RSS

Tag Archives: erotic romance

Audiobook Review – The Marriage Games – C.D. Reiss

06 Apr

The Marriage Games
Author: C.D. Reiss
Series: #1 in the The Games Duet
Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Narrators: Elena Wolfe, Sebastian York
Run Time: 9hrs, 15min
Audiobook Producer: Flip City Media Inc.
Narration Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Description:
THIRTY DAYS
That’s all Adam Steinbeck demands of his wife.
Thirty days in a remote cottage, doing everything he demands. After that, he’ll sign her divorce papers and give her complete ownership of their company.
THIRTY DAYS
That’s how long he has to rediscover the man he once was. The Dominant Master he hid when he fell in love with her five years ago.
THIRTY DAYS
She wants the business they built badly enough to go to the cottage for a month. Cut off ties to the world and do his bidding. She can submit to him with her body, but her heart will never yield.
She thinks this is his pathetic attempt to repair their marriage.
She’s wrong.

Review:
The Marriage Games is the second of the two books in my Armchair Audies listens that I had previously read prior to the nominees being announced. I discovered C.D. Reiss last year when her Coda series was nominated for another Audie – so I was excited to see her with another nomination this year. But I will its hard to describe the initial disappointment I felt when I read The Marriage Games earlier in the year – reading it, I just didn’t feel the emotion that I felt like I should have – I just felt really detached from the whole storyline – which is a complete opposite experience to how I felt when I listened to it more recently.

Anyways, since I had already read The Marriage Games, I was able to invest myself more fully into my enjoyment of the audiobook – since I knew what was going to happen (although as normal, I did discover that there were things I had missed in my initial reading of it – which considering how long it took me to read it initially, is surprising). Since I was able to focus more on the audio than the story – let me tell you how much I LOVED the narration by Elena Wolfe and Sebastian York! I know like knees going weak, making me want to drool in sexiness type narration! (and I don’t say that often).

I love how audiobooks with dual narrators has developed over time – I have listened to all different combinations – predominantly one narrator with highlights of an other, narrators that alternate POV’s, but still narrate opposite gender if they appear in that specific POV and then there is a true duet, like the Marriage Games, where Elena and Sebastian were fully integrated so that Elena did all the female narration and Sebastian all the male – it was like listening to an actual conversation where there were multiple men and women speaking in a holistic way. I actually enjoyed my listen of the Marriage Games so much, that I went ahead and bought the second book in the duet (Separation Games) to listen to as soon as I was done – which I hadn’t felt inclined to do after I finished reading it a few months previously.

The Marriage Games was definitely a case where 2 brilliant narrators took a slightly less than impressive book (at least to me) and elevated it to knee-weakening level. While my rating for the Marriage Games stayed at 3.5 stars, the audiobook narration was easily 4.5 stars. Elena Wolfe and Sebastian York is a narrator duet that I would love to see more of.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on April 6, 2017 in Armchair Audies, Audiobook Review, Listening Events, Review

 

Tags: , , , , , ,

TBR Tuesday – 31 January 2017

31 Jan

TBR Tuesday
TBR Tuesday is an opportunity to you to find and read those lost gems that might be hidden on your TBR shelves! In order to be eligible for TBR Tuesday a book should have been on your TBR pile for more than a year (so any book purchased prior to January 2016 is fair game right now. Let me know what book you read, how long it has been lost on your TBR pile and what you thought of it? Is it a hidden gem or a dusty throwaway or somewhere in between…

Made for Each Other – Morgan Ashbury
Bought:14 July 2010
Time of TBR: 2391 days

Review:
Sometimes as a reader, I want brain candy – that is, a book that really doesn’t make me think about anything while i’m reading, that is lite on drama and shenanigans and that is just there and Make for Each Other pretty much hit those wicked. It didn’t quite venture into the porn without plot realm, but the smexy parts did tend to outweigh the actual story (not that there was anything wrong with that because that was what I was in the mood for). I wouldn’t say that Made for Each Other ventured into the hidden gem realm, but it was definitely an improvement on some of the more recent books that I’ve dug out of Mt TBR. While I strugged with a guy being called Lesley (even though I know traditionally its a male name), his quirks were kind of funny and made him more relatable as a character. Overall a solid read and hit the spot for what I was looking for this past weekend.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on January 31, 2017 in TBR Tuesday

 

Tags: , ,

TBR Tuesday – 10 January 2017

11 Jan

TBR TuesdaySo after a rather long hiatus, TBR Tuesday is back!

