no kink

Take Me by Bella Andre

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Take Me (Take Me #1)

Grade – C-
Hotness Level – Inferno
Kink Level – No Kink
Genre – Contemporary
Series – Take Me #1
Reviewed by Kate

Take Me by Bella Andre

Size 16 (I only mention this because it is a big deal in the book) Lily is the world’s biggest wallflower. Mousy and shy, she does her best to hide her ample bosom and curvy hips with plain and dowdy clothes. Her younger sister Janica is a fashion designer and ends up one plus sized model short right before a big fashion show, so Janica talks Lily into modeling for a show.

Lily’s best friend since childhood, Luke, says he’ll be at the show for moral support but is called into work at the last minute. He asks his identical twin Travis to go in his place. Travis used to chum around with Luke and Lily, but has been ignoring Lily since she was ten.

Lily dons The Dress… that’s right, capital letters. Like Frodo’s ring, The Dress appears to hold some magical powers. When Lily puts it on, she immediately transforms into a vibrant, strong, self confident, and sexy woman. Capable of strutting down the runway with a sexy swagger. Capable of seducing Travis… who she has lusted after all these years.

So here’s the thing. Travis has been a jerk to Lily most of her life. A real love ’em and leave ’em type. He’s treated her like a leper for years, paraded his series of stick thin model girlfriends in front of her, etc. But when he sees her walking down the runway wearing The Dress, he’s gobsmacked. He can’t believe stick in the mud Lily is really a curvy, sexy siren.

The next morning when Luke finds out Lily and Travis slept together, he’s worried for Lily. He knows Travis’s past and figures Lily’s going to get her heart broken. So he hatches a plan to make Travis want Lily. He tells Lily to play hard to get. Then when he meets up with Travis, he mentions that Lily wasn’t that impressed with her mediocre hook up after the fashion show.

The rest of the book consists of game playing. Lily does her best to make Travis chase her. Teasing him, then backing off at the last minute… you get the picture. Travis, meanwhile, is busy trying to prove his manhood by sleeping with her as often as he can… trying to get her out of his system and all.

Travis was written as such a womanizer and so full of himself it was impossible to like him. Lily was so introverted and spineless (unless under the influence of The Dress) it seemed amazing that she could function in life. I had trouble believing that either character was capable of making the changes they did in such a short time. I hated that they were both playing games and continued to play them for so long. While not the worst book I’ve read this year, it was far from the best.

A Negotiated Marriage by Noelle Adams

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

A Negotiated Marriage

Grade – B
Hotness Level – Blaze
Kink Level – No Kink
Genre – Contemporary
Reviewed by Kate


Three years ago Luke and Molly entered into a marriage of convenience… a sexless marriage of convenience. Luke had a playboy reputation that constantly kept him in the tabloids. A stable marriage would be better for his business. Molly made the mistake of falling in love with someone who didn’t return her love. Marrying Luke, who she respected and trusted, was a good way to get back at her ex. Neither Luke nor Molly wanted the complications of emotions in their relationship.

Luke surprises Molly by asking to renegotiate their marriage contract… to include sex. What starts as a weekly commitment quickly turns to more, leaving Molly feeling like she is once again in a one sided relationship.

As both Luke and Molly are comfortable in their marriage, this became a story of two people getting to know each other all over again. I enjoyed this unique approach to a marriage of convenience a lot.

Be Mine

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Be Mine: Sizzle\Too Fast to Fall\Alone With You
Grade – B-

Hotness Level – Blaze
Kink Level – no kink
Genre – Contemporary
Reviewed by Anne
 
Sizzle by Jennifer Crusie
Grade C+
Emily is a successful marketing guru who makes a lot of money for the company she works for, but is also known for running over budget on her accounts.  Richard is brought in to partner with her and keep the financial side of her accounts in line.  They are immediately attacted to each other, but Richard’s habit of not listening to Emily, during professional or personal moments, has Emily on her guard professionally and keeping her distance personally.  Richard seems clueless as to his… shall I call them bad habits? 
I had some problems with this story that kept it from being a better read for me.  There were moments where Richard was so oblivious to what Emily was saying that it bordered on non-consent (sexually) for me.  It never was rape or even close, but there were moments it was uncomfortable for me to read.  Partway through the story a reference to renting a VCR took me back to my childhood and made me realize this was an old story.  That was disappointing for me.
I did really enjoy the banter back and forth between Richard and Emily, and I really liked Emily’s strength of character.  She really liked Richard, but she wasn’t going to allow him to NOT listen to her. Her insistence on his improvement made his deplorable behavior tolerable.  It’s difficult to believe he’s really changed his ways at the end of the story, but I do believe Emily will continue to put him in his place.
 
Too Fast To Fall by Victoria Dahl
Grade B+
Jenny Stone has a need.  A need for speed.  And that need for speed keeps getting her pulled over by Deputy Nate Hendricks.  I have to admit that this is true for me:
Victoria Dahl + police officer = win
Jenny and Nate have some really nice chemistry together.  There is a lot going on in this short story, but I think Victoria Dahl pulled it off nicely.  Jenny was a nice mix of self confident and dealing with past issues that have given her a tendency to run.  I loved Nate’s honestly with Jenny.  Things that could have been hidden and created BIG SECRETS were not.  They were dealt with, and it was messy, but not annoying like a big misunderstanding is.  Add in some good secondary characters and this story was a big win for me.
 
Alone With You by Shannon Stacey
Grade B-
Jake and Darcy have a one night stand they both think will develop into something more, until Jake loses Darcy’s number and she thinks he never meant to call her at all.  This makes things quite awkward when they end up working together on an isolated project for a mutual friend/employer.    This story gets bonus points from me for being the only one that really had a strong Valentine’s Day collection.  I expected that from all three stories in a collection called “Be Mine” but really only Alone With You had more than a token reference.
 
This story had the things I love about Shannon Stacey’s writing, but it was kind of a miss for me.  There was a running joke (Big Ass Steak) and Kowalskis (Kevin and Beth from the second book) and funny and true good friends.  I really enjoyed Jake and Darcy playing trivia, too.  But I think the two of them together didn’t always feel right.  It felt a little rushed and a little up and down.  They’re not getting along.  They’ve got horny pants.  They’re in love.  It’s over! Oh no! But they’re in love!  Ok, back together with the horny pants.  In the end it was just ok for me.