Confessions of a Contractor by Richard Murphy

I picked up the book "Confessions of a Contractor" at Blogher as one of the many books we were given for free. The bright red cover and the slinky lingerie immediately made me guess it to be sensationalized fluff. And as I quickly read through the first fifty or so pages, well let's just say it starts with a bang.

After reading this particular "scene" in the book I figured this book would be appropriate for a bubble bath read. So I placed it in a stack of books to read and forgot about it for a while.

After having a stressful week I decided I needed something light to read  so I grabbed this book off of the stack.  A couple pages past the hot and heavy beginning the book actually surprised me. No longer was this book a Desperate Housewives deja vu, but a very well written story about a contractor, named Henry.

As salacious as the opening pages might have been, the rest of the book proved to have more to it. Murphy had a way of expressing Henry's thoughts in a way that sort of snuck up on you. Henry's thoughts were deeply personal and unexpected which really packed a punch to the reader when you didn't see it coming.  Murphy beautifully expresses how the things that we believe make us who we are, are also the things that may hold us back from truly becoming ourselves.Many of the paragraphs led me to setting the book down on my lap and really thinking about my view of Henry's predicaments (which ranged from women, money, family ties, pets and even deportation). 

Like I said, looking at the cover a reader probably expects something with little substance. And while there are some very racy scenes in the book, there is so much more. This book was a very well written and quick read.

Oh and P.S. this book has a really fun website check it out!

Official rating: Watermelon!