This series has been pretty even for me, but I find myself coming to dread the next installment, because this one played out almReal Rating: 3.5 Stars
This series has been pretty even for me, but I find myself coming to dread the next installment, because this one played out almost exactly how I imagined it would, except there were some sloppy characterization choices made toward the end of the book that made me roll my eyes.
Yes, I’m heavily invested in the relationship between Malcolm/Master and Juliette. That’s why I’m still rating this above a 3. The tension and chemistry between them is undeniable and it’s hot. But there is some seriously willful ignorance going on here and that’s what’s making me lower my rating.
Also, I knew exactly what kind of man Juliette’s fiance was going to turn out to be. Sigh.
I do have to say that I did not enjoy the skybox scene one single bit. That didn’t affect the rating, because I could’ve just blanked it out, but I found it really distasteful and unsafe for Juliette. It made me lose respect for Malcolm as a character.
But I’ll continue on, because I want to see what happens. Don’t we all want to see what happens? ...more
It’s such a normalized thing in our society to see men in their thirties (and even forties) checking out college-age girls when walkingRating: 4 Stars
It’s such a normalized thing in our society to see men in their thirties (and even forties) checking out college-age girls when walking down the street or in a grocery store or at the park… Don’t lie. You’ve seen it. I’ve seen it. We’ve all seen it.
What makes people uncomfortable, and what people don’t like to talk too much about, is how women in their thirties and forties are sometimes doing the exact same thing: checking out those college-age boys (and girls, don’t lie) at the park as they toss footballs back and forth, or play with a slack line, or just mess around with a grill cooking for their friends. We don’t like to think about it because thinking about women that could be old enough to be proper moms (or, since I was a mom at 21, old enough to be a college kid’s mom) lusting after adults younger than us makes some of us really uncomfortable… but yet we’re so used to men lusting after younger adults that as long as they’re legal we’re not usually too bothered.
And that power shift--that tilt of sexual dynamic is what makes “Burn For Me” so friggin’ HOT. I really clinged onto Everly West as a character. I’m older than her now and I never made it to professor, but I was in undergrad when I was her age, and I very often got mistaken for the class professor at the beginning of each semester when there was supposed to be a female professor, and I was often left in charge of the class if the professor needed to duck out because I was the most mature and usually best student in the class. And, being a full believer in “dressing for the job you want and not the job you have” (and me wanting to teach community college), I dressed in trendy, business casual clothes everyday, including heels quite often. Back then I was thinner, and most boys in undergrad haven’t learned yet how to disguise the way they stare at you. And, even though I was in my thirties back then, even some male professors didn’t know how to keep their eyes where they belonged, either.
So I sympathize for Everly West. Her career peaked early, she had thrown her best years into her career, and now she’s in her thirties and feels like she’s left with dregs of adult men to choose from if she wants to form some sort of semblance of love and family now that she has the time. But she’s only human, and of course she’s looked at the college boys once or twice or who-knows-how-many-times. (Don’t worry, Everly, I don’t blame you!) She’s never had time to figure out exactly what she wants and doesn’t know how to get it… and then an angry, sharp, cut, rough, and gorgeous ghost from her past walks into her Journalism class and takes the last seat. And she knows she’s effed.
This book takes a little while to find its footing: I’m not going to lie. I’d say the first 20% of the book or so is a bit rough. But it’s Sara Cate, and if there’s anyone who I trust to pull everyone out of a rough start, it’s Sara. I think it’s because it took a long time to reconcile that although Cullen and Everly couldn’t be more different as individuals, they’re very much the same deep inside--like all those years ago when they made eye contact they were cocooned inside different chrysalises so they could undergo whatever they had to go through to make sure that one day they could find their way back to one another because they would need one another. They had unfinished business and neither Everly nor Cullen was going to be able to move on until they crashed back together.
YES, this book is about hot reverse age-gap romance, spicy af scenes, and a little prof/student action, but underneath it all are two souls who got stuck in time in a courtroom eight years before this book even began. These two were always meant to meet where two trails become one and to walk it together after being alone for too long. They just had to go through so much to get there it left them both with a great many scars, within and without, to work through to get to the point where they could finally take those steps together, hand-in-hand. And yeah, it’s not conventional. But who the heck cares? In the end, who the heck really cares? If a man can have a girlfriend ten or twenty years younger than him, then why can’t a woman?
