Flames Burn Hotter in Texas Trilogy by Naomi L. Wyatt

I was asked to review this book, but the following review contains entirely my own opinions.

Blush has fought tooth and nail to get out of her dusty old hometown and into the city where things move at a faster pace, evolving in the blink of an eye; a place that would keep up with her ambitions. When she finally returns home to visit her father, she experiences the benefits of a slower pace. Meanwhile, an old romance is rekindled in a way that stirs both her emotions and her sexuality so powerfully that she is now forced to choose between small town life and the high tech playground where she now resides.

 Click to view on Amazon: Flames Burn Hotter in Texas

I love small town romance stories, they just can get under my skin in ways that other romance stories can't. Maybe it is the nostalgia factor, but I just love them. And this is a story that falls right into that category. 

To start off with I want to say that I love the names in this book. Blush is such a unique name and it has such character, I love it... tucking that one away for the next time I need to name something. Cade is also such a hunky name. I think that the root of this story is something that almost anyone can understand: wanting to spread your wings and fly from the nest, try and make it on your own, cut the ties to your home town. It is certainly something that I have felt, and only recently have I grown up enough to really appreciate where I grew up and I think that Blush goes through a similar learning experience in this book, and she gets a hot guy to help her along the way.

I really liked how talented Blush was, I liked how she could just pick up the reins and start solving problems it really added a depth to her character that could have been lost in such an erotica heavy book. As far as the sex goes... it was pretty hot. I loved the scenes between Cade and Blush, sometimes I think they jumped into it a little fast, but then I remind myself that lust is lust, it hits hard and fast, so the speed of the relationship didn't bother me at all. What bothered me a bit was the relationship between Blush and Buck. For a while in the book it seemed like Cade was fading out of the picture and Buck was someone Blush was interested, but that wasn't to hard of an obstacle for me to get over, and I do understand that characters have to overcome challenges in order to grow, and it definitely added another facet to Blush's character.

When I first started this trilogy (it comes as a boxed set) I thought it would just be a fluffy erotica piece, but it showed surprising depth that I found very pleasing.

I give it a solid 4 out of 5 stars! Go check it out!

By My Choice by Christine Blackthorn

I was asked to review this book, but the following review contains my own opinions and thoughts.

Sometimes the path of life seems inevitable — what does it mean to choose?



Jennifer Ashton has spent her whole life in one Supernatural court or the other but the realities of what this means are only brought home to her when her best friend is forced to sell her to a vampire, and not any vampire, but one she knows well. Caught in the double betrayal of friendship and love she needs to decide what her life is going to be.

Jennifer is a financial manager, her control over every aspect of her own life complete. She does not allow anything to upset her rationality, no emotion, no sensation, no desire. The only weakness she has accepted is her unlimited loyalty to her best friend, the friend who betrays her by selling her to a competitor. She joins her new master in Paris where she begins to realise that he has as little choice as she does. Can she accept that by giving up everything, by giving him everything, they might both regain their lives?

Click to view on Amazon: By My Choice

When I was first asked to review this book, I made a little woops and didn't read the description before I opened the book, so by the cover I knew it must be a romance of some sort but that's about all I knew. So when vampires started popping up I was totally surprised. But I am glad I read the book.

I liked the book. I liked it a lot. I thought that the descriptions of the courts were interesting. At first I was really curious as to what was wrong with Jen, I thought she was going to be some kind of supernatural with a unique talent, I did not expect what she turned out to be. Adrian was a really interesting character. When the author brought up the picture of him and his sons it really made me want to read more. I also was really curious as to why Jen had to give up all of her belongings before going to Adrian's court. So there were a couple of missing pieces that weren't essential to the story, but that I was very curious about.

The one thing that I didn't like about the book was that at times it was a little rape-y. It made me a little uncomfortable at first, but then Adrian was like, I feel rape-y doing this, and that made it a bit better. That being said, I really liked the way that the scenes were written, it was really easy to picture what was written. I really wanted to see where the characters went, but then the book ended, maybe there is another one on the way.

I give this book a 4 out of 5 stars. Give it a try!

The Emperor's Wolf by J.C. Owens

         Something about ancient times always fascinates me, as does the idea of submission. And this seemed to combine the two, or I thought it did when I put it on my to-read list. But once I started reading it it was halfway between the two... kind of...

          The echoes of a war four years past still resounds in the minds of those who endured it.

