“Mother, just like the last fifty-five thousand times you’ve mentioned it, I have no intention of getting married and having a family. You’re just going to have to content yourself with the grandchildren you already have.”

...

Lance had heard humans talk about the tenacity of Jewish mothers. He didn’t know any, but he’d be surprised if they could hold a candle to the relentless herding instinct of a quickened mother who was descended on both sides from border collies.

LOOOOOOL... I know *exactly* how this feels :)

   This is my 2nd Alice Clayton book, and she is quickly on her way to becoming a favorite author of mine. All the things that I enjoyed in the first book, Wallbanger, were present again in Rusty Nailed, and the one thing that I wasn't a fan of in Wallbanger was almost non existent in this book! That's right, no more multiple "O" references. YAY!! I couldn't have asked for anything more.

   I think my favorite thing about this book, besides Clive because....I mean Clive is the best!

  OK, so Clive excluded, my favorite thing, is easily the fact that Clayton manages to relentlessly grab your attention and enrapture you with the beauty and the struggle of the mundane. So many contemporary romances now seem to have some huge drama going on, past traumas, stalkers, etc., and while I do immensely enjoy a bunch of those stories, sometimes it's also nice to get something different too.

Sometimes just figuring out how to navigate life, a new relationship, or even just keeping a romance going after the "honeymoon" period is over, can be enough to keep a reader engaged. It was more than enough in this story. I loved seeing Caroline and Simon growing together, learning more about each other, and learning how to progress together, in their relationship and in life. It was through lots of trial and error and I found a lot of it to be incredibly relatable.

   I also enjoy the fact that even the secondary characters are interesting. I just love the whole dynamic of this mashed up group of friends coming together! Even when some of them are at odds with one another they are an absolute riot. That's definitely another favorite thing of mine in this series, the humor. These books are full of honest to goodness laugh out loud moments. You don't even know how many times I burst out laughing while reading this, which of course got me some funny looks from my family, but it could not be contained.  

    I couldn't put Rusty Nailed down! Just like with Wallbanger, I devoured this in one night. It kept me up until the wee hours of the morning, and I wouldn't dare complain about a missed minute of sleep, it was totally worth it. If you're looking for a well written, light hearted, hilarious and fun contemporary romance, than look no further, because this is the series you need to start!

Innocently searching my local library catalogue for Lucius Apuleius’s The Golden Ass resulted in this:

Season three of Hung – a TV show about a gigolo!

Okay, so I can’t technically fault the search as that ass is probably golden. I was pretty much asking for trouble with that search phrase.

GENRE:  Steampunk; Romance

LENGTH:  104 (Kindle pgs)

HEAT LEVEL (content):  Sexy-Hot (m/f vanilla; frank but not overly explicit/graphic)

PUB INFO:  Berkley (Penguin); 7 Aug 2012

SERIES INFO:  Iron Seas 1.5

BLURB:

Can't get enough of Rhys & Mina
(and Newberry!)

Re-read 4-2014 (along with The Iron Duke)

4 stars b/c I always crave that extra bit via epilogue after a particularly good read, and Ms. Brook provides that & more via this novella.

Some may find it overly lovey-dovey (and in truth, I wouldn't fault them) but I enjoyed seeing Rhys & Mina post-wedding―both re: their contentment and their separate nagging worries 8 months into the marriage.  Also, I can never get enough of Newberry, especially when Mina teases so to get him to blush. ;-)

But oh, what shall happen re: Scarsdale?  *frets*