B Reviews

Christmas on 4th Street by Susan Mallery

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Christmas on 4th Street (Fools Gold #12.5)
Grade-B+
Hotness Level-Ember
Kink Level-No Kink
Series-Fool’s Gold #12.5
Genre-Contemporary
Reviewed by Kay
336 pages

“That’s the thing about love. We often get more than we deserve and isn’t that incredibly wonderful?”
Yet another installment of Susan Mallery’s Fool’s Gold series and I fall more in love with the series every book. This one is about Noelle who runs the Christmas Attic store in town. That’s right a store specializing in Christmas 365 days a year. I can’t help it, it warms my heart.  Noelle was very sick in the recent past but has overcome it. She lost her mother and grandmother to a auto accident and her fiancé to her illness. She made her way to Fool’s Gold and never looked back. She loves the town, townspeople, friends, her store and her home. But she wants her own HEA and watching her friends marry one by one is bittersweet
.
Gabriel Boylan is the brother of Gideon, who settled in the town a couple of years ago. Gabriel is a trauma specialist with the Army. He has worked overseas and had seen enough horror to last a lifetime. After losing his fiancé to a combat related his issue, he decides that he won’t ever fall in love again because it hurts too bad to lose someone you love. He comes to his brother’s house for the Christmas holiday and meets Noelle.

I so much enjoyed this book because of it’s sweetness. I’ll admit the ending was a little far fetched for most towns but not Fool’s Gold. I can’t wait for her next installment. My continued complaint regarding her separate books with this series is that the heat content is totally unacceptable.

Because You Are Mine by Beth Kery

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne
Because You Are Mine: The Complete Novel (Because You Are Mine, #1-8)
Grade: B+
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: High Kink
Genre: Contemporary, BDSM
Series: Because You Are Mine #1-8
Published: March 2013
Reviewed by Kate
400 pages 
 
Ian, über-richy rich Dom, is an ass.  He’s all about control.  Controlling his business, controlling his employees, controlling every aspect of his life.  He has no time or interest in love.  Francesca, sweet, innocent Francesca is a painter.  She’s won a contest to paint a painting for Ian’s newest building.  And, being this is a romance, sparks of attraction fly when they first meet.  But despite being in control of his life, Ian can’t control the way his thoughts keep returning to Francesca.  So what’s a poor controlling Dom to do?  Ian will control everything about their sexual interactions, including when their interludes will end.  He acknowledges that they will both probably get hurt, but he just can’t turn away.  In exchange, Francesca will get pleasure and experience.  But just when Ian has reached the pinnacle of asshood, you discover why he is the way he is, and you, along with Francesca, fall in love with him.
 
I don’t think I’ve ever been so enthralled by such an ass of a hero before, but I really just couldn’t stop reading.  Francesca manages to walk that fine line between submission and doormat.  The author does a good job of showing us the torment Ian faces in his relationship with Francesca.  How he’s trying to protect his heart and trying to not be a complete ass.
 
This was originally written and released in 8 separate parts.  I’m glad that I read the complete novel, because I can’t imagine having to wait for the next installment to be released.  I’m not of huge fan of serialization as I tend to get sucked in and end up spending too much time and money on the whole series.
 
Do you have any serializations to recommend?  Are you a fan of the format or not?

Menage Monday – Texas Tangle by Leah Braemel

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Texas Tangle (Tangled)
Grade: B+
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: Mild Kink
Genre: Contemporary, menage
Published: 6/28/10

Reviewed by Kate
216 pages


Here’s the run down.  Nikki is alone.  All alone.  Her brother actually just skipped town after bringing a huge truck and emptying her house out.  So not only does she not have anyone left, she doesn’t even have a mattress to sleep on.  Dillon has know Nikki since high school and liked her for just as long.  In fact he even got in a fight with his foster brother Brett over Nikki.  When there’s the slightest chance that her brother’s friends might come back and try to get more money from Nikki, Dillon jumps on the excuse to get Nikki to stay at his house with him.  Oh, and he just happens to have a mattress there too.

Brett is attracted to Nikki.  But he’s terrified that if he pursues her, he’ll lose his best friend, Dillon, and the only family that has ever cared about him (Dillon’s family).  So he backs off.  But despite doing his best to ignore his attraction, Nikki notices.  And she’s torn.  She’s attracted to both men, but doesn’t want to ruin their friendship.  Could there possibly be a way for everyone to get what they want?
 

The relationship between Dillon and Nikki and Brett was deep and complex.  You keep rooting for it to work for them.  They actually talk about the important things, rather than just assuming everything will magically work out.  The sex scenes were scorching hot and I wasn’t ready for the book to end when it did.  I wanted to know more about this trio and their future.

 

My only complaint was that Dillon and Nikki have a relationship before the triad comes together.  Now this is just a personal preference of mine, but I appreciate my menages starting and ending together.  However, the author wrote the addition of Brett very well.

 

Leah Braemel has written a menage with strong characters that I will definitely be rereading.  I also look forward to reading some of her other works.