The Look of Love by Bella Andre

Chase Sullivan and Chloe Peterson's book



The Look of Love (The Sullivan's book 1)

By Bella Andre

Book Blurb:
Chloe Peterson is having a bad night. A really bad night. The large bruise on her cheek can attest to that. And when her car skids off the side of a wet country road straight into a ditch, she’s convinced even the gorgeous guy who rescues her in the middle of the rain storm must be too good to be true. Or is he? 

As a successful photographer who frequently travels around the world, Chase Sullivan has his pick of beautiful women, and whenever he’s home in San Francisco, one of his seven siblings is usually up for causing a little fun trouble. Chase thinks his life is great just as it is—until the night he finds Chloe and her totaled car on the side of the road in Napa Valley. Not only has he never met anyone so lovely, both inside and out, but he quickly realizes she has much bigger problems than her damaged car. Soon, he is willing to move mountains to love—and protect—her, but will she let him? 

Chloe vows never to make the mistake of trusting a man again. Only, with every loving look Chase gives her—and every sinfully sweet caress—as the attraction between them sparks and sizzles, she can’t help but wonder if she’s met the only exception. And although Chase didn’t realize his life was going to change forever in an instant, amazingly, he isn’t the least bit interested in fighting that change. Instead, he’s gearing up for a different fight altogether…for Chloe’s heart.

At about 60% I was ready to throw in the towel with The Look of Love. I kept going because I don't like not finishing a book. I also purchased a bunch of Bella Andre books in a package deal which were the first five books of this Sullivan series. I kept hoping and hoping that I would eventually get drawn into this story. I didn't. 

The word "lovely" was used 55 times to describe Chloe. 55 times! Chloe had a lovely face, a lovely personality, lovely toes and even her clitoris was described as lovely. Oy with the lovely already!

It was also way over the top with how beautiful everyone was. Of course Chloe was "lovely" but Chase and all his Sullivan family were all gorgeous, the models that Chase photographed were all beautiful, the guest house wasn't just nice it was breathtaking. The winery scenery was perfect. There was so much perfection oozing from the story that I found myself wanting something to go wrong just to bring some normalcy to the story. 

One of my pet peeves with books is where the author writes that the protagoists had "never" experienced what was happening to them over and over again. Each orgasm was more and more mind blowing and they'd never experienced such an orgasm before. 

Here are just a few of the nauseating examples,
"...not only has Chase never met anyone so lovely, both inside and out..."
"...Chloe Peterson had never felt so wet...."
"...like he'd never seen anyone or anything quite so pretty..."
"...she'd never worn clothes this gorgeous."
"She'd never been like this before, vacillating from one extreme to another..."
"never been like this before, never like this with anyone.."
"I've never been kissed like that before."
"She'd never seen anyone like Chase before."
"She'd never been able to find a man who really understood her before."
I could go on and on and on with all the experiences that they never had before. 

I was also rolling my eyes reading that they were already dropping the "I love you" and a marriage proposal by the end of their introductory weekend. What were they basing this love on? Well of course I got that Chase was drop dead gorgeous and Chloe was lovely but what else was the draw? There was lots and lots of sex but I really wasn't sure what it was that had them immediately falling in love. Lust I understood but love? It just wasn't realistic to me. Chase went from sleeping regularly with many different women to proposing all in one weekend. 

The Look of Love tried really hard but it really failed for me and I was never so happy to finish a book before. Someone please tell me that the rest of the books are way better than this first book since I already bought them. 

Priceless by Shannon Mayer

Priceless: A Sexy Urban Fantasy Mystery (Rylee Adamson book 1)

By Shannon Mayer

Book Blurb:

When children go missing without a trace, there is only one person who can find them. 

Welcome to the world of Rylee Adamson, a woman with unique abilities, some wild friends and a unstoppable drive to save those who can't save themselves. 

But when the details of a missing child duplicate that of her worst case, things start to get freaky. And not in a good way.

Priceless: A Sexy Urban Fantasy Mystery had so much potential but the story fell completely flat for me. I have so many complaints about the book I don't know where to start. How about I start with what I did like. 

I will give the author credit for a great imagination and taking the urban legend of a werewolf into a whole new direction. I will admit to constantly imagining the voice of Alex the werewolf to sound like Scooby Doo. Alex seemed like a lovable character and a sweet sidekick that I liked but that is not to say I didn't have issues with his backstory. I don't think I ever got a grasp on why the werewolf pack was after him or why the alphas of his pack would bother with such a minor submissive male. Why did they set an entire pack to kill a meek and mild werewolf and why did they come and go only when the story needed a diversion. 

