This week at Smexy….

A- review – Together for Christmas by Lisa Plumley (holiday contemp)
B+ review – Pride and Politics by Daisy Harris (m/m contemp)
B review – Howl for It by Shelly Laurenston and Cynthia Eden (pnr)
B- review – The Care and Feeding of an Alpha Male by Jessica Clare (erotic contemp)
C+ review – Offside by Juliana Stone (contemp)
C review – Dark Currents by Jacqueline Carey (UF)
C- review – My Favorite Mistake by Chelsea Cameron (new age contemp)
C- review – The Return of the Viscount by Gale Callen (historical)
C- review – Hard Core by Jennifer Lowery (romantic suspense)
D review – Velveteen by Daniel Marks (YA UF)

Interview with Jessica Scott
The Sexy Forearm
Smexy’s Top Ten

Giveaway of The Fever Series and Iced by Karen Marie Moning – open to all through 10/29.

News from Mandi: Down for the Count by Christine Bell is a really fun, sexy romance about a woman who discovers her husband cheating on her the day of their wedding and her BFF’s brother, who whisks her away for some regrouping time…which in turn becomes a romance. The aftermath of the cheating is handled well, if not light-hearted. The dude was a weasel anyway. The brother aka hero is a professional boxer who looks damn good in a bathing suit. Lots of humor in this one and some very sexy times. I really enjoyed.

A Night of No Return by Sarah Morgan has a damaged, extremely cranky hero in it, which I always love. I really enjoyed the heroine too. This book worked really well for me until the end. The hero professes the entire book he is too damaged to love, and I believed him. But the end, the ‘love’ declaration is rushed. I needed to see more of a transformation, not just with him, but with their actual relationship. It needed more pages.

I had to DNF Santuario by GB Gordon. It’s a m/m from a debut author – and I could not get engaged with this story. I was confused about what was going on and it held no interest for me. I am currently reading another m/m right now, Darwin’s Natural Selection by Katie Allen. This one has a hero who was violently assaulted six months prior to the story starting, so now he suffers from sever panic attacks and anxiety. He is very awkward in social situations (and I love this). He meets a construction worker he falls for hard – but it takes many pages for them to actually be together, due to his anxiety. (maybe a little too much with the anxiety). The weird thing is, the construction worker hero – in his past he was captured and experimented on or something? I’m still working out that part – but I think he might have super strength because of it? It’s really weird and feels totally out of place in this story. It’s barely touched upon and I’m not done the book yet so we’ll see how that plays out. Otherwise, this is an erotic that is pretty sexy.

Rev it Up by Julie Ann Walker continues the Black Knight series and was a pretty fun read. The set up – the hero has loved the heroine for years, her husband died, he has matured, now he wants her – isn’t my favorite. I got a little bored with that part. What I really liked were the side characters in this one and the story line. Fun series that I rec though.

I tried Love Left Behind by SH Kolee, hearing it had a jealous/possessive type hero (I like that in Gideon Cross). But this one didn’t work for me. The hero never came across as sexy, rather just plain old creepy. It got weird. I know a lot who have liked it – so if you like the jealous hero, you might like this one. Not for me though.

Finally, Double Time by Olivia Cunning was good. Trey broke my heart and I liked the heroine too. The scenes with the other members of the band were fun. There is m/f, m/m and m/m/f scenes. Helllloooo sexy times. I didn’t love the second hero – I felt he was cold and I didn’t like some of his actions. But overall a fun book. Review coming.

Going to try Paradise Hops by Liz Crowe this weekend. The blurb appeals to me.

Tori News: The kid STILL hasn’t picked out a halloween costume yet. At this rate, she’s going to be a ghost. A floral ghost as I have no white sheets.

I got on a Mary Calmes kick with Timing, Again, His Hearth, and Tooth & Nail. I enjoyed them all. Timing is a wonderful story about two men who realize that their hatred of one another is merely foreplay. Has sexy chaps wearing cowboy. Nom Nom. Again is a short second chance love story. I liked but I thought the misunderstanding that drove this couple apart should have been addressed more seriously than it was. His Hearth and Tooth & Nail are part of Mary’s Warder series. Short PNR M/M’s with demons, sentinels, warders, and finding true love.