I keep coming back to this book as much as I come back to Honey London's "Simon Says" or Ally Vance's "Coterie". There's just something about twins anI keep coming back to this book as much as I come back to Honey London's "Simon Says" or Ally Vance's "Coterie". There's just something about twins and adding in a third to the mix. Hot....more
This book is a long, painful, soul-searching look into the minds of two young men who are both lost and looking for a way out of something, but in twoThis book is a long, painful, soul-searching look into the minds of two young men who are both lost and looking for a way out of something, but in two very different ways and to two very different extremes. Josh Miller just wants to get out of his small Alabama hometown and go to college, find a boyfriend, and try to live his best life after that. He doesn’t want to deal with the dad who doesn’t really care about him and has a whole other family to take care of (and a stepmother who dislikes him) and he isn’t really comfortable coming out and dating in a town where he’s known everyone since he was in diapers. And Ezra Masters is… well, he’s running from a lot of demons, including his mom, and he’s also being held hostage by enough emotional and psychological trauma to sink a ship. But his skeletons have skeletons, and he’s determined to keep that closet welded shut.
It seems like these two made plans and so the gods laughed, however, because they’re thrown into each other’s paths in a rather dramatic fashion maybe hours before they find out they’re to be stepbrothers. And while Josh is fine with trying to make nice, it’s readily apparent all Ezra cares about is bullying Josh around and screwing with his head, although Josh has no idea what he ever did to offend a guy he hardly knows.
This isn’t a quick read romance. It’s a slow, slow burn. And it’s more a slow, slow burn that’s made up of a mix of hate and lust and longing and desperation than it is love and romance for about 60% of the book. And then this book turns on the angst in a hardcore matter for quite some time before it swings back in with some hardcore love and romance feels.
I’m going to be honest: This book wasn’t for me. I finished it, but I wouldn’t read it again. I thought it was far too long, and while I can appreciate a slow burn, this one was far too slow for me. Ms. James’ writing is, however, lovely. She paints a great picture and does an excellent job of articulating each character’s feelings when in their narrative POV.
Also, as an epileptic (though I became an epileptic in adulthood, not in childhood), I appreciated the time and care Ms. James put into writing about epilepsy. When writing about a disability, it’s important to try and be as sensitive as possible without being condescending or patronizing. It’s a difficult balance to maintain, and I appreciate the effort put into the matter.
So, if you love those long, slow burns filled with angst and all the feels, I truly believe you’ll love this book. The spice is hot, the touch of taboo is nice, and the writing is lovely. ...more
If someone dreamed up a romance novel (that wasn’t LGBT+ or a RH) that hit darn near close to all my buttons, it would look something eerily close to If someone dreamed up a romance novel (that wasn’t LGBT+ or a RH) that hit darn near close to all my buttons, it would look something eerily close to Sophie Lark’s “There Are No Saints”: a lot of build-up, both psychological and physical, thrills and chills that walk that knife’s edge of dirty and wrong and hot and twisted, two very different types of cats fighting over the same mouse, deliciously self-aware of how dark and morbid it is and not ashamed at all, characters who will literally kill for what they love, catastrophic levels of obsession, and a huge scene near the end that I could hardly breathe through while I was reading because it was so achingly beautiful to read (if you’ve read it, you know).
I didn’t stand a chance from the moment I read the first page of this book. I started reading and simply couldn’t stop. I soaked it up like it was the first full day of sunshine in spring. It was THAT good for me. It was a suspense-thriller. It was a suspense-romance. It was a suspense-thriller with some dark romance drizzled all over the top like dark chocolate syrup, flowing over the sides of the dish and flooding the table beneath it. It was decadent in its intent and execution and I loved every single minute of it. It was a top-notch effort from Lark.
