Tag Archives: External Reviews

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Review: The Sinners Club by Kate Pearce

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The Sinners Club (The Sinners Club, #1)The Sinners Club by Kate Pearce

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for an honest review at Romancing Rakes for the Love of Romance.

I have a great fondness for Kate Pearce’s House of Pleasure series, since they were some of the earliest and best books I read back when I was first exploring the erotic romance genre. So when I saw she had a new series with a first book starring Jack Lennox from Simply Scandalous, I knew I had to read it as soon as possible. And if this first book is any indication, the Sinners Club books are going to be just as good.

After a troubled life where he never had any true home to call his own, Jack Lennox has come into a surprising inheritance from his no-good father, complete with royal title and stately manor. But before Jack can legally claim his place as the new Earl of Storr, he needs to find out what’s been going on at Pinchbeck Hall since the last holder of that title was laid to rest. Wary of what might await there, Jack decides to masquerade as his own personal secretary, wagering that such a man would have a better chance of being accepted by those who might not be as welcoming to the new lord of the manor. What Jack discovers is even more than what he’d bargained for, in the form of a supposed brother and sister, the latter of whom claims to be the pregnant widow of the previous earl.

Jack finds himself drawn to both Simon and Mary Picoult despite his better judgment and their genuine threat to his birthright. What follows in The Sinners Club is an passionate story of desperate lives and no-win scenarios, ultimately leading to a series of choices that could result in Jack either gaining his first chance at a real home and settled life, or losing it all for the love of a woman who has already sacrificed more than anyone ever should.

Everything that made Kate Pearce’s House of Pleasure books such an enjoyable read for me is here in The Sinners Club: a carefully plotted story with bold and memorable characters who aren’t afraid to take charge of their own destinies, especially with regard to their wide-ranging sexual proclivities. Jack may be the next Earl of Storr but he’s got more in common with Simon and Mary than the members of his own extended family, and his growing relationship with the alleged siblings is what drives the plot for the majority of the book. As their personal histories of these three characters unfold, we see how a need for security can drive someone to do just about anything to keep it, even if it means denying true love in the process. That shared need is what makes the romance between Jack and Mary so special, as they both face the decision to give up their own security to help each other as the one person whose well-being was worth any price. The Sinners Club is an outstanding start to Kate Pearce’s new series of the same name and I look forward to reading each and every book to follow.

Favorite Quote:
He’d never felt so secure and yet so vulnerable before in his life. What if she didn’t like him after all? After tangling with the Lennox family once, didn’t she deserve better? But then how was he supposed to live without her?

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Review: In Love Again by Megan Mulry

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In Love Again (Unruly Royals, #3)In Love Again by Megan Mulry

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A copy of this book was provided by the author for an honest review at Romancing Rakes for the Love of Romance.

Lady Claire Heyworth is starting her life over after twenty years of loveless marriage to a man her family considered more worthy of her than the one she thought she loved. Now the faithless husband has gone missing after making off with the bulk of her inheritance and Claire has to learn to exist as something other than a privileged, albeit unhappy, Marchioness. With the support of her brothers and their wives, she moves to New York and lands a job that immediately throws her into the path of Benjamin Hayek, the man she’d reluctantly left behind so many years ago.

Ben never forgot that magical summer when he’d loved a quiet English lass who had up and left him without so much as a goodbye. When Claire unexpectedly appears on his doorstep, Ben’s immediate reaction is to scowl, growl, and slam the door in her face. But the attraction from so long ago is still there between them. Now that they’re both older and wiser, Ben and Claire must decide if they want to take up where they left off, or walk away and leave the past alone.

I hadn’t read the previous books in Megan Mulry’s Unruly Royals series (although I own them both – blame my giant To Be Read list!) but I had no problem reading In Love Again as a stand-alone. It was a joy to see Claire emerge from the persona forced on her by her mother and society, and become a fully actualized adult who made her own decisions. Ben is just the sort of fellow that Claire has always needed in her life – one who loves unconditionally and supports her completely without undermining her fragile and recently hard-won self-esteem. I was especially gratified that with so many opportunities along the way, there was never a Big Misunderstanding between the hero and heroine other than the original one which had parted them twenty years before.

