blaze

Along Came Trouble by Ruthie Knox

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Along Came Trouble (Camelot #2)
Grade: A
Hotness Level: Blaze
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary
Series: Camelot #2
Reviewed by Anne

This book made me smile and put Ruthie Knox on my short list.  I’d rank her up there with Jill Shalvis, Victoria Dahl, and Sarah Mayberry.  A sweet and hot romance with some humor thrown in.  I really want to go buy her first two books that I missed.

Ellen is a hard working, divorced single mom of a 2 year old son.  She’s also the sister of a very famous singer, Jamie.  Jamie unintentionally turned Ellen’s life upside down when he started dating her next door neighbor, Carly.  Even after Jamie and Carly broke up and Jamie left town, the press remains very interested in Carly.  When the paparazzi continues to be aggressive, Jamie hires a security team to take care of Carly and Ellen.  Caleb is head of the security team and very thankful for the job.  He doesn’t expect that neither woman will want his protection.  And he doesn’t expect to be so attracted to Ellen.

I thought this book would be about a forbidden attraction between Ellen and Caleb.  Thankfully, it’s not.  Pretty early in the book Caleb decides it’s ok if he has a thing with Ellen.  Also pretty early in the book he decides he doesn’t just want sex, he wants more.  So they negotiate.  They negotiate about what security provisions Ellen is willing to make, and they negotiate about what kind of relationship Ellen is willing to have.  I really enjoyed their negotiations.  I really enjoyed almost everything about this book!

Ellen and Caleb both are intelligent and not afraid to apologize when they realize they’re in the wrong.  And there are times when they are in the wrong.  They aren’t perfect, and that was nice to read.  Ellen especially has a lot to overcome as she comes back to life after divorcing her emotionally abusive husband.  She struggles to not depend on a man and stand on her own.  I really appreciated her journey and felt for her.

Rock star brother Jamie and neighbor Carly have a great story.  I think if their back story had been filled out they could have carried a book on their own.  It certainly added a lighter side to the book when things got heavy between Ellen and Caleb.  Carly’s grandma was a hoot, too, but I think I’ve read too many books in a row that had an outspoken elderly woman character.  They start to all blend together.

My only complaints about the book have to do with Ellen’s son, Henry.  I thought his Yoda-style speech pattern was annoying, and his confusion of pronouns felt unrealistic to me.  I could be wrong, though, I’m not a speech expert.  I did LOVE that he called Caleb “Cabe”.  Very sweet. 

Overall, my small complaints were handily outbalanced by all of the things I loved in this book.  I highly recommend it and can’t wait to read more by Ruthie Knox!

Impact by Tiffinie Helmer

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Impact (Wild Men of Alaska, #1)

Grade: B-
Hotness Level: Blaze
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary
Series: Wild Men of Alaska #1
Reviewed by Kate
 
Wren can’t get out of going back home to be maid of honor in a wedding. Unfortunately, that means she can’t get out of seeing Skip, her childhood best friend and the man who put her in prison 5 years ago. Wren has spent the last 5 years secretly pining for Skip. Skip has spent the same time secretly waiting for Wren to get her life under control so they can spend the rest of their lives together. After their plane crashes, Skip and Wren must spend the night in the shell of their crashed plane waiting to be rescued.

Ah, a plane crash and simmering love that has lasted 5 years. Could there be a better recipe for a good story? And, on a surprising note, the tension in this story does not come from having to survive in the Alaskan wilderness, but from the characters themselves. I enjoyed this quick read and the next book in the series is in my TBR pile.

 

Take It Off! by Taylor Cole and Justin Whitfield

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Take It Off! (The Naked Truth About Male Strippers)

Grade: C-
Hotness Level: Blaze
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Non-Fiction
Reviewed by Anne
 
I saw this book and was interested in reading it.  It’s a behind the scenes tell all by two former strippers and current romance novel cover models, and who doesn’t want to know more about male strippers.  (Well, I don’t anymore.)  I really don’t know how to review it.  It is what it proclaims to be, but I think I was much more offended by it than I’d imagined.  Well, really, I didn’t imagine I’d be offended.  I guess I didn’t give it enough thought.  
 
See, I figured there would be stories of sex, and of mishaps, and of risque and funny things that happened to strippers.  And there were.  But I was caught off guard by how much manipulation went on and by what they do to get more tips.  See, the secret to getting tips is having regulars who come to see you and tip you when you’re dancing.  (I’m so naive!  I had no idea there were regulars at strip clubs!)  And if you are nice to them and pretend to like them, and even build up a little sexual tension… well, then they’ll keep coming back and they’ll keep tipping you.  It’s best not to have sex with the regulars, since they’re your source of money.  If they really push for more, you can let them take you out to lunch and try to make them your “friend.”  In that case, they are more likely to keep coming to see you, and keep tipping you.
 
After reading this book I feel like I know lots of tips and tricks of how a stripper picks up a woman for the night.  And if you ever want a quickie with a stripper, here’s what you do:  Look really hot.  Or at least hotter than the other women at the show that night. 
The writing in the book was just ok.  There were a couple times where what they were saying was just unclear to me.  I don’t know if it was a typo or what.  I also felt like it got increasingly less edited as I moved toward the end of the book.  In the beginning the chapters flowed a bit while covering the material.  By the end it was a just lists of different kinds of information and hook ups.

Going in, I thought I’d come away respecting the hard work that strippers do.  After reading the book I’m having a hard time not being disgusted by men in general.  So what grade to give?  It does give the information it promises.  The writing is ok.  I just didn’t enjoy it.  The book came in at 78 pages on my ereader, and I was really glad it wasn’t any longer.  So, I’m going with a C-.