Category Archives: Review

5 star reads, Erotic Sex Scenes, Paranormal, Review

Dark Desires After Dusk (Immortals After Dark Book 6) – Kresley Cole

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  • 2008
  • 2011
2015

Dark Desires After Dusk
(Immortals After Dark Book 6)
Kresley Cole

Rating: 5 out of 5.

A demon that reminds me of Indiana Jones and a Valkyrie figuring herself out

Blurb:

A seductive beauty he can never have, yet can’t resist…

Cadeon Woede will stop at nothing to atone for the one wrong that will haunt him forever. But once he secures the key to his redemption, the halfling Holly Ashwin, Cade finds that the woman he thought he could use for his own ends and then forget haunts him as much as his past.

A tormented warrior she should fear, but can’t deny…

Raised as a human, Holly never knew that some frightening legends are real until she encounters a brutal demon who inexplicably guards her like a treasure. Thrust into a sensual new world of myth and power, with him as her protector, she begins to crave the demon’s wicked touch.

Surrender to dark desires…

Yet just when he earns Holly’s trust, will Cade be forced to betray the only woman who can sate his wildest needs — and claim his heart?

Holly was a PhD student at Tulane University, teaching remedial math to athletes.

She wondered what she’d be erasing tonight. Some of the past offerings included “Got it bad, sooo bad, I’m hot for teacher,” “I’ve been a naughty boy, Ms. Ashwin,” and “Professor + Ginger = Holly Ashwin.” They’d crossed the l’s to make them t’s.

Holly wanted a normal life, but she had some quirks. OCD. Nearly killing men when getting into sexual situations. Nothing she couldn’t handle with extreme discipline.

Cadeon knew Holly was his, but he couldn’t claim her because she was human.

Humans were forbidden to demons. Because they never survived the initial claiming.

But Cade hadn’t been able to stop himself from watching her from afar, studying her, growing more and more fascinated with the young mortal. Becoming more convinced that she was his.

Then one night, Holly was kidnapped by a bunch of evil demons bent on raping and impregnating her. She was the Vessel. The immortal reaching sexual maturity at the start of the Accession, which happens every 500 years. The Vessel is fated to give birth to a warrior for ultimate evil or ultimate good, depending on the father. Yes, immortal – It turns out Holly is half Valkyrie, half Furie.

Cade was taxed with finding The Vessel and delivering it to an evil sorcerer in exchange for a sword that could kill the evil sorcerer’s evil brother, who had stolen Cade’s brother’s crown, which was Cade’s fault.

“You know all those creatures you thought were myths?” When she shakily nodded, he said, “Well, they’re not. And you’re changing from a human to an immortal.”

Which meant it had become possible for Cade to claim her for his own.

And you’ve just become my target—the Vessel. The means to pay for a sword to kill our enemy.

She equaled the crown he’d worked for nine hundred years to reclaim—the unyielding pursuit that had given him a reason to go on living.

Never had it been so close….

All he had to do was use and betray the woman he’d waited just as long to possess.

What’s a demon to do?

“Kidnap women? I can hardly keep the chits off the jock as it is, pet.”

Eyes wide, she said, “Chits? Pet? Are you from the nineteenth century or just trying to be misogynistic?”

Cade and Holly remind me so much of Indiana Jones and Willie Scott (Temple of Doom). He’s brash, cocky, dirty, and practical. She’s a girlie-girl who hates to get dirty and finds him rude, crude, and socially unacceptable… until they end up in bed together.

There is some great humor in this alongside the action and chemistry I’ve come to expect from this series. I loved both of the characters. I especially loved how Holly came into her kickass-self.

Contains graphic sex scenes. No triggers. No non-consent here.

Occasional foul language.

3rd person past tense from Cade and Holly. We also get a chapter from Rydstrom, Cade’s brother and the lead in the next book.

I found 9 errors, mostly misspelled or wrong words.

388 pages.

$8.99 at Amazon.

5 star reads, Erotic Sex Scenes, Paranormal, Review

Dark Needs at Night’s Edge (Immortals After Dark Book 5) – Kresley Cole

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  • 2008
  • 2011
2015

Dark Needs at Night’s Edge
(Immortals After Dark Book 5)
Kresley Cole

Rating: 5 out of 5.

A crazed vampire and a ghost sizzle even when they can’t touch

Blurb:

A RAVEN-HAIRED TEMPTRESS OF THE DARK…

Néomi Laress, a famous ballerina from a past century, became a phantom the night she was murdered. Imbued with otherworldly powers but invisible to the living, she haunts her beloved home, scaring away trespassers — until she encounters a ruthless immortal even more terrifying than Néomi herself.

