Tag: NetGalley (Page 37 of 37)

Party of Three by Daire St. Denis

June 9, 2012 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: I picked this short story up from NetGalley, intrigued by the blurb and thinking I might finally try a little of the f/f.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) Determined to end a long dry spell, Tina is thwarted by her best friend, Des, who scares off the only eligible guy at their party. But Des more than makes up for it when she and her boyfriend, Josh, invite Tina to their own intimate celebration. The encounter awakens cravings Tina didn’t even know she had. She’s intrigued when the couple asks her to join them for two days of sun, sand and steamy sex in Santa Barbara. She should say no. But she doesn’t…

The erotic weekend is beyond amazing. But there’s something deeper developing between the trio-something Tina is not yet ready to explore. After all, their party of three can’t last forever-can it?

What worked for me (and what didn’t): I’ve considered reading some f/f romance for a while now but hadn’t got around to it. I must admit it’s always been a bit mysterious to me and so I was curious. When I saw this one pop up on NetGalley, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to finally try some f/f – even though there’s an “m” involved too! Most of the menage I have read is m/f/m so a f/f/m menage also intrigued. If the story had’ve stuck to what I believed it would be from the blurb, I think it would have been much more successful for me. The sex scenes between Desi/Tina/Josh and Tina/Vixen were well written and very hot (although there was an alarming lack of condom use on Josh’s part). I’m interested in trying more f/f romance now, so I guess something in the book was successful for me.

Unfortunately, the plot took a sharp and unexpected right turn into dark and icky for me, with an evil and rapetastic villain. The “eligible guy” scared off in the blurb is Kenton, a sexual sadist who hides behind an initially pleasant facade. Tina’s first clue (apart from being vaguely warned off by Desi) that Kenton is not who he appears, is revealed when she and Desi go to one of his “parties”. It’s the modern version of a swingers party (now called “open concept parties”) – there, Kenton slips some Ecstasy to Tina without her consent. Right there, that’s enough for her to be warned to stay far away from this douchebag. For reasons which aren’t clear to me (but which the plot necessitated), Tina goes back to Kenton’s house and even accepts a work contract from him (she’s an interior designer). He continues to make unwanted and unpleasant advances towards her and she keeps going back. I’m not in anyway suggesting that Tina invites Kenton’s advances or that she was deserving of his later attack on her. Rape is always and only the fault of the rapist. However, I did find Tina’s choices somewhat inexplicable.

In terms of character, Kenton is very one dimensionally evil – complete with (and this is the God’s honest truth) a tattoo of a grinning wolf on his “enormous” peen (also referred to as “the anaconda”). Seriously.

The interaction between Tina and Kenton takes up a lot of the book and most of it was very unpleasant to read and not what I thought I was signing up for when I picked up the book.

Readers be warned: there is a pretty graphic rape scene toward the end of the book which was most unpleasant to read.

As far as the triad between Desi/Tina/Josh is concerned, so much time was taken in the story with the “suspense” aspect, that not enough time was available to be devoted to the romance. Desi and Josh are already together when the book begins, so I was prepared to believe they were already in love. Desi and Tina have been “best friends” for 20+ years, so I was prepared to believe that there was love between them and a sexual attraction which had been unmentioned and smouldering for some time. But, Josh and Tina barely know each other and the fall “in love” very quickly. I didn’t really see this happening, rather the reader was told it was so. The other thing which didn’t quite fit with the BFF relationship between Tina and Desi was that there was much they didn’t talk about and quite a bit of miscommunication – especially because they apparently “told each other everything”.

Josh’s mother is aware, by the end of the book of their menage relationship and is very accepting of it, but it does not appear that the girls’ families have been told and there is no mention of any kind of difficulties involved in navigating their unconventional relationship. In fact, it does seem that most of it is sex. Which is smoking. But, still. I would have liked more of their non sexual connection.

Also, as mentioned above, Tina is raped near the end of the book, but there does not appear to be any fallout from it in terms of her relationship with Desi and Josh and it seems she jumps back into sex with them without a second thought. Which seemed odd to me. If rape is going to be included in a story, then I do think the consequences of it need to be addressed for the story to be complete. I wasn’t so much concerned with the legal consequences – what was in the book was enough for me, but emotionally, there really was very little.

