Author: Dirty Girl Anne

The Bottom Line by Sandy James

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne
17899707
Grade: C
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: Mild Kink
Genre: Contemporary
Published: 5/6/14
Reviewed by Kate
336 pages

Contractor Ben needs another project, fast.  When high school teacher Mallory asks him to finish all the projects her ex-husband left behind, he’s drawn to more than the money the project will bring.

This one pulled at my emotions a bit.  Mallory has been through a terrible year of life and is trying to bounce back.  Ben is trying to provide a stable home life for his daughter Amber.  The two of them fit together.  Yet they don’t rush into things, which I appreciated.  I didn’t care for the drawn out suspense of what had happened in the last year for Mallory.  It frustrated me, more than drawing me into the story.  And there was some mild kink that just didn’t work in this one for me.  Other than that, this was a solid read.


I’m guessing this is the first book in a upcoming series.  I will read the second one when it comes out, because I’m predicting Beth’s (Mallory’s friend) Vegas vacation will turn out to have some unexpected consequences and I want to see if I’m right.

Abducted By A Prince by Olivia Drake

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne
18169923
Grade: B
Hotness Level: Blaze
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Historical
Series: Cinderella Sisterhood #3
Published: 4/29/14
Reviewed by Kate
352 pages

Raised by a guardian who died shortly after he started at Eton, Damien’s one clue to his parentage, a key, was stolen by Walt.  Now as an adult, Damien is desperate to find out who his parents were.  So he hatches a plan.  He will kidnap Walt’s sister and hold her hostage until Walt delivers the key.  What could possible go wrong with that plan?  Except he accidentally kidnaps Walt’s unwanted cousin instead.


Once I got past the fact that such a level headed man could come up with such a foolish scheme, this book worked for me on so many levels. A hint of fairy tale without being an outright retelling.  Deep characters.  An intriguing plot.  I couldn’t stop turning pages. I’ll be reading the first two books in this series soon.  If you like fairy tales and historical romances, give this one a try. 


This historical was has put me in the mood for more historical romance.  Do you have any recommendations?

It’s Complicated by L.A. Witt

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne
20816383
Grade: B
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary, m/m
Published: 4/28/14
Reviewed by Anne
201 pages
 
Brad and Jeff have a history of serially breaking up and getting back together.  The argue a lot, and their latest breakup left them in separate apartments, missing each other, but tired of fighting.  Brad works in retail and Jeff runs a business with his ex-wife, with whom he is on friendly terms with.  Brad and Jeff have decided to start over from scratch and try to make things work.  They really love each other, but are stuck in their bad habits, and trying to cope with Jeff’s hectic work schedule.  This situation becomes even more difficult when Jeff’s ex-wife ends up pregnant after a one-off night with Jeff that happened when Jeff and Brad were broken up.
 
I love a good marriage in trouble story, and this one fits the bill (despite the lack of marriage between Brad and Jeff).  One of the downsides of a marriage in trouble story is that it’s a painful situation.  In this case, really all Brad and Jeff have is their love for each other.  Their pattern of behavior and their situation is just rough.
 
So, as expectied, this is a painful read.  It’s also very good.  It comes across as a very realistic relationship, but that makes it harder to believe they do work things out.  They have so many problems, and while there’s a fundamental change before the end of the story, I felt like it ended with so much more work for them to do.    The tone of the ending was happy and hopeful, but I felt like the skip ahead to the epilogue was both needed and a little too happy to believe.   It’s probably my least favorite of the Tucker Springs series, but I still enjoyed it.