Review: Captive Prince (Volumes One & Two) by S.U. Pacat

This series was featured in Ruthie Knox’s What to Read Wednesday weekly blog post. I was very intrigued, so I bought the first book, read a couple of chapters and went and bought the second book, because that small sample was enough to convince me of its quality. The books ended up being so good, that I’m tempted to just review them in one line saying go read this now. 

Before I get to the review, you should know is that this is a work in progress. The third and final book won’t be out until next year, and the second book ends on a cliffhanger. Not only that, but these books tell one story and pretty much read like one long book. I think the only reason why they have been divided into three volumes is because Captive Prince originated as a free online serial. So the books must be read in order, otherwise it will be like randomly opening a book in the middle and starting there.

Review: Breath on Embers by Anne Calhoun

Source: A review copy was provided by the publicist.

Anne Calhoun is one of my favorite Erotic Romance writers, and as usual she delivers a great story with interesting characters. Breath on Embers is a novella that you can get as part of Carina Press’ Red Hot Holiday anthology, or separately.

Thea’s husband died two years ago and grief has been her relentless companion. She became a loner and pretty much isolated herself from everything except music and a firefighter named Ronan. For the past nine months they have been lovers but nothing else. But of course you can’t share your body for so long and not develop feelings, which is exactly what Ronan did. And that’s when things get interesting.

This is a very introspective, quiet and melancholic story. Thea is sad and doesn't want to feel anything. She uses her iPod as a way to detach herself from her surroundings, and her only human contact is with a guy she uses for sex. She doesn't want to let go of her husband and only allows herself some physical relief but not an emotional one.

Review: Deep Desires by Charlotte Stein

The reason I read this book was because last week everyone was talking about it. Curiosity got the best of me and I went into it hopeful but not really expecting such an interesting story. It’s an Erotic Romance that’s actually erotic. Kinky and explicit enough to be more than an average Contemporary with a lot of sex (as it’s usually the case with most of the Erotic Romances out there), yet there’s enough romance and character development to make it compelling beyond the sex.

Deep Desires has a fair amount of twist and discovering the characters is part of the journey, so I will try to be vague as possible about it. Our heroine is Abbie, and the story isn't only told from her POV, but there’s almost no dialogue whatsoever, so we are truly, deeply in her head. One day her neighbor gives her a peep show: she sees him naked through her window while he masturbates* and it’s obvious that he’s doing it for her. That scene sets the story in motion. At first, they silently interact through their windows. Then she finds out that his name is Ivan, he starts sending her presents and little by little their characters unfold. There’s something off about him, he’s secretive and has OCD tendencies. But that’s fine, because there’s something off about Abbie as well.

A review and a half: An Inconvenient Mate and Lawe’s Justice by Lora Leigh

Note: these reviews won’t make any sense if you haven’t read this series. You should go and start from book 1 Tempting the Beast and take notes along the way (if you do that, let me know because I’m having trouble following the chronology).

This review is a little different than the usual. First, I’m reviewing An Inconvenient Mate, a novella part of an anthology, and then, I’m reviewing Lawe’s Justice the last novel from the Breed Series. The main reason for this is that both stories “happen” at the same time, meaning that the timeline between one and another is almost the same. The other reason is that I read them both almost on the same day.

Review: Lover Reborn by J.R. Ward

Note: I have many things to say about this book so I’ll skip the part where I explain the plot and go directly to my thoughts. If you haven’t read the books you should probably skip this review (and go read them!) because it won’t make sense to you.

I never thought I was going to be glad I broke my ankle, but the fact that I had to stay home all day doing basically nothing this week was a blessing, and this book helped me pass the hours pain free! It is insanely good! If I wasn’t completely hooked before, now I totally am.

Lover Reborn is the 10th installment of the Black Dagger Brotherhood Series. I honestly wasn’t too excited about the heroine and the hero, in my opinion Tohrment was too damaged and still in mourning mode and No’one was completely crippled -and I’m not talking about her limp-. But the beauty of this book is that the very thing that made me reluctant in the first place is the thing that today makes me love it so much. There is no instant cure for the pain in Tohrment’s life, nor an easy solution, but you see him working towards a better future and making a lot of mistakes along the way. The same goes for No’One, she has her own issues and we get to see her work on them.

Extremely Long (review) and Incredibly Freaky (book): Heat by R. Lee Smith

I discovered Heat thanks to a review posted at Dear Author. I was very intrigued by the plot, and I’m sure that everyone else who read that review was as well. This is a book that elicits reactions, they can be positive or negative, but no one can deny that it’s an eye-catching story. So I was presented with the opportunity to step out of my comfort zone and I decided to take it.

This is a simple story set in a complex world universe. Kane is a chemist and a pirate. His main business is a drug called Vahst, which he manufactures. Vahst’ main component is dopamine, a chemical that can be found in human’s brains. So Kane, his father and their crew, travel in search of buyers, using humans to harvest dopamine (the harvesting process is quite easy, just open their heads and rip the gland that produces the chemical) and also as slaves. 

Review: Angels of the Deep by Kirby Crow

I keep wondering if angels are the new vampires. This book was published in 2009 before angels became so in vogue, but still, I keep seeing more books dealing with the subject and this was one that kept showing up as a recommended read. I decided to read it because of its darker nature. I didn’t know what I was getting into.

The story is quite complex and filled with twists and turns, so I can’t go into many details, but the books is best described as a paranormal suspense. 

Winter Warmers (Anthology) by Chrissy Munder, Clare London, JL Merrow, Josephine Myles and Lou Harper

Source: we received an e-ARC of the book from the authors for review purposes.


I almost didn’t read this book. My TBR pile is huge and I have lots of books to review, but when I realized that I had three m/m reviews ready I decided to have a special week dedicated to the genre and since I had an extra spot I decided to give it to this book. It was the best decision ever because Winter Warmers is filled with great stories that albeit short, pack a lot of punch.

Review: Men Under the Mistletoe (Anthology) by Josh Lanyon, Harper Fox, Ava March and K.A. Mitchell

Source: we received an e-ARC of the book through NetGalley for review purposes.

I'm not a huge fan of anthologies but I enjoy them when I get great quality and the opportunity to read new stories by some of my favorite authors. That’s exactly the case with Men Under the Mistletoe, a book filled with interesting novellas that have a common theme of second chance at love.

Review: First Watch by Peter Hansen

Confession time! I totally judged this book by its cover and that's the only reason I read it. I mean, how can you look at that and not want to read what’s inside? So I got it and I was ready for a parade of tentacle-sex WTFckery. Instead, I got a very interesting and well written horror story that kept me on the edge of my seat and only freaked me out a bit. Yes, there’s tentacle-sex, but the craziness level is surprisingly low once you get used to the monster.

Edouard Montreuil was mortally wounded during battle when a voice asked him if he wanted to live. He said yes without knowing that the voice belonged to a monster who wanted something in exchange. Ever since then he’s been part of the crew of the Flèche, a submarine captained by the same monster that saved his life, cured his wounds and now demands that Edouard surrenders his body every night. The Captain is an otherworldly creature that disguises itself as human by hiding his tentacles and real appearance under human flesh.

Review: Grey's Awakening by Cameron Dane

This is my first book by Cameron Dane and I really liked it.  Greyson Cole is taking a vacation because everyone he knows is happily paired up and he isn’t. Because of a dramatic past he feels unable to commit and fully love, this took a toll on his last relationship which ended badly three years ago. Upon arriving to his cabin in the mountains he finds himself “face to naked chest” with Sirus Wilder. Sirus is a longtime friend of Grey’s sister and is using the cabin while his is under renovations. They both feel very attracted to each other and almost immediately decide to act on it. They both go into it thinking it will be just a week long fling, but since they aren’t used to that kind of mindless relationship, and because of the great chemistry and attraction, something that should be uncomplicated starts to become really complicated, and to muddle it even further they both have a lot of baggage to deal with.

Review: Navarro's Promise By Lora Leigh

Like with all my other reviews about a series, I am going to start saying that this review is full of spoilers, and Navarro’s Promise –being the 24^th book of the Breed Series – is a book that has to be read only by those who have followed the whole story, otherwise you are going to be feeling like you are missing out on half of the plot –which you are-. So, consider yourself warned.

Personally, I see the Lora Leigh’s Breed Series as a TV show in which each episode is focused on the development of a couple -sort of like Lost and its characters-. These “episodes” –in this case, books- are just a chapter in the whole story, and with every new one we discover a new layer in the complicated and well-explained plot.

Review: Lover Unleashed (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 9) By J. R. Ward

Lover Unleashed is the 9th book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, so keep in mind that this review is going to have spoilers. If you haven’t read any of the books from this series go ahead and buy Dark Lover, you won’t regret it.

This new book about the brothers is focused in several histories; first we have the hero Dr. Manuel Manello, a character that was introduced in Lover Unbound and even when he didn’t appear again in the series –after all he is just human, right?- you knew that he was going to have an important role in the future. This important role is to save our heroine, Payne, Vishious’ twin sister. Payne is injured in a training fight against Wrath in the other side. After refusing her mother’s help, she is taken to the Brotherhood Mansion to received medical attention from Dr. Jane; however, her injuries are serious and require the intervention of Dr. Manello. When he sees her for the first time he goes all MINE, which is a clue pointing to where the story in going. Dr Manello saves her and her legs, but he has to apply a not so orthodox (and really steamy) method to do so.