Story between silken sheets

Devastated by a failed marriage, Paxton takes refuge in his writing and his son Jasper. He meets Alissa in one of his online writing groups and their relationship blossoms into a great friendship. After months of chatting online and on the telephone, they decide to meet. Sparks fly and before they know it, Alissa and Paxton are much more than just friends. But there are old and new obstacles to overcome before they can truly take the next step.

Let me first say this: contemporary erotic romance is generally not my thing. Whilst I love to read romance, I find the anticipation and emotional connection much more exciting than a blow by blow account of the various positions possible for intimate relations. One of my biggest gripes about this particular genre is that I feel most novels sacrifice good plot and character development in order to fit additional sex scenes into the story.

That said, I have a keen interest in Indie writers and like to read the work of authors who travel in my social network circles. I’ve come across Carey Decevito’s name through various interactions and chose to step outside my comfort zone. It’s always good to broaden your horizons, I think.

The first thing that stood out for me was the fact that the novel is written from a male POV. The second, is that it’s not the typical kind of male you find in modern erotica. Paxton is no muscle-bound, egotistical hero. He may be easy on the eyes but there’s no hoard of women waiting to fall at his feet. Paxton is a modern man. He comes with emotional scars from a very real and messy divorce and a loveable little parcel of ‘baggage’ too.

There were parts of the story I felt were predictable and too good to be true. I tend to prefer more conflict in my romance, a lot more ‘chase’ and less ‘catching’, so to speak. But it’s true that life is not always pushing and pulling, and perhaps Paxton had been through enough already and deserved to find his peace. I also found some of the narrative POV’s inserted from time to time pulled me out of the story.

BUT…there was a real story written in between the silk sheets, and it was a good one! I enjoyed how Alissa emerged from her shell and how even the peripheral characters matured and learned their lessons. There were some lovely themes in this novel: self-acceptance, second chances, self sacrifice, healing, and the reality of new age families.

Very entertaining!