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Tuesday, April 29, 2014

A Dark and Twisted Tail.. read at your own risk!


Her Master's Courtesan
Her Master's Courtesan by Lily White

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Okay, the first thing I have to say is HEED THE WARNINGS on this book! The warning in the synopsis, where Aiden says of himself, "...I am - in no way - a good man." You need to believe that first and foremost before you even start reading this book.

But it's the warning when you open this book, "This book contains graphic descriptions of violence. This is not a light and fluffy story. This is NOT a love story. There are no unicorns, fluffy kittens, squishy feelings or hearts and flowers. This is a story filled with mindfuckery.", that speaks the truth, and then some.

Heed. It.

I've read a lot of dark books in the last several months. C.J. Roberts, Kitty Thomas, Claire Thompson, they are 3 of my favorite "go to" authors when I want to read dark and twisted. But, they *almost* seem tame compared to the tale Lily White spun in Her Master's Courtesan.

This book was horrifyingly dark and twisted. There were times I actually had to put my Kindle down and catch my breath and remind myself this was a work of fiction. The best part? It was original. Totally and completely unlike anything I've ever read in this genre before. There is nothing cookie cutter about this story. This isn't a girl gets kidnapped, broken down, Master can't live without her because they are both so in love with each other. No. This isn't a story about love or even simple kindness. It's cold and it's harsh.

And I loved every page turning, dark, sadistic, demented second of this book!

"Mindfuckery"? It's more than that... I don't think there is even a word for the level of mindfuckery this book contains!

I didn't like Aiden... or at least that is what I told myself. I wanted to hate Aiden, but I couldn't. The book, when being told from his point of view, makes the reader see and understand why Aiden it like he is.

Rebecca. My heart broke for her on many levels. But I admired her strength, her spirit, and her mind. I rooted for her to run and I rooted for her to stay, sometimes both of those in the matter of a single paragraph! Not that she really had a choice to do either one of those. Staying or going were never up to her.

There were even underlying truths in this book, little pebbles that shined through. For instance.

Aiden:
If the slave has been trained right, they would know just by the look on their Master's face what is expected of them- they won't need to be told.

It's a symbiotic relationship: The Master taking care of the physical and mental needs of the slave while the slave hands over all control to the Master.

Rebecca:

"I'd found control in my life by giving it to a man for stronger than me. I'd found freedom by no longer having to conform to the pressures of society or my peers. I was allowed to act with depravity and lust and I was cared for and treasured..."

Truths.

But of course, in this story, those pretty little pebbles of truth are few and far between.

This book had everything, and more, that I love in a dark read. It's the darkest I've ever read, and there are parts that actually made me flinch.

So heed the warnings. Prepare yourself. Then open this book and step over to the dark side. There will be no cookies.

SOLID 5 Star read for me.

***Note: This book has been banned on Amazon, but I found it on Smashwords for $3.99.
"Her Master's Courtesan" - Smashwords***




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Sunday, April 20, 2014

Review: Ryder


Ryder
Ryder by Jani Kay

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



Quick easy read. I'm on the fence, I like darker when it comes to my reads and darker when it comes to MC's. This book is classified as "New Adult", not really a genre I understand, but it seems like there is a lot of it out there.

I liked Ryder and Jade, I liked it when they were being snarky to one another, and I liked how their relationship grew. But at the end, on the bike when Ryder first had sex with Jade, the story felt forced, like the author wasn't really sure *how* to write a (the) sex scene.

But this was a Prequel, a 0.5, and I am interested enough to read the next in the series, just to see where it goes.

I hope to make a better connection with Ryder and Jade in the next installment of this series.

2 stars for this introduction in the the Scorpion's MC.



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Saturday, April 19, 2014

Real was "UnReal"

Real (Real, #1)Real by Katy Evans
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I didn't make it past 3% on this book before I had to quit. I don't think I'm reading the same book everyone else read.

It reads like a souped up Young Adult, and nothing to do with *adult* erotica.

This book was a...



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Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Don't underestimate Underestimated!

