Review: Kick

Kick by C.D. Reiss
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

5/31/14 – CD Reiss – Kick – 3 stars

Quote Love: “Your life is out of control. You’ve wrecked more cars than I’ve bought. You’ve used your body shamelessly. I can only imagine what your blood is actually made of. And you’ve never faced a single consequence. You have a classic case of affluenza.”

What I liked: I loved the writing as usual with CD Reiss. The woman is a fucking modern day Shakespeare. The way that she puts words together just makes you sit up and pay attention and sigh at all the pretty. I thought the story was interesting and complex.

What could have been better: My lower rating than what I would usually give a CD Reiss read is two-fold. I have a very difficult time connecting with affluent characters in “difficult” positions. I can empathize and try to relate with most anyone but there is something about those, who have unlimited means at their finger tips and then instead of trying to genuinely get help – choose to use those resources to skirt the truth and avoid the problem at all costs. The second part is due to my job description as a therapist. I had no problem with any of the clinical interventions or descriptions of those in treatment or even the facility. I personally work with the least valued and under-funded/supported population and that’s adults with severe mental illness. It just makes connecting to stories like this even harder for me. So that’s why only the three stars… it’s one of those situations where it’s totally me and not you!!!

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Review: Four Score

Four Score by Lili St. Germain
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The more I read, the less words I have, just feels, lots of feels…

Lili St. Germain…

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Review: Five Miles

Five Miles by Lili St. Germain
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I mean damn!!! These do keep getting better and better. Gah! I am loving it…

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Review: Six Brothers

Six Brothers by Lili St. Germain
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

WOW!!! I am actually having trouble putting my feels into words…

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Review: Flat-Out Celeste

Flat-Out Celeste by Jessica Park
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I 110% loved Flat-Out Love, it was one of the many books that I read when I first got back into reading and I was BLOWN away by it. It was also one of my first indications that my job really is my life and that even when it comes to reading romance I’m going to be drawn more so to books of certain niche in this genre… that is if they are done well.

Just like Flat-Out Love, Flat-Out Celeste was done so very well. I am always amazed when writers write characters who have difficulty relating to/understanding/expressing feelings and emotions and when they do it in a way that retains the characters humanity and vulnerability I am truly impressed. I just loved Celeste to pieces. She absolutely stole the show in Flat-Out Love and I’m so happy that Jessica Park decided to tell more of her story. Celeste’s leading man, Justin, was no slacker himself. His energy and awkwardness was absolutely adorable. I do enjoy how Park writes characters who are not the typical alpha male assholes that we all do love so very much and yet they balance their geek factor and masculinity and confidence wonderfully well.

So yeah, read it!!!

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Review: Seven Sons

Seven Sons by Lili St. Germain
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My favorite thing is to read books without looking at the blurb and finding something really interesting and different. That’s exactly what I got with this one. I love a strong female and revenge is always best served in fiction… I’m intrigued and highly anticipating where this one will go.

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Review: Only Pretend: A Novel

Only Pretend: A Novel by Nora Flite
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh my word Nora… Can I please get a signed copy of this one when you release it in paperback???? I am 100% certain that I haven’t LOVED a dark villainous captor this much since Caleb in The Dark Duet. This was written so well… all the things, the traps, that I hate when some try to write this kind of story and fall into were avoided here. Celeste was a strong-willed woman. Though she had nothing and came from nothing she was a constant reminder that as long as we have free will nothing else matters. She fought Leonide tooth and nail from the very beginning. Even though she was most definitely attracted to the man, and felt a ton of confusion regarding some of those feelings not once did she stop fighting for what she wanted. Freedom to choose!!!

Leonide, WOO! I don’t even know where to start. First, I’d like to say this book was definitely dark, but it wasn’t dark in a gross or overtly brutal kind of way. It was more of a mindfuck and it definitely felt good. Leonide said and did cruel things but he also was a conflicted man… It was amazing how he was able to get a reaction from Celeste or screw her mind all up without even having to cause her physical harm at times. At other times, he was like a fucking demon, and it wasn’t clear what exactly he would do with her. He was really complex and I am always amazed when I find myself feeling one way about a character and then feeling completely different in the end. Even though Leonide does make some changes, he also makes it very clear up to the ending of the book he is who he is. I loved that the best, because it would be unrealistic for him to change completely.

I just loved it. I was a fan of Nora Flite after I gorged myself on The Body Rock Series but this just cemented the “I will read anything you write” status for me… only a handful of authors are in that category for me.

Quote Love:

“Her words struck something in me, a statement I’d been slapped by… how long ago? I don’t want to be boring. I can fix myself.”

“I’m not those women. I’m Celeste Barstow… and you’re a fucking demon.”

“He growled in my ear, clawed at me not like someone in love– but someone who hated my guts. I didn’t care at all. Even hate was better than indifference; more satisfying than the man who had slid on a mask and could walk away from me after his dick had been inside my mouth.”

