Book review: CLAIM, by Sienna Snow

Violent Delights #1

Damon & Sophia

 I was so interested in reading about Sophia, the Morelli family wild child.  She’s charming, so broken because she feels like the family outcast.  Worried about only the family’s reputation, both parents chastise her every time she hits the headlines, and never once did they ask if the gossip is true or if she needs help.  The only one who worries about her is her brother Lucian, who is the other outcast in the family.

She’s looking for something, she needs something, but doesn’t know what.  Researching her sexual desires, she hits her brother’s BDSM club, Violent Delights, and there she meets Damon Pierce.  An experienced Dom, they have a scene, and they find something they had never experienced before.  And an obsession is born!

Both Sophia and Damon have darkness and something traumatic in the past.  Most of it is revealed in this book, but it ends in a cliffhanger and the resolution is to be found in the sequel.

Interestingly, I found their kink scenes riveting.  I loved reading Damon’s care in handling Sophia during a BDSM scene, his need to protect her and giving her what she needed to achieve total freedom and satisfaction.  In spite of Damon having a sordid past, Sophia felt safe in his arms, something she’d never felt before.  I loved the development of feelings between these too, and loved Lucian’s protectiveness towards his little sister.  Sophia is defiant but craves love.  She insists on standing on her own shoes but loves having her brother and Damon on her side.  

The dynamics of the Morelli family are shown, and we get to see Eva, pregnant and in love, preparing for her wedding to Finn.  Baby sister Lizzy also appears, and we learn that all the siblings cooperate to protect her from their parents dysfunction.

My main complaint about this book it that it didn’t flow.  Usually there is a seamless change between scenes and chapters but it didn’t happen in this book.  The characters and the plot were well developed, and I felt there was too much repetition about Damon’s guilt over a past submissive who had a tragical end.  Apart from this, it was interesting and riveting, and I was glad to finally meet Sophia, up close and personal.  She’s lovely and Damon is drool-worthy.  Together they are dynamite and perfectly matched.

Purchase links

Amazon: https://bit.ly/42DmL1a

Amazon Worldwide: https://mybook.to/ClaimSS

Apple Books: https://apple.co/3JEgo4X

Nook: http://bit.ly/3nXcz3W

Kobo: https://bit.ly/43hQEEM

Google Play: https://bit.ly/3zHBOtC

Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3TBeln2

About the author 

Inspired by her years working in corporate America, Sienna loves to serve up stories woven around confident and successful women who know what they want and how to get it, both in—and out—of the bedroom.

Her heroines are fresh, well-educated, and often find love and romance through atypical circumstances.  Sienna treats her readers to enticing slices of hot romance infused with empowerment and indulgent satisfaction.

Sienna loves the life of travel and adventure.  She plans to visit even the farthest corners of the world and delight in experiencing the variety of cultures along the way. When she isn't writing or traveling, Sienna is working on her "happily ever after" with her husband and children.

 

Connect with Sienna

Website: https://siennasnow.com/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15076071.Sienna_Snow

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Sienna-Snow/author/B01M1DHVMD/

 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorsiennasnow/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bysiennasnow/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sienna_snow

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@authorsiennasnow

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/sienna-snow

Book review: HATE YOU ALWAYS, by Jennifer Sucevic

Western Wildcats Hockey #1

Ryder & Juliette

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Juliette and Ryder have known each other since early childhood.  Their parents are friends, her brother and Ryder are best friends, and there’s football all around.  Juliette has been a nerd all her life, excelling in her grades, on her way to med school. Not that she’s a senior in college, she decides she needs to live a little before med school so she has a bucket list to check off before getting really serious about her studies.  One day she decided to attend a party, she gets seriously drunk, and Ryder helps her get home.  He sees the list and decides he’ll be the one to help her check out all the items.

Juliette and Ryder are not friends.  Even though they’ve been close due to family, they’ve kept a big breach between them, fighting this horrendous attraction between them.  And now, they’re fighting to keep it from her brother, as they tick off each item in her list.

