Rockin’ Heroine: Erin Brown from Laid Bare by Lauren Dane

I think it’s only fitting that the book that gave me my next rockin’ heroine was recommended to me by the author who created my last rockin’ heroine.  Ann Aguirre knows from awesome heroines, so when she taunted me on twitter with how great Erin Brown was, I knew I was going to enjoy this book.

How much? Well, not long after I got my copy my power went out, and instead of turning my laptop off like a logical person to conserve the battery, I ran through the entire thing reading my copy of Laid Bare. Whoops.

What do you need to know about this book?

1. It’s hot. H-A-W-T hot.
2. It includes a woman and two men in a long-term committed relationship.
3. The men touch each other in the naughty places.
4. (Did I mention that it’s hot?)

Erin Brown is a damaged heroine.  I love damaged heroines.  I love reading about strong women overcoming the tragedies of their past to kick ass in the future (where ass-kicking is a metaphor and not always the actual act of kicking people’s asses, though hey, sometimes I dig that too.)

Something bad happened to Erin, and she’s got to overcome it and let people in.  But oddly enough, though I was originally interested in the book because of that aspect of her character, the part that enchanted me was the opening section where she takes a liking to her neighbor.  Her solution?  A case of beer, a box of condoms, and a straight-forward come on, followed by hot, dirty sex.

Oh yeah. That’s what I’m talkin’ about.

My not-so-secret weakness is books where the heroine is down with her badass sexuality and the hero has to struggle a little to catch up.  I loved how secure and open Erin was about who she was and what she wanted.  It balanced out her struggles against her past experiences in other areas, and made me cheer for her as the book progressed.

Now I’m not saying I didn’t truly like both of the men who rounded out this book (Ben especially gets big heaps of love from me <3) but Erin is the one who made this story for me.  And Lauren Dane did an amazing job with the dynamic between all three of them, amazing enough that she sold me on their happily ever after, and that’s not all that easy.

Laid Bare is available to pre-order on Amazon & is reputedly shipping from B&N now! And if you hop over to Lauren Dane’s blog today you’ll be able to get in on her month long Laid Bare with Flair contest! Today she’s giving away a copy of one of our books, along with a hand knitted scarf made by yours truly, and some cool earrings too!