Mandi emailed me telling me I had to read Skye Warren’s Hear Me, #3 in her Dark Erotica series. WOWZA. A dark emotional bdsm thriller that leaves you wondering and thinking long you turn the final page. Helyce’s review of J.L. Merrow’s Pressure Head made me pick it up and I enjoyed a lot. Fast pacing with a nice balance of mystery and m/m romance.

N.M. Facile’s Across The Hall is a new adult about a young woman whose ex boyfriend moves in across the hall from her. He dumped her harshly 6 years ago and it took her years to get over him. Now he’s back and she finds herself caught between a new and an old love. Interesting though it drags in some areas as we get to the meat of the story. Twitter buddy mad4rombks, loaned me Highland Moonlight by Theresa J. Reasor. A sweet yet poignant historical romance about a young woman who is forced to marry the Laird who shamed her and now they both struggle to make the marriage work. Just loved. Watching Mary struggle to forgive Alexander while watching Alex struggle against the guilt he feels for his previous actions made for an engaging storyline. Humor, action, a taunt plot line, and various sundries make Teresa Reasor an author I plan on reading more of.

Consequences by Althea Romig shocked me as I didn’t expect to like as much as I did. Consequences is a psychological horror that is made more so by the feeling that this could actually happen. When a young woman signs a contract to work for a handsome billionaire, she had no idea of the “consequences” of her actions. Filled with deception, betrayal, and machiavellian twists and turns, flipping between past, present and alternating POVs, you find yourself stunned as the true nature of the plot is revealed.

I did some re reads this week. Julie Garwood’s Ransom. *happy sigh* Love her laird’s series. My slacker brother FINALLY sent back my Kate Daniel books,. *grumble*,so I am happily re reading and I have missed them so much. Up for this weekend is Julie Kawaga’s Lost Prince, Eileen Wilks Mortal Ties, and hopefully Jennifer Ashley’s The Seduction Of Elliot McBride.

News from Helyce:  We’ve had the weirdest weather here in California.  Dark, overcast, rainy-which is normally perfect reading weather.  Except I had to work a lot this week. So, not much to report this week.

I finished up Law Man by Kristen Ashely.  While Tuck from Motorcycle Man continues to be my favorite of the four male leads in this series, I enjoyed the story in Law Man the most. While Mitch took the cake on the whole apha-hole-ness with the men in this series, I enjoyed Mara’s character and her crazy trailer trash family brought a smile to my face several times.  It’s also the only one that I seemed to have been the most emotional about, tears coming to my eyes on occasion.  All in all, a definite recommend on this series from me.  Total guilty pleasure, though.

Next up, I read an ARC from author Daisy Harris called My Fair Dork.  While that’s the published title, she refers to it as GIANT DONG OF DOOM, which of course means I just had to read it.  My Fair Dork is the next book in her Men of Holsum College series and I enjoyed it.  As the working title suggests, poor Harold has been blessed with a rather large penis.  He doesn’t see it as a blessing at all.  In fact, he wears huge clothing to mask his package, and showers at 2 a.m. so as not to be seen in the dorm bathrooms.  He has a little crush on Owen who lives across the hall from him, but he’s sure Owen is straight. Owen thinks he’s bi; a high school boy crush and an encounter at camp his only real experiences, he’s mainly dated girls.  Owen is good looking, poplular athletic. A chance encounter in the showers has Owen looking at Harold in a different way. A friends to lovers story-I’ll be reviewing soon.

I’m currently reading Dirty Secret by Rhys Ford.  This is the sequel to Dirty Kiss and continues the story of Cole and Jae Min as they try to unravel another mystery involving some high powered Korean families.  Bullets are flying, people are dying, and Cole gets shot at, again.  Being gay is something that Korean men hide.  Watching Jae Min struggle with wanting to openly claim Cole is heart-wrenching-but it’s all about saving face and family.  I should finish up this weekend.  Review to come.

My TBR is a mess.  I need to get a handle on it.  Hopefully this weekend!