Sexy Reads

Cephalopod Coffeehouse Dec 2014–STONE AT YOUR SERVICE

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Hi there! Welcome one and all to the Cephalopod Coffeehouse, a cozy gathering of book lovers, meeting to discuss their thoughts regarding the tomes they enjoyed most over the previous month. Pull up a chair, order your cappuccino and join in the fun.

This month I’m featuring an Alpha Male romance from Rie Warren. What I found so interesting about this book is it’s a romance told entirely from the man’s POV, and while it’s not the first book I’ve read like this, it’s also a complete hoot.

Stone, At Your Service (Carolina Bad Boys, #1)About the book:
Hell on wheels meets Hell in high heels.

Bad boy mechanic Josh Stone likes to get his hands dirty any way he can—the filthier, the better. Ever since his wife walked out on him and their young son, he’s only had room in his heart for two loves: the kid and cars.

Roped into playing his best buddy’s gay boyfriend during a romance writers convention, the player meets the girl who’s gonna rock his world. Leelee Songchild. Shy, bashful, beautiful Leelee who blushes at the drop of a hat yet writes hardcore smut to rival Josh’s backlist of Penthouse Forum.

The only problem is his hands are tied. Josh can’t stab his old friend/fake lover in the back even though all he wants to do is take luscious Leelee to bed, and maybe, love her. When the truth comes out, all hell breaks loose.

Too bad romance is just for books.

My Review:
I do love me a strong, funny man! Josh is a super lovable, very sympathetic single father. His four year old son, the kid (JJ, named in honor of Josh’s late father), is four and traumatized by the abandonment of his mother. Josh has never left him alone for more than a night–and now he’s going on a week-long trip with his BFF Nick, aka indie romance author Nicky Love. Nick has had some bad run-ins with fans and fellow authors and, despite his hetero reality, he has cultivated a “gay persona” to shield himself from unwanted attention. After all the support Nick has given Josh–helping out with JJ and at his garage–Josh agrees to posing as his boyfriend for a fan convention.

Josh has no interested in another relationship. He’s super bitter over the abrupt end of his marriage, and then he sees Leelee from across the hotel’s crowded lobby and he’s struck. He’d like to add her to his list of anonymous conquests, but meeting her turns a switch in his brain. She’s beautiful and demure, a real Southern lady–who writes some of the filthiest romance he’s had the pleasure to consume. In short, he swoons. But…he’s the very public boyfriend of Nick and that’s a big problem.

Josh is such a fun narrator. Watching him straddle the line between supporting Nick and wooing Leelee is pure heaven. This is an adult read with plenty of cussing, carousing and cock-ups, not the least of which is poor Josh’s continually interrupted self, uh, “management.”

For her part, Leelee is a temptress. She’s totally attracted to Josh, but has her own dark secret, and it’s exactly why Josh is just not he right man for her. So she thinks…

I adored the banter between Josh and Nick, Josh and Leelee, well, Josh and anyone. He’s such a great sport about all the come-on’s and flirts of the conventioneers, even allowing himself to get rolled into a cover model’s contest and hitting the highlights/lowlights of a sex shop and a male strip club as part of the junket. Throughout, Josh’s just implacably funny.

I already have the sequel, Nick’s finding love story, so I’m on board with the series.

Interested? You can find STONE AT YOUR SERVICE on Goodreads, and Amazon.

Thanks for popping in and don’t forget to check out other reviewers’ picks on today’s hop.

