Format: E-Book Read with: Kindle Paperwhite Length: Novella Genre: Contemporary Romance POV: Third Person, Dual Series: Ice, #6.5 Publisher: Impeccably Demure Press Hero: Luc Dubois Heroine: Emma O’Bannion Sensuality: 🔥🔥🔥 Published On: March 17, 2023 Started On: May 27, 2023 Finished On: May 28, 2023
Dangerous Lover by Anne Stuart, the latest release in the bestselling Ice series, takes readers on a captivating journey through the shadowy world of covert agents and forbidden romance that is synonymous with the series. As an avid fan of Ms. Stuart’s work, especially her knack for creating irresistibly dark and complex heroes, I was in a sense of anticipation as I dove into this novella, and I was not disappointed.
The story begins with 29-year-old Emma O’Bannion dreading the upcoming Valentine’s Day. It is a holiday she finds particularly depressing, amplifying her restlessness and longing for an adventure that might distract her from her inner musings. Emma’s life is seemingly well-planned, with her ambitious goal of making partner at Kelton and Kelton by the time she turns 35. Yet, there’s a spark of impulsiveness within her that ignites when she encounters Luc Dubois, the enigmatic new tenant in her building.
From the moment Emma decides to send Luc an anonymous lover’s card for Valentine’s Day, believing it to be a harmless gesture, the story takes the turn that I was waiting for. Luc, a retired agent of the Committee, a global covert agency with its own hidden agendas, has been living a life of relative quiet in his retirement until a warning makes him up his guard once again. When Emma’s seemingly innocent card coincides with this warning, Luc deliberately puts himself in Emma’s space and world, something which he had been resisting up till that point.
Luc is a man marked by his past, particularly by betrayal five years ago, also on Valentine’s Day. This haunting memory makes Emma’s “anonymous” gift too much of a coincidence for him to walk away from and consider as harmless. When Luc confronts Emma suspicious of her in every sense, what ensues is a tense, captivating dance between them, culminating in the kind of passion and want that Luc has no place for in his life.
Ms. Stuart excels at crafting heroes who are dark, broody, and dangerously irresistible, and Luc Dubois is no exception. His initial coldness and calculated demeanor hides a deep well of passion and vulnerability, which Emma gradually uncovers. Their chemistry is electric and Luc’s protective instincts towards Emma, despite his better judgment, adds a layer of complexity to their relationship that kept me hooked.
While Dangerous Lover is a novella and shorter than a full-length novel, I found myself wishing for more time with Luc and Emma, as it always happens when you are enamored by a story and want it to continue forever. I wanted to delve deeper into their backgrounds and the intricacies of their relationship and encounter the angst that Ms. Stuart so famously delivers in most of her novels.
Ms. Stuart’s ability to write darker romance with a flair that is uniquely hers is why she remains my go-to author for my dark romance fix. I aim to do a re-read of some of my favorite books of hers sometime soon, having done so a year or so back in recent times. Not every romance reader may appreciate the dark themes and morally ambiguous characters that Ms. Stuart excels at creating, but for those who do, her books are a treasure trove of unforgettable stories, some of which remain permanently on my favorites shelf.
Recommended for fans of the Ice series and those who love their heroes a bit darker than most. While part of a series, Dangerous Lover can totally be read as a standalone.
Final Verdict: Dangerous Lover is a thrilling addition to the Ice series, delivering on the suspense, romance, and dark allure that Anne Stuart fans have come to expect and love from her novels in the series!
Favorite Quotes
The last button went, and her silk blouse hung open, exposing her indecent little wisp of a bra. “And what made you choose my apartment building? What made you decide to move in beneath me, and watch me every time you could catch a glimpse of me?” “I didn’t even know you were there,” she said wearily. “I told you, I didn’t think anyone lived upstairs until a couple of months ago. And it’s not your apartment building, buster, it belongs to the owners and it’s run by Mr. Habib and I have just as much right as you have…” “It is my building. I own it.” She could feel the tip of the knife against her bare skin, a strange, painless caress. A shiver of pure fear ran across her skin. She looked up at him, into his opaque, unreadable eyes, and she held her breath.„ And then he slid the knife between the bra and her skin, cutting it open.
He slid one hand through her hair and kissed her on the mouth again, taking his time, no need for hurry, no need for force. He was willing to wait, to see how long it would take her to respond. Her mouth opened beneath his slow, deliberate kisses, reaching for breath, reaching for words, reaching for his mouth, letting him, asking him, her lips clinging for a shy second and then falling back, then kissing him again, and this time when he used his tongue it truly was like sex, entering her, pushing inside the dark wetness of her mouth, and she let him, taking him, a hot damp clinging of mouth to mouth.
“Don’t think about it,” he whispered against her mouth. “Don’t think about anything. Just feel.” She wanted to cry. She lost herself in the taste of him, the sweet texture of his mouth and his tongue, the silken heat of his skin beneath her trembling hands. He hadn’t touched her breasts, yet they felt exquisitely sensitive, almost burning. He was rocking her against him, a slow, lascivious rhythm, her wispy silk panties against the buttoned fly on his jeans, and the sensation was a powerful one, making her breath catch in her throat. His eyes were half closed, watching her, and she was shy, edgy, her fingers digging into his smooth shoulders, as her stomach knotted and a jolt of something streaked through her body in anticipation.
She didn’t know why she was so wet, and she didn’t care. He was holding her too tightly for her to pull away, her face was pressed close against his shoulder, and she could feel the thunder of his heart, could feel the tension thrumming through his muscles, and she wanted to lick his skin, she wanted his mouth, she wanted everything, she no longer cared what he wanted to do with her. Nothing mattered but the wet, delicious waves of sensation he was coaxing from her, an almost lazy cycle of response that began to build, sharply, until without warning it exploded, and she screamed against his chest and her body arched off the bed in a spasm of hot, prickling response.
“Open your eyes, Emma,” he whispered in a harsh voice, and there was no ignoring him. Her eyelids fluttered open, and she stared up at him in dazed confusion. He cupped her buttocks, pulling her up closer against him, but she simply wrapped her legs around him, tight, drawing him in deeper still. His faint smile was answer enough. “You like it?” “I like it,” she whispered. “You want more?” “Yes, please.”
Format: E-Book Read with: Kindle Paperwhite Length: Novel Genre: Western Historical POV: Third Person, Dual Series: Rocky Mountain, #2 Publisher: Avon Hero: Sloan McCord Heroine: Heather Ashford Sensuality: 🔥🔥🔥🔥 Published On: February 01, 1998 Started On: March 03, 2023 Finished On: March 11, 2023
He’d never been so hungry for a woman before, so hot. He’d never felt this kind of need, mindless, relentless, endless.
The Heart Breaker by Nicole Jordan is a story that takes you to places. Though this is the second book in the Rocky Mountain series, this can totally be read as a standalone.
Sloan McCord is a widowed hero, a single father navigating the complexities of life in the aftermath of a devastating range war. His marriage to a full-blooded Cheyenne woman resulted in his most cherished daughter, Jenna, who was only two months old when her mother was brutally murdered.
Now, more than a year later, Sloan is driven by ambitions to be elected to the Colorado Senate, and to achieve this, he believes he needs a wife who will not only care for his daughter and home but also elevate his social status and help change the hostile perceptions surrounding his support for the “wrong” side during the range war.
Enter Heather Ashford, a woman of rich roots who has fallen on desperate times. Urged by his sister-in-law, Sloan considers Heather as a potential wife. While Sloan wants only a wife of convenience who would allow him to keep his emotions in check, the first meeting between Sloan and Heather puts that notion to shame, as Sloan recognizes in Heather, the woman who has been haunting his dreams.
Despite his desire to keep her at arm’s length, Sloan is undeniably drawn to Heather in a way that leaves him vulnerable and conflicted. The sexual tension that simmers between the two is so well done, that I swear, even re-reading bits of the story for my review more than a year on still moved me to bits! Heather, who is inquisitive and intelligent, is determined to prove her worth, putting her heart and soul into being an equal partner in their marriage.
Ms. Jordan definitely excels in crafting vivid characters, with Sloan’s sensuality and stubborn pride shining through the depths of this story. His struggle with memories of his late wife and his initial decision to start the marriage with separate bedrooms add to the emotional sucker punches that the story delivers in spades, and also brings his internal conflicts when it comes to his burgeoning feelings for Heather to the forefront.
Heather’s unwavering determination in the face of her husband’s often cold, dismissive, and at times cruel behavior makes your heart ache for Heather. It is the reserves of strength that Heather finds and holds onto while trying to make the best of a situation that leaves her emotions in tatters, while her husband sets her body and soul on fire with every searing glance and touch that truly clutches at your heartstrings.
