The Boat Builder's Bed by Kris Pearson

While on our conf-cation to San Diego my husband and I ate in a Kiwi bar in La Jolla.  In honor of that decent meal and the hubs' lamb burger I picked up this gem to read and review next.  (It takes place in New Zealand.)

This is the love story of Sophie and Rafe.

Rafe, recently divorced millionaire superyacht builder with a huge chip on his shoulder from his upbringing and his bitch of an ex-wife stumbles across Sophie's new design business.  She seems quite familiar to him, and that's because she used to worked for the aforementioned bitch ex-wife.

 As luck would have it he has a house which needs interior design, and he's attracted to our pretty little heroine, even though she fights it at every turn.  She isn't interested in his money, or his social standing, she just wants the financial security and positive buzz decorating his house could bring her.

Regardless he pursues her relentlessly, and eventually she gives in, I mean c'mon, he's a hottie, and he showers her with gifts and affection and seduction.

He's got secrets (and don't forget there's that jealous, bitchy social grubbing money hungry ex-wife), but so does she, her's is a whole lot bigger than his, and as is always the case, the longer you keep secrets the more they fester, and sometimes it comes to a point where there is no way to tell the secret yourself, it always happens that it comes out when you least expect it and usually is spouted out as an act of vitriol by your enemy.

Can they work past what she's hiding, can he forgive her lie?

Pick it up, read it and find out definitely worth your time!  Also, it's a standalone, so there's no angst wait for the next book in the series.

Besides an enjoyable read, I also learned some interesting things about New Zealand culture, there is whangai, the informal inter-family adoption culture among the Maori, and the social and emotional stigma it can bring.  I also learned it takes two years to finalize a divorce, that's one hell of a long time to be tied to somebody when you decide that your marriage is over.

Where I Need to Be by Kimberly Knight

I picked this one up as a group read with one of my FB book groups.  It was released today and is a first book written by one of the members in the group.  It got bumped up ahead of the now... 228 (had to check the Kindle) books waiting to be read.

This is a well told romance between Spencer and Brandon.

As we meet Spencer she is drowning her sorrows in ice cream and watching The Voice (probably for the same reason I watch the Voice*).  Her roommate Ryan gives her the talking to that only a best friend can, kicks her in the ass and shoves her back in to life.

Spencer re-enters the world by joining a gym her job has asked her to write an article about.  The first night there on the treadmill she meets her very own "Gideon Cross"; I loved the meta-ness of this, a book inside a book, like Inception... but I digress, after some smiling and flirting neither does anything about it.

As fate would have it they both end up in an airport on the same flight to Vegas, then the same club where they do some serious dirty dancing, the kind even Patrick Swayze probably couldn't handle, and then end up at the same poker table in Vegas, Fate is a crafty bitch.  

They return home to San Francisco and run in to each other again at the gym and their relationship blossoms.  Turns out he's the gyms owner.

There's a crazy ex-girlfriend with some serious drama, and the two main characters just coming of long term-ish relationships trying to figure out where they belong, and if that place is with each other....

Things don't tie up neatly, it's book one of a series, and you know me, I'm a series whore.  I'll be eagerly awaiting the next release.

Kudos Kimberly, I only hope when my first book gets published it's as good as yours and people enjoy it even half as much, because so far all the buzz I've read and heard is positive and well deserved.

* Namaste to you too Adam...

Writing and traveling

So this week I'm at a conference for work on the west coast and I've also been hard at work on edits on my first book and writing my second book. It's been putting a cramp in my reading schedule, you know all the learning and touristing, and writing.

The good news is I have a title for my book, a cover art concept, I just need an artist, if you're out there and interested drop me a line, no nudity involved, just some photorealistic images.

I also have a pen name and will be setting up an authors page on Facebook soon. I'm looking forward to the holiday break at work, it will give me a chance to do some of the less glamorous stuff that comes along with writing.

I'll be back to reviews later this week, I need to be able to get in to a book, I've started and stopped a couple of different books and read a short story at my lunch break today because I couldn't get into anything that had more than 4 dots on the Kindle App, it just felt like too much of a time commitment to me.

After a dinner of In-N-Out Burger tonight, whose fries are not good cold, BTW, I'm going back to hopping between edits and writing, I'm clearly in ADD mode.

Recommend something that's gonna suck me in and knock my socks off gentle readers, because right now even the hype ain't doing it for this book worm.

Rock the Heart by Michelle A. Valentine

Because rocker is the new kinky rich dude, and I'm a highly suggestible person (thanks book group girls) I picked up this little gem to read.  Also didn't hurt that someone mentioned that Michelle based the main character on Adam Levine, not that he's dreamy or anything... but I digress...

This book follows Noel and Lane (Lanie) through the rekindling of their romance.  Once high school sweet hearts Lanie has gone off to work in marketing and Noel has made it big with his band Black Falcon.

