Anything He Wants

Anything He Wants: Atonement by Sara Fawkes

Lucy has found her happily ever after in billionaire CEO Jeremiah and there sex life is roaring, but Jeremiah is distracted by work problems and Lucy is worried. Even a very sexy trip to a BDSM club owned by Gabriel Steele isn't enough to make Jeremiah forget about his work. Between work and his mother picking on her, Lucy is worried that her happily ever after is getting torn assunder. When she can finally get Jeremiah's attention the sex between is as hot as ever and the two have no problems experimenting in the bedroom. Things are so frustrating that Lucy contemplates going to Borneo with her friend to help run their charity. When she finally confronts him, Lucy remains calm and collected and merely tells Jeremiah that she misses him, instead of giving in to her natural instinct to yell and shout. He finally reveals the big secret he has been keeping from her; he is quitting the job that he loathes and he encourages her to follow her dreams of helping people and tells her to open up her own charity right there in Manhattan. Their future is wide open in front of them and the cherry on top is a romantic proposal on the night of Lucy's birthday.

This was another very short novella and the opening scene in a BDSM club was rather off putting and confusing as it was obvious Jeremiah had not discussed what was happening with Lucy. Even though he didn't push her to do anything, it was unnerving that he would spring something like that on her, especially since their sex had apparently never progressed to anything like what they were seeing. I really enjoyed reading about how the two of them dealt with the difficulties in their relationship; perhaps that made it more of a real relationship for me as the entire relationship building process took place in a previous book. The two dealt with some very serious issues and they handled them really maturely and I wish the book had been more about that. The sex was pretty hot, not as scorching as I expected from this series, and the scenes in the club just were not my thing at all. There were also far too many name droppings from previous books and allusions to them which I never liked.

Complete Abandon

Complete Abandon by Julia Kent

Six months ago Laura gave birth to a beautiful baby girl and since then her life has centered around the baby, to the exclusion of all else, including her very handsome partners, Mike and Dylan. Mike and Dylan are frustrated at Laura's sudden lack of interest in anything sexual, despite their best attempts to get her hot and bothered. Laura's friend, Josie, recommends they check out her e-reader and they are stunned when they find that she's been reading tons of erotica, including some very kinky things. They decide to take Laura up to a ski "cabin" while Josie and her boyfriend Alex spend time with the baby. Alex hopes that this will convince Josie that she's ready for more in their relationship. Once at the cabin, Laura is hurt when she realizes that they've read her e-reader and continues to worry about her baby. Luckily, Mike and Dylan have come prepared with plenty of the gizmos and gadgets from her stories. Slowly, they break down Laura's reluctance and put her insecurities about her post-baby body to rest and break out quite a few of those toys they brought. Soon, Laura is back to her usual outgoing and adventurous self and Dylan and Mike are more than happy to reap the rewards of their work.

This was a sequel to a previous novel that I hadn't read, so I found myself with a complete lack of investment in any of the characters. That means I really didn't care about any of the characters at all and wasn't interested in their problems or what they were going through. The entire book was about sex from beginning to end, and I guess the relationship part of the story was covered in the previous book which meant that all this book was left with was horny people who wanted to have sex. This would have been somewhat acceptable if the sex had been any good, but it surprisingly wasn't. Besides one erotic scene between Alex and Josie, the rest was just blah, despite the use of sex toys and two hunky men. And call me a prude, but I felt it weird that in a threesome there was not any discussion at all of what the two men were thinking and how the whole situation really worked, but perhaps that was covered in the previous book. Overall this was a pretty awful story that may have been made better by reading the prequel, however I certainly don't feel inspired to do so after reading this.

Yield to Me

Yield to me by Sarah Castille

Marcy is an aspiring MMA fighter with dreams of making it big, but she is having some issues breaking through to the top. Her gym director hire's Jax, a former fighter, to be her coach, and Jax quickly realizes that Marcy has trouble when is submission holds. After practicing with her he knows that she has trouble fighting through it because her true nature is to submit to a dominant, which is problematic as he is desperate to become her dominant. A few rounds on the floor has both Marcy and Jax hot for each other and him convinced that her true submissive nature, and her tendency to fight it means she will never be a truly successful MMA fighter. When he confides in the owner of their gym, Marcy is furious and goes after Jax, but the resulting fights leads both of them to a hot, sweaty, and naked round in the ring. Marcy's secrets are revealed, including her past relationships that failed because of her need for domination and Jax knows that Marcy deserves much better than a trainer who can't stay in one place for more than couple months. His leaving leaves Marcy heartbroken, but she still wants to prove him wrong about her fighting abilities. Both know they have found something special in the other and must give up their fears of rejection to find happiness with each other.

I was initially skeptical of this story because of the MMA fighting aspect of it, but I was quickly proven wrong. Marcy and Jax were both incredibly well developed characters, and not just for a novella. Marcy's past played an important role in her frustration and her inability to admit to her true sexual nature. I admired her dedication to her craft and her eventual ability to admit her problems and it was incredibly moving at the end when she showed how she had truly come to accept herself. Jax's fear of commitment was, granted, a romance novel stable, but I was able to overlook that cliche because of how dedicated he was to Marcy and truly did just want the best for her and his guilt when he felt that he wasn't doing all that he could for her. The two were close throughout the story and I could really see how they would get along in a true relationship. The sex was absolutely scorching and these two burned up the pages with some kinky sex, but it was also tender and full of love, which was a truly great combination. I thoroughly enjoyed this story and the two strong leads and their loving, and incredibly sexy, relationship made this book well worth reading.

Yours to Take

Yours to Take by Cathryn Fox

Rebecca Andrews is a lawyer whose relationships always fizzle and her best friends decide what she need is a trip to Fantasy Island. When billionaire Quinn Montgomery finds out that the lawyer who beat him at court in a sham of a trial, is set to take a private flight to Fantasy Island, he decides a little revenge, and a little heat, is in order. As a dom Quinn recognized the signs of submission in Rebecca and he knows his own private island is the perfect place for her to succumb to her darkest desires. Rebecca is furious and scared when she discovers Quinn's trick, but also quite turned on and desperate to discover what Quinn has in store for her. Over the course of the weekend Quinn pushes Rebecca's sexual boundaries and she discovers why all her previous relationships had not worked out. However, when the weekend is over, Rebecca fears that their relationship is over as well, until Quinn makes a very romantic gesture that makes it clear their sexy dominant/ submissive relationship is just beginning.

Rebecca was the typical uptight lawyer who just needed to let down her hair and lose control and I found that character a little too stereotypical. Quinn was just a billionaire hero who liked very hot and kinky sex. Unfortunately that truly is as far as the character development went in this incredibly short story. The relationship was developed about equally as well and consisted mainly of the two of them having lots of sex. The sex was quite hot and very kinky, but avoided any of the more harsh aspects of BDSM role play and could be easily consumed by someone new to the genre. Overall this was a well written story that needed a few dozen more pages to make the relationship real to me.

Treasures of the Sun

Treasures of the Sun by Christina Dodd 1204

Katherine Chamberlain left her life in Boston where she acted as servant and legal extraordinaire to her wealthy relatives, to marry adventurer Tobias Maxwell. Damian de la Sola, a native Californian whose Spanish ancestors had come to California years before, sees the beautiful Katherine and knows instantly that she is meant for him but Tobias is his best friend so he makes no move to intercede. Only a few short weeks into the marriage, Tobias is murdered in public and Katherine is left a widow with no one to turn to. Damien takes Katherine into his home and gives her a position in his household so that she will feel like she is doing something worthwhile and decides that the best thing is to let Katherine do her grieving and then step in when she is ready. He is furious when he learns that Katherine intends to leave Monterey and wastes no time in telling her that leaving is impossible because their destiny lies with each other.

Katherine cannot deny the attraction she has for Damien but his life is so far removed from everything familiar to her and she knows she will never be entirely accepted by the proud Californians who have reason to distrust and dislike Americans. She runs away but Damien's family is powerful and they manage to delay her leaving, but in doing so give the person who killed Tobias the opportunity to come after her and reveal that Tobias was killed to try and find the lost treasure of the padres. Damien is able to save Katherine but realizes that she will not really be safe until the treasure is found or proven a myth so he decides to find it; but not before marrying Katherine. Katherine knows that their marriage will be difficult to negotiate because she is a proud American and he is an equally proud and controlling Californian but together they must work to solve a century old mystery to save their lives and give them a chance for a future.

