Aussie Book Review: Ravenous by Eden Summers

Book reviews

15 Aug

Ravenous by Eden SummersebookReview copy provided by publisher/ netgalleyHarlequin Escape Publishing, August 2013 Synopsis- She’s a small town caterer, he’s a big city chef, but they don’t need a kitchen to make things sizzle...Erin McDonald likes her simple life in her small town: no drama, no fuss, no uncertainty...until Jesse Hackett breezes back into town. Erin never quite got over how he left for the bright lights of the big city, and took her heart with him.Jesse never regretted his decision to leave small town life behind and chase his big city dreams, but he’s always regretted leaving Erin behind. No woman has ever compared, and once he convinces Erin to let him touch her again, he’s never going to let her go.Sparks fly and fires are rekindled, but the basic divide still remains: what really matters in life — location or love?Review- Ravenous is a romantic novella by Australian author Eden Summers. I haven’t read any of her previous novels but she appears to have quite a few titles out with good reviews from what I could see on Goodreads. Ravenous is her first title with Escape Publishing and as it is light and quick that I could read on my kindle, it was just what I was looking for.Set in the small town of Holbrook in Australia, Erin McDonald works in partnership as a caterer with her sister Karen. Life is travelling along just fine until her teenage sweetheart Jesse Hackett strolls in one day after 8 years of no contact. He’d left her for the city life and become a Chef in Sydney. Adamant that she wouldn’t leave her sister or her home town, Erin watched Jesse walk away. But seeing him walk back into her life creates a sense of ambivalence. On the one hand her body reacts with their lingering attraction, but she’s still battling the anger and abandonment she felt when he left.Jesse is cocky and a little bit arrogant. He arrives with a proposition. He wants Erin to cater for his mother’s birthday that weekend. But he gets a lot more than he bargained for when all he can think about is bedding her. His love for her hasn’t waned and he begins to wonder whether they could have a future together after all. Unable to fight their attraction and desires, Erin and Jesse share a few hot encounters but when it comes to the point where they have to discuss their future, Erin pushes Jesse away and lets him leave, again.I quite liked the storyline and the conflict created in this saucy novella, but I just couldn’t connect with either of the leading characters. The sex scenes seem to overtake the emotional ties the two characters have and the explicitness of the scenes didn’t quite have the impact on me as a reader as they should. To be honest I didn’t really like Jesse. I thought he was quite selfish actually to turn up unannounced, make it known that he wanted to be intimate with her and then expect her to upheave her entire life to move to Sydney with him. I could understand why that would be one of the options for them to have a future together, but I felt like Erin was manipulated into believing everything was her fault. Jesse’s actions just didn’t sit right with me and I felt he was a little harsh when they separated. That being said, I did like how the author wrapped up their dilemma.Overall Ravenous was a quick and easy read that for the most part I found enjoyable. I’d like to check out more stories by Eden Summers in the future.