Customer Reviews

Start Me Up

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Start Me Up by Victoria Dahl is a sexy treat that will delight every romance reader.

Lori Love had thought her life would be so different then how it has turned out. When her dad became gravely ill she came home to Tumble Creek to help run his auto body shop.
Upon his death its all hers and she has been happy to have it. But lately she finds herself restless and on edge. Something is missing in her life. Her best friend Molly decides Lori needs a no holds bar affair. Lori sets her sights on Quinn Jennings Molly's brother.

Quinn Jennings always had a soft sport in his heart for his sister's friend Lori Love. When Lori suggests a no strings affair, he readily agrees. Quinn's architect work has always been first in his life and Lori knows him well enough to understand.

Both Quinn and Lori both enter into this affair with their eyes wide open. When things start happening to Lori and the garage the dynamics between them change.

Victoria Dahl had me hooked with her book Talk Me Down. She continues her witty characters and all out sexy romp in Start Me Up. This book is funny, sexy and everything that a romance reader will adore. I am thrilled I found this author. I am eagerly looking forward to the next book in this series.

I enjoyed Start Me Up more than book 1 in this series (Talk Me Down). Lori and Quinn made a good couple. I especially enjoyed Quinn's role as the successful, absentminded architect. And Lori's ability to really understand Quinn brought some humor and realism to this story. Their relationship developed slowly, naturally. The book definitely takes you on a wild ride as Quinn helps Lori to explore some of her deepest fantasies. Their encounters are explicit, with Quinn mostly playing a dominant role. The suspense angle of who killed Lori's Dad, added in for interest, isn't really a major part of this book. But I knew from book 1 it wouldn't be. This is a light romantic suspense novel with likeable characters and sizzling hot love scenes.

Start me up has a pretty good beginning, but I quickly lost patience with the self-pitying, unable to commit heroine, as well as the quick, rather sloppy coflicts that make up the second half of the book. *spolier* the grande finale of the story is basically that the heroine will try dating the hero, after she goes on a 6-week tour of europe, alone, but that she makes no promises despite his unwavering dedication. She never gives any indication to the hero or the reader that she loves him, and has no concrete plans for the future. All in all, I was left very dissatisfied with the ending of this novel, almost as if one author had written the first half of the book, then someone else had skimmed the premise and slapped together an ending. Not a total waste of money, but I wouldn't recommend it.

This is my first Victoria Dahl book and I think I like her style! This story is direct, cute, with great dialog, and even though it looks like it's linked to the previous book, it's great as a standalone story.

Lori Love and Quinn Jennings have great chemistry together and you can practically see the sizzle between the two of them when they're on the same page together. I loved that Quinn was the nerd who got lost in his work, but something about Lori Love makes him remember to stop and enjoy himself.

I loved the mention of Molly and Ben in the background and the update of their relationship and have already ordered Talk Me Down for their story. I cannot wait for Lead Me On and Janes's story. Hopefully it will give us an update on Lori and Quinn so we know how they are doing.

I would recommend this light and funny book if you are looking for a pleasant and easy read.

I hate green peas. Here I am, nearly thirty, and I pick green peas out of my food.

I love Indian food. The hotter the better. Nothing hits the spot quite like it.

So, what this book is, is a delicious plate of Indian food, spiced so hot I'm sweating, with a ton of friggin peas in it.

The relationship is the superbly spiced vindaloo.

Lori Love is stuck in a rut and feeling restless. Ten years ago she left Boston College (Eagles REPRESENT!) and her hard won scholarship to rush back to care for her father after a terrible incident leaves him brain damaged. He died a year ago, but she's still working in the family auto garage, still single and still not college educated. It's all left her in a funk, so she's decided to get girlified (I've decided that's a word) and find herself some no strings attached sex.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, her bff Molly Jennings' brother is down with some Lori loving. Quinn is an ideas man, an architect who gets so absorbed in his work he forgets about people. Missing dates, birthdays and anniversaries makes him a relationship failure, so he figures friends with benefits status just might be the key to keeping a woman around a bit longer than a month or two.

The chemistry between the two is off the charts. Since this is just "meaningless" sex for them, Quinn makes a show of grabbing her erotic romance novels as research. Their subsequent reenactmentments of the sex scenes are hot, and a little funny. When she starts smiling while he has her tied up one night, he whispers, "You're ruining the mood."