Underestimated (Underestimated, #1)Underestimated by Jettie Woodruff
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book. Yes. This book.

I loved it. I hated it. Ohhhh! I loved it!

The Drew, Morgan/Riley, Dawson, Lauren, and let's not forget Derik characters were an entanglement of characters that I won't soon forget!

You've read the blurb, you've read the reviews, but until you read the book you won't get the love/hate relationship most have with the characters in this story.

The way Jettie Woodruff spins this tale making you want to hold your book close right before throwing it across the room is unique.

The book is dark and disturbing. And Drew, oh how I hated him. He was a narcissistic, sadistic bastard with no redeeming qualities who tortured Morgan(/Riley) in the worst possible ways. Dawson was a wonderful man that took care of Riley(/Morgan) to the best of his abilities, considering all she'd been through, and much of it she couldn't tell him. Confused yet?

Lauren, she was one of my favorite characters. I love how she decided that she and Riley were going to be friends, no matter what Riley thought about it. Luckily Riley was all for it. Lauren was a good, dear friend. I loved how she'd just pop in, eat Riley's leftovers, make herself at home and made it her mission to find a man for Riley.

Morgan was Drew's wife. He was mean and vicious to her. She was finally able to escape (with help) and changed her identity. She became Riley. It was as Riley that she met Dawson. I was cheering for these two for the majority of the book, even though I felt that Dawson was a little judgmental about the things that Riley wanted and needed.

Riley and Dawson settled in to a comfortable (read that not exciting and non-descript) pattern. Riley *needed* more, but Dawson kept that pretty much tamped down. She thought she was, or could be, happy with that.

Until she ran into the back of a bus and lost her memory.

In walks Drew back into her life and Riley becomes Morgan again, even though she doesn't remember *who* Morgan really is, and she has even less memory of Riley.

It was from that point until towards the end that I wanted to shake n' break my Kindle!

When her memory comes back in a rush. She is then Morgan/Riley in a love triangle with Drew & Dawson. The woman couldn't make a decision if her life depended on it. Back and forth she went between both men. She and her vagina, that she had conversations with, were always open for business when it came to these two men.

Some of my favorite things she said about her vagina:

"The sight of him sent a quivering sensation straight to my attention deficit disorder vagina."

"I closed my eyes and visualized our love making on top of the world. Of course, my vagina had to go and stick her nose in it too."

"I think maybe my vagina was on break, pissed off, or just not interest in making love..."
(now there was a first cause her vagina was *always* interested in throwing out the welcome sign!)

All the back and forth, can't make a decision, sleeping with Drew, sleeping with Dawson... I think a few less of those would have been better. Again, my poor Kindle took the brunt of my frustrations as I proceeded to squeeze it so hard every time she went one way or the other, that it threatened to throw *itself* out the window!

But even with all of that, Ms. Woodruff pulled it all together into a nice neat little story. Without giving away any more than I may have already done, I didn't think I would be happy with Morgan/Riley's choice. But I found that I was. At the end I found myself satisfied.

This is a must read if you like dark non-con and it's a solid 4 star read for me. The only thing that keeps it from being a 5 star is I think it went back and forth too many times with Morgan/Riley's indecision. I am however looking forward to reading "Underestimated Too". I've already purchased the book and taken a sneak peek at the first chapter and it's already caught my attention!

**********
This past update says it all!

Past update: Review to come... but in the meantime..



I loved it but I wanted to slap the crap outta Morgan/Riley!!

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Goin' Once, Goin' Twice.... Sold!


The Auction
The Auction by Claire Thompson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Another great Claire Thompson story! Some edgy BDSM and a love story all rolled into one nice little quick read.

Carly is down on her luck and pretty desperate, so she goes to the "Auction House" for a week of hard core training to become a "professional" submissive. At the auction, she is purchased by Adam Wise for $50,000 and he will own her for 30 days.

Contracts signed, sealed, and delivered, Carly goes home with Adam.

