Review: Naked by Raine Miller

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Naked
Series: The Blackstone Affair #1
Author: Raine Miller

SUMMARY
(From Goodreads)

Brynne Bennett is living the good life. An American art student at the University of London and part-time photographic model, she’s putting her life back on track with school and lots of hard work. 

When ultra successful London businessman, Ethan Blackstone, buys her nude portrait, he isn’t taking ‘no’ for an answer. He wants Brynne in his bed and makes plans to keep her there no matter what. His dominant nature captivates and ensnares despite the demons she carries inside her. 

But there are secrets in this relationship. Huge ones. Can Ethan free Brynne from the past that has marked her? Will Brynne let him or will the specters tormenting her resurface to destroy them both…

MY THOUGHTS

Naked is the first book in the Blackstone Affair series by author Raine Miller.

This is another book where the review is going to be very hard to write with the rating being even more of a harder thing to decide.  While there were some elements that I enjoyed throughout the story, there were some problems along the way.  The best way I can explain this journey of Naked is like a car drag race.  It is built up with excitement from other readers.  It has a start where it is ready to take off and leaves you ready to stomp on the gas.  The story speeds along with the relationship — at times way too fast. Then it suddenly has the finale that is exciting but then you are left with a crash and burn of an adrenaline drop.

Ethan and Brynne have a very fast rate of speed with their relationship.  While Brynne states that she wants to take it slow, they do hop into bed fairly quickly.  They also start falling in love with each other almost instantly after having mind blowing sex.  Ethan is pretty dominant in giving orders and getting what he wants, but he actually had feelings and emotions that weren’t bottled up inside.  Brynne on the other hand has secrets and can be frustrating at times.  She wants to be with Ethan, but she doesn’t want to share much with him.  Their sexy times are plenty and quite steamy and erotic.  While at times the story could have left out one of those steamy scenes, they were ones that were hot.

The ending is left with the reader hanging.  We learn that Ethan also had a secret and it is one that is touched on in the prologue of this story.  While we still don’t know what Brynne’s secret is — just hints here and there — the ending was a let down for me.  It was rushed and then we are left with no real part of the story wrapping up.  While cliffhangers can be a huge success, this one was disappointing in the development of the relationship.

While I am curious to read the next book — especially since it will be in Ethan’s POV instead of Brynne’s — I am hoping that it will tie up at least a few loose ends for the reader.  The book was enjoyable and addicting, but needs to be slowed down just a bit for the next book.

MY RATING

Okay book, but it left me wanting more!

Review: Heat of the Moment by Elle Kennedy

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Heat of the Moment
Series: Out of Uniform #1
Author: Elle Kennedy

SUMMARY
(From Goodreads)

In this heat wave, anything and everything goes. A Red-Hot Summer story. Shelby Harper has lusted over Navy SEAL John Garrett for over a year, but no matter how many sexy signals she sends out, the man shows a complete lack of interest in getting naked. Then she overhears Garrett talking to his SEAL teammate–a discussion in which they conclude she’s vanilla. Stung, Shelby sets out to show them exactly how un-vanilla she is. 

Garrett can’t believe it when sweet, sexy Shelby suggests a wild and sweaty menage. He’s been trying to figure out how to ask her out without coming off as a guy who only wants to get in her pants–her friendship is too valuable to him to risk it. But if a crazy, heat-wave three-way is what Shelby wants, then he’s ready and willing to give it to her. 

Once she gets it out of her system, however…well, then he’ll let her know he wants her all to himself.

MY THOUGHTS

Heat of the Moment is the first book in the Out of Uniform series by author Elle Kennedy.

If you are looking for a full length novel, look elsewhere.  This novella is just that — a short story.  It comes in  at 78 pages according to Amazon and I want to mention that it is even shorter than that since the last 10 percent maybe of the book is previews for other stories.

This is a sexy and short M/F/M menage read.  The main couple is John Garrett and Shelby Harper with the third person involved is Carson Scott. After pining for each other for a year, Shelby finally invites John and Carson up to her place after closing time.  She had the cafe open during a heat wave for the service men and she over hears Carson and John talking about how vanilla Shelby probably is.  Shelby is convinced to show them how un-vanilla she is by acting out her fantasy of two men at one time.

