Anne

Somebody’s Lover by Jasmine Haynes

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Somebody’s Lover by Jasmine Haynes

Somebody's Lover (The Jackson Brothers, #1)
Grade – B-
Hotness Level – Inferno
Kink Level – No kink
Genre – Contemporary
Series – The Jackson Brothers #1
Reviewed by Anne
 
Taylor is a widow with two school aged kids and strong ties to her husband’s family.  Her husband has been gone for three years and she’s at a new normal.  However, she’s finally coming out of her numbness and really missing being with a man and having sex.  She has no desire to date or have long term connections, though, so she drops the kids off at her in laws and dresses up and heads out to a bar no PTA mom would ever go to, looking for hookup. 
 
She’s in the middle of having second thoughts about the guy hitting on her when her brother-in-law, Jace, shows up and takes exception to what she’s doing.  He comes over and cock blocks her.  Wait, what’s the female equivalent of cock blocking?  Whatever, he scares the guy off by pretending to be her husband.  She’s actually ok with that, due to her second thoughts and all.  However, she is justifiably pissed at his holier than thou reaction to her desire to have sex.  She sets him straight about her wants and needs and suddenly they see each other in a different light, and Jace volunteers to be her one night stand.

This is a hard one for me to grade.  It was a good story and it was hot, with really well written sex scenes.    I thought it was overly dramatic, though, and there were several little things that bothered me.  

First, the good.  I enjoyed the chemistry between Jace and Taylor.  I liked their family’s get togethers and the way everyone supported each other.  While it annoyed me how concerned everyone was with not upsetting Jace’s father, I can see that was probably realistic.  I also really enjoyed how their relationship unfolded.  They didn’t have stupid fights, they were just working their way toward what they were going to do and how they would go forward. 
 
Unfortunately the main conflict in the story was an issue that was seriously inflated an because no one talked about it.  It’s not much of a spoiler, so I’ll put it out there.  Jace  was drunk and showed up late (or not at all) on the job the day his brother, Lou died.  Instead of waiting for Jace, against company/family policy, Lou decided to work alone, up a tree, with a chainsaw.  Horrible accident ensues and Lou dies.  Jace thinks it’s all his fault.  He knows his dad thinks it’s all his fault, too.  He knows this because he can tell.  They never talked about it, but his dad treats him differently now.  I just felt like there was more overly dramatic angst than this issue deserved.  It could have been resolved with a 5 minute conversation with ANYONE.  A therapist.  Your mom.  Taylor.  Me.  I could have set him straight.  But he never asked anyone.
Another issue I had with the story was that it made Taylor and Jace’s HEA at the expense of her first marriage.  You know, when she falls for Jace she realizes NOW she knows what love is!  Everything that came before was pale in comparison to this!  I didn’t like that the first marriage was made to be lesser in order to justify that theirs was TWU WUV.

I also got pulled out of the story by condom care.  Once Jace threw a used condom in a lake.  That’s nasty!  Why even mention it if you’re going to litter?  Another time he flushes a used condom.  I didn’t think you were supposed to do that.  I thought a garbage can was proper disposal.  I’d google it, but I’m scared of the unintentional results and images that might pop up.
 
And then there’s first scene in the bar where Jace pretends that Taylor is his wife.  In turn, to try to make him uncomfortable, Taylor says something being willing to go home with him if he promises to stop beating her.  I thought that was a really inappropriate joke.  I also thought it was concerning that she’s in a bar yelling about him not hitting her any more and leaves with him and no one seems concerned.
 
If you can ignore those things, I really enjoyed their story.  I guess it says a lot about how well the sex scenes were written and how much I appreciate that.   But so many little things bothered me, and unfortunately THAT’s what I remember about the story.

Kinky Neighbors by Jasmine Haynes

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Kinky Neighbors (An Erotic Romance for Four)
Grade – D-/C-
Hotness Level – Inferno
Kink Level – No kink
Genre – Contemporary, MenageSeries – Kinky Neighbors #1
Jointly Reviewed by Kate & Anne

*** This review contains spoilers***

So, I (Anne) knew that Kate was on the lookout for a good HEA foursome book.  There was a Valentine’s Day sale on ebooks at All Romance eBooks and I had Jasmine Haynes on my wishlist.  So when I read the back cover copy for this one, I suggested Kate and I both read it.  Below is our joint review.