He's intense and at times pretty reckless with Carly and her safety. But underneath it all, he feels *something*, but continuously shoves it aside. She's a "paid submissive" there for his entertainment. A sex toy. Nothing more, nothing less.

She's sensitive, and wants to please him. She also feels *something*, and doesn't want to "shove it aside", she wants to explore these feelings, but he won't allow it.

I think the story, in the beginning, the "feelings of love" moved a bit too fast, but all in all, it worked in a way that only Ms. Thompson can make it work.

There is a part where Carly is locked in a box with Glory Holes.. she has a panic attack, and myself being very claustrophobic, felt ever bit of that. The author described it so vividly. There is also breath play/water play where she is put into a water locker. *takes a deep breath* It was all very descript.

I enjoyed this story very much and wish there was a sequel to it, much like I do many of the books written by this author.

Four stars!







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Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Review: Undeniable


Undeniable
Undeniable by Madeline Sheehan

My rating: 1 of 5 stars



This is a tough review. I'm not even sure where to start to be honest. I wanted to like this book. I tried. It was almost a DNF for me, but I pushed through since it was a BOTM for my group and I was the one that actually *chose* this book.

The idea of the book was interesting. "Right idea, wrong execution", type of deal. I love an MC book with a bad boy hero and a smart, sassy, strong heroin. But this book? I didn't find a single likeable character, the story was full of holes, and everything was just too extreme and over the top. It wasn't plausible or believable.

I felt like I was reading a book that should have been set a loony bin somewhere. I have no problem with foul language, non-con, etc., just take a look at some of the books I read, but, this book bordered on ridiculous. The F word, C word, Bitch, etc. was so overused. If you took out half of them the usage might have been more believable. Maybe. If you have to use them, use them for *emphasis*, not for the sake of seeing yourself type them. I checked my Kindle and the F word in some form was used "Over 500 times" in just the first 160 pages", that was all my Kindle would count... OVER 500 times. Over 400 of them unnecessarily, they didn't add a thing to the story.

Deuce was the most unlikable leading male that I've ever read about. Not because he was a bad boy, because I really like bad boys, but because he was an idiot. Bad boys have redeeming qualities. Deuce was just a douche.

Eva, I really tried to like her. But I just couldn't. She flip-flopped and was wishy-washy. She loved Deuce, but she loved Frankie. Felt the need to "take care of him", yeah... okay. He raped her, and yet she married him. He threatened her, and yet she stayed with him to protect him. She was the daughter of the President of the MC, and she was much loved, yet, she didn't go to "daddy", or any of the "brothers" for help after the rape. No. She married him. Oh and let's not forget this is the "man" (sic) that was raised as her brother. Seriously?

I didn't have a problem with the 18 year age difference between Eva and Deuce, once she was of age herself that is. But the way she was talking about him when she met him... at 5 years old. Eva was 5 and Deuce was 23. And the way he spoke to her, a little girl. *shaking head* For instance, about her shoes...

"I like you, kid," he said, still grinning. "You got good taste in tunes, and you've got a pair of Chucks on instead of those stupid fuckin' high-tops everyone's wearin'."

Who talks like that to a 5 year old? Just another instance where the F-word could have been left out of the sentence, then it may have been sweet, and not idiotic.

And she, by the end of that first meeting, (did I mention she was 5?) when he calls her "darlin'"...

"It was official. I was head over heels in love."

It was just another ridiculous, non-plausible part of this whacked out book.

They met again when she was 12. Yeah, still pretty creepy, seeing how he was 30 at that time. The next meeting, she is 16. He is 34, married with 2 children, and he's got his tongue in her mouth, or as she put it, "He laid siege to my mouth. He plundered and pillaged until I had no reservations, no choice but to kiss him..." and had his hand down the front of her pants bringing her to orgasm. Then at 18 he takes her virginity in a dirty alley. How romantic and thoughtful. This guy is just all kinds of fantasy man.

Frankie. Now there was a character that was fifty shades of crazy. Seriously. This was the second most unlikeable character in the book, behind Deuce only because I didn't have to read about him as much. Just sick and twisted from the get go.