Like many readers, I also found that the story faltered slightly in its climax. The grand gesture and groveling that are meant to bring resolution to Sloan and Heather’s relationship fell a bit flat for me, which was a tad disappointing, given how emotionally invested in both of them I was. Despite this, the overall journey of their evolving relationship is compelling and well-written, not to mention out of this world scorching hot. Sloan is the type of hero I shelve as sex-on-a-stick, because he is all that and more with just his existence in the story.
Recommended for those who love a good western romance and those who adore reluctant widowed heroes who fall that much harder, because of the fact.
Final Verdict: The Heart Breaker by Nicole Jordan offers a rich tapestry of emotion, sensuality, and the slow burn of a developing romance amidst the backdrop of post-war societal challenges. Sloan and Heather’s journey towards happily ever after definitely leaves a lasting impression.
Favorite Quotes
His gaze swept her form slowly, with a vague suggestion of scorn, as though he recognized her as the helpless, inept widgeon he’d rescued from the path of a runaway carriage. Heather flushed, hoping the wide brim of her bonnet hid her mortification. “You are my hero, sir,” the young lady murmured in breathless praise, demanding his attention. Suddenly an ironic half-smile curled the corner of his mouth. It was the kind of smile that made sensible women do foolish things, Heather realized, one that softened his hard features with breathtaking effect and invited others to share his amusement.
He moved closer, letting his body touch hers. The shock was stunning. She felt blistered by his sudden invading heat, by the hard, masculine contours that branded her. Her heart beat in a wild pulse of alarm and need as he bent his head to her. Through a daze she heard him whisper against her lips. “You really think you’re woman enough to handle me, duchess?”
His lips were warm and hard, like the man … threatening, dominating … yet somehow gentle. In response, something deep within her body quivered in purely sensual reaction. His kiss deepened into a bold invasion, his tongue parting her lips and thrusting inside. The intimate intrusion shocked her for an instant. She hadn’t known a man’s kiss could be so blatant, so devastating. Hadn’t known she could respond this way … that she could feel so weak and not… so wanton.
“Don’t fight it,” he said in her ear as she arched against him. “Let it happen.” Heather whimpered, colors and blinding light blurring before her eyes. It was like being swept up in a storm, unable to do anything but go along for the ride. The first tiny convulsions swelled to shafts of fire. She strained against him, burning, pulsating, spinning away into a netherworld of shooting flames.
When the woman beneath him splintered into ecstasy, he groaned with a savage need held barely in check. At the rhythmic clenching of her loins, desire shot through his groin, white-hot and explosive. Unable to restrain his agonized arousal any longer, he surged into her, deep into the tight, wet welcoming of her body. With a final groan, he thrust into her fiercely one last time, before shuddering and collapsing against her, his body pulsing inside hers.
Every muscle in his body tensed in rejection, the sinews cording his neck so rigid they stood out visibly. A stillness came into the room as their gazes locked, a sense of breathless waiting. Heather watched him, her urge for self-protection vanishing. This was a man in need. To his dismay, Sloan couldn’t break the connection with her golden eyes, so warm with concern. He wanted to move away from her, away from the dangerous seduction of her compassion. He was too vulnerable just now. He felt so raw, so tired from the war he was waging. He couldn’t bear to have her this near. “You’d best go,” he whispered, his voice raw and cracked. She didn’t stir. Nor did he. He couldn’t manage it. In his chest he felt that strange swelling, twisting sensation again. He didn’t like it. It hurt to feel. It was easier, safer, to keep himself isolated, remote, his rampaging emotions under tight control. Yet he had no defense against her. He couldn’t save himself.
“Is it always like this?” she whispered long moments later. When he didn’t answer, she drew back a little to look down at him. His eyes grew hooded. He didn’t want to meet her searching gaze. Just then, they heard the sound of a child’s gurgling laugh through the partially open door. Janna was awake. Grateful for the interruption, Sloan eased himself from beneath her and left the bed. Giving her a glimpse of taut, bare buttocks, he bent to pull on his denims. “Hell, it’s just sex, duchess,” he lied. “Happens all the time. Nothing to get worked up about.”
She watched him questioningly as Sloan moved to the damask wing chair beyond the dressing table. Sitting down, he tugged off the rest of his clothing and settled back, naked and relaxed, his upthrusting manhood blatantly masculine between his parted, sinewed thighs. “Remember how I taught you to ride me?” “Yes.” The word was a hoarse whisper. “Why don’t you come here, and we’ll see how much you’ve learned?”
Then what had begun tenderly suddenly turned wild. He gripped her buttocks, no longer in control. She gasped in welcome as he plunged home… arching against him as his huge shaft drove deep and hard… She cried out, sobbing as his wonderful length impaled her helpless body over and over again. They came together in passion and need. He took her with fierce, insistent thrusts, possessiveness surging through him. She was his; his need was almost violent, his desire uncontrollable.
Format: E-Book Read with: Kindle Paperwhite Length: Novel Genre: Contemporary Romance POV: Third Person, Single Series: This Time, Forever, #1 Publisher: Harlequin Hero: Cesare Falcone Heroine: Mina Carroll Sensuality: 🔥🔥🔥 Published On: September 01, 1995 Started On: March 01, 2023 Finished On: March 02, 2023
Entirely focused on him, she felt light-headed. ‘I didn’t know—’ ‘Didn’t know what?’ Cesare whispered unevenly, dropping his hand to the bedspread wrapped beneath her arms as he coiled fluidly up so that their eyes locked. ‘That wanting like that is rare? That most people go all their lives without ever feeling like this? It’s a hunger so strong it has to be satisfied…and it’s bound to rage out of control.’
A Savage Betrayal by Lynne Graham, first published in September of 1995 is told in the third person from the heroine’s perspective. The story begins with the heroine, Mina Carroll, who while working alongside her boss at the charity benefit that her workplace organized, runs into none other than Cesare Falcone, the man who broke her heart years ago.
Four years back, a freshly graduated Mina found herself at the receiving end of a cutthroat job interview, after which Cesare hires her as his executive assistant. Two months in, Mina realizes that she was head over heels in love with her boss, and by the end of the third month, Mina is sacked rather unceremoniously, and that too without a reference.
Discovering that her one night of passion with Cesare right before she was sacked had borne its fruit, Mina finds herself in the tough position of having to juggle being a single mother and making ends meet in a world that is frightful for women who do not have the kind of support systems that prevent them from falling into utter destitution.
Coming to the realization that the spark that has always existed between her and Cesare burns even brighter than before, and that she is just as vulnerable to the heat between them, makes Mina wary, especially in light of the revelations that Cesare believes her to be a deceitful tramp, perhaps the only woman who has ever made a fool of him in the worst way possible.
Cesare’s belief that Mina committed a criminal offense four years back is an ironclad one, citing that he is in possession of irrefutable proof with which he could send her to jail even now. While Cesare continues to believe the worst about Mina, the way he is helplessly ensnared in the web of desire that clouds his judgement is something he perhaps despises about himself.
Cesare definitely drives a hard bargain, expecting Mina to be his and only his satisfying his every carnal desire, and in bed, Mina knows that she is able to drive him just as wild as he does her. When the truth of her conception four years back comes to light, Cesare is of course livid and devastated, and what ensues leading up to the climax of this delectable story was just unforgettable.
A Savage Betrayal is a novel that is evidence of Ms. Graham’s remarkable talent in weaving a story that would have required so little to completely unravel. At certain points, I was left wondering as to how Ms. Graham would be able to turn things around, to show to readers why Cesare was worth all the heartache, grief, and pain that Mina goes through, even as she struggles with her enduring love for a man who sees very little of worth in her.
The story is one that is brilliantly executed, with the sexual chemistry and heat between Mina and Cesare off the charts hot and steamy. Perhaps the one reason the story got to me so much is the fact that the reader has to discover how Cesare feels about Mina through her perspective of his actions. The hero who comes off as ruthless and says often the cruelest things (which Mina is perfectly capable of handling), is unable to bear it when he witnesses Mina being hurt, in pain, or in tears. That is how the reader knows just how deeply that Cesare feels for her. And there is of course the red blooded alpha male whose possessive streak rears its head whenever he feels that what is his is in danger of being claimed by another, and the red hot jealousy that courses through him every single time!
I loved how Cesare meets his daughter who is just as temperamental as he is which gave me a couple of good chuckles that broke the never ending tension that is consistent throughout the story. This book had such good verbal warfare happening alongside all that sizzle, which made Mina and Cesare highly entertaining. The way Ms. Graham managed to make Cesare so arrogant, powerful, sexy, and vulnerable was nothing short of amazing, paving the way for everything to just click into place when all was said and done.
Recommended for fans of Lynne Graham and those who love explosive love stories between two protagonists whose verbal warfare just adds to the spice factor!
Final Verdict: A Savage Betrayal is a novel that is fierce in the way it consumes all your emotions. Those who love a good angst-fest; this one is for you!
