ARC Review: The Gladiator's Master by Fae Suntherland and Marguerite Labbe

 

The Gladiator's Master

by Fae Suntherland and Marguerite Labbe

M/M erotica romance

A gladiator M/M romance. Yeah, you knew I'd be picking this one up immediately.

Caelius is a Roman politician who has acquired a group of gladiators. But there is only one of them who has caught his attention. Meanwhile, Gaidres's heart wil filled with hate. He plans to kill his new Dominus to end the last tie of enslavement. However, when he is called upon his Dominus's chambers, what he finds isn't what he is expecting...

Instead of being taken by his master, Caelius wants to be taken by Gaidres.

The Gladiator's Master is a hot book. Truth be told, it was the sex that I was most interested in. But it was the story that made me keep reading. I loved the amount of details the authors puts into this book. it was very well written. However, I did think the middle lost some of its footing. For me, the best part was the beginning.

This book also has a lot of heart. Gaidres is filled with angst, but it is love that transforms him.

*eARC provided by NetGalley

 

 

Purchase Links: Amazon

Review: Desire's Edge by Eve Berlin

Desire's Edge

by Eve Berlin

Erotica Romance

Recipe for Desire's Edge:

A dash of High School Crush
Oodles of Hot Alpha Male
Plenty of Sexy Submissive
Heap on Sensual Spankings
Flood of Slippery Shower Sex
Sprinkle lightly with Ex Issues
Lace with Office Kink

Mix these all together turn up the heat to FLAMING HOT stir and keep it cooking. All. Night. Long!

This book was fantastic, I really enjoyed it. What was not to love?! Dante was not only hot as hell and great with his hands but he was kind of sweet as well. He guided Kara through her first experiences with BDSM with caring and did I mention those magical hands?

I liked watching them slowly come to the realization that they are actually in love with eachother rather then indulging in fling, I thought the chemistry and emotions between them were show cased really well. And, I have to mention the sex. Which was HAWT, it had my two favourite things, shower sex (the cover ISN'T misleading!) and office sex as well as lots of spanking. Eve Berlin writes it really well with enough detail to make it smoking but not enough to put you off eating anything pink.

A really enjoyable read that I would recommend to someone looking for a slightly kinky erotic romance and I will definitely be reading more of Eve Berlin.

Review: Ecstasy by Bella Andre

 

Ecstasy 

by Bella Andre

Contemporary Erotica

Candace is a Young Adult author who has been seduced by sensual words. Now, she wants to be make the jump from YA fiction into erotica. Nervous about this career change, Candace goes to a convention to affiliate with other erotica authors. There she meets Charlie Gibson, a well-known and loved author of erotica. In their first meeting, Candace makes such an impression that Charlie offers to be her mentor, teaching her the trade.

This is the first book I’ve read by Bella Andre and she gets an A+ from me! I loved the idea of two erotica writers getting together to “research”! It was so unique and really set up the story great. This is a novella, so while short it still packs a lot of heat! There were a few parts that I felt where a little underdeveloped but I think that was moreso due to the length of the book than lack of detail.

But regardless of the length, this book was hot! I enjoyed the little snippets of Charlie and Candy’s work in progress throughout the book. It added more sexiness to an already smutty read.

And yes, I loved Charlie! He is a damn good teacher and I wouldn’t mind him teaching me a thing or two!

 

 

Purchase Links: Amazon

Review: Surrender to Me by Shayla Black

 

 

Surrender to Me (Wicked Lovers # 4)

by Shayla Black

Erotica Romance

Surrender to Me is the fourth book in the Wicked Lovers series and while I liked Hunter from the previous books, there were times where he just scared me. I knew there would be BDSM so it wasn’t that. I just felt that Kata and Hunter stood on opposite sides of the spectrum. Hunter is an all-or-nothing kind of guy, so he expected a full surrender from Kata. But Kata just kept resisting and resisting until it just got annoying. I understand her conflicts with her stepfather and her independent nature, but all her crying and whining started to get to me.