TBR Tuesday is an opportunity to you to find and read those lost gems that might be hidden on your TBR shelves! In order to be eligible for TBR Tuesday a book should have been on your TBR pile for more than a year (so any book purchased prior to January 2016 is fair game right now. Let me know what book you read, how long it has been lost on your TBR pile and what you thought of it? Is it a hidden gem or a dusty throwaway or somewhere in between…

And without further ado, here is my TBR Tuesday book and review!

Fire and Ice – Liz Andrews
Bought: Nov 26, 2009
Time on TBR: 2594 days

Review:
Some of the hardest reviews I find to write are those for books that I liked but didn’t love – those that probably fall into the mid-star range and Fire and Ice is a book like that. Fundamentally, there was nothing really wrong with it – I’d say that the whole sequence of events may have moved a bit too fast for me, even though I understand it was part of the whole fantasy aspect. It just for me felt a bit empty and mechanical at times – I didn’t really get the passion between Victor and Tanya at times. Fire and Ice was an ok read, I’d probably give it 2.5-3 stars but I don’t know if I would widely recommend it to people to read – it just didn’t have that kind of zing for me.

How about you – what book is your TBR Tuesday read?

 
2 Comments

Posted by on January 11, 2017 in TBR Tuesday

 

Tags: , ,

Audiobook Review (reblog) – Curing Doctor Vincent – Renea Mason

25 Apr

Erotica nominees banner

curing doctor vincentAuthor: Renea Mason
Series: #1 in the Good Doctor Trilogy
Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Narrators: Noah Michael Levine, Erin Deward
Run Time: 6hrs, 10 min
Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Review Audiobook Provided by Author

This is a reblog of my review that originally appeared on October 29, 2015; with a couple of initial thoughts about her Audie nomination

Description:
One kinky doctor + one indecent proposal = one life-changing week in Paris

Elaine Watkins, Public Relations Advisor, is surprised when she receives a summons from the very attractive and enigmatic Dr. Xavier Vincent. She worships the talented physician and company icon responsible for developing the cure that saved her sister’s life and isn’t immune to his charm. Even though puzzled by his request, she is excited and eager to get started on his latest project.

But Dr. Vincent has other ideas. Instead of discussing cures, drugs and marketing strategies, he asks Elaine to join him in Paris to indulge his unique sexual appetites.

Torn between gratitude for saving her sister, her attraction for the powerful man and compromising her pre-conceived notions of sexuality, she must decide if it’s easier to feed his desires or walk away. Until she devises a plan of her own.

Review:
In light of Renea’s nomination for an Audie in the Erotica category, I’m reblogging my review as part of the Armchair Audies. I was so excited to see Curing Doctor Vincent make the list of nominees because it is by far one of the best erotic romances that I have listened to (and read) in the recent past. The storyline was well development, there wasn’t an overabundance of sex without story (also known as porn without plot) and I don’t think she could have picked two better narrators to represent Xavier and Elaine. This is my strongest contender to date for the winner in the erotica category.

I’d never heard of Renea (which is pronounced Renee) Mason until I got an email from her a few months ago about reviewing the audiobook for her erotic romance, Curing Doctor Vincent. But she managed to catch my attention from the get-go when she compared the narrators of her audiobook (Noah Michael Levine and Erin DeWard) to one of my favorite pairings, Phil Gigante and Natalie Ross (who narrated Karen Marie Monings Fever series). I mean, my initial reaction was like, no one is better than Phil and Natalie – i mean, they totally rock all their narrations. But boy was I wrong – I sat in the car listening pretty much slack-jawed and Noah and Erin rocked this audio and they both earned a place in my top 5 narrators/pairings.

