Natalie is hired on as the assistant pitching coach for a major league baseball team. Raphael and Joel are pitchers. Darryl plays first base and is a star hitter.
I actually like baseball, so this was much more my speed. The many baseball details and the suspense in the game descriptions were terrific. It was a great story about baseball as well as a romance. The sex scenes were hot, and there was a good amount of humor in this.
The only thing I didn’t like was how quickly Natalie fell into bed with Raphael. This happens early on, so it’s not a spoiler. It felt like a cheesy porno set up like the hot guy delivering a pizza and suddenly they are having sex. I wasn’t a fan. I definitely wanted more chemistry in their interactions and getting to know one another before they had sex. But the novel got much better from there!
There is a cute little bonus epilogue chapter online set 15 years later.
SAFE – no cheating, Other People drama, love triangles, or non or dubious consent.
Graphic sex scenes both one-on-one and group. No touching between the men.
Occasional foul language.
1st person past tense from Natalie and all three guys.
There are some unnecessary dialogue tags, but not so many as to detract from the pacing.
Alright is not a word, it’s all right. Mom/Dad should be capitalized like a proper name. Aside from that, I only found 8 errors, so this is very well edited.
Dark, reverse harem, high school, organized crime, romance
There is a ton of sex in these books! It’s very long, and it has a lot of story too. But the sex to story ratio is much higher than I usually see. Harlow could be a nymphomaniac, so it’s good she has four guys to keep up with her. I mean there is sexually confident, and then there is, “I draw the line at full-on prostitution, but most everything else is fair game.” It’s downright raunchy. Don’t get me wrong, a lot of it is hot, but some of it was a bit much for me, mostly the hate sex. And I regularly read and enjoy novels with graphic sexual content.
The beginning of this is a bully story but make that a gang, as in large criminal organization, bullying the girl. The whole backstory for this novel is disgusting. I hate that all the teens treat sex so casually, completely separating it from emotions. It’s difficult to get past all this. If this were me, I would have gotten the hell out of there, moved to a different country or something.
The gang stuff and what the guys do to Harlow in the beginning was crazy. I was having trouble suspending disbelief. Harlow’s superhero level skill set, strength, and attitude in the face of all this was stretching credibility. It’s like all the main characters are a trained army. Death means nothing to them. Natural born killers.
By Chapter 18 of the first book, I was feeling like this was going to be too long. I was waiting for something to actually happen. By Chapter 26, 22% into the box set, I’d had enough of the hate sex and was still waiting for something to happen. I had to take a break and read something else. I am glad I went back to this because it got much better, but I can see a lot of readers dropping out at or before this point. When I got back into it, things really started to happen in the story, and the sex scenes got very hot. By the end, I was happy I had read this. But I can only give it 3 stars. I liked Surviving Amber Springs so much better!
It’s got an HEA with a cute bonus novella at the end.
1st person present tense, mostly from Harlow, but with a smattering of chapters from each of the guys.
This is well edited. I only found 9 errors.
Favorite Quotes:
Harlow: I have zero desire to live in my own twisted romance novel.
“They built the facility in the middle of Mantiss Forest and—” “The Sainthood sure is obsessed with forests,” I interject. “It’s ideal burial ground,” Saint replies, glancing at me as he steers the Land Rover out onto the highway. “Perfect for disposing of enemies and annoying girls who interrupt people midsentence.”
“I think I got pregnant just watching that,” Caz jokes.
“I was so tempted to slice off his dick,” I admit. “Like, I seriously had to talk myself off that ledge.” Caz chuckles. “You couldn’t deprive us of that sight. When you chop his cock off, I want a front-row seat.” I lean back for a knuckle touch. “Deal, dude. Wouldn’t want to deprive you of such quality entertainment.” “
Reverse harem doesn’t occur to them for quite a while!
Emma became best friends with three boys her sophomore year of high school. In her junior year, they turned on her and became her bullies. She and her father moved away but are back in town two years later. Emma starts college, and her tormentors are there and still hating her.
This one was different for several reasons:
1. The hate part of this hate to love goes on for quite a while, well into the second book. I’m more accustomed to the hate part ending much sooner, so that was a twist. And we still get sex scenes while the hate is still strong. So if you like hate sex, you’ll enjoy this.