What else? I was expecting a light and fun erotic read – I would have been happy enough with limited relationship development if the story had’ve only spanned a few encounters as the trio decided to embark upon a menage relationship. The sex scenes (well, except any of the ones involving Kenton of the tattooed peen) were hot and well written. Those aspects of the story deserved a C+ but the story is really not as advertised and there are things in it which could be triggering to say the least, for some readers. I don’t think I would have chosen to read this had I known what I was getting into. As much as I enjoyed some aspects of the book, my overwhelming feeling when I finished was distaste, hence the grade.

Grade: D+

Bared to You by Sylvia Day

April 26, 2012 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: I picked this one up on NetGalley. To be honest, the blurb didn’t sell me – it was kind of confusing and didn’t tell me what I wanted to know but I’ve read and enjoyed Sylvia Day before so I decided to give it a whirl.

What it’s about: Because I thought the blurb wasn’t very helpful, I’m not going to copy and paste this one – so I’ll give you my own. Eva Trammell (24) moves to New York with her gay BFF Cary from California to pursue a career in advertising. She is the stepdaughter of a very rich man and so has a lovely apartment (which she shares with Cary) but has insisted on an entry level job which she obtained without his help. She works at the Crossfire Building and there she (literally) runs into Gideon Cross, a 28 year old bazillionaire. There is instant connection. Instant and sizzling lust. But, both Eva and Gideon have past traumas which come back to haunt them – can they have a successful relationship? Are they soul mates or are they destined to flash, crash and burn?

What worked for me (and what didn’t): With all the hype about Fifty Shades of Grey (50SOG) around the place, it is hard not to make a comparison between it and Bared To You. I havent’ read 50SOG and I don’t plan to. But, from what I’ve read about it, I think that Bared To You is what 50SOG could have been, maybe aspired to be (if it had left out many fanfic conventions and had some savvy editing)^. Like 50SOG, there is a bit of the Harlequin Presents (HP) about this story.

But, Bared To You takes a few somewhat old tired tropes, equalises and modernises and creates something compelling and different and good. *rubs hands together*

Unlike (what I understand of) Ana, Eva is a little older and definitely not naive (~~she’s not clumsy either~~ ETA – she does fall over when she and Gideon first meet, but she’s not generally a klutz). She is sexually experienced and not afraid to express her desires or take the lead in her sexual encounters with Gideon.

“Don’t burn off too much energy,” I whispered. “I want you missionary-style the first time. I’ve been having this fantasy of you on top, banging the hell out of me.”

She even shows him a thing or two (limo sex!). Eva does not depend on Gideon for a place to live, friends, affection, a job. She is not physically helpless (she’s learning Krav Maga). Because of a rich stepfather, she doesn’t depend on Gideon for money either. Plus, she has a job and ambition of her own. That changes the dynamic straight away from many HP’s I think (and 50SOG too). Gideon is a super bazillionaire sure, but in his relationship with Eva, I’d argue that it is she who mostly has the upper hand. He’s jealous but so is she. She makes demands very early on about a particular female acquaintance of his and he accedes – she is in the power position from the start.

Gideon wants sex with Eva from the beginning. But Eva doesn’t do sex that way. She needs some sort of relationship, a connection, before being physically intimate with someone. She doesn’t need hearts and flowers necessarily, but she doesn’t want to be “a vagina on legs” either. She needs to know that Gideon wants her for her, not just because she’s convenient. Gideon does not do this. Ever*. But, such is his obsession for her, that he very quickly agrees to “review and revise” in order to have her. Gideon separates things in his life. There is work, there are friends and there are sex partners. They do not mesh. A relationship where there is time spent with a sex partner “not actively fucking” is not on his agenda. But, for Eva…

“Eva… If you just tell me what you want -” his throat worked on a swallow. “I can become whatever you need. If you give me the chance. Just don’t… don’t give up on me.”

It is not very long after that first “revision” that Gideon’s rules change again and he’s diving headlong into a traditional and exclusive relationship. He wants to be with Eva all the time. He can’t get enough of her.

This might be creepy except that Eva feels the same way about him. It is the mutuality of the obsession which, I think, makes this book work so well. Where Gideon shows dominance and “mastery” the reader sees it from Eva’s POV and therefore is implicitly aware of both her consent and her reciprocal feelings. Where Gideon crosses a line (and he does from time to time), Eva calls him on it. Refreshingly, Gideon quickly recognises where he went wrong each time (for the most part) and gives a genuine apology and then changes the behaviour (or at least, makes a good faith effort).

He calls Eva out too and fairly.

