Title: Operation: One Night Stand
Author: Christine Hughes
Reviewer: Shannon Pacsuta
Stars: 3.5 ★★★.5
SYNOPSIS:
IT’S TIME TO CHANGE HER SEXUAL KARMA
Caroline Frost had it all-until her boyfriend banged the superskank intern, and poof! Caroline’s happy little bubble disappeared. Now it’s been six weeks of weeping, a mountain of ice cream, and a permanent buttprint on the couch. Enough is enough. She and her ladybits need an intervention-now.
Enter Operation: One Night Stand: Find a man who is hotness personified and have some much-needed sexy time. The only problem is that Caroline is torn between a flirtatious, well-built guy and the ridiculously hot bartender serving her shots. This was supposed to be all fun and no games, but like the perfect scotch on the rocks, no good fling finishes without a twist.
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Review by Shannon Pacsuta:
If you are looking for a quick, easy read with hot sex and several laugh out loud moments, then Operation One Night Stand is it. Christine Hughes wrote a story that I think many of us can relate to in one way or another. Boy cheats on girl, girl succumbs to sad movies and ice creams, best friends form an intervention, and voila…Operation One Night Stand is created. You know the saying, the best way to get over someone is to get UNDER someone? Well, what happens when you are presented with several…umm…options?
This is the story of Caroline and her stepping out of her ex’s shadow and becoming her own woman. With the help of her two best friends, a plan is hatched to help push this process along. Step one, put down the ice cream and step away from the couch. Step two, get dressed up and add some liquid courage. Step three, acquire a target. Step four, take target home. Easy, right? Not so much though when a hot, flirty bartender is involved and is “helping” acquire said target. What happens when Caroline starts to second guess her original choice?
I really enjoyed the writing style of Christine Hughes. I think the characters were well developed and the story flowed nicely. It made me laugh at many parts throughout the book. I love the drink recipe section at the end!
I give Operation One Night Stand 3.5 stars.
*I received this book as an ARC for an honest review.
About the Author:
I hadn’t researched market trends, I had no idea about query letters or the evil synopsis, and I was green on the idea of agents and editors and all that is publishing, really. I just wanted to write something I enjoyed. I didn’t plot, outline, or character build, I just wrote. And then an author friend mentioned that I should take my writing to a conference.
So with the confidence that my novel would surely be welcomed by all who read it, I signed up for as many seminars and critiques as I could. I knew someone would love it. In those two days, I found out I had a lot to learn.
Funny, but as a former English teacher, you’d think I’d have figured out the importance of editing and revision and revising again. You’d think I’d have known that the first draft is just that, a draft. And when the critiques started coming in, I thought I was done for. Not that the premise wasn’t good (I was told it was), not that the characters weren’t believable (I was told they were), but I used too much passive voice, I tense shifted and there were some holes in the plotline.
A few agents really liked it, but the market trend couldn’t support it. Some were not fond of the way I told the story. I queried and queried my way to 57 flat out rejections and a number of partial and full requests that didn’t pan out. But along the way I got some great criticism and pointers and I made the story better. Then, on a whim, I trolled the SavvyAuthors website and signed up for a three line pitch to editor Lauri Wellington and I did a happy dance when she requested my full manuscript.
A month later, she responded that she loved the story and the concept but it moved too slowly but I could resubmit if I revised. I informed her I sent her a revision that was based on the opinions of agents, authors and peers but I had the original (cleaned up, of course) and I was sending it in to see if it was more of what she was looking for. And guess what? It was! One caveat, I had to revise the manuscript into past tense. Easy peasy, right? Wrong.
Revising into past tense from present is line editing your entire novel. And it kinda stinks. By the end, I thought my eyes were gonna start bleeding and pop out onto my keyboard. But you know what? That little “exercise” tightened up what was loose, filled in any plot holes that might’ve still been there and forced me to realize I could be a better writer.
The road to publication can be long. It can be a hop, skip and a jump from your first query. Nothing in publication is set in stone. The market is always changing. And the biggest thing I learned is that it’s all subjective. Agents A-Y may pass but all you need is Agent or Editor Z to believe in you as much as you believe in yourself. And I believe in my first novel. And I am happy that Black Opal Books does too. I hope you do, as well.
TaSTy WordGasms 