Anne

A Prior Engagement by Karina Bliss

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

A Prior Engagement
Grade: B+
Hotness Level: Blaze
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: ContemporarySeries: Special Forces #4
Reviewed by Anne

I have decided that Karina Bliss is an author I do not read enough of.  I need to read more of her books.  I started this one during the RT Convention and stayed up waaaaay too late reading it.  In that wonderful way that really good books have, it just pulled me in and I didn’t want to put it down!
 
Lee, an SAS (Australian Special Forces) soldier who was thought to be killed in battle has been found alive.  His return home is more challenging than he expected.  Everyone has moved on with their lives, except his ex-girlfriend.  Even though she turned down his proposal on the eve of his deployment, she now appears to be one of his family.  They think she was his fiancee.  He wonders what is going on and why she would deceive his friends and loved ones.  
 
Jules knows that Lee will be furious with her for lying to his SAS buddies and family who have now become *her* friends and family.  She figures they may hate her, too, once they hear what she did.  And all of this is made even more complicated because Lee appears to have amnesia and claims he can’t remember what happened between them before he deployed.
 
This isn’t a set up that would normally pull me in, but I’m SO glad I read this book.  I don’t like big misunderstandings or lies between the main characters, but this really worked for me.  Jules is pressured by medical and psychiatric experts to take it easy on Lee.  She is determined to tell him the truth and explain her motives behind the lies, even though she doesn’t expect him to forgive her.  She just wants him to find his footing in his life before her revelations do further damage.  
 
Concentrating on getting even with Jules gives Lee something to focus on in a world that seems so different to him.  Interestingly, because he wants Jules to pay for lying to his friends and family, he’s willing to let her take care of him.  He thinks he’s unworthy of her and he thinks if they really loved each other he’d hit the road rather than have her seem him struggle to recover from his captivity.  But because he’s upset with her deception, he’s willing to impose on her in ways he wouldn’t if they were being honest.  That is very interesting!
 
I think the PTSD and recovery from Lee’s captivity is very realistically portrayed.  We’re in Lee’s head a lot, so we see how mixed up he feels, but we also see his actions, which could be confusing to outsiders.  Jules and the rest of Lee’s friends work very hard to anticipate Lee’s needs, and this drives Lee crazy when he realizes what’s going on.  
 
In the middle of this very real feeling personal conflict, Karina Bliss writes some believable humor and friendships.   The guys especially are funny together.  

“Ross took a casual swig of his tea, then dug in his jacket and produced a protein bar, which he held out. ‘You haven’t eaten in what… five hours?’
‘What are you, my babysitter?’ Hemmed between his friends, he felt like he was being observed, watched.  Notwithstanding their benevolent motives, Lee had to keep reminding himself they were on his side.  His nerves only recognized that they were elite soldiers.
Ross waved the bar in front of his nose. ‘Take it.’
‘You’re being anal.’ Reluctantly Lee accepted. ‘How the hell did you get a free spirit like Viv to say yes anyway?’
‘I’m loose in bed.’ ” (A Prior Engagement, p 164-5)

 
The whole book is really well done.  A little slow moving at times, but that doesn’t bother me.  This is the fourth in this series of books.  I read the first one and enjoyed it (despite it’s over the top ending) but I haven’t read the second or third.  This fourth one stood alone pretty well.  There is a large circle of friends, along with both names and nicknames that got confusing at times, but I kept up pretty easily.  I do want to read the two books I missed now, though!  If you’re looking for realistic drama with a dose of humor, Karina Bliss is the way to go!

Anne’s Highlights of RT 2013

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

This was my first RT and I learned a lot.  One of the biggest things I learned?  I was way too tired to do a daily blog post.  I really hope I get to go to RT next year, and if I do I’ll either have to employ better time management or just plan ahead on doing a highlights post like this one.  So… what was most memorable about RT for me?

  • Meeting all the authors who were favorites of mine.  

 

I met Delphine Dryden, Cara McKenna, and Ruthie Knox – all sitting at the SAME TABLE!  It was almost too much for me.  I talked with each of them and grinned from ear to ear.  I walked away happy and then realized I’d forgotten to take a picture with them.  So I walked back and they were nice enough to stand with me for a picture.  

