"A trip back in time gives her a chance to undo mistakes and win back her husband."

Poor Katy. As head honcho and resident shrink for Divorcees Anonymous, she's done a terrific job helping her friends and co-divorcees put their lives back together--well, except for Victoria, but she's working on her--but hers is still a mess. She's still in love with her ex-husband Garrett, who is about to remarry. She's having a quiet breakdown in Massy's bathroom when a pink-haired sprite offers the chance to relive five days in 1983--with Garrett. IF she works it right, she might be able to win him back, or at least understand why her marriage fell part and come to terms with their divorce.

The first lesson she learns when she practically drags her husband into the bedroom circa 1983 is how surprised he is that she's willing to pass up studying for sex. Was she always more interested in getting her B.S. in two years than in making love? Answer: yes. He's not entirely sure she's not practicing some new therapeutic technique on him, but he's more than enthusiastic about participating in this one. Was she always using him as her guinea pig? Answer: yes? Did this tendency to treat their marriage like a therapy session get in the way of real intimacy? Answer: yes yes yes. Faced with any conflict, Katy immediately went into shrink mode--and still does. But she's a quick learner, and she's picked up all sorts of ideas (sexual and non) from her friends--and she's ready and willing to put them into practice, for Garrett's pleasure and her own.

Can she bring these new insights with her back to her own time, the night before Garrett's wedding? Can she find her schtupping place and leave her thinking place far behind in time to rekindle her marriage?

What makes this book special is Katy herself. She needs a lot less Doctor Phil and a lot more Doctor Ruth in her personality. Terrified by conflict, she's always backed away from fights, and handled arguments by falling into her therapist persona and offering her husband solutions-- when all he needed or wanted was a wife and lover to listen to him. It killed the spontaneity in Katy's life and in her marriage--what works well in the shrink's office can be deadly in the bedroom, she realizes. It's a case of "Therapist, heal thyself" that is required. And Katy faces her dilemma head-on, coming to terms with her own tendency to sweat the load too much, work too hard at everything, and not know when to let go. In hilarious moments, she sends textbooks flying in favor of uninhibited sex and real intimacy. Her Ex-Files buddies are there when she launches her attack on poor unsuspecting Garrett--and Maxie with a walkie-talkie doing her impression of Jane Bond is roll-on-the-floor funny. This is a book for all of us who sometimes forget to stop and smell the roses, all proffered with Dakota's gentle humor and ability to see into the human heart.

All the books in the series are terrific reads. I eagerly await Victoria the Vixen's tale. This is one book which I'll keep in my Rocket Library.

Sensuality Rating: Boilng hot monogamous sex, including oral sex and a spot of light bondage.

Reviewed by Gillian Fitzgerald
Courtesy Sensual Romance Reviews
Posted January 18, 2005

Summary

Katy Jennings is calm, cool and collected. She's a dedicated counselor who works with obsessive compulsive patients, teaching techniques like the "thinking spot" and filling up your "self-esteem account." Her life is full and her friends and fellow divorcees give Katy a reason to get up in the morning. They are the Ex-Files -- Maddie, Maxie and Victoria.

They're all Katy has now that her ex-husband Garret is remarrying. Katy's well-ordered world begins to fall apart as she watches each of her friends find love and happiness. Her sedate take on life becomes more and more frustrating as her anger and regret over Garret's remarriage looms on the horizon.

But Katy is going to get one more chance to examine her life with her ex, Garrett, and it doesn't happen here in two-thousand-four. Nope, she's going back to nineteen- eighty-three via the help of a tough talking, wise cracking fairy godmother! When Katy is given the chance to go back to nineteen-eighty-three, she makes some discoveries, including the body she thought she'd never see again and a bed she didn't use nearly enough!

But this isn't about a walk down memory lane; this is about deciding if Katy wants to go back to the future fighting for her man, or if she should remain in the "thinking spot" she's so fond of where order is a way of life and fighting of any kind isn't allowed. Big hair, spandex and Madonna are all part of the deal when Katy gets Kinky in The Ex- Files: Kinky Katy!