ARC Review: Double Time by Olivia Cunning

3.5 Feathers

Double Time

by Olivia Cunning

Sinners on Tour # 3

I can't tell you how excited I was to be reading about Trey, seems like forever since I finished ROCK HARD.  But at the same time I had mixed feelings about it because even though this is book # 3 being released in this series, it's actually book # 5 in the order of how they were written.  Meaning I knew going in that if the other bandmates showed up they would already be with their HEAs.



Now let me get to the meat of this thing... I have mixed feelings about several things so I'll just try to address them separately.

Yes, the release order bothered me.  I did feel like I was missing information or reasons why certain things were the way they were.  This might be one that I re-read once all the books are released to see if m feelings change.

I loved the heroine Reagan.  She's a rocker chick, which I thought was a perfect fit.  Actually she is my favorite heroine in this series so far.  I thought her relationship with Trey starts out perfect and up until there's another person added to the mix, I was LOVING this book.  Talk about hot chemistry that sizzled off the pages and scorched me.  WOW!

I've always known that Trey had to have guy as part of his HEA.  That's just who he is.  So when Ethan is introduced as Reagan's ex who also likes guys and is still in love with Reagan I thought this would be perfect.  But then it wasn't for me.  I feel like so much more could've been done with their relationship that wasn't developed and didn't  make it special.  It was just ok.

WARNING THIS MIGHT BE SPOILERY

I was extremely disappointed about how they all three got together.  The whole scenario was so out there for me that it could've happened that way, that Reagan would've reacted that way and that their first time didn't include her.

I was also soooo pissed with Brian and the way he acted towards Trey when confronted with his true feelings for him.  It just makes me think that Brian hasn't matured at all throughout this whole series.  He was also acting very irresponsible towards the band.  Just didn't like it.

Now for the character that stole my heart....DARE.  Oh.My.God I need some Dare (Exodus End) like right now, he's so hot I want to climb him like a tree.

Overall, this book is explosively hot and the story is ok but I think it fell short on delivering the romance connection between the three main characters.

Favorite quotes:

Trey wanted Ethan in every capacity and if he could be the first to take him, it increased his interest even further. He loved cherries.

"I'm wearing nothing but my panties in a hot tub with a pair of rock star brothers - one of them naked. Does that sound responsible to you?"

"Right now I'm going to devour you."

*ARC provided by publisher

Purchase Links: Amazon

ARC Review: Barefoot in the Rain by Roxanne St. Claire

 

(more like 3.5 feathers!)

Barefoot in the Rain

(Barefoot Bay #2)

by Roxanne St. Claire

Childhood best friends, Jocelyn Bloom and Will Palmer almost had a relationship when they were younger, but something drastic happened that changed that fate.

After living with an abusive father, Jocelyn finally spreads her wings and escapes Barefoot Bay where she grew up to work as a life coach to celebrity clients in LA. This job allows her to keep life organized and within her control. If she can’t stop the drama from happening in her own life, then the next best thing is to fix other people’s lives.

 As years pass, Joss tries to forget the one man who has held her heart. Yet years cannot chip away the feelings she has developed all those years ago for the boy next door. When a made-up scandal involving Joss and a celebrity client has taken up the front page of the tabloids, Joss escapes to the one place where she knows the paparazzi won’t follow her – Barefoot Bay.

One step into Barefoot Bay and she realizes the drastic mistake she has made because now she is bombarded with old hurts and heartbreak. There she learns that Will is her father’s neighbour. Even worse is the shocking fact that now her once abusive father, Guy is now sick with dementia. The once aggressive man is almost charming in the way he speaks. It’s almost like he’s a different man. Yet looking at him brings back memories of a bad childhood. How can Joss forgive her father for all his sins? Does the fact that he doesn’t remember his actions make what he did to her okay?

Struggling to overcome her conflicting feelings, Joss also learns that Will is taking care of her father. After the disastrous event that tore them apart, Joss wonders how Will has the heart in him to forgive her father for what he has done to her and their relationship.

BAREFOOT IN THE RAIN turned out to be far more heartbreaking than I thought it would be. St. Claire weaves an intricate and heartbreaking story that had me very interested in finding out the outcome. She set up an extremely delicate situation that put the heroine in a very difficult spot.