1. The Armchair Squid 2. WOMEN: WE SHALL OVERCOME
3. Hub City 4. mainewords
5. Cherdo on the Flipside 6. Trisha @ WORD STUFF
7. My Creatively Random Life 8. A Creative Exercise
9. StrangePegs — An Acceptable Time 10. Words Incorporated
11. V’s Reads  

They Really Are DEVOTED–A Review

Hi there! Today I’m sharing the love for an erotic New Adult romance from Bianca Giovanni. Ever since she REVEALED her Vice, Virtue and Video series I’ve been CAPTURED and DESIRED more; book 4–DEVOTED–was no different. (LOL, all the titles in one sentence! Click for those reviews…)

Devoted (Vice, Virtue, and Video #4)About the book:
James Laird was once devoted to sex, fame, and money…but now this former porn star is devoted to his lifelong best friend turned fiancée, Lola Caraway. He wants nothing more than to give her a dream wedding: white dress, long veil, and a big reception with the whole family. James’ family is the only problem–he’s not sure if he can deliver on that part of the dream. They haven’t exactly been there for him “for better or for worse.” In fact, James’s parents haven’t spoken to him in six years–not since they discovered his double-life as a porn star.

As James and Lola work to build their life together, they discover mending the past could be more difficult than either of them expected. Will devotion be enough to take them one step closer to happily ever after?

My review:
Lola and James have been lifelong friends, and are only recent lovers. Lola is a college graduate, while James is a newly-retired porn star. He’s still a valuable commodity, however, and makes a good income from his sex toys.

Their impulsive Vegas wedding has caused a lot of trouble for their families, however, and they have capitulated to having the whole shebang back home in Wisconsin so the mothers can gush.

The story really builds on the previous books, but it’s still readable as a standalone. There are wedding plans, and new-couple activities like house hunting and building a life together. Lola is still fearful that she won’t be enough for James’ insatiable appetite for sex, though James is over-the-top in love with Lola. On top of these fears are the very real prejudices they know they will suffer with James’ career hanging like a shadow over their lives. As they solidify the wedding plans, it seems a new wrinkle is going to develop, one that’s both terrifying and awesome, and leaves a whole lotta plot for the next book.

Plus, James’ father–who kicked him out and shut down communications six years ago when he learned James was a porn star–is finally getting what has been coming to him. I was glad to see some real resolution in the family strife, and also to watch James and Lola make good choices for their future together.

Plus, lots and lots of smexytimes. James and Lola are so tender and so loving, it’s easy to imagine their fairytale love. And fun! I cracked up so many times. Their first night in their new house is…frantic. I died. Looking forward to James and Lola really stepping into adulthood in the next book. Lots of challenges ahead!

Interested? You can find DEVOTED on Goodreads, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.

This is book FOUR in the series. To get caught up, you can check out my reviews for REVEALED, CAPTURED and DESIRED. The reviews have all the buy-links, as well. Honestly, each book begins and ends cleanly–without cliffhangers only the relationship progressing through the books–so each can be read (mainly) as a standalone. Though, I’ve really enjoyed how this relationship has matured.

About the author:
Bianca Giovanni was born and raised in Boulder, Colorado. She grew up with a single mother and Italian grandmother, who was an avid reader. She has had a love of writing since childhood, but self-published her first short stories in 2012. Bianca’s strong female characters and witty dialogue have struck a chord with readers and lead to her popularity on self-publishing platforms.

In 2013, Bianca signed with Omnific Publishing to bring the ‘Vice, Virtue & Video’ series to readers. The series contains First Dance (free introductory short story), Revealed (book #1), Letting Go (book #1.5), and four more novels to be released in 2014. She currently resides in Denver, Colorado, where she can often be found jotting down story ideas in a notebook.

You can connect with Bianca on her website, Facebook and twitter.

Thanks for popping in and keep reading my friends!

They Were Brought to RACK & RUIN–A Review

Hi there! Today I’m sharing my review of Charlie Cochet’s RACK & RUIN, the third book in her THIRDS series. (Ha!) Anywho, I’m a devoted fan of this yummy M/M, paranormal, police, shifter series. You may recall I reviewed the first two books…HELL & HIGH WATER and BLOOD & THUNDER and found them thoroughly awesome. There’s police activity, and M/M lovin’ and shifting, and a whole lot of plot that is only helped by the romance and humorous antics of Dexter J Daley, human member of the Destructive Delta THIRDS team and main character of the books.

