Review: Ally Hughes Has Sex Sometimes by Jules Moulin

Title: Ally Hughes Has Sex Sometimes by Jules Moulin
Publisher: Dutton
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Comedy
Length: 288 pages
Book Rating: B

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley

Summary:

When a buttoned-up professor and her unbuttoned daughter fall for the same irresistible man, a delightful, subversive comedy begins. . . .

Life isn’t easy for single mother Ally Hughes. Teaching at Brown, her class load is huge and her boss is a menace. At home, she contends with a critical mother, a falling-down house, and a daughter who never misses a beat. Between taking care of the people she loves, teaching full time, and making ends meet, Ally doesn’t have time for a man. She doesn’t date. She’s not into flings. But then she meets Jake, an eager student, young in years but old in soul, who challenges his favorite professor to open up her life, and her heart, to love. It doesn’t work. In fact, his urging backfires.

Ten years later, Ally’s still single. Jake reappears and surprises her in a brand-new role: He’s dating Ally’s now-grown daughter. In this hilarious, heartrending tale, Ally is finally forced to concede (not only to herself) that an independent, “liberated” woman can still make room in her life for love.

Review:

Jules Moulin’s debut novel, Ally Hughes Has Sex Sometimes, is a highly entertaining novel.  Alternating back and forth between past and present, this breezy, steamy read is a delightful older woman/younger man romance that is fast paced with appealing, likable characters.

Ally Hughes is a college professor raising her daughter, Lizzie, on her own. She is a single mom who has devoted her life to her daughter and she is not interested in dating. One weekend while Lizzie is away, Ally has a scorching hot fling with one of her students, Jake Bean. Not wanting the ten years younger Jake to tie himself down while in his early twenties, Ally pushes him away. Fast forward ten years and Lizzie is now grown up and on her own when Jake re-enters Ally’s life. He makes it clear that he would like to resume their relationship, but is Ally finally ready to take a risk on love?

Ally’s life has undergone a few changes in the intervening years, but surprisingly, her feelings for Jake remain the same. Currently on Sabbatical from her teaching position, she is grieving a recent loss while trying to guide Lizzie into taking a different career path. She has also reconnected with an old college friend and so far, she has resisted his efforts to take their relationship into a more romantic direction. After reconnecting with Jake, her attraction to him comes roaring back to life, but Ally is quickly distracted by an unexpected and potentially dangerous situation with Lizzie.

Jake’s life has gone in a radically different direction since he last saw Ally, but one thing has remained constant: his feelings for her. As soon as he realizes who Lizzie is, he carefully orchestrates a meeting with Ally who, of course, recognizes him immediately. Jake is upfront about his desire to pick up their relationship where it left off, but Ally continues to argue against them becoming involved again. Just as Jake is making a little headway with Ally, the demands of his career and the situation with Lizzie threaten to derail their fledgling relationship.

Ally Hughes Has Sex Sometimes by Jules Moulin is a quirky, fun novel that has a surprising amount of depth. The storyline is interesting and the characters are well developed and rather charming. Despite the slightly unrealistic aspect to Ally and Jake’s romance, it is an all around light-hearted love story that I highly recommend to fans of contemporary fiction.