I think Alex was also placed in the story as comic relief but I never giggled and the humour was forced. Here is an example: 

"You going to go all Ice Queen on me now?"

Alex barked from the back. "Icy Queenie!"

Good grief. Alex's excitement and apparent happiness was infectious, and it took all I had not to laugh out loud. 

I don't get what was so funny? That's because it really wasn't. I got tired of reading that it was time to laugh out loud or smile. It was like reading along with sit-com laugh track inserted into the story. "Cue - laugh here."

The title is listed on Goodreads as Priceless: A Sexy Urban Fantasy Mystery. I think I completely missed the sexy part. What sexy? I think that there was one kiss in the entire story. Completely boring on the sexy front. 

Where do I start with the inconsistencies. There is a plethora of inconsistencies. Honestly, I was almost going to not finish the book because I was getting frustrated with the inconsistencies and matters that just didn't make sense. 

Lets start with a small one to demonstrate. At 15% in the book, Rylee conveniently has a "friend" who is eighteen years old and not only is he the best computer hacker in town, he is the best hacker period. Kyle is fresh out of high school and has his house completely bugged with cameras, recorders, computers and multiple laptops. (there is no mention of parents so I am not sure if the 18 yr old owns his own house) Kyle has the ability to hack into police files and FBI databases but when he goes to print off a 300 page document, it takes over two hours because he has a prehistoric printer. WHAT?  

Rylee is a "Tracker" and is also "Immune". From what I gathered about the Immune is that she is resistance to magic or from ever being turned into a werewolf. All good stuff but the Immune seems to only work when it benefits the story. Other times it is frequently forgotten about. 

Rylee and Alex are trapped in her cellar. There is smoke and fire all around them. There has been a murder. Rylee's friend, Milly the witch has just rescued her from the cellar. What happens next? Oh well, Rylee makes a spaghetti dinner while apparently the fire department and police are all over her property. I thought it was weird that the author bothered to mention that Milly's white pant suit was splattered with flecks of spaghetti sauce. WHAT? What about the smoke and soot from rescuing Rylee and Alex from the cellar fire? Why is the house not filled with smoke or needed to be aired out? Why don't the police and firemen have a hundred questions for her? After-all a cop was shot in the head on her property. I guess that all doesn't matter but the dinner certainly couldn't be missed. There was so much wrong with these events I was sure I had missed something major. 

The story ends on a mild cliffhanger but since it was the age old, tired misunderstanding between the main protagonists I dismissed it. I was put off and bored by the this first book, I will not be reaching for the next. 

Bound by Blood by Cynthia Eden

Jace Vaughn & Morgan LaBeaux's book




Bound by Blood (Bound book 1)

By Cynthia Eden

Book Blurb:It’s an Immortal War…

Vampires and werewolves have been blood enemies for centuries, but now a new threat is rising...demons are escaping from hell and those demons are intent on wiping out both the vamps and the werewolves.

In order to stop the demons, pureblood vampire princess Morgan LaBeaux agrees to the treaty offered by werewolf alpha Jace Vaughn. She'll mate with him, share her blood with him...and in return, the wolves will aid the vampires in this battle.

But Morgan doesn’t realize just how dangerous the wolves can truly be. Jace has been waiting years to claim her. He’s set a trap for his princess, and now that he has her, Jace doesn’t plan to let her go. He’ll send the demons back to hell, and he’ll keep his vampiress—forever.

I totally was not feeling this book. Bound by Blood's storyline and character development made no sense to me. Going with the premise of the story, Wolfman and Vamplady marry to solidify and unite forces in order to battle the Demons. 

She was to marry to save the vamp nest. How many years long do you think a marriage would last in the paranormal realm? Hundreds of years maybe? That was my guess. Then imagine my surprise when this bit of information is shared, 
"She wasn't supposed to have sex with him. The Council has been adamant about that. Drink him, yes, take his power, give him hers, but sex? Forbidden."
Now come on. Does that even make sense? The Council agrees to marry off their precious Vamp Princess for unity sake but then no sex? It is so, well, dumb. Who would insist on a marriage to take place but no sex. I swear you could hear my eyes roll. 