Rack & Ruin (THIRDS, #3)About the book:
New York City’s streets are more dangerous than ever with the leaderless Order of Adrasteia and the Ikelos Coalition, a newly immerged Therian group, at war. Innocent civilians are caught in the crossfire and although the THIRDS round up more and more members of the Order in the hopes of keeping the volatile group from reorganizing, the members of the Coalition continue to escape and wreak havoc in the name of vigilante justice.

Worse yet, someone inside the THIRDS has been feeding the Coalition information. It’s up to Destructive Delta to draw out the mole and put an end to the war before anyone else gets hurt. But to get the job done, the team will have to work through the aftereffects of the Therian Youth Center bombing. A skirmish with Coalition members leads Agent Dexter J. Daley to a shocking discovery and suddenly it becomes clear that the random violence isn’t so random. There’s more going on than Dex and Sloane originally believed, and their fiery partnership is put to the test. As the case takes an explosive turn, Dex and Sloane are in danger of losing more than their relationship.

My Review:
Here’s the thing: this book is gooooood. But the end made me FREAK the F@CK OUT.

Dex and Sloane are having a covert relationship. Which makes for lots of fun stealth hook-ups. About the relationships: Sloane and Ash are both Therian shifters who actually grew up together in the pre-THIRDS program. They suffered a lot, as the Powers That Be examined them, learned how the Therians worked, how they shifted, and taught them to control the beast within. It was terrifying, and Sloane is scared that Dex will leave him if he knows the truth about his history.

Thing is, Dex couldn’t care less. Well, that’s not entirely true. He cares about Sloane being happy. If Sloane’s past makes Sloane pensive, or angry, closed off, well then Dex cares. But details about Sloane’s mistakes as a scared child? Pfft. Nada worries.

Can I say I love Dex? I may be a human woman, and therefore thoroughly unattractive to this fictional gay man, but I swoon for him, nonetheless. He is just so fun, and flirty and intriguing. I guess that’s why everyone (excepting Ash) adores him. #GuiltyAsCharged

In this episode we also have Cael, Dex’s foster brother, revealing his deep affection for Ash–and Ash being a bigger total D-bag than usual. Which is saying a lot because Ash is a D-bag all the time.  Okay, I do love Ash, too, because I understand that he’s been broken, but it takes a good bit of love to consider that his turn-coatery is actually much more than it appears. And, his repulsion of Cael’s affection is for Cael’s own good. Mostly because loving Ash is more difficult and painful than hugging a Saguaro cactus.

The plain truth is, rogue Therians are executing humans who did a whole lot of Therian killing in the big skirmishes years ago, and it’s up to Dex, Sloane and Destructive Delta crew to ride point on the capture. This is made more complicated by the revelation that a mole exists within THIRDS and all the opportunities to apprehend the offenders result in chasing smoke on the wind.

This thoroughly realized action-adventure-shifter-police procedural-gay-romance is sure to satisfy the most genre-confused among us. And, I’m so eager for the next novel in the series I’m having trouble holding back the begging to Ms. Cochet. Good thing she throws out short THIRDS vignettes every Thursday on her blog. It’s like a weekly hit of my fave fictional drug, which softens the withdrawal symptoms just enough to manage.

Back to my post-book freak out… here’s how I felt when I ended the book:  SLOANE!!!!

Interested? You can find RACK & RUIN on Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Dreamspinner Press. In fact it’s on sale at Dreamspinner (25% off) through today–as are all the books in the THIRDS series.

CCochet100Charlie Cochet is an author by day and artist by night. Always quick to succumb to the whispers of her wayward muse, no star is out of reach when following her passion. From Historical to Fantasy, Contemporary to Science Fiction, there’s bound to be plenty of mischief for her heroes to find themselves in, and plenty of romance, too!

Currently residing in South Florida, Charlie looks forward to migrating to a land where the weather includes seasons other than hot, hotter, and boy, it’s hot! When she isn’t writing, she can usually be found reading, drawing, or watching movies. She runs on coffee, thrives on music, and loves to hear from readers.

