B Reviews

Willow Springs by Toni Blake

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Willow Springs (Destiny, #5)
Grade-B
Hotness Level-Blaze
Kink Level-None
Series-Destiny #5
Reviewed by Kay

I had put off reading this book because my TBR list was so out of control. I try to read current books to review but honestly, I love this series so here goes.

Amy owns the book store in Destiny and she is kind of renown for her matchmaking abilities in town. She’s done a pretty good job of it too. For everyone but her, She is also a cat lover (she won me over for this reason alone) also and adopts out strays from her store. She has a good circle of friends but Logan is her best friend. They grew up two houses from each other and formed a bond early. She sees herself as unlovable due to being plain but I pictured her as the girl next door type.

Logan Whitaker is a fire fighter in Destiny. He recently was at a fire that left him with some emotional scarring. He took a leave of absence from the local fire department to deal with the tragedy. He withdrew from family and friends, even Amy. He has some life altering decisions he comes to on this leave.

I adore this series and stumbled on to it by accident and I’ve never been so happy I did. It is a gem, truly. Sweet, precious and endearing. I really enjoyed the story here with the exception of Logan. I found him to be not only selfish and stupid but in my opinion almost a cheater. A douche bag who practices douchebaggery. No redemption for him with me. Do I buy the 34 year old virgin? Not really but I played along. Other than those things, this was another good edition to a great series.

Stone Guardian by Danielle Monsch

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Stone Guardian (Entwined Realms, #1)

Grade: B
Hotness Level: Blaze
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Paranormal, gargoyle
Series: Entwined Realms #1
Reviewed by Anne
256 pages
 

Twenty-six years ago The Great Collision happened, uniting our human world with the magical realm.  Now zombies, vampires, orcs, trolls, and gargoyles aren’t just creatures of myth.  They’re real and part of the world we know.
 
Larissa lives within a protected city and has no contact and very little knowledge of these creatures until the day she’s attacked by zombies and saved by a gargoyle, Terak.  But Terak isn’t the only one watching her, and the zombies aren’t the only ones attacking. 
 
What a great book!  Larissa wasn’t a warrior, but she was smart and practical.  She accepted and asked for protection.  She trusted her gut feelings and that was all so refreshing to read.  Terak was really interesting — I enjoyed this new take on gargoyles.  
 
Even more than I enjoyed Larissa and Terak, the secondary characters really shine in this story!  Fallon and Laire are two hilarious women – warrior and mage and they are part of a team of fighters that is mostly women!  The women are respected by the males they work with and they are more then just beings to have sex with or sequel bait. They are fierce and it was so awesome to read characters like this!   
 
The “why” of Larissa being targeted was a big mystery that I didn’t figure out until it was revealed, but it totally made sense.  That’s some nice writing!
 
I did have some little complaints.  There were times when Larissa and Terak seemed to know things about each other that they hadn’t had time to learn.  There was a time or two when someone acted out of character.  Overall, though, the good far outweighed the bad.  Monsch writes great characters and an interesting world!  I really look forward to reading more!

Breaking by Claire Kent

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Breaking (Escorted, #1.5)

Grade: B
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary, same couple series
Series: Escorted #1.5
Reviewed by Anne
61 pages
 
This 61 page story picks up a with Ander and Lori a few months from the end of Escorted. (See my review of Escorted here.) Ander has been working on his doctorate and they’ve been apart off and on.  He unexpectedly comes home from a trip a week early because he needs to be with Lori.  (This story, in contrast to Escorted, is told entirely from Ander’s POV.)  He may have been needing to see Lori, but he can’t bring himself to share his problems with her.  Instead he just keeps seducing her.
 
Amazingly, I think this book had too much sex in it for me!  However, that was a plot point of the story, so it’s not exactly gratuitous.  It’s exactly what Ander was up to – he’s distracting Lori with sex.  He uses it as a shield.  It’s an interesting and kind of believable idea. Of course, that’s not going to last forever, and that conversation was where the story really shone for me.
 
I’d recommend this story to anyone who enjoyed Escorted, but I think this story would be more enjoyable after reading Escorted.


So, what do you think of this trend of authors writing novella length sequels/epilogues for established couples.  Do you like it?