Bad Company by K.A. Mitchell

Grade: C
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary, M/M
Series: Bad in Baltimore #1
Reviewed by Kate

Rich boy Kellan was kicked out and cut off when his dad discovered he broke off his third engagement in a very public way. What better way to get back at his dad than pretending to be very publicly gay? Nate was Kellan's best friend growing up until Nate admitted he was gay and Kellan quit talking to him. Then Kellan's dad sunk Nate's dad financially. Nate agrees to give Kellan a place to stay and help him "come out" in exchange for ruining Kellan's dad's company. Now what is Kellan supposed to do with these very real feelings he's beginning to have for Nate?

This one left me grasping at understanding the characters. Nate came off as uncompromising and judgemental. And while very hot, I just didn't enjoy Kellan's transition from straight to gay. I am looking forward to reading the next book though, as I have enjoyed everything else I have read by this author.

One Good Earl Deserves A Lover by Sarah Maclean

Grade-A-
Hotness Level-Blaze
Kink Level-None
Series-The Rules Of Scoundrels #2
Reviewed by Kay

Pippa Marbury is smart. Really, really smart. She knows something about almost everything. What she doesn't know, she wants to learn. She's to get married at the onset of this novel and she wants to know more about sex. How to seduce her betrothed who seems oblivious to anything of a sexual nature.

Cross, no name but Cross for most of the book is part owner of The Fallen Angel gaming hell. He is close friends with Pippa's brother-in-law. Cross is a consummate rake by reputation. He was the spare that became the heir. He has a truckload of guilt and a few secrets to go with his rakishness. Is that a word?

Pippa goes to the hell to see if Cross can answer her questions on seduction and the physical aspect of marriage. Cross is dumbfounded but intrigued. He is tempted beyond measure but refuses her request for a number of reasons. Pippa misunderstand his refusal. See, Pippa is the smart girl but plain in her eyes and most others also. Listening to her description of why Cross refuses her is tear inducing.

This novel was almost a total hit for me. It was so close to perfection. I have been reading a lot of books that have been just okay. Not bad but not like this one. What kept it from a perfect rating for me was 1) they were both betrothed to other people at certain times in the book and 2) he was a redhead. I know it's petty but red headed men just don't do it for and it's hard for me to but into it.  Still, it's on my Best of 2013 list.

The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook

Grade - A
Hotness Level - Blaze
Kink Level - no kink
Genre - Steampunk
Series: Iron Seas #1
Reviewed by Anne


I'll preface this review by saying this book is an all time favorite of mine. I recently re-read it and I liked it even more, so there might be a bit of fangirl gushing going on today.
 

The Iron Seas series by Meljean Brook is steampunk. It's an alternate history where some things are the same, but others went along a different path. So in The Iron Duke, we have a historical England that has recently escaped enslavement by The Horde. The Horde controlled the people by infecting their blood with "bugs".  They also used technology to change the people in ways to match their slave occupation.  So a miner might have a pick axe for an arm and so on.  

The Horde looks different than your average English person. (I picutre the Horde as Asian.) The Horde was driven out of England due to actions by Rhys Traehearn, aka the Iron Duke. He's a national hero. On the other hand, Mina, who is the product of her loving English mother and a member of the Horde who raped her, is pretty much despised on sight by everyone due to her Horde looks. Despite that, she's an inspector with the police force, and the book starts when she's called to investigate a death on Traehearn's property.

Traehearn nearly immediately thinks Mina is someone he would like to have. Mina also feels an attraction to Traehearn, but for reasons of her own would never act on this attraction.  Traehearn is determined and the investigation keeps them together.  Unfortunately and fortunately, the investigation quickly deepens and gets more complicated.  This leads to lots of adventure and more time for them to spend together.

There is so much good about this book. Even the things that bothered me initially turned out to be so well handled, that in the end I didn't have a complaint.  One example is Thraehearn's alpha-ness.  When he first meets Mina he is enthralled by her.  She is interesting.  He wants to have her.  He gives no thought to her feelings.  He's quite confident that she will be amenable to anything he wants.  Her resistance just makes her more attractive to him.  He's rich enough that he can pull strings to get whatever he wants, and he doesn't hesitate to force Mina into a situation where she has to go along with him.  He's really an arrogant ass.  So the author has a big job in turning him into a sympathetic character.  But she does it and she does it well.  Amazingly, at the end of the book, Traehearn is every bit as much of a take charge alpha man as he was at the beginning.  He has a greater understanding and love for Mina, though, and that comes through loud and clear.  He's not afraid to make sacrifices to ensure her happiness, even if he's awfully alpha about how he does it.

