Changing Course ~ Aly Martinez

Changing Course by Aly Martinez
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wild and crazy ride!

3.5 Crazy Train stars!

I just finished this book a little while ago, and my head is spinning. So much angst and turmoil. I don't even know where to begin.


 


First of all let me just say that I adore Aly Martinez's writing. She has this way of creating characters that seem to just jump off the page and live and breathe in the real world. I am seriously in awe of her talent.

This book is really hard for me to wrap my head around. On the one hand I loved the intensity of the story. I loved how dark the subject matter was. But, on the other hand....i had some problems with the main characters and how they reacted to certain situations.

Sarah: I'm just going to say it flat out. I had very little sympathy for her. Yes, she went through a traumatic event, and lost her best friend. I get that. But some of her actions were just unforgivable in my eyes. And while I am probably....once again....in the minority on this, i honestly am a bit nervous to read Broken Course because of my dislike for her character. All i can say is, she better be good to my Leo....or else.
 



Jesse: A rare find indeed...a female lead character that I didn't continually want to bitch slap! Yay!  I loved how much of a little spitfire she was. I even liked how she didn't cuss. However, the speed with which she forgave Brett for his Caveman behavior was a tad annoying. Okay....more than a tad.  I did enjoy her relationship with Caleb though. <3 br=""> 


Brett: I am all for a possessive Alpha male. But, Brett stepped over the line into asshat Caveman territory  more than once for me. Plus, his whole attitude regarding Sarah bugged the hell out of me. Yes, i know he loved her. I know he felt guilty leaving her after everything she had been through...but once things progressed with Jesse, and after all the shitty things Sarah did to her....he had no business playing both sides of the fence. At all.
 
 



The entire Sarah/Brett situation was probably my biggest problem with the storyline. It seemed to drag out a bit too long, and the overwhelming angst involved was too much for my delicate constitution. LOL  BUT....it definitely kept me flipping the pages as fast as my little fingers could....so that says a lot about how interesting and addictive the storyline was. I FELT while reading this book. It wasn't always positive feels...but still.

Aly Martinez has a huge fan in me. And while this wasn't as much of a perfect read for me like her Among the Echoes was, it was still a wild ride that I'm glad i got to experience.

Reaper's Property ~ Joanna Wylde

Reaper's Property by Joanna Wylde
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Holy Va-Jay-Jay, this book was a scorcher!



I'm attempting to get my hormones under control after finishing this book, so I will try and keep this review short and to the point.

Let there be no doubt about it; this book is an insanely, panties-exploding-off-your-body kind of hot. The sex scenes are ridiculously erotic, and while there was one thing I was a little put off by I didn't like the whole 'sweet-butt' (i.e. how the MC's have a woman that they 'share' among themselves) aspect. Yes, I know that this book is about Motorcycle gangs and their lives are different and edgy and all that, but I'm not fond of reading about women being used that way, so that by itself...while a somewhat small part of the story...bothered me. But, that's just a personal preference and might not bother anyone else. the book was a hell of a lot of fun to read.

And, I can't write even a short review of this story without mentioning the man of the hour....Horse. And yes...he has that nickname for the exact reason you think he does.



I am a huge fan of Alpha males, and Horse is about as Alpha as they come. He's sexy, crude, bossy, belligerent, arrogant, and goes after what he wants with a single minded focus that was at times downright scary. He was more than a little too pushy for my taste. As I have said many times before, there is a fine line between a sexy Alpha and an obnoxious asshat. Horse crossed that line more than once for me unfortunately.

However....even with the problems I had, I still really enjoyed this twisted ride on the wild side.


Warning: This book will cause a tingly sensation in your girly bits. Be prepared with an extra supply of panties. You're welcome.

The Pleasures of Winter ~ Evie Hunter

The Pleasures of Winter by Evie Hunter
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

6 blisteringly hot stars!



Here's my confession:
It was the the last day of 2012, and I was looking for a quick, fun read to tide me over until a book I had pre-ordered was released the following day. The reviews for The Pleasures of Winter were all over the place, but I decided to give it a shot anyway after watching an entertaining interview with the 2 Irish authors who co-wrote the book under the name "Evie Hunter".

All I can say is, holy yowza, batman!

Yes, this book falls firmly into the "What to read after Fifty Shades of Grey" category, but in my opinion...and pay attention to me here, people...This book blows Fifty Shades out of the water.

That's right, I said it.


Meet Jack Winter.


