Book Review: Conviction (Club Destiny #1) by Nicole Edwards

Conviction by Nicole Edwards
Publishing Date: July 29, 2012
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I am having a hard time rating this. A really hard time. So let me break it down a bit. First, the sex is well, seriously hot. Like even I was all "Woah" a few times at what the main couple were doing so if you are at all squeamish about intense sex, menage, a 4some, and even some m/m action between two other characters, well, this might not be for you. And even though I was all "woah" it didn't make me stop reading. (I've been reading Stephen King and other horror novelists since I was 12, so seriously people, not much bothers me, whether it's sex, violence or whatever.)

What is making me bring this down from a 4 star (because seriously, I liked the story, I liked how Logan was trying to get Sam to lose some of the tight control she had on her entire life) and had me wavering at the 2 star rating (meaning it was okay), was the narrative itself. There was a lot of head talking. Don't get me wrong, I get that this happens in narrative such as this, but it was just too much. And I also did not like how Sam kept running, refusing to communicate with Logan at times, even by phone. This pissed me off and made me want to slap her, hard. Or tell Logan to go find someone else, someone who is more deserving than Sam. I get she was hurt by a relationship in the past, I get she was cautious, but going incommunicado after everything they went through (Especially towards the end of the book) just was not cool.

Oddly, even though I liked Logan, it was his twin brother Luke, who intrigued me the most. I can't wait to read his story and I really hope that there is less intense head talking and more, well, talking, talking. :D  Overall, a good read and I look forward to reading more from this author.

*This book was a self-purchase and I was not in any way compensated for, or even asked, to review this book. All opinions are my own*


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Book Review: Enslaved by Shoshanna Evers (Enslaved Trilogy #1)

Title: Enslaved (Enslaved Trilogy #1)
Author: Shoshanna Evers
Publisher: Pocket Star
Publication Date: April 8, 2013

My rating: 3 out of 5 Stars

From Goodreads:

From a red-hot erotica writer comes an original eBook—a sensual romp across the playgrounds of the unbelievably rich and extremely sexy.Elisabeth Anderson has seen Trevor and his friends at the infamous Manhattan BDSM club WhipperSnapper, where everyone calls them the BAD Boys, for “Billionaire Arrogant Doms.” The BAD Boys—Trevor Brooks, Marc Wilde, and Roman Chase—are aptly named; they’ve made money hand over fist due to their aggressive investing at the Brooks Wilde Chase Fund. These guys are so rich they can get away with anything, or so the rumors go.

Trevor gives Elisabeth full reign of his estate in Westchester, letting her do as she pleases. He has only two rules. Rule One: she must obey and submit to him while she is living in his house. Rule Two: always answer the blue cell phone. She’s happy to oblige, because being with Trevor makes her want to obey, to love him the way he seems to be falling for her. But Elisabeth’s never been good at being the quiet sub; she's feisty and gets off on the punishments more than she does by pleasing Trevor.

Elizabeth can’t submit to Trevor the way he needs her to, so his friend and business partner (and fellow BAD Boy) Roman takes her in hand. But love triangles can have sharp edges...and somebody’s bound to get hurt.

My Thoughts:

Yes, Ms. Evers, triangles do have sharp edges. And yours hurts! Gah! I don't normally shout at my Nook since, well, it's an eReader, not an actual person. But you achieved this feat. I was glaring. I was grinning, I was glaring again while yelling at Elisabeth and Trevor. And then yelling at Roman! Then my mouth dropped open, and I was all "oh, wow. No. GO TO HIM!" And then finally I was smiling like a dork. I mean, people, this was a serious freaking roller coaster and half the time I didn't know if I was at the top of the hill or the bottom, but I definitely was enjoying the ride!

Let's get into the meat of this book. We have a heroine who has been released by her Master. Why you ask? Well you'll have to read it to find out but let's just say that the two are able to part ways yet remain friends. In fact, her former Master remains very concerned with Elisabeth and her well being. I didn't think this would work-him being her former Master and all, but given the circumstances it worked. And when he released her, he made sure to find her a Master who would take care of her and hopefully give her what she needed. This is where Trevor comes in, with his oodles of money, cars and a huge house. Oh, and horses too! And did I mention that we also had Trevor? Cause yeah, that's really all we needed. He was hot and just, wow. Trevor is quite the Master to his Elisabeth. *waggles eyebrows* (Or tries to be. More on that later!)

What about Elisabeth?  Elisabeth was a little off for me, character wise, but eventually I got her. And what I saw was a woman who liked to be bad, or as she called it, a brat. Trevor was not looking for that kind of fun though. So while things, I thought were going okay, well things happened and suddenly, there was another man involved.

Well, that certainly can complicate matters, can't it? And poor Trevor! He was in such a bad position. He wanted Elisabeth so much but she had so much to learn! And the one person who could teach her, and the one person he thought he could trust, was one of his best friends, Roman.

Ah, Roman. Roman, Roman, Roman, you beautifully broken man. I thought Trevor was my favorite but once I saw inside Roman's poor, messed up brain, my inner good girl went all "awwwwwww" and I immediately wanted to find Roman and fix him. Badly. His book won't happen until the third book though so the author is has effectively hooked me into these delicious men she's created. We have Marc to tide me over when his book is released in May.  And tide me over he will. Or tie me down. I'm fine with either.

Back to Roman. Roman was able to get inside Elisabeth's head and show her that being a brat wasn't her being submissive. He showed her what true D/s was (or his version of it). Elisabeth did well under his care, but well, it caused feelings. And feelings cause complications. And all I could keep saying to my Nook was "But Elisabeth, Trevor loves you! He's waiting for you!!" She didn't respond. Obviously. She isn't real! See Ms. Evers?! See what you've done to me?! Kudos to you for tying me into knots and freaking me out! *sighs* Anyways,  by the time I got to the end I was calmer. And more than satisfied with the end. Now, is it May yet?

