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Synopsis:
Graduate student Grace Locke moves from the Midwest to New York City to complete her Masters degree in Criminology. She longs to one day be a college professor. It is a field that is dominated by men. She is worried about succeeding in such an atmosphere. Past sexual relationships have caused her to feel intimidated. Her experiences with college men have left her jaded and unsatisfied. She gives herself a challenge. Time to toughen up or she won’t make it in a career she yearns for. She decides to surround herself with alpha males so that she can practice becoming what she sees as a strong confident woman. She finds power and defiance in her new attitude……..until Vinnie.
When Grace takes a part time secretarial job at a private investigator office, she assumes it will be interesting to watch how the cases unfold. It is close to her campus apartment and gives her the extra cash she needs as a struggling college student. Even more perfect is that the office is surrounded by street wise hardened males. Now, she can get the needed practice at increasing her confidence among men. She wasn’t prepared for Vinnie Lewis. A former hit man who decides to go straight, he is the ultimate “bad boy”. After growing up with a prostitute mother on the streets of New York City, he has no patience for nice girls like Grace. He is difficult to work with. She finds him just plain scary with his six foot four frame, bulging biceps, and a scar from a former knife fight that goes across his right ear to his chin. She shakes in his presence but then ……. is shocked when she can’t stop thinking of him.
My Review:
Nice Girl is the debut work from Kate Baum and also the first in the Girl Series. I was intrigued from the moment I read the synopsis and really enjoyed this book!
Grace and her friends, a group that has been together since practically forever and friends anyone would love to have, have decided that their love lives have completely sucked. None of them have ever experienced sex like they read about in smutty novels. Nope, none of them have ever felt the quivering in their belly or experienced all consuming desire. More importantly, none of them have had the big “O” with a man. Enter: The “O” Pact. They all decide that they WILL find men capable of giving them each a scene right out of a smexy book. Unfortunately, they are each headed in their own directions in life, Grace to grad school in New York and her friends all in other directions across the country. Thank God for Skype because they are so gonna need those girl chats!
Grace starts her adventure in NYC by quickly acclimating to grad school and landing an officer manager position at an up-and-coming private investigation firm which she loves form her very first day. Well, everything except one of the owners, Vinnie, and his perma-scowl and lack of communication skills. Too bad those turn-offs can’t overrule the turn-ons….his handsome face and killer body can’t be hidden behind that gruff personality. And when that personality turns less and less gruff when he’s around her, she realizes she is in way over her head and can’t help but start to hope that he’s the one to cancel her membership in the No “O” Club.
The last thing Vinnie is looking for is a nice girl. He is way to f*cked in the head to ever be good enough for someone like the new hire at the firm. His whore of a mother and screwed up childhood made damn sure he’d never get anyone like Grace. So why did he continue to find himself hoping beyond hope that he could change and be the kind of man she deserved?
Together, Grace and Vinnie are really well written opposites and attract beautifully. His roughness to her softness mesh really, really well and I was pulling for them from the moment they met. The attraction between them grew at a perfect and believable pace…it was refreshing to read that kind of normal life progression.
This was a great read with a lot of fantastic characters woven in between Grace and Vinnie’s interaction. The staff at the firm is instrumental in helping Grace and Vinnie overcome their misgivings and help them realize that it just may be worth a shot and to step out of their comfort zones. I hope we get to see more of them as the series progresses.
I think this is a great debut for Kate and I am looking forward to reading more from her and the Girl Series! Thanks, Kate, for a great intro and for a fabulous read!
