Review- Hands On by Amie Stuart

Hands On
by Amie Stuart
June 1, 2007
Contemporary/ Erotica/ m/f, f/f/m, bisexual
Novel- 256 pgs.
Trade- OOP

Buy it Amazon, Ebay, Amazon Kindle, Sony ebook store

Monday through Friday, they're known as Alex, Mel, and Carl. But by night, these blue collar Texas gals trade in their work boots and tool belts for high heels, lipstick, and men!

Lexi preaches safety first at her construction site, but when she's blindsided by a hot, hard-bodied foreman, he leads her into the danger zone for steamy sex...and all kinds of delicious trouble.

Lanie runs her auto shop, Chick's Garage, with no-nonsense efficiency. Nobody guesses the erotic adventure she's planning for a white-collar guy who needs a lady mechanic to give a kinky spin to his engine.

Carlotta knows how to splice a cable or wire anything, anytime, anywhere better than any man. But when this curvy electrican meets a quiet computer guy, he has something to teach her about how to connect...and give up control.

Hands On is one of those light, sexy, erotica books that’s great if you’re looking for something not too serious about women who are confident and all about enjoying and taking control of their lives, including sexually.

While in an anthology format, it’s not quite a proper anthology. Hands On is about three best friends and written in three different parts each told in first person by one of the girls’ POV. To be honest this did get a bit confusing because in each story all three girls are involved and sometimes I would forget whose POV the dialogue is coming from. Especially as the same scene would be written from another’s POV in the next girl’s story. Other than that, the writing is very smooth and enjoyable to read.

The first story focuses on Lexi. She’s a tough woman who’s in charge of a construction crew and has to deal with constant issues of men not wanting to take crap from a woman. But she persistent and doesn’t take crap from anyone. She’s lonely though and hasn’t had a date in a while. She also not about getting serious with anyone but mainly just fooling around. That is until she meets Wade, a construction foreman with his own crew. Of course she has a personal policy against, and can also get fired if fraternizing with a co-worker, but he’s different, so she risks it. These two have a lot of really hot sex, sometimes in her construction office when they can be caught and he takes her heart by surprise.

The second story is Lanie’s story. What I really like about Lanie is that she’s a car mechanic who owns her own repair shop and has painted it pink. She’s getting a lot of crap from her family, who think she’s a loser and a lesbian. She takes in her ex-con brother and helps him out with a job and a place to stay. She’s openly bisexual and makes no bones about her attractions to both women and men. She gets set up by her family with Jeff, a connected family friend. She blows him off not wanting to give into family pressure, but finds out that he’s really cool and is open to her having flings with women.

The third story is Carlotta’s. She’s also got a unique job in that she’s one of the best in her field of wiring buildings for tech equipment and such. Like Lexi and Lanie, she’s also about just having fun and screwing around. She screws her boss’ nephew, Devon, who works where she does in her boss’ office and finds out after that her boss was video taping it all. She quits but still gets with Devon. Devon is into BDSM and is a Dom looking for a sub and thinks that Carlotta is deep down a sub even though she’s a control freak. Carlotta is not so sure about this lifestyle and although she fights it, she does go along with it just to be with Devon.

The most enjoyable thing about this book is that it’s that rare book about girlfriends and their relationships. In this story it was actually refreshing to have the main relationship be the bond between these three women. They make it a point to meet every week no matter who they are with. They all seem to be bisexual as well, especially Lanie and Carlotta and have all fooled around in a light playful way with each other sexually. I really liked this easy way they all have with each other, supporting and taking care without any bitchy cattiness or complicated heavy drama.

The only story I was not totally on board with was the last one. BDSM is a tricky subject for me. While it skirted some really heavy stuff, there were points that bothered me. Devon calls Carlotta on her control issues, but I really didn’t see her as a control freak as compared to say a normal woman who is confident, takes care of herself and does as she pleases. So that didn’t really jibe for me.

And again with a lot of BDSM I have trouble with what looks like arrogance on the part of the male Dom that he really knows what’s going on with a woman whom he thinks is really a sub. That he is more aware about what she wants than she does. I don’t buy that quite often. Just because someone likes to give up control once in a while in bed doesn’t mean they are a BDSM sub. Or that if someone likes to have some control in their life that they are automatically a control freak who deep down wants to be spanked for it or give that control up.

This book is erotica, so if you’d read this for some HEA romance, it’s not this. However, all three girls do have an HFN, which left things in a satisfying way even if all of them haven’t really grown too much or are on the path to settling down and not screwing any people that strikes their fancy.

In all the stories the sex is really hot. For the f/f readers of this review there’s quite a bit of some really hot girl on girl in Lanie’s story, which was written very nicely. But all the sex in this book is smoking hot and full of fun scenarios. Amie Stuart has a nice flow to her writing that made this a juicy book to read.

Sex rating: Orgasmic- graphic- m/f, public sex, toys, f/f, f/f/m, lighter BDSM with accoutrement use.

Grade: B+