But back to the story itself…if you were offered one week in Paris on a trip of sexual exploration, would you take it? I know that I would probably have to stop and think about it and would probably wimp out, but Elaine did none of those things. Curing Doctor Vincent was a roller-coaster ride of emotions, I know that I experienced pretty much the whole spectrum from anger to sadness; from excitement to deep and abiding love. There is something about Renea’s writing that just made me feel like I was in Paris with Xavier and Elaine, and experiencing all the sexual satisfaction that Elaine was feeling.

the story itself didn’t unfold the way I expected it to when I began. I’ll be honest – my initial thoughts when I read the description would be that Elaine’s experiences with Xavier and his sexual appetites would be the majority of the story. In fact, I was kind of shocked when there was actually more story than sex – haha. I know that probably sounds weird, but its true – there was a lot more to Curing Doctor Vincent than just the trip to Paris and lots of sex – I was actually expected that that would somehow be the cure that was alluded to in the title. But boy, was I wrong! The ending of the story was sweetly satisfying (although there was definitely a scream of agony that resonated when I finished my road trip with 30min remaining on the book – the torture of having to wait until the next day to finish it up…has to fall under cruel and unusual punishment).

I will say holy hotness on the writing of those sexual experiences – so often in erotic romance, those scenes just feel like insert Tab A into slot B, very mechanical or on the other end of the spectrum, overly flowerly purple prose, but Renea managed that fine balance between the two. I will say that I found myself fanning my face several times during my car ride as I was listening. I could probably gush about the audiobook all day, but I will say, my favorite thing about the narration was that it was a true alternating POV narration – where Noah read all the male parts and Erin all the female – so often in dual narration audiobooks (at least in my experience), it ends up being male reads one chapter, including any female dialogue and vice versa – so this was a pleasant surprise.

I gave Curing Doctor Vincent 4 stars and the audio narration 5 stars. I’d recommend this to people who like erotic romance with a solid storyline and satisfactory conclusion (with no cliff-hanger). Unfortunately, now I have to wait for the next book in the trilogy to come out (or at least the audio version)…hopefully that will be relatively soon…

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on April 25, 2016 in Armchair Audies, Audiobook Review, Listening Events

 

Tags: , , , ,

TBR Tuesday – 02 February 2016

02 Feb

TBR TuesdayWow, its the first week of February already…i don’t know about you, but it seems like the older I get, the faster the time flies. It also doesn’t help that I’ve been completely slammed at work with sometimes upwards of 3+ hours round trip for a commute. My book this week has had the dubious pleasure of being on Mt TBR for over 300 weeks…

When Alex Was Bad
Author: Jo Davis

Purchase Date: 29 October 2009
Date Read: 22 January 2009
Time on Mt TBR: 2276 days

Review:
So I bought this book back in 2009 while I was deployed to Iraq, so I don’t remember what the inspiration for purchasing it was, but it was later in the year not long before I headed home, so maybe I bought it as something for the flight home…and of course, then didn’t read it…lol! Reading When Alex Was Bad reminded me how much I like/enjoyed erotic romances that were written pre-50 Shades of Grey. It might be a personal preference of mine but I find books written back then to be much better in character and plot development with satisfying conclusions. Added to that Ms Davis took a lesser known romance plot (a couple that has been married for a while) and managed to weave a story line about rediscovering why they fell in love to begin with. She managed to push the boundaries with my comfort level in places (especially with the approved cheating of both of the husband and wife – normally not a fan of cheating in romances but it worked in relation to this story). While the rest of Ms Davis books are much more in the line of traditional contemporary or historical romance genres, I liked her foray into erotic romance and would be interested to read more.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on February 2, 2016 in TBR Tuesday

 

Tags: ,

Audiobook Review – Curing Doctor Vincent – Renea Mason

29 Oct

curing doctor vincentCuring Doctor Vincent
Author: Renea Mason
Series: #1 in the Good Doctor Trilogy
Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Narrators: Noah Michael Levine, Erin Deward
Run Time: 6hrs, 10 min
Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Review Audiobook Provided by Author

Description:
One kinky doctor + one indecent proposal = one life-changing week in Paris

Elaine Watkins, Public Relations Advisor, is surprised when she receives a summons from the very attractive and enigmatic Dr. Xavier Vincent. She worships the talented physician and company icon responsible for developing the cure that saved her sister’s life and isn’t immune to his charm. Even though puzzled by his request, she is excited and eager to get started on his latest project.

