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Warning: Contains moderate BDSM themes, graphic sexual encounters, profanity, Dom/me in action, oral and anal sex. Intended for adult readers 18+. Not for the faint of heart or closed-minded individuals.Having moved on from the terrible events of two months earlier, Dylan and Isa try to move on with their lives. Things seem to be going well as they grow into the roles of their unconventional D/s relationship, each learning the give and take of power and pain, accepting and giving love unconditionally, and respecting each other’s wants, desires and need for control.But Isa has been fighting with the demons of her past. Recurring nightmares have begun to plague her and fear of the future overwhelms her on a daily basis. Her desire for control and independence prevent her from sharing her deepest fears with the man she loves, threatening to drive a wedge between the couple.With gentle yet stern prodding from her cherished Dom, Isa confides in Dylan and their bond grows deeper. But their kinky fairy tale existence is all too good to be true when Isabel’s father sets forth a chain of events that will test their love and loyalty for each other, and Isa is forced to decide which is more important – Dylan’s life or her happily ever after.
MY RATING>>>>
MY RATING>>>>
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Stripped
Release Date: 05/14/13
Summary from Goodreads:
Review Copy Source
Rating
Initial Thoughts
My Review
So I’m going with 4.5 stars only because I’m being stingy this evening… I really enjoyed reading this book and I was totally invested in the characters and the story. The ending sealed the deal for me – I almost wish it was a cliff rather than a real ending, but then I would just be complaining about that – damn me… there’s no pleasing me 
Seriously though, the end was nicely done – I’d love to see what comes next for them but it isn’t like I’m feeling like “OMG – I’m going to die if I don’t” because the end was nicely done.
I would recommend thisto readers who like books with drama and romance and twists – of course you need to be a little older to read this – I’m not your mother, but this is a mature content book – so please pay attention and heed the warning.
About the Author
Brooklyn Skye is just your average awkward girl who’s obsessed with words. She grew up in a small California town where she quickly realized writing was an easy escape from small town life.
NOT QUITE MINE, BOOK TWO
Montlake Romance, Contemporary
May 07, 2013, First Edition
Paperback & Kindle
ISBN: 978-1611099515
Book Description:
Gorgeous hotel heiress Katelyn “Katie” Morrison seems to have it all. But when she crosses paths with Dean Prescott—the only man she’s ever loved—at her brother’s wedding, Katie realizes there’s a gaping hole in her life. After the ceremony she gets an even bigger surprise: a baby girl
left on her doorstep. Determined to keep the newborn until she learns who her mother is, Katie has her hands full and doesn’t need Dean snooping around…especially when his presence stirs feelings she thought were long gone..
Dean Prescott knows Katie is lying to him about the baby. He shouldn’t care what the woman who broke his heart is up to…and he most certainly shouldn’t still be aching for her. Yet Dean can’t ignore the need to protect Katie—or the desire to be near her every chance he gets. But when he and Katie solve the mystery surrounding the baby, their second chance for happiness could be shattered forever.
My Review:
Not Quite Mine (Not Quite #2) by Catherine Bybee
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I first read a novel call Not Quite Dating by Catherine Bybee and really enjoyed the story and the authors writing. So when book two in this series was up I knew right away I had to read it. Catherine Bybee’s writing is really good, the story line and characters are well written this is one of those books when you sit down to start to read it you get so caught up in the story that before you know it your at the end.
In Not Quite Mine we start off at Jack and Jessie’s wedding from Not Quite Dating, and Katie and Dean are both the main characters in this novel. Katie who is Jack’s sister has always been a bit of a spoiled wild rich girl and Dean who is one of Jack’s best friends has always held some major feelings for Katie. Katie and Dean have a past that they kept a secret from everyone; part of the fun was the sneaking around. But when the relationship ended they both pretended to move on, each one thinking the other never really cared. As we get into this story we find out that they both held secrets from one another and really do still have some feeling for each other.
Right after the wedding Katie finds a 2 week old baby left in front of her door with a note asking her to take care of the baby as her own. Katie has no idea who the mother is and how she knew Katie couldn’t have children of her own. Of course she immediately falls in love with Savannah and decides she has to keep this a secret till she can find out more. Keeping this secret is going to be hard work for Katie especially since Dean is snooping around trying to figure out what is going on with Katie and why is she acting so different. Dean confronts her on her behaviour using the excuse he is keeping an eye on her for her brother Jack, he can tell Katie is hiding something.
