The Girl's Guide to (Man) Hunting

Bluebonnet #1

by Jessica Clare

Once, Miranda felt a little exposed…

Miranda Hill can’t believe her eyes—her cocky ex-boyfriend, pro-hockey player Dane Croft, is back in Bluebonnet, Texas, after all these years. He ditched her – and their little town – just as some rather shocking photos showed up on the internet for the whole town to see. Miranda wasn't so lucky. Stuck in Bluebonnet and left to fend for herself, she’s never really shaken the scandal — or his betrayal. After nine long years, he's back, and she has the chance to turn the tables on Dane…

It’s time she got even.

Former NHL hotshot playboy Dane Croft has returned home to open a survival training school on an old ranch, and reinvent himself. When his former high school girlfriend enrolls in his school, he has no idea that Miranda's plan is to get him in a compromising position—not the one he’s imagining, anyway. But soon Miranda realizes that to carry out her deviously sexy revenge, she'll have to get up close and personal with Dane all over again. Being a good girl got her nowhere for nine years, and now it's time to be a little naughty. But falling in love with the man that broke her heart was never part of the plan….

Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Chick Lit, Erotic Romance, Sports, Adult

236 pages, ebook

First published May 1, 2012

About the author

This is a pen name for Jill Myles.

Jill Myles has been an incurable romantic since childhood. She reads all the 'naughty parts' of books first, looks for a dirty joke in just about everything, and thinks to this day that the Little House on the Prairie books should have been steamier.

After devouring hundreds of paperback romances, mythology books, and archaeological tomes, she decided to write a few books of her own - stories with a wild adventure, sharp banter, and lots of super-sexy situations. She prefers her heroes alpha and half-dressed, her heroines witty, and she loves nothing more than watching them overcome adversity to fall into bed together.

Reviews

[Tink Magoo is bad at reviews · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing was still on par for this author and the sex was good (when you got past the pages and pages of foreplay) but the heroine ruined this for me. She was so bitter and all over the place it had me cringing at times.

Not sure I will bother with the next book.

[~Nichole~ Sizzling Pages Romance Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very sexy story with a big secret that took a tad too long to come out.. And caused some unnecessary angst for the heroine when if they had talked I guess we wouldn't have had a story. Very hot though.
Both dated after high school separation.
But the hero has been celibate for 3 years prior to them being reunited. No om or ow drama.
I loved Dane he was awesome.
Look forward to more in this series.

[Lady Lioness · Rating 2 out of 5]

A librarian heroine and an ex-NHLer hero? Woohoo!, I thought.

Not so much.

This might be a bit of a personal preference thing because I kinda found their relationship a little, um, icky. I mean, who the hell sleeps with a guy that you think, basically, performed a sexually charged action against you without your consent? And maybe it's because I've lived in suburbia all my life, but I can't believe an entire town is blaming for the victim for what was, in essence, child pornography. She was a minor. Okay, I went back to double-check and the author makes it a point of saying it's the heroine's freaking birthday and so she was eighteen when the photos were taken. Still. Even if I'm going to accept the fact that the police were like, 'eh, you asked for it,' (let's face it, it's possible) why the hell didn't the heroine just email the hero & be like, 'Bastard, take down the pictures!'? Why didn't he email her if he was trying to contact her? Clearly the internet existed back then if the photos were uploaded.

I ended up skipping over most of the sex scenes, not because of their lack of hotness, but because I just couldn't deal with the inequality of their relationship. First, I felt like she was paying him for sex because the book was all 'two grand for the class, yadda, yadda' and it was clear that the heroine was only doing it for the possibility of sex and revenge. Then, once we learn that the hero has no idea about the pictures, I felt bad for him because he has no idea that the heroine is perpetrating a major deceit with the goal of sexually exploiting him.

Furthermore, when the photos were actually taken down, I felt like the consequences should've been a lot more severe. Being recorded without consent is creepy and if it's sexually explicit, it's wrong. To go a step further and distribute it, well, I'm on my work computer so I can't exactly Google 'posting naked photographs without subject's knowledge legality,' but I'm pretty sure it's illegal. Male or female, no one has the right to do something sexually explicit to you without your permission. No matter how you slice it, it's a form of rape.

If I pretend that the heroine is mad at the hero because of some run-of-the-mill misunderstanding, The Girl's Guide to (Man)Hunting would have been three stars until they got out of the woods, at which point it would've gone up to four stars. It's obvious who the other couples will be and I might read the next book if I ever see it at the library. So if you think I'm taking the 'naked photos on the internet' too seriously and you liked Molly O'Keefe's books, you may enjoy Girl's Guide. If you agree with me, then skip it.

[Simply Love Book Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

DiDi's review posted on Guilty Pleasures

Welcome to Bluebonnet, Texas, a fictional town just north of Houston....Let me go on record as saying if Bluebonnet was real, I would be packing up my stuff and heading up from just south of Houston! Ms. Clare has created a fun, friendly, small town with to die for men and feisty women!

The Girl's Guide to (Man)Hunting is a sexy, funny story about life in a small town, revenge, redemption and best laid plans going awry. Miranda has a lot of anger, resentment and hurt built up from an incident with Dane years ago, She blames him for ruining her life. When Miranda finds out he is coming back to town she devises a plan to ruin him. Dane returns home to rebuild his life and realizes he still has feelings for Miranda and goes full steam ahead into a smokin' hot week of getting reacquainted. He appears clueless to the fact that he hurt Miranda, which leads to several emotional moments that had my heart hurting for both of them.