But Dr. Vincent has other ideas. Instead of discussing cures, drugs and marketing strategies, he asks Elaine to join him in Paris to indulge his unique sexual appetites.

Torn between gratitude for saving her sister, her attraction for the powerful man and compromising her pre-conceived notions of sexuality, she must decide if it’s easier to feed his desires or walk away. Until she devises a plan of her own.

Review:
I’d never heard of Renea (which is pronounced Renee) Mason until I got an email from her a few months ago about reviewing the audiobook for her erotic romance, Curing Doctor Vincent. But she managed to catch my attention from the get-go when she compared the narrators of her audiobook (Noah Michael Levine and Erin DeWard) to one of my favorite pairings, Phil Gigante and Natalie Ross (who narrated Karen Marie Monings Fever series). I mean, my initial reaction was like, no one is better than Phil and Natalie – i mean, they totally rock all their narrations. But boy was I wrong – I sat in the car listening pretty much slack-jawed and Noah and Erin rocked this audio and they both earned a place in my top 5 narrators/pairings.

But back to the story itself…if you were offered one week in Paris on a trip of sexual exploration, would you take it? I know that I would probably have to stop and think about it and would probably wimp out, but Elaine did none of those things. Curing Doctor Vincent was a roller-coaster ride of emotions, I know that I experienced pretty much the whole spectrum from anger to sadness; from excitement to deep and abiding love. There is something about Renea’s writing that just made me feel like I was in Paris with Xavier and Elaine, and experiencing all the sexual satisfaction that Elaine was feeling.

the story itself didn’t unfold the way I expected it to when I began. I’ll be honest – my initial thoughts when I read the description would be that Elaine’s experiences with Xavier and his sexual appetites would be the majority of the story. In fact, I was kind of shocked when there was actually more story than sex – haha. I know that probably sounds weird, but its true – there was a lot more to Curing Doctor Vincent than just the trip to Paris and lots of sex – I was actually expected that that would somehow be the cure that was alluded to in the title. But boy, was I wrong! The ending of the story was sweetly satisfying (although there was definitely a scream of agony that resonated when I finished my road trip with 30min remaining on the book – the torture of having to wait until the next day to finish it up…has to fall under cruel and unusual punishment).

I will say holy hotness on the writing of those sexual experiences – so often in erotic romance, those scenes just feel like insert Tab A into slot B, very mechanical or on the other end of the spectrum, overly flowerly purple prose, but Renea managed that fine balance between the two. I will say that I found myself fanning my face several times during my car ride as I was listening. I could probably gush about the audiobook all day, but I will say, my favorite thing about the narration was that it was a true alternating POV narration – where Noah read all the male parts and Erin all the female – so often in dual narration audiobooks (at least in my experience), it ends up being male reads one chapter, including any female dialogue and vice versa – so this was a pleasant surprise.

I gave Curing Doctor Vincent 4 stars and the audio narration 5 stars. I’d recommend this to people who like erotic romance with a solid storyline and satisfactory conclusion (with no cliff-hanger). Unfortunately, now I have to wait for the next book in the trilogy to come out (or at least the audio version)…hopefully that will be relatively soon…

Amazon Buy Link:
Curing Doctor Vincent: The Good Doctor Trilogy – Book #1

 
4 Comments

Posted by on October 29, 2015 in Audiobook Review

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Review – Unsaid – Avery Aster

28 Oct

unsaidUnsaid
Author: Avery Aster
Series: #3 in the Manhattenites series
Rating: ☆ ☆ ½

Review Copy Provided by Author Via Netgalley

Description:
Chelsea’s hottie Blake Morgan III has reemerged from a nasty breakup. His marriage was a frigid disaster beyond repair, and he vows to be single—forever. Bruised, but still hot in Prada, he creates his Seven Desires wish list, his sexiest imaginings. Blake soon realizes there’s only one man he may trust to make these uninhibited intentions come to fruition: his best friend Miguel Santana.