I really enjoyed this short story and the writer made it believable.  While Carson was more of a third wheel in the story, he was a pivotal player in getting these two together.  Even though it does feature instant love after one night together with a small glitch of insecurities, I could actually see these two people together for the long haul.

While it was in no means a book that will be above others, I will say that this short story was a great start to being introduced to this author for the first time.  If this had been a full length novel, I am sure it would have rated higher in my opinion. New readers of this author will get a quick thrill with John and Shelby and will be wanting to follow it up with the next novella in the series.

MY RATING
Okay book, but it left me wanting more!

Review: The Thing About the Truth by Lauren Barnholdt

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The Thing About the Truth
Author: Lauren Barnholdt
Genre: Young Adult

SUMMARY
(From Goodreads)

In this humorous love story from the author of “Two-Way Street”, an unlikely romance is the best sort of surprise—but the wrong secret can ruin everything. Kelsey’s not going to let one mistake ruin her life. Sure, she got kicked out of prep school and all her old friends are shutting her out. But Kelsey’s focused on her future, and she’s determined to get back on track at Concordia High.

Isaac’s been kicked out of more schools than he can count. Since his father’s a state senator, Isaac’s life is under constant scrutiny—but Concordia High’s his last stop before boarding school, so Isaac’s hoping to fly under the radar and try to stay put for a change.

When Kelsey and Isaac meet, it’s anything but love at first sight. She thinks he’s an entitled brat, and he thinks she’s a stuck-up snob. So it surprises them both when they start to fall for each other. Kelsey’s happy for the first time in months, and Isaac’s never felt this way about anyone before. But nothing’s ever completely perfect. Everyone has secrets, and Isaac and Kelsey are no exceptions. These two may have fallen hard, but there’s one thing that can ruin it all: the truth.

MY THOUGHTS

I really enjoy the writing by author Lauren Barnholdt.  She seems to capture the language of teens and it comes across as real to the reader.  The problems I had with this story were actually rather minor, but they were things that ended up lowering my rating for the story.

First when we look at the cover we assume it is Isaac and Kelsey.  They are the main characters and they have alternating POV chapters.  The cover is sweet and gives the reader a small hint about them.  So here I am reading a book thinking the guy is going to have dark hair and the girl is going to be blonde.  I have the character all set up in my head because of it.  Then while reading the story, the actual descriptions do not fit what I see on the cover. The characters are completely different than what we see on the front.  I understand that the cover art department does this and that the author has nothing to do with this. If this sort of thing bothers you, well then you have been warned.

Now for the story itself.  The story does jump from present to past and back and forth again.  I think I would have enjoyed the story better if it was beginning to end.  I loved the slow building of the romance between Kelsey and Isaac.  These are two people with two different lifestyles and somehow they end up working on a project together.  Those few sentences would have been perfect for a sweet young adult read.  When the author brought in the secrets and lies, I think that is what was suppose to make it so dramatic.  Unfortunately, I felt the whole thing was a pretty weak one.  You have the amazing book and you are reading about them trying to figure out a way to work together and become friends.  After the big day where everything goes down, I still don’t see much of a fallout because of it.  They end up reconciling right afterwards.  I also never could really understand the reason Kelsey did what she did to her ex-boyfriends car.  To me it seemed a little extreme and just used as a plot point to move the character from one school to the new school.

By the time the book came to a close I had to realize that the conflict for the climax of the story was brief and didn’t hold much of an impact.  I just never could get the characters to connect with each other. Overall, this was an easy and fluffy read to pass the time.  It was okay and enjoyable,  but also not one I would want to be jumping through hoops to read again.

MY RATING

Okay book, but it left me wanting more!

Review: Against the Wall by Julie Prestsater

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Against the Wall
Series: Against the Wall #1
Author: Julie Prestsater

SUMMARY
(From Goodreads)

Shelly Gelson had it all…a job teaching English at Carver High, her best friend, Mel, working by her side and engaged to her high school sweetheart, Chase Marino. That is until Chase breaks her heart and leaves her for another teacher at the school. Now Shel is left broken hearted and trying to figure out what she wants while watching Chase and the home wrecker make moon eyes at each other. 

