EROTICA REVIEW ~ Four Play by Maya Banks and Shayla Black

Title: Four Play

Author: Maya Banks and Shayla Black

Series:

Genre: Erotica

Publisher: Berkley Trade

Release Date: October 5, 2010

Format: Paperback, 346 pages

Source: Bought for my Barnes and Noble Nook 

 

Rating: 4/5 overall

Smuttiness: 5/5

Pillow Talk - by Maya Banks 3/5

At the beginning of this story I was really into it.  It features main characters Zoe and Chase (who happens to be a yummy firefighter).  After a round of spontanious panty combusting sex they are having themselves a little pillow talk and they start talking about their fantasies.  Both fantasies are pretty incredible to be honest.

Well the vast majority of the story, ok all but a couple pages, are about fulfilling those fantasies.  In the beginning the sex scenes were Awesome Sauce, but as the story went along I think that it was mostly focused on the sex and not so much on the actual characters or the relationship. Which come to find out it was written like that on purpose as part of the story. As a result I was kind of turned off by this story by the end of it. Actually, I could hardly wait for it to end.

I'm not giving up on Ms. Banks though.  I can't base all of an author's works on one story.  I do like the way that Ms. Banks writes her works and minus an obscene (in my opinion anyway) amount of sex in this particular story she sure does know how to write one hell of a love scene.

Her Fantasy Men - 4/5

I really got into this particular story and was sad to see it end.  Of the 4 characters in this story Tucker is the only one that has actually known Kelsey almost her entire life.  The other two male characters are Kelsey's boss and her peeping tom-smoking hot-fire fighter neighbor.  I thought that Kelsey herself was a very likeable character who is one of those girls that be one of the girls as well as one of the guys.

It was actually very interesting to read how realtionship became pretty dang solid through the course of this story.  The truth of the matter is that the 3 guys only know each other because of Kelsey and they all kind of struggle with their possessiveness of her to make her happy.  Because she really can't bring herself to choose between them.  She reads very much like an "all or nothing" type of girl.

Naturally, the sex scenes were scorching hot.  What I really liked about this story is that each guy brought his own brand of lovin' to the story....complete with some BDSM for those of us who like that sort of stuff (I'm slowly but surely getting into it!)

EROTICA REVIEW ~ Lady Sing The Blues by Mallery Malone

Title: Lady Sings The Blues

Author: Mallery Malone

Series: 

Genre: Erotica, Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Samhain Publishing

Release Date: 2008, June 24

Format: E-Book

Source: Purchased for my Barnes and Noble Nook 

Rating: 5/5

Smuttiness: 5/5

Synopsis:

  Summertime-and the living is steamy in Hotlanta.

A Red-Hot Summer story.

Alina Gabriel has hit on the perfect formula to make her club, The Scarlet Lady, the hot spot in Atlanta-s night life. Men flock to see her alter ego, retired exotic dancer Miss Scarlet; and women line up to see Joshua Hanover and his blues band steam up the stage.

Alina herself isn-t immune to the blind guitarist-s sensual songs and musical dexterity, but she refuses to be just another notch in his groupie belt.

That is, until Joshua debuts a new song, -Red-Letter Woman-, to entice Miss Scarlet to dance. The song and dance leave them both hot and bothered, and when Alina retreats to her office for personal relief, Joshua joins her and offers to strum her desire.

But Joshua wants more than a one-night stand. He-s pushing for an encore, and Alina wonders if it-s her he-s after-or her exotic persona.

Warning: This title contains sensuous solos, decadent duets, dirty dancing, and a man who-s really good with his hands.

Review:

I found this one while I was checking out the "shop" on my Nook on Thursday.  Of course I broke my book buying ban naturally.  I mean...How could I pass up a book where there's a man who's REALLY good with his hands?!

I was pleasantly surprised by this one.  I found it to be a really sweet yet VERY sexy interracial romance about a former exotic dancer who turned club owner Alina "Miss Scarlet" and Joshua Hanover a blind blues musician.

The sex is seriously HOT but soon the seriously HOT sex turns into a relationship involving much deeper emotions.  Both characters are forced to deal with their issues (for Alina - what is Josh really after?  The REAL her or the exotic her? for Josh - his blindness and feeling like Alina was "untouchable") to keep their budding romance together.

Overall, I really enjoyed this e-book.  I devoured it in what seemed like no time at all.

EROTICA REVIEW ~ Texas Tangle by Leah Braemel

Title: Texas Tangle

Author: Leah Braemel

Series: 

Genre: Erotica

Publisher: Carina Press 

Release Date: 2010, June 28

Format: EBOOK

Source: Purchased for my Barnes and Noble Nook

Synopsis:

Thanks to her cheating ex-husband and her thieving brother, all horse breeder Nikki Kimball has left is a bruised heart, an over-drawn bank account and an empty home. When sex-on-legs Dillon Barnett and his brooding foster-brother Brett Anderson start showing more than just neighborly attention, Nikki is intrigued…and a little gun-shy.

