ARC Review: The Deep End by Kristen Ashley

Series:	Honey #1
Pub. Date:	March 7, 2017
Publisher:	St. Martin's Griffin
Length:	454 pages
Source:	NetGalley

I was nervous to read this book, I'm not gonna lie. If you follow my reviews and rambling, you will know that Kristen Ashley is my abso-favorite author, and I have proclaimed far and wide that I would read anything that she writes. But alpha subs? Sounded like an oxymoron to me, and I just didn't know how it could work. I'm not a big fan of femdomme trope, but I was willing to give it a shot. Now that I have read the first book - will I continue reading the series? Yes, yes I will. Let's discuss.

ARC Review: His Undeniable Secret by Shayla Black

Pub. Date:	Jan. 23, 2017
Publisher:	Self-Pub
Length:	45 pages
Source:	Author

Man... how to review such a short story. Let's try this... smut smut smut smut smuuuutttty smut smut. My smutty friends will jump right on this little story. It's hard to call it a story because, let's face it, there just wasn't a lot of meat to grab on to. Well, there was. But it wasn't the meat of the story. This was a super quick read, only about 15 minutes, that is perfect if you are looking for some inspiration before hitting the sheets.

Series Saturday Review: Dark Duke by Sabrina York

Series:	Noble Passions #2
Pub. Date:	June 29, 2016
Publisher:	Self-Pub
Length:	161 pages
Source:	Kindle Unlimited

I would love it if these books were full-length novels. I am enjoying all of the characters... dark nobility and saucy heroines are my favorite historical character types. So I would love it if these stories had more character development and back story. It's hard to jam those aspects and building sexual tension into a novella-length story, you kinda got get to it fast and dirty like... and that is just what Sabrina York does here.

Audiobook Review: Stone Cold Bad by Tess Oliver and Anna Hart

Stone Cold Bad
by Tess Oliver and Anna Hart
Series:  Stone Brothers #1
Pub. Date:  Oct. 13, 2015
Publisher:  Tantor Audio
Narrator:  CJ Bloom, Mason Lloyd
Length:  4 hrs 35 min
Format:  Audiobook
Source:  Hoopla

My Rating:  
Sultry Scale:

-Jade-
He was definitely trouble, and the worst kind of trouble because he was wrapped up in an incredible package of muscles, ink and heartbreak. A guy like him was the last thing I needed now. A guy like Colt Stone was the last thing I ever needed.

-Colt-
Emotion, feelings and, hell, even love had been turned off in all of us Stone brothers long ago. Then Jade landed in my life. It was the last thing I ever wanted, to feel this way about someone. Attachments like this were only followed by heartbreak, and I wasn't into heartbreak. I wasn't into f*cking attachments.

Bad boy Colt Stone has a notorious reputation for being a tough and dangerous heartbreaker. A brutal childhood hardened him to the idea of any type of emotional attachment to anyone. When he becomes the unwitting accomplice in Jade Morrow's escape from an abusive boyfriend, he soon finds that he'll do anything to keep her safe. Has Colt found the one girl who can break through to his impenetrable heart?

When she runs away from her monstrous boyfriend, Jade Morrow has no place to go and no one to turn to. She accidentally lands in the arms of a handsome, tattooed stranger. Colt Stone is as formidable as he is appealing and Jade soon finds that he's equally hard to resist. When her troubled past catches up to her, Jade discovers just how far Colt will go to save her. 

I like to listen to audiobooks when I am getting ready and driving to/from work... so I was scrolling through Hoopla and saw this one. It's rather short, just over 4 hours. So I thought I would give it a try - I was in a bit of a bad boy mood. And these boys, the Stone Brothers, are extremely bad. Cocaine couriers. Pot smokers. Facebook contest for "finger banging" girls. Treating the ladies in their life like crap - as in, I will use you (and every other girl) for sex but you are not allowed to talk to any other guy. And all of this is seemingly forgiven because of their tragic abusive childhood.

Unfortunately, this story didn't work for me. I blame some of that on the narrator, who was very shouty. There are ways to convey emotion that do not include shouting everything - it threw me out of the story, made me roll my eyes, or made me cringe. It also made me focus on the bad or annoying parts - like the TSTL heroine. The douche canoe behavior of the boys. The unreality of everything that happened, particularly the dispatching of the villainous characters. I'm sorry, but if you are telling a story that is dark enough to include rape and kidnapping, your villain is not going to go away just because you beat him up a little. The characters in this book were fairly shallow and undeveloped. It was more about the gratuitous sex which was, admittedly, steamy as hell.

About the only thing that I liked about the story were the characters' names. Jade, Colt, Hunter, Slade. My OCD kept me listening to the end, but I was rolling my eyes the whole time and yelling at the heroine about how stupid she was. Good times.

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Stone Brothers

Review: Dirty Billionaire by Meghan March

Dirty Billionaire 
by Meghan March
Series:  Dirty Billionaire #1
Pub. Date:  Dec. 8, 2015
Publisher:  Self-Pub
Pages:  203
Format:  eARC
Source:  Author


My Rating:  
Sultry Scale:

I've got a big dick and an even bigger bank account. That's pretty much where my bio ends. Honestly, I don't need to say anything else. I've just sold 99% of women on going home with me. 

Do I sound like an asshole to you?

That's because I am.

And guess what? It works for me just fine. 

Or at least it did.

Until I met her.

Books talk about sparks flying. Fuck that shit. With her, it was like emergency flares mixed with jet fuel. Or maybe just straight up napalm. 

Only one problem. 

She didn't leave her name or number when she disappeared from the hotel room after the hottest fucking night of my life. Now I've had a taste of unicorn pussy—the sweetest, rarest of all pussy—and I need it again.

So what's an asshole to do?

I took this problem to the street. A missed connection gone viral.

And when I find her? I'm keeping her.

Hello, my name is Bambi and I am an unapologetic smut lover. There I have admitted it (unless my mom or boss is asking, then I will turn my wide innocent eyes on you and act like I don't know what you are asking me about). And this book is smutty smut smut smut - hot dirty rich and raunchy smut. I met Meghan March earlier this year and I would have never guessed that this cute little chica had such a dirty mind. 

Meghan and Bambi

This new serial (or novella series) introduces us to Holly Wixton, a small town girl from a trailer park in Kentucky who has just won a singing competition a la American Idol. Her career has just started and she is getting jerked around by her record label. She's been made a laughingstock in the tabloids, and feels like she is damned if she does and damned if she don't. Holly's perfect solution to take her mind off these troubles is to give herself a man for Christmas, for one hot sweaty night of sin. For all that Holly was a young (22 y/o) heroine, she was mostly likable. I kept picturing her as Clare Bowen from Nashville. I did feel like sometimes Holly was made to sound like an ignorant hick with overly country sayings like: Holy Horseshit, that's some good stuff. or My stomach flops around like a whole mess of spring peeper frogs have been unleashed.. Being a Southern girl, I love books set in the South, but it seemed like the hick talk was a bit forced at times. Other than that, I don't have anything else to complain about with this heroine. She has somewhat of a sad upbringing, but her character is still being developed and I feel like I will grow to like her more as the serial continues.

That brings me to our rich and dirty hero, Creighton Karas. You know, I couldn't get into his name. For some reason I kept calling him Cree-ton instead of Cray-ton, and it just made me think of cavemen. I know I'm weird. Don't judge. But name aside, Creigh was delightfully dirty and dominant. My favorite Ds. He was also a bit of a shallow douche - but you could tell that from the blurb I'm sure. While the smutlover in me digs Creigh and I wouldn't turn him away if Santa dropped him down my chimney, I am still waiting to fall in love with him. Right now I just have a little bit of lust for what he can do. I want to know more about him and his background and his company. I want to know about his family and who broke his heart or turned him into the unemotional sexpot. I want all those deep dark dirty secrets.

Now while my shriveled black heart loved the down and dirty aspect of this book, my brain was craving a little more story. I think the meat of the story is coming in the next book, so I am looking forward to seeing how things play out between our couple. It's really a rags-to-riches scenario for Holly and I think I will like following her journey, but I will also like to see Creigh learn to love something other than himself and his decadent dongle. Now all this talk of dirty dominant dongles has me thinking that maybe I should take a page from Holly's book and give myself a man for Christmas... wonder if Google will tell me where these types hang out? I'd hate to go hunting for dominant and find a dud (story of my life I tell ya).

I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I predict that I will give this serial as a whole a higher review than the individual episodes. That always tends to happen with serials for me. I just don't feel like I have enough of the story to get a good grip on how it makes me feel - its all very up in the air until the last episode. 3.5 stars / 5 flames. Review in progress.

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About the Author

Meghan March is the author of contemporary and erotic romance novels. Meghan March has been known to wear camo face paint and tromp around in woods wearing mud-covered boots, all while sporting a perfect manicure. She's also impulsive, easily entertained, and absolutely unapologetic about the fact that she loves to read and write smut. Her past lives include slinging auto parts, selling lingerie, making custom jewelry, and practicing corporate law. Writing books about dirty talking alpha males and the strong, sassy women who bring them to their knees is by far the most fabulous job she's ever had. She loves hearing from her readers at meghanmarchbooks@gmail.com.

