Beautiful Bastard by Christina Lauren

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Beautiful Bastard
Series: Beautiful Bastard #1
Author: Christina Lauren
Source: ARC E-Book from Publisher
Genre: Adult Erotica
ISBN: 9781476730103

SUMMARY
(From Goodreads)

An ambitious intern. A perfectionist executive. And a whole lot of name calling. Discover the story that garnered more than two million reads online.

Whip-smart, hardworking, and on her way to an MBA, Chloe Mills has only one problem: her boss, Bennett Ryan. He’s exacting, blunt, inconsiderate—and completely irresistible. A Beautiful Bastard.

Bennett has returned to Chicago from France to take a vital role in his family’s massive media business. He never expected that the assistant who’d been helping him from abroad was the gorgeous, innocently provocative—completely infuriating—creature he now has to see every day. Despite the rumors, he’s never been one for a workplace hookup. But Chloe’s so tempting he’s willing to bend the rules—or outright smash them—if it means he can have her. All over the office.

As their appetites for one another increase to a breaking point, Bennett and Chloe must decide exactly what they’re willing to lose in order to win each other. Originally only available online as The Office by tby789—and garnering over two million reads on fan fiction sites—Beautiful Bastard has been extensively updated for re-release.

MY THOUGHTS

Seriously? Come on.  What the hell did I just read?  I hate to say this, but I think I just lost 3 hours of my life reading this and I want them back.  I feel a migraine and it started from Chapter One and I don’t know how to make it quit.

First let me tell you what I think of the characters.  Chloe is just a plain witch.  I couldn’t stand her, her attitude, her mouth and anything that came out of it.  Bennett appeared to be the asshat that the author wanted to portray and even had the attitude to pull it off, but he seemed to have a better grip on emotions and such to rate just a wee bit higher on the scale than Chloe.

Now for the plot. Was there one?  I am still wondering since I am having to purge my brain from all the sex scenes in this book.  I admit, I like to read my smut, but enough already!  It seemed like these two characters had sex every few pages.  I am sure the plot was in between those times, but I must have missed it.

Why is Bennett such a beautiful bastard?  Well, he is described as a smoking hot boss, but the bastard part was never really clear for me.  Why did they not get along?  Still scratching my head on this one too.  It wasn’t explained very well, but again maybe the overload of sex in this book covered it up.

The dialogue and pace of this book?  Let me just stop shaking my head at this one for a moment.  I guess the pace was okay but the dialogue was seriously messed up.  I think I might have even laughed when I wasn’t suppose to.

If I had to read about one more pair of fancy panties getting ripped I might just explode.  Every freaking time?  You would think she would just quit wearing panties and save some money.

I admit, I was one of the readers dying to read and review this book early.  I jumped for joy and hid from the family for hours just to get the chance to do this.  Then I came out of my hiding place and begged my family to forgive me.

MY RATING

       
I did not like this book at all!
(pre-order)
* I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review *

Undeniable by Madeline Sheehan

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Undeniable
Series: Undeniable #1
Author: Madeline Sheehan
Genre: Adult Romance
Source: Personal Purchase
ISBN: B009N539DS
E-Book Edition

SUMMARY
(From Goodreads)

***Warning*** 
(This book contains several aspects of the uglier side of life; it is not for everyone.)

The story of Deuce and Eva…

An undeniable connection that stands the test of time.

Unforgettable moments.

Love and pain and everything in between.

I was five years old when I met Deuce, he was twenty-three, and it was visiting day at Riker’s Island. My father, Damon Fox or “Preacher”, the President of the infamous “Silver Demon’s” motorcycle club -mother chapter- in East Village, New York City, was doing a five-year stint for aggravated assault and battery with a deadly weapon. It was not the first time my father had been in prison and it wouldn’t be the last. The Silver Demon’s MC was a notorious group of criminals who lived by the code of the road and gave modern society and all it entailed a great big f**k you.

“Never forget the day Eva came bouncin’ into my f**ked up life, shakin’ pigtails, singin’ Janis, wearin’ chucks and sharin’ peanuts and straight up stole any decency I had left which wasn’t a whole lot but she f**kin’ took it and I’ve been hers ever since.”

MY THOUGHTS

This is one of those books where not only am I at a loss for words, but you will either love it or hate it.  I am on the love it side of the fence, but that is not to say that the book didn’t have its flaws.

First I will warn you of two things. This is definitely for the adults. Also, it is like crack for book addicts. (Think Motorcycle Man like Kristen Ashley) Yes folks, Tack of MM must have had a secret brother in the fictional world because Deuce is just as sexy, bad and hot as hell as him.

Some people will be turned off because of one of the main things of this book.  Not only is Deuce 18 years older than Eva, but he meets her while he is 23 and she is 5.  He falls for the little girl, but I felt it was not in the creepy way you might be thinking.  Yes, she steals his heart from that moment, but the way the author has written it, I didn’t get it as a creepy-naughty sex way.

