Grade-C
Hotness Level- Inferno
Kink Level- Low
Series-Nauti Girls#1 (tied to the Nauti Boys series)
Reviewed By Kay
This novel starts with a twist to the male dominated Mackay family. Dawg’s family line to be exact. He finds out out he has four half sisters courtesy of his father. He takes them and their mother in and provides for the family.
Then the story jumps ahead several years to Eve, the oldest of Dawg’s siblings. She is in love with Brogan Campbell, a suspected traitor. Well obviously he’s not and thus starts their story. It was a little sweet, a whole lotta heat and vintage Leigh writing.
I have enjoyed Lora Leigh’s writing for several years and she’ll always have a special place in my heart. She introduced me to steamy contemporary romance and I consider her the queen of that genre. I have felt the last several books she’s had, I haven’t connected with. Regardless, I will always hold out hope and read anything she writes because when she’s on, she’s on fire! See Wild Card that sees a love story to it’s full fruition, Maverick that shows us that sometimes the perfection comes to the most scared and deserving of us. Nauti Night and Nauti Dreams that made me fall in love with the Mackays. Nauti Intentions that introduced me to Alex Jansen which is one of the HOTTEST books I’ve ever read and Only Pleasure that touched me in ways I never expected.
Keep writing Lora and we’ll keep reading.
contemporary
Tart by Lauren Dane
Grade-A
Hotness Level-Inferno
Kink Level Low, HEA for 3
Series-Delicious #2 (Note that Delicious is connected to the Brown Siblings series)
Reviewed by Anne
So, last Wednesday I confessed to buying this book, Tart. It was on the expensive end of what I’m willing to pay for a book, but, in this case, I have no regrets. Be warned, this is going to be another love fest from me to Lauren Dane. I really love her contemporary set writing. I know it’s not perfect, but I don’t care. It’s perfect to me!
In this book, Jules, friend to Daisy and Gillian, is nursing a long standing but unreturned affection for Cal. This has been the status quo for several years. Cal, openly bi, has serially dated several women and men during this time. He’s secretly got a thing for Jules, but feels unworthy of her and is too scared of losing the friendship he has with her to take a chance and make a move. That’s the case until Jules and Gideon meet.
Gideon is a childhood friend of Jules and Cal’s. He’s returned to town to help his grandfather run his farm. There are immediate sparks between Jules and Gideon, and the move quickly into a relationship they both realize is serious. That finally spurs Cal into action.
For me, this point where Cal decides to pursue Jules is the weakest point in the story. I don’t want to spoil anything, but the way they moved from a couple and an outside pursuer into a triad was difficult for me to believe. However, besides this point in the story, I thought the rest of the dynamics of being part of a triad were realistically portrayed. (Disclaimer: I’m not an expert on triads, this is just based on how I would imagine it being. To me this is fantasy in a contemporary setting.)
As I’ve mentioned many times before, I enjoyed the Brown Siblings series and now the Delicious series because there are no villains and no susupse, just a telling of how two (or three) people come together. In this story Jules had more growing to do than the two men. I’m not sure they could have made a relationship work if they all were a mess. But I can buy into this fantasy, and I enjoyed being there! I’m impatient for the next story. For me, there is just no one who writes quite like Lauren Dane when it comes to this kind of contemporary book!
The Reluctant Dom by Tymber Dalton
Grade-A
Hotness Level-Inferno
Kink Level-Moderate Kink
Reviewed By Anne’s sister, Kate
Kaden and Leah are in a 24/7 master/slave relationship. Leah, a cutter, uses the BDSM aspect of their relationship to cope with her feelings. When Kaden finds out he is dying, he worries that Leah will start cutting again, or worse, when he dies. He asks his best friend Seth to move in with them and train to be Leah’s new master, so Seth can help Leah cope with her feelings after Kaden is gone.
There was a lot of sex (m/f, m/f/m…no m/m) in this book, but that wasn’t more the main focus. It seemed to be more of a novel where the sex plays an important part in the development of the story. I hesitate to describe the scenes as steamy because they seemed a bit short, again more there for plot advancement than for entertainment.
The story focuses on Seth’s introduction to BDSM and Leah’s adjustment to Seth as her new master. I was glad that Seth didn’t just jump on board with the whole plan. He loves Leah, and once he finds out that she needs the BDSM to cope, he agrees to do it. But there are tons of WTF moments for him.
Kaden does his best to make the transition to Seth as a master very smooth for Leah. The relationship develops into a threesome.
Kaden finally dies in the last fifth of the book. And there were definite tears for the reader as you follow Seth and Leah through the initial days without Kaden.
And the ending…a little over a year later…you see the changes in both Seth and Leah. Although I would like to complain about the shift in narration. The entire book is third person. Then the last chapter (a year later) is suddenly first person…and from the point of view of a secondary character. The change was a bit jarring.
So, all in all, I loved this book. I don’t see myself rereading it too often, simply because of how emotional a read it is.
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