2. The reverse harem or menage relationship idea doesn’t occur to the group for quite a while. In most of these, the characters are aware of the possibility from the start. Sometimes they know people in poly relationships. Sometimes at least one of the characters has read books like we are reading right now. But in Clearwater, they don’t realize it is a thing for quite a while and then don’t think it would work because –
3. The guys are competitive, jealous, and angry at each other for most of this. They have been best friends forever, but their relationship has been beaten down by what they have done to Emma. Most of the time, the guys are a team from the start. So I liked they we got some unusual twists here!
The writing was very good. It is long with the three novels together, but it was fast paced. I liked the characters, that the guys all had distinct personalities, and that they all grew over the course of the story.
I didn’t like that Trent’s reason for turning on Emma is immature. We know what it is early on, so I don’t think this is a spoiler. Trent thinks Emma told his father that they saw Trent’s mom kissing Emma’s dad. And this results in his parents getting divorced. By the time I was 16/17, I knew that marriages are complicated, and cheating is a symptom of greater issues. Trent’s anger at this small thing, even if true, seemed like an 8-10 year old’s perspective. And then, he gets even angrier when he finds out that Emma introduced his mother to her father at a school event. Why hadn’t Emma and the guys all introduced their parents around when they were still friends in high school? It seems very weird that their parents would let them hang out so much and be best friends without ever meeting their parents. We only see Emma’s dad and Trent’s mom, but they don’t seem like disconnected, neglectful parents. These are the type of parents that I believe would have insisted on meeting the parents of their kid’s friends. Even if not, they are treating the introduction of their parents as something unusual. Especially when the parents are at the same school event, you just would introduce them. So I had a difficult time suspending disbelief for this.
Another complaint I have is more difficult to talk about without spoilers. It’s the total 180 of a character that came out of nowhere. It felt like we didn’t get any lead in to this, like we suddenly need a villain, so we’ll change this character completely. I would have preferred more detail on the character and on their past actions, which would make this turnaround more natural and believable.
Because of these two things, I can only give this three stars. But if they won’t bother you as much as they did me, and you mostly want the hot sex scenes, you may enjoy this more than I did.
Contains many graphic sex scenes. Some are one-on-one and some are group. There is no cheating, scenes with Other People, or Other People drama. There is no non or dubious consent. So this is SAFE. No trigger warnings. Contains foul language. It is well edited. I found 5 little errors.
After shuffling from one bad foster home to another, Parker is finally taken in by a good family. They have seven sons. Five of them are older than Parker.
This was a clean reverse harem romance, which I’ve never run into before. There is kissing but just that, no more. I really liked it. It was sweet and a fast read. There was no insta-love. Feelings built slowly. It had some good humor in it, especially with the character of Austyn.
1st person present tense from Parker and the guys.
I found 24 errors. A lot of them were weird like the first letter at the start of a sentence not being capitalized. Word should fix that on its own.
High school to college reverse harem romance with crazy feels!
Blaire moved in the middle of her senior year of high school to a new town after her twin brother died. Before school starts, she meets three amazing and hot guys. They had been best friends forever and almost immediately all want her.
I loved this. 5 stars because I would read it again. It was extremely written making for a fast read even though it was pretty long. It needed every word. Things were revealed at the right times along the way, and I don’t want to give any spoilers. Blaire has gone through hell and continues to do so. The story is dramatic but feels real, not like a soap opera. It’s a story of emotions, good ones, bad ones, and complicated ones.
The characters were complicated and felt real as well. I loved Shaznay, the sister of one of the guys, and she provided some much-needed humor. The sex scenes were hot and added to the story. The story is amazing. I’d never thought about the families of the instigators of these crimes and what hell it must be for them.
Warnings: This contains references to gun crimes, rape, suicide, and self-harm. Nothing bad happens between the main characters, no non or dubious consent. There are several graphic sex scenes. All are one-on-one, no group sex.
1st person present tense from Blaire. Midway through we get sections from the guys. This was very well edited. I only found 8 errors.