Website | Facebook | Facebook Author Page | Twitter | Goodreads | Tumblr | Instagram | Pinterest | THIRDS HQ | Newsletter
Email: charlie@charliecochet.com

Thanks for popping in and keep reading my friends!

They Were Caught HOOK, LINE & SINKER–A Review

Hi there! Today I’m reviewing a Contemporary M/M Romance from a series that celebrates the working man. Piper Vaughn’s Hard Hats series is all about “regular Joes” who connect. I loved book one, WOOD SCREWS & NAILS, and couldn’t wait to get deeper into this series. There are no billionaires, no dramatic rescues, just ordinary work-a-day guys who meet, connect and find love. Which I adore. That they do this near my beloved Chicago? *swoon*

HOOK, LINE & SINKER is a tale of two childhood frenemies who meet again as adults and find the truth in the statement: There’s a thin line between love, and hate. (This is an ADULT read.)

Hook, Line, & Sinker (Hard Hats, #2)About the Book:
When they were teens, Castor McCormick was the bane of Blake Kowalski’s existence. Their mutual animosity led to summers filled with rivalry. Now, nearly two decades later, Cas is moving back into the neighborhood to live in his grandmother’s old house. Blake tells himself he isn’t interested in seeing how snarky little Cas grew up, but when his mother dupes him into visiting his former nemesis, he finds out “pretty” can evolve into “sexy as hell” on the right man.

Cas didn’t think he wanted to see Blake again. No one has ever pushed his buttons like the arrogant boy he remembers from their youth. Turns out, the adult version of Blake still gets him hot under the collar—and everywhere else. With Blake on leave from work to nurse an injured leg and Cas taking time to move and unpack, they form a tentative friendship that turns into a sexual affair neither man can deny. But when Cas’s job sends him out of state to deal with a difficult client, their new relationship will be tested, and if they fail, Blake’s broken leg might not be the only thing to end up scarred.

My Review:
Blake is a construction contractor and an impetuous man in his late 30s. A broken leg has him sidelined from work and staying back in his mom’s ranch home as he can’t quite manage the stairs to his three-flat condo in Chicago with the cast and crutches. While recuperating, Blake’s mom attempts to catch Blake up on all the neighborhood gossip. Turns out, the neighbor across the street has moved, selling her home to her grandson, Castor. Like Blake, Castor is gay. And, Blake cares not a whit, because Cas was a prissy, one-upper when they were kids and time has likely only made that worse….

Castor is a qualified professional, traveling the country to help upgrade Human Resources software and training new clients on its use and implementation. And, he’s sick of it. Well, he’s sick of traveling. He’s anxious to settle down–and buying his Gram’s outdated house is that first step. He’s also been promoted, which means less travel. Yay! He’s an active gay man, with good friends and some casual sex partners, but finding his childhood nemesis, Blake, on his doorstep, ready to add more than a coat of paint to the avocado green-era kitchen, isn’t the beginning of his new settled life…or so he thinks.

See, Blake was told Cas wanted help refurbing his fixer-upper. And Cas? Well, he wasn’t told anything. Polish mother plus Irish Grandmother. Can you hear the scheming? LET THE MATCHMAKING BEGIN!

These guys are really fun together. Their youth relationship still holds sway, for a bit. But, then they decide to just start over. And, they are smoking hot together. Neither expects to find love, but who can deny the fire between them. Besides, they do share some hobbies–like fishing, and watching baseball. They are fit, virile men, living across the street from each other, albeit temporarily, and they exploit the short commute from bed to bed with zeal. (Double Yay!)

When Cas decides to have a full remodel on his house, they are comfortable enough in what has developed between them to co-habitate Blake’s Wrigleyville condo, now that Blake’s cast is gone and he’s back to work. In fact, these guys are looking forward to a “trial run” of living together. Their chemistry has been great and well, they recognize that each could be THE ONE! for the other.

Then, Cas’s job comes crashing down. He’s got to satisfy an irate client by rebuilding a whole HR platform, onsite. In Colorado. It’s supposed to take 4 weeks. And he can come home for weekends. But, the weeks stretch on and job is only getting more complicated. Four weeks turns into six, and then eight, and then…. With absence stressing their fledgling relationship, can Cas and Blake make it work?