There is so much more to this story then just romance it’s about letting go of your past, growing and the changes one goes through when there is someone more important than yourself. What happens when Dean finds out about Savannah, and then Katie’s mother seems to appear out of nowhere? Then to make things even harder is watching Dean with Savannah and knowing how great a father he would be?
This whole novel is fantastic, I loved reading about Jessie, Jack and Danny, and Gaylord Jack and Katie’s dad all the characters are so well written you cannot help but want more. I for one cannot wait for book 3 in this series.
I have rated Not Quite Mine a 4.5 stars and would recommend anyone reading my review to go pick up Not Quite Dating and Not Quite Mine. Catherine Bybee writing is one of the better romance authors I have read and love her writing style; she definitely is one of my favorite authors.
Excerpt:
Dean followed the pattern of awestruck men until he found her.
Bent over a railing on what would be one of the many ground floor suites, Katie’s short, cream-colored skirt rode midthigh. The sight of her slammed his breath from his lungs. Her long legs appeared to ride for miles and the four-inch heels extended them even farther.
Her butt flexed as she straightened and looked up to the ceiling. She reached above her head as if measuring the height of the room.
The memory of her stretching in bed, naked, after they’d made love swam in his mind.
Get a grip, Dean, he chided himself. Drowning in those memories would only lead to heartache. And he’d had his share of that, enough to last a lifetime.
“You need to wear a hat,” he all but yelled in her direction.
Katie jumped and swiveled in his direction. “Damn it, Dean, you scared me.” She brought a hand to her chest as if calming her heart from the shock of him being there.
“If an inspector were here, he’d shut me down if he caught you without a hard hat.”
He took two purposeful strides in her direction and thrust the hat in front of him. He avoided her personal space but couldn’t keep her floral scent from reaching his nose.
She always smelled like spring.
Dean wiggled the hat in his hand.
She sneered at it as if it were a snake. “Who else has worn that thing?”
“I have no idea.”
“I’m not touching it.”
He rolled his eyes and let his arm fall. “You wear a hat, or get off my job site.”
Her mouth dropped. “You can’t fire me.”
“I’m not firing you, I’m telling you the rules. And those shoes have to go, too.”
She stuck out a hip and rested a hand on it. “Will an inspector shut you down for my shoes?”
He wanted to tell her yes, but he’d be lying. “The ground is uneven and there are nails everywhere. Twisting an ankle and contracting tetanus are the most likely by-product of stilettos on the site.”
Katie lifted a leg and examined her own shoe. Her skirt slid farther up her thighs.
Dean groaned.
“I’ve run from half a dozen paparazzi on the cobblestoned streets of Italy in heels like these. I’ll take my chances.”
He thrust the hat in her direction a second time and dismissed the footwear argument. “They’re your feet. The hat isn’t optional.”
After sniffing the air and finding it unsavory, Katie glanced at the top of his head. He read her thought before she managed to voice it.
“Has anyone else worn your hat?”
It had his name on it. No one would consider putting it atop his or her head. “No.”
A slow Southern smile met her lips. Avoiding a forgotten two-by-four, she shortened the space between them and stared at his hat.
This was not a fight he was going to win. He could insist she wear the hat in his hand, but knew he’d end up tossing her over his shoulder and removing her from the site because she wouldn’t wear it. It wasn’t that she was a snob, just particular about what touched her skin.
No matter how the hat ordeal played out, the men on his crew would be talking by the end of the day. Carrying her off the site or letting her wear his hat for the day…those were his options.
He mumbled under his breath and removed his hat before plunking it down on her stubborn head.
Authors Bio:
New York Times & USA Today bestselling author Catherine Bybee was raised in Washington State, but after graduating high school, she moved to Southern California in hopes of becoming a movie star. After growing bored with waiting tables, she returned to school and became a registered nurse, spending most of her career in urban emergency rooms. She now writes full-time and has penned novels Wife by Wednesday, Married by Monday, and Not Quite Dating. Bybee lives with her husband and two teenage sons in Southern California.
