Darker the Release by Claire Kent

Favorite Quote

‘He looked down at the floor for a minute then looked back to meet her eyes. “I’ve never been in love, I’m fourty-four years old, and this is the first time in my life when I’ve even wondered if I might be. I’m not sure I know what love feels like.” Her breath caught in her throat, and she couldn’t look away from the tenderness, the hesitance, the growing warmth in his eyes. She was trrembling visibly now. He would have to see it. “But I think it has to feel like this. Like…like youo matter more to me than…than even I do.”‘

Book Blurb 

USA Today bestselling author Claire Kent continues her emotionally charged story of longing, betrayal, and insatiable desire as two lovers find themselves in a deadly standoff of seduction.

Kelly Watson got involved with mogul Caleb Marshall for all the wrong reasons: namely, to prove that he murdered her father twenty years ago. But Caleb is hotter than hell, the sex is mind-blowing, and Kelly’s afraid that she’s falling for him despite her chilling suspicions. Now, the more time she spends in his arms, the more she risks betraying her identity and losing her heart. The only way out is to discover the truth before Caleb figures out who she really is.

Caleb’s feelings for Kelly are taking him into uncharted territory, replacing his weakness for call girls and one-night stands with a hunger for something real. Still, the ruthless businessman in him can’t resist looking into Kelly’s background. When his investigation suggests that he’s not the only one with something to hide, Caleb is forced to decide if he can trust someone who’s been telling him lies. For the first time, Caleb understands how intimacy can be so tempting—and, in the wrong hands, so dangerous.

Darker the Release is intended for mature audiences.

Feelings

This woman can write and I can read what could possibly go wrong? well noting and everything! Imagine little old me missing my train stop because I’m reading a book doesn’t seem too bad huh? Now imagine me reading this book and missing 5 stops and having to run to work and still being 25 minutes late, now it seems a little worse. Well thats exactly what happened. this book sucked me in and spat me out 5 stops late, worst part I wasn’t even mad because I fitted in another chapter on the train ride back  towards the office. But that’s enough about the woes of reading on the train lets talk about the book.

I jumped over myself to get the second installment of Caleb and Kelly’s story, so much so I accidentally downloaded it onto my kindle three times! I loved the first book and needed to find out what happened. What time had let me forget was what an emotional roller coaster their story was, there is so many threads spun to create this story line it made me dizzy but most importantly it had me hooked.

I loved this book from start to finish Kelly is clearly a woman that has a lot going on in her life, the murder of her father, her mother that checked out on her not long after and now the knowledge that she could be sleeping and falling in love with the man responsible for her fathers death.  This book is hot and steamy and defiantly full of darkness and sin. Caleb Marshall is certainly no saint and that’s for sure, often coming across as headstrong and always getting what he wants however when it comes to his Kelly Blossom the man seems to soften ever so slightly, a trait that had me softening to him, and the fact he was easy on the eyes definitely helped!

The only fault in the entire book was that every now and again the dialogue became rather repetitive. It was written as in real life the way real people would talk (minus the suspicion that the man your going out with may have killed your father) and I think this was the downfall. Books don’t read like in real life, characters don’t parrot back to one another. I might flounder and repeat back what someone had just said to me but  Elizabeth Bennet certainly never would.

Bottom line I’m disappointed that we won’t be seeing anymore of the twosome that is Kelly Blossom and her silver fox, they aren’t an easy dreamy read like some of the others on my Books I Love list but I definitely enjoyed spending my time with them.

I’m sure you are all well used to starting a book and not even contemplating putting it down until its 4am and you realize you only have two chapters left, then reading on anyway, well this is most certainly one of those. Its not just a gushy romance, the story has some real grit and substance that had me constantly guessing what could possibly come next.

Sparks defiantly fly between these two, their story hooks you in, draws you closer and has you longing for more.

Read it.Enjoy it. Release it!

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Finding Master Right by Sparrow Beckett

Favorite Quote

“ Banner hazarded a glance at his phone.

oh jeez. I just looked it up. I’m not sure if I’m more embarrassed about having asked you or having seen it. Mental note: never google pictures if you don’t know what to expect.

