Angel With A Dirty Face

Charming Man has to be one of my favourite sensual romance writers of all time. I first stumbled upon his works via twitter, and after reading his first short story, Night Vision, I found myself hook, lined and totally sinkered! 

In true Charming Man style, he tells a nostalgic semi-autobiographical tale of boy meets girl, with all the vital attributes that put the signature stamp on his work. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Charming one’s stories, this is the notion of encounters between strangers. The chance meeting, that first eye contact and the sense of connection between the characters that develops slowly and tortuously, before he verbally spanks you with his sensually written sex scenes.

Charming’s writing can be likened to a fine wine; his books are rich in vocabulary and deliciously intense and should be savoured slowly. With each new story that is fermented over time, (believe me, this charmer likes to take his time) his writing style evolves with each book becoming subsequently better than its predecessor. With this being his longest offering to date, reaching novella status at 29,500 words, there is so much more to enjoy.

Highly descriptive in content, with his penchant for detail, The Hitcher by far surpasses anything that he has ever written. This guy really knows how to organise his thoughts into words, allowing them to flow seamlessly from page to page, captivating his audience from the word go!

The story, set in the late seventies with a heavy influence of music from the punk era, centres around Steve and sexy young hitcher hiker Faye, who he picks up en-route, as he travels to his parent’s cottage in a sleepy village in Weymouth.

True to form, Charming Man sets the scene perfectly, with the introduction of believable, yet humorous dialogue between the characters, something he is clearly very good at. As the romance starts to blossom between the two young adults, you really feel the sense of tension as Steve inadvertently falls head over heels in love with Faye, although he constantly questions if he is reading the situation correctly. The sense of anticipation as the two get to know each other, left me feeling hot under the collar, Charming Man teasing at its best!

Then we come to sex.

Not just one scenario, but several deliciously written scenes of varying themes. The thing about Charming is that he knows how to write sex in a provocative and eloquent way. He feels no need for the use of profanities or sexual aggression, he chooses his words carefully resulting in classy, passion filled sex that would give Christian Grey a run for his money! The whole story conveys a whirlwind of emotion and in the last chapter I really felt what Steve was going through, without spoiling the ending for those who are yet to read it.

So, in a nutshell, this book is heart-warming, funny, incredibly erotic and definitely worth a read! It also begs the question as to whether there is likely to be a sequel?