Rarely do I start out liking the heroine and being mad at the hero, flipping my loyalties mid-read, then loving them both at the end, this is exactly what happened in The Girl's Guide to (Man)Hunting. This book is full of LOL moments, super hot lovin, a hilarious secondary cast, a strong heroine and an all around sexy, good guy hero.

This is Jill Myles first book as Jessica Clare, I cannot wait for book two The Care and Feeding of the Alpha Male, due out in October.

If you like erotic romance with comedy, heart, super hot loving and a great secondary cast, you will want to pick up The Girl's Guide to (Man)Hunting.

[Jae · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this one at all. It's about Miranda who wanted to take revenge on her ex-boyfriend (whom she hated very very very much). She wanted to ruin his reputation with dirty photos, same like he did to hers nine years ago. I would've let things go and move on and let the past be just that, past. Why muck everything up for the things that happened nine years ago? Then again, I'm not an immature 27 year-old tramp.

And i use the word tramp very loosely. Miranda came on Dane way too strongly for my taste. For a buttoned-up town librarian, she should've use the less is more approach and ditch her all you can eat shot. She jumped him (in the name of revenge, of course) after only a few hours of meeting him for the first time since the scandal nine years ago.

After the first 30% into the story I just flipped through the frequent sex scenes to get to the end page. Miranda just took the romance out of the story and since I don't enjoy erotica all that much, I didn't find this book as enjoyable as I hoped. So that said, I hope the next book about her friend would be much improvement from this.

-rants over.

[Angela Carr · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars
Review also posted at link: Under The Covers Book Blog

The Girl's Guide to (Man) Hunting
by Jessica Clare
(Bluebonnet # 1)

This first installment of the Bluebonnet series has kicked off with a sweet, romantic and hot start. If you like small town settings with characters that are easy to fall in love with, this is the book for you.

Miranda Hill is Bluebonnet’s Librarian with her nickname “Boobs of Bluebonnet”. She was given this name in high school as half-naked pictures of her had surfaced on the internet for the whole town to see. As small towns go and cyber bullying, it had affected her adult life as well. Always looked at and laughed at, her life was ruined. Nine years later, she will get the opportunity for payback. But what I always say, payback is a bitch but plotting a revenge can only bite you right back in the ass.

Pro-hockey player Dane Croft has gone back to town after a big blow out in the NHL. Rumors of his playboy moments had gone bad and left him to start a new business in his old town. Dane opened up a school to survive in the wild with his best friends. Because of his recent past, Dane is determine to prove himself worthy of a good partner. But will he survive and stay professional if his long lost love is one of his clients?

I love a story where no matter the situation; the H/h just cannot deny their feelings or cannot keep their hands off each other, this book is just that. And the story of high school attraction/love existing nine years later is totally romantic. The writing flowed and the plot kept me interested the whole time, not to mention the super steamy sex scenes in the forest. The ending had a twist that made me tear up and left me feeling happy. Jessica Clare will be an automatic follow for me without a doubt and I highly recommend this read. 

*ARC provided by publisher

[Keri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun goofy read. Miranda's idea of how she was going to humiliate Dane..yeah guys HATE that kind of thing(sarcasm, men never get tired of looking at potential porn) :-) . I do think Miranda and Dane made a cute couple. I wanted to hug Dane a million times throughout the book, because I knew he was clueless about Miranda and her past and the part he played. I just wish we would have seen the scene where the website got taken down. I am going to pick up the entire series.

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Um, wow! This book had a lot of sex in it! Like, so much that towards the end I found myself almost skimming some of the sex scenes just to get back to the actual story! Strange, right! :) Anywho... It was a pretty good story! Funny and quirky characters, lol moments and some major swoon worthy hunks! I enjoyed it! I'm now curious about the next in the series and if I'll need a cold shower afterwards... ;)

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really really wanted to like this one. I enjoyed the writing, but Miranda just drove me nuts. Actually, Dane did too. And all the sex they're having in the woods while there are other people not that far away? You'd think sound would travel... I got about halfway through and DNF'd it. I might try the author's next book, but I hope there aren't as many improbable situations to try to ignore.

[Rachel-RN · Rating 1 out of 5]

Miranda and Dane dated in high school. Briefly. After compromising pictures hit the internet, taken without consent, Dane left town to be drafted in the NHL. Miranda stayed behind. And wouldn't you know, it's a small town where everyone knows each other's business. So, of course Miranda was treated like the town slut.
Book picks up 3 weeks before Miranda leaves for a new job in Huston. She's just quit her job as the town's librarian. And, still, people will bring up the pictures. To them, she's not Miranda, a human being with feelings. She's "boobs." And did Dane get any criticism for the pictures? Yeah, you guessed correctly- nope.
Miranda learns Dane is back and he has setup a wilderness survival type camp. She decided to sign up for one of the classes, seduce him, and take compromising pictures of him. Yeah. Seduction while camping; catching your own food, no baths, no bed beyond the hard ground. Sexy. The whole seduction/sex in the woods with 5 other people close by was just creepy. You can't tell me people sleep all that soundly when you are in a sleeping bag on the ground. Not comfortable.
I really didn't get Miranda. She was wishy-washy and constantly changing her mind. I didn't like Dane either. I had a hard time believing that he had no idea about the pictures. I mean, really? Did. Not. Believe. It.
This tiny, judgmental town can go suck it.
Am I interested in reading the rest of this series? Nah. Don't think so.
I read this for Romance-opoly Amour Avenue moon track square

