This week at Smexy…

A- review – Ivory by Lola Dodge (paranormal romance)
B+ review – Beauty and the Blacksmith by Tessa Dare (historical romance, novella)
B+ review – Against The Dark (romantic suspense)
C+ review- Rogue Descendant by Jenna Black (urban fantasy)
C+ review- Bullheaded by Catt Ford (contemporary, mm)
C+ review- Breathing His Air by Debra Kayn (contemporary)
C review- Never Too Late by Amara Royce (historical romance)
C Review- Locked by Maya Cross (erotic contemporary)
C- review – Night Demon by Lisa Kessler (paranormal romance)
D review- Crimson Debt by Evangeline Anderson (paranormal romance)

Retro Reads-Lori Foster’s Jude’s Law
Authors, Please Share Your Intentions
Feature: Saved By The Bride By Fiona Lowe
Smexy’s Top Ten – May 3

May’s News:  This week I didn’t read any books because they were just too awful and they had to be cut loose. I’m quite serious here.

 First off, I seem to have (with a few exceptions) broken up with historical romance. Most are just really not good lately – and that makes me sad. I tried Vicky Dreiling’s What a Wicked Earl Wants and at first it had me seeing red (seriously, the start is re-telling of the novella she released a few months ago!) and then it had me bored and annoyed with every single character. I didn’t want to just put it down and walk away so I skipped forward to the end. Sometimes, when a story is on the verge of DNF I will do this. I’d say about 30-40% of the time what I see convinces me to go back and read it. This was not one of those times. I didn’t like what I saw at the end, and so into the DNF bin this book goes.

 Speaking of DNF, I had to do the same with the new Tamara Morgan book coming soon, The Rebound Girl. The cover is 10 kinds of crazy cute. The setup includes a Kindergarten teaching hero. I love Tamara’s brand of funny and so I was set to go… until I wasn’t. The heroine is a (fat assed – no really) plastic surgeon who has an abundance of confidence. She meets the hero at a bar where I didn’t realize he was the hero at first because of how he was acting.  Jane @ Dear Author described him as “milquetoast” and I find that to be the perfect word. Anyhow… she was so overbearing and he was so weak that it was really uncomfortable and I didn’t think I could continue. But I gave it one more chapter. In which they meet for the second time (at his school/work) where he is holding a plate of cookies he’s deathly allergic to because he doesn’t know how to say that to the mom that is trying to hit on him and handed them to him. Ok, that’s bad. But wait. The “heroine” announces to the moms of his students that he’s taking her for a bikini wax and then they plan on taking it for a test drive. I think this is meant to be a joke, but it didn’t work. It just made me picture a very tiny man with a very large butted bossy woman who drags him around by the ear. #DNF

 So now what?! Well, I started reading Hannah Howell’s If He’s Tempted   because Tori rec’d it and so far I like it. However, some smexy-mail just landed on my doorstep in the form of the new A.A. Aguirre  Bronze Gods which is releasing soon, and so I think I’ll dive into that. Review to come here at Smexy.

Tori-Fine, throw me over for Aguirre.

Tori’s News: It’s been a slow reading week for me.

First off, my e book arc of The Cursed by Alyssa Day is horribly corrupted and no amount of messing with it can fix it. I also feel I shouldn’t HAVE to fix it. After no response from the editor, I had to chuck it. I will purchase a finished copy when it releases and try to review then.

M.L. Brennan’s debut Urban Fantasy Generation V was a pleasant surprise. A deceptively dark & funny coming of age novel centering around a 26 year old vampire who embraces his humanity when a group of young girls goes missing in his town. Brennan gives a much need shot of life to the vampire myths of late and a new hero to enjoy. Review to come.

Dead Man’s Tales is the second installment of Jocelynn Drake’s Asylum Tales and assures us all there is no fear of the sophomore slump. Humor and horror go hand in hand as we watch our reluctant hero-Gage Powell once again take on the world. Review to come.

K. Bromberg’s Driven is a romantic contemporary trilogy along the lines of 50 Shades and the Crossfire series. Though the storyline offers nothing new trope wise, the protagonists shine through and kept this reader hooked. Review to come.

Cooking for Cowboy by Brenda Sinclair is a lightweight rom com that speeds through all the plot devices, leaving the reader to wonder what exactly just happened. An unemployed chef is hired to cook on a ranch and soon finds herself romanced by the ranch’s owner. The conflict resolves in one page and the story has problems deciding if it wants to racy or Christian based.

Amanda Cowen’s Between Friends is a friends to lovers story that starts off cute but I found the heroine’s doormat tendencies and her atrocious friends took some of the enjoyment out of it. Plus, the miscommunication theme got old quick.

Back to You by Natalie Nicole Bates was just strange to read. First off, the cover doesn’t match the story. These are suppose to be two people in their late 30’s/early 40’s. A cop and a writer. This looks like a glamour shot of a pimp and his “lady.”  Though, I see the cover is different on Amazon. It’s much better. Much, much better.  The story- second chance love-is abrupt with plot lines that go nowhere and every male wants to bed the heroine (we are told numerous time how beautiful she is). All she wants out of life is to get married and have kids. It’s all rather boring.

I’m currently doing a Kate Daniels re read in hopes it will magically transform May into July.