inferno

The Jezebel by Saskia Walker

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

The Jezebel
Grade: B+
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: Low Kink
Genre: Historical set Paranormal
Series: Taskill Witches #3
Reviewed by Anne

Maisie is a witch.  After being forced to watch her mother burned at the stake, Maisie is taken in (actually, nearly kidnapped) by a very rich couple who keep her safe and raise her.  Unfortunately, her adoptive “father” Cyrus is also grooming her to be his possession and tool.  He raises her to be afraid of witch hunters and hide her powers, all while guiding her to use them for his benefit.  Once Maisie realizes what is going on, she runs away and talks ship captain Roderick Cameron into taking her aboard his ship, which is on its way to her homeland of Scotland.  In exchange for the trip she agrees give him her virginity.  He doesn’t believe she’s a virgin, but agrees to take her on in exchange for sex.

One of the most delightful things about this book is how this setup is quickly turned upside down.  Just reading the summary above or the back of the book blurb sets you up to think Maisie is sacrificing her virginity in order to escape a horrible situation.  In actuality, you find out quickly that losing her virginity will bring her into her full witchy powers.  She knows this, and is using Roderick for her own means.  This makes it so they come into this relationship on pretty equal grounds, and that was refreshing!
Maisie also turns out to really enjoy sex, and isn’t shy about that.  Roderick, in turn, really enjoys the fact that Maisie enjoys sex.  There’s no slut shaming and no “sex=evil” in this story which was great!  
 
Maisie is also a strong character.  She finds herself in a tough situation and devises a plan to get herself out of it.  I found myself rooting for her, and as much as I liked Roderick, I really wanted Maisie to be her own hero and save herself.  I want you to enjoy this book without me spoiling it for you, so I won’t detail how things worked out, but I was really happy with the resolution of things.
 
One final note: This is the third book in the Taskill Witches series. However, I had no problems following along without having read the first two. It stand alone very well – the only problem is you’ll want to go back and read the first two, because this one was so good!

Bonds of Need by Lynda Aicher

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Bonds of Need (Wicked Play, #2)
Grade: B
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: BDSM, high kink
Genre: Contemporary, BDSM
Series: Wicked Play #2
Reviewed by Kate

Kendra, a masochist, has escaped an abusive relationship with her self-esteem in tatters and has decided to never give someone the power to hurt her like that again.  That means she will ignore her sexual desires and needs instead.  But when she attends an open night at a sex club (as a way to prove to herself that she no longer needs the pain), she realizes she can’t bury her needs forever.  Deklan, co-owner of the sex club, has met Kendra before, but when he sees her at the club he thinks he might be able to help her accept her needs.  And Deklan is always a giver and helper.  Deklan and Kendra enter into a two month Dom/sub contract, but both make discoveries about themselves that change everything.
 
This book was a little more intense, pain-wise, than most other BDSMs that I have read.  A masochist as a heroine was a new experience for me and I enjoyed Kendra’s character a lot.  She is a strong woman who has lost herself and is fighting to get back to some sort of normal.  Deklan is a wounded hero who has failed to help too many times in the past.  He struggles with allowing Kendra to find her own way, not helping too much.  I loved watching Kendra and Deklan change during the course of their contract.  I look forward to reading more of this series (the first book is now added to my TBR list) and more by this author.
 
 

Most Likely to Succeed by Katie Davies

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Most Likely to Succeed (Girls Most Likely to..., #1)
Grade: C
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary, Novella
Series: Girl Most Likely to… #1
Reviewed by: Anne

 
Kelsey and Nathan were lab partners back in high school.  Despite having feelings for each other, they never acted on them and lost touch once college rolled around.  Because of this, Nathan doesn’t know that Kelsey didn’t end up going to college.  Instead, when her mother fell ill, she helped out in her mother’s flower shop and ended up staying there.  Now it’s class reunion time and Kelsey is ashamed to have her brilliant lab partner discover what she’s been doing.
 
Thankfully (for me, hater of BIG SECRETS) this big secret isn’t a secret for long.  That was a point in the story’s favor.  Unfortunately, it really took a while for this one to be enjoyable for me.  The first half of my copy of the novella is full of bookmarks with comments from me like:
“Wow, that’s an odd thing to do after years apart.”
“Hero seems to be a saint with no flaws.”
“Answers the door in a towel.  Really?”
“Awfully touchy with a stranger.”
“Whatever.”
The book also has one of my personal pet peeves… sex on top of the hotel comforter.  I just don’t trust that that those are washed every time!  PLEASE, fold back the comforter and have sex on the sheets!
 
Once I got past the midpoint of the book (and ignored the comforter sex) the story really grew on me.  Nathan is pretty perfect, but he makes some very real mistakes with Kelsey and things get kind of messy.  That was believable to me and I enjoyed seeing the two of them work through it.  By the end of the novella, I wanted it to be longer.  I wanted to see more of Kelsey’s transformation.
 
Interestingly, it looks like the books in this series (I’m going to guess there will be 3) are all taking place during the same 4 days of the high school reunion.  There were enough teasers to really make me want to read the second book, Cutest Couple, which comes out in April.  So, my overall grade is a C, but it’s a hopeful C.