A Reviews

Long, Hot Texas Summer by Carolyn Brown

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

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Grade: A-
Hotness Level: Ember
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary
Published: 8/26/14
Reviewed by Kate
248 pages

Loretta and Jackson have been divorced for 17 years.  They have a daughter Nona who is now 21, but they haven’t seen each other in 4 years, since Nona was old enough to drive herself to her father’s house.  Loretta hears that Nona is planning on skipping her last year of college and living with Jackson and ranching with him full time.  So Loretta storms off to the ranch to talk some sense into Nona and she’s staying there until Nona agrees to go back to school.  But the sparks are still there between Jackson and Loretta.  Can she get Nona to leave the ranch before the sparks ignite a fire?

There was so much that I liked about this book.  First off, I’m always a sucker for a plot about exes getting back together and this one was sooo good.  Secondly, I quickly fell in love with Loretta and Jackson. Loretta is quite a spit-fire.  I loved how she could verbally fight, but it never came to blows.  And at times, she had me laughing out loud.  Jackson has taken up residence at #1 on my most romantic hero list.  And all because of a jar of mayonnaise.  And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the crazy family that Loretta comes from.

My one true complaint is that there were a ton of country music references.  And every time the author wrote about a song, it pulled me out of the story a bit.  As a country music listener I had to stop and think of lyrics.  It wasn’t terrible.  Just distracting.

This one is going on my “Best of 2014” list.  A perfect, light, low-conflict, cowboy romance.  I look forward to re-reading this one in the future and seeing what else Carolyn Brown has in store for this series.

Despite the low heat rating on this one, (I think it’s been years since I’ve read a romance with no direct mention of even an erection) I really enjoyed it.  Do you have any low heat reads that remain on your all-time favorites list?

Caine’s Reckoning by Sarah McCarty

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

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Grade: A-
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Historical
Series: Hell’s Eight #1
Published: 11/1/07
Reviewed by Kate
474  pages

When Caine and his buddies ride in a rescue some women who have been kidnapped, Desi is the only one fighting the kidnappers.  And she’s the only one who doesn’t want to be returned to town.  She doesn’t want to return to her life as a sex slave.  When the reverend calls in a favor, Caine marries Desi and takes her back to his home.  But is there a way that Desi can recover from her violent past and become the wife that she wants to be for Caine?

This one has got that marriage of convenience trope that I adore, but with a kick.  Caine doesn’t really want to marry Desi, but he owes the reverend a favor and he’s a man of his word.  Plus he doesn’t feel he can really return Desi to the life she was living.  Desi is so strong.  Life hasn’t broken her.  It only seems to have made her stronger.  But there’s a fragility under her fighting surface and Caine is the one who finally allows her to start healing.

I have re-read this one more times than I can count.  There’s just something about this one that reaches out and won’t let me go.  There’s obviously quite a bit of drama dealing with Desi’s past, so if you’re looking for a light hearted, low conflict historical this isn’t it.  However, I would strongly recommend it to any fans of historicals with a bit of edge to them.

Willing Victim by Cara McKenna – Anne’s review

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

This is Anne’s birthday week, so we’re going to spend two days on one of her favorite books of all time.  Yesterday was  Kate’s review, and now, Anne’s review.

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Grade: A+
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: Moderate Kink
Genre: Contemporary, BDSM
Published: 8/6/10
Reviewed by Anne
105 ebook pages

This is one of my favorite books of all time.  I’ve been pressuring Kate to read it.  And when I say pressuring I mean that I annoyed her to the point that she probably read it just to get me to stop bringing it up.  I thought she’d LOVE it just like me.  But she read it and said it was pretty good.  Pretty good?  Seriously?  Now I feel the need to defend this awesome story.  So if you’re looking for an unbiased review?  You should probably go read Kate’s review.

  1. Flynn – a tattoed, rough and scarred fighter/boxer long before it was cool in other romances
  2. Rape role playing – this is the best I’ve ever seen this done. Their discussion ahead of time, the safeword, the scenarios they play out, the way they care for each other during and after their sessions – this is sex done right.
  3. This:

They walked to Flynn’s building without speaking and he punched the floor buttons for two and five.  He made his usual stop to knock on his sister’s door then returne, a hardness to his expression.

“You okay?” Laurel asked.

“Second we get in that apartment,” Flynn muttered, “it’s on.”

“What’s on?”

The growl in his voice was all the answer she needed.  “You fucking know.”

 

Now I know Kate didn’t like the abrupt ending – I am fine with it.  I feel confident that they’ll be ok.  And I know that the voyeurism scene is the book is off putting to some, but for me, because all parties involved were on board?  So hot.  It totally worked for me!

So what’s your all time favorite read?  (Or just one of them if you can’t narrow it down!)