inferno

Sheltered by Charlotte Stein

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Sheltered
Grade-C
Hotness Level-Inferno
Kink Level-No Kink
Genre-Contemporary
Reviewed by Kay
162 pages

Evie is a girl who has endured living with her abusive, religious nutcase father and her emotionally and mentally checked out mother. She attends a Bible college and tries to be a good girl. She sees herself as fat and too naive. She has these desires to be a normal young woman but lacks the nerve, in the beginning, to really do it.

Van is a punk, at least that’s how Evie sees him at first. He is kind of an artsy guy. He’s really tall, hairy and tattooed. He smokes pot and hangs out with the guy who lives next door to Evie. He notices the shy, reserved girl next door to his friend. As time goes on they talk and a relationship develops. We find out later that he has some money he got from his grandparent that he uses for college and rent.

This is my first book by Charlotte stein and I liked it. It kind of read almost YA except for the sex scenes. They were sweet but explicit. You could really feel the vulnerability of both lead characters. The innocence was precious. The love story touching if a bit rushed. It was short and sweet. I will definitely read more by this author. Thanks to Anne for mentioning this author.

Afterburn by Sylvia Day

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Afterburn (Afterburn & Aftershock, #1)
Grade-B
Hotness Level-Inferno
Kink Level-No Kink
Series-Afterburn & Aftershock #1
Genre-Contemporary
Reviewed by Kay
99 pages

Warning, this is a cliffhanger. I am disliking those more and more. However, I enjoyed this start to this series, a lot.

Jackson Rutledge is from a very wealthy, politically powerful family. I can’t tell you what he does for a living. I don’t know if it was mentioned but it’s some sort of wheeling and dealing thing. He and Gia had a five week fling a few years ago and he ended by never calling again.

Gianna Rossi is from a restaurant family but she wants something related but different for herself. She and her family are close. She fell hard for Jax years ago and was very hurt by his actions. He shows up with her competition during a business meeting. This starts all sorts of feelings for Gia’s emotions to deal with. Gia’s not the same girl she was years ago and Jax is about to find that out.

Is Jax a changed man? Does he care for Gia or is he using her for inside information? I don’t know yet but I can’t wait to find out. This was a steamy and short read. I really enjoyed it.

Awakening by Elene Sallinger

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne


Grade: B+
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: Moderate Kink
Genre: Contemporary, BDSM
Published: 11/5/13Reviewed by Kate

224 pages

Evan, local bookshop owner, lost his wife/submissive to cancer 10 years ago. He was so in love with his wife that he can’t imagine loving anyone else. Claire is slowly entering the land of the living again after 1 year of self-imposed isolation following the breakup of her marriage. Her first adventure is to attend a book club meeting at Evan’s bookshop. Evan’s physical reaction to Claire is strong, but definitely unwanted. Then he overhears a conversation between Claire and a friend. He realizes Claire knows nothing about BDSM, but it may be exactly what she needs. What’s a Dom to do?

Here’s the thing, Evan’s an ass. He really is. The way he deals with his attraction to Claire is avoidance. In fact for the first 1/3 of the book, Evan and Claire barely talk. But he’s written in such a way that I completely got the ass-ishness and was okay with it.

Elene Sallinger has written strong characters with compelling stories. There is a unique tone to this story. A gradual build-up to a relationship here, rather than a ‘first meeting equals first scene’ pace that is usually seen in BDSM novels. I look forward to reading more from her in the future.

A special note: References to Yoda and Harry Potter had my inner geek doing a happy dance!