Book Review: Serving Pleasure by Alisha Rai

Title: Serving Pleasure
Series: Pleasure, Book 2
Author: Alisha Rai
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Erotic Romance
Sensuality Rating: Steamy
Source: review copy provided via NetGalley
Published: June 12, 2015 (self-published)

Hungry for a touch…

Rana Malik is over being her family’s resident black sheep. She’s on a mission: ditch the casual hook-ups, revamp her bad-girl image, and fall in love with a proper Mr. Right even her conservative mama can’t find fault with. Not on the menu? The beautiful, brooding Mr. Right Now who lives next door, and all the ways he whets her appetite.

Starving for love…

Artist Micah Hale had it all–women, success, friends and family–until his world changed in a single act of senseless violence. Now struggling to conceal his scars and get his life and career back on track, he knows he has nothing to offer a woman except his body. He’s not looking for love…but he can’t control his craving for the sexy bombshell voyeur he’s caught looking at him.

Just one bite.

Their attraction boils over, and their defenses are stripped off along with their clothes. They promise they’ll walk away if it gets too hot. But it’s hard to do the right thing…when being wrong feels so good.

amazon | goodreads

Reviewed by: Babs

Book Review: The Unleashing by Shelly Laurenston

Title: The Unleashing
Series: Call of Crows, Book 1
Author: Shelly Laurenston
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Sensuality Rating: Steamy
Source: review copy provided by publisher
Published: March 31, 2015 by Kensington

WINGING IT

Kera Watson never expected to face death behind a Los Angeles coffee shop. Not after surviving two tours lugging an M16 around the Middle East. If it wasn’t for her hot Viking customer showing up too late to help, nobody would even see her die.

In uncountable years of service to the Allfather Odin, Ludvig “Vig” Rundstrom has never seen anyone kick ass with quite as much style as Kera. He knows one way to save her life—but she might not like it. Signing up with the Crows will get Kera a new set of battle buddies: cackling, gossiping, squabbling, party-hearty women. With wings. So not the Marines.

But Vig can’t give up on someone as special as Kera. With a storm of oh-crap magic speeding straight for L.A., survival will depend on combining their strengths: Kera’s discipline, Vig’s loyalty… and the Crows’ sheer love of battle. Boy, are they in trouble.

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Reviewed by: Babs

Book Review: Anything But Broken by Joelle Knox

Title: Anything But Broken
Series: Hurricane Creek, Book 1
Author: Joelle Knox
Genre: Contemporary Romance, New Adult
Sensuality Rating: Steamy
Source: review copy provided by author
Published: August 25, 2015 (self-published)

After five years, tragedy brings Hannah Casey back to Hurricane Creek to bury what’s left of her family. She’s flunking out of college, haunted by scandal, and the only person who cares is Sean Whitlow, an irresistible bad boy with a soft spot for her. The problem? He’s her dead sister’s ex.

Sean doesn’t bleed red, he bleeds motor oil. During the week, he struggles to turn his auto repair shop into a profitable business. But when Saturday night rolls around, he’s the reigning stock-car king of the local race track. He doesn’t know how to lose–or how to walk away and leave Hannah alone with her grief.

Between her grades and her wealthy family’s dark secrets, Hannah’s barely holding her life together. And the last thing Sean needs is to get tangled up with another Casey girl. As the attraction between them spins out of control, they’ll either find a love with no limits–or go up in flames.

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Reviewed by: Babs

Book Review: Once An Heiress by Elizabeth Boyce

Title: Once An Heiress
Series: Once A…, Book 2
Author: Elizabeth Boyce
Genre: Historical Romance
Sensuality Rating: Sensual
Source: review copy provided by publisher
Published: March 11, 2013 by Crimson Romance

Lily Bachman has the largest dowry the haut ton has seen in years. Her fortune is meant to secure her marriage to a titled gentleman, but instead it has sent every fortune hunter in London into a frenzy. Despite her father’s insistence that she choose a husband, Lily swears she won’t marry any of these “Leeches.” Instead, she focuses on her dreams of opening a charity school. She has everything well in hand – until a devilishly handsome rake sweeps her into a scandalous waltz.

