Review: Rules of Seduction by Joya Ryan

Rules of Seduction 
by Joya Ryan
Series:  Serve #7
Pub. Date:  June 9, 2015
Publisher:  Entangled Brazen
Pages:  142
Format:  eARC
Source:  Publisher / Netgalley
   

My Rating:  
Sultry Scale:

He'll be the dream and the dirty fantasy...

Through with both her controlling ex and relationships, Ava Webber is determined to explore the spicy and sometimes forbidden appetites of the exclusive BDSM nightclub, Serve. Here, she'll get exactly what she needs...as long as it's from a man she doesn't know.

Nolan Hart ensures that Serve's clients get what they want, how they want it. But with one look at the curvy brunette, Nolan knows he’s the man to fulfill her desires. As the anonymous lover, he's Ava’s dirtiest fantasy. Outside of Serve, he's her charming, smartass friend. 

But Nolan wants more. More than Ava is willing to give. And as long as the blindfold stays on, she'll never discover that the two men she's falling for are one and the same... 

This was a super quick steamy story, perfect material for bedtime reading. I didn't realize it was book 7 in a series - and this seems to be a common theme with me over the last month. I really need to pay better attention when I'm signing up to review stuff, but sometimes a cover or blurb just sucks me in and I've hit that "request" button before I even blinked. (sigh) From some of the other reviews, I see that there was not much character crossover, but it still bothers me. There was at least some, and I found myself wondering who people were or what their story was in relation to Serve.

Anywho, our abso-yummy main male character is Nolan Hart, who is the manager of an exclusive sex club called Serve. I really expected Nolan to be all alpha male and dominant, but he is more of a sweetheart when it comes to Ava, the female lead. Ava is somewhat broken by a controlling ex-husband and she is looking for some NSA anonymous sex because she is afraid of being controlled again. It was kinda weird she would go to a BDSM club for that, but whatev. I was expecting a BDSM romance going into this book, but it turned into a sweet sappy love story. I actually didn't mind it though as I liked both characters for the most part, and the sex scenes were pretty steamy. Ava got on my nerves a bit with her hemming and hawing over Nolan, but the story was short enough that it didn't have time to work into full-blown aggravation.

Pick this one up if you are waiting for the hubby to come to bed... or maybe read some scenes aloud and see if his attention stays on the football game. 

I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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Serve Series

Review: Bite Mark by Lily Harlem

Bite Mark by Lily Harlem

My Rating:  
Sultry Scale:

Life in London as a butcher girl is hard enough, but when my best friend Denny goes missing without a trace it becomes miserable. So finding clues to his whereabouts and then stumbling one foggy morning into the Worshipful Company of the Ancient Order is like a breath of fresh air. Not least because sexy sophisticated Aimery has promised to help me when no one else will.

But Aimery has a best friend and it seems Ryle wants in on the action. My head begins to spin, my body reacting to theirs whenever I'm around them. But there are questions I need answering. What is their obsession with my rare blood type? How do they always appear just when I need them? And exactly how old are they?

Learning the truth about my lovers brings new fears and delights. They take me higher than I’ve ever gone before, show me delights I never imagined existed and are prepared to kill to keep me safe. Being mortal has never been so much fun, or so deliciously dangerous.

Please note, Bite Mark ends on a cliff hanger and has a sequel, Claw Mark.

My friend Deanna, from Deanna's World introduced me to Lily Harlem, and so far, I have enjoyed her writing very much. Her writing style is so delightfully British that it's a nice change of pace for this American girl... even if I don't always understand some of the slang and terminology. I have a great time trying to read with a British accent in my head (and sometimes out loud).

This was a unique take on a steamy paranormal tale. Our heroine, Beatrice, is a butcher girl with a rare blood type. No really, a butcher girl, carving up steaks and chops and the whole shebang! I haven't seen that before, so it was a refreshing change of pace from the college students in the new adult books I've been reading lately. We had two (yes TWO) sexy sophisticated vampire heroes, who were unique in their own right. One seemed to be the brains and the other brawn, and together they were a dynamic duo of vampire yummy! And the smexytime was H-O-T hot. The villain is revealed as jealous old female vamp who wants Bea for her blood type. There wasn't a ton of action in this first installment, but you can tell that there will be lots of it to come.

This was a quick read, very well-written, with a slight cliffie at the end. Lucky for you, the next book (Claw Mark) is already out!

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Claw Mark
Book #2

Review coming soon!

Being married to two sexy vampires is as exciting as it is dangerous. One minute I'm on top of the world, ecstasy my best friend, the next I'm running for my life. But it's okay with Aimery and Ryle at my side-they've sworn to love and protect me and keep me satisfied until I'm old and tray.

But when everything crashes down, literally, I can see no way out of the darkness-death my best option. Until, that is, two unusual men who live in the Canadian Rockies come bounding to my aid. 

Gentle Caleb and prickly Isaac have secrets. They're full of passion, desire, love and lust and their isolated lives weaved with mystery. But I know what they are. I'm not completely naive. I'm also craving some serious satisfying, a distraction from my dilemma, and it seems these guys are up for the job. Will I ever be normal again? Or will my life always be turbulent, terrifying and tempting beyond belief? Nothing is certain in a world of vampires and shifters.

