#ReadIndie Review: Smut by Karina Halle

Posted December 16, 2016 by Stephanie in 4 Stars, Contemporary, Karina Halle, ReadIndie, Review, Romance, smut / 5 Comments

Title: Smut
Author: Karina Halle
Publication: May 16th 2016

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Kobo

Rating: 4/5


What happens when the kink between the pages leads to heat between the sheets?

All Blake Crawford wants is to pass his creative writing course, get his university degree, and take over his dad’s ailing family business. What Amanda Newland wants is to graduate at the top of her class, as well as finally finish her novel and prove to her family that writing is a respectful career.

What Blake and Amanda don’t want is to be paired up with each other for their final project, but that’s exactly what they both get when they’re forced to collaborate on a writing piece. Since Amanda thinks Blake is a pushy asshole (with a panty-melting smirk and British accent) and Blake thinks Amanda has a stick up her ass (though it’s a brilliant ass), they fight tooth and nail until they discover they write well together. They also may find each other really attractive, but that’s neither here nor there.

When their writing project turns out to be a success, the two of them decide to start up a secret partnership using a pen name, infiltrating the self-publishing market in the lucrative genre of erotica. Naturally, with so much heat and passion between the pages, it’s not long before their dirty words become a dirty reality. Sure, they still fight a lot, but at least there’s make-up sex now.

But even as they start to fall hard for each other, will their burgeoning relationship survive if their scandalous secret is exposed? Or are happily-ever-afters just a work of fiction?

Smut ended up being even more awesome than I had expected it would be. I was literally laughing out loud on every page. The humor, the sex, and all the nerdy love made this book so good and just what I needed. 


Amanda Newland and Blake Crawford get paired up together, unwillingly, by their teacher on a writing project. They hate each other but it turns out they work and write well together. After the succes of that, Blake comes up with the idea to start writing smut together using a secret pen name. As their writing gets more intense and their attraction for each other can’t get denied, their feelings for each other start growing also.


Amanda and Blake were on one hand very different but on the other very much the same. They really made a perfect pair together, though. I loved it once they got past their dislike for each other and started writing together. Especially when they got to writing the actual smut. They were hot hot hot together! 


I absolutely loved this book. As a blogger and reader it really spoke to me and I’m sure it will to a lot of other people too. There are some lines in this book that will make you laugh oh so much. Not to mention all the delicious nerdy puns. But let’s just not mention Fluffy. Ever… 


Overall, Smut was the most perfect combination of hot romance and adorkableness. With pretty much every page making me laugh, this romantic comedy is a page-turner like only Karina Halle can write.

       About the Author:


Karina Halle is a former travel writer and music journalist and The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestselling author of The Pact, Love, in English, The Artists Trilogy, Dirty Angels and over 20 other wild and romantic reads. She lives on an island off the coast of British Columbia with her husband and her rescue pup, where she drinks a lot of wine, hikes a lot of trails and devours a lot of books.

Halle is represented by the Waxman Leavell Agency and is both self-published and published by Simon & Schuster and Hachette in North America and in the UK.

Hit her up on Instagram at @authorHalle, on Twitter at @MetalBlonde and on Facebook. You can also sign up for the newsletter for news, excerpts, previews, private book signing sales and more.

5 responses to “#ReadIndie Review: Smut by Karina Halle

  1. Karina Halle is one romance author of like, two hundred, whose books I need to read! Emma Chase and more from Sarina Bowen, too. I am particularly interested in the nerdy stuff, but also a great romance. 😀 I'm glad you enjoyed this book, Stephanie! Wonderful review. =)

    Alyssa @ The Eater of Books!

  2. I remember hearing a lot about this book when it first came out! I am glad you were able to enjoy this one and have a good laugh reading it, but still be able to relate to it on a deeper level as well. Love this review <3

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