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Review: Since I Saw You by Beth Kery

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Since I Saw You (Because You Are Mine, #4)Since I Saw You by Beth Kery

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for an honest review at Seductive Musings.

This review may contain spoilers for previous books in the Because You Are Mine series. You can read this book as a standalone, but I believe you’ll enjoy it more if you’ve read the other books first.

When I found out there would be one more book in Beth Kery’s Because You Are Mine series, I wondered if it could live up to the others, especially now that Ian and Francesca had finally gotten their HEA. But I should have known Ian Noble’s brother Kam would have no problem bringing the same intensity to his romance with Ian’s coolly efficient right-hand woman that I’d come to expect in this series, and not just because he’s practically his half-brother’s double. For despite all the similarities between Ian Noble and Kam Reardon, Kam is most definitely his own man, and that’s what makes him irresistible to Lin and to this reader as SINCE I SAW YOU brings this wonderful series to a satisfying close.

My impression of Kam in the previous book, BECAUSE WE BELONG, was that of a man who didn’t give a damn about what anyone thought of him. After all, he already shared a common blood bond with his two half-brothers, Ian and Lucien, thanks to the criminally insane father. But unlike Ian and Lucien, Kam had been in direct contact for most of his life with the evil man who’d spawned the three half-brothers and many more like them. Only by appearing to reject his own beloved mother could Kam protect her from that man’s retribution, but in the process, Kam began to doubt his own ability to love and protect anyone else in his life. There had been another woman he’d thought loved him for himself, but she’d ultimately let him down. So when Kam first spots Lin Soong walking toward him for a prearranged business meeting in SINCE I SAW YOU, he has remind himself no woman like her would ever want a life with him, even as he knows he must get this woman in his bed as soon as possible. But as Lin becomes an all-too-essential part of his new life in Chicago, can Kam keep himself from crossing the line between business and love?

Unlike Kam, Lin has spent her entire life keeping her own wants and desires locked safely away where they can never derail her successful career and devotion to Ian Noble, the only man she ever thought she wanted. Lin already knew even before Ian had found love with Francesca that he’d never be more to her than her boss and friend. But when she sees Kam Reardon for the first time, his physical resemblance to the man she can never have nearly takes her breath away. There are other similarities in personality and temperament, but it’s Kam, not Ian, who will stop at nothing to make Lin his own. Now Lin has to decide if it’s worth blowing up her carefully constructed life for someone who is either the best or worst thing that has ever happened to her.

Lin had been portrayed throughout the series as an emotionless superhuman, so it was gratifying to see her reactions to Kam as he quickly shook her sense of self down to its foundation. Even as she attempts to “civilize” him, he continues to expose the wildness she’s spent a lifetime keeping locked away. The passionate result of their physical alliance soon terrifies them both. But as they realize just how similar they really are, it’s trust that Lin and Kam need to find with each other, for only then can love survive whatever happens next.

What I loved the most about SINCE I SAW YOU was how the romance between Lin and Kam was the driving factor for the entire story, even as the various external pressures loomed large in the background. After the rollercoaster suspense of the previous book (which I did enjoy immensely), it was a relief to discover that what was most important in this book was learning more about what motivated both Kam and Lin in their lives up to the point when they first saw each other, and how they needed to trust their feelings for each other now over what had hurt them both in the past. Their understandable concerns about a lasting commitment may have led to the Big Misunderstanding that nearly split them apart, but it made sense in what had been slowly revealed during the story. Best of all, both Kam and Lin were able to realize their mistake in time to produce a beautiful scene of mutual apology leading to their own satisfying HEA.

SINCE I SAW YOU is a captivating example of a romance between driven personalities from different worlds who share a common goal of success in both business and love. It was a beautiful conclusion to one of my favorite recent series, and my only regret was that it had to end.

Ratings:

Overall: 4.5
Sensuality level: 4 (multiple D/s scenes with main characters including semi-public sex, anal sex, and bondage)

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Review: Giving In by Maya Banks

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Giving In (Surrender Trilogy, #2)Giving In by Maya Banks

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

A copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher for an honest review at Seductive Musings.

This review may contain spoilers for LETTING GO, book 1 in the Surrender trilogy. You can read GIVING IN as a standalone, but I believe you’ll enjoy it more if you’ve read the previous book first.

