Straight Reading from the Library: Lust. Mechanics. Mini Cooper by Elle Brookes

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Debra Holt will be awarding a $15 Amazon/Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

READ THE BLURB

Adventure-romance author, Lesley Meryn, has lived her own share of adventures. But the one thing she has never experienced is the "coupe de foudre", the Lightning-Bolt of Love. Connected by years of friendship to the sexy action-movie star, Jason Hambrey, Jax, the two really are "just friends" but the paparazzi are merciless, making their lives and their friendship almost impossible to sustain.

When Lesley's Aunt dies, leaving her a piece of property in North Yorkshire, Lesley is mystified. Her aunt kept it a secret. Lesley travels to London and learns her that her aunt leased the property twenty-five years before to an 'Historical Research Society'. The lease on the property is up for renewal. Before she makes her decision; Lesley travels to the farm to investigate.

Nothing could prepare her for what she finds at the farm. Miles Sherwood is dark, devious, and desperate. He's the very last person one would consider the head of a stuffy British 'Historical Society'.

Lesley finds him insufferable, yet irresistibly attractive. The two unknowingly share a deep connection. Whether they like it or not...it's Lightning-Time!

There is a cliff-hanger that takes you directly to Book Two: Sex. Coffee. Time Travel. (Release- January 2015!)

READ THE REVIEW

Honestly, this is a tough book for me to review.  I had a bit of a "love hate" relationship with it. 

So much good: fun, interesting and individual characters who I really came to enjoy (from Lesley to the pet pig).  Truly, the characters are what made this book readable and kept me turning pages.  I liked the author's voice as well. It's light and fun and descriptive.  The book isn't a comedy, per se, but has plenty to grin about and the writing style is perfect for that.

But there was also some bad: after an intro where we meet a truly annoying and out of control younger Lesley (I have little tolerance for poorly behaved children, so I nearly stopped reading right then when I realized she would eventually become our heroine ... thankfully the brattiness ends, but she remains quite headstrong, which does serve her well), things slowed w-a-a-a-a-y down.  For several chapters, the book read more like a day in the life of Lesley instead of moving forward.  I realize we needed to meet Jax and to understand the building blocks that make the later story understandable, but I wish the author had found a way to do so that was more exciting.

More things I liked were the unique storyline and the quirky ideas and people.  Everything was shifted just this side of normal, and it was great. 

The other thing I greatly disliked:  the cliffhanger ending. Thankfully, I was prepared (as much as I could be) for it since it was part of the blurb, but it still didn't make me happy.  Still, it will likely achieve what the author's goal must be: the purchase of the next book in the series.

All-in-all, though, Lust. Mechanics. Mini Cooper. was a book worth reading, especially if you love a book that doesn't take itself seriously.  3.5 stars.

READ THE EXCERPT

So this was it. Auntie Sophia's secret, mysterious farm. Aside from the buildings, it didn't look much like a farm. There were no animals in the fields. No chickens pecking about. If not for the Range Rover and the Jag, she would have thought the place was deserted. She rubbed absently at the sore spot on her forehead.

Her boots crunched on the gravel driveway echoing in the flat silence, as Lesley walked slowly past the cars and around to the back of the largest cottage. She glanced into a window to see a blonde-haired woman bent over behind a computer monitor, the screen hiding her face. Lesley could see her hands, and silently watched as she seemed to be typing hesitantly with her two manicured index fingers, closely consulting a piece of paper set to the side of the monitor. She worked slowly and with intense concentration. At one point it looked as though she had made a mistake and Lesley could hear her faintly, cursing like a sailor. Lesley was so taken by surprise by this, she hesitated a few moments before she brought her hand up to tap on the window. It was in those few seconds of hesitation that she saw the woman pull a thumb drive out of the processor, slip it, and the piece of paper, into her purse, and dash out the door. Lesley's hand dropped and she stepped away from the window.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Elle Brookes grew up in Los Angeles, California, but lived in Jamaica for three years when she was a Peace Corps Volunteer. She moved to San Francisco and studied at the California Culinary Academy, and went on to become a private chef to a well-known L.A. based television production company. From an early age Elle was a voracious reader of adventure stories and from elementary school through high school, she started writing her own stories of places foreign and exotic. She studied Art History and continued writing in college, focusing on short stories.

A dedicated and passionate traveler, Elle has explored river caves in Jamaica and Costa Rica, hiked glaciers in New Zealand and Iceland, and done dogsledding in Greenland and Iceland. She's danced a fa'a Samoan haka and slept in a fale on the island of Savai'i in Samoa, hiked in the northern mountains of Thailand along the border with Myanmar in the Golden Triangle, and in Haiti, she witnessed a white goat ceremonially sacrificed to Erzuli Freda by a powerful Houngan. For a time she did Performance Driving in Southern California, and has years of study and experience dedicated to fencing, theatrical combat, archery, and horsemanship. Elle currently lives in the central highlands of Costa Rica with her dog Pixie, and her hedgehog, Quiller.

Website: www.tymslyder.com
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Lust-Mechanics-Mini-Cooper-Time-Frame-ebook/dp/B00L1R3PVW/
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/448707
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/lust-mechanics-mini-cooper-elle-brookes/1119742565
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22564793-lust-mechanics-mini-cooper?ac=1
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tymslyder?ref=br_tf
a Rafflecopter giveaway