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review posted: Happily Ever After - Reads

Small towns can be brutal to live in when you’re in the middle of gossip and scandal. Miranda had pictures taken of her during a private moment with Dane when they were in high school and naked pictures of her ended up online. Dane left town the next day, heading to the NHL, a dream he had been working toward for years and Miranda was left to deal with the fallout. Her mother had a breakdown and Miranda had to endure the small town whispering and gossip as she stayed for the next 9 years to take care of her mom and all the time she wanted revenge on Dane, believing him to have set her up and put the pictures out there for everyone to see. When she finds out that he’s back in town and running a wilderness survival school with two of his high school friends, Miranda signs up for a week long class. She’s packing her camera and she wants revenge and she wants Dane to feel what she’s had to deal with all these years.

Dane has a bad public rap – he’s made out to be a Casanova in the NHL and a case of ‘he said, she said’ with his team’s owner’s wife, resulted in his career ending. He’s back in his hometown of Bluebonnet, Texas to get his life back on track and start on this new venture with his friends. After his playboy ways (exaggerated by the press) followed him through the NHL, his friends and now business partners basically tell him to keep it in his pants so this new business can get off the ground and succeed without any gossip caused by Dane. Easier said than done when he sees his high school crush and the girl who got away, Miranda, come in for a week long survival class.

A slow smile curved his mouth, and he pulled her closer to him. His hand caressed her cheek and stroked down her neck, playing with the neckline of her shirt. Touching her as if he owned her – possessed her. The thought made her weak. “That was just one tiny orgasm,” he said. “I bet if you give me the chance, I could make you come two, maybe three times in a row.”

“Three times?” Her breath caught a little at the thought. She’d read romance novels where the heroine screamed the entire time they had sex, and movies made it look like an hours-long marathon, of course, but her experiences had been sadly underwhelming in that respect. Even her rendezvous with Dane – while mind-blowing in itself – had been a brief excursion. “Is that normal?”

“It is when you’re in bed with me,” he said softly…

Sparks fly fast and crazy between these two and for Miranda, what starts out as a mission of revenge, ends up being so much more. As much as she hates it and even fears it, she lets herself be vulnerable around Dane again. They have some incredibly hot and naughty scenes out in the wilderness and Miranda lets herself go in a way she’s never been able to before. I really liked the progression of their relationship. They had to reconnect after 9 years apart and seeing their true feelings for each other come out over the course of a week was both sweet and satisfying.

There are plenty of sexy times going on for these two, but it never felt like it went too far. Dane likes to take control and only does when he realizes that Miranda is a bit indecisive and thinks too much. He sets to make her stop thinking, altogether, and it worked every time. They have a lot of air to clear though, since Dane is clueless about what Miranda has been dealing with all these years and he takes matters into his own hands once the truth about the pictures finally comes out.

I like the having the series set around the guys’ survival training school. The three men are all so different, we get a good idea about each of their personalities, and I’m interested to learn more about them during their own stories. I’m also a sucker for a small town setting; there’s something charming and horrifying all at once about it. I really felt for Miranda, having to deal with these photos of herself, the whispers behind her back and the talk that would just not die down in this town. She came across as a sweet, caring heroine, who may have initially been driven by revenge, but she was really just trying to deal with the hurt and pain that one moment has caused her. She struggles with following through on her plan versus doing what she knows is right by Dane. I liked her progression and I just wanted her to find happiness, finally.

I really enjoyed this story; it’s a fun read with characters that I loved getting to know. The friction that was set up between Dane’s business partner and friend, Colt, and Miranda’s best friend, Beth Ann will be great to see play out in book 2 (The Care and Feeding of an Alpha Male) – I love this title! Jessica Clare brings a story for Dane and Miranda that combines the sweet and naughty, and really had me enjoying their relationship throughout.

[HJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let me start off by saying that I really like Jill Myles (aka Jessica Clare for the purpose of this book). I like her sometimes quirky, but not too stupid heroines, and her pretty awesome heroes.

But this book? Not so much.

Maybe not having the heroine's 1st person POV has something to do with it, but I really just wanted to slap the heroine silly for the first half of the book. I mean really, what intelligent woman sets out on a 7-day survival-training camp with seduction in mind? Out in the woods with all of those other men around, and getting all hot and sweaty (not in a good way, mind you). Eew. Maybe 1st person would have a bit more internalizing/justifying her behavior in a way that would have convinced me of some heretofore unseen motivation, but 'Evil Miranda?' Nope. Dumb.

And then to have even hotter and sweatier sex basically every chance she could flash her boobs at the poor guy? Especially after having, unearned, a reputation as the 'town slut.' Come on, really? TSTL just seems to fit the bill on this one.

Okay. I have to confess, the only reason I kind of liked the book was because of the hero's actions at the end. One extra star for Dane's awesome and brave act of contrition. Kudos.

