C Reviews

One Sweet Ride by Jaci Burton

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

One Sweet Ride (Play by Play, #6)
Grade-C
Hotness Level-Inferno
Kink Level-No Kink
Series-Play-by-Play #6
Genre-Contemporary
Reviewed by Kay
309 pages

Gray Prescott races cars for a living and had made himself a very wealthy man. He has a group of best friends, loves his mother and sister, but he really hates his politician father. The two have been estranged for over a decade. When his father makes a bid for the White House, Gray finds himself back in his father’s life.

Evelyn Hill is an aide for Gray’s father and she is assigned to help him get votes from Gray’s fan base. She wants a future in politics and this job will help with that. She just has to find a way to get this father and son back on speaking terms.

I love this series and I have been anticipating reading Gray’s story since we met him in Garrett’s book. I liked both of the characters but all the scenes having to do with Evelyn’s political stuff just wore me slick. I was bored with it and that upsets me because I’m a HUGE Jaci Burton fan. I did enjoy the reconciliation between father and son. It was heart warming. And speaking of warm, the love scenes in this book were frequent and blistering which I do love so much. I will continue to read these books but I hope the next one is engrossing.

Begin Again by Christy Newton

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Begin Again

 
Grade: C
Hotness Level: Ember
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary
Reviewed by Anne
111 pages
 
Maisie’s husband and unborn child died in a tornado two years ago.  Since then she’s been just getting by.  Living in her sister’s basement and saving money from her job at the diner in hopes of buying a home for herself, mostly just so she can be alone.
 
Ryan is an exotic animal vet who moves to town and meets Maisie when he stops in at the diner to get some apple pie.  He likes her even more than the pie, and the pie is really good.  He can tell that she’s hurting about something, but doesn’t know what it is.  He’s content to take things very slow, though.  He talks her into going out with him just as friends and helps her with her ailing hamster.
 
The best part of this story is the story – the friendship and romance that develops between Maisie and Ryan.  The book felt longer than 111 pages, and I mean that in a very good way.  It’s very focused and you get to see why they fall for each other.
 
This was a sweet and touching romance. I liked the story, but it felt a little raw and unpolished. The characters were likable and I really cared about them. The issues they were dealing with were very believable and tugged at my heart. I especially thought that the mourning process that Maisie went through felt true to life. A huge loss like that wouldn’t be easy to get over.

There were a few wtf moments that made me wonder why they were included in the story. These moments stuck out even more because they had very little or no effect at all on the story. In fact, they were distracting.  Now, the story was very spare, with almost every word applying directly to the romance, which was actually really nice, but it made those wtf moments feel more out of place.

There was a lot of head hopping, too. Seriously, like every 3 paragraphs. I got used to it and it worked with this story, but it was unusual. A couple other unusual things I noticed: Maisie’s parents were missionaries and at one point Maisie mentions that she’ll pray for someone. I kind of appreciated the normalness and complete lack of preaching that went along with this. There also was no alcohol in the book at all, and I didn’t miss it. I do have to mention that the sex scenes were fade to black, which caught me a bit off guard and I know would really bother some readers. 

I’ll admit that a low/zero heat romance like this is not usually what I read, but this one worked for me.  How about you?  Does a fade to black sex scene drive you nuts, or are you ok with it?

Nobody’s Angel by Kallypso Masters

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Nobody's Angel (Rescue Me, #2)
Grade-C
Hotness Level-Inferno
Kink Level-Moderate Kink
Series-Rescue Me #2
Genre-Contemporary BDSM
Reviewed by Kay
314 pages

Marc is another ex-soldier and a third owner in a kink club. He was Master Marco when he was younger and enjoys the BDSM lifestyle. One night at the club when he was monitoring the dungeon he sees a woman being abused by her wanna-be Dom boyfriend. He rescues her and makes sure she gets home without further harm.

Angelina is the woman who was abused at the club. She was in what’s called sub-space which I considered to be almost separated mind and body to deal with what was happening to her. She was so out of it she thought Marc was a wolf shifter because of his mask and the books she likes to read. She hated what was done to her but soon realizes that she enjoys submitting to a certain extent.

This was the second story in this series and honestly I never really liked Marc. I did however like Angelina and enjoyed her journey in BDSM. I really wish that Marc would’ve been honest about who he was and what he really wanted to have with her. I am enjoying this series but I wasn’t crazy about this book. I will read on though because this series is about more than BDSM sex, it packs some heavy emotion. Thanks again Kate and Mindy for suggesting it!