SPOTLESS – SPOTLESS BOOK ONE by CAMILLA MONK

‘Sweet Jesus, it was OCD time.’

This story was not at all what we were expecting but how refreshingly surprising was the fact that we fell in complete book love. Spotless is a brilliantly written story with a difference. It crosses a few genres and brings something completely new to the table. It’s laugh out loud funny, it’s sweet and strangely romantic but in quite a unique way. It’s thrilling and suspenseful whilst fast paced and quirky. There was so much happening; so many details all wrapped up in a strange kidnapping on the hunt for a diamond.

“March…how does it work? Do we trust each other now?”

“I’m afraid so, Island.”

Not everything was as it seemed and when we finished we were left gagging for more. After a few serious reads we needed a laugh and that is exactly what we got here. Don’t be fooled though, this is strangely not a comedy but the banter and internal musings as well as compelling personality quirks made this ‘serious twisted fun’.

We loved both the heroine, Island and our hero, March equally, definitely wanting more – their connection both intriguing and in some respects left us wanting. There’s no nookie time nor is there any level of romance many romance readers are used to but you know what? We LOVED this fact, as the underlying questionable tension was there and all the more powerful as it was under exceptional circumstances. Would we have liked more romance? Sure as we loved these two characters. However, it did not spoil our enjoyment of their story.

‘Never in my life had I wished for a thousand – foot – wide asteroid to change its course to hit someone directly in the face…I was now officially over March.’

A professional killer with OCD – bloody hell we LOVE Mr. March or is it June or December? This guy was addictively hilarious yet incredibly suave and mysterious.

‘March was in love. With Haru’s remote controlled mop.’

We just couldn’t help but fall for him. And HURRAHHHH March has chest hair – we are so tired of Ken Doll chests in our fiction!!

‘I knew it was wrong, but I pictured myself burying my face in his chest to rub my cheeks against that damn hair and inhale his scent, kinda like cocaine addicts do when they’re at the end of the road and they just slam their face into the entire bag.’

As for Island – sweet and geeky, funny and strong. There was definitely more than meets the eye to her character. Their story is quite strange at times, full of criminal dealings and bloodshed.  However, it had a strong human element that kept us reading and left us wanting the next book. There’s definitely a bit of a cliff-hanger wrapped up in a bit of a closed ending so really it’s not one that’ll keep you up at night. Rather, we’re so excited for more and hope we get March and Island back soon!

‘I stared at him, baffled. Who the hell was March? Was he the ruthless professional killer…Or the gentle and slightly lunar guy telling me about his collection of ostrich pictures?’

 **Reviewed from an ARC Copy kindly provided by Montlake via Netgalley, with thanks**