Customer Reviews

When The Lights Go Down (Silhouette Desire)

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

 

 

Gwen Thomas is fed up! Being a quiet librarian, Gwen barely noticed when life passed her by and is stunned to realize that she's 31, and has never truly experienced life at all. When she wakes up on the day of her birthday she takes a good look at herself and realizes that all she is missing is a houseful of cats to make her the stereotypical old maid. With this stunning realization she calls into work, shocking her boss, and sets out to change...everything. Armed with a new hair color, style and new clothes she heads to the local club, The Hot Spot. Ethan Banks, the owner of The Hot Spot, is intrigued the moment he sees Gwen, there is just something different about her. When she gets in over her head with a lounge lizard, he rescues her and before long Gwen asks Ethan to be her birthday present. After a night of passion Gwen sneaks out before Ethan wakes, leaving him to try and find her, determined to see her again. Gwen is convinced that a man like Ethan would never truly want to be with a woman who is in reality a mousy librarian, especially since she hasn't been exactly truthful with him about herself in an effort to seem more exciting and worldly. Can a relationship that started as just one steamy night evolve into something lasting?

When The Lights Go Down started out smoking hot and the pages never stopped burning! Ethan is truly too delicious for words and Gwen is a heroine that quickly steals your heart. For a short serial romance, Heidi Betts has given Gwen and Ethan a rich emotional intensity. I have fallen in love with Heidi Betts's Silhouette Desire's and would be hard pressed to choose a favorite but in all honesty When The Lights Go Down would definitely be among the top!


Melissa
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

Back Cover: Today is Gwen Thomas's 31st birthday. She's given herself T-minus 24 hours to change her life.

8:00 a.m.: Call out sick from library.

8:01 a.m.: Scour phone book for Emergency Beauty Technicians.

10:00 - Noon: Hair. Goodbye, mousy. Hello, auburn.

Noon - 5:00 p.m.: Nails. Makeup. Clothes. Be bold!

10:00 p.m.: Arrive at The Hot Spot. Pretend you've gone clubbing before.

11:00 p.m.: Fight polyester lizard's advances - and the disappointment of a failed mission.

11:30 p.m.: Revel in being rescued by Ethan Banks. Don't let the sexy club owner's chivalry prevent mission completion.


When the lights go down: Lose virginity...finally.


In the light of a new day, something had indeed changed for Gwen: She was in over her head....


Ethan Banks is about to change shy librarian, Gwen Thomas's life by ridding her of her unwanted virginity and introducing her to sexual pleasure - or is she about to change his life? Ethan is the perfect person for Gwen's mission - he is a sophisticated man who owns a nightclub, has had a string of casual sexual relationships with equally sophisticated party girls, so he knows the score. Gwen is sure he'd never want to see her again, so she doesn't see any harm in stretching the truth a little bit about who she is and what she does. She's shocked when he spots her on the sidewalk and follows her back to her apartment, determinted to see her again. She wants to believe that he will still want to be with her once he knows just how boring her real life really is, but how can she explain to him that everything he knows about her is a lie? This is a really good book - the hero and the heroine both learn a lot about who they are and what they really want out of life & just how true the old saying - "Opposites attract" - really is.

Courtesy of CK2S Kwips and kritiques

Gwen Thomas is tired of being a Plain Jane and a virgin. So on her 31st birthday, she calls in sick to the library where she works and plans to go have a total makeover. Now she's got the hair, the clothes, the stiletto shoes, and even a behavioral change.
Gwen's greatest birthday wish is to finally lose her virginity. So when she is ready to leave up at the greatest night club in town, The Hot Spot, with a sleazy guy whose only mission in life appears to be more notches in the bedpost, she is rescued by club owner Ethan Banks. What he doesn't realize is that he just granted Gwen's wish when he takes her home with him.

In the light of day, can Gwen keep up the facade when it becomes apparent Ethan is interested in more than a one night stand?

I've been following Heidi Betts since her historical romance days and I've purchased all of her Silhouette Desires as they've been released but always seem to have a hard time squeezing them in to read. Of course, with my luck, I picked up the second of two connected books to read first. When the Lights Go Down and Blame it on the Blackout are linked through two best friends, but fortunately, not having read the preceding book first did not deter my ability to enjoy this one. I am glad I finally made the time for Betts' contemporary stories because they are wonderfully written.

Heidi Betts has a knack for making her characters so completely loveable that you get fully immersed in the story until it's finished. Gwen is a mild mannered librarian with a wild side she never lets loose. Ethan is a veritable playboy after his disastrous marriage and is not ashamed of it one bit. When Gwen walks into his bar, his world is turned upside down. I loved the role reversal between Gwen and Ethan. She's only interested in a one night stand and Ethan quickly decides one night is not enough. Usually in romance novels, the reverse is true and the heroine is the one who tries to convince the hero they belong together forever. So Gwen and Ethan's attitudes put a great spin on the story in When the Lights Go Down. Then there is the fact that Gwen has to tell so many white lies to keep up her ruse as a bar hopping wild child that after awhile you begin to wonder how she can keep it all straight.

I love Heidi Betts' writing style no matter what genre she writes in and I can't wait to pull out the rest of her books I've piled up in my collection and read through all of them. One thing I know is I'm in for a treat.

© Kelley A. Hartsell, January 2008. All rights reserved.

*Possible Spoilers*

I have to start out by saying this book was a disappointment, first and foremost because it didn't follow what the synopsis said. Yes, she got her hair done and a new dress, but that was never described in the book. I was expecting a book with a makeover scene and I never got that. What you get is her waking up and deciding to change her life and then suddenly she is at the club with a new look, call me a sucker but I love that "Pretty Woman" moment.

Also, I was not at all fond of the hero. He was a true womanizer to the point he couldn't even remember how many people he had slept with, but it seemed to be in the hundreds and since he was going crazy after not having sex in 2 weeks I would assume he had around 2 one night stands a week, from women he picks up at the club he runs. Not only is it icky to think about being with a man who has been with hundreds, possibly thousands of women, but there is nothing romantic about that kind of guy. He flirts, takes them home and tosses them out, maybe that's supposed to show that Gwen is special because he doesn't kick her out, but he just seems like a user. I am so SO tired of every other hero in romances these days being an emotionally retarded man whore.

I also disliked how the serious issue that the man most likely polluted with disease was totally avoided. The get excited and start out having sex with no condom. If I were Gwen I would immediately be terrified I picked something up from him and thinking the "hero" is a big walking STD riddled whore is not what I personally want to read about.

The story itself is ok, not at all new or interesting, but I did like Gwen, being she is sweet and charming and I'm just glad she was willing to finally take charge of her life, but I wish we would have gotten a little bit more of her history being I can see no reason why someone who is supposed to be attractive, smart and interesting, if a bit shy is going to end up with no dates since college and if she did date it wasn't talked a book.

With a few tweaks this could have been a sweet little story, but it is quite short and with characters that need a bite more flesh on their bones so I have to say:

2 1/2 stars.