A VAMPIRE WARRIOR CONSUMED BY MADNESS…

To prevent him from harming others, Conrad Wroth’s brothers imprison him in an abandoned manor. But there, a female only he can see seems determined to drive him further into madness. The exquisite creature torments him with desire, leaving his body racked with lust and his soul torn as he finds himself coveting her for his own.

HOW FAR WILL HE GO TO CLAIM HER?

Yet even if Conrad can win Néomi, evil still surrounds her. Once he returns to the brutality of his past to protect her, will he succumb to the dark needs seething inside him?

Néomi was very lonely, unable to leave the grounds of the manor she haunted. She was entertained and intrigued when the Wroth brothers arrived and imprisoned Conrad in her home. Then absolutely thrilled when she realized that Conrad could see her when no one else ever had. Conrad was just glad she wasn’t one of his hallucinations.

Whenever she comes to him, so do flashes of lucidity. He doesn’t understand the connection, just knows he’s beginning to crave the focus of his thoughts.

A mystery. How could a figment of his mind clear his mind? Even as he’s debating her existence, he realizes that something is making him coherent enough—to fucking debate her existence.

There are some very hot scenes between the two even though they can’t touch each other. The more Conrad is around Néomi, the clearer his mind becomes.

Feels . . . feels . . . felt . . . He felt clearer. Conrad felt centered. His very thoughts seemed to arise differently. They were more focused, each one distinct in his mind.

Being close to Néomi causes Conrad’s text to go from present tense to past tense, as it should be to fit with the rest of the novel. This indicates he becomes sane around her.

So Néomi needs a body to actually be with Conrad and possibly blood him. Nïx, the Valkyrie soothsayer, helps orchestrate this with Mariketa from Wicked Deeds on a Winter’s Night. I love Nïx; she is hilarious.

“Am too,” Nïx said. “Mike Rowe, the star of Dirty Jobs, is soon to realize I’m his beloved.” She sighed dreamily. “He even got his lawyers to contact me on the pretext of a”—she made air quotes—“ ‘restraining order.’

This is another fast-paced read with great chemistry between the characters, hot sex scenes, and thrilling action.

Contains graphic sex scenes. No triggers. No non-consent here.

Occasional foul language.

3rd person past tense from Néomi and Conrad. Conrad’s point of view is in present tense partway through the book, indicating his insanity. It changes to past tense the moment he becomes sane again. I really loved how that was done. We also get a chapter from Cade, the male lead in the next book.

I found only 3 errors. Great editing!

401 pages. Ends at 3907 or 72%. Kindle version doesn’t have page numbers.

$6.99 at Amazon.

5 star reads, Erotic Sex Scenes, Hate To Love, Paranormal, Review

Wicked Deeds on a Winter’s Night (Immortals After Dark Book 4) – Kresley Cole

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  • 2007
  • 2011

Wicked Deeds on a Winter’s Night
(Immortals After Dark Book 4)
Kresley Cole

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Hot adventure romance with a witch and a Lykae

Blurb:

Bowen MacRieve of the Lykae clan was nearly destroyed when he lost the one woman meant for him. The ruthless warrior grew even colder, never taking another to his bed—until a smoldering encounter with his enemy, Mariketa the Awaited, reawakens his darkest desires. When sinister forces unite against her, the Highlander finds himself using all his strength and skill to keep her alive.

Temporarily stripped of her powers, Mari is forced to take refuge with her sworn adversary. It’s rumored that no one can tempt Bowen’s hardened heart, but soon passion burns between them. Though a future together is impossible, she fears he has no intention of letting her go.

If they defeat the evil that surrounds them, can Mari deny Bowen when he demands her body and soul—or will she risk everything for her fierce protector?

If you’ve been reading along, you’ve already met Bowen. He’s a shell of a man, or Lykae, as he lost his mate 180 years ago. Nix, the Valkyrie soothsayer, told him the Talisman’s Hie would lead him to his mate. When the final prize turned out to be a key that would allow you to go back in time, Bowen thought he could go back and prevent his mate from dying. He became ruthless in his attempt to win, along the way trapping six competitors in a Mayan tomb, including Mariketa.

Before her birth, she’d been predicted to be the Awaited One, the most powerful born to the House of Witches in centuries—but four years ago, it was also foretold that a male from the Lore would recognize her as his own and claim her. He would seek to lock her away, guarding her with a ferocity that no magicks could defeat, thus robbing the House of her powers.

Mariketa was disguised when Bowen met her and trapped her in the tomb. She wasn’t disguised enough for him not to be attracted to her. But that only made him angry and guilt-ridden, thinking he had betrayed his dead mate.

