This week at Smexy…..

A review – The Ugly Duchess by Eloisa James (historical)
B review – Feeling Hot by Elle Kennedy (erotic contemporary)
B- review – The Lady is a Vamp by Lynsay Sands (paranormal)
C+ review – I Own the Dawn by ML Buchman (military)
C+ review – Love, Hypothetically by Anne Tenino (contemp m/m)
C review – Close Enough to Touch by Victoria Dahl (contemporary)
C review – Soldier’s Last Stand by Cindy Dees (romantic suspense)
C review – Skybound by Aleksandr Voinov (historical m/m)
C- review – Temptation’s Edge by Eve Berlin (erotic contemporary)
D review – Loving Lady Marcia by Kieran Kramer (historical)

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News From Mandi: I started my week by glomming Elle Kennedy’s Out of Uniform series. Fun and sexy and overall good reads. I highly recommend them. From there I DNF’d Josh by RC Ryan. I could not get into this one. I wanted the hero to be more…hero-ish. More alpha or something. I didn’t get the humor and didn’t feel any chemistry between the characters. Passion Creek by Avery Flynn was an okay romantic suspense. The hero is a history professor with ties to an old treasure legend. And the heroine needs money (running from bad guys) and starts searching for said treasure. I’ll post a full review in a few weeks.

I really enjoyed Clean by Alex Hughes. This is a new dystopian series coming out this Tuesday told in the hero’s POV. Not really romance, but very engaging story about telepath who struggles with a former drug addiction as he consults with the police department. He has a very interesting relationship with his police partner of sorts (the heroine – or I hope future heroine). Great mystery and I loved hero’s struggle with addiction and just his life in general. I’ll be reviewing soon.

The Reluctant Amazon by Sandy James is a light-hearted story about a Kindergarten teacher who learns she is really an Amazon warrior. A little silly, but cute. Review to come. I also read Coercion by Cara McKenna. This novella is the follow up to Curio. Really well done. I highly recommend it (after you read Curio). I can’t wait to continue Didier and Caroly’s story.

Rapture by JR Ward was a pretty good read. I didn’t like it quite as much as the previous Fallen Angel book but still a solid story. Maybe a little slow at times. I enjoyed the heroine and hero though. And Adrian. Oh sweet Ad. He needs love. I’ll be reviewing this for Happy Ever After blog later this month.

I got a sneak peek at Vivian Arend’s next Six Pack Ranch book, Rocky Mountain Angel and I enjoyed the heck out of it. Really fun, warm characters and reallllly hot sex. Whoa. This releases in November but put it on your list!

Finally, I’ve read two out of the three novellas in the Midnight Scandals Anthology. Both Carolyn Jewel and Courtney Milan’s contributios are fabulous. I definitely recommend this. I’ll be reading the Sherry Thomas story today. I also plan to read Something Like Normal by Trish Doller  (Currently $1.99 and I hear very good things) and I’m going to try Trained for Seduction by Mia Downing.

Tori’s News: It’s been an erotic reading week and I am catching up on my TBR pile. Fallen Blake’s Wrapped Around Your Finger was a delightful little niblet about a voluptuous fetish model and a dominant smexy chef who decide to engage in three days of erotic delights to see if what’s cooking in the kitchen extends to the bedroom. Hot and spicy, I enjoyed watching the couple explore their wants and desires for each other. My only complaint? Too short. Cara McKenna’s Coercion, the 2nd in her Curio series about a male prostitute and his lover. A series of short vignettes, Cara gives us teasing scenes and emotional insight into these wonderful characters that both intrigues and satisfies. I wholeheartedly recommend this series. Avril Ashton’s Love The Sinner is a gay for you mm erotic romance about a cop and a drug lord. A viable plot line and some seriously smoking smexy times make for a fast read, but I did feel that the romance was pushed too hard and fast for reality though. Inferno, by Scarlet Blackwell (God, I love her name) is a dark, intense mm erotic about a cop and a gay club owner who’s sexual promiscuous behavior places him dead center of a murder mystery. Hot and dirty, the main conflict was delightfully suspenseful but I had major problems with one of the heroes who flip between alpha and whiny beta. Anne Tenino revists her sexy jocks and give us grumpy arse Paul’s story, Love, Hypothetically. A short, enjoyable read though I felt that the sex scenes overpowered the romance left the heroes issues unresolved. Either way, Paul is delightful in his disgruntledness. Reviewing for RT Magazine.

Tessa Dare’s A Week To Be Wicked was delightful. I love her Spindle Cove series. Miranda and Collins were a joy to meet and watch fall in love. Can’t wait to start the 3rd in the series, A Lady By Midnight, which released this week. Kresley Cole’s Poison Princess, her debut YA which releases in October, was a disappointment for me. I wasn’t expecting her IAD series, but I did expect the same strong character development and storyline that she is famous for. I felt the story and plot lines were disorganized, unbalanced, and the characters unlikable. Thea Harrison’s Lord’s Fall stays in character as we watch Pia as she tries to restore the treaty between the Wyrs and the Elves. Drago stays home to oversee a huge contest that will decide his seven new bodyguards. I liked it overall, (though Dragon Bound remains my fav of all time), but had a few problems that left me scratching my head at times. May and I will be doing a joint review of it at Smexybooks.

I am currently reading m/m erotic romance Man In The MIddle by Stormy Glenn. M/M, menage, and shapeshifters. Do I need to say more? I am also reading Stephanie Laurens’s The Lady Risks All. This is a standalone historical romance. So far, so good. The hero is a sexy gambling den owner with a secret. *nods head* Review to come soon. I hope to get to Kira Brady’s Hearts Of Darkness and Trish Doller’s Something Like Normal-both recs from Jane at Dear Author-this weekend.