He couldn’t help but be a smartass, so I take it you’re not into figging?

The elevator door opened, and he walked in, stumbling over the crack between floor and elevator.

‘You’re not coordinated enough to text and walk. And your tongue sticks out when you text. Idiot.’

His phone buzzed.

I don’t know. For the right guy I might try anything.”

Book Blurb 

Kate wants a man who will take charge—she just needs to find the right guy. Fortunately, her friend is throwing a kinky Halloween party with a guest list loaded with sexy, available men. That’s where she meets Banner.

Dark and intense, Banner’s not just a Dominant, he’s a Master looking for a slave. Kate isn’t interested in something that extreme, but when he offers to help her find the perfect Dom, while training her to be a flawless submissive, she’s glad to have a matchmaker and protector.

Banner knows they’re not compatible, yet something about Kate is impossible to resist. Once he finds her the right Dom, will he be able let her go?

Feelings

I feel like before I get into the nitty-gritty of the book I need to explain my favorite quote. The quote comes from the start of the book and although I normally go for hearts and flowers as my favorite not this time, I mean I had many of them highlighted but I found myself constantly coming back to this one.

Banter through text message or email always gets me in books, but this one literally had me burst out laughing on the train gaining many sideways looks from fellow commuters who clearly thought I was loosing my marbles. Kate’s reply was just too funny because it is exactly what I would do and think, and did do and think when curiosity got the best of me, (Kate’s mental note should be heeded, figging is not for the faint-hearted googler). So I chose this because it made me laugh like a loon on public transport and gave me a smile for the rest of the day, dam I still chuckle a little when I think of it.

But now onto sunnier climes, I love Banner. Yep he wants a slave, yep that goes against every grain in a woman’s body, but for him I’d consider it. The man is sexiness personified and he clearly cares for Kate and wants to protect her from all the weirdness within the kink world, but more than that he is also funny and smart, can I get a Full Package woop woop. 

I love these two, I love them together and I love their friends. From what I gather this book is not going to be a trilogy, even tho I’d definitely read them if Sparrow Beckett decided to write them, but there is two more books to follow the lives of Banners two best friends and if this book and the excerpt at the end from Playing Hard to Master is anything to go by the steaminess is to continue. Bottom Line, this book will forever stay in my library and the next two are on pre-order.

Read this book if you like a bit of steam, some saucy banter and full on belly butterflies, it wont disappoint.

Playing with Trouble by Chanel Cleeton

Favorite Quote

“ In the beginning, I’d looked because I couldn’t help it, because she was like the fucking sun, shining bright in your face when you were hungover and just wanted a pair of sunglasses and a burger. And then, little by little, with each day that had passed, each time she looked at me, she got under my skin, until now I wanted the light. Craved it. Even when it blinded the shit out of me. ”

Book Blurb 

Blair Reynolds was going to be the ultimate politician’s wife – until she caught her fiance cheating on their wedding day. Vowing to make a fresh start Blair enrols in Law School, ready to buckle down. Unless a hot professor gets in the way…
Graydon Canter had it all. A flying career, a fortune, and a spot on all the ‘Thirty under Thirty’ lists – until his rocky personal life threatened everything. Teaching law is a chance to get his life back on track. As long as nothing – and no one – trips him up.
When Blair and Gray are thrown together in the classroom, their electric attraction is impossible to ignore. Gray needs to stay away from scandal, and Blair’s never been a rule breaker. They’re playing with trouble – but maybe such passion is worth the risk?

Feelings

Forbidden love, what could be more alluring? When its between two extremely beautiful and funny people with a handful of secrets and a pinch of family drama that’s what. Playing with Trouble has enough secret moments and family drama to keep you captivated.

Cue capital confessions. Yes it’s the name of the series that this book forms the second part of but more importantly it also forms the gossip site that plagues Blairs life, spilling her secrets along with that of her family and anyone who dares to get close to her. As a girl who grew up watching  the TV show Gossip Girl, Capital confessions reminds me of the wicked queen who sat behind her keyboard and spilled the inside secrets of New York’s wealthiest youngsters, Capital confessions however has no problem spilling secrets on the young and old alike, and I love it. The fun snippets that were at the very start of each chapter nearly told as much of the story as the pages that followed. For all that in the chapter you read about what exactly was happening between Blair and Gray, Capital confessions showed what the rest of the world knew.