She didn’t want to submit, so Hunter folds and agrees to sign the divorce papers and give her a romantic night without any BDSM kink. But then she realizes that she doesn’t want that and insist on doing things Hunter’s way. And let me tell you, when she surrenders completely, it’s worth it all for Hunter.

The last 100 pages or so changed the book for me. The sex scenes were somehow hotter, the pace picks up and I just thought it made up for Hunter’s sometimes scary dominance and Kata’s whining.

Also, there are appearances by Jack, Deke, Luc and Tyler! Logan, Hunter’s brother is there too and I am both scared and intrigued about him since I know for a fact that he likes administering pain for pleasure. His sex dungeon...*ahem* I mean, living room was just a tease for his upcoming book Belong To Me.

And lastly, I need to gush about Black’s writing style. I LOVE IT! Despite the hot-as-hell sex scenes and likeable characters, she writes with such ease that I always fly through her books and then kick myself for devouring them so quickly. I love love LOVE Black!

Favourite Quote:
“It’s just...” She scrubbed a hand across her face. “I keep looking for someone to share life with, someone patient. Not afraid of a mop or the stove. Even-tempered, understanding, not allergic to emotion.” She closed her eyes momentarily. “Someone sweet.”
Hunter stifled a grimace. She was describing a female with a penis.

 

Purchase links: Amazon

Review: Delicious by Shayla Black

 

 

Delicious (Wicked Lovers # 3)

by Shayla Black

Erotica Romance

Delicious was such a treat to read! I’m not usually into the whole baby mama drama, but I think this series is an exception because I’ve come to love all the characters in their own special way.

Alyssa is by far my favourite heroine in this entire series! I loved the fact that she understood her feelings for Luc from the very beginning and knew exactly what she wanted to do. She had ambitions, brains and an inner strength that I really admired. Her past is a haunting one but she still is able to remain strong and run two businesses with ease. I admired her courage to stand up against her fears and her strength to hang on when things got tough for her. She’s got all the makings for being the perfect heroine!

Luc was also one of my favourite characters in Decadent! There were some moments when I was frustrated by his choices, but that’s all part of the experience because we readers know things that both of them didn’t. There are a lot of misunderstandings in this one and I just kept wishing that they would TALK TO EACH OTHER FOR ONCE! I was cheering for them since the beginning and while their story was a rollercoaster ride, it was a great one!

I’m sensing a trend here in this series. Not only is there wicked hot sex, but there’s also a lot of crazy people who like to stalk women! In this book alone, there are three stalkers! But in all honestly, I’ll admit I really, really enjoyed finding out who the stalkers were. It fits with the storyline and definitely makes it more fast-paced and end-of-your-seat good!

And then there’s Tyler, whom I just adored! I am so happy he’s going to be getting his own book and I cannot wait to see what Black has in store for him!

I love love LOVE this series!!!

This picture reminds me of Luc and Alyssa, though he's got longer hair and Alyssa is blonde. But the kitchen setting is perfect! MMm mmm, DELISH!

 

 

Purchase links: Amazon

Review: Decadent by Shayla Black

Decadent (Wicked Lovers # 2)

by Shayla Black

Erotica Romance

What happened? Deke was such a sweetheart in Wicked Ties! In fact, he was one of my favourite things about the first book of the Wicked Lovers series! But I understand why he keeps pushing Kimber away.

Deke Trenton has a serious case of blueballs. The poor guy desperately wants Kimber, but he’s just too closed up for the kind of relationship that Kimber is looking for. I noticed a change in character for Deke in Decadent and the Deke were knew from Wicked Ties. The Decandent Deke is just too strung up, too caught up to keeping him pants zipped up that he becomes irritable and cranky and although, i completely understood how Kimber had that affect on him, I sort of missed the care-free and joking Deke from the first book. On the other hand, I enjoyed reading about the sexual tension between Kimber and Deke. It was very potent!

