Boots and Chaps by Myla Jackson

Grade – D

Hotness Level – Inferno

Kink Level – Moderate Kink

Genre – Contemporary, BDSM

Series – Ugly Stick Saloon #1

Reviewed by Kate

Audrey owns the Ugly Stick Saloon (think Coyote Ugly with strippers by request.)  When the manager takes a request for a stripper at a private birthday party but the usual strippers are all unavailable, Audrey steps into her old stripper alter-ego Kiki. It's a good thing the birthday boy is Jackson, who she has been crushing on for a while now. She had a small sampling of him in the storage room the night before but she wants more.

The private party was planned by Jackson's twin brothers, Mark and Luke, who decide they'll play with Kiki if Jackson won't. But Kiki only wants the twins if Jackson wants to share. Jackson has never shared before but decides to try it..for Kiki.

This book sounded so promising but I was really disappointed. The characters seemed a bit unrealistic to me. Audrey wants no part of a relationship but joins Jackson in the storage room for a wild romp, knowing he's a commitment kind of guy, because her vibrator ran out of batteries the night before. Jackson takes over a Dom role to Kiki's sub at the party but keeps asking her if what he's doing is okay and what she wants him to do. A more pansy Dom I've never met. Then suddenly he finds his Dom balls and things are hunky dory. The off-kilter part? Kiki is turned on by both the pansy Dom as well as the harder Dom.

Mark and Luke did not come across as very likable. They liked any woman who breathed and didn't seem to have any connection to Audrey/Kiki

The final scenes that happen after a Ladies Night Out at the bar are not just a stretch for Jackson's character but something closer to an alien taking over his body. Those last scenes were so unbelievable that they were the final straw for me...and that's after surviving through all of Audrey's complaining about having to replace batteries and awkward feeling foursomes. Shudder.

Under His Command by Kristine Cayne

Grade – B

Hotness Level – Inferno

Kink Level – moderate kink

Genre – Contemporary, BDSM

Series – Six-Alarm Sexy #1

Reviewed by Kate

 

I admit to having a soft spot for a well written husband and wife reunion story that makes my heart sigh contentedly. Under His Command is just such a story.   Five years before our story begins, Jamie and Rickie spend one night together. One hot and steamy night. Jamie releases a bit of his Dom and it's the best experience Rickie has ever had. That one night stand led to a pregnancy that led to a marriage. Growing up, Rickie witnessed many of her mother's relationships turn abusive. Rickie worries that her enjoyment of Jamie's dominance means means she may be turning into her mother, so she shuts down any of Jamie's attempts to take charge in the bedroom. Jamie feels guilty for ruining Rickie's life with the unplanned pregnancy and tries to be the husband he thinks she wants. After a year long separation, Jamie and Rickie decide to go on a long-delayed honeymoon and try to save their marriage. A week away is just what they need to really start communicating. Once both admit who they are and what they want, the fun can begin. I really enjoy a couple who can talk to each other instead of pages of internal dialogue and wishing the other was a mind reader. I enjoyed the story of rediscovered and reawakened passion, a nice break from the love at first sight romances I've been reading lately.

 

Hot Secrets by Lisa Marie Rice

Grade-B
Hotness Level-Inferno
Kink Level-None
Series-Dangerous #1.5
Reviewed by Kay

This was a very short read. I first read about these characters four years ago and found this novella about six months ago. I've wanted to read it for awhile but my TBR list is very long and I'm about a year behind on some things. Jack and Caroline's story was just precious. They grew up in the same town. She was the rich, popular girl and Jack was raised by an abusive, drunken father. Caroline showed Jack several acts of kindness, which cemented his adoration of her.

After his stint in the military,  he inherits a great deal of money from his adoptive father. He then returns home to thank Caroline. He finds her still single and from there they fall in love. This story starts a year later, after they've married. Jack is always concerned with Caroline's safety, almost to the point of obsession. He tries to train her in self-defense and to always be aware of her surroundings. She doesn't really take it too seriously.