Ethan Helling, Viscount Thorburn, never claimed to be a good man. A well-known rogue, he’s over his ears in gaming debts and is tempted by a friend’s demanding mistress. To continue indulging his appetites, he needs to marry a fortune. The lovely Miss Bachman just so happens to have one, and Ethan vows to win her dowry for himself.

When the seducer becomes the seduced, Lily and Ethan are forced into a hasty marriage. Now, to gain her fortune, Ethan must find a way to make his unwilling bride happy. As he fights to win her affection, Ethan finds himself falling in love with his spirited wife – despite her determination to keep her money, and her heart, out of his hands. With her dreams in ruins and her illusions shattered, can Lily afford to gamble on love?

amazon | goodreads

Reviewed by: Babs

Book Review: Once a Duchess by Elizabeth Boyce

Title: Once a Duchess
Series: Once A…, Book 1
Author: Elizabeth Boyce
Genre: Historical Romance
Sensuality Rating: Sensual
Source: review copy provided by publisher
Published: January 1, 2013 by Crimson Romance

Isabelle Lockwood was a duchess, until her husband of only a few months wrongfully divorced her for adultery. Since then she's been a pariah, living in anonymous exile to escape the prying eyes and wagging tongues of the town. More than anything, Isabelle longs for a family of her own, and so has to marry again. But society is ruthlessly unforgiving. To clear her name, Isabelle must face down her past - and the man who broke her heart and ruined her completely.

Marshall Lockwood, Duke of Monthwaite, was blindsided by his young bride's infidelity. After the divorce Marshall licked his wounds, throwing himself into his botanical studies to forget his disastrous marriage. Now his former wife is back in Town, as beautiful and enticing as he remembers. As the Season throws them together again, Marshall can't shake the feeling that Isabelle might not be the adulteress he took her for.

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Book Review: Shooting Dirty by Jill Sorenson

Title: Shooting Dirty
Series: Dirty Eleven, Book 2
Author: Jill Sorenson
Genre: Contemporary Romance, MC Romance
Sensuality Rating: Erotic
Source: review copy provided by author
Published: September 21, 2015 by Carina Press

She's his only salvation.

Ace Clemmons has wanted Janelle from the moment he first saw her. Taking her captive while he carried out his last hit as a member of Dirty Eleven nearly broke him. Now that he’s gone straight, he’s back in her life, looking to stake his claim. He can’t erase the past but he’ll do anything to make it up to her.

Janelle Parker needs a new start, far away from the trailer park and the strip club. A down and dirty affair with a tattooed criminal is a step in the wrong direction, but she can’t resist Ace’s deliciously commanding touch, which has haunted her dreams for months. Soon they’re both in too deep, falling hard and fast—until an old feud with a rival motorcycle club explodes into an all-out war. Dirty Eleven's enemies won't hesitate to hurt Janelle to get to Ace. She has to fight to survive… and for the fiercest love she’s ever known.

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Reviewed by: Babs

Book Review: Ripped by Edie Harris

Title: Ripped
Series: Blood Money, Book 2
Author: Edie Harris
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Sensuality Rating: Steamy
Source: review copy provided via NetGalley
Published: May 18, 2015 by Carina Press

Attorney and political heavyweight Tobias Faraday is the Ice King, a man alone in the eye of a deadly storm. And in the wake of his sister’s torture, he’s out for blood.

The key to Tobias’s revenge is the disavowed British spy he’s kept imprisoned for weeks. Chandler McCallister can get him behind enemy lines in Russia, but the clever double-agent has a demand of her own before she puts her life on the line in the name of redemption.

Posing as Chandler’s boyfriend at an aristocratic wedding in the English countryside won’t kill Tobias. Not in theory.

