bandherbooks's Reviews (3.65k)

A big, burly, taciturn Duke who likes to grunt and tells his love interest he'll teach her to "fight and fuck?" Okay yes that absolutely works for me.

I haven't read the first in this series, and I believe both Anna Maria and Nash are introduced there, so I need to go back, but I had a blast reading this anyway without much issue.

CW for past child abuse, fighting, violence, attempted assault

Stay tuned for my LJ review!

Well, this was a big womp womp for me. Sad to report the last book in the Maiden Lane series did not in any way make me feel that the series was complete. Also, as I was warned about, the last three books in this series were dark, disturbing, and felt a bit out place with the rest.

CW: kidnapping, attempted rape, description/discussion of rape of children (main character was raped as a child), gun violence, death of secondary characters, blood, gore, animal endangerment, probably more.

At the end of [b:Duke of Pleasure|29740747|Duke of Pleasure (Maiden Lane, #11)|Elizabeth Hoyt|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1465093239l/29740747._SY75_.jpg|47288985], I was all in on Lady Iris Jordan. I loved how Hoyt handled Iris becoming friends with (and not rivals of) Alf, who marries Lord Kyle instead of Iris because of true love. Iris, a widow, had a loveless marriage and she's ready to find at least companionship and have her own family.

Instead, she finds herself kidnapped and about to be raped by the Lords of Chaos, but then rescued by one of the naked and masked men who turns out to be an interloper, the son of the former head, who is trying to take the group down. She shoots Raphael, Lord Dyemore, in the arm and while he is bleeding he forces her to wed him "for her protection."

Up to this point I was having an okay time. But ultimately I never bought into their romance and I never felt fulfilled by Raphael seeking revenge and the downfall of the Lords, and especially the leader "Dionysus."

SPOILERS

Spoiler

Iris is basically enchanted by the beauty of Raphael "despite" his face scarring and his kind of scary/overbearing demeanor. She's like sure, let's be married and have pleasure and you can give me a family. Raphael is adamant he doesn't want children. He has never had penetrative sex with anyone as he's traumatized by his father raping him on his 12th birthday as part of an initiation to the Lords of Chaos. His father was a monster, and Raphael fears any child he would have would be as tainted and dirty as he feels he is. This is all super traumatic and awful, and I just do not feel like Raphael's trauma was handled in a way that could make me believe he would all of a sudden be okay with trying to have a family. Especially since Iris incites him to have sex with her, even though she knows he does not want children. That's real shitty Iris.

Also, the ultimate reveal that "Dionysus" is a man who also suffered repeated rape at the hands of his father and brother (also in the Lords of Chaos) hit hard and not in a good way. And despite this being the last one, there is still the specter that many of the "lords" are still out there despite the head of the organization being cut off.

So, at the end of this journey, and as I was warned, I could have just not read the last three books and it would have been just fine. I'm still glad I did read the whole series and it has been a good pandemic past-time as little has been able to hold my interest.

Hot Rabbi blew me away, for being so entirely sexy and so emotionally impactful. A total slump buster, got me out of a bad spell post-election. Rabbi and single dad David is a total dream boat. He listens! He is really into oral! Whew.

A messy heroine is my favorite, and this one is no exception. Also the discussion of religion and belief is exceptional, along with the complications of grieving someone who you truly loved but who also really did some lingering damage to your mental health.

Highly recommend.

The narrator made the heroine's love interest and her father sound almost exactly the same, leading to some confusion on my part. For a short holiday romance novella, this still felt like a slog nor was I expecting to have both the hero and heroine grieving over his brother and her friend, nor worrying about the heroine's dad's impending divorce. And honestly, besides them being on a holiday during the holidays, this really had nothing to do with Christmas/the holidays.

Thank you to LibroFM for the free ALC for review.

Recently returned from a six month overseas deployment, Navy SEAL Ben Simmons' is sitting in an empty apartment and dreading the holidays alone. His ex-girlfriend left him for his former roommate before his deployment and he has no family close by. Surprising even himself, he agrees to cover his friend's life drawing class modeling gig. He has a great body he's worked hard on, why not make some cash displaying it for art?

High School math teacher Chelsea Doyle is delighted to discover the beautiful new model looks a lot like the sexy actors on the Navy SEAL TV show she has playing on repeat as she grades assignments over the holiday break, and apparently he can't make eye contact with her. Worried she's made him uncomfortable, she instead finds out he's desperate to avoid her gaze as to also avoid having a physical reaction to her stare during class.

These two keep it above board until the class is over, fighting their chemistry and heat the whole way, until it finally gets to be explored under the lights of the Christmas tree Ben helps Chelsea set up in his empty apartment.

Sweet and steamy, just the way I like them for the holidays!

The tagline on the cover just sends me "Holiday miracles in the sex toy aisle." Indeed!

Turcot finds his former best friend's sister in the sex shop staring wistfully and curiously at some chintzy bondage cuffs. Since Turcot personally crafts his own custom cuffs that are far superior AND sees some real sub potential in librarian Cassidy, he approaches her to see how she's been all these years. And wow do kinks align and sparks fly. They agree to a night of exploration, since Cassidy is completely new to kink (despite having checked out a lot of books on the subject from her library). Turcot takes great care to make Cassidy feel safe and consensual (even calling his friend from the kink club he goes to to be her buddy and check in).

But what Cassidy truly desires is all the emotions that go into kink play, and the real connection she already has with Turcot is both entirely what she wants but also a bit scary. Is it just the orgasms or should she jump into Turcot's arms, and cuffs, forever?

Lots of fun Christmas-y "toys" include a red blinking rudolph nose bum plug, this was a fast and steamy holiday novella that made me smile.

I was doing a short audiobook Hoopla blitz for the #JingleBooks challenge and found this one, which unfortunately turned out to be a bummer. She's working in a strip club but isn't "like those other girls" and he's an undercover cop who wants to put his hands on her. Some fatphobia to round it out and otherwise I was just bored. But, at least I checked off the "Cowboy" square.

Avis is searching for her mother who abandoned her, agreeing to be a mail order bride to do so. Her intended is awful, so she starts working for abolitionist and shopkeeper Liam to pay off her debt, and falls in love.

Huguley brought her characters to life and I found the historical details fascinating and compelling. Liam is white and does the work to deserve Avis's love.

I wanted more time with the couple together on page, but this was a sweet holiday story nonetheless.

Well, this is a thing that I read. I'm begging all bookstores/libraries/whatever to please not shelve this in a romance because it is certainly not a romance (cliff hanger, no HEA). Definitely angsty and with a lot of sex that I would not call romantic but is certainly titillating and definitely toeing the non-consensual line. I'm sure there will be some buzz and demand, but this is not going to be one I recommend except for those who are intrigued.

My friend Allie described it as early aughts Literotica style of writing and I agree. I will not say why I know about that ha ha ha. If you do read, be prepared for brutal blow jobs, an overload of brand names, and OTT dialogue/emotions. When Laura described Maxim's penis as a birthday candle I about died.

If you saw the movie, this will answer a few questions (especially about the beginning) and ends in a completely different spot.