contemporary

Heating up the Holidays

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Heating Up the Holidays 3-Story Bundle

Grade: A
Hotness Level: Blaze/Inferno
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary, Novella
Published: 10/28/13
Reviewed by Anne
303 pages
 
Snowfall by Mary Ann Rivers (A) – First off, we start with Jenny, a microbiologist.  That’s right, a story featuring a female scientist!  Woo hoo!  Her love interest is the physical therapist she’s working with – and the conflict of interest there is very well handled.  The story is primarily about her personal journey to accept some changes in her life, and the love story is wrapped into that.  So good.  Mary Anne Rivers also wrote The Story Guy, which is one of my favorite reads of the year.  She is a new favorite of mine.  Fair warning – she writes in first person POV, from the heroine’s side only.  And it works.  Very well!  I highly recommend this story.
 
After Midnight by Serena Bell (A) – Miles is in a funk at a New Year’s Eve party.  He’s been (falsely) accused of embezzling from a charity he runs and was subsequently dumped by his fiancée.  Then he sees Nora dancing across the room.  She is happy and full of life.  They make eye contact and she surprises him by coming over to see him. The story of where things go from there is very good!  Well written with touches of humor that made me smile.  I haven’t read Serena Bell before but she going on my good list now!
 
Play With Me by Lisa Renee Jones (DNF) – So, I went into this one a bit hesitant because I associate with more suspenseful reads.  It had a strong start and I liked the heroine, but things started getting icky for me.  First our “hero” reminds one of his employees that she is “only cranky once a month.”  That was almost the end for me, but I think I was hoping our strong heroine would put him in his place.  But before we know it she’s essentially held prisoner for an entire day having her phone and computer and all contact with the outside world removed and no explanation given other than “there’s been a breach in security and we have to follow protocol.”  When our hero finally takes time to come tell her what’s going on, she quits (yay her!) only to be seduced by the mere touch of his hand shackling her wrist.  Umm.  No.
 
Despite not finishing the Lisa Renee Jones story, I’d still recommend this book based on the strength of the other two stories.  This may turn out to be a favorite year after year for me!  How about you?  Do you have a favorite holiday romance?

Inch by Inch by Heidi Belleau and Amelia C. Gormley

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne
Inch by Inch (The Professor's Rule, #3)
Grade-A-
Hotness Level-Inferno
Kink Level-High Kink
Series-Professor’s Rule #3
Genre-Contemporary, m/m, BDSM, multiple partner/non-ménage
Reviewed by Kate
50 pages
 
This book picks up where Giving an Inch left off. James is driving to Professor Carson’s house after a dressing room interlude with sales associate Satish. James and Professor Carson haven’t seen each other in 2 years, but their relationship starts right back up quickly. This one is all about James setting limits with Professor Carson and trying to explore his feelings for Satish.
 
I loved the first book (Giving an Inch) in this series and the second book (An Inch at a Time) was exactly what I wanted it to be. This third book was a great addition, but definitely left James’ relationships with Professor Carson and Satish up in the air-and left me wanting more, more, more. I hope Ms. Belleau has more planned for Professor Carson, James, and Satish.
 
I would recommend reading the first two in this series before picking this one up. Reading them in order will take care of any references to the characters’ pasts. Although reading this one first will definitely make you want to buy the first two books.
 
Ms. Belleau has created such unique characters and has a way of quickly pulling you into the story that you don’t even realize that the stories are short. She has gotten past my aversion to short story series that feature the same characters. If you read only one m/m BDSM series of short stories, this is the series you have to read.
 
This series has been my introduction to the world of m/m and BDSM together. Do you have any suggestions for more m/m BDSM reads?

Claim by Serena Grey

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Claim (A Dangerous Man, #3)
Grade-C
Hotness Level-Inferno
Kink Level-No Kink
Series-A Dangerous Man #3
Genre-Contemporary
Reviewed by Kay
80 pages

David, David, David! You stupid, stupid man!

This is the last book that’s available in this series right now. I’m a little aggravated since I thought it was just a trilogy. But after I started reading it, I realized there would be more novellas.

This book is told from David’s point of view and therefore very repetitive of the first two books. You do get a little insight into David’s past which was nice. The insight not his past. You also get to see that he does truly care for Sophie but won’t take a chance on getting hurt to acknowledge it openly. He has hurt Sophie terribly and must deal with his actions.

Sophie is heartbroken and flees. You don’t get much about her until the very end if this book. She stands her ground and I loved it. She is realizing her own strength and independence. Now I have to wait until God knows when to find out if David can dig himself out of the hole he’s in.