Review: No Dress Required by Cari Quinn

No Dress Required by Cari Quinn

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I needed a quick, light read to get me to sleep, and that's exactly what I got in No Dress Required. Not that it bored me to sleep, but it got my mind off the book I didn't like and the book that messed with my head I'd just finished earlier that day. This was a sweet, quick, sexy read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Noelle is in lust with her best friend's older brother, Jake. Jake is attracted to Noelle, who he's always called Nellie, but resists because he's known her forever, and his sister would be furious. Noelle is determined to grab Jake's attention with an eye-catching dress at her friend's party, but then an incoming snowstorm, a weather delay at the airport, and a carjacking all throw her plans to the wind. When Jake challenges her to reveal the truth about her feelings, they're tossed together, and Noelle makes the most of it.

I picked this up for my Kindle because my friend, who's in my writing group and is friends with the author, assured me there was no alpha male, a common romance trope that I avoid. This is friends-to-lovers, and Jake, while self-assured and handsome, is also kind and has a healthy dose of humility. His wonderful girlfriend of five years left him to become a nun, and his ego is still recovering.

The story is funny, though not laugh-out-loud. Noelle has her idiosyncrasies, and not everything lines up perfectly between this pair. They laugh about it together, though, creating a warmth underneath the sexual tension that says a lot about their potential longevity.

I understand this book isn't the best representation of Cari Quinn's work. Her other books are naughtier, and skimming over the descriptions confirms what I've been told. This is the first Cari Quinn book I've read, but it certainly won't be the last. I'm intrigued about what her spicier books might hold.



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