Gideon and Eva's 1st book
Bared to You (Crossfire book 1)
by Sylvia Day
Book blurb:
Our journey began in fire...
Gideon Cross came into my life like lightning in the darkness—beautiful and brilliant, jagged and white-hot. I was drawn to him as I'd never been to anything or anyone in my life. I craved his touch like a drug, even knowing it would weaken me. I was flawed and damaged, and he opened those cracks in me so easily...
Gideon knew. He had demons of his own. And we would become the mirrors that reflected each other's most private wounds... and desires.
The bonds of his love transformed me, even as I prayed that the torment of our pasts didn't tear us apart..
A new book trilogy to get sex-cited about! I will fully admit, I'm excited.
Bared to You is marketed to the hoards of "Fifty Shades of Grey" book lovers and rightfully so. There are many easy comparisons but Bared to You is much more polished and put together; however no less addictive. I NEED book 2, now. I have told myself over and over again that when there is a trilogy book series, I shouldn't start them until they have all been published. I know this fact about myself yet here I am cancelling out summer by the calendar and counting the days until October when book two shall grace my shelves.
Here is my plea to Syliva Day on Twitter and her reply *giggles*
Since Bared to You seems to be riding the coat tails of the popular E.L. James series, I'd like to point out my thoughts on that. The first thought on my mind is although you do have a young emotionally fractured billionaire male, Gideon and a recovered abuse victim college grad female, Eva, I could easily place this awesome couple in their own story and separate out from Fifty Shades. The same romance formula is present but it is a familiar plot used by numerous authors. It is the talent of the writing that separates out the weeds from the blooms and Sylvia Day's Bared to You is a bouquet.
Gideon and Eva are powerfully drawn to each other and both are really emotionally immature. They have major hurdles to over come if they want to be in a relationship and I've never read a romance couple try so hard. It is not an easy task for them to hold on to one another when they both feel that they are broken people. Every time Eva gets upset she runs away and Gideon is just so freaked out about how much he has fallen for Eva. Their constant wavering about making it work is what caused me to keep reading and reading.
Bared to You is an erotic novel and I love that there is a great story attached. Their intimate scenes are well crafted and smoking hot. They are not a raunchy couple but pure lust makes it impossible for them to keep their hands off each other. Now having said that, Bared to You was practically half way done before they experienced their first encounter. This statement is not a complaint because I love to really get to know my characters. There are no BDSM scenes in Bared to You but it does imply that there may be book 2. We will have to see how that plays out. There is enough kink and fire brimming between Eva and Gideon that it could go either way.
Bared to You leaves the reader on a semi cliff hanger. Nothing to pull your hair over but there is an urge to want to pick up book two and dive in right away. Is it October yet? Are you looking forward to the next installment as I am?
Teasers: steamy scene at the family home, a heavy unrevealed back-story to come, sexy limo ride, major jealous streaks
Jamie Sutherland & Joesph Scarbrough's book
The Start of Something Good
By Gracie Lee Rose
Book Blurb:
Jamie Sutherland, coffee shop owner and serial ruined-relationship survivor, moves into a beautiful loft apartment for a change of scenery. What she doesn’t plan on getting is an eye-full of her handsome next-door neighbor—in nothing but a towel—arguing with his significant other in the hallway.
Joseph Scarbrough's world crashes down on him one cruel morning when his childhood sweetheart rips his heart out of his chest and walks away. His humiliation isn't complete until he turns around to pick up the pieces and sees a beautiful brunette who just witnessed his Dear John moment.
Caught in an awkward situation, the two backpedal into their separate worlds. But fate seems determined to make their worlds collide on a regular basis. Is it destiny just being clumsy when it comes to the two unlikely neighbors or is it the start of something good?
The Start of Something Good is a sweet little read that in only 109 pages, allows you to peak into the beginning of something really good for Jamie and Joseph.
The first time Jamie meets Joseph she is in a bit of a predicament. The lucky girl encounters Joseph wearing nothing but a towel but unfortunately he's in their loft apartment hallway being dumped by his girlfriend. What's a girl to do? Yeah, Jamie did exactly what I would have. She eavesdropped while she stumbled with keys and took her time getting into her apartment. She got busted and that's the beginning of their friendship.
I did wish that Jamie felt better about herself. She did have a touch of low self esteem thinking she wasn't good enough looking for Joseph. Joseph is described as a hot looking guy but he never indicated anything but pleasure by being around Jamie. He seemed to light up in her presence.
I really liked that Jamie was being wary of becoming the rebound girl. She realistically was careful of monitoring her feelings. I think that her sense was a very honest reaction. Joseph is so sweet that it is tempting just to fall head over heals for him. He is wounded after his hallway breakup and I'm a sucker for a person that needs some fixing and attention.
After some flirting over coffee and unpacking boxes I got the sense that Jamie and Joseph started to really enjoy each other's company immensely. It was cute to read all about their blooming feelings.
The Start of Something Good is big on flirting & sweetness and low on heat so it is a great read to share with a teen, your mom or grandmother. Great little story to share around.
Teasers: drunken feelings shared, fortune cookie predictions, hallway bump, tree house getaway
Inamorata
By Margaret Ethridge
Book Blurb:
Sequel to Paramour.
After twenty-five years of cooling his jets in a wall sconce, Frank DeLuca figured the afterlife owed him a break. Hadn’t he been a model ghost? He didn’t possess little kids, screw up the television reception, or throw random objects across the room just to get attention. Hell, he never even made creepy noises in the dead of night.
All he asked was a peaceful existence where someone would turn him on every once in a while. The light, that is. He needed just a little bit of light in his afterlife.
Instead, he got a sullen, silent little boy who cried for his mommy every night. The kid came with a set of hyper-tense grandparents whose marriage was crumbling under the weight of old insecurities and words left unspoken. As if that weren’t enough to drive a guy to hide out in his light fixture, providence tossed in a little spitfire of a girl who flipped his switch in every way. Gina Ferro turned out to be the kid’s mother. She also happened to be a ghost.
Thrown together by Fate and bound by history, Frank and Gina must learn to trust each other with the keys to their pasts in order to unlock their eternity.
I was in the mood for a totally different type of romance novel to read and Inamorata completely did the trick!
Inamorata is a sequel to the first book, Paramour. You could read Inamorata as a stand alone but there is a lot of of time shared in this book with the previous main protagonists, Cam & Brad. You would not be lost but I think you'd get more understanding about our hunky light fixture ghost, Frank.
The first two chapters are dark and awfully emotional. Gina Ferro is killed at the hands of abuser and my heart bled for the pain she experienced. It was a tough read but understanding that Gina is to be the newest ghost character in Inamorata, I understood that I needed to accept why she didn't move on to wherever the next stage in life takes us. Her duty to protect her toddler son, Jaden was courageous if not heartbreaking. I could not put my Kindle down.
There are a few other stories swirling around the plot of Inamorata. There are exciting updates included in Inamorata regarding Cam and Brad's new life together, the aftermath of Gina's death experienced by her parents Elise and Nick, the reaction of her young son Jaden living without his mother and then of course the main reason I couldn't wait to read Inamorata, Frank and Gina.
I'll be honest and say that a book dealing with a horrific and senseless death at the hands of an abuser, a toddler clutching a stuffed bunny rabbit and consequences that entire devastating impact has on a young woman's parents isn't really what I would normally gravitate towards in the romance genre. There were times that I was just plain sad and a bit drained. Yet at the same time Inamorata dealt a lot with healing and reclaiming one's life. I liked that the setting was a real as it could be for fiction and the fact that Elise and Nick lost a daughter meant that there was a negative effect on their marriage. There is a blame game if not a massive guilt trip by her parents. It was a joy to read about their journey on how they were slowly reclaiming their marriage and their love for one another.
Frank and Gina are caught in an afterlife relying on the living to bring them together. Someone needs to turn on Frank's light fixture for him to appear and Gina needs her son, Jaden, to touch the stuffed bunny where she resides. It's all about the timing which worked out pretty well until Jaden started to outgrow his need to clutch his bunny. It was a great healing mechanism once again to read about his recovery but also a bit angsty as a reader because you weren't sure how much longer Gina would be making appearances. It was like a looming double death.
Inamorata is a well written book that made me want to skip lunch and dinner until it was finished. It was great to read my favourite ghost, Frank get some happiness of his own.
Teasers: Chevettes are not Chevells, incredible coincidence, dryers are like hell, ghost sex