Eva wore a necklace that Deuce gave to her when she was a young girl. A necklace that had "Horseman" on it which was a *different* MC. One that her father's MC was on shaky ground with. Frankie slept with her, (at night because he couldn't sleep alone), could never be away from her, he threw a fit and practically went into a fetal position if she was out of his site for more than a few hours, he was obsessed with her. If anyone even glanced in her direction he went off the deep end, threatening to beat them or send them "to ground" (a term SO overused in this book). He was all that and at the same time knew that she loved Deuce, and drove him crazier... yet he never said anything in all the years they were together about her wearing that particular necklace? Are you kidding me? *No one* said anything about her wearing that particular necklace. Not her dad who actually shot Deuce, TWICE, for messing with Eva after seeing him with her when she was 16, not any of "her boys" in her dad's MC. *No one*, it just hung there around her neck day in and day out, she never took it off. If her father saw fit to shoot a man, TWICE, for what Deuce did when she was 16, how do you seriously think he would have reacted to her being raped by Frankie?

Kami. The "main whore" (cause there were a few) of the book, was probably the one I least despised. She was Eva's best friend and she was actually true to her friendship with Eva. Too bad I can't say the same about Eva towards Kami. Kami may have liked to sleep with a couple bad boys, at the same time, but at least she was honest about it.

Chase. another one that Eva screwed around with. The man was married to her best friend. Sure, she disguised it under the misnomer of "blackmail so he'd help Frankie". Just another in a long line of characters in this book I didn't like. Sitting around drinking his $75,000 bottles of whiskey. The author could have at least made *that* small thing somewhat realistic.

The sex. It wasn't sexy, erotic, or hot, it was overplayed and pretty sloppy. Someone was always getting "sloppy seconds". I had to actually skim the "sex scenes" just to get through them.

I do have one positive spin, sort of, okay half a spin. Towards the end of the book is a nice twist, some action, but it didn't last too long… the crazy train was traveling way too fast at that point and it just blew by the one interesting stop in the whole book, making it feel like the author rushed to tie up loose ends. The one thing that Eva did that made me actually feel a little glimmer for her, the person she killed, the author drops the ball once again by not even saying how Eva dealt with it. Yeah, crazy train/station... whoooooosh!

This is nothing more than Fanfiction and poorly written Fanfiction at that, stripped and mangled from Sons of Anarchy. Another reviewer said it best, "It makes 'Fifty Shades of Grey' look like Pulitzer material".

I can't, for the life of me, fathom how this book has so many 4 and 5 star ratings.




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Sheldon spanks Amy

Just had to share this, for those of you that know me, you'll understand why I find this so humorous!

(The Big Bang Theory Season 6 Episode 10)

Review: Tender Mercies

Tender MerciesTender Mercies by Kitty Thomas
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Another great story from Kitty Thomas, is there really much more to say about it than that?! Of course there is!

This is a story about Grace Warner, a woman that should come with a big sign that says, "Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it!"

She wants a 24/7 Master/slave relationship, and she is willing to give up everything to have it. And when I say "everything" I do mean *everything*! She is willing to move to a private island full of Dominant men, who live by a strict set of rules. She will become a fulltime slave to her Master. When a submissive joins a Dom on this island, she is giving up all rights of modern society to become an owned slave. Her Master can do anything he wants to her. Anything except kill her. That is the only law.

Grace meets Lucas online when she goes in search of information about this island. She talks to him via chat and webcam. He wants her to join him and be her slave. She takes a year to decide, and when Lucas has had enough of waiting he gives her one final chance to make up her mind or he's going to move on. Grace at this point is "infatuated" with Lucas and the idea of being his slave, and agrees to give up everything for this man who admits that he won't be an easy Master. Which is the understatement of the century in this story!

Grace's best friend Lainey tries every way in the world to talk Grace out of doing this. For a year, she's talked, begged, and pleaded... everything to get Grace to see that she is making a mistake. I felt for Lainey, her best friend, who had Grace's best interest at heart.