 

Another thing I really appreciated was that Meljean Brook builds an interesting world, and she does it without boring info dumps.  The book has great secondary characters, too.  It's got ships on the sea and air ships that float under huge balloons!  It's got zombies and mechanical flesh.  It's got the best of sci fi/fantasy and romance together.  I highly recommend this entire series!

 

One final note.  There is a prequel to this story.  It's a short story called Here There Be Monsters.  (It's in the anthology Burning Up.)  It's one of my all time favorite short stories and is only loosely related to the Iron Duke.  However, reading it first probably did help me understand the world building.

X Marks The Scot by Victoria Roberts

Grade-C
Hotness Level-Ember/Blaze
Kink Level-None
Series-Bad Boys Of The Highlands #2
Reviewed by Kay

This was my first novel by Victoria Roberts. I didn't read the first book in this series and feel I was at a loss a little bit because of that.

Declan MacGregor is a highlander, sigh, and he has been ordered by King James to escort Liadain Campbell to court until he decides what to do with her. This seriously puts a damper on his drinking and wenching.

Liadain Campbell is the half-sister of the bloody Campbell, Archie. She's also a healer. She's fiercely independent as a result of her raising.

Watching these two characters fall in love was so very fun. This novel has great humor in it. I laughed out loud several times and there were some heartfelt moments that left me with tears in my eyes. My biggest complaint- not HOT enough. On the love scenes this was a total miss for me. The story saved it as it was good.

Somebody's Lover by Jasmine Haynes

Somebody's Lover by Jasmine Haynes

Grade - B-
Hotness Level - Inferno
Kink Level - No kink
Genre - Contemporary
Series - The Jackson Brothers #1
Reviewed by Anne
 

Taylor is a widow with two school aged kids and strong ties to her husband's family.  Her husband has been gone for three years and she's at a new normal.  However, she's finally coming out of her numbness and really missing being with a man and having sex.  She has no desire to date or have long term connections, though, so she drops the kids off at her in laws and dresses up and heads out to a bar no PTA mom would ever go to, looking for hookup. 

 

She's in the middle of having second thoughts about the guy hitting on her when her brother-in-law, Jace, shows up and takes exception to what she's doing.  He comes over and cock blocks her.  Wait, what's the female equivalent of cock blocking?  Whatever, he scares the guy off by pretending to be her husband.  She's actually ok with that, due to her second thoughts and all.  However, she is justifiably pissed at his holier than thou reaction to her desire to have sex.  She sets him straight about her wants and needs and suddenly they see each other in a different light, and Jace volunteers to be her one night stand.

This is a hard one for me to grade.  It was a good story and it was hot, with really well written sex scenes.    I thought it was overly dramatic, though, and there were several little things that bothered me.  

First, the good.  I enjoyed the chemistry between Jace and Taylor.  I liked their family's get togethers and the way everyone supported each other.  While it annoyed me how concerned everyone was with not upsetting Jace's father, I can see that was probably realistic.  I also really enjoyed how their relationship unfolded.  They didn't have stupid fights, they were just working their way toward what they were going to do and how they would go forward. 

 

Unfortunately the main conflict in the story was an issue that was seriously inflated an because no one talked about it.  It's not much of a spoiler, so I'll put it out there.  Jace  was drunk and showed up late (or not at all) on the job the day his brother, Lou died.  Instead of waiting for Jace, against company/family policy, Lou decided to work alone, up a tree, with a chainsaw.  Horrible accident ensues and Lou dies.  Jace thinks it's all his fault.  He knows his dad thinks it's all his fault, too.  He knows this because he can tell.  They never talked about it, but his dad treats him differently now.  I just felt like there was more overly dramatic angst than this issue deserved.  It could have been resolved with a 5 minute conversation with ANYONE.  A therapist.  Your mom.  Taylor.  Me.  I could have set him straight.  But he never asked anyone.

Another issue I had with the story was that it made Taylor and Jace's HEA at the expense of her first marriage.  You know, when she falls for Jace she realizes NOW she knows what love is!  Everything that came before was pale in comparison to this!  I didn't like that the first marriage was made to be lesser in order to justify that theirs was TWU WUV.

I also got pulled out of the story by condom care.  Once Jace threw a used condom in a lake.  That's nasty!  Why even mention it if you're going to litter?  Another time he flushes a used condom.  I didn't think you were supposed to do that.  I thought a garbage can was proper disposal.  I'd google it, but I'm scared of the unintentional results and images that might pop up.

