inferno

Marked by Lauren Dane, Vivian Arend, and Kit Rocha

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Marked – Kit Rocha book by 2/10/14 blog
17925723
Grade: A
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: Moderate Kink
Published: 2/10/14
Reviewed by Anne
305 ebook pages

I’m going to break this down into the 3 stories and review them separately.  As a whole I give the anthology an A.  It’s rare to have all the stories in a collection work for me like these did!  I highly recommend it, and the authors’ note in my ARC says that the ebook will be on sale for $2.99 until the end of February, when the price will go up to $4.99.  This book is a steal at $2.99!   I came away with 2 new series I want to follow and a great installment to Beyond, which I already loved.

Beyond Temptation by Kit Rocha
Grade: B+
Genre: Dystopian
Series: Beyond 3.5

Note: I really think you need to read this series in order to get the most out of it.  If you haven’t read it yet, go back to the start and read Beyond Shame – you won’t regret it!

So, Noah is not from Sector Four, but he’s doing some work that brings him under Dallas’ radar and he’s being brought into the gang.  He’s also looking forward to and dreading seeing Emma, little sister to his best friend.  They haven’t seen or talked to each other in years, and there’s some history between them.  Emma always had a crush on him, and he had feelings for her, but he’s got some secrets hidden that he doesn’t want her to know about.  He’s also having some issues seeing her as the strong and independent woman she is now, since his memories are full of her as a naive and innocent girl.

It’s a short story, so the main source of conflict is Noah’s big secret.  I don’t enjoy secrets.  The best thing about this one was the way Emma handled it when she found out.  She’s a strong woman and one who is offended at people trying to protect her by keeping secrets.  That was awesome!  Sector Four women in general are awesome, though!  

In other good news, Noah is a red head and likes dirty sex.  It turns out Emma does, too, and we get a lot of it.  This wasn’t my favorite in the Beyond series, but it still rates a B+.  They are all just so good!

Rocky Ride by Vivan Arend
Grade: B+
Genre: Contemporary, small town
Series: Thompson & Sons #1

Anna is a straitlaced cop with a good reputation.  Mitch is a mechanic with a biker look to him.  They’ve been meeting on the down low for sex, but he wants to push her for an actual relationship.  Their small town has some small minds that see biker and think criminal.  Mitch has to convince Anna to give their relationship a chance.

This story starts out with one of the hottest opening scenes I’ve read in a long time.  It’s a great start to a solid story.  Watching Anna relax and let her guard down made for a good read.  I got very frustrated at the choices Mitch was making toward the end of the story, but then Arend redeemed herself by having Anna really call Mitch out for his choices!  

The weak point in the story was the prejudice against bikers, or rough looking tattooed guys.  I haven’t ever really considered that as a big deal – but maybe I just don’t understand?  In any case, I just went with it and it worked.

The sex was hot, the heroine was independent and strong.  I loved it!

All That Remains by Lauren Dane
Grade: A
Genre: Dystopian, Triad*, futuristic
Series: Metamorphosis #1

Set in a post-plague future, which Dane describes on her website as not dystopian (and I agree) Summer meets a new man in her village, Charlie.  Summer isn’t too surprised when Charlie mentions he has a partner (in the physical sense) but she’s shocked when she meets him and it’s Hatch, her first love.  Summer and Hatch may still have feelings for each other, but there’s a lot of history between them and it’s not all good.  The three of them have a lot to work through if they want to make a commitment to each other.

This story was all the best of the Lauren Dane Brown Siblings/Delicious books I love, set in an interesting future where women are only a small portion of the population and very valued.  Summer is another strong woman who is sure of herself and doesn’t need a man (or men) to complete her.  She’s not ashamed of her sexuality – that was refreshing to read!  

Really my only complaint about this story was the overuse of the phrase “raining honey” which pulled me out of the story every time it came up.  Other than that, everything worked for me and I can’t wait to read more!

*Note – I used to mark any book with a 3 person (or more scene) as a “ménage” book.  I’m now using ménage for an uncommitted encounter(s) and triad for a story about the committed relationship between 3 people.