There were times when I felt that Joss was a little heartless, but that’s because as a reader, you don’t always get the full experience of her past. St. Claire only gave us glimpses of that dark childhood in the beginning so I think readers won’t always feel the exact same way as a heroine. Yet, Joss was very strong in dealing with the events that happened to her.

Sometimes I felt as if Joss was not only heartless to her father, but also to Will. I think she felt as if Will was picking her father’s side, which left her feeling hollow and alone. But St. Claire does a great job of developing their dormant feelings for one another until it blossoms into something more. I enjoyed this book more than the first one and feel as if St. Claire has a good series on her hands.

*ARC provided by NetGalley

 

 

Purchase Links: Amazon

Review: Weekends Required by Sydney Landon

3.5 Feathers

Weekends Required

by Sydney Landon

(Danvers # 1)

Claire Walters has somewhat of a hectic life. She has to work two jobs in order to keep up with her mother’s medical bills. During the week she’s the plain Jane assistant to hottie Jason Danvers of Danvers International. Every woman in the office seems to have day dreams about him but she tries to keep her relationship professional, so she punches in; she punches out and tries her best to maintain her composure. During the weekends Claire works for a party planning company which specializes in bachelor parties. Her job is to play dress up and jump out of a cake for the special birthday/bachelor boy. Not something she loves doing, but it pays her well enough to cover all the expenses in her life. But one party turns everything around when she pops out of a cake and finds Jason front row and center. She’s not only horrified but knows for sure she will lose her job at Danvers.

When Jason sees his assistant jump out of a cake at his friend’s bachelor party, he cannot believe his eyes. Never in his wildest dreams did he think he would react so wild to what he thought was his plain Jane assistant. In that instant he saw a woman he desperately wants and the only way to keep Claire out of this cake jumping business was to make her work long hard weekends with him; only problem is he’s finding it hard to keep Claire off his mind and soon he finds himself completely captivated by her and willing to do anything to make her happy. What he doesn’t know is by trying to make her happy he’s pushing her away and soon they find themselves in a tug of war between passionate nights and arguments of denial and frustration.

While I found Jason to be a bit dull and mechanical in his words, I did enjoy the way he lost control in his lust for Claire. Also he’s just so damn sweet. And while I found Claire to be a bit annoying when it came to her doubts in Jason, she did show a difference from the “fall to your knees” woman we normally see in contemporary romances. While she did melt for Jason she also knew she had a life to deal with and didn’t let distractions get in her way, distractions meaning having sex with her hot boss. And let’s face it ladies, it is quite a taboo subject to sleep with your sexy boss but isn’t is oh so naughty and hot?!

Weekends Required is your typical Contemporary Romance where the two main characters battle their feelings for each other while indulging in hot passionate love making. If you’re looking for an easy read with some inappropriate flirting under tables and sex up against a wall, this should satisfy your little craving! Enjoy!

* Review copy provided by publisher

ARC Review: Blind Destiny by Shiloh Walker

3.5 Feathers

Blind Destiny

by Shiloh Walker

(Grimm's Circle # 7)

I really enjoy stories where the hero or heroine have some sort of a disability.  In this case, even though they are both grimm, or angels, Luc is blind.  The interesting thing about it is that his gift (as all grimms have one) is the ability to look into the minds of others.  He can actually use their eyes as well, which gives him an edge over any human in his condition.

Everyone thinks he's been nursing a broken heart because Perci, his princess, moved on and found love elsewhere.  Most of all, Sina.  She's a very old grimm and was Luc's trainer a long time ago.  And she's been in love with him ever since.  She's loved and wanted for so long.  Being forced now to work together on a case might be more than she can take.

Especially when they are sent to Greece to investigate a story of seven bloody sisters.  Little does anyone know this was the origin or Sina's grimm tale.  See Snow White was less about the seven dwarves and more about the seven wives that tormented one woman to the point that she took her own life.

And speaking of blood, I was so completely hooked with the first line in this book I just had to share.  

The woman stood alone in a courtyard of blood.

 In a way, I thought there should've been a little more focus on developing and exposing Sina's original story and her relation to the events and the house they were there to investigate.  There was a good amount of focus on Luc and Sina's relationship, but theirs was not as hot as the previous one I've read in the series.  Still they had great chemistry together.

Will is a character I'm curious to read more about, as well as Crow.  I think this is a perfect case of me liking the bad boys more than the good ones.  

