Naked Love by Jewel E. Ann
- Alisha Eadle
- Sep 6
- 10 min read
Naked Love
by Jewel E. Ann
Self-Published
Book 2 in the Montgomery Sisters Duology
What happens when a high-heeled diva goes camping with her sister’s dog?
Avery Montgomery, fashionista and preacher’s daughter, needs a ride from Milwaukee to Los Angeles.
“Make my death quick, and please don’t tie me up. I’m claustrophobic.”
Jake Matthews, diva-hater, agrees to let her tag along on his annual but primitive trek to the West Coast.
“Okay, Princess, I’ll take you to L.A., but your crown won’t make it there in one piece.”
She’s desperate and out of options.
He’s ruthless and out of patience.
Don’t miss this sexy, hilarious, and heart-warming journey of self-discovery and raw … naked love.
Genre
Triggers
Being cheated on, being financially manipulated by an ex, vet care and death of a beloved dog from GVD (twisted stomach), Memories of finding out a partner is married and stress from finding out about affair causes wife to miscarry, estrangement from father for cheating on mother and marrying a younger, vain woman
I really liked this book.
It kind of gave 'It Happened One Summer' vibes, but make it a road trip.
Very fun, indeed.
It's a Jewel E. Ann book, so of course, it's emotional as well.
She likes to torture us in that way.
It was hard to relate to Avery at first. She is definitely on the spoiled side.
Funny, though.
When she is paired with Jake to get a drive back to her home state - a man who is prejudiced against women like Avery - it adds to some delightful squabbling and banter.
I'm always impressed when an author can write such sizzling chemistry between characters that are, very much, complete and total opposites. Jewel E. Ann does just that in this book.
Even when they are being catty with one another, it's there. Not only because you know where it's leading, but just because there is something in each of these characters, and their life experiences to that point, that just click together and heal something within themselves.
That's the magic of a Jewel E. Ann book.
All her characters are flawed.
So while I couldn't connect with Avery's character at first, once Jewel lays down the crumbs, and you start to peel back her character, suddenly, much like Jake, you find something to connect to. Redeeming.
Take away the makeup, the money, the hair extensions, what you find is a woman with low self-esteem, who estimated her worth through the men she dated. Even if you don't relate to that, you know someone who does.
It's sad.
It shapes the person she projects to the world, to hide everything about her that she doesn't like.
As a woman, I understood her character the more I read.
Jake ... well, I definitely loved reading him. I'm a sucker for a grumpy character, and while he isn't like that to everyone, no one brings out that grump quite like Avery.
While I wasn't sure if I was going to like Naked Love because of how Avery is introduced to us, I ended up really enjoying it. It will make you laugh, and definitely cry. In the end, as with all of Jewel's work, it's worth it.
Avery: "I hope you're cursed with an eternity of anal itching, and I will make it my life's purpose to ensure you never find anything to hump again. Do you understand me?"
I hug my mangled hand to my chest.
Avery: "Eternal anal itching. NO humping!"
Avery: "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh ... this isn't happening! You haven't met her? You're planning on marrying a woman you have never met? Dad! What is wrong with you? She may not even be a woman! You're going to get a dick up your ass on your wedding night. How can you be so irresponsible?"
I cover my mouth to keep my mini vomit from coming out. Sydney's in Disney World, where dreams come true, and I'm stuck in a nightmare, where my father's engaged to a woman young enough to be his daughter, and they're getting read to make a porno right here in the entryway.
Avery: "Swarley, now!"
Jake: "Why does he need to go with you?"
Avery: "To protect me."
Jake: "From what?"
Avery: "Raccoons. Badgers. Skunks. Snakes. I can go on all night."
Jake: "Please don't. Just simply go. I could use a few minutes of peace and quiet."
Avery: "It's going to rain. I won't be long."
Jakes: "Thanks for the warning."
Avery: "About the rain?"
Jake: "About your imminent return."
Avery: "Listen, short dick, I want nothing to do with your cock. Or any cock ever again."
Jake: "Thank god ... my cock threatened to hold its breath until it turns blue and fall clean off my body if I even think of sticking it in your battery-acid lined cu-"
I stop myself, clinging to the tiny bit of control I have left.
Another gasp. Can she really be that shocked?
Avery: "Cu? Cunt? Was that the word tripping out of your mouth? You are the most vulgar man I have ever met."
