Title: Start Me Up Series: Tumble Creek #2
Author: Victoria Dahl
Published: June 30, 2009
Genre(s): Romance: Contemporary
Page Count: 370
Rating:
Summary from Goodreads:Lori had always planned to get out of tiny Tumble Creek, Colorado, but when her late dad left her his beloved auto body shop, she'd stayed. Now, according to her crazy best friend, Molly, what Lori needs is some excitement, in the form of hot, no-strings-attached sex…and lots of it.
Quinn Jennings has buildings on the brain—not love and romance. A serious architect, he's delighted to discover that Lori is willing to skip dating protocols and head straight for the sheets. And aided by the steamy books on Lori's bedside table, he's busy indulging both of their wildest fantasies. But when life in Tumble Creek takes a dangerous turn for Lori, Quinn's protective instincts kick in.
Suddenly he cares. More than either of them ever expected...
The second novel in the Tumble Creek series, Start Me Up, was a fun, breezy novel that I had a good time with. There were a few moments of gender essentialism and “not like other girls” that gave me pause, but overall, I find Victoria Dahl’s romances to be pretty good. So far, my experiences with her have all been successful, and that’s a good sign.
Start Me Up is the story of Lori and Quinn, the best friends of the main characters from the first book. Lori is a small-town mechanic, and Quinn is a workaholic architect. They’ve been friends ever since they were kids, but never saw each other romantically, until one day when Lori decides her sex life needs some spicing up, and picks Quinn to be her stud of choice. Neither of them expect the fling to last for long, but, of course, it does.
I really liked the relationship between Lori and Quinn—mostly because I liked Quinn. He’s shy and easily distracted by work things, so admits freely that he’s no good with relationships. Male romantic leads who aren’t all gung-ho aggressive and whatnot are one I have much more patience for, and as far as I can tell, Dahl is much more eager to put the female lead in the position of the sexual aggressor than the man. Which I like. A lot. The romance genre needs more books that show women pursuing what they want without stigma.
But, on the other hand, even though Lori does initiate the relationship, Start Me Up does see quite a few familiar tropes that I really could have done without. Lori is “unsexy” because she doesn’t dress “girly”, but then Quinn prefers this because all those women who wear makeup and such are “fake” and “Barbie Whores”, etc. He likes her because she’s “not like other women”, though meanwhile Lori is convinced of her own unattractiveness and never believes Quinn when he says that he thinks she’s beautiful. See where I’m going here? It’s really offensive to suggest that being “unlike other women” is a compliment, and it’s even more so to suggest that those women who wear makeup and high heels are less than a “natural” woman who doesn’t. There is not one good way to be a woman or to express your femininity, and we need to get over this policing of women’s behaviors by other women. Just stop.
And that, above, is basically my one big issue with Start Me Up. Otherwise, it was pretty solid. Like the previous book in the series, Dahl had a mystery-type sideplot going alongside the romance, which was predictable but not badly done. I also liked how, at the end, Quinn and Lori didn’t exchange “I love yous” or get engaged—that wouldn’t have fit this story at all, considering how Lori’s personal growth was important to the plot just as much as her romantic growth.
All in all, I liked this book. Victoria Dahl did a good job, though I’m saddened by this display of internalized misogyny that, unfortunately, seems to run rampant in contemporary romance. Even so, Start Me Up was satisfying and enjoyable.