Then in the course of one day, she loves him. Morgan didn't know Jace previously. She was bartered away for the good of her people and it only took one day. Yep. He stalked her for years behind the scenes so I can imagine that his lust level was high and he claimed to have loved her from afar but it was all way way waaaaay to quick for me. Also, I don't know but the whole "love from afar" thing was just creepy to me. 

Then I got confused once again. A trusted council member traps her inside a burning house. Supposedly this action was to see if she could or would burn badly after she had a chance to drink Jace's blood. But you see, why the hell would he take a chance on that if that same Council member planned on (and needed to) setting Morgan up as a sacrifice to the demons in hell? Talk about a complete contradiction. 

Once again, my confusion ensured regarding the plans of each of the Wolf and Vamp groups. The Alpha and Council members never figured out each other's evil plans toward one another. They never considered their opposition schemes? Not very good leaders if you ask me. How do you lead people you are suppose to protect if you don't consider your enemies strategies? 

So basically, the story, the pace, the characters were all just a big fat turn off for me. Paranormal or not, the story has got to make sense to me. Good thing Bound by Blood was only a $1 purchase on Amazon. 

A Pirate's Possession by Michelle Beattie

Nate Carter and Claire Gentry's book






A Pirate's Possession


By Michelle Beattie


Book Blurb:
LOVE AND GOLD HAVE ONE THING IN COMMON: THEY CAN ONLY BE BURIED FOR SO LONG …

Abandoned by her father and married to a deceitful man, Claire Gentry fled from her life. Disguised as a man, Claire wagers all she owns in a poker game to locate the treasure her father sought. While her disguise holds, it doesn’t protect her when one of her opponents turns out to be the only man she ever gave her heart to.

Nate Carter is no fool. Raised in an orphanage and sailing as the mysterious pirate Sam Steele, Nate is looking to gamble for a map that will lead him to a treasure. But when he looks over his cards, he’s reminded of a past he’d rather forget --- and the woman who could have given him everything he truly wanted.

After Nate wins the map, Claire has no choice but to accompany her old love on his quest. But running for their lives soon replaced running from the past. And if they survive the bloody battle for the treasure, they may just realize that what they really have been searching for isn’t riches --- but each other ..

Simply put, I just didn't enjoy A Pirate's Possession. I found the book lacking interesting characters and just plain boring. If I didn't have such a compulsion to finish a book when I start it, I would have put it down. 

A Pirate's Possession seems to be the 3rd book in a series. It does not actually indicate that information on Goodreads or Amazon but there are definitely carry over characters from the previous two books. I am wondering if I had read those first two books, would my perception be different? 

In A Pirate's Possession while reading about Nate it felt like he was an already established character and I felt no connection with him. Obviously Nate was a pirate (as the book is called A Pirate's Possession) but there was really no pirating in this story. There was a treasure map, a ship and a search for that buried treasure. Nate was also known as an infamous pirate, Sam Steele. However that name means nothing if reading A Pirate's Possession. Again I believe that all goes back to this being the third book in a series. I think I was missing out on a lot of assumptions the author was making regarding Nate's character. Hence I really didn't know him nor was really given the desire to be curious about him. 

That takes me to our female lead, Claire. I could not allow for Nate's personality absence to be made up for by having a great female protagonist because quite honestly, I couldn't stand Claire. I thought I was going to love her as she dressed in men's garments and was really used to looking after herself. What she turned out to be in my mind was a whiny, selfish, unforgiving drama queen and even though I didn't really know Nate, I felt he had to deserve better than Claire as his love interest. 

My favourite stories are when the lead characters have a childhood history and I was very disappointed. With Nate and Claire being so supposedly in love and having such a close past relationship, they sure had big misunderstandings and little room for forgiveness. It just frustrated me. 

I adore historical type of romances. I love the addition of items that are historically accurate and the overall feel of being whisked away back in time. Although the story was set in 1660, it could have been 1960. There was just nothing to place me in the year 1660. Yes there was a ship but nothing really to distinguish this ship from being a pirate ship vs a regular modern day sailing vessel. Simply the need to light a candle to see isn't enough for me. 

To wrap up, I didn't like the characters, the lack of an actual pirate or historical type of story line, the bland romance and being a little bit lost with the introduction of characters near the end of the book (that held obvious importance from the previous two books). Serves me right I suppose for discovering that I was reading a book two stories into a series. If I had known that going in, I wouldn't have started it.  Even so, most books of this nature should be able to be read as stand alones but it didn't work for me. 