Witches had no purpose but to spread discord and hatred. To plant destructive seeds in a once-proud family.

Bowen believed all witches to be evil. When he returns and frees Mariketa, his instinct tells him she is his mate. But he thinks this is an enchantment. If it’s not, then the way to fix her is to force her to never practice her magick again. But Mari is having none of that!

Bowen and Mariketa both grow tremendously on the journey they take in this novel. Bowen was almost a zombie, lost in his grief and guilt. He had to let go of those. He was a relic, stuck in his preconceptions. He had to break free and accept that things are not black and white. There are good witches, bad witches, and badass good witches. Mari is the third kind. She couldn’t control her powers at the start but grew in confidence. They take a journey through rainforests to other dimensions and cross as much space in their minds to meet each other.

There are several very hot sex scenes. No triggers. No non-consent here.

Contains graphic sex scenes.

Occasional foul language.

3rd person past tense from Mari and Bowen.

There was one missing period. So that’s great editing.

401 pages. The book ends at location 4258 or 72%. The Kindle version doesn’t have page numbers. The rest is excerpts from other books.

$5.99 at Amazon.

5 star reads, Action, Erotic Sex Scenes, Paranormal, Review

No Rest for the Wicked (Immortals After Dark Book 3) – Kresley Cole

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  • 2006
  • 2011
2015

Rating: 5 out of 5.

No Rest for the Wicked
(Immortals After Dark Book 3)
Kresley Cole

Fast-paced adventure peppered with wit and steam and not dark

Blurb:

Centuries ago, Sebastian Wroth was turned into a vampire against his will. Burdened with hatred and alone for ages, he sees little reason to live. Until an exquisite, fey creature comes to kill him, inadvertently saving him instead.

When Kaderin the Cold Hearted lost her two beloved sisters to a vampire attack long ago, a benevolent force deadened her sorrow—accidentally extinguishing all of her emotions. Yet whenever Kaderin encounters Sebastian, her feelings—particularly lust—emerge multiplied. For the first time, she’s unable to complete a kill.

And when the prize of a legendary month-long contest is powerful enough to change history, Kaderin will do anything to win it for her sisters. Wanting only to win her, forever, Sebastian competes as well, taking every opportunity—as they travel to ancient tombs and through catacombs, seeking relics around the world—to use her new feelings to seduce her. But when Kaderin is forced to choose between the vampire she’s falling for and reuniting her family, how can she live without either?

Woosh! This is a fast-paced adventure peppered with wit and steam. It isn’t dark like many of the others in this series. There are no triggers, no non-consent, no captivity. Sebastian is shy and inexperienced with women. He grows in confidence as he is able to arouse Kaderin’s passion again and again. He is hot, strong, and a skilled warrior. But he doesn’t have the alpha male attitude of our previous heroes, Nikolai and Lachlain. Sebastian quickly realizes that Kaderin is not like the women he knew in the 1700’s, and he likes it.

Kaderin had been in Scotland with other Valkyrie when they’d received the call about a “vampire haunting a castle and terrorizing a village in Russia.” She had gladly volunteered to destroy the leech. She was her Valkyrie coven’s most prolific killer, her life given over to ridding the earth of vampires.

Kaderin finds Sebastian in a crumbling castle in Russia, and she can’t kill him. This baffles her.

As if this were a matter of conscience! It wasn’t. It couldn’t be. She had no conscience. No real feelings, no raw emotions. She was coldhearted. After the tragedy, she’d prayed for oblivion, prayed for the sorrow and guilt to be numbed.

Some mysterious entity had answered her and made her heart like ash. Kaderin didn’t suffer from sorrow, from lust, from anger, or from joy. Nothing got in the way of her killing.

She was a perfect killer. She had been for one thousand years, half of her interminable life.

Emotions strike Kaderin in rapid succession as she remembers incidents from her past. Pain, sorrow, joy, humor, and lust hit like bombshells. The lust consumes her, and she has an indiscretion with Sebastian. Afterwards, she comes to her senses.

“Not a Bride to one of your kind. Never—”

“But you’ve made my heart beat.”

She hissed back, “You’ve made me feel.”

Kaderin is in danger of losing her hard-won reputation among the Lore.

When Myst had been in a Horde prison, the Forbearer rebels took the castle, and one of their generals had freed her to make love to her. Before the Valkyrie could rescue her, things had gotten out of hand in a dank cell. Myst’s status among the Lore—which she’d built over lifetimes—was ruined. She was shunned, an outcast. Even the nymphs ridiculed her. There was no ignominy worse than that—

Kaderin runs away from Sebastian and starts the Talisman’s Hie, a contest held every 250 years. Competitors travel the world searching for mystical objects, gaining points towards a final race to the last object. So there is some tomb raider action, which is written very well.