Favorite Quotes
Her breath hung suspended and then he pressed his mouth hotly to the tiny pulse flickering wildly above her collarbone. Every bone in her body melted in a burst of feverish heat. Her head fell back, her throat extending. She trembled violently, an upswell of sensation suddenly released with devastating force. Her hands flew up of their own volition, one finding his shoulder, the other spearing into his hair, and just touching him again felt so good that she ached.
‘Move, Cesare!’ Cesare continued to stare at her as though he was mesmerised, brooding golden eyes intently fixed on her. Outraged by his lack of response, Mina planted a small hand against his broad chest to thrust him out of her way. A lean hand whipped up and unexpectedly trapped hers, preventing her from withdrawal. ‘What the heck are you—?’ she began. Without the smallest warning he grabbed her right there in the middle of the street. Two strong hands clamped to her waist as he lifted her up against him and brought his mouth smashing down on hers with an explosive sexual hunger that travelled through her like forked lightning.
The first day when you walked into that interview I decided I could not possibly employ a woman whom I wanted to strip and fling onto the nearest bed!’ Helplessly her head flew up. She couldn’t believe her ears. ‘I gave you a nightmare interview…and you took it,’ Cesare condemned with lingering disbelief at such unfeminine strength of will and staying power. ‘You were trying to scare me off?’ Mina questioned in a tone of revelation. ‘I was a fool. I gave you the job.’
‘You’re mine,’ Cesare muttered thickly, one strong arm closing fiercely round her to stress the assurance, and he simply shifted his hand smoothly from beneath hers and slid it beneath the parted edges of her bodice, slowly curving his fingers over the firm thrust of one unbound breast. It had been so long since she had known such intimacy that her teeth clenched on the sweet pleasurepain of her own helpless excitement, and in the interim her hand fell away. He tugged the dress open, exposing the smooth pale flesh he sought, discovering the delectable curves she had tried to conceal. With an unashamed groan of hunger he caressed a pouting pink nipple with almost worshipping fingers, watching the bud bloom into aching prominence.
On some other level she was aware of the cooler air that brushed her skin as her dress fell away entirely and then he was laying her flat, crushing her mouth under his with raw, unashamed hunger. Her hands swept over his silk-clad back in sudden frustration, instinctively seeking the satin-smooth skin she remembered. His muscles rippled as he tautened and broke the connection of their mouths. Her glazed eyes opened on that shock of separation. He was ripping off his shirt, and she remembered that from before, but she heard no warning bells. Past and present had merged indistinguishably. The pectoral muscles of his lean, golden torso were hazed with a sprinkling of ebony curls. Like someone in an hypnotic trance, she focused on the blazing gold of his eyes and sank ever deeper into his power.
He pulled her to him with strong hands and instantaneously attempted to sink into her with one powerful thrust. There was a flash of momentary pain that made her bite down on her tongue and taste blood. Cesare muttered something in Italian, settled his hands on her hips and drove into her again, making her tender flesh yield more fully, and the sensation was so unbearably pleasurable that she moaned in shock and delight, for she had worked so hard at forgetting, had made herself forget, that most intimate moment.
Cesare had turned pale at one glimpse of her Caesarean scar. ‘You’ve had surgery,’ he breathed as she sat bolt upright, grabbed clumsily at her discarded dress and concealed herself behind it as best she could. ‘Major surgery—’ ‘No, only a little female thing,’ Mina lied in desperation, evading his shocked gaze. ‘It looks much worse than it is.’ ‘What was the matter with you?’ he demanded tautly. ‘I told you, something female and private—minor.’ ‘It doesn’t look minor—’ ‘But it is and I’m sorry you find it so offensive,’ she said wildly, ready to say or do anything to throw him off the subject. ‘Of course I don’t find it offensive but naturally I was disturbed,’ Cesare asserted stiffly, ‘and if that is the result of some minor female problem you must have had a third-rate surgeon!’
‘It doesn’t even have to be my best,’ Cesare murmured thickly, dense black lashes screening his gaze to a sliver of hard gold as he scanned her feverishly flushed face and unwittingly pleading eyes. ‘The one thing you ever gave me that was honest…why? You can’t control it. But I can—’ ‘Can you?’ Mina was in another world, one where she felt far more than she thought. Her hand lifted of its own volition, shyly smoothed along his strong, clean shaven jawline, fingertips softly brushing a high cheekbone. Her nostrils flared on the warm maleness of him. That close, it would have been sensory deprivation not to touch. He dipped his dark head and trapped her fingers with his mouth before she could reluctantly drop them again. Her eyes squeezed shut on a wave of unbearable excitement as he sucked first one finger and then another and her breath rasped in her dry throat, liquid fire running through her quivering body, melting every bone to boiling honey. She was poised on the edge of an erotic anticipation so intense, it consumed her.
Cesare tensed, momentarily holding himself back, and then her tongue flicked against his in an enticement that was entirely instinctive and, with a raw groan of need, he ravaged her reddened mouth with potent hunger. Suddenly she was no longer upright but lying back. His hand slid up one trembling thigh, wrenching the dress out of his path. She was out of control, her breath sobbing in her throat, her heart racing. She clung to any part of him she could reach, her fingers clutching at his hair, the back of his neck, splaying against the silk-clad heat of his taut abdomen, scratching down his long spine, clothes, always clothes getting in her way, driving her mad with frustration.
‘Get out of here, Cesare!’ ‘But this is our wedding night, cara.’ Mina’s teeth clenched. She wanted to leap off the bed and thump him but she was afraid that the bedspread would fall off. ‘The answer is no!’ A winged ebony brow elevated. ‘Did I ask a question?’ ‘You need it spelt out to you?’ Mina intoned, quivering with fury. ‘OK. I am not prepared to share a bed with a man who thinks I’m a gold-digging, dishonest tramp!’ ‘Why not?’ Cesare enquired softly. ‘If I’m prepared to sacrifice my principles—’ ‘Yours?’ Mina flared in disbelief. ‘Who else’s? If I could keep my hands off you, don’t you think I would?’ Cesare murmured with grim satire. ‘Do you really think that it was my secret ambition to take a wife who could be described as a gold-digging, dishonest tramp?’
He leant over her, nibbled erotically at the reddened fullness of her lower lip, and as she trembled, he uttered a strangled groan and shuddered, every muscle tautening with whipcord tension as he lifted her against him, searching out the moist heat between her thighs. She writhed, cried out, unbearable sensation rising to a sudden shattering peak that was pure torment. ‘I can’t wait.’ He brought her down to him with aching slowness and agonising control, forging his entry little by little, and it was so staggeringly exciting that she somehow wanted to faint with delight and scream with frustration at the same time.
He took her by storm and she felt possessed, driven, inflamed by the feeling that he was out of control. All honeyed pliancy and complicity, every fibre of her body pitched to an unbelievable height of anticipation, she let herself go, lost herself entirely in the thunder of her own crazed heartbeat and the fevered tension coiling ever tighter inside her. With every driving thrust he took her higher, and then suddenly the whole world went multi-coloured, her back arching, her teeth clenching as she sobbed, ‘I love you…I love you!’ on the peak of a shuddering and ecstatic wave of drowning pleasure.
‘Why do you think Steve hates you so much? Steve and I dated for four years and we were never intimate, never even partially intimate! But I only knew you for three months and he actually dared to tell me once that that was the hardest thing of all for him to accept…and I thought at the time, To hell with fragile male egos—and I still think it!’ ‘Mina—’ ‘So if you want to go on thinking that I bounced straight out of bed with you into bed with him, go ahead! I’ll phone and tell Steve…he would be absolutely delighted to know you think that! But how dare you try to drag me down to the level of a slot on some pathetic male sexual score card?’ A dark flush of blood had highlighted his hard cheekbones. ‘That was not what I was doing,’ he told her rawly. ‘That’s exactly what you were doing! All that sophistication on the surface, and underneath what are you?’ Mina splintered tempestuously. ‘You’re so primitive you haven’t even made it on to the bottom rung of the evolutionary ladder!’ ‘Whatever turns you on, cara,’ Cesare murmured, eyes a sliver of flaring gold below his black lashes.
‘This time…you really are mine,’ Cesare murmured roughly, framing her hectically flushed face with hard, possessive hands as he looked down at her, eyes of molten gold alight with desire and primitive satisfaction. But those hands weren’t quite steady and that big, powerful body trembled in the circle of her arms. On a very female level, she was fully attuned to that awareness. ‘Absolutely mine,’ Cesare savoured, lowering his dark head to her breasts, circling a taut bud with the tip of his tongue and then hungrily engulfing her achingly tender flesh with the raw heat of his mouth.
‘We should have made better use of last night,’ Cesare muttered raggedly. ‘I want you so much, I ache…’ Without warning, he pulled back from her and communicated with the chauffeur. ‘What are you doing?’ ‘It’ll take over an hour in this traffic to reach the town house…’ Minutes later he was tugging her out of the limousine in front of a well-known hotel. Ten minutes after that they were standing in a luxurious bedroom. ‘This is crazy,’ Mina protested weakly. ‘Everything I do with you is crazy,’ he muttered thickly, hauling her into his arms.