Lane broke his heart and dumped him because she thought he was being immature in thinking music could be a viable career, instead of giving it all up, going to college and being a grown up.  So um, yeah, she's working as an intern barely scraping by and taking money from her mom and he's got money coming out of his ears and has made it big time.

Fate throws them together through  an opportunity at the marketing firm where Lanie is interning.  She gets thrown on tour with the band.  After a less than friendly reunion, Noel sees this as his second chance to get her back in to his bed and back in to life.

Noel has some serious stuff he's hiding, and his bandmates don't seem keen on keeping his secret.  Lanie's got her own baggage and an overwhelming need to prove herself in her career and keep her job whatever it takes.

Will they work it out?  It's definitely worth the ride to find out.

My only problem with this book, and as far as books go it's a big and small problem, when Lane and Noel finally get back in bed together Noel asks what Lane has been up to sexually, if she's on the pill, and wants to have sex with her without a condom, and she agrees.

Wow!  He's a fucking rock star who has likely had more pussy in the last two years than a year's subscription to Cat Fancy magazine, and he doesn't deny it or say he's been celibate she just takes him at his word he's clean and goes for it.... seriously??!?!?  It's a plot thing and a trust thing, and I suppose on some small level I get that.  However too many books I've read lately have downplayed the importance of safe sex (esp in this trope).  It isn't just about preventing pregnancy, it's about the prevention of the transmission of disease, and in a post 1980's world where HIV and other nasty shit exists if you aren't the only sexual partner someone has ever had you best be wrapping that bad boy up until everyone decides you're in a committed relationship and all appropriate testing has been administered.

OK, I'll get off my soap box now.

It really was a great book with a twist and ending I did NOT see coming, and usually I can see them from a mile away.  I'm looking forward to Rock the Bed, the story of Noel's bandmate Riff and Lane's friend Aubrey.  Yeah it's a series... stop judging me....

Click it, buy it and enjoy.

Rock Me by Cherrie Lynn

Candace Andrews, sweet girl, lives on her parents nickel as she goes to college, lives by their rules, lives a boring life.  Secretly she lusts after her cousins ex-boyfriend and really wants to walk on the wild side instead of always playing it safe.

Who better to help her break free of her goody-two shoes self than Brian Ross.  In an act off rebellion Candace shows up at Brian's tattoo parlor one night to get herself a little ink, and a little alone time with Brian.  A sweet heart, strategically placed.

They start spending time together, one things leads to another, they both discover that neither is really who everyone thinks they are, and that making snap judgement based on being "pampered" by your parents or being pierced and inked is probably not the best idea.

Dermamania, Brian's shop is a hangout for their crew of friends, and seems like a fun place to spend a Friday night, there is some drama between both families, some of it downright felonious and they need to decide whether they can work through all the crap and have a future, or take the easy path and just move on.

It's a great book, well written, well paced and plenty of steamy sex.  I also learned something new, I learned what an apadravya is, if you are squeamish, or a dude, or at work, you probably don't want to Google that, it's a male genital piercing even more hard core than a Prince Albert and I thought a PA was pretty hard core.  Although apparently it's a mutually enjoyable body modification.  I cannot imagine this is something I will experience in my lifetime and I am A-OK with that.

This is, wait, I know you're shocked, part of a series, only it's book two, which I read first, then I read book 1, Unleashed, which is a story about Brian's brother and then book 3 which is a story about Candace's friend Macy and Brian's friend and fellow ink-jockey Ghost (Seth).

Cherrie also has a couple of paranormal romances which I have yet to read, it's not a genre I tend to read a lot of, unless it's vampires.  She also just released an anthology with Olivia Cunning (Sole Regret/Sinners), Cari Quinn (Unveiled, Loved Required Hot Shots) and Stephanie Julian with a short story about Brian and Candace, so yay for a follow up of one of my favorite recent couples.

Buy one, buy 'em all, you're bound to enjoy.  Plus the inky pierced guys are about as much the rage as the super rich dude-virgin and menage relationships, so you'll be reading the same thing all us cool kids are reading.

This Man by Jody Ellen Malpas

So I'll blame my book group girls again for pushing another book up the TBR, it was getting hype, people said it was awesome.  I bought said hype... note to self, do not always buy the hype.

This book follows the currently super popular young girl - kinky slightly older man trope.  Seriously, where were these rich kinky older men looking for a young girl when I was 22... oh wait, I already had a kid and was in a relationship at that point... probably not what they'd be looking for anyhow, but I digress... Also my kid is 22 and if some creepy rich guy was hitting on her like this I'd lock her in her damn room... but I digress again...

Ava O'Shea is an interior designer who is invited to do some work at The House for Jesse Ward.  She's expecting a stuffy English country gentleman when she arrives at this "hotel" in the pastoral outskirts of London.  What she gets is a young-ish hottie who is instantly smitten with her.

