About The Book:
Title: Screwdrivered
Series: Cocktail #3
Author: Alice Clayton
Release Date: September 2, 2014
Purchase: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Gallery Books
Readers back for a third round of the bestselling Cocktail series will enjoy a madcap romantic comedy about bodice ripping and chest heaving, fiery passion and love everlasting. Plus a dash of paperwork filing and horseshi—wait, what?By day, Viv Franklin designs software programs. By night, Vivian’s a secret romance-novel junkie who longs for a knight in shining armor, or a cowboy on a wild stallion, or a strapping firefighter to sweep her off her feet. And she gets to wear the bodice—don’t forget the bodice.
When a phone call brings news that she’s inherited a beautiful old home in Mendocino, California from a long-forgotten aunt, she moves her entire life across the country to embark on what she sees as a great, romance-novel-worthy adventure. But romance novels always have a twist, don’t they?
There’s a cowboy, one that ignites her loins. Because Cowboy Hank is totally loin-ignition worthy. But there’s also a librarian, Clark Barrow. And he calls her Vivian. Can tweed jackets and elbow patches compete with chaps and spurs? You bet your sweet cow pie.
In Screwdrivered, Alice Clayton pits Superman against Clark in a hilarious and hot battle that delights a swooning Viv/Vivian.
Also within this book, an answer to the question of the ages: Why ride a cowboy when you can ride a librarian?
My Review:
Screwdrivered by Alice ClaytonMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Screwdrivered by Alice Clayton is the third book in her Cocktail series. Where in Rusty Nailed we got to see Simon and Caroline's relationship from the other side of a happily ever after ending where we left them in Wallbanger, in Screwdrivered they play a small peripheral role. This story is about Viv, Simon's high school friend that is a computer software genius and an artist to boot.
Viv receives a late night phone call from the East coast telling her she's inherited a beautiful cliff-side home in Mendocino, California. so she goes there and falls instantly in love with the "cowboy" that is taking care of the few animals there. What she didn't bargain for is the argumentative, elbow pad, tweed jacket-wearing librarian telling her what she can and cannot restore or replace in the home. Turns out Clark is also the head of the historical society and is responsible for maintaining historical authenticity on homes that are listed on the historical register.
Well that just puts all kinds of wrenches in the works for Viv. She calls in Caroline and Simon for support and ends up spending a ton of time "arguing" with Clark over the repairs on the home.
A cute and quirky story. Viv has a tendency to totally let her mind wander into a daydream of a romance novel only to be rudely brought back into reality time and time again - usually blushing at her own inappropriate thoughts.
Excerpt:
He knelt down in front of me and assessed the situation.
“One would think it unwise, Vivian, knowing the condition of this rotten wood, to traipse about so carelessly,” he said as he poked at the wood around my left leg, which was buried to midthigh. I’d been sitting half on and half off the broken wood for the better part of twenty minutes, and starting to get more than a little agitated.
“One would think that after getting punched in the nose one would be unwise to provoke me,” I said sweetly.
He turned his gaze from my leg to my face, his eyes calculat- ing. “You’re the one stuck in the porch. You sure you want to pick a fight with me right now?”
He had me there, dammit. “Okay, fine. No fight picking. But do something, Clark.”
“I’m waiting for the magic word.” “Um, now?”
“Really?
“Asshole?”
“Come on.”
“Clark!”
“Vivian.”
“Oh, fine. Please help me, Clark. Please, please, please?” I
managed, gritting my teeth.
“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” he smiled, his face lighting up. “Still not out of this porch here,” I said.
He nodded. “As personally gratifying as it is to see you like
this, there is a bit of storm coming and I’d rather not be out here when it hits. So let’s see what we can do here, shall we?”
“Yes, shall we?” I repeated, leaning back so he could get a bet- ter look at how I was wedged.
“Pardon me, I need to get a little closer here. I just—Ah, yes, I can see it there.” Clark had leaned across me, one arm on either side of me as he peered through the broken board to the ground below. His head was almost flush with the floor. And flush with what else was on the floor. Flush with my— Oh my. I unexpect- edly felt his breath on my bare thighs. I was dressed in running shorts that left little to the imagination, and my imagination was bombarding my senses with the most inappropriate images.