The Shy Duchess by Amanda McCabe

Lady Emily Carroll and Nicholas, Duke of Manning's book




The Shy Duchess


by Amanda McCabe


Book Blurb:
With her golden hair and dazzling emerald eyes, Lady Emily Carroll should have her pick of suitors. Instead, her crippling shyness has earned her the nickname "Ice Princess."

Nicholas, Duke of Manning, isn't looking for a bride, but he won't pass up a stolen kiss at a masked ball.

With her blushes hidden, Emily lets her inhibitions go. Only to find herself betrothed! Now it's her wedding night, and her new husband seems determined to thaw his Ice Princess and reveal her every secret….

Just look at the beautiful cover. It is a piece of art! So lovely. In fact, I was drawn to read The Shy Duchess from my huge TBR pile because of that beautiful cover. I won this book in a fabulous blog hop and I was eager to try a new to me author. I am a huge historical romance reader as it is my favourite of all the romance genres but The Shy Duchess wasn't for me. I want to be specific why I didn't care for the book because my reasons may very well be the same reasons other would love this story. 

I am not a shy person. I am reserved and I like to hold back a bit in a crowd until I am comfortable but I am very very far from being shy. Reading about The Shy Duchess, I had a very difficult time relating to Lady Emily because she was so timid and skittish. She saw the worst in every situation and seem to seek out the negative with every interaction. I like my female protagonists to be confident and sure of themselves. Reading about all of Emily's hesitant reactions drove me a little crazy. 

Nicholas was not a manly alpha Duke character that had a tortured upbringing. He wasn't abused and in fact had a wonderful family. It was nice change for once but then I realized as it turns out, he was boring. I know lots of readers that don't like the whole tortured past going on with their heroes so The Shy Duchess is for you. Is this the type of conversations you enjoy? Let me set it up for you...

Emily and Nicholas sneak away to a secret watering hole on their honeymoon and they are laughing and having a great time. Nicolas says to Emily, ...."we could sing and weave daisy chains, and lay in the sun all day long."

Yeah I don't know about you but weaving daisy chains doesn't bode well with me and what I like to read from my heroes. 

Even with Emily here is an example of her getting all mad and angry. "It was time for something quite extreme. She was going to have to get rude."

Oh heavens forbid my female protagonists doing extreme rudeness!

So The Shy Duchess is as fluffy as a romance novel as you could get. She is an annoying English proper prude and he is a gentle as an English gentleman could be. All wrapped up in a whole lot of boring. 

Teasers: stuffy ballrooms, firework display, gallant save from a runaway carriage, morning sickness before her courses were even missed *eyeroll*

Three by Opal Carew

Three


By Opal Carew


Book Blurb:
Hot steamy dreams…a sexy stranger…and his two brothers…
all add up to an erotic adventure she’ll never forget.

Lori’s erotic dreams about a hot hard stranger are hitting fever pitch. She needs way more than eye contact and a smile across a crowded subway station. An instant connection sizzled between them and now Lori, who’s never believed in love at first sight, is its helpless victim.

When Lori goes to her best friend’s cabin for the weekend to spend time with Marie, her new husband and his brothers, she’s surprised to wind up face-to-face with her fantasy stranger. He clearly wants to act on the incredible attraction between them. The heat builds and they wind up in the hot tub, totally caught up in their passion.

They are interrupted – by one of his brothers – and Lori soon finds herself in the middle of two sexy, handsome men, both bringing her to ecstatic heights. She didn’t think things could get any better, until another interruption – by yet another brother – has her blushing with embarrassment, as well as passion.

Now Lori is experiencing her wildest fantasy yet, three ultra-sexy men at the same time. But she wants more than an erotic dream brought to life. Because she’s in love. But can her sexy stranger return her love?


Note: This red-hot short story has steamy sex, including ménage a trois, foursomes, and group sex. Consider yourself warned!


Yeah I think that the book blurb is longer than the book. At only .99 this is a super quick 45 min read max.

I have read lots of Opal Carew books before and Three is not one of her best. I have to say, I love practically everything she has written. However not this little .99 ebook. From page 1 till you read "the end" it's pure sex. But not pleasant meaningful sex or even hot erotic sex. Three just boarders on ridiculous. It's just more like a porn show. So the story goes....well there is not story just sex.  Lori has anal sex for the first time and it plays off like he enters her like she is old school.


