work, and hasn't gotten much involved in dating. She is ready to try it, but doesn't have any interest in dating a driver because of the high risk nature of their sport. Elec comes from a family of race car drivers. He's the new up and coming rookie, and when they meet at a party Tamara doesn't recognize him. Their coming together was very sexy and sweet. A very nice romance!

I will definitely give the other books in this series a try. If you haven't tried Erin McCarthy, she does a great job at writing humorous romance that will make you laugh. Her Vegas Vampires series (High Stakes (Vegas Vampires, Book 1)) is a fun paranormal romance. I also enjoyed The Pregnancy Test and You Don't Know Jack (Brava Contemporary Romance).

Widow Tamara Briggs has no doubts that bringing her dull and boring date to a racing fundraiser was a mistake. She knows as well that there is no way she is going to spend the night either in Mr. Boring's bed or his hotel room. Not watching where she is going, Tamara runs into one of the most handsome men she has ever seen. When he seems to flirt with her, Tamara's heart pounds and she can't help but be entranced. But, that is all that it can be - attraction. Tamara, as a single mother, has two children to raise and take care of and she refuses to allow herself to become so in love with a man that nothing else matters. She should have told Elec Monroe this to start with because once he sets his sites on Tamara, nothing is going to stand in his way.

Elec Monroe knows he has no business cozying up to Mrs. Briggs. Her husband was one of his boyhood heroes. Elec is instantly enamored of the beautiful woman as soon as he meets her and when a fellow driver asks Elec to accompany Tamara to his bus for her to crash out for the night Elec figures he can do that without making a move of the beautiful woman. Figures is all relative once Elec and Tamara kiss. Then it's all over but choosing the wedding music. That is, if Tamara can handle being involved with another race car driver.

Flat-Out Sexy made me sweat. It made me want to watch racing. It EVEN made me want to get one of those coveralls. Ok. It might not have made ME want one but it definitely made me want to see Elec out of his. His personality and attractiveness grabbed me from the first scene of Flat-Out Sexy and didn't let go. His love and affection for Tamara, and her children, was over the top hot and manly. Tamara was the more scared of the two main characters. Her first husband died as a result of a race car accident during a race. The dangerousness of Elec's job scared Tamara and while I could tell she loved him unconditionally in her heart, her mind often talked her out of wise decisions where Elec is concerned.

Don't miss Flat-Out Sexy. Elec's charm will win you over and his sex appeal will make you shake. Erin McCarthy continues to be one of my favorite authors.

Talia
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

What a yummy cover. I expected this book to be a fun, hot little number, but it was just so much more. Flat-Out Sexy is a modern day fairy tale and Elec is a modern day Prince Charming! Elec and Tamara are two very likable characters, who you find yourself cheering for their HEA, while some complications are thought through by Tamara. While the escapades are very, very hot (satisfaction guaranteed), this story is relationship driven and all the characters involved you come to care for. This is book one in a Racing Series, all I can say is that I hope it's the beginning of a 12 book series! The next book in the series is Hard and Fast. It will be released in May 2009 and will be the story of Imogen and Ty. She is Tamara's up tight assistant, he's the Godfather of Tamara's daughter and a playboy racecar driver. The preview in the back of the book makes me think May is a long time away!

This is my first Erin McCarthy book, and I think I have another author to gobble up their backlist!!! Thank you Ms. McCarthy for a book I cannot part with!

REVIEWER'S OPINION:
This is a pleasant, sweet story. Sensitive and insecure Tamara gets won over by Elec who adores her and is wonderful with her children. Women will love him. He does all the right things, and he only has eyes for her. I liked reading about stock car racing. I liked thinking about the drivers going 185 miles per hour with only inches between the cars.

My definitions for 3, 4 and 5 stars are Liked it, Really liked it and Loved it. There was nothing wrong with this book. It's a good book among many. It just didn't hit me as strongly as some other books have. If I try to find some constructive criticism, it is probably that I am looking for things that surprise me, or make me laugh out loud, or feel strong emotions. Witty conversation or something creatively different will lead me to 4 and 5 stars.