A Hollywood badass, who's life growing up in Ireland is as murky as a London fog. Enter hard-nosed journalist Abbie, who manages to awaken the 'darker' (aka kinkier) side of Jack's personality. One that he is desperately trying to keep hidden as he attempts to land the movie role of a lifetime.

Throw in a plane crash, a danger-filled trek through a jungle, enough sexual chemistry to light up Manhattan for a week & some mighty interesting new ways to use ice chips and ginger root, and you have a recipe for one helluva sexy ride!



Jack Winter...oh, let me count the ways in which I love thee.
Simply put, Jack is everything I wish Christian Grey had been, and so much more. All wrapped up in a cross between Colin Farrel & Hugh Jackman looking package. I mean, seriously? How the hell could you go wrong with that?

The D/s relationship here is sooo much more believable and intense than in FSOG. Jack and Abbie's BDSM lifestyle, while still more 'vanilla' than most (*cough* or so I have been told.), is much more realistic than the uber-watered down version found in FSOG and most of it's clones.

Jack picked her up and set her on her feet. He pulled her against his chest, using one hand to tilt her head back. "Did I hurt you?"
"No, you didn't hurt me."
A wicked grin dispelled his serious expression.
"Would you like me to?"


Now, as to the aforementioned chemistry between Jack and Abbie?! Off. The. Charts. I have read my fair share of erotica in 2012 (probably a lot more than my fair share to be honest lol), but I can honestly say, the scenes between these two were probably some of my all time favorites. These Irish gals know how to write some intense love scenes, let me tell you! And not just the actual sex scenes, but the flirty banter as well. One of my absolute favorite parts of this book were the IM discussions. It starts off as Abbie wanting to talk to a Dominant to try and understand her submissive side, and these 'D/s counseling sessions' are incredibly fun and sexy...even before Abbie finds out that she has in fact been chatting with Jack the whole time. All of these scenes make the reader well aware of the fact that when these two finally do hook up....look out!





Yes, the whole b-story involving the drug lords she was digging into for an article and their pesky habit of trying to kill her was a bit silly and unnecessary. But you know what? I don't really care. Because there were so many other things that I absolutely loved about this book that it's easy to overlook something minor like that. Where as in a book I enjoyed a lot less, it probably would have had me rolling my eyes into the back of my head. But here? Eh...whatever.

So, as you might have guessed...I unabashedly adored this book. While I do enjoy finding an awesome stand-alone book, I have to admit...i kind of wish I had more kinky adventures with Mr Winter to look forward to. ;)

**Side Note**
There is a super-short novella (that is more like an extra scene) called
A Touch of Winter which should be read after this book. It's hot & sweet and i recommend it as well. :)

Some of my favorite highlights:

"I'm Jack Winter. I've been sleeping with Abbie for the last four night. Who are you?"

"Bad girl." Jack withdrew his fingers and pressed them to his mouth. "Hot, sweet little Abbie. I can see that you're going to need a lesson about who's in charge here."

"Oh, Ms Marshall. You are a sight for sore eyes". Jack's Irish accent made her nipples peak. "I'm going to taste every inch of you."

"I am not your girl."
"oh baby, you will always be my girl."

"Abbie, if you come in, you know what will happen? Tonight won't be feathers and velvet. It's going to be leather and bruises and hard fucking. If that's not what you want, go away now. Come back tomorrow."
"Jack," her voice shook. "I want that, too."

"I'm yours? In your dreams."
"He grabbed her and pulled her tightly against his chest. "In my dreams," he agreed, his voice dropping to a growl. "And in every waking minute too."


At heart she was a vanilla and feathers girl, and he was leather and steel.

Lady Luck ~ Kristen Ashley

Lady Luck by Kristen Ashley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was definitely my least favorite of the series so far, but overall I still really enjoyed it even though the story line and leading man didn't completely capture my heart.

This book definitely had a different feel to it from the previous two books in the series, The Gamble and Sweet Dreams. The story line was much grittier and a lot darker. We find out pretty early on that our hero is a completely different breed of leading man. Ty is much quieter, and far more serious than either Max or Tate. And his past was far from pretty. He had a horrible childhood (both main characters did), and than this horrible injustice was done to him resulting in his spending 5 years in jail for something he didn't do. So...the man has a reason to be angry. However....he occasionally steps over the line and crosses over into asshat territory more than once. And this was the reason I had a hard time falling under the spell he seems to have cast on many fans of this series. There were 2 instances where he did or said something to the heroine, Lexi, that left me completely speechless by their cruelty. Yes, I realize that he had his reasons, but still...he crossed a line both times and i found it very hard to forgive him.