It’s a real romance, with solid characters and fun and flirty scenes. The smexytimes? OMG. Off the scale. Blake has to learn to get over his insecurity about infidelity, and Cas has to learn work/life balance–neither of which is easy for these men. I really enjoyed watching them step out of their boundaries. And I’m glad they were able to connect, and reconnect–even if it wasn’t easy. For all the “first love” stories out there, I do appreciate the effort of writing about mature men finding happiness. They have a lot of self-constructed hurdles to leap, which makes for a satisfying read.

This book brought back some characters from the first book in this series–WOOD SCREWS AND NAILS–which was really fun, and introduced us to charming new characters who will undoubtedly carry the next book. I received this book from the author; this is my honest review. I can’t wait to get her next release. /fangirl 😉

Interested? You can find HOOK, LINE, & SINKER on Goodreads, Dreamspinner Press, Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

About the author:
Piper Vaughn wrote her first love story at eleven and never looked back. Since then, she’s known that writing in some form was exactly what she wanted to do. A reader at the core, Piper loves nothing more than getting lost in a great book—fantasy, young adult, romance, she loves them all (and has a two thousand book library to prove it!). She grew up in Chicago, in an ethnically diverse neighborhood, and loves to put faces and characters of every ethnicity in her stories, so her fictional worlds are as colorful as the real one. Above all, she believes that everyone needs a little true love in their life…even if it’s only in a book.

You can catch up with Piper online on her website, Goodreads, Facebook, and twitter.

Thanks for popping in, and keep reading my friends.

Happy Book BIrthday THREE OF HEARTS!

Today marks the eRelease of THREE OF HEARTS by Kelly Jamieson. It’s an adult, ménage standalone romance that features three rising country music stars who find themselves in love—with each other. In addition to being a steaming M/F/M and F/M/M story, part of the proceeds from sales of this book will benefit the IT GETS BETTER Project.

The It Gets Better Project’s mission is to communicate to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth around the world that it gets better, and to create and inspire the changes needed to make it better for them. Visit their website for more information and to find out how you can get involved.

Three of HeartsAbout the book:

Haylee Tremayne is tired of the road. The concert tour for Three of Hearts was a success, but she’s confused by the inexplicable tension between her bandmates, Ben and Lucas. She’s also ready to go home to her boyfriend in Nashville. Time off would probably help everyone relax, even if it is Christmas, a season with too many bad memories.

But right before their last concert, Haylee discovers she’s been dumped for a sexy girly-girl. Story of her life: all guys see is tomboy Haylee. At the after-concert party, she drowns her sorrows and—desperate to feel feminine for once in her life—asks Ben and Lucas for a threesome. And it’s just as sexy and fun as she hoped.

Back in Nashville, Ben and Lucas prove again and again that their first night wasn’t a mistake. But the tension between them is still high, and on Christmas Eve, their ménage takes a stunning turn. When it all falls apart, Haylee is terrified that their crazy relationship might cost them the band, their success, and worst of all, each other.

My Review:
Haylee, Lucas and Ben are the members of the country-music trio, Three of Hearts. They are relatively new band, performing for the past two years. They all share Ben’s home in Nashville, due to the constant touring and a willingness to pool resources. It’s working; they have great chemistry and recently won a CMA for Rising Artists.

On the last stop of their successful 6-month tour Haylee is excited to return home to her boyfriend, a player on the Nashville Predators hockey team–until she finds he’s not so celibate in her absence. Pics of him and another singer fairly litter the Interwebs…

Lucas and Ben scrape Haylee out of her heartache, temporarily. And, she bucks up and sings the lights out–for the first time really connecting on stage with Lucas in a way she had never felt before. At the after party Haylee’s one sip from wasted, and Ben and Lucas practically carry her to her room. Haylee knows Ben and Lucas have had some spectacular multipartner sexcapades on the tour, and she’s feeling both bold, and lonely. Their care and concern soon morphs into sexual healing.

