No Good Duke Goes Unpunished by Sarah Maclean

Earl
Grade-A-
Hotness Level-Blaze
Kink Level-No Kink
Genre-Historical
Reviewed by Kay
384 pages

William, the Duke of Lamont lost everything he had when he was a young man. Everything but his title. One night that he can’t even clearly remember changed his life forever. A woman who disappeared, bloodied sheets and him standing accused of her murder. He became Temple, a bare knuckled fighter at the Fallen Angel gaming hell, where he is a partner with his three friends. All of which were exiled or shunned as well. All Temple wants is his life before that night back.

Mara Lowe is the woman from that night. She ran away all those years ago and reinvented herself. But now she has to face the past, hers and his. She offers him redemption in exchange for something she requires. But the cost of his redemption is her ruination.

I loved this book! I really needed to also. I was craving a historical and it was everything I needed it to be. This is a really good series. I didn’t classify it as that above because it isn’t really listed as one. Clear as mud? Temple and Mara’s story touched me in so many ways. Two tortured souls finding each other. Both victims of their childhoods and being under the control of everyone. Mistakes made in youth that cost them both everything. And both of them realizing that the road to redemption isn’t ever what you think it’s going to be. A sweet, moving and passionate love story. My favorite quote is as follows.

“Without the past, there would be no present. No future. I don’t regret a moment of it. It all brought us here. To this place. To this moment. To this love.”

Welcome to Paradise by Rosalind James

Welcome to Paradise (The Kincaids, #1)
Grade-C+
Hotness Level-Blaze
Kink Level-No Kink
Series-The Kincaids #1
Genre-Contemporary
Reviewed by Kate
340 pages
 
The History Channel is getting ready to film its reality show America Alive: 1885. Mira and her douche of a boyfriend Scott are going to be contestants as well as Gabe, a sterling example of a hero, and his twin brother Alec. There are 16 contestants total, but the book follows the pairs of Mira and Scott and Gabe and Alec.
 
I’m a huge sucker for the reality show premise. Give me a book that takes place in or around a reality tv show and I’ll move it to the top of my TBR pile. There’s just something about them that I can’t turn down.
 
As a reader, you hate Scott right from the get-go. He’s an absolute asshat. He’s condescending and rude and arrogant and…well, you get the picture. And for me, I found myself wondering why in the world Mira was with him for any length of time.
 
Gabe, of course, is perfection personified. Although I did get a chuckle over the fact that his twin brother is described as being the hotter of the two. As a reader, you will cheer at the way Gabe treats Mira.
 
All that being said, after finishing the book I just couldn’t get excited over it. There was really nothing (apart from the reality show aspect) that stood out as being great. And I felt the conclusion was a bit soap opera-ish and over the top.
 
If you enjoy the reality show premise, then it’s probably worth checking out. Otherwise, I’d steer clear.
It’s obvious I’m a sucker for the reality-show setting. Is there a setting that you just can’t pass up?

Dirty Pleasures by Melody Snow Monroe

Dirty Pleasures (Pleasure, Montana #10)
Grade-D-
Hotness Level-Inferno
Kink Level-Mild Kink
Series-Pleasure, Montana #10
Genre-Contemporary/Menage
Reviewed by Kate
166 pages
 
Gabe and Dylan had been assigned to protect Ceci on their last case. Despite being extremely attracted to her, they kept their hands to themselves. But now the case is over and it’s time to discover if Ceci feels the same way about them.
 
This book didn’t work for me on so many levels. Other than being huge and manly in so many masculine ways, there didn’t seem to be anything remarkable or memorable about either Gabe or Dylan. Ceci had so much internal turmoil that it was hard to connect with her. She has what comes across as OCD and is also trying to deal with her self hatred eminating from her ex-boyfriend’s suicide. It was more than I wanted to read about.
 
As far as the kink goes with this one, I couldn’t decide whether this one was a BDSM read or not. There was some spanking and they did visit a club (which was a disappointing scene for a BDSM reader like me). But neither of the men seemed real dom-like even though Ceci granted them the Dom title simply because they never let her do what she wanted.
 
This book may appeal to fans of the Pleasure, Montana series, but to a Pleasure, Montana virgin (*snort*)like myself, it just didn’t work.