Wednesday, July 24, 2013

VBT: Avoiding Mr Right by C.J. Ellisson ~ review and giveaway



Carla Johnson thinks issuing orders to a lover will keep her heart safe and leave her in charge of her own destiny. Afraid for Carla’s future, her best friend Heather implores her to change her self-centered ways, handing her a list of love life mistakes to steer clear of:

1. Casual Sex

2. Friends with Benefits

3. Avoidance of Intimacy

Carla ignores the list—unwilling to face she might have a commitment problem. Until she invites a co-worker to her place one night. She instantly regrets the hum-drum sexual encounter and discourages the accountant from pursuing her.

Andy Shea refuses to become another lover the feisty blonde dumps. It'll take a patient man with a strong hand to unlock Carla's sexual awareness and win her heart. He’s up for the challenge to convince her he’s the one—and eager to prove this number cruncher won’t make a boring bedmate.



Avoiding Mr Right

Walk on the Wild Side, Book 2

C.J. Ellisson

Genre: erotic romance

Publisher: Red Hot Publishing

ASIN: B00D69AJEY

   

   Purchase it from  Amazon.  


This is an excerpt from Chapter two. We’re in Andy’s POV.

Bodies press against Carla, shoving her closer to the bar as she tries to leave the stool. I reach out an arm to protect her from the worst of the crush. “Carla, let me see you home. You shouldn’t make your way alone.”

Her buzzed smile and feeling-no-pain expression is a sure sign we should have had dinner when the bartender offered menus an hour ago.

“No worries, Andy. I’m good.” She stumbles and lands face first against the broad chest of a nearby guy. The grin on his face shows he’s not angry at her slip.

“My…you’re big,” she says while pushing blond bangs out of her face. “Want to help me get a cab?”

Anger boils close to the surface at the mere thought of the curvy blonde going home with this meathead. I will not stand here and let her make a poor choice when she’s been drinking. The large man opens his mouth to respond, then catches sight of what I hope is a nasty look on my face. His smile dims as he looks back to Carla. “Maybe next time, sweetheart.”

I nod my thanks while trying to steer my more than tipsy co-worker out of our company’s favorite after-work bar.

“But, Andy,” she whines, “he looked hot. Lemme get his number.”

I take a firm hold on her arm and gently maneuver her toward the door. “You’ll thank me later.”

The cool late spring air smacks us, jolting me with a much-needed surge of energy. Hopefully, it will have the same affect on Carla. “But, he looks like a real man,” she says, with a pointed look my way.

I ignore the brush of annoyance I feel at her implication I’m not a real man. Where the hell is her aggravation coming from? “Yeah, and I’m sure he’ll call you in the morning, too.”

“That’s not fair, Andy. The guy I picked up two months ago called me.”

I hail a taxi and pour us inside.

“But he turned out to be dumb.” She snorts at a memory while I tell the cabbie her address. In the ensuing silence she whispers, “Couldn’t even find my clit.”

I resist shaking her for her stupid actions. I know firsthand she has a solid mind and a sharp wit. It’s the alcohol getting to her, and it’s getting to me, too. The mere mention of sex has parts of me growing in my suit pants. She settles snug against my side, hugging my arm. “Whoa, Andy. You have some serious muscles here. Have you been working out?”

Her grasping fingers massage my bicep through my jacket. “I’ve always worked out.” I pry away her grip then she squeals and aims to tickle me. Bad move. Her quick hands graze my expanding arousal and she freezes.

“Andy! Do you want me?” A wisp of longing sounds in her voice.

I suppress the sigh aching to burst forth. I’ve wanted Carla from the moment we teamed up on the Stringer account six months ago, but needed to wait for the right time to approach her. And partially drunk is not the right time. “Carla, let’s just get you home. We’ve both been drinking and I don’t want to do anything we may regret later.”

She nips playfully at my ear. “How could I possibly regret fooling around with you? We could be friends with benefits. Wouldn’t that be cool?”

“While the idea sounds excellent, I’m not so sure it ever works.”