“I can let you in, Eva. I’m trying. But your first response when I screw up is to run away. You do it every time and I can’t stand feeling like any moment I’m going to do or say something wrong and you’re going to bolt.”

Their relationship is very HP over-the-top dramatic – in fact, one of the secondary character in the book refer to it being better than a soap opera – the angst factor is intentionally dialled up to 11.

However, as much as there is on again/off again, the problems seem realistic and they are dealt with pretty quickly so there’s not lots of time where the couple are apart (another plus for me).

The writing is spare and yet evocative and I was completely hooked.

To call either of us virgins would be ridiculous, yet emotionally that’s just what we were. Fumbling in the dark and too eager, completely out of our depths and self-conscious, trying to impress and missing all the subtle nuances.

The last 100 pages – read after a break of a day and a half (due to time issues not lack of interest) – didn’t work quite so well for me as the first part of the book had. I wonder if I would have felt that way if I’d managed to read this in one sitting? The last part of the book, far from resolving their many issues, mainly served to introduce new ones. And, it is here there is a discussion about D/s aspects to their relationship. Gideon says he will take Eva any way he can have her but he believes that she needs the submission to be truly satisfied. Or, at least, I think that’s what he was saying. The conversation gets hijacked (as conversations often do) and I didn’t think Gideon was able to get back to his main point – therefore, to me it felt loose and unclear – I didn’t know exactly what had been in his mind to say and there weren’t enough clues for me in the text for me to put it entirely together. I felt that this aspect of the relationship was introduced a bit late into the story as well – this was over 2/3 into the book.

I was also a bit nonplussed by the introduction, so late in the book, of the Corinne character and it seemed inconsistent* to me. Given his previous history with Corinne does that make the set up for Gideon’s character inaccurate – the part about him not doing relationships? And, with Gideon’s previous growth that he could be so clueless about her effect on Eva.

There was also a character by the name of Dr. Terry Lucas introduced around that time which confused me a little – it is clear he knows Gideon and there is history between them of some sort but he had such a small part to play in the book that I wondered why he was there. Perhaps the answer is to consider Bared To You like Part I of a miniseries and taken as a whole the story will feel more balanced?

I did find this book compelling and angsty and sexy and dark and Gideon was sighworthy.

“Talk to me Eva, so I can tell you it’ll be okay.”

I enjoyed seeing his vulnerability to Eva and his complete intoxication with her.

“Oh, Eva.” He rubbed his cheek against my damp face. “I must’ve wished for you so hard and so often you had no choice but to come true.”

If Eva hadn’t have felt the same about Gideon though it would have just been stalkerish behaviour, but instead, their mutual obsession was compelling reading.

What else? The book does finish abruptly and there are many issues left unresolved. While the couple are together at the end, I didn’t feel at all confident they had worked out enough of their issues to be certain they would make it. On the one hand, I’m glad there will be another book (due out in October) so those issues can be explored. On the other, will it be too much? Will I be as engrossed or just exhausted by all the drama? As much as the last 20 pages introduced a whole slew of new problems, there were some problems (e.g., Gideon’s traumatic past) which were barely touched upon – so there is plenty of conflict set up for the next book.

I did enjoy this book and I’m seriously hoping that the author can pull off the delicate balance between resolving their many problems, giving them a believable HEA and keeping everything interesting without becoming caricatured. I have my fingers crossed and roll on October!

In the meantime, if you like sexy, dark and angsty, go and read this book!!

Grade: B+

^In fact, Jane_L (from Dear Author) and LizMc2 and I had a Twitter conversation about this very thing. Also, Jane wrote this review of Bared To You on April 7 and she actually said there that Bared To You was what 50SOG could have been, so she agrees with me. Or rather, because she said it first, I agree with her! 🙂

Somebody to Love by Kristan Higgins

April 20, 2012 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: I picked up a copy from NetGalley and I’m a fan of this author.

What it’s about: (blurb from Goodreads) After her father loses the family fortune in an insider-trading scheme, single mom Parker Welles is faced with some hard decisions. First order of business: go to Gideon’s Cove, Maine, to sell the only thing she now owns—a decrepit house in need of some serious flipping. When her father’s wingman, James Cahill, asks to go with her, she’s not thrilled — even if he is fairly gorgeous and knows his way around a toolbox.

Having to fend for herself financially for the first time in her life, Parker signs on as a florist’s assistant and starts to find out who she really is. Maybe James isn’t the glib lawyer she always thought he was. And maybe the house isn’t the only thing that needs a little TLC.