Morning after regrets? Yup. But those three hearts hit the well, again. And, again. It’s mindblowing for Haylee, and yet she’s shell-shocked to learn that Ben has real feelings for Lucas…and she feels used, as if Ben accessed Lucas, through her.

Lots of misunderstandings get all smoothed out with some serious conversation and a big TLI–total love in. Liked the way this turned out, but I kinda felt the M/M aspect was rushed and glossed over. Ben is bisexual, and Lucas is…not. He loves Hayley romantically and loves Ben platonically, though he’s open to *maybe* more. Then, suddenly, this GFY boy is going all the way. I would have appreciated a bit more exploration.

Nonetheless, the characters are fun, the smexytimes steam and it’s an interesting first connection story. It’s all told through Haylee’s POV and was DYING to get into Lucas and Ben’s brains…

Interested? You can find THREE OF HEARTS on Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Riptide Publishing. Riptide is offering a SHARE THE LOVE SPECIAL BUNDLE price–three books for $12.99, so feel free to investigate that deal! I requested a copy of this from the publisher via NetGalley. This is my honest review.

Kelly JamiesonAbout the Author:

Kelly Jamieson writes romances with heat that’s sweet. Her writing has been described as “emotionally complex”, “sweet and satisfying” and “blisteringly sexy”. If she can stop herself from reading or writing, she loves to cook. She has shelves of cookbooks that she reads at length. She also enjoys gardening in the summer, and in the winter she likes to read gardening magazines and seed catalogues (there might be a theme here…) She also loves shopping, especially for clothes and shoes. But her family takes precedence over everything else (yes, even writing). She has two teenage children who are the best kids in the world, not that she’s biased, and a wonderful husband who does loads of laundry while she plays on the computer writing stories. She loves hearing from readers, so please visit her website, Goodreads and twitter.

Thanks for popping in, and keep reading my friends!

Happy Book Birthday THREE CHRISTMASES! Review and Giveaway

Three Christmases RDL
Hi there! I’m so happy to celebrate the release of the 4th book in Kat and Stone Bastion’s No Weddings series. It’s a super steamy New Adult romance series that follows the relationship of Cade Michaelson and Hannah Martin–two business professionals working (and loving) in Philly. (for 18 and older readers)

4-ThreeXMas_CoverAbout Three Christmases:
As the holiday season approaches in this fourth book in the No Weddings Series, Cade Michaelson strives to be better at balancing work and love, and Hannah Martin’s growing ability to trust is put to the test.

Lust and friendship brought us together, but with the increasing demands of my two businesses, Hannah’s thriving bakery, and our successful event-planning company, stability becomes my focus.

Then a once-in-a-lifetime career opportunity takes me to the West Coast, and everything goes into a tailspin.

Laughter, love, and excitement fill our lives, but Cade refuses to settle into the wonderful bliss we’ve found—he wants spectacular fireworks and an unshakable foundation. Driven like no one I’ve ever met, Cade insists a dream job across the country will be better for our future together, but I worry about whether we can survive the present apart.

When intimate time diminishes…and lives get more hectic…

Will a little bit of faith be all that it takes? Or will the sacrifice to get there be too great?

My review:
I am loving how this series hits all the notes of a relationship. Not just the initial phases of infatuation or lust, but the “how do we make this work” parts of integrating another person’s hopes, dreams and reality into one’s own.

Cade and Hannah have been dating several months now. They have jobs, which they work separately, and the event planning business Cade runs with his sisters, and Hannah. It seems that all is going well, even though Cade’s consulting is taking him away from home more and more frequently. While reunion lovin’ is fun, it’s also super hard on a fledgling relationship to have so much distance. And both Cade and Hannah are feeling the lack.

Then, Cade’s offered a staggering amount of money for a management position. Problem? The company headquarters are in San Francisco. Hannah wants him to follow his heart, as she would do, and he takes it. Reduced to weekend visits, their relationship suffers further strain.