To be clear: Be in a good head space when you start to read this, make sure you read any author’s notes or beware of trigger warnings. Take care of yourself during and after reading if you need to. This book definitely won’t be for everyone. But it DEFINITELY was one for me, and I’m excited as heck to read the next book in the duet, and these puppies are going to definitely be in physical copy on my shelf someday soon. ...more
I felt there was a night and day difference between this book and its predecessor book, “There Are No Saints”, and it resultedTrue Rating: 3.5 stars
I felt there was a night and day difference between this book and its predecessor book, “There Are No Saints”, and it resulted in me just not connecting with this book in the same way I did as the first book. Whereas the first book was very dark, violent, and almost decadent in its brutal build-up and eventual release of hot tension, this book felt like it had been sanded down. Cole and Mara had both been sanded down. The central conflict had been sanded down. It felt like someone had decided the first book was dark enough to let everyone take a breather in this book, when I felt like I would’ve liked to have seen everyone get a little more deeper, darker, and more violent–almost more primal and out for blood.
Was it still good? Yes. Or else I wouldn’t be giving it the rating I’m giving it. It was still a very good book. It was steamy, it was suspenseful… but I just wasn’t feeling the same love for it that I felt for “There Are No Saints”.
But there were a number of awesome plot devices and points I loved and a lot of scenes I really enjoyed. I own it, and as a duology, it’s a fine arc. ...more
Being a huge fan of Dana Isaly’s writing, I had really high hopes for this book, especially as I watched her wage an internal war on social media, debBeing a huge fan of Dana Isaly’s writing, I had really high hopes for this book, especially as I watched her wage an internal war on social media, debating back and forth on how she was going to end this book. We readers (especially those of us who stalked her Instagram ruthlessly for updates), were like little dogs sniffing the kitchen floor after dinner had been cooked, picking up every tiny morsel of news that leaked out about this book and as buzz and hype built and built and built. I don’t know about anyone else, but when the opportunity to join the arc team came out I leapt at the opportunity and was giddy when I got one of the very, very limited amounts of slots, even though I had pre-ordered the book as soon as I could.
By the time of release, we knew some stuff: it was going to be dark… VERY dark. It was going to be violent. It wasn’t going to be for the faint-at-heart, and it wasn’t going to be a traditional romance. We didn’t know the main male character’s name (yet). The synopsis only says “Him”. And we knew the FMC’s name would be Lyra. We knew Him is a sociopath and a murderer. And we knew that, somehow, these two end up together in some kind of dark, erotic, twisted, violent way. (And if you follow Dana on Instagram you might even know a bit more, but I’m trying to stay true to the spoiler-free mantra and assume not everyone who reads this review may have seen every post Dana ever posted on Instagram about this book).
This is NOT a love story, and the first people to tell you that would be Him and Lyra. Him is a sociopath, so feelings of any kind aren’t things he can easily sort out if they aren’t hate or rage, and Lyra loathes the idea of love. Lyra, as she tries to get across in several scenes in the book to different individuals, is something that changes and fades and can die. Lyra wants OBSESSION: someone to be as wholly consumed by her as she is by them, to be each other’s air and breath and blood, to never be parted until death… and when one of them goes the other goes too. To her, obsession is something that can’t be questioned and can’t fade, wither, or die out.
What I absolutely love about this book is that it could have been so easy to make the relationship between Him and Lyra look similar to a Joker and Harley Quinn situation, since Lyra would do absolutely anything and everything to prove her devotion and loyalty to Him, but Isaly doesn’t go there and do that. Lyra is very clearly written as being a disturbed individual with deeply-rooted narcissistic traits. Sadly, I identified with the narcissistic traits of Lyra a little too well, because I have Borderline Personality Disorder and two of the many things having BPD causes is having evident narcissistic traits and an issue with being very self-referencing. Lyra thinks she’s the most interesting person to talk about… I know the feeling. I’m not a psychological professional (just, you know, been Bi-Polar since I was about 11 and had BPD since I was about 18 and had Anxiety since I was about 14 and I’m only 43 now, so whatevs), but I genuinely FELT for Lyra when she talked about love versus obsession, because I’ve never felt love like I thought love would be like or what I wanted love to feel like--not even in my marriage that lasted 18 years… and that was a happy marriage. But was it what I dreamed of being loved like? NO. Not at all. I didn’t want to be someone’s sun, moon, and stars like Lyra, but I longed for buckets and heaps of passion and romance and gestures and someone who could match me wit for wit and smart for smart. I didn’t get that, and I mourn that loss, because I know I’ll never let anyone in that far ever again.
