Faking It (McCullough Mountain #4)

Lydia
Michaels
Genre: 
Contemporary

The youngest of nine, Sheilagh McCullough allowed a devastating revelation ruin six years of her life. After an unwelcome intervention by her brothers and a friend, who blackmail her into going away to college, she embarks on a journey for fulfillment and purpose. While at college, her philosophy professor, Alec Devereux sees through her façade and challenges her. She pushes back and walks away, but is that the right thing to do?

 

Ms. Michaels calls this an Erotic Romance, and though there are extremely detailed scenes, it’s difficult to believe that that description is entirely accurate. Woven into a story of self-discovery is an up-close and comprehensive understanding of philosophical treatises and the range and effects of depression. This ride is not the archetypical run wild and loose to find yourself - instead, this trip is completely within the inner realm of the mind, expanding the understanding of self, in the truest sense of the word. For the self-proclaimed genre, however, it falls a bit flat. The first half of the book sizzles with chemistry and sex, but in the second half, it all but disappears. The same goes for the meatiness of the philosophy and the depth of therapy used; in the second half it’s often an information dump. The journey of the characters is realistically painful, jerky and intimately familiar on many levels. The vast amounts of knowledge needed to write about philosophy, and make it sound normal, is simply mind-bending. Who uses Plato and Socrates to drive an erotic romance plot? Ms. Michaels. And she does it very well! 

 

Julie York