Captivated by the author.........

I received a free copy of the audible version of this book as a gift, though I would have purchased this with my own money.

I am making my way through Ms. Burke's Anthology, reading all of her books one by one, because I love her writing so much! She has a way of making her characters seem real and definable, I can relate to them on some level though we do not live the same lives.

Ms. Burke also write one Hell of a good hero; always sexy and alpha, I can't wait for them to show their heroine all the passion they have to offer!

With that being said I enjoyed this book, particularly since it was in audio format; I read while crafting, cooking, rolling my hair at night, walking my dogs, and a little at work (that was hard since some of the scenes are naughty and I became distracted.)

I would recommend this book to a friend, try the audio format it really is well read (at first it was weird, the woman's proper accent reading someone that felt similar to me, but eventually I got over it and just enjoyed the story; like when Angela Basset played Tina Turner and everyone was mad about how muscular her arms were. Eventually I didn't even see Angela, only Tina.)

The Good: Reading while getting stuff done.

The bad: The story is a little short.

Buy this book at Amazon (get the audio version!), Or B&N.

Thank you for reading, please subscribe!

Quick 5 with LV Lewis.....

I am so excited to share this interview with you! L.V. Lewis is the author of "The Ghetto Girl Romance Quadrilogy" which I am OBSESSED with.  A married parent of four residing in South Georgia, Lewis loves romances that involve interracial couples because L. V. envisions a world when it won't matter to anyone else who you love because, despite the civil rights movement and a biracial US President, we aren't there yet.

L. V. and spouse are political junkies. One leans right, the other left. Thankfully, this has never caused any issues in their relationship. If Lewis told you which of them was Democrat and which was Republican, you just might be able to figure out which is Dominant and which is submissive. 

MB: Favorite character of your creation?

LVL: Clara Lee Beale is my favorite character because she's very complex. She is the only character whose voice I heard very clearly in my head and she sounds very much like the actress Jenifer Lewis when she talks. Clara was in an interracial relationship long before her daughter and I believe she understood the difficulties her daughter could reasonably face with a man like Tristan more than the average person gives her credit for. I love how she's a prickly woman who doesn't surround herself with a lot of people or foolishness.

MB: Favorite George RR character?

LVL: It's a three-way tie, I love Tyrion, the gimp, because as a little person he was mistreated by family as well as other people, but he realized early on, despite his penchant for loose women, wine and his tendency to over-imbibe, he needed to educate himself because his life would be hard even though he was the son of the lion of the Lannister household. I think it's Tywin's treatment of him that made him such a sympathetic character for me (and the fact that he realized what a treacherous bitch his sister was before anyone else.)

Tei Iku's Jon Snow &  Ghost

Jon Snow is a favorite, because he's another character who was ill-treated because of the circumstances of his parentage (or what people believe his parentage is). I rooted for him early on, because I hated how his stepmother treated him, and how he felt forced to take the Black because that was the only honorable future he could see for himself. Winter is indeed coming! (I will always be a Winterfell girl.)

My final fave is Arya Stark. This brave little girl was always smarter than her elder sister. She's remained resilient after having to witness the death of her father, then traveling across a war-torn Westeros trying to get back home to her family, which is scattered to the four winds, and she doesn't know this until she gets to camp after camp and her reunion with them is thwarted at every turn.

I hope you know I had a hard time narrowing this down to three because I have love for the most changed character in the series, Jaime Lannister and for his friend the giant female knight (Brienne of Tarth), and for the young Dragon Queen, as well. However, I stand with my three-way tie for now.

MB: I love Jamie and Brienne as well! Tyrion is my favorite character, he never lets his disability define him.

MB: You drink haterade (or they make you want to write better) when you read?

LVL: Toni Morrison. That sister has an amazing body of work that has been my mainstay for years. My aspiration is to write mainstream literary fiction that will appeal to a wide variety of people. I think Ms. Morrison does this, so she does make me want to write better when I read her work.

MB: Do you practice the moves of your love scenes before you write them?

LVL: Actually, I do not because my characters do some very kinky things, but I will admit to engaging to make my description of sensory detail more authentic. LOL

MB: Not ashamed to say that reading Exit Strategy gave me some fun ideas to share with Hubby!

