The Black Door by Charlotte Howard

 Imogen Pearce is a single mum of four children and fast approaching 40, she works at Ryedale Incorporated where she has to battle a younger and smarter generation to get to where she wants to go. If that means taking on the account of Cherry and Sean Rubin’s adult shop, then she will. But what happens when Imogen discovers the private club that they run at the back? And what happens when she realizes she knows quite a few members?

I am a new reader to this author but I have a feeling I will be seeking out more of her work in the future.  She gave us a real account of what a lot of middle aged women face today, a cheating husband, becoming a single parent and having to excel in your career where the younger generation is taking over.  Imogen Pearce isn’t a weak woman and she takes it all upon her shoulders, but what she will experience with this new account will take her on a path of erotic surprises. 

Let me just say this now, the moment I knew I would love to have this woman as my best friend was when she admitted to having a secret hit list with her ex and his bimbo on the top.  As we go through the story her secret list continues to grow but luckily for her, she has enough self-control to not act on that impulse. 

Now she faces the job of all jobs, she is assigned to come up with a way to advertise Sean and Cherry’s sex toy store in a family friendly way.  Oh it gets better when she finds that there is a sex club hidden behind the private door.  After what she has went through I was mentally begging her to just let go and live a little.  Experience sex at its greatest, find the woman that was hidden deep inside of her, buried by the role of mother, ex-wife and provider for her family.  I have to say the way this was written, this was an awesome twist to this story and took the plot on a whole different direction than what we started out believing it to be. 

Cal Ryedale is not only the boss, but he will become the master of so much more.  He will take her to new heights and places that she would never dream of going.  I really liked the chemistry between those two and how she finally let her walls down and began seeing the worth of men again. 

I won’t spoil the book for you by going any farther into their story.  You must read it to get the full passionate and steamy experience. I really found that with each chapter I could relate to Imogen more and more as a middle aged woman who finds herself at a cross roads in life.  She took what life handed her and made the best out of it; even gained a bit more thrill than she thought was possible.  Normally I connect with the male character more than the female, but her fire and determination that was mingled in with her fear and insecurity melted my heart.  It made that fight to not only survive but succeed even stronger, which I feel we need more female characters like that in the book world. 

This book and the author have made it on my list of books to reread and authors to watch.  

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British author Charlotte Howard, was born in Oman and spent much of the first part of her life flitting between Oman, Scotland, and England. Now settled in Somerset, Charlotte lives with her husband, two children, and growing menagerie of pets.

Her career as a writer began at an early age, with a poem being featured in an anthology for the East Midlands. Since then Charlotte has written many short stories and poems, and finally wrote her first full-length piece of fiction in 2010. Her debut novel, "Seven Dirty Words" was published in January 2013, followed by the sequel, "Four Letter Words" in January 2014, and her first stand alone novel, "The Black Door" in July 2014. Her first short story "City Nights: One Night in Edinburgh" is due out in November 2014.

During what little spare time she has, Charlotte enjoys reading and writing (of course), spending time with her family, and watching action movies whilst eating curry and drinking tea. Charlotte is also an active member of Yeovil Creative Writers.