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Red Hot compilation – MEGA review time

Dec20

Red Hot Obsession (10 book compilation)

I cannot rate the whole book with one rating because the ratings for the stories varied greatly. Plus, there were a few that I did not even waste my time reading. Most are full length novels- meaning between 100-200 pages. I bought the whole collection on sale for 99cents one weekend. I thought that if only one book was entertaining, that was still a good price.

These are the books that I thought were worth reading ♥♥♥

That First Kiss (Night Calls Book 2) (J.C. Valentine) – favorite book of this whole compilation. It was not anything outstanding but the story was cute. Piper and Tate have a quickie is a club bathroom (ick!) Friday night and find out Monday morning that they are working together. Oh joy! As you can imagine, hilarity and much sexual tension ensues. (writing a post about this one later)

His Wicked Games: A Cunningham Family Novel (His Wicked Games #1) (Ember Casey) – Lily has staked out Calder’s mansion because she wants to force him to honor the agreement his father made regarding a donation to their non-profit organization. Calder is not moved, but then decides he will play a game where the winner takes what they want. They are both dealing with some things.

In the Meh category ♥♥

 

Stories in the compilation that I did not Read ♥

 Layers Deep (Layers Trilogy Book 1) (Lacey Silks)– no happy ending until book 2 – at least the author had the consideration to tell me before I spent my time reading it. Thank you Lacey Silks!

His Indecent Lessons (Sky Corgan)– synopsis: Professor’s carnal knowledge lessons with a student. My opinion: Not for me. I tried to read it but the heroine was annoying and immature sounding. She was a college student so that probably has a lot to do with it. The professor’s lesson (the one scene I read as I tried to finish) sounded clinical instead of romantic.

Sorority Pledge Collection: Steamy Books 1-5 (Sorority Pledge Saga)(Daizie Draper) – six novellas and no happy ending until book 10? I’ll pass. I’m not buying another 4 books for a potentially lackluster story.

Billionaires in Disguise: Rae (Complete Series, Episodes 1-9): A Romance Novel(Blair Babylon) – synopsis: Part one of the story about a college girl romance with billionaire. Started reading it but did not finish because (1) the last 3 books (see above) were strike outs (2) I was tired of reading first person point of view stories and (3) the heroine seemed to be making some unwise choices. On a separate but kind of related note, I read another book by the same author (part of the same Billionaires in Disguise series) and I was indifferent towards those characters as well.

So this is how I felt for most of the compilation.

That was fine though because from an economical point of view, I spent 50cents each on two books that I liked. I got 8 mostly rubbish books but I choose not to focus on that.

Billionaire with so much heart

Oct20


Heart Of The Billionaire: : (The Billionaire’s Obsession ~ Sam)♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Synopsis

Maddie is a doctor and the best friend of Kara from Billionaire’s Obsession. She is working a full-time job and operating a free clinic. Since Kara is marrying Sam’s brother, Simon, Maddie has to have some interaction with him. She tries to remain cordial and keep her emotional distance so he does not break her heart again. It does not help that he was her first love and she is still attracted to him.

In Billionaire’s Obsession, Sam is the older brother but the focus was on the trauma that Simon endured as a teenager. Heart Of The Billionaire, the focus is on Sam. He has his own scars and traumatic childhood stories. One thing is certain. He still has feelings for Maddie. He knows she hates him which dooms him to a life of loneliness. However, when the opportunities arises, Sam makes his move to make up for the lost time that Maddie was not in his life.

Opinion

In Kara’s story, I got glimpses of the history between Maddie and Sam, but was not sure what to make of it. Sam never said a bad word about Maddie but she called him “snake” and “man-whore”. It was easy to know who broke who’s heart.

I have not decided who I like more: Sam or Simon? After reading Kara and Simon’s story, I thought that an alpha male could not be any more infuriating. Enter Sam. He has a take-all sort of attitude. Maddie haunted Sam’s thoughts for years after they separated. During all that time, he has remained convinced that Maddie belongs with him. He gave up his chance years ago, but is not making that mistake a second time. He has a heavy-handed approach to matters that was humorous to me. On several occasions he told Maddie that they were getting married and she would remind him that he had not asked. It was funny because he could not understand why his business-like methods were not working to get her to do what he wanted her to do. Even Simon was giving him advice that he might not be using the best approach.

Sam: “I am marrying her. I already told her that.”
“Uh…did you actually ask her?” Simon inquired uneasily
Sam: “Nope…”

Maddie is more cautious. She is not going to let herself get hurt but she still has feelings for him.