She lost herself in him. Her heart hammering, her slender body writhed beneath his, desperate for the completion that only he could give. She clutched at his hair, scored the satin-smooth skin of his back and then arched and sobbed as he sank into her in one powerful thrust. ‘Nobody is going to take you away from me,’ he said savagely, scanning her with glittering golden assurance. ‘Nobody!’
Format: E-Book Read with: Kindle Paperwhite Length: Novel Genre: Contemporary Romance POV: Third Person, Dual Series: Brides for the Taking, #3 Publisher: Harlequin Hero: Jax Antonakos Heroine: Lucy Dixon Sensuality: 🔥🔥🔥 Published On: May 23, 2017 Started On: February 27, 2023 Finished On: March 01, 2023
Sold for the Greek’s Heir by Lynne Graham is the third installment in the Brides for the Taking series, published under Harlequin in 2017. Ms. Graham brings to readers the story of Greek billionaire Antonakos and single mother Lucy Dixon, with the tale unfolding from the perspectives of both protagonists.
Jax is the proverbial man-whore and bachelor and likes his life that way, even as his father wishes and pushes him in the hopes that Jax would marry the woman of his choosing. Jax makes no commitments and has no intention of giving into his father’s demands. He is marriage and children averse, the bitter divorce that resulted in the split of his parents having left its mark on him. Living with his mother was not a walk in the park either, with a father who pretty much ignored his existence up till he did not have a choice but to.
Lucy arrives in Greece to finally unite with her long lost father. The fact that he accepted that Lucy was mother to a fifteen month old baby girl seals the deal for her, up until she comes face to face with the father of the baby, i.e., Jax, who pulled the disappearing act on her.
Lucy was a naive nineteen year old virgin when Jax swept her off her feet. Devastation hit when Jax abandoned her, and made it all but impossible for her to reach him with the news that she was pregnant with his child. Lucy is therefore determined that she would not give Jax the time of the day, that is until machinations by her father which she has no knowledge of, forces the hand of Jax into offering her marriage.
When Jax comes face to face with the one woman who had shaken his very existence, the shock of discovering that he is father to a toddler pushes him into taking action to ensure the best for his daughter. It certainly does not help matters when Jax is driven by the nightmarish revelations that forced him to cut ties with Lucy in the first place, and that proves to be the ultimate conflict around which the story revolves.
While I did enjoy some of the aspects of the story, I felt that the prose of the novel was all wrong for Lynne Graham, or at least the Graham novels that I always enjoy and revel in. Lucy was definitely a welcomed change from some of the doormat variety of heroines you come across in category romances especially. But at the same time, Jax failed to invoke all those heady emotions in me which I look forward to when it is especially a Lynne Graham novel. All the attributes that should make him so were there, and he should have been appealing in every sense, but somehow the elements did not come together in the way that I expected perhaps.
I guess this has a more modern streak going through the story, which perhaps is not a bad thing in itself. However, I believe I jive better with older Graham novels.
Recommended for fans of Lynne Graham and those who love category romances featuring the forced marriage trope!
Final Verdict: Sold for the Greek’s Heir is a hit and miss sort of novel; there were aspects that worked and those that did not.
Favorite Quotes
Just one kiss, she bargained with herself, just one, but the man who had once seduced her with kisses had no intention of breaking his perfect track record. He always knew what she wanted and he gave it to her, all the seething passion he had taught her to crave. He kissed her and she went up in flames. Her body flared into shocking awareness and suddenly burned back to almost painful life with every plunging thrust of his tongue.
‘I can’t get enough of you,’ Jax growled between the urgent biting kisses that bruised her lips and the devastating plunge of his tongue that made her slight body jackknife in reaction beneath his. ‘We’ve got all night,’ she whispered through rosy swollen lips, eyes glazed with passion. ‘I’ve got a hunger that one night won’t come anywhere near satisfying,’ Jax told her rawly, fisting a hand in her tumbling curls as he snaked a string of kisses down over her collarbone and found a plump, pointed nipple to torment with attention.
‘Thee mou, I want you so much,’ Jax ground out as he slid over her, his hands strong on her hips to angle her back. He entered her slowly, urging her tender flesh to open for him and stretch, and the sensation made her dizzy with yearning and wildly impatient for more. He eased back and then pushed in hard and deep and her body convulsed and tightened round him, intense sensation ravishing her. A string of tiny sounds was wrenched from her parted lips as he ground into her and picked up the pace, raw excitement flooding her as she tilted up to meet him, hot, damp and abandoned as the wild roller coaster of sensation raged on and on.
That fast she wanted him intolerably and with every probing plunge of his tongue she wanted him more. Evocative little noises were wrenched from low in her throat as skilled fingers teased and played to prepare her for his entrance. And then he tilted her back and thrust into her with vigour while she clung to his shoulders, her ankles wrapped round him. He grunted with raw male satisfaction, his hand supporting her hips as he pounded her yielding body with delicious force. Excitement writhed through Lucy in an unstoppable surge and she reached her peak with an involuntary cry, convulsive waves of exquisite pleasure rippling through her lower body as an orgasmic flush spread over her sun-dappled skin.
Format: E-Book Read with: Kindle Paperwhite Length: Novel Genre: Contemporary Romance POV: Third Person, Dual Series: Bennett Sisters, #1 Publisher: Mills & Boon Hero: Nicholas James Thorne Heroine: Vivian Mitchell Sensuality: 🔥🔥🔥 Published On: January 01, 2008 Started On: February 27, 2023 Finished On: February 27, 2023
‘I’m your future now. I’m the one who controls your destiny.’ She gave a little yip as his free hand slipped under the hem of his sweater to splay warmly across her quivering, tautly stretched belly. ‘And I’m the one who controls your fertility. The first child you’ll ever carry in your womb will be mine. The first baby to suckle at your breast will belong to me, as you will…’
Vendetta by Susan Napier, first published in January of 1998 is a very short read, the length of a novella I must say, and even then, Ms. Napier managed to surprise me with just how meaty the story was when all was said and done.
The story begins with the hero Nicholas James Thorne waiting for the arrival of Vivian Mitchell to a remote island that he owns, to close a vital property deal on behalf of Marvel-Mitchell Realties. Nicholas is a man who has been biding his time for ten long years to get his revenge, and he believes that Vivian for all intents and purposes got away scot-free, without a scratch, when he had lost it all.
When Vivian arrives at the godforsaken island, which she had expected more from since it was owned by a millionaire, she finds out that nothing is as as she presumed it would be, starting from the man himself, who aggravates her, intrigues her, and arouses her in equal doses. Once Nicholas reveals his nefarious intentions, it is already too late for Vivian, who knows deep in her heart that Nicholas has managed to steal her heart without much ado.
As outlined earlier in the review, though it is a very short read of just 70+ odd pages, this was still a very compelling story in many ways. The shocking revelations regarding both Vivian and Nicholas made this quite enjoyable. And even though I missed the heady and sensual scenes of passion that Ms. Napier is very capable of delivering in her novels in Vendetta, the simmering sexual tension was definitely in place whenever Nicholas and Vivian were together.
This could have been such a swell read if it had been the length of a usual category romance novel, and I will forever mourn the fact that it was not. Recommended for fans of Susan Napier, stories featuring revenge arcs, and those who love a lightly themed beauty and the beast story.
Final Verdict: Vendetta offers a titillating read of the larger-than-life and scarred to boot Nicholas, whose best laid plans turn to ashes when Vivian makes him forget his best intentions.
Favorite Quotes
‘Poor Vivian, no wonder you look so pale and tense.’ He casually brushed her cheek with his thumb and she nearly went through the roof at the bolt of electricity that sizzled her senses. They looked at each other, startled. His gaze dropped to her soft naked mouth, open in shock, then to the sliver of thickly freckled skin revealed by the modest cleavage of her blouse and the faint suggestion of lace hinted at by the trembling rise and fall of her lush breasts against the cream silk. In that single, brief glance he stripped her naked and possessed her.
Vivian knew he was talking about Peter. Briefly surfacing from her passion-drugged state, she tried to arch away, but Nicholas shifted his hand from the back of her neck to the front of her silk blouse, slipping his fingers into the prim neckline and ripping it open with a single downward stroke that scattered the pearl buttons like lustrous tears across his chest. ‘Nicholas!’ Her gasp was lost in a spasm of violent sensation as he flicked open the tiny plastic catch between her breasts and allowed them to tumble free of the confining lace. The ginger freckles were stretched over their swollen fullness, the soft pink tips swaying against the hard contours of his chest, contracting instantly into tight points that scraped and caught on his own peaked masculine nipples.