Caroline owns a bookstore and reads to the kids from the shelter there on special occasions. On one such occasion a step-parent of one the children comes in high on drugs and a hostage situation happens. The story is your to read for the wrap-up but if you've never read Lisa Marie Rice, you're missing out. I love her books. She's writing a military-paranormal romance series now.

Big Girls On Top by Mercy Walker

Grade-C
Hotness Level-Inferno
Kink Level-None
Series-Big Girls #1
Reviewed by Kay

Bev is a size 18 girl. A woman really but I'm keeping consistent with the title. She's a registered nurse but works as a bartender at a strip club because she makes more money there. She loves her job and her co-workers for the most part. I don't think it ever said how tall she was but she has fiery red hair and Irish green eyes. Oh, and she hides her freckles well.

Quinn is Italian, gorgeous and very well muscled. Aren't they all? He shows up to talk to the manager/owner of the strip club, Terry. Bev sees him and watches for him to come out of the back all shift. As she's leaving with the other girls, she hears someone running up behind her. The club has had a few problems with patrons harassing the girls in the parking lot, so, Bev grabs her stun gun, turns around and stuns the person rushing up to her. It's Quinn of course and when he comes to he's so not happy with her. She tries to apologize but he takes off with a pretty hateful glare on his face.

The next day she walks in to Terry's office to apologize to Quinn. Terry leaves them in there to talk it out but Quinn grabs Bev and kisses the hell out of her. They then engage in some pretty blistering sex on the desk.  I won't reveal the rest but suffice it to say, the ending was abrupt but should send the reader into wanting book two.

There were several things I liked about this story. First, I loved that Bev was comfortable in her own skin while being aware of her weight. She totally owned it and flaunted what she thought were her best assets. Second, I loved Quinn being okay with her size. Third, the humor in the story was very good. Fourth, the sex was great.

I did have things that I didn't care for also. First, the descriptions of her appetite and eating were borderline gross. Second, some of the descriptions of their sexual encounter also border on gross for me. Thirdly, it needed more editing.

I wish there had been a little more story but I knew it was a short read going in. I liked it and appreciate Mercy Walker giving us the opportunity to read and review it.

Paradise Hops by Liz Crowe

Grade-B
Hotness Level-Inferno
Kink Level-None
Genre-Contemporary
Reviewed by Kay

Lori Brockton is the sole heir of Brockton Brewery and she takes this responsibility seriously. She has worked in almost every area of the brewery from the ground up. She is also a very scarred woman with a very tragic past. She lost her mother to cancer at a very early age and was the victim of a brutal rape as a young woman.

Garrett Hunter is a numbers guy. He even has the suit and tie to prove it. He helps run the brewery with Lori and her dad. He is crazy about Lori.

Eli Buchanan is a master brewer and he's fantastic at it. His methods are immature and hateful, if you ask me. He's also a man-whore and of course, he is attracted to Lori.

This is a very complex novel. A lot happens in a book that is less than two hundred pages. You like and dislike the characters a lot. Examples of this are below:

Like- Lori has pulled herself together after her brutal rape and beating.
Dislike- Lori starts dating Garrett but has sexual encounters with Eli.

Like- Garrett loves Lori and wants to help her through her issues however he can.
Dislike- Garrett cheated on his first wife and he's a control freak.

Like- Eli loves Lori and even recognizes Garrett is the better man for her.
Dislike- Eli has sexual encounters with Lori even though she's kind of with Garrett.

This novel jolted me badly. A lot of tragedy in this book for me. After sleeping with both men at different times but with in days of each other, Lori decides to study brewing abroad and moves to Germany. Garrett and Eli have it out over a discussion. Oddly enough, a friendship starts. They both accept the fact that Lori could pick one of them or not.

Lori comes to the realization that she really loves both of them but only freely admits it to herself about Garrett. She and Garrett Skpe and talk on the phone still. She also realizes that she's pregnant and convinces herself it's Garrett's baby. She then falls at a brewery tour and hits her head.

