{ARC Review} Whose Bed Is It Anyway? by Natalie Anderson

Title: Whose Bed Is It Anyway?
Author: Natalie Anderson
Publication Date: September 1, 2013
Genre: Contemporary Romance

"You’re wearing my T-shirt."

Returning home after a daring rescue mission, all James Wolfe can think of is sleep. So he’s furious to find a beautiful stranger curled up in his king-size bed! Normally no woman ever gets between his sheets without prior invitation—who does she think she is?

Disgraced celebrity Caitlin Moore has been offered a place to stay and she won’t give it up—not with the paparazzi outside, baying for her blood! Reluctantly she agrees to share the apartment with James—but, with enough electricity to short-circuit the whole of Manhattan, keeping to their own sides of the bed might prove impossible…

Review

Imagine coming home after long weeks of rigorous work to find someone occupying your bed when all you want to do is sleep. Lack of sleep can bring out the worst in you. We see that in James when he saw Caitlin sleeping in his bed. I like how the story opened up with that. It created the foundation of the story, which becomes their circumstance: living arrangements and agreements. Then as the story progresses and we learn more about the characters, we discover why they are the way they are.

The first half of the book was carefully paced and built a firm foundation for the story, but the last half was fast paced--a little too fast. I'll excuse the punctuation errors and sentence structure since it was an ARC; mistakes are bound to happen. It was kind of difficult to jump from Cailtin's POV to James's, because there was no indication that deciphered whose head we're in. Having the story told in third person was what helped clear things through. With those minor details, it did not affect the context of the story. And after doing some research, Anderson did good job with the accuracy of the Big Apple.

I liked how playful Caitlin and James are throughout the story. The banter exchanged between the two will leave you in a laughing fit. The dynamic between them -- once they accepted they're stuck rooming together for a month -- may have started out with just sex, but lines start to blur and kisses replaces oxygen. Their bond grew the more they spent time together touring around New York, between the sheets, spending a couple of days with James's family, and learning about each others past, they soon find themselves develop feelings that run deeper than on a platonic level. It was interesting to see that James wanted Caitlin to get her fill out of his bed as much as in his bed, if not more. Very gentlemanly of him to be Caitlin's personal guide when he knew that it's best to stay away from her.

After much denying their own feelings as well as each others, they're in too deep to back out. And before they know it, they've already fallen for each other before they realized it. With their playful dynamic, James brings out Caitlin's inner minx, and Caitlin makes James feel alive again. That's what I love to see in characters: that they bring out qualities you don't usually see in them. They both have that fire and primal spirit in themselves that will have you in need a cold shower once their urges surfaces. And their steamy marathon sex sessions turns into a passion-induced making of love. The first time they have sex, it started out as James teasing Caitlin (as a lot of guys like to do), but once James slowed down I felt there was more to it than just torturing her need for release. And that's where we see the dynamic between them start to change. As the saying goes, don't sleep with someone you don't want to be with.

Both Caitlin and James have family issues--who doesn't? The way Caitlin repeatedly pushed James to see his family and work things out, made her seem like a hypocrite for not doing the same with hers. Their issues are different -- understandable. However, Caitlin is not in a place to lecture about family when she doesn't put her advice into practice. Since James resolved things with his family, I was disappointed that we didn't get to see if Caitlin's family worked through their issues or not.

There wasn't any dark secrets as there was some mystery when it came to their past. A lot of books have played off those broody characters that have such a dark secret that may tear the couple apart if it gets out, but James and Caitlin weren't like that. Not exactly. Although we knew Caitlin's deal with the media scandal since we were in her head first, it took us readers some guessing and time to find out why James feels the need to work all the time and doesn't keep in touch with his family often. Caitlin found solace in James, and Caitlin became James's saving grace.

As mentioned, I felt that the ending had ended in an abrupt manner. Days were skipped, and James and Caitlin's thoughts weren't very detailed by the time James left for the conference in Japan to the time he came back home to find Caitlin has moved from the condo. We didn't get to fall into the sulking mode with the characters, so it took away from the intensity of their "agony" of their time apart after they realized they were over before they even started officially. Once James finds Caitlin's whereabouts, it was sweet that James finally realized his feelings for Caitlin and stopped fighting it and confessed his feelings, he intends to win her back and never let her slip between his fingers again. 

Although this is a light read, you still feel what the characters feel. You hurt when they hurt, you laugh when their humor gets the best of them, and you feel that knowing sensation of being turned on when they're in that mood.

Meet Natalie Anderson

USA TODAY bestseller Natalie Anderson writes fun, frisky, feels-good contemporary romance for Harlequin Mills & Boon, Entangled Publishing and independently. With over thirty books published, she's also been a Romantic Times Award nominee & a finalist for the R*BY (Romantic Book of the Year). She lives in Christchurch, New Zealand with her husband, four children and what feels like a million ducks.

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**I received an advanced review copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I was not monetarily compensated, nor did it influence my review.**