Contact Info:
Where to Purchase:
Warning ~ This book contains adult language and sexual situations. Not suitable for anyone under eighteen. Bailey Glicks, an accountant, is all too aware of her asset value. She’s pretty but not beautiful, smart but not a genius, and certainly she thinks she is more than enough for her fiancé. All that changes when she catches his cheating ass in a lie.Needing to get away and start anew, she heads to New York to stay with her best friend and former college roommate, Lizzy who has more than enough space to accommodate her. What she didn’t bank on are two things.First, Kalen Brinner, a man whose implied wealth and attractiveness on paper, shouldn’t be interested in her. But their combined sexual attraction sparks off like fireworks. Will it be enough to sustain a relationship, especially when circumstance makes one of them appear less than trustworthy? Can they survive the heat or will they combust in the flame of their own passion?Second, when the assets in audit she’s working feel like they’ve been tainted with fraud; her supervisor isn’t buying her theory.
And if she’s wrong about either, both could make her lose big. One her heart. The other her job.
Please note: THIS IS NOT INTENDED AS A STAND ALONE NOVEL. This is a serialized miniseries.
cheated. I’m looking forward to book two especially if it’s as hot as this one.
MY RATING>>>
Synopsis
Starkiller is the stunning final act in The Undermountain Saga.
While the wicked bigfoot leader, Hanameesovenama, plans First Contact with the human race, Danny and Breyona race to stop the vile tangoga boss, GorVit, from using the starkiller weapon to destroy the sun.
In their search, they find an ancient king who may hold the key to preventing the apocalypse.
My Review
What I liked:
the issues faced by the teenage characters:
Breyona’s struggle as Nefer’s nature took over,
Shiv & his internal battle,
the effect of Wa’s death on his friends,
the book doesn’t just focus on Danny but on all the teenagers,
a nice wrap up of the trilogy
What I didn’t like:
Catching up with GorVit (who seemed unkillable) got a little tedious.
I was sorry to see this series end & I’d recommend to all readers of YA.
My Rating
Making Connections YA Edition
Amazon
Smashwords
Other Books in the series
Review for Book 1
Review for Book 2
MY RATING>>>>
If You Stay by Courtney Cole
I liked it. A solid 4 ♥’s, it was interesting and had it’s moments, but it wasn’t heart-stopping great. While I did enjoy the story, and will continue the series (since it’s marked as Beautifully Broken #1) I don’t know that I’d want to keep this particular romance in my re-read rotation.
“Life is just a mixture of good and bad, of varying shades of grays and whites and blacks.”
If You Stay had some hot moments, sweet moments, “f”-ed up moments… and there was at least one gross-out shudder moment. It does tackle problems with drugs, so be prepared for that as a reader. It’s important to the story, but does not glorify drugs. That touches upon one of my personal doubts with the story. It’s not that I think Pax can’t be ‘resistant’ to being physically dependent on drugs, but even with some natural resistance to them, I would still think it would be more difficult to shake off his old habits. It’s also a little more difficult, even with the alluring ‘bad rich boy’ image, to fall for the self-proclaimed “asshole”.
“I roll my eyes. ‘Are you trying to find some sort of reason that I’ve become such an asshole? The reason is… I’m an asshole. There are some things in life that can’t be explained. Period. Assholes are assholes. Rainbows are pretty. Kittens are cute. Chic flicks are sad. It’s the way of things, no explanations.”
Overall, I thought it was a nice contemporary romance. I rooted for Pax and Mila, and wanted to know more about them. The final darkness behind the hero ended up being far darker than I anticipated. So if you like damaged, hot, rich guys and somewhat opposites attract romance, and can handle darker subjects and drug use- pick this up because you may end up loving it. I could see this being a 5♥ read for some, it just wasn’t quite there for me.
“It’s okay,” I assure her. “I like stalkers.”
I received a copy of this book for free via NetGalley in exchange for my opinion.
Book Description:
As the Alpha’s only daughter Shayna Andrews has always been treated like a rare gem, protected like royalty, and she’s suffocating. Her longing to be independent has driven her to sneak out one evening after dinner. After relishing in being able to run free without an escort, she finds herself face-to-face with the enemy, miles from home, and nearly loses her life until a lone wolf comes to her aid.
Travis Hunter’s main objective is to destroy the Onyx Pack—a group of drug using, murdering rogue shifters. His seek-and-destroy plans are put on hold when he rescues a female from a brutal attack. The beautifully exotic tiger shifter, Shayna, stirs a passion he thought died with his long-lost mate.
