BETWEEN THE SHEETS is another tour de force from fabulous
author Molly O'Keefe. O'Keefe is one of my favorite
authors, who consistently delivers novels with traumatized
characters who have pathological coping mechanisms keeping
them from happiness. O'Keefe tosses two such people in a
small town with repeated exposure to one other, and we watch
their emotional walls slowly, painfully crumble.
Shelby Monroe is the only daughter of a now-dead charlatan
preacher and a mother with worsening Alzheimer's. Shelby's
father emotionally abused Shelby and her mother for years.
"As a child, in the face of her father's violent
disapproval, she'd created this identity, this cold distance
between herself and other people's opinions, in an act of
defiant self-protection. Dad couldn't hurt her if she
pretended not to care. Pretended she didn't need affection
or approval.
It had been an abused and scared kid's way of coping.
And as a woman, she didn't even know how to change it."
Shelby is barely keeping her head above water, trying to be
the main caregiver for her mother as her dementia worsens.
Ty has moved back to Bishop to provide his newly discovered
11 year old son with a fresh start. Casey escaped from
foster care and tracked down Ty, who didn't realize he had a
son. Casey is full of anger and fear and self-loathing, and
is getting in trouble in school. Ty "felt like an intruder
with everyone, unable to get comfortable with himself, much
less anyone else" as a dad and a man.
Shelby originally uses Ty as a way to punish herself while
blowing off emotional steam, with raunchy near-faceless sex.
But Ty sees glimpses of the real Shelby behind the facade
that she presents to the world.
"[h]e wondered if maybe they shouldn't just leave things
at filthy sex on the floor. But their lives were already
brushing up against each other in a dozen places and, well,
he didn't want to leave it at filthy sex on the floor.
He liked her.
Liked her awkwardness and her seriousness. He liked
what she hid behind them. Suddenly, he wanted to see her
smile."
Together, they painfully lurch forward in resolving their
issues and reaching toward happiness.
"But you mean more to me than the sex we've had, Shelby.
I want more of your fierce heart and your secret smiles.
Your loyalty and decency. I want to help you shoulder some
of the load you've got because you've helped shoulder some
of mine. I want to find out what you think and how you
feel. I want to put you on the back of my bike and go for a
ride. Lie down in a bed with you. I want to argue about
what to watch on tv and... I want everything. Everything
you have to give to a person, I want to be the man who gets
it."
"I don't know how."
"Me neither."
This book tore me up and made me root so hard for Ty and
Shelby. I felt like cheering on my sofa every time they
made a step forward, and I cried when they slid back into
their personal despairs. O'Keefe made me really feel their
ultimate triumph, cementing her favored status on my
bookshelves.
Perfect for readers of Susan Mallery and Rachel Gibson,
Between the Sheets is Molly O’Keefe’s final book in the Boys
of Bishop trilogy, featuring a sizzling romance between a
sexy motorcycle bad boy and the girl next door who can’t
resist him.
After years of running, Wyatt Svenson has now parked himself
in Bishop, Arkansas, trying to do the right thing and parent
a son he didn’t even know he had until recently. Over six
feet tall and packed with muscles and power, Ty likes to get
his hands dirty, fixing his motorcycle at night and keeping
his mind away from the mistakes he’s made. Then his pretty
neighbor shows up on his driveway, doesn’t bother to
introduce herself, and complains about the noise. First
impression? She should loosen up. Funny that she turns out
to be his son’s elementary school art teacher—and the only
one willing to help his troubled boy. Ty needs her. In more
ways than one.
Though Shelby Monroe is safe in her structured life, she is
drawn to Ty’s bad-boy edge and rugged sexuality. What if she
just lets it all go: her worries about her mother, her fear
of heartbreak, and her tight self control? What if she grabs
Ty and takes a ride on the wild side? “What if” becomes
reality—intense, exhilarating . . . and addictive. But Ty
wants more than a secret affair. He wants it all with
Shelby. But will she take a chance and open her heart? Ty is
determined to convince Shelby to take the biggest risk of
her life: on him.
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