Outside the bedroom, he's attentive and suspiciously thoughtful for a supposed scatterbrain. After seeing she's got posters of far flung destinations lining the walls of her old bedroom, and realizing she wants to see the world, he takes her to an Andalusian restaurant in Aspen. Wanting to give her a taste of Spain, he speaks to the owner in flawless Spanish, orders for her to introduce her to the exotic food and dances with her in the courtyard. I sighed, I'll admit it.

But the peas! The terrible green peas that comprised the suspense plot.

Dahl has full-on Putney-itis. Here's this great relationship drama, but OH NO, we have to have excitement too. Ugh. It's just weakly developed and even more lamely resolved. It depended on Lori being especially dull and unobservant for it to stretch the length of the book, and since she wasn't dull or unobservant in any other aspect of her life in the book, it just didn't wash. Every point in the book where it was time to check back in with the mystery of her father's accident and the parcel of land, it was almost invariably a forehead slapper. That's just not fun.

I really wanted to give it four stars, but hating a subplot like that takes its toll. I'd still call it an enjoyable book, though. Totally still want to read the next one.

If you guys don't know Victoria Dahl, check her out! Her female leads are strong women. Not those whiney ones who sit and dither their hands and the men ain't bad either! Although the one thing I will say is that her writing is hot, hot, HOT! So may not be for everyone. But hey I liked it!

STORY BRIEF:
Lori's father died after a head injury. Lori left college to care for him and run his towing and auto repair business. She's a good auto mechanic, but her dream was to travel the world. She can't follow her dream since she is working his business to pay off his medical bills. She can't afford to sell the garage due to costly EPA clean up issues concerning oil on the property. She tells her best friend Molly that she wants to find someone for a sexual fling. Molly's brother Quinn accidentally hears this and offers himself to Lori. Quinn is an architect who is frequently distracted and inattentive due to his work. He forgets dates and times with girlfriends. Lori has been friends with him for years, so she understands. She's not bothered by it. Quinn discovers that Lori reads erotic romance novels. He borrows one of her books so he can study what she likes. On their first night together he acts out one of the scenes, and it's the best sex ever for both of them. He borrows other books as well. Lori has self esteem issues. Two of Quinn's former girlfriends are tall, gorgeous, and sophisticated. She doesn't believe Quinn would ever like her - other than for their temporary fling. Some side stories include the police chief reopening Lori's father's case. He believes her dad was hit in the head by someone instead of an accidental fall. There is an unusual amount of interest by developers wanting to buy land Lori owns. Vandals cause damage to Lori's property.

REVIEWER'S OPINION WITH SPOILERS:
I selected this book because I wanted to read about a guy who reads romance novels as research and then acts out scenes with his girl. This part of the story and some of the sex scenes were good. But the rest of the story was lacking. The last 70 or so pages bothered me. Lori fell in love with Quinn but she broke up with him and told him to stay away for no good reason. She claimed she had troubles and needed to be alone. He wanted to help. The couple separating (which is typical for romance novels) was not well done. I need to be able to buy it, believe it, or understand it, but I didn't. I was also annoyed with Lori's reaction to the vandalism. She quickly claimed it was probably nothing more than teenage pranks. However, the reader could easily see other motives for the vandalism. When the reader sees a link, I am annoyed when the heroine doesn't. I don't require a smart heroine. I just want believability or reasonableness. The ending was not a typical HEA, but I thought it was happy enough for this genre.

DATA:
Story length: 359 pages. Swearing language: strong, including religious swear words. Sexual language: strong. Number of sex scenes: 11. Total number of sex scene pages: 45. Setting: current day Aspen and Tumble Creek, Colorado. Copyright: 2009. Genre: contemporary romance.

OTHER BOOKS:
For a list of my reviews of other books by this author, see my 4 star review of "Lead Me On" posted 3-23-10.

Quinn is the ultimate hot nerd living his dream, while Lori is trapped in a life she did not want. When her father is injured, she gives up her dreams of traveling and pursuing a career in international business, and ends up back in Tumble Creek, running her father's garage. Her love life is so non-existent that the town thinks she is a lesbian. She and her best friend, Molly(Talk Me Down)decides a summer fling is just the way to perk Lori up. Quinn, Molly's brother, just so happens to be the object of Lori's, um, affection.

