This week at Smexy…..

A+ review – The Kingmakers by Susan & Clay Griffith (fantasy)
A- review – Not Proper Enough by Carolyn Jewel (historical)
B+ review – Riveted by Meljean Brook (steampunk)
B review – Midnight Scandals Anthology (historical)
B review – His Very Own Girl by Carrie Lofty (historical)
B review – Clean by Alex Hughes (futuristic/scifi)
B review – When You Give a Duke a Diamond (historical)
C+ review – Playing to Win by Jaci Burton (contemporary)
C review – Archangel’s Storm by Nalini Singh (paranormal)
D review – When Lightning Strikes by Brenda Novak (contemporary)

Guest Author Carrie Lofty
Smexy’s Top Ten
May writes – Helpless Females Need Not Apply

New From Mandi: Had some ups and downs this week. Started with a down – I DNF’d Trained for Seduction by Mia Downing. Virgin heroine becomes some super spy, gets seduced by her boss – I felt insta love coming on and just wasn’t buying into the elite spy stuff. I moved onto Second Hand by Heidi Cullinan and Marie Sexton. This one was ok, but it featured a gay for you theme, which I normally like, but I feel like it wasn’t explored enough in this book. I’ll be posting a review this week. Until There Was You by Jessica Scott is the second book in her military series. While I really liked the first book, this one didn’t do a lot for me. The nice sexual tension at the beginning didn’t really lead anywhere.

All was not lost this week though! I got a sneak peek at Shannon Stacey’s new book (out Monday) All He Ever Needed, and it is SO good! Cute, sexy, funny, just all around a fun book. Highly recommend this one. I’ll post my review on Monday.

I read As You Wish by Elyssa Patrick, a debut author. She writes an adorable heroine but the hero left me frustrated. He openly admits to being a jerk, but I wish he had been redeemed more – both with his daughter and the heroine. But I like this author’s voice and I hope she has contemporary books coming our way.

I ended the week with DNFing both Mountain Devil by Sue Lyndon and Earthly Desires by Leta Blake. Those two novellas were just not for me.

I’m currently reading His Mistletoe Bride by Vanessa Kelly…I’ll report back next week.

News From Tori:  Kira Brady’s Hearts Of Darkness is a convoluted PNR of mixed mythologies and dark worlds. Enjoyable but heavily saturated with world building and back stories. Moira Roger’s Impulse, part of their Southern Arcadia series, is the story of Sera and Julio. Steamy with mild BDSM, the romance facilitates the long reaching arc. I loved seeing old faces and getting clues to what’s to come. My only complaint? At times, the word games that Sera and Julio played were annoying. I FINALLY was able to read G.A Aiken’s How To Drive A Dragon Crazy-#6 in her Dragon series. LOVED! Izzy and E were adorable and the snark is as potent now as the first book in the series. The arc continues to expand and we are now seeing what is possibly in the future of the children. Jennifer Lynn Barnes wolf trilogy blew me away so I picked up her newest release Every Other Day to see if this series will blow me away too. A fast YA read. A young girl finds herself changing at puberty from human to human every other day. On her off days, she’s supernatural hunter who’s questions about who and what she is sends her and her friends on a journey of great wonder and horror. Ready for book 2.

Something Like Normal by Trish Doller is a wonderful story about a young man, just back from Afghanistan, who tries to acclimate himself to home. Old love, new love, and forgiveness are the main components. Melody Anne’s The Tycoon’s Revenge-#1 in the Baby for Billionaires series, is a short ready made family romance about a couple torn from each other through lies who reconnect nine years later. Very steamy and cute. Free on Amazon right now.

Naked, by Raine Miller, is a very short serial series about a young woman who meets and falls in love (lust) with a rich, older, dominant security consultant. Reminiscent of E.L. James-50 Shades, I found myself wary of the physical similarities though the main conflict is different. I liked but I’m still on the fence. Review to come. I recently finished two m/m’s that were more porn then erotica. Alexi’s King & Man In The Middle. I’ll be the first to tell you I love m/m romances, but I actually NEED the romance and a viable plot-not just endless, repetitive sex. Le disappointed. Reviewed for RT Book Reviews.

Stephanie Laurens historical romance- The Lady Risks All–introduces us to two extremely loyal people who have given up much in their lives in order to save their families. Bloated with lyrical descriptions and prose-y dialogue, I found myself enjoying certain aspects but skipping whole sections in order to reach the end. Review to come. I am a HUGE fan of Jennifer Ashley’s Regency Pirate series and devoured books 2 and 3-Pirate Hunter’s Lady, which is James Ardmore’s story and Care & Feeding Of Pirates, which is Honoria Ardmore’s story. Loved them both. Humor, romance, and angst made for delightful tales about pirates and the strong heroines who love them. Each is only $2.99 on Amazon and both over 300 pages.

This weekend I am looking forward to reading Tessa Dare’s 3rd Spindle Cove book-A Lady by Midnight, Elyssa Patrick’s As You Wish, The Dead Girls Detective Agency by Suzy cox, and Samantha Young’s On Dublin Street.

