Book Reviews: Curve Couture by H.M. Irwing

Warning: The book reviewed in this post, Curve Couture: A Beautiful Romance by H.M. Irwing, contains sex scenes, sexual situations, and foul language. If you are under the age of 18, are triggered by such depictions, or otherwise wish to avoid them, proceed with caution.

As promised, here’s the first of many reviews I have for you this weekend. This one is a steamy romance with some tasteful sex scenes by H.M. Irwing, author of Bad Boy Vibes. This book, while in the same genre and with some of the same themes as Bad Boy Vibes, is another unique adventure into the world of love and lust—I hate to admit it, but I might have liked this one even more. The book reviewing in this post is Curve Couture: A Beautiful Romance.

Claire has just made the biggest mistake of her life: sleeping with her model sister’s fiancé, Colin. To make things worse, she despises the man—and she’s her sister’s agent. Ashamed and unable to face her sister again, Claire arranges a meeting with Erin, a model-turned-agent, to ask him to take over as her sister’s agent. Erin, however, has different plans for Claire, ones which will transform Claire’s career, self-image, and personal life, not to mention her sex life. What exactly does Erin want from her? Is it strictly professional, or…something more? Does Claire have what it takes to meet all his needs and expectations, or will her own jealousy and lack of self-confidence get in her way?

I must admit that I might be a bit biased in my fondness for this romance. Claire is overweight and becomes a plus-sized model; I am likewise overweight, having struggled with weight issues my entire life and even more so since my senior year of college. For that reason, I’m partial to a book which involves an overweight woman transforming into a confident, fierce plus-sized model who has all the men tripping over them (of course, I could do without the crude comments which come with the modeling career). However, I think that all women can relate to Claire and her struggles, especially those who feel that they fall short of the Western standards for beauty.

With this admission, it goes without saying that my favorite character is Claire. It’s not just because she’s overweight. She’s also fierce, independent, and doesn’t take any BS from anyone—except, of course, Erin, on occasion, and even rarely from him. My favorite scenes were any time that she beat the crud out of Colin; like Erin, I couldn’t stop laughing! I’m also thankful to Irwing that Curve Couture did not turn into one of those stories where the heroine goes crawling back to a man who’s a complete ass to her because she “sees the good in him.” Mind you, Erin can be an ass and is often cocky, but he can also be a gentleman and genuinely cares about Claire. Colin, on the other, is only looking out for himself and horny as all get-out. The fact that Claire recognized that from the start and realized her mistake in sleeping with Colin gave me hope for romance novels, and only worked to increase my enjoyment of the beat-downs.

As the full title of Curve Couture implies, this book depicts a beautiful romance. The love between Claire and Erin is true and, while the lust comes on quickly, the love is slow to develop. It is Claire’s support of Erin and understanding of his vulnerability and troubles which takes their bond beyond mutual attraction to a true romance. In fact, it takes at least half the book for them to admit their love for each other, which was a relief for me.

Irwing also masterfully builds up the sexual tension between Claire and Erin. They don’t immediately sleep together. Rather, they have several encounters filled with potential eroticism and mutual ogling as well as numerous misfires before they actually do the deed. Best of all, Irwing takes care to make it known that their sex does not truly become “love making” until they actually realize they are in love. Even in real life people don’t often make that distinction, and I’m glad that it was made here.

Of course, as with all books, Curve Couture is not without its flaws. Sometimes I felt as though Claire gave into Erin too quickly, especially when he would become angry and a little violent. In that same vein, I felt that Erin was, at times, too possessive of Claire, to the point that I at least would have reconsidered a relationship with such a man. Still, to play devil’s advocate, all that can all be attributed to the obligatory drama which comes with writing about the modeling world. There’s enough drama and melodrama in that industry to sustain a soap opera for a decade, so it only fits that the repressed anger from that drama and the possessiveness arising from the leering would arise within Claire and Erin’s relationship. I just had moments where I wasn’t comfortable with Erin’s aggressiveness towards Claire.

I also have mixed feelings as to how body image is handled here. On the one hand, I think Irwing does a pretty good job of handling all body sizes fairly. Yes, there had to be some characters prejudiced against both the very fat and the very skinny because that’s how people are, especially in the world of modeling. Overall, though, Curve Couture shows “curvy” women in as good a light as “skinny” women. I also appreciate that Erin’s yearning for Claire begins before she starts to lose weight, even when judgmental stylists tell her that she’s fat. On the other hand, I would like a book in which an overweight protagonist starts out as comfortable with her body shape. Perhaps Claire’s self-loathing just hit too close to home for me, but for once I’d like for such a woman to be confident without having to have other people show her her worth or having to make drastic changes to herself.

As with most books, I noticed some very minor proofreading errors, but they are so minor and infrequent that they’d be negligible for most readers. After all, even big-press books like Harry Potter can have such errors. To err is to human.

All in all, Curve Couture by H.M. Irwing is an excellent book, especially for a romance. I’d even argue that it’s better than Bad Boy Vibes, although the hot-topic handled in those books are just as important. The characters are relatable and three-dimensional, and the main relationship develops with the kinds of ups and downs that we expect from real-life romances. Sometimes it takes on the air of a soap opera, but that only added to the fun, particularly when Claire would make mental asides about everything seeming like The Bold and the Beautiful. I’m not 100% OK with how Erin treats Claire but, in the end, their tender relationship has an ending worthy of an uplifting romance. If you like romances with some real depth to them, you’ll want to check out this book.

You can buy Curve Couture by H.M. Irwing on Amazon. Also remember to check out the author’s website for information on this and Irwing’s other works.

Do you know of a book I should read? E-mail me at thewritersscrapbin@gmail.com and let me know!