Format: E-Book Read with: Kindle Paperwhite Length: Novel Genre: Contemporary Romance POV: Third Person, Dual Series: Standalone Publisher: Self-Published Hero: Blake Munroe Heroine: Autumn Martha Reynolds Sensuality: 🔥🔥🔥🔥 Published On: June 11, 2018 Started On: February 11, 2023 Finished On: February 21, 2023
When Autumn was nine, her cousin Jessica had brought home a Brazilian boyfriend. Josef spoke almost no English and Jessica spoke almost no Portuguese but they soon got engaged and moved in together. Autumn’s family had found the situation utterly bizarre. “How can you love someone if you don’t understand a bloody word they’re saying?” her mother moaned into the landline. “It’ll never work.” Autumn, too young to be tactful, had gone up to Jessica that Christmas and asked her how she could have a boyfriend if she didn’t know what he was saying. She’d never forget the look on Jessica’s face, the mysterious smile, the warmth in her eyes. “Everyone’s gossiping about me, aren’t they?” Autumn had nodded. “Well you can go tell them all I don’t care. Love isn’t just saying words. What we feel is real.”
Captivated by Tessa Bailey and Eve Dangerfield was first published in June of 2018. Both Ms. Bailey and Ms. Dangerfield are similar in the skill that they wield when it comes to writing emotional stories filled with hot and messy sex of the good kind, with a healthy dose of dirty talking in the mix. After all, Ms. Bailey holds the title of Queen of Dirty Talk for a very good reason. So needless to say, when these two queens get together to write a story, I would say all bets are off.
Told in the third person from the perspectives of Blake Munroe, the hero, and Autumn Martha Reynolds, the heroine, this is the story of how Autumn, who moves to New York from Australia with her boyfriend, finds herself minus the boyfriend, wallowing in self-pity, and stuck in a limbo, unable either make herself take that needed step to renew her visa or tell her family back home how her boyfriend of six years that she had doted on and followed across continents, whom she had basically supported for months, had cheated on her with a bunch of improv groupies.
Employed as a veterinarian, with a penchant for rescuing and nursing animals even at her apartment which would most likely be frowned upon by The Landlord, aka Blake, Autumn does not know how Blake ends up featured in her comic-book-style pornography as the lead male, who acts out her fantasies. When that piece of comic ends up with Blake by coincidence, Autumn is mortified and then turned on beyond reason when she realizes that Blake has a penchant for taking control and dominance in the bedroom, the perfect answer to her own needs.
Autumn and Blake are opposites in every sense. She is petite where he is large and formidable and she is outgoing while he is an introvert, who would rather spend his time at home doing what brings him peace. However, none of that seems to matter when the fireworks between them are so bright and vivid, answering a need each of them has been denying for far too long.
Autumn and Blake both have issues, Blake more so than Autumn with a past that remains a sore point for him, one that he has not made peace with. Blake has always felt the like he is the odd one out, even amidst his large circle of friends way back. His tendency to listen better than everyone else in a conversation means that his observations are insightful and honest, which most people do not seem to like.
Having gone through a betrayal of the kind that he cannot forgive nor forget, Blake isolates himself in the building that he has been leasing out to tenants for the past seven years. His first impression of Autumn when she moves is, is one that makes him wary, for she notices his limp and goes out of her way to be considerate of the fact while most people never do. Knowing that lusting after another man’s girlfriend was a big no no, Blake had stayed away until fate throws him that lifeline, and he recognizes the loneliness that is mirrored in Autumn’s eyes as his own.
While the sex between Autumn and Blake burns hotter and brighter, and Autumn manages to get Blake bit by bit out of his shadowed existence, Blake too wants only the best for Autumn, for her to be able to follow her dreams without the fear of failure. But when reality bites, and Blake takes things a bit too far for Autumn’s comfort, it is up to Blake to fight for Autumn, the one woman who he cannot live without, the sunshine to his darkness, and the light of his life.
I really enjoyed Captivated and while this reminded me a lot in some ways of Eve Dangerfield’s novel Degrees of Control, most of the elements in the story were uniquely Autumn and Blake. I loved Autumn and Blake in equal degrees; Autumn for her beautiful kindness and Blake for being the intuitive man that he is, able to discern what his woman needs and wants without having to ask.
Captivated was in many ways a stimulating (and I don’t mean it in the sexual sense) and thought provoking read. I did find myself questioning how certain aspects of Blake’s past were reconciled with so easily (even with the understanding that seven odd years had passed since). But since when has real life offered that chance to the majority of the people who go through life harrowing and challenging circumstances that pulls them to their lowest? I am glad for people who do get the chance to reconcile with their pasts, but I for one have yet to meet anyone who has been able to actually do that in real life. The best we can do is make peace with the past for our sake and move forward.
I also did not understand why Blake was in the wrong for cutting off his so called friends, who had all known what was going on behind his back. Your true friends would tell you the truth, no matter how hard it is for them to face the consequences that may arise from saying it as it is. I was #TeamBlake all the way, and even had he chose not to go down the road that he did, I would still have loved him. For who would not love a gentle giant who broods and is able to melt the panties off any heterosexual female?
Recommended for romance readers who love their heroes on the strong and silent side and their heroines with just the right touch of stubborn filled with a whole lot of love!
Final Verdict: Captivated is a story that left me pondering on betrayals in life and how much of what life throws our way can we truly reconcile with and forgive.
Favorite Quotes
Being held by him was like being held in a cage, a gentle, living cage. With another man it might have felt oppressive, but as Blake kissed her deeply, all she felt was warm and safe and turned the fuck on. Within seconds she was rubbing against him, moaning into his mouth. Her landlord couldn’t talk worth a damn but god he could kiss. He kissed like it was his mother language, like he could tell whole stories with his lips and tongue.
He removed his hand from her mouth and kissed her. This time the kiss was deep and hot and animalistic. He was claiming her, exerting his will over her weaker feminine frame. Autumn strained against his hands and found she couldn’t move an inch. Her arousal ratcheted up another degree and when he pulled away, she had to stop herself from moaning his name.
“What are you doing?” she said, sounding exactly as turned on as she was. He didn’t reply. Instead he bent down and inhaled along her neck. All the hairs on Autumn’s arms lifted and her knees shook so violently she thought she might fall. Looking down the dark hallway, she could see customers milling around, hear the indie folk playing on the speakers. No one knew she was alone with Blake, no one knew he was not quite touching her. He kissed her neck, raising goosebumps on her skin. His breathing was deep and harsh now, and she knew if she reached out and touched him, he would be rock hard beneath his jeans.
Blake’s tongue lapped her neck, tasting her sweat. “That’s it. Come for your owner, baby. Make him proud.” She did, bucking so wild and hard against her restraints that if Blake was any other man, she’d have worried about hurting him, but seeing as he was huge and hard, she decided not to be worried. Instead, she focused on the bright trickles of pleasure threading through her body like veins. She was flying.
“People always act like women are another species. Like they’re cats or planets or whatever the fuck else. It’s not hard to see what people want if you actually look and listen.” “That’s not really an answer.” Blake bent down so that their faces were close, their bodies contained in a private bubble of this noisy, trendy bar. “You’re a busy woman,” he said. “You feel obliged to give all of yourself all the time, to those dirty pigeons, to the gym instructor, to the other tenants. Now I found out your parents leaned on you pretty hard and that doesn’t surprise me at all. The day you moved in, you were the one making everything happen while your ex was on his phone. You…” He broke off. “What?” Autumn urged. “You cleared that path for me to walk through,” Blake muttered. “You saw my leg and you knew…that’s just not something a lot of people would have done, but you did. You care, Fun-Size, you notice things. You run the show and you do it well so people assume that’s what you want.” “And isn’t it?” she whispered. Blake shook his head. “Nope. You want me to order your drinks, pick where we eat and choose how we fuck. You don’t care if I pick a pink drink, or a blue one. If I screw you standing up, or on your back. You care about not having to decide. You want someone else to be dependable for once. To make you feel like if you fall, someone else can catch you. That’s why being tied up makes you feel free. It puts the burden of responsibility on me, that way you can relax and enjoy yourself without feeling guilty. That’s what you want, Fun-Size. To feel like you matter enough for someone else to try.”
Blake slipped the book into his inner coat pocket, switched off the lamp and tucked his apartment keys into his pants. He intended to pick Autumn up at her door, but when he opened his, there she was, her hand poised to knock. “Hello,” he said, surprised. “I was just coming to get you.” She dipped her chin. “Thought I would pick you up for a change, landlord. Men deserve to be courted, too.”
