I really love what Alys Arden did here, taking the myths, legends and history of New Orleans and expounding upon it in a modern-day paranormal story. The Casquette Girls is an amalgamation of the city's vampire legend mixed with the history of les filles a la cassette at Ursuline Convent, brought back to life in post-Katrina New Orleans.
This is my second read from Amy Stearman, and this one was quite a bit different from the first (Altered). For some reason I thought Touched was the second book in the Altered series... but I was totally wrong. Touched is a standalone contemporary romantic suspense with a minor supernatural element.
Take the Money and Run is a new romantic suspense series by Samantha A. Cole, whom you may know from the steamy Trident Security series. This new series is not quite so erotic, it lacks the BDSM elements, so may appeal more to mainstream romance readers.
Shame on You
by Tara Sivec
Series: Fool Me Once #1
Pub. Date: Feb. 25, 2015
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Narrator: Amy McFadden
Length: 3 hrs 47 min
Format: Audiobook
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Challenges: KU
My Rating:
Sultry Scale:
War veteran Kennedy O’Brien is in the business of sticking it to the man—or at least any man who tries to cross a woman. After she returned home from Afghanistan and caught her husband in bed with the nanny, Kennedy lost her faith in men and started Fool Me Once Investigations with her two best friends. After all, there’s no better bounty hunter than a woman scorned.
When Kennedy takes a case to slap cuffs on a bail jumper turned dog-napper, she figures it’ll be an easy paycheck. But trouble has a way of finding Kennedy. Enter the last man on the planet she’d willingly choose as a partner: her cheating ex-husband’s best friend, Griffin Crawford.
As gorgeous as he is unwelcome, Griffin has always had a thing for Kennedy, and after keeping quiet about her ex’s cheating, he’ll do anything to earn back her trust. Whether or not she wants to admit it, Kennedy will need help as the case of the Chihuahua thief spirals out of control. Griffin may be just her man—in more ways than one.
As I was scrolling through Kindle Unlimited this morning, I saw that this series is was available with narration. As I was looking for a book to listen while I did some computer work, I grabbed this one up. It's a great story to pick up if you want something to listen to while doing housework or some other mindless task that you need to be distracted from. (Ladies - I am not talking about putting on this audiobook while your husband is making amorous advances... though maybe thinking of Griffin might get you in the right frame of mind!)
Coach
by Alexa Riley
Series: Breeding #1
Pub. Date: Sept. 9, 2015
Publisher: Self-Pub
Pages: 117
Format: eBook
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Challenges: Pervy Girl, New to You, KU
My Rating:
Sultry Scale:
Retiring from the NFL was the right decision, and at thirty years old, I've done things most people could only dream of. After all I've accomplished, coaching high school football should be easy...but when you've got a distraction in the form of a nerdy girl with curves, things can get complicated.
She's a student, she's barely legal, and she's my best friend’s daughter.
I didn't know what desire was until Megan. I had no idea obsession could drive someone insane, until I saw her. I wasn't prepared for the fact that once I laid eyes on Megan my life would really begin.
I have to have her, no matter what the cost. I have to breed her and bind her to me so tightly she can't ever get away. She'll be mine, even if I have to take her.
Warning: this book is ridiculous, over the top, completely unbelievable, and pretty much just about breeding the heroine. If you're okay with that, welcome to my dirty, dirty book! Just remember, I warned you.
O-M-G. What did I just read??? Lemme 'splain. See, I really wanted to read Mechanic because I am totally lusting over the cover. But right before I started it today, I noticed on Goodreads that it was actually second in a series. Well, of course my OCD had to kick in and would not let me start in the middle.
So I went on my little one-clicking trip to find the first book, which turns out to be Coach. And I have to admit - Alexa Riley does fantastic covers. Seriously - holy hot hairy guy! I am not usually one for an abundance of body hair, but even I cannot deny that dude on the cover looks very, erm, tasty. Well, as long as you don't mind picking hairs out of your teeth. He just looks like a man's man, be still my smutty heart.
But I read the blurb for this one and I was like... um, I'm not sure this book is for me. It sounds a little squicky. I mean, I am now thinking of my gym coach from school, and my softball and baseball coaches, and I am not seeing good things. I can honestly say that there were no hot teachers or coaches at my schools that had teen girls giggling and swooning over their hair shirts. We were more likely to be laughing and pointing at their furry shoulders or something. So, no. Then to pile it on, this book is about BREEDING. What IS that? I have certainly never heard of a freaking breeding fetish. That's seriously a thing? Hmmm... this got my curiosity going. What IS it? I just had to know. And - now I do. And it was kind of fascinating, in a weird way of course.
This is the range of faces I was making as I read this book.
So the authors warn you right in the blurb that this book was ridiculous and over the top, which I totally respect. Because then I know what to expect going in. Nothing worse than starting a book and getting blindsided with weirdness. The warning for this book definitely rings true. I kept saying OMG, EW! and No Way! But I also couldn't stop turning the page in wide-eyed wonder and bewilderment and morbid fascination. Then I would show a passage to my bud, Deanna, and make her commiserate with me. I kid you knot, at one point the words "poop juice" came out of her mouth. Ugh. You can guess which face that was above.
