Mini Reviews For The Month of February… Part One

Voodoo For Two: 4

Manaconda: 4

Dirty Ride: 3

Sweet Spot for Victoria: 3

Love Me Tenor: 5

3.8Overall score

Five enticing stories

Voodoo for Two By Elle James

Romantic Comedy / Romantic Suspense

Released February 23, 2016

Twisted Page Press

Series: Cajun Magic Mystery, Book 2

Reviewed by ButtonsMom2003

One Spell…Double the Trouble…

Determined to marry the most eligible bachelor in the parish to save her family, Lucie LeBieu turns a love bug loose to cast its Voodoo spell. What she doesn’t count on is hitting two targets—the golden boy congressional candidate, Eric Littington and her Cajun-hot ex, Ben Boyette. She has to undo the spell in order to set things straight before she falls back in bed—and in love—with a certain down and dirty heartbreaker.

Undercover investigator Ben Boyette is on special assignment to discover who is threatening Littington when he runs across his old flame, Lucie, cooking up trouble. Again. And when threats turn deadly, Lucie is caught in the middle. Can Ben find a way to protect the politician from falling victim to a killer and himself from falling for the irresistible bayou temptress?

[I’ll be adding something here about the book being previously published. Elle will give me the wording when she uploads the final copy of the book to Amazon.]

Funny, sexy mixed with suspense and mystery.

This is book 2 in the Cajun Magic Mystery series but it can be read as a standalone.This was a very fun book to read. It’s a bit of a departure from Elle James usual stories but it still contains her style of sexy heat and descriptive prose. The departure is that there’s more humor in Voodoo for Two, along with a bit of magic, mystery, and suspense. This book is also a bit longer than her average story so if you’re looking for something with a little more to it than a category length book this would be a good choice.

The characters and their story were entertaining and kept me glued to my e-reader for a few hours of enjoyable reading.

♥♥♥♥

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Manaconda: Hammered By Cari Quinn & Taryn Elliot

Contemporary Serial Romance

Released January 19, 2016

Rainbow Rage Publishing

Series: Manaconda, Book 1

Reviewed by Jean

My name is Hunter Jordan, lead singer of Hammered and no, I didn’t name my c*ck Manaconda.

Rolling Stone did.
On the front cover of their damn magazine.
I still haven’t lived it down. And now our record label wants to maximize the frenzy.
So, I have a brand new PR person–Kennedy McManus.
And she’s making me insane.
I don’t know whether to ignore her, yell at her, or push her up against the wall and kiss her smart mouth shut.
I ended up kissing her.
Come on, I mentioned how exasperating she was, right?
That’s when it blew up in both our faces.
Now, the tabloids think she’s my girlfriend. My record label would rather have me remain the single manwhore of the ages.
Kennedy thinks I’m the manwhore anyway. She wants me for a quick fling and nothing more.
I just want Kennedy.
Man, I’m so screwed.

BEYOND OBLIVION – A Rockstar Romance full of sexy fun set within the world of our Lost in Oblivion series! You never know who you’ll see show up in the books.
*ends in a cliffhanger

A man much more than media’s Manaconda

If you’re looking for tongue-in-cheek humor or full out laughing out loud situations, you’re going to love the predicaments Jordan and Kennedy find themselves in. Between a rockstar who is all about his art being the spotlight of media all because of his package and the PR rep that finds that no matter how much she’d like to keep her clients at arms length it just doesn’t work with this one, you’ll find these two quite engaging. The chemistry is hot and steamy. There is plenty of drama. But be forewarned, just when you think you’re headed for HEA you’ll get dumped on your butt with a cliffhanger. That’s the frustrating thing about ebooks at times, you’re at the end before you know it, only to discover it’s only episode one. So, if you don’t mind serial romances this one is quite entertaining and promises to deliver.

♥♥♥♥

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Dirty Ride By Chantal Fernando

Contemporary MC Romance

Released February 8, 2016

Pocket Star

Series: Wind Dragons Motorcycle Club, Book 3.5

Reviewed by Jean

From USA TODAY bestselling author Chantal Fernando comes a brand new Wind Dragons Motorcycle Club e-novella, full of sexy bad-boy bikers, strong heroines, and steamy romance!

Even by Wind Dragon Motorcycle Club standards, Irish was always a bit of a dark horse. Not one to confide his secrets, such as where he got that mysterious scar across his neck, he’s quick with his fists and even quicker to jump to the defense of his MC. But is he nimble enough to handle the woman he never saw coming? Or will she leave him with a matching scar across his heart?

Featuring scorching hot chemistry and plenty of sass, Dirty Ride is sure to rev your engine and get you immediately hooked!

Not quite what I was expecting from an MC romance

Dirty Ride’s plot line had a lot of potential. Unfortunately, I don’t feel it delivered on that potential. Heroine runs away from the abusive ex. She falls in insta-lust with a bad boy biker. She has to navigate the trappings of life in a new town with a new guy while keeping her a look out for the ex. So many possibilities there especially with an MC involved.I liked Valentina, “Tina” and Ardan or “Irish” as his MC brothers know him. I just felt that their characters weren’t adequately developed. There were extraneous scenes that seemed to serve no purpose in furthering the plot and at times the novella read like a dry diary entry. I picked this one up because I really enjoy a good MC romance. There wasn’t much interaction with the motorcycle club until the very end of the book. The angle on the villain could have been played up so much more than it was. I have to say though that it was the saving grace of the novella.