Format: E-Book Read with: Kindle Paperwhite Length: Novel Genre: Contemporary Romance POV: Third Person, Single Series: Standalone Publisher: Self-Published Hero: Sean Heroine: Megan Sensuality: 🔥🔥🔥 Published On: January 02, 2006 Started On: February 10, 2023 Finished On: February 11, 2023
“How did you reach the point of,” she searched for a polite way to phrase the question, “considering prostitution as a source of income?” “Some of the kids I knew were whoring, but I wouldn’t at first. I was sure I could find a job. But the days went on and I had no money. This kid, Donnie, convinced me sucking c#ck was a pretty simple way to make fifty bucks. So one night I did it.” Megan swallowed. “How did you feel about it?” “I didn’t feel anything. He was right. It wasn’t such a big deal and I had enough money to eat for a few days.” His voice was perfectly steady and emotionless.
Finding Home, written by Lauren Baker and Bonnie Dee, published in January of 2006, is a story that is beautifully crafted. It is a story about finding love in places that you least expect, of how society often seems to fixate on the wrong issues instead of righting the grave injustices inherent, and how love of the truest kind will always persevere.
Written in the third person, told solely from the heroine’s perspective, Finding Home brings to readers the story of 23 year old Megan who works as a copy editor at a weekly LA paper, with dreams of becoming a reporter. To speed things up on making that transition, Megan decides that a freelance expose was in order, and sets out to tackle the issue of male prostitution.
When Megan meets 17 year old Sean (known as Mouth on the streets), she is fascinated by how self possessed he appears and how nothing seems to faze him. Quickly befriending him, Megan finds out that the story that she started out to write in an attempt to advance her career is not for the faint of heart, and that she cannot detach herself from the lived realities of the young adults who are forced into prostitution for one reason or the other.
As Megan finds herself in over her head when it comes to Sean, and a sequence of events culminates in Sean requiring time to heal from injuries inflicted, Megan offers him room and board at her place, at least until he is better able to take care of himself. Megan’s offer comes without any expectations on her end, and it is heartbreaking to come to the understanding that for a young adult like Sean, his life which has been an endless series of being taken advantage of by other people, trust is the hardest commodity to come by.
As proximity gives room for the awareness that has always existed between the two of them to grow in leaps and bounds, Megan finds herself in the unenviable position of having to deny her heart when it comes to Sean, as the feelings that she harbors for him increases by the day. Things come to a head and when Megan finally gives in, it is not without self-recrimination, doubts, and being self-conscious about society’s perception on the relationship which buds to life between them.
Sean’s story is not a unique one, but nevertheless a heartbreaking one. A deadbeat mother who was more concerned about where her next fix would come from, Sean had abandoned ship as soon as he was able to, with the knowledge that he could take better care of himself than his mom ever could. Being homeless and bunking with other kids who were of the same fate, Sean had found himself bartering away his body for cash to make ends meet.
The lifeline that comes in the form of Megan is one that Sean doesn’t realize that he needed. Megan, with her soft heart and bleeding emotions for the boy she gets to know and the man she comes to love, rescues him from a life of continued destitution and poverty, and gives him that needed chance to be independent, find himself, and find his way back to her. His home.
That was in essence what was so moving about the story. This was why it was such an emotionally gripping tale that turned out to be a riveting read in many ways. Even though Megan is older of the two in terms of age, it is Sean who seems to be emotionally more mature, perhaps as a consequence of having shielded himself for so long from the realities of childhood trauma.
The chemistry between Megan and Sean from the onset, sexual and otherwise, was an intriguing aspect of the story. Megan’s warmth towards Sean is evident from the start, and even when their relationship crosses all those lines it rightfully should not, somehow it makes sense because Megan and Sean fits in a way that is indescribable.
Megan truly does try to resist giving in, and I believe if the positions were reversed, even I, as the reader would not have felt the need to explain how much she tried to resist. It is the norm to read about and hear about older men succumbing to much younger women, or getting into a relationship with a woman in a vulnerable position. But because it is the woman who holds the long end of the stick in this dynamic, I guess we needed “more assurance” than we usually would under the circumstances. Which is telling in itself about the inherent bias that we harbor.
Society perhaps, will always reserve judgement about cases such as Sean and Megan, and it is with good reason, I admit. But there are also those rare happenstances when two people just fit, and age becomes just a number. Fact that it was Sean who took the needed time to start on a path that would allow him to start healing, to face the demons of his past, showed the kind of maturity that I would expect from an older character. His declaration of love for Megan was all the more meaningful because he comes to that conclusion on his own terms, and that, was just beautiful.
The fact that the story was written solely from Megan’s perspective was another reason why this story made such a huge impression on me. I am a sucker for stories where it is hard to read what the hero is feeling except through the heroine’s often biased perception. And that, is a treat to my senses!
Definitely recommend this gem of a romance to readers who can set aside their preconceived notions and give Sean and Megan the chance they truly deserve!
Final Verdict: Finding Home is the kind of novel that invades your heart with stealthy determination, until absorb all of it, one must. Therein lies the true beauty of this story!
Favorite Quotes
She wondered what, or who, he was thinking of to make him so hard, and hoped it was her. Megan felt caught in a trap, unable to move, her senses on overload, and while every brain cell screamed at her to get out, step back into the corridor and ignore what she’d just seen, her animal instincts wanted her to move closer. Her body betrayed her. She felt hot and wet and melting to the core of her being, her sex aching for his touch.
He started slow, holding back and building the pressure with light, controlled strokes, driving Megan into a frenzy until she grabbed his ass with both hands, pulling him deeper inside her. Her gesture seemed to shatter his self-control and he started really fucking her, hard and fast. His mouth slipped down from hers to her neck, biting her, until she reached her peak again, and much to her surprise, because Megan wasn’t usually a screamer, she swore and cried out, overwhelmed by the strength of the climax which ripped through her.
Megan turned her mouth into her shoulder to stifle her moans. She gripped the edges of the sink as she was carried on a wave of pleasure that seemed to crest ever higher, triggering spasm after spasm in her. This was so hot, so wild, and so not her. She wanted to scream or sob. Sean leaned forward and his hand snaked over her hip and onto her clit, rubbing and circling. He continued to slam into her hard and rough. Their harsh breaths and the slap of flesh on flesh were the only sounds in the room. Megan whimpered as her whole body contracted and released in an amazingly powerful orgasm.
A faint trail of hair led toward his chest. She examined the hard planes of his chest, his peaked nipples, the sharp lines of his collarbones and his broad, muscled shoulders. The curve of his neck led to his face. Sean looked down at her, lips slightly parted, his wet hair messy on his forehead, his blue eyes caught between arousal and amusement. As their eyes locked, he ran his tongue across his lips. Megan sighed. “Jesus, Sean,” she breathed. “You’re beautiful.”
Format: E-Book Read with: Kindle Paperwhite Length: Novel Genre: Contemporary Romance POV: First Person, Dual Series: Standalone Publisher: Self-Published Hero: Brant Elliott Heroine: June Adeline Bailey Sensuality: 🔥🔥🔥🔥 Published On: May 17, 2022 Started On: January 20, 2023 Finished On: January 28, 2023
“There is no sense in love,” I counter, swiping away more tears. “It’s a senseless thing.” Mom pauses, pinching the bridge of her nose, chin tucked to her chest. I forge ahead. “And I didn’t pursue him. He didn’t pursue me. It just… happened. Because that’s what love does. It happens. It sneaks up on you, and then it burrows. It festers in your blood. And once it’s in your blood, you can’t just flush it out. It’s a part of you now. Trying to get rid of it would be like cutting off a limb, or carving your heart right out of your chest.”
June First by Jennifer Hartman is a transformative reading experience. No two ways bout it. This story truly digs into your psyche making you ache in the best way possible, a true testament to the romance genre and why I stick to reading romance even when good books are so hard to come by now. Told in the first person, published in May of 2022, this phenomenal story brings to readers two characters who stake their claim on your heart from the get-go.
The story begins when the hero Brant Elliott, is six years old, and his parents die in a murder-suicide, instigated by his father leaving him without family. His savior comes in the form of his neighbors, the Baileys, of whom Theo is of the same age as he is, and his best friend. When the Bailey’s takes him in, it is also with a new addition to their family unit, a baby girl that they name as June Adeline Bailey, June because she was born on the first day of the month, on that fateful night that Brant’s life was marked forever.
It is June that saves Brant’s life unknowingly when memories of “The Bad Night” as he calls it, haunts him too much. The Bailey’s adopt him and call him their own, giving Brant the kind of love and security that would never have been possible if otherwise. From the start, the bond between June and Brant is one that is indescribable. As Ms. Hartman takes readers through the formative years of both their lives and beyond, readers get glimpses into how their relationship metamorphoses and shifts to accommodate the ever growing and changing love between them.
It is not easy journey for Brant and June, even if June at first does not recognize the feelings burgeoning inside of her as she comes of age. For Brant who is six years older, it is a different matter altogether, being old and wise enough to understand the strength of his attraction towards June. The conflicting emotions that runs amok through Brant renders him the perfect definition of a tortured hero, which of course gave this story a ton of angst which I absolutely adored.