But OBSESSION is the key theme of this book, and it does it so dang well. There are a few gorgeous passages in chapters 16 and 17 that give us some insight into how each character’s obsession with the other manifests itself, thanks to the dual, 1st person-POV narrative. As soon as these two characters fall into one another, it’s as if the outside world and all who inhabit it become the least important things to both our main characters, and at first they’re a little wary everything will fall apart or they’ll be caught, but as they become more and more enmeshed with one another what becomes more important to both Him and Lyra is making the most out of the time they have and not worrying about everything else. As far as they’re concerned, if the end comes, it comes.
Of course, I can’t spoil the end for you. But I can tell you that if you’re after a HEA… I wouldn’t read this book. But I wholly approved of the ending, in all ways. The last scenes were so beautiful I was breathless.
But, then again, this whole book left me breathless. The writing, the characters, the depth and breadth of creativity, the darkness, the mood of it, the vibe of it, how enjoyable it was to read despite the overall tone, the beauty of the entire book, the tragedy and beauty to be found in the themes, the spice (!!!!), and that breathtaking ending. I haven’t been able to get it out of my head since I read it yesterday morning.
Congratulations, Dana. For all the time and hard work and worrying… It's a masterpiece. ...more
First off, I’d like to say I enjoyed this book a great deal more than “First Comes Blood”. In “First Comes Blood” I didn’t like or connect 3.5/5 stars
First off, I’d like to say I enjoyed this book a great deal more than “First Comes Blood”. In “First Comes Blood” I didn’t like or connect with Chiara (our FMC) and definitely didn’t like or appreciate Salvatore, Lorenzo, Cassius, or Vinicius. I found it strange, because, in theory, I should. I love dark mafia reverse harems. But it was the naivety and ignorance of Chiara that kept me from liking her or connecting with her, and it was the traditional Italian mobster vibe that kept me from liking or appreciating any of the Coldlake Syndicate men. The only two reasons I kept reading “First Comes Blood” is because the plot got interesting and because Lorenzo was worth reading for (honestly, he’s still the one most worth reading for).
Having said all that, this book makes up a whole lot for “First Comes Blood”. I still don’t like Chiara, but I’ve grown to tolerate her. But, I have grown to like and appreciate the Coldlake Syndicate men a whole lot more than in the first book. The plot has only grown more complicated (which is good) and it’s made the whole book more suspenseful (which is even better). Each man has grown in personality and individual motivation since the first book, which has been probably the best revelation possible, in my opinion.
Unsurprisingly, Lorenzo is still my favorite (darn those psychopathic, tragic torturer types!).
I really wish I could give this book a higher rating, but because I don’t like Chiara and I found so much of the book to be predictable, I can’t. But the Coldlake Syndicate boys really carried this book and made it so good, so thank you to Lilith Vincent for developing these mobster men into distinct individuals with such diverse pasts....more
This is the first of the Master Class novellas from Malcolm/Master’s POV, and it was a good one. I’ve read all of these novellas and have reviewed theThis is the first of the Master Class novellas from Malcolm/Master’s POV, and it was a good one. I’ve read all of these novellas and have reviewed the last few, and I’ve loved watching the relationship between Malcolm and Juliette shift and grow and morph into something different than we started with. Not only that, but Malcolm and Juliette are both entirely different people than we started out with. And this entry into the series gives us a delightful peek into Malcolm’s mind and his alone.
And, I have to say, I loved it. I loved seeing the contrast between Malcolm and his brother and I loved seeing Malcolm’s inner torment over Juliette and his own self-worth.