In Love Again also features a delightful cast of characters from both families, and shows how the wrongs done to Claire by her detestable husband are righted in a somewhat implausible but easy to forgive series of events. It’s a lovely romance between a hero and heroine who have paid their dues, learned from their mistakes and earned their happiness together. (Now I need to go back and read the other two books in the series!)

Favorite Quote:
His kiss made her feel…everything. She felt the cold air against her cheeks, the hot press of his lips against hers, the tender, inquisitive touch of his fingers as they found their way beneath her blouse and trailed across her belly just above the waist of her jeans. Claire felt an electric snap, like a transformer blowing.

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Review: Chasing Kings by Sierra Dean

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Chasing KingsChasing Kings by Sierra Dean

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A copy of this book was provided by the author for an honest review at Romancing Rakes for the Love of Romance.

How does a somewhat sheltered bookseller from Oregon end up in a decadent Vegas hotel suite with the most famous man in porn? The setup for how Samantha Hart meets Ethan Silver goes way beyond “meet cute” into an unlikely alliance that ultimately turns into an emotional connection. In the process, both Samantha and Ethan face some hard truths about themselves, including the fact that they might actually have a future together.

The adult film industry might be sleazy and unattractive, but Ethan is neither. He’s handsome and sweet and funny and pretty much a dream date for anyone not otherwise turned off by his profession. Samantha is completely unlike any of the women he works with on a daily basis, and that difference is what initially makes her so attractive to him. But Ethan’s ties to the porn world aren’t easily set aside, and when his attempt to help a fellow co-star puts him in the sights of a deadly criminal, Samantha is the only one who he can turn to for help.

There were so many things I loved about Chasing Kings. I loved how Ethan was shown as more than just a porn star without glossing over the reality of how the adult movie industry can ruin people’s lives. I loved that Samantha didn’t immediately judge Ethan for the choices he’d made in his life, and how she was willing to help him out above and beyond what he’d expected, despite the possible repercussions in her own life. But the best part of Chasing Kings was how Sierra Dean was able to keep the compressed timeframe of the story from overwhelming the growing romance between its hero and heroine. She also ensured that all the usual shortcuts and stereotypes that might have been expected to happen didn’t, keeping me guessing in a good way all the way up to the lovely Happy For Now ending. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Chasing Kings and hope for more stories like this from Sierra Dean in the future.

Favorite Quote:
As good as Ethan was at everything else, it was his kisses that were going to ruin her. He kissed like old romance heroes. Like Rhett Butler sweeping Scarlett O’Hara off her feet, or Heathcliff condemning Cathy to never love another.

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Review: Chance of Rain by Amber Lin

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Chance of RainChance of Rain by Amber Lin

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for an honest review at Night Owl Reviews.

Review Excerpt:

What I love the most about Chance of Rain is how Amber Lin uses every word to build a whole world in the one small Texas town with stories and descriptions that put us there by showing instead of telling. We learn so much about not only our hero and heroine, but also the town, its more colorful members, and the environment which formed Natalie and Sawyer into the adults they have become in the years since they were together back in high school. The actions of the the characters ring true and provide a foundation for a well earned reconciliation by the time we reach their happy ending. A selfish part of me wishes there was more to read, but even if this is the only time we visit Dearling, Chance of Rain will always stand alone as a perfect jewel of romance. I wish more stories of this length were half as good.