I love these characters. They both deal with issues from their past that have stunted their emotional growth. They feed off each other, evolving together as they get to know each other and themselves. They are always equal in this process. And the sex scenes are scorching hot.

Contains graphic sex scenes, several more than in the first book.

Occasional foul language.

3rd person past tense from Sebastian and Kaderin.

I found no errors in this. Fabulous!

384 pages.

$7.99 at Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000MGATUI/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000MGATUI&linkCode=as2&tag=vblawnola-20&linkId=646891844af2a94b05322003a3c13907″>No Rest for the Wicked (Immortals After Dark Book 3)
5 star reads, Dark Romance, Erotic Sex Scenes, Hate To Love, Paranormal, Review, Shifters

A Hunger Like No Other (Immortals After Dark Book 2) – Kresley Cole

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  • 2006
  • 2012
2017

A Hunger Like No Other
(Immortals After Dark Book 2)
Kresley Cole

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Lykae imprisoned and tortured for over a century by vampires discovers his mate is a vampire – or is she?

Blurb:

A mythic warrior who’ll stop at nothing to possess her . . .

After enduring years of torture from the vampire horde, Lachlain MacRieve, leader of the Lykae Clan, is enraged to find the predestined mate he’s waited millennia for is a vampire. Or partly one. This Emmaline is a small, ethereal half Valkyrie/half vampire, who somehow begins to soothe the fury burning within him.

A vampire captured by her wildest fantasy . . .

Sheltered Emmaline Troy finally sets out to uncover the truth about her deceased parents — until a powerful Lykae claims her as his mate and forces her back to his ancestral Scottish castle. There, her fear of the Lykae — and their notorious dark desires — ebbs as he begins a slow, wicked seduction to sate her own dark cravings.

An all-consuming desire . . .

Yet when an ancient evil from her past resurfaces, will their desire deepen into a love that can bring a proud warrior to his knees and turn a gentle beauty into the fighter she was born to be?

The Valkyrie:

Millennia ago, Wóden and Freya were awakened from a decade of sleep by a maiden warrior’s scream as she died in valiant battle. Freya had marveled at the maiden’s courage and wanted to preserve it, so she and Wóden struck the human with their lightning. The maiden woke in their great hall, healed but untouched—still mortal—and pregnant with an immortal Valkyrie daughter.

In the years that followed, their lightning would strike dying women warriors from all species of the Lore—Valkyries like Furie were truly part Fury. Freya and Wóden gave the daughters Freya’s fey beauty and his cunning, combining these traits with the mother’s valor and individual ancestry. Though the daughters were half sisters, they were all unique. But according to the Lore, one could recognize a Valkyrie if her eyes fired silver with strong emotion.

Lykae, or werewolves, in the “Lore” do not shapeshift into wolves. They get a little more muscular, their face changes to slightly more lupine, and they get a shadowy spirit-like halo of the werewolf-type monster we might expect. They each have a fated mate.

Lachlain, the king of the Lykae, had been imprisoned and tortured by Horde vampires for over a century when Emma’s scent from the Paris streets above gave him the will to free himself through excruciating pain. Emma is his Mate. But then he discovers Emma is a vampire and hates her. This is a dark romance with non-consensual sexual situations.

He took her by the wrist and forced her hand to his naked shaft. “You feel me hard. Know that the only reason I’m no’ inside you right now is because I’m weak. No’ because of any concern for you.”

Face flushed with embarrassment, she tugged at her hand until he let it go. “You would hurt me that way?”

“Without a second thought.” His lips curled. His gaze seemed intent on her face, but his eyes were still vacant. “And that’s just the beginning of the things I’ll do to you, vampire.”

She simply wasn’t the type of person who could give it up without some kind of bond or commitment. She didn’t think of herself as old-fashioned about sex—there was a reason for her familiarity with Skinemax—and she had a very healthy attitude about the whole subject, for all that she’d never had an orgasm. But she knew deep down that she would need something lasting—and that it could never be with him.

She narrowed her eyes, realizing what this was. Stockholm syndrome. Identifying with your bullying captor? Check. Forming an attachment to him? Check.

But in all fairness to herself, how many captors—actively acquiring—were six-and-a-half-foot-tall gods with delicious, sun-darkened skin, the coolest accent, and the warmest, hardest body she’d ever dreamed of? All this and he liked to wrap that body around her? All this and he thought she was beautiful.

But Emma grows strong facing this situation. She used to be known as Emma The Meek, but she is a Valkyrie and starts acting like one.