MB: Earth wind and fire or parliament funk?

LVL: Both. Sometimes, my writing is mellow and orchestral, like the elements, and other times I have to make my funk the P-Funk, because I have to get funked up. So, it really just depends on my mood and the vibe I'm going for.

Thanks LV!

To learn more about LV LEWis, visit her blog lvlewis.com

Click any of the hotlinks to learn more about the subject.

Read LV's books! Get them from Amazon, B&N, or another fine retailer.

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Savaged......

Celeste Anwar's

Savage instinct-

Ms. Anwar'a stories are always full of alpha males and genuine feeling females, good ideas and original plot lines. Most of her collection consists of novellas and this was the first full length novel that I saw by her, so I was anxious to to download the copy she sent to me!

One of the things to drew me to this story was Aiden, an alpha of a mountain wolf pack wondering the woods alone at night. He is protective of his alone time and enjoying his freedom. I can relate to that, so I enjoyed this side of the hero. Suddenly, he is attacked by rival leader, Lee Riker, who wants to usurp Aiden’s power.....

Nydia’s is our heroine, a tough girl that is total mush on the inside! She is driving after a fight with her boyfriend, upset and not paying attention in the middle of the night when she hits something with her car; she discovers is  a naked man being attacked by wolves. When he insists on coming home with her instead of to the hospital, she knows she’s in for nothing but trouble.

Why oh why didn’t this ever happen to me when I was single? Driving alone on a country road I meet a super-hot werewolf who I take home and ravage. Yes girl, I would!

For our heroine it was a rollercoaster of emotion that I found somewhat appealing. Nydia is smart and self-assured, with a bit of an attitude problem, but so do I , so I could easily forgive her. I also like her love for her cat and the fact that she stood on her values throughout the novel.

I also liked Aiden, he was smart, conniving and arrogant, just like every other alpha that I’ve ever read and I loved him for it.

Ms. Anwar also really know how to write a big bad meanie, with a side of hateful, and manipulative thrown in for good measure. Which made rooting against him all the more fun.

There were a few issues I had with this novel; th big problem, the emotional connection between Nydia and Aiden fell flat for me. There was too much bickering about nonsense and not enough actually getting to know each other, then wham! Sex. I actually asked myself, how are these people going to make this relationship work? What do they have in common? Why would they even bother trying, because they are so different? My other issues were minor in comparison; I found some grammatical mistakes and there were some continuity issues that I found regarding Aiden's origin. 

The good:
Nydia and Aiden as individual characters were really engaging to me as a reader.

The bad:
The relationship lacked chemistry and connection in my opinion. And, the bad guy was dispatched too quickly for my taste.

Overall:
This is a decent read worth your perusal if you like alpha males with killer bodies and sweet females with an actual backbone!

Thanks for reading this review, please subscribe! And buy the book @ Amazon, B&N, or check it out at goodreads

Fast Friday 5 with Pepper Pace!

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Ravaged by Jaide fox

C-mac and I were huge fans of the Starz original series "Spartacus" in all its glory. Obviously we watched for different reasons;

Cmac: "What did he just say?"
Me: "there's dialog in this show?"
Cmac: "Be serious, What did he say"
Me: "Seriously, I'm only watching for the man meat, beefcake, to ogle these studs muffins. Stop sighing, you sound so exasperated"
Cmac: "So degrading. Do you ever think of anything else? 
Me: "shopping and shoes. Stop rolling your eyes! You asked"
Cmac: "I'll just rewind it"
Me: "ooh, goody! More muffins!

So with the last episode of the muffin show having been aired in march I was missing a little blood and sex in my life. Enter "Ravaged (pleasure masters(futuristic BDSM Alpha Shifters)" by Jaide fox.

The story of a gladiator winning the ultimate prize, a willing sex slave. Did I mention that he has a magical member? Uhm, yeah! Read and enjoyed!

Like finding a good man

Good books, like good men are hard to find.

Good men with jobs and good credit, like consistently talented author's are harder to find

Yet, I have met the works of Naima Simone ( have you read "Sweet Ultimatum? read my review). Her latest book, Gabriel: Secrets and Sins was offered to me as an ARC; I pounced. Literally, I was that girl in elementary class with her hand held high, squirming, and begging the teach; pick me! Please pick me!