Eva has grown up in the Motorcycle Club life.  Her mother abandoned her with her father, but you can tell that Preacher thinks the world of Eva. Granted, I wasn’t a big fan of Eva but she started to grow on me.  Obviously, Deuce is the star of this book for me.  What can I say, I love my tortured and bad as hell fictional men.

I wasn’t a fan of the cheating as well in this book.  It seems everyone is married and cheating in this book.  Maybe this is what goes on everyday in a motorcycle club, but cheating is just big no-no for me.

The side character of Frankie — who is sort of the adopted brother of Eva — was just plain bad.  Not sexy bad in a want-to-jump-your-bones bad, but as in the psycho-needs-a-straight-jacket sort of way.  He has a huge temper problem and when he basically rapes Eva, I was reading faster just so I could see how badly Deuce was going to torture him.

While I wasn’t a huge fan of the ending — mainly because it was rushed — I still found myself reading until the  last page late into the night.  It was dark, moody, messed up and oh-so-right.  I can’t wait to read the next book in the series and see what will happen to some of my other favorite bikers.  Also, it will be great to see if Deuce will live up to his promises.

MY FAVORITE QUOTES

“If his girl was broken, someone sure as fuck was going to die for that.” 

“There are weak men; men who run and hide when life slaps them in the ass. Then there are men; men who have a backbone yet occasionally, when life slaps them in the ass, will rely on others. And then there are real men; men who don’t cry or complain, who don’t just have a backbone, they are the backbone. Men who make their own decisions and live with the consequences, who accept responsibility for their actions or words. Men who, when life slaps them in the ass, slap back and move on. Men who live hard and die even harder.
Men like my father and my uncles. Men I loved with all my heart.
Men like Deuce.” 

MY RATING

Very Good! I would recommend this book!

Laid Bare by Lauren Dane

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Laid Bare
Series: The Brown Siblings #1
Author: Lauren Dane
Genre: Erotic Romance
Source: Personal Purchase
ISBN: 9780425229712

SUMMARY
(From Goodreads)

Unexpected Desire…

It’s been ten years since clean-cut, sexy-as-hell police officer Todd Keenan had a white-hot fling with Erin Brown, the provocative, wild rocker chick next door. Their power exchange in the bedroom got under his skin. But love wasn’t in the cards just yet…

Now, life has thrown the pair back together. But picking up where they left off is tough, in light of a painful event from Erin’s past. As Todd struggles to earn her trust, their relationship takes an unexpected and exciting turn when Todd’s best friend, Ben, ends up in their bed–and all three are quite satisfied in this relationship without a name. As the passion they share transforms Erin, will it be enough to help her face the evil she thought she had left behind?

MY THOUGHTS

I am really hesitant in writing this review since so many are fans of this series.  I wanted to be blown away by it since the reviews I have read have been favorable.  Unfortunately, my feelings fell in the middle for this one.

The beginning felt really rushed to me.  I understand the author need to set up the relationship between Todd and Erin, but it ended up feeling forced and at times unbelievable.  I had hoped after the prologue it would even out and become better.  I love how the two of them reconnected.  I loved the D/s aspect of the relationship.  I even loved the other characters in the book as well.  Ben was even a good character even if I felt he got the short end of the stick in the relationship.  What bugged me about it was the way the relationships were handled and the back story of their lives while separated.

Erin’s back story I can believe.  Anyone who loses a child and suffered what she did would have a different outlook on life and love.  Todd’s on the other hand felt like just a quick excuse to get him back to Erin.  He got married after running away from Erin 10 years before because he thought his kink was wrong.  He grew up thinking his curious fetishes were not normal.  So he takes a pretty trophy like wife, tries the marriage thing for bit, then almost dies in the line of duty which also leads into a divorce.  After the divorce is over he moves back to his home town for a new job.  It seemed pretty extreme for me, but I went with it.

The relationship between Todd and Erin was just okay.  Then the author throws in Ben as another character in play for this relationship.  He is not an affair for them, but an addition in the bedroom and in their lives.  Ben is a long time friend of Todd’s so I guess the reader is suppose to just take it as it is.  Unfortunately, I didn’t feel any real spark between the three.

There is plenty of sex in this book to appease the naughtiest of readers with kink thrown in on certain scenes, but the plot and characters just left me feeling okay.  I wasn’t blown away as I wanted to be, but I still think I will keep going in the series.

MY RATING

Okay book, but it left me wanting more!

