Tori’s Reviews:

Drive by Sidney Bristol
Romance Suspense
RATING: DNF

Drive promised to be an exciting romance suspense pairing a roller derby queen with a bad boy street racer who is helping the FBI. Having read Sidney Bristol before, I expected a well plotted action packed story with a romance dripping with lust and sexy times. Unfortunately, I didn’t get much of that. The story starts out well. We meet the main protagonists and get their back story. Adrian owns an auto repair shop and likes to street race. He is pulled into an undercover FBI sting to get a dangerous drug dealer off the streets. Madison married young and stayed until she couldn’t ignore her husband’s criminal activity anymore. Now her ex husband wants something she has back and hires Adrian (who is undercover) to get it, using whatever means necessary. Sounds like a cornucopia of action. Yet I got just past 50% and hardly anything had happened. A lot of plotlines set up, repetitive dialogue, and explanations (we learn over and over why Adrian is helping the FBI and why Madison married a criminal) but no action. No roller derby scenes. No car races. Nothing. The favorable chemistry and witty banter between the protagonists weren’t enough to save this story for me.

One of the Guys by Shiloh Walker
Erotic Romance Contemporary
RATING: B

This reissued sexy erotic romance brings the sweet and the heat when a woman discovers her fiance having a menage a trois in their bed with his best friend and a neighbor. When her fiance tells her lack of femininity pushed him to it, she decides to prove him wrong and looks to her best friend for help.  Friends to lovers is on my list of top ten tropes to read. Watching two people discover that spark that catapults them from platonic to sexual is enjoyable but seeing them try to work through it is where the true story lies. Walker gives her heroine what she needs right off the bat with an explicit sexual fantasy that takes her beyond her boundaries but takes her time building the romance, giving the hero and heroine plenty of time to come to terms with the new aspects of their relationship and decide if this is truly what they want. The ending was a little rushed and there was a few scenes that seemed to just pop up out of nowhere, but I liked that the heroine was able to deal with her ex fiance herself, closing that chapter of her life.

Alexei by Roxie Rivera
Romance Contemporary
RATING: B

I waited a VERY long time for this story and Rivera delivers. Rivera’s Russian Protector series is a romance suspense series with culturally bound alpha males and the strong woman they fall for. The bite of the criminal element and ongoing storyline blends well with the steamy romantic tug of war.  A fast reads that follow a predictable path; it’s the characters who draw you in and hold you there. These aren’t perfect people and they often make decisions that require some groveling to get back into their loved ones good graces.

Alexei is a Russian former soldier for the mob and attempting to go clean. He’s not one for long term romance, he is well known for his revolving door of mistresses, but all that changes when he meets Shay. Shay work two jobs in order to support herself and her sister while trying raise capital to start her own business. Attracted to Alexei, she avoids him feeling he is well out of her league. When her sister puts her in dangerous position, Alexei comes to her rescue and places her under his protection. From there this couple attempts to come to terms with their attraction as each learns lessons in communication and trust.

Mandi’s Reviews:

Be Not Afraid by Alyssa Cole
Historical Romance
Grade: B

A novella coming in at about 60 pages – I wish it had been longer as I loved these characters, but in these 60 pages we get an engaging story. Set during the Revolutionary war, it features two slaves who meet but they are on different sides, although they are both fighting to be free. Elijah is fighting with the colonists, promised freedom. Kate is also seeking freedom, serving the British. Elijah get separated from his army, and sees Kate fight off and kill a man who tries to cause her harm. He gets captured by the British and he and Kate get to know each other. They both feel the other is fighting on the wrong side – Elijah, fighting for the same man who enslaved him, and Kate, wary of men in general, it takes her time to see the kindness and warmth Elijah has to offer.