Choosing You

by Jenny Trout

PROS

• This was a well-written romance novel. Yes, you read that correctly. A well-written romance novel. So I guess the biggest ‘pro’ is that Jenny Trout has given me hope! I love romance, I love smut, but I also love language and grammar, and for the most part they have been mutually exclusive concepts. Enter Jenny Trout, my new hero.
• The love interests were delightful. Obviously with a title like ‘Choosing You,’ we can assume that there is a choice to be made. Right? Well, Trout made the choice tough because both dudes were actually worthy of affection and I totally would have boned both of them. These were actual fantasy men. Yes, actual fantasy. I stand by it. Trout’s heroes don’t come in and stalk the MC or control her or make her decisions for her, but instead take an interest in her life and opinions. Madison is not treated like some cliched woman cut-out by the men in this novel; rather, they read literature naked together and run away from a half-crazed donkey. You know, SEXY stuff!
• The sex scenes were hot! Yeah! When Madison tumbled into the sheets the first time, I was right there with her. They aren’t hardcore by any means, so if you’re looking for smutsmut you’ll have to look elsewhere. But these scenes were sweet, sexy, and definitely fantasy-worthy.
• The setting was lovely. In this novel, you get to visit a small English village and meet a few of its locals.
• There’s a donkey, and he’s ill-tempered. (IMPORTANT: The donkey is NOT a part of any of the sex scenes.)
• It’s fun to read! I know I already talked about the writing, but you can have good writing and still be boring. This is not the case. Jenny Trout is funny. I laughed out loud, I grinned a lot, and sometimes I even said things like ‘tee hee!’
• I detected a line or two of snark re: a book I loathe, and it tickled me. Oh, it tickled me.

CONS

• It moved a little too fast. We were expected to go places emotionally in a very short period of time. Feasibly it could happen, but I don’t think the characters and situations were fully-developed.
• Madison was supposed to be a 20-year-old college student, but she was coming across more as a 28-year-old grad student… Maybe just because I was so spazzy at that age, I can’t imagine someone being so put-together.
• Before pointing out this ‘con,’ I just want to say that when the criticism of a book gets down to nitty-gritty details, it means that the rest of it was pretty damn good. That being said, this is one of my pet peeves: Thom is a professor of English literature, yet he says “Really, the problem with Jenna and I…” Perhaps I could overlook this if it were said by someone who is NOT an English professor because it’s a common enough mistake. But that really got my goat, especially because later on in the book ‘me’ is used correctly in a similar instance. So somehow this just slipped past the editors, and I’m the kind of asshole who not only noticed it, but who let it ruin a moment for me.
• There’s only two and a half sex scenes.

Couldn’t put it down?

I could put this down, but I was always happy to pick it back up again. It didn’t keep me up at night, but I read it consistently during my reading times.

Would recommend?

Yes! I recommend this book to anyone who wants a real romance with vanilla-but-enticing sex scenes.

Guilty pleasure?

Nope. This is a real pleasure that I don’t feel guilty at all for liking.

Will I read more from this author?

You bet I will! I’m going to form a Jenny Trout fan club and appoint myself Treasurer!

Favorite Quotations:

“The sweetness pitched on its axis and tilted us into hungrier territory.” (You know they’re about to get it on!)

“I was reality-impaired when it came to romance.”

“He touched me like he wanted to live under my skin.”

Jenny’s website is www.jennytrout.com