GIVING IN continues the story of a group of friends and family devastated by the untimely death of Carson Breckenridge and how their lives have changed since then. In the previous book, we saw Carson’s best friend finally acknowledge his long-suppressed feelings for Carson’s widow after three long years of mourning. Here in GIVING IN, Jensen Tucker, the man who replaced Carson as partner in his successful management consultant firm seeks to rescue Carson’s still-grieving sister from the emotional black hole she’s been in for most of her life. What neither Jensen nor Kylie could have anticipated was that Jensen needed rescuing just as much as Kylie, and that together they would find the path toward real healing and true love.

Kylie Breckenridge and her beloved older brother Carson had already survived a horrific childhood, thanks to his success at planning their escape and unwavering determination to keep them both alive. But Carson is gone, and Kylie feels abandoned all over again. Now there’s no one who can understand what she went through and why she can’t bring herself to live the full and happy life he’d always wanted for her. What Kylie doesn’t realize is that there is someone who senses what she feels and what she really needs, and it’s the one person who makes her angry enough to fight for what she wants, even as she resists him every step of the way. That person is Jensen Tucker.

Jensen may have only recently arrived in Kylie’s world, but he can already see that letting her continue to drift through life would be the same terrible mistake that her late brother and their friends have already made. Now Jensen is determined not only to drag Kylie out from behind her walls of self-protection, but to seek her complete emotional surrender to him as the only man who can protect her from everything she’s been hiding from for much too long.

Although I’m a big fan of how Maya Banks incorporates BDSM into many of her other books, including LETTING GO, it was just as satisfying to see GIVING IN focus more on the non-physical aspects of Dominance and submission, and how one can provide the emotional grounding for the other, even when the roles are switched. Jensen is willing to do just about anything to prove to Kylie that he can be trusted unconditionally, including suppressing his innate desire to dominate her. But Jensen’s need to be Kylie’s protector is tangled up in the damage from his own violent childhood from which he’s never completely recovered. When this unresolved trauma triggers Jensen into doing the one thing he’d promised Kylie would never happen, his heartbreaking decision to keep her safe becomes the catalyst for her to finally give him the surrender they both need for a genuinely happily ever after together.

GIVING IN is a remarkable story of two damaged souls who find their perfect counterpoint in each other. It never flinches from showing the long-term effects of domestic violence and child abuse while always keeping the delicate romance between its hero and heroine front and center. Up next is TAKING IT ALL, and it will finally address all the problems we’ve seen between Chessie and Tate caused by his repeated work-related absences. As sad I as I’ll be to see the Surrender trilogy end, I still can’t wait to read it.

Ratings:
Overall: 4.5 stars
Sensuality level: 3.5

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Review: Once Upon a Billionaire by Jessica Clare

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Once upon a Billionaire (Billionaire Boys Club, #4)Once upon a Billionaire by Jessica Clare

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher for an honest review at Seductive Musings.

Jessica Clare’s Billionaire Boys Club is a relatively new romance series that I’ve enjoyed from the very beginning, with a 5 star read for me in its second book, BEAUTY AND THE BILLIONAIRE. So it’s with great sadness that I have to say ONCE UPON A BILLIONAIRE was so not of the same quality that if it had been the very first book, I probably wouldn’t have continued with the series. Although the romance ended up in the right place when all was said and done, its ill-conceived hero and heroine affected my enjoyment of their HEA to the point that I almost feel guilty for having liked any of it at all.

Griffin Verdi, aka Viscount Montagne Verdi, younger brother of the Duke of Calcaire in the ruling family of Bellissime, is a member of the Billionaire Boys Club, but that’s all due to his own financial skills, not his royal bloodline. His snooty family all but disowned him after he moved to America, but they’re still happy to spend the money he sends them. All he asks in return is to be left alone with his work and his passion for archaeology, but even that is more than they can manage. Now that he’s required to attend his beloved cousin’s wedding as she becomes the first Bellissime Crown Princess to marry a commoner, it’s just Griffin’s bad luck for his sole personal assistant to be too sick to accompany him there. Desperation forces the proud billionaire to turn to his good friend and fellow club member, Hunter, for help. And payback is what prompts Hunter’s girlfriend, Gretchen, to surprise Griffin with the one woman who could unsettle him to the point of madness.

