AFTERNOON DELIGHT by author Dani Collins is a delightful story of taking ownership of one's own life while trying to break away from habits which make one co-dependent, a people pleaser and likewise. Meg is an accountant, married and had a kid right out of high school. She dedicated two decades of her life and career to supporting her ex-dentist husband and two children. Freshly divorced, her older child leaving home for college, and her mother needing help downsizing after her father's death, Meg once again has her hands full.
This time around, though, she's choosing whom she wants to take care of in a way she doesn't neglect herself like all the other times. Having spent her married years in Toronto, she's temporarily moving back to her hometown of Victoria. Her oldest friend, Georgia, away on medical leave, needs someone to look after her shop, which sells adult toys. Having no knowledge or even interest in the merchandise, she agrees to sell. Meg pushes herself out of her comfort zone. She vows to enjoy herself and even seek self-pleasure while she's at it. To help things along, her landlord and next shop owner, Zak, is the perfect partner in crime she never knew she needed. Zak is dealing with his father's dementia and keeping the shop going to keep the familiar routines in place for his father.
Attraction between them is mutual as they gradually become friends and go on to try the toys in the name of science and sexual health. Things progress to them falling for each other while handling family and exes' dramas.
The story really brought out the afternoon delight part in a manner that felt both gross and fun. The presence of all these adult toys as a backdrop for Meg and Zak flirting was one of high entertainment. I enjoyed all the sex and self-pleasure that's part of the dynamic between Meg and Zak.
Besides the flirtation, the story also deals nicely with Meg and Zak dealing with and caring for their elder parents. Meg is good with her children, and the new dynamic that is created with all of them together is warm and fun to witness.
For a bit of sexual banter, flirting, empowering self, and those around you, with a side of falling in love, go read AFTERNOON DELIGHT.
Freshly divorced and nearing forty, Meg regrets making all the safe choices. When her best friend needs surgery, Meg puts her accounting career on hold to run her friend’s racy adult toy shop—but her vanilla life never prepared her for this!
At thirty-two, Zak leaves the tech world for his dad’s antique store, wanting time with him before dementia erases his father’s memories. He’s Meg’s landlord, but she becomes his confidante, distracting him from his troubles with her suggestive puns and amusing misadventures.
Flirty banter leads to test-driving toys together, but Meg knows they won’t last. Their age-gap puts them in different life-stages and she lives in Toronto. A few afternoons of delight can’t change her life. Or can they?
No excerpt available.
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