Lower East Side multimedia artist extraordinaire Miguel Santana may be known as the cocky Latin stud in the city, but all he’s wanted since college was Blake’s hand in marriage. He was livid when Blake walked down the aisle with the wrong guy. Miguel has his own list titled the Seven Needs, which are quite contrary to Blake’s dirty-boy deeds. They involve serious commitments, which may leave his new-to-the-singles-scene buddy sprinting for the door, destroying any hopes Miguel has for happiness.

Can these two hunks conquer their intimate fears and love one another as only best friends can? Join the star-studded cast in The Manhattanites series and see for yourself!

Review:
Have you ever picked up a book and felt like you were coming in at the 4th quarter of a game with no idea of what had happened in the previous 2…yes? because that is how I felt while reading Unsaid. I had previously read the first book in the series (Unscrupulous) and so when the author approached me and marketed it as bk 3 in the series but able to be read as a stand-alone, I figured what the heck…I have bk 2 on the TBR pile, and looking back, I REALLY wish that I had made time to read it first, because there were so many events that occurred in Unsaid that had a basis in events from Undressed that I felt lost a good portion of the way through.

On its own, I liked Blake and Miguel’s relationship and how their relationship developed…it was all the extra story lines with Taddy (from bk 1) and Lex (bk 2) that had me lost and scratching my head. That being said, I know how bk 2 ends (well, obviously) since Unsaid is basically a spoiler-fest for the previous 2 books.

I will say up front, if you don’t like a raunchy style of writing, then Ms Aster’s books probably aren’t for you. There is nothing prim and proper about her writing style, you know exactly what the characters are thinking, with swearing built in. Don’t get me wrong, bad language normally doesn’t bother me, but at times while reading Unsaid, I felt myself getting tired and skipping through scenes – which for me is the death knell of a book.

Normally a book like Unsaid would take me maybe a couple of days to read (depending on how my schedule looked), but I struggled with it and I think it was closer to a week before I finished it – there was even a few times where i considered putting it on the DNF pile, but I decided to stick it out. I’ll admit that I’m kind of conflicted on knowing whether or not I’ll read any more of Ms Asters stuff, I liked the first book I read by her, but this one not so much – I guess it is something that I will have to ponder in the near future. Overall, I gave Unsaid 2.5 stars but those who have read the previous 2 books in the series may enjoy it more than I did.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on October 28, 2015 in Book Review

 

Tags: , , , ,

Review – Playing with Temptation – Erika Wilde

03 Aug

21503708Playing with Temptation
Author: Erika Wilde
Series: #1 in the Players Club
Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Review Copy Provided by Author via Netgalley

Description:
When Raina Beck is given an invitation to The Players Club, all she wants is a night of decadence with a gorgeous, sexy stranger. The seductive, mysterious man she meets fulfills her deepest desires and most erotic fantasies, giving her a night she’ll never forget. But forgetting him isn’t quite so easy.

Logan Cruz prefers his women submissive and compliant in the bedroom . . . everything the independent Raina is not. Yet from the first moment he lays eyes on her, he’s determined to make Raina his. Despite her resistance.

When Logan is assigned to protect Raina from a stalker, everything between them changes. Sex becomes more than just physical, and emotions run deep. Falling in love was never on Raina’s agenda, but can she let go of the past and surrender the one thing he wants the most . . . her heart?

Review:
I’ve been reading romances for a long time (close to 18yrs) and as such, I am always on the lookout for new and intriguing ideas within the story. And while Erika Wilde’s first book in her Players Club series wasn’t completely different/unique, it was (at least for me) an improvement on most of the current books available out there. As I was reading, I could tell that she had done her research into the various facets of the story, including how a security company would approach a problem such as Raina’s, and how clubs may operate.

