Janice by Marie Sterbenz

Janice (novella)

A free installment

Marie Sterbenz

Contemporary Romance/Erotica

Published in 2011

H/h - Matt Barton/Janice Dent

Setting: Present time.

Read in Dec, 2011.

My rating:

                                                       [spoiler alert]

Having read Beauty Touched the Beast (my review is posted here) last night, I was again in the mood for a scarred main character. I remember downloading this free story by Marie Sterbenz where the heroine was scarred, so I thought of giving it a try. I didn’t think it was bad but some things in the beginning of the story spoiled my enjoyment quite a bit.

Janice has scars on her face from a childhood accident, for which she’d been ignored by men most of her life. She never went on a date and is still a virgin at 25. After hearing two women of her office talk about dildos and vibrators, she decides to order some and use them to pop her cherry herself. And she did just that. I understood her physical needs and all that but I didn’t like the process. I didn’t like how obsessed she was with her two dildos (giving those names and stuff, get a life!) that at one point I was asking myself, ‘wasn’t there supposed to be a hero too or have I got it wrong?’ The blurb, however short it was, did say something about a man. *snorts* Anyway, soon the guy turns up as a neighbor whom she was yet to met. After their meeting, Matt invited her to dinner at his place. Janice was totally speechless having this handsome man asking her for dinner and of course, she agrees. Matt also has scars on his back, again, from a childhood accident and meeting Janice had been nice for him. He wants her and hearing her moans through the thin walls of his apartments (err, yes, she was a screamer on dildos) have certainly got him curious. If all goes well, he’d give a go at ‘it’ tonight.

Hmm, well, sex was ok. I liked that they bonded immediately and how nice Matt was to her because Janice was a bit shy and reserved. However, on the emotional level, it doesn’t really compare with Beauty Touched the Beast. In the end, there was mention of more sex in the future but I wasn’t sure if there would be anything solid beyond it. The author failed to convince me of that.

Anyway, 3 stars.

“Janice” is a free installment of about 16/17 pages and can be downloaded from smashwords.