We are sucked in to their very tumultuous relationship.

Jesse Ward makes Christian Grey look like a well adjusted, mentally stable, productive member of society, who was a boy scout and helps old ladies across the street.  Seriously the man raises sociopathic stalker boyfriend to a whole new level.  I just kept yelling in my head Run Ava, Run.

But Ava didn't listen to me, nope, and she just got deeper and deeper into it with Jesse. Seriously, how many times do those things have to go missing from your purse before you put 2 and 2 together and come up with something other than chair?   There's a saying, "Don't stick your dick in crazy"  the reverse is also true and Ava should have headed that warning.

I loved and hated this book, and there is a sequel coming (actually 2), which I will read because I'm a series whore, but I will do it begrudgingly.

It was an OK read, but there are better books in the trope and this one didn't live up to the hype.

You can walk slowly, to your bookseller of choice if you're interested in this one, or ask a friend to loan it to you as it's actually a loan-able book, at least through Amazon.

Wallbanger by Alice Clayton

My TBR "pile" is insane, like well over 200 insane, so how did a book that was released on Monday this week jump to the top?  Hype, plain and simple, between my Facebook book groups and other venues I heard nothing but how fucking amazing this book was and how it would shoot up the best seller list.

They weren't kidding, this book was hands down one of the funniest books I've read in ages, and it was also a romance, not your usual combination, at least not usually done well, in fact the only other author I've read do this well is RL Matthewson and the Neighbor From Hell Series (seriously, run don't walk to click and buy them all).

Caroline Reynolds is a young professional living in San Francisco, living with her KitchenAid mixer, her cat Clive and a great group of friends, only one problem in Caroline's life, she's lost her O, and we don't mean her subscription to Oprah's magazine, a bad experience with her most recent relationship, a person who was described as a machine-gun fucker has robbed her of it, since her encounter with him she has been O free, and not for lack of trying, fantasies of Jordan Catalano, post-Caesar haircut Clooney, nothing brings it back.

Unfortunately sexually frustrated Caroline has just moved into an apartment next to Simon Parker, the titular Wallbanger.  Her first night sleeping in her apartment after settling in to bed her wall starts to shake, an bang and then enough banging and shaking and a picture falls off the wall and on to her head.  Sure, one night might be ok, but it's night after night, and it appears it isn't just one lady it's 3 (consecutively not concurrently, he's good but not THAT good), affectionately nickname Spanx, Purina and Giggles, each for reasons which become obvious.

After several nights of this a pissed Caroline storms over and bangs on the door, in a pink nightie no less and gives Simon, who answers wearing a sheet, a hard-on and a smile, a piece of her mind.  I think we can all see where this is going.

After their hallway altercation they run into each other at a party, apparently they have mutual friends, they are both their with their two besties, who end up falling for each other pulling Wallbanger and Pink Nightie Girl along for the ride.

They decide to call a truce, and maybe even become friends, mayhem and hilarity ensue.

Will Caroline get her O back, will Simon be able to keep up with his harem, will Clive ever get his true love Purina to love him back?

Hop over to Amazon/B&N/KOBO, who ever your bookseller of choice is and buy it, because you need to know how it all turns out...

Honor Student/Honor thy Teacher by Teresa Mummert

A few months ago this book (books 1&2 in a series of 3) was getting lots of hype so I bought it and it's sat in my Kindle's TBR pile for ages.  I decided to start the series over the weekend to walk away from my edits before I made myself crazy.

Because this is the biggest Trope in the universe these days, young virginal girl, who is maybe a little troubled, gets mixed up with older (but not too much older) guy who is wealthy, dark and broody and is one kinky mother f***er.  I'm reviewing the books together because they tell the same story but one is from Emma's POV and other is from William's POV.

Emma is a sad, lonely college student living with her aunt in Florida.  Her parents are dead, and it seems like there is more to it, but we just don't know and even as the first two books close we never find out.  She's a little self destructive and just trying to make it through the day.

William, a sad, lonely divorced Dom (who is also wealthy) has taken a job teaching a class at a local college to cover for a professor who is out on medical leave.  He's been drifting from fling to fling, currently sleeping with a married secretary at the college.  But he wants more, and he's decided it's time to find himself an actual submissive.

In walks Emma, late to class, head down, all apologetic and innocent looking.  She's a student so William tries to put her out of his mind, but she seems so naturally submissive, and when their eyes meet they are like magnets drawn together.

Catching Emma, and some other students (who bail on her) smoking pot William decides her self destructive behavior needs to stop and that she needs some discipline.  So what would any good college professor who is also a Dom do?  Well bend her over his desk and spank her senseless of course.

I work at a college, I'm pretty sure that shit doesn't happen... let me take that back, I'm *reasonably* sure that shit doesn't happen...

