Blog Tour and Review: Rusty Nailed (Cocktail #2) by Alice Clayton

 

Playing house was never so much fun—or so confusing. With her boss on her honeymoon, Caroline’s working crazy long hours to keep the interior design company running—especially since she’s also the lead designer for the renovation of a gorgeous old hotel on Sausalito. So with her hotshot photographer boyfriend gallivanting all over the world for his job, she and Simon are heavy-duty into “absence makes the heart grow fonder” mode. Neither has any complaints about the great reunion sex, though! Then Simon decides he’s tired of so much traveling, and he’s suddenly home more. A lot more. And wanting Caroline home more, too. Though their friends’ romantic lives provide plenty of welcome distraction, eventually Caroline and Simon have to sort their relationship out. Neither wants “out of sight, out of mind,” but can they create their own happy mid-ground cliché?

 

 

                   

                   

I took a moment to admire Simon, sawing logs in lumberjack land. Dark messy hair, made messy by my own hands, fell across his brow. Strong nose, killer cheekbones, a few days' worth of sinful scruff and full lips that had chanted my name several times just before he ... Mmmm.

Rusty Nailed is the second book in the Cocktail series by Alice Clayton and it was just as funny and entertaining as the first book, Wallbanger. Like Wallbanger, Rusty Nailed is told by the POV of Caroline and it revolves around her relationship with Simon. I was quite surprised that it wasn't a book featuring a different couple, but it still has all of the characters from book one. The title really didn't make sense to me until almost 70% in. When I saw the title, I thought that this book was going to feature someone named Rusty LOL.

Not all men can handle the P-word. And boy, is that a mouthful. Ahem. Some say it all the time, some use it in common conversation. But good P-word is all about placement: when to say it, where to say it. Dirty talk is an art. Do it too often, it becomes routine. Never do it, and you're missing something. Simon did it just right. He was like a perfect bowl of smutty porridge: just right.

It starts off pretty much where Wallbanger left off and we get to see into Caroline and Simon's relationship after they are already in love. They are a new couple and are still trying to figure things out. What works and what doesn't. What he needs and what she needs. The tables turn on them a bit as Caroline begins taking on more responsibility at work causing a bit of a time crunch.

When you were in a long-distance relationship, of course you made the most of the time you were together. But sometimes, it was the unexpected that really made the difference. The unexpected emotions you were hit with when you saw that face, looked into those eyes, felt those lips. The unexpected reminder of why you fell in love with this person could hit you so powerfully. And this was that time.

Clive the cat is still around and funny as ever. If I had a cat, I would want him to be just like Clive! I love him and Caroline's accompanying commentary. I just love how she reads him.

If you enjoyed Wallbanger, I believe that you will enjoy Rusty Nailed since it is a continuation of the original storyline just without all of the off-the-charts sexual tension and angst. I am not saying that there isn't a lot of sex because there is but it is just the right amount. I will be looking forward to the next book to see what happens next with Caroline and Simon, Mimi and Ryan, and Sophia and Neil.   

 

 

 

The first night after Caroline moves into her fantastic new San Francisco apartment, she realizes she's gaining an intimate knowledge of her new neighbor's nocturnal adventures. Thanks to paper-thin walls and the guy's athletic prowess, she can hear not just his bed banging against the wall but the ecstatic response of what seems (as loud night after loud night goes by) like an endless parade of women. And since Caroline is currently on a self-imposed dating hiatus, and her neighbor is clearly lethally attractive to women, she finds her fantasies keep her awake even longer than the noise. So when the wallbanging threatens to literally bounce her out of bed, Caroline, clad in sexual frustration and a pink baby-doll nightie, confronts Simon Parker, her heard-but-never-seen neighbor. The tension between them is as thick as the walls are thin, and the results just as mixed. Suddenly, Caroline is finding she may have discovered a whole new definition of neighborly...

In a delicious mix of silly and steamy, Alice Clayton dishes out a hot and hilarious tale of exasperation at first sight...

  

 

                  

               

 

 

  ... knowing we’d set some boundaries for the evening, silly as it may be, made it so much more sensual, something to be truly savored.

I'm so glad that I read this book! Truly amazingly written and so witty and funny and charming! I loved all of the banter between Caroline and Simon, and Caroline and her friends. I wish that I could be that quick! Caroline moved into a new apartment and shares a bedroom wall with Simon. Unfortunately the building has very thin walls and Caroline can hear almost everything going on in the bedroom next door. 

Simon travels a lot being a world photographer, but when he is home he gets late night visits from some of his lady friends and Caroline can hear everything. After one too many nights of her not getting any sleep because of all of the loud sex and the literal banging on the shared wall, Caroline has had enough! Caroline and Simon finally  meet when she begins banging on his door (in a cute little pink nighty) to tell him to cool it with the literal banging and the loud sex noises! Needless to say that did not go over very well for either of them.

They cross paths again when they find themselves at a party hosted by very close mutual friends. As their lives start to mingle together, they are drawn to each other. 

With no shame or sense of social propriety, I closed the distance between us and kissed him, hard. He grinned in surprise, but kissed me back with equal intensity. The sweetness and tenderness that had been marinating between us all week now quickly deteriorated into full-on touch-me-touch-me-now, and I was all for it. My entire body turned toward him, my legs nestling in between his as his fingers found my skin—the skin just above the hem of my dress. We were kissing, kissing all-out Hollywood style. Slow, sloppy, wet, and wonderful. My head tilted so I could kiss him more deeply, my tongue sliding against his, leading and then letting him lead. He tasted like sweet and salt and lemons, and it was all I could do not to grab him by his pretty linen shirt and have my way with him on top of the bar—but in a very ladylike way, mind you.

There were a lot of LOL moments in Wallbanger. The whole story just kept getting better and better and it was very hard to put down. I have Rusty Nailed on my Kindle waiting for me to dig into, so I am going to get at it!