Category Archives: 4 Flames

Fifty Shades of Grey
Author: E.L. James
Source: Personal Purchase
Genre: Adult Erotic Romance
Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 1290 KB
Print Length: 372 pages
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1612130283
Publisher: The Writer’s Coffee Shop Publishing House
    (May 25, 2011)

When literature student Anastasia Steele is drafted to interview the successful young entrepreneur Christian Grey for her campus magazine, she finds him attractive, enigmatic and intimidating. Convinced their meeting went badly, she tries to put Grey out of her mind – until he happens to turn up at the out-of-town hardware store where she works part-time. 


The unworldly, innocent Ana is shocked to realize she wants this man, and when he warns her to keep her distance it only makes her more desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana’s quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her – but on his own terms. 


Shocked yet thrilled by Grey’s singular erotic tastes, Ana hesitates. For all the trappings of success – his multinational businesses, his vast wealth, his loving adoptive family – Grey is man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control. When the couple embarks on a passionate, physical and daring affair, Ana learns more about her own dark desires, as well as the Christian Grey hidden away from public scrutiny. 


Can their relationship transcend physical passion? Will Ana find it in herself to submit to the self-indulgent Master? And if she does, will she still love what she finds? 

If you have been around the blogs lately, then you know about Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James.  What you don’t know is how correct everyone is when they say you will be addicted to the story.  I desperately wanted to read this series after reading so many reviews on it but I never thought I would find the time to read it.  So this weekend I decided to dive into the world of Christian Grey and enjoy the ride.  Talk about an addictive book!  I was hooked after the first few chapters and could not put it down!  I had to keep reading and it became my new form of book crack in the form of Christian.  He will pull you in and keep you there with no safety net for when you fall over from the shock of his life style.

Now, first off everyone should realize that this story came about in a weird way.  It is based on fanfiction from the Twilight series.  That being said, you understand the addiction to the book if you were addicted to the Twilight books.  I will also tell you that this series is not at all tame like the Twilight books.  This is for the adult readers and should not be read by anyone under eighteen.  While there were a few things that reminded me of the Twilight series, I personally didn’t try to compare it to them and in fact found myself not even realizing this until after I read the story.  In Christians world, you will find darkness, BDSM, controlling behavior, wealth, and sexiness.  This is a man who will blow any other man you have read about out of the water.  Christian is an enigma that appears on the pages and you can’t help but want to dive into his life style and read about his fifty shades of ‘messed’ up.

Anastasia on the other hand, was not a character I really enjoyed.  While she did balance out with Christian considering she is the complete opposite of him, she was weak and at times whiny.  She needed to learn how to sit back for a bit and just let Christian be who he is and build up to peeling the layers back.  Ana liked to hurry things along, and in turn she came across as pushy sometimes towards Christian.  Personally this could just be because I found myself protective of Christian as I was reading the story.

Be prepared to read about the BDSM life style as well in this book.  If you are not a fan of that, then tread carefully into reading this book.  This is a huge plot point in the story and a dark layer of Christian that needs to be remembered.  If you are willing to dive into his world though and read the story, you will be entranced by him just like Ana was.

The ending just about did me in as well.  I cried and instantly had to buy the next book in the series.  I couldn’t believe it would end like that and made me want to scream in frustration and pain.  I just can’t believe Ana did what she did at the end and wanted her inner goddess to come through and slap the crap out of her! I also wish that the author would have taken the time to edit and fix the many typos that were throughout the book.  I don’t usually mention this flaw in a review, but it was a pretty big flaw in the book because it happened so much. That is the main reason this book didn’t get the full five star rating from me.

Be prepared for sexual tension and satisfaction, dark secrets and personalities, and emotionally draining to the reader when reading this book.  It is one ride that will keep shocking you and keeping you up late at night to finish it.

“Why don’t you like to be touched?”
“Because I’m fifty shades of fucked-up, Anastasia.”
–Christian and Anastasia

Very Good! I would recommend this book!

Ecstasy Unveiled
A Demonica Novel #4
Author: Larissa Ione
Source: Personal Purchase
Genre: Adult Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Forever
 (February 1, 2010)
ISBN-13: 978-0446556828

A DEMON ENSLAVED


Lore is a Seminus half-breed demon who has been forced to act as his dark master’s assassin. Now to earn his freedom and save his sister’s life, he must complete one last kill. Powerful and ruthless, he’ll stop at nothing to carry out this deadly mission.

AN ANGEL TEMPTED


Idess is an earthbound angel with a wild side, sworn to protect the human Lore is targeting. She’s determined to thwart her wickedly handsome adversary by any means necessary-even if that means risking her vow of eternal chastity. But what begins as a simple seduction soon turns into a passion that leaves both angel and demon craving complete surrender.


Torn between duty and desire, Lore and Idess must join forces as they battle their attraction for each other. Because an enemy from the past is rising again-one hellbent on vengeance and unthinkable destruction.

