Five Ways 'Til Sunday (Delta Heat 1)

DELILAH DEVLIN

Synopsis from Goodreads: Sometimes a man’s just gotta call for backup…
Delta Heat, Book 1

Marti Kowalski is all wrong for Officer Jackson Teague—he just won’t listen to reason. She didn’t finish high school, runs a bar. Has a tattoo and a blue streak in her hair. Yet he still wants to marry her? She can’t say she’s not tempted, but she’s got a bucket list to complete before she ties the knot.

Not just any bucket—more like a fifty-five-gallon drum of sexual wishes so explicit, there’s no way one man, even Jackson, can fulfill them all.

When Marti turns him down again, Jackson insists on knowing why. That’s when she shows him her list. He takes it, thinks about it—and calls on the only men he can trust: four buddies from his academy graduating class.

Between the five of them, he’s sure they can come up with a plan to check off every item on her list in one wild, wicked weekend. That is, if she has the nerve to follow through—and if he can bear to share her.
Product Warnings
Contains five men on a mission to break down the resistance of one determined woman, using everything in their arsenal from BDSM accoutrements to roleplay of non-consensual situation.

Stats for my copy: ebook, Samhain Publishing, 2011.

How acquired: Bought.

My thoughts:  Hot from the first page! I read this novella in one sitting. Twice. Well, I read it in January 2012, and then again a few days ago. I particularly liked the characters. They aren't just random people, they're a couple who obviously love each other. The blurb pretty much tells you the whole plot. While Jackson gets his buddies to help him fulfill Marti's fantasies, he's not just gung ho completely comfortable doing so. But he thinks if he gets Marti through her bucket list, then she'll have no more excuses not to marry him. So for him, the ends justify the means. And that hastily scribbled bucket list was just an excuse. As much as Marti loves Jackson, she's scared of marriage, and she feels she will not be the right wife for Jackson. So she's shocked when she finds herself checking off each fantasy, along with some extra surprises that Jackson and his buddies plan along the way. *sigh* Where is MY Jackson? 

Kink

SASKIA WALKER and SASHA WHITE

Synopsis from back cover:

SEX, LIES, AND BONDAGE TAPE

Clayton's one hunk of a musician. A pinup hottie for squealing teens everywhere. And he's gay, Kelly Burton discovers when she sneaks into his dressing room for an autograph, but gets a peep show instead. But Kelly's soon distracted: a bouncer has found her. A bouncer with pecs of steel, a six-pack, and sinewy arms. After a scolding, the bouncer decides to have his wicked way with the naughty-but-eager groupie. And what follows is a night of passion, hard-rock style...

WATCH ME

Some people have coffee. Some have tea. But the only thing that really wakes Bethany Mack up in the morning is sex. Too bad marriage to Grant has settled into a sex-starved routine. That is, until she spies a hot roofer next door. Broad, sexy shoulders: check. A muscular chest you could nuzzle all day: check. And under those jeans, well, the thought just makes her weak. So she puts on a little show for him through the window, letting her inhibitions loose, and discovers a naughty new addiction. But how will her husband react when he discovers just how far a desperate housewife will go for some lovin' from him?

Stats for my copy: Trade paperback, The Berkley Publishing Group, 2007.

How acquired: Borrowed from a friend.

My thoughts:  The first story is “Sex, Lies and Bondage Tape”, by Saskia Walker. When one of Kelly's roommates is injured skiing and unable to attend a concert, she gives her ticket to Kelly. While Kelly enjoys the concert, she's not quite as gaga over the rock star Clayton as her friends are, but at the end of the concert she decides to sneak backstage and try to get his autograph for her roommate. Of course she gets caught and is carried out by security, aka Tommy. Literally, as in Tommy swings her up over his shoulder and carries her out, giving her bottom a couple of smacks on the way. Tommy thinks Kelly is just another groupie, and one of his personal rules is he doesn't hook up with groupies. But when he realizes that Kelly seems to be enjoying his manhandling of her, he ramps it up a notch, and they end up spending the night together in his hotel room.

Being a novella, there isn't a lot of time for true character development, but I enjoyed what little we did get. Kelly has issues dating back to her father abandoning her mother when she was young, and Tommy thinks Kelly settled for him when she couldn't get Clayton. Neither of them are planning to start a relationship when they hook up for the night, so afterwards there's a lot of internal dialogue as they each explore their own doubts and feelings. In between some pretty hot bouts of sex, there's Kelly running all over town trying to track Tommy down, and then later Tommy trying to track Kelly down.

“What is it with you two? You shag, you say good-bye, and then you realize you haven't got each other's phone number?”

The writing is good, the characters are likable, and while the plot may be a little unrealistic, I don't read these books for reality, and this story was a nice way to while away part of an afternoon.

The second story is “Watch Me”, by Sasha White. This one started out a little slower for me. Bethany's husband Grant has become immersed in his work after a promotion, and she's feeling neglected. Then she inadvertently discovers the joys of teasing strangers in public, from giving little peep shows to masturbating on a bus. Exhibitionism and masturbation are two of my least favorite tropes, for lack of a better word, and here they both are in one story. But eventually Grant catches her, and while his initial reaction was anger and storming off in a huff, his later response was smoking hot and got my attention right along with Bethany's.

This story was told in first person POV, so we only got insight into Bethany's thoughts and feelings, as she grappled with missing her husband's attention, and then getting his attention and loving it but still feeling that under the surface things were not yet right between them. I would've loved for this story to be a full length novel as it ended way too soon. Or too late, as I sat up until midnight last night reading. The resolution between them, Grant opening up about his feelings, came rather abruptly, and I would've loved to see some more exploration – and action – before everything was neatly wrapped up. But the resolution was satisfying and left no doubts of the couple having their HEA.

The back cover blurb is a little misleading, as both stories had more depth and plot to them than I had anticipated, which is a good thing. 

Alien Overnight (Aliens Overnight, Book 1)

ROBINL. ROTHAM

Synopsis from Goodreads: Commander Kellen is on Earth recruiting women for his planet's sex-starved males. Not particularly excited by human anatomy, he seeks nothing more for himself than the occasional slaking of his needs with some anonymous female - which shouldn't be a problem, since she'll have to face the other way to accommodate his special anatomical needs. 

Dr. Monica Teague is thrilled with her ten-year assignment caring for Garathan's sexual recruits. Her quirky looks and childish excuse for a body guarantee she'll never be expected to put out - which is kind of a bummer, now that she's up to her armpits in horny alien beefcake. 

But, when an overdose of alien pheromones makes Monica drunk off her ass, Kellen quickly claims the odd little doctor before another Garathani realizes what she is. The overdose sparks a violent chain reaction in her, and when Monica finally wakes, she's got the body of a porn star - and two sexy alien mates who are determined to tame her. 

If only she were as determined not to let them.

Stats for my copy: Trade paperback, published Ellora's Cave, 2007.

How acquired: Bought.

First line: "Notice the slight emergence of the male's accessory sexual organ, or what the Garathani refer to as a breeding spur.”

My thoughts: The Garathani have a shortage of females on their planet, and have come to Earth to recruit women. Dr. Monica Teague has been accepted into this program,not as a volunteer, but to help oversee and care for the women who do volunteer. While Monica is beyond excited at the opportunity to travel into outer space, she is a little horrified while watching the live demonstration of a Garathani man having sex with a human woman in the book's opening pages. She can't imagine willingly having sex with the men of this alien race. But then, her own body has never developed, so she thinks no man, Garathani or human, would ever be interested in her anyway.

Of course she thinks wrong. Monica's mother died shortly after she was born, and she never knew anything about her father. Turns out mommy had a big secret abut daddy, and Monica is about to learn it. Commander Kellan figures it out pretty quickly during that demonstration, and, ostensibly to protect Monica, he immediately claims her as his mate, appointing Lieutenant Shauss as his second. With that shortage of females on his planet, it's two boys for every girl.

I read Enemy Overnight a couple of years ago, not realizing when I picked it up that it was the sequel to this book. I really enjoyed it, the writing, the characterization, the clear storyline (well, mostly clear although having read out of order I didn't know exactly what Jasmine had done in the first book to warrant her treatment in the second book). I think I liked the second book a bit more. From what I remember, it seems that Jasmine's character in ENEMY OVERNIGHT was more fully fleshed out, and I just liked her better than I did Monica. On the other hand, I struggled to like and accept Shauss as a romantic hero in that book, and if I'd read this one first, I would've already gotten to know him a little and probably wouldn't have had that issue. Which just reinforces my anal attitude about not reading books out of order.

Whatever floats your boat, it's probably covered here. A little bondage, a little discipline, a little butt sex. (But no girl on girl action until the second book.) Overall, a weird but fun read, and I want to go back and read the second book again, and have learned now that there's a third book, which I certainly want to read also. 

Sleazy Rider

Karen S. Smith

Synopsis: When newlyweds Emma and Kit speed away on their matching Ducati motorbikes, Emma knows not to expect a conventional honeymoon. From the moment they meet a biker gang and the leader takes a shine to Emma, events take a turn for the bizarre. For the first time in her life she will be pushed to her limits as the gang's ideas for how to have a good time get more and more outrageous. With hard-drinking rock bands, hunky stuntmen, booze-filed biker festivals and a whole lot of kinky behavior on the agenda, Emma's taste for adventure is tested to the max – and Kit's not about to step in and save her from the wild bunch as he's having too much fun himself!

First line: I was pressed against the handrail, palms flat on cold metal, gazing across a calm, turquoise sea as the south coast of England receded into the distance.

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback; published by Black Lace, 2005; 225 pages; received from a Book Mooch member.

My thoughts: I haven't read the shades of whatever book, but I suspect that this book is a much more realistic portrayal of the BDSM lifestyle. Emma and Kit are on their honeymoon, biking across the countryside. In that opening line, they are having a sexual encounter on the ferry, when Emma catches a biker on the deck below watching them. For both her and Kit, this makes it just that much more exciting. Just before embarking from the ferry, the biker pins a badge to Emma's jacket, and gives her his card.

Emma doesn't expect to ever run into Max again, but after an impromptu race through winding mountain roads leaves Kit injured and his bike sliding down the mountain, a distraught Emma calls Max, knowing without really knowing why that he can help. Which he does, and thus begins Emma's real adventure. Kit is now laid up with a broken leg, and Emma finds herself punished for causing the accident and then “sold” to Max.

Prior to the accident, Emma and Kit run into Geoff, and old friend of Emma's, and at this point I realized that there was a history with Geoff that wasn't really laid out but seemed implied that the reader was aware of. So I had to put the book down and do some research, and sure enough, this is the sequel to another book about Emma and Kit, UP TO NO GOOD. That book is apparently about how they met, and fortunately I didn't feel I was missing enough back story to worry about having not read it first.

This is a Black Lace book, so obviously there is a lot of sex. It starts out fairly vanilla, then Emma has a night with Geoff that includes some light bondage. It's not until she is with Max that the serious shit goes down. Some of it was a little repetitive, and Emma constantly marveling at how she has no control over what happens to her got a little old. I mean, it's only a revelation the first time she's bound and gagged and violated in unexpected ways. Though having never been in her position I can't say that with any experience, and maybe it truly did strike her over and over.

In between the sex scenes, there is a lot about motorcycles and riding, including a race at a rally that is described in excruciating detail. The synopsis is a little misleading, as it suggests Kit being involved in the action but he is actually not even around for most of the book. The writing and narration flow, the sex scenes are fairly hot and well written, and I sped through the entire book in a couple of days.