As the threat of Moscow looms larger and the enemy reveals himself to be crueler than any human can imagine, Tobias reluctantly partners with his prisoner to derail the immediate threat—to their families, to Faraday Industries, and to their lives. What he finds in the process is a feverish, relentless need already melting the ice from his veins.

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Reviewed by: Babs

Book Review: Flight from Death by Yasmine Galenorn

Title: Flight from Death
Series: Fly by Night, Book 1
Author: Yasmine Galenorn
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Sensuality Rating: Steamy
Source: review copy provided by publisher
Published: July 7, 2015 by Berkley

I’m Shimmer, a blue dragon shifter. Thanks to a mistake, I was exiled from the Dragon Reaches and sentenced to work for Alex Radcliffe, a vampire who owns the Fly by Night Magical Investigations Agency. Now, not only do I have to adapt to Earthside culture, but every time I turn around, somebody’s trying to kill us. And worse, Alex is as gorgeous as he is exasperating. But you know what they say: All’s fair in love and bounty hunting…

When an old friend of Alex contacts him about a haunting at the High Tide Bed & Breakfast in Port Townsend, Washington, we think we’re on a simple ghost hunt. But our investigation quickly transforms into a deadly fight as we uncover an eighty-year-old murder, a cursed house, and a dark force trapping the spirits within. To stop impending disaster we must break the curse and lay the angry spirits to rest.

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Reviewed by: Babs

Book Review: Prince’s Gambit by C.S. Pacat

Title: Prince’s Gambit
Series: Captive Prince, Book 2
Author: C.S. Pacat
Genre: Fantasy Romance, M/M Romance
Sensuality Rating: Erotic
Source: review copy provided by publisher
Published: July 7, 2015 by Berkley

With their countries on the brink of war, Damen and his new master, Prince Laurent, must exchange the intrigues of the palace for the sweeping might of the battlefield as they travel to the border to avert a lethal plot.

Forced to hide his identity, Damen finds himself increasingly drawn to the dangerous, charismatic Laurent. But as the fledgling trust between the two men deepens, the truth of secrets from both their pasts is poised to deal them the crowning death blow…

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Reviewed by: Crissy and Babs

Book Review: Asking For It by Lilah Pace

Title: Asking For It
Series: Asking For It, Book 1
Author: Lilah Pace
Genre: Erotic Romance
Sensuality Rating: Erotic
Source: review copy provided by publisher
Published: June 2, 2015 by Berkley

“This is who I am. This is what I want. Now I need a man dangerous enough to give it to me.”

Graduate student Vivienne Charles is afraid of her own desires—ashamed to admit that she fantasizes about being taken by force, by a man who will claim her completely and without mercy. When the magnetic, mysterious Jonah Marks learns her secret, he makes an offer that stuns her: they will remain near-strangers to each other, and meet in secret so that he can fulfill her fantasy.

Their arrangement is twisted. The sex is incredible. And—despite their attempts to stay apart—soon their emotions are bound together as tightly as the rope around Vivienne’s wrists. But the secrets in their pasts threaten to turn their affair even darker...

Reader Advisory: Asking for It deals explicitly with fantasies of non-consensual sex. Readers sensitive to portrayals of non-consensual sex should be advised.

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Reviewed by: Babs

Book Review: Loving Maddie from A to Z by Kelly Jamieson

Title: Loving Maddie from A to Z
Author: Kelly Jamieson
Genre: Erotic Romance
Sensuality Rating: Erotic
Source: review copy provided by author
Published: April 7, 2015 (self-published)

Home is where the hearts are…
Award-winning photojournalist Zack Donovan is happy to be alive after being held captive by a band of rebels in Syria. He’s not so happy to be on his way back to Chicago to recuperate with his college friends Maddie and Aidan, who are now a couple. The fear while being held prisoner was nothing compared to how he feels about facing the two people who unknowingly broke his heart seven years ago.

