« BOOK EXTRACT: The Secret Shopper's Revenge | Main | AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Jess Riley »

June 11, 2008 11:50 AM

BOOK REVIEW: One Night Stand by Julie Cohen

As a relative Trashionista newbie I am learning all the time. Not to judge a book by its cover, a cliche but true and not to have preconceived views about certain books. I don't know why, but I thought  Little Black Dress books would be romance but with a submissive heroine...not my sort of thing at all (where have I been?) So I was pleasantly surprised when I finally got around to reading One Night Stand by Julie Cohen. I don't often admit to being wrong, but I do today.

One Night Stand is about Eleanor Connor, a bartender with a secret life. She writes erotic novels under the pen name Estelle May. So far she has written sixteen of them and is currently struggling with her seventeenth. Her own life, however, is a lot paler in compassion, with nothing happening and certainly nothing like the lives of the women in her novels. Until one night a stranger walks into the bar.

Slightly tipsy, Eleanor acts completely out of the ordinary and has a one night stand, something her friend and neighbour Hugh has on a regular basis, but definitely not something she has ever done. Then she finds out she's pregnant.

I did enjoy this book. I loved Eleanor. I loved that she was successful, was independent and when faced with the news that she was pregnant took it in her stride. Hugh was also a great hero, though both of them were a bit dipsy at times, and the tension mounting between the two of them was extremely well written. There is also plenty of humour and great observations about English pub life and living in Reading (Julie herself is American). I read it in day, it's a real page turner and never frustrating.

So, I have learned my lesson and will read more of both Julie Cohen's and Little Black Dress books in the future.

Rating: 4/5

Like this? Try Hex and the Single Girl by Valerie Frankel

Came straight to this page? Visit www.trashionista.com for more female fiction news, reviews and interviews.

Posted by Helen Redfern on June 11, 2008 in American Authors, Rating: 4/5 | Permalink

Comments