Review: Screw Up

Screw Up by Alexis Wilder
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Screw Up is the first Tinseltown Temptress novel, and as a whole I enjoyed it. I know I gave it a three star rating, but it’s really more of a three-point-five, sitting between the three and four stars. I had a massive debate as to whether I should round up or down, but in the end I opted for rounding down. Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable read and I will be picking up the second book to see where this story goes.

Screw Up promised to be a drama filled read – I expected lies, sex, secrets, and much more. Whilst I was given these things, they weren’t quite given in the way I had expected them to be. We have our main character playing out the role of the world’s first celebrity sex reporter. We have our main character dealing with a troubled past relationship. We have our main character involved with investments that are failing. We have our main character dealing with family drama. We have all of these things, and yet at times it felt as though those things were there but they weren’t really adding to the story. Alone, each element held some interest – collectively, nothing really stood out and everything was simply there.

The story around the world’s first celebrity sex reporter was extremely interesting. We get to watch as our main character goes out of her way to bed the sexiest men on the plant, along with getting to read what can be called a report card of their performance. This aspect made for highly entertaining reading. It wasn’t quite the erotica a part of me had been anticipating, yet such was not a bad thing. There was plenty enough so that you could gauge which of the celebrities knew what they were doing in the bedroom and which did not, whilst ensuring the book did not become a smut fest. In short, there was a nice divide between the sex aspects of the story and the other aspects.

As I said, it’s the collective aspects of the rest of the story that didn’t quite live up to expectations. I had expected a lot of drama regarding the past relationship, yet this aspect of the story wasn’t really of interest to me. References were made and details were given, but I was never really pulled into the story. It was just there. The failing investment aspect was more enjoyable, as it opened up a number of avenues and introduced us to some interesting characters. It was a lot more interesting, and was probably my favourite part of the non-sex storyline. The family drama was another aspect I didn’t care much for – it was only towards the end that I found myself interested, mainly because it opened up possibilities for the future books. Mostly, the family drama felt as though it was clichéd: whilst it had some unique aspects, for the most part it was something I’ve seen before.

In the end, I came to one conclusion: it’s a lot of set up. It’s the first book in the series, and I feel as though all of the things I wasn’t completely pulled into will be dealt with in the future books. I feel as though there will be a lot more drama in the future books, I feel as though I will be pulled into the storyline a lot more. When I look at this book as a means of setting up the series, it’s a four star read; when I look at this book as pure enjoyment, it’s more of a three star read as I wasn’t as engaged as I had hoped to be. Hence, it’s a middle of the road rating.

Nevertheless, as I’ve already stated, I’ll be giving the next book a read. It has left me interested to see where things go from here: I truly believe the next book will earn a solid four stars from me, as there’s a lot of promise of where things will go.

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