"Do you ever feel like the people who mean the most aren't the people you see the most? Lately I just feel like I'm not putting my heart where it matters."
A bombshell bookworm. A chronic Casanova. And a lesson in chemistry too scandalous for school
When Hanna Bergstrom receives a lecture from her overprotective brother about neglecting her social life and burying herself in grad school, she’s determined to tackle his implied assignment: get out, make friends, start dating. And who better to turn her into the sultry siren every man wants than her brother’s gorgeous best friend, Will Sumner, venture capitalist and unapologetic playboy?
Will takes risks for a living, but he’s skeptical about this challenge of Hanna’s…until the wild night his innocently seductive pupil tempts him into bed- and teaches him a thing or two about being with a woman he can’t forget. Now that Hanna’s discovered the power of her own sex appeal, it’s up to Will to prove he’s the only man she’ll ever need.
This book is especially meaningful for me for one and only one reason: It's the book. Yes, it's the one that was there the night before I got engaged (SPOILER ALERT!). Other than that, it's probably one of the best written mommy porns out there. You have the fantasy of every woman with a dry spell, mixed with the naiveness and allure of virgin nymphs. It's the perfect companion for when you you want to feel like falling in love with your husband all over again. But since I'm not married yet and far from its target audience, the hype surrounding Stranger was a bit overrated for me.
Set in Manhattan, our heroine, Hanna, isn't technically a virgin - just a twenty-something girl busy with her post-doc works and who's been out of practice for years. In fact, for way too long that she's fallen out of the much-needed social life, at least, according to her elder brother. So he suggested his little sister should catch up with his longtime buddy, Will, who has forever been the subject of Hanna's erotic fantasy.
I'd never felt so close to another human in my life. His hands were everywhere: My breasts, my face, my thighs, my hips, between my legs. His voice rumbled low and encouraging in my ear, telling me how good I felt, how close he was, how he needed this so much he felt like he worked everyday just to get back to me. He told me being with me felt like being home.
And when I fell, I didn't care whether I was awkward or jagged, whether I was inexperienced or naive. Icared only that his lips were pressed firmly to my neck and his arms were wrapped around me so tight the only way I could move was closer to him. (Hanna)
Will, on the other hand, is in his early 30s, but has spent most of his life playing Casanova. When he reconnected with Hanna, he was supposed to be her "teacher" in the dating world. Get her to meet guys, woo them, go to parties, date around, and have sex. This went on on the surface until their emotions took them over.
Although he's flawed in many ways, I found Will the most believable character in the whole book. One of the weakest elements of Stranger was its character development - or lack thereof. The supporting characters other than our hero and heroine felt very one-dimensional, but this may just be because I haven't read other books from the Beautiful series. Apparently the stories of all these couples intertwine.
With Hanna, you have a supposed smartypants who has been working constantly in her dingy lab, but gets it right in her first sexual conquests. I thought that as a researcher, she's trained to avoid coming to conclusions too quickly, but she's the one who drifted herself and Will apart. Luckily we get to see how Will thinks about the air of confusion she's created at every other chapter in the book. In them, we see the lengths men go to repress their feelings just because we made it clear that we want no strings attached. Hanna, on the other hand, was so self-conscious about how she performs, how she compares, and completely in denial about her emotions. Truth to be told, she's not as brainy as she's plotted out to be.
To me, she looked as she always had: Comfortable in her skin, easy. Not fussy with clothes, or hair or makeup. But didn't need to be. She was beautiful when she woke up in the morning. She was radiant after a run. She was perfect when she was beneath me, sweaty and postcoital. (Will)
Criticism aside, the writing was good. With most books from this genre I've skimmed (and eventually lost interest), sex scenes tend to feel repetitive as you turn the pages, and none so far has done such a good job at attaching raw emotions with the scenes. Christina was verbose, no doubt, and describes the couple's pleasures beautifully. Scratch your 17th-century paperback romance images from your head - this one is hot, modern, refreshing and real.
Though the plot sounds more predictable than a Disney princess story, wait out till the climax of the book. You'll be so pissed with Hanna you'll stay up each night turning the last pages, saying to yourself, "Just one more chapter." But if there's only one reason you should pick up this book, it's all the steamy sex they had (even the dry humping was hot), the surreal kinds, but that we can actually picture ourselves implement in real life. Other than that? Well, if you dream of changing your man's bad habits forever without saying a word, this book is one heck of a dream come true.
Love, Stace
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