Category: Romance

Book Review: Wicked Choice by Sawyer Bennett

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

WICKED CHOICE (The Wicked Horse Vegas, #4) by Sawyer Bennett is one of the best erotic romances I have read! There are hot, steamy and erotic sex scenes throughout an amazing gender twist of a story that is strong enough to stand on its own even without the erotic sex scenes, but where would be the fun in that?

Rachel Hart is one of the best at her job and has the confidence of her teammates. She was a Winter Olympian biathlete and extreme sport junkie. She has never fallen in love and refuses to let anyone get close.

Bodie Wright is an ex-Navy SEAL who has traded in the strict regimentation of the service for the less restrictive and more lucrative job at the Jameson Group. A Nebraska farmboy, who loves his extended family, but is not really looking to settle down just yet.

After a mission together gone wrong, Rachel and Bodie cross the understood, but not written rule that team members at Jameson do not fraternize. Sure, they see each other having sex at the club, but never do team members do team members. Their one night of amazing sex turns into a pregnancy with major, life-changing decisions to be made.

Ms. Sawyer takes this situation and turns it into a very unique story by having Brodie step up and want the baby no matter how it will change his life and career, while Rachel is the one who decides to carry the baby for Bodie, but she does not want to continue in its life after the delivery.

Rachel is such a complex heroine who Bodie seems to effortlessly understand. As the erotic sex continues throughout the story so does the emotional roller coaster, tears and decisions. I loved these two characters! The secondary characters were just as realistically written and I hope to see more of them in future books.

The Wicked Horse is a sex club in Vegas which is the background for this series of erotic romances. It is frequented by several of the teammates from the Jameson Group, which is a private group of elite mercenaries for hire. The owner of the Wicked Horse used to own both, but he sold the Jameson group to his best friend. This story is the bridge book between strictly erotic romances set around the Wicked Horse and a new series planned by this author to focus more on the Jameson Group mercenaries using a romantic suspense format. Do not worry about it being the fourth book in the series because it can be read easily as a standalone and I cannot wait to go back and read the first books in this series.

Written for and posted first on The Romance Reviews.

Book Review: Beat of the Jungle by Erin Moira O’Hara

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

BEAT OF THE JUNGLE (Deadly Forces #1) by Erin Moira O’Hara is an intense, fast paced and sexy contemporary romantic suspense. Not only are the H/h on the run from mercenaries, but the Amazon Rainforest landscape is as deadly a foe as their human protagonists.

Kitarna Ashford is a botanist who has come to Brazil to join her sister, Bernie’s archeological dig. Just as she arrives, she receives a cryptic call from her father, who is a U.S. Governor, for her and her sister to get out of Brazil as soon as possible. The call breaks up and they do not know why or whom they are running from.

Jack Callaghan is an ex-military sniper whose last mission has left lasting nightmares. He has just completed a private mission for a friend and is now on his way to retire in the Caribbean.

After some pleasant, but brief flirting and not quite truthful introductions, their plane goes down in the Rainforest. The remaining passengers and crew that survive the crash, soon realize they are being hunted by mercenaries and must split up and try to reach the closest mission in small groups. Kit and her sister become separated.

There are so many secrets not just between Kit and Jack, but also crew and fellow survivors of the crash. Kit’s botanical skills and Jack’s military skills may help save the group, but there are hidden motives among the survivors and the Rainforest itself is a beautiful, but deadly paradise.

This author had me feeling the heat of the Amazon. Slogging through the Rainforest with wild animals, bugs and plants that are all beautiful and yet deadly. The knowledge base Kit and Jack both demonstrate was blended seamlessly throughout the story and not just an information dump. The romance builds at a hot and steamy pace even as Kit and Jack fight for their lives and the lives of the other survivors with them.

This was a great read that I highly recommend for lovers of romantic suspense and I am looking forward to reading the next Deadly Forces book which will be Bernie’s story!

Written for and posted first on The Romance Reviews.

Book Review: An Uncommon Honeymoon by Susan Mann

RATING: 5 out 5 Stars

Susan Mann had me once again turning pages well into the night in Quinn and James’ latest exploits. This is such a fun series with a couple that takes you on their CIA over-the-top missions. The plots have serious background premises, but are entertaining and balanced with a lighter side at the same time. James is your secret agent dream come true and Quinn is great as a covert research librarian.

AN UNCOMMON HONEYMOON (Librarian and the Spy Escapade #3) by Susan Mann has the big marriage scene between Quinn and James and it is everything I was hoping for, beautiful, fun and filled with love.

As they are on their honeymoon in the Turks and Caico’s, they are approached by Dave Flores, a former CIA operative now working for a group that rescues children caught in human trafficking. Quinn and James were invited to a party that Dave would like them to surveil, but Quinn meets two of the children being held at the compound and vows to help them get free. The plot has child slave trafficking, drug trafficking and a Russian crime lord. The child slave trafficking is handled seriously and with heart by Ms. Mann, while the Russian crime lord and his minions get the action packed, super spy treatment.

Quinn and James are just perfect together. Their love for each other is always present, Quinn is always James’ equal in any situation and they are seriously sexy and hot. I especially love the sometimes witty, sometimes steamy banter between these two. All of the secondary characters that I have come to care about in the two previous books make an appearance. This series does continually progress forward in Quinn and James’ relationship and abilities, so I really think it is more enjoyable to read in order.

I am waiting anxiously for the next installment!

Thanks very much to Kensington Books, Zebra Shout and Net Galley for allowing me to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: It Happened at the Park by Ryan Jo Summers

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

IT HAPPENED AT THE PARK by Ryan Jo Summers is a contemporary romance that gives all your emotions a workout. The workaholic heroine inherits her deceased sister’s dogs. The hero prefers his dog and laidback lifestyle over women at this point in his life for a good reason. Adorable dogs, grief, secrets and a witty love story all come together in this realistic romance.

Cassidy Grant is always the consummate professional. A workaholic city planner who is structured, career-oriented and polished. When Cassidy’s sister dies, Cassidy inherits her two dogs, Tessa and Remi. Her world is thrown into turmoil, not just by the doggie invasion, but also the realization that her loving younger sister is gone and she feels guilty for not spending more time with her.

Ethan Sheppard and his best friend, Jake run in to Cassidy at the dog park. Cassidy realizes this easy-going, handsome guy knows how to handle dogs and makes an offer to Ethan for help learning about her new charges. Ethan is intrigued that this woman is the first to interest him since his ex and agrees to help.

Their feelings grow, but their careers may stop this romance before it begins. Cassidy is told by her boss in the city planners office that she has to uncover the secret identity of the newspaper cartoonist, The Salty Kid, who keeps lampooning the mayor and could jeopardize his reelection. The Salty Kid is closer than Cassidy can imagine and has to make a choice between the girl or his career.

The H/h are very realistic. Both have to go through some very tough soul searching. I had a little trouble with how Cassidy could lose her career over not finding out who The Salty Kid was and her devotion to a mayor who seemed very dictatorial, but the author made it work out in the end. The dogs were all great secondary characters that I loved. This is a sweet and smart contemporary romance with no sex scenes.

Reviewed for and posted first on The Romance Reviews.

Book Review: Strike Force by Beth Rhodes

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

STRIKE FORCE (Hawk Elite Security, #4) by Beth Rhodes is another great addition to this romantic suspense series. I have been waiting for Malcolm’s story and it is everything I was hoping for.

Malcolm Daniels dealt with a lying, cheating ex-wife. He was young, inexperienced in relationships and she took everything from him including his trust in all women. When Marie is taken in by Hawk and given a job at Hawk Elite, Malcolm knows she is hiding secrets and he vows to reveal them. What he does not expect is that he comes to admire Marie’s hard work, courage under fire and her ability to see outside of the box. Marie is also beautiful and Malcolm wants his “little thief” physically, but he refuses to trust her.

Marie Feur is from a long line of Romanian gypsies and is meant to inherit and wear the gold armband that is legendary in her family. When Marie was young, the armband was stolen by another family with a long standing feud with her family. Her chance to get close to the armband comes with her work for Hawk Security. She wants to please her only remaining family member, her Uncle Bert, by returning the armband to their family, but that means she will be betraying her friends at Hawk Security, betraying her growing feelings for Malcolm and proving him right in believing she is only a thief.

Malcolm is so rigid and by the book. He loves his computers and programs and no longer believes in love or relationships. Marie is fun, loving and good at what she does, which does not always follow what one might consider “right”. These two are so opposite and yet Ms. Rhodes makes them, over the pages of this story, so right for each other. There is plenty of action and suspense as Malcolm and Marie deal with not only the stolen armband, but drugs and international sex slaves with the help of the FBI and their friends at Hawk Security.

The sex is steamy and hot, hot, hot between these two. It also progresses from sex with no strings or attachments to much more. Both Malcolm and Marie are now two of my favorite characters in this series.  I especially love how Malcolm’s only response to good or bad situations, out loud or silently in his head is “Fuck”. A man of few words, well basically only one word, who left me laughing out loud!

I highly recommend the entire series and especially this book. It can be read as a standalone, but I bet you will go back for more.

Written for and posted first on The Romance Reviews.

Book Review: The Santa Bargain by Robin Michaela

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

If you want a quick to read, feel good, contemporary Christmas romance, then you have to read THE SANTA BARGAIN: A Small Town Christmas Romance by a new-to-me author Robin Michaela. It is festive, sweet, funny, sad and steamy all wrapped up to a HEA in just 257 pages.

Maria Thompson is starting over in a small Colorado town of Copper River. She is starting her own coffee shop, raising her 5 year old son, Zach and has sworn off all men after her son’s father walked out on them two years ago. Maria is talked into organizing the first Christmas festival to bring tourists to town after devastating wildfires nearly destroyed it. When the sexy carpenter working on the town’s shops runs into Maria, she may just have to rethink her no men policy.

Joe Sinclair was raised in the foster care system after the death of his parents. He learned never to get attached to anyone because they all just left you. There seems to be something different about the coffee shop owner though that attracts him against his better judgement. She is smart, curvy and loves Christmas. She has a small child. He should be running in the other direction, but he just cannot stay away.

Maria makes Joe a promise that if he will play Santa for the Christmas festival, she will be his naughty elf afterwards. Their pasts may get in the way of their new relationship unless Santa can bring them together for a Merry Christmas.

Maria, Joe and Zach are wonderfully real characters that worm their ways into your heart. The sex is hot and steamy, but never gratuitous. There is nothing new in this plot, but the characters and dialogue make it memorable. An enjoyable standalone read for the holiday romance lover.

Written for and posted first on The Romance Reviews.