Oh Penny Reid, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways! You write books that are funny (actually hilarious at times), sexy and smart. At a time in my reading when I’m struggling to find something that makes feel more than just “meh”, “fine” or “good”, you continue to give me interesting and unique material to read. Thank goodness.
What I found so great about this book was the winning combination of contemporary romance and the addition of a pretty heavy suspense plot. Even with the suspense element, there was so much of this story that completely accessible to me as a mother and a spouse and I truly appreciated that.
As I began this book, I was in the tub, a place where I’m supposed to get some peace and quiet. Ha! Right?!! It’s as if I have magnets in my body, where I move, everyone in my house moves. Reading about Fiona’s struggles with being the numero uno parent all the time due to Greg’s traveling and the arguments they have that every couple has was comforting in a way. During my time reading in the tub, I listened to one of my girls try to convince my husband that she needed to bring home a frog from class during Spring Break and how kids can even keep them after they are done with them at school and can we keep one? Mind you, I have TWINS, so we are looking at hosting 2 more animals in my home. At the same time, the door to the bathroom might as well have been a revolving door because, you know, everyone needs to talk to MOM when she’s in the tub.
So, at one point, as I read and listened to the everyday hub bub of my family, this book felt that much more authentic to me. Because at the heart of this book is a very REAL issue that couples have to deal with- you have to be present mentally and physically in the relationship. Even with a relationship like Greg and Fiona’s, which has always been solid, it can only hold together so long before it starts to get cracks. Fiona begins to feel taken for granted by Greg, that she will always be there to clean up the messes he makes, to take care of all kinds of things when he is gone. And he is gone more than he is home.
She doesn’t want to feel that way but she’s had enough of single parenting and it seems that something needs to change in their family. Greg and Fiona love each other very deeply and we get little flashbacks of their relationship throughout the book, so there is a solid foundation. But what is the breaking point of a marriage?
In the midst of all of this, we get the whole Knitting gang and they are kind of Avenger like in that they all seem to have valuable skills that can be applied to the situation that Greg and Fiona have found themselves in and of course, hilarity ensues many times. At the time, I had not read books 1-3 so, I was not 100% familiar with the origin stories BUT I have since rectified that and I have read book 1 and am slowly catch up. It’s interesting, though, to go back to her first book and see the slight differences in her writing and storytelling.
Take one part contemporary romance, one part romantic suspense, add a healthy dose of Penny Reid magic and you have Happily Ever Ninja.
FYI- Greg and Fiona met in college AND you can read that novella for FREE!!
Ninja at First Sight
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“What are you doing?”
“What do you think I’m doing?” He unbuttoned his pants and unzipped them.
Perhaps it didn’t make any sense, but I didn’t want Greg to see me naked. Not when I was still furious with him. Not when he was angry with me. Even though we’d been together for eighteen years, married for fourteen, and made two children together, when we were arguing I didn’t like the vulnerability of bare skin.
“Oh, no. No, no, no.” I sat forward in the tub, hiding my nakedness. “We haven’t talked through everything yet. I’m angry with you, and I know you’re still upset with me.”
He shrugged. “Then we’ll have angry intercourse.”
“We’re not having intercourse.”
“Then I’ll give you angry cunnilingus.”
Damn him, but that made me laugh.
Greg’s eyebrows bounced once on his forehead and he grinned, his pants falling to the ground.
“I don’t want any of your angry oral sex, thank you very much.” I crossed my arms over my chest, endeavoring to keep my expression stern . . . and failing.
“Of course you do. Angry oral sex is the best kind of oral sex. And we are so rarely angry with each other. We should take advantage of this opportunity.” His thumbs hooked into his boxers with the intent of pulling them down.
“Do not take off your boxers.”
Greg didn’t remove his boxers, but he didn’t withdraw the threat of his thumbs either. “You know, I’ve heard it’s a good idea to fight while naked. I think I read that in a very important medical text book written by Albert Einstein’s cousin, Dr. Olga Einstein.”
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