As you can imagine, this book is sex over substance. And when I say sex, it's of the shocking smutty filthy dirty sort. Was it entertaining? Yes. I have to say so. Will I read the other books in the series? I think so - but I probably won't read them all together. I think that much breeding would shock my system. Or worse, it could desensitize me to this stuff and make me think it was (((shudder))) normal! So I am giving this one 3 shocking stars... not regular stars. These are 3 stars on the smutty smut smut scale. Maybe those stars should be a different color... they need to be a bit tarnished I think.
Alexa Riley is two sassy friends who got together and wrote some dirty books. They are both married moms of two who love football, donuts, and obsessed book heroes.
They specialize in insta-love, over-the-top, sweet, and cheesy love stories that don’t take all year to read. If you want something SAFE, short, and always with a happily ever after, then Alexa Riley is for you!
An Unexpected Affair
by Lorelei Moone
Series: Scottish Werebear #1
Pub. Date: Nov. 20, 2015 / Sept. 25, 2015
Publisher: Self-Pub
Narrator: Patrick Blackthorne
Length: 2 hrs 18 min / 92 pgs
Format: Audiobook / eBook
Source: IndieSage PR / Kindle Unlimited
Challenges: New to You, Kindle Unlimited
My Rating:
Sultry Scale:
Romance novelist, Clarice Adler, has lost the inspiration to write ever since dumping her cheating boyfriend. How do you dream up a plot of two people falling in love, when you’ve stopped believing in love yourself? But her deadline is looming, and her career hangs in the balance, so she decides to lock herself away on the secluded Scottish Isle of Skye to finish her manuscript. Upon meeting Derek McMillan there, it seems she’s found her new muse and the words start to flow out of her as if by magic. Clarice falls for him, hard, despite knowing nothing about the man, except that he’s unavailable.
Derek McMillan has been managing his farm and renting out a few holiday cottages on his own for years now. He deals with the occasional tourist for some extra money, but mostly keeps to himself. When he first lays eyes on the curvy beauty, Clarice, he immediately regrets accepting her booking. Lightning strikes, and as much as he tries to deny it, his inner bear knows that she’s his mate. But he’s a shifter, and she’s a human, and the two can’t ever mix, can they?
In this steamy paranormal romance novella, follow along as an impossible love blossoms between two people, who couldn’t be more different. One might say fate intended for them to meet, if you believe in that sort of thing, but they’re both set on fighting their attraction with everything they’ve got. They’re going to need another push to admit to themselves as well as each other what’s going on…
I'm not usually a big fan of short stories (<100 pages), but I actually liked this one. I do have a harder time writing reviews for these stories, because you can't take say much about the plot w/o giving away spoilers.
I liked the hero, Derek . He was a bit of a solitary guy, to which I can definitely relate. As a werebear, I thought it was funny that he raised bees. It made me think of Winnie the Pooh and his hunny jar. He really fought his attraction and feelings toward Claire at first because she is, gasp, a human. As for Clarice, I could take her or leave her. She is a romance writer, so I thought that would be fun. I loved that Derek became her muse for the book she was working on. However she is quick to make ridiculous assumptions like thinking he is married, then thinking he betrayed her when she finds out he is not. That whole line of thinking was silly and aggravating to me.
Oddly enough, this was not a story of instalove. They aren't together for the first half or more of the book... but man, then everything happened at lightning speed and left me feeling a little bewildered. Usually this is where the shorter stories start to bother me, but I was able to take this one in the spirit it was offered and just roll with it. If you have an hour to kill, this story is not a bad way to pass the time.
I received a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review. I didn't care for the narrator that much for this story. He didn't sound Scottish enough, or "beary" enough. In fact, his voice stayed pretty consistent throughout no matter which character was speaking. I prefer for my narrators to get into the characters, change accents, inflections, etc. So I ended up dropping the audiobook and picking up the ebook from Kindle Unlimited. That way everyone sounded appropriate in my head, even including the beary growls.
Lorelei Moone is an up-and-coming author of paranormal romance based in London. Her first book, Scottish Werebear: An Unexpected Affair has hit the virtual shelves on Amazon on 25 September 2015, and her second, Scottish Werebear: A Dangerous Business a month later on the 25th of October. A lover of all things sweet, and caffeinated, when she's not writing about sexy bear shifters and their strong-willed curvaceous love interests, Lorelei can be found baking cookies or cakes for her family.
After leaving the corporate world by selling his successful logistics business at age 45, Patrick Blackthorne has been able to devote himself to his passions: sailing, classic guitar as well as making a difference in the world by serving on the boards of several non profits. His first foray into storytelling was nightly reading to his nieces and nephews, but since then he has moved on to bed time stories of a more intimate, grown-up nature. While racing across the Atlantic, he began recording stories to upload for the family while at sea, which he enjoyed so much it inspired the beginning of a brand new career as a professional narrator. Keep an eye out for future releases of his favorite kind of stories: tales of the sensual and erotic.