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Review: Before Jamaica Lane by Samantha Young

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Before Jamaica Lane (On Dublin Street, #3)Before Jamaica Lane by Samantha Young

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for an honest review at Night Owl Reviews

Review Excerpt:

Samantha Young is an expert at showing how both the hero and heroine cope with feelings they’ve managed to suppress before being confronted by the one person who can get past the emotional walls they’ve built. The situations are never forced and the reactions ring true. Her heroines have true agency in their actions and her heroes never cross the line between intense alpha and scary stalker. Even when the heroes screw up (and boy, does Nate screw up big in this story), they always return with the most wonderful groveling that neither the heroines nor I could possibly resist. Before Jamaica Lane is another enjoyable addition to the On Dublin Street series and I’m looking forward to reading about whatever couple she has plans for in the next story.

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Review: Don’t Let Go by Skye Warren

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Don't Let Go (Dark Erotica, #4)Don’t Let Go by Skye Warren

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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

There are many writers who specialize in the darkest of erotic novels, both with and without romantic elements, but there are very few who are truly talented in this often misunderstood subgenre. One of those writers is Skye Warren, who has displayed her incredible talent again in what I believe is her best book yet – Never Let Go. This is the fourth entry in her Dark Erotica series, but a reader new to her work should have no problem reading it as a stand-alone. It features a couple who not only appear to be mismatched from the start, but who ultimately put a whole new spin on the terms “hero” and “heroine” that would normally be used to describe them here.

Samantha Holmes never had a real childhood, thanks to her father. He tortured and killed other children for years, but left her alive long enough to be the one who turned him in. No human could emerge from such an experience without some sort of serious emotional damage, yet Samantha is determined not to let anyone suspect that she is anything but normal. As a rookie agent for the FBI, her goal is to put the bad guys in jail, but as a woman, most of what she gets to do involves more mundane tasks, like filing and fetching coffee. So when she is abruptly assigned to one of the Bureau’s most high-profile cases, partnering with a legendary senior agent, she doesn’t let herself question too closely why she, of all people, would be chosen.

On the surface, Ian Hennessy seems to be exactly as he appears, namely the no-nonsense agent who always gets the bad guy and will stop at nothing to get Carlos Laguardia, even if it means dumping his new lady partner before she even has a chance to contribute. Samantha is drawn to him sexually in spite of herself, knowing that although the attraction is mutual, the outcome can’t be anything but bad. Who in their right mind would want a monster like her…unless that person was one, too?

Anyone who was following me on Twitter when I was reading Don’t Let Go got to see my instant reaction in a series of tweets where I expressed just how much I enjoyed it:

When a review book unexpectedly rewards you with writing so
perfectly nuanced and understated that it makes you want to
weep with joy. #win

It’s so damn good, this book.

I now have a book hangover THIS BIG and it’s all @skye_warren ‘s fault.
Wow. #win

I still can’t wrap my head around how much this book got to me. Although I am a long-time fan of truly deeply dark erotica, I normally shy away from books that reference extreme violence, especially against women or children. I’m also nearly burned out on romances where the heroine has been broken/damaged/whatever and can only be “saved” by a hero who is often also broken/damaged/whatever by similar circumstances. But Don’t Let Go morphs both of those tropes into something unique and fascinating, both as a character study and as a genuine romance between a man and a woman who ultimately agree that they are perfectly matched for one another…and all that that implies. To tell you any more would be to ruin all its secrets. But in a year when I’ve been fortunate enough to have read so many 5 star books, you should know that Don’t Let Go has immediately vaulted to the top of my list for 2013, and it will be a difficult task to dislodge it from that spot.

Ratings:

Overall: 5
Sensuality level: 4.5 (multiple scenes of violent dubious consent, bondage, flogging and use of sex toys; threats of rape and sexual violence; discussion of child sex abuse and murder)

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Review: Ripe for Seduction by Isobel Carr

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Ripe for Seduction (The League of Second Sons, #3)Ripe for Seduction by Isobel Carr

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for an honest review at Romancing Rakes for the Love of Romance.

Rating:
~4 hearts: I loved it!

Review:

Isobel Carr’s Ripe for Seduction is the third book in her League of Second Sons series, but it was easy to read as a stand-alone. It’s a light-hearted story of how a pretend engagement built on less than honorable intentions somehow manages to bloom into a real love between a notorious rake and a ruined woman of the ton.

While out carousing one night with his fellow secret society members, Roland Devere has too much to drink and agrees to yet another ill-chosen bet. He wakes the next morning to discover he has wagered a pound that he will be the first to bed a well-known lady who has returned to London months after the death of her bigamist husband. What he doesn’t count on is the lady having a secret plan of her own to thwart similar untoward propositions from anyone else during the upcoming season.

Lady Olivia Carlow didn’t know her late husband was already married when they had wed, but now that he’s dead, she’s the only one left to suffer the blame from London society. When Devere’s insulting proposition arrives via a drunkenly scrawled note sent to her father’s house, she seizes her advantage and blackmails Devere into agreeing to a false engagement. With Devere by her side as her purported fiance, Olivia intends to keep all the other less than honorable suitors from forcing their attentions and spreading lies about her even if she should turn them aside. Then when the season is over, she can break with him publicly and retire permanently to the family’s country estate at Holinshed. But as she and Devere spend more time in each other’s company, what started as pretend becomes the real thing, and the consequences of their actions have long-reaching implications for more than just themselves.

The fake marriage trope is one of my favorites and it’s used beautifully here in Ripe For Seduction. Olivia is in London under duress, preferring to stay forever buried in the country instead of in town fending off the disgusting private propositions from the men and frosty public snubs from the women. Roland would never have been so incredibly rude to her when sober, but he’s clearly not unhappy at the fate she’s forced on him in return for keeping his drunken overtures a secret. Their growing attraction was fun to watch, as was the concurrent secondary plot of how Olivia’s not-so-old widowed father became attached to Devere’s somewhat older widowed sister. There were a few villains here and there, and another side plot related to the activity of the Second Sons folding neatly into the inevitable Big Misunderstanding between Roland and Olivia near the end of the story. I found the relative lack of angst and drama to be quite refreshing, preferring the extensive details of how Olivia and her father both found happiness with the unlikeliest of partners. And after the Big Misunderstanding is cleared up and true love wins out for all, the epilogue provided the perfect ending to a lovely read.

I thoroughly enjoyed Ripe for Seduction and I’m looking forward to reading the other books in the League of Second Sons series.

Favorite Quote:

“Livy” — he cupped her face and lowered his head until he was staring directly into her eyes — “let me make myself perfectly clear. I love you. There’s no other reason I’d propose in earnest. Not to get you in my bed, not to enrich myself with your dowry, not to pave the way for my sister and your father. And if you don’t believe me, I’ll just have to work at it until you do.”

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Review: False Match by Lynne Silver

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False Match (Coded for Love, #3)False Match by Lynne Silver

My rating: 4 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 Heated Match, the first book in the Coded For Love series. You could try to read False Match as a stand-alone book, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

Now that Dr. Samara Jones has been rescued from the evil Dr. Paulson, she is safe and yet still has no freedom in what she chooses to do next. She is blackmailed into contributing her considerable skills as a geneticist to the Program in return for not being prosecuted as Paulson’s co-conspirator, but no one there truly trusts her. It’s only when Chase Stanton is assigned as her tour guide / babysitter that there’s someone willing to offer friendship, and perhaps even more.

When the Program discovered the traitor in their midst back in Heated Match, they also discovered that he had falsified his studies to force Chase and Loren’s father to leave Loren’s mother for Chase’s, convincing her that the latter woman was his true genetic match. But the likelihood of a person having two perfect matches is highly unlikely, and Chase worries that perhaps he’s not genetically enhanced at all. Samara is the one person who can help him discover the truth without anyone else finding out, and their continuing close association eventually leads them to a love that is immediately threatened by those who intend to recapture Samara in their goal to breed terrorist warriors.

