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? 

Wild (Amber Eyes, Book 1 and Book 2)

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS WHAT SOME MAY CONSIDER SPOILERS

MAYA BANKS

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Golden Eyes
When Duncan finds an injured cheetah, questions about how she wound up in his mountains—and going after the poachers pursuing her—can wait. First he brings her home. Then he checks in on his patient, and finds not a cat, but a gorgeous, very naked woman.

Aliyah Carter spent the past six months trapped in cheetah form, a prisoner of the poachers who took her to use in an illegal exotic-game hunt. Finally she’s escaped, but now she faces another problem. A devastatingly sexy sheriff who knows her secret.

Amber Eyes
The beautiful, timid cougar that appears at Hunter and Jericho’s remote cabin breaks their quiet routine, warms their hearts—and rouses their curiosity. Why would this wild creature want to form a friendship with humans?

Kaya has survived a lifetime of isolation in her shifted form. Yet there’s something about these two men that draws her to embrace her human side. In the shelter of their love, she blooms. Then they are called away on a mission that goes terribly wrong. Now pregnant and alone, Kaya’s only hope is that the men who love her will find their way home.

Warning: This title contains explicit sex, adult language, sweet lovin’, multiple partners and ménage a trois.

Stats for my copy: Trade paperback, Samhain Publishing, Ltd., 2010.

How acquired: Borrowed from a friend.

My thoughts:  Maya Banks is one of those authors I see all the time, but have never actually read until WILD. I really enjoyed her take on shapeshifters, which has always been one of my least favorite tropes in the paranormal genre.

The first story, “Golden Eyes”, is about Aliyah, who is a cheetah when she's not a woman. While in cheetah form