Blackburn Castle by R. C. Matthews

Who doesn’t love books filled with pirates, witches, and total misunderstandings that nearly ruin people’s lives?  I sure am a sucker for them.  That description doesn’t do Blackburn Castle by R. C. Matthews justice of course, but it’s a very vague start.

Victor Blackburn is cursed.  Rumor has it he has two months to live before death comes to claim him.  That is, unless he can convince Mercy, the daughter of the woman he was forced to murder at only age ten, to forgive him and perform the counter curse.  It seems simple to him, but Mercy’s need for vengeance goes deeper than he could have ever realized.  His confidence dwindles when he begins to grasp that he might never be able to convince her to forgive him and break the curse.

This book was captivating right from the start.  I simply couldn’t put it down.  I read it in one sitting.  I loved Victor and that, despite his fear of the curse, he was still able to be charming and humorous.  I loved that Mercy was such a powerful, independent character, but she was still willing to bend and compromise with others.  Both characters felt real and raw and so was their pain and anguish.

The story itself was very different from what I’ve been reading as of late.  I thought it was going to go one way and then I was pleasantly surprised when it took a completely unexpected direction.  I don’t want to give away any of the plot because it was a very exciting one, so I’ll just say that it takes a deviant twist about three quarters of the way through that had me like, “Holy bananas.”

One note: about half-way through the novel I realized, “Hey, this is not the first of this series”, but I found that it really didn’t matter.  There were a few allusions to the first of the series, but the author was kind enough to write the book in such a manner that I didn’t need to read Book One.   However, I do plan to go back and read the first book and I would encourage anyone else to start there because from what little information I did gather it sounds like quite a doozy.

All in all, you’ll be delighted by this novel.  It’s fresh and interesting and quite the journey.  Blackburn Castle will be released April 10, 2017.  Pre-order it now!

Edit: The author informed me that you can pick up the kindle edition of R.C. Matthews' Book 1: Devil's Cove & 4 other Gothic romances for only .99 cents on Amazon.

Holding Fire by April Hunt

Two words: Alpha. Males.

Holding Fire by April Hunt is the second book in her Alpha Security romance series.  Her first book Heated Pursuit came out in 2016 and earned over 4 stars on Goodreads.  I, of course, haven’t read it because I seem to have a penchant for choosing the second book in a series for these reviews.  Whoops.

April Hunt’s Alpha Security series reminded me a lot of my beloved Black Knights Inc. series by Julie Ann Walker.  Strong, handsome ex-military men who join forces to form security firms to protect those who can afford their lethal skills.  Trey Hanson is alpha, through and through, but lately he’s been hearing a voice (mostly his mother’s) telling him it’s time to settle down.  Enter Elle, a beautiful and charming young woman with whom sparks fly.  After a wildly passionate night together Trey is hearing wedding bells but Elle is hearing warning bells.  Trey is disappointed to discover that Elle wants nothing more than a one-night stand with him, but he’s shocked when it turns out that she’s also his newest assignment.

Hunt’s characters are dynamic, captivating, and complicated.  The chemistry between Elle and Trey was completely believable and I wanted to reach through the pages and throttle Elle for being so guarded with her heart.  I certainly wouldn’t have been had Trey been putting the moves on me.  I really want to go back and read her first book because I loved the little glimpses of those characters, as well as though I believe will be featured in her third novel.  The women are strong, independently, and powerful people who, when push comes to shove, aren’t afraid to let help come from a strong man (with a little encouragement).

I’m not going to tell you that this book will WOW you with its originality.  It won’t.  It’s your run of the mill Alpha male-security firm romance novel (I honestly believe there’s enough out there to give them their own subgenre).  But I will say that the writing is really good, the humor is definitely there, and the men will make your toes curl.

Pick up the first book on your Kindle for only 2.99 and then pre-order the second.  It comes out March 28^th so you won’t have a torturously long wait before you can fall back into her world of danger, excitement, and hot protection units.  

