Book Review: Blow Me Down - by Katie MacAlister

Synopsis: Blow Me Down is the first novel I have read by Katie MacAlister. It's about a single mama (hooray for mamas in romance!) whose teenage daughter, in an effort to get her wound-up mother to have a little fun for once, cons her into beta testing a new virtual reality computer game set in a world of pirates. Amy (that's the mama) actually finds herself enjoying the game, especially when she's matching wits and crossing swords with rival pirate (and game designer) Black Corbin. However, things take a bit of a nasty turn when she discovers that she and Corbin have been trapped inside the game by one of Corbin's former business partners bent on destroying him.

I don't usually read much contemporary romance, but this one had two things I just couldn't resist: pirates and computer gaming. Alone, those 2 things are great, but together... well, it just doesn't get much better than that. I liked the book as a whole pretty well. Corbin is a charming hero, and it was touching to see the way the author handled the physical attraction between the two main characters. Corbin is not the typical muscle-laden bronzed sungod/warrior type you see in so many romances. And MacAlister goes out of her way to explain that her heroine really prefers him just as he is in real life, not as he assumes she would like him to be.

The heroine had me pretty cracked up the entire time, although I could have probably done with a little less humor in the love scenes (I like them steamy, not so silly). Their interaction is crisp and entertaining throughout. At one point, the hero and heroine end up on opposite sides of the conflict, and I liked that Amy stayed true to her word and herself, not letting her personal relationship with Corbin sway her from her own code of honor. I also liked that he respected her for that.

Now I have to go rummage out my copy of Sid Meier's Pirates! and load it up.....

This one came in at 4 stars in my LibraryThing catalog