A Reviews

The Party by Katie Ashley

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

The Party (The Proposition, #0.5)
Grade-A
Hotness Level-None
Kink Level-No Kink
Series-The Proposition # 0.5
Genre-Contemporary
Reviewed by Kay
44 pages

This is a prequel or prologue to The Proposition. It tells the story of how they met at a party and the loss that Emma has suffered. Emma, the strong business woman, meets Aiden Fitzgerald, the resident man-whore. He tries to pick her up and she turns him down.

Emma wants a baby in the worst way. She lost the man she loved and feels he was her shot at forever. She lost but she still wants to be a mother and talks her gay best friend into donating his swimmers for the cause.

I loved this novella and immediately put everything on hold and bought the first two books. I suggest this novella for anyone. I even love the cover! It doesn’t really match the description in the story but it makes me giggle.

Making It Last by Ruthie Knox

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Grade: A+
Hotness Level: Blaze
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary
Series: Camelot #4
Reviewed by Anne
104 pages
I have always dreamed of reading a story like this! One that looks into a marriage and shows the work and the romance of it. This story brought tears to my eyes and I LOVED it. I hate crying while reading, yet I loved this book. It was so incredibly good and incredibly painful, yet sweet and romantic.

This is the fourth story in the Camelot series, and it’s a continuation of Tony and Amber, whose “how they met” story was told in the first Camelot book, How to Misbehave.  I really enjoyed that one, too, but I don’t think you’d have to read it to appreciate this one.  Making It Last takes place 13 or so years after How to Misbehave.

Tony and Amber have 3 rambunctious boys, a big mortgage, and a general busy-ness that leaves them with very little time alone.  Tony works long, long hours to make ends meet.  Amber has just seen her youngest child off to school and is feeling a little lost.  There are so many things pulling them apart, and they aren’t even sure what’s wrong or how to fix it. That doesn’t sound like much, but it’s gripping.  I was never bored, and even though I knew it had to be an HEA, I found myself wondering how in the world they’d work things out.  Yet when they did – it was believable.

The reality of the story makes it shine.  And then there’s humor that relieves some of the tension and makes me grin through watery eyes.  Amber and Tony are great flirts when they get the chance to finally be alone together!

Ruthie Knox is a rising star. I haven’t read all her books yet, but now I’m determined to! I so appreciate that she wrote a story like this one. It hit so close to home for me. It’s so real, and I’m so grateful I got to read it. It’s going on my best of the year list.

So, how about you?  Do you like reading a romance within an established marriage story?  Do you have any good ones to recommend?

 

Tie Me by Olivia Cunning

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Tie Me (One Night with Sole Regret, #5)

Grade-A+
Hotness Level-Inferno
Kink Level-Low
Series-One Night With Sole Regret #5
Genre-Contemporary
Reviewed by Kay
159 pages

Kellen Jamison is man trapped in the past. His life looks pretty sweet. He’s gorgeous, wealthy, a rock star, has a great best friend and good band mates. But he is partially broken inside. His guilt over promises he made to a dead woman eat him alive. He tortures himself by revisiting the beach house she loved so much. He wears a cuff on one of his wrists as a remembrance of her. He loves her and doesn’t know how to stop.

Dawn O’Reilly is a classical, composing pianist with a Grammy for her achievements. She is staying in a rented beach house for part of the summer trying to finish a piece of music that has her exasperated. Her muse is gone and she can’t find another. She has to be perfect, her music has to be perfect. After a disappointing evening trying to compose, she goes out onto her deck in the storm and sees a man. In that moment everything changes.

This is probably Olivia Cunning’s best work to date in my opinion. I have been waiting for Kellen’s story and this one was fantastic. The emotion in this story was at times almost overwhelming. It took Dawn’s tenacity and determination to make Kellen see that he was alive even if Sara wasn’t. Kellen had to make peace with the promises he made to Sara (who seemed a bit childish and a whole lot selfish in the description of her) and his acknowledgement that it is possible and okay to always love someone’s memory even while you go on living your life. This book moved me to tears, both happy and sad tears. I highly recommend it.