She is trying to resist but he has his ways of being persuasive ***wink wink***

“Kissing Sam was like putting a flame to gasoline, the ignition was almost immediate and white-hot.“

Despite the amazing chemistry, I like that she was not head-over-heels gaga for him. The first time that Sam brought up marriage, she slapped him. Priceless. You go girl. When Sam explained everything, she did not automatically believe him either. I would have thought it was cheesy if she went from “I hate your guts” to “I love you so much” in an afternoon. Little by little, she was able to understand what was going on and why he did what he did. While she was understanding, she did not become a pushover. I love that about her character. She might love him, but she was not going to do what he said just because he demanded it. It does not matter if she really wants to do it. It’s the principle. Yea, I would be am that stubborn too.

At the heart of it, it is a sweet story. Sam is a lovable ultra alpha-male who has secrets that create his insecurities. He is trying to work past them and go for what he wants. Maddie has her own insecurities to battle against. They are two imperfect people who realize they are right for each other. At least they had open communication so there were only a few misunderstandings. Everything is cleared up in the end.

You probably have all sorts of questions- If he loved her so much, why did they break up? Usually I am all for spoilers, but this is one that you have read.

However, this story is VERY graphic (even more than Kara & Simon’s story) and contains explicit language. If that is not for  you, then send me a message and I will explain to you how the book ends.

I wholeheartedly agree with the author’s note: This novel is the complete story of Sam and Maddie, but reading The Billionaire’s Obsession – The Complete Collection (Simon and Kara’s story) first is highly recommended to enhance your reading pleasure.

These two books that I have read by author J. S. Scott have been delightful. I am not one usually to like such obsessive heroes, but for these stories, it works! I love these characters. I cannot wait to read more from this series.

Why being pregnant with amnesia is so romantic

Sep25


The Tycoon’s Pregnant Mistress (Silhouette Desire) ♥♥♥

Synopsis

Chrysander Anetakis is a Greek hotel magnate who found out his former mistress is pregnant and she has amnesia. While he does not forgive her for betraying his trust and selling company secrets, he wants his child. So since she does not remember anything, he does not tell her that they broke up months ago. Instead he tells her that she is his fiancée. Now he has to pretend they were happy before the “accident” that caused her amnesia.

Marley is pregnant and scared. There is a stranger named Chrysander Anetakis telling her that they are engaged. While she cannot remember anything besides her name, she has a feeling in her gut that there is something not quite right about their relationship.

Opinion

This is not the first time that I have read of the hero using amnesia as a reset for the relationship. I do not understand why though because they act as if the amnesia is not going to eventually be cleared. Once that happens, the woman/love interest discounts everything up until that point as a lie.

As a side thought: Chrysander was grimy for sleeping with Marley when he was supposed to be disgusted with her.

For that in itself, he should have come clean.

It bothered me that Chrysander had niggling doubts about Marley’s guilt, but he did nothing to try to investigate what else could prove her guilt or innocence. He thought that “Marley’s eyes looked innocent,” but he refused to acknowledge the potential truth in that. Then when he actually thought about it, it took 2 seconds for him to identify the culprit. The villain confessed in even less time.

It was as if Chrysander was saying, “Even though you were savvy enough to devise a plot that implicated my girlfriend, let me trick you into confessing to orchestrating the company sabotage that cost me and brothers billions of dollars.”

The villain was like, “Ooops My bad”.

I did like that Marley tried to be as perceptive as possible to figure out her situation. She was suspicious and she had every right to be. Kudos to her for calling out Chrysander on his bi-polar behavior. He was trying to act loving but be standoffish at the same time.

Chrysander’s response “Don’t mistake my hesitation for disinterest” made no sense though.

No wonder she was confused.

While she did not have anywhere to go, I like that she did not ignore what her subconscious was trying to tell her.

“The more he talked, the less desirous she was for marriage.”

When she her memory came back and she remember the truth, her breakdown was so painful. I knew it was coming but it hurt me to read about it and I have never been pregnant.

Random question that has been bugging me the entire book: How did she understand his Greek endearing expressions with her amnesia if it was the first he used them?

 

In the end, I think that she forgave too quickly considering all that she had been through. Truth be known, I am probably too vindictive. While Maya Banks’ pregnant heroine has to suffer a lot of trauma, the reader infers that the hero is suitably chastened to put the love of his life on a pedestal and never let anything else happen to her ever again.

Overall, The Tycoon’s Pregnant Mistress was okay. All is well that ends well, I suppose. This is not a life-changing, in-depth novel that will solve the problems of the world. It is a time filler. If you need something to read with characters that are not over-the-top annoying, this fits that bill.

 

Who does it better?

