Found the heroine irritated me some while still feeling bad for her situation. Got upset with the both of them for using sex to get information. Other...moreFound the heroine irritated me some while still feeling bad for her situation. Got upset with the both of them for using sex to get information. Other than that, it was a fun story.(less)
I love stories where the men are comfortable with themselves that they can be the romantic caring alpha man. Leonardo fits that bill!
Leo Santini joine...moreI love stories where the men are comfortable with themselves that they can be the romantic caring alpha man. Leonardo fits that bill!
Leo Santini joined the army after living a life as a military brat, but under the marine arm. He had a dream early on to be a medic and figured the army was front and center in the action that needed medical help. So he ditched college and dug in. We don't see him in his job during the course of this book unfortunately.
The story opens with Leo visiting a friend in he hospital who was injured during battle and comes face to face with a hardheaded physical therapist. He is put off by her attitude, but totally attracted to her that he overlooks her hard edges.
Maryanne Johnson I used to taking care of everyone and never allows anyone close enough to take care of her. Her mother passed away while she was young and growing up with a marine for a father wasn't easy going, let alone all the brothers who also became marines. But one constant was her grandmother, who eventually moved in with them to help raise Maryanne.
With hard edges keeping her protected, she tries to put distance between Leo and herself, which Leo won't allow. His kisses, patience, and sheer romantic side that sees past all her insecurities, is grinding down her resistance.
The story is short, but the timeframe passes in weeks. So while we don't see everything that happens to them, we do get time for these two to grow closer. I didn't feel rushed into a relationship, which I appreciated.
Here is the biggest part I loved about this story: Leo! He comes across as strong, trust worthy, alpha, hardworking, and fun. Yes, fun. He is romantic when needed, but also he sees past the barriers Maryanne puts up all over the place. Taking the time to learn about her, he knows he is in love early one, but can't tell her or she will freak out. I just adored him and want to meet the rest of these men.
We meet Momma Santini, and all I will say is you don't mess with Momma's boys!
Full of Italian heritage, wild hot sex, a salute to restaurants Melissa misses, and a visit to the zoo, I can't wait for the next installment in this series!!!(less)
First chapter is entirely in the hero's head with maybe two sentences spoken between him and a ranch hand. This kind of trend continued on throughout...moreFirst chapter is entirely in the hero's head with maybe two sentences spoken between him and a ranch hand. This kind of trend continued on throughout the story where you got synopsis of conversations that I frankly thought were important. Time was flown over very quickly. I never felt anything for any of the characters. The story did not draw me out and make me care and I wanted to care. I wanted to drool over a Hawaiian rancher. But I just didn't because he wasn't interesting. The first 50% of the book the hero and heroine only have one meeting up and conversation. I know that they already had a history of knowing each other, but it just never felt like it meshed out very well. The grammar is correctly done and the tone was fine, the story just never got around to grabbing me in and making me not want to stop turning pages to see actual human interaction. Sorry. It just wasn't something I enjoyed.(less)
Eden Carver has a secret crush on her cop neighbor and best friend next door, Jay Bennett. The one time she revealed her secret desires for rougher se...moreEden Carver has a secret crush on her cop neighbor and best friend next door, Jay Bennett. The one time she revealed her secret desires for rougher sex that included spankings and bondage, the guy left calling her some not so nice things. She wants to get closer to Jay, but he keeps his work life to himself and only treats her like a little sister. Well, that time for that is about to end.
Jay Bennett lost his sister when they were teens and now spends his days a cop fighting the same crime that touched her. Eden is a breath of fresh air to his life that he doesn’t want to sully up with his dark desires to spank, tie up and make love roughly.
Deciding she has had enough, Eden, a budding actress in NY from Iowa, writes a script to practice lines with Jay. The lines lead them to bed, where both of them have secrets to reveal.
This isn’t a terribly long book and the premise was kind of cute, I just didn’t buy Eden so much. She was this young little thing from Iowa who likes rough sex? Well, that wasn’t so unbelievable I guess. I just didn’t like how the scenes played out. Then when the story was over, I wanted more. Usually that is a good sign, but in this case, I just thought it was too quick of a book and needed more closure, not that I wanted to continue reading more in another book.
This story is just a beginning of a friends to lovers relationship. While cute, it lacked something I can’t put my finger on totally. Maybe it was Eden seeming to be too young for Jay. I don’t mean in age, but maturity. Jay has some darker issues underneath that I think might bite them later down the road.
While BDSM is mentioned, you never really see any BDSM scenes, so I can’t say this is a BDSM book. Overall, I enjoyed it, but wanted more depth to the characters.(less)
Did Lissa really write a heroine who doesn't like coffee? What's Lissa drinking? Of course, coffee...with Kaluha :) Lissa Matthews writes stories abou...moreDid Lissa really write a heroine who doesn't like coffee? What's Lissa drinking? Of course, coffee...with Kaluha :) Lissa Matthews writes stories about real people who aren't always rich in a monetary sense, but rich in life with friends, lovers and good food (and a touch of coffee). Now personally, I don't like coffee *gasp*. No I like watered down versions of coffee like lattes, chai lattes and hot chocolate with an occasional mocha if done right. But I digress, this is a review after all, not coffee personalities 101 of Shari.
We meet Chrissie as she comes to the conclusion that her fiance has just left her at the altar. Oh, she saw signs things weren't going the right way, but everyone kept telling her it was pre-wedding jitters. Ahhh, nope, she really did know Russ was going to dump her, but she hoped it wouldn't be so publicly. Really, he did her a favor because they were just not well suited at all. Him a city slicker attorney ready for a social life that he needed a beauty on his arm for. She...well, she likes to shoot guns, work in a sporting goods store, drink beer and eat fried shrimp. But most of all, she is comfortable with who she is. Now this two timing SOB has put a dent in her defenses. But she is a southern lady even if she doesn't take to all the lacy and frills that come with it.
In walks Colt, the half brother of the dubious former groom. Colt falls instantly into lust or love with Chrissie, but he's not the type of man to make plays for his brother's woman. So he watches, never thinking Russ would run. But heck, he isn't going to let Russ ruin his own chances with the woman of his dreams. He checks up on Chrissie the day after the non-wedding when she makes a comment something like "you are the brother I should have married." Well, that isn't going to be brushed under the door. So he gives her six months to get over Russ and then lays siege to make her his bride.
This books has two weddings, one with a shotgun, sexy lingerie, some of the hottest sex scenes, cookies I wish were real and a whole lot of heart. I don't normally go for love at first sight, but this one worked. The two spent time together outside of the bedroom as well as much time in the bedroom. Phone sex...check! Camo lingerie....check! Shotgun sceens...check!
The book isn't too long and can be read faster than I did (life just disagreed with me on how much time I had to read for the week). Plenty of all around good times, a sense of humor, and twisted my panties so tight I don't know if I will need Colt to help me pick out a new set.
So do yourself a favor and check out this stunningly wonderful book!(less)
My Wicked Nanny caught me by surprise. I kept seeing it pop up on review sites and just the cover alone made me want to read it because I refused to r...moreMy Wicked Nanny caught me by surprise. I kept seeing it pop up on review sites and just the cover alone made me want to read it because I refused to read a review, not wanting to ruin my experience. Boy did my socks get knocked off.
At first I was confused about the internship and the lady that helps Anya get a job as a waitress at a BDSM club. But that doesn't play a big part in the story. She has taken on this extra job to save money to go to Paris to study costume design.
We meet Anya Kozlov on her first night working at Club Wicked. Having led a pretty tame life so far, the young lady gets her eyes open wide and an undercover name, Dove. While delivering her first order, she is beyond shocked to see her employer at the club, no less to be pulled on his lap when he thinks she is going to pass out. Fortunately for her, she is wearing a mask and totally different clothing than she does during the day while being a nanny to his twin five year old boys. Both Anya and her employer are instantly drawn to each other.
Jesse Shaw is a widower and a member of Club Wicked. While he plays with subs, he never takes one on for very long, not wanting to form too much of an attachment. When he sees dove, he can't believe how attracted to her he is, nor the sense that he has to make her his.
The two begin a journey to explore their attraction and the BDSM elements that play into it. After Anya works her shifts, she meets up with Jessie, but retains her anonymity. Anya knows she is leaving for Paris soon and while she has had a crush on her boss since the beginning, she doesn't think he will accept her once he knows she is the nanny of his kids.
I was instantly pulled into this book and couldn't put it down! I had a few issue though, but that didn't hold up my interest or keep me from running out to get the first book in this series.
Let's get the issues out of the way. There is an age gab of 12 years between the two. Not bad. but it does play some part into the story on how both feel about the Paris trip. The age of Anya also concerned me since she went from shy, nanny, costumes designer wanna-be to a woman who loves BDSM and needs pain to orgasm. It happens slowly, but I guess the sheltered feeling I had of Anya would have been more shocked and shy away from BDSM than what she did.
