When I first started reading romance, it was rare for me to pick up a contemporary romance, let alone a series romance. While I can’t imagine a steady diet of them, every month or so I am really in the mood for something quick and light, and a series romance fits the bill. This time when the mood struck I picked up Roughing It with Ryan. No one would mistake it for the Great American Novel or anything, but as a “let’s treat ourselves because all the kids are back in school” read it was pretty good.

Suzanne Carter has temporarily sworn off dating. She’s looking for a cheap apartment in L.A.’s South Village, because it’s near her job as a restaurant chef – and because her ex-fiancé just kicked her out of the house and changed the locks. She finds what she’s looking for in a cool old building that’s being remodeled, and quickly makes friends with her new landlord Taylor. Taylor is dressed to the hilt, but in spite of appearances she’s rather short on cash herself. The two bond over ice cream, and mutually promise to stay single, even if it means ignoring the hunky guy who is going to fix all the trees on the property.

Unfortunately, they need the tree man sooner than planned. A big storm knocks a large tree right into Suzanne’s bedroom, trapping her into a corner and blocking the door. Taylor calls Ryan Alondo (the tree man) in the middle of the night, and he saves the day. Before he brings Suzanne to safety, he can’t help noticing how hot she looks in her tank top and panties, and the two share a passionate kiss. (This might sound kind of skanky, but in the book it comes across as sexy and kind of sweet. Trust me – I hate skanky.)

Suzanne subsequently loses her job and ends up focusing more on catering, and Ryan spends a lot of time on the property as he takes care of the old trees and trims them back. The sparks flying between them are almost impossible to deny, and Ryan is perfectly willing to take the relationship as far as it will go. He has no qualms about his feelings for Suzanne; he just knows she’s the one. Suzanne is a little more leery. The fiancé who locked her out was actually her third, and she’s convinced that she ruins every decent man out there. She’s not sure she’s really ready to risk her heart, and Ryan will have some major convincing to do – even if he does look great without his shirt on and taste great with chocolate ice cream all over him.

The chocolate ice cream might tip you off that this book has some interesting love scenes. Shalvis strikes the right balance with them, and they are inventive and fun without being ridiculous. They came off much better to me than, say, the bananas and chocolate scene in Robin Schone’s The Lover, which struck me as laughably ridiculous. At times the sexual tension seems a bit forced, especially early on, but then this is a series romance, and there just isn’t much time to dilly dally.

I liked both Ryan and Suzanne – especially Ryan. It’s nice to see a man who goes after what he wants and doesn’t second guess himself. He doubles as a father to his younger siblings (not too young, fortunately; they’re all in college) and goes to school himself on the side. Suzanne is the type of woman who likes to eat ice cream out of the carton and manages to feel sexy most of the time even if she’s carrying around a few extra pounds. In that way, she’s pretty realistic.

There were just a couple of sticking points for me. First of all, Ryan has been going to college secretly, three nights a week. His siblings think he is dating all that time and have no idea what he’s really doing. This struck me as silly. I couldn’t think of a reasonable explanation for his deception, which he has been carrying on for six years. It’s not like he’s a drug dealer or something, so why can’t he just tell people he goes to school? I had a bit of a problem with Suzanne as well. At times she seemed more than a little wishy-washy, and it was hard to believe that anyone in her position would blame herself for her failed relationships. We don’t hear much about the first fiancé, but the second insisted that she become an exotic dancer and the third cheated on her with his secretary. Yet she thinks the relationships failed because she drove good men to do bad things. I really wanted to gently take her by the hand and show her the definition of “scumbag” (or maybe even something a little more colorful) in the dictionary. Fortunately for her she really lucked out with her fourth (and final) fiancé.

This book is the first in Shalvis’ South Village Singles trilogy, all about women who live in the same building. While it has its flaws, it’s worth a look for series fans – especially for those curious about that ice cream scene.