Title: Dirty Thoughts
Series: Mechanics of Love bk 1
Author: Megan Erickson
Genre: Contemporary
Some things are sexier the second time around.
Cal Payton has gruff and grumbly down to an art…all the better for keeping people away. And it usually works. Until Jenna MacMillan-his biggest mistake—walks into Payton and Sons mechanic shop all grown up, looking like sunshine, and inspiring more than a few dirty thoughts.
Jenna was sure she was long over the boy she’d once loved with reckless abandon, but one look at the steel-eyed Cal Payton has her falling apart all over again. Ten years may have passed, but the pull is stronger than ever… and this Cal is all man.
Cal may have no intention of letting Jenna in, but she’s always been his light, and it’s getting harder to stay all alone in the dark. When a surprise from the past changes everything, Cal and Jenna must decide if their connection should be left alone or if it’s exactly what they need for the future of their dreams.
Thoughts: This was my first Megan Erickson book and I have to say that as soon as I got used to her writing style I really liked this story.
Whenever you read a new t you author, at least for me, it takes you a while to get used to how they write, their voice, and how they set up the story. Sometimes we just can’t get past it because they don’t write the way our favorite authors write and sometimes we stick it our and come to love the story and the characters.
This is what happened for me with this book. Just as I was about to call it quits I fell in love with Cal.
Cal of Cal…if there has ever been a grumpier stubborn set in his ways hero I can’t remember him. Once I began to know his story I so wanted Jenna to just keep at him until he realized that was right about them. I gotta tell you when Cal grovels he doesn’t do it half-assed.
Jenna, man I really liked her and how she owned who she was and what she wanted from everyone in her life, most especially Cal. She demands everything from him, knowing he is very capable of providing it.
This story worked for me for a couple of reasons…first who doesn’t love a good second-chance with your high school sweetheart? I know it’s one of my favorite romance tropes. The second reason is that both Cal and Jenna knew from the beginning, and really from when they were teenagers, that they were it for each other. That even if they did find someone else to have a future with, it would never be what they could have together, as they were each others forever, even if Cal did try and fight it. They just needed to decide how much they wanted to fight for it.
As I said at the start this was my first Megan Erickson book, but it won’t be my last.
Grade B+
