Reviewed:
Here is a rare creature - a well-written story in the grammatical sense as well as having believable and sufficiently fleshed out characters and plot (particularly where young is featured), yet plenty of entertainment in the form of hot vivid sex told at fast pace. Usually with the latter dualism, some element suffers, and it is usually realism - either the unviability of the plot or the absurdity of the anatomical happenings. It is refreshing that that has not happened here.
Within it is another rare creature - the well matured and ostensibly law-abiding and responsible female, who is nevertheless liberated and kind enough to offer up erotic delights to a boy of blood-boiling age, and more significantly non-consensual by letter-of-the-law age. The narrative makes clear, convincingly so, that there is no coercion or unwillingness or abusive scar tissue here. A sequel might possibly explore that, though, if we're to be really cynical, as the story ended fascinatingly poised and open, yet was a satisfactory and beautiful wrap-up in its own right.
Whilst it works almost as a stroke story (but demanding and deserving somewhat more attention than that), to be enjoyed in one short sitting, the theme and character storylines would yield up excellently to being explored in depth. Indeed, this had a streak of the controversial and acclaimed novel, Tampa, by Celeste Price, where a female teacher (Ashley's protagonist is a doctor) has a voracious appetite for the age of boy we see here; with the major difference here the woman is a kind and considerate with her neediness. Where this neediness comes from is not able to be explored within the constraints of Ashley's tale, but so concisely and well is it told that we get acute glimpses it is there and that it is credible.
Needless to say, we sense (and almost all male readers will agree) the boy's neediness and completely believe it is credible! If this were real and it came out in the press, our lovely Doctor Caroline would be show-trialled and then burned. However, we get enough character development and timeline scope to be able to say 'zip it' to the child protection brigade. Our boy is adolescent which is not a 'child'; sure, he is star-struck as it were (who would not be?), and you could say led as a moth to a flame, but it is a flame he grows with and it seems incorporates successfully into his life. It is the flame of 'love'; for this is, at its heart, an exuberant coming of age love story. I left it firmly of the opinion that I wish I had had a Doctor Caroline in my own life, more decades ago than I care to accept have gone!
Flaws? Very few, but one of them is quite a big bugbear to me: rather too much carnal action, so that after about halfway (the point where she gets out her treasure central), I found myself thinking 'oh not again', almost losing faith with the believability of the woman, and racing somewhat, not through relishing that aspect but through just wanting to damn well find out where it was all going. As I said, it does 'go', and to a strong conclusion, but it could have got there with a bit more 'tell' than 'show' in that latter half, perhaps taking the opportunity to give us more background to their lives and deftly reporting the sex rather than describing it. It is incorrectly tagged: it is much sex not some sex.
That said, it is so well-written and engrossingly plotted and humourously yet realistically realized (never have I found a single word - 'doctor! - to be so amusing yet correct) I cannot possibly give it less than an overall 8 (I see it has a score of under 7 so far). The prose is that satisfying. I suppose plot therefore has to be the weak link, nevertheless still worth a 7, because I totally believed this 'could' happen; but just needed to happen a bit more measuredly, or something.