But other than that, I don't think I'll be interested in 'Jessica Clare' versus Jill Myles.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 to 3 Stars

I'm making this short and sweet since I don't think I have one interesting thing to say about this book. The one word that keeps repeating over and over is meh. The character development was weak and Miranda was reduced to a killer set of knockers out for a little revenge. I can't believe I just wrote the word "knockers" but there it is. If I had to hear about her perfect and pretty breasts one more time, bad things were going to happen to my kindle. I get it! She's got a nice pair! Onward to something else and pronto!

I did enjoy Dane's character. Luckily he had a little more depth and a whole lotta hotness. He seemed almost too good to be true, but by the end of the book I was taking what this author was giving up and trying to make the most of it.

Maybe this just wasn't what I was in the mood for. Maybe I've read a few too many contemporary romances lately. For whatever reasons, this one fell flat for me.

[Pamela(AllHoney) · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first book in the Bluebonnet series by Jessica Clare. The series feature three men who grew up in Bluebonnet but left when they graduated high school. The first is about Dane Croft who left and joined NHL and Miranda Hill, his girl-friend from high school. Just after he left years ago pictures popped up on the internet of Miranda and Dane making out in a closet. They ruined Miranda's reputation and Miranda has harbored bad feelings for Dane ever since. So when Dane comes back opening a survival training camp, Miranda decides to get revenge.

It was fun and sexy but didn't work as well as I expected it to. I didn't understand the lack of communication between the two and the sex didn't seem appropriately timed for me. But the story still had some fun parts and I think someone looking for a steamy read set in the woods will enjoy it.

[Gina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jessica Clare is a great writer. I think she writes great women and female/male friend relationships. Great dialog. Good pacing. But this is the second book in a row by Clare I've read where a "big misunderstanding" drove the story. I hate the "big misunderstanding." I really hate it. At least at the end of this one Miranda says to Dane, "I'm sorry. I should have just asked you about it." Yeah. You should have. But I know I'll read the next one. I loved the secondary characters of Colt and Beth Ann. I loved the hints at their back stories.

[Sofía · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frases como:

“Miss Miranda Jane Hill,” he said loudly. “I am very sorry that I fell in love with you back when we were both eighteen years old and it took me nine years of being an idiot to figure it out. I still love you and want to be with you. Will you marry me?”

“Mommy, I can see that man’s peepee,” said a child nearby.

Hacen que ame un libro.

[Chandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story Rating 3 Stars
Character Rating 3 Stars
Romance Rating 3 Stars
Heat Level 5 Stars
Overall Rating 3 Stars

Meh. I just didn't love it.
Maybe being dirty in the woods doesn't appeal to me.

[Dark Faerie Tales · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review Courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: Things get spicy in a little Texas town.

Opening Sentence: Like everything else bad that happened in Miranda Hill’s life, rear-ending old Mrs. Doolittle was purely the fault of Dane Croft.

The Review:

Meet Miranda Hill, small town girl, librarian and part time helper in her mother’s antique shop. She used to be a good girl, and still mostly is, with one really awful exception. One night. One party. One glaring example of what young love could do to a good girl with a huge crush on a bad boy. Imagine the worst, most embarrassing moment of your time in high school and then triple it. It still won’t add up to what she went through, and all because of this man…

Dane Croft, hot bad boy numero uno. Dane is this small town’s claim to fame, or maybe I should call it infamy. Dane has returned after a nine year absence to start up a new business. He, and two other ex-locals have purchased an old emu farm just outside of town and turned it into a wilderness survival training camp, you know like for business gatherings and corporate types, etc.

Let’s recap on the past nine years in the lives of these two. This poor girl has lived with the nickname of “Boobs” and the ability to find pictures of her half-naked self on an internet website. A really bad, really cheesy internet website. Shortly afterwards, her mother suffers a breakdown and Miranda is forced to help with her store, while attending a local college and then taking the job at her local library. And all because of those damn photos. And who, you might ask, is also featured in those rather embarrassing photos? Well none other than Dane Croft.

But Dane hasn’t had it all that easy these past years. After he left to play hockey, he tried getting in touch with Miranda, but was always turned away by her mother. Eventually he stopped calling, and moved on with his career. A career that was quickly on its way to being over after a few too many injuries. And when he refused an indecent proposal from the boss’s wife, she leaks the story of their supposed affair to the tabloids. This is the final nail driven into the coffin his career was already planning on purchasing. After that, he and his friend decide to live off the grid for a time, spending some time in Alaska even. When he has finally had enough solitude, he agrees to start up the survival camp with his buds.

And in this venture Miranda finds what just might be the way to obtain her revenge on Dane for posting those awful pictures. For she intends to ruin his life, like he has ruined hers. She plans to start out by seducing him during one of his survival courses, and taking similar photos and posting them online, hoping to humiliate him and render him unemployed. Dane proves to be a harder nut to crack than she originally anticipated, but the seduction works, eventually.

You see, Dane has promised his partners that he would keep his hands to himself with regards to the females that join their trips into the wilderness. And on his very first trip he is bound for failure. One of his first campers is none other than Miranda Hill, the girl he never forgot.

