inferno

Willing Victim by Cara McKenna – Anne’s review

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

This is Anne’s birthday week, so we’re going to spend two days on one of her favorite books of all time.  Yesterday was  Kate’s review, and now, Anne’s review.

8812286

Grade: A+
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: Moderate Kink
Genre: Contemporary, BDSM
Published: 8/6/10
Reviewed by Anne
105 ebook pages

This is one of my favorite books of all time.  I’ve been pressuring Kate to read it.  And when I say pressuring I mean that I annoyed her to the point that she probably read it just to get me to stop bringing it up.  I thought she’d LOVE it just like me.  But she read it and said it was pretty good.  Pretty good?  Seriously?  Now I feel the need to defend this awesome story.  So if you’re looking for an unbiased review?  You should probably go read Kate’s review.

  1. Flynn – a tattoed, rough and scarred fighter/boxer long before it was cool in other romances
  2. Rape role playing – this is the best I’ve ever seen this done. Their discussion ahead of time, the safeword, the scenarios they play out, the way they care for each other during and after their sessions – this is sex done right.
  3. This:

They walked to Flynn’s building without speaking and he punched the floor buttons for two and five.  He made his usual stop to knock on his sister’s door then returne, a hardness to his expression.

“You okay?” Laurel asked.

“Second we get in that apartment,” Flynn muttered, “it’s on.”

“What’s on?”

The growl in his voice was all the answer she needed.  “You fucking know.”

 

Now I know Kate didn’t like the abrupt ending – I am fine with it.  I feel confident that they’ll be ok.  And I know that the voyeurism scene is the book is off putting to some, but for me, because all parties involved were on board?  So hot.  It totally worked for me!

So what’s your all time favorite read?  (Or just one of them if you can’t narrow it down!)

Willing Victim by Cara McKenna – Kate’s Review

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

This is Anne’s birthday week, so we’re going to spend two days on one of her favorite books of all time.  Today is Kate’s review, and tomorrow, Anne’s review.

8812286

Grade: C+
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: Moderate Kink
Genre: Contemporary, BDSM
Published: 8/6/10
Reviewed by Anne

When Laurel sees a stranger standing up for a lady who is being harassed, she follows the man and introduces herself. Flynn is an underground fighter not really looking for a serious relationship.  He’s happy with the friends-with-benefits situation he currently has.  Until Laurel shows up in the picture.  There’s so much that attracts him to her, but she’s 100% vanilla and Flynn accepted a long time ago that he needs more than just vanilla.  We get to join Laurel on her journey of discovery with Flynn’s darker side.

This book came highly recommended by Anne and a few other book friends.  And I went into it a little hesitantly because I’m not a huge fighter romance fan.  But I loved Flynn and his fighting and his desires and most of all his dirty mouth.  I could go on and on about Flynn’s dirty mouth.  Seriously.  If hot, dirty, balls-to-the-wall sex is what you like to read this is the book for you.

Despite the fantastic sex, I just wanted there to be more to the relationship. At first I thought “well, maybe if this was a full length…” But then I realized it wasn’t a novella, it was closer to 281 pages. So length was not the problem. I just wanted more than a sexual connection between them. It was clear at the end that there was more of a connection, I just wanted to see it more.

I do want to mention the opening scenes with Flynn and his friends-with-benefits.  I understand that the purpose was to expose Laurel to his lifestyle, but I really didn’t enjoy seeing him with someone else.  However, once I got past that, the story really took off.

Beyond Addiction by Kit Rocha

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

18392414

Grade: A
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: Moderate Kink
Genre: Dystopian
Series: Beyond #5
Published: 8/11/14
Reviewed by Anne
229 ebook pages

For starters, you really have to read this series in order.  You officially start with Beyond Shame, book #1, but if you want a smaller taste, you can read Beyond Solitude, which is #4.5, but stands alone really, really well.  And I think you should read this series, because it’s dark and gritty and really, really good.  Oh, and it’s really, really hot, too.

Trix has long been a background character in the O’Kane gang.  She’s a bartender and a dancer at their bar.  At the end of book #4, Beyond Jealously, Trix gets kidnapped and taken to Sector 5, and we learn that’s where she escaped from her life as a prostitute addicted to drugs.

Finn is an enforcer for Mac, the evil overlord of Sector 5.  He actually lives just to undermine Mac, and has since Mac facilitated the overdose of Finn’s favorite girl, Tracy.  He doesn’t care much about living or dying, but he knows Mac is horrible and he’s working on a one man mission to ruin his rule over Sector 5.

That all changes when Finn is called into Mac’s office and sees the newly kidnapped Trix.  Trix is Tracy.  She never really died, she escaped to Sector 4 and changed her name.  Seeing Trix/Tracy spurs Finn to action like nothing else has, and Trix and Finn end up on the run.  They’ve got a twisted history, since their prior relationship took place when Trix was hooked on drugs and Finn was her supplier – giving her the drugs in exchange for sex.  They both had deeper feelings, but the addiction between them blurred everything.

So the question is never really whether Trix and Finn love each other, but it’s how can they work through their history and issues together.  This is complicated somewhat by Trix now being a member of the O’Kanes.  That means Finn will have to find his way to a place in the gang.

The relationship between Trix and Finn was a strong point for me.  I really enjoyed watching them find their way to each other with nothing between them.  The sex scenes are scorching hot, as expected in this series.

Also as expected in this series there’s a menage scene.  That was a bit of a let down for me in this book.  It seemed a bit out of place and it didn’t quite work for me.  I was also surprised at how easily Finn was accepted as an O’Kane, especially given his history of working for Mac Fleming.  Those were the only two week points in the book for me.

Besides Trix and Finn, I really enjoyed checking in with everyone else in the O’Kane gang.  So awesome seeing Dallas and Lex truly sharing power.  I’m also getting curious-er and curious-er about Doc (whose name is Dylan!).  And what’s up with him and Maddox?  I want to go back and re-read the entire series, taking notes this time.  I thought Maddox was paired up with someone.  And then there’s Lili from Sector 5.  That’s one messed up lady, so you know she’s going to end up in Sector 4, hopefully getting some control over her life.  She’s right up Lex’s alley.

So, if you’re reading the series, who is your favorite character?  I’m a huge Noah/Emma fan, but Maddox is probably the one I’m most curious about right now!