Kate

The Men With the Golden Cuffs by Lexi Blake

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

The Men With The Golden Cuffs (Masters and Mercenaries, #2)
Grade: B
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: High Kink
Genre: Contemporary, Menage, BDSM
Series: Masters and Mercenaries #2
Reviewed by Kate

 
Serena writes erotic romances under a pen name.  When she starts receiving threatening messages, her editor hooks her up with a security firm.  Adam and Jake have been best friends since boot camp.  Being assigned to Serena’s case isn’t a hardship at all.  They’ve been looking for a submissive to share and Serena writes BDSM menage stories.  Maybe they can provide her with some hands-on experiences.

 
Some of the conflict in this story comes from the stalker, the rest comes from Serena, Jake, and Adam.  Each has been let down by love in the past and are scared to trust again.  I don’t know that I’ve ever run across a trio of more stubborn characters.  I felt the middle part lagged a bit because they were all refusing to talk to each other.  Despite that, I really enjoyed the book. 

I Need an Intervention…

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

I think everyone has at least one plot that they can’t pass up. For me, it’s a marriage of convenience with a particular soft spot for mail order brides. I love that part where the couple grapples with not marrying for love, but finding it anyway. Two of my all time favorite books, ones that I have re-read too many times to count, are marriage of convenience stories. Sunset Embraceby Sandra Brown and Susan Carroll’s The Bride Finder. I highly recommend both if you love the marriage of convenience story line, too.

However, I fear I may have over-read my favorite plot. Each one I read is starting to feel the same. Even when they’re well written, they’re getting old. The reasons behind the marriages seem to be getting more and more far fetched. Do two millionaires really need to marry due to an unplanned pregnancy in this day and age? Can a crazy old man really change his will so his son must marry in order to inherit?

So I’m taking a marriage of convenience break. Going into rehab, if you will. Anyone know of a twelve-step program? No more until 2014. And, if I have a relapse, Anne and Kay get to pick out a book for me to read. *shudder* But if I’m giving up the marriage of convenience, I’ll need something else to distract me. What’s your poison of choice? The one story line you can’t resist?

The Theory of Attraction by Delphine Dryden

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

The Theory of Attraction (Science of Temptation, #1)
Grade: B-
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: Moderate Kink (BDSM)
Genre: ContemporarySeries: The Science of Temptation #1
Reviewed by Kate
121 pages

On Anne’s recommendation, I read the Seduction Hypothesis. (See Anne’s review here.)When I finished I had to go back and read Ivan and Cami’s story. I wasn’t too far into The Theory of Attraction before I realized I had read it before (evidently my poor memory could benefit from some sort of “books read” system as this is no where near the first time this has happened to me.) As I continued to read, I remembered how much I had enjoyed reading it the first time around.

Ivan is a man of routine and predictability. In the time Camilla has been his neighbor, she has learned his routines and fallen for him a little bit, even though they are just computer game playing, sci-fi watching friends. When Ivan needs to charm some bigwigs at an upcoming party he turns to Cami. Perhaps she can help him get past his awkward social presence. Cami jumps at the chance to help him (and spend more time with him) but gets more than she bargained for when she realizes there’s one thing about predictable Ivan she didn’t know — he’s a Dom.

I really like that this wasn’t a book about changing Ivan. Cami helps him understand the situations he’ll encounter at the party, but he doesn’t undergo a nerd-to-jock transformation. He remains himself. He continues his experiment on growing tomatoes, despite his his dislike for tomatoes. He still has a hangup about shower hanky panky (my favorite scene in the book.) And on the path to helping Ivan, Cami learns about herself too.

A strong start to a great series.  Delphine Dryden has done for nerdiness what butter did for toast — made it yummy and scrumptious.