All I could think about was if he just moved about three inches to the left, he could probably get me off with his jaw alone. And how in world had I never noticed that it was so very strong, so very chiseled, so very lightly covered with Sunday-evening stubble? Stubble that could so very easily drag back and forth across the inside of my legs, up and down, and right and left, and then up, up, and away to my—
“I’m going to have to go down,” he said, and it took all the strength I had not to bury my hand in that flippy soft brown hair and take him at his word.
“Sorry?” I asked, panting. I was panting, for Christ’s sake! Over a librarian?
Mmmm, over a librarian . . .
“One would think it unwise, Vivian, knowing the condition of this rotten wood, to traipse about so carelessly,” he said as he poked at the wood around my left leg, which was buried to midthigh. I’d been sitting half on and half off the broken wood for the better part of twenty minutes, and starting to get more than a little agitated.
“One would think that after getting punched in the nose one would be unwise to provoke me,” I said sweetly.
He turned his gaze from my leg to my face, his eyes calculat- ing. “You’re the one stuck in the porch. You sure you want to pick a fight with me right now?”
He had me there, dammit. “Okay, fine. No fight picking. But do something, Clark.”
“I’m waiting for the magic word.” “Um, now?”
“Really?
“Asshole?”
“Come on.”
“Clark!”
“Vivian.”
“Oh, fine. Please help me, Clark. Please, please, please?” I
managed, gritting my teeth.
“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” he smiled, his face lighting up. “Still not out of this porch here,” I said.
He nodded. “As personally gratifying as it is to see you like
this, there is a bit of storm coming and I’d rather not be out here when it hits. So let’s see what we can do here, shall we?”
“Yes, shall we?” I repeated, leaning back so he could get a bet- ter look at how I was wedged.
“Pardon me, I need to get a little closer here. I just—Ah, yes, I can see it there.” Clark had leaned across me, one arm on either side of me as he peered through the broken board to the ground below. His head was almost flush with the floor. And flush with what else was on the floor. Flush with my— Oh my. I unexpect- edly felt his breath on my bare thighs. I was dressed in running shorts that left little to the imagination, and my imagination was bombarding my senses with the most inappropriate images.
All I could think about was if he just moved about three inches to the left, he could probably get me off with his jaw alone. And how in world had I never noticed that it was so very strong, so very chiseled, so very lightly covered with Sunday-evening stubble? Stubble that could so very easily drag back and forth across the inside of my legs, up and down, and right and left, and then up, up, and away to my—
“I’m going to have to go down,” he said, and it took all the strength I had not to bury my hand in that flippy soft brown hair and take him at his word.
“Sorry?” I asked, panting. I was panting, for Christ’s sake! Over a librarian?
Mmmm, over a librarian . . .
About The Series:
Cocktail #1: Wallbanger
Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Gallery Books
Cocktail #2: Rusty Nailed
Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Gallery Books
Cocktail #3: Screwdrivered
Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Gallery Books
And Coming December 2, 2014
Cocktail #4: Mai Tai'd Up
Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Gallery Books
Looking for the perfect mix of smart, sexy, and sassy? Mai Tai’d Up continues USA TODAY bestselling author Alice Clayton’s Cocktail series, which began with Wallbanger and continued with Rusty Nailed and Screwdrivered.
Eligible bachelor Lucas Campbell is very available, but very picky. A veterinarian in Monterey, California, his life is perfect: he works, he sails, he loves the ocean and the mountains—so why rock the boat? Then Miss Chloe Patterson comes along.
Chloe has the body of a supermodel, the mouth of a sailor, and the fashion sense of teenage guy in 1990s Seattle. A former Miss California, she walked away from a cushy life, bought an old ranch outside Monterey, and turned it into Our Gang, a sanctuary for rescued and abandoned pit bulls. A woman who’s clearly not afraid of dog poop, she enjoys rehabilitating her “warrior angels.”
Local gossip reports that she ditched her fiancé the night before their wedding (true), and that she moved up north to start a new life (also true). She didn’t want to be tied down (true), but she wouldn’t mind being tied up—especially by that hot vet she’s seen around town a few times (true, true, and have-you-seen-his-butt?-true).
But is Chloe ready to date again? And is Lucas ready to take on not only Chloe, but forty pit bulls? One moonlit sail, two bottles of wine, and a few sailor knots might just do the trick.
About The Author:
ALICE CLAYTON worked in the cosmetics industry for over a decade before picking up a pen (read laptop).She enjoys gardening but not weeding, baking but not cleaning up, and finally convinced her long-time boyfriend to marry her.
Now, about that Bernese Mountain dog
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