Dillon and Brett have a history; back in high school, the two friends fought a bitter battle over Nikki. Now, ten years later, Brett still longs to be the man in Nikki’s life, but he’s determined to stand back and let Dillon win Nikki’s heart.

Society says Nikki must choose between the two men she loves. Is Nikki strong enough to break all the rules in order to find happiness?

The "Short Story:"

A HOT little number featuring a HOT cowboy, a HOT cop and a "HOT" chick that they BOTH want.

The "Long Story:"

I saw this e-book on one of Goodreads lists that I LOVE to frequent and I went to see if I could find it on my Nook...Since according to Goodreads it was available for Kindle users.  I was beyond happy when I was able to download this one onto my Nook!  I'm a HAPPY e-book reader!  I'm even happier that in the last 8 hours and 40 minutes I've read 2 books so far!

OMG was this HOT!  Our heroine Nikki is a divorcee who has been having really HOT fantasies about Dillion for MONTHS.  When they are finally driven together by unfortunate circumstances.  Then there is the SHOCKER...That there is another hero that wants to be with Nikki as well...Brett, the good looking cop, who has history with Nikki.  Now this is were things get a little dicey...all three of the characters are friends and none of them wants to hurt the other(s).  So who is Nikki gonna chose?!

What I really liked about this story is that ALL of the characters were of equal importance.  Meaning, they all got an equal amount of "page time." Which I really liked.  The background stories were well thought out and VERY vivid. 

The only quirk that I had with the story (and it's only a small quirk) is that I thought that Nikki at points in the story was written as whiney.  I didn't really care for that but it wasn't enough to knock the rating down any.

Which brings us to the sex....OMG!  It's panty-spontaneous-combustion!  There's some pretty AMAZING M/F scenes as well as a UBER HOT M/F/M scene.

5/5

EROTICA REVIEW ~ Brazen by Maya Banks

Title: Reckless

Author: Maya Banks

Series: Brazen #2

Genre: Erotica, Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Samhain Publishing

Release Date: 2008, June 3

Format: E-Book

Source: Purchased for my Barnes and Noble Nook 

 

Rating: 5/5

 

Smuttiness: 5/5

 

Synopsis:

 

  He can run, but he can’t hide

A Red Hot Summer story and a stand-alone sequel to Brazen.

Sheriff J.T. Summers promised to keep an eye on his best friend’s little sister. What could possibly go wrong? A lot. “Little” Nikki Durant isn’t so little anymore. She’s sex on a stick, and she’s pointed right at him.

Nikki has always loved J.T., and she’s through waiting for him to come around. The soaring summer temperature is nothing compared to the heat generated when she sets fire to his senses. With a take-no-prisoners attitude, she’s out to get her man. But no matter how many ways she offers it, J.T.’s not buying.

What’s it going to take to get him to realize her love for him isn’t a passing fling? Get herself arrested? Hmm…

Review:

HA HA sucks to be J.T.!  I found this e-book yesterday morning while I was checking out the "shop" on my Nook.  The synopsis alone was enough to make me break my book buying ban.

Reckless is about a small town sheriff (the towns name is Barley...yes like Oats and Barley.) named J.T. who is trying really hard to fight his lust and feelings for his best friends little sister Nikki.  Now Nikki on the other hand is absolutely determined to make him hers, even though he's 12 years older than her...Failure is NOT an option.

She's been in love with him for many years and now that she's back in town and both of them are responsible adults she's not letting him get away without out a fight...Even if it means that she has to get herself arrested to achieve her goal.

Then when they finally get together there are shocking realities (in J.T.'s case), sizzling sex and a huge case of misunderstandings on both of their parts.  But there is a happy ending for all parties.

This is the stand-alone sequel to Brazen (yes I broke my ban again to buy Brazen).  The main characters from Brazen make an appearance in Reckless as well.

EROTICA REVIEW ~ Blood Knot by Tracy Cooper-Posey

Title: Blood Knot
Author: Tracy Cooper-Posey

Synopsis:

Winter, a professional thief who can manipulate others' biologies by touch, accidentally "healed" her former partner-and former vampire-Sebastian, whom she secretly loves. Her healing created a symbiot pairing between them that neither of them wants.

Nathanial, a sexy thousand-year-old vampire and Sebastian's ex-lover, talks Sebastian and Winter into stealing evidence that will expose all vampires to the world. But Nathanial is a puppet-master who doesn't believe in falling in love with humans, leaving Winter unsure of his real feelings for her once he seduces her, or how he feels about Sebastian, the former vampire-now-human whose life he has turned upside down once more.

