Review: "Zane's Way" by Maggie Casper

Zane's Way by Maggie Casper
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

There are more ways of cheating than simply having sex outside a committed relationship. If you're in a long-term, monogamous relationship, engage in an online chat with the purpose of finding a sexual partner for your kinky desires and masturbate thinking about that person you met online instead of your significant other, that's cheating - no matter how you justify it.

That's all I have to say.

View all my reviews

Review: "Quarterback Blitz" by Frances Stockton

Quarterback Blitz by Frances Stockton
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

1 1/2 stars (rounded up to 2 stars, because the book had a plot - too bad it was buried under all the non-stop, mind-numbing sex)

"Favorite" passage:
Anna was the best kisser he’d known. She responded with pure, feminine skill, especially the way her tongue lured his into her mouth and sucked it almost to her throat.
Fuck yeah, she didn’t gag.
...
Her smile wavered then, her eyes on his cock. "I knew you were big when I touched you that first time. But seeing you, jeez, Kyran, that’s never going to fit inside of me." Her voice was so deep and aroused, he felt like a king. He had eight inches of thick, hard muscle to give her.
Damn, if he didn’t get inside her soon he was going to be blitzed by his own cum.

Comments from the peanut gallery:
1. Gag from sucking tongue?! How long is your tongue, man?
2. Yes, his c*ck is big, but it's going to fit, woman. It always do. Don't act like an innocent maiden, as you're far from it.
3. Eight inches of thick, hard muscle? The penis is not a muscle!
4. "Blitzed by his own cum!?!" LOL!

'Nuff said.


View all my reviews

Review: "Bound by Deception" by Ava March

Bound by Deception by Ava March
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Verrrrry hot story, with likable characters and interesting story. The final confrontation between Oliver and Vincent was well written, emotionally tugging and made me root for a nice HEA. Alas, I had to content myself with a HFN, which was actually fine considering the length of the story and the fact that there's a sequel where, I hope, they'll finally find their HEA.

Now, most of the sexual content (BDSM) of this story is out of my comfort zone and I admit I skimmed through some parts of the love scenes - mainly, when the leather bullwhip made its appearance, ugh. That didn't prevent me from enjoying the read, though. :)


View all my reviews

Review: "Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor" by Lisa Kleypas

Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor by Lisa Kleypas
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

2 1/2 stars

It pains me to say this, but I didn't enjoy this read. *ducks rotten tomatoes*

The plot is pretty simple and the book description is good enough to give you the gist of it, so I won't bother with writing a plot summary here. What can I say? I liked the premise of the story, but the book didn't live up to my expectations.

As usual, Ms. Kleypas' writing was solid and made the story flow easily. Her description of Friday Harbor was so charming and vivid that it made me want to move there.

As for the characters, Mark was nice, Maggie was nice, little Holly was nice, Mark's brother Sam was nice... When did "nice" become such a bad thing? :-/

Romance wise, Mark and Maggie's relationship was disappointingly underdeveloped. There was some buildup, but no real "tension". Not even the fact that Mark was involved in a relationship with another woman for the most part of the story or that Maggie was still (sort of) "grieving" over the death of her husband made the story less, well, lukewarm. Then, all of a sudden, Mark was free, Maggie was ready to move on and embrace a new relationship, and they all lived happily ever after... "Rushed" doesn't begin to describe the ending of this book.

I'm a huge fan of Ms. Kleypas' historical books, but I'm not sold to her contemporary's yet. If this is an example of what I should expect from the upcoming books in this series, I don't think I'll be buying them.


View all my reviews

Review: "Marrying the Captain" by Carla Kelly

Marrying The Captain by Carla Kelly

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


4 1/2 stars

This was only my second book by Carla Kelly, but I can already say for sure that she is one of my favorite authors now. I love her writing and the way she fills her books with accurate and realistic historic details without turning them into a textbook... Well, that's how I feel after reading only two books, but I doubt they're exceptions to the rule. :)

Marrying The Captain (Channel Fleet, #1) is the first book in the Channel Fleet trilogy. The story takes place during the Napoleonic Wars and, unlike what I've become used to read in other Regency books, the H/h are common (but not ordinary) people: Royal Navy Captain Oliver Worthy, a simple country vicar's son who's achieved his current rank by merit, and Eleanor "Nana" Massie, a scheming lord's illegitimate daughter.

Nana's been living in Plymouth with her grandmother (from her mother's side, of course) and running the Mulberry Inn with her for the past five years, since her father tried to give her to one of his "friends" as payment for his debts. Oliver has the unfortunate luck of crossing paths with Lord Ratliffe, Nana's father and an undersecretary of Admiralty House, and is asked to spy on Nana - just to make sure she's doing fine, assures Lord Ratliffe. Oliver doesn't buy it, but fate plays its hand and he ends up staying in Mulberry Inn anyway - and as they say, the rest is history...