I’d like to point out now tho that I would hate to be Blair, not only does capital confessions delve into her life but her family is a roller-coaster ride that seems to dip and wind narrowly avoiding disaster. Yes Gray would defiantly tempt me to put up with the Reynolds clan, but then gain her family isn’t they only thing she is left to contend with. she also has a gay ex-finance that left her at the alter and whom her mother constantly chastises her about, Law school that she clearly sucks at and a new friend that wants more. Being Blair Reynolds isn’t a bed of roses.

Normally in the books I read the characters get down between the sheets in the first few chapters. Not the case in Playing with Trouble yet maybe it was this exact reason that kept me turning pages, the anticipation of the will they won’t they between Blair and Gray had me staying up late and sneaking in a chapter or two on my lunch break. And when they finally get down to it, well Its defiantly worth the wait, not only are Blair and Gray, sweet and loving but they are also steamy and forbidden, a very alluring cocktail.

Bottom line this book is hilarious especially Gray, his who-gives-a-shit attitude to life will have you in stitches and yet the way he peruses Blair will have you melting.

Read it You’ll have no regrets!

Defiantly making it to the Books I Love list.

The Do It List by Jillian Stone

Favorite Quote

“ ‘dressed in raspberry red, tasting and smelling of orange blossoms…’ He caught my earlobe between his teeth, adding a lick. A rush of tingles traveled down my spine. ‘You have bewitched me, Miss Taylor-Scott’ ‘I believe you are perfectly capable of casting spells yourself, Mr. Craig’ ”

Book Blurb 

Hotshot copywriter Gracie Taylor-Scott has a reputation—for her artfully edgy ads. A rising star at Darcy Wexler Dean, New York, the long hours are the perfect cover for Gracie’s fear of intimacy issues.
Great job. Great pay. No life—including her on again off again sex life. Then one night she is plunged into darkness with a handsome stranger.
Bradley Craig is the new head of DWD’s research division and this ad man has secrets of his own. Much lauded in his field of consumer behavior, there’s a darker side to the handsome, enigmatic ad man—his erotic list-maker side.
Gracie and Bradley are assigned to work on the biggest new business pitch Darcy Wexler Dean will be in all year and the two tangle immediately, battling copy concepts and focus group findings along with their explosive attraction to each other.
Bradley has a proposition––they make a list. Ten sexual encounters. No strings attached. What’s at stake? Two Super Bowl spots and two fragile hearts.

Feelings

So I requested this book through a preview book review site I sometimes use but never made it back in time before it was archived. I wanted to read this book badly, the blurb had me hooked and so I made my way to amazon and purchased it with my hard earned cash and boy was it worh it! I loved this book sexy, steamy and smart. the book got right into the action within the first few pages, just my kind of story with Gracie and Bradley meeting in a lift that breaks down between floors on their way to an office party.

I don’t know what it is about lifts, maybe its the confined space or the odd lighting but they seem to make everything more charged and that is certainly the case for these two. The characters themselves are amazing, Smart, sexy and somehow instantly trustworthy Bradley is just what Gracie, someone who spends her days in a male dominated world of advertising needs.

The idea of a Do It List of sexual experiences is what nails the relationship between the two together and is possibly one of the cleverest ideas behind a story that I have read. We all have read a book or two and thought whoa that sounds fun but who has ever written it down and worked through it as a to do list. Personally at the start I was a little taken back by the concept but as the story progressed within a few pages I was fully converted to the idea.

This book is funny alongside all the steam one heart could desire, the banter between Gracie and Bradley often had me laughing out loud not to mention their running joke of referring to Bradley as bond and Gracie as Moneypenny. The bond theme wond its way through the story from the first night they watched 007 together and was done in a way that left just enough cheese for the reader to enjoy.

The right amounts of smart and sexy or Smexy as Gracie would say.

Hey who knows maybe i’ll start a list of my own while I wait for the next installment.

Defiantly making it to the Books I Love list.