It’s a lovely book although predictable, both characters are nice, they have super nice steamy moments.  Ryder appears closed off and like he doesn’t like her, but the truth is he liked her too much and was respecting brother code.  Once he decides to break that barrier, all bets are off, and Juliette is in for a ride.  I loved that she was parts gobsmacked that Ryder would want her, and hesitant because she doesn’t feel like a sex bomb that could attract such a popular athlete who has women falling at his feet left and right.

I found Ryder adorable and Juliette nerdy and naive.  She’s book smart but not life smart.  I found it cute that once Ryder got on the program, he really pushed it.  Poor Juliette didn’t know what she was in for.  The story is sweet and cute, not a lot of angst, some fun.

Purchase links

Grab your copy now!

https://books2read.com/westernwildcats 

 

Add to GR: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62016801-hate-you-always

About the author

Jennifer is a USA Today bestselling author who has published seventeen New Adult and Mature Young Adult novels.  Her novels have been translated into both German and Dutch.  Audiobooks are also in the works.  She has a bachelor’s degree in History and a master’s degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.  She spent five years working as a high school counselor before relocating with her family.  Jennifer lives in the Midwest with her husband and four children.

Connect to Jennifer Sucevic

Facebook Group | Facebook Page | Instagram | Amazon | Bookbub | Goodreads | Website | TikTok | Newsletter

 

 

Book review: LOOK SMART, by Aly Stiles

Work For It #3

Nate & Natalie

 From the sublime to the ridiculous, this story was a hilarious romp.  Nate and Natalie meet from opposite positions in a bid to sell system services to Sandeke Telecom but once they met, there was no possible rivalry.  What I liked about their meet cute is that at the bar, when Nate had on all his swagger, she didn’t get hooked.  It wasn’t until they met at the elevator, that Nate had turned off his swagger and all his tiredness and sadness came out, then she got hooked.  

They spent the night in his room, talking and sharing all their secrets.  And this is where Natalie started to fall, because she saw his beautiful soul.  She was in a career driven, no relations course, and this derailed her choices.

Nate, the older of the two friends Marcos, Nash, had always taken care of his foster friends, protected them and pushed them to succeed.  Now that they have their girlfriends and he was dumped by his, he feels like he’s holding them back.  Add on that he’s in problems at his job, he’s spiraling and is in a dark place.

The story had some hilarious moments with some ridiculous characters that I wonder how they could ever hold a job.  And yet, they were the stars in the seminars that both Nate and Nat had to attend.  Meanwhile, there’s networking and rivalry and a lot of posturing.

While Nat and Nate are falling in love and having their continuous one-night stand that lasted for over five nights, the rest of the cast fell into the sane and the insane. Some characters were just vindictive (Mira, Nate’s ex), clueless (Chad and Reed), helpful but kept in the dark (Nash and Marcos) and just plain dumb (Roger and the strippers).  It was hilarious but interspaced with some very angsty moments for Nate as he delves in his darkness and can’t find a way out.

I loved the push and pull where Nate and Nat wanted but knew they shouldn’t be together, the friends Nash and Marcos helping out as and when they could, and the rest of the cast, either being crazy, idiots, or just plain cruel and coldly ambitious.  It was entertaining, hilarious, heartwarming with angsty undertones.

Purchase links

Amazon US: https://amzn.to/3EtS8B3

Amazon UK: https://bit.ly/3EsHQ48

Amazon CA: https://bit.ly/3Eu71mV

Amazon AU: https://bit.ly/418lgr4

Audible: https://bit.ly/3OlIean

Goodreads: http://bit.ly/3IRdMQP

About the author

From angsty and dark to snort-laugh funny, Aly writes romance from her soul to yours. Aly is a writer, musician, producer, and terrible cook. Her books (and music) stretch genres and include emotional, angsty...

