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Mating Game
The author of Hot Mail pens an erotic scorcher that will keep readers in the throes of passion-and on the edge of their seats.
Nola Grainger needs a man...and fast. Her grandmother has left her everything in her will, with one small Nola has to be married within a month. But if she's going to get married, she wants it to last. And for her, that means finding a man with as much passion as she has-who can take care of every desire, every day.
Nola finds three prime her high school sweetheart Billy, hard-dealing businessman Marc, and sexy handyman Tanner. Trying out three very different-and very desirable-men proves to be more fun than Nola imagined. But she never thought it might prove fatal.
Because someone in town is dead set against Nola sticking around. And with three new men in her bed, the danger might be closer than she thinks...
Nola Grainger needs a man...and fast. Her grandmother has left her everything in her will, with one small Nola has to be married within a month. But if she's going to get married, she wants it to last. And for her, that means finding a man with as much passion as she has-who can take care of every desire, every day.
Nola finds three prime her high school sweetheart Billy, hard-dealing businessman Marc, and sexy handyman Tanner. Trying out three very different-and very desirable-men proves to be more fun than Nola imagined. But she never thought it might prove fatal.
Because someone in town is dead set against Nola sticking around. And with three new men in her bed, the danger might be closer than she thinks...
304 pages, Paperback
First published May 5, 2009
69 people want to read
About the author
Janice Maynard
542 books431 followersJanice Maynard came to the writing life early! When her third grade short story, “The Princess and the Robbers”, won a red ribbon in a school arts fair, Janice was hooked. She followed up that early success with a more commercial piece in the sixth grade… “Why My Mom Loves To Drink Coke”. No advance for that one, but she won a six-pack of Coke… remember those great little bottles?
In junior high Janice began circulating her work to a wider audience. A dozen or so notebook pages stapled together made the rounds in some particularly boring classes, with the riveting tales carefully hidden behind textbooks.
High school meant the big time… editor of the school newspaper, the Maroon and White. Janice used her insightful editorials to delve into such meaty subjects as “locker room odor” and “why we need two-ply tissue in the student bathrooms”.
College brought lots of writing, but very little of it creative… four years later, Janice stepped into the adult world as a fully certified elementary teacher.
Despite motherhood, full-time employment, and keeping up with an “always into something” husband, Janice never lost her love of writing or the desire to be published. In 1996 she realized her long-time dream when Kensington Publishing bought her first book, Sweetheart. That exciting moment was followed by the sales of two more books in the Precious Gem line.
In the fall of 2002, Janice left the classroom to pursue writing full-time.
In junior high Janice began circulating her work to a wider audience. A dozen or so notebook pages stapled together made the rounds in some particularly boring classes, with the riveting tales carefully hidden behind textbooks.
High school meant the big time… editor of the school newspaper, the Maroon and White. Janice used her insightful editorials to delve into such meaty subjects as “locker room odor” and “why we need two-ply tissue in the student bathrooms”.
College brought lots of writing, but very little of it creative… four years later, Janice stepped into the adult world as a fully certified elementary teacher.
Despite motherhood, full-time employment, and keeping up with an “always into something” husband, Janice never lost her love of writing or the desire to be published. In 1996 she realized her long-time dream when Kensington Publishing bought her first book, Sweetheart. That exciting moment was followed by the sales of two more books in the Precious Gem line.
In the fall of 2002, Janice left the classroom to pursue writing full-time.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 10, 2009
This book is “different”. It starts with the ole must-marry-because-of-the-terms-of-the-will trope. The heroine has one month to get married and she contemplates three different men as life partners: her current lover whom she has a superficial relationship with, her high school BF whom she has unresolved feelings for, and a handyman whom she finds fixing her dead grandma’s house. Because sex is so important in a marriage, she boinks all three men throughout the course of the book.
She’s Gotta Have It has always been my favorite Spike Lee joint. For those unfamiliar w/ the movie, it’s about a woman who openly dates and have sex with three seperate men. Because of my affection for the movie and anything “different”, I was pretty sure that I wouldnt have a problem with the heroine’s owning her sexuality. And, for the most part, I didnt. I did raise my eyebrow a bit at the heroine sleeping with a different man every single day and often within hours from each encounter. Does anyone need or can manage THAT much sex during such a stressful time which includes working under a tight deadline and avoid getting killed?
No, it’s not the heroine’s sex drive that I have a problem with. My problem is with the fact that the she is one of the most TSTL heroines I have read in quite a while. There is a subplot of someone trying to either gaslight or kill the braindead b!tch and the way the heroine blithely ignored the threat to her life and practically runs from one near-fatal incident to another made me want to tear out my hair. She was literally driven to the hospital every single day for a new injury – carbon monoxide poisoning, car accident, food poisoning, shooting. A normal person would stay at the hospital with a bodyguard posted or get the hell out of Dodge but noooooo. I couldnt deal with such imbecility. When she made it easy for the villain to catch her and he throws her down the well, I wanted to cheer.
