contemporary

A Negotiated Marriage by Noelle Adams

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

A Negotiated Marriage

Grade – B
Hotness Level – Blaze
Kink Level – No Kink
Genre – Contemporary
Reviewed by Kate


Three years ago Luke and Molly entered into a marriage of convenience… a sexless marriage of convenience. Luke had a playboy reputation that constantly kept him in the tabloids. A stable marriage would be better for his business. Molly made the mistake of falling in love with someone who didn’t return her love. Marrying Luke, who she respected and trusted, was a good way to get back at her ex. Neither Luke nor Molly wanted the complications of emotions in their relationship.

Luke surprises Molly by asking to renegotiate their marriage contract… to include sex. What starts as a weekly commitment quickly turns to more, leaving Molly feeling like she is once again in a one sided relationship.

As both Luke and Molly are comfortable in their marriage, this became a story of two people getting to know each other all over again. I enjoyed this unique approach to a marriage of convenience a lot.

Be Mine

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Be Mine: Sizzle\Too Fast to Fall\Alone With You
Grade – B-

Hotness Level – Blaze
Kink Level – no kink
Genre – Contemporary
Reviewed by Anne
 
Sizzle by Jennifer Crusie
Grade C+
Emily is a successful marketing guru who makes a lot of money for the company she works for, but is also known for running over budget on her accounts.  Richard is brought in to partner with her and keep the financial side of her accounts in line.  They are immediately attacted to each other, but Richard’s habit of not listening to Emily, during professional or personal moments, has Emily on her guard professionally and keeping her distance personally.  Richard seems clueless as to his… shall I call them bad habits? 
I had some problems with this story that kept it from being a better read for me.  There were moments where Richard was so oblivious to what Emily was saying that it bordered on non-consent (sexually) for me.  It never was rape or even close, but there were moments it was uncomfortable for me to read.  Partway through the story a reference to renting a VCR took me back to my childhood and made me realize this was an old story.  That was disappointing for me.
I did really enjoy the banter back and forth between Richard and Emily, and I really liked Emily’s strength of character.  She really liked Richard, but she wasn’t going to allow him to NOT listen to her. Her insistence on his improvement made his deplorable behavior tolerable.  It’s difficult to believe he’s really changed his ways at the end of the story, but I do believe Emily will continue to put him in his place.
 
Too Fast To Fall by Victoria Dahl
Grade B+
Jenny Stone has a need.  A need for speed.  And that need for speed keeps getting her pulled over by Deputy Nate Hendricks.  I have to admit that this is true for me:
Victoria Dahl + police officer = win
Jenny and Nate have some really nice chemistry together.  There is a lot going on in this short story, but I think Victoria Dahl pulled it off nicely.  Jenny was a nice mix of self confident and dealing with past issues that have given her a tendency to run.  I loved Nate’s honestly with Jenny.  Things that could have been hidden and created BIG SECRETS were not.  They were dealt with, and it was messy, but not annoying like a big misunderstanding is.  Add in some good secondary characters and this story was a big win for me.
 
Alone With You by Shannon Stacey
Grade B-
Jake and Darcy have a one night stand they both think will develop into something more, until Jake loses Darcy’s number and she thinks he never meant to call her at all.  This makes things quite awkward when they end up working together on an isolated project for a mutual friend/employer.    This story gets bonus points from me for being the only one that really had a strong Valentine’s Day collection.  I expected that from all three stories in a collection called “Be Mine” but really only Alone With You had more than a token reference.
 
This story had the things I love about Shannon Stacey’s writing, but it was kind of a miss for me.  There was a running joke (Big Ass Steak) and Kowalskis (Kevin and Beth from the second book) and funny and true good friends.  I really enjoyed Jake and Darcy playing trivia, too.  But I think the two of them together didn’t always feel right.  It felt a little rushed and a little up and down.  They’re not getting along.  They’ve got horny pants.  They’re in love.  It’s over! Oh no! But they’re in love!  Ok, back together with the horny pants.  In the end it was just ok for me.
 
 
 
 

Boots and Chaps by Myla Jackson

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Boots And Chaps (Ugly Stick Saloon, #1)

Grade – D
Hotness Level – Inferno
Kink Level – Moderate Kink
Genre – Contemporary, BDSM
Series – Ugly Stick Saloon #1
Reviewed by Kate

Audrey owns the Ugly Stick Saloon (think Coyote Ugly with strippers by request.)  When the manager takes a request for a stripper at a private birthday party but the usual strippers are all unavailable, Audrey steps into her old stripper alter-ego Kiki. It’s a good thing the birthday boy is Jackson, who she has been crushing on for a while now. She had a small sampling of him in the storage room the night before but she wants more.

The private party was planned by Jackson’s twin brothers, Mark and Luke, who decide they’ll play with Kiki if Jackson won’t. But Kiki only wants the twins if Jackson wants to share. Jackson has never shared before but decides to try it..for Kiki.

This book sounded so promising but I was really disappointed. The characters seemed a bit unrealistic to me. Audrey wants no part of a relationship but joins Jackson in the storage room for a wild romp, knowing he’s a commitment kind of guy, because her vibrator ran out of batteries the night before. Jackson takes over a Dom role to Kiki’s sub at the party but keeps asking her if what he’s doing is okay and what she wants him to do. A more pansy Dom I’ve never met. Then suddenly he finds his Dom balls and things are hunky dory. The off-kilter part? Kiki is turned on by both the pansy Dom as well as the harder Dom.

Mark and Luke did not come across as very likable. They liked any woman who breathed and didn’t seem to have any connection to Audrey/Kiki

The final scenes that happen after a Ladies Night Out at the bar are not just a stretch for Jackson’s character but something closer to an alien taking over his body. Those last scenes were so unbelievable that they were the final straw for me…and that’s after surviving through all of Audrey’s complaining about having to replace batteries and awkward feeling foursomes. Shudder.