Teaser Tuesday: All of Me by Lisa Renee Jones

Welcome to Teaser Tuesday!  Lots of blogs post all the new releases each week, so I want to do something a little different.  Instead of posting all the new releases, I am going to feature the one new release that I am most excited about!  

This week, I am most excited about All of Me by Lisa Renee Jones.  

Get your copy at Amazon!

WHY am I so excited about this book you ask?  Well, because I read the first book in the series (If I Were You ), and I loved it so much that I knew I could not stand to wait each time a new book came out.  So I have been buying and hoarding these books - just waiting for the series to be finished.  Now I can finally re-read the first book and finish the series!!!  And let me tell you, all these months I have not been able to get Chris Merit out of my mind.  I am not saying much about the female lead, Sara... because I hate her.  It should be ME ME ME in her place. 

My bookclub (Chicklits of Nola) will be reading All of Me for our February meeting.  I know they will be hooked as fast as I was.  

The Inside Out series has also been optioned for a cable television show!  Who would you cast as Chris? I would lean toward Chris Hemsworth or Charlie Hunnam myself.

Make sure to read the series in the correct order, which Lisa has supplied for us on her website.

A short excerpt from the book:

His mouth closes down on mine, and the torment in his kiss devours me, sliding deep into my soul where it burrows like everything that is this man. So much so that when he pulls his mouth from mine and whispers, “I love you,” I can barely breathe.

Get your copy today, and stay tuned for my review of the full series!

Review: Alpha

Alpha by Jasinda Wilder

Overall Rating: 3 of 5 stars
Sultry Scale:  4 of 5 flames






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The first time it happened, it seemed like an impossible miracle. Bills were piling up, adding up to more money than I could ever make. Mom's hospital bills. My baby brother's tuition. My tuition. Rent. Electricity. All of it on my shoulders. And I had just lost my job. There was no hope, no money in my account, no work to be found. And then, just when I thought all hope was lost, I found an envelope in the mail. No return address. My name on the front, my address. Inside was a check, made out to me, in the amount of ten thousand dollars. Enough to pay the bills and leave me some left over to live on until I found a job. Enough to let me focus on classes. There was no name on the check, just "VRI Inc.," and a post office box address for somewhere in the city. No hint of identity or reason for the check or anything. No mention of repayment, interest, nothing…except a single word, on the notes line: "You." Just those three letters.

If you receive a mysterious check, for enough money to erase all your worries, would you cash it? I did.  The next month, I received another check, again from VRI Incorporated. It too contained a single word: "belong."  A third check, the next month. This time, two words. Four letters. "To me."  The checks kept coming. The notes stopped. Ten thousand dollars, every month. A girl gets used to that, real quick. It let me pay the bills without going into debt. Let me keep my baby brother in school and Mom's hospice care paid for. How do you turn down what seems like free money, when you're desperate? You don't. I didn't.  And then, after a year, there was a knock on my door. A sleek black limousine sat on the curb in front of my house. A driver stood in front of me, and he spoke six words: "It's time to pay your debt."

Would you have gotten in?  I did.  It turns out $120,000 doesn't come free.

The blurb (above) offers a good teaser of what this book will be about.  It pretty much summarizes the first chapter.  The story is told from the POV of our female lead, Kyrie, a bit of a tortured soul, who has been having a rough go-of-it for the last 7 years.  At a low point, the mysterious checks start coming in the mail.  The synopsis poses a good question - would you cash the check?  I have to say that I probably would - but I would probably obsess over it for a while, do as much research as I could, then let the money sit in the bank until I was absolutely desperate. Now, in real life, would the checks lead to a knight in shining armor riding in to save the day on his white steed?  Not in my life, my benefactor is more likely to be a fucktard in tinfoil on a donkey.  But - that's my lot in life and probably the driving force behind my reading habit.

Anyhoo, Kyrie finally meets her patron, Valentine Roth, only to learn that he has a huge secret that will change their relationship.  The foreshadowing here pretty much gives away the plot (what little there was).  

As far as the characters go, I did not identify much with Kyrie and I never got a clear picture of her in my head. I know that she must have amazing hair because it apparently looked great no matter whether she had been swimming in the ocean, or went to sleep with it soaking wet.  As a curly girl with a head full of spirals - I had to automatically hate her for that.  If I go to sleep with my hair wet, I wake up with something resembling a giant bird's nest.  Hair aside, I did like that she was outspoken and seemed to put her thoughts out there (when compared to a character like Anastasia Steele who was more apt to have an inner monologue than communicate with Christian Grey).  

I liked Valentine Roth as a character, and at first cast him in my head as a Jason Lewis... but later in the book he is compared to Alexander Skarsgard, so my perception altered a bit.  Although I liked Roth, I didn't feel like we ever got to know him.  

In fact, once Kyrie and Roth actually met, they couldn't stay out of bed long enough to let the plot develop.  There were numerous sexcapades, all very detailed and lengthy.  The author really got descriptive here, but wasn't  overly vulgar or raunchy.  <Kudos for sneaking the word "pudendum" in... and getting me to google it.  Yikes!>  So the steam factor was good - there was just a bit too much of it (gasp).  It seems like the lengthy sex scenes hindered the plot development.  I would have liked to see the relationship develop more between Kyrie and Valentine.  

All-in-all, the book was okay - but it didn't leave me satisfied.  I would compare it to Fifty Shades with less story and character development.  Fortunately, the second book in the series is already out, and it sounds like Beta will be a much more interesting book.