STORY BRIEF:
Tamara has two children. Her husband Pete was a stock car driver who was killed in a race two years earlier. Tamara meets Elec, and they are immediately attracted to each other. She is concerned that he is 25, 7 years younger than she is. She fears that he has a string of women and only wants short-term relationships or one-night stands. She is also fearful of his risky lifestyle, being a race car driver. She has other concerns: not wanting to disappoint her children or her in-laws and a few post pregnancy body flaws. The story is about their growing attraction and how they end up handling her concerns.

DATA:
Story length: 277 pages. Sexual language: strong. Number of sex scenes: 6. Length of sex scenes: 3.1 to 12.5 pages. Total number of sex scene pages: 37. Setting: current day Charlotte, North Carolina. Copyright: 2008. Genre: contemporary romance.

OTHER BOOKS:
To date, I've read the following Erin McCarthy books.
4 stars. The Lady of the Lake (in anthology When Good Things Happen to Bad Boys). Copyrt 2006. My 3 star review for the anthology was posted 2/03/07.
4 stars. Bad Boys OnLine. Copyrt 2003. Review Date 6/26/08.
3.5 stars. Flat-Out Sexy. Copyrt 2008. My review was posted under 3 stars on 11/11/08.
3.5 stars. The Pregnancy Test. Copyrt 2005. My review was posted under 3 stars on 6/26/08.
2 stars. My Immortal. Copyrt 2007. Review Date 6/26/08.
1 star. You Don't Know Jack. Copyrt 2006. Review Date 2/11/07.

I was not very impressed in the beginning of this book. I was actually pretty irritated that I had bought it at all. I really didn't like Tamara and her friend Suzanne at first. During the cocktail party they came off as really shallow and rude. ...more I was not very impressed in the beginning of this book. I was actually pretty irritated that I had bought it at all. I really didn't like Tamara and her friend Suzanne at first. During the cocktail party they came off as really shallow and rude. I also disliked that Geoffrey was bagged on so much. It's not his fault that she dated him under false pretenses. When she breaks up with him he behaves like a jerk - which even Tamara says is out of character. The way it was set up seemed like the author threw in him acting like that as a way for Tamara to come out of the situation without looking like a jerk.

Before I could get over my irritation about that, the author started working on making us, the readers, think that Tamara's previous husband wasn't that great of a guy. The author actually pushed this pretty hard through the whole story. It pissed me off. She loved him, but their relationship was all about him. She loved him, but he was never home. She loved him, but he wasn't a very hands on dad. She loved him, but he made fun of her stretch marks and made her self conscious about being naked in front of anyone. It was ridiculous! It seemed like the author did everything possible to convince me that her previous relationship was not as good as the one she could get with Elec. It's not a competition! The man is dead! If the relationship was that lacking she shouldn't have stayed with him.

Why do authors always do this? I hate that, according to almost every romance book I've ever read, if my husband died I'd only be able to have a good new relationship if I diminished my old one. I didn't really love him as much as I thought! The sex wasn't really as good as I thought either! I was fine with my ignorance until new guy came along to show me just how lacking my sex life with my husband was. See? Ridiculous!

I liked the book other than those issues. The character interactions and dialogue seem to be where this author shines.

Elec was the biggest sweetie ever. I loved that he was the one slowly inching Tamara toward a relationship. He was tired of flings, he wanted commitment. He loved being with Tamara and he loved spending time with her kids. He was a bit too perfect at times, but I just ignored that.

I really sympathized with Tamara's insecurities. As someone who has had kids I know that it is hard to feel as confident in your body as you used to. I liked that she felt insecure, but also that she didn't harp on it incessantly. She slyly tried to move his hand to less squishy areas, but she never really whined to him about it and came off as fishing for compliments.