In the past, she would’ve meekly accepted this as yet another time her wishes and feelings were ignored. Now she refused. Lachlain needed to learn a lesson. He needed to learn that in the last seven days, she’d become a creature with which one did not fuck.

Lachlain learns that Emma is a unique creature in the Lore, half-Valkyrie and half-vampire. And eventually things are good.

“Lachlain! I’m not walking around willy-nilly naked. Okay?”

His lips curled as if he found her modesty endearing. “Then go put on the silk I’ll soon be ripping from you. You’ve no respect for your clothing.”

But Emma has another thing to face – the question of who her vampire father is.

The fantastic lore is matched with fantastic writing. The pacing makes me fly through and keeps me up way too late at night. The sex scenes are scorching hot. The action scenes are riveting. I just can’t gush enough about these books, which I don’t often do.

The Warlord Wants Forever is the first in the series. This novel has some spoilers for TWWF, but we all know that these have happily-ever-after endings anyway. So I really recommend reading A Hunger Like No Other first. AHLNO is the first full-length novel. TWWF is a novella. You get hints about the lore, but you get so much more detail in AHLNO. I think it’s a better primer. Other reviews recommend reading TWWF after the third full-length novel, Wicked Deeds On A Winter’s Night. There have been 19 books so far, counting the forthcoming Munro, so there is lots of delectable lore to eat up.

I love how the stories from each novel intersect with each other. We won’t know what is going on with a little snippet appearance of a new character until many books later. It goes hand in hand with the complexity of the unique paranormal lore in this series – spectacular!

Contains graphic sex scenes. Their first full sex scene was graphic. Subsequent ones are just mentioned.

Occasional foul language.

Prologue is in 3rd person present tense. The main body is in 3rd person past tense from Emma and Lachlan.

Errors: 8 – mostly formatting issues where there is a space missing between sentences.

This is 357 Kindle pages long. It contains previews of other books at the end.

$7.99 at Amazon.

5 star reads, Dark Romance, Erotic Sex Scenes, Paranormal, Review

The Warlord Wants Forever (Immortals After Dark Book 1) – Kresley Cole

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  • 2006
  • 2011
2017

The Warlord Wants Forever
(Immortals After Dark Book 1)
Kresley Cole

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Vampire finds his Bride, but she wants nothing to do with him, in this series opening novella

Blurb:

The Warlord
Nikolai Wroth, a ruthless Vampire general, will stop at nothing to find his Bride, the one woman who can “blood” him, making his heart beat and filling him with strength. Coldly interested only in the power his Bride will bring, he can hardly believe when Myst the Coveted awakens him body—and soul.

The Seductress
Famed throughout the world as the most beautiful Valkyrie, Myst has devoted her life to protecting a magical jewel and to fighting the vampires. Wroth provides her with the perfect opportunity to torment her sworn enemy—for with his new heartbeat comes a consuming sexual desire that can only be slaked by her. Denying him, she flees, struggling to forget his searing, possessive kiss.

The Hunt is on…
She eludes him for five years, but he has finally chased her to ground and stolen her enchanted jewel, giving him absolute power over her. Now that she’s his for the taking, he intends to make her experience first-hand the agonizing, unending lust she subjected him to for half a decade. Yet when Nikolai realizes he wants far more than vengeance from Myst and frees her, will she come back to him?

Vampires in Kresley Cole’s world, called the “Lore”, drink blood, are immortal, and can be killed by the sun. But they also have some unique traits.

He was the walking dead. No respiration, no heartbeat, no sexual need—or ability. Not until he found his predestined Bride and she “blooded” him fully. With his blooding, something inside him, some essence—maybe even his soul—would recognize her as his. He would see her as the one he was meant to spend eternity with, the woman he could love without measure, if one believed in that, and his body would wake for her.

Myst is a Valkyrie, the immortal child of Norse gods and a female warrior who showed extreme bravery in battle. That warrior could be human or another creature from the Lore. Each Valkyrie has her own unique traits, but they are all badasses – “creatures with which one does not fuck”.

Before he’d come, Myst had been powerless here. She could handle weapons as well as most in the coven, though a sword and bow were not her strengths. Her preferred weapon was men. She manipulated them, played them, made them believe she lived for them alone in order to have them do her bidding. That was her m.o.

Myst is Nikolai’s Bride. She brings his body to life but wants nothing to do with him. A vampire must at least be touching his Bride to “finish” after he becomes sexually excited for the first time by her. If he can’t do this, he is stuck “excited” until he can. Poor Nikolai doesn’t get to finish and is stuck in this state for years!