         Jaden longs to search for his sister, though he is bound in the fetters of slavery. When he is given to the very man who conquered his country, he is caught up in his own hatred, yet fascinated by the mystery of his new master, the Emperor of Tranaden, who all say is demonic, without mercy. Trapped in the snare of his master’s beauty, Jaden begins to realize that there is much more beneath the surface...

         Dersai is Emperor to his fingertips, he is used to command and being obeyed. He will sacrifice anything to see his country safe. Beneath, he is well read, highly intelligent and far sighted in how he views others. Yet, Dersai has an inner demon, a demon that kept his kingdom free and safe from conquerors; only in his dreams can he imagine one strong enough to love him.

Now his slave may be the only one who can set him free.

 Click to View on Amazon: The Emperor's Wolf

         For some reason I got the impression that this book would be about ancient Rome, or something similar. And it kind of was, but it also kind of wasn't... at all. There are giant machines and curses and crazy legends in this one. And as far as submission goes, you could say that there is a kind of submission going on here, but not in the way people normally would think of it.

         Jaden is an interesting character, because he is presented to us as a tough dangerous man that many, in the harem he resides in, fear. But he has been horribly abused until he submits to this terrible lady, who in my opinion (and Jaden's as well) is totally disgusting. And she has some sort of strange obsession with him that I didn't understand, but it made me want to punch her in the throat. We go from there until he meets up with Dersai... at this point Jaden seems to have a total role reversal and becomes a very fragile and submissive man. I was confused about how I was supposed to view Jaden, because people kept referring to him as a wolf but we are shown a timid broken man. That being said, it doesn't mean I didn't like his character. I thought his vulnerability was really well done, I just thought it needed to be shown that he wasn't a wolf yet.

         Dersai scared me. When he was himself it was fine and I thought he was a real stand up guy, but when the demon took over he was horrible. Ugh, and when he killed those soldiers and started licking up their blood, that creeped me out more than anything. What I really liked about him was that while he was the more dominant partner in the relationship, he often times seemed more deeply vulnerable than Jaden did. Maybe it was because he knew how perilously he was holding on to his sanity, or maybe he was just more invested in the relationship from the start.

         They big fight at the end confused me. I don't understand why they both were keeping secret from each other like that, but at the same time I see why it happened, to show them both the strength of their relationship, but it just seemed like a tiny misunderstanding blown way out of proportion.

I liked it a lot! I wish there had been more plot thought. I give it 3 stars!

The Assignment by Evangeline Anderson

         Yay! First post back! This book showed up on a bunch of lists that I was looking at. I actually find myself getting lost in those lists, and can wander through them for hours, but This book just kept popping up and after deciding not to read it a couple of times I finally gave in.

         Detective Nicholas Valenti, tall, dark and stoic, has been best friends with his partner, Sean O'Brian for six years. The two men have seen each other through divorce, disaster, and danger, and saved each other's asses more times than Valenti can count. Exactly when he started seeing his blond, intense partner in another light, Valenti isn't really sure. He only knows that he wants O'Brian in a way that had nothing to do with friendship and everything to do with possession. It is a desire he will have to hide forever because O'Brian is undeniably straight. 

          Just as Valenti is coming to grips with his new, unacceptable feelings for his partner their police captain puts them on a new case that could blow Valenti's cover once and for all. He and O'Brian are going undercover at the country's largest and most infamous gay resort to bust a notorious drug lord and stop the shipments of poison cocaine that are flooding the gay bars all over the city. 

          Now Valenti will have to make a choice between friendship and desire. He and O'Brian will play the roles of gay men that will push the limits of their relationship to the breaking point. Will their time at the RamJack forge a new bond between them or destroy their partnership forever?

Click to View on Amazon: The Assignment

         The first thing that hit me about this book was the strange timing of it. This might just be because I never experienced them, but when the book said that this was set in the 80s I couldn't hold back a shudder. I thought, Oh dear, this is going to be painful and neon colored. But it turns out I was wrong and I don't think the story really even needed to tell us that it was set in the 80s. The story could have been something that happened today. I mean, I am assuming it could have, I haven never experienced anything that these characters went through but as far as the feelings of time and place, it felt very modern to me.

         I actually really liked the characters. It sometimes bothers me when characters are afraid of their sexuality, sometimes it just seems to contrived. And sometimes I just want to smack them until they get that being attracted to another man is not a bad things, but the struggle in this case felt pretty natural. O'Brian was so flirty and naturally physical that it never seemed forced between the two characters, even when it was forced on them. It was a bit of a "gay for you" story, as both the characters were very much interested in women until Valenti's divorce, but I have always thought that makes the story sweeter. Like they are so drawn to each other and so perfect for each other that something as little as orientation doesn't matter. So lovely.

         I felt that the whole "sleep with each other as blackmail" thing was a little forced. I understood it but it was predictable and I felt myself going, really? REALLY? But at the same time it did tear my heart apart a little because Valenti was so torn up about it, and he loved O'Brian so dearly and that made me tear up a bit when he started hating himself over it. And the chemistry between those two was sweet. As straight men they were so comfortable with each other that they were always touching, and I don't know about you guys, but my boyfriend rarely casually touched other guys, and if he does it is never more than for a few seconds... but they were ok with it and, it was great. The best part was when they were in the hotel and O'Brian finally saw his opening to get closer to Valenti. Ah it was so sneaky and sexy haha, though thinking about a pretty boy twink type with a bunch of chest hair was a bit difficult.

I  liked this book, it was a fun read and I should have read it sooner. I give it 3 stars!

Bloodraven by P.L. Nunn

         Hey, I'm trying to get caught up with school and stuff so it has been a while, but I am going to try my best to start catching up. This book that I am about to review I have seen on a lot of the lists on Goodreads that I have been skimming. I had it as a "to-read" for a while, but I read a lot of reviews saying that it was extremely violent and off putting so I was a little cautious of reading it. But I finally dug in my heels and started it.

         A son of a forest dwelling people, Yhalen knows little of the world outside the ancestral forest, until he is captured by a band of ogres on a slave-taking mission. Only grim tales of the barbaric giants had reached the forest, but Yhalen soon learns that even the darkest fireside story only hinted at the brutality of these Northern warriors. He discovers the meaning of true fear at their hands, and only the awakening of ancient magic saves him from destruction.

         Surviving ogre viciousness, he finds himself given to Bloodraven, the half ogre, half human war leader as a slave. Yhalen, refusing to bend, soon pays the price for offending prickly ogre pride.

         But Bloodraven is no mindless, violent ogrish beast. Bloodraven has an agenda and Yhalen finds himself drawn in the wake into human and ogre politics, into bloodshed and cruelty and into the forbidden magic that is damnation in the eyes of his own people, but which might mean the difference between death and salvation.

This book is available on Lulu.com

         This book was interesting... It was extremely graphic. There were many many many violent scenes that made my stomach turn. Poor Yhalen went through so much and still he had spirit. That was something that pissed me off though. Not the part about Yhalen having spirit, because I was so happy he anaged to struggle through it all, but that people kept telling him that he couldn't imagine the abuse that human slaves of ogres went through, and I was like YES HE CAN!! And even after he told Bloodraven about it Bloodraven kept telling him to lay low because he couldnt imagine the trauma of being tortured by ogres.  It made me so mad.

         I think there was a lot of miscommunication between the characters, but somehow despite all of that they got along extremely well. Even though Yhalen was forced into the relationship and he was extremely prideful, they still managed to find a balance that didn't cause too many problems. I thought that was a really amazing thing to have because it stopped things in the relationship from getting too dramatic. I like drama, but sometimes in forced relationships it gets too extreme for me.

         This was a very long book. I am not entirely sure how I felt about that because I thought the characters were incredibly interesting, but I also at times was thinking, man how much longer is there. There is also the fact that the least expensive version of this book was in PDF form, which for some reason made the book feel even longer than it already was. I did love the story though, with the violence aside, I thought it was a really touching story about how they found common ground and began to build a friendship and relationship off of it. Sure, Bloodraven was really pushy about sex, but he was always worried about Yhalen's well being and was always trying to think of ways to make life easier for Yhalen.

         I really liked the character Bloodraven. I feel like we learned more about Yhalen, because he went through the most brutal trials, but I wish that we had gotten to learn more about Bloodraven's life. When he was disowned by one of his only real friends I thought I was going to try, but at the same time i kept thinking it was worth it because Yhalen always ended up putting Bloodraven first, while Bloodraven's ogre friends never really cared about him that way. I liked Bloodraven's personality, how he thought Yhalen was amusing and didn't want to break him, how he seemed to care about who was hurt by his actions and how responsible he was. It was a wonder that he turned out to be such a caring person when he was raised among the ogres. I thought one of the most touching scenes was when he was trying to get Yhalen to use his magic and kept telling him to make the dog attack him, and Yhalen said he couldn't because the dog loved Bloodraven. And Bloodraven was floored because love isn't a concept known in ogre life, and Bloodraven mourns the fact that they will never know love.

         I really loved these characters and the story and I really love how they ended up so happy but I loved the most how Yhalen got revenge in the end. Ogres treated humans like trash and brutalized them, tore them apart and laughed at it, and then they just came across the wrong human, and when they tortured him, he snapped and then they got a taste of their own medicine and they hated it. And so I hope that in this world the humans are safe from the ogres in the future.

I give this book a 4 out of 5 stars

I love it when you guys rate and comment, so go crazy :)

The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie (Mackenzies Series) by Jennifer Ashley

         At first I was hesitant to read this book because while I know that people can fall in love more than once, I really don't like books where one of the lovers is still pining after a lost husband or wife. It's fine if they have had lovers or spouses before, because that is just the way of life, and I'm even ok if they still love their lost love, because once you love someone a part of you always loves them. But I hate it when people are presented with a new love and they claim to be falling in love but they let loves from the past get in their way. That is why I am usually pretty hesitant to read book sthat have widows in them.

        The year is 1881. Meet the Mackenzie family--rich, powerful, dangerous, eccentric. A lady couldn't be seen with them without ruin. Rumors surround them--of tragic violence, of their mistresses, of their dark appetites, of scandals that set England and Scotland abuzz.

         The youngest brother, Ian, known as the Mad Mackenzie, spent most of his young life in an asylum, and everyone agrees he is decidedly odd. He's also hard and handsome and has a penchant for Ming pottery and beautiful women.

         Beth Ackerley, widow, has recently come into a fortune. She has decided that she wants no more drama in her life. She was raised in drama--an alcoholic father who drove them into the workhouse, a frail mother she had to nurse until her death, a fussy old lady she became constant companion to. No, she wants to take her money and find peace, to travel, to learn art, to sit back and fondly remember her brief but happy marriage to her late husband.

And then Ian Mackenzie decides he wants her.

Click to view on Amazon: The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie
 

         This book really surprised me. Beth was an amazing widow. She wasn't weepy and had taken her time to grieve her husband and now looked upon her time with him fondly and did not allow him  to haunt any future relationships. She thought he would, but it turned out he taught her to love well enough that she could love Ian.

         Speaking of Ian, Oh. My. Goodness. I really loved his character. I don't know if he was autistic or what, but he was an amazing character and Ashley really did a good job. I liked everything from his inability to make eye contact to his abrupt almost rude attitude towards everyone. They had such a charming story and I love the way he acted towards Beth and I thought it was hilarious but at the same time really touching when he would inspect the Ming bowls.

         This book had been on my to read list forever and I am so glad I finally read it. I love series that have crazy big families in them and I almost wish that Ian's book had been the last in the series because that would have ended the series with a bang. I haven't read the other books in the series, but this book has definitely turned me on to the author so hopefully I will be able to read more soon!

Now, read the book! Then come back!

         Okay, on to the meat of the story! There was the whole murder mystery thing going on here and for the first third of the book I thought that Ian had killed the two prostitutes. I never really thought that Hart did it, though it was set up for us to think that. I also didn't suspect that Lily was the one who killed Sally. I thought that Mrs. Palmer was the one who did it once they told us about her obsession with Hart. Which I also don't understand, but I have never understood the dynamic between a cougar and her catch, but who knows... maybe that will be me one day... a cougar, not a killer. And while Mrs. Palmer was the one who killed Lily, at first I wanted to hate her for it and for Hart for wanting to comfort her while she tied, but then I thought about how she was trying to protect him and how she stood by him for 13 years and realized I was being unfair to her.

         Something I didn't understand though was the reason for Ian going to the asylum. Because he seems like he has a disorder, but then we are told that he was sent into the asylum because he saw his father kill his mother and was put in there to be shut up. So would he have eventually been declared insane and put in there or did being in there make him seem more crazy, or if he had never seen his father kill his mother he would never have been sent to any asylum at all. Either way, it was unfair for him to be in there at all, he is different, but not crazy. And it really rubbed me the wrong way when Hart really thought that Ian was crazy.

         My favorite moments were when they were all at dinner in Scotland and Beth made a joke and Ian's brothers heard him laugh for the first time. And when at the end when they are welcoming the inspector into the family and Ian hides in Beth's hair. I really liked this book! A definite 5 out of 5!