Broken Hart by Ella Fox

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Broken Hart (The Hart Family, #1)
Grade-C
Hotness Level-Inferno
Kink Level-Mild Kink
Series-The Hart Family #1
Genre-Contemporary
Reviewed by Kay
209 pages

This book was very fun to read because the hero had a filthy mouth. I love a man with a filthy mouth.

Dante Hart is the oldest Hart sibling. He has a brother named Damien, twin sisters named Delilah and Dominique and his best friend, Spencer, who was basically raised with them. They are a very tight nit group. When Sabrina becomes his personal assisitant, the two become very good friends and start spending time with the rest of his family. Even Sabrina’s sister, Brooke is included.

Sabrina has crushed on Dante for a long time but knew she wasn’t his type, so she kept her feelings to herself. One night everything changes and they share a night of hot sex. Both are blown away by it. Sabrina knows to guard her heart because Dante is not a man to commit. They agree to have a sexual relationship only.

Feelings get too intense and Sabrina wants more. Dante says he can’t give any more. She agrees to be a friend only then, all the while she knows she will have to quit her job because she can’t watch him be with other people. We find out what happened in Dante’s past to make him think he is uncapable of committment.

I don’t know if I bought his reason but I was okay with it. This was a solid start to a series that I’ll probably read more of. I liked all of the characters and am interested to read their stories. My only complaint was there were copious amounts of sex that kind of over shadowed the story. Oh, and butt plugs. Shudder. I’ll leave you with some of my favorite lines from the book.

I’d never been with someone who talked or fucked like he did, and I didn’t just like it, I loved it.

I fucking love everything you do to me Sabrina. Every. Goddamn. Thing.

The man could fuck, and I loved it.

Motorcycle Man by Kristen Ashley

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

16076190
Grade: A-
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary, MC
Series: Dream Man #4
Published: 5/22/12, republished 1/28/14
Reviewed by Anne
324 ebook pages

So I was at book club a couple weeks ago and a bunch of my friends were going on and on about Madeline Sheehan and what great motorcycle (MC) book crack she writes and how they love it so.  For the first time, I was feeling a little left out.  I thought I would not like an MC book.  I was hesitant to read one.  But I don’t like feeling left out, and it was a reading goal of mine to try a Kristen Ashley book, AND I’d just gotten a NetGalley copy of Motorcycle Man, so I figured all signs were pointing toward it being time for me to put on my big girl pants and give this MC book thing a try.  

I started reading and was instantly pulled in.  Tyra is in bed after having sex with Tack, who she just met, and is seeing hearts and flowers and thinking that this man, finally, is her dream man.  And Tack?  

His hand left my skin to smack my ass lightly before he said, “Time to get to your own bed, darlin.” (p. 17, ePub edition)

*snort*  Not exactly hero behavior!  But Tyra’s got some backbone.  She feels like an idiot for mistaking fabulous sex for love, and for thinking Tack was her dream man, and because Tack is her new boss.  However, when Tack tries to fire Tyra, because he doesn’t mix work and pleasure, she stands up for herself, and she keeps the job.

This book was so awesome.  Tack is an alphole, but a really sexy one.  And the thing is, over and over he proves that he cares about Tyra.   He gives her what she needs, and he apologizes when he makes mistakes.  Of course, he makes lots of mistakes, and one of them is being a sexist, macho, bossy pig of a man, but it’s so easy to forgive him.  It’s totally believable that Tyra would continue to fall for him.

The story line is good, believable, and very engrossing.  There’s a certain amount of suspense and danger, but not enough to annoy me.  The writing style is almost a stream of consciousness, all from Tyra’s point of view, but that worked very, very well.

My only problem with the book is the MC culture.  Women are second class citizens who have no say in the running of the club.  There are “old ladies” and club whores and they each have their place and accept one another.  And though the MC in this story is relatively clean, as far as drug running goes, it’s acknowledged that drug running is a path that other clubs take.  I have so many issues with that lifestyle that I almost feel guilty reading the book.

Despite all that, and mostly because of the alpha hotness and dirty talking that is Tack, I loved this story.  I don’t think MC romance will ever be a favorite of mine, in general, but this book is!  It’s going on my favorites of 2014 list and I highly recommend it!