Title: Riding the Rail
Author: Julia Devlin
Publisher: Wild Rose Press
Length: Short Novella
Genre: Contemporary Erotic
Reviewed By: Lady Chatterley
Author’s Blurb:
When Serena Adams collided with a gorgeous young stranger on a crowded subway, nothing could have prepared her for the hottest ride of her life…
Serena gets more than she bargained for when her ordinary morning commute turns into an erotic encounter with a much younger man able to excite her with the merest touch. Later that morning, Serena’s prospective new client turns out to be her El train stranger and she can’t believe her misfortune. If she can’t ride the rails without wanting to devour him, how will she manage to work with him professionally?
Julian St. Claire believed he would never see the beautiful woman from the El again. However, this turns out to be his lucky day when she falls into his lap hours later. Never one to back down from a challenge, he pursues the sexy siren, despite her protests about their age difference. The way Julian sees it, age is no match for undeniable chemistry.
Can the two sort out their differences to enjoy the physical attraction they discovered…riding the rail?
Review:
With Riding the Rail, Julia Devlin has crafted a sassy little tale of younger man/older woman love that works when so many others have left me flat. The sexual tension during the couple’s first meeting literally set the pages on fire. Using the age-old premise of meeting a stranger on a train did not detract from the story. On the contrary, I found the familiarity of the fantasy comforting and quite fulfilling. I could use another portion!
It’s a fast read with lots of great sex. And with only fifty-six pages to do the job, Ms. Devlin hit the mark—and then some. The chemistry between the hero and the heroine is undeniable, and she even managed to slip in some great characterization in the process. I’d read this author’s work again.
There are, unfortunately, editing issues which hang over the book like a cloud.
It’s not at all the author’s fault—and probably not the editor’s in this case—but the formatting was completely off. The book bounced back and forth on margin width–very distracting.
Repetitive phrasing/words grabbed me on too many occasions, and I found myself mentally replacing with words that would have worked just as well and given the reader a better reading experience.
Even though the book did show a great deal of action, it remained quite passive. Usage of the words “was”, “were”, “felt” could have translated into more action. Of course, not every instance of passive voice should be eliminated, but numerous usage of the words I’ve noted do indeed signal missed opportunities.
Problems with sandwiching the thoughts and narrative of one character as part of the tag for another character’s dialog were bothersome, and I hope the author improves on this. Dialog should always be a standalone paragraph, including only the thoughts/narrative of the character speaking. And I hope the author’s editor learns a bit more and can point out this problem to other authors.
A POV switch in the last paragraph on pg. 20 that ran through the end of the chapter—which was only one page–threw me. While it was great to hear from the hero’s POV, this came off as jarring and just too short. Sort of like it was thrown in to get his POV in. Totally unnecessary.
Missing or misplaced commas, typos, dropped words, or dropped “ed”. I particularly remember double exclamation points somewhere early on in my reading. Did the heroine scream doubly loud? Just wondering.
Cover Art Comment: I liked the cover. It hinted at a scene from the book. The colors were eye-catching, and I found the font easy to read. Very sexy. Kudos to Angela Anderson.
Heat Level:
Storyline/Plot, Characterization, Dialog: 5
Structure: grammar, spelling, usage, punctuation, typos, general editing: 3
World Building/Scene Setting: 4
Final Grade:
