Customer Reviews

Wine, Tarts, & Sex (Berkley Sensation)

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

 

 

Ms. Johnson does it again! This story involves both food and sex - Jake is a world-renowned chef (my perfect aphrodisiac - a man in the kitchen!) Liv is smart, sexy and beautiful - not to mention financially secure and very cognizant of her sexuality. I enjoyed this story because the focus was not just on the two main characters - but the drama from the friends kept the story moving along. Sizzling hot story of sex with a menu to make you drool. This is very good summer reading - and plan a trip to the Culinary Institute for a dinner - there is definitely eye candy to be found along with excellent food! Oh! Don't forget the wine!:)

and quite frankly, I am having trouble finishing.
I LOVE Susan Johnson's historical romances. They are always well developed, hot and steamy. I love her historic novels so much that I purchase her books whenever I see one I don't currently own without knowing anything about the story.
There are three solid things I know and have come to expect from her books.
1) The guy will always be hot
2) It will be well written, character development, plot, etc.
3) So steamy you'll need your man or device.

So far, this book only has one of the two. The guy is hot (looking), but his character is so flat that I can't feel him.
Other issues? I feel like I'm reading an amateur novelist's first time in print. There is absolutely no feeling between the main characters. No indication that they feel anything other than the need to get laid by a beautiful face.
The verse is so choppy and feels so forced that its not even entertaining. I'm hoping it will get better, but it has that Gilmore Girls, choppy dialect feel going on and that is so not sexy.

If you only want romances to have a plot as a means of moving from one sex scene to the next, you might like this book. There is a plot and it could have been an interesting one if the author had paid as much attention to it as to the sex scenes. I actually want my romances to be romantic and this book missed the mark there by a mile.

I ordered it because I like to read books set in Minnesota and want to support Minnesota writers. After this book, I won't be looking for any more by Susan Johnson.

Jake and Liv have sex on their second meeting. Neither of them is looking for a relationship; it's just mutual lust. After that, they have more sex every few pages, including in the back seat of the car in the grocery parking lot because they can't wait to get home and a finger job on the freeway at 80 mph (ditto for the can't wait to get home). Some of the action isn't particularly sexy to me because Jake is a sexual bully. In one passage Liv tells him "Stop!" twice -- she doesn't want to do it there (in the pantry) and not without a condom. But Jake ignores her and keeps going until she gives in. Rather than being angry, Liv is all turned on and then Jake mocks her saying he thought she didn't want to do it there. That's closer to my idea of a rapist than a romantic hero.

What they don't do is have any feelings for each other deeper than horniness. Even at the end of the book, there is no mention of love or commitment beyond Jake saying "I'm not going away."

There is more romance in the secondary plot line involving Janie (who is coincidentally a friend of both Jake and Liv) and Roman, the private investigator her soon-to-be-ex-husband sends to get their son away from her. The book doesn't end with any declarations of love between Janie and Roman either, but they have more emotional tenderness.

If you want romance, don't get this book. But if semi-explicit and slightly raunchy "love" scenes are your thing, you might like it.

I have read many of Susan Johnson's books. I enjoy both her historicals and her contemporary novels. This was a very enjoyable and hot read. I really liked both of the characters. Jake is a gorgeous chef with lots of stamina ( How can you go wrong with that ). Liv is a former model who moves back to Minnesota to run her own winery. I thought both of the characters were very believable and likeable as well. It's not always easy to write good characters who are not only drop dead gorgeous but have depth as well. My only complaint about the story is that the secondary plot-line with Liv's friend Janie who is a spoiled former soap opera actress didn't really move the story along. I would rather have seen more of her friend Shelley or some of the people from her vineyard in the story. I found janie to be a bit annoying. But don't let that keep you from reading this book. Curl up with a nice glass of red wine and enjoy!!

I have never read this author and after this book probably never will. I will be honest when I first started reading romance novels I read them for the sex. And then I ran across a book where the story line was so entertaining I started reading these novels for the actual story and not just for the smut. I bought this book becuase it sounded like a fun story but by chapter five the story had taken a turn for the worst. With this story the dialogue and chemistry between the two main characters was so trite and IMO swarmy I found myself skimming over the sex just hoping to find something that could endear me to the characters.
I was grossed out by Liv's preoccupation with the Jakes's erection or his c*ck as it was often referred to. In my opinion it just made her seem desperate and tacky. It drove me nuts that Jake punctuated each remark with "babe". I was born and raised in Southern Ca and the only people who I ever heard use the word "babe" as often as Jake did were the creeps. I just didn't like the characters and how they all interacted with one another. I am glad I found this book on the clearance rack because now I don't feel to bad about putting an unifinished book in the donation box.

Susan Johnson has returned to what works for her in this contemporary title that features the best and worst of her writing. True to form, Johnson has created two characters who don't want a relationship with their sex but end up liking their chemistry so much they don't want to walk off in the morning. Liv and Jake hate their mutual obsession so much they spend too much time taking it out on each other. There's no real love story involved, just two lustful people who like sleeping together.

In an attempt to insert a storyline Johnson has brought in Janie, a mutual friend of Liv and Jake and a trophy wife who is being replaced. This plotline is actually pretty interesting and I would have liked to have seen it as it's own story without the irrelelvant sex. When the character was introduced I thought I would hate her, but she ended up be smart and spunky. I loved watching her outwit her almost-ex.

If Johnson had been able to give Liv and Jake a storyline as interesting as Janie's this would have been an excellent book. Unfortuately she didn't and their story is mostly made up of them trying to convince themselves to walk away. Janie's story, while interesting, feels out of place as the driving plot bcause she is a secondary character.

Overall WT&S is an entertaining book but not likely to hit my keeper shelf or my list of recommended reads.

This book made me reread all SJ old historical romance novels that were what I now consider my first dip into erotica. I've enjoyed her strong male characters in denial and her also strong female characters who are always prepared to pick up the pieces and move on if love fails which it never does. This book is modern version and slightly toned down though SJ's written sex scenes as always are HOT!. I'm glad I read this book and I think fans of her old work will enjoy this also.

I purchased this book for my wife. She said that it was very well written and very hot.

I love anything by Susan Johnson. If you like steamy sex, then this book is for you. I didn't want the book to end it was that good. I highly recommend this book to everyone.

I only write reviews when I am severely disappointed, and so here I am with a book with such a decent premise, but such a weak execution.

Susan Johnson needs to read up on writing good sex scenes. There was no passion. I've seen more passion between boys playing a video game. All the rough and tumble between the main characters was so wam-bam that it might as well have been gonzo porn.

Basically, two beautiful people are supposedly so turned on by each other that they don't need any real emotional [dare I say real sexual] chemistry before they are in bed together. Half a page of erotic buzz words later they are satiated. No build up, no decent description of the acts themselves, but a lot of dirty talk. I guess the writer didn't have to be more descriptive because they were soooooooo turned on by each other all the time. The heroine magically has like 4 orgasms in half a page.

I'm sure that you could get a better description of the sex act from a VD pamphlet. Sexual tension in this book consisted of the time it took for the couple to get their clothes off.

I was bored by the main characters, but was disheartened by the way the author also failed to serve the background characters. There's this whole backstory of Janie the Trophy wife who comes into town hiding from her husband and Roman, the husband's henchman turned good guy and love interest. That story was actually better than the main one, but it got glossed over and ended in such a pat fashion.

I'm giving the author 1 star for writing the book. Susan, you've been writing for years, so maybe you've gotten a little stale. You need to rejuvenate by possibly going back to historical romances and discontinuing the use of the erotic genre as an excuse to offer no real story. Good luck!