And, Entangled Publishing obliged and I dove in!

Leah Bannon is an ex-cop turned PI investigating the unsolved murder of her beloved Uncle Richard  Gabriel Devlin—-the man she loves but can never have—-inexplicably stands in her way.

Only four people know the truth about Richard’s mysterious disappearance—-Gabriel and three childhood friends, who happen to all know our heoine, but have sworn to take that secret to the grave. A hidden enemy draws deadly secrets to the light, even if he has to kill to make it happen.

Yass, this is so good. I heart words, prose, poetry, floetry and this book has all of that wrapped up in a good mystery with a not so typical heroine.

I love that sweet, exotically beautiful Leah is the hardened cop, so strong, yet feminine. I like that Gabriel is falling apart, needing Leah, yet too stubborn to admit that it is time to move forward and take that chance before its too late.

Wow, I enjoyed this book. Seriously- can't wait to read this again and again.

p.s. my views were in no way influenced by the author or the publisher. Cause you know I try to keep things real!

click the link to read this book via Amazon or barnes and noble

Lions, falcons, bears, and swans.......

Oh my!

Lion And The Falcon (Furry United Coalition) 

I couldn't make it past the sample for this book. There were too many characters with backgrounds that I didn't like this sample enough to buy the book.

Swan And The Bear (Furry United Coalition):

This was just an okay read for me. I found some problems that kep me from loving the book:

Repetitive
Wrong words
Needs better editing
The correct term is stylist, men don't go to hairdressers. Barbers or stylists

But overall, I enjoyed the read enough to continue reading Mrs. Langlais; i mean come on, she has a book titled "Delicate freakin Flower" I have to love her just for that!

 Click the titles to view these books at Amazon.com and form you own opinion!

I loved reading this book Naked...

Naked by Megan Hart

I love this cover!

Alex is a man struggling with his sexual identity and Olivia is a woman struggling with her identity. "Naked" is part of a series that involves characters from "temptation" which I did not read. This tackles several issues; race, sex, and religion. It is not a typical romance, so buckle your seatbelt.

Literally, I stopped reading this book at chapter two so I could go get a glass of wine to sip on while I read. I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning, than woke up early in the morning to continue reading.

I was obsessed, engaged, haunted by Olivia and Alex's 'romance.' I put that in colon's because this book in so un-formulaic, so totally against the norm, so happy, crazy, sexy, unique that I grit my teeth at having to label it a romance.

There is love, friendship, and a deep awakening that happens within the heroine that it is more than HEA. This book made me ponder the questions raised, stirring my usual mishmash of thoughts; clothes, food, and sex, into soup of deep adult ideas (not sexual, though Alex is friggin hot and the adult scene's are grade 'A').

I'm sure some of you are reading my enthusiasm with a grain of salt, please do. But so that you know much I enjoyed this book I want to give it the ultimate compliment: I loved this so much that after borrowing it from the library I bought it to add to my kindle library and re-read at my leisure. 

I have NEVER done that before. I've thought about it, but never actually spent the cash until now, because this book is what I'm going to call a lingerer. Days after I finished this I was still thinking about the characters and asking myself questions about this book and the characters that live within it.

So let's get the elephant out of the blog, Would I date Alex?

He's fine as hell and rich, but NO!. I am far to neurotic to be with a man who is attracted to men. There are not enough assurances and promises to quiet my ever churning brain.

Favorite quote:

"sometimes we dress ourselves in layers that only get peeled away in the end, to leave us as we should be."

Negatives

I wanted Olivia to be more direct instead of passive-aggressive. But, I kind of understood that in a relationship a person's past is just that. Past.

Alex, he's very mysterious and you never know if you're getting the whole or real story or not. 

The ending was HEA, but open-ended which can be frustrating for readers, but I felt like the characters lives reflected the not so perfect ending.

Ms. Hart's interpretation of Alex Kennedy Gale Harold

I'm just saying: I read some of the reviews on Amazon to have feedback regarding this book, there were many complaints, backlash, by AA readers regarding O's hair. There were several complaints that boiled down to a white author shouldn't have focused on an AA characters hair. I don't agree. O was meticulous, but not overly concerned. I'm AA with a 'striaghtener' in my hair by choice. O's hair was natural. I have watched a few youtubers doing their 'naturals' and it is time consuming and requires several products, just like O's did. To me, Ms. Hart making her hair a character was justified and appropriate. 