I loved Oliver and Nana. They were fully developed characters, admirable and flawed at the same time, and their falling in love was very poignant. At first, I was afraid Oliver's connection with Nana's father would lead to a Big Misunderstanding, but Ms. Kelly knows better than that and showed me that such plot device isn't necessary to add conflict to a story and keep it interesting. The uncertainties brought by war were enough to give my heart a little squeeze.

This was a very enjoyable read to me, slow paced at times but never boring. I never doubted Oliver and Nana's love for each other, even when they tried to fight it - for sensible reasons and not just for the sake of adding angst to the story. If I have one complaint, it's the ending: this book needed an epilogue, IMHO. Call me greedy, but I needed to see Oliver and Nana living HEA after the war was over. That's the only reason I couldn't give this book 5 stars. Hopefully, I'll get to seem them again in the next books, The Surgeon's Lady (Channel Fleet, #2) and Marrying the Royal Marine. :)



View all my reviews

Review: "Master of the Mountain" by Cherise Sinclair

Master of the Mountain by Cherise Sinclair

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


3 1/2 stars

The book description gives more than a good insight of the story - in fact, it tells the whole story! - so I won't bother writing a plot summary here. I'll just say that the premise was interesting, but I didn't like the way the story unfolded.

Rebecca was too hesitant and insecure - so much that I didn't know if she still considered Matt her boyfriend or not when she had sex with Logan. Before anyone shouts "Cheater!" at her, let me explain that Matt and Rebecca had an open relationship - even though she only became aware of that when the douchebag told her he was a swinger and asked her to join his swing club on a long weekend retreat - so she wasn't cheating on him when she decided to explore her sexuality with Logan. Even so, I still felt uncomfortable with her decision, mostly because she was uncomfortable with it too. She was clearly not a swinger and not into any kind of sexual sharing, so why didn't she break things up with Matt when she realized that? Considering he was "busy" with another woman (and therefore, didn't have time to speak with his own girlfriend) and how he was okay with her having sex with other guys, I'd have been fine with Rebecca breaking up with Matt "telepathically" until she could do it face to face. She did that (the "telepathic" breakup) later, but the damage - the way I saw it - had been done.

Logan was sexy as sin - and a bit scary for my sensitive taste. He was definitely a Dom with a capital D and wasn't afraid to push Rebecca out of her comfort zone. He never went over what he knew she could take, which was a relief - to her, not to me. And that's where I had some issues with this book. Logan and Rebecca were more than happy with their BDSM plays - well, she wasn't exactly laughing with joy when he punished her, but you know what I mean - and they really knew how to set the sheets on fire, but some of their sex scenes were out of my comfort zone. I shouldn't care - I mean, as long as everyting is sane, safe and consensual, everything goes - but I couldn't help being put off by some of their sexcapades. Since I read for fun and that affected my enjoyment while I was reading this book, I had to take that in consideration when I decided on my rating.

This was my third read by this author and I don't know where I stand when it comes to her books. I like her writing, but I'm wary of her stories. I loved The Dom's Dungeon, I didn't like Club Shadowlands (Masters of the Shadowlands, #1) and even though I thought that this book was better than okay, it wasn't a winner. What to do, what to do? I guess I'll have to keep reading. ;)



View all my reviews

Review: "Mistress Christmas" by Lorelei James

Mistress Christmas by Lorelei James

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I can always count on Lorelei James to deliver hot, steamy and fun stories. I just wish the cover of this book wasn't so, ugh, tacky. But hey, I've got it as an e-book, so why am I complaining? LOL!

Holly North is a shy accountant who, for reasons I'll never fully understand, agrees to don a dominatrix costume and fill in as Mistress Christmas at Sugar Plums, a "gentleman's" club - aka a high-class strip joint.

Detective Nick West isn't a regular at Sugar Plums - or any other strip joint, for that matter. He's there to take down the famous Mistress Christmas, who alledgedly robbed one of his friends during a lap dance. As his friend was too embarassed to press formal charges, Nick has to work undercover and off the clock, trick Mistress Christmas to give him a lap dance and catch her in the act of trying to rob him too. But one look at her has him doubting his ability to keep his mind - and another very distinct body part - focused on the legal matter at hand.

The attraction between Holly and Nick is immediate and combustible, and they don't take long to act on it. But neither knows who the other truly is, so what will happen when the truth surfaces? Is there any future for a relationship that basically starts with a misunderstanding and is based on deception? Well, this is Romancelandia. Need I say more? ;)

As expected, this was a hot, quick and very entertaining read. Nick and Holly were very likeable and the sexual chemistry between them was great, which always leads to scorching love scenes. On the "negative" side, the setup of the story annoyed me, because I don't think a shy accountant can pass for a seasoned stripper that easily. Anyway, that wasn't "bad" enough to ruin the read. All things considered, this was very good.

Note: The Wild West Boys series is kind of a spin-off of the Rough Riders series - the West "boys" are cousins of the McKay "kinky loonies" - but each series stands on its own and you don't have to read one to follow/appreciate the other.



View all my reviews