REVIEW: Down and Dirty by Christine Bell

Title: Down and Dirty (Dare Me #2)
Author: Christine Bell
Publisher: Entangled Publishing (Brazen)
Published: February 23, 2013
Format: ebook*
Rating: 4.5/5
Get it: Amazon | B&N

He was a dare she’d never been able to resist…

Cat Thomas has never been the kind of girl to stick. A self-professed infatuation junky, she latches on the newest, hottest guy on the block, then finds a reason—real or imagined—to dump him. When she accepts a dare to rekindle her high school flame and jump in bed with her brother’s best friend, Shane Decker, she knows she’s in trouble. She can’t resist the man, even after all these years apart, and that just won’t do.

Shane has come back to town for a couple reasons. The biggest one? He’s tired of living away from those he loves, including Cat. But now she’s spooked and will do anything to drive a wedge between them, including trying to fix him up with other women through an online dating service.

What does he have to do to make her see that settling down doesn’t mean settling, and he’s ready to spend a lifetime proving it?

My Review

Christine Bell has done it again! Down and Dirty was absolutely everything I wanted,  but nothing I was expecting in the best possible ways. Sexy, flirty and oozing with fan-yourself moments, new and old fans of the Dare Me series will be ravishing this book in one sitting!

I loved Cat Thomas in the first book even when she was only on page for a few moments. Here in Down and Dirty, she’s front and center and she was just as awesome as I first thought. Cat was super loud, fun and totally adventurous. Cat was type of person to chase after danger and go after the excitement and I loved that crazy side of her. I especially adored the fact that she was really loyal and one amazing friend and sister. Admittedly, sometimes Cat needed a good wake up call because she was so stubborn and hard-headed. I understood her fear and her reservations when it came to love and relationships, justified or not. I loved seeing this vulnerable and weak side of her underneath the tough and confident front she always puts on because it made her seem much more real. Even though I wanted to shake the living crap out of her half the time, I loved Cat all the way!

Shane Decker was in no way boring in and out of bed. I loved Cat, but I loved Shane so much more. Smart, successful, totally cool and level-headed, this man was determined to win over Cat. He was hot as hell, completely charming and a strong guy with a really big heart. He was adorably sinful. He saw what he liked and went after it and this is what I loved most about him. With all of Cat’s hot and cold, pull and push craziness, he still stuck to his ground and never gave up on Cat. He wasn’t afraid to tell her the truth whether she liked to hear it or not. I seriously could not get enough of Shane, he was just perfect. 

Christine Bell has made me swoon all over again! I love her writing and her ability to weave in a gripping storyline with incredible characters and heart thumping romance. Her sex scenes are scorchingly sexy and absolutely dynamite, I could still feel the goosebumps on my skin. The chemistry she created between Cat and Shane was explosive. There was so much sexual tension from the moment they appeared on page. Christine totally made this tunnel vision, zeroed-in connection with Cat and Shane where you couldn’t see their tethered link, but you could feel it. It was breath-taking and had me wishing I savored this book just a bit longer. 

All in all, what Christine Bell crafted with Down and Dirty was a lusciously seductive story about opening yourself for someone, letting them in and getting over fears of commitment. This book lives up to its title and so much more. 

 *Thanks to Entangled for sending a copy for review