Restraint by Charlotte Stein

Restraint
Grade – A
Hotness Level – Inferno
Kink Level – no kink
Genre – Contemporary, short
Reviewed by Anne


Mallory is pissed of at her friend.  He invited *Artie* along on their holiday.  Artie who hates her and thinks she’s stupid.  But while they are sharing a vacation house, Mallory quickly realizes Artie doesn’t dislike her, he just doesn’t know what to do with the attraction he feels for her.  He’s so uptight, conservative, restrained… he just doesn’t know what to do with the physical reaction he has to her blunt words.

I’ll stop there because it’s a short story (51 pages on my reader) and I don’t want to give it away, but it’s incredibly good.  I love Charlotte Stein’s voice.  Her first person story telling works for me, even though I’m not a first person fan, in general.  Early on in the story, before she understands why Artie seems to dislike her, Mallory decides she’s never going to have Artie’s approval and she doesn’t care.  In fact, she’s going to say more of the things that make him uncomfortable.


I can almost make out the pressure of his immense gaze on the side of my face, as I make a comment I know I shouldn’t be making.

I know it, the second it comes out – but somehow I just can’t help it.  I’m not even trying to employ this new “Artie can go fuck himself” attitude.  The words simply come out all on their own, like a reflex.

A rude, rude reflex, in response to Lucy’s suggestion that she’d be happy just to have some movie star hunk of the week read the phone book to her.

‘He could read the phone book to me, too, ‘ I say, and then the Doc hit my knee with the little hammer, and my leg kicks up. ‘As long as he does so directly into my vagina.’

This story is very hot.  It’s also got a dirty feel to it, which I really enjoyed.  The dirty comes from knowing how Artie feels about the things they are doing, not so much what they are doing.  I really enjoyed the writing!  Artie and Mallory also develop a sweet and believable love for each other.  I highly recommend this book.  It’s going on my Best of 2013 list.


Leather, Lace and Rock-n-Roll by Mia Dymond

Leather, Lace and Rock-n-Roll (SEALS, Inc., #1)
Grade-D
Hotness Level-Inferno
Kink Level-None
Series-SEALS, Inc. #1
Reviewed by Kay

The story starts out a rock concert for Jaydon Hawke’s band. Rachel, the heroine and Cameron, her best friend are trying to get backstage with only one pass. Cameron is trying to get Rachel to take a walk on the wild side and sleep with a rock star. Rachel is kind of shy and considers herself smart but not attractive.

Jaydon Hawke is a bonafide rock star. Oh yeah, and he’s also a a Navy SEAL. Rachel helps him with a stuck zipper and he’s hooked from there.  He’s undercover trying to capture a terrorist and thinks Rachel is somehow involved.

Nothing about this story worked for me at all. I tried, I really did. It has two things I love to read about: Navy SEALS and rock stars. Still those things did not help. Let me list what I liked and disliked.

Like- Max. He was a good character.

Disliked- A rock star that’s a Navy SEAL? Come on. Cameron grated my nerves so bad I thought I was gonna scream. The men in the story were a little Beta for me. The sex scenes-not enough and not hot enough.

I gave  the book a D rating because I admire authors and the sacrifices they and their families make so we as readers have something to read. Otherwise, my review rating would’ve been worse.

BB Dalton by Cat Johnson


BB Dalton (Red, Hot & Blue Bonus Read)

Grade-C
Hotness Level-Blaze
Kink Level-None
Series-Red, Hot & Blue #3.5
Reviewed by Kay

This is a very short read. More of a short story than a novella.

BB Dalton is a Navy SEAL. His real name is William Robert Dalton. You guessed it…BB is short for Billy Bob. He was an underwear model in his life before the military.

Katie Jorgenson is an advertising executive, I think. She’s in charge of a project that will help recruiting for the military, supposedly. She has chosen BB to be the poster child of this project.

Despite his wishes not to be a part of this, BB and Katie start touring after BB gets his pictures taken. The two become close after spending this time together. Katie is very concerned with the age difference, as she is eleven years his senior. BB could care less about the difference in their ages. Katie fights her attraction but does relent eventually and really, who could blame her.

This is a semi-steamy short story that can be finished in one sitting. I had been wanting and waiting to read a Cat Johnson story for a while. I liked it but I thought it would’ve been hotter.