Their relationship escalates to a sexual one where William takes Emma's virginity, and then feels pretty crappy about it.  He wants her, but knows he shouldn't, there are outside and opposing forces at work and plenty of mystery which starts to make more and more sense at the end of book two.  Both Emma and William seem to be on paths of self destruction, and when they are together it is almost as if they are in some kind of nuclear arms assured mutual destruction pact. 

Except for the bomb at the end of the book.  I am eagerly reading the third book in the story because I'm not sure how this can all play out.

Ms. Mummert did a great job of keeping me engaged and guessing and salivating for the next story, I was not distracted by anything shiny while reading these two books, and for me that's a big deal.

Pick them up, they're worth your time, I'm sorry I let them sit in my TBR for so long.

Backstage Pass: Sinners on Tour by Olivia Cunning

Been a few days since I've put together a review, although I've probably finished 4 or 5 (OK closer to 10) books.

I, gentle readers, decided to do NaNoWriMo this year and actually write a book of my own.  The book is complete and now I am in edits, getting ready to send to my beta readers and trying to figure out how the hell I find cover art and copyright the damn thing, but I digress.

So I recently joined another book group on Facebook (I think this now makes 3), and everyone was raving about this series of books, the "Sinners" books, it's a series, and you know me, I loves me a series, although I think what I said on FB was that I'm a series whore, but you know in that classy, I don't sleep around or get paid for it kinda way.  OK enough, now I will actually review the damn book, which was pretty good.

This is the first in a series of five books *squeeeee* about a rock band on tour and everyone's journey towards their own HEA. Book one is about Brian, the lead singer of Sinners.  He's losing his spark, his creative muse has left him, he's feeling down right shit.

One night as the fates would have it he's in a hotel bar and Myrna Evans, a professor of psychology and human sexuality, there for a conference happens upon the band in said bar and sits down for a chat.  She's a fan of the group, but is also interested in what makes them, and more importantly their groupies tick.

She and Brian hit it off right away, and sparks fly.  There is plenty of sex in this book, and it appears that while he's balls deep in Professor Evans his muse arrives and he can hear it clearly and write the music again, sometimes actually on Myrna, like on her skin on her while doing the deed.  I don't know about you, but this might kill the mood for me, also I'm kinda ticklish, so it probably would kill the mood for me.

She ends up spending time with the band following them around learning about the sub-culture that is a touring rock group.  Fear of losing her job as she's recently lost her federal funding gives her the bright idea to write a grant proposal to study groupies and their reasons behind their perceived and actual promiscuity when it comes to the rockers they lust after.

It's an erotic romance, there are twists and turns, angst and plenty of sexy time.  It was a good read.  My only problem is my day job is in research, and the whole time she's talking about her grant and interviewing her subjects I'm worried about whether or not she's obtained the appropriate approvals to do all of this, where is her IRB, does her grants and contracts office know that she's basically paying for a summer on a tour bus, is she getting informed consent from the participants before interviewing them, hell if they're half drunk or high can they even truly provide informed consent.

If I could have gotten out of my head and my work this would have been a great read, but that's my own baggage.  I think Brian and Myrna meshed well together, she was a calming influence when he was wild and adrift and he showed her letting her hair down is just as important as being responsible.

This was my first foray into the rosk-star sub-genre of romance/erotica/erotic-romance, and it likely won't be my last, because somewhere deep down all girls have at least a little thing for bad boy rockers who are all inky and sweaty and wild, right? or is that just me and the ladies in my book group?

Heart of a Soldier by Tamara Hoffa

Boroughs Publishing Group has come up with a new series of short story line called Lunchbox Romance, stories meant to be read and enjoyed while you're on break at work, or wherever the mood strikes you for a short but sweet love story.

This is the story of Charlie and Jamie. Charlie is a widow with a son who is eager to enlist in the army when he finishes high school  Times being what they are Charlie is obviously anxious about Evan, her only child going off to war.  Evan takes his mother with him to meet the recruiter.

Ah the recruiter, the quintessential soldier, tall, handsome, and brave.  Jamie is stateside working as a recruiter while a shoulder injury heals.

There is a spark right away between the soldier and the widow.  Jamie does his best to assuage Charlie's fears, and thinks maybe he could be more helpful in calming her by taking her out to dinner.  The first date is a disaster, but when things are meant to be love always finds a way.

This was a charming read and a strong first effort for Tamara.  I will also say I very much like the idea of short easy to consume love stories.  Don't get me wrong gentle readers, you know I loves me a series, but this was enjoyable, and I'd be interested in not only reading more from the series but also reading more from Tamara.

My thanks to Tamara and the Boroughs Group for providing me with a review copy of the story.  However, I would have gladly paid the $.99 to purchase the story, and considering how many books I purchase and how picky I am with my Kindle budget that's saying something.