For just the merest second he imagined he saw compassion in her eyes, but when she shrugged, his hazy mind finally grasped that she was going to leave him here with nothing but a body knotted with lust for her and a taste of blood that he would go to his knees for. “You’re the most malicious bitch I’ve ever known.”

“I will find you,” he bit out. “I will find you and make you pay for this a thousand times.”

I love how funny the Valkyrie are! So snarky, witty, and just damn cool.

“But Vampire Bride just sounds so B-movie. He just dragged you down to B-moviedom.”

Nikolai is definitely a dominate alpha male. And Myst likes it. If you don’t like that, these books aren’t for you. There is a scene that can definitely be read as rape. Because we are in Myst’s head, we know she wants it. She wants to be overpowered. But he doesn’t know that. After Myst has been “defeated” she becomes a willing participant. If you are bothered by non-consent in your fiction, then steer clear.

I love that Cole’s characters aren’t promiscuous before meeting. Either because of lore, like un-blooded vampires can’t physically have sex, or by choice, this is lovely to read.

I absolutely love the intricate world-building and lore that Kresley Cole has written in the Immortals After Dark series. They have dominant alpha males and sassy strong women to meet them toe to toe. The Valkyrie are equally funny and kickass. There are monsters and darkness. But there is hot sex and humor to combat it. The writing is wonderful, so fast paced that I’m kept up way too late because I can’t put the book down.

The Warlord Wants Forever is a novella. It’s a nice introduction to the Lore and the type of dark romance this series abounds in. These aren’t for people with triggers. It’s fantasy, fiction, and we can enjoy things in our minds that we would never abide in reality. So if you’re with me on that, then delve into the world and see if you aren’t one-clicking the next book a few hours later. Once this vampire turns you, there is no going back 😂

Contains graphic sex scenes.

Occasional foul language.

3rd person past tense from Myst and Nikolai.

Errors: 4

This is only 112 Kindle pages long. It contains previews of other books at the end.

$2.99 at Amazon.

5 star reads, Contemporary Romance, Erotic Sex Scenes, New Adult, Review

Aflame: A Fall Away Novel (4) – Penelope Douglas

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The Fall Away Series:
1. Bully
1.5 Until You
2. Rival
3. Falling Away
4. Aflame

Aflame
A Fall Away Novel (4)
Penelope Douglas

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Continuation of Jared and Tate’s story – hot second chance romance

Blurb:

The tables have turned. Now I have the power—and it’s his turn to beg…

Everyone wants to be me.

Maybe it’s the sway of my skirt or the way I flip my hair, but I don’t care. Even though their attention is the last thing I crave, I just can’t stop. I dominate the track, the speed rattles my bones, and the wind and the crowd screams my name.

I’m her. The girl driver. The queen of the race. And I’m surviving—something he thought I’d never do.

They all still talk about him. Did you see Jared Trent on T.V? What did you think of his last race, Tate? When is he coming back to town, Tate?

But I refuse to care too much. Because when Jared does come home, I won’t be here.

Tatum Brandt is gone. I’m someone new.

As the book opens, we find out that Jared and Tate broke up shortly after the events in “Falling Away”. WTF? I was not happy! I was pissed off that they broke up after all they went through before. And I read on reluctantly. I’m not a fan of restart romances in general. They often feel like the author couldn’t let go of the characters they loved. The characters themselves often behave in ways uncharacteristic of them in order to fit to a new story line. Thankfully, that was not the case here!

As I read on, I understood Jared’s reason for leaving. He needed to grow up and discover what he wanted out of life, what would make him happy, and who he was outside of his relationship to Tate. He was going through the motions of life, heading into a career he didn’t want. Tate was his only focus and happiness. He didn’t want to end up resenting her. He always intended to return to her.

Tate only saw abandonment and thought she lost Jared forever. She tried to move on. Jared thought she had moved on and stayed away longer. He returns to town for family reasons, and his friends knock some sense into him. It’s a collective effort from all our favorite characters with some very funny moments.

They were very young at the end of Bully/Until You. They had to grow up and figure themselves out before they could come together as mature adults and make it stick. The usual cliches aren’t found here, which I’m grateful for. This was very fast paced and enjoyable. The sex scenes are very hot. And the grammar has gotten much better!

1st person past tense from both Tate and Jared.

Contains graphic sex scenes – hot ones, including some very good sexting.

Occasional foul language.

HEA. We finally get the epilogue(s) I’ve been wanting and find out some things about the future for all the couples.

8 errors. Very good editing.

$3.99 on Amazon.

237 pages.

Favorite Quote:

Jared and Tate are talking about the kids from all the couples being in high school together later on. Jared: “Relax.” He grabbed his jacket and slipped it on. “I don’t think anyone can get in as much trouble as we did.”