Their week in the woods proves very…um… let’s just say they had a good time. A really, really good time. And at the end of their time, they decide to carry on a relationship. But, Miranda knows that it will only last a few weeks, since she has taken a new job in Houston. She doesn’t tell Dane, not wanting to ruin the moment, assuming that a commitment isn’t his goal. And on her last night, she makes one last attempt at revenge, but finds she cannot go through with it. And when Dane finally finds out what the whole situation actually is, he is too late to do anything to fix it. Until one month later when Miranda returns for a visit, and Dane professes his love in a way no one is going to forget.

So this book…I liked it. I liked it a lot. I even recommended it to a few friends of mine who are into that kind of thing…you know, the whole lots of naked kind of thing. I tell ya, I’m into that kind of thing too. And this storyline is happy and tragic, exciting and painful all at once. A good read in my book.

Notable Scene:

“Oh honey,” Beth Ann said in a tone that was a little sorry and a lot mocking. “Bless your heart. She wasn’t moving in, she was moving out. She couldn’t wait to leave this darn town. Been waiting nine years to get out.”

“Nine years? Why?”

“Because of those damn photos—“ she snapped, then pursed her glossy lips. “Sorry. Language. But you know what I’m talking about.”

“No,” he gritted. “I don’t.”

She narrowed her blue eyes at him, then moved across the tiny salon to a laptop on a small desk. As she bent over, he watched Colt’s expression narrow a bit more, as if his world had suddenly focused in on a soft pair of hips in a jean skirt.

“This,” Beth Ann said, moving to the side and showing him the screen. “This is why she couldn’t wait to leave.”

He moved forward and stared. It was a horrible website, with an ugly bachground and noisy graphics on it. The URL read “Boobs of Bluebonnet” and he stared at a picture of Miranda’s perky breasts, that beauty mark under her left one staring back at him. Some a**hole had his hand down her pants and his other underneath her breasts, as if plumping them for the camera. Even worse, her head was tilted back in ecstasy.

“Who’s the dick?” he growled, the urge to beat the shit out of someone rising. His fists clenched hard.

Beth Ann frowned at him and scrolled the website down to the next photo. This one clearly showed the face of the man as Miranda knelt before him, with his hand twisted in her hair as if she were about to suck him off. “You are, you stupid fool. And you ruined her life.”

The Bluebonnet Series:

1. The Girl’s Guide to (Man) Hunting

2. The Care and Feeding of an Alpha Male (October 2, 2012)

FTC Advisory: Penguin/Berkley provided me with a copy of The Girl’s Guide to (Man) Hunting. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Posted at Yummy Men & Kick Ass Chicks

When I picked up The Girl’s Guide to (Man) Hunting by Jessica Clare, I really needed a light and fun read. I had just finished reading a very heavy and dark urban fantasy book and needed a complete change of direction. I needed to giggle and blush. When this book arrived, I thought it would be just perfect to lighten my mood. But even if it did fit the ‘complete change of direction’ requirement, it didn’t work well to make me giggle and blush. I just didn’t connect with the characters. *insert sob*

Right from the beginning, I just didn’t love Miranda. And it’s sort of important to like her since she is the main heroine of the story. When she was eighteen, she went into the ‘make-out closet’ with Dane and while they were making out (meaning her shirt was lifted over her breasts and his hand was in her pants) photos were taken and posted on the internet. Dane left pretty much the next day to pursue his career in the NHL leaving Miranda alone to deal with the scandal. The photos going online caused Miranda’s mother to have a nervous breakdown and forced Miranda to stay in her little town instead of leaving for the big city to pursue her dreams. She gained a horribly cruel nickname and even though it’s nine years later, people are still talking about the incident and are still calling her by that rude nickname. But her mother is finally well enough so Miranda is moving to the big city in a few weeks time.

That’s how the story starts off. That and Dane is no longer playing hockey and has moved back into town with two of his high school buddies to open up a wilderness training camp. I think that just about covers it.

I know we are supposed to feel sorry for poor Miranda and the fact that her life was essentially ruined thanks to these photos that Dane supposedly put online but I just couldn’t get myself to really care. Instead I wondered why her mother was so affected by it. Really that is what put Miranda’s life on hold: not the photos themselves but her mother’s reaction. And when Dane comes back, Miranda wants revenge. I did think that her inner dialogue about ‘good Miranda’ and ‘evil Miranda’ was cute. Basically she wants to bring the same humiliation that Dane caused back to him. And since he is now running a wilderness survival training business, she goes to him and signs up for a week in the woods learning how to survive. And shock and surprise, Dane is her instructor.

I did like the idea of Miranda and Dane in the forest together for a week. Mind you they are with 5 other men – one of which is really full of himself and causes many eye-rolling moments – but they still manage to find time to ‘be alone’ in the woods. *wink wink nudge nudge* Hot steamy time in the woods. I liked the language that was used in this book. Some erotic titles use overly harsh words and I find that isn’t necessary to get the ‘sexy’ point across. Jessica does well with that in this book. The book is hot, the scenes steamy, without being crass. The only thing that sort of threw me off about Miranda being on a wilderness survival training thing for a whole week is that she survived a little too easily…after having only brought with her a bunch of fancy lingerie to help in her plan to seduce and embarrass Dane. She’s not really an outdoors person yet she had no problem being out there with no shelter, no food and no…well nothing! And she’s not allowed a camera out there yet she plans on exacting her revenge out there… That part wasn’t really clear either. If there was a little more focus on her feeling about being there in the woods and about her mother and less on ‘must get revenge even though my plan doesn’t really make sense’, I think it would have worked better for me. Made things more realistic.