Garrett and Eli decide for Garrett to go to her in Germany when they find out. While unconscious, Lori has a very odd dream about her life with Garrett. Eli gets a message that says Garrett was killed in a accident on his way to the airport, so a devastated Eli goes to Lori. Lori's reaction to Garrett's death is tear-inducing, I admit it, I bawled my head off. Lori goes home to her family's brewery and after wallowing in her misery, starts trying to adjust. Eli creates a beer Garrett described as his favorite kind of beer. He dedicated to his friend, which again made me bawl.

This was not your typical romance or HEA. I struggled with my own acceptance of the characters and their situations. I detest cheating in any form, so that was a tremendous struggle for me. I gasped out loud at the description of Lori's rape and at the shock of Garrett's death. Eli and Lori do end up together. They have two children and one on the way. This is my first book by Ms. Crowe and a little too heavy for me, although I enjoyed it. It is a book worth reading. And, just for the record, Lori's first child was a boy named Hunter, after his father, Garrett. And yes, it made me bawl again.

All He Ever Dreamed by Shannon Stacey

Grade – C+

Hotness Level – Blaze

Kink Level – None

Genre – Contemporary

Series – Kowalski Family #6

Reviewed by Anne 

The Kowalski books are some of my all time favorites.  They are a family I love to hang out with.  This book is my least favorite of the series, though.  I’ve been thinking about why that is, and I think it was very realistic (relationships are complicated and messy) and therefore had less escapism than I like.  Let me give you the set up.

Josh is the youngest in the Kowalski family, and he got left running the family lodge when all of his siblings left town and found other careers and adventures.  He’s always wanted to get out and travel and have a chance to do something else, even if he doesn’t have a certain something in mind.

Katie is his best friend and is nearly family, as her mother helped raise the Kowalski kids.  They’ve known each other forever, and she’s loved Josh as long as she can remember.  She doesn’t let him know about this, as she’s afraid she’ll lose him as a friend. 

This story takes place during a period of time where the Kowalski family has finally realized that Josh may not want to run the lodge and needs a chance to get out of town.  At the same time, he’s finally seeing Katie as a woman, not just his best friend.  But getting out of town and being with Katie long term seem unlikely to happen together, because she’s firmly rooted in their small town with no desire to leave.  So what will happen?

I’ll tell you what will happen.  I will come to dislike Josh because getting out of town is his primary concern.  He doesn’t hide this.  Katie always knows it.  So it overshadows their whole relationship.  And it leaves me wishing she would dump him because he’s unable to conceive of a way to be with her and to travel. 

Don’t get me wrong, I was very sympathetic to Josh.  Shannon Stacey did a really good job in writing him.  I understood he wasn’t just being an asshole, that he really needed a chance to spread his wings outside their small town.  He sacrificed his own desires to keep the family business and tradition going for a long time.  He didn’t hate the business, but he hated that he never had a choice about leaving.  However, I think Ms. Stacey did such a good job writing his character that the resolution for the story left me with some doubts about how it would all work out.  I was screaming in my head (and in my reader notes) for compromise while I read, and I felt like I never got it.

The book does have plenty of Kowalski funny moments, and I never wanted to stop reading,  I think it was just a little painfully real to me.

How to Misbehave by Ruthie Knox

Grade – A

Hotness Level – Blaze

Kink Level – None

Genre – Contemporary, novella

Series – Camelot #1

Reviewed by Anne

Innocent Amber is a manager at her town’s community center.  Bad boy Tony is managing construction of an addition to it.  Over the weeks Amber has nursed a crush on Tony and kept hoping to build up courage enough to even speak to him once.  Then there’s a tornado warning and just the two of them at the community center, and they need to take shelter, but the power’s out and they don’t have a flashlight, and it turns out Tony is afraid of the dark, and talking with Amber distracts him…

 And, wow, this was a good book!  It is a novella, so I don’t want to say too much, but it’s WELL worth the read and the 99c price tag.  Go buy this book now and enjoy it!