Lauren Dane writes some of my all time favorites, the Brown Siblings Series and the Delicious series.  And now that I’ve seen her in person?  I want to dress like her!  She’s my new fashion icon.
Here’s Kay and I with Jill Shalvis.  She and Helen Kay Dimon were a hoot!
 I didn’t get a picture of me with Jaci Burton, but here she is with Lauren Dane.  I like Jaci’s books, but I didn’t know how funny she was in person.  She took the time to appear on a lot of panels that were very entertaining!
 and then there was the author I was most looking forward to meeting and taking a picture with – Shannon Stacey!  I was so excited to meet her that I saw her 3 times (the Blogger pre-con, the Carina Press blogger/librarian lunch, and at the book fair) and spoke to her each time and never took a picture.  So, at the book fair I turned back around, bringing a friend and took this picture.  Finally!
  • Meeting new-to-me authors who were so funny I now want to read them just to see if it carries over.  Damon Suede, Jade Lee, Helen Kay Dimon I’m thinking of you.  I also have a whole stack of cards and book marks by authors I now want to read!

    Did I take pictures of Jade Lee or Damon Suede?  No.  I was too busy laughing.  I was laughing at Helen Kay Dimon, too, but I remembered to take this picture!

  • The BDSM reader panel.  Shayla Black, Lexi Blake, Kasi Alexander and Reggie Alexander (the last two write together as Cassidy Browning) held a panel to explain some basics of BDSM.  Tools and toys were explained and demonstrated.  
This is Reggie demonstrating a crop.

 

 
Here he demonstrates a scratching tool on Kasi Alexander.

  

  • The m/m panel called “Man, Oh Man: Why Women Love M/M”  I believe they said it was the very first official m/m panel ever held at RT.  This was a really interesting and entertaining conversation.  The authors on the panel were Z.A. Maxfield, Tara Lain, Amy Lane, Belinda McBride, and Damon Suede.  I haven’t read any of them so far, but I’m really looking forward to it now!

  • The Spoons & Candy event hosted by Entangled was probably the most fun I had at an event at RT.  I like games, and it takes me a while to get to know people, so playing spoons with the same group of people for an hour was right up my alley.  And besides spoons and conversation?  Candy.  Tons of candy to eat and a takeout box to carry some back to your hotel room.  So you’d think I’d take some pictures at this awesome event, right?  Well, I DID!  I took one picture.  Of a deck of cards.  *sigh*  I mean it was exciting that Kay won this deck of cards, but I think a group photo of our table would have been a little more exciting.  Alas, I didn’t take one of those.  So please enjoy this picture of Kay’s deck of cards.  
    Well, you can see the top card on the deck, anyway.
 
  • The weird sex panel and the research stories the authors shared!  When Sex Gets Weird: A Paranormal Love Scene Primer featured Jaci Burton, Alexandra Ivy, Shannon K. Butcher and Jade Lee.  These ladies were funny and interesting and that hour went by too fast!

  • The other readers.  The woman who let me user her charger to charge my phone.  The lady who sold the shirts, who asked me personal questions that just made me laugh!  The woman who we stood next to in line many times whose name is NOT Coleen, though that’s what I called her.  I wish I could remember names or had taken pictures.  The many, many friendly readers and authors at RT really make the convention the wonderful event it is.

  • All the give always.  The swag and the books we all got, but also the bigger prizes of bags and baskets of books, the eReaders and iPads and iPad minis.
This was my favorite pieces of swag.  It’s a stack of post it notes.
 

 

 
I got a lot of free books, this is a stack of my favorites!
  • The wait staff was really friendly.  I can’t imagine the logistics of feeding 100s of people at the same time.  There were also events where people were mingling and getting books and things were just plain crowded.  The wait staff at the Sheraton were always polite and down right nice.  They helped make RT a great place to be.

  • The disco party is a favorite in my memory, just because it was the first day and I didn’t realize how all out they would go.  It was awesome!  