News From Helyce:  I am exhausted. I had extra hours this week, soccer practice for both my kids is in full swing and I had back to back Back To School nights on Wednesday and Thursday.  All I really want to do is lay around and veg, but it’s just not meant to be.  My son has THREE soccer games this weekend and while my daughter only has one, it’ll be a miracle if I get anything done this weekend.  I missed the wrap up last week, so let me catch up a bit:

After seeing Tori tweet about Mary Calmes’ series A Matter Of Time, Vol. I & II and Bulletproof, I had to give it a shot and I’m so very glad I did.  This m/m series follows Jory and Sam as they attempt to navigate a relationship while the bad guys are continually trying to kill Jory.  Sam is a "not out" cop who falls for Jory the moment he sees him, but struggles with being able to pursue the relationship and maintain the respect of his peers at work.  Jory, is out and proud and while he knows that Sam is his one and only, he will not accept anything less then an out and proud relationship. I am half in love with Jory myself.  A perfect combination of humor and intrigue, if you are a fan of m/m you really must give this series a shot!

I read and reviewed The Lady is a Vamp by Lynsay Sands last week. I am a long time fan of the Argeneau series by Ms. Sands and while the two or three books before this one were not up to par with her earlier work, in my opinion, this one was a bit better and I enjoyed it.  Bringing back several of the previous characters gave this book a good feel and was like catching up with old friends.
Next up, I read Run The Risk by Lori Foster.  This is the first book in her Love Undercover series.  I’m not sure if it’s connected to her recent Men of Honor series.  It continues with the human trafficking theme from that series, but only slightly.  In Run The Risk we follow Logan Risk as he goes undercover and places himself smack dab in the life of Pepper Yates.  Only Pepper is kind of hiding out herself.  Logan is aware of this, but he needs to draw Pepper out so that he can get his hands on her brother, Rowley, and get the information he needs to avenge the death of a fellow detective who happened to be Logan’s best friend.  I liked Logan, A LOT and while Pepper got on my nerves a little bit, it really was just part of her character.  I loved her brother Rowley and I’m hoping he gets a book at some point.  Logan’s partner, Reese, was also very likable and I think his story is up next.  If you’re a fan of Lori Foster’s romantic suspense, this one is a winner! Review coming up soon.

After that, I moved on to Vivian Arend’s two upcoming releases.  First I read Silver Mine, book 2 in her Takhini Wolves series. I really enjoyed this story.  Ms. Arend does a wonderful job with her characters in here.  I love how she always creates characters that are interesting even with their flaws which in this instance actually make them all the more interesting because of it.  Review to come soon.  Next, I had the pleasure of reading Rocky Mountain Angel, book 4 of Ms. Arend’s Six Pack Ranch series.  Loved!  I’ve been looking forward to getting Gabe’s story since he participated in a menage in book two.  This story uses a "relationship of convenience" premise, but it’s not long before the couples natural chemistry takes over and their ruse is no longer necessary!  Review to come closer to release.

For fun, I read Second Hand by Heidi Cullinan and Marie Sexton.  I am a huge fan of both these authors and while I thought this m/m love story was cute, I wasn’t pulled into the story in the way I’ve come to expect from these authors.  I enjoyed the characters, especially El and his crazy family.  For me, this one was just okay.

Lastly, Ms. "I can’t get enough of my sexy SEALS" Mandi turned me on to Elle Kennedy and her recent release Feeling Hot. Loved!  She had me when she said, "best m/m/f menage scene ever!" And then she proceeded to email me with a hint as to why it’s the best menage scene and well, what can I say.  Mandi recs it, I read it.  Sexy and hot, all the way!

This weekend I hope to finish up Cari Quinn’s No Flowers Required.  It’s going a bit slow for me, and I don’t like that the hero has started off with a lie, but we’ll see how it goes.  I also hope to finish Forged In Fire by Trish McCallan.  I’m not sure if it’s considered romantic suspense or a paranormal as there is an element of telepathy.  The heroine sees the future in the form of dreams and the hero see bits of the future when he touches someone.  So far, interesting.  And the guys are SEALS…need I say more!

News From May: This week was a sad one because although it was an amazeballz week of releases, my kindle died Monday night (at least it was under warrantee and therefore replaceable for free!), and a new one was not had until Friday morning. Just hours after amazon announced new kindles, naturally. Add in that Amazon is holding my paper copies of 3 great books hostage and/or they’re in USPS system somewhere and it adds up to a bad week for me + reading.

I did read a cute novella, How to Date a Henchman by Marie Fee and a bad historical, Return of the Viscount by Gayle Callen though. Now I’m working on a Joss Ware book – all three will be reviewed here at Smexy soon!

Also to be reviewed here soon, I’ve got How to Drive a Dragon Crazy by GA Aiken and I’m savoring it.  I want to make this one last for days and days so it never ends! If you’re not reading this series and you like PNR or Urban Fantasy even a tiny bit – you must start immediately. Oh how I love those crazy dragons.