For the moment the book opened with a scene in the Club, I felt like I was there with Raina – seeing it for the first time and getting intrigued. There was something about Ms Wilde’s writing style that just sucked you in. And of course, when we were introduced to the mystery man, all bets were off…lol! Even once Logan was identified later on, there was just something about him that, that I just wanted more. I did find Logan’s sister to be a bitch at first and while she did grow on me, I never really liked her. I do love how we are seeing more and more books being released with women who are open to exploring their sexuality through the use of toys and that authors are including these stores (and owners) in their character line-up. I especially like how they are no longer being treated like someones dirty little secret – with toys needing to be hidden in a back room away from the public.

I found that the mystery was well-developed but didn’t over-take the whole romance angle of the book (as happens occasionally). Although I will admit, I figured out who the stalker was (or at least had a good idea) before it was revealed. But the ultimate ending was satisfying.

Overall, I gave Playing with Temptation 3.5 stars and a solid erotic romance read.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on August 3, 2015 in Book Review

 

Tags: , , , , ,

TBR Tuesday – 30 Jun 15

30 Jun

TBR Tuesday
Love Slave for Two: Reckoning
Author: Tymber Dalton

Purchased: 29 October 2012
Date Finished: 17 April 2015
Time on TBR: 901 days

Review: When I think back to my progression of reading through different genres of romance, Tymber Dalton figures fairly prominently in them. One of my first BDSM romances (The Reluctant Dom) was one of hers, as was one of my first m/m romances; I read my first romance featuring a disabled character (Cross-Country Chaos) and even ventured into the world of science-fiction romance with her. So when I realized that I had one of her Love Slave for Two books still stashed on the pile, I was excited to dig into it because I was a fan of the series. However, to my disappointment, this entry in the series just didn’t hold the same magic for me. There wasn’t the spark that I’ve come to expect from her books – to me, there was too much focus on the “suspense” aspect that just wasn’t what I was looking for at the time. Maybe because it had been a feature in all three of the previous books (aside from the prequel) and I was just tired of it. Don’t get me wrong, the romance/smexy bits between Nevvie, Adam and Tyler were as hot as ever – but the rest of the story was just ehh to me…

This entry in the series only got 2.5 stars from me, but considering I’ve rated the rest of her books in the 4 star range, I guess its ok to have a disappointing one now and then. Thankfully, I know that this is an anomaly in Tymber’s writing and I will continue to read her stuff in the future.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on June 30, 2015 in TBR Tuesday

 

Tags: , , , ,

TBR Tuesday – 09 June 15

09 Jun

TBR TuesdayWicked
Author: Sasha White

Purchased: November 11, 2009
Date Finished: 14 May, 2015
Time on TBR: 2012 Days

Review:
I’m always amazed at the books that I find when I start digging through my kindle archives and what inspired me to buy a certain book at a certain time. Looking at my record for this one, I bought it while I was deployed to Iraq in 2009 and not long before I headed home – so I’m thinking it may have been a book that I bought to read on the flight and then likely got distracted (I mean, really, those flights SUCK for reading). And then forgot about it (like it seems I have for many books on my TBR). But I needed a book for a reading challenge that had a single word titled (and was at least 250pgs in length) and this was one of the first ones that I found while browsing my kindle archives that I have actually managed to catalogue on Goodreads so far. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize at the time that this was a book 3 in the series, and I didn’t really have time to go back and read the previous 2 books in the series, so I hoped that I could just jump on in and not be too lost.

Thankfully, while this is a “series” they are only loosely combined – in that they are part of the Dungeon series, which is the club that individuals visit, but that the stories are all separate and can be read by themselves. I thought that the basis of the characters for Wicked – a divorce lawyer and Lara (who is actually very hard to describe character wise) was a great combo – the idea of the guy who needs dominance in his nightlife, because of the dichotomy in his day (sometimes having power, other times not). I found the suspense element of the story to be a bit of a let down – it just felt like it wasn’t really needed and I would have preferred to have seen more of a story between Karl and Lara, rather than the additional storyline – IMHO it just wasn’t really needed.

I’m intrigued enough by the series that I want to go back and read the previous two in the series (and its highly likely that I have at least one of them in the TBR pile somewhere). I gave Wicked 3.5 stars and will be definitely checking out more books by the author in the future.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on June 9, 2015 in TBR Tuesday

 

Tags: , , , ,

← Older posts