In novel number four of the Demonica series by Larissa Ione, we are introduced to the newest brother of the group.  After not knowing about Lore and vice-versa,  the brothers are still coming to terms with the new family addition.  While in the process of this, Lore is also having to deal with the fact that his new assignment is to kill their good friend Kynan.  Lore has no choice but to follow these orders since his boss that holds the contract for his life also holds the contract on his twin sisters life.

Enter an angel named Idess.  She is basically a guardian angel and has been assigned Kynan as her human to protect.  Even though Kynan is charmed and untouchable, he still is in danger and Idess needs to keep guard on him.  If she succeeds,  she earns her wings and can be with her family in the Heavens.  While protecting Kynan, she meets Lore and they both feel the attraction.  As they decide to work together in finding a loophole, Idess is shocked to discover that she now must protect Lore as well.

While I enjoyed the story of this book, I wasn’t a big fan of Idess.  I just couldn’t connect with her like I have with the previous females in the series.  Lore was sexy and charming, but Idess just didn’t seem to be a good fit for him in my opinion.  I could see him more with a character like Gem.  He needed someone rough, tough and less angelic.

Out of all the books so far in the series, this is my least favorite.  I still enjoyed it, but it just wasvnot as wonderful as the previous books.  I am still excited though for the next book that features Sin who just happens to be a rare Seminus demon because she is female.

“Tayla cursed under her breath. “I was just explaining to Eidolon that Sin is a Smurfette.”
Wraith swung his big body around to study Sin with blue eyes that were very different from Shade’s, E’s. and Lore’s. Sin’s, too. “Nah. Smurfette is way hotter.”
“What the fuck is a Smurfette?” Eidolon was seriously getting annoyed now.
“There’s this cartoon called The Smurfs,” Tayla explained, slowly, as though Eidolon were the child here.
“They’re these little blue people, and they’re all male. But one day a female shows up. She shouldn’t exist, but she does.”
Eidolon considered that for a second. “How did she get there?”
“An evil wizard named Gargamel made her,” Tayla said. “In a lab or something.”
“So you’re suggesting that an evil wizard made Sin?”
“Of course not, silly. I’m just saying she’s a Smurfette. A lone female amongst males.”
Eidolon frowned. “Did the Smurfette mate with the males?”
“Dude.” Wraith grimaced. “It’s a cartoon.” 

Very Good! I would recommend this book!

A Devil Named Desire
The Devil’s Bargain #2
Author: Terri Garey
Source: Publisher
Genre: Adult Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Avon
 (January 31, 2012)
ISBN-13: 978-0061986406

Forbidden fruit is always the sweetest… 


…and no one knows that better than Sammy Divine, High Prince of Darkness. Once an angel, now cast down, Sammy’s out to prove he’s not the only angel who can be led into temptation… 


Hope Henderson’s sister has disappeared without a trace, and Hope will do anything to find her–even make a deal with the Devil. An ancient text holds the key to unspeakable power, and it’s the Archangel Gabriel’s job to make sure it stays hidden, even if he has to become human to do it. Lives, love and the fate of the world hang in the balance, as Hope and Gabriel learn that when passion’s involved, it may be impossible to withstand a devil named desire.

Oh Sammy Divine, finally we meet again.  First of all can we all take a look at that fine looking man on that cover?  Okay, now that we have drooled and hoped that those pants would slip a little further down, lets get down to the details of the book.

It seems like I have waited forever to read more about Sammy Divine — or The Devil — and the bargains he would be making with the next unfortunate soul on Earth.  This time not only is he going to be tormenting a human soul on Earth, but he is going to throw in his ‘brother’ Gabriel as well. Gabriel is always trying to convince Sammy that there is hope for him at redemption.  Sammy doesn’t believe it and decides to teach Gabe a lesson.  So Sammy convinces Hope to become a pawn in his game by striking a ‘bargain’ with her.  He blackmails her at her lowest point in life — at the suicidal point — and tells her he will give her what she wants in the form of her missing sister if she will translate a book of spells to open the doors to Hell on Earth.  She agrees to the bargain and Gabe is thrown into the mix when he realizes she is being followed by evil.  As an angel of the Heavens, he becomes her Guardian and swears to protect her.  Together they try to find her sister and find a way out of the deal with Sammy.

I really enjoyed this latest installment in the series.  The only problem I had with it was the fact that it was suppose to be about Gabriel and Hope but  instead it seemed that Sammy had more page time than them.  Don’t get me wrong, I loved what little time we got to read about Gabe and Hope, but Sammy seemed to be the bigger focus this time around.  As you get closer to the end though, you start to realize why Sammy was such the dominant character in this book.  Instead of Sammy teaching Gabe a lesson, it seems the the Higher One is actually teaching Sammy a lesson and pointing him on the true path of redemption.

I am looking forward to the next book in the series and I hope we get to read even more of Sammy and his bargains.  I do hope that when the series continues to progress, Sammy will get his own book and hopefully love with a happily ever after.  You never know, maybe the Devil can even have the coveted true love and happy life.