The good...oh there is too much goodness to list or I would ruin the story. I loved how Anya grew more confident in herself, her body and what she wanted in life. She went from shy to confident and not afraid to get what she wants. I didn't see much growth in Jessie. He was a man who knew what he wanted and when he loves, he loves with his whole heart. Jessie's mother...oh, I want someone like her to come be a grandma to my kids and take them for ice cream.
The BDSM was hot as well as painful at times. It started off slowly, but became intense with each new scene. There is no back tracking and after they find out about each other, the story moves fairly quickly. As I continue to read this series, I hope we get glimpses of these two as they have their whole lives ahead of them, a BDSM club to attend and twin boys that will keep them running. Good thing Jessie is rich and can afford a "nanny" :)(less)
Unfortunately, certain word choices turn me off in scenes that I should have enjoyed. Using slut, obscene or beatings to humiliate someone just isn't...moreUnfortunately, certain word choices turn me off in scenes that I should have enjoyed. Using slut, obscene or beatings to humiliate someone just isn't my cup of tea.(less)
The Play by Play series has been an instant hit with me for a long time. Mick and Tara started me off with football and I haven’t looked back. The las...moreThe Play by Play series has been an instant hit with me for a long time. Mick and Tara started me off with football and I haven’t looked back. The last book and this one though have left me wanting for something more. Unfortunately, this one bored me for more than 50% of the book, but I kept plugging.
Alicia Riley is one of the famous Riley’s that this series so far has focused on. Seems like the sports gene runs long and hard through this family. Sports medicine is what this Riley goes into and she is determined to make it far in her field of study.
Garrett Scott is in a jam. Everything has come easy for him. Now sporting a shoulder injury that isn’t healing, he is faced with the possibility he may never pitch again. Frustrated and depressed, he asks Alicia in front of her bosses what she thinks of his injury and he gets the blunt answer he wasn’t necessarily looking for, but needs to hear.
Alicia pretty much lays it on the line that he isn’t doing everything he can in physical therapy and that the bosses are letting him off. Not to mention he isn’t doing his exercises at home. Her big mouth gets her in trouble and placed in charge of rehabbing Garrett so he can hopefully start sometime in the next baseball season.
I am not a huge baseball fan, but that isn’t what stopped me from enjoying this book. Alicia and Garrett spend the first half of the book basically working on healing his shoulder while he whined a lot. She’s blunt to a fault which I appreciate, but so dedicated to her career, she doesn’t often stop and enjoy life. The two seem to want to have chemistry more than I felt they had chemistry.
When they do come together, it just didn’t knock my socks off. The spend a lot of time being honest, then hiding from each other, then being honest, then hiding again. He has family hang up problems. She is so focused on her career she pushes him away without talking.
It all comes together in the end, but by then I wasn’t that vested in the story to really care. I really wanted to love this book as I adore the series. This branch of the Riley family just don’t seem to do it for me. Now I am ready to move on to Gray’s story…who’s he? It looks like Jaci Burton is moving away from the Riley family of athletes and onto Garrett’s college buddies who are all involved in one sport or even two sports. Gray is a race car driver…and I can’t wait for him.
My recommendation is to give this one a pass in the series. It is a little pricey for the amount of pages you get and just not the book I wanted to read. It’s just OK and that is the flaw that will have me jumping fast to the next book in the hopes it gets better.(less)
Tucker Fall’s is the first book in a trilogy about the owners of Purgatory, a BDSM club. Very few people know these men own the club and they like to...moreTucker Fall’s is the first book in a trilogy about the owners of Purgatory, a BDSM club. Very few people know these men own the club and they like to keep it that way. There is a mystery in all their pasts that I think will slowly reveal itself over time as you get hints of it in this first book.
Maggie Cisco returns to her hometown after being detained during a BDSM club raid. Now jobless and recently divorced over the incident, she just wants to lick her wounds in private. Years of research is down the drain, but she hopes to redeem herself with a memoir on her research of the alternative lifestyle of BDSM. Knowing she is submissive, she pushes all her desires deep down inside and tries to pick up the pieces of her life.
When Maggie gets stuck in a snowstorm, she takes a ride from a man from her past the opens her eyes wide. One shared kiss when they were teenagers has stuck in her mind over the years, but fear of being hurt again makes her want to curl into herself.
