Anne

Beyond Solitude by Kit Rocha

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne
20639564
Grade: A
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Dystopian
Series: Beyond #4.5
Published: 4/1/14*
Reviewed by Anne
Pages: 126

*Note: This novella is part of the Alphas After Dark Anthology. The authors report that the anthology will be on sale for 99c in April and after that the novella will be priced at $2.99

So, just as I was finishing up with my review of Beyond Jealousy, I was lucky enough to get this ARC of Beyond Solitude.  I devoured it!  It takes place at the same time as Beyond Solitude, but could easily be read first.  In fact, this one probably stands alone better than any of the stories in the series besides the first one.  

Derek Ford is a member of the O’Kane gang.  Unfortunately a broken leg and old fashioned healing has left him tied to his desk a whole lot more than he likes.  One day he’s surprised to discover Mia in his office.  She’s new to the sector and she’s not an O’Kane, but she’s got ties to Lex, the O’Kane queen.  Lex gave Mia a job – she’s supposed to help Ford out with his office work.  Ford is grumpy and not appreciative of Mia invading his space, but Mia’s determined to make things work.

I showed the following quote to pretty much everyone in my bookclub trying to convince them to read this series!

“I need a job. If you don’t want me to mess with your files, fine—”

“Okay. Don’t mess with my files.”

She didn’t falter, didn’t even blink. “Then tell me what to do instead.”


If I were an asshole… He waved the bottle of whiskey at her. “You could start by letting me drink half of this and jerk off so I can get some sleep.”

That snapped her teeth together—for about five seconds. “If you’re self-conscious about doing that with me in the next room, I could take some work home.”

“Self-conscious?” He dropped the bottle on his desk and unbuckled his belt. “I’ll lay it out right here, buttercup, if you like to watch.”

Her gaze flicked to his hands, and he got that flash of tongue he’d been waiting for as she wet her lips. “I wouldn’t be watching. I’d be working.”

Filing papers like there was nothing more interesting going on? Fuck that. “Bullshit.” Ford tugged open the top button on his jeans. “It may be a little battered these days, like the rest of me, but my ego’s not dead. If I start stroking my dick right in front of you, you’re damn sure gonna be paying attention. Not just watching—riveted.”  p.7


This is on page SEVEN!  And really, the story starts on page 5, so it’s really like page 3…  It’s one hot story.  

It’s also got one of the things I like most about the Beyond series – strong women who support each other.  Mia has issues.  She’s working through them, but it’s really important for her to stand on her own.  That means falling for her new boss causes her some problems.  The real conflict in this story comes when Ford doesn’t understand why it’s a problem for him to be her boss and lover.  The way he makes it up to her is one of the most memorable “I’m sorry” gifts I’ve ever read, though!

This story could probably be read anywhere in the series, as it stands alone really well.    It’s tamer than most of the other stories, too, as Mia and Ford aren’t really interested in the orgies or PDA that the rest of the O’Kanes enjoy so much.  So, it might even be a good entry point.  I highly recommend it, and even though I got a review copy of this short story,  I’m still going to buy the anthology.  For 99c it’s hard to turn down!

Beyond Jealousy by Kit Rocha

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne
Beyond Jealousy (Beyond, #4)
Grade: B
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: Moderate Kink
Genre: Dystopian, Menage
Series: Beyond #4
Published: 3/16/14
Reviewed by Anne
262 ebook pages

Note: These Beyond books really need to be read in order.  I think you’d be pretty lost trying to jump in at this point, but don’t worry, they’re worth your reading time!

Rachel has had a thing for Ace since she first met him, but when he kept pushing her away, she fell for Cruz.  When she and Cruz broke up, she found herself with feelings for both Ace and Cruz.  To top it off, she watches Ace and Cruz circling their attraction for each other.  So it seems inevitable that they’ll see what happens when the three of them come together.

This was a very hot book.  It was also very intense.  It also turned out to be the kind of story that felt one way when I was reading it, and a different way.  When I was reading it I was totally absorbed and enjoyed it.  When I was done and thought back on it, I had some issues.