~Celeste & Leonide~

 

 

 

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Review: A Test of Love

A Test of Love by Kenya Wright
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I gave this one 4.7 stars because it had some seriously epic things going on that need to be recognized… however, I found Jasmine’s constant preoccupation with food to become annoying at times. I also found Jasmine continuously running away from Chase and being kind of a bitch but then falling for the D to be annoying as well. Lastly, there was a great slow burn to this at times… but I really would have liked more of the sexy details. But as stated there were some crazy things going on in this one so I got why some of the sex was just mentioned or didn’t go down. It just would have been nice is all.

We pick up where book 1 left off in this one. Chase is absolutely indulgently delicious in this book. The story line gets really serious and dramatic, intense, and suspenseful. For awhile I felt like I was part of the Scooby-Doo team trying to solve this mystery. Some of the choices that these characters had to make were devastating and heart breaking. This book has one of my NO-GO’s in it… but the way that it was written even I was confused about how I felt about that, and I must say that is a huge feat to accomplish because I am not easily swayed. LOL!

There were also some psychotic characters in this one that had me cringing and sitting on the edge of my seat to see what they would do next. Do not fuck with Benny! That’s all I’ll say about that. I always say the second book in a series really has the hardest time. The expectations are set, and if it sucks then you know people are going to jump ship… I’m happy to report even with the few things that I didn’t care for this was EPIC! READ IT!!!

Quote Love:

“‘Say it, baby.’ Burying his face into my cleavage, he begged some more. ‘Please, Jasmine, please. Give me that soft pleasure. Only you know how to give it to me just right.’ He squeezed the curve of my behind…”

“I kissed that cunt. Her liquid smeared against my lips. I licked those folds and released a growl that made her turn back and look at me in fear.
You better be scared.”

“I needed to get deep, I was desperate to be completely inside of her… I worked that pussy, stamped my annoyance on those secret lips. ‘Don’t ever keep this from me.’
‘Oh!’
‘Ever.’ ‘Mine! Goddamn it. You feel that?’
‘Oh, Chase!’
‘Mine, when I want it. Mine, when I beg!'”

“‘Trust me. I was doing my best not to listen to white boy beat it up.’
‘You’re disgusting.’
‘No, you’re the one and you’re mad that I’m right.’
‘Yeah. Yeah. Chase is on probation. We didn’t have sex.’
‘Well, then he’s cheating because he sure had someone upstairs screaming out biblical names for the past two hours.’
‘Oh, Chase! Help me Jesus!’ ‘Let the heavens open up! God take me now!'”

“Because you’re talking to me as if I am a dog. I don’t eat puppy chow or slop out of a bowl placed in the kitchen. I am a man. I eat like one and walk like one… I do not listen to orders, nor do I fetch and run or fucking be pulled by a leash, little girl… I. Am. No. Dog!”

5/25/14 – Currently 99 pennies on Amazon
http://amzn.com/B00JS7CSVA

 

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Review: An Arrangement of Love

An Arrangement of Love by Kenya Wright
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a 4.5 star read for me. I was absolutely pleasantly surprised about how much I loved this one. You just never really know when you pick something up for 99 pennies if you’re going to find a gem or a lump of coal…

Chase is your typical uber-rich, super hot, confident, alpha male. He gets what he wants when he wants it and up until he meets Jasmine no one has ever stood in his way or questioned him. This book starts off in hilarious form. I was reading it going wait is this really happening. Jasmine shows up for a very strange job interview but she needs a good job to help take care of her family and to make good of her Harvard education that she worked so hard to attain. When Chase starts talking indecent proposals a starting salary of almost 200k a year makes it hard to turn down, however, Jasmine is not willing to be bought.

We meet some really cool side characters in this one. It is different from a great deal of your typical trilogy billionaire types of romances in the arrangement that Chase is currently involved in. Jasmine finds it very difficult to resist Chase, but knows that his current lifestyle is not one that she can submit too easily. Drama, craziness, and heat that burns off the pages ensue and what we end up with is definitely going to be added to my favorites list of this year. I highly recommend this one if you like your stories with some interesting twists, a little gritty, and super hot. Also, while Chase had the BIGGEST ego ever, I found something soft and vulnerable about him as well. And let’s be honest while we all love an asshole one with feelings is always far more pleasurable…

Quote Love:

“Vivian coined the term for Vibrator, Ice Cream, and Book test. Basically, if I would rather spend the night at home with my vibrator, a pint of Ben and Jerry’s Chunky Monkey ice cream, and a steamy romance novel, then he’d failed the V.I.B. test.”

“I love women–your bodies, your scents, the feel of your skin, the sound of your moans, and the luscious taste of all of you, each with your own distinct flavors.”

“He paused and tossed me a weird grin. ‘I love how you think my orders are suggestions.’ ‘I worry that you think your delusions of grandeur are reality.'”

5/25/14 – Currently .99 on Amazon, and if you’re a Prime member can be borrowed from the library for free!!!
http://amzn.com/B00I481HSO

 

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Review: The Wild Side

The Wild Side by R.K. Lilley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Oh man, that was so damn good, and steamy hot…

…And that ending!!!

I need to know more about Iris, she is such a conundrum. And Dair… poor, poor, Dair! Such a man. Even if he was thinking all of those things he should know better than to have said ANY of them. Smh! Great stuff!!! I cannot wait for more of this and I’m so amped that Mrs. Lilley isn’t going to make us wait too long…

 

 

~*Iris & Alisdair*~

 

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