Caroline Reynolds has a fantastic new apartment in San Francisco, a KitchenAid mixer, and no O (and we’re not talking Oprah here, folks). She has a flourishing design career, an office overlooking the bay, a killer zucchini bread recipe, and no O. She has Clive (the best cat ever), great friends, a great rack, and no O.
Adding insult to O-less, since her move, she has an oversexed neighbor with the loudest late-night wallbanging she’s ever heard. Each moan, spank, and–was that a meow?–punctuates the fact that not only is she losing sleep, she still has, yep, you guessed it, no O.
Enter Simon Parker. (No, really, Simon, please enter.) When the wallbanging threatens to literally bounce her out of bed, Caroline, clad in sexual frustration and a pink baby-doll nightie, confronts her heard-but-never-seen neighbor. Their late-night hallway encounter has, well, mixed results. Ahem. With walls this thin, the tension’s gonna be thick…
In her third novel, Alice Clayton returns to dish her trademark mix of silly and steamy. Banter, barbs, and strutting pussycats, plus the sexiest apple pie ever made, are dunked in a hot tub and set against the gorgeous San Francisco skyline in this hot and hilarious tale of exasperation at first sight.
Paperback, 300 pages
Published November 27th 2012 by Omnific Publishing
Where to Find Wallbanger:
*** 5 Stars***
As mentioned in the final The Sea of Tranquility post, I don't usually have the time to re-read books for pleasure during the school year due to all of the reading I do with my students. I've made a few exceptions and this book was one. I may even read it AGAIN for funsies this summer. Here's why:
1) Caroline Reynolds. This woman is fun and funny. She has the best job ever, with the best boss ever, a fantastic bunch of girlfriends, a hot new neighbor who drives her up the wall (teehee), and, of course, Clive. I fell in love with Caroline because she's not a helpless heroine. She's smart and independent and fairly content with her life (with the exception of her missing O), and does not come off as needy or annoying at all. Can I please be her? Please? Pretty please?
2) Simon Parker. Oh my effing god. Oh geez. Be still my rapidly beating heart. This guy. He's smooth. He's got a harem of women who don't seem to mind that he has a harem of women. He travels around the world as a photographer. He's funny and smart and kind. Oh and he's hot. He bangs Caroline's walls and he stole my heart. Since in my fantasy life I'm going to be Caroline, it's only natural that I have Simon too, right? I WANT SIMON.
3) Their story. I loved the build up to their first meeting. Her frustration, his seeming obliviousness. Her quest to find her O and her breaking point--in the hallway, in the pink nightie. And then, I loved their run in at the party. Oh and then the awkward hallway run ins, the ensuing friendship, the movie night, the food, the sexual tension, the disastrous hot tub incident, and then their trip to Spain. The magical trip to Spain. When I become Caroline and Simon falls in love with me, I want that trip to Spain, dammit. But, even better than the trip to Spain was what comes after. Sigh.
4) Clive. Alice Clayton, you did cats everywhere justice with Clive. Every description of that cat and his shenanigans? Exactly my experience with every cat, ever. I loved that cat.
5). The humor. I loved all of the quips, the banter, awkward situations and the general hilarity found on almost every page. The comedic timing was perfect. I was almost scared that I wouldn't find it as funny the second time I read it. Guess what? Still funny. I think I even woke up my husband a few times because of my late night giggling or bed-shaking whole body tremors of laughter.
If you haven't read Wallbanger, it's a must read. I'll also recommend her Redheaded series (and will be rereading those in anticipation of her Christmas Eve release of the third book in that series). I cannot, CANNOT wait to see what Alice Clayton's got coming next. I can honestly say that I'd pre-order, sight unseen, anything Alice Clayton publishes because that's how much I've come to love her books.
***5 Stars***
So I have to say Wallbanger is the only book I have recommended that made it to almost as many people in the office I work in as 50 Shades of Grey...and let me tell you EVERYONE read that. I think the men I work with really would like to kill all of us for gushing about imaginary people a lot of the time! I did have quite the embarrassing conversation recently because I had Wallbanger on my desk to lend to a co-worker with not only the doctor I work with but also the resident with us for the day. To say I was mortified was an understatement, but lucky for me they didn't give me too much crap, but made one of those "that's what the 20-something girls are into these days, huh?" comments. Again cue me blushing the color of a coca-cola can!
This too will be one I re-read and am so excited with the possible movie news.
1) Caroline. Alice Clayton hit a homerun with all of these characters, but especially Caroline. She was fun, confident, learning to love life with or without a man in it, and like you said Shel, that is much appreciated. I seriously almost fell off the couch laughing so hard reading the first night in her apartment when the picture falls off the wall and hits her head. And thank goodness the laughs did not stop there. She takes the loss of her 'O' really hard, and works really, really, really, really hard to get it back. Chaos ensues but she has a hilarious and fun team behind her along the way.
2) Simon. My oh my, Simon. This is how book boyfriends should be all the time. He's gorgeous, successful, confident, not a womanizer...well...that could be debatable, but he's not in the sense where he lies to women to get them home with him. His arrangement is bizarre to someone like me, but whatever works for him I guess. With his three women, we get to enjoy the hilarious nicknames that Caroline comes up with for them. Just! Epic! I fell in love him even more because of his developing friendship with her. Nooking is another favorite new term thanks to Alice Clayton. (Not dirty, geez get your minds out of the gutter! haha)
3) The story was fantastic. I didn't want it to end, and yes Wallbanger and Pink Nightie Girl and well all of the nicknames in general were hilarious. The tension building in this was also epic (new word of the week) and kudos to Alice again for making us not want to stop but also throw the book at the wall since they kept putting off the inevitable. I liked that it never tried too hard, and was funny, but had some serious moments too. Well rounded rom/coms are my kryptonite (unless I didn't properly use that word.)
4) Who knew really that Clive the Cat would end up as one of the most enjoyable and memorable characters. His love for Purina, while unrequited, was hilarious and I will remember it forever! hehe.
5) The humor. I don't think we've said enough how funny Wallbanger is. It is one of the funniest books I have ever read, and trust me those are a lot harder to come by than one would think. It wasn't forced or obnoxious, so I had a really good time reading it. When my husband tells his friends on x-box live "Oh ignore Court, she's just reading perverted books again." at my giggling, we know I have a problem.
So yes, my advice is buy this book! Let's help bring it to the big screen. And Shel, thanks for the reminder that I need (but have til December!) to read the Redhead series!