So here goes.  I loved the heat and intensity between the three of them.  I loved that it’s a menage that goes every which way – the guys have a thing for each other as well as for Rachel.  The way their relationship develops and their individual issues all seemed very believable to me.  The O’Kanes just accepted their triad relationship with no qualms, and that was very cool.  I really enjoyed their story!

But then after I finished and thought back on it… there were things that bothered me some.  Probably the biggest one is that their triad relationship is the first one ever mentioned in the series.  They were the first, but no one blinked an eye.  It seemed like there would have been some blowback about it.  I mean, these are the O’Kanes, so obviously they’re down with pretty much anything.  It would have made more sense to me to either mention that this had been done before or to have to do a little more groundbreaking work.  I also felt like the ending was a little rushed.  I would have liked a HFN rather than a HEA in this situation, because they all had a lot of issues to work through and not much time together.

However, I think all of this is colored by where the series is going.  It’s become a bit more complicated and political.  This absolutely make sense, and it’s clearly where the series was headed from the beginning, but I liked the simpler days of the first few books better.  This is definitely a personal issue for me.  I love a good series, but I generally enjoy the first books better because they are simpler.  Because the politics and details are getting more complicated as the series goes on – which they need to do, from a world building perspective – the books now have more of a suspense aspect to them.  There’s danger.  The characters’ safety is not a for sure thing.  I know that’s always been the case, but I saw that more in this book.  In fact, it’s getting unrealistic that no one gets killed.  And there’s my dilemma.  It’s part of why i don’t read romantic suspense.  I want things to feel realistic, and when a world is built and I have to worry about everyone’s safety, it’s not as fun a read for me any more.

All of that is a personal issue for me, and it reflects how I read the book and how I felt about it.  Still, I can say it was a good read and I’ll keep reading the series.  There are some teaser chapters building up to future books that leave me wanting to know more!  In fact, I hate cliff hangers, so I’m just pretending like I didn’t read the last chapter altogether!  (No worries, the last chapter isn’t about Rachel, Cruz, and Ace, it’s a cliffie about other characters in the series.)

A final word about what I like.  I will keep reading this series, despite the increased suspense, because I love the strong female characters and the O’Kane society that accepts each person for who they are.  The O’Kanes remind me of an MC (Motorcycle Club) except that their women are valued members of the gang.  I love that!

And now a final, final word… Kit Rocha does self-publishing right!  The book is really well formatted.  The ARC I received was darn near perfect and easily readable on my Bluefire reader app.  They’ve laid out a pricing plan that benefits the reader who buys in the first month.  So you can buy the book and not worry that next week it will be 99c.  I always know I’m getting a quality product with Kit Rocha!

Joint Review: Bite Me by Shelly Laurenston

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne
Bite Me (Pride, #9)       
Grade-C+(Kay) B(Anne)
Hotness Level-Blaze
Kink Level-No Kink
Series-Pride #9
Genre-Paranormal
Reviewed by Kay & Anne
384 pages

From Kay:I got approved to read this book from NetGalley and was so excited. I’m a huge fan of Shelly Laurenston’s Pride series and have enjoyed most of them. I love the humor she brings into every story. Yes, sometimes it’s over the top and ridiculous but that just seems to endear it to me even more. This installment is about Vic, a tiger/bear mix and Livy, a honey badger. I know what those of you that haven’t read a Laurenston novel are thinking. Wtf?

In this book you get love, suspense and as I mentioned before, hilarious humor. I belly laughed quite a bit as I always do. Livy’s fight to be accepted for who she is and the career she wants was very fun to read about. I mean, she’s from a crime syndicate family and could probably lead that family but no, she wants to be an artist.

Vic has a law enforcement past and is an all around nice guy. His reactions to Livy are very sweet. He’s very much the calm to her storm.  He dives right into helping her with no prodding. I loved the behavior description of Vic in the story. He’s laid back, like a bear, until he can’t be anymore. He has feline moments where he’s kind of a hot mess.  Now, Livy is a hot mess all the time.