When Shay’s first heat cycle slams into her, Travis has no choice but to submit to her needs—and his own. But there is always a price to sleeping with the Pack princess. Not only will they have to face her Pack, Shay and Travis will have to deal with a mating that is beyond a single night and could have consequences more than either of them had thought. And when Travis finds out Shay wears the enemy’s brand, things will go from bad to worse.
Warning: One alpha female who doesn’t take no for an answer, a wolf with more on the line than just his heart, and a combustible attraction that’s sure to cause more than one sweaty night.
My Review:
A Tiger’s Claim (Ashwood Falls #1) by Lia Davis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Lia Davis has written a story around tiger and wolf shifters’ which is one of my favorite’s types of novels to read. Lia Davis is a first time author for me and I am very glad I was given the opportunity to read A Tiger’s Claim. Lia’s writing is good, her descriptions are well written the story line flows smoothly and I definitely would recommend this series to anyone who enjoys reading about shifters.
We are introduced to Shayna who is feeling overwhelmed by her father and brothers, they are all very protective of Shayna and sometimes she feels like she cannot breath. Keeping very close tabs on Shayna is driving her crazy, so after an argument with her over bearing Alpha father she runs off by herself. Feeling free running through the woods help Shayna clear her head. Off course nothing is that easy and Shayna runs into trouble. Knowing at this point she is in big trouble she is relieved when someone steps in to help her. Travis Hunter who is close by hears and knows someone is in trouble, stepping in to save Shayna from the rouges is something he knows he has to do.
Travis brings the injured tiger shifter home to keep her safe and take care of her injuries. While fixing her up he realizes that Shayna is his true mate. Shayna who happens to be going through her first heat cycle cannot explain what she is feeling at the moment because of her cycle and really is not sure about this mate thing. Being so protected all her life she is not really sure she is ready for another overbearing male in her life.
A Tiger’s Claim is full of over bearing male shifters, romance, mystery and passion, a great beginning to a new series.
I have rated A Tiger’s Claim a 4 star rating and recommend anyone to pick up this novel and you will definitely not be disappointed with the story or Lia Davis writing.
I was given this book free in exchange for a honest review.
About The Author:
Lia Davis is a mother to two young adults and two very special kitties, a wife to her soul mate, a paranormal romance author, graphic designer, and co-owner to Fated Desires Publishing, LLC. She and her family live in Northeast Florida battling hurricanes and very humid summers. But it’s her home and she loves it!
An accounting major, Lia has always been a dreamer with a very activity imagination. The wheels in her head never stop. She ventured into the world of writing and publishing in 2008 and loves it more than she imagined. Writing and designing are stress relievers that allow her to go off in her corner of the house and enter into another world that she created, leaving real life where it belongs.
Her favorite things are spending time with family, traveling, reading, writing, chocolate, coffee, nature and hanging out with her kitties.
Alright – so I got this review copy yesterday and was soooooooooo excited about it I started reading right away…
well I already finished reading it!
I know right! I was up until 2 AM last night and literally killed both my Kindle Fire and my iPad before I finally went to bed, begrudgingly I might add…
Horrible little habit I have, but soooooooooooooooooo **breath** ooooooooooooooooo worth it!
Here we go:
Book Blurb from GR:
Let me start off by saying I am so excited that this is not a stand alone! I can’t wait for the next installment! I loved the world that Jen Frederick was able to create and the characters in it. She seems to have an effortless way of crafting her characters that I really really loved. The flow of her writing was really nice, I didn’t reread or get bored – which is kind of obvious since I was up so late reading it.
moving on to the good stuff… this book has some HOT scenes in it! This is a debut for this author so I wasn’t sure what to expect exactly on the steam factor, but WOW – it was niiiiiiiiiiiiice.
These characters like I said earlier were really great – I actually cared about them… Noah more so than Grace but by the end of the book I was loving Grace as well. It took the journey she went on for me to feel fully invested in her, but that’s the point of reading a good book, right?! I absolutely love Noah – he is so complicated and so emotional and yet not… confusing right, well read the book – you’ll know what I mean.
I don’t want to say much more because I don’t want to spoil anything for you – because I know you all will love this book when you pick it up next week on Wednesday, 5/1!
I will leave you with possibly my favorite quote from the book… enjoy:
“I know that your greatest fear is that you aren’t good enough. But you are. You are the best kind of person, Noah. … You are even better than Odysseus because he was an imaginary character dreamt up by some writer. You are real. And amazing.”
please check out this awesome new author and her amazing debut!
until next time,
Jen
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