P.s. My hair is kind of big deal to me. Seriously its awesome.

***spoiler*** 

That Alex didn't tell Olivia about his relationship with Anne and Jaime before taking her to the picnic is so WRONG. But he did clear up that he did love Jaime as Olivia once loved Patrick, someone who she could never have. But now, he loved her. Some interpreted this as meaning she was his consolation love. I think of it as realizing your first love isn't necessarily your greatest love.

Revelation. Alex tells Olivia that he doesn't share. But later it's revealed that he was once with Anne and Jaime. So he tried before and it didn't work out.

Revelation. Olivia makes a mental note of Alex picking out her outfit to wear to Jaime's memorial day picnic. He tells her that he wants to show her off. Olivia is annoyed/suspicious by this, but she in fact 'showed off' Alex when she took him to her photography class as her model.

Revelation. Olivia's relationship with the camera, her defense mechanism and the fact Alex accepts it without preamble. He enjoys her voyeuristic qualities, make no secret of how aroused he is by her artistic talent, before convincing her to stop watching life and step behind the camera and live with him.

Please read this book! Click here to view it on Amazon and please leave me feedback I would love to hear from you! And follow me if you enjoy reading what I review!

He's so my type....

He's so shy by Lena Matthews

Gillian and Lennon are co-workers. She mistakes him for being shy and decides to make him her project. He plays along. This is a good dirty book! I love the character, both the hero and heroine are well thought out with their motivations clearly made at the beginning of the story. Gillian likes the 'white guy' but won't admit it, so she takes him out for drinks and finds out that he's not shy at all. I admit my favorite character is her friend, she could by my wing-women any time. The big reveal in this book involves a party at a friends house, No I would NEVER participate in that kind of party. But the freak in me enjoyed reading about it. I also loved that the shero of this book was not afraid to find her love; I'm over women who run away from a good man. i would love to read more from this series.

There were a few errors:

Location 343 "And blind as a bat is she thought he could possible find any.....---> should be "possibly"

Location 1273 "Every since their little office escapade..." --> "Ever since"

The error at location 1373 is too adult to quote, but the wrong word is used, should be "fingering"

My new favorite word and  Favorite line of the book, Location 1226 "a fast convert to the religion of assianity"- Yeah, I will be using this to describe C-mac cause I converted him personally!

If you enjoyed this read click here. And if you like what you read please hit the follow button. Thanks!

False starts for the first week of April.....

Abandoned but not alone by Theresa L. Henry

A whole lot of telling without saying anything.

An immature annoying  heroine
1. Good thing you're an adult cause your parents couldn't afford to feed you
2. Hiding behind a grown stranger
3. A blurted chicken story

I have no idea the time and place the story takes place or any idea what any of the characters look like. DNF'd (Did not finish)

Needing Nita by Norah Wilson

Here is an example of the writing in this book "She'd only had" ---> translates to---> 'she had only had'

Enough said.

'Had'

1. 80% of the time its not necessary
2. Over usage- its annoyance to read over and over
3. Sometimes we write the way we talk to make our characters more realistic
4. Passive-aggressive: as the author its your story, take control and make me believe it
5. Feel a bit ameteur. I don't have the same complaint with GRRM or Anne Rice or James Patterson.

Please take my advice and re-read your work

The Admission by Jamallah Bergman

This book had so many errors, annoying characters, and No I'm not a hypocrite, I'm admit to being awful with grammar and I'm not charging for people to read my blog, it's free. So, if you're going to charge readers you will come under fire for having grammatical errors.

Location 470
"She stopped to straightening her clothes and took a deep..." should have been "Straighten"

The characters father is supposed to be verbally abusive (always negative and hurtful), but his lines to her aren't that hateful.

Location 680 or so:
"I like it the way it was, Cathy, I would appreciate it if you wire it the way it used to be for the party"

In my mind this is a case of "Don't talk about it, be about it" If the character uses his words as ammo than demonstrate that. Don't tell me 5011 (yeah, I stole that from my lil cousin) times that he's mean to her.  Show me.