Maddie and Aidan are deeply in love, but lately they feel something is missing for them. They’d do anything to make the other happy, but are struggling to figure out what that is. Those problems are set aside, however, when their best friend from college is taken hostage in Syria. After graduation, Maddie and Aidan were hurt by Zack’s refusal to ever come home to visit, but he’s still their friend and he has no family, so when he’s finally free they insist he come stay with them to recover.

Zack’s a different man now. He’s seen terrible things. He’s come to terms with his sexuality and embraced his need to dominate. Maddie and Aidan would be shocked to know the kinds of things he likes to do. A guy like him will never have a relationship like theirs. But when Zack realizes he might be able to show Maddie and Aidan what they’re missing, he faces a dilemma. Do something? Do nothing? Pretend everything’s fine? Help them if he can? But will showing them what they’re missing help save their relationship…or destroy it?

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Reviewed by: Babs

Book Review: Necessary Restorations by Kate Canterbary

Title: Necessary Restorations
Series: The Walshes, Book 3
Author: Kate Canterbary
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Sensuality Rating: Steamy
Source: review copy provided by author
Published: April 15, 2015 (self-published)

They liked to call me names. Manwhore. Slut. Player. But I make wrong look so right…

He's a flawed perfectionist…
I can read women better than any blueprint. I understand their thoughts and feelings, their secret desires and insecurities, and I know how to get rid of them once I get off. But all bets are off when Tiel Desai slams into my life. She redefines what it means to be friends, and she makes it sound like the filthiest thing I've ever heard. I can't read the gorgeous conservatory-trained violinist, but she's the only one keeping me from shattering by small degrees, and I can't let her go.

She's wildly independent…
My past—and New Jersey—are far behind me, and now my life is blissfully full of music: playing, teaching, and lecturing, and scouring Boston's underground scene with an annoyingly beautiful, troubled, tattooed architect. I'm defenseless against his rooftop kisses, our nearly naked dance parties, the snuggletimes that turn into sexytimes, and his deep, demanding voice. I have Sam Walsh stuck in my head like a song on repeat, and I'm happy pretending history won't catch up with me.

The one thing they have in common is a rock-solid disregard for the rules. They find more in each other than they ever realized they were missing, but they might have to fall apart before they can come together.

It's the wrongs that make the rights come to life.

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Reviewed by: Babs

Book Review: Beyond Possession by Kit Rocha

Title: Beyond Possession
Series: Beyond, Book 5.5
Author: Kit Rocha
Genre: Erotic Romance, Dystopian
Sensuality Rating: Erotic
Source: review copy provided via NetGalley
Published: November 10, 2014 (self-published)

Tatiana Stone has worked hard to establish herself as one of Sector Four's most skilled crafters. All she wants is peace--but the sins of her father haunt her. He ruled the sector as a petty tyrant before the O'Kane takeover, and plenty of people harbor bitter memories of his cruelty. Especially now that Tatiana's beloved baby sister has fallen in with a man who wants to start a revolution.

Zan failed his boss once, and it won't happen again. So when Dallas O'Kane asks him to defuse the rebellion brewing in the sector, he'll do whatever it takes to get the job done--including seduce Tatiana. It's the perfect opportunity to get closer to the pretty crafter and complete his mission. But what he discovers is a fiery, passionate woman--and an affair that could destroy them both.

amazon | goodreads

Reviewed by: Babs

Book Review: The Highest Tide by Marian Perera

Title: The Highest Tide
Series: Eden, Book 4
Author: Marian Perera
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Sensuality Rating: Sensual
Source: review copy provided by author
Published: February 17, 2015 by Samhain Publishing

One touch, and the tide isn’t all that’s rising.

When brothel health inspector Jason Remerley finds a uniformed woman waiting impatiently in the Velvet Court parlor, wanting to hire a man’s services, he’s struck by lightning. His intense, immediate attraction compels him to pretend his way into her arms.

Enough silver, and most men forget about Captain Lera Vanze’s half-burned face. She senses something off about the handsome, ill-dressed prostitute who sells himself so cheaply. But with his first touch, goose bumps turn to shivers of desire—right before the truth drives them in opposite directions.