Find Meghan March Online

Website Mailing List Goodreads Amazon Facebook Twitter

Guest Post from Meghan March

Dirty Talkin' Alpha Males and Why We Love Them So Much 

The Alpha Male. The Holy Grail of book boyfriends, and the men we search for in real life. What makes an alphahole so damn attractive? That’s a great question! I think there’s something to be said for the ultimate confidence we see in our fictional alpha males. I also think it takes a hell of a lot of confidence to be a dirty talkin’ one on top of that. Because if a man is going to talk dirty, he better be able to follow it up with action to match. I love to read about alphas just as much as the next girl, but for the longest time I did wonder whether I’d really want one in real life. After all, I’m a strong, independent woman who doesn’t take sh*t from anyone. I finally had that question answered not so long ago. You know what I learned? That even the strongest and most independent woman wants someone else to help carry the load sometimes and being a strong, independent woman, sometimes it takes an even stronger and more alpha male to help you see that. And add the dirty talkin’ on… well, I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.

Dirty Billionaire Series

  Dirty Pleasures: Releasing on 12/29

 

I did it. I married a billionaire. My reasons are my own, but the last thing I expected was to feel owned. I may have taken vows, but I'm still determined to be me. Now his rules are taking over my world, but I'm not the kind of girl to just obey. There's only one problem: I might actually be falling for him… I have no idea how this marriage is going to go, but holding onto a piece of myself while succumbing to his dirty pleasures is shaping up to be the ride of a lifetime. 

Preorder Now: Amazon | BN | iBooks   

  Dirty Together: Releasing on 1/12

 

My wife. I love saying those words. She's mine, and if she thinks I'm going to let her run without tracking her down and bringing her back to where she belongs—with me—then she's about to be introduced to a new reality. Because I'll fight dirty to give her the happily ever after she deserves.

Preorder Now: Amazon | BN | iBooks          

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Review: Pretty When You Cry by Skye Warren

Pretty When You Cry 
by Skye Warren
Series:  Stripped #4
Pub. Date:  Oct. 20, 2015
Publisher:  Self-Pub
Pages:  ~190
Format:  eARC
Source:  Author


My Rating:  
Sultry Scale:

A new dark romance novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Wanderlust and Prisoner…

I came from a place of dirt floors and holy scriptures. They told me the world outside was full of sin, and the first night I escape, I find out it’s true. Ivan saves me, but he does more than that. He takes me. He makes me his own girl.

My conditioning runs too deep. Ivan sees what I am.

That’s the thing about showing a mouse to a cat. He wants to play. And it’s terrifying, even for me. Because the only thing darker than my past is his.

This is my first read from Skye Warren. I have a bunch of her books, I tend to pick them up whenever they go on sale. But for whatever (silly) reason I had not picked one out of my TBR pile before now. I have to say that she writes very well; the story was paced nicely and the plot was very interesting. It was a bit more than interesting actually - it was morbidly fascinating! I am certainly not into the daddy/daughter kink whatsoever, so those parts were a bit squicky... but the rest of the storyline was great.

The leading female in this story is Candace, and we first meet her as she has just escaped a crazy cult where she has spent most of her childhood. In the cult, everyone has to follow/worship/revere Leader Allen - and you can imagine that this reverence is of a dark and twisted nature. Candace has just escaped with a little help from her mother and ends up in Tanglewood. This situation was a very unique storyline - I can't think of another book that had similar circumstances. It was very interesting to see what effect the cult upbringing had on Candace once she was on the outside.

Candace is surrounded by some unsavory characters in Tanglewood and is rescued (kind of) by Ivan, owner of The Grand strip club. Ivan is dark and broody and somewhat depraved, but he has his own tortured past as much as Candace does. I would have loved to see more from Ivan - he seemed to be so stoic and unfeeling that I wanted to get in his head. I was really hoping for a glimpse, so it would have been great to have an alternating POV here.

The proclivities of Ivan and Candace seemed on the extreme side of taboo to me - I cringed several times when they were in the daddy/little one roles. Candace speaking in the childish manner was particularly difficult to take. It would have been interesting to expound upon why/how Candace and Ivan's backgrounds influenced this particular kink. But even though this is not my thing, I am of the "whatever floats you boat" mindset. The story was good enough for me to overlook this part that didn't interest me.

I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I have not read the previous books in the series, and I wasn't too lost. I know there was a lot of character crossover, but it was not overwhelming to the point where I felt I absolutely had to read the earlier books (but I certainly will go back and read them now). 

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Stripped Series