Then to tie it all together, Opal Carew tries to pull off that Lori and one of the brother's Craig are falling in love. WTF! Falling in love? Just because she met him a few hours earlier, had sex with him about 4 times in those few hours, Lori looked at him like she could spend the rest of her life with him? If you want to write a pure erotic book, do so. But leave it there and not try and throw a last minute romance spin on it.

One + One = Three by J.A. Blaze

Short Stories by Sapphire Night Books

Turquoise Morning Press

One One Three

By J.A. Blaze

Book Blurb:

When Steven invites his college crush over for a night of sex, he realizes that pleasuring one girl just isn’t enough. He dips his hands into the pleasure jar and calls Jenny over for a euphoric night she’ll never forget. They’ll all find out if things really are better in threes.

One + One = Three didn’t work for me.  

Many of the descriptive sentences didn’t make sense.  

“She now had a milky expression that looked as loose as her pussy.”

“Steven’s sweat began to slip into the threads of his sheets and there was a watery pool that collected around the knees.”

The one feature that I just couldn’t look past was the flawed action words. One + One=Three had a thrusting pelvis chipping away at her vagina, cupping a dick with an open palm and apparently Steven had such thick arms that they made the girls scream at the sight of them. Really? Scream just by looking at his arms?

In one paragraph J.A. Blaze wrote -

“She kept her head propped up and watched the clock behind Steven as if she knew exactly how long it would take him to climax”

And then in the next paragraph down wrote almost the exact same line -

“She stared at the clock as if she knew exactly when he would climax, like she had some innate gift of knowing when the moment was destined to happen.”

Ménages need to be written in a choreographed manner. Extra care needs to be taken so that the reader understands where everyone is and what everyone is doing. Unfortunately I was too bewildered with the story content to enjoy any of the F/M/F activities.

Smart Women by Judy Blume

First off, let me start off by saying that I did not enjoy Smart Women at all. I'm glad it was one of those used book deals I got and I didn’t pay full price for the hardcover. All the characters were disfunctional and not very appealing. The title of this book is called “Smart Women” and clearly that was a sarcastic title as it should have been called “Dumb Women”

I kept reading it though because it was Judy Blume and I was hoping it would all turn around. This book also lacked the Judy Blume style that we all know and love. In fact I was sure I was reading another author because none of her style was present.

I’ve never been so frustrated with a bunch of women ever. It seems that they were so concerned about getting a man in their life and totally disregard the welfare of their children. They all had such self esteem issues but I wasn’t even routing for them to turn it around. I never have been through a divorce where children and step families are involved so I can’t really relate to the situations of an unstable environment, jealously, the questioning of your children on the other parent’s activities or just the yuckiness that goes along with those situations. However I grew up in a step family and although I do have some personal lasting issues and there were times I was not pleased with my mom’s decisions, she was nothing like the characters here.
So here is a synopsis of the “Smart Women”

Margo, asks her boyfriend- who also happens to be the ex of one of her friends B.B., and has a daughter of his own- to move in with her after only a few months of dating. She never even discussed this move with her two children that live with her or even had a conversation with her friend about it. Even without all the extra complications it is not very "smart" to move in with someone after such a short a period of time.

Meanwhile, her teenage daughter Michelle (who I couldn’t stand!) is getting involved with one of her mother’s no-good ex-flings- right under her own roof (literally)- and the mom Margo does almost nothing to intervene. Seems her new man advised her to leave it alone and that it was good for her to lose her virginity in a safe at home environment. WHAT THE F**K? Seriously! Never, never, never would I allow a man to sway me advice like that with my own daughter. (really Smart eh) What mom wouldn’t try to fight or lock up her 17 year old daughter from an experienced player type of guy in his early 20’s???? And to top it all off, the mom, Margo, had slept with him in the past and called him a f**king machine!!!!!

The another "smart" woman, B.B.,(the friend of Margo and where BB’s ex is now living) marries a guy she is only lukewarm about and what she puts her daughter Sara through is horrible. She drills her about Margo and her ex. Poor kid just wants to have time with her dad and make her mom happy. Turns out BB ends up in a psychiatric ward so clearly she had issues. Poor Sara! She was the only character in the entire book I liked.

Finally the other “smart” woman, even though is a Mensa candidate, Clare takes back her ex, the jerk who left her to run off with a young bank teller that she nicknamed "donut". Better to be in a bad relationship than to be alone?

To bad Smart Women depicts 40 year old divorced woman as such dependant, self-absorbed, desperate, low self esteem creatures. Well that is my last comment and then this book is out of my mind.