♥♥♥

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Sweet Spot For Victoria By Hayley Faiman

Contemporary Sports Romance

Released February 14, 2016

Self-Published

Series: Men of Baseball, Book 4

Reviewed by Deb

Men of Baseball Novella —

Victoria fell in love with Carlos when she was just a young teenager. Two kids, one successful pro-baseball career, and almost two decades later, she’s sure she doesn’t want to live her life with anyone else. But when news of another baby on the way collides with her already hectic life, the veil of complacency is removed and panic takes its place.

Carlos marched Victoria down to the church as soon as she was eighteen years old, resolute that she was the love of his life. Fourteen years later, he doesn’t regret his decision for even a second. Their life is beautiful, if not a bit crazy, and he loves his little family. But when his Vic starts acting strange, the secrets she keeps causes him to worry that he just might lose the woman who holds his heart.

When truths are revealed on a romantic weekend away with friends, all hell breaks loose. As things begin to unravel, Carlos has to decide what he’s willing to sacrifice to regain his Sweet Spot.

*Recommended for readers 18+ due to graphic sexual content and language.
*** This is a Novella for the Men of Baseball Series, and should be read after the entire series for full comprehension of characters mentioned.

An unexpected surprise

Sweet Spot For Victoriais book 4, and a novella in the Men of Baseball series. I was told it was necessary to read the first three full length books in the series in order to understand the characters of the novella. Okay, I’ll bite. I love sports novels anyway. Book 1, Pitching for Amalie, was a fun read. The writing was good, the story sexy and believable. Books 2 and 3, however, crashed and burned for me. I hate giving negative reviews more than I hate going to the dentist. Really, I do. I’m not sure if Ms. Faiman thought she had to up the ante with subsequent books, but things got out of hand. The “heroes” are so unappealing I was shocked. The “heroines” equally so. I’d have DNF’d both but for the fact I was in train wreck mode and couldn’t look away. I kept hoping it would all be a bad dream. I was wrong.

In Sweet Spot For Victoria, Victoria and Carlos have been married since the age of 18, have two kids, and are a fiery, yet devoted-to-each-other Latino couple. The premise for their story is believable, however, it doesn’t warrant a novella. When Victoria discovers she’s pregnant yet again she’s pissed off. Carlos has refused time and again to get a vasectomy, so she blames him for the birth control failure. Carlos is pissed off that Victoria is pregnant. And so the saga of Carlos being an ass, realizing he’s been an ass, then trying to make up for being an ass begins. This happens at least four times. Throughout it all, Victoria seeks comfort from her gal pals (women from the previous three novels), memories of how wonderful her marriage is, and that Carlos will eventually come around.
My advice if you’re interested in this series…read book 1 and avoid the total disappointment of the other books.

♥♥♥

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Love Me Tenor By Annabeth Albert

Contemporary Romance / GLBTQ / MM / New Adult

Released February 16, 2016

Kensington Books

Series: Perfect Harmony, Book 2.

Reviewed by ButtonsMom2003

There’s no way he’ll shake this off…

Trevor Daniels is feeling aimless. A recent college grad, he’s not sure what to do with his useless degree, and his family all but abandoned him after he revealed the truth about himself. But a friend’s suggestion that he take his chances on a reality show aimed at finding the next big boy band strikes a chord with him—until the show’s producers convince him to act like he’s in a relationship with a guy who’s not at all his type. It isn’t exactly love at first sight for Jalen Smith either—but lust just might push them in an unexpected direction. If only their secrets weren’t even more twisted than their sheets, threatening to cost them the win—and each other…

I love Trevor and Jalen – hot and sexy!

We met Trevor in Treble Maker but you don’t need to have read that book to enjoy this one. Trevor’s family disowned him when he came out to them. He’s graduated from college but has no job prospects and no home to go to. He’s invited to participate in a new reality singing show by one of the producers, who was a production assistant for the a capella contest in Treble Maker.

Jalen has a good relationship with his two mom’s and their blended family. He’s agreed to participate in the reality show to help his sister, a producer on the show. What neither of them know is that they are to be part of an all gay male singing group and are expected to act like they are a couple. To say that Trevor and Jalen don’t hit it off would be an understatement. Jalen and Trevor must learn to work together for the good of their group. They gradually begin to realize that they have feelings for each other. When Jalen discovers the secret that Trevor has been keeping he has to decide whether to keep it from his sister or expose Trevor which might get him thrown off the show.

Annabeth Albert writes compelling prose; she made me care about the characters and once I started this book I couldn’t put it down. I can’t wait to read the next story.

♥♥♥♥♥

O Factor: Scorcher

Perfect Harmony Series:

Treble Maker, Book 1

Love Me Tenor, Book 2

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