Maylee Meriweather may hail from a no-account Arkansas trailer park, but that doesn’t mean she can’t handle her boss’s last-minute call to help Griffin on his trip. She doesn’t have the fancy clothes, fancy laptop, or fancy anything to keep up appearances in Griffin’s circle. All she has is a can-do attitude, plenty of gumption, and an otherworldly ability to take away a person’s pain after a burn or other related injury. But when nervous flier Maylee mixes mojitos with her “happy pills” on Griffin’s private plane, her bedraggled appearance and drug-induced behavior threaten to end any chance of them getting along before they even land at their destination. Still, there’s something about Maylee that Griffin can’t seem to resist. If he could just manage not to insult her with every word out of his mouth, they might find something together that goes well beyond their temporary working relationship.

The plot of ONCE UPON A BILLIONAIRE is a fairly standard romance trope: egotistical billionaire is thrown together with a sweet tempered woman totally below his standards, they clash on superficial differences but eventually succumb to their mutual physical attraction, ending up with an HEA only after the prerequisite Big Misunderstanding. It’s light and fluffy and utterly predictable, unlike the last two books in the series, and yet that’s not what bothered me so much. What made me nearly stop reading more than once was how both the hero and heroine were so broadly defined that it bordered on offensive in some spots.

Let’s begin with our billionaire hero, Griffin Verdi. From the first page of ONCE UPON A BILLIONAIRE, he comes across as the worst sort of condescending rich guy, barely civil to the other men he considers friends, and outright rude to Hunter’s girlfriend, Gretchen. It’s true that Gretchen gives as good as she gets, but it’s not like Griffin isn’t capable of basic courtesy to anyone not in his inner circle. Or is he? We’re led to believe that this innate boorishness stems from his royal upbringing, and yet he has a constant inner monologue about how much he hates his own relatives taking advantage of him and others without even so much as a simple thank you. So why wouldn’t he try to behave better than the people he resents? I suspect it was all in support of the conflict between him and his intended heroine. And yet for me, Griffin was nothing more than a faded copy of a Harlequin Presents hero. The arrogance and incivility were there, but any compelling reasons why a woman would find him irresistible in the face of such nonsense were missing in action. Even so, Griffin’s portrayal wasn’t half as problematic as what was in store for Maylee, the woman he supposedly learns to love.

Maylee Meriweather isn’t just from another world, she’s from an entirely different universe. Any woman not born and bred as royalty would be a challenge for Griffin, but a hick from the sticks is beyond the pale. Yet what I objected to wasn’t the extreme contrast per se, but the way Maylee was written as a cartoon character straight out of Dogpatch USA. She’s already a personal assistant to another billionaire, but she dresses like a bag lady and keeps track of her boss’s schedule on Post-It Notes. Every other word out of her mouth is “Lordamercy!” and she loves to tell everyone she meets that she was named for her Nana and PeePaw. Later we learn that her younger sisters are named Alabama and Dixie after their Daddy’s two favorite songs. (What, no brother named Skeeter?) Best of all, Maylee is a self-proclaimed “burn talker” who helps injured people by asking them to give the pain to her as she rubs the location of their burn. (Of course she is.)

This ongoing litany of outrageous personal details prompted a constant side-eye from me as the book went on, especially once it became obvious that Griffin would have been a complete jerk to Maylee without them. It really wasn’t necessary to portray her as an egregious example of nearly every possible stereotype of young women born and raised in the American South. And yet all that was missing by the time we met Maylee’s beloved drooling hound dog in Mama’s trailer back home was a moonshine still in the backyard and a visit to the local Waffle House. But because Maylee is the personification of the sweet but naive girl fresh off the turnip truck, she’s also able to win over every other person she meets with her kind and considerate demeanor, and even manages to help the Crown Princess of Bellissime herself with a curling iron burn on the night before the big wedding. Maylee also secretly hands out cash tips to everyone providing services to Griffin on his behalf, even though we’ve already been told that she’s barely getting by financially due to her need to send most of her salary to her family back in Arkansas. It’s this deep-seated kindness that ostensibly makes Maylee such a great personal assistant in spite of all her shortcomings in appearance and social behavior. It’s also apparently why she continues to take care of Griffin in spite of the cruel way he treats her right up until he decides she’s worthy of his affection after all.

