Screwdrivered by Alice Clayton

Narrated by Heather Smith

Romantic Comedy. Standalone in a series.

Alice Clayton has always been a favorite of mine since I began this blog, and I have had Screwdrivered on my Kindle and on my bookshelf waiting for a rainy day. 5 years later the rainy day came in the form of the audiobook. I was so excited, it’s been so long since I read her and she was one of the 3 authors that inspired my love for rom-com.

I love books about romance readers! Strangely I just read a book that is releasing this month that was very similar, but not as good, so it’s good to know that it held up to time well. Viv, a software engineer, was in a rut at home when she inherited her great aunt’s beachfront home in California. An avid romance reader, Viv longed for a relationship like the ones she read about.

“Like a junkie, I was jonesing for a romance novel coupling. I needed a pulsing pillar of passion, a mammoth mail member, a cocky cobra ready to tangle with my vaginal mongoose.
I also needed to think about upgrading my reading. My imagery was actually starting to bother me.”

When she gets to the house she sees there is a LOT of renovations to be done, but lucky for her, a hunky cowboy has been taking care of the horses. What a perfect romance novel Viv thinks she’s in, even though she denies it.

“I knew that life couldn’t be like a romance novel, where someone could fall hopelessly in love with her soul mate the moment they met eyes across a crowded room. Preposterous. Or that you could be whisked off into a world of fantasy and excitement by a handsome stranger, instantly connect, and be in perfect sexual sync from the second his mammoth male member teased your delicate flower petals.”

She is actually sure she is living her own romance novel and Hank the cowboy is the hero. But there is this nerdy but hunky librarian who is fighting her about every single change she wants to make on the historic home. Sigh, nerdy day Clarke was hot, but nighttime Clarke? YUM. They are so busy arguing, and she is so focused on Hank the gorgeous cowboy being her storybook hero that she never noticed what is right in front of her.

“It doesn’t always have to be so hard. Sometimes falling in love just means turning around and seeing what’s right in front of you.”

Screwdrivered was kind of “Alice Clayton light” to me. It was missing that over-the top silliness that I love. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed it but it was a much more subtle humor than I remember Wallbanger and Rusty Nailed being. Plus, it took almost the entire book for the couple to be together, then it ended.

“Why ride a cowboy when you can ride a librarian?”

Likes:

I love relatable books about romance novel lovers.
I smiled the whole time.
A visit with Simon and Caroline from the first two books.
A love triangle that was never really a triangle at all.
A hot nerd vs. a hot cowboy (I pick the nerd every time).
Still feels new and fresh.

Dislikes:

It was a really slow burn that led up to a really quick end.
I wanted to climb into the book and shake some sense into the heroine.
It wasn’t quite as funny as the previous in the series.

The Narration:

Heather Smith was perfect for the part and I think she enhanced the story. I would definitely look for more from her.

The Down & Dirty:

Though Screwdrivered was a little tamer in humor and sex than the previous books in the series, it was still a fun read. I love books about romance readers, they are so relatable! Her insistence that she was the star of her own romance novel did get a little frustrating after a while and I felt it took too long for her to wise up, leaving little together time for the main couple. Still, Screwdrivered did not disappoint and I will be finishing this series this summer.