This week at Smexy…

B review – A Place Called Harmony by Jodi Thomas (contemporary/tori)
B review – Merciless Ride by Chelsea Camaron (contemporary/tori)
B review – Alex by Sawyer Bennett (contemporary/mandi)
B review – Darling Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt (historical/mandi)
B review – If He’s Daring by Hannah Howell (historical/tori)
B/C review – Christmas Brides Anthology (historical/may)
C review – Raising the Rent by JL Merrow (m/m helyce)
C- review – In the Raw by Eileen Griffin and Nikka Michaels (m/m/mandi)
C- review – Tempting the CEO by Angela Claire (contemporary/sheena)

Nothing Personal by Jaci Burton Feature
Smexy’s Top Ten

News from Mandi: Unfortunately I DNF’d ‘Til Dragons Do Us Part by Lorenda Christensen. It sounded like such a cute set-up and I really want to like this dragon world she has created. It’s not that I dislike it, it’s just that it doesn’t hold my interest. I need more of this world, more humor – something bigger. I got bored with this story…bummed me out.

But the rest of my reading week was fabulous. Darling Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt featured a mute hero and a really great heroine. I reviewed it above.

Dirty Rowdy Thing by Christina Lauren rocked my socks. It’s one of the dirtiest/hottest heroes I’ve read in a long time. Damn. Overall great story. If you have yet to read Sweet Filthy Boy, I highly rec it. Each book is a stand alone but it’s about a group of very close friends and I think you miss some of the dynamics between them if you skip some books. I’m really excited for this series – it’s erotic and really, really dirty – with great characters, banter and humor. Really impressed.

Then to continue my good luck, Blamed by Edie Harris blew me away. The first book in her new romantic suspense series, it features a spy hero and a spy heroine – tons of action and violence. Tons of intense sexual tension and sex. Great supporting characters. This series revolves around the Faraday family – and each book will feature a different family member. I’m already dying for book two – she sets it up well. Highly recommend this one – full review coming soon.

I’m currently reading Caged in Winter by Brighton Walsh. I’m a little over half done – it’s okay but not blowing me away. We’ll see how the second half goes. The heroine is a little too prickly for my taste.

Up next is Romancing the Billionaire by Jessica Claire. I’m excited.  Book two in this series is an all-time fav of mine.

News From Tori: I’ve slacked a little on my review book reading, instead getting caught up in back lists and those dang $.99 book specials. *sigh* I also blame Dear Author’s book recommendation round ups.

A huge fan of Hannah Howell’s Wherlocke series, I finally got around to reading the first four books in the series. I loved them all. Howell does a fabulous job of balancing a well plotted mystery with a sexy lush historical romance. What I really enjoy is the strength of the characters though the plot device of the hero leaving the heroine for 2 weeks to a month at the end to “get himself together” is annoying. It happens every book.

Assumption by Audrea Rose Reynolds is the first in a new series-Underground Kings.This is a spin off of her Until series. I liked it okay. Good protags, secondary characters, and storyline but at times it was all surface matter with no real definition or depth. Certain scenes skipped ahead with no warning and the hero’s regression to alpha chest beating cave man was unattractive at times.

Family Secrets is a three book romance contemporary set with stories by Emily March, Nicole Burnham, and Christina Dodd. Emily March’s story pretty much kept me in a mild rage. A single night in high school results in a baby. Plenty of slut shaming from the heroine’s family and the town folks was bad enough but the hero’s actions to me were worse. He abandons heroine, only trying to see his son after he gets married and grows some balls. He never defends the heroine from the gossip and nastiness of the town-not even when he hears them call his son a bastard. The hero was a jerk and nothing he did made me believe he ever got better. Nicole Burnham writes of a short affair between a woman and a prince and the baby that is the result. It had a strong Mills & Boone feel to it. I liked it in that both protags were intelligent and their reasons for their actions made sense. Christina Dodd’s story was the best. An unemotional billionaire falls for a outspoken woman who runs his messaging service. Lies pull them apart but the hero comes through in the end. I swear that I have read it before.

Lush by Beth Yarnell is the second book in her Pleasures At Home series. Easy to read stand alone that offers a well plotted second chance romance with a nice suspenseful subplot. Super sexy with some HOT seual tension that runs through out the storyline. Review to come.

Wanting It All by Kati Wilde is a new MC romance novella that brings the heat as it sets up the romance and back story for the full length novel coming soon. A quick hot read.

This weekend I am reading Alice Clayton’s Last Call and A.M. Arthur’s Foundation of Trust. I also picked up a sexy historical romance based on the Salem Witch Trials. Curious to see how this reads as the hero’s family started the accusations and the woman he loves had a relative die because of those accusations.