Just because Maylee also gets the good end of the sweet Southern girl stereotype doesn’t make the rest of it even remotely acceptable. And just because Griffin finally pulls his head out of his ass after seeing himself in his mother and brother’s poor treatment of Maylee doesn’t mean his earlier abominable behavior is in any way excusable. There’s a way to depict a romance between a hero and heroine from vastly different worlds without potentially insulting readers, and then there’s what this book did. But I’m not quite ready to give up on the Billionaire Boys Club series, and I’m hoping very hard that the next book, ROMANCING THE BILLIONAIRE, will be a triumphant return to form. I don’t think I could handle this level of disappointment again.

Ratings:

Overall: 3
Sensuality level: 3

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Review: Teach Me A Lesson by Jasmine Haynes

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Teach Me a LessonTeach Me a Lesson by Jasmine Haynes

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for an honest review at Seductive Musings.

I really loved Jasmine Haynes’s THE NAUGHTY CORNER, and the way she introduced us to Gray and Lola as they discovered a mutual kinky love after being inadvertently brought together by Lola’s bratty nephews. So I was happy to see that TEACH ME A LESSON follows directly from that story, although it could still easily be read as a stand-alone book. I enjoy seeing couples from an earlier book in the context of a new one, especially when they play a key role in the new couple’s romance. And with TEACH ME A LESSON, we also get another great erotic romance set in the deliciously naughty background of an ordinary suburban high school, where consenting adults secretly meet to privately engage in oh-so-inappropriate behavior.

While THE NAUGHTY CORNER featured a successful CEO moonlighting as a part-time high school football coach, our hero in TEACH ME A LESSON is the principal himself. Married and divorced twice, Lance Hutton has become resigned to the fact that he isn’t likely to find a permanent relationship with any woman. But that doesn’t mean he hasn’t taken notice of the delectable Miss Moore. She’s only part-time at his school, which limits the moments he has to ogle her from afar. One fateful afternoon, Principal Hutton decides to stop by Miss Moore’s office just as she’s crawling on the floor for a misplaced apple. And that’s when everything changes.

Charlotte Moore doesn’t want to submit to any man ever again, not after the awful one who had her doubting every thought and decision. The only independent decision she was able to make in that relationship was finally choosing to leave it. Since then, Charlotte has focused solely on casual affairs with much younger men, ones that let her take charge so she never has to worry about losing her identity again. So she’s puzzled by her apparent attraction to someone like Principal Lance Hutton. Not only is he at least 10 years older than her, but he’s also clearly someone who likes to be in charge. Of *everything*. But when Principal Hutton’s surprise visit prompts Charlotte to slyly express interest in a certain naughty activity, they seize the moment without realizing just how life-changing that decision will be for them both.

I love Jasmine Haynes books because they are always the perfect blend of kinky sex, adult relationships, and true romance. TEACH ME A LESSON is yet another example of this winning formula. We have a hero and heroine who are older but wiser, never hesitating to express what they want and do not want, and willing to expand their sexual horizons for something that makes any previous couplings pale by comparison. More importantly, Jasmine Haynes also gives us a story that displays the true qualities of both characters, as they prove their innate worthiness through the actions they take to help the vulnerable teenagers in their care. We get to laugh and cry and cheer for the bad guys to lose and the good guys to win, and then discover that maybe the bad guys weren’t really all that bad after all. And throughout it all, there’s that magnetic attraction between Lance and Charlotte, and their mutual discovery of kinky sex that ties it all together so well.

As I’ve found with so many other Jasmine Haynes books, reading TEACH ME A LESSON was like coming home. It may not be everyone’s idea of home, to be sure, but it’s one that I’ll want to return to (and I’m hoping for many more visits in the future).

Ratings:

Overall: 5 stars
Sensuality level: 3.5 (BDSM-lite scenes including spanking and outdoor sex, discussions of cuckold fetish)

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Review: Dangerously Bound by Eden Bradley

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Dangerously Bound (A Dangerous Romance)Dangerously Bound by Eden Bradley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for an honest review at Seductive Musings.

