C Reviews

Willing Victim by Cara McKenna – Kate’s Review

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

This is Anne’s birthday week, so we’re going to spend two days on one of her favorite books of all time.  Today is Kate’s review, and tomorrow, Anne’s review.

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Grade: C+
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: Moderate Kink
Genre: Contemporary, BDSM
Published: 8/6/10
Reviewed by Anne

When Laurel sees a stranger standing up for a lady who is being harassed, she follows the man and introduces herself. Flynn is an underground fighter not really looking for a serious relationship.  He’s happy with the friends-with-benefits situation he currently has.  Until Laurel shows up in the picture.  There’s so much that attracts him to her, but she’s 100% vanilla and Flynn accepted a long time ago that he needs more than just vanilla.  We get to join Laurel on her journey of discovery with Flynn’s darker side.

This book came highly recommended by Anne and a few other book friends.  And I went into it a little hesitantly because I’m not a huge fighter romance fan.  But I loved Flynn and his fighting and his desires and most of all his dirty mouth.  I could go on and on about Flynn’s dirty mouth.  Seriously.  If hot, dirty, balls-to-the-wall sex is what you like to read this is the book for you.

Despite the fantastic sex, I just wanted there to be more to the relationship. At first I thought “well, maybe if this was a full length…” But then I realized it wasn’t a novella, it was closer to 281 pages. So length was not the problem. I just wanted more than a sexual connection between them. It was clear at the end that there was more of a connection, I just wanted to see it more.

I do want to mention the opening scenes with Flynn and his friends-with-benefits.  I understand that the purpose was to expose Laurel to his lifestyle, but I really didn’t enjoy seeing him with someone else.  However, once I got past that, the story really took off.

A Wife for One Year (Those Engaging Garretts!) By Brenda Harlen

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

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Grade: C+
Hotness Level: Blaze
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary
Published: 8/1/14
Reviewed by Kate
224 pages

Daniel and Kenna have been best friends since they were paired up as chemistry lab partners in high school.  Daniel gets a chance to fulfill a dream, but he needs access to his trust fund first.  And in order to get access to his trust fund, he needs a wife.  Kenna is the only one that he can think of, and the fact that she needs money to pay for her sister’s surgery means she quickly agrees to the plan as well.  But the agreement quickly turns into more than either of them had planned.

I read a lot of erotic romance and every once in a while I need a break.  I know that I can turn to Harlequin Special Edition for that palette cleanser.  This book was just what I needed!

It’s clear that Daniel and Kenna have a really close relationship prior to their marriage deal, and they’ve both kept their romantic feelings hidden.  There’s a lot of “but he’s/she’s my best friend and I don’t want to ruin that.”  There’s also lots of misunderstandings that could have easily been solved by the two of them actually talking.  Seriously.  A lot of misunderstandings.  Why the pair of them couldn’t just be up front about something I never did figure out.  But I guess if they had been upfront this would have been more of a novella than a full length.

Even with all the head smacking misunderstandings, I enjoyed this one a lot.  It was just what I wanted.  If you like low conflict and friends-to-lovers stories, give this one a try.

Inescapable by Saskia Walker

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Grade: C
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary, Menage
Published: 11/29/13
Reviewed by Kate
214 pages

Lily and Adrian have been chatting online for a while now.  Hot, steamy, torrid chats.  They’ve decided it’s time they met in person.  But when Lily knocks on Adrian’s office door, she’s met by Seth (although she thinks it’s Adrian at first).  Seth is trying to convince Adrian to go into witness protection.  When someone makes an attempt on Adrian’s life, Lily sees them, and soon Seth is dragging both Adrian and Lily away to save their lives.  The three of them end up together in an isolated house with lots of time on their hands and just their lusty feelings to keep them company.

The premise for this one drew me in immediately.  Not being a huge suspense fan (even though I can’t seem to stay away from them), I’m happy to report that the suspense was not a huge part of this book, more just an excuse for the three of them to be alone together.  And when the suspense finally comes to its conclusion, it is not a long drawn out thing.  It happens and it’s over rather quickly.

The relationship between Lily and Seth and Adrian is, of course, sudden.  We’re talking little to no conversations between the three of them about actually having a threesome.  It’s more of a “well, as long as we’re all in the same room” feeling to the whole situation.  Yet the emotions that develop seem very realistic.

I was really enjoying this one until Seth made a rather, in my opinion, idiotic move as a witness protection agent.  And everything after that just started to make me mad.  I struggled to get past how stupid he had been in that situation, when I saw other obvious options that were more logical but never crossed his mind. By the time I reached the end, I was just starting to forgive him.

If you like steamy menage with a touch of suspense (and you can overlook a stupid move by one of the heroes) give this one a shot.