There is a lot going on in this book beyond the obvious. Quinn is an absent minded architect; or rather, one track minded. He knows he is not good boyfriend material. He forgets dates, forgets to be on time, forgets to call...so having a stricly sexual affair seems like a good answer, especially since when he is around Lori, his one track mind is tracking on her. Lori doesn't feel like she has time to have a relationship, but the erotica she loves has created...yearnings...for a physical union. She has always been attracted to Quinn. As the story progresses, Lori is a little envious of Quinn. He has his dream job, he is educated, he has traveled to Europe...she feels even more inadequate. Quinn's growing realization that Lori is the one for him and Lori's inability to commit when she feels so trapped by her circumstances play a huge role in the character motivations.

Lori has self esteem issues, no doubt. She doesn't feel she is as attractive as Quinn's previous lovers, she doesn't really believe Quinn is attracted to her. I think she feels so bad about herself that it is hard for her to accept anyone would want her. She feels like Quinn is slumming, almost. She made my heart hurt for her by being unable to see her own worth. Lori is funny, brave, hard working and determined.

The story is snortingly funny at times, earnest and sincere(Quinn grabbing her erotica as homework is both funny and sincere!)and shows how the best of intentions can go horribly wrong, when Quinn essentially tells Lori she has no life to speak of and how she needs to fix it.

I didn't mind the open ending here, as a HEA would have been the antithesis of the objective of Lori finding herself to be a worthy person in her own right. She needs the time to grow as her own person.

*sigh* I love these Tumble Creek characters to distraction.

I enjoyed this book, the story line/plot was not as good as the first in this two book series (book 1 "Talk me down"), but the physical attraction between Quinn and Lori in this story was alot hotter than book number one's main characters, although the Hero was alot hotter descriptively in book number one. I believe Quinn could have had more details given about his physical appeal. There were a couple of moments, it could have been considered an erotica and its funny how the heroine in book number 1)"talk me down" was an authur of Erotica books and it still did not steam up the pages like this one did. Let me clarify that the hotness did not take over the whole story, which made it all the better when you got to those scenes and the last chapter when Quinn compares Lori's physical attributes to architecture was so sweet(there is back ground to this, will need to read it to understand) and it was oh so hot at the same time. This author has a way of writing romance and moments of steaminess along with creating characters with personalities that you want to keep reading about that makes it all work. I myself enjoy her stories a great deal, even her historical romances have been okay(which I am not a huge fan of). I thnk this authur and book are worth the read, I suggest reading book 1"talk me down" first to get a history of the characters in this book.

Start Me Up is an enjoyable read, but the secondary plot and actions of the heroine were occasionally tiring.

Start Me Up has characters in common with Talk Me Down. The heroine and BFF roles have been flip-flopped! Lori and Molly are fund friends, a blast to read about, but I think the combination of them in real life would be exhausting.

Quinn, the hero, kept calling the heroine Lori Love -- well, it's her name -- and I kept wondering what it reminded me of... Then it hit me, 30 Rock and how Tracy is always calling Tina Fey's character Liz Lemon. Lori finds it cute, but as someone who grew up with a similar type of name -- one people couldn't resist saying in full -- well, that's another flashback.

Lori and Quinn are an appealing couple. Quinn is, on the surface, a nerdy architect, but the concentration he brings to his work is also of great use in more...hands on endeavors. And the hands up endeavors are decidedly naughty and fun. I appreciated them more than in Talk Me Down actually.

I liked these people as a couple -- the way she understood him, even his tendency to be late or forgetful -- and the way he worked hard to understand her desires, even if it meant homework. :)

However, overall, I liked Talk Me Down more. Maybe it's because I read it recently and so I wasn't completely ready for another heroine who routinely keeps important information a secret. Ben, the sheriff and the love interest in Talk Me Down, is probably getting a complex from people not telling him anything. Need the info!

The mystery plot had moments of interest, but key elements of that plot were, um, elementary and so early on I started waiting for Lori -- who is a quite intelligent character in all other ways -- to catch up.

What I enjoy is that every heroine I've read by Dahl has some spirit and sass -- even in the case of the submissive Lily in The Wicked West. It means that the heroines might be initially shy over expressing their needs, but they always overcome it because it's treated as a given that those needs matter. It means that I will select books by the author again and again.

This was a worthwhile read for me and I recommend it, especially for fans of the author. I'm really looking forward to Lead Me On, the next book in the series, which is scheduled for early 2010.