Kate:
Drew has always enjoyed the kinky side of his wife Cat. So when she suggests they invite their neighbors (and friends) Logan and Alexis to go away for a week of exploring new sexual territory, he agrees. Drew worries that the new dynamics might destroy the friendship, but Cat promises to take it slow. Logan, like Cat, is looking forward to the week. Alexis has always been a bit more sexually reserved than Logan, but agrees to go on the vacation.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t like this book at all. Not because of the writing, but because it just crossed some boundaries I didn’t even realize I had. In the initial stages of the foursome, I felt uncomfortable because of some of the feelings Drew and especially Alexis were experiencing. The further into the relationship(s), the more uncomfortable I became. By the end if the book, I was forcing myself to finish…I was simply too close to the end to not finish.

Anne:
I really liked the first third of this book.  The part that takes place at their weeklong getaway at a mountain cabin.  I knew they were talking Alexis into things, but I felt like she was happy with what was happening and not having any second thoughts or anything.  Once they got back to real life, Drew and Alexis (the story is told from their alternating POVs) both seemed to have some reservations about what they were doing, and I started to get uncomfortable.  I was holding out hope that these were issues they’d just have to work through, but things just got worse and worse.  In the end, I was really disappointed because the story didn’t meet my expectations. 

I wanted to read a fantasy where everyone was happy.  I didn’t expect two marriages to fall apart.  Honestly, I’d guess that is how it would work in real life.  So, I’m complaining because the story was too realistic.  And when it was revealed toward the end exactly how much manipulation had occured and how early it had happened… well that ruined even the beginning of the book for me.  Even the twu wuv discovered between Alexis and Drew didn’t save the story for me.

Kate:
I tend to rate books by how likely I am to reread them.  In this case I wrote the review, deleted the book from my Kindle and happily moved on.

Anne:
Yeah, I don’t think I’d reread this book.  I will look for more by this author, because I thought it was really well written and the sex scenes were particularly good.  I’ll be pretty careful about reading cover copy and probably other reviews before I read, though.

Kate:
There is a sequel to this story (Kinky Neighbors: Cat and Logan’s Just Desserts) but I won’t be reading it. I just don’t want to know any more about these characters.

Anne:
Really.  A sequel.  Huh.  But I really hate Cat and Logan.  I can’t imagine enjoying a book about them.  It’s a damned if you do damned if you don’t situation.  If they are happy, I’ll think it’s unfair and unlikely.  I’ll be pissed that they walked away from their manipulations (and spouses!) without any consequences.  If they are unhappy, that won’t be much of a read for an HEA lover like me.   So, yeah, I think I’ll be skipping the sequel.

And, Kay, don’t even think of picking this book up.  It would make you so angry!

Restraint by Charlotte Stein

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Restraint
Grade – A
Hotness Level – Inferno
Kink Level – no kink
Genre – Contemporary, short
Reviewed by Anne

Mallory is pissed of at her friend.  He invited *Artie* along on their holiday.  Artie who hates her and thinks she’s stupid.  But while they are sharing a vacation house, Mallory quickly realizes Artie doesn’t dislike her, he just doesn’t know what to do with the attraction he feels for her.  He’s so uptight, conservative, restrained… he just doesn’t know what to do with the physical reaction he has to her blunt words.

I’ll stop there because it’s a short story (51 pages on my reader) and I don’t want to give it away, but it’s incredibly good.  I love Charlotte Stein’s voice.  Her first person story telling works for me, even though I’m not a first person fan, in general.  Early on in the story, before she understands why Artie seems to dislike her, Mallory decides she’s never going to have Artie’s approval and she doesn’t care.  In fact, she’s going to say more of the things that make him uncomfortable.


I can almost make out the pressure of his immense gaze on the side of my face, as I make a comment I know I shouldn’t be making.

I know it, the second it comes out – but somehow I just can’t help it.  I’m not even trying to employ this new “Artie can go fuck himself” attitude.  The words simply come out all on their own, like a reflex.

A rude, rude reflex, in response to Lucy’s suggestion that she’d be happy just to have some movie star hunk of the week read the phone book to her.

‘He could read the phone book to me, too, ‘ I say, and then the Doc hit my knee with the little hammer, and my leg kicks up. ‘As long as he does so directly into my vagina.’

This story is very hot.  It’s also got a dirty feel to it, which I really enjoyed.  The dirty comes from knowing how Artie feels about the things they are doing, not so much what they are doing.  I really enjoyed the writing!  Artie and Mallory also develop a sweet and believable love for each other.  I highly recommend this book.  It’s going on my Best of 2013 list.