Scandalized by Ivy Owens

Scandalized by Ivy Owens

Published by Pocket Books ISBN 9781982199852

Mass market paperback, $9.99, 320 pages

If the hot summer days haven't got you steamed up enough, Ivy Owens debut romance Scandalized will.

Gigi is an investigative journalist with the foreign desk for the Los Angeles Times. She's about to break a big story about powerful and wealthy men who are using a London nightclub to sexually abuse women.

When her flight back to LA gets cancelled, she runs into the brother of her childhood friend at the airport, someone she hasn't seen in fourteen years. Alec offers for her to stay in his hotel suite and promises to be a perfect gentleman.

Gigi is reluctant at first, but the thought of spending the night on the airport floor holds no appeal. Gigi and Alec talk over old times and they find themselves undeniably physically attracted to each other. What's a hot one-night stand between old friends?

The one night stand turns into more when they return to Los Angeles. Gigi figures out that Alec is famous which complicates and adds a thrill to their burgeoning relationship. As Gigi's big story is about to go live, Alex tells her that he has information that will break her story wide open. 

This is where things get complicated.  Gigi's integrity will be challenged if it comes to light that she is sleeping with a source (as it should be). Her dream of being a serious journalist doing the big stories will be gone, yet she finds herself falling in love with Alec.

Gigi's decision has consequences for not only her, but also for Alec and her own newspaper. Does she make the right decision? 

That storyline doesn't really come into play until the last third of the book. The first two thirds of the story is all about Gigi and Alec's relationship, and the many sex scenes are explicit. If that is not something you enjoy, you may not want to read this one. However, if you enjoy reading that, you will be pleased (and hot and bothered!). 

One thing that rang true for me was the scene at the airport when the flight was delayed. As someone who travels frequently, I related to this:

"Near the gate, the flight attendants have carefully avoided stepping behind the podium. If they so much as hover nearby, an irritated line forms."

I can't tell you how many times I have seen that happen.  

Thanks to Gallery Books for putting me on Ivy Owens' tour.

Friday 5ive- December 18, 2020

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly blog post featuring five things that caught my attention this week. Can you believe it's only one week until Christmas? I hope you have your shopping nearly done (and your gifts have been delivered).

1)  On Saturday night we watched the magnificient Andrea Bocelli live in concert at the Teatro di Parma in Italy. The concert was streamed for one night only, and he sang some of our favorites- Amazing Grace and You'll Never Walk Alone. One of the highlights was him singing Hallelujah with his young granddaughter Virginia. This is a link to YouTube with that performance.

2)  I took a walk through midtown to see some of the holiday displays. It was strange to see so few people on Fifth Avenue, and there was no one at the Rockefeller Plaza Christmas tree. These are some of my favorite sights from that day.

The Rockefeller Plaza tree

 

The Roosevelt Tram in Saks windows

A food truck display in Saks windows

A bejeweled ballerina in Bloomingdales windows

3)  My husband bid on and won a virtual wine tasting with a sommelier at a charity auction, and we participated in it last night with some friends and fellow wine lovers. We tasted three Barolos from the Piemont region of northern Italy. The sommelier Maria gave us an interesting overview on the region and history of Barolo wine and winemakers. It was a fun and informative evening, and we are planning another virtual wine tasting in the near future. If you enjoy wines, I would recommend a virtual wine tasting from your favorite winery.

4)  Netflix is running a new movie every Friday in December, and I watched The Prom. It was originally a celebrated Broadway show, about a group of Broadway performers who travel to Indiana after their show flops to help Emma, a young woman who wants to go to prom with her girlfriend in a place where that is not welcomed by the community. Meryl Streep, James Corden, Nicole Kidman, Keegan Michael-Key, Andrew Rannells and newcomer Jo-Ellen Pellman star (she is marvelous as Emma). It's a wonderful movie that will fill your heart with joy (and will make you tear up more than once). The music is great, and it made me wish I had seen the Broadway production, which I heard was amazing. 

5) I managed to finish one book and I'm halfway through another this week. Shuggie Bain is Scottish writer Douglas Stuart's debut novel, about a young boy who lives with alcoholic mother after his father abandons the family. It's a heartbreaking story of how poverty, alcoholism and mental illness beat down on this family, how people are cruel to anyone different from them, and it's based in part on Stuart's life. It's brilliantly written, and Stuart won the prestigious Booker Prize for his first novel, along with ending up on just about every critic's Best of 2020 list. 

I'm in the middle of another book that critics loved, White Ivy, the debut novel by Susie Yang. Ivy is the daughter of Chinese immigrants who move to this country for a better life, although things don't always go their way. Ivy's mom pushes her to study hard, her grandmother teaches her to shoplift. Ivy has eyes for Gideon, the scion of a wealthy Boston family, and pursues him as her way to achieve the American dream, no matter what. One of my favorite bookish friends loved this book, and I can see why. Ivy is a riveting  character. 

I hope you are stay safe, socially distant, wash your hands and wear a mask. And Merry Christmas to all!