For Brant who promised June that he would always protect her, the hardest thing to face is him being the person that she needs protection from. But no matter how hard Brant may try to keep his distance and hurting June in the process, there is no stopping the tide when it comes to the strength of the magnetic draw between two halves of one soul.
The night that Brant succumbs to the temptation that is June, tragedy strikes, splintering the fragility of what took place, the guilt factor multiplying exponentially. As someone who was transfixed by the variety of emotions that coursed through me as I waded deeper into the story, I found that the longing that drips from the pages to be unparalleled, the angst and slow burn unlike anything I have ever come across.
The delivery on that build-up was out of this world, and I could not have asked for more. The writing is deeply evocative, the prose perfect, the build-up of the tension, not just in terms of the attraction between June and Brant but the entire story – all blends exquisitely to deliver a tale that makes you bleed your emotions all over. Every single aspect of this novel just drives home the fact that Brant and June are the true definition of two halves, one soul.
Evocative writing and exemplary characterization makes this book stand out from similarly themed taboo romances, and I cannot recommend this gem of a book enough to all romance readers!
Final Verdict: With June First, Jennifer Hartmann pulls off the kind of story that few authors can. The sheer magnitude of the undertaking is visible from the start, making this perfect in every sense!
Favorite Quotes
“June.” I take her wrist in my hand and lower her arm, catching the flash of worry in her eyes. “Junebug, you should get some sleep. We can talk more in the morning.” I don’t let her question it, or convince me to stay. I just go. I walk out. I can’t be in here right now. She’s too soft, too vulnerable. I’m still surging with adrenaline. I’m still suffocating on the awful awareness that the child I watched grow up, the angel I swore to protect, the little girl I craved in a million beautiful, innocent ways—is now becoming the girl I crave in the only way I shouldn’t. And it’s not fair. It’s not fucking fair. If my father hadn’t murdered my mother, I would still just be the neighbor boy, and she would be the girl next door. Instead, he branded us with a label; forced me into something twisted. He turned the only girl I’ve ever wanted into the only girl I can never have.
Brant lets the door swing shut behind him, his brow furrowed with confusion. “Why are we over here?” He senses something off about me and moves in closer, his hand extending to my forearm. “You’re scaring me a little.” It’s so quiet on this side of the doors, and I fear he can hear my heart screaming in terror. I lick my lips. “I’m not trying to. I just… I have to do this.” He shakes his head, a baffled laugh slipping out. “You’re not making any sense. Do what?” Breathe in. Breathe out. Just get it over with, June. “This.” I don’t think. My hands lift, reaching up and pulling his face down to mine. His stunned breath is the last thing I hear before our lips crash together, and I’m inching up on my tiptoes, my palms clasped around his jaw, my mouth parting on instinct. I didn’t intend to part my lips, but I do. We just hover there for a moment, our breaths heavy and unsteady, turning into pants the longer we linger, while our mouths connect in a way they never should. And then something happens. I don’t know what happens, but something happens. I feel his hand cinch around my waist, while the other drags up to my hair, tangling in the mound of loose curls. My pelvis jerks forward without warning. Then he kisses me. Truly kisses me.
Pulling away from his touch, I sweep around him and march my way to the front door. I don’t grab my bags, but I’ll come back for them. It’s fine. I just need to go. When I reach the door, I twist the brass knob and tug it open, prepared to dart into the hallway and escape this mess of confusion. Only, I’m stopped short when a hand plants against the door right above my head, slamming it shut. I draw in a sharp breath. He’s right behind me, his chest whispering along my back as he cages me in. Swallowing hard, I squeak out, “Brant…” Electricity hisses all around us.
“It’s not fair that your face is so perfect; a piece of art on display that I’m not allowed to touch. I should only adore it from afar, even though its beauty calls to me. Even though I’m convinced it was created just for me.” Her eyelashes flutter as she sways, as if she’s drunk on more than rum or whiskey—as if she’s drunk on her very own words. “It’s not fair that it holds two eyes that look at me the way they do, like they were made for seeing only me. It’s not fair that it has lips that I’ve memorized, that I can’t forget, and a tongue I’ve dreamed about tasting me over and over again.”
“You always smell like springtime and lemon drops,” I say gently, kissing the top of her head. My eyes close with contentment as I breathe her in. She sighs, her breath warming me through the cashmere of my shirt. “You always smell like spearmint and Ivory soap.” Songbirds serenade us as we stand in the center of the patio, enmeshed in a potent embrace, breathing in perfect time, and swaying lightly, as if nature is singing just for us. Then we say it at the same time: “Like home.”
June whimpers as her shaky hands make their way to my hair, fingers sifting. Nails grazing my scalp. Her pelvis jerks up, just slightly, like it’s instinct, like she’s silently begging me to sample her. Her legs spread farther apart. And I lose it. I fucking lose it. I trail my fingers underneath the hem of her panties, yanking them down past her knees. Then I bend over and bury my face between her thighs. June cries out. She lets out a sharp, primal moan as her hips thrust up against my mouth and her nails carve into my scalp. I feast on her. Untamed. Untethered. Hungry.
“Are you happy?” I ask softly. There’s a catch in my voice, sounding louder than my words. Worry claims her pretty features, and she reaches up to hold my wrists. “Of course, I’m happy. I’m so happy.” “Even though you’re not dancing? Even though you’re not in New York?” She falters. It’s only for a second, only for the briefest, tiniest moment, but I see it. I see it
Format: E-Book Read with: Kindle Paperwhite Length: Novel Genre: Historical Romance POV: Third Person, Dual Series: Standalone Publisher: Harpercollins Hero: James Kagan Heroine: Elizabeth Marie Kagan Sensuality: 🔥🔥🔥 Published On: July 26, 1994 Started On: December 02, 2022 Finished On: January 03, 2023
“Don’t speak of Maggie,” James warned through set teeth. “She and Elizabeth have nothing to do with one another. I don’t even want them mentioned in the same breath. I always have and always will love Maggie. Nothing’s going to change that. Ever. Elizabeth is simply my wife–the woman who’s going to take care of me and my home and my kids. She’s only my wife, Nate. Not my love, not my sweetheart, not my anything else. It’s an arrangement between us. Love doesn’t have a thing to do with it.”
The Coming Home Place by Mary Spencer is a novel that has a LOT going for it, and by a lot, I really mean, a LOT! First published in July of 1994, told in the third person from dual perspectives of both the hero and heroine, Ms. Spencer brings to readers a remarkable historical romance with a ton of angst that certainly leaves you with one hell of a reading experience.
James Kagan is a man who believes that having lost his fiancée, no other creature alive could suffer as much as he has and continues to, that is until he is “forced” to marry 17 year old Elizabeth Marie (Beth). Beth is traumatized by the loss of her family members one by one, and she had been all alone when she was found, digging a hole to bury her father, the sole remaining member of her family.
James enters into marriage with Beth with his eyes wide open, perfectly confident in his belief when it comes to what he wants from a wife. Viewing Beth to be plain unlike his beautiful fiancée to whom he vows would always belong his heart, James is clear about what he seeks; a wife to continue his family name. He explains to Beth that he has no intention of courting anyone else to seek their hand in marriage as he does not have any love left to give.
Beth has no doubts about what she has to offer when it comes to marriage with the handsomest man she has ever set her eyes on. Knowing that someone as illiterate, plain, and unaccomplished as her is unworthy of the attention of someone like James, Beth agrees to the marriage on three conditions; that he does not swear inside their home, they attend church every Sunday, and that he be faithful to her even if he does not love her.
As these two embark on the tough road that is a marriage of convenience, James learns that he desires his new wife like crazy, something that drives him wild and also makes him feel guilty about the fact. For Beth, she has a tough time setting aside what she was taught about the marriage bed and how it was supposed to be about a woman just doing her rightful duty which goes against allowing herself to enjoy the physical aspects of her relationship with James.
As the story continues and delves deeper into the emotions and the entwined lives of James and Beth, there are moments that makes you hate James for the abominable way that he treats Beth. One particular scene stands out, where James lashes out and makes use of what Beth offers with callous disregard for her emotions that made me really question as to what kind of hero he would turn out to be in the end. But in a strange way, I also understood that for James, that moment had been fraught with him fighting his inner demons, the ones that makes him feel like he is betraying his deceased fiancée by reveling in the heady desire that his wife invokes in him.
When Beth bears him a child, there is more heartache that follows, which perhaps was the last straw for me when it came to James. Beth is a martyr of the highest order if you ask me, always quietly going about her life, doing her best to give her husband a comfortable life, and never asking for anything in return from the man who promised to be bound to her in sickness and health, in the good and the bad times. Such was the lived reality of many women during those times, and even today, and that is a glaring fact that stands prominent.
It is of course when the beloved fiancée makes a comeback from the dead that Beth finally realizes that there is no place in James’ life for her, and as she does everything else, chooses to leave quietly. What follows is probably the reason why I did not end up hating James as the male lead, and fell more in love with Beth for recognizing her own worth, aided along by those who actually love her for who she is and what she has to offer.