Really? She's from L.A. I'm not vulgar. This infuriating woman just brings out the fighter in me. I need to let this go and take the high road.
Jake: "Sorry. Lady bits? Vajayjay? Hoo-haw? Quim?"
Avery: "Vagina! Vagina, vagina, vagina, vagina."
She balls her fists.
I lift a single brow.
Jake: "Okay."
I bow.
Jake: "Good night, Your Royal Vagina."
Avery: "You're such a dick,"
she mumbles as I turn, retrieving my toothbrush and toothpaste from my backpack.
Jake: "Penis. Penis, penis, penis, penis. If we're being anatomically correct, you think I'm such a penis."
Jake: "You see ..."
he trails his lips along my chest, seeking my other breast
Jake: " ... the art of sex is all about selfish pleasure. You like what I'm doing ..."
he palms my breast, flicking his tongue over it until my legs pinch together to fight off the need to moan
Jake: " ... but I'm not doing it for you."
He lets go of my hands and hovers his lips over mine.
Jake: "I'm doing it because I want to taste you ... because I want to hear you whimper ... because I want to feel you squirm. That gives me pleasure."
I nod slowly, but I can't find one word that's a suitable response.
He grabs my ass and lifts me, guiding my legs around his waist, my arms around his neck, so he can lay me down on his sleeping bag. Kissing me with an unhurried pace, he reaches behind him and unhooks my legs from his waist before tearing his mouth from mine.
Jake: "And ..."
he sets my feet on the ground and slides off my panties
Jake: "... when my tongue goes here ..."
Avery: "Oh god ..."
My hips jerk against the two fingers he shoves inside of me.
Jake: "... it's because I'm so fucking hungry."
Jake: "My favorite songs are acoustic. Just a piano or a guitar and a voice. Sometimes i don't even realize how much I like a song until it's stripped down. The words mean more. The emotions are magnified. It's like the stars ... During the day we don't see them, but at night when the world around us feels stripped and bare, they shine so brightly."
I rest my cheek on the top of her head.
Jake: "I'm not sure I've ever seen anything as beautiful as you are in this very moment."
Bravery isn't a trait, it's a few moments of time where we pretend that we're not vulnerable.
Jake Matthews just knocked on the window to my soul and whispered, "I see you." Not the million imperfections I see in the mirror.
Avery: "That would be great. I can't kill Swarley. My sister will never forgive me."
Jake chuckles.
Jake: "Killing someone's dog is pretty unforgivable. So is poisoning them."
Avery: "So it depriving someone of a proper shower."
Jake: "Poisoning and shower deprivation. Yeah, those are on the same level."
Avery: "Don't be bitter."
Megan: "Jake Matthews, that's your problem. You see her in this black and white ... two-dimensional way, and that's not fair to her. You don't need to embrace her vulnerability, you need to feed her spirit. And don't run from her vanity, simply admire her beauty in all it's perfect and flawed states. Love her as a whole, not just the parts you find worth of love."
Avery: "Are you texting Megan?"
He shakes his head and sets his phone on the nightstand.
Jake: "Deedy. But I think she was in the middle of doing something. She seemed a little short and frustrated in her replies. Said she needed fifteen, maybe twenty minutes to finish up."
I hug his back and kiss his shoulder.
Avery: "What do you think she was doing?"
Jake: "Your dad."
Avery: "What? Ew ..."
I push away and fall onto my back, covering my head with a pillow.
Avery: "No. Yuck! That's so wrong. Why would you say that?"
Jake: "Do you pray for him to live or do you pray for him to find peace as well as your sister and family?"
I'm a terrible person.
I pray that God will provide him with a soft blanket to hump in his afterlife.
Avery: "I'm going to hell,"
I whisper.
Sydney: "You're going to find the one someday, and he's going to love you with his whole heart. His eyes will only magnify the good. His heart will be blind to any imperfections. And you'll feel safe with him. You'll know he's there to pick you up. He'll be there when you need him the most because he'll just ... know."
Avery: "I despise you."
Anthony: "Sounds like a recipe for angry, make-up sex. Remember that, baby? Remember how you used to get all pissed off at me for something and we'd fuck like rabid animals."
