The Dating Alternative
Jennifer Woodhull

Publication date: December 26th 2018
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

She’s so over dating. He wants to be her alternative.

 

Max has crushed on Brie for as long as he’s known her but the timing was never right. When he finds out they’re finally single at the same time, he’s poised to move from friend zone to serious dating… until he finds out she’s only looking for something physical. He offers his services in hopes she’ll come around.

 

Just when things are starting to go his way, a shocking turn of events snatches her from his grasp. Now he has to resurrect the life he thought he’d left behind to help the woman he’s falling in love with before it’s too late.

A sweet, funny, sexy romance, The Dating Alternative launches everywhere December 26th.

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Author Bio:

 

Jennifer Woodhull is based in the Southern United States, spending time in her second home of England, and traveling as often as she can. Her love of travel permeates her work, and her characters often find themselves exploring new and foreign surroundings.

A keen observer of human behavior, Jennifer often draws inspiration from something as simple as a fleeting connection, or the glimpse of a unique trait or characteristic. Her favorite place to write is on airplanes.

 

"The drone of the engine, the scores of people, all traveling to something or from something, and being disconnected from digital distractions are a combination that provide the perfect place to write," she says. "If you see a woman in seat 9F who is balancing her Macbook on her lap because it's time to close your tray table, please have patience. I'm just trying to finish one more sentence."

 

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Why hadn't I run to the coppers? Because his eyes made me wet.

There were worse reasons.

This book kind of ran me over like a Mack truck; it was frenetic, wild, manic, funny, sexy, and at times, only seemed to be held together with a wing and a prayer. The characters, story, and tone is in the same vein as Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie and Spotless by Camilla Monk. Although, those books had a bit tighter plot, this one's ending got pretty convoluted with some characters getting extra criminal-ly towards the end. 

"Did you just say to me that you kidnapped me as a favour because evil men were after me because you caused them to be after me?"

The story is from our heroine Samantha's point of view and her stream of conscious is full of innuendos, pop culture, and overall screwball comedy. I definitely missed insight from our hero Sam (oh yes, your main couple is Sam and Samantha) but he still showed up strong from his interactions with Samantha. Their back and forth was delightful but you're going to have to like your humor a bit left of center to enjoy the ride, old curmudgeon me even guffawed a few times. 

As I mentioned, the tone and pace is a bit frenetic and manic as our couple runs from police and criminals alike which keeps the pages flipping by but it also got a bit wearying a little over half-way through. Have you ever ridden the Sizzler at a carnival? It was a bit like that, "Wee! This is wild and fun, feel the air rush by me!" and then you go on it for one too many times, banging against the sides of your seat and it's like "Ouch! $%*%! I'm going to throw up!", as the wind isn't so much whipping in your hair as you're getting neck breaking whiplash. Some of the middle and maybe one extra criminal could have been left out to streamline the story and cut it short. 

This is also book one in a trilogy about Sam and Samantha, so while I wouldn't call it a complete cliffhanger, you get more of a happy for now and clearly their story isn't over ending. I was hugely pleasantly surprised by this one, the humor won't be for everyone but I'll definitely be gearing up to strap myself in for another wild ride with these two. 

“You wouldn’t hurt me, you’re a nice boy from North Carolina.”

He flipped me over and licked my nipple, peeking through the lace of my bra. Deft fingers peeled the cup back so he could take me in his mouth. I whimpered and held his head there.

"I’m a boy from North Carolina who went bad, and don’t you forget it.”

The sneer left his face, replaced by a wary respect. He turned on his heel and cuffed himself around a slat in the headboard.

I couldn’t believe that had worked. Never taking my eyes from his, I tucked the gun into the back of my pants the way I’d seen Angelina do. I stared at him.

He stared at me. “Your plan doesn’t go any further than this, does it?” he asked.

Of course it didn’t. “Shut up.” Just to get away from that sarcastic nincompoop, I marched into the bathroom and slammed the door.

His eyebrows shot up. “‘Blowing it’ doesn’t sound like something I’d do. Are we sure it wasn’t your fault?”

Damn him. Only one option. I emptied the rest of my frozen malt in his lap. Accidentally. His leaping, curse-filled, crotch-swiping modern dance was the best thing that had happened to me all day. Perhaps it was childish. I blamed the bunny slippers.

This is actually pretty funny, toeing over the top but meshing w/ my own warped humor, so far. I'm firmly buckled in for the ride now!