Slow Ride Home by Leah Braemel

Slow Ride Home (The Grady Legacy, #1)
Grade-C
Hotness Level-Inferno
Kink Level-Mild Kink
Series-The Grady Legacy #1
Genre-Contemporary Western
Reviewed by Kay
257 pages

Ben Grady is half owner of the Bull’s Hollow ranch. He is a partner with his brother Jake. His first love was Allie Daniels. They dated in high school until Allie’s father was found out as a thief and they left town. Ben has never gotten over Allie. Turns out there was a video made of Ben, Allie and Ben’s best friend, Logan when they had a threesome. This video led to Allie losing her scholarship to Texas A&M.

Fast forward fifteen years and Allie is a lawyer who handles property title disputes. Bull’s Hollow had part of it’s shares held for a unknown heir. Ben and his family think the whole claim is ridiculous and their title insurance company sends in Allie to investigate. Ben and Allie’s first meeting after fifteen years is strained to say the least. I won’t give anymore plot away but that’s the synopsis on how this story starts.

I am a sucker for western romances. I’m also a sucker for second chance love stories. I enjoyed both of the tropes here. What I didn’t enjoy was the idea that back in high school a girl engaged in a threesome. I’m not a prude but it’s hard for me to buy into it. The suspense of finding out if there was truly another heir was entertaining but I kind of thought my heroine was a slut. This tainted the book for me. I will admit that even though there was copious amounts of descriptive sex in this book that were hot, it still left me a little cold. I don’t know if I’ll read any more in this series yet.

                     

Colters’ Gift by Maya Banks

Colters' Gift (Colters' Legacy, #5)

Grade-B-
Hotness Level-Inferno
Kink Level-Mild Kink
Series-Colters’ Legacy #5
Genre-Contemporary Menage
Reviewed by Kate
368 pages

I read the first book in the series (Colters’ Woman) for the first time a few years ago. I remember emailing my sister and telling her “yes, the apostrophe is in the right place!” You see Colters’ Woman was my introduction to menage and to this day, it remains one of my favorites. I enjoyed the second book just as much. The 3rd and 4th book, eh-not so much. The 3rd because it strayed from the menage aspect and because Max was an ass. The 4th because there wasn’t really a central couple, it was more of a family update. So I was cautiously anticipating the release of Colters’ Gift because it was going back to the menage aspect and also gave us a romance revolving around a new set of characters.
 
In Colters’ Gift we get to follow Lauren, who is recovering from an abusive relationship, on her journey with Liam and Noah. Lauren’s brother hired Liam and Noah to protect Lauren, so of course, they fall for her instead. Well, actually, they both protect and fall for her. They are, after all, manly men who don’t shirk their duties. There is a fair deal of suspense in this one as well. Suspense is not my cup of tea, so I had to stay up late to finish this one so I could sleep.
 
I appreciate the fact that Lauren’s first time with Liam and Noah wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t filled with magic sparkles and fairy dust. It ended badly, and the characters dealt with it.
 
I quickly got tired of how involved in the story the other Colters (from books 1, 2, and 3) were in this book. While I liked the characters in their own books, suddenly there were 10 extra main characters surrounding Lauren and her men. I found myself having to stop and do a roll call. Is Adam here? Yep. Ethan? Yep? Michael? Nope. He’s home with Lily. As this is the last book in the Colters’ Legacy series, I understand why they were all present and accounted for, but it was a lot to keep track of and pulled me away from Liam, Noah, and Lauren.
 
One last note. While the heat level for this book is high, I didn’t feel it had as high a heat level as the first 3 books.
 
If you have enjoyed Maya Banks’s Colters’ Legacy series, you are sure to enjoy this one as well. If you haven’t read the Colters’ Legacy series, I would suggest starting with the first book, Colters’ Woman.
 
Have you read the Colters’ Legacy series? Do you have another menage seriees to recommend?

This Man by Jodi Ellen Malpas

This Man (This Man, #1)
Grade-C
Hotness Level-Inferno
Kink Level-Mild Kink
Series-This Man#1
Genre-Contemporary
Reviewed by Kay

I really liked the premise of this book, even though the premise has flooded the market. I had bought the book awhile back so I felt obligated to read it.

Ava is an interior decorator somewhere in England and Jesse is an uber-rich man who hires her to decorate The Manor. She goes to meet him out of curiosity since his apparent tastes don’t really match what he does. She finds him insanely attractive but a bit of a player. He finds her beautiful but aloof. She tries to back out of the job but he won’t hear of it. This starts Jessie’s pursuit and seduction of Ava.

Jesse is super controlling, stalkerish and obsessive. Some of those things I can deal with and others…no. I found him extremely alpha and not in a good way. While the sex was hot it felt way too quick. They were doing things Ava had never done right away. I just couldn’t buy into it. My biggest complaint is totally a personal preference one. I hated his use of the word lady. I know the author is British but it grated my nerves so badly. I don’t think I need to read anymore in this series.