But what good would this story be if Grace didn't hop on that plane and fly off into the sunset to be with her dream Dom?

Ahh, her Dream Dom is Lucas Stone and he turns out to be so sadistic and twisted that from the moment Grace steps into his luxurious mansion, she is immediately stripped of her own humanity... and her clothing. She is kept in a dungeon cell and beaten, tormented, starved, and repeat... daily. Everything he told her and made her believe over the last year has been a lie. But she doesn't realize it until it's too late and she's give up all of her rights, all of them.

My heart just broke for Grace. Even though she did all her homework on Lucas, he wasn't what he seemed, or what the internet showed about him.

Time goes by Lucas finally tires of Grace, mainly because there is one part of her that he can't break, so he decides to sell her. And he does. Grace is bought by another Dominant on the island, Asher Collins, who recognizes that she has been severely beaten and almost completely broken. Lucas warns Grace that the Master, Asher Collins, that just bought her is more twisted and sadistic than he is, and rumor has it that he killed his last slave and the authorities just haven't been able to prove it... but everyone knows he did it. Asher Collins is the worst of the worst.

It's Grace's fate, a fate that is out of her control, she has no choice in the matter. No amount of begging or pleading will keep Lucas from selling her to an even worse Dominant.

The story ends with a big twist the just made me want to cry for Grace. It all plays out perfectly and Ms. Thomas wraps everything up nice and neat.

Be warned, the story between Grace and Lucas Stone is hard core. There were times I had to just step away and catch my breath. Lucas is a master manipulator, he was patient waiting for his prey, and he waited for a year for Grace's decision. He made all the right moves, said all the right things, to get her there without making it look like coercion in any way. But, truth be told, that's exactly what it was. The scenes and the things Lucas does to Grace to try and completely break her are descriptive and at times terrifyingly heartbreaking.

This book is dark and twisted... and it was right up my alley!

A solid 5 stars!


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Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Review: Pinch Me


Pinch Me
Pinch Me by Tymber Dalton

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Get your tissues ready, Tymber Dalton does it again in PINCH ME!

I just finished the book this morning and OMG, I loved it! This book kept me on the edge of my seat 90% of the time and it kept me connected to the characters a connections I felt right away.

I felt Rob's pain over what happened to Laura, but when she woke up and didn't know him, his emotions came through in the written word like I was actually sitting there with him. And the way Laura kept reaching to her neck (for her day collar), and not understanding why she was doing so, that just broke my heart. Her turmoil at needing to remember, not just the attack, but her life (with Rob) also made me feel so much for this character.

I loved Rob and Laura, his commitment to her, to staying with her, no matter what, because he loved her with his whole heart. The way she felt "that connection" with him from the start, it didn't matter that she couldn't explain it, she *felt* it.

This was done in typical Tymber Dalton style, by grabbing me by the heart and squeezing every bit of emotion out of me. Just when I think I have no more left, she tightens the screws just a little bit more. I love that about this author!

The only part I questioned was when Laura came face to face with her stalker, she was alone in the shop to lock up and secure the boats before an incoming storm. Up to this point she'd never been alone in the shop due to this guy who almost killed her and was still stalking her. But, she "sent everyone home".. really? Steve would have left her? Carol? Sarah? That part wasn't plausible, whereas the whole book up to that point was carefully written. That part just made me go.. "Really?"

Figuring out the "who" in this story, was easy, too easy maybe. But, it was interesting to see how it all pulled together and played out. (Very well actually!)

I would classify this as a "BDSM Light" story, and surely light compared to the 2 previous books (that I've read in this series), but there is a real reason for that, and it works. I loved seeing past characters from The Reluctant Dom and The Denim Dom, and that Shay was her best friend. Even with all the interaction from previous (book) characters, they didn't overwhelm the story line to this book, they genuinely enhanced it.

I do hope there will be future books in this series and that we'll see more of Rob and Laura and some of the other past characters as we meet new ones!

Solid 5 star read!



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