Author submission in exchange for an honest review.
Title:
Tell Me You Want Me
Author:
Amelia James
Release Date:
March 2011
Word Count:
approx. 61,000
Purchase Links:
Author's Website:
Description:
Their first kiss is impulsive, fun, a little wicked—everything Jane Elliot isn’t looking for in a man—but desperately needs. Their second kiss is slow, deliberate, an instant connection—everything Austin Sinclair never had with a woman—and doesn’t want.
Jane isn’t the easy conquest Austin’s used to. She’s a stubborn-as-hell bookworm who’s more interested in studying than dating. She needs a little—no—a lot of fun in her life, and Austin’s just the guy who can give it to her. Too bad she thinks love should easy. Too bad Austin knows it isn’t.
Everybody told her to stay away from the heartbreaker, but Jane knows there’s more to Austin than full-body contact kisses and bad boy charm. All he ever promised her was a good time and wow, does he ever deliver….
Laura’s Review:
Tell Me You Want Me covered an awful lot of ground in its 130 pages. Fortunately, it was well done. There was something so very real about the characters – it was very easy to see where everyone was coming from. There were some very well-written emotional scenes, and a few hot sex scenes. This book packed quite a bit into a small space, but Amelia James pulled it off nicely.
On to the story. Austin Sinclair is your typical “big man on campus.” He changes women like most people change their underwear. He’s a ridiculous playboy, and everything about him makes you want to hate him. At first. Then we get to know Austin, mainly through the eyes of Jane Elliott. Jane is the opposite of Austin in every way. She’s smart, bookish, sassy, remarkably athletic, and doesn’t spare a passing glance for Austin. Until she accidentally walks in on him and some cheerleader in the locker room. Austin tries all of his usual charms and pickup lines on Janie, but she refuses to fall for any of them. She finally tells him that if he can find out and remember her name, she’ll go out with him.
Austin proves to be more resourceful than Janie anticipates, and they end up going out. They have a spectacular time on their date, and Jane starts falling hard. Through all of this, we learn that despite all of his projected self-assurance, Austin has some severe Daddy issues. He has made a promise to his mother that he will never make a woman cry, but he feels that he is just like his father, who is on wife #4 and has a woman in every city. Because of this, Austin swears that he will never fall in love. He doesn’t believe in love, and you only get hurt when you’re in love. He tells this to Jane (clearly what every woman wants to hear on the first date), and she just rolls her eyes at him (she does that pretty often). She then basically tells him that he’s an idiot, love just happens, and that he should grow a pair and stand up to his Daddy. Of course, she’s also falling head over heels for him, so she kind of has a vested interest.
There’s some general conflict including a bitchy roommate, misunderstanding between the couple, and a horrible dinner with Daddy, who reminded me so much of Mitchum Huntzberger that I wanted to punch him in the face. Throughout all of this there is a ton of sex, and slowly, Austin comes to realize that maybe Jane is right, and maybe he’s falling in love with her. But is she really willing to forgive him one more time?
I loved this book. It was a quick read and it was relatable. The only thing I really didn’t like was the Epilogue. It seemed like kind of a huge jump and character change for me, but I’m also a little cynical. What I really loved is that James started to develop the characters of Austin and Jane’s respective roommates. Jack and Sarah may only have been supporting characters, but they played a huge role in shaping this story. And the best part? Jack and Sarah have their own story, Secret Storm, which was released in March. I’m going to have to pick that one up soon.
Laura's Rating:
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