Kate

Seeing Red by Jill Shalvis

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Seeing Red
Grade: B
Hotness Level: Blaze
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary
Series: Firefighter #3

Reviewed by Kate
352 pages


Summer rushes back to her hometown when she hears her mother’s warehouse has burned down. She left town after a similar fire and has never looked back. What she finds when she arrives in town is her old best friend Joe. While Joe, a fire marshal, is investigating the fire, the last thing Summer expects is to feel flames for Joe.

If there is one thing Shalvis excels at, it’s the characters she creates. In Summer and Joe, she has managed to create two characters who are able to find each other without giving up who they are. The relationship with Summer and her family was realistic and moving. Joe’s friend Kenny provides comic relief better than a Disney villain’s sidekick.

When I find an author I enjoy, I – like any good reader – try to go back and read the author’s back list. More often than not, I discover that the author has grown into their writing, and their back list is sadly lacking compared to their newer releases. Happily, that was not the case with Seeing Red. Shalvis continues to keep me coming back for more.

How about you?  Do you enjoy catching up on an author’s back list?  Which authors’ backlists have lived up to your expectations?

Menage Monday – Together in Cyn by Jennifer Kacey

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Together in Cyn

Grade: B-
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: High Kink
Genre: Contemporary, BDSM, ménage (with some f/f)
Series: Members Only #1
Reviewed by Kate
157 pages


Cyn has been best friends with twins Chris and Jared for 12 years now, and for 12 years now she’s also lusted after the pair. Unable to choose between her best friends, she keeps her feelings to herself and shares her wicked fantasies with her diary. Come on, you see where this is going, right?

Jared and Chris have owned a fetish club (that Cyn does not know about) for a while now and have always dreamed of bringing Cyn there as their submissive. They assume that she won’t be accepting of the BDSM lifestyle, so they never approach her. And then… Jared stumbles across her diary one day.

I really liked the premise of this book. Friends become lovers…with some whips and chains thrown in for fun. I jumped at the chance to read this one. I have three main gripes about this book though.

1. There is next to no conversation between Jared, Chris, and Cyn about what she’s willing to try in this new-to-her world of BDSM. The boys have read her diary and have taken that as her permission to have all those things done to her. I would have liked to see a little conversation before Jared and Chris added other club members into the mix.

2. Safeword. Let’s say it together now. Safeword. Jared and Chris are owners of a highly exclusive, members only fetish club. They are hyper aware of the security and safety of their members. Yet it is not until 91% into the book that they ever talk about a safeword with Cyn (and a lot has happened to Cyn by that point). Maybe this ties a bit to my first point, but I really wanted there to be a conversation between the three of them about a safeword before anything went down.

3. There’s a villain in this book (it’s not actually the villain I have a problem with, more the presentation). We know that Cyn has something hiding in her past. There have been multiple hints dropped throughout the book although we have no clue as to what this secret is. And then all of sudden-BAM! There’s a villain. And not just a villain, but a villain that has managed to corner Cyn. It just seemed so sudden and out of place.

The really strange part is that even with these 3 issues, I actually liked the book quite a bit.  It’s the friends becoming lovers hook that I enjoyed the most.  Plus, when you add in the BDSM aspect, I’m a goner.  There were plenty of secondary characters for the author to continue the series with and I hope she does.  I think we’ll see great things from Jennifer Kacey in the future.

Cowboy Seeks Bride by Carolyn Brown

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Cowboy Seeks Bride
Grade-B-
Hotness Level-Blaze
Kink Level-No Kink
Series-Spikes & Spurs #7
Genre-Contemporary
384 pages
Reviewed by Kate

Haley McKay (whose professional name is HB McKay) thinks her dad is playing a practical joke on her when he sends her to meet Dewar O’Donnell and his buddies at the start of a cattle drive. She’s supposed to ride with the cowboys on the month-long round up as research for a reality show the family tv company is considering, but Haley is sure that when she gets there it will all be a joke.

Dewar is expecting HB McKay to be a middle-aged business man, not the feisty red-head that shows up. He’s been actively looking for a wife, but knows there’s no way Haley’s busy life as a career woman would mix with his life on the ranch. But despite the logic, the sparks between Haley and Dewar fly.

Carolyn Brown is one of my favorite authors of the modern cowboy, In Cowboy Seeks Bride she delivers a solid, low conflict romance. Haley’s city-girl ways clash with Dewar’s country life, but the attraction is instant. I enjoyed watching Dewar and Haley sneaking around and hiding their relationship from the other cowboys on the drive. The ending seemed a bit too easy, a little too perfect, but still believable. I can forgive the ending since I enjoyed the book as much as I did.

Are you a fan of the modern-day cowboy romance? If so, who are some of your favorite authors?