*ARC provided by author

Purchase Links: Amazon

ARC Review: The Gin Lovers by Jamie Brenner

3.5 Feathers

The Gin Lovers

by Jamie Brenner

(The Gin Lovers # 1)

Fascinating and captivating.  I have a feeling that this serial will become addictive because it brings such originality when things are starting to all blend in together.  THE GIN LOVERS really was like nothing I've read and more like a good movie.

The setting?  New York.  The era?  1920s.  Glamour, high society and their drama, the Prohibition and a great set of characters.  I'm completely intrigued by the story.  Charlotte Delacorte had married into a society family and has lived for a few years with her husband, William, according to society's rules.  Now that her mother-in-law passed away she is expected to pick up where she left off and be an example to follow and the image of the family, while helping her husband to keep his sister in line.

But it's hard to do all that while juggling a husband who is obviously hiding something, a sister-in-law who is in love with a cocktail waitress, and her own urges to be young and free like people around her seem to be.

The setup in this book was a bit slow but I think it was a great backdrop for what we will be expecting of the serial from here on out.  Jazz, speakeasy and flapper dresses.  Dancing and drinking and climbing out of windows.  Trying to be good while wanting to be bad.  Especially when she meets Jake Larkin.

I did find this story to be longer than other serials I've read before, this was more novella length, which I found a lot more enjoyable and hope to see it continue throughout the serial.

*ARC provided by publisher

Purchase Links: Amazon

Review: Nice and Naughty by Jayne Rylon

3.5 Feathers

Nice and Naughty

by Jayne Rylon

I am slowly making my way through the stories in the THREE'S COMPANY anthology with Lorelei James, Jayne Rylon and Jess Dee.  The stories are definitely hot and this one started out just as hot, with some really smoking sex on the hood of a sports car, even though it was two complete strangers.

Alexa's world was thoroughly rocked by that encounter so when she walks in a work meeting and sees that stranger is the man she has to present to, she is, to say the least, shaken.  But he doesn't remember her!  Aren't twin stories fun?

But after Alexa, Justin and Jason decide to have some group fun, I felt that I lost some of the connection to the characters and the story.  And don't get me wrong, it's very hot and in a lot of cases twin menages work very well for me.  However, I think I usually like to see more development on the backstory of how they could both fall in love with the same woman.  This was where something had to give with this story because the suspense element took up some word count as well.

Did I mention that Justin and Jason are uber rich and the business presentation she came to them with is now maybe what's putting her life in danger?  Of course they have the resources to keep her safe and while keeping her safe....things quickly heat up.

Purchase Links: Amazon

ARC Review: Seven Nights in a Rogue's Bed by Anna Campbell

3.5 Feathers

Seven Nights in a Rogue's Bed

Sons of Sin #1

by Anna Campbell

Sidonie Forsythe will do anything for her beloved and broken sister, even spend seven nights with Jonas Merrick a ruthless and scarred monster who wants use of her sister's body to pay off her gambling debt. When the virginal Sidonie turns up instead of her beautiful and more worldly sister, Jonas is unwillingly fascinated, life has taught him that no one is to be trusted and his scar is an ever present reminder. But the fragile love and trust they have created over seven passionate nights might not be enough as Sidonie hides a secret that could forever destroy it.

This is my first read by Anna Campbell and I doubt it will be my last, I am already looking forward to the next book in this series! In a nutshell Seven Nights in a Rogue's Bed was a passionate, emotional and sensuous historical that I thoroughly enjoyed.

If you like your heroes scarred both mentally and physically then you will love Jonas, not your typical hero with his damaged, almost ugly face and razor sharp tongue he was an interesting character to read and I loved seeing him soften and fall hard for Sidonie. Sidonie I also liked, spunky and proud, I liked that she wasn't your typical blushing-will-it-fit virgin. If you are a fan of The Wicked House of Rohan books by Anne Stuart (and if you aren't, you should be!) the the push and pull of their relationship was very similar.

But, although I did enjoy this book, it wasn't quite perfect for me, and although the writing was beautiful, it was way too flowery and over descriptive for my tastes. I found myself getting a little exasperated; every experience was described in detail, especially when they were steaming up the sheets, that literally took chapters and chapters of the book up and I was getting bored.

However, the characters had great chemistry, and although there wasn't much of a plot, I found the journey from them going to strangers to lovers and everything that happened inbetween was fantastic and I can't wait to get my hands on the next book.

*ARC provided by publisher

Purchase Links: Amazon