    The Ellora’s Cave Bad Girls of Romance Disco Inferno.  All the other parties were good, too, but this one sticks out for me.  Mini lava lamps, disco caps and calendars for everyone to take home.  It was also the first time we got to experience the heaven that was the chocolate fountain!

Here’s Kay rocking her Disco hat, beenie, whatever.  It’s covered in sequins!
  • Staying up til 2am reading on Saturday night because I knew I could sleep in, and I just couldn’t put the book down. (A Prior Engagement by Karina Bliss)
If I went next year I would…
  • Dress up for dances (and panels)
  • Give myself time to sit and read or rest when I was tired. I didn’t want to miss a second of this one and I was REALLY tired by Saturday
  • Take more pictures
  • Bring friends!  This was so much fun!!!!

So, how about you?  If you went to RT, what is a favorite memory of yours?  If you didn’t go, what is the thing that most makes you want to go next year?

The Seduction Hypothesis by Delphine Dryden

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

The Seduction Hypothesis (Science of Temptation #2)
Grade: A-
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: Moderate Kink
Genre: Contemporary, BDSM lite, Nerd-manceSeries: The Science of Temptation #2
Reviewed by Anne

This is going to be a hard review for me to write, mostly because I’m having to reign in my desire to just squee like a fan girl about how good this book is.  Because it’s good.  And I really liked it.  And it’s funny.  And it’s good and I liked it and you should really, really read it, because it’s good.  And…

OK, let me try again.  I’m a huge Big Bang Theory fan, and when the first book in this series, The Theory of Attraction, came out it made me think of BBT and I really wanted to read it.  So, I bought it and read it ASAP.  I enjoyed that one and told all my friends about it. This was back before we started the blog, but it was an honorable mention on my Best of 2012 list here.   I liked it and all my friends knew about it.  So when the second book, The Seduction Hypothesis showed up on Netgalley, I think either Kay or Kate messaged me about it and I put in a request to read it.  Thankfully the publisher (yay Carina Press!) approved a copy for me.  I enjoyed this one even more than the first.
 
Ben and Lindsey are in the same nerdy social circle, and that’s been a bit painful lately, because they dated for a while and then broke up.  Lindsey would like to try some BDSM, but even hinting about it to Ben got a bad reaction.  At the same time, Ben doesn’t like the way he sees her watching their friend, Ivan.  His jealousy and her desire for more lead to them breaking up.  And that makes for one uncomfortable trip to BeastCon, the fan convention their group of friends is attending together.  When Ben begins to realize just why Lindsey left him, he’s already been regretting their break up.  He sees the BDSM comic she’s reading. He sees her watching not just Ivan, but watching Ivan AND Ivan’s girlfriend, Cami.  He sees the D/s vibe between Ivan and Cami and things click into place.  He decides the Con will be a great place to try to win Lindsey back.
 
This book is the second in this series, but it does stand alone very well.  If you read Theory of Attraction first you’ll really appreciate the scenes with Cami and Ivan in this book, but you’d be fine without having read it.  This book is both hot and funny.  Ben throws himself into learning the ways of BDSM, but he’s not perfect.  Lindsey and Ben share some giggly moments in the middle of their sexy times, and that read so true to me.  
 
Dryden has GOT to be a nerd.  Either that or she knows a lot of them, because I have some nerd cred and she knows how nerds talk.  There’s a sentence in the book where the characters talk about cake being merely a vector for the icing delivery as salad is for dressing.  I’ve had conversations like that.  Seriously.  They are both funny and effortless in real life when you’re immersed in such subjects.  Dryden really nails that in this book.  She also has countless geek references that all made me smile.  So much fun!
 
So, when you read The Seduction Hypothesis you get all the goodness I just wrote about, PLUS you have a female lead with a Cthulhu tattoo and a male lead who isn’t afraid research BDSM and make a crib sheet on how to carry it out.  I love this book and I highly recommend it.  It’s going on my best of 2013 list!

So I’m curious… If you read this book or Theory of Attraction, did it work for you?  Is there more good nerd-mance out there?  What would you recommend?