Here are the purchase links: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

*I received an ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.*

Book Review: Raid by Kristen Ashley

Title: Raid (Unfinished Hereos, #3)
Author: Kristen Ashley
Publisher: self-published
Publication Date: February 26, 2013

My Rating: 4.25 out of 5

From Goodreads:

Hanna Boudreaux has lived in the small town of Willow, Colorado all her life. The great-granddaughter of the town matriarch, she's sweet, cute and quiet.

Too quiet.

Hanna has a moment of epiphany when she realizes her crush for forever, Raiden Ulysses Miller, is not ever going to be hers. She sees her life as narrow and decides to do something about it.

Raiden Miller is the town of Willow's local hero. An ex-marine with the medal to prove his hero status, he comes home, shrouded in mystery. It takes a while but, eventually, Hanna catches his eye.

But after all these years of Raid and Hanna living in the same town, the question is, why? Is Raid interested in Hanna because she's sweet and cute? Or does Raid have something else going on?

This has some BDSM.

My Thoughts:

Okay, a couple things. First, everyone knows I love Kristen Ashley's books. But even though I await each release with breathless anticipation  I try to stay objective when I review books, even hers, cause I know not everyone is a huge fan like me. So, that being said, let's get into the book. (And beware, possible spoilers ahead).

I love Hanna. She is quiet, shy, a book worm, and just the sweetest heroine ever. Some see her as weak, but not me. I think because I am quiet, shy and a bookworm I really related to her. I don't think I'm the sweetest anything though since I have a mouth on me. Anyways, Hanna was strong for the people she needed to be strong for-her friends, her family and of course, Raid. She had an unusual profession but this too I loved. It fit her well. Hanna was not someone who would fit in an office and she certainly wasn't a social butterfly. So her crocheting business was perfect. (Though I would have loved to see KA dive more into this aspect of Hanna's life. And did I mention my heart did a total flip-flop when she gave Raid one and he slept underneath it.)

Raid was amazing. He was hot, alpha, sexy and he liked to play as in play.  And he did this with Hanna. And when things didn't go right (i.e. she did something she didn't really want to do), like a good dom Raid sensed it and stopped it. He then reminded Hanna she had to speak up, that she had the power and he wanted her to have it to say no. This was awesome. KC, Hanna's bff, had a similar conversation, though it was centered around alphas in general and not sex. This was good. Hanna was naive when it came to knowing how to handle a hot alpha. So the talk with Raid and KC made a world of difference.

Some have mentioned the fact that Raid called Hanna a bitch during a fight and did some other things that this behavior was abusive. No. This was not abuse. Did he act like an ass? Sure. But that is not dv. (If it is, then I've abused one of my exes when I called him a name during a fight. It was a stupid thing to do and I regretted it almost immediately. But I never saw it as abuse since we weren't, well abusing each other, emotionally or otherwise. We said what we said in the heat of the moment and then got over it after apologizing, which is what happened in Raid.)  In addition to that, in the case of Raid, the whole fight started when Hanna brought up a topic he did not want to talk about. (His buddies who were killed in the war and his issues with PTSD resulting from that).  Did he handle it well? Nope. Did he deserve her walking out when he acted like a dick? Yup.  Was she weak for forgiving him? Nope. Not in my opinion. She loved him. He loved her. She wasn't going to give up on him because he called her a name. If he hadn't apologized (and if he doesn't eventually deal with his PTSD) my opinion would be otherwise. But he not only said sorry (which I gotta say is a hella lot more than Tate ever did in Sweet Dreams) but he also started dealing with his condition. Was it handled perfect? Did we see him going to counseling and all that? No. We're told he talked to a friend which helped. Would it have been cool to see how all this played you? Sure, but it wouldn't necessarily be practical or what I wanted. I wanted to read about Hanna and Raid, their romance. So yeah, Raid was an unmitigated ass but most of KA's heroes mess up at some point in her books and all work on redemption. Raid for me was redeemed at the end. (And let's not forget the fight between Ty and Lexi in Lady Luck. Or rather Ty's screaming rampage at Lexi, since she didn't get a word in edgewise. And what about what Chase said to Faith in the beginning of Breathe? Another asshole comment. I could go on, but I won't. I think my point has been made! :D )

So why wasn't this a 5 star read? It was shorter than most, but then I knew that going in since the Unfinished Heroes series is always shorter than her other books. So this wasn't so much a factor. I would have liked to see more of Hanna and her friend KC, and more of Hanna and Raid's sister and mom. Also, one of things I love most about Kristen Ashley's book is the descriptive writing (though I know some people don't like this) and I did feel Raid was missing this.  Lastly, I would have liked to see what happened at and after the hospital from Raid's point of view. But, these were in no way deal breakers for me nor anything that would drop this rating below the 4.25 I gave it.

I can't wait to see more of these characters in Deacon's story.  There is some D/s in the book but it is not anywhere near Knight levels. (And for me, Knight wasn't even that kinky.) The steamy scenes are just that and KA once again hits them out of the park. One thing I really appreciated was how the issue between Knight, Nair and Nick has weaved throughout these stories. I love going back and re-reading to see what clues Kristen has left for us and trying to speculate about what might happen.  (I love me a mystery!)

So check out Raid, and if you haven't met Knight and Creed, I suggest reading those first since Raid gives us a glimpse into their lives as well. (Creed! Yay!!!!)

Here are the purchase links:  Amazon / Barnes and Noble

*This book was a self-purchase and I was not in any way compensated for, or even asked, to review this book. All opinions are my own*