Every Saturday night, best friends and neighbors Zada, Jen, Tish, and Alicia heat up their quaint little cul-de-sac with the infamous Housewives Fantasy Club. Everyone has a secret fantasy to share. Some have better ones to hide.
Imagine! Retired baseball star Jake "The Rake" Sims living here--in the flesh! Well, he won't find Alicia Greene an easy conquest (she does not do bad boys). So what if his chiseled pecs and grand slam physique--displayed nightly in sexy underwear commercials--once made him her "most valuable" fantasy lover. His wild lifestyle squelched that dream. Now Jake swears he's reformed, Alicia's not buying it, and their matchmaking neighbors are doing their best to foil the couple's "good" intentions. They may be on to something. After one fabulous dinner, Jake takes Alicia in his arms and discovers how forbidden passion--more tempting and sweeter than dessert--can fulfill all her secret fantasies.
Unfortunately, I didn't find out until after I finished that Dinner First, Me Later? is the sequel to Your Bed Or Mine? Fortunately, I don't think it matters! I didn't feel like I was missing any pieces by not reading Your Bed Or Mine? first.
The story is highly entertaining. I expected a steamed up and sexy love story, which I got, but I got more than that. The two lovebirds are Alicia and Jake, who are at odds when the story begins. But we quickly discover that they are deadset against liking each other because of their mutual and very strong attraction.
Jake is pretty new to the neighborhood and his teenage daughter comes to live with him after having lived her whole life with her horrible grandmother. Having not been in his daughter Dani's life regularly, their relationship is a huge struggle at first. I really like the relationship that develops between Dani and Alicia. It was nice to have more depth to the story than just "hot guy moves in and falls for hot girl, they have sex and fall madly in love. The End"
Admittedly, I only purchased this book for two reasons- the cover and the title. I mean granted- Dinner First, Me Later, obviously sounds like a bad porno from the 80’s, and the cover screams erotica, but honestly when have these things ever been a bad thing?
Dinner first, me later is Book # 2 in the “Housewives Fantasy Club” series but I really didn’t feel like I missed out anything major as Dinner First was extremely enjoyable.
Alicia and Jake gave me the fundamentals of a good romance- cute introductory meeting, hot steaming connections with a taking it slow vibe and meddling but good intended neighbors. There was an unexpected depth to this novel which surprised and delighted me. Yes Jake is famous as a retired baseball star but I was ecstatic to see other dimensions to him- struggling to focus on his newfound relationship with a teenage daughter, gaining new perspectives on the female gender and coming to terms with his disastrous relationship with his ex wife.
Candy Halliday gave me “elevated smut” and for that I am eternally grateful. She penned an amazing cast of characters that I can easily see being made into a Netflix romance. From the teenage angst of Danielle, to the mean ole grumpy grandmother and the gossipy best friends crew. Her writing was precise , charming and “laugh out loud.”
I highly recommend this novel to those who enjoy single dad find love, teenage drama, best friends supporting each other and a relatable female lead.
After reading "Your Bed or Mine," I just had to read the next book in the housewives fantasy club series "Dinner first,me later." This book focuses on another resident of the Woodberry Park suburb, Alicia Greene.
In "Dinner first,me later," Alicia Greene is a successful relator who is enjoying her thriving business and her friends Zada,Jen, and Tish. All of that changes the day Jake Sims moves into the neighborhood. Jake Sims is a retired baseball player/underwear model who has moved to Woodberry Park in hopes to create a new life and home for him and his estranged teen daughter Danielle. Alicia, unknown to Jake, had a teen crush had a crush on Jake which she buried after a awful appearance in a Barbara Walters interview. Unfortunately for Jake, not only does her have to convince Danielle that he's a good guy,he's going to have to convince Alicia too.
Throughout the book, Halliday creates a story with a lot of heart and depth as well as a lot of passion. I sympathized with Jake as his heart broke after being abandoned by his wife.I also enjoyed the reading the interactions between Alicia and Danielle. The way Danielle behaved reminded me of friends I've know who drastically changed their appearance to get attention.
The scenes of passion between Jake and Alicia are both well written as well as hot. I personally liked the way Halliday described the scene down to the smallest detail;this helped me get more involved in the story.
I also liked that Halliday gives a "quick & dirty" summary of "Your Bed or Mine" for those who may not have read the book yet. Halliday also does a great job in giving each character a back story and life,even if the character is in the story for a brief time. Overall,this book was a great read and I'm looking forward to more Housewives Fantasy Club books in the future.
At first I wasn't sure I was going to get into this book, by the time I got to chapter two I was. It was cute, funny, and the scenes between Jake and Alicia were great.
I received Dinner First, Me Later as an ARC from Grand Central Publishing via Netgalley. Thank you for the opportunity.
I did not know this was second in a series and have not read the first book. But will be picking it up soon. This story continues with the Housewives Fantasy Club but focuses on Alicia and the newest neighbor of the cul-de-sac, Jake Sims. Jake Sims just happens to be a retired baseball player, and current underwear model, who is getting custody of his teenage daughter for the first time. Jake also happens to be Alicia's fantasy pick and she lives across the street from him. He is trying to be the best parent possible while trying to not fall in love with Alicia. Alicia is trying to prove he is just another bad boy that she has no business being with.
I enjoyed everything about this book. I loved Jake and Alicia as neighbors and as a couple. I thought that the parent stuff Jake was dealing with was spot on and how Alicia dealt with his daughter was perfect. The grandmother was the only cringeworthy part of the book for me. My she was quite a piece of work and I felt bad every time she had a scene. Great writing and such a fun heartwarming love story.
I have a soft spot on stories about single father. So this one surely got my attention from the beginning. I thought the story was sweet; I loved reading about the way Jake and his daughter, Dani, tried to reconnect. Add an innovative fantasy phone sex scenes between Jake and Alicia (that I have really never encounter in any other romance book I have read) - this book is totally enjoyable.
OMG!!! Totally hot! Finished it in a few hours, even though I had to read during a light focus. Didn't even care that people saw me reading it. It rocks!