“Oh, come on. You’re starting to sound like my friend, Heather. I like sex… it’s fun. It never hurt anyone.” Her previously frozen hand strokes my erection through the fabric.

Dear God, are we almost to her building? I need to get her off me and out of this cab before I come in my pants.

“We could make it work, Andy. Despite what Heather says.” She pulls her hand from my erection and turns my face to hers for a kiss, moisture gleaming in her eyes. “We could try.”

Excitement courses through me. Her breath smells sweetly of white wine and I want nothing more than to crush my mouth to hers and devour her whole. Energy seems to leap from my lips to hers as I lean in, succumbing to the raging desire to possess her.

The taxi lurches to a stop, jerking us toward the front of the cab, breaking the spell a moment before our lips touch. The fog of lust clears from my mind and I want to ask about Heather and what she may have said to upset Carla, but instead I fish out the cash to pay the driver.

I impulsively decide to walk her to her door. Maybe we could make this work.



About the Author:

C.J. Ellisson is the USA Today Bestselling author of the NYT Bestselling book, Vanilla on Top, the bestselling V V Inn series, and several erotica shorts. She lives in northern Virginia with her husband, two children, two dogs, and a fluffy black cat who makes her sneeze.

Unlike most full-time authors, she's also battling severe chronic illness. C.J. works daily to put her Lupus into remission and continues to fight numerous bacterial infections while her immune system slowly attacks her body.

She turned to writing when she could no longer work outside the home and claims the escape of penning contemporary fantasy, erotica, and erotic romance has helped save her sanity.

To learn more about C.J. and her other books, please stop by the author's website or visit her on facebook.


C.J. will be awarding swag packs to two commenters. This giveaway is open to all commenters, International included! :D


My Thoughts:

I liked book one, Vanilla on Top (you can see my review here.) In this book we get to watch Carla the spunky friend from book one finally get her own HEA. :-)

Avoiding Mr. Right, much like the first book, is an adults only, very hot, quick read. It has some very minor spanking and bondage. ;-)

I really enjoyed it and if this is your type of book, then you will too.

I received an ecopy of this book in exchange for  my honest opinion.





Thank you for commenting! Don't forget to enter the Comment Incentive Giveaway. The link can be found at the top of the page!

10 comments:

  1. I remember the review for the first and I was definitely interested. Sounds like another hot installment! :) Though I have to agree with Andy. I dont think friends with benefits ever really work out. Thanks for the review. Adding to my pile.
    -Amber
    goodblinknpark(AT)yahoo(DOT)com

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    1. perhaps it can be the start of something more durable if they take it as exclusive and with tenderness but i wouldn't recommend that for sure as a behaviour

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    2. Im sure that it starts out ok but I dont think that it would work in the long run.

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  2. From the excerpt my first thought was" but you are hurting yourself!"^^;; Andy sound like a good guy and it must not be easy for him to put up with Carla and seeing her with a new man each time when he is interested in her...

    As more often than not your review make me want to try it ^^

    also thank you a lot to CJ for doing such a great giveaway and opening it to international ( definitively bonus point in my opinion^^)

    isabelle(dot)frisch(at)gmail(dot)com

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    Replies
    1. I saw that and I was really happy that it is something that you could win! :)

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    2. ^^ Brenda does know some great authors^^

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  3. CJ, I was drawn in right away by the title and after reading the excerpt, well I'm hooked. Especially since it's about an accountant (I'm a CPA, so I know we get a bad rap for being boring.)

    You're scheduled to come give a talk at my RWA chapter in October, and I'm really excited to hear you speak in person. Thanks for the tempting excerpt and the great giveaway! See you in October (I'll have the book read by then. ;-)

    Diane Deeds

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  4. This sounds like a great story. I have actually bought it already but haven't had a chance to read it yet. I have never had a Fw/B, I was always too afraid of losing the friendship if the relationship did not work out to step out of the friend box (although usually the friendships ended up drifting apart later anyway, lol).
    Congrats on the release!
    June
    manning_J2004 at yahoo dot com

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    ReplyDelete