Most of False Match involves Samara and Chase learning to trust and love each other even while their growing attraction is threatened by the emerging secrets of what Samara had done when Adam was Paulson’s captive. It was an interesting change of pace to have a hero and heroine who weren’t compelled to fall in love by their DNA and it made their HEA all the sweeter. Lynne Silver ends this story with a heart-stopping epilogue cliffhanger that ensured I would be seeking out Desire Unmatched, the newest book in the Coded For Love series. I can’t wait to read it.

Ratings:

Overall: 4
Sensuality level: 3 (hot sweet love scenes between the H/h)

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Review: Conquered Match by Lynne Silver

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Conquered Match (Coded for Love, #2)Conquered Match by Lynne Silver

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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

This was a short but intense look at what genetically enhanced soldier Ryan does to punish his wife Thea for leaking details of the Program to the press. We discover that Thea has been the one to dictate the terms of their relationship ever since they had been found to be a perfect genetic match for each other. Ryan had always been content to let her be in charge, not realizing Thea was trying to force his hand into being the dominant one. Now that she’s betrayed him and everyone else, Ryan finally knows what needs to be done and is ready to give Thea what she needs to fix their marriage and ease the anger that led to her stunning betrayal.

Although this story was dramatically shorter than the previous one, what occurs between Ryan and Thea was portrayed well, conveying all the immediacy of Ryan’s reaction to Thea’s actions and the deep tenderness behind the decisions Ryan makes to heal them both. Thea has needed this domination from the beginning, and Ryan knows that giving it to her now is what can make things right. I wished there had been more to read, but was happy for this brief visit back to the world of the Program while waiting for the next full length book to arrive.
Ratings:

Overall: 4
Sensuality level: 4 (light BDSM including anal sex)

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Review: Heated Match by Lynne Silver

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Heated Match (Coded for Love #1)Heated Match by Lynne Silver

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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

Lynne Silver’s Coded For Love series tells the stories of men who were genetically bred by the US Government in a secret program designed to create unstoppable warriors who would only be able to mate successfully with the women who were their perfect genetic counterparts. The Program has continued in secret for decades and it’s only recently that the public has become aware of what’s been going on, thanks to a Program wife who leaked the story to an outside source. At the same time, there are various groups both here and abroad who are trying to kidnap any one of the men for their own evil experiments. This sets up the compelling plotlines and intense romances which follow in each book.

Heated Match starts the Coded For Love series off with a sequence of incredibly intense scenes as two people who’ve never met before discover they are each other’s perfect genetic match. Adam is supposed to be protecting a diplomat’s infant son from being kidnapped at the boy’s high profile 1st birthday party. As one of the highest performing “super soldiers” in the Program, he should be focused on his task, yet there’s a woman there who has got him more sexually aroused than he’s been in years. Loren has crashed the birthday party in the hope of discovering more information about the Program, but there’s something about one of the bodyguards that has her thinking more about sex than getting the scoop for her story. When the diplomat’s son is kidnapped, the resulting investigation exposes Loren’s familial connection to the Program, and its leaders’ machinations work to bring Loren and Adam together to fulfill the genetic destiny neither of them is ready to embrace. What no one realizes is that the Program and all its participants are in mortal danger from someone in their midst who has been betraying them for years.

The Program that Lynne Silver has created in this series reminded me of Lora Leigh’s Breeds series, but not in a derivative way. We have the “fated mates” setup to bring Adam and Loren together, and the prerequisite secret family affiliations that neither of them had known existed before they met. During this initial story we discover much of the plotting and betrayals that had occurred during the creation of the Program, and they lead us to the moment where everyone’s future depends on finding the diplomat’s kidnapped son. As passionate as the scenes were between Adam and Loren, the suspense elements of the plot often threatened to overwhelm my enjoyment of their destined romance. I wanted more of them, and less kidnappings and torture, but the overall story arc was captivating enough that I would definitely be reading the next book in the series.

Ratings:

Overall: 4
Sensuality level: 3.5 (multiple passionate scenes of H/h who can’t stop having sex)

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