And that’s what made this book meh for me: Everything just happened without much explanation behind it and the people were not really well developed. You knew their back stories but only in the most minimal of details. Just enough to get by but not enough to really create that bond that is so important in a book. And I find it especially important in an erotic book because you have to truly feel for the characters in order for the book to be more to the reader than just sex.

I did like Dane though and not once did I truly believe that he was responsible for Miranda’s humiliation. He’s suffered his own public humiliation over the past few years. He’s known as a womanizer even though that is not even a little bit true. In fact, he hasn’t touched a woman in over three years! Yet his friends believe the hype like everyone else and treat him like a man who can’t keep it in his pants. Mind you things happen pretty fast with Miranda in the woods, but that’s not really the point. I just don’t understand why Dane just didn’t tell his friends the truth. Instead he suffered their jabs and teases every day.

The scene at the end where all is fixed and Dane… I won’t tell you more but basically it’s the scene where all is resolved, that scene is charming. It made me smile.

This book has an interesting premise but I just didn’t mesh well with the way it was executed. Miranda was a little too all over the place and Dane was good but not enough to save the book for me. I may still check out the second book in this series, The Care and Feeding of an Alpha Male due out October 2nd 2012. This is Colt and Beth Ann’s story. I liked Colt a lot in this first book and Beth Ann was interesting enough. She’s the type of character that you know there is more to (at least I hope). And Colt is just a wilderness yummy man. As for The Girls Guide to (Man) Hunting, due to the fact that I just didn’t connect with it well, I give it…

2.5 stars

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review originally posted at Ramblings From This Chick

First just let me say that this book is HOT! Seriously. The chemistry between Dane and Miranda is electric and I found I had to fan my face quite a few times after reading one of their love scenes. I wasn't really sure if I would like this book. I'm not too big on revenge story-lines, but I found myself pleasantly surprised. I really liked this book and I definitely can't wait to read more from this author.

Miranda and Dane dated briefly when they were in high school. While at a graduation party together they played Seven Minutes in Heaven and things got pretty hot and heavy between the two. Then the next day Dane was off to play hockey in the NHL and Miranda was left to deal with the aftermath. Not only did Dane leave without a goodbye but apparently photos were taken of the two in the closet and then posted on the internet for all the world to see. Miranda has spent the last nine years with being known as the "Boobs of Bluebonnet" as well as living with the hurt and anger at being betrayed. When Dane moves back into town and starts a survival training school with two of his buddies from high school, Miranda sees this as on opportunity to finally get the revenge she has always wanted. So she enrolls in the school with plans to destroy Dane.

Dane has returned to Bluebonnet with hopes of reinventing himself and his reputation. For the past year he's been living of the grid in Alaska with some buddies from high school and now they've decided to start a survival training school. He's shocked to see his old girlfriend Miranda has enrolled in his class. Dane has always thought of Miranda as the girl that got away and has thought of her often in the past nine years.

In order for Miranda's plan of revenge to work, she needs to seduce Dane, post compromising photos of him on the internet and then leave him high and dry just like he did with her. But all of that goes awry when Miranda starts to get closer to Dane. It seems he's not the guy she thought he was and the more time they spend together the more Miranda seems to fall for him and her plan just seems to go out the window.

I really liked this book and I really enjoyed Miranda and Dane together. When I first picked up this book I thought Dane was going to be an asshole that seems to redeem himself in the end, but that was not the case at all. Dane is an all-around good guy. He has genuine feelings for Miranda and he's actually quite sweet. Also, Dane is freaking HOT! Seriously, these two were smoking together and I just couldn't stop reading about them.

I am really looking forward to the next book in this series. I find myself fascinated by Colt and Grant and I am eager to get my hands on their books.

[Bookaholics · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Girls Guide to Man Hunting by Jessica Clare
Contemporary Romance –May 1st, 2012
4 stars

Goodgirl Miranda Hill has lived years of shame when Dane Croft posted pictures of her ‘exposed’ on the internet. It is a scandal that continues to haunt her as the ‘Boobs of Bluebonnet.’ Since Miranda lives in a small town that knows everyone and everything this has made her life very rough. To make matters worse Dane just left town after the fallout to become a big athletic star.

But now Dane is back and sweet Miranda has decided she wants revenge. She plans to seduce him and post pictures of him in a compromising situation! Now he will know how she has felt being humiliated. She has the perfect opening because Dane has opened up a survival school and she has signed up to get close to him. But what happens when she starts falling for Dane all over again? Can she hurt him like he hurt her or will she have a change of heart?

Dane can’t believe Miranda Hill, the sexy girl he knew of nine years ago has signed up for his school. She is sexier than ever. But something feels off, she isn’t quite the same trusting girl he used to know and Dane is determined to make her his own.