Now although I was a little sad to see Deke act like such an jerk sometimes, there was another jack off I hated even more than him and that was Jesse, the pansy-ass rockstar who assumes that all women love him. This guy could not have been more wrong! Kimber was stupid enough to fall for a loser like him and decided that she needed to brush up on her skills to live on the wild side with Jesse. What a stupid, stupid notion! But I came to like Kimber in the end, even if she was foolish enough to fall for someone like Jesse. My favourite parts of the book is even Deke goes off and calls Jesse a bunch of hilarious names, such as Mr. MMM-bop and Lance Bass, LOL! God, I love Deke!

But nevertheless, that decision brought her to Deke and Luc. Now I didn’t think Decadent was as good as Wicked Ties, but it was still one of the better ménage books I’ve read. I actually felt something for the character regardless if it was love or hate.

I really liked Luc. I thought he was such a sweetheart and it was a great contrast to Deke’s weird hot-one-second-and-cold-the-other attitude. The three of them together was HAWT! Black knows what she’s doing, that’s for sure!

I also have to mention that this series is probably my favourite erotica romance series to date. I love the contrast in characters. I love the heroines and their unsure ways. And I love how they are able to come to grips with who they are as a person as they fall in love with someone for the first time.

Favourite Quote:
"You keep calling and upsetting my woman, and I'm going to break every fucking bone in your body, you pansy-ass falsetto son of a bitch."

 

Purchase links: Amazon

Review: Tempted by Megan Hart

 

Tempted

by Megan Hart

Erotica Romance

Menages can be the hottest experience, but when emotions become involved you could be in for more than you bargained for!

James is happily married to Ann, he's a successful businessman, they have a beautiful house, loving family, no kids yet. But he has a small secret. His best friend Alex. They were best friends growing up, James always the good boy, Alex ALWAYS the bad one. The bad influence, the misfit, the guy who liked boys? Their relationship was always very close until Alex moved away. And James has never mentioned him to his wife Ann. Until Alex decides to come back to town for business.

He ends up staying with James and Ann, all alone, with a scrumptiously hot, and extremely bad boy who is still in love with James, and might be falling for his wife. And when things start heating up between these three, there's no stopping them. And when I say heating up, I mean someone dump me in a bathtub of cold water.

Alex is one of my favorite bad boys ever. Sexy, charismatic, flirtatious, and did I mention he is in love with James? Even though James has always been afraid of that attraction, he feels it too. And the emotional rollercoaster all three of them embark will leave you breathless and panting, laughing and crying.

The characters are engaging, the eroticism jumps off the page and grabs you, and you become complete and absolutely involved in their lives.

This is Hart at her best in my opinion. I was right along with them every step of the way, and it felt SO REAL, masterfully described and developed. And in good Hart fashion, yes, by the end of this book, there was no stopping the tears streaming down my face, and the sniffling. So if you are ready to be completely turned down, ready to fall in love with the most perfect man you'll ever meet, and ready to have your world rocked, then you have to pick up this book!

Purchase links: Amazon

Review: Naughty and Nice by Megan Hart, Jaci Burton, Lauren Dane & Shannon Stacey

Naughty and Nice

By Megan Hart, Jaci Burton, Lauren Dane & Shannon Stacey

Anthology/Erotica Romance

Find it on Goodreads!!

Over all about 3.5 feathers

I picked up this book because it had short stories by three of my favorite authors and it's Holiday themed, gotta have at least one of those in December.

I will give this book an overall 3.5 Stars. It was a pretty light read for the most part. 2 stories are stand-alone and 2 stories you really should read the previous books or you won't enjoy where they are going as much as you should.

And I actually ended up finding an author I wouldn't mind reading more of (Shannon Stacey). So onto my individual reviews.

Unwrapped by Megan Hart

I was a bit disappointed after reading this story. You definitely have to read Taking Care of Business and No Reservations in order to understand where this story is coming from. However, even after reading those two stories, and I enjoyed them and liked the characters, I couldn't get into this story.

Brandon and Leah have a bit of a kinky relationship, normally, but she is usually the more dominant in the bedroom, and he is happy to submit to her and her desires. Now, they've been together for a while, and this is their first Christmas together. But being that Leah is not much into mushy family togetherness they go away on a holiday trip, just the two of them, cabin in a sky resort. You know, meant to be romantic.