Eden Bradley was one of the first authors I read when I was just starting out with BDSM-related erotic romances, and she’s still one of the few I can always count on to provide a story in that specific sub-genre that’s as accurate as it is enjoyable. DANGEROUSLY BOUND is the first entry in her new Dangerous series, and much like all her previous books, it’s one that left me thoroughly entertained and ready for more to come.

In this new series, we are introduced to a related group of characters in New Orleans and the BDSM club where some of them meet to play and fall in love. This first book is the story of a hero and heroine with a long history that they’ve both tried to move past in their separate lives, before coming back together to give it one more try. When Mick’s newly discovered inner Dom emerged during the one night of passion he shared with Allie, her tears made him think he’d damaged her, ruining their chance at true love. His abrupt departure the next morning was followed by her own, resulting in a separation that lasted nearly a decade. But after years of training overseas as a pastry chef by day and experienced submissive by night, Allie is back in New Orleans for good. Mick may not be ready for what she has planned for him, but she is determined to confront him in any way necessary to force him to see her as she is now, not as she was then.

One of the things I love about Eden Bradley’s books is how she so easily sets up a new series without spending excessive time on things that are best revealed as the story unfolds. We know right off that Allie and Mick have a history that has kept them apart despite their obvious love for one another. We also know that there are other traumatic events in Mick’s past that are keeping him from fully committing to Allie, ones that she can’t help him get past if he won’t forgive himself. But all of these details inform our understanding of their push-me-pull-you relationship without intruding on what’s important, namely their rekindled romance here and now.

The best parts of DANGEROUSLY BOUND for me were the numerous and lengthy intimate scenes between Mick and Allie, especially when they were in a BDSM scene featuring rope bondage and Mick’s apparent fondness for biting. His struggle to keep a Dom’s control over his emotions as he plays with Allie tests him more than he can bear, and he runs away from her more than once, which did become a bit frustrating for me. But Allie wouldn’t give up on him or their relationship, not until she realized that she had to let him go so he could realize that he needed to return for good. Their hard-won happy ending made me eager for more tales of BDSM romance when Eden Bradley’s new Dangerous series continues with DANGEROUSLY BROKEN.

Ratings:

Overall: 4 stars
Sensuality level: 4 (several intense scenes between H/h with biting and rope bondage, brief descriptions of BDSM club play)

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Review: Unwound by Lorelei James

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Unwound (Mastered, #2)Unwound by Lorelei James

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for an honest review at Seductive Musings.

This review contains spoilers for BOUND, the first book in the Mastered series. You could read UNWOUND as a stand-alone, and I’m not entirely convinced that would be a bad thing. But others might disagree.

UNWOUND, book two in Lorelei James’s Mastered series, continues the story that began in BOUND. I did not love BOUND. I thought it sacrificed both plot and character development for the sake of an absurd cliffhanger ending just to ensure a second book would be needed to supply the rest of the story. Yet the quality of its intimate scenes provided a compelling enough reason for me to want to read UNWOUND. if only to see if it would contain all the pieces missing from the first book. When I started reading UNWOUND, I did something I almost never do: I skipped to the last chapter just to make sure the happy ending was there. That’s how burned I felt by BOUND.

I’m happy to report that UNWOUND more than made up for my mixed feelings about BOUND. It did a great job of showing me exactly why its hero and heroine belonged together, culminating in a happy ending more along the lines of what I’ve come to expect in an erotic romance by Lorelei James.

When we last saw Amery Hardwick, she’d just walked out of Ronin Black’s life after finding out he had never told her about being the heir to a billion dollar multinational corporation. There were so many other secrets about Ronin’s life that he hadn’t shared with Amery, mind you, but that one was the dealbreaker for her. After the loss of Amery, Ronin has resorted to engaging in the type of underground Mixed Martial Arts fighting that he’d given up years before, presumably in an attempt to drown his sorrow with violence. But Ronin isn’t as young as he used to be, and his most recent fight has left him bleeding and semi-conscious, pounding on Amery’s front door at 2am. But why is he at her door when they aren’t together anymore? The story then flashes back to 6 weeks earlier, where we see how unhappy the two of them are apart, and how they were mysteriously brought together again on the night of Ronin’s near-fatal fight.