Stay For Me by Megan Smith

Favorite Quote

“You did one thing right by me, Layla, you taught me to love life no matter what happens. so my promise to you is to live up to that.

I’m not going to say goodbye because this isn’t that. This is just a see you later.

I love you.

Eli.”

(This is a quote from the letter from Eli to Layla.)

Book Blurb 

(A Love Series Spin-Off)

Eli Sabatino, determined to make a name for himself amid Seaside, New Jersey’s nightlife, has laid out the perfect plan for success. But that plan didn’t include Layla, the hopeful bartender who walked in for an interview. He knows, as an employee, this blonde bombshell is off-limits but he can’t fight the undeniable force of attraction that pulls him toward her.

Layla Del Luca has the weight of the world on her shoulders. With a full course load, a boyfriend, a sister to take care of, and an alcoholic mother, she needs to regain control of her life. Her job at Fierce is priority number one. But a complication she didn’t expect looms behind the eyes of Eli, her handsome new boss.

Emotions collide full force and they can no longer turn a blind eye to what their hearts are telling them.

But, can their passion survive when Eli can no longer promise the one thing Layla asks of him? Will everything change? Will he stay?

Feelings

I didn’t want to write this review. I didn’t want to think about this book. But here I am typing away hoping that it will give me some form of closure to a love story i was so wrapped up in and had so brutally ripped from my grasp.

Today I cried. I cried hard and fast tears. Tears that I thought would never stop falling. my chest tightened and at points I could no longer read through the tears in my eyes and the waves of emotion. Even now as I typed out my favorite quote it hit me all over again. I’m in deep, I’m invested and there is not happy ending to fall back on.

As I write this I feel I am going through the grieving process, right now I’m at the angry stage. I won’t tell you what happened, the ending that tore me apart, because that’s unfair to spoil the end of a book you are yet to read, but I will tell you this. I HATE THIS ENDING.

I was so in love with this book, never leaving it down until I was finished, but now as I said I’m angry. I feel like creating a petition and getting people to lobby Megan Smith to change the final chapters. I want a new ending that goes along with my love of the ‘Happily ever After’. I guess this book caught me off guard. With it being a stand alone novel I expected it to stick to the ending I had come to love, ‘Boy meets girl, they fall in love, get married, have 12 million kids and live in a house with a white picket fence for the days of evermore’. Not the case in Stay For Me.

Before you get the wrong idea though let me assure you I LOVE THIS BOOK!  Eli, Layla and of course Fallon are AMAZING! I fell for them all from the very start and wanted nothing more than complete and utter happiness for them something that not all book I have read have achieved.

BUT if you are like me and love the fairy-tale as opposed to shitty ass reality then I have only one suggestion. When you get to the part from Coopers point of view don’t read it! close the book, put it high up on a shelf out of view so your not tempted to read on, step away and make up your own happily ever after for Eli, Layla and Fallon.

My heart is breaking, I’m still sporadically crying when I think about it and yet I’m so glad I read their story. I guess that goes to show how good Miss Smith is. Her characters drew me in with their quick banter and their incredibly sweet hearts. I felt one with their story, my heart swelled with happiness and then shattered, the story ending in such a way that the cracks in my heart could never be fixed.

I can’t talk about this book much more I feel a haze wash thought my mind just like it did when I read the final chapter, my vision blurring, confusion as to why this was the only ending in sight for miss Smith and disbelief that I wouldn’t get what I had so desperately wanted for the characters, Love happiness and joy. I’m going into mourning, book mourning for the love I wanted so badly to succeed. I will be so cautious reading a book by this auther again because I love her books but the fear of the emotional roller coaster I have just put myself though will always stay with me and I’ll forevermore remember that even in book Happily Ever After isn’t a dead cert.

Read this book. Read it for one of the sweetest love stories you will set your eyes on. Read it but be warned. You will cry, sometimes with happiness, but in the end you will cry raw, heavy, gut wrenching sobs that tug on your heart and soul.

Personally I have decided that Eli, Layla and Fallon have all rode off into the sunset to live in their tree-house with one pink and one purple door and to hell with the little voice in the back of my head that tells me it isn’t so.