There's a bit of drama of her fall which seem to take up extra pages and was unnecessary, and then the fact that she didn't want to spend Christmas with family but all of a sudden she did was strange. And I just didn't like how Leah was taking Brandon for granted in general! He is such a good guy and constantly has to put up with her issues.

I guess I had expectations from this story that I didn't see developed here.

Believe by Lauren Dane

You NEED to read Second Chances before you read this story. Only then will you be able to really appreciate it.
This is the perfect ending to the story between Jude and Rori. Definitely the connection I thought was missing at the ending of Second Chances was expressed in this short story. I can almost say it was back to how things were in the beginning of their relationship! Yay!

Very sexy, still manages to be very emotional, and even in just a few pages we get to be inside the heads and hearts of so many people.

Still a bit kinky, and very sexy. You'll like these characters. If you pick it up without reading the first book, maybe not so great.

All She Wants For Christmas by Jaci Burton

Cute stand-alone story. Small town girl who grew up in foster homes runs away at 18 after finding her boyfriend in bed with her best friend. She goes on to becoming a successful country singer. After 10 years she comes back to her hometown as part of a biography video. She comes back to finding her ex-boyfriend had married her best friend, had a kid with her who was now 7 years old and her best friend had died 4 years ago. After the story goes about half way we realize how she found them in bed together was all a setup by her best friend, who had always been jealous of her, and he may or may not have slept with her then, but now they can have a second chance to have a life together. I just couldn't get past the fact her name was Riley Jensen, LOL Just too close to the vampire/werewolf Guardian in Keri Arhur's series.

Holiday Sparks by Shannon Stacey

Cute story. Stand-alone. Hot electrician, used to be the school's geek back in high school. The cheerleader he used to drool over is back in town to spend Christmas with her parents, and is waiting at their house for them to come home from vacation. While there she discovers their house needs a major electrical upgrade and calls Scott in from the phone book. She can't remember him, because obviously he has changed and is now a hottie. He still drools over her. They decide to have a holiday fling while he's fixing her parents wiring and end up wanting a relationship (after just three weeks).

Review: Collide by Megan Hart

Collide

By Megan Hart

Erotica Romance

Find it on Goodreads!!

This will be a difficult book for me to review. Let me start off by saying Megan Hart just has a beautiful way with words and a great way of telling a story. Now this story was actually very different and original for me.

Now after all that, I was a bit disappointed with the beginning of this book, it felt a little slow to get going for me.

First of all I started reading this book thinking I might not like it too much because of the time travel aspect. I felt that after reading the blurb this might be a little like Deeper which was not one of my favorite Hart books (even though I know some people loved it). So, as far as that aspect of the story is concerned I was pleasantly surprised. I think Ms. Hart was able to create a time travel scenario that's very original and well executed in my opinion.

I'll give you a quick glimpse of what's going on... We first meet Emmaline, she's a 32 year old woman who just recently left her parents home (in the suburbs) to live on her own in the city (Harrisburg). She has had a condition from when she was a child that makes her have sort of blackouts. She was doing fine for a while, even venturing out on her own now, except they're now coming back.

And all in part because of Johnny Dellasandro. She had met ..... at "Cafe Mocha" in Harrisburg, her one and only new friend in town, who introduces her to her almost unhealthy obsession with Johnny. He is now 57, but in the 70's he used to be a HOT indie actor, and in most of thost movies he was practically naked.

As her obsession with Johnny and his movies grows, she starts having blackouts where she actually experiences what she thinks of as dreams, where Johnny is the star, and she is his heroine. She visits him in the 70's and all her inhibitions go out of the window since this is just a dream, right?

But are they dreams caused by her condition and the crazy amount of hours she spends googling his pictures and watching his movies, or is it all really happening?