As Ronin and Amery’s rekindled romance unfolds in UNWOUND, we finally get everything that was withheld before: all the secrets Ronin had kept from Amery (and why), all the triggers from Amery’s past which had exacerbated her feelings of betrayal, and more of their individual experiences and motivations. They have both been guilty of assuming the worst without bothering to ask for the truth, and of letting their mutual lack of trust keep them from a more substantial emotional connection. But even as Ronin and Amery are finally being more honest and open with each other in UNWOUND, there are new betrayals yet to come, and other more dangerous secrets that could damage more than just their second chance at love together.

UNWOUND confirmed my decision that it would still be worth it for me to see Ronin and Amery find their happy ending together, despite how I’d reacted to the book which preceded it. There is a large amount of background and plot packed in this second book, but Lorelei James somehow manages to unveil everything in due time without losing track of the romance. Even the newly revealed threat against Amery fits well into the story and never overshadows the undeniable progress she and Ronin are making in learning to trust each other with more than just their individual sexual needs. I especially enjoyed how Ronin’s sister was believably transformed from a vaguely threatening enigma into a genuine friend and confidante for Amery, and someone who could provide Amery with additional insight into the part of Ronin’s past of which even he was not aware.

I may not have loved BOUND, but I’m so glad I stuck with the Mastered series and read UNWOUND. It restored my trust in Lorelei James as an author I can rely on to provide a well-written erotic romance, and reminded me that you can’t judge a writer (or even a series) by a single book.

Ratings:

Overall: 4.5 stars
Sensuality level: 4 (multiple rope bondage scenes, discussion of past extreme BDSM interactions with other characters)

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Review: Bound by Lorelei James

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Bound (Mastered, #1)Bound by Lorelei James

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for an honest review at SMI Book Club.

BOUND is the first of a two book series by Lorelei James about the martial arts master Ronin and the sheltered but feisty Amery, and how they become lovers after a chance meeting in his Denver dojo. Amery has only recently escaped both the restrictive influence of her fundamentalist family and the dysfunctional relationship with the man she thought would love her enough to never stray. Ronin, on the other hand, is a complete mystery to both Amery and the reader, sharing only the barest details about where he came from and what makes him tick. Naturally, once he meets Amery, his dominant nature compels him to make her his own, even as she wonders what she’s gotten herself into while melting into his powerful embrace.

Here’s the part of the review where I would normally politely share what went on in BOUND and how it did or didn’t work for me. But honestly, this book has me in an emotional headlock about whether I actually liked it or not. A big part of the problem I had with this book was how it was so obviously designed to hook the reader into the budding romance between Ronin and Amery when there was almost nothing based in reality to make you think they should even be together. She knows absolutely nothing about him, other than that he says he’s crazy about her, while everyone else keeps warning her that he’s no good and will only put her in danger. Yet even that is all just supposition based on no real evidence, and we’re left wondering what the heck is going on with this guy anyway. And because this is only the first of the two books, it’s damn certain that whatever we do ultimately find out about him is what will send Amery off into the night, overwhelmed by righteous indignation at not being trusted with the secrets that Ronin is so obviously keeping to himself.

When that big reveal finally arrived near the end of BOUND, it was all I could do not to throw the book against the wall. (It was a print ARC, so I didn’t have to worry about damaging a valuable ereader, but I resisted all the same.) Of all the possible secrets swirling around Ronin, the one that made Amery insist their relationship (such as it was) was over for good was so ridiculous, so innocuous, compared to what we’d been led to believe, that I wanted to smack both of them for being Too Stupid To Live. How this book could be from the same author who wrote the Blacktop Cowboy books, one of my most favorite romance series?

When BOUND was focused on its more intimate moments, however, it was as good as anything I’ve read by Lorelei James, especially when Ronin had Amery fully immersed in his world of rope bondage. Those scenes kept the book from being a DNF for me, and helped me slide past all its other more troubling parts enough to want to read the second book.
So if you’re willing to look past weak characterizations, an apparent fetish with all things Japanese, and a ridiculous cliffhanger which exists solely for the sake of continuing the story in a second book, then you might enjoy BOUND. I can only hope that Lorelei James is back to her usual overall form in the follow-up book UNWOUND and that the sex scenes aren’t the only reason to recommend it.

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Review: The Dark Affair by Maire Claremont

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The Dark Affair (Mad Passions, #3)The Dark Affair by Maire Claremont

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for an honest review at Seductive Musings.

