Review: Van

Van by Sawyer Bennett
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 20%.

I hate to abandon a book so early on but I had to for my mental health. In my defence I started reading this THREE times and each time a put it down in irritation.

Van Turner shares a home with his Carolina Cold Fury team mate Lucas, he's got a tortured past blah, blah, blah which I read about so long ago I can't remember. Whatever it is means he can never get close to anyone yadda, yadda, yadda. Lucas' sister Simone lands on their doorstep unannounced and insists on sleeping on their sofa - because her brothers are hockey players and couldn't afford a hotel room, right? She's a bit of a loser, dropped out of college and is making a 'living' as a waitress in a bar which makes the Hooters' waitresses' uniforms look like nun's habits (although I'll have to take that on faith as I have no idea what the waitresses wear at Hooters).

Simone thinks being aggressive and having a filthy mouth will wear Van down into sleeping with her, under her brother's roof because that's the kind of classy gal she is. Van of course is all deny, deny, deny and avoidance. Every so often she breaks down his resistance, they share a hot kiss and grope then he is disgusted with himself and walks away (usually to masturbate in his room).

You've probably guessed it already but I found Van to be a whiny cry baby and Simone to be (frankly) a sex pest. I have real trouble when female characters behave in a way that we would find objectionable if a man did the same. You just can't have different standards and she was harassing Van, okay he fancied her too but she was pushy and wouldn't take no for an answer. How many times do we women say "No, means no" and then allow female characters to ignore a very loud, clear "NO"? Sorry, I had a lot of spleen to vent for not very much reading.

When Van decides to spend his downtime in Simone's bar drowning his sorrows and is simultaneously (i) indignant on behalf of Simone's brothers that she is working there, (ii) turned on by barely there bikini top and micro shorts, and (iii) angry that other en are ogling her - so he takes her into the car park where he decides to dry hump her against a wall I decided to bail.

I have read quite a few Sawyer Bennett books before, I've even read one of the other books in the Cold Fury series and really enjoyed it so I'll chalk this up to experience. You can't love them all.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in return for an honest review.

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