Hikarujen
OK So.... this was an easy easy listen. As in, not a lot going on. Overall, I enjoyed the story, and the spice was really quite top notch. This is a dark romance, so remember that. There are some dark elements, and dark romance isnt for everyone. Things considered red flags in real life i do enjoy in my books. Hah! Anyways, I didnt feel particularly one way or another about these characters, which is why its only a 3 star. I wasnt convinced of the romance. Lust? Sure. But anyways, there are more to the series, I originally thought this was a standalone but Im very curious to see what happens to Damon specifically, as he was the biggest jerk and has fled a the end of this book.
There is lots of swearing and vulgarness, and plenty of spoiler-type things.When I read [b:Tough Love 25089619 Tough Love (Stripped, #0.5) Skye Warren https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1433732442s/25089619.jpg 44778555], I was sucked in because I wanted to know what happened to Clara and Honor, but I also wanted to know what happened to Gio. Since I got this book for free, I figured why not, go ahead and read them together. I was expecting a story based on Clara, not one based on Honor, not that it would be a bad thing, but man oh man I was not ready for the degrading story that is Honor's.The story begins with her stripping and prostituting herself at a club, and no, this is not the degrading part. She is a grown ass woman who can make her own decisions, but she gets a new customer, Kip, who doesn't understand English. Kips treatment of Honor, or Honey as she is known in the club, is absolutely atrocious. He gets her off with his fucking boot, disgusting, and at one point he bends her over in an alley and fucks her there too, WITHOUT A CONDOM. Okay, maybe they were just in the moment in the alley, but how do you get over someone degrading you with their boot enough to let them use you more? I don't know. Then there was the flashback to the rape at the hands of her fiance. When her father walked in. That whole scene was a big WTF. Her fiance told her to practice using anal plugs so it would hurt less? Moving away from that, Honor is on the run from her fiance, Byron I think. Her boss at the club, Ivan, is helping her kind of, and somehow Ivan knows Kip, her new customer. Then, it turns out Kip and Byron are freaking brothers? And Kip was originally there for some bounty? OKAAAAAAAAY. Then Honor tasers(FINALLY) Kip, and tries to grab her sister to run again, but Byron finds her. The resulting scene from that is another disgusting scene, I had to skim it I was so disgusted, but from what I was skimming it sounded like there was a lot of whipping of Honor, because Byron wanted to know where Clara was, and then Byron was going to let his group of fucking lowlife thugs gang-rape Honor because she wouldn't say anything. If anything, she is a top notch sister. Kip shows up and saves the day, Honor gets shot, there is a hospital scene, and then Honor and Kip profess their love to each other, where Kip then tells Honor she doesn't love him because she doesn't know him. WTF. HE USED HIS BOOT ON YOUR SENSITIVE LADY PART THAT SHOULD NEVER BE TOUCHED BY SOMETHING LIKE THAT. I don't understand this love. I don't like it. So after all of that, I found the book about Clara is book 4 of this series, I hope its not as filthy.
3.5 stars. This has definitely been the best book, and that cliffhanger has me drooling for the next book.
This was a perfectly fine, albeit slightly boring, historical romance for me. Although it was a second chance romance, I wasn't feeling the romance between Lola and Denys. All of a sudden he decides he should be nice, which maybe because at this point I was skimming, I missed why, and then he takes her into a closet at an opera show and asks her the real reason why she left. When I felt there was no hint as to why the reason she left was not the real reason. She spilled everything, and he takes her at her word. I just couldn't handle anymore.
DNF @ 54%
I loved the Rylee books... but this one fell a little short. Maybe I shouldn't have read it and left the series alone. I liked the way it ended, I didn't feel like I had a ton of questions. At least SM's books are quick reads, but wow there was a lot packed into this. I felt confused a lot of the time. Is this happening at the same time as some of Lark's story? SpoilerWhy isn't Liam a vampire anymore? How is he a guardian in Faris's body? Did I forget something?
Hopefully the next book will pick up. If not, I always have Lark's story.
This was a really cute novella! 3.5 - 4 stars
Georgie and Lucas had a fling a few years earlier, and for reasons unknown they both believe the other person did not approve of them. So, fast forward to present time in this book, and Georgie is hosting a party for her father, and looking for a letter, which is hidden among her guests. Her father sends for Lucas's help, and voila, romance! It was a little predictable the reason for their separation, AND I could see why Georgie's father sent for Lucas, but I did still enjoy this novella. It was a quick read, there was no gratuitous sex scenes, which get really old if you ask me, and this is a plot line that I typically enjoy in romances.
There was also a pretty funny scene with an ox, which was just ridiculous. I would recommend this if your books are getting stale and you need something quick to get you moving.
4.5 Stars
This was so much fun!!!! I loved the grumpy duke. I love that Olivia and him had a lot of banter, none of it stale. There was no annoying love triangle(yay!), and the romance between the two of them was so HOT. This is the first Duran book I have read, and it will not be the last. There was a perfect balance of sex to romance in this for me, not too much, but more than a few kissing scenes. Lets face it, there are only so many times you can read about a kiss being ravishing or branding before it becomes trite.
This was such a cute book! I love the Harry, and while at time the Desdemona was a little puzzling to me, it all came together at the end very nicely. A good portion of the book is the two of them taunting each other in one way or another. When Harry confesses his love to Dizzy, she doesn't believe him! Shame!
“What did you want?” he asked fiercely. “Five hundred fucking roses?”
This is a seriously dark twisted book. I am not squeamish, and I had put this book down and look at pictures of kittens to get some of these images out of my mind. Angeline reminds me of the Punisher is a sense, brutal and beautiful... I don't know if I am more annoyed that I liked the book or that it was written to begin with.
Seriously.
How do books with male leads who don't speak in compete sentences get such high reviews and ratings? I will never understand this. Yes, muscles and looks will get you some attraction, but I prefer some wit, and some intelligence to go along with those looks.
The only character that didn't irritate the hell out of me was Chloe, the baby. Go figure. Maybe because its okay for a baby to not speak in complete sentences. It always feels odd to me to read about sex and dating, but have the dialogue and setting feel like it is written for children or high schoolers. I don't need to feel like a creep while reading.
For example, they dry hump each other, like high schoolers! What the crap! I am sorry. If I was at a guys house, trying to get a job as a nanny, and he started kissing me, and I was attracted to him, and he started dry humping me, saying “Wanna make you feel good,” I would laugh at him. That would be the end of making me feel good. You know what makes me feel good, when men use complete sentences. UGH! Frustrating. Collin speaks like this the whole part of the book I read. It was so irritating. Gonna take you out. Wanna do this. Wanna do that. Okay... How about you add in an I and you in there somewhere. I wanna take you out is a slight improvement.
I had to DNF at 50% when Addison walked in on Colin whacking it in the shower. I do not like him at all, and she is just too passive. Get some confidence people. And use complete sentences. At least I never find out if there was or wasn't condom use.
I got this for free on Amazon through the SBC, and this turned out to be quite intriguing. Clara and her sister are daughters of a mafia boss, and Clara is such an innocent character. She is having secret rendezvous with Giovanni, the son of a “foot soldier”, and they share a connection with each other. Clara's older sister, Honor, is betrothed to a cop who she suspects is abusing her. At the end of this 100 page book, Honor and Clara are on the run, and I was under the impression that [b:Love the Way You Lie 25094588 Love the Way You Lie (Stripped, #1) Skye Warren https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1440990965s/25094588.jpg 44381849] started where this book ended, but I was so wrong.
I was going to give this book a better rating, but then the lemon scene happened. I probably should have stopped reading, because now I won't be able to see a lemon for a while without thinking of this scene. Gross. Yes, a quick google search will tell you that it was definitely possible for this to be a possible form of birth control from the 17th century. Don't care, it still gross. Food does not belong in my verjerg.
I like Alistair's gruffness, but I didn't really feel the chemistry between him and Helen. What I liked most about the story were the children, Abigail and Jamie, and the puppy, Puddles. Shut up, they did not name him Badger, his name will forever be Puddles.
Wow. Can you just slap me with my kindle next time, it will be more entertaining for me.
Uma is on the run from her abusive ex, and she answers a strange ad, which calls for someone to be a live in housemate who can take abuse from an “old hag” and its not kinky. Right. Ms. Lloyd is a jerk from what I read. Demanding, never leaves the house, throws fits. Uma meets Ivan when she is trying to knock on her door for the first time, and she is trying to put on a brave face. Sure, I can believe that. Shortly after Uma tries to stand up for herself, she goes to doctor appointments to get some “scars” removed, and takes some self defense classes.
Then, she mentions freaking Dr. Oz. Thats when it starts to go downhill to me. Mehmet Oz? Really? You couldn't makeup a name for your doctor in your book? You had to use a quack who uses his influence to sell his own brand of whackadoodle cures and treatments while denouncing scientific consensus? Ugh! Anyways...
Then, big scary Ivan goes from being “scary to trustworthy in less than a week...in less than a day.” For being abused by a man she is real quick to trust Ivan. I am not a victim of abuse, but I feel like she would be more guarded around him. Maybe I am wrong. I don't know. I will admit that.
And then Ivan, hes already ready to kill for her. He doesn't know her. All he knows is she was hurt. And he goes right to kill? WTF is wrong with people? Yes, she was hurt, but killing her ex is not the only way to protect her. Sheesh. It seems like that would be a pretty good way to leave her unprotected, right? Who knows. I DNF'd this right after he thought that, at 42%.
I was not ready for the floodgate of emotions I was left with at the end of this book. Came out of nowhere.
I just cannot connect with Eliza or Hunter. I felt bad for him in the first book, and thought maybe his redemption would be interesting, but so far it is a no go for me. Sorry. Also, waaaaay too much stuff with the horses, and I am not really that interested in them.
DNF @ 45%
I gave this book a fighting chance, see what I did there :). No really, I did. Even though I was a little confused because this is the 3rd book in a series, I typically like NA, so I thought, why not, romances are pretty easy to follow.
Henry is a gym owner, and an MMA champ, seems like an okay guy, and he is mentoring kids in what I assume is a “bad” area, ie keeping them out of trouble. One of those kids, Roosevelt, has another mentor, Maggie, who is a raging judgmental bitch. She has such a holier-than-thou attitude, and is constantly rude to Henry during what I was able to read. She thinks that simply because he doesn't have a “normal” job in her mind that he is useless, and doesn't contribute to society. UHHH, okay whatever. Turns out, she is a replica of her bitch ass parents. Once they, the parents, mention introducing her to a “nice PETA guy” I knew I had to put this book down. Hopefully Maggie grew as a character by the end of the book, but I couldnt take any more of her judgments for something she obviously didn't understand. She never even bothered asking Roosevelt what it was he wanted, she was just pushing and pushing him for something SHE wanted. Like, hey girl, you had your life, now let him live his, yes, guide him and help him, but dont dictate where and what he does. That is not what a mentor does.
Ugh! I dont know if I am in a slump or what. I thought the story was going somewhere... but jeez do I not like when a girl has what seems like no damn confidence in herself. Also... I failed to understand why it was so important to the story how huge her boobs were. Did we need to be reminded every other scene?
1.5 stars
I really thought this was going to be better. It has an overall rating on GR of nearly 4 stars! I was severely disappointed. Not only was the heroine just.... so blah, but the sexual tension between them was not satisfying. I would have liked 1. more build up of some kind of relationship and 2. a heroine with more of some kind of personality that didnt resemble a worm.
I mean...
He was a fool for kissing her again, for tempting his beast as well as his manly desire.
I enjoyed this one! There were some plot twists, some betrayals, I wasn't feeling when Sebastian ran back and professed his love to Maggie, but that is ok, because I felt that he would have developed that love eventually.
Sebastian starts out this novel by accidentally killing his best friend in a duel. He goes to this duel expecting to die, but Giles hits his arm, and his arm falls and he ends up shooting Giles in the chest. Sebastian's father then disowns him, turns out Giles' father and Sebastian's father are also best friends. Sebastian is also told to never return to England shores, and so he leaves, and doesn't look back. Fast forward 11 years, he has made a name for himself, The Raven, and someone from his past is looking for him.
Maggie is looking to hire The Raven because of his reputation for never failing, and she needs him to find Sebastian. But she walks in only to find they are the same man. Convenient! Well, she wants to hire him for something else now, to investigate some accidents back home, and Sebastian puts up a fight, but she ends up tricking him into it. Kind of. It was all very amusing. The rest of the book is them figuring out what is happening back home, and finding out that how that duel happened in the first place.
There was a questionable scene, where Sebastian wants Maggie to say “yes” but she says “no”, however he doesn't stop. This kind of bothered me a little bit, but Lindsey did make it a point to write in Maggie's inner monologue that she did mean “yes” and she does say yes moments later, but I just want to warn anyone who has any issues with that kind of thing.