ARC REVIEW ~ LUSCIOUS BY AMANDA USEN

Title:  Luscious
Author:  Amanda Usen
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Release Date: July 3, 2012

Copy of eBook provided by Net Galley



Eat, play, love...
Plain old ice cream just isn't going to cut it. To beat these blues, chef Olivia Marconi needs the good stuff: rich, creamy tiramisu gelato. And no place better to get it than Italy. But a fresh start is nearly impossible with Sean Kindred dogging her every move. She's been burned by his too-hot-to-handle antics before. Though there's no denying the man can still get her all fired up. Could a week long affair finally turn into something more lasting...or will it all go up in flames?



Links for author:

Goodreads / Website / Twitter / Facebook


Links to purchase book:

Amazon / B&N

Book Review

Luscious, by Amanda Usen, is a continuation of her first book, Scrumptious, and is Olivia and Sean's story. 

Olivia Marconi, a chef and owner of the restaurant Chameleon, has recently divorced her husband, Kevin. And I say, "Good riddance." The loser was a horrible chef, and an even worse hubby. But her failed marriage is just one of the events that wreck havoc on Olivia's crumbling self esteem. She feels like an utter failure and a major disappointment to her family and friends. She is a shattered woman who puts her home on the market, leaves her restaurant to her best friend, and runs away to Italy to lick her wounds.

Sean Kindraid, sexy Lawyer extraordinaire, is the one Olivia hired in book one (Scrumptious) to help in her divorce proceedings. And he is also a part of her past. Unknown to Olivia, Sean has sported a major crush on Olivia since their high school days. And now that crush is growing into something more. Determined to win Olivia's affection, he makes plans to travel to Italy with her. And he's even more determined to win her heart.

What follows is a sweet, light-hearted story that just never truly captured my attention like Usen's first book, Scrumptious, did. The flickering flame of Olivia and Sean's relationship never got above simmering for me and the actual dishes themselves, along with how wine was made, overshadowed the actual romance of the story.

I love descriptive words and setting the scene in a story, but I also need a connection to the characters. Also, Olivia's self-depreciating personality and her inability to stand up for herself weakened her likable factor. I know that not all heroines need to be kick-ass and ready to take on the world. But a little bit of back bone would have been highly appreciated.

Overall likeness of this story was just lukewarm, but Usen does a fantastic job painting a very vivid world with her descriptions and puts the reader smack dab in the middle of the kitchen. You can practically smell the sauces and the other mouth-watering dishes.  It also made me want to jump up off the couch and cook a huge Italian meal for my family.

Well...almost.

SEXY SNIPPET TUESDAYS

Tuesdays have never been so sexy!

Sexy Snippets is a weekly feature hosted by Reading Between the Wines for the 18+ crowd. To join in just grab the button, post a sexy paragraph or two from your current read and share the author & title so other participants can add the book to their TBR list if they like. Then add your post to the linky over at RBtW's blog post so everyone can follow along. Have a sexy good time!
 
 
Today's snippet comes from an Anthology with authors--Lori Foster, Erin McCarthy, and Amy Garvey. And the sexy snippet is from Lori's story: Luscious.
 

In a rough whisper, he warned. " If you don't kiss me back, I'm stopping."

And then his mouth pressed to hers, warm and firm, and her head spun and she had no choice but to clutch at his broad, hard shoulders. His bare skin was sleek and taut, and so hot.

And holy cow, she'd had no idea a kiss could be so awesome.

If anyone asked her now, she'd happily say that this was her favorite part. Kissing. Tongues and lips, and humid breath...

Enthused by her response, Lucious stroked his right hand over her shoulder, spread his fingers wide on her collarbone, and slid down onto her breast with a bold, possessive, but gentle hold.
His thumb circled her nipple once, twice, and her insides did a thrilling flip. Oh, yeah. That was her favorite part by far. Her fingers dug into his back while she went on tiptoe, trying to get closer to him.
"Damn," Lucious muttered, "that's definitely a yes," and he turned his head for a better fit, taking the kiss from seducing to devouring.  


This book is a great, quick, and hot read. I so love anything that Lori Foster pens. She is the queen for sexual chemistry and nails it (hah) every time.

Now it's your turn to show me your sexy!