Keep the Kleenex close!

Tiger Lily by Amelie S. Duncan

Favorite Quote

“ ‘So what can I do to make you less nervous?’ Jonas stepped close and I fought to get my pulse under control. Not that. I shrugged and grinned ‘I have no idea.’ ”

Book Blurb 

Part One of a Three Part Contemporary Erotic Romance Series.

What started as an assignment became more than Lily could ever have hoped for.

Lily Salomé has encountered more challenges than the average twenty-four year old. After a horrendous crash killed her parents, an abusive relationship was all she needed to turn her broken heart to stone. So when Lily’s boss comes to her with a challenge most girls would balk at, she knows there isn’t much left in this world to be afraid of.

The target: Jonas Crane, a brooding business mogul who hasn’t smiled once since his very public divorce. Dark, dangerous and mouthwatering, Crane has written a book about life in the fast lane and with the recent publicity, Lily’s boss wants the rights. Problem is, Crane won’t return a phone call, let alone agree to a meeting. But if a pretty publishing assistant happens to run into him at the Waldorf, with a business card and a smile…what could go wrong?

Feelings

So I was fortunate enough to be gifted the first installment of this book, and boy am I glad. Lily is so easy to identify with nearly too easy I found myself ringing my own parents just to have a chat after reading of the tragedy with Lily’s mother and father, my heart broke for her.

Lily also has the Ex that you would rather run from across hot coals as opposed to talk to, or even look at. Well if you cant identify with that your one lucky little book lover. luckily I’ve never had to deal with someone as nasty as Declan, who I shall from now on refer to as he-who-must-not-be-named, Clearly I have stolen this reference from Harry Potter, but I feel like he is as deserving of that title as Voldemort. A nasty piece of work who manipulates Lily through her insecurities throughout the book and prays on her emotional instability after her tragic loss of her parents.

Luckily he is not the only male influence in Lily’s life, cue the beautiful and powerful Jonas Crane. His companionship relationship with Lily leaves me a little baffled, I mean its basically your standard relationship minus the commitment, yet with a divorce and a teenage son you see where he is coming from. No strings, no mess. But Lily is a mess, and one Jonas finds himself caring for and wanting to protect.

Jonas pulls at Lily’s insecurities in a way that is complacently opposite to the-one-who-must-not-be-named , Jonas pulls at them to unravel them, removing the vines that have been created around her strangling the beautiful person she is, and he leave Lily standing stronger than she was before. He is a positive energy in Lily’s life and its no wonder she falls in love with a man that cares for her so well and looks out for her both emotionally and physically.

As I mentioned I was gifted the first installment of this series, but I went out and bought the second, I was enthralled and couldn’t wait a moment longer than I had to to see where their relationship/companionship whatever you want to call it would lead. I devoured the books in what seamed like seconds and now I’m waiting for the final installment. I find myself checking the authors website frequently to try and get updates but for now I’m still waiting to see where the final pages of the second book have lead Jonas and Lily. I hope you’ll wait with me.

Must read books, that will defiantly make it to the Books I Love list.

Currently Reading

Tiger Lily by Amelie S. Duncan.

Currently reading the Tiger Lily by Amelie S. Duncan. The first and second installments of this series are already available with the third book planned for release.

The book follows twenty four year old Lily Salomé as she tries to convience Jonas Crane, a well knows businessman, to let the publishing house she works for have the rights to the book it is rumored he is interested in writing. Lily thinks she’s going to meet a rich jerk, or worse, a playboy, but the truth is way more disturbing. Jonas Crane is smart, engaging…and devastatingly out of her league.

Lily Salomé knows one thing: Jonas Crane is the lover she always dreamed of. He’s smart, powerful and sexy both in and out of the bedroom.

Talk soon.

The Unraveled Series by Wendy Leigh

Favorite Quote

“I should love nothing better than to submit to the challenge of Robert subjecting me to something excessively harsh and cruel. Physically, of course, but not emotionally. And only now can I submit to that because I’m now finally utterly and compleatly secure in his love for me.”