Having said that, I can say I did end up warming up a little to him towards the end of the book, and was happy with the way that Ty & Lexi's HEA played out.

"My Ty."
Christ. Fuck.
Two words. Just two words. Walker had no clue that two words could mean so fucking much. He'd never belonged to anyone. He'd never belonged anywhere. Never thought he wanted to.
Until he heard those two words.

Because if you don't know how good something can be, you don't how bad you'll miss it when it's gone.

The two best aspects of this book were definitely LEXI (she was beyond awesome in just about every way) & I also loved getting to see Tate, Laurie and some of the other citizens of Carnal that we were introduced to in Sweet Dreams. We even had a bit of Nina & a passing mention of my beloved Max (swoooooon).

So, let me just make it clear. I enjoyed this book. KA's writing style is so engaging and addictive that even when I have issues with the story i still keep turning the pages because I can't wait to find out what happens next. So, even though it didn't rock my socks off as much as the other books in the series did, it was still a good read.

And finally...even though I wasn't the biggest fan of Ty, I did have a certain image of him in my mind, and even though this is probably far away from how KA imagined him....especially considering the hair...this was MY version of Ty Walker.


"Never had light in my life, never, not once. I lived wild but didn't burn bright until you shined your light on me."

Sweet Dreams ~ Kristen Ashley

Sweet Dreams by Kristen Ashley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

6 stars!

My second KA read turned out to be nearly as enjoyable as my first!

My Tate


So, going into this book I knew it would be almost impossible to surpass the love I had for the first book in the series, The Gamble. And while I had some issues with Tate in the beginning, and never quite warmed up to Lauren the way I did to Nina, this book still ended up blowing me away.

Let me just put this out there :
THIS BOOK IS HUGE.

Technically The Gamble is slightly longer, but I have to admit Sweet Dreams felt like a much longer book. Not because I found it to be boring in any way...just because there was just so much going on. In fact about half way through I literally had to take a break from the book for a few hours just because I felt like I was trying to process too much information at one time and needed to give my poor brain a rest!

Tate is a much different breed of Alpha then my beloved Max was in The Gamble. First of all - Tate is an all out, balls-to-the-wall badass biker mofo. He was also much moodier and more dangerous. And in the beginning he said something about the heroine that I honestly didn't think I would be able to forgive him for. But thankfully I did manage to get past it (as did Lauren), and came to discover that with all his faults, Tate was indeed a wonderfully complex, if slightly cranky Alpha who I definitely ended up falling for in the end.

As I have already said, I was never able to quite warm up to Lauren completely. There were several little things that annoyed me about her personality, and I am never fond of the heroine that every male within a 100 mile radius falls in love with. But having said that, Lauren and Tate's romance was a beautiful thing to watch unfold. I also loved her interactions with Tate's son, Jonas (who completely stole my heart).

The secondary characters were wonderful (I especially loved Shambles and Sunny) and the suspense element in the book worked very well, even though the actual conclusion of that part of the plot seemed a teeny bit rushed. Although considering this book was nearly 600 pages long nothing about it was too rushed. :P

Unlike many other reviewers, the fact that KA is so detail oriented in her stories (descriptions of what the characters are wearing etc) doesn't really bother me. The constant repetitiveness of certain phrases ("sorry?" "Come again?" etc) was a little bit bothersome, but again, KA's story was just so damn engaging that I was gladly able to look past the imperfections and just embrace my love for the characters and their world.

Once again I find myself sooo glad that I decided to give KA's books another try because I haven't enjoyed reading this much in far too long. I can't wait to dive into Lady Luck next!

This Man ~ Jodi Ellen Malpas

This Man by Jodi Ellen Malpas
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Attempting to write a review for this book without allowing myself to go off on a rant about everything that bothered me about the story would be next to impossible. So, consider yourself warned.




I am a fan of the Alpha Male character in books. Hell, gimme an Uber-Alpha Male and I'm an even happier girl. But...there is a difference between being an Alpha Male and being an obnoxious bully. Sometimes the lines blur, but in the case of this book...there is no question that the character of Jesse Ward is a first class asshat.

Let me make this clear: There is nothing sexy about Jesse's behavior in this book. Nothing. He becomes obsessed with and begins systematically stalking Ava after their first encounter. Calling her phone dozens of times and when she refuses to answer he goes out and gets a new cell phone so he can trick her by calling her from another phone number. Showing up at her house in the middle of the night, banging on her door and screaming like a madman until she lets him in. Calling and blowing up at her for not calling him as soon as she got home after spending the night with him (oh, and did I mention the fact that she wanted to return home the night before but he physically restrained her from leaving?). I'm sorry, but if someone acted like that in real life, his ass would get arrested pretty damn quick.