There were a couple of creep factor moments for me in the story though. They both had to do with during or after their lovemaking and his tail would pet her. Eww, I don’t like mid-shift love scenes. That was my big complaint with this novel. If I had to pick the main reason for my lower than normal review rating for a Laurenston book, I just didn’t warm to the characters as much as I have to other ones in this series.

I don’t want to give too much away because this author can really tell a story and fans of this series want to savor every word from her. I am so very sad that she is going to take a break from this series for a while. What will I do without an update on my favorite characters from her other books? Mace, Dez, Smitty, Sissy Mae, Ronnie Lee, those Reed boys, Gwen, Cella, Irene, the Van Holtz family, Blayne, Toni and her siblings? Or my very favorites, the Shaw brothers, DeeAnn Smith and Bo Novikov? I’m already in mourning.

Side note- Anne, I will not get over my mourning by reading this author’s Dragon Kin series, so don’t even suggest it yet. I’ll get there eventually.  (Note from Anne: you read my mind!  But I’ll keep my mouth shut!)

In close, I’ll leave you with some of my favorite quotes from this series.

“You just carry around piles of condoms?”-Vic“In case I feel like taking on the hockey team one night. You know, when I’m bored.”-Livy

“I can see it in your big, dumb cat eyes.”“Well, that was unnecessarily mean.”

“I don’t ask the hyenas to do it.”“No. But you associate with the Smith Pack, Demon dogs of the Underworld.”

From Anne:I was also really looking forward to reading this book.  Shelly Laurenston is one of my favorite authors, in my top ten for sure.  This was certainly not the best book in the Pride series, but I really liked it.  Usually Kay and I text Laurenston quotes back and forth to each other as we read.  It’s taught me to be very careful about texting.  It’s a little awkward when you text your 20 year old son a line from a Laurenston book.  So, yeah, my Laurenston reading time is generally punctuated by careful texting.  That didn’t happen so much in this story.  It was really funny, but not so many of the one liners we text to each other.

For me the weakest part of the story was the romance between Vic and Livy.  The sex was hot, but their romance wasn’t really memorable.  I did have the same issues with Vic’s tail as Kay did.  I don’t have have half-shifter issues, but a tail with it’s own mind… yeah, that didn’t work for me.

I did really enjoy Bo having a decent role in this book.  And the panda shifter, Shen was the best new character introduced to the series since Bo.  Well, Livy, too.  Best new character since Livy.  His panda ways really kept me laughing!

Even though we didn’t text about it, we did share some emails, so here’s our conversation:

Anne: I thought Bite Me read more like a Sci Fi book with a romance sub plot.  I mean, their relationship is clearly the focus of the book, I guess it just wan’t really romantic for me.  What did you think, Kay?

Kay: I felt something was missing from the book. I was left wanting more. The humor was there but not in the over the top way it usually is. I have commented before about her heat level declining from earlier books in the series but now the humor is too. I read somewhere that she was taking a break from this series and maybe that’s a good thing. Get some fresh ideas. Write about the Reed boys but include the Smith pack. Write about Marisa’s Shaw or Mace’s sister. Or Irene’s kids. 

This is still worth reading but for the level of excitement I had, I couldn’t help feeling let down.

Anne: Was there anything you really liked?  For me it was the relationship between Bo and Vic.  It just cracked me up!  I also really liked how she was always hiding in the cupboards.   

Anything you didn’t like?  For me it was Vic’s tail.  The thought that it had a mind of it’s own, even jokingly, pretty much squicked me out!

Kay: 

I did like the relationship between Bo and Vic. Also the cabinet hiding was great and I totally agree about the tail. Ewwww.

I liked Toni’s part a lot, she made me laugh. The Panda was hilarious too.

In closing, we both enjoyed the story and would recommend you read it.  If what Kay heard about Laurenston taking a break is true, I’m sad!  But I’ve always got G.A. Aiken books to read, so I’ll survive!