James learning the hard way what he actually gave up on and finally wising up to the true gem of a woman he married was why he redeemed himself to some extent. I should not complain much because I am a lover of a true angst fest, and James being James was the reason why this book proved to deliver so well on that score.
What I appreciated the most was how Ms. Spencer explores the complexity of the emotions that run rampant in both the leads. Even as I hated James during certain moments, I also understood where was coming from. His past which involves having a woman since he was sixteen years old, and being in a relationship that addressed his physical and emotional needs had set the bar high for him. With Beth, even though he desires her like crazy, because James holds pieces of himself back, the same is true for Beth, which shortchanges their marriage for both of them, which could have truly being magnificent a union if otherwise.
But then again, some lessons have to be learnt the hard way, and if things were that easily worked out, I would not have enjoyed this as much as I did, minus the angst factor. Even with James being the character that frustrated me to no end, this book ended up being one that made me think deeply, feel just as much, and made me ponder about human psychology and the intricacies of the emotions of the broken.
Recommended for those who love frustrating heroes and are not turned off by realistic story lines that pushes your comfort zones as a romance reader.
Final Verdict: The Coming Home Place delivers an emotionally complex and multi-faceted tale that moves you in ways you never thought possible, delivering a spellbinding read!
Favorite Quotes
“Elizabeth,” he whispered, moving slowly, feeling and savoring all of her. He looked at her, saw the expression of bewilderment on her face and heard her tight breathing match his own. “Sweet,” he said against her mouth. “Sweet wife.” She tried to resist what was happening to her-he could feel her trying-but when she came, when the pleasure overwhelmed her ability to fight, it was the most beautiful thing he’d ever known, and caused his own fierce pleasure to follow.
Format: E-Book Read with: Kindle Paperwhite Length: Novel Genre: Historical Romance POV: Third Person, Dual Series: Dear Lady Truelove, #1 Publisher: AVON Hero: Henry Cavanaugh Heroine: Irene Deverill Sensuality: 🔥🔥🔥 Published On: March 28, 2017 Started On: December 07, 2022 Finished On: December 24, 2022
“I should like you to consider what impact your decisions may have on the lives of other people. If my mother suffers ridicule and condemnation because of you and your publication, what responsibility do you bear? If her life is ruined, what consequences should there be for yours? Given the part you will have played in her downfall, what punishment will you deserve?” She inhaled sharply. “Is that a threat?” she asked, her chin tilting up in defiance. “There is nothing you can do to me, sir.” “You think not?” He gave her a pitying smile. “Oh, my dear Miss Deverill.”
The Truth About Love and Dukes by Laura Lee Guhrke is the debut book in the four book series entitled Dear Lady Truelove. This also brings me to the review of my last read from 2022! Told in the third person from the perspectives of both the hero, Henry Cavanaugh and the heroine, Irene Deverill, this historical romance features an unconventional heroine who runs a gossip tabloid/newspaper to make ends meet.
Henry, the Duke of Torquil is at his wits end because of his fifty year old mother and her letter to the Dear Lady Truelove column, verifying to the ton that his mother was indeed in love with a younger man who happens to be an Italian artist. What has Henry livid is the fact that without thought or concern to what it would mean to the reputation of the family and his two unwed sisters, the response from the columnist has put gasoline to fire by advising his mother to follow the path where passion leads her.
As a consequence, Irene who owns and runs Society Snippets and is the author of the column finds herself faced with the infuriating Duke. Henry seems to be capable of invoking emotions from Irene that she has never experienced before, and for the first time she understands that she is capable of great anger and greater passion as well, all for a man who does not mince words when it comes to what he thinks of the work she undertakes.
Irene is a woman forced into the situation by familial circumstances. While her grandfather had owned the lucrative Deverill Publishing and her father had inherited the business when he had passed on five years earlier, her father managed to bring the entire business to ruin within just an year. To put food on the table and make ends meet, Irene takes on the challenge of bringing her own tabloid paper to life and enjoys doing so, hoping to turn the paper into something more serious and meaningful in time.
Things come to a head when Henry bargains or rather threatens Irene to do the impossible, i.e., make his mother change her mind, and gives her an ultimatum of two weeks while throwing her into situations in which she has to spend more time with the exasperating man himself which brings them both closer to the edge than either of them bargains on. Passion is easier to conquer than the heart, and it is this lesson that both Irene and Henry must learn before a life of shared togetherness and everlasting love is possible for them.
The overall premise of the story had such great promise. I mean how can you go wrong with a widowed hero who keeps his highly sensual and passionate side of him under a tight leash and a woman who is unlike anyone else he has ever come across, who stirs him from the inside out? And this being a Laura Lee Gurhke novel, I had such high hopes for it, which alas did not materialize fully.
Things that worked for me includes the Duke, whose character I loved along with his stuffiness. His character makes sense given how he was brought up by a rigid father who was uncompromising in many aspects, and demanded that Henry follow in his footsteps and stifle the side of him that is passionate. His one indiscretion when he was nineteen years old and the repercussions of it is not something he has forgotten and is paying penance for eight years on.
To be saddled with familial responsibilities that includes two unwed sisters, a penniless younger brother, and a lazy brother-in-law, along with a mother who had suddenly fallen passionately in love inviting societal gossip and ruin to the family name is enough to make even the sternest of men break their stride. Henry attempts to resolve the problem in the only way he knows how, and in the process learns that one cannot control what is beyond one’s own will.
Now Irene on the other hand, did not really win me over even though I really wanted to fall for her character. While I understood the state of affairs which resulted in her having to find an occupation to save her family from ruin, I found her tiresome for the most part. I am all for strong heroines who stand up to their male counterparts, but I just felt that she could have done a better job persuading Henry without all the tongue lashing that she gives him at times.
The story was also a huge disappointment in terms of the red hot passion I was expecting – Ms. Gurhke delivers phenomenally on that score in most of her books, and I was quite ready for the delivery on that score, especially with a tightly buttoned up hero such as Henry. But alas, it fell a bit flat in that regard if you ask me with the story focused on how clever the heroine is for the most part which ruined things if you ask me. I would have loved to see more romance unfold than arguments and recriminations to show how her intelligence and how much she fought for the rights of all mankind.
I feel like that romance writers today try too hard to walk away from what works for their readers, what they are good at writing, trying to conform their stories to the demands of the ever changing society. From skimming most of the reviews on the rest of the books in the series, this seems to have disappointed long term fans of Ms. Gurhke for one reason or the other. Perhaps I might be tempted to pick one of them up somewhere along the way, as I am not someone who entirely depend on other reviews to pick books to read.
Recommended for fans of historical romances who love a heroine that has a modern outlook in life. The one thing you have got to love is the gorgeous cover this one totes!
Final Verdict: A tightly buttoned up Duke and a heroine that I could not really muster up enough enthusiasm for rendered this to be a less enjoyable read to what I was expecting!
Favorite Quotes
He’d swept into her office and into her life two days ago like an arctic storm, seeming the most frigid man she’d ever met, but despite that, strange heat began spreading through her, making her skin prickle and her toes curl in her slippers. He was close enough to her that when she drew in her breath, she could smell the scents of castile soap and bay rum that clung to his skin. She could almost hear his breathing. Time seemed to hang suspended as he filled her senses with a new and different awareness. The awareness of him as a man.
He could be so infuriating, so damnably rigid. And yet, she could not deny his love for his family. It was, she now knew, absolute and all-encompassing—the center of his world. Until now, she hadn’t really appreciated how deeply ingrained in him that quality was, or how attractive it could be. In truth, she hadn’t known such men as that existed at all.
She closed her eyes, and the moment she did, he overwhelmed her senses. There was nothing else in the world but him. His scent—castile soap, bay rum, and something deeper. His taste—port and fruit. His arm like a steel band around her waist. His clothes, soft velvet and crisp linen against her palm, and beneath them, his heart, thudding hard in his chest.
“And do you want to know the most aggravating thing about you?” she demanded, punctuating each word with another tug on his lapels. “It’s that every time I start to think what an amazingly attractive man you are, you open your mouth and ruin it!” Henry blinked, startled, certain he hadn’t heard correctly. “You think I’m attract—” “Henry?” She eased between his legs before he could think to stop her, and pulled him closer. “Just shut up,” she said and kissed him.
Irene stared at him, shocked and dismayed. “All this time,” she murmured, “through these nights we have been together, I have been so happy. But you . . .” She stopped, finding it hard to say the words out loud. “But you have not.” “I have.” His voice was fierce, harsh. His gray eyes were dark and turbulent, but in his face, there was pain, pain that hurt her, too, that made her feel as if her heart was being ripped out of her very chest. “Here in this room, when it is just us and there is nothing else, this time has been the happiest of my life, Irene. But life cannot just be this room. And out there, I am in agony.”
A Maldivian's Passion for Romance 