5 star reads, Contemporary Romance, Erotic Sex Scenes, New Adult, Review

Falling Away (Fall Away Book 3) – Penelope Douglas

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The Fall Away Series:
1. Bully
1.5 Until You
2. Rival
3. Falling Away
4. Aflame

Falling Away
(Fall Away Book 3)
Penelope Douglas

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Two victims of abuse become survivors and break the cycle by learning to love each other

Blurb:

Jaxon is the guy she’s supposed to avoid.

K.C. is the girl he won’t let get away….

K.C. Carter has always followed the rules—until this year, when a mistake leaves her the talk of her college campus and her carefully arranged life comes crashing to a halt. Now she’s stuck in her small hometown for the summer to complete her court-ordered community service, and to make matters worse, trouble is living right next door.

Jaxon Trent is the worst kind of temptation and exactly what K.C. was supposed to stay away from in high school. But he never forgot her. She was the one girl who wouldn’t give him the time of day and the only one to ever say no. Fate has brought K.C. back into his life—except what he thought was a great twist of luck turns out to be too close for comfort. As the bond between them grows, he discovers that convincing K.C. to get out from her mother’s shadow is hard, but revealing the darkest parts of his soul is nearly impossible.…

K.C. has another truly messed up wicked mother. She has been enduring abuse and conforming to her mother’s wishes in most things to lessen that abuse. Jax bullies her a little bit, telling her she is gutless, in order to spark her defiance and get her to be herself, to figure out who that really is. Jax has to do the same thing, moving past his own history and learning to accept love.

The sex with OP scenes at the beginning really skeeved me out. But I pushed past it and did enjoy this very much. The sex scenes with the main characters together were very hot. The story is good. I was happy to get to know both Jax and K.C. a lot better. They both grew tremendously and got better from interacting with each other.

This was another fast paced and enjoyable read with a lot of emotion.

Graphic sex scenes.

Occasional foul language.

HFN verging on HEA

8 errors. Very good editing.

!Start Rant!
I really hate reading detailed sex scenes with Other People. I don’t care if the main characters aren’t in a relationship yet. I don’t care that it isn’t cheating. I don’t like characters to be promiscuous, male or female. It’s a hurdle I have to get past, something I have to actively try to ignore, in order to enjoy the book. I wish authors would stop with this! I don’t need to be shown that a character is attractive and popular by them having sex with OP!
!End Rant!

$5.99 on Amazon.

434 pages.

Favorite Quotes:

K.C.: If only life could be edited like a story, I’d rock.

K.C.:

We want a house, a car, a fancy fucking vacation, and prestige, so what do we do? We go to school, and we get jobs we hate to pay for the things we want. We deal with people we don’t like and waste years of our lives sitting in stark, fluorescent-lit rooms and listening to coworkers who bore us so we can pay for a small amount of precious time to enjoy what makes us happy. To achieve a fraction of our lives just feeling as if it was all worth it.

We sacrifice to earn.

Ciaron, Fallon’s father, to Jax: He shook his head. “Son, women are easy. They simply want everything. It’s not difficult.”

5 star reads, Contemporary Romance, Erotic Sex Scenes, Hate To Love, New Adult, Review

Rival (Fall Away Book 2) – Penelope Douglas

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The Fall Away Series:
1. Bully
1.5 Until You
2. Rival
3. Falling Away
4. Aflame

Rival
(Fall Away Book 2)
Penelope Douglas

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Angst, drama, humor, and hot sex scenes

Blurb:

Madoc and Fallon. Two estranged teenagers playing games that push the boundaries between love and war…

She’s back.

For the two years she’s been away at boarding school, there was no word from her. Back when we lived in the same house, she used to cut me down during the day and then leave her door open for me at night.

I was stupid then, but now I’m ready to beat her at her own game…

I’m back.

Two years and I can tell he still wants me, even if he acts like he’s better than me.

But I won’t be scared away. Or pushed down. I’ll call his bluff and fight back. That’s what he wants, right? As long as I keep my guard up, he’ll never know how much he affects me….

Fallon and Madoc have another love to hate to love story filled with secrets and misunderstandings. I loved Tate’s dad, and Jared’s mother was getting there, working on it. But Fallon has a queen bitch evil mother. There is a lot of drama from her.

I loved the witty verbal sparring between Madoc and Fallon. They have fun together, and I got their connection. Madoc is loveable, sweet, and funny. Fallon is grittier, darker, and more damaged. But Madoc brings out the spunk and humor in her.

This is a re-read, so it must be 5 stars. Fast paced, fantastic writing.

You have to read the dedication! It’s a hilarious and cute poem, “To Hubs”. Don’t miss it!

Again, I had a big problem with having to read detailed sex scenes with Other People! Ewwww!

Contains graphic sex scenes. Other than the OP ones, they are very hot! Characters are 18 and in their summer before starting college.

Occasional foul language.

HFN verging on HEA

1st person past tense from Fallon and Madoc. I was very happy to get chapters from each of them this time.

14 errors. So the editing has gotten much better with this one.

$11.99 on Amazon.

366 pages.

Favorite Quotes:

Fallon: One thing I knew right then and there. I might hate Madoc, but I loved his friends.

Madoc: Sometimes I wondered if the angels talked to get me to behave or to entice the devil to come out to play.

Fallon:
I wished I didn’t feel the invisible cord pulling me to him, wanting to touch him again, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t. We always want what’s bad for us.

Madoc was hot. He knew it. And he knew everyone else knew it.

Madoc: Her white bikini was just that. A bikini. In every possible definition of the word, it was evil and temptation in its worst form.

Fallon: Who was I kidding? I’d have better success trying to jam a tree branch up my ass than convince myself I didn’t want him.

Fallon: “Madoc?” she whimpered, sounding pained. “I’m not a piano. Stop playing me.”

5 star reads, Contemporary Romance, Erotic Sex Scenes, Hate To Love, New Adult, Review, Young Adult

Until You (Fall Away Series) 1.5 – Penelope Douglas

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The Fall Away Series:
1. Bully
1.5 Until You
2. Rival
3. Falling Away
4. Aflame

Until You
Fall Away Series 1.5
Penelope Douglas

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Jared and Tate’s story told from Jared’s POV – Not just a rehash!

Blurb:

Have you ever been so angry that hitting things felt good? Or so numb that you actually felt high? The past few years have been like that for me. Traveling between fury and indifference with no stops in between.

Some people hate me for it, while others are scared of me. But none of them can hurt me, because I don’t care about anything or anyone.

Except Tatum.

I love her so much that I hate her. We used to be friends, but I found out that I couldn’t trust her or anyone else.

So I hurt her. I pushed her away.

But I still need her. The sight of her centers me, and I can pool all of my anger into her. Engaging her, challenging her, bullying her…they are my food, my air, and the last part of me that feels anything human.

But she left. She went to France for a year, and came back a different girl.

Now, when I push, she pushes back.

I love “Until You” more than “Bully”. Maybe it’s being a woman and seeing into the mind of a man? I know I like novels from the man’s POV, so yes. But “Until You” is better beyond that difference. In “Bully”, I didn’t totally get the connection between Jared and Tate. Because I didn’t get inside his mind, I didn’t completely believe his swift turn around. But here I get it. I’m so glad that Penelope Douglas wrote this story! It’s not the same story from a different POV, so you won’t get bored. You don’t need to make choice on which one to read. There are lots of extra things in each of them. But if you only want to read one, I recommend “Until You”. It had more feels for me. Plus there is an extra sex scene 😂.

As I said in my review of “Bully”, I like bully stories. I especially like this one because the bullying doesn’t go too far. There is no sexual harassment or physical violence. The girl isn’t depressed or brought to suicidal thoughts. Both Tate and Jared are strong. Jared gets stronger, grows, throughout this novel.

My one big problem with this was the parts in the beginning where Jared was with Other People. They were much too detailed! I don’t like it when the main characters are promiscuous before the relationship. I don’t care that it isn’t cheating. And I definitely don’t want to have to read the details of it. Nasty! I wanted it to stop! If you are with me, I hope you can push past it as I did.

1st person past tense all from Jared.

Contains graphic sex scenes, hot ones.

Occasional foul language.

HFN (Happy For Now)

There are many errors (25). That I love it anyway is a testament to how good it is!

$4.99 on Amazon.

406 pages.

Favorite Quotes:

I used to keep her up late watching scary movies, and after all this time, nothing had really changed.

Her ass still wasn’t getting any sleep tonight.

“I never touched their bodies like that or held them. I never cared about them enjoying it. They didn’t get any part of me worth having, Tate. Especially, K.C. I never touched her like this.” I stroked her hair. “You own me body and soul, and everyone is going to know it. Sometimes I’m going to go slow with you, and sometimes I’m going to fuck you. But it will always be love, Tate.”

Always has been. And always will.

Tate, we are climbing out of this fucking mess one way or another, because no one ruins us.

“You made me mean. And now I pummel poor, defenseless girls… and guys,” she added, and I wanted to laugh again, thinking of the damage she’d done to Madoc.

“You might say that I turned metal into steel.”