  

Find Aly Stiles online

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/author/alystiles

Goodreads: http://bit.ly/3n3XBCP

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authoralystiles/

Facebook Reader Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/AlysBreakfastClub/

Newsletter: http://www.subscribepage.com/r4a5s1

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authoralystiles/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/aly_stiles

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/authoralystiles/

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2BThWpZ

Website: http://www.alystiles.com/

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3

 

 

Connect with Smartypants Romance

Facebook: http://bit.ly/2kvDnb4

Twitter: http://bit.ly/2lzyduO

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2lGdIMQ

Instagram: http://bit.ly/2kwKsYK

Website: https://smartypantsromance.com/

Newsletter: https://smartypantsromance.com/newsletter/

 

Book review: BAD BOY BRODY, by TIJAN

 OMG, this book is as fantastic as the other Tijan books! It sucked me into the story right from the beginning and kept me rapt all the way through, as in I read it in one day.  What an incredible story, what incredible characters!

I love Hollywood stories, so I loved that the male character is an A-lister, especially now when he fell a little from grace.  He was in his first important movie premiere when he listened on the phone as his brother crashed and died and that turned his world sideways.  He went crazy, drinking, whoring and fighting and his golden light turned a little tawdry, earning him the nickname Bad Boy Brody.  Now he’s in Montana, about to start a movie, not his first choice, but a condition in order to make the film he really wants to make.

I love the coincidence that he’s forced to be in Montana, forced to be in this movie, and his life is about to take a significant turn in his life!  On the way to the house where the movie takes place, they’re surprised with a herd run of wild mustangs, and perched among one of them is this woman who feels as one with the horse, no saddle and no bridle, impressive and memorable.  Days later, he meets the woman in one of his walks around the property and his future and his heart are taken prisoner!

I loved Brody, he takes his craft seriously, he memorizes his lines before he starts a movie, always on time, always professional.  He’s now drinking a lot, he’s a little scattered but he’s no less professional.  He’s having a hard time, reliving the memory of the phone call as his brother crashed.  But if he was a memorable character, Morgan takes the throne on mystic and wonderful female characters.  Abandoned by her stepfather and siblings when her mother was killed, she was raised by nannies but more importantly, she was taken in by one of the mustangs, Shoal.  And when Shoal had a foal, Shiloh, she turned into her sister.  They had an uncanny connection and when they ran, it was as if they were one soul and one mind.  She was not completely of the human race, she turned off her humanity after her mother was murdered and she felt more confident among the herd, following the stallion and Shoal, riding on Shiloh.  It felt truly mystic!

This love story was utterly delightful.  Morgan brings a lot of wisdom from being so connected to the animals and nature.  She awed Brody with her straightforwardness and beauty and some of that mystical feeling she brings.  There were several moments when I cried, like when her step-siblings arrive on the scene and see her for the first time in years.  To see a man, Finn, cry because he sees who he considers his baby sister was truly heartbreaking and heartwarming.  Same for his twin sister, Abby.  Initially I thought they didn’t have good intentions but in that scene, I was sure there was only love.

I loved the way Brody brought Morgan from the land of the herd into humanity, little by little, cemented in the strong relation they were developing.  I loved how Brody furiously defended her against everyone who wanted to exploit her.  He was always on her side, no compromises.  And in being so strongly defended, so strongly loved, she made her way, step by step, back into the world of the humans, but she was an improved version, because she had the wisdom of her foster family, Shoal and Shiloh.

Just when you think you’ve read all the good Tijan books, you find an older book and it hits you in your face, that she’s been this incredibly wonderful story teller long before I chanced on her books.  Absolutely wonderful!

Purchase links

https://amzn.to/3MECZjF

About the author 

Tijan is a New York Times Bestselling author that writes suspenseful and unpredictable novels. Her characters are strong, intense, and gut-wrenchingly real with a little bit of sass on the side. Tijan began writing after college and once she started, she was hooked. She's written multi-bestsellers including the Fallen Crest series, Ryan's Bed, Enemies and others.
She is currently writing many new books and series with an English Cocker she adores.

 

Connect with Tijan:

Website: http://www.tijansbooks.com/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4851199.Tijan

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Tijan/e/B00DJG52QE

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Tijansbooks/

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/tijansaudiomen

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tijansbooks/

Twitter: www.twitter.com/tijansbooks

TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@tijan_author

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/tijan