Thing is, Cade and Hannah keep saying they value the other more than anything–so doesn’t that include their careers? Kinda. Looks like a new work/life balance is in order!

This book has less steam, but more of it happens in the wild…expect some (nearly) voyeuristic trysts. And, expect a good deal of soul-searching in absentia. With all this solitary time on their hands, Cade and Hannah have a lot of space to figure out their real motivations. And, it ends in an HEA.

Interested? You can find THREE CHRISTMASES on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iBooks, and Goodreads. I received a review copy of this book via NetGalley.

Don’t forget to check out the other books in this series. It’s meant to be read all together, in order. Click on the links below to find my reviews, and pick up the books!

No Weddings (No Weddings, #1)No Weddings: (My Review!)

Award-winning author Kat Bastion teams with her husband, Stone Bastion, in this first book in the No Weddings Series about Cade Michaelson, a successful man with his sights set on a new venture in business, and Hannah Martin, the woman who makes it personal.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iBooks | Goodreads

 

One Funeral (No Weddings, #2)One Funeral: (My Review!)

Chosen by FreshFiction.com as their Fresh Pick for October 7, 2014

The stakes climb higher in this second book in the No Weddings Series for Hannah Martin, a woman restrained by her past, and Cade Michaelson, the man who could help set her free.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iBooks | Goodreads

 

Two Bar Mitzvahs (No Weddings, #3)Two Bar Mitzvahs: (My Review!)

Summer heats up in this third book in the No Weddings Series, where Cade Michaelson strives to balance his and Hannah Martin’s new relationship with the growing demands of his financial success.
 Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iBooks | Goodreads

***GIVEAWAY***
Click the Rafflecopter link below for your chance to win
a $25 Giftcard and a signed set of the No Weddings series
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Good luck and keep reading my friends!

Shoe and Boot PhotoKat Bastion with Stone Bastion Bio:

Award-winning and bestselling romance author Kat Bastion has teamed up with her husband Stone Bastion to create the new contemporary romance series No Weddings.

A few factoids about the writing team…

Kat enjoys her chocolate rich and dark, her music edgy and soul-filling, and her vacations exotic with toes dug into the sand. And she’s wildly, madly, deeply in love with Stone.

Stone likes pounding the trails on a mountain bike, vibrating the sound system with rock music, and down time spent on a stand up paddleboard. And he loves Kat wildly, madly, deeply…and then some.

Together, they’re having a blast bringing fun-filled romantic stories to life and hope you’ll join them in the exciting adventure.

Kat’s first published work, Utterly Loved, was a twentieth anniversary gift of love poems to Stone that they decided to share with the world to benefit charity. Net proceeds from Utterly Loved, and a portion of net proceeds from all their books, go toward charities involved in the fight against human trafficking.

Kat and Stone live amid the beautiful Sonoran Desert of Arizona. Visit their blog, website, Facebook page, and their Twitter accounts (Kat and Stone) for more information.

Inkslinger

It Was HIS SECRETARY: UNDONE–A Review

Hi there! Today, I’m sharing a review for Melanie Marchande‘s sexy new release HIS SECRETARY: UNDONE. I reviewed one of Melanie’s books, ROMANCE IMPOSSIBLE, and loved it, so I couldn’t wait to read this one.

His Secretary: Undone (A Novel Deception, #1)About the book:

I’m about to throw an ashtray at my boss’s head.

Turns out, the mind behind my favorite, steamy romance novels…the ones I only read in private…the ones that are my only escape after a long day of dealing with The Boss From Hell? It’s not Natalie McBride, the sweet, rural housewife.

It’s him.

That’s right: my boss, Adrian Risinger, the thirty-three-year-old, maddeningly sexy, pissant billionaire “bad boy” who thinks he runs my life. He is also the author of all my deepest, most secret fantasies. And to make matters worse, he needs me to impersonate “Natalie” at a series of book signings and conventions. But, of course, that’s only if I want to keep my job.

On second thought, I’m going to need something heavier than an ashtray.