Book Blurb 

In Unraveled by Him, born submissive Miranda met her perfect match in billionaire widower—and dominant—Robert Hartwell. After passing five of his BDSM tests, she thought she’d discovered her own happy ending…until she was abducted from his side at the pinnacle of their erotic fulfillment.

The story continues in Unraveled by Her, as Miranda awakens, bound and imprisoned by a mysterious woman—one who has the power to thwart Miranda’s every happiness. Can Robert find her in time? And even if he does, will the secrets Miranda kept from him destroy them?

Feelings

After I finished these books it took me a little while to process. I enjoyed them that was a definite, reading everywhere and anywhere I could, the doctors waiting room(not the best choice judging by the looks I received each time I let out a gasp), during my lunch break and of course in bed until the early hours falling asleep hugging my kindle. Yes I defiantly enjoyed them. But the romance was what I felt I needed to sit back and evaluate.

Everything about the Dom/Sub relationship between Miranda and Robert was so much more intense than anything I had previously read. After two days of running through the book in my head I came to the conclusion that yes the drama and the thrilling darkness of this story drew me in and had me turning the pages, but more than that the love story that was so dependent on the Dom/Sub relationship between Miranda and her Master, was just that, a love story. All be it in a different shape and size, and with a huge addictive quality.

With the final pages of Unraveled by her set to destroy that love we wait, wait for the next book, the next fix of romance, whips and emeralds. For Miranda, Robert and of course Lady Georgina Hartwell.

Happy Reading.

*Amazon links in book cover photos. Unraveled by Her is out on June 26th and is available for pre-order.

Currently Reading

Unraveled Series by Wendy Leigh.

Currently reading the The Unraveled series by Wendy Leigh. The first installment of this book Unraveled by Him is already available with the second Unraveled by Her due for release on June 26th and available for pre-order.

It fallows ghostwriter Miranda as she sets out to ghost write for a very wealthy and dashing businessman Robert Hartwell. But what happens when you fall in love or at the very least lust for a man who is still in morning for his beautiful wife. How do you compete with the spirit of someone who was so clearly loved. I’ll be back to let you know.

Talk soon.

This Man Trilogy by Jodi Ellen Malpas

Favorite Quote

“ ‘Do you feel that?’ He flattens my palms to his chest and holds them there firmly. ‘It was made for you, Ava. For too long it was useless, redundant, not required. Now it’s gone into overdrive. It swells with happiness when I look at you. It splinters with pain when we fight. And it beats wildly when I make love to you. Maybe I go overboard with my love, but that’s never going to change. I’ll love you this fiercely until the day I die baby.’ ”

Book Blurb 

Young interior designer Ava O’Shea has an appointment for a first consultation at The Manor with the owner, Mr Jesse Ward. She is expecting nothing more than an overweight, cravat wearing, well-to-do countryman, and on arrival, nothing would suggest otherwise. How wrong could she be? This Man is devastatingly handsome, charming and confident. He is also a conceited, hedonistic playboy, who knows no boundaries. Ava desperately does not want to be attracted to him, but she can’t control the overwhelming affect he has on her. Every instinct is telling her to run, so she does, but Jesse Ward is not so willing to let her go. He wants her and is determined to have her. She knows she is heading for heartbreak, but how can she run when he won’t let her?

Feelings

This man is right, This man is suffocating, domineering, and controlling all the things that Ava should most definatly run from and throw his living into the mix and your defiantly singing Hit the road Jack. But of course as in real life, there is more than one side to every story and defiantly many side to each person, Jesse and Ava being no exception. Once you delve beneath this man, past his countdowns, retribution fucks, and his mission to control Ava’s wardrobe choices, you see that everything he does he does for her, for them. So terribly afraid to loose her to another man who he believes deserves her pure heart more or to tragedy that has marred his past and controlled his present and future for far too long.

The question that I found my self constantly asking, Will Ava be the one to help Jesse let go of his past and make his way in the world a free man tied to one woman, or will she loose him to his past? 

The events that unfolded in each book shocked the living daylights out of me, left me swooning from love and running each time I heard ‘Zero Baby’, But each time I turned the page I found my self more drawn to This Man, This Woman, This Story and most importantly This Love.

Must read books, that will defiantly make it to the Books I Love list.