Wild Ride by Julie Ann Walker

I feel like I’m always starting off my reviews with something I’ve said before, but here it is again: I’m an extremely picky reader.  If a cover looks weird, I’m out.  If the model on the cover isn’t attractive, I’m out.  If there’s even one word on the back cover that turns me off, I’m out.  Back on the shelf it goes.  It’s a horrible way to go through life, really, but there are so many books out there to read I simply cannot waste time reading a book that isn’t going to end in me weeping from joy on the floor of my living room.  I just can’t.

On the bright side, I’m incredibly loyal to the authors that I love.  If I like one of an author’s books then I’m buying them all.  Doesn’t even matter if I don’t like all of them.  Doesn’t matter if there’s three hundred previous books (looking at you Susan Elizabeth Phillips).  Eventually, I’m going to have those books lining my shelves.

The first book I ever read of Mrs. Julie Ann Walker’s came from the damaged bin at the bookstore where I work.  Damages happen, books become casualties of kids with sticky hands and people not knowing how bookshelves operate.  When I found a romance novel in the bin I knew that I couldn’t leave it there to become pulp.  I needed to take it home and give it a place to live out its bookstore retirement in peace.  From there I was addicted.  I snatched up every copy of Mrs. Walker’s books that found their way to our shelves and moved them home to join their brother in my shelves.

If you don’t read Mrs. Walker’s Black Knights Inc. series, or if you do but you somehow managed to avoid reading about Wild Ride, then I’ll give you a brief rundown:  Ozzie is a hot, motorcycle-building, life-saving nerd.  He loves 80s music, Star Trek, and classic movies and always has some quote or quip ready as a retort.  To anyone on the outside looking in he would appear to be all easy grins and good vibes.  But Ozzie is recovering from a job gone bad, a job that left him with physical scars and some major demons to fight.  Enter Samantha Tate, a vivacious take-no-prisoners reporter with a keen eye and a talent for pissing people off with her articles.  She fell in love with him at first sight, but he’s kept her at arms-length ever since.  She knows he’s got secrets and the reporter in her can’t stand being in the dark.  When her life is threatened, and Ozzie jumps at the chance to be her protector, Samantha has to decide where her priorities lie and how far she’s willing to go, and how many she’s willing to hurt, to uncover the truth.

I was torn about my level of excitement for Wild Ride because I love Ozzie, but I hated Samantha Tate.  I don’t know whether it was a "hatred for all reporters" type of thing or whether I was genuinely worried about the Black Knights getting into trouble because she couldn’t keep her mouth shut.  As I read, however, I learned to appreciate Samantha’s drive for truth and the life experiences that brought her to be a reporter.  By the end I was like, “Fuck yeah Samantha.  You do you.”

As is typical of a Julie Ann Walker novel you’re going to have a ton of laughs, some mega freak outs, and bear witness to some insane chemistry between the main characters.  I go from laughing to straight panic attacks like six or seven times throughout the book.  Rapid fire.  But the time when my heart is speeding the fastest is the sexy scenes (wink wink).  She writes with such passion that you fall into those pages and you only pop back out when you realize you’ve been forgetting to breathe.

Long story short:  The sex scenes are intense.  The danger is legitimately scary.  The plot is magical, as always.

You just can’t go wrong with Julie Ann Walker and the Black Knights. 

Hard Justice by Lori Foster

First off, let me shout from the rooftops that I'm so utterly elated that I came across a copy of a Lori Foster novel pre-publication.  It was like walking down the street and coming across a $100 bill.  I might have screamed.  Anyways, on to the review:

I love brownies.  I know what a brownie is going to taste like before I eat it.  It’s going to be delicious.  If someone offers me a brownie I won’t, I can’t, turn it down, even though there’s no real surprise in what I’m going to be tasting.  (Does this seem confusing?  Wait, let me try and tie it back to the review).

I know what a Lori Foster novel is going to entail.  When you’ve read enough Lori Foster novels (as I have) you start to notice that a good number of them tend to follow the same sort of layout.  I can anticipate the rise and fall, the climax, the drama, the descriptions of the men, etc.  Does this mean I don’t love reading her books?  Of course not.  I will read everything she puts out forever (hello, brownies), but do I get the same excitement all the time?  No.  Some series I love more than others.  Some men I love more than others.