“Master Class - Lesson Seven: Trust” is the seventh book in Raven Jayne’s series of novellas about a 21-year-old young lady naReal Rating: 3.5/5 Stars
“Master Class - Lesson Seven: Trust” is the seventh book in Raven Jayne’s series of novellas about a 21-year-old young lady named Juliette, who has been sold off into an arranged marriage (it is made clear from the beginning of this series she has always known her marriage would be arranged and it commonplace in the social circles her family comes from) with a man who has been determined to be her perfect match in every manner but the bedroom: he has determined she go to a special “erotic finishing school”, as he doesn’t want a wife who is sexually inexperienced and made perfectly ready for him when she finally comes to his bed. Each novella is about an aspect of Juliette’s journey in discovering the depth and breadth of her sexual appetites as well as exploring the relationship between her and the man who is in charge of her “erotic education” a man we only know as “Master” for most of the previous six books.
By the time we’ve hit this book in the series, Juliette has just come back from spending an entire book on a private island meant for sexual pleasure while wearing an earpiece so she could hear her future husband’s voice in her ear at almost all times telling her what to do and where to go and who to have sex with. In this book Juliette doesn’t wear the earpiece constantly, but it’s still around… along with a new set of instructions and toys from her future husband that neither she nor Master are thrilled about.
But let’s rewind back to the beginning of the book, shall we? Juliette meets up with Master in a very secluded area in a park on the wrong side of town to talk, because she has things she needs to say after her trip, and she needs to know how he feels about making a certain… arrangement with her. They come to terms that Juliette believes she can handle and that let her keep Master close, and they go back to her education.
But her dad and Master have been keeping secrets from Juliette, and it stirs both discomfort and butterflies inside of her. And that’s not the only sign of discord on the horizon: Jane and Bruce are moving quickly with their relationship, and with every slip-up in Juliette’s training, Jane gets more and more impatient and resentful of having to wait for Juliette so she can move on with her life.
And not only that, but her husband-to-be has grown impatient too, and he may be unable to wait any longer.
These books have been a great little treat for me to read. Each one is a great size to just read in about an hour or so. While “Trust” may not be the best of the bunch, it’s not due to bad writing. It’s simply due to me disliking Jane’s behavior, me really being skeeved out by Juliette’s fiance, and me not liking love triangles of any sort. I highly recommend this whole series of books, and I’ll be looking forward to the next one for a little pick-me-up! ...more
I love Harley Laroux’s writing. The spice is so nice, and the imagination is so great.
By nice I mean there’s a lot and it’s intense. By great I mean I love Harley Laroux’s writing. The spice is so nice, and the imagination is so great.
By nice I mean there’s a lot and it’s intense. By great I mean Harley Laroux comes up with some of the most interesting stories I’ve ever read.
Her Soul to Take is the first book in a trilogy of standalone but interconnected dark, paranormal romances known as the Souls Trilogy. Each book in this series features a female who makes a bargain of some kind with a demon of some kind. They’re all very dark, very kinky, horror-tinged, erotic, and you should definitely read the TW/CWs before reading.
I’m a big fan of demons in romance!
I was provided a finished copy of this title by Kensington Books. Thanks!
**spoiler alert** I feel like the time has come to explain why, even though I'm a HUGE Rachel Leigh fan who has yet to encounter a book of hers I DIDN**spoiler alert** I feel like the time has come to explain why, even though I'm a HUGE Rachel Leigh fan who has yet to encounter a book of hers I DIDN'T like, I DNFd "His Hollow Heart" when I was granted a chance to review the ARC copy by her PR team (which is always an honor).
What no one tends to think about are those triggers that aren't major but are very niche. Arachnophobia. Fear of heights. Fear of water. Fear of antique furniture.
To be fair, they shouldn't have to think about every trigger in the world. It's unrealistic. Heck, I'm one of those readers who--bar mentions of abuse or SA--thinks triggers warnings shouldn't be the author's responsibility. You hit a wall with a book? Don't keep reading.
That's EXACTLY what happened to me with "His Hollow Heart". I was vining with this book. I was DIGGING it. Until around chapter 19... and then there were one of my hugest triggers: DANGER NOODLES (aka snakes). By chapter 21 (as I tried to work past it for the sake of the book), I was trembling and nauseated. I ended up NOPING, tossing my Kindle across the bed and nearly urping.
