An orchestra musician, a private music teacher, and a homebody, Lily’s a full-figured, quiet woman who lives a fairly simple and solitary life. Aside from music, she has one big passion: stock car racing. She’s been a fan for as long as she can remember and makes the yearly pilgrimage to Daytona as often as she can. When she’s offered a chance to get away to North Carolina and attend two weeks of races, she jumps at it. Little does she know what that chance has in store for her…

Cam Carter is one of the most successful young drivers in the top tier of the stock car racing circuit. All over the country, he’s well known to racing fans, loved by some, respected by a few, and hated by others. He’s arrogant, strong willed, and a consistent winner. What he doesn’t have is balance…until he meets a pretty, very curvaceous, and unassuming fan named Lily.

Lily fears the difference in lifestyles, ages, and personalities while Cam in turn, embraces them. Can they find a way to cross the finish line and take the checkered flag together or will the obstacles push against them until they crash and burn?
Publisher’s Note: This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable: Anal play/intercourse.

Title: Stick Shift
Author: Lissa Matthews
Series: Unnamed series with future books in the same setting, book 1
Genre: Erotic Romance, Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Loose-id
Year of release: 2010, May 11
Format: eBook, .pdf, 148 pages
Source: Received from author when I was unable to buy it at Loose-id as they don’t accept Paypal payments
First line: “So what are you doing next month?”
Memorable Scenes:
- bench scene at Cam’s place > H.O.T!!!
- the cookie-bribe scene > made me wonder what I’d do for cookies

Lillian “Lily” Jackson is a self-employed woman working 3 jobs and leading a simple life. She is levelheaded, realistic and an analytic over-thinker.

Cam Carter is the total opposite of Lily. He’s a stock car racer who takes life head on. He is impulsive and lively and goes after what he wants and unapologetically so.

The first words that come to mind when thinking back to this book are cute and hot. I really enjoyed the story, Cam, Lily, their romance and the setting. Stock car racing and May-December trope with the woman being the older one are two topics that always attract my attention when I look for (e)books to add to my collection and Lissa Matthews delivered on both counts and also gave me some very, very hot scenes as an added bonus.

The instant connection and attraction between Lily and Cam was quite fast but Lissa Matthews made it work well. Lily is a bit unsure when it comes to believing Cam is really interested in her but not annoyingly so. It’s just her levelheadedness causing a bit of sound insecurity. I loved how Cam was so frank in his feelings for Lily. He was so utterly and delectably cute and completely into Lily from the moment he laid eyes on her. He is cute in a boyish sort of way but not when it came to the sex play. I also loved how Lily turned into a sex fiend once she gave in to the attraction and how she was the one to take the initiative sexually.

My first taste of this author’s work definitely left me wanting more because in its genre it was really one of the better short novellas I’ve read and it’s one hot book. Lissa Matthews knows her hot sexy scenes and it had been a while since the sexy times scenes had me as enthralled as hers did in STICK SHIFT. She writes them hot, raw and unadulterated and they set the pages on fire. I seriously thought my e-reader was going to meld down from the heat in these scenes.

There was one thing that I missed though. The end was kind of sudden. There was definitely a HEA, yet I still felt like I could’ve used some sort of epilogue or a few “I love you”-s. But other than that is was a great novella.

STICK SHIFT is a delightful and red-hot story of lust and love at first sight. I smiled, I tingled, I sighed and I enjoyed. I love it when books like these remind me why I love to read romance so much.

Favorite Quote:
“Inside you, Lily. I need inside you. Wallet. Condom.”
He was speaking in one-word phrases, but he couldn't help it. He was afraid if she so much as breathed in his direction, he was going to come right then and there and look like an amateur at making love to a woman.
She reached over and picked up the wallet he'd dropped on the table and handed it to him. With shaking fingers, he fumbled until he found the foil packet, then tossed the wallet away, and ripped the foil with his teeth.