Books I’ve Read: Dirty Little Lies by Clare James
Image from Goodreads
Title: Dirty Little Lies
Series: Quick and Dirty #1
Author: Clare James
Publisher: Self Published
Publication Date: Jan 2014
Source: Review Copy
Rating: 3.5/5
Synopsis from Goodreads
Twenty-nine-year-old Stevie Sinclair has just lost everything: her boyfriend, her apartment, even her ugly bird named Free. (Yeah, she knows it’s stupid name, so don’t start.) But most importantly, Stevie’s lost herself.
As she shuffles through her days in worn-out Hello Kitty PJs—eating ice cream, sipping wine, and contemplating her next move—a magazine article catches her attention. Blaring black letters read: “How to Get Your Sexy Back in Six Easy Steps.”
Stevie studies the article in the trashy magazine like the good student she is and immediately knows what she has to do. With the magazine article in hand, and a bottle of red in her bag, Stevie embarks on a journey to reclaim her life and win back her ex.
Until she meets Gabe Shannon. Gorgeous, single, and on a quest of his own, Gabe introduces Stevie to a lifestyle that is sure to help get her sexy back and then some. If she doesn’t chicken out … (Oh, you know where this is going.)
What follows is a story of self-discovery, romantic gestures, erotic encounters, and following one’s heart–even if it leads in unexpected directions.
I fell in love with Stevie from the very first page, she is a very relatable character, from her love of old movies, her vintage/rockabilly style and sarcastic wit she shines within the sea of plastic people.
Comfortable in her relationship yet lacking in passion, Stevie is devastated to think Max has been cheating on her. The little glimpses of Max label him as a douche nozzle, however, first impressions can be deceiving. The tangled web of plot threads is masterfully unwoven in tantalizing tidbits.
Setting out to gain control of her life and her womanhood, Stevie makes an unconventional list. Of course, the gorgeous stranger she encounters in a bar, Gabe, is all too willing to help her tick the items off her list I could really go with one of those lists if it included meeting someone like Gabe I’ve got to be honest and say the whole idea of ‘special’ clubs is a little outside my comfort zone, but fun to read about.
I am not going to go into detail about the plot apart from to say there is more than meets the eye going on within these pages. The continual little plot twists maintain the excitement and tension within the narrative.
The story is fast paced and practically combustible yet it is the heart-warming character development that is at the heart of the story and the element that makes Dirty Little Lies stand out in this particular genre.