Cindy just inherited a broken-down ranch. Three brothers just lost their jobs as ranch hands. They all come together to meet each other’s needs.
This was a hot, quick read. It was entertaining, not too long, and didn’t have too much angst. It’s a nice spicy read when you just want to relax. It’s not fantastic or particularly memorable, so I can only give it three stars. But this is perfect when I just want a break from angst, drama, and serious feelings.
Cindy is a strong, independent, and sexually confident woman. The three guys are different enough for my tastes. I don’t like when they are just clones of each other, so I was happy. The story is good enough to keep it going. It didn’t just feel like word porn. I don’t want to give anything away, but I was disappointed not to learn exactly what consequences a villain got in the end. Did they go to jail? Have to pay a lot of monetary damages? We just don’t know.
There is no Other People drama, no cheating, and no slut shaming. So this is SAFE.
1st person past tense from Cindy and the guys.
There were many unnecessary dialogue tags, but they didn’t distract me too much. Mom, Momma, Dad, and so on should be capitalized when not my mom, her mom, etc. like it is a proper name, and that doesn’t happen here. Little things like this grab my attention away. Beyond this, I found 11 other errors – quotation mark issues and missing words mostly. Not too bad.
Favorite Quote:
Once everything was sorted, I pulled out my laptop and opened up Excel. Without internet I couldn’t connect to my cloud storage; I had to save the file locally, like a peasant.
Let me begin by saying, “I hate football.” For me, it’s associated with the men in my family screaming at the TV. I’ve always hated conflict and raised voices, so this made me cringe. It also broke my concentration when I was trying to read! I was dragged to football games because my parents didn’t want to get a babysitter, so I sat in the stands reading and hating all the rude noise around me. But with all that, I still loved this novel!
I read a paramedic romance last year and knew nothing about that world and loved that novel too. See Crossing The Line. This felt a lot like that. I didn’t understand the football jargon, trusted the author knew what she was talking about, and just moved past it. It added to the realism and didn’t bore me. I think football fans will enjoy it immensely.
The writing was great, aside from unnecessary dialogue tags. It was fast paced with a lot of story. So this isn’t just erotica. But the sex scenes were very hot. This is also SAFE – no cheating, no Other People problems at all, which was very nice. There was no slut-shaming or villain girls! Overall, I highly recommend this if you like reverse harem / menage romances. It’s a plus if you like football, but it isn’t necessary that you do.
1st person past tense from Roberta and the three guys.
This is well edited. I found 10 errors. There are also some unnecessary dialogue tags, but there weren’t enough to bother me.
Favorite Quotes:
The outline of his huge cock slid against his shorts, falling across to rest against his other thigh. I got the impression it wasn’t fully hard, but it was thick. Like a damn extra-large stick of Toblerone chocolate.
Aly made an annoyed noise. “Do you have to talk about football? I’m trying to enjoy all these hunks in tight pants.” “Oh, sorry. Didn’t mean to interrupt what really matters.”
Feña was wearing a Ralph Lauren polo shirt, and his dark curls looked like they’d been freshly washed. But below the waist he wore baggy basketball shorts and a pair of gym sneakers. It was a hilarious juxtaposition of styles. Attractive college boy on top, and lazy athlete on the bottom. Like a fashion mullet.
I could see why women loved dating bikers. It was like riding around on a big vibrator.
Harlow and her mom move from Arizona to a wealthy east coast town. Her mom is hired to be the live-in Executive Housekeeper for the Black family. Their teenage son Lincoln and his best friends, River, Dax, and Chase hate Harlow immediately. They rule the school and lead her torture there. Then the five of them witness a murder by a man in a mask.
I liked this a lot, but I wouldn’t want to read it again. Murder mysteries have much lower re-readability for me, since I’m not going to forget who done it. I’m not a big fan of mystery novels in general, so it’s harder to make me love them. And this is very long. I can see why it was broken into three books, but it felt overly long. The pacing was good for most of this, but I got bored for a while in the third book.
