Audiobook Review – Smut by Karina Halle

Smut by Karina Halle

Narrated by Lidia Dornet and Shaun Grindell

Standalone Sexy Romantic Comedy

Smut is my first Karina Halle book, and now I know why everyone loves her so much. Very sexy, sweet and fun with excellent narration, I loved how Smut gave a bit of an insiders look at self publishing and poked a little fun at it. Hopefully it was meant in the lighthearted way I took it and not the snarky way.

Amanda is a nerd. She is obsessed with writing and is absolutely in love with her creative writing class, thriving on any scraps of praise or encouragement the professor gives her. Blake’s father owns a struggling bookstore. Blake is just trying to get through college and get his business degree so he can help save the store. He is a cocky manwhore with a British accent, and Amanda can’t stand him. So of course, when they get their final assignment, they are paired together to write a novella.

“So it’s pretty easy to tell that my classmate in Writing 200, and my current writing partner, Amanda Newland, hates my bloody guts. And, for once, I have no fucking idea why. Well, that’s not entirely true. I have some idea why. Because I don’t particularly like her either. It’s become something of a chicken or the egg situation. Her obvious dislike of me has led to my dislike of her, and my dislike of her has led to me, well, trying to get a rise out of her whenever I can.”

Since they have to work together, as they get to know each other the hatred turns to respect. The respect turns to a flirtatious friendship. They realized that they work really well together. Amanda is a literary snob. She wants to write award-winning epic novels through all the right channels–getting an agent, hoping for years to get a deal, then traditionally publishing. Blake has another idea.

“Basically, from what I figure so far, if I make up a pen name, find a stock image of a shirtless roid monkey, and write a twenty to thirty thousand word novella about some kind of romantic or sexual endeavour, and put it up on Amazon for ninety-nine cents, I could stand to rake in some dough.”

But he knows he can’t do it alone, so this is the perfect opportunity for him to keep working with her after the semester ends.

“She’s a bit much to take at times and I’m certain she still thinks I’m the world’s biggest wanker— literally and figuratively— but I was getting used to her company. Writing with her was fun. Fighting with her was even more so. Maybe even hot. And hot is exactly what we need to bring to the table in order to rake in the dough.”

Blake has done a LOT of research on what sells on Amazon, and there is a little poking fun at the bestselling book titles and blurbs.

“Riding Hard: a bad boy crime boss MC ménage forbidden second chance romance standalone”

So when they are writing all the hot scenes, you can imagine how hot it gets between them. The chemistry and sexual tension were through the roof!

“I’m tired of pretending that I don’t want to do to her all the things we’re talking about”.

Likes:

Light, sexy and fun, my perfect read.
I love books that take place in the world of Indie publishing.
I giggled out loud a few times.
When they finally did the nasty, it was HOT.
I loved her nerdy but funny personality.
Blake’s relationship with his stepbrother.
Yum, a British accent.
Unique storyline.
There was no instalove, they worked through hatred first, and it was past 50% when things started ramping up between them.
I love an enemies to lovers book.
Good narration.

Dislikes:

Poking fun at the indie romance genre was fine, but I hope this doesn’t give people unrealistic expectations of getting a bestseller, and I hope readers and authors don’t get insulted by it.
Blake’s narrator’s voice wasn’t quite as sexy as I wished.

The Down & Dirty:

I really enjoyed Smut by Karina Halle. It gently poked fun at the indie romance genre, but it wasn’t nasty, it was true. I love an enemies to lovers romance and Smut filled the bill with nerdy times, banter, fun, laughter and sexy times. It was cool to read what an author goes through, and what happens behind the scenes of publishing a quick smutty novel. The narration was was pretty good, though his voice wasn’t quite as sexy as I would have liked. Still, if you are looking for a fun, light, sexy and unique read that delves a bit into the mind of an author, Smut totally fits the bill.