 

And then there's first scene in the bar where Jace pretends that Taylor is his wife.  In turn, to try to make him uncomfortable, Taylor says something being willing to go home with him if he promises to stop beating her.  I thought that was a really inappropriate joke.  I also thought it was concerning that she's in a bar yelling about him not hitting her any more and leaves with him and no one seems concerned.

 

If you can ignore those things, I really enjoyed their story.  I guess it says a lot about how well the sex scenes were written and how much I appreciate that.   But so many little things bothered me, and unfortunately THAT's what I remember about the story.

Fresh Temptation by Reeni Austin

Grade-C
Hotness Level-Blaze
Kink Level-None
Series-Barboza Brothers #1
Reviewed by Kay

Victor Barboza is an executive and self made man. His job is his life but he's searching for the missing piece. He is actively avoiding his ex-fiancee which is difficult because he deeply respects her father. He's at a fundraiser for his ex's father when he meets Cara Green.

Cara Green is a single mother of a three year old boy. She has three jobs to help support them as they live with her retired mother, who's on a fixed income. She is working for a caterer when she meets Victor.

I don't want to say too much and ruin the read for anyone. So, I would say, read it. It's cute and not real long. Cara and Victor are good together. Cara's a full figured gal and for me personally, that storyline never gets old. Victor knows what he wants and goes right for it. There's a jealous ex, questionable baby daddy whereabouts and a precious three year old boy. My only real complaint, and it's a big one for me with a contemporary romance, it wasn't near hot enough.

Kinky Neighbors by Jasmine Haynes

Grade - D-/C-
Hotness Level - Inferno
Kink Level - No kink
Genre - Contemporary, MenageSeries - Kinky Neighbors #1
Jointly Reviewed by Kate & Anne

*** This review contains spoilers***

So, I (Anne) knew that Kate was on the lookout for a good HEA foursome book.  There was a Valentine's Day sale on ebooks at All Romance eBooks and I had Jasmine Haynes on my wishlist.  So when I read the back cover copy for this one, I suggested Kate and I both read it.  Below is our joint review.

Kate:
Drew has always enjoyed the kinky side of his wife Cat. So when she suggests they invite their neighbors (and friends) Logan and Alexis to go away for a week of exploring new sexual territory, he agrees. Drew worries that the new dynamics might destroy the friendship, but Cat promises to take it slow. Logan, like Cat, is looking forward to the week. Alexis has always been a bit more sexually reserved than Logan, but agrees to go on the vacation.

I'll be honest, I didn't like this book at all. Not because of the writing, but because it just crossed some boundaries I didn't even realize I had. In the initial stages of the foursome, I felt uncomfortable because of some of the feelings Drew and especially Alexis were experiencing. The further into the relationship(s), the more uncomfortable I became. By the end if the book, I was forcing myself to finish...I was simply too close to the end to not finish.

Anne:
I really liked the first third of this book.  The part that takes place at their weeklong getaway at a mountain cabin.  I knew they were talking Alexis into things, but I felt like she was happy with what was happening and not having any second thoughts or anything.  Once they got back to real life, Drew and Alexis (the story is told from their alternating POVs) both seemed to have some reservations about what they were doing, and I started to get uncomfortable.  I was holding out hope that these were issues they'd just have to work through, but things just got worse and worse.  In the end, I was really disappointed because the story didn't meet my expectations. 

I wanted to read a fantasy where everyone was happy.  I didn't expect two marriages to fall apart.  Honestly, I'd guess that is how it would work in real life.  So, I'm complaining because the story was too realistic.  And when it was revealed toward the end exactly how much manipulation had occured and how early it had happened... well that ruined even the beginning of the book for me.  Even the twu wuv discovered between Alexis and Drew didn't save the story for me.

Kate:
I tend to rate books by how likely I am to reread them.  In this case I wrote the review, deleted the book from my Kindle and happily moved on.

Anne:
Yeah, I don't think I'd reread this book.  I will look for more by this author, because I thought it was really well written and the sex scenes were particularly good.  I'll be pretty careful about reading cover copy and probably other reviews before I read, though.

Kate:
There is a sequel to this story (Kinky Neighbors: Cat and Logan's Just Desserts) but I won't be reading it. I just don't want to know any more about these characters.

Anne:
Really.  A sequel.  Huh.  But I really hate Cat and Logan.  I can't imagine enjoying a book about them.  It's a damned if you do damned if you don't situation.  If they are happy, I'll think it's unfair and unlikely.  I'll be pissed that they walked away from their manipulations (and spouses!) without any consequences.  If they are unhappy, that won't be much of a read for an HEA lover like me.   So, yeah, I think I'll be skipping the sequel.

And, Kay, don't even think of picking this book up.  It would make you so angry!