I liked that Tamara's kids didn't play hide and seek through the book. Tamara adjusted her schedule around theirs. I cannot stand when authors introduce kids as a plot device but then make it simple for them to disappear when they were inconvenient. Besides, I liked that Tamara and Elec had to plan out their time together.

I'm interested in seeing more about Ty and Imogen and Ryder and Suzanne. I'm hesitant to continue with the series though. I don't know why. Maybe I'm afraid the reunion story won't be well done? I cringe from the thought of Ryder being a player during their separation while Suzanne hasn't been. Maybe Suzanne will surprise me, maybe she's just more private.

The only other thing that bothered me was how their relationship resolved toward the end. They spent way more time on sex (a lot of sex) than on their relationship, and I wasn't ready for them to move to that level yet. I think the book would have felt more authentic if it had ended with them committed to dating and seeing where it would go.

"Flat-out sexy" is one of the rare books that made my heart feel all warm and also made me laugh out loud several times. It's the perfect combination of love, charm and wit and that makes Erin McCarthy one of the best contemporary romance authors (at least in my opinion).
"Flat-out sexy" is about Tamara Briggs , a thirty-something widow who is ready to date again after her husband died in a tragic racing accident two years ago. Between her job and raising two children there is not much time for herself. When she meets sexy Elec Monroe at a party Tamara wants to forget all her obligations for one night and just enjoy life and feel like a desired woman again.
After spending a fantastic time (ok, it's one sizzling night) with Elec she is shocked to learn that not only is he a rookie race driver (no more race drivers for her) but also several years younger than she is. But Elec is not your normal 25 year old boy, he's a man who realizes that he just met a very special woman that makes him feel like he never felt before. So when he wants a second date Tamara is shocked and tries to end their relationship before it begins. But Elec is a man who goes after what he wants so Tamara is going to have a hard time saying no to this honest man who adores her and loves her children.
"Flat-out sexy" is just flat-out perfect. It's sweet, funny as hell (all I'm saying is "latex smell" - you're going to laugh out loud when reading this scene), very sexy, intense and all in all a great read that makes me excited for the next book in the series.
The main characters are fantastic, very likable and I really enjoyed reading about their relationship. Their chemistry is amazing and Elec is one of my favourite romance heros ever. He is a very mature and honest guy who made me smile whenver I read of him.
The secondary characters are also awsome. Suzanne, Tamara's best friend and Ryder, Suzanne's ex- husband (not so ex sometimes) are great and it's clear that they still have some unfinished business and deep feelings for each other. Two more great characters are Imogen, Tamaras teaching assistent and Ty, another driver. These two couldn't be more different but still feel some instant attraction for each other.
So all in all "Flat-out sexy" by Erin McCarthy is a brilliant romance that you shouldn't miss and don't forget to watch out for the second book in the series "Hard and Fast" coming in May 2009 and featuring Ty and Imogen.

First off that is one hot cover. Everytime I read this book, I would stare at the cover for at least a few minutes. Ha. I wish I could have it as a bookmark or something.

As for the actual novel, it does indeed live up to its title. Sexy? Oh yeah. Tamara and Elec's sexual chemistry is sizzling, and I would definitely classify this book as an erotic romance since they do most of their connecting through sex. They also build a strong emotional connection to each other, but a lot of time is spent on their sexual attraction.

I loved the characters themselves too. Elec is such a sweetheart. I loved how he is so kind and affectionate. As for Tamara, I can completely understand why she makes so many excuses before getting into something serious with Elec. She's a mom so she wants somebody who treats her kids right and can be a good dad. She's also a widow so of course it's hard for her to move on to another relationship, especially since her husband was a race car driver who died in a crash during a race, and Elec is a race car driver too. She doesn't want to go through that again. It's also understandable that she has a hard time believing that a young, hot guy like Elec would be into an older woman like her and find her sexy.

This novel is on the fluffy side. Conflicts get resolved pretty easily, especially the problem with Crystal, Elec's relentless fan, that comes up at the end. But it is excellent fluff, and reading it put me in such happy mood.