Very Good! I would recommend this book!

* I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review*

Shot Through the Heart
Author: Niki Burnham
Source: Author Submission
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Summer Road Press
 (December 1, 2011)
ISBN-13: 978-0984706914

At Eastwood High, love is a battlefield. * * * From the RITA-Award winning author of ROYALLY CRUSHED and SCARY BEAUTIFUL, an all-new romantic comedy! 


Two guys, two girls, two thousand dollars, and one epic water gun battle. 


Senior year? It’s all about Senior Assassin, a yearly water gun tournament where the last team standing receives a cool two grand. Connor wants nothing more than to split that prize with his best friend, Josh. When their mission is put in jeopardy by Molly–thanks to her crush on Connor–Josh comes up with a plan to thwart her, one that involves his sister, Peyton… 


Peyton’s deepest desire is to score entry to MIT. She’s working her tail off to achieve her goal, but when she’s dragged into Connor and Josh’s water gun tournament, their antics threaten to leave her high and dry. As Peyton’s forced to choose between chemistry class and chemistry with Connor, will the super student and the super athlete discover they have more in common than they imagined? 


One thing’s for certain: When Connor, Peyton, Josh, and Molly load their weapons, someone’s bound to get shot through the heart.

Every once in awhile, I love a quick and uplifting read to get me through reading slumps.  When the author sent me this book for review, I knew it would help out in the laughter department and give me that feel good feeling I enjoy with contemporary books.  What made it even better was that it was young adult and the cover put a smile on my face before I even started reading it.

The book is told from several points of view.  That in itself was fun because we got to read what each character was thinking and feeling.  With winning the prize of $2000 being one of the main plots of the story, you shouldn’t expect anything else except fun, sweet romance and lots of snickering at the characters personalities.

While the book was fun and kept me reading straight through until the end, I couldn’t help but wonder at how much a reader will expect from the book.  Fun and laughter? Yes.  A compelling plot point that has mystery? No.  What I can say is that it will lift your mood while reading about the characters and you too might find yourself smiling by the last page!

Very Good! I would recommend this book!

*I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review*

Desire Unchained
A Demonica Novel #2
Author: Larissa Ione
Source: Personal Purchase
Genre: Adult Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Forever
  (March 1, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-13: 978-0446400985

Pleasure is their ultimate weapon . . . 


Runa Wagner never meant to fall in love with the sexy stranger who seemed to know her every deepest desire. But she couldn’t resist the unbelievable passion that burned between them, a passion that died when she discovered his betrayal and found herself forever changed. Now, determined to make Shade pay for the transformation that haunts her, Runa searches for him, only to be taken prisoner by his darkest enemy. 


A Seminus Demon with a love-curse that threatens him with eternal torment, Shade hoped he’d seen the last of Runa and her irresistible charm. But when he wakes up in a dank dungeon chained next to an enraged and mysteriously powerful Runa, he realizes that her effect on him is more dangerous than ever. 


As their captor casts a spell that bonds them as lifemates, Shade and Runa must fight for their lives and their hearts-or succumb to a madman’s evil plans.

I am enjoying this series so much that I haven’t taken a break from it since starting them!  I was looking forward to seeing how the author was going to work the curse that Shade carries and how she was going to be able to give him happiness in the end.  What I wasn’t looking forward to though was the torture of having to scramble to find the time to be able to read the book with no interruptions!

When I finally started to read Desire Unchained, I was instantly swept back into the demon world that proved to be full of excitement, sexiness, suspense and drama.  Shade was not one of my favorites from the previous book, but he did capture my interest with the curse that he has and how the author was going to develop a book around it.  I loved how Shade and Runa were thrown together and tortured into submission and bonding.  Roag is truly showing his true side in being the evil brother that you love to hate.  He is ruthless and evil to the core with no regard to the consequences.

Runa was the perfect match to the cockiness of Shade.  I loved how she didn’t put up with his crap and shoved it back at him every chance she got.  It showed me that the author truly wanted Shade to meet his match in a mate.  Runa also brought out the softer side of Shade and made me realize that he does have feelings that he chooses not to show on the outside.

Again in this book, we are treated to side stories involving Gem and Kynan.  While I am truly enjoying their chemistry and build up, I do with the author would have made their connection a separate book so the reader could fully enjoy their characters.

While Shade and Runa were a great couple and this book was much better in the character development,  I am still not a huge fan of this one as I was the first one.  It could be that I am just not willing to accept Shade as a good guy because of his lack of emotions from the previous book, but it was still one I enjoyed and would read again.  I am looking forward to the next book that involves Wraith and the torment he is going to have to suffer to find his happily ever after.  I also enjoyed the ‘surprise’ that is revealed at the end of this book for Shade and Runa!  That should be entertaining to read about in the future books!

Very Good! I would recommend this book!