I just want anyone who follows my reviews of ARCs and new releases to know that this DNF is AAAAALLLLLLLLLLL me and a fear I've had all my life. I can't even think about it without my tummy turning over just a little.
And that's my responsibility as a reader to deal with--not Rachel's to warn against. ...more
I’m a sucker for a steamy prologue. Nothing snags my attention more in a romance novel than one that kicks off with an utterly sinful opening, and thiI’m a sucker for a steamy prologue. Nothing snags my attention more in a romance novel than one that kicks off with an utterly sinful opening, and this book has one of the best I’ve ever read.
I read “Tease Me Once” all in one go, devouring page after page. If it were a physical copy, I could say, “I couldn’t put it down!”, but since I was reading my edition on my Kindle, I’ll simply have to say my screen didn’t go to sleep until I was done with the whole enchilada.
Okay, it’s not like this book offers up a new premise, or even a spin on a familiar premise; but, then again, it doesn’t need to. Why fix something that isn’t broken? Willow Winters writes excellent organized crime romance. She writes excellent BDSM romance. She writes excellent combos of the two. She’s done it before. She’s done it again. And I always love when clubs like The Club are used as fronts for organized crime operations in books. It’s a trope, but tropes are tropes for a reason: they work, and readers like me eat it up.
The Cross Family owns The Club, and Declan Cross runs it. He’s the baby of the family, and the only one left with enough free time to be the kind of night owl that works all night to run and maintain it and the business that comes through it.
Braelynn Lennox is starting her life over and her friend Scarlett has just helped her out by getting her a job at The Club. What Scarlett may not have known, however, is that Braelynn and Declan have met before… when they were just children and before the Cross Family became infamous for crime and money.
So, yeah. I enjoyed the heck out of this book. The spicy was spicy indeed, and the writing was top-notch. The thing was: it was predictable. I knew what was going on almost all the time, even though I could tell there was supposed to be suspense and intrigue. I called the ending early. So I enjoyed the book, and I loved the vibe, but some of the life got sucked out by knowing too much about it as I read.
Doesn’t mean I don’t want the next installment right this second, though. ...more
I received an eARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.
There's a lot to like about Beena Khan's "A Kiss of Venom": the premise is iI received an eARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.
There's a lot to like about Beena Khan's "A Kiss of Venom": the premise is intriguing, the storyline is interesting and engaging, the characters are diverse and complex in their natures, and there are secrets and plot twists to keep you on your toes.
Our two main characters, Ghislaine and Alexander, are both complicated, fascinating, and tragic in their own ways. Ghislaine's seemingly perfect life has been knocked completely off-course from the very beginning of the book, and Alexander has definitely worked his way from the bottom of the heap to the top since his early childhood days in Russia. They both have enough emotional baggage to fill the cargo bay on a 747.
As engaging as the dark mafia romance side of this book is, the Sleeping Beauty retelling aspect of this book is where I find it to be lacking. Three aunts ("fairy godmothers")? Check. But they're hardly around, and they all pretty much felt like they had the same personality to me. All of the main aspects of what I would consider to be a Sleeping Beauty retelling seem to only take up maybe the first 20% of the book, if that. If anything, it serves as simply a plot device for what would, if any other book, be the "meet-cute". It also gives Ghislaine a backstop of where to leave her daughter, Noura, while she is experiencing the events of the book, since her three aunts largely care for her daughter in her place.
I did enjoy Alexander's relationship with Noura, though his interactions with women outside of Noura and Ghislaine did not endear me to him at all. As a Pakhan, his characterization is spot-on, but the contrast between who he is when he is in his Pakhan role and when he is with Ghislaine is very startling.
Ghislaine is the character I had the most issues understanding and sympathizing with, but those issues would be a laundry list of spoilers.
The spice scenes can get nice and spicy, the espionage scenes are nice and tense, and the action scenes are nicely written, but it seems to be the scenes in between where I had issues.
I'm sure if you're a fan of Khan's previous works (this is my first time reading one of her books), you'll be delighted. I simply felt the book was inconsistent in tone and the characterizations were imbalanced. But I do encourage you to read it, if only to delight in little Noura and her interactions with Alexander....more
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