novella

Just What He Wanted by HelenKay Dimon

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Just What He Wanted (Holloway, #4)
Grade-B
Hotness Level-Blaze
Kink Level-None
Series-Holloway #4
Reviewed by Kay

This story is a novella for the Holloway series. The main characters are Travis Yardley and Andrea “Andie” Patterson. Travis works with his semi adopted family in their nursery business. He goes through his life thinking he has everything he could need for now, great family and friends, a job he enjoys and female companionship when he wants it. Then he is asked a favor by a friend and when he sees Andie , he is floored by her.

Andie is self described as chubby but I thought of her as full figured not fat. She came to Holloway after her break up with a total jack ass, who tried to make her feel bad about herself. She enjoys her job and her new town, even if the town is small and in her business quite a bit. She’s here to start her life over and not with the hot young thing she just met.

I liked all of the aspects of this book: the full figured heroine, the younger man, the close knit family, the problem Andie had with the age difference and Travis’ total disregard of that difference. He was firm that she was beautiful in his eyes and did not like her putting herself down at all. He really was the perfect hero in my eyes. He know what he wanted and that was all there was to it. And when Andie realized it she was all in too. It took her a while but she came around.  This was a sweet, cute, short and funny read. It has been a long time since I’ve read a book by HelenKay Dimon and I’ve missed her writing. I will end with my favorite line of the book: He was six feet of hello-there-handsome. It still makes me giggle.

Tempted by Two by Portia Da Costa

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Tempted by Two

Grade: B
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: Mild Kink (light bondage and spanking)
Genre: Contemporary, Ménage 
Reviewed by Anne
90 pages
 
“So are you two a pair of tag team bluebeards who regularly use that painting to seduce unwary women into your… um… combined clutches?”
Marcus laughed too, and Owen just grinned.
“Busted.”  p. 12
 
Katie is on vacation and she’s checking out some paintings by her favorite artist, Marcus Dane.  She’s alone, admiring a particularly explicit painting of a trio of lovers when she’s approached by Marcus.  Happily caught off guard and star struck by the attractive artist, she accompanies him back to his place and meets his partner, Owen.  They invite her to join them for a ménage like the one pictured in the painting she was admiring.  Though initially hesitant, Katie agrees and the story takes off from there.
 
This novella weighed in at 90 pages on my reader. A HEA ménage seemed like a lot to take on in that situation – especially given that Katie was a stranger to Owen and Marcus. So, I went into this thinking it might just be an encounter or have a HFN ending. Happily, it was a true HEA. However, it had sort of a fantasy feel to it for me, because I think a HEA triad is a complicated thing to pull off. It happened in 90 pages here because things were simplified. I was happy to suspend disbelief for this one, though.

Da Costa writes great sex scenes, and I enjoyed them here. Marcus and Owen were open with each other and with Katie, which was refreshing.

There wasn’t much discussion of relationships. There was some talk about how they loved each other, but it seemed to me that more discussion was warranted: between Owen and Marcus – How will our relationship change? Do we both want to add a third permanently? and between the guys and Katie – What will it be like to live as a triad? Who pays the bills? Are we out in the open or not? 

What will our families and friends think? None of those conversations happen in this novella.

The same applies to the BDSM scenes in the story. They come out of nowhere and we don’t see much discussion about them. Was this something Katie had done before? Who wanted it?  Honestly, it was a little jarring and almost out of place.  They were still well written and hot, though.

I think my biggest problem was that I wanted more. I wanted it to be longer. (ha!) and I wanted it to go more in depth. That’s probably asking too much from a novella. I’m wavering between a 3 and 4 star grade. I know I went on a bit about the things I missed, but the stuff that was there (mainly sex) was really good. So I’m going with a 3.5 star grade.

*Note – I nearly had to knock this down a grade for use of the term “love-eye” (no, really, it’s in the book! p. 47) but I don’t want to hold my language issues (and my laughter) against the story, so I’ll leave the grade as is. 


So, how about you?  Do you enjoy ménage?  Does the term “love-eye” work for you?

Reckless Night by Lisa Marie Rice

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Reckless Night (Dangerous #3.5)
Grade-C
Hotness Level-Blaze
Kink Level-None
Series-Dangerous #3.5
Reviewed by Kay

This is a very short novella or very short story. It takes place after the novel  Dangerous Passion which I read years ago. It would be very helpful to have read that book first. It’s not really a stand alone type of read.

Manuel and Victoria are a married couple living on a tropical island somewhere. They are very devoted to each other and happy. Their life is pleasant and safe which is a huge thing for them, especially Manuel. See, Manuel is really Vicktor (Drake) Drakovich and Victoria is really Grace. They had to change their names due to Drake’s former occupation. He was an arms broker/dealer. A very successful and feared one. He faked his and Grace’s deaths after an assassination attempt.

Grace throws Drake a birthday party with some new friends on their island and it goes very well. Drake wants to get Grace a Christmas gift that she’ll enjoy. She doesn’t care for flashy expensive things, so it is difficult for Drake to pick something. He finally decides on a trip to Sydney where he has never been involved with the arms trade before. He feels it will be safe for them.

I leave the story ending for you to read if you like. I love Lisa Marie Rice and enjoyed the epilogue of Drake and Grace. There’s a juicy sex scene and a dramatic ending that Rice writes so well.