Katherine was very intelligent and proud and I admired that she took control of her life and took a risk and wanted to be self sufficient. I especially liked her realistic look at her relationship with Damien as she realized that it would be very difficult and that it would take massive amounts of compromise on both their parts, including her own. She was willing to work on this and did not accept Damien just being who he was and insisted that he see her for who she was. One of my favorite moments every came when he was trying to run her life and she asked him how he fell in love with her if he doesn't seem to like any of the elements that make her who she is and he realized that he was in the wrong and did not want to change the woman he loved. Damien was not as well developed although there was a definite sense of pride and the knowledge that Katherine was the woman for him and while he was at times frustrating I liked how at the end he realized he would have to compromise in order to love Katherine.

Their relationship progressed nicely and I really like when the characters have a real problem that they need to work out, in this case their pride clashing, and it was handled so brilliantly and really made it clar that they would be able to work through other things in the future. There was some sex between them, not very much, and it was just so-so and kind of swallowed up in the rest of the immense book. The treasure hunting was really the focus of this book and while I wanted to get into it because it was almost California history, I just couldn't and did not like it. This book was incredibly long and sat in my to be read pile for a nearly a year and when I finally did get around to reading it I decided that the easiest way to get through it was to do it in very fast 50 page bursts so it did take me a long time. It was certainly not a fast read, there was not very much dialogue and had lots of descriptions and long narratives and back story, and had no funny moments to break up the monotony.

Rating: Too long and too slow with too much that didn't interest me but what was there in the romance department held my interest and I did enjoy.

A Christmas Waltz

A Christmas Waltz by Jane Goodger 821

Lady Amelia Wellesley falls in love with Carson Kitteridge when he comes to visit England as part of a Wild West travelling show. He woos her and tells her all about his slow brother and his big ranch in Texas and asks her to marry him with the agreement that he will send for her and they will marry. But after several months Amelia realizes his letter probably got lost in the mail and forges a letter from Carson to present to her older brother and his wife and heads off to Texas with dreams of her new life. She arrives in Slow Fork to find that things are nothing like the way that Carson presented to her. Carson does not own a ranch, Carson is not interested in marrying her, and his brother, Dr. Boone Kitteridge, is far from slow. Boone is horrified that his brother led this beautiful woman on about his prospects with the promise of marriage and when confronted Carson hightails it out of town. With nowhere else for her to turn Boone offers to let Amelia stay with him in the apartment at the back of his general store.

Amelia does not know how she is going to get out of Small Fork since her maid ran off with her money, and while she finds it hard to come to grips with the unexpected turn her life is taking, she finds that Boone is a bright spot in an otherwise dismal looking future. Boone and Amelia settle into a semi- domestic life as she helps him run his store and they spend their evenings teaching her to cook and take care of a house. Her brother realizes something is wrong and brings his wife out to meet Amelia and when he discovers the sham Carson has perpetrated he is furious and demands something be done to save her reputation. Boone steps forward and Amelia realizes she has no choice but to accept and after the marriage is performed her brother and sister-in-law leave and she has to make herself fit into her new life. Boone knows that Amelia does not want to stay in Texas and does not want to be married to him, but he wants to make her happy and is willing to spend his life doing that. Amelia realizes she is married to a caring and wonderful man and they both have to trust in their love for each other.

While I am not normally a fan of Western historicals, this book immediately grabbed my attention because of the blending of English and Western cultures and the promise of some angst because of the circumstances surrounding her marriage to Boone. I had mixed feelings about Amelia because she was naive enough to fall for Carson's charm but she was also smart enough to quickly realize when she had been fooled once she was confronted with the truth and did not wallow in self pity. I did enjoy that her motives for romanticizing other people and being overly excited when the possibility of true love were explained and tied in to her past, without being dissected until I was bored to death. Boone was a little sedate for a romance hero, but he made up for it by being so caring and conscientious of Amelia and her feelings. His past was explored in detail, but it went a long way toward explaining the man he was and why he acted in that way. He was protective about the people in his life and made big sacrifices to make his friends feel safe and to make Amelia happy.

Their relationship progressed very slowly during the course of the book, which was for the best as I would not have liked it if she had gone from love with Carson to Boone without some major reflection and some time to process what had happened. The little scenes with them working together were beautifully written and I really enjoyed all the angst that accompanied their falling in love. It did get a little exhausting at the end when they were both worried that the other did not return their love, but I felt like it was more realistic in this instance because of the circumstances surrounding their courtship. There was not that much sex, but again it made sense, and it was romantic and sexy if not hot. I loved the descriptions of life in a small town and that said small town wasn't overly romanticized against the big bad city. I enjoyed the juxtaposition of life in London and life in Small Forks and the way that both of them handled their new lives and worked with each other. I did feel like past characters were thrown in my face, even if they weren't actually present- which made their "appearance" even more ridiculous.

Rating: A very good book with an interesting setting with two characters who had to work through a lot in order to achieve their happily ever after.

The Irish Bride

The Irish Bride by Alexis Harrington 416

When her employer, the horrible Noel Cardwell, harasses her while she is working on his estate Farrell Kirwan flees back to her families nearby village. There she discovered that her brother had been accidentally murdered while he was trying to collect rent money for Lord Cardwell from their family friends, the O'Rourkes. Michael Kirwan had been a kind man, but he let his greed get the best of him and Aidan O'Rourke could no longer tolerate his dealings, but when he pushed him he did not expect Michael to hit his head on a stone and die. Now Farrell is in trouble because she slapped the Lord's son and Aidan because he killed the Lord's agent and their family agrees their is only one solution. Even though Farrell is to marry Liam, the calm and settled brother, she is pushed into marrying Aidan so that the two of them can run away together. Aidan plans to go to America, the land of plenty, and settle in New York or Boston and provide Farrell with a better life- a life she could never have in Ireland. For years Aidan has wanted Farrell; she is the most beautiful girl in the village, but he has maintained his distance because of her relationship with his brother, but now she is all his and he will never let her go.

Farrell is swept up in the events and the two begin their long journey to America, but they are being followed by Noel Cardwell who is determined to get Farrell and punish the man who took her from him.  The journey is arduous and the ship journey is long, but the two do get to know each other and Farrell realizes she may be mistaken in her judgments of Aidan. But once they dock in America their plans change and Aidan decides that they should move out west to Oregon to get their 160 acres of farmland and Farrell worries that he does not listen to her input. Meanwhile Noel has followed them and hired people to track them down as he will stop at nothing to get them and when Aidan discovers this he decides not to worry Farrell with the problems. In Oregon there is another change as Aidan wants to go into business at a saw mill, and Farrell's hopes for a simple farm life are crushed even while she knows Aidan thinks he is doing what is best for her. The two of them have a lot to work through in order for both of them to understand that what is best for them might not be what is expected and to dodge the men who are hunting them, but when they stick together they manage to find their happily ever after.

This is different then most romances novels I read (Regency) but I have really enjoyed the Alexis Harrington novels I have read in the past and this one looked promising. The circumstances that threw Aidan and Farrell together were immediately engrossed and I wanted to read on to discover how they would make their relationship work under such daunting circumstances and how they would survive their long journey and the men hunting them. Farrell was amazing and I admired her for her strength, her intelligence, and her ability to stand up for herself. She was presented with few options and I liked that she did not sputter and get annoying when she was presented with such a difficult choice, but smartly realized there really weren't any other options for her to take. Her determination to marry Liam even while Aidan was really perfect for her was explained well so I did not feel like she was being naive, just letting her past affect her future. She was willing to work hard to accomplish what she wanted and she was willing to stand up to Aidan when needed, but also trust him to make some decisions. There was a lot of conflict, mainly internal, about her leaving Liam and about Aidan sometimes making decisions that weren't in their best interests.

Normally I would get frustrated with Aidan's complete inability to understand what Farrell really wanted from him, but Harrington does a tremendous job here by making it so clear that Aidan really does genuinely think he is doing what is best for Farrell. While I was upset at him at times, I was struck by how much he cared about Farrell throughout the book and it made it all the more sweet when he did decide to listen to her and realized that what she wanted was what would make him happy. Their relationship was the focus of this book and we got to read about how their relationship progressed from one-sided love to mutual respect and appreciation for the other. There was some sex in the book and it was romantic and sweet, but there was not a lot and I would not describe it as hot.  I really enjoyed the side-plot where they were being hunted down by Noel Cardwell because it was well-written, it served as the impetuous to get the story moving, and it served as a constant in the book without being overwhelming or taking over from the romance. There was some historical information about Ireland and the potato famine and immigration to American during the era of the Know-Nothings which I appreciated since it put the book in context.

Rating: I enjoyed this book like all of her books because of the romance and the focus on the relationship and I would recommend it to people who were into more sedate (not boring) romances.

Swept Away by a Kiss

Swept Away by a Kiss by Katharine Ashe 1125

Lady Valerie Monroe was exiled to America by her father, the Earl of Alverton, for her flirtatious and scandalous behavior but upon his death she is called back to England. While at sea she meets Etienne, a French priest, whom she feels far from fatherly towards. When her ship is taken by pirates she and Etienne are brought on board the pirate ship by their crazy captain who wants her to be more experienced before he finally rapes her. He sets up scenarios that he thinks will test the religious man's will power and lead to Valerie's corruption, but Etienne has secrets of his own. He is in fact Viscount Stephen Ashford and the ship they are on is his own and he uses it to hunt slave traders and disrupt their business. He knows that Valerie is something special but he is destined to live his life alone so when he finally regains control of the ship he leaves her in London with no plans to see her ever again. Back in England Valerie tries to move on with her life but she cannot get the French priest out of her mind until a house party in the country.

Valerie attends a holiday party given by Lord and Lady March, Stephen's godparents, and the two once again come face to face. Both pretend that they do not know each other and watch with jealousy as they each flirty madly with the other members of their party. Valerie is horrified to think that Stephen was merely playing her and has no true feelings for her while Stephen regrets the way things has to be but thinks it is for Valerie's own good that he is doing all this. It isn't long before Valerie begins picking up on some of Stephen's going on and realizes that there is something that Stephen is hiding from her. When she discovers a servant rifling through her possessions she decides that she is going to take the initiative and discover for herself what is going on. She discovers what Stephen does and that he is attempted to dig up evidence on one of the other guests at the house party. Wanting to help him, Valerie puts her own safety at risk, angering Stephen, but also forcing him to realize that Valerie is something special and that, while he has always thought of himself as a lone wolf, she is worth taking a big risk and sharing himself with someone.

This book was incredibly gloomy. I cannot think of a single instance where either of these characters could be considered happy or excited. They both spent the entire time mired in depression and sad thoughts and it took no time at all for me to start completely hating this. Romance novels do not have to be endlessly cheery, but there is a limit to how much doom I can take in any book and this book definitely crossed it. And of course being constantly depressed made it impossible for me to figure how either of these two managed to fall in love with the other. Seriously, who falls in love with someone who never smiles? I will also say that the situation on board the pirate ship bordered on the ridiculous with an insane captain who tied her up and then left her for Stephen to untie, thinking that Stephen would eventually sleep with her. Supposedly they both were sexually excited by this and I just could not figure out how they could become aroused in such a horrific situation where both of them (should have been) worried for their lives. Both acted TSTL throughout the ordeal on the ship really.

I wanted to admire Valerie for her ability to use her feminine wiles to manipulate people, at least when it was for a good cause, but because she was so depressed and unhappy about the situation it went from admirable to blah. Stephen's drive to end slavery was only partly explained and I felt like it could have been done much better as obviously slavery is something that a person should have strong emotions about. The two spent barely any time together, less still when they weren't both worried about a madman, and absolutely no getting to know you or being happy together time. They were both very attracted to each other and there was gloomy sexual tension throughout the book but even the sex was overshadowed by depression and thoughts on the slavery plot so I really could not get into it. I was excited somewhat by the plot to stop the slave traders and I liked that Valerie was able to get involved in order to help the man she loved. There was some nice betrayal going on as well but the plot was not really developed enough to completely get into. There were no major side characters to distract from the lack of character coming from the two main protagonist.

Rating: Fairly obviously this book was a major failure on all levels and I was just completely overwhelmed by this downer of a book.