Reflected In You by Sylvia Day

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Reflected in You
Series: Crossfire #2
Author: Sylvia Day
Genre: Romance
Source: Gift from Smexybooks(Thank you Mandi!)
ISBN: 9780425263914

SUMMARY
(From Goodreads)

Gideon Cross. As beautiful and flawless on the outside as he was damaged and tormented on the inside. He was a bright, scorching flame that singed me with the darkest of pleasures. I couldn’t stay away. I didn’t want to. He was my addiction… my every desire… mine.

My past was as violent as his, and I was just as broken. We’d never work. It was too hard, too painful… except when it was perfect. Those moments when the driving hunger and desperate love were the most exquisite insanity. We were bound by our need. And our passion would take us beyond our limits to the sweetest, sharpest edge of obsession…

MY THOUGHTS

OMG! Oh..my..GOD!  Seriously?! This is how the author is going to leave us?  Okay, I am still floored by the ending of this book — even though we should have seen it coming — and I am having a hard time trying to figure out how to write a review for this.  I know if you are a fan of this series, you have already been stalking other reviews, so I want go into too much detail.  Besides, if I were to go into too many details, it would spoil much of the book.

Gideon. I am now head over heels in love with you.  I was slow going and tried really hard not to let you into my heart, but I failed. I was a bigger fan of Gideon in this book and started to throw imaginary daggers at Eva.  I fell so hard for Gideon that in his words — ” I won’t survive you.”

On with the regular part of the review.  This book in the series focused on Gideon and Eva trying to build their relationship into something solid.  They are going to couple’s counseling and trying to make it work despite the obstacles thrown at them every other page.  There were some small things that happened and then there were huge things that happened.  The one big thing was at the end and literally in the last chapter.  I can’t believe it and my jaw is on the floor with my heart.  I had a what-the-heck moment and had to reread that chapter several times.  I just knew I was reading it wrong.

All I can say is that if you are a fan of this series, read it.  Flat out simple.
If you haven’t started this series yet, then you forfeit your claim in the future of having Gideon as your book boyfriend and I claim him now with no take-backs.

MY RATING
Outstanding book that will stay on my bookshelf for rereading!

Knight by Kristen Ashley

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Knight
Series: Unfinished Hero #1
(E-Book Edition)
Author: Kristen Ashley
Genre: Adult Erotica
Source: Personal Purchase
ISBN: B007SFBPFY

SUMMARY
(From Goodreads)

Anya Gage has learned that to get anything good in life, you have to work for it. She has no expectations, no dreams.

Then she finds herself at a party where she doesn’t want to be and she meets Knight.

Knight Sebring knows who he is, what he wants and what he likes. And he gets it. But he never expected something as sweet as Anya Gage to wander into his bedroom during a party he did not expect to be having to borrow his phone.

Knight tries to leave Anya to the life she deserves of white picket fences and a man who watches football on Sundays – good, normal and clean. But when Anya comes to his nightclub and finds herself in a situation, he knows someone has to look after her, he can’t fight it anymore and he decides that man will be him.

Knight teaches Anya that, just as with the bad, in life you should also expect the good. And he teaches her this by giving it to her.

But Knight has a dark past and just as he desires Anya for exactly who she is, he fears when she finds out exactly the man he has become and always intends to be, she’ll leave him for good, normal and clean.

MY THOUGHTS

After hearing how much everyone states that the books by Kristen Ashley are like crack for book addicts,  I decided to venture into this new addiction.  Most people have told me that if I want to get addicted to this particular author I shouldn’t start with Knight.  After finishing up this book, I find myself agreeing with this.  Knight to me was ‘meh’ and one that gave me the heebie-jeevies several times while reading it.

If I had to hear Knight refer to himself as “Daddy” one more time while they were exploring their sexual relationship, I think I would have broken out in hives from the scared stranger-danger associated with sexual predators.  Seriously, “Daddy” is not a pet word that I enjoyed reading in the bedroom.

Ewwww.

Another thing that was a big turn off for me was the way Knight spoke.  I had to constantly reread what he was saying several times to even understand a part of what he was trying to say.  It was like a foreign language to me at times. Plus he had the bad habit of saying “F*ck” so many times in a sentence that I think it was his first word as a child.  Every other word out of his mouth — or every other sentence at least — had this word in it and I just couldn’t understand the reasoning in this.  Yes, he is a bad guy.  Yes, he is a tough guy.  Yes, we should be scared of him because he is truly a dangerous man.  Even with all of this taken into account, it still didn’t need to be applied to make the story enjoyable.  If anything, it brought the story down for me.

Anya was one I don’t think I could see myself being friends with either.  There was no depth to her character and I couldn’t bring myself to really care what happened to her.  She was plain and borderline boring for most of the story.

I will definitely try reading more from the author based solely on the recommendations to read her other stories for a better reading experience from other readers.  If you are a first time reader of this author, I recommend you starting with another series by her like I should have done.  Save Knight for last if you do plan on joining in on the addiction train.

MY RATING
If the library doesn’t have it, don’t worry about reading it!