This fun, light read is super steamy as Miranda pursues Dane with surprising results. Miranda is torn between loving Dane and reminding herself of all the reasons not to trust, the lying, deceitful backstabber! She can’t believe she is falling for his old tricks again.
Any reader will root for Miranda, who wouldn’t want a little payback after years of humiliation? But for her to fall so quickly for Dane again seemed a bit fast and seemed improbable. Otherwise, I liked that Miranda stayed true to her character. It was fun to read Miranda twist Dane with her newfound seductress skills. On the other hand, Dane is a decent if sometimes rather clueless hero. But I liked how his character changed and how he proves himself worthy of Miranda’s tender heart at the end.
Fast, easy to read this contemporary romance is filled with misunderstanding and lots of steamy sex to keep readers amused and entertained.

Reviewed by Steph from the Bookaholics Romance Book Club

[Book-Lover-49 · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premise of this book was interesting until it actually started to happen and then it made no sense at all.

**********SPOILERS**********************************8

Miranda wants revenge on the guy that she had a one make out session during a 7 minutes game when she was a senior in HS. Pictures of her half naked were shared with the whole small town and she thinks that the guy, Dane did it. Dane left the next day and she never heard from him again.

Fast forward 9 years and he is back in town and her plan is to seduce him so she can take naked pictures of him. Yes! Great plan! Let's screw the guy you hate.

To do that she spends a whole week in a survival training hiking every day with Dane and a group of guys and she proceeds to have sex with him multiple times. Never mind they are hiking for a week, with one change of clothes and no soap or showers and there is lots of oral sex going on. She walked into a river once.

Maybe it is just me but I can only imagine what one smells like after a week in the woods in the heat and idea of actually having sex with someone that dirty is... EEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.

There was a lot of sex in this book but all I could think was, 'that gotta smell so bad' and I don't think it was the author's intention.

Excuse me, but I need to shower now.

[Krissy P (Kris) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Girl's Guide to (Man) Hunting is another fun and sexy read by Jessica Clare a/k/a Jill Myles. Jill Myles is a favorite author of mine. She knows how to bring the humor and sexiness to her romance novels and this book was no exception. After reading this, I will never look at camping the same way.

Miranda Hill is the town librarian who is notorious for her Internet rendezvous with former boyfriend and ex-NHL star, Dane Croft. She has spent the last nine years with an awful reputation and nickname because of compromising pictures of her make-out session in a closet with Dane. Dane Croft returns home to Bluebonnet to start a new life and new business. Miranda decides she wants revenge and joins Dane's survival camp. She soon changes her tune when things heat up between them during their week in the woods and her heart just might be in the way of her getting even.

The chemistry between Dane and Miranda and the sex scenes were blazing hot. I highly recommend this sultry read for all lovers of comtemporary romance.

[Dee · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 Stars

I like the way JC writes a story (light and easy going) and some of the funny dialogue and that is why I struggled on to the end. It wasn't that this story was entirely terrible as had some really good parts and had flashes of the JC that I've come to know through her other books/series, it's that I thought Miranda was pretty childish and her plan of revenge was worthy of a teenager plotting in the school playground and it got tiresome. Fortunately it dig pick up towards the end and I thought the way Dane said sorry to Miranda (even though he wasn't guilty of wrongdoing!) and made sure the whole town knew he loved her.

Hopefully the second installment to the series will be better than this one.

[Tessamari ♥Many Waters...♥ ~ Sweet Spot Book Blog · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three stars

I really wanted to like this more, but I just couldn't. I found myself skimming just so it could end faster. I didn't want to quit the story altogether just because I did want their issue resolved. I did like the chemistry between the H/h, it was pretty steamy at times, but all that steam kinda watered down the story, if that makes any sense. However, I did like the ending a lot. I found the hero's extreme gesture to say he's sorry very funny and sweet. And let me tell you, it was some gesture. I am interested in the second book only because it involves a stubborn alpha male, and you know how I love those types of heroes :)

[Sheryl C. Nash · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very sexy (yes...hmmm...lots of down and dirty smexing going on in this book...just the way i like it!) and enjoyable read with some real laugh out loud moments (or in my case; spit your cup of tea all over your iPad...) I absolutely love Jessica Clara aka Jill Myles aka Jessica Sims :) Cannot wait till October when we get to read about Beth Ann and Colt's story in The Care and Feeding of an Alpha Male!!

[Simply Love Book Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute, sexy read! Review coming soon!

[April Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would have enjoyed this book a lot more if not for the half-baked plot. It has to be up there as one of the romance novel dumbest plots of all time.

When they were 18, Miranda and Dane were at a party playing 7 minutes in heaven where, unbeknownst to them, a camera was planted there. Cut to topless pics of Miranda being put up on the internet for everyone in town to see and Dane leaving for his hockey draft the next day.

The set up was great. I was very interested to see how the story would proceed. Miranda was pissed at Dane for leaving her without any word and she thought that he either knew about the pics or he was responsible for them. I thought that was enough angst to get a story started but very quickly it all went down hill.

Miranda's idea of perfect revenge was to get nude photos of Dane and put those up. To do that, she paid $2K to sign up for his week long survival course.

The entire concept of the revenge plot was stupid AF. Considering that the small town is sexist and they thought Dane was "the man" when he got Miranda topless in the first place, why on earth would she think that they would look down on him if she put up pictures of him? At the end of the day, it would go back to her and it would give her more unwanted attention.

To make matters worse, the topless photo situation only came out at the very end of the book and by then, it was hard to care about the characters. The whole set-up of the story is to get to that confrontation between Miranda and Dane and it was handled poorly.

Overall, the sex scenes were great at first but as the story went on, I cared less and less about the H/h so I ended up skimming the rest of the sex scenes simply because I didn't care about the characters anymore. It got dull fast.

[Rooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

(It's really a 2.5.)

Yeah, ok, so here's the thing, straight out:

Miranda's kind of a twatwaffle.


Not a problem.

Our heroine, who has suffered some very real (but you know, fictional, because she herself is not real) personal and I'd go so far as to say sexual trauma from a particularly bad combination of teenage stupidity, someone's cupidity (or maybe just assholery - it's unclear), and the rampant slut-shaming that yet exists in our (as in USAmerican) society, has decided that the best way to cope with this situation after almost a decade . . . is to do the same thing to someone else.


Ummm . . .

Wait, what?


. . .

And not only is she going to do it to someone else (the Lurv Interest, of course), she's going to do it on the assumption that all of her shitty backstory is pretty much entirely his fault, despite having no actual evidence that this is the case.


Because there is clearly nothing wrong with this plan, like, at all.

(Also, seriously, these people talk about this crap like the internet is a mystery box and it is IMPOSSIBLE to know a) who put up a page and/or compromising photos and/or b) get them to take that business down. I mean, I'm not saying it's super simple, but given that Miranda might have been a minor - I can't remember if she was 17 or 18 back in the day and can't be bothered to check - and that there were no likeness rights or consent, blahblahblah . . . I mean, I'm just saying. There was more proactive behavior that could've been taken to get that shit taken down, and I'm not even close to as compu-savvy as some of my friends. I digress.)


Its workings are so mysterious!

Anyway, beyond being totally ok with being a serious life ruiner (Lurv Interest has business partners, so multiple lives are actually on the line), Miranda decides that she's gonna go off in the woods with a hot, hot man for the week and totally keep her composure. Yeah, ok hon, whatever helps you sleep at night. The hijinks ensue - well, not so much hijinks, because this is not a Jennifer Cruisie book, so let's go with shenanigans; the shenanigans ensue, as expected. Just when I thought I couldn't take it any more - I was this close to abandoning this book - Miranda decides to be less craycray. Shit works itself out eventually, as is its wont in romance novels, blahblahblah.


The little plastic castle is not a surprise every time.

But forget all that, because I will be honest, I read romance novels 25% for the HEA, and 75% for the sex. (70/30? 80/20? I dunno. More sex than not, is the point.)


I'm sorry, but this is the first time I've finally had a perfect excuse to use this .gif, and I am grabbing it with both hands.

What? Seriously, who are we kidding here? No one, that's who. And they have a lot of sex in this book! For reals, they are banging all over the forest like gamboling and horny woodland creatures.


Bow-chica-wahwah, etc.

And for the most part, those feisty kids made my little sex educator heart glad - they practiced safe sex, everyone got to get oral sex* on multiple occasions, the heroine had secondary anorgasmia** and they actually sort of talked about it, and they even used a sex toy in partnered sex. (Every time someone unabashedly uses a sex toy in a romance novel, an angel gets a kitten. True story.) Hell, the author even remembered the existence of big kid words (so no "members" or "mounds", thankfully), even if, inevitably, someone just had to be as "hard as iron." Romance writers the world over - metals are not the only hard surfaces! Discover new figures of speech!


First author to use, "He was as hard as life," gets my undying respect. And a cookie.

This sex did get a bit repetitive - it would have to, given how frequently it occurred - towards the end, but eh, whatevsies. I decided to give this book a three as opposed to a two based solely on the redemptive powers of not writing a boring sex scene, and you know what? I'm ok with that.

---
* I have found, in my extensive reading of semi-dirty to outright filthy books, that it's apparently fairly difficult to write a legitimately hot blow job scene. Clare/Myles does a fairly credible job, though I think the winner in this category thus far is probably Anne Calhoun, because hot damn.

** Secondary anorgasmia is the inability to orgasm when one has been able to previously, aka a seriously cruel twist of fate. For those playing along at home, primary anorgasmia is the inability to orgasm at all, while tertiary (or situational) anorgasmia is exactly what it sounds like, when someone can orgasm from certain kinds of stimulation or in certain situations, but not others. Anorgasmia is really common, especially for women, but generally ladies in romances are so busy being continuously multi-orgasmic for no apparent reason - oh HEY Anastasia Steele (still really hated that book) - that the topic doesn't come up much. So bravo.


For my money, the handiest meme on the Interwebs.

[Trishh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Liked it but had waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much sex scenes in it, like, I had to skip quite a few, and Im not one to complain, but at times it was more like reading hentai than reading a romance book. Way over the top, they went from one scene to another, and ???
the "romance" part was barely developed, it was more falling in lust than love. One character said "relationships are not based on sex" but that one was, it made sorta sense bc they were together in highschool, but that part was barely touched upon. How long had they been together? why did they like eachother? etc etc.
I liked the fact that they put cyberbulling in it, and touched upon revenge porn, but the outcome was very "soft", the dude that had her pictures just got punched in the nose, and thats it? in nine years, she did nothing to find the IP address of the moron that had the website? are you kidding me? and she went to college and all?, yeah nope.
Had promise, but failed to make it more interesting.