My Review:

Well! This one is a hoot. Imagine a secretary (let’s call her Meghan!) with an overbearing, pretentious boss, who shall be named: Adrian Risinger. Meghan finds herself addicted to a set of erotic books–about a secretary and her domineering boss, no less!–only to discover that Mr. Adrian Risinger actually wrote them. Under a pseudonym. Oh, and this is AFTER she fangirled and began an email correspondence with the “author” confessing all sorts of angst over her job, and how sexy, but utterly trying and ridiculous, her boss is…

Oy vey.

Meghan is right torqued off–but before she can even wrap her head around the nightmare of her gargantuan embarrassment, Adrian is offering her a huge bonus to pose as the author at literary events. See, the books are selling like hotcakes, and he can’t bring himself to reveal his Man-ful-ness to his adoring fans. Plus, he’s a bit nervous that his billionaire buddies won’t respect him if they realize he’s a smut-peddler. *shrugs*

Before they are even on the plane the sparks fly between Meghan and Mr. Risinger. She thinks it’s meant to be a fling, and frankly, she’s kinda desperate. In the five years she’s worked for Adrian she’s devoted herself to his managing all his issues, at the sacrifice of her own friendships. And boyfriends…there are none. Nonetheless, Meghan takes a rather pragmatic approach to their tryst. It seemed to me, the reader, that Adrian wanted more than a fling, but Meghan is sure this will fizzle when they return home.

Still, they are very playful:

“If you’re not going to eat the fruit, stop poking at it. I’ll finish it.”

“Fine.” He pushes the dish across the little table. “So is that an official thing, now? I can spank you at work?”

I grin at him, taking a bite of cantaloupe. “You’re my boss, Mr. Risinger. You can do whatever you want.”

He lets out a noise that’s half-laugh, half-groan. “I’ll end up arrested if you keep saying things like that. We both will.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. It’s private property.” I lick my lips. “You could send everybody home and f— me on every single floor, every single room of that building, and not a law in the land could touch you.”

He raises his eyebrows slightly. “And once again, having too much money just robs me of all the usual thrills in life.” Moving lightning-fast, he snatches a grape out of my hand and pops it in his mouth. “What’s the fun of having sex at work if you can’t get in trouble for it?”

There are, of course, complications. Meghan and Adrian are lying to everyone–about his books and about their relationship–and Adrian’s agent seems to be a mite jealous of their “partnership”. The tension becomes too much to overcome, for a bit. It came down to the wire, regarding the HEA. Meghan was rather hurt by Adrian’s seeming nonchalance, and he’s a proud man. The necessary compromises were steep, and took awhile to bear fruit, but they were deliciously captured.

I liked this fun spin on the billionaire romance. Meghan was hysterical as a narrator. I think she got overly sensitive about 75% in, but she wasn’t obtuse, so I still liked her. Adrian was interesting. Who can’t love a man with a filthy imagination and the gumption to write best-selling fantasies about the woman he craves? He wanted Meghan from the time she was hired, and pined for FIVE years, knowing he couldn’t breach the sexual harassment clauses but desperate for all of Meghan’s attention. He had me at “I noticed you didn’t ride in on your broomstick today.” Okay, maybe not then. But, surely a few pages later. Adrian, once he reveals his literary side, has an almost transparent hunger for Meghan which sucked me in. I kept waiting for that light bulb to go off in her brain, and it took a LONG time for that to happen.

Interested? You can find HIS SECRETARY:  UNDONE on Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and iTunes. I received an advanced reader copy from the author in exchange for my honest review.

Melanie MarchandeAbout the Author:
Melanie Marchande claims she has “always been fascinated by that feeling, that little spark – that tingle – the way your stomach can flip-flop at just hearing someone’s name. We all remember what it’s like. With my books, I hope to make you remember that feeling, to experience that thrill one more time. And the best part is, you can always come back and experience it again, and again, and again…”

She is the author of the “I Married a Billionaire” trilogy. You can find Melanie on her blog, Goodreads, Facebook, and twitter.

Thanks for popping in, and keep reading my friends!