What worked for me (and what didn’t): First off, this is the second book Ms. Higgins has written in 3rd person POV and once again, we get (a lot – yay!) of the hero’s POV in this story. As much as I have enjoyed her 1st person POV books (well, mostly), my continuing “complaint” was that there was not enough of the hero for me. I’m a very hero-centric reader I have discovered. More hero, in general, equals more win for me. I hope that Ms. Higgins decides to stick with 3rd person and giving us the hero’s perspective because I just love it.

Now, on to this book. I loved James, the hero. He’s a genuinely nice guy – he’s kind, smart, humble, funny, handy, built, sexy, very good-looking and all round wonderful. He does have a couple of darker secrets and something he’s been paying for for a very long time, which serve to round out his character and save him from being too good to be true and too good to be interesting. I found myself extremely sympathetic to him as the book went on. His love for Parker, almost from the first time he even sees her, is something which permeates his actions – even though for most of the time they have known each other Parker thinks he’s lower than a bug, he is unfailingly generous to her. He decides to go to Maine and help her flip the house for sale – he wasn’t asked to by Parker or her father and he’s not getting paid for it. He does it because he cares about Parker. There’s something very attractive about a guy so steadfast. It can be something which can come across as wimpy but James is not a doormat. He’s nice but he doesn’t let himself be walked on either.

As for Parker, well, mostly I liked her too. She copes very well with the change in her circumstance, considering. She doesn’t spend a lot of time complaining and she’s, for the most part, not a “rich bitch”. Yes, she has had money all her life but she’s not afraid to work hard – she demonstrates this many times while in Maine and it is one of the things James loves about her. She is also a devoted mother to Nicky – but she’s not an over protective gorgon and she doesn’t spoil him terribly rotten either – (I think most parents would like to spoil their children – the more money you have the easier that must be) – Nicky is still required to use his manners and behave well. She also has a healthy relationship with Nicky’s father Ethan and his wife Lucy (their book is the only Higgins I have not read) – they are her best friends. Her mother is on her 4th husband and tends to breeze in and out of her life but the impression I got was that while Parker would have liked to be closer to her mother, she was happy enough with the way things were – there was no strain there. Parker has a difficult relationship with her father, Harry and resents those closer to him than she is. Which means, James. Harry has two “minions” which Parker dubs “Thing One” and “Thing Two”. The original “Thing One” retired and James took his place as Harry’s personal attorney. Thereafter, Parker called him “Thing One”. To me, this is unutterably rude. It’s one thing, perhaps, to think of someone by a disparaging nickname but to call them that to their face? Repeatedly? Well, it was the one thing I disliked intensely about Parker. While I understood that her rudeness to James was a reaction to her poor relationship with her father and her jealousy and confusion over his good relationship with him, it was still so very rude that I found it hard to reconcile.Parker has been writing a series of children’s books called the Holy Rollers (earthbound child-angels on skates). The pitch was a joke but she’s been stuck with these characters for years and has finally managed to end the series. (I did like the flat cat stuffed toy which appears later in the book. LOL!) Problem is, she is having trouble coming up with a something new – her ideas are pretty funny but not setting her agent/publisher on fire. Although she donated her earnings from the Holy Rollers to charity, now she actually needs to earn a living and she’s desperate to try and come up with a new series. I liked what she ended up doing but no spoilers here!

Nicky, Parker’s son is a mostly sweet little boy but he’s not perfect and he’s not charmingly precocious either (what a relief). Lavinia, Parker’s older cousin from Maine is a hoot – her descriptions of having steamy old people sex were hilarious and I nearly choked (as James did) when she described playing “Spank me, nanny” with the local Judge. 😀

For fans of Higgins, we also catch up with Maggie and Malone and Chantal and Jonah and various other Gideon’s Cove characters. It didn’t feel too cutesy to me and it was nice to see what they were doing. Although, I’ll probably have to go back and read Catch of the Day because I couldn’t remember a lot of it, I read it so long ago.

The bedroom door, while not firmly shut in this book, is a little more closed than I think it was in the previous 2 books – I’d be happy if the door opened again!

What else? I can’t go into some of the best parts of the story without giving away spoilers but I’ll just say that there are some things towards the end of the book which I found very scary, emotional and moving and there were even some tears.

I could have done without the intervention from Leah but I appreciated that all of Parker’s problems weren’t solved overnight and that, while James found some measure of peace with his family and himself, things weren’t magically fixed there either.