Sep20


Big girls do it series 1 – 4♥ ♥

1 …do it better

2 …wetter

3 …Wilder

4 …on top

In this series of books, Anna is a stylish, curvy size 18 but lacks self-esteem. She cannot understand why not one but two sexy guys would be attracted to her when there are smaller sized women available. Anna bounces between physical relationships with both men.

Opinion

There are two guys in this series: Chase is a singular and rock star who is interested in Anna. Jeff is Anna’s DJ partner and also love interest.

If the author had stopped at the end of book one and gave it a decent ending or epilogue, I would have rated the book higher. There were several things that were negatives for me.

  1. Love triangle
  2. She sleeps with two men in alternating books. Put very simply: I do not like that. This book seems to be about lust and physical gratification instead of the physical intimacy being an expression of love. If she loved the first guy, why jump in the bed so quickly with another guy? If she fell in love with the second guy, why bone the first guy again? Maybe she should have taken a timeout to decide who she wanted to be with.
  3. I felt sorry for her instead of connecting with the romance. It is obvious to the reader that she is bouncing from man to man because of her lack of self-esteem. I am a strong believer in monogamy. THAT being said, if she wanted to bed hop, let it be because she was decisive enough to know that she wanted multiple partners, not because she was constantly doubting if a man could be attracted to a woman with substantial curves.

I initially bought this book set because the main character was a plus size woman. I am not a size 2 skinny person (or even a size 6) and I thought it would be nice to read a story about a woman who look somewhat like me. That is why I was disappointed with her self-esteem issues. All too common in stories with plus size women, the main source of conflict in the book is the woman’s lack of self-esteem. Why can’t there be more stories with confident women wear their weight is not an issue?

Overall, I think this book set is like a car accident. As annoyed as I was with the items that I mentioned above, I continued reading. I think I thought it would get better. It was as if I cannot look away. Hence, the car accident analogy.

If you want a series that is all about trashy lust (I refuse to call this romance), this is for you. In all other cases, take my word for it and pass on this one.

Obsessive billionaire is not as bad as it sounds

Sep15


The Billionaire’s Obsession: The Complete Collection: Mine For Tonight, Mine For Now, Mine Forever, Mine Completely ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

 

Synopsis

Kara is a single woman going to school for nursing. As the story begins, she is being evicted because her ex roommate failed to pay the rent. She has nowhere to go and she is extremely sick. Simon, her boss’s son, convinces her to go to his house where she can get well. There is some attraction between the two of them, but Kara is wary of the whole situation. She has learned in her life that you cannot depend on others.

Simon is a billionaire computer programmer that has made his wealth selling video games. He has had a crush on Kara for quite a while. When he sees her in distress, he is quick to help her. She is his obsession; nonetheless he does his best not to let her know how deep his feelings are.

Opinion

When I read the first book, I did not realize it was the first installment a set. I rated the first book 2 stars on Goodreads and thought no more about it. I was annoyed that the book file was not a complete story and I thought Simon was a creeper. A stalker that was preying on a girl with unfortunate circumstances.

When I bought the collection Beyond Desire, I did not connect the two stories until I was halfway through. As I was reading, I thought to myself that it sounded very familiar and that’s when I looked in my library and realized I had bought the story on its own. Since I now had the rest of the books, I decided that I might as well read the whole story to see if the entire collection improved the story line. I am so glad that I read the entire story. My feelings have changed for Simon.

I still agree that he was obsessive, but at least he was self-aware enough to try to control his inner feelings. Although he had an intensity warring within him, he tried to keep it reigned in so that she did not feel as though he was trying to control her.

“He cared more about Kara that he wanted to… And it scared the ever-loving crap out of him.”

Kara did not have a stress-free life before Simon, so it was easy for her to have trust issues. Despite it all, she recognized the sweetie beneath the gruff exterior. While they try to navigate their relationship, external forces motivate them to appreciate what opportunity that they have been given. Kara did not have a blind love for Simon. She put her foot down to make him deal with his inner demons.

I loved it when she said “I want you. And it has nothing to do with your money.”

That was so sweet!

To me, Kara and Simon’s story was a contemporary version of the classic Beauty and the Beast story. I enjoy stories where the layers of the strong, masculine, alpha-male are peeled back to reveal a big, teddy bear softy.

The whole story was decently paced with balanced with drama, tenderness, and comedy.

In the end, it can be summed up by this “she loved her primitive, protective, possessive male who had a heart of gold”.

My only criticism of this story is that the love scenes are very explicit and there is a lot of profanity. It can be a little kinky, but not for the reasons you would expect. Still not for those under 18 audiences though.