Her fury is still simmering when they face each other in a more “official” capacity. She’s joined a warship to stop a terrorist only Jason can identify. Though trust is scarce, they’re swept away in a tidal wave of murderous plots and an explosive attraction that could leave them marooned in an emotional—and very real—minefield.

Warning: She knows how to wield her sword, he knows just how, when, and where to apply his…mind. Contains deception in a brothel, sex in a cave, a shark with a bad habit, and one very large wave.

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Reviewed by: Babs

Book Review: Maybe This Christmas by Sarah Morgan

Title: Maybe This Christmas
Series: O’Neil Brothers, Book 3
Author: Sarah Morgan
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Sensuality Rating: Sensual
Source: review copy provided by author
Published: October 24, 2014 by Harlequin HQN

This winter, ex-skiing champion, reformed heartbreaker and single dad Tyler O'Neil has only one mission—making sure his daughter, Jess, has the best Christmas ever. The fact that his best friend, Brenna, is also temporarily moving into his chalet at the overbooked Snow Crystal resort is a delicious distraction he's simply going to have to ignore. Theirs is the one relationship he's never ruined, and he's not about to start now.

Ski pro Brenna Daniels knows all about the perils of unrequited love—she's been in love with Tyler for years. But living with him is absolute torture…how can she concentrate on being his friend when he's sleeping in the room next door? Then when Tyler kisses Brenna, suddenly the relationship she's always dreamed of feels so close she could almost touch it. Could this be the Christmas her dreams of a happy-ever-after finally come true?

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Reviewed by: Babs

Book Review: Whatcha Gonna Do With a Cowboy by Jodi Linton

Title: Whatcha Gonna Do With a Cowboy
Series: Deputy Laney Briggs, #1.5
Author: Jodi Linton
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Sensuality Rating: Erotic
Source: review copy provided by author
Published: August 18, 2014 by Entangled Ignite

Some cowboys are worth getting dirty for.

In her latest adventure, sassy Deputy Laney Briggs discovers the local high school football coach passed out under the stadium bleachers wearing nothing but a smile…and his wife’s lingerie.

Things really start to get wild when she runs into the smoking hot Federal Marshal, Colt Larsen, snooping around the Granger’s house. Quicker than a cold snap comes and goes in Texas, Laney finds herself up to her eyeballs in a case involving a ruthless motorcycle gang, a Mexican drug cartel, a kidnapping, and a shoot-out to rival the O.K. Corral.

In over their heads, Laney calls in the big guns—her very own Texas Ranger, Gunner Wilson, who’s ready to fulfill every last one of her desires. But as things heat up between them, the stakes get higher than ever, and Gunner’s help may not be enough for Laney to get out alive…

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Reviewed by: Babs

Book Review: Beyond Addiction by Kit Rocha

Title: Beyond Addiction
Series: Beyond, Book 5
Author: Kit Rocha
Genre: Erotic Romance, Dystopian
Sensuality Rating: Erotic
Source: bought
Published: August 10, 2014 (self-published)

She’s fought like hell to leave the past behind.

Trix changed her name and her life when she got clean four years ago. Now, she has a new family and a job she loves—tending bar and dancing at the Broken Circle. As an O’Kane, she’s happy, untouchable. Until a nightmare from her old life tears her away from her home and drags her back to Hell—also known as Sector Five.

He’s still living—and dying—in it.

Losing Trix was the kick in the head Finn needed to get sober, but working as an enforcer for a man he hates is slowly crushing his soul. The only thing that keeps him going is his determination to destroy Sector Five from the inside. Then Trix comes back into his life—alive, in danger—and nothing else matters.