Tucker has craved Maggie’s submission since high school, but life didn’t go the way he wants. Now he is a billionaire living in seclusion in their hometown, he’s hiding from the world and the Dom inside. Tucker knows the moment Maggie comes back home and does all his homework to find out where she has been. Now he wants to bring out her submissive side he is longing to cultivate. When he rescues Maggie from the snow storm, he makes her a proposition. Become his submissive and he will teach her everything she has longed to do in her research, but never had a partner to do it with.
The first scene the two do is very intense for both me and the heroine in the story. Tucker uses orgasm denial to bring her to a fever pitch that left me even panting. But all the emotions she feels scare her into bolting. Add on top of that some embarrassment for coming apart as hard as she did causes her to have what is basically subdrop. The emotions are intense and left me wondering just how you get over it. Of course that is part of aftercare, being held and brought back to reality slowly.
Tucker is also an artist and he paints a picture of Maggie at one point that is so vivid in my imagination. His true passion is glass work, which at the time of the year was too cold for him to do. His sister runs the local diner in town and we see her a lot when Maggie goes there to regroup several times. Their past with their father seems to have been harsh and shaped a lot of who they are now, which is very hardened and tough. Maggie and Tucker have a lot of emotional baggage to get over in the course of their story. Some of it not so bad to overcome and other parts that could almost be devastating. Secrets are slowly revealed while others are hinted at and make you want to shake Ms. Gayle to find it all out!
While I loved the characters, there were parts that I wanted to shake these characters to make them realize what they were doing. You get a hint that Tucker wants a 24/7 BDSM relationship, but you never get far enough to see how they will work out their future. I guess we can only hope to see some more of them in the next two books in the trilogy.
A great weaving of delightfully wicked BDSM scenes, with a story that gets out of the bedroom too. Side characters who you want to learn more about, along with a mystery that will have me grabbing the next book in the series.
Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book.(less)
Recently I took a road trip over to St. Louis and needed something to do besides drive. Loading up on audio books I would not have enough time to get...moreRecently I took a road trip over to St. Louis and needed something to do besides drive. Loading up on audio books I would not have enough time to get through seemed to be the deal. I picked out The Marriage Bargain as something different since I have not read anything by Jennifer Probst, but I see her name everywhere.
The story starts off with Alexa doing a spell to find a rich, handsome husband who might help her save her with $150,000. The money isn't for her, but to help save her parents house. To save pride though she will make the money about adding a cafe onto her bookstore. Never does she dream the man to fit this bill would be the boy she loved as a teenager, Nicolas Ryan. Nicolas Ryan didn't have the greatest childhood, but he was born into a family of money. His sister wants nothing to do with the family business, but when she finds out he has to marry to get his inheritance from his uncle, her best friend Alexa fits the bill. Nick and Alexa hammer out a deal to a marriage of convenience where neither can stray, but both have to look like they are madly in love with one another.
It was fun to listen to the two play off each other. Nick doesn't want anything permanent, meaning a permanent marriage, kids or pets. Alexa is all hearth and home with a creative streak. The two move into Nick's house and the chaos ensues with each little think Alexa pulls, like trying to hide a group of dogs the shelter has no room for. Through it all though, Nick lusts after Alexa and intimate situations tend to occur. Alexa knows if she gets intimate with Nick, she will lose her heart to him. Knowing what he will do to her heart, she still falls for him.
Nick continually bends one small step at a time, but then there is what he considers an ultimate betrayal on Alexa's part that he cannot forgive. There is a lot of groveling over the course of the book from Nick. He isn't a bad guy, just shaped by a childhood that in the end he is starting to resemble in his own relationships.
I loved the friendship Alexa has with Maggie, Nick's sister. Maggie is a sassy lady and you get her story in the second book in the series. Alexa's family is briefly introduced, but we mostly get to see her parents, whom she has sworn not to mention the mortgage bailout to Nick. Alexa uses the money as a buffer for her heart telling Nick it is for other uses and tries to pawn herself off as just a money grubbing woman.
While the theme was pretty universal, I like Alexa and just how down to earth she is. She's a poet, artist and owns a bookstore. I was envious of her! Nick had a few redeeming qualities but overall, I found myself really disliking him for over half of the book until he started warming up and allowing Alexa into his life.
I recommend this as great, down to earth, marriage for money with some fun side characters, hot sex, cute dogs and even an Italian Count.(less)
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