A Stranger's Touch, by Tori Carrington

Tori Carrington is another new-to-me author, many of whose books I've thought looked tempting at first sight. I ordered a few of them, and the first to get here was A Stranger's Touch (excerpt).

Dulcy Ferris has always had an active fantasy life…but fantasy has never come close to reality until she finds herself alone in an elevator with oh-so-sexy Quinn Landis. There’s just one problem: Dulcy’s engaged to marry somebody else. But before she commits herself to a passionless marriage, she can’t resist indulging in her most secret fantasy just once…

Quinn Landis can’t believe his luck. Home for the wedding of his best friend, he’s delighted when a gorgeous woman falls into his lap…and then jumps into his bed! But the next morning brings a few surprises. His friend, Brad, has disappeared….and Quinn’s just slept with Brad’s bride-to-be! Worse, he wants to again…and again! But first Quinn has to find Brad. Only then can he prove to Dulcy that he’s the best man--in every sense….

An awful mess. A D.

As I said, this book sounded attractive. I really liked the premise, and thought it would be exciting, but unfortunately, it didn't feel exciting and piquant, but just plain tawdry. These two had the self-control of cats in heat. I mean, I tend to have a weakness for good sexual tension and for protagonists who find each other irresistible, but this was ridiculous. One minute they thought they really should stay away from each other, and the next they were tearing their clothes off.

As for the characters themselves, well, I guess Quinn was a likeable character, but I simply couldn't stand Dulcy. I really hate how inept she was, how every time she was with Quinn she went completely stupid and turned into a bumbling klutz, noticeably nervours. Her eyes bulged, she shivered... This is something many authors do, I've no idea why, and I hate it.

I found the romance absolutely unbelievable. They were in lust, yes, but hardly in love after a few days of non-stop shagging. And the suspense subplot, the search for Dulcy's missing fiancé, which was kind of interesting at the beginning, ended up being boring and being resolved in a very stupid way.

To make it even worse, I had some trouble with the dialogue, which was a bit hard to follow, with a little too much exposition in the middle. I tended to lose the thread of what was being said.

Oh, and one last comment. This book would have been a D+, but the + was taken away for Quinn's disgusting housekeeper, a suposedly sympathetic character who barges in while Dulcy's in the shower, inspects her like one would a horse and declares "good breeding stock". Instead of killing her, Dulcy, the twit, feels flattered, and Quinn feels it important that this creepy woman approves of the woman he loves.

After reading this, I really do hope the other books by this author that I've ordered are a huge improvement, otherwise my Trade List will be getting larger!