Hard Justice, the newest novel in the Body Armor series, is the age old tale of ‘girl gets a body guard.  Girl falls for body guard.  Fallon Wade is no ordinary heiress, Justice Wallington discovers when he meets his newest client.  He’s expecting stuck up, selfish, and irritating, but he’s pushed off balance by a delightfully sweet and innocent young woman.  All Fallon Wade wants to do is spread her wings and explore the world around her, something that she has been unable to do since the accident, an accident that has left a permanent mark on her.  Justice wants to get to the bottom of Fallon Wade and all those secrets she’s harboring, but figuring out what she’s hiding is going to have to wait, because someone is targeting Fallon and things are getting dangerous.

Fallon and Justice aren’t my favorite couple by Lori Foster (that award goes to Avery and Rowdy from Getting Rowdy.  Am I drooling?  It feels like I’m drooling), but they’re cute and the passion is there.  It was a delight to watch the character development between the two of them and to see them accept one another’s flaws.  I don’t necessarily feel that I connected with either of them, but I don’t think that makes them bad characters, because there’s definitely characters out there that I connect with that others don’t.  I’m not a huge fan of people meeting and then three days late being madly in love, but I get that romance novels sometimes need to follow that road.  All characters can’t be lifelong friends just discovering their attraction for one another, ya know?

I think that the drama was exciting enough.  It wasn’t jaw dropping, and perhaps it was a little been there-done that, but I still couldn’t figure out who the real enemy until embarrassingly close to the end.  My stomach didn’t twist with anxiety about what was going to happen, but it was comfortable and sometimes that’s all you need from a romance novel.  

Over all, I really feel that this book could have been more.  It felt like a bit of a filler novel between two more exciting books (I think I just really prefer the Love Undercover Series to the Body Armour series in general), but it wasn’t a waste of time.  It was a happy read that gave me a good distraction for an afternoon.

If you’re a fan of Lori Foster, you’ll want to read it.  If you’ve never read Lori Foster before, start elsewhere (aka. Love Undercover series because it’s my favorite and oh my god, those men are sexy).

Coming out: March 21, 2017!

The Deep End by Kristen Ashley

The Deep End by Kristen Ashley is something else.  You won’t find another book like it.  It was unique, exciting, and incredibly erotic.  You’re going to have to need to take a breather, or two, or three, honestly.  This will probably take you a couple days.

Olivier is an alpha male looking to explore his submissive side at the elite Honey Club.  A club that helps men and women turn their deepest, darkest desires into sensual realities.  Olivier is chosen by Amelie, one of the club’s top mistresses, who dreams of finding a man who can be both a submissive and a permanent part of her life outside the club boundaries.  As their relationship quickly develops both Olivier and Amelie are eager to keep things headed in the right direction, but Olivier is hiding a secret that could very well threaten everything they’ve build together.

If you’re like me you might sometimes say, “Man, I love this book, but I wish there were more sex scenes.”  You will not be asking that while reading The Deep End.  In fact, you might actually think, “holy hell, this book has a shit ton of sex scenes.”  Because it does.

But oh my god, they are well written.  The whole book is.  It’s really a work of art.  I don’t know that I’ve ever read a romance novel where I could picture everything because of how well it is described.  Normally I am not a fan of over-description because I feel like it keeps me from truly falling into a story.  But that was not the case here.  In fact, as a newbie to BDSM novels like this one, I found it really helped me picture everything and everyone.  It put me more in the story.

The sex scenes will have you squirming in your seat, eager to turn the next page and find out where Ms. Ashley could possibly go with it all.  You’d think that she couldn’t keep the fifth scene as interesting as the first, or the fifteenth as interesting as the sixth, but she does and it’s fabulous.  You’ll never be bored.

I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone with more delicate sensibilities or someone who prefers romance over rough, hard sex because your mind will probably explode.  Into a million pieces.  You’ve been warned.