This romance novel is the second in a series of The Ivy Chronicles by Sophie Jordan, the first being called Foreplay and the next one being Wild.  College student Emerson and bad boy Shaw meet in a biker bar, and her life changes forever.  He pursues her but she plays hard to get.  She acts self-destructively and he protects her from danger.  They passionately make out and then she kicks him out.  For how long will he put up with her antics?  Can she come to terms with the cause of her neurosis, the sexual harassment she experienced when she was a teenager?  Can she make peace with her mother, who has been unsupportive all her life?  Can she establish a better relationship with her wealthy father?  It turns out that Shaw is the solution to all her problems.  She wants to become a painter, and he is able to bring out her true artistry. 

Tease is certainly the most badly written book I have read since I tried to read 50 Shades of Grey.  It’s silly and clichéd.  As a sexually explicit romance novel, it gives little indication of what is so extraordinary about the sex between Emerson and Shaw, apart from that they both find it mind-blowing and the pressure of desire builds up for some time before they actually get to it.  Emerson is a child of a privileged but dysfunctional family, and it turns out that true love and good sex is her path to independence.  But it is popular with its intended audience, and it gets positive reviews on Amazon.com.   This is best seen as harmless fun, and we probably should not read too much into it.  It at least is not as bad as 50 Shades.

The performance by Linda R. Josephs of the unabridged audiobook goes with the spirit of the book, managing to be both earnest and playful.  Josephs betrays no hint of laughter during the sex scenes, which is an achievement.  She makes the book more enjoyable than it would be reading the text.  

© 2014 Christian Perring

Christian Perring, Professor of Philosophy, Dowling College, New York