Enter Matt Fuller, Shel’s friend for the past 5 years and the perfect rebound. He’s gorgeous, smart, funny and fits into Shel’s idea of the right guy. Only problem is there may be more there then just a simple rebound. Is it a way to fill a void left by Chase, or is there more smoldering between these two friends? 

Find out what happens when the bell rings and the teenage drama ends and the adult drama begins. Who says being a teacher is boring? They obviously haven’t met the teachers at Carver High.

MY THOUGHTS

Against the Wall by Julie Prestsater is the first book in the Against the Wall series.

This was offered as a Kindle freebie and I had high hopes for it.  Most of the reviews I have read were fairly good ratings for this book.  The first half of this book had me laughing so hard my sides hurt.  I think I shared and highlighted so many passages in this book before the fifty percent mark that my Kindle is probably overloaded from hitting the share button.  Unfortunately, I am the small number of people to say that the humor was the only thing going for this read.

Shelly has broken up with her fiance after he dumps her for another teacher at Carver High.  They are both teachers at the school, so they will still see each other on a daily basis.  Summer, the girl Chase dumps Shelly for, is also a teacher at Carver High.  When her best friend Melissa — or aka Mel — pushes her to start dating again, she finally starts falling for fellow teacher Matt Fuller.

This book had a great potential with the plot.  It could have been wonderful due to the witty dialogue and quick wit that the author writes.  When it came to Shelly, she wasn’t too bad of a character.  She was funny, acted like she could be a person the reader could sympathize with, but she had no spark.  She was kind of dull at times and needed to move on already.  She explains that she had a on-again-off-again relationship with Chase until they became engaged.  They didn’t act like an actual couple though through Shelly’s memories.  We don’t even get to read much about their previous relationship – just bits and pieces.

Matt was a confusing character.  One minute I like him, the next I was wondering what the heck is this man thinking. All of a sudden we are suppose to believe that he is in love with Shelly but he also sets her up on dates with other men and says that it doesn’t bother him.  This is just one example of his confusing behavior.

When it came to Mel, she was a riot.  I really enjoyed her little side story and drama with her relationship and best friend support.  The only thing I didn’t like was how she kept reminding us she was married, then would go out to the bar with Shelly and then complain about her husband never being home. Oh, and be prepared to get an education on beer in this book.  That was another downfall. I think I know more about the different types of beer now than ever.

While there were plenty of humorous moments in this book, the pacing and characters were dull and flat at times.  I am curious though to read the next book in the series though just to see more of the side characters of this book.

MY RATING
Okay book, but it left me wanting more!

Mini Review: With Regret – Part One by Samantha Kay

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With Regret: Part One
Series: With Regret #1
Author: Samantha Kay
Genre: M/M Romance

SUMMARY
(From Goodreads)

Jacob’s trust in Phil is suddenly shattered, leaving him questioning everything they had become. He thought Phil would never hurt him, never betray him, and never lie. But as he discovers the true extent of Phil’s hidden pastime, he is forced to decide what to do next: leave, stay, or seek revenge…

MY THOUGHTS

First off let me say that I read the ‘dirty version’ of this short story.  The author gives you an option to read the clean version on her blog, but I am all for the dirtier the better.  I can’t say if the Amazon version is the dirty or clean version as I purchased my copy through the Smashwords website.

Second, if you are not a fan of cheating, keep in mind that the cheating is the catalyst for this story.  I am not a huge fan of cheating in a book or in real life, but I will say that even though there is a cheating part in the beginning of this book, the fallout of that act is what the story is actually about.  It centers around the pain, the heartbreak and the strength of whether or not a relationship can survive after the cheating is found out by the betrayed partner.

While there is a bunch of groveling on Phil’s part, I am still left wondering why he would cheat in the first place.  He describes his relationship with Jacob as perfect and not lacking in anything.  He tries to explain to Jacob that it was the excitement in doing the act but I am not buying it.  Jacob is hurt and wants to hate Phil for what he has done.  Can they work past this hurtful act or will they walk away from each other? By the end of the short story, we get some answers but we are left with it up in the air.  Personally, I want to know how they are going to continue to work through this or if Jacob is going to even forgive Phil for this.  I hope the author plans on continuing the story so I can get some closure as well.

MY RATING

Okay book, but it left me wanting more!