But the evidence they steal is hot property. The future of all vampires is on the line and others will stop at nothing to get it, leaving Sebastian, Winter and Nathanial with no allies but each other. They must trust each other to survive. Only...can they?

Review:

This was a very interesting read.  I've only read 1 other book where m/m/f love scenes were involved and I can definitely say that this one trumps it big time!  Hot doesn't even begin to cover it!  The premise of the story was really interesting to me because it involved two male vampires and one female who is supposedly human who are best known throughout the vampire world for their skills in stealing.

Nathanial, or Nial, is one smart cookie and not to mention one sexy vamp, who has a way of manipulating others minds to get what he wants.  I saw him as someone who needed to constantly be in control, it showed in his encounters and actions towards Winter and Sebastian.  He always seemed to be in the minds of others, being able to read them and make them react accordingly.

Winter was one tough ass chick that who was labeled a human but isn't really.  See she was born by human parents but she was given a gift that no one else has.  She has the ability to reach into other individuals simply by touching their skin and completely change their biological chemistry or heal them if needed.  That includes herself as well.  There was an instance in the book where she was able to heal herself from being poisoned simply by mentally reaching within herself and breaking down/diluting that strain of poison.  Therefore, reversing it and making her immortal like a vampire.


Sebastian, is yet another smexy vampire (side note: why are the paranormal ALWAYS uber sexy?) who has worked with Winter for two years.  In that time he's also been keeping his true feelings away from Winter.  See Winter has saved his sexy vampire backside numerous times and this last time was ALMOST the time where he actually broke down and told her how he felt...ALMOST.  What kept him from confessing?  TINY SPOILER>>> Thinking she was human. <<<END TINY SPOILER  The last time Winter saved him he was on the brink of death.  That's where she panicked and healed him back to human.

For me, this is where the story got really interesting.  After healing Sebastian, Winter finds that she has inherited some traits that she definitely did not have before...Like requiring blood, more specifically Sebastian's blood.  Also, her eyes and her hair have also changed on a permanent basis.

Sebastian thinks he was turned back into a human being because his biological chemistry has changed.  He's suddenly able to eat food and seems to be craving it.  This is where things get difficult for Sebastian, he's having an extremely difficult time dealing with all the truths revolving around the situation and decides that he's just going to run away from his feelings and trys to forget about Winter all together.  Well, until his ex-lover Nail shows up and persuades Winter into helping him find Sebastian.

This is the point where the heat-ometer goes up several notches. Winter and Nial keep finding themselves in each other's arms with an heightened sense of passion.  Especially AFTER they find Sebastian and the old flames are stoked between old and new lovers.

I decided that I couldn't give this book a 5/5 out of because I thought that there were some area's where a little more clarification would have been helpful.  One area in particular, what kind of immortal exactly was Winter.  It was very clear that she wasn't entirely human but wasn't exactly a vampire either.

RATING:

4.75/5

EROTICA Review ~ Falke's Peak by Madison Layle & Anna Leigh Keaton

She couldn't believe her eyes.


Stressed out ad-exec Dakota wandered into Catamount Outfitters in search of a guide for a wilderness excursion. She didn't expect to be greeted by not one, but five of the most ruggedly delicious-looking men she'd ever seen. Not to mention a live cougar guarding the shop.

The Falke brothers have more than just good looks in their genes.

Eldest brother Axel agrees to guide Dakota on her mountain trek. In cougar form, Axel's twin, Gunnar, was there as a protection from predators—but he had his eye on the sexy client instead.

Into the wild...

While the rule with clients was "paws-off," both Axel and Gunnar couldn't resist Dakota's seductive Native American beauty and determination. As cold days led to hot nights in the cabin, Axel and Gunnar wondered if they'd finally found a woman strong enough to tame them...



Why I decided to read this book: I was looking through all the new releases on Netgalley and saw this one and as you can see from the reading the synopsis, it really tripped my trigger.  That and the cover I think is pretty neat too.

Likes?......: What really drew me into the story was Dakota.  The way she's described you think "fluffy city girl," but the farther you read into the book you definitely start to change your tune about her.  I also liked the premise of "modern day" shapeshifters....Especially extremely HOT "modern day" shapeshifters who give one hell of a back rub!  Is it wrong that I really liked the internal struggle of Axel and Gunnar?  Cause I REALLY did.

The sexual stuff?!?!?!?...Just as HOT as the "modern day" shapeshifters!

Dislikes?......: I don't have very many....I didn't particularly care for the "deception" scene.  I did feel that at certain points the story was a little bit rushed.  Overall, not too many dislikes.

Overall: I really enjoyed this story.  Even with the couple of dislikes that I found in the story I think that this is a VERY good beginning to the author's series.  I can hardly wait to check out the rest of the series!  Hopefully each of the remaining brothers and Heidi will get their own stories!