Review - Winter Fire - Jess Dee

Winter Fire by Jess Dee

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Loved this! It was short, but packed with heat and emotion! Rachel is in the Blue Mountains for her BFF's birthday party - Jenna, who is twins with Jackson, who Rachel has been in love with for 12 years, who is also is love with Rachel. Yet, they have denied their mutual love for those 12 years because Jackson and Jenna have a pact not to date each other's friends. So Rachel goes into the birthday weekend, dreading seeing Jackson, who she hasn't seen in 2 years. Then she meets Garreth - a sexy stranger who wants to get her in bed, and makes no bones about admitting it straight out.

Rachel thinks hot sex with a sexy stranger is just what she needs to get Jackson out of her head. But, of course, it doesn't work that way and there is surprise and heartache, and maybe an HEA - I don't want to spoil the ending.

The characters were easy to love - Rachel and Garreth had amazing, witty and flirty dialogue that was fun to read. We get to know these two pretty well. Jenna and Jackson - not so much. But we know the depth of Rachel's feelings for Jackson, and I was rooting for them. Although, I was rooting for Garreth, as well.

Hot sex, hot menage, emotions, great characters, easy to love - it's all in here.



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Review - Giving Chase - Lauren Dane

Giving Chase by Lauren Dane

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This one just wasn't for me. I wanted to like it, to read all the books in the series. Four hot brothers finding love? Sounded good. I guess this one's just not my style. I didn't enjoy the characters. I don't mind insecure female leads - but Maggie was over the top for me. Everyone kept having to reassure her how beautiful she was. ugh. Kyle was kind of bland. I liked Shane a whole lot better - he was flawed. I like my characters flawed, I guess. Everyone in the book was in their mid to late twenties, yet sometimes they talked to each other like they were in high school. Especially the "bad" women, who picked on Maggie all the time and never failed to remind her she wasn't "cool" or in the "in-crowd". It was just a little too much for me.
The sex was good. I did enjoy that. :) But all in all, this book just didn't do it for me. Cheesy characters, cheesy dialogue, cheesy plot twist. And odd, Southern dialogue that I didn't always understand. Maybe the next books in the series get better? This one? Not for me.



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Review - Breaking Free - Cherise Sinclair

Breaking Free by Cherise Sinclair

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I didn't expect to love this book so much! In fact, I had skipped this one to read Cullen's story because I hadn't liked Nolan that much. I was so wrong! This book was amazing, I had to read it in one sitting, except for the end. I kept putting it off because I didn't want it to be over.
What's there to say? Ms. Sinclair has done it again. This series is simply masterful. I don't have any direct experience with Doms, but I now have a fantasy of meeting a Dom just like one of the Masters of the Shadowlands. :) Do men like that really exist?
Master Z asks Nolan to take a on troubled sub, see if he can turn her around. He agrees when he sees how she doesn't get off in a scene, how scarred she is from past abuse. Beth was awesome. Strong and independent. Given her past - spending 2 years with an abusive, sadistic husband, she could have turned into a shy hermit. But she needed the BDSM in her life and found it at the Shadowlands. Unfortunately, she hasn't yet found a Dom who can pleasure her. Then Nolan comes in and practically undoes her with a simple kiss. He is unlike any Dom she's known before.
Nolan is the perfect Dom, masterful, hot, unyielding, protective, caring. So amazing. With each book, I find a new favorite Dom... :) I loved the play party scene Nolan hosts at his house. How fun would that be?!

There is plenty of tension in this one, hot sex, hot BDSM, emotions, suspense, action, and on and on. It has it all! I can't wait to read the next installment in this series. Thank you Ms. Sinclair, for creating this fantasy world for me!



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Review - Unleashed - Cherrie Lynn

Unleashed by Cherrie Lynn

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Loved this! Stayed up all night just to finish it. :) I am such a sucker for the whole "friends into lovers" plot line. And this one did not disappoint. Probably because Kelsey has been in love with Evan since college and their timing just always sucked, and he was never ready for a relationship. She married his best friend, he gets engaged, and one day, Kelsey walks in on her husband and Evan's fiancee. She hasn't really seen him in 2 months because seeing him brings up the memories of what happened. Then he calls her out of the blue and asks her to go to Hawaii with him - what would have been his honeymoon.

What a great vacation they have. They do not jump into the sack immediately. There is plenty of delicious sexual tension and innuendo. We get to see perspective from each of them, and I wanted to yell, "Just do it, already!" In a good way. When they finally do get together -- HOT! I fell in love with Kelsey and Evan, I wanted them to find happiness together, finally. The plot moves along and there is emotions after emotions involved. So, so worth the missing hours of sleep. Can't wait to read the next one.



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Review - On the Island - Tracey Garvis-Graves

On the Island by Tracey Garvis-Graves

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I bought this because of all the great reviews. I guess I'm just not a sweet romance type of person. I enjoyed it, I really did - it kept me reading. I didn't have to sit and finish it all in one sitting, however. Once Anna and T.J. got back to the real world, the story stalled a little for me. Then it picked up, and the ending was sufficiently fulfilling.
I enjoyed their time on the island - the struggles to survive, their triumphs and heartaches. I loved watching T.J. grow and how they began to see each other as more than just survival companions.
Maybe because Anna is so close to my age - I knew what she would do. I knew what she was thinking when they got back to Chicago. I saw it all coming. But it didn't bother me.
The funny thing is- the writing style is very on-the-surface. The reader does not get much insight to what the characters are thinking, even though the chapters switch between Anna's and T.J.'s POV. It's more like reading a narration of the events. So, all the emotion is brought out in dialogue and by the narrator's observations of the other. I really enjoyed their conversations. T.J. is awesome, I just really liked him.
All in all, I enjoyed this one. I didn't love it, I probably won't read it again. But it was a sweet romance.



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Review - Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Fifty Shades sucked me in, took me on an incredible emotional ride and completely left me hanging in heartache. The writing was great and kept the action moving along at a fast pace.

Ana drove me crazy. I'm not sure exactly why, but she did. I really enjoyed her voice in the emails between her and Christian, but that voice rarely showed itself in face-to-face conversation. Christian, now him I loved. What can I say? I'm addicted to the tortured-soul, complete control-freak Dom. Don't we all want to be the one to fix him?



I think Christian evolved quite well as he reconciled his emotions he discovered when he was with Ana. Yet, Ana seemed uncompromising to me. Although, I think Christian should have insisted on her doing more research when she balked at portions of the D/s lifestyle. I don't know, given her a book to read maybe? He just did a crappy job explaining why he needed the things he needed and Ana could never really understand him.



The sex in here is hot! The BDSM scenes are tasty. And the end leaves you completely hanging and wanting to throw something. I will need to get the next two books so I can see how Ana and Christian make it through all their issues.



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Mini Review - One Wicked Night by Kelly Jamieson

One Wicked Night by Kelly Jamieson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book was amazing! I couldn't put it down and read it as soon as I'd bought it. It has everything! Emotion, hot sex, angst, lovable characters, a great storyline... Seriously, everything.
You will get sucked into the lives of Kaelin, Tyler, Nick and the rest of the Wirth family. The author doesn't let you forget about the secondary characters, and includes you in their lives, as well.
The plot moved along, providing enough back story that you become emotionally involved in the characters' lives and ache right along with them. Yes, I had tears falling during parts of this book, and other parts were hot, hot, hot! m/m action, m/m/f action, and it was amazing.
There's not enough I can say about how much I loved this book. What a great way to spend a few hours. :)



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