Blog Tour and Giveaway: UnWritten: Chelsea M. Cameron

by Reviews by Tammy and Kim - Monday, July 14, 2014

Unwritten

Chelsea M. Cameron

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Blair Walton isn't your average tattooed children's librarian. She's also one half of bestselling romance author, Scarlet Rose. Along with her bff Raine, she spends her nights writing books so steamy, she's afraid they would shock her Southern conservative grandmother to death, if she knew about them. Blair and Raine keep their smut peddling ways a secret from everyone, including family.

On deadline for their latest book and out of ideas, Raine suggests (demands) that Blair find a guy and "do some research." It just so happens that Blair has a guy that's ready and willing. Declan Bennet has all the qualifications: He's British, looks fabulous in a suit and gets bonus points for being a single dad. But what started out as a research project quickly turns into something much more. Someone else is writing this love story and Blair has completely lost control. But will Declan still feel the same way when he finds out the truth about Blair and her secret motives?

“You’re kidding,” Raine said that night as I gave a dramatic reenactment of meeting Drake’s father that afternoon.

“Would I make something like this up?” I said, realizing too late that yes, I definitely could.

“Dude, you’re a writer. I’m a writer. We make things up for a living.” She gestured to make her point. Raine always had to gesture when she was talking. Even when her hands were full. She always had a tendency to spill things.

“Yes, good point, but still. No, I am not making this up. He was completely real. And gorgeous and that accent.” I had that tingle again just remembering.

“You’re talking about the dad, right?” It took me a second to realize what she said.

I smacked her on the arm. “Ew, pervert. Yes, the dad. I wish I could have gotten his name. If only the stupid nanny hadn’t filled out the form. Then he would have had to print his name and I would know what it is.”

“Well, another part of our job as writers is to know things. And if we don’t know them, how to find them.” She ran to her computer and started typing like a madwoman.

“No, Raine. No. We swore we would only use your powers in extreme emergencies.”

She didn’t look up at me.

“There’s a cute guy involved. That qualifies this as an emergency.”

This was such a fun book to dig in to. The idea that one of the characters was an author writing secretly under a pen name interested in a man she was using for inspiration piqued my interest immediately, and it didn’t disappoint at all.

Blair, childrens’ librarian and one half of the writing duo known to the world as Scarlet Rose, is stuck in a rut on a book with a fast approaching deadline. Her best friend and writing partner, Raine, suggests that she ask out the hot dad who has been stopping in to the library lately.

I loved Blair’s character. She is unapologetically herself, at all times. Sure, she covers up her tattoos and curbs the sarcasm and swearing in deference to her 84-year old grandmother, but in all other things, she owns her decisions and her emotions. It was so nice to read a female lead who didn’t need to be “fixed” or healed to figure herself out.

And Declan was just yummy. A Brit, a single dad, and generally an all around good guy. He encouraged Blair to be herself and not try to hide those things about her that others might not like. And just when he looks like the perfect man, a bit of information drops that changes all that, and makes him perfectly human. I just plain loved him.

Together they were easy, though on the surface they seem to be opposite. It was a case of a heroine who knew herself, and a hero who was attracted to that fact. As they got to know each other, they just worked and their differences proved to remain only on the surface.

Drake was such a fun little guy. He was such a contrast to his father’s staidness that I couldn’t help but smile when he came in to a scene.

There were a couple points where the story seemed to wander away from the main plot, but when it came back around, the roundabout way it got there worked for me and overall I loved the story. It was fun, and playful without a lot of angst or overdramatics.

I was gifted a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Raine and Blair are room mates, best friends, and together they have a secret life as romance authors using the name Scarlet Rose. But their day jobs, night time writing, and deadlines are burning them at both ends. I was engaged from the beginning with these two friends. Raine and Blair were so funny. Their best friend language of fast and furious interactions, snarkiness and humor had me giggling. And their desperation showed.

When Blair, a Children's librarian meets Declan, a single Dad with a delicious British accent, he immediately catches her eye. But her friend Raine wants her to step it up and really catch is attention and do some sexy book research. And Raine is quite pushy and outgoing and challenges Blair to move out of her comfort zone as often as she can.

Declan is one hot Brit. He is sexy, charismatic, thoughtful, and caring. The whole package...except he does not want to be in another relationship. He's been there, done that and has just a son left to show for it. That being said he was so endearing and I adored him. His interactions with his son, Drake melted my heart. And Drake was the cutest little leading man who always made me smile.

They seem like opposites. The tatted, outspoken woman and the buttoned up, gentleman Brit. But they have a good chemistry and rapport. They find a sweet, sexy arrangement even as they both deny it will ever be more. But life gets messy and quite a few things happen, and they start acting like a couple...even though it is supposed to be casual. But there are secrets, pasts, and fears that affect them and have the potential to ruin everything.

But once it is all exposed how will the rest of their story be written?

This was fast, humorous, and had some emotional situations too. The characters were really likable. It was told in Blair's Point of view, but I still felt connected to Declan as well. And I felt a connection between them as well.

I did have a couple of issues as the book went on. It started out so funny and sexy then kind of did a detour and got bogged down in a certain event. I understood the significance of it to the story and it added some depth and emotion, but it seemed to drag on a bit and at times overshadow their romance. Then the ending kind of felt a bit rushed despite the epilogue.

But it was still a unique, engaging read with interesting characters and plot. I enjoyed the behind the scenes look into authors and co-writers. I liked the relationships and rapport of the characters. Some of the other side characters added some comic relief and drama to the story. I found myself laughing a lot, tense at other times, and then swooning over Declan and his romantic ideas. For a relationship-phobe he was a really good date and he made a magnetic leading man.

I was gifted a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Chelsea M. Cameron
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Chelsea M. Cameron is a New York Times and USA Today best selling NA/YA writer from Maine. Lover of things random and ridiculous, Jane Austen/Charlotte and Emily Bronte Fangirl, red velvet cake enthusiast, obsessive tea drinker, vegetarian, former cheerleader and world's worst video gamer. When not writing, she enjoys watching infomercials, singing in the car and tweeting (this one time, she was tweeted by Neil Gaiman and nearly died). She has a degree in journalism from the University of Maine, Orono that she promptly abandoned to write about the people in her own head. More often than not, these people turn out to be just as weird as she is.

She is the author of: Nocturnal, Nightmare, Neither and Neverend (The Noctalis Chronicles), Whisper, the first book in the Whisper Trilogy, My Favorite Mistake, My Sweetest Escape, Deeper We Fall, Faster We Burn, Sweet Surrendering, Surrendering to Us and Deep Surrendering.