As far as the sex scenes go...I am far from a prude. In fact a large portion of the books I have read in 2012 have been erotica & BDSM related. Having said that, in my opinion there is nothing sexy about basically forcing a particular sex act on someone regardless of the fact that the woman 'ended up liking it'. After that scene it became increasingly difficult for me to continue on to the end of this book.

Oh, and did i mention how Malpas described Jesse as being twitchy, having clammy hands and having a habit of heavy breathing on Ava?!



As others have mentioned, this book is by an independent British author who continually uses many British terms that are unfamiliar. I can pretty much ignore that most of the time and something like that very rarely makes me enjoy a good book less. However, here I found myself downright confused at times. Ava repeatedly describes Jesse's eyes as being "sludgy". Now, I am assuming that the author meant this in a positive way (considering she uses the term when Ava is waxing poetic about how impossibly perfect Jesse is), but it just didn't compute with me. Maybe's it's some obscure British-ism, but it was especially distracting given how many times the author used the term.

Speaking of which...and I feel like I'm having a Fifty Shades of Grey flashback here, but this author was extremely repetitive. Jesse was continually yelling at Ava about cursing ("Watch your mouth, lady!") even while cursing himself. And dear Lord in heaven I think I speak for everyone who read this book when I ask the following question:

HOW OLD IS JESSE WARD???!!!???

I really wish the author had cleared that up because I was so damn sick of Ava pontificating about it throughout the book. In the beginning, Ava comments that Jesse looks to be in his early 30's, but at other times she acts like he is a dirty old man and must be in his 40's or 50's because she constantly comments about how much older he is than her (even though she is in her mid 20's). That was just one more aspect of the story line that I found maddening.

Despite what it might sound like given the tone of this review, I did go into this book with an open mind, wanting to like it. Unfortunately it was 100% not for me.

Pride & Passion ~ Charlotte Featherstone

ARC Courtesy of NetGalley.com

4 stars

I've been having a hard time trying to put my thoughts together regarding this book. There were a LOT of things i absolutely loved about it, and there were more than a few things I didn't like.

The beginning grabbed my attention immediately. I haven't read any other historical romances with a paranormal edge to them, so i really enjoyed that aspect (initially at least). Also, the first half of the book was written beautifully....the characters came to life, and I found myself being swept away in their story. Adrian, The Lord of Sussex was a wonderful character. He is a deeply passionate, loving man who keeps his emotions hidden behind a facade of a cold, boring aristocrat.

I can honestly say, without a doubt Featherstone has written some of the most sensual and erotic love scenes I have read in a LONG time, in this book. As someone who likes their sex scenes steamy....i was a happy camper.

Now as to what I didn't like...The names of the 3 main female characters....Lucy, Lizzy and Izzy. Needless to say, it was a bit confusing to try and keep track of who was who at times. Also, the last third of the book felt a little overblown to me. The paranormal aspect, and the dialogue between Lucy and Adrian just felt....forced and cliched at times. Also, the fact that for two thirds of the book Lucy is so dead-set against being with Adrian, that the way she just decides from one minute to the next that she simply MUST be with him didn't really work for me.

However, despite any minor problems I may have had with the final act, the over-all book was a very enjoyable, uber steamy read. I can't wait for the next in the series.

Devil's Bride ~ Stephanie Laurens

1 1/2-2 Stars

I will freely admit it...i skimmed through a large portion of this book. I have nothing against an uber-Alpha male if written in the right way, but there was just something about Devil Cynster that REALLY bugged me right from the beginning. Yes, he was darkly brooding and handsome. Yes, he cared about the heroine, Honoria and refused to 'claim her' until she agreed to be his wife...but his rather brutish attitude bothered me. Also, i didn't really like Honoria all that much either, and the so-called murder mystery element was boring and took up far too much of the story. There were just long stretches of this book that felt like filler to me. Far too many secondary characters that I didn't feel the slight bit interested in.

On the good side, Laurens definitely knows how to write a steamy love scene. Although it felt like she spent the first half of the book building up to the big moment, and then she attempted to cram in as many sex scenes as possible until the last act of the book, which completely fell flat in my opinion.

I realize this is the first book of a long series that many people have recommended to me, and I definitely plan on giving the second book a shot at some point. But, in the end I can't help but feel very disappointed by Devil's Bride.