3+ stars for “Absolution – 01 – Bend Me by Sophia Scarlet”

*** I received this ARC for free from the author through The Fifty Shades Support group on Goodreads in exchange for a honest review ***

This short novel brings us the story of Agnes who lost her little baby boy 6 months ago and started to already lose her husband before little Asher was born. After their little boy dies her husband suggests divorce. Now she is ready to move on with her life and after enjoying the pain in a few boxing sessions she thinks pain might help her achieve this. She reacts to an ad from a (sadist) Dom… I won’t tell more since this is already a very short book, a little bit too short for me to really get into the story. I liked Agnes and you can really feel her pain. She has been through a lot but she’s a strong, determined woman! David was likable too and he knows what he wants but I’m not very fond of insta-need/love in books. I hope they get their HEA in the next books and am looking forward to reading them. Book 1 Bend Me gets 3.5 stars.

Read Oct8/9 released November 3rd 2015

3+ stars for “A Hollywood Love Story – 01 – Unforgettable 1 by Nelle L’Amour”

*** Received an ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review ***

Brandon is Hollywood’s highest paid actor and heartthrob but a terrible boss. Zoey has been working for him for over 2 years. He wakes from a coma, 2 weeks after an accident and has amnesia. He doesn’t remember anything, including his engagement to Katrina.   Zoey has her own quarters on Brandon’s property and he expects her to be available for him at all times … The role Personal Assistant gets a whole new meaning…

The books I read in the week prior to this one were rather heavy and emotional to read so I was glad to find out that “Unforgettable” was a lighter read! There were a lot of fun situations which made me smile. You feel the chemistry between Brandon and Zoey. I don’t know why but Brandon made me think of “Richard Castle” but then a bi-polar version.

I did have a little bit of a problem with the characters. Zoey was a lovely kind, loyal woman but I wanted her to grow some balls and put Katrina and Scott in their place. I also had a hard time liking Brandon.   Like Zoey says herself he is an conceited, egotistical, arrogant asshole. It took me until 85% before I started liking him. So I wasn’t very fond yet of the characters but I’m sure books 2 and 3 will resolve that…

I’m looking forward to these books and hope Brandon will figure Katrina out before the wedding and she will finally get what she deserves.a

Read Oct14&15.  Book release on Nov 2

3+ stars for “Love Me Back to Life by Elle G. Mraz”

*** I received this book for free from the author through The Fifty Shades Support group on Goodreads in exchange for a honest review ***

This is the story of 31 year old Kendall who lost the love of her life half a year ago. She has a one night stand with Anson (36), a doctor in the same hospital where she’s a nurse. Kendall has problems with recognizing and accepting her growing feelings toward Anson.

“Love me back to life” is the debut for this author and the story is nice, the writing very descriptive, the characters are likable and as far as I noticed (English is not my mother tongue) no typing errors which is great!

The first half of this book was rather slow paced and nothing really exciting seemed to happen… no drama, no suspense, … I considered stopping at 40% but decided to go on because I received this book for free from the author and wanted to commit to writing a review. I’m glad I did!

Overall I liked Anson. He is very patient and understanding. Unfortunately somewhere in the last third of the book we get to know he spoiler: slept with other women while being away for 2 weeks in Miami. At that moment he had already feelings toward Kendall so I’m having some trouble with this and it made me like him less! I know they hadn’t yet committed but that’s a deal breaker for me.

Anson has some secrets and I think those have something to do with spoiler the reason why he slept with those other women in Miami. Could he be a male escort? A sex club owner?

What bothered me a little and made reading confusing, is the constant switch between POV’s.

Now I don’t really know how to rate this book. I didn’t love it but I liked it enough to want to read the second book. I’ll give this one 3.25 stars.

3+ stars for “Beautiful Entourage – 01 – Beautiful Entourage by E.L. Todd”

There is not much suspense in this book and it’s rather cute … it’s a sweet romance story so ideal if you need a light read! We do however get a cruel father, brother acting like a spoiled child, phobic brother, jerk ex-boyfriend, jealous cousin, … It made me emotional and it made me laugh. And best of all enthusiastic, kind, intelligent, soft, playful Aspen and loyal, protective, smart, gorgeous Rhett get their HEA!

“My whole life, I assumed there’s no such thing as a perfect man. They’re all assholes to some degree and nobody is perfect. Disney princes are the fabrication of a lunatic and they don’t exist in the real world. But then Rhett proved that theory totally wrong.”

Something I would have loved to see added at the end of the book is an epilogue.

I already have the second book with Troy and Harper on my kindle… looking forward to read their story! A book with a HEA for Chase would be nice too…

This book gets 3.5 stars

3+ stars for “Voyeur by M.K. McDonald”

*** I received this book for free from the author through The Fifty Shades Support group on Goodreads in exchange for a honest review ***

This book gives us the story of sweet, caring Zoe who meets troubled Duncan while taking care of his father. Zoe is the first person to really care for his father in that terrible place. Duncan moves his father back home and employs Zoe to take care onsite. That is the start of their romance filled with secrets…

This book is told in multiple POV’s and sometimes it wasn’t immediately clear which POV it was. I would also have liked a little bit more of Duncan’s POV. He’s the H in this book and we got to read more thoughts of secondary characters then him.

It’s not very clear if there will be another book but this one ends in a mild cliffhanger so I assume there will be and I’d love to read it!

