tessisreading2 's review for:

Down on Her Knees by Christine Bell

3.0

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The previous two books in this series were both friends-to-lovers, which got a little repetitive but at least meant the quick launch to smut made sense. This one isn't - Courtney and Rafe are friendly, sure, but they're very new acquaintances, meaning that when they launch straight into a fling it seems... unwise (particularly given that Courtney's never had an orgasm - no, not even a self-induced orgasm - and Rafe launches straight into rape roleplay for their hookups). The heroines of the two previous books, Cat and Lacey, push repeatedly for Courtney and Rafe to get together and then add "but you know he's not up for anything serious, right?" which makes no sense, given that they know that Courtney is coming out of an abusive, controlling relationship. Rafe's trauma, on the other hand, is that his beloved girlfriend was killed five years ago. This is worse than Courtney's abusive relationship (as Courtney tells us), and I noticed he's the only one who has difficulty moving on - Courtney doesn't seem to suffer any flashbacks or issues, and it doesn't seem to be a problem that she's going from an abusive relationship to "this is just a hookup" with a commitment-phobe. After all, it's important to be understanding of His Issues. Not a lot of time is spent with any of this, but it irked me all the same - Bell is not an author who spends a lot of time on emotional development, which is fine, but if that's the case then don't give us traumatic backstories. (In previous novels, Lacey's best friend inexplicably hooked up with Lacey's new husband at the wedding reception - why she would do this is never really explained - and Cat decided that her mother had given up her career to raise children without really having an in-depth conversation with her mother. Both of these give you a good sense of the emotional depth of the coming novel.) The book was hot and enjoyable but if I think too hard about it, it makes me mad.