Though this is a gorgeous cover and I'm not afraid to try something else by this author.

Happy Birthday Mr. Washington by C. Jackson

I wanted to like this book, but I couldn't do it. The Heroine is different and I usually like that, but I couldn't like the Hero. He breaks up with his girlfriend and goes out with a different girl on the very same day. That was a turn off to me. I also had a hard time with the sex scene's, they were boring and I hate boring sex!

2 tails many twitches of my heart by R.E. Butler

A Twitch of Tail by R.E. Butler

This is the story of one witch, Tera, and two weretiger brothers Melo and Tahlon who live in Ohio.  

Normally novella's leave me wanting more, particuarly when the characters are compelling (or hot). Often times the stories seem incomplete or rushed, leaving me with more questions than answers, but I have found a few good novellas, so I give praise when it's due. 

I have to say that overall I enjoyed this novella, the characters were well thought out and the romance was easy to enjoy and the story felt complete. I enjoyed the fact that our heroine didn't run from love and that she had strength and character of her own without needing the men to define her. I also liked that she had previous menage experience, though it didn't go well the first go around, she tried again realizing that her men would treat her like a goddess and not a toy. Oftentimes the female of a menage gets treated as an object by the author, but this is not the case int twitch.

My only gripe is a minor one; I live in Ohio and am familiar with the Cleveland area and I want to know how you write a story about Cle-town with no African-American characters? This is a little offensive. R.E. Butler include some characters of color in your next story please. I'm avaliable if you need inspiration for a intelligent, sassy, full-figured woman of color who enjoys hot men and a good read with a little adventure on the side.

To check this book out @ Amazon click here! And if you like what you read please hit the follow button. Thanks!

Blown away

A Guardian's Desire

This is my first experience with an alpha female as the herione of the book and I loved it! Freya, our shero, is working an easy gig; gaurd some girls as they find a mate during a weekend pagent. The warrior in Freya is bored without highstakes action or a pretty boy toy that she can dominant. Enter Rayne, a beautiful witch shifter who throws himself in Freya's path; they become entranced with each other. The problem? Rayne's big dominant alpha, Fenris, who has plans to make Freya one of the pageant girls!.

Omg, this book is so good. The prologue threw me off at first, but by the end I was like, YES! Rayne, isn't just some pretty boy; he tall and muscular with a handsome face, sensitivity, intelligence and some satisfying techniques. Fenris is his total opposite, not pretty but strong like bull and calculating. The pair work their way into Freya's and mine. My favorite part is the courting, when Freya lets herself be free with Rayne and finally starts to accept Fenris. I have read the epilouge at least three times, the insecurities that Freya reveals to her mates is so heart warming; she finally let somone in and was rewarded by unconditional love from not one, but two gorgeous men who call her mate.

There are some typos, but they are minor compared to so many other books out there. I wrote the author with my sentiments ( A nice way of saying I gushed about how much I loved the book) and I mentioned the typos, she assured me that she has an editor and that they try to get to all of them, but some slip through. Ahem, (she straightens her imaginary tie) PLEASE PLEASE, PLEASE (falls to knees) let me help out with that! 

Fierce Read!

Fierce heat 

Threesomes are not my thing. Neither is m/m, Novellas aren't worth my money, because they always leave me wanting. I have found the exception to these negatives, Fierce heat by Celia Kyle and Lizzie Lynn Lee. This book piqued my interest with its descriptive wording and concise storyline.  

The story revolves around two shifter lovers Isic and Ferr after an interspecies war. Homeless and hotly in love with one another the warriors land on a spacestation where they meet Amaya, their third part. Then the book gets fiercely hotter. I do wish there was more, but would be satisfied with a sequel. Great read that I would recommend to anyone that loves well written erotica.

And if you like what you read please hit the follow button. Thanks!

The darkness within- By Charisma Knight

Bitter beginning.

How am I supposed to like a book where it begins with the main character whining about missing her lovers? How am I supposed to like a book where the same heroine is proud of beating her abusive husband to death with a frying pan for cheating. Not in self defense, but because he called her fat and cheated; I guess the blows she received were just minor annoyances compared to the name calling and other women.