I suppose some people will find the epilogue a bit cheesy, but I appreciated that it took place 18 months after the events of the book (thus I was sure that they were making things work) and that James took the time to ensure Nicky was okay with what was happening between he and Parker.

Parker is 35 at the start of the book and James is 30, so there was a bit of angst on her part about whether he was too young for her – it felt appropriate that she’d think about it and that it would be something of an issue, but I certainly appreciated that it wasn’t beaten to a pulp. Parker gave James credit for knowing his own mind. Plus, James didn’t come across as “young”. He and Parker seemed very much equals to me.

I liked this book very much. James is a peach and once Parker stopped calling him “Thing One” she was pretty special too.

Grade: B

Forbidden Fantasies by Jodie Griffin

March 22, 2012 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: I picked this new release from Carina Press up at NetGalley and the blurb looked interesting. I do love books featuring established couples dealing with a conflict.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) After fifteen years of marriage, Jessica Meyers’s sex life is, well, a little predictable. Her handsome husband turns her on, but missionary style once or twice a week? It just can’t compare to the hot new world she discovers in the pages of erotic romances. Her fantasies fuel the fire of her desire, adding a new spark to her and Alex’s lovemaking. But Jess is afraid to tell her husband what she really wants in bed—and her secrets start coming between them.

State trooper Alex Meyers is a master at uncovering the truth—except when it comes to his sweet, shy wife. She’s clearly keeping something from him. An affair? She wants out? When he finally confronts Jess, he’s shocked to learn she wants to turn her forbidden fantasies into nightly realities. But when he takes her to a unique B and B—Bondage and Breakfast—catering to couples and multiples, Alex is about to find out just how far he’ll go.

What worked for me (and what didn’t): This is a little gem of a book. It’s short, just under 85 pages, but Ms. Griffin managed to tell a complete story in that space, in a way that I found very engaging. I’ve often thought it is harder to write short than long (this from a person who can’t shut up!). Some of the things that make it easier to tell a whole story in that time is to have an established couple (check) and to keep the story relatively simple (ie, not multiple conflicts/storylines) (check again). Sometimes, a story like that can be boring however. This one was not. Not at all.

The first paragraph was a bit clunky in that it gave the impression that Jessica and Alex had had a fight – but actually, the problem was more that they had NOT had a fight (or a discussion) about the sexual fantasies Jessica wanted to explore. She felt horny and guilty but embarrassed and unable to talk to Alex about it for fear he would think she was “dirty” and that it might threaten the otherwise happy status quo of their 15 year marriage. She has too much invested to rock the boat. Alex, for his part, has been trying to get Jessica to talk to him – he’s noticed how much more interested in sex Jessica is (and he’s pretty happy about that) but she is withdrawing from him emotionally after sex and this has him very concerned.

However, I’m pleased to say that once that first paragraph or 2 was done, the book definitely picked up and the story hit its stride. It’s simple, it doesn’t try to be more than it is and it is definitely sexy. Unlike another book I read recently which was full of sex scenes which appeared to be there only to titillate, in this book, the sex scenes had a purpose. The demonstrated the connection between the couple and served to gradually resolve the “conflict” of the book – whether Alex could “cope” with Jessica’s newly discovered sexual fantasies.

The sex scenes were plentiful and well written. Oh, there were a couple of things that I raised my eyebrows about in that they didn’t altogether fit with Jessica’s previous reticence in the sexual arena and her reluctance to talk to Alex about it but the rest of it was so good I was happy enough to go along for the ride.

I’m not usually a fan of the not talking type story, but it made sense in the context of this book. For a start, normal life meant that sex wasn’t on this couple’s mind 24/7 – Alex is a cop and he’s very busy and often gets called out at all hours on cases etc. Plus, Alex and Jess have 2 children which keeps them busy anyway. The other thing is that Jess is presented as having been very sexually inexperienced and raised in a puritanical household – it made sense to me that she would need some time to sort out what she wanted in her own head before broaching it with her husband. And, finally, the book starts with Jessica finally being ready to talk to Alex about it so I didn’t have to suffer through the “will I/won’t I” part and I got almost straight to the “let’s deal with it” part (which is always more interesting).

If you like a hot little m/f read – I think you might like this one.

What else? I believe Forbidden Fantasies is the author’s debut release. I’m looking forward to reading more from her.

Grade: B+