This review contains spoilers for THE LADY IN RED, book 2 in the Mad Passions series. You could try to read THE DARK AFFAIR as a stand-alone book, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

When I read THE LADY IN RED last fall, Maire Claremont was a new author for me, and I hadn’t known what to expect. Its whirlwind plot and profound emotions were almost too much for me to handle (but in a good way). I actually had to force myself to put it down more than a few times, because I was so worried about what would happen to not only its hero and heroine, but the hero’s friend Viscount Powers, whose help was essential in their plan to save the heroine from her villainous father.

Powers – a tortured and brooding man who refused to answer to any other name – shared the same brutal need for opiates that plagued the heroine of THE LADY IN RED. While her addiction had been induced during her forced captivity in a madhouse, his was entirely self-inflicted after the untimely death of his wife and child. By the end of the previous book, the heroine and hero are both safe and happy in marriage together, but meanwhile Powers has given himself over entirely to his addiction. Months later, when we first see him in THE DARK AFFAIR, he has himself been involuntarily committed to a madhouse.

Margaret Cassidy was a titled lady back in Ireland, but that couldn’t protect her from the harsh realities of famine and poverty, nor from the ongoing violence as those who starved fought back against the cruelty of their English overlords. Her gift for healing has brought her to England, where she is tasked by the Earl of Carlyle to bring his son Powers back from the brink of insanity. Back when Margaret was still in Ireland and her father was still alive, Powers had sent a letter and funds to assist those in dire need of help, asking for nothing in return. Rescuing him now from his addiction is her opportunity to repay that act of kindness, even as her attachment to him quickly moves in a more personal direction. It will take all of Margaret’s talents and indomitable will to bring Powers back not only to sanity, but to a life where he can grieve properly for what he’s lost without sacrificing himself again. But when the violence she left behind in Ireland comes to call at her front door, what ends up being at stake isn’t just their shared happiness, but their very lives.

Once again, Maire Claremont has written a story that transported me into a world more darkly intense than most historical romances, with characters I couldn’t help but root for as they were forced to trust in each other even as they should rightfully be mortal enemies. The depth of Powers’s sorrow had only been hinted at in the previous book, but here it is front and center with everything you might expect, and worse. He has abused his mind and body for so long in self-imposed guilt for the death of his wife and child that his recovery is never really certain, even as the story moves toward that conclusion. And when we find out just how they died…well, it’s definitely understandable why he has suffered so greatly, even though it’s just as obvious to us, if not to him, that their deaths should not be on his head.

It’s also clear that only someone like Margaret would even have a chance to break through the wall of anger and opiates that Powers has built all around him, and not just because of her beauty and determination. Only Margaret has the ability to focus his attention beyond his own pain and outside the bubble of privilege in which he has lived his whole life as a member of the English nobility. But it will take more than that for them to move forward with a life together, and their Happily Ever After will be won only after those who seek to defeat them are confronted one last time.

I’m sad to see the Mad Passions series come to an end but I’m looking forward to seeing what Maire Claremont comes up with next. THE LADY IN RED vaulted her into my list of favorite historical romance writers, and now THE DARK AFFAIR has firmly established her place near the very top.

Ratings:

Overall: 4.5 stars
Sensuality level: 3.5

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Review: Theirs to Cherish by Shayla Black

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Theirs to Cherish (Wicked Lovers, #8)Theirs to Cherish by Shayla Black

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for an honest review at Seductive Musings.

Callie Ward has been in love with Mitchell Thorpe ever since she found his BDSM club to be the perfect hiding place from the people who killed her family and framed her for their murders. Even though his feelings match hers, Thorpe is convinced that their age difference is too great to overcome, and has removed his protection so that another Dom – Sean Kirkpatrick – can claim her instead. The new Dom is closer to Callie’s age than Thorpe, and seems to be the perfect balm for Callie’s bruised heart. But when he starts to get too close to the reasons why she ended up there in the first place, the only thing Callie can do is go on the run again. And when the two Doms who love her follow in pursuit, the battle for her heart might have to take a back seat to just keeping them all alive.