Johnny then was amazing. I could've fallen in love with him just then. The bad boy, so sure of himself, with the sexy New York accent, gorgeous body and many talents. I just wanted his today version to be nicer at the beginning. I understood why he acted the way he did at the beginning afterwards, but still I thought he was a douche for a little bit. However, he is one sexy ass and sweet older man, as well as a hot young stud. I loved seeing both personalities played in this book and how he matured and changed.

I liked the heroine, Emmaline. I really did feel bad for how she's had to live and the struggles in her life. I could imagine that it would be a very stressful situation to black out and not know the reason behind them or what's happening to your own body or health. She was a pretty fun character as well. I loved her interactions with her friend, ...... In that way they were both very relatable characters and they had me laughing out loud.

And I did cry at the end. Call me stupid, whatever! I cried when her mother told her how she got her name; I cried when she had her last black out; I cried when present day Johnny explained to her the truth about his past. I almost want to cry again now writing about it.

This book was erotic, but it tells a story of a life that's not sugar-coated. This is usually what Ms. Hart does best. Emmaline had issues because of her condition, even with her relationship with her parents. Johnny and his friends in the 70's obviously had issues (drugs, promiscuity). Johnny was no saint, and there's the issue with him having kids that are all older than Emmaline. I liked it a lot at times and at others I was just okay with it. I think especially the last 25% of the book was really good. So even though I can't say it's a favorite book of mine by this author, it's definetely worth your time to read it!

Purchase links: Amazon

Review: Naked by Megan Hart

 

Naked 

by Megan Hart

Erotica Romance

Find it on Goodreads!!

I feel like I've waited forever to read Alex's story!!! I loved his character in Tempted, I fell in love with him, flaws and all, and I wanted to see him get his HEA. This was a great story all around by Ms. Hart, even though not as emotionally draining perhaps as I was expecting from her.

Alex Kennedy... where do I start? He is a tormented bad boy, he's struggled with who he was, with his family and how they view him, how he interacts with others, and his sexuality his whole life.

Olivia has struggled with her life for a while now as well. She is a black woman, adopted by white parents, who are now divorced. Her relationship with her fiance, Patrick, ended when she found out he was gay. But they've managed to still stay friends, even though she still has feelings for him. Does that just make her pathetic to be around him when he's out with other guys? Maybe. But she still attends a party at his house. Except at the party she only has eyes for Patrick's new friend Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome, Alex Kennedy himself... Who is he? Patrick tells her to stay away from Alex, but the sex appeal that comes off him in waves calls to her. And it doesn't help that she actually finds him with a guy in the porch getting a blow job, and looking sexy as hell. She wants to be the one on her knees for him and the one to bring him pleasure.

Turns out he needs a place to live while staying in town for business, and she has a room she can rent! So he moves right in! Their relationship slowly develops. Her history with being with a guy who liked other guys may have hurt her, and she should stay away, but Alex is a complete flirt and seduces her.

I absolutely loved all the sexy scenes with the camera. She's a photographer/web designer, and when she gets him to pose for her in her "office/studio" was SOOOO HOT.

I think Olivia is actually a good match for Alex. I think Ms. Hart always manages to write about very touchy subjects and do it perfectly. In this story we deal with Alex still not being 100% sure about his sexuality and what he wants, and how Olivia will deal with it. At the same time, the social pressures faced by an interracial couple.

I had a problem with how James and Ann were approached in this story. I didn't like the fact that Alex hadn't come clean to Olivia about his relationship with both of them and his feelings for both of them before bringing her to their house and she had to figure it out on her own. Not cool Alex! And then he goes and acts like a moron when he's around James!

The whole drama with Alex's family was heart breaking and hard. I do think, as a lot of other reviewers have said, that the ending was a bit abrupt, it seemed like we were missing at least a chapter! It leaves you wondering if there really could be a Happily Ever After for them. There are still a lot of unresolved issues for both of them personally, and as a couple.

Favorite Quote

"It's okay to struggle to find our place in this world and the person who will take us for who and what we are. Sometimes we dress ourselves in layers that only get peeled away in the end, to leave us as we should be."

 

Purchase links: Amazon