This is definitely teen erotica. If you’re against that, walk away now. Personally, I’m a fan. I don’t want to do things with teenagers in real life, but I like to imagine myself back as a teenager. And reading about teens having sex doesn’t bother me. When I was 16, everyone I knew was having sex. I haven’t forgotten that just because I’m older now. It’s actually quite realistic in that regard. There are many sex scenes in this, some with just one guy and others with two or all of them, but there is a lot more story than sex here. Recreational marijuana use appears a few times here, which also matches my teenage experience.
I liked all the characters. Harlow isn’t timid. She’s got a mouth on her and takes the initial abuse well, doesn’t cry and moan about how unfair it all is. She just says how these rich fucks must be bored. I liked that Harlow had a very realistic reaction to seeing someone die. She goes into shock for a bit and then can’t sleep or eat for days. Too many times I see characters handling things like this like it was no big deal, the story on to something else. I’m glad to see a realistic reaction for once.
I loved that all four of the guys had distinct personalities and weren’t just clones of each other, even the twins. Chase and Dax are almost identical twins but have enough physical differences to be told apart. Their personalities are widely different. All four guys are somewhat possessive and protective, but they don’t smother Harlow. I also loved Harlow’s mom and that someone in this novel has a good parent.
1st person present tense, all from Harlow’s perspective.
This novel is well edited until the end of the third book. I found 3 errors between the first two books. I found 11 errors in the third book alone, mostly subject-verb agreements.
Favorite Quotes:
“Don’t fall in love with any rich boys. They’re trouble.”
When Harlow’s mom is going on a date: I make her promise to be home by midnight and use protection, because I’ve gotta give her a little shit while I’m at it, right?
Having four boyfriends, as amazing as it is, isn’t great for staying clean.
I grit my teeth. “Because I’m collecting boyfriends, and I want to raise the average age of my harem.”
Cora is the sheltered daughter of Baltimore social elite. Her world comes crashing down when her father is arrested and put in jail, all his assets frozen. Cora and her mother have to move across to a town to dilapidated rental house. Cora has to go to the public school there, where she is hated by everyone. Three boys, called the Lost Boys, Bishop, Kace, and Misael, offer her protection, if she will be theirs.
It’s called a dark romance, but I didn’t find it that dark. I wouldn’t even really say it is hate to love because the hate doesn’t go on that long. There is no dubious or non consent. The character’s ages aren’t given until the last book. We just know they are seniors in high school. There are some very hot sex scenes, not many in the first book, but they pick up in the second and third. It’s definitely an erotic novel. This contains recreational use of marijuana and underage alcohol use but no other drugs.
Cora is strong. She discovers her inner strength because of what she goes through and grows across the story. She’s a fighter and holds her own with the boys. I liked all three boys and very much appreciated that they all have distinct personalities and differences. It always bothers me that many menage romances have lead men that are basically clones of each other.
This is fast paced read with a lot of drama. I’m glad all the books are packed into one because they really are one. The last paragraph of the first connects to the first paragraph of the next without any introduction. I wouldn’t really call the “endings” cliffhangers because the current action has wrapped up. We just don’t have all the story yet. There is a satisfying full ending at the end of the third book. There isn’t an epilogue with future scenes, but I didn’t think it was needed. The characters go through enough that you know what will happen in their future.
I loved this. It was a perfect blend of story and erotica. 5 stars because I would read it again.
1st person past tense, all from Cora’s perspective.
The dialogue is often in the next paragraph after the action sequence. It’s weird but consistent. Might be done for style effect. It didn’t bother me.
This is very well edited. I only found 2 errors, which is amazing.
Beth is won at the auction by Ekan, a pirate. He takes her back to his ship with no intention to share, but his shipmates have other ideas. This is a reverse harem story, not a menage.
I love this series so much! When I saw this was out, I had to drop everything and read it. I was not disappointed. The world-building throughout this series is fantastic. I’ve loved how truly alien the aliens are. At first glance, Na’riths aren’t that different from humans, but their personalities, customs, and well… downstairs are quite different. As always, the writing itself is wonderful, great pacing, lots of humor, pop culture references, and I love love love the similes and metaphors the aliens use. It was great to have chapters from each of the characters. Whenever I’m reading these, I start thinking, “Tevek that!” instead of our English word hahah
V. B. Law 