We first met Mitchell Thorpe, Master of Club Dominion, back in BELONG TO ME, book 5 of Shayla Black’s Wicked Lovers series. As the series has progressed, we’ve seen Callie and Thorpe make it obvious to everyone who sees them that they love each other, yet Thorpe continues to pull back while Callie does everything she can to force his hand. It’s only when Thorpe is witness to Callie and Sean’s most intense scene ever that he realizes how foolish he’s been to push her away for so long. It’s that same scene that convinces Callie it’s finally time to move on, as her years on the run have taught her to leave before anyone she cares about could be endangered by her presence. But this time is different, because now she has the love of two men who would rather die themselves than let her leave without them.

Callie and Thorpe’s story has been a long time coming in Shayla Black’s Wicked Lovers series, and it was just as satisfying as I had anticipated, even with the added complication of another Dom in the mix. It wasn’t until the previous book – OURS TO LOVE – that we got a hint that their romance might not be limited to just the two of them. That book featured a M/F/M menage with two brothers and their secretary who becomes their shared submissive, so it wasn’t too much of a surprise (especially with the title!) that THEIRS TO CHERISH would play out along the same lines. I’m a big fan of well-written menage romances, and this book did not disappoint in that regard. Neither Thorpe nor Sean go after Callie with the intent of sharing her, but as we learn why Thorpe could never commit to Callie (or any other submissive) and why Sean was at Club Dominion in the first place, we see how a menage relationship makes the most sense for everyone.

One of the things I enjoy most about this series is how the suspense not only propels the overall plot but also the actual romance itself. So many romantic suspense novels get so caught up in the parts where the lovers are in danger that they forget the part where we are supposed to be seeing them fall in love, but that is never a problem with Shayla Black. Every scene in THEIRS TO CHERISH was there to get us to their shared Happily Ever After, and that’s what made it such a wonderful romantic read.

With THEIRS TO CHERISH, Shayla Black has delivered yet another a smart and sexy romantic suspense story in the Wicked Lovers series that lives up to all the books that came before it. It will be great to see where this successful long-running series will take us next.

Ratings:

Overall: 4 stars
Sensuality level: 4 (BDSM, menage)

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Review: Need You Tonight by Roni Loren

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Need You Tonight (Loving on the Edge, #5)Need You Tonight by Roni Loren

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for an honest review at Seductive Musings.

Although I’ve enjoyed every book in Roni Loren’s Loving On The Edge series so far, NEED YOU TONIGHT is the best one I’ve read since the very first book, CRASH INTO YOU, blew me away and made me an instant Roni Loren fan. It equals that book in both the emotional intensity of the “second chance at love” trope for its hero and heroine, and in the sweetness of its HEA for a couple who could never move completely past the evil which separated them in high school until they were finally able to face it down together.

When Kade Vandergriff catches Tessa McAllen trying to crash a singles cooking class at his restaurant, he has no idea that she’s the one who turned his world upside down so many years ago. All he sees is an incredibly attractive woman whom he wants to feed and bed, and not necessarily in that order. Tessa doesn’t recognize Kade either, but is quickly convinced that one perfect night of no-strings-attached sex is just what she needs after trying to rebuild her life in the wake of her lousy no-good husband’s betrayal. When Tessa’s true identity is revealed, Kade is determined to rewrite their sad shared history into a future where she realizes what a mistake she made by rejecting him for the man who would eventually betray her. But when their ugly past returns to threaten their present happiness, both Tessa and Kade will learn that even the most malevolent evil is no match for the love they never truly lost.

As wonderful as Tessa and Kade’s story is, readers should be aware that there are themes in NEED YOU TONIGHT which are potential triggers for those with special sensitivity to issues such as high school bullying, child abuse, and rape. Both Tessa and Kade suffered brutal childhoods, which helped them bond together at first, but ended up splitting them apart when the friendship threatened their survival. When they find each other again, it’s clear that although they have both grown emotionally, the scars of the past are still as real and raw as though no time had passed at all. But Kade refuses to let his past self define his present, and he will do everything in his power to show Tessa that what they had before was just the beginning, even as the danger to their lives and love is always lurking in the background.

NEED YOU TONIGHT is a beautiful and touching romance, with plenty of the perfectly written and seriously scorching sex scenes which are Roni Loren’s trademark. It’s easily one of the finest books I’ve read this year.

Ratings:

Overall: 5 stars
Sensuality level: 4 (BDSM scenes, domestic violence, rape threats, discussion of previous assault and rape)

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