epilogue novella

Merry Christmas, Baby by Jill Shalvis

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

22553481
Grade: A
Hotness Level: Ember
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary , small town
Series: Lucky Harbor #12.5
Published: 12/2/14
Reviewed by Anne
43 ebook pages

The first Jill Shalvis stories I read were some Christmas novellas of hers that were in anthologies I got from my library.  I really liked them, so reading a Shalvis Christmas novella that is an epilogue to one of my favorite books?  It’s a no brainer!

This novella gives us a peak at Sawyer, the sheriff and his wife, Chloe, now expecting their first baby.   It’s got peaks at many of the characters from the series, but especially Chloe’s sisters and their husbands from the first books.

Sawyer and Chloe have a disagreement about Chloe attending the town Christmas party just before Sawyer heads out on an extra assignment.  He doesn’t want her to go, due to the advanced stage of her pregnancy and her medical complications.  She, of course, is plotting to attend.  She feels like he’s wanting to get away from her and her pregnancy based mood swings and she just wants to do what she wants to do.

Of course nothing goes as planned and hilarity ensues.  It’s a must read for fans of the Lucky Harbor Series.  The only thing I didn’t like about the story is that after all that drama and comedy… they don’t tell you what they name the baby!  I’ll forgive it because I love the rest of the story, but it is driving me a bit crazy.  Is there anyone that’s read anything anywhere on the web about it?

M/M Monday – Good Boy by Anne Tenino

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Good Boy (Theta Alpha Gamma, #4)
Grade: B+
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: Mild Kink
Genre: Contemporary, M/M
Series: Theta Alpha Gamma #4

Published: 10/7/13
Reviewed by Anne
83 pages
 
Brad (a college student) and Sebastian (a grad student) have been together for 9 months now.  They love each other very much, but Sebastian’s writing his thesis and stressed to the max.  Unfortunately this shows itself in him taking Brad and everything he’s doing for granted.  This is especially concerning because Seb and Brad have a D/s relationship.  It usually works very well, but when the story opens, it’s not working, and in fact, Seb is feeling entitled and Brad is feeling like a pet begging for attention.  
 
Tenino does such a good job writing this initial set up, I truly wondered how she would redeem Sebastian!  In the end though, I really enjoyed reading a dom who was NOT psychic!  It was interesting to see them work through things.  Oh, and I should mention it was super hot, too!  Their relationship is presented as one that has always been physical, so it’s no surprise that working through their issues involves more sex than it does talking.  The sex and the talking were both well written, though and I enjoyed the whole thing!
 
This book is the 4th in the series and only the 2nd I’ve read.  It’s even a novella follow up to the first book in the series, (Frat Boy and Toppy) which I haven’t read.  All this means that I can testify that Tenino’s writing can stand up to being read out of order.  I really enjoyed this one and look forward to reading more!

Breaking by Claire Kent

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Breaking (Escorted, #1.5)

Grade: B
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary, same couple series
Series: Escorted #1.5
Reviewed by Anne
61 pages
 
This 61 page story picks up a with Ander and Lori a few months from the end of Escorted. (See my review of Escorted here.) Ander has been working on his doctorate and they’ve been apart off and on.  He unexpectedly comes home from a trip a week early because he needs to be with Lori.  (This story, in contrast to Escorted, is told entirely from Ander’s POV.)  He may have been needing to see Lori, but he can’t bring himself to share his problems with her.  Instead he just keeps seducing her.
 
Amazingly, I think this book had too much sex in it for me!  However, that was a plot point of the story, so it’s not exactly gratuitous.  It’s exactly what Ander was up to – he’s distracting Lori with sex.  He uses it as a shield.  It’s an interesting and kind of believable idea. Of course, that’s not going to last forever, and that conversation was where the story really shone for me.
 
I’d recommend this story to anyone who enjoyed Escorted, but I think this story would be more enjoyable after reading Escorted.


So, what do you think of this trend of authors writing novella length sequels/epilogues for established couples.  Do you like it?