A Reviews

The Story Guy by Mary Ann Rivers

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Every once in a while we read a book that we love so much that we decide we need to put up a review of it immediately, even though the review calendar is full.  This is one of those books.  Kay and Anne highly recommend you read The Story Guy.

The Story Guy
Grade-A
Hotness Level-Blaze
Kink level-No Kink
Genre-Contemporary
Reviewed by Kay
131 pages

This is the most beautiful book I’ve ever read. So much more than a romance. Powerful, moving, sweet, loving and sometimes even funny. It starts with the placement of personal ad and takes you on the journey of two people that so desperately needed each other. The desire to love and be loved is never more profound.

Brian places an ad for one day a week, to meet with someone for nothing more than kissing. No relationship, no extensive touching and no sex. Just kissing. He doesn’t have the time for anything more. He lives with his sister and works as an attorney.

Carrie is a librarian who answers his ad because of how it’s worded. She had no idea what she would be getting. Her confusion over the situation is understandable and frustrating. But growing to love someone is never easy. I really can’t tell you much more because I don’t want to give anything away.

I ended up open mouthed sobbing because the emotional pull of this story is huge.

                     

The Chocolate Touch by Laura Florand

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

The Chocolate Touch (Amour et Chocolat #4)
Grade: A-
Hotness Level: Blaze
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary
Series: Amour et Chocolat #4

Reviewed by Anne
287 pages
 
I know a lot of people are fanatical about reading a series in order.  I’m not really one of them.  Don’t get me wrong, if I can, I’ll definitely read a series in order, but I don’t think much of jumping in to an established series.  That’s what I did with The Chocolate Touch.   The only problem I ran into was that now I want to read all the books I missed!
 
Dominique (Dom) is a famous chocolate maker in Paris and a well known bad boy.  He finds himself drawn to a quiet woman who sits in his chocolaterie (a chocolate restaurant!) each day and savors his chocolate creations.  He’s quite full of himself and he’s drawn to her in part because of her mystery, but in part because he takes her love of his chocolates personally.
 
Jaime is the grand-daughter of an American chocolate mogul.  One that Dom would be very dismissive of if he knew who she was.  (it made me think of Hershey)  She used to be quite the black sheep of the family and political activist pushing for fair trade and honest labor practices for the family chocolate business.  But that was months ago and she’s feeling really lost now.  She’s taking each day one at a time and enjoying every little piece of it.  Her favorite part of the day is the time she spends enjoying Dom’s chocolate creations.  
 
Dom has quite a way with women, but he is used to one night stands and women who pursue him.  He’s actually quite nervous about going after Jaime, much to the delight of his staff.  Jaime feels like nothing special and can’t even fathom that Dom wants to spend time with her.  The fumbling it takes for the two of them to come together was so sweet and fun!
 
This was a great story!  I felt like I was *in* Paris eating decadent chocolates. I loved how the back stories of Dom and Jaime unfolded. Their issues were very believable. I loved them both, but I especially loved Dominique. The chapters in his head were my favorites.
 
Here’s Dom.  He’s finally worked up the courage to approach her and is putting together a box of his chocolates for her.  He’s also giving her samples as he fills the box. (I’m in love!)

“Here, have another.” He pushed the square into her hand.  “No, try this one.”
 
Her flush blurred her pale freckles, but she smiled and took it.  Her enthusiasm, or maybe even more the blush, tempted him to abandon this medium-size box and pull out his largest, fill it with everything of his and three time over.  But he caught himself.  He wanted her to run out.  He wanted her to have to come back here to get her next fix.  
This just makes me melt!

Dom and Jaime have real issues to overcome, but it’s overall a low conflict romance.  (I love those!) This one is really good and I recommend it. I can’t wait to read books 1-3!  How about you?  Does a tough guy hero who specializes in chocolate work for you?  Or is there something else you prefer?

The Proposition by Katie Ashley

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

The Proposition
Grade-A
Hotness Level-Inferno
Kink Level-None
Series-The Proposition #1
Genre-Contemporary
Reviewed by Kay
316 pages

This is actually the second story in the series, the first part was a novella. Aiden Fitzgerald wanted Emma Harrison so bad. He wanted her so bad that he agreed to be her baby daddy just to get her into bed. Emma wanted a baby so bad she agreed. A contract was drawn up and the baby making began. What neither of them expected was to fall in love. Both try to fight it but you know what happened.

I love this series. I love the characters. Even Aiden the man-whore. Even Aiden the frustrator (okay, that might not be a word). Even Aiden the douche. I love Emma. I love Nate, Casey, Connor, Patrick and all the rest of the characters. I loved finding out more about Aiden’s past.

I highly recommend this series. It fun, hot, sweet and easy to read. Oddly enough, my favorite character in this series is dead. Travis. I wish he would have gotten his HEA but not with Emma. My only dislike, this was a cliffhanger.