Book Review — Sex, Not Love by Vi Keeland

“Life isn’t about the big win.
It’s about the person you call first to tell that you’ve won.”

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OH MY FREAKING SWOOOOOOON!! I absolutely ADORED this book!!

It was so ROMANTIC and delightfully UNEXPECTED! I’m not going to lie, given the nature of its title, I made certain assumptions about the story but it honestly surprised me over and over again with where the story led and I seriously loved that about it!! This hero was PURE SWOON in every way and he was hiding a big, heart-breaking, life changing secret. The heroine was a strong, unconventional single mom. Together, you just knew they were perfect for each other but they had a lot of hurdles to make it over before they could truly find their happily-ever-after. This book was equal parts SEXY AND HOT but also HEART-FELT AND EMOTIONAL!! It was well-written, completely addictive and I highly, highly recommend it to anyone looking for a FANTASTIC new book to read!!

My relationship with Hunter Delucia started backwards.

We met at a wedding—him sitting on the groom’s side, me sitting on the bride’s. Stealing glances at each other throughout the night, there was no denying an intense, mutual attraction.

I caught the bouquet; he caught the garter. Hunter held me tightly while we danced and suggested we explore the chemistry sparking between us. His blunt, dirty mouth should’ve turned me off. But for some crazy reason, it had the opposite effect on me.

We ended up back in my hotel room. The next morning, I headed home to New York leaving him behind in California with the wrong number.

I thought about him often, but after my last relationship, I’d sworn off of charming, cocky, gorgeous-as-sin men. A year later, Hunter and I met again at the birth of our friends’ baby. Our attraction hadn’t dulled one bit. After a whirlwind trip, he demanded a real phone number this time. So I left him with my mother’s—she could scare away any man with her talks of babies and marriage—and flew back home.

I’d thought it was funny, until the following week when he rang the bell at Mom’s house for Sunday night dinner. The crazy, gorgeous man had won over my mother and taken an eight-week assignment in my city. He proposed we spend that time screwing each other out of our systems.

Eight weeks of mind-blowing sex with no strings attached? What did I have to lose?

Nothing, I thought.
It’s just sex, not love.
But you know what they say about the best laid plans…

This book had me smiling from the very first page.

Hunter Delucia was a cocky, unabashed, confident-bordering-on-arrogant guy but with such a sweet and charming side that you knew he was one of the good guys deep down. He was smart, successful, unabashedly forward, and totally aware of all his assets so it made for quite an interesting combination.

When the doors slid closed, the elevator suddenly seemed very small. It didn’t help that he hadn’t bothered to turn around when we started to move. He faced me, standing very close. My body definitely took note of the proximity.
“Don’t you have any elevator etiquette?” I asked. “Turn around and stare at the numbers like a normal person.”
“Why would I waste my time looking at that when the view is so much nicer facing this direction?”
“I’m not sleeping with you, you know.”
“Why not?”
… “I don’t know you.”
Hunter slipped his hands into his pockets. “Hunter Delucia, age twenty-nine, single, never been married, no kids. Went to Berkley for undergraduate and grad school. Degree in architectural engineering. Grew up next to Derek, been friend since we were in the carriage. He’ll vouch for me as a decent guy. Own a home [with] no mortgage. I also built it myself and have lots of trees on my property — that should get me extra points, by the way. Last doctor’s appointment was a month ago — clean as a whistle. And, most importantly…” He took a step closer to me; our bodies were practically touching. “I think you’re extremely sexy. There’s some insane chemistry here, and I think we should explore it.”

Natalia was a really different type of character. I’m not going to give too many details but she had become the legal guardian of a teenager who wasn’t related to her by blood in any way and she was trying to balance her life carefully to both bring stability into their lives while being very wary of the men she trusted.

“He’s… well, I’m not sure what to make of him, to be honest. He’s lewd, forward, persistent… sexy as hell.”
“Gorgeous, financially sound, confident, sexy as hell,” she added.
I sighed. “Yeah. All those. But there’s something about him… something I can’t put my finger on, that makes him feel as forbidden as Mr. Westbrook did in high school.”

Much to my delight, this book had oodles of fun, flirty banter and light-hearted flirting, but underneath it all was quite a lot of emotional depth which in my opinion was what grounded this story.

The way he looked into my eyes made me feel like he could see right into me. It scared me to feel so open, so vulnerable, but at the same time, it was beautiful and made me feel safe. I finally realized why I’d been so terrified. It wasn’t because I was afraid to fall for him—it was because I’d already started to.

Not gonna lie though, even though there was undeniably some crazy hot sex, for a book of this title, it was surprisingly much more about love than sex. But for those of you who love a scorching hot romance, don’t worry — you’ll get it in spades! There’s just a fair bit of a slow burn to get there… and to me that was perfect and worked very well for this story because the timeline really made their growing love for each other that much more believable.

“What?”
“I take it you really do like this stuff?”
I spoke with a full mouth. “It’s better than sex.”
“Then you haven’t been fucked properly.”
Mid-swallow, I choked on the oatmeal, sputtering and gasping.

One of my favorite parts of the book was seeing Hunter become so protective of the teen she was raising. It’s a special and beautiful thing when a guy gives his heart to the children of the woman he’s falling in love with but in this specific case it really felt like an extra level of special.

And whatever I’d guessed or assumed about Hunter’s past through the flashbacks was all wrong. The truth was surprising and heartbreaking and completely explained his complete aversion to committed relationships. But I absolutely loved the way they handled it together and honestly from the moment I started reading this book, I couldn’t put it down!

I can always count on Vi Keeland to deliver a fun, sexy, swoon-filled, and addictive romance with just enough emotional depth to tug all my heart-strings and this book is easily a new Top Favorite!!

Rating: 4.5 stars!! Contemporary Adult Romance Standalone.

• Buy SEX, NOT LOVE (Kindle)
• Buy SEX, NOT LOVE (Audiobook)
• Buy SEX, NOT LOVE (Paperback)
• Buy SEX, NOT LOVE (iBooks)