Friday, August 9, 2013

Wallbanger by Alice Clayton {Review + Giveaway}

Genre: Adult Contemporary/Women's Fiction
Publication Date: November 25th 2012
Format: Paperback provided by publisher
Source: Gallery Books



Caroline Reynolds has a fantastic new apartment in San Francisco, a KitchenAid mixer, and no O (and we’re not talking Oprah here, folks). She has a flourishing design career, an office overlooking the bay, a killer zucchini bread recipe, and no O. She has Clive (the best cat ever), great friends, a great rack, and no O. Adding insult to O-less, since her move, she has an oversexed neighbor with the loudest late-night wallbanging she’s ever heard. Each moan, spank, and–was that a meow?–punctuates the fact that not only is she losing sleep, she still has, yep, you guessed it, no O. Enter Simon Parker. (No, really, Simon, please enter.) When the wallbanging threatens to literally bounce her out of bed, Caroline, clad in sexual frustration and a pink baby-doll nightie, confronts her heard-but-never-seen neighbor. Their late-night hallway encounter has, well, mixed results. Ahem. With walls this thin, the tension’s gonna be thick…In her third novel, Alice Clayton returns to dish her trademark mix of silly and steamy. Banter, barbs, and strutting pussycats, plus the sexiest apple pie ever made, are dunked in a hot tub and set against the gorgeous San Francisco skyline in this hot and hilarious tale of exasperation at first sight.



My Take:
With all the hype surrounding this book I was really excited to find it in my mailbox and start reading it. I needed something a little less intense after finishing my previous read and Wallbanger was certainly lighter and more fun. 

During her first night in a new apartment in San Fransisco, Caroline is rudely awakened in the middle of the night by her neighbor's wild sexcapades. Chalking it up to just a one time occurrence she tries her best to go back to sleep.  Over the course of a week she watches through her peephole and sees three different women coming and going after each night. She decides to get the 411 on this guy from her other neighbors and finds out his name is Simon and he's a photographer who travels alot. When she's finally had enough of being awakened in the middle of the night she goes to confront him mid romp and discovers he's a very attractive guy whom she is immediately attracted to. What begins as a bothersome neighbor quickly develops into a friendship neither expected to have. As Caroline and Simon continue to build their friendship something more starts to develop that could change their relationship and bring back her missing O.

I have to say I wasn't blown away by this book as everyone else seems to be. It was mildly funny and kitschy in some places that made the story feel like it was trying too hard honestly. Caroline was a little annoying to me. I couldn't understand why she didn't say something sooner about the noise, instead she snuck around watching through her peephole. That aspect came off as a little creepy to me but I did like the way she acknowledged that she was being a snoop and decided to stop and confront her neighbor Simon. I felt like she was very judgemental towards him once she found out his arrangement and I hated the way she kept bringing up his lovers as a way to jab him. It was obvious she liked him but for her to constantly bring it up made her look immature and selfish. I didn't see anything exceptional about her character. About the only thing I felt I could relate to was her lack of sex/orgasms and the pursuit of it. I didn't totally dislike her though, she had some sweet moments with Simon and once she got over her qualms about him she lightened up which made her a little more likable to me.

Simon came across as an instant douche bag to me. When he first opens the door with nothing but a sheet on and a cocky smile with a raging boner still, I thought there was no way he could redeem himself for me. I was wrong. The more I got to know his character, the more I fell in love with him. He had some deep issues about losing his mother and that has caused him to withdraw from serious relationships, hence the three different ladies he bangs. He doesn't want to lose anyone else so he keeps himself free from emotions and just fulfills his sexual needs. I love watching a character go from dick to doll and Simon turned out to be so charming and sweet once Caroline gave him a chance. Seeing him build a friendship with her and take things slowly once they did get together was one of the main things I loved about the book. He could have just slept with her immediately but he chose to take things slow being that he's never been in that situation before. 

The romance aspect of the story was well done. I loved the pacing of the friends to lovers plot between Simon and Caroline. I thought the whole "Missing O" thing was a bit over played and got old after a while. Despite the fact that Caroline had issues with intimacy it was still a bit much for me. The supporting characters were a nice addition to break up the staleness I sometimes felt was dragging the story down a bit. I loved Jillian, Caroline's boss and the role she played in hers and Simon's relationship. She tried to play everything off but ultimately she knew exactly how to manipulate these two. I am not a big cat person. Cats hate me. I hate cats. So for the author to wrap the story from the cats POV was lame I thought. It was a total wtf moment and left me a little pissed off after watching Simon and Caroline try to get their shit together. I could have done without that but it didn't ruin the whole story.

Overall Wallbanger was just "Meh" to me. It was upbeat and fun. There were some humorous moments I did laugh at but there were also moments I rolled my eyes at. I did love the relationship between Simon and Caroline and enjoyed their banter and silliness and honestly Simon made the book for me no doubt. I would encourage everyone to read it for themselves because not all readers read the same book so don't let my opinion stop you. What doesn't work for me, very well may turn your crank. 


Quotes:
I kissed him, this time closing my eyes and letting my hands fill with wool and my nose fill with that warm man smell. Goddamn he smelled good. Page 60

I shook as I felt his hands reach lower to grasp my bottom and pull me closer still, my legs scrambling as I panted like a whore in church. The Church of Simon... Where I was dying to kneel before him. Page 203

"Okay Dawson's be damned, I really like you, Caroline. But I haven't had a girlfriend since high school, and I have no clue how to do this. But you need to know, that what I feel for you? Shit, it's just different, Okay? And, Whatever your wall would say back home, I need you to know that this? What we have or will have? It's different, okay? You know that, right? Page 269


Giveaway:



About The Author:
Novelist Alice Clayton makes her home in St. Louis where she enjoys gardening but not weeding, baking but not cleaning up after, and is trying desperately to get her long-time boyfriend to make her an honest woman--and please buy her a Bernese Mountain dog. After working for years in the cosmetics industry as a makeup artist, esthetician, and educator, Alice picked up a pen (read laptop) for the first time at 33 to begin a new career: author. Having never written anything longer than a grocery list, she soon found writing to be the creative outlet she'd been missing since walking away from the theater 10 years before. She has a great time combining her love of storytelling with a sense of silly, and she was shocked and awed to be nominated for a Goodreads Author award in 2010 for her debut novels, the first two installments of The Redhead Series--The Unidentified Redhead and The Redhead Revealed. Her latest novel Wallbanger is a return to her trademark comedic erotica, or funny smut, that Alice has become known for. Additionally, Alice loves spending time with her besties on Not Your Mother's Podcast (check them out on iTunes) and has recently partnered with actor Greg Grunberg, blogger Brittany Gibbons, and actress Keili Lefkovitz on a new travel show that will begin filming in January. Alice enjoys pickles, Bloody Marys, eight hours of sleep and a good pounding.

Links:

15 comments:

  1. Thanks for the giveaway. Love this book.

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  2. I just hope the giveaway's open internationally

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  3. I loved this when I first read it. I still like it a lot, but I can see your point. I think things may have been drawn out a bit too long.
    Great review!

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  4. OMG ♥ Love this book :) Actually, I love all Alice Clayton's books. Thanks for the giveaway!

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  5. I have heard so many great things about this book! Would love to read it!

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  6. Great review- and I love the quotes you chose- Church of Simon.. I might buy this book for that alone!

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  7. Awe. I wanna read this book. I just hope this giveaway is open worldwide. :)

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  8. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Alice Clayton! I read Wallbanger when it was a Twilight fanfiction and can't wait to read this book!

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  9. I'd love to read this in book form :)

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  10. I've heard all the hype too and was excited to read this one but now I'm not gonna rush. Great review.

    Valerie
    StuckInBooks.com

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  11. This book sounds so good can't wait to read Thanks for the great chance

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  12. Thanks for the great giveaway! :)

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  13. I liked this one, but not as much as I like her Redhead Series. I did end up liking Simon. Great review!

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  14. Great giveaway. Thanks for the chance

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