Getting her home could be a suicide mission. The only thing deadlier is the old spark that flares to life between them. Soon, Finn and Trix are battling the one addiction neither of them ever managed to kick—each other. And it could cost them everything.

amazon | goodreads

Reviewed by: Babs

Book Review: Beyond Solitude by Kit Rocha

Title: Beyond Solitude
Series: Beyond, Book 4.5
Author: Kit Rocha
Genre: Erotic Romance, Dystopian
Sensuality Rating: Steamy
Source: review copy provided via NetGalley
Published: May 1, 2014 (self-published)

When a motorcycle accident leaves Derek Ford riding a desk at the O’Kane compound, the last thing he needs is a sexy new assistant upending his office and his life. But Mia isn’t scared of her domineering boss. The friction between them generates an undeniable heat—but Mia will not be kept, and Ford will do anything to protect what’s his.

A few notes: Unlike Beyond Temptation, this story stands separate from the main series plotline, with a tight focus on the hero and heroine as they travel through some parts of the Sectors we don't usually get to show.

Reviewed By: Babs

Book Review: Beyond Jealousy by Kit Rocha

Title: Beyond Jealousy
Series: Beyond, Book 4
Author: Kit Rocha
Genre: Erotic Romance, Dystopian
Sensuality Rating: Erotic
Source: bought
Published: March 16, 2014 (self-published)

She’s been looking for the perfect man. She found two.

When Rachel Riley sacrificed a life in Eden to protect the O’Kanes, she earned her place in the powerful Sector Four gang. But the former crime princess is tired of being everyone’s sweet little sister . It’s time for her to get wild, to embrace her fantasies as only an O’Kane can—with a delicious exiled soldier and the gang’s wickedly sinful tattoo artist.

A saint...

Lorenzo Cruz is a warrior, taught by his commanding officers in Eden that involvement equals distraction. Emotion is a liability, and desire a sin. In Sector Four, he finds decadence, shameless sex—and his own dark urges. No battle strategy prepared him for how Rachel makes his heart race…or the way his rival for her affections sets his blood on fire.

...and a sinner.

Ace Santana has a dirty reputation and a mind to match, especially where his new lovers are concerned. He’s eager to help Cruz embrace his dominant side, and to explore the lines between pleasure and pain with Rachel. But corrupting them quickly becomes an obsession, a need he can’t deny—and a love he never imagined.

Three hearts on the line means a hundred ways their ménage a trois could go wrong. After all, even O’Kanes do forever two-by-two. One of them could be the missing piece that makes them all whole…or a temporary diversion destined for a broken heart.

Reviewed By: Babs

Book Review: Wilder’s Mate by Moira Rogers

Title: Wilder’s Mate
Series: Bloodhounds, Book 1
Author: Moira Rogers
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Steampunk, Western
Sensuality Rating: Steamy
Source: personal shelf
Published: March 8, 2011 by Samhain Publishing

Wilder Harding is a bloodhound, created by the Guild to hunt down and kill vampires on America’s frontier. His enhanced abilities come with a high price: on the full moon, he becomes capable of savagery beyond telling, while the new moon brings a sexual hunger that borders on madness.

Rescuing a weapons inventor from undead kidnappers is just another assignment, though one with an added complication—keeping his hands off the man’s pretty young apprentice, who insists on tagging along.

At odds with polite society, Satira’s only constant has been the aging weapons inventor who treats her like a daughter. She isn’t going to trust Wilder with Nathaniel’s life, not when the Guild might decide the old man isn’t worth saving. Besides, if there’s one thing she’s learned, it’s that brains are more important than brawn.

As the search stretches far longer than Wilder planned, he finds himself fighting against time. If Satira is still at his side when the new moon comes, nothing will stop him from claiming her. Worse, she seems all too willing. If their passion unlocks the beast inside, no one will be safe. Not even the man they’re fighting to save.

Warning: This book contains a crude, gun-slinging, vampire-hunting hero who howls at the full moon and a smart, stubborn heroine who invents mad-scientist weapons. Also included: wild frontier adventures, brothels, danger, betrayal and a good dose of wicked loving in an alternate Wild West.

Reviewed By: Babs