Avery: "Don't flatter your geriatric ego. I'd hardly call doggy style fucking like rabid animals. I'm not sure you ever actually finished that way. You'd get a cramp in your leg, and I'd have to ride it out on top and finish you with a hand job because you forgot your ED medication. Now, if we're done pretending you're young, sexy, or even a remotely decent huma, can you just tell me where my stuff is, so I can never talk to you again?"
Anthony: "One meal. Dinner. IF you still want us to be over after dinner, I'll have all of your stuff delivered wherever you're living now. Deal?"
Avery: "YOU HAVE MY STUFF! WE'RE NOT PLAYING LET'S MAKE A DEAL. I'VE BEEN FUCKING ANOTHER MAN WITH A MUCH BIGGER COCK FOR WEEKS. WE. ARE. OVER!"
Someone clears their throat. I turn from my hiding spot on the side of the pool house. I thought I was the only one out here.
Lautner: "Uh ... Syd was looking for her phone,"
Lautner says with my dad standing next to him.
Dear Heavenly Father,
I'll make this one question quick. Why? Just ... why?
Avery: "Home?"
She turns around.
Avery: "I don't have a home. Or a car. Or a job. I don't have furniture, a majority of my clothes, pots and pans, forks, knives, spoons. I don't have a fucking flyswatter! But ..."
she takes a step toward me and holds up her thumb and index finger a fraction of an inch apart
Avery: " ... I have nothing but a teeny tiny shred of dignity. And I'll step in front of a speeding train before I let you take it from me."
On a big yawn, I stretch my arms above my head.
Avery: “You’re loud. Embarrassingly loud. Seriously, our father is in the house.”
Sydney snorts and covers her mouth as her face reddens.
Sydney: “Oh god … it was the wine I had with dinner. Wine makes me …”
Avery: “Loud. It makes you loud yet oddly distinct—well enunciated in your demands.”
Sydney: “Ugh!”
She covers her face.
Avery: “I mean … every woman has a there. What’s yours? Because you were pretty elated when he got there. Do your kids wonder why Mommy screams, ‘Yes! There! Right there! Don’t stop!’?”
Sydney: “Shh … stop!”
She drops her hand-covered face to the table next to the latte that’s a bit too sweet for my taste.
Avery: “What does Lautner do when he sees Dad? Like … a high-five for thoroughly nailing his daughter? Dad has some health issues, but I don’t think impaired hearing is one of them.”
Sydney lifts her head to speak then clamps her jaw shut as Deedy walks into the kitchen, tying her robe.
Deedy: “Good morning.”
We smile at Deedy and return pleasantries. She pours a cup of coffee and joins us at the table.
Deedy: “Someone had a good night.”
Deedy takes a sip of coffee but not before smirking.
Sydney: “Oh god!”
Sydney covers her face again.
Deedy: “Don’t be embarrassed. I have a feeling Tommy will make me sing later too.”
Sydney and Avery: “NO!”
Sydney and I yell at the same time.
After a minute or two of silence, her posture deflates.
Avery: “Part of me wishes I would have known you when this photo was taken. I would have loved to have been the girl waiting in your corner. I would have loved to have known that Jake … the fearless one who didn’t hold onto his anger. This …”
She steps closer to the photo.
Avery: “This was the stripped-down version of you. This was your acoustic song. I know this because when I left Megan’s house, I felt like how you look in this photo—battered. Nearly broken. Exhausted. Unrecognizable. But…”
she turns back toward me with tears in her eyes
Avery: “…also victorious. Stronger. Changed. You did that. You gave me a fight when I needed it. You taught me to take a punch and get back up. You showed me that what we see on the outside can be very deceiving. A scar doesn’t mean you were weak. A scar means you survived. A scar is a badge of strength.”
When she blinks, several tears slide down her cheeks, but she doesn't move to wipe them away.
Avery: "You left scars, but now I'm stronger. So ... thank you."
Time is magical. It doesn't erase things, but it gives a different perspective. There's a shift in magnification. The negative blurs over time, and the good moments - the important ones - they linger and intensify. They become the drug. You want more of those moments, and the risk that held little worth gains value with each passing day.
Avery: "Tell me how you love me."
I press my lips to his chest as my hand slides lower, forcing his breath to catch.
His eyes drift shut for a few seconds before he kisses the top of my head.
Jake: "I love you like an acoustic song. The words mean more. The emotions are magnified. It's like the stars ... during the day we don't see them, but at night when the world around us feels stripped and bare, they shine so brightly."
