ARC Review: Telling Tales by Charlotte Stein

Let me start off by saying that this book was not at all what I was expecting. I went into this one after reading the blurb and thought that it was going to be a love triangle about Allie choosing between Wade and Cameron. This book had so much more to it than that though, and honestly I'm left with mixed feelings. I have never read anything by Charlotte Stein before, so maybe I just didn't know what to expect but this one was just an okay read for me.

All through college, Allie wanted Wade. He never saw her in that way though. Now years later, their former professor leaves them his mansion with the provision that they spend a month living there with their friends Kitty and Cameron and spend their time doing renovations. The four of them were in a writing group together back in college, but they have all gone their separate ways since. As the four reunite, secrets and feelings are revealed and friendships are rekindled. Allie becomes torn between the feelings she has always had for Wade and her growing feelings for Cameron. The more Allie gets to know Cameron, the more she realizes that there were so many things she didn't know. When the four start sharing stories, their passion and feelings ignite and they start to indulge in desires. What will happen to them when their month in the mansion is over?

I honestly didn't ever feel connected to or invested in these characters. They were all pretty shallow characters to me and lacked any real depth. Even though I didn't ever really come to care about the characters, I will admit that they had some seriously sexy times together. As far as Erotica goes, this book definitely has it. Their steamy scenes were the only reason that I kept reading this book. If you are looking for some sexually explicit scenes and a seriously hot read then look no further. This is the book for you. However that being said, I really thought that the connection between the characters lacked any kind of real emotion. Wade was all about himself and seemed to be pretty much incapable of loving anyone else. Allie seemed to only be able to love someone else if those feelings were returned and she knew about it. Kitty seemed to be unaware of Allie's feelings even though she was close to Allie and thought of her like a sister. (Which I kind of have trouble believing...if you are that close to someone how do you not see that they are supposedly in love with one of your other best friends??) Cameron had been in love with Allie for years and she had no clue. It was just really a muddled mess.

I also felt like this story was sort of clunky and confusing. I just had a hard time getting through this book and kept wanting to put it down. I also wasn't in a hurry to pick it back up either, and really wasn't all that interested to see how everything played out. If it wasn't for the hotness of this book, I really doubt that I would have finished it. I didn't really believe that Cameron and Allie would be able to have any kind of future with the way things were between them and everything that had happened. I also wasn't a fan of the ending, and felt like it was a bit unfinished. I guess I was just looking for more with this story, and I felt like it never delivered. I think that if you go into this story looking for a ton of heat and sex then you will enjoy it and be more than satisfied. But if you are looking for more of an in depth and emotional read with a strong connection between characters then I would probably not recommend this one.


**ARC provided by Publisher**

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