The book description says this is an “erotic thriller”. The erotic part is obvious while reading the book but I’m not sure about the thriller part. I have already read so many books with similar or even more suspense which are not described as thriller.

Nice debut for Mr McDonald in erotic writing. I give this book 3.5 stars

3+ stars for “Knights Rebels MC – 01 – Incandescent by River Savage “

In the beginning I thought I was going to love this book but eventually it missed something. I love MC books and have already read several. This one was nice and entertaining but not very original…

But!!! If you consider that this is the author’s debut novel I want to say WELL DONE!

This was a nice story of sexy, dominating, possessive Nix and sassy, confident Kadence. The next books will be about Sy and Jesse and I’m looking forward to read them.

3.25 stars for this Incandescent!

3+ stars for “Hard by Cheryl McIntyre”

I really liked this heart-breaking, beautiful story of two broken souls helping each other overcome their fears. The book was rather short but still very good. No parts missing, no rushed love, well written, …

It was the second book I read from Cheryl McIntyre and I give it 3.5 stars

3+ stars for “Savage Brothers MC – 01 – Breaking Dragon by Jordan Marie”

I love MC books with hot, alpha bikers and sassy women. Mix in some suspense and lots of chemistry and you have a nice read. I would have liked some more suspense. I also like my MC books a little bit darker. 3.5 stars for this great debut!!

I loved the dialogs between Nicole and Dragon. There are parts were Nicole has no filter and they are awesome. Dragon calls Nicole ‘Mama’ and every time I read that my heart melted a little bit more… There wasn’t a part I disliked about Dragon or Nicole!

There was a nice deal on this series from Marie Jordan and because the reviews and ratings on all books were that good I bought them all in advance before having read book 1 and I’ll be happy to read them. In book 1 we are introduced to Dancer and I’m really looking forward to read his story so that’s my next read. After that there is book 3 ‘Loving Nicole’ which gives us more Nicole/Dragon and then book 4 ‘Claiming Crusher’ with Dani/Crusher. According to the questions for the author on Goodreads Bull will also get a book and she’s writing on books for Skull’s crew.

3+ stars for “Unrestrained – 01 – The Agreement by S.E. Lund”

This book was a very nice book similar to FSOG but this time with a yummy doctor. The previous book I read was also with a dominant doctor and I imagined Patrick Dempsey from Grey’s Anatomy but OMG no no no … Drake is definitely McDreamy!!

I loved the reference to Pride & Prejudice in the beginning but Drake calls Kate ‘Ms. Bennet’ a little bit too often… Now I’m thinking about it, I would love to read a version of P&P with a Kinky Mr. Darcy!

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a man in possession of a good fortune must write out a check and make a donation to the cause,”

Drake is a lightweight Dom but perfect for Kate. I loved their story! It was well written. This book gets 3.5 stars.

In my opinion the book can be read as standalone but there are 2 more books after this one. Book 2 ‘The Commitment’ and book 3 ‘Unrestrained’. I liked book 1 very much and my TBR list on my kindle is too long so, for now, I won’t be reading those.

However ‘Drake Restrained’ is a novella in the Unrestrained Series, which explores the early days of the relationship between Drake and Kate from Drake’s point of view. I already have it on my kindle and since I love to read the male’s POV that the next read for me!

3+ stars for “Return to Us Trilogy – 01 – Revival by M.K. Gilher”

*** I received this book for free from the author through The Fifty Shades Support group on Goodreads in exchange for a honest review ***

I finished the book last night and have been thinking since how I would rate this book. It was well written and I liked the story. But I didn’t love it and there were some parts that annoyed me so I’ll go with 3.5 stars.

After chapter 2 I really thought I had the perfect book for me. I really liked Ivy and her thoughts. But it are those thoughts that also ruined it a little bit for me. In the beginning it is fun to read about the angels on her shoulder: ‘Slut Ivy’ and ‘Feminist Ivy’. But after a while I would have skipped those small parts if I would have been sure that I didn’t miss necessary parts of the story.

Examples:

Should I pull away from him? The Slut Ivy on my right shoulder rolls her eyes and says, Duh, no silly. Stay right where you are. The Feminist Ivy on my left shoulder is scowling at me. Just get your ass to work on time, woman. The truth is I couldn’t move an inch even if I wanted to. Which I don’t.

He’s a player, obviously. Feminist Ivy gives me a look that says, Told ya! Now, get a goddamn grip and come sign this petition! Slut Ivy is sunbathing nude, totally oblivious to this new revelation.

I really liked Doctor J. Right from the start I saw McDreamy in front of me. I guess most of you know who I’m talking about? Yep, yummy Derek Shepherd aka Patrick Dempsey from Grey’s Anatomy. Doctor J is a man with many talents. I would have liked a spanking scene in the book though! There are several times in the book he thinks about spanking Ivy but he never does…

I like to know what both characters think so I was glad the book was written with both POV’s.

There was a part that I couldn’t visualize?

I lean back against the mirrored back wall. I close my eyes and can still see the strobe lights streaming through my eyelids.

Just as I’m about to take another sip of water, I feel two rough hands slide around my hips and pull me backwards… into the mirror.

The book ends in a Cliffhanger and made me want to jump into the next one. There are 2 more books and the next one is expected In November 2015.