As for the Three Stooges that she chooses from, for the sake of suspense plot, all of them were variously shady. None of them were written with any depth and thus were unappealing as a result. Any connection or character development consisted of just one (boring!) sex scene after another.
I really wanted to like this book but the only way the story could have been improved with such a braindead heroine was if she had died at the end.
Sensuality: NC-17 to X
Grade: D+
She’s Gotta Have It has always been my favorite Spike Lee joint. For those unfamiliar w/ the movie, it’s about a woman who openly dates and have sex with three seperate men. Because of my affection for the movie and anything “different”, I was pretty sure that I wouldnt have a problem with the heroine’s owning her sexuality. And, for the most part, I didnt. I did raise my eyebrow a bit at the heroine sleeping with a different man every single day and often within hours from each encounter. Does anyone need or can manage THAT much sex during such a stressful time which includes working under a tight deadline and avoid getting killed?
No, it’s not the heroine’s sex drive that I have a problem with. My problem is with the fact that the she is one of the most TSTL heroines I have read in quite a while. There is a subplot of someone trying to either gaslight or kill the braindead b!tch and the way the heroine blithely ignored the threat to her life and practically runs from one near-fatal incident to another made me want to tear out my hair. She was literally driven to the hospital every single day for a new injury – carbon monoxide poisoning, car accident, food poisoning, shooting. A normal person would stay at the hospital with a bodyguard posted or get the hell out of Dodge but noooooo. I couldnt deal with such imbecility. When she made it easy for the villain to catch her and he throws her down the well, I wanted to cheer.
As for the Three Stooges that she chooses from, for the sake of suspense plot, all of them were variously shady. None of them were written with any depth and thus were unappealing as a result. Any connection or character development consisted of just one (boring!) sex scene after another.
I really wanted to like this book but the only way the story could have been improved with such a braindead heroine was if she had died at the end.
Sensuality: NC-17 to X
Grade: D+
June 30, 2010
Nola has just found out she needs to find a husband in 30 days in order to inherit from her grandmothers will.
She has 3 men on her list her current wealthy dominating boyfriend, her grandmothers former handy man and her old high school sweetheart.
Nola sets herself up to sample them all. While I don't typically have a problem with woman who are comfortable with their sexuality and have no problems with crazy erotic sex even threesomes with consenting partners I do for some reason find fault in a woman who sleeps with one man and in the next few hours hops into bed with another. For cripes sakes couldn't he smell the other man on her!!!!! Eeeewwwwww factor big time!!!!
In addition there is a subplot that someone is trying to kill Nola. Who could it be?? Of course we are led to believe it could be any of her current husband potentials.
In the end I found Nola annoying and just wanted to finish the book. I didn't really like any of her choices but if I had to pick it would not have been the one she ended up with.
This is more like a 2.5 for me but I gave it the 3 for the fact that I did like the beginning of the book.
She has 3 men on her list her current wealthy dominating boyfriend, her grandmothers former handy man and her old high school sweetheart.
Nola sets herself up to sample them all. While I don't typically have a problem with woman who are comfortable with their sexuality and have no problems with crazy erotic sex even threesomes with consenting partners I do for some reason find fault in a woman who sleeps with one man and in the next few hours hops into bed with another. For cripes sakes couldn't he smell the other man on her!!!!! Eeeewwwwww factor big time!!!!
In addition there is a subplot that someone is trying to kill Nola. Who could it be?? Of course we are led to believe it could be any of her current husband potentials.
In the end I found Nola annoying and just wanted to finish the book. I didn't really like any of her choices but if I had to pick it would not have been the one she ended up with.
This is more like a 2.5 for me but I gave it the 3 for the fact that I did like the beginning of the book.
July 4, 2018
I give it a 4 because it was so silly/stupid. It amused me. I don't think that was the intention.
August 18, 2019
What a cute story,even with all the twists and turns. Loved it.
May 18, 2012
Mating Game by Janice Maynard
The characters within this book well developed. They each had enough back ground support to make the story longer and worth it to keep reading. I believe that the characters were true due to the fact that they seem like people we hear about today, city and country.
I did not like her writing style at all. She was too pushy with the topic. I felt like she just wanted to hurry with this book or didn’t take the time to look it over and look at the view of others. One thing that bothered me the most is how she put too much sexual content in this book. A little is okay at times but too much pushes the reader away, like it did to me. We don’t need that much detail in a story plot like this. I did get the feeling that she was trying too hard, either that or it’s just how she writes. The only way for me to find that out is to read another book of hers.
The Main plot in this book was realistic; you might see it happen now. In the beginning it had too much of a jump. The plot didn’t really have me guessing you could pretty much figure out what happened. There was only one kind of big twist that got me. But she should of put more is so that it didn’t get boring for the reader. It was to slow of a pace for me. She did too much explaining in steading of getting to the point, which I didn’t mind but after a while it was boring.
I would say overall this book was decent. Not sure if I would read it again. It wasn’t one of my favorite books that I have read but it wasn’t bad. I wouldn’t recommend this book to people who hate slow pace or sexual content in their books. I would say that this book is more for adults that teens.
The characters within this book well developed. They each had enough back ground support to make the story longer and worth it to keep reading. I believe that the characters were true due to the fact that they seem like people we hear about today, city and country.
I did not like her writing style at all. She was too pushy with the topic. I felt like she just wanted to hurry with this book or didn’t take the time to look it over and look at the view of others. One thing that bothered me the most is how she put too much sexual content in this book. A little is okay at times but too much pushes the reader away, like it did to me. We don’t need that much detail in a story plot like this. I did get the feeling that she was trying too hard, either that or it’s just how she writes. The only way for me to find that out is to read another book of hers.
The Main plot in this book was realistic; you might see it happen now. In the beginning it had too much of a jump. The plot didn’t really have me guessing you could pretty much figure out what happened. There was only one kind of big twist that got me. But she should of put more is so that it didn’t get boring for the reader. It was to slow of a pace for me. She did too much explaining in steading of getting to the point, which I didn’t mind but after a while it was boring.
I would say overall this book was decent. Not sure if I would read it again. It wasn’t one of my favorite books that I have read but it wasn’t bad. I wouldn’t recommend this book to people who hate slow pace or sexual content in their books. I would say that this book is more for adults that teens.
September 15, 2012
Wow! Unrealistic from start to finish!! First thestupid marriage clause and the heroine claiming that she would "never marry to get the money and then divorce " - honey, for $60million, you bet your sweet ass i'd marry and divorce , as would everyone else! Then- what's with Billy's attitude the whole time?! He behaves like a stupid sullen teenager! He is the one who took the cheque from grandmother and dumped Nola-refusing to check the whole story with her and answer her letters-why is he the one pissed 20 yrs later?!?
The most annoying and unrealistic part is that the heroine screws around with three different guys, often in the same day, and these guys kind of know about each other and dont mind-they dont even think she's a total slut jumping from one...bed, to another! And she has the sex drive of an energizer bunny - after surviving (barely) the numerous attacks, all broken, bruised, and bleeding, all she thinks about is sex with one of the guys! And has sex 5-6 times a day! Realistic...very....
Also, considering how much sex scenes there were- they were surprisingly boring and the descriptions werent very "arousing"...
May 21, 2014
This had a pretty good idea but just didn't do it for me.
Nola has to be wed within a month in order to keep the family home, clearly grandma would not go quietly.
Her options are rich boy Marc, who apparently knows Nola very well. First love Billy, who surprise surprise, kinda hates her, and the wildcard handyman Tanner.
Let me just say that I didn't expect Nola to be passed around like a plate of potatoes during dinner. I think this is where this lost me.
I'm all for females getting theirs, but this back and forth teasing and screwing was gross, especially because of the way Nola's thoughts were written beforehand.
"Oh I really like him, but let me bend over for this one" huh?! A shame her chosen wasn't alerted to all the sharing.
I laughed to hard at the constant darkness. I just didn't care anymore.
Didn't like any of these characters and the writing lacked to me, BUT sex scenes were hot so point there.
Nola has to be wed within a month in order to keep the family home, clearly grandma would not go quietly.
Her options are rich boy Marc, who apparently knows Nola very well. First love Billy, who surprise surprise, kinda hates her, and the wildcard handyman Tanner.
Let me just say that I didn't expect Nola to be passed around like a plate of potatoes during dinner. I think this is where this lost me.
I'm all for females getting theirs, but this back and forth teasing and screwing was gross, especially because of the way Nola's thoughts were written beforehand.
"Oh I really like him, but let me bend over for this one" huh?! A shame her chosen wasn't alerted to all the sharing.
I laughed to hard at the constant darkness. I just didn't care anymore.
Didn't like any of these characters and the writing lacked to me, BUT sex scenes were hot so point there.
July 10, 2015
Time for me to start reading my PHYSICAL books I have/own lol. Before starting this book I knew I would like it a lot and well no surprise when I say that I LOVED this book. This is my first time reading a book by Janice and it sure won't be the last. My review may not help more people want to read this book but I can say I enjoyed this book so much that I would love to re-read it again in the near future. Thank you for writing such a wonderful book Janice.
September 1, 2010
Um, ok, the heroine was annoying, and the writing is not so good; however, if you love steamy, raunchy sex scenes in your books, this one is for you. It had no less than a dozen of them, and some were hot.
As for me, I won't be picking anymore of this author's books up. I prefer snuggling up with my gothic suspense/romance novels or a good horror novel any day. ;)
As for me, I won't be picking anymore of this author's books up. I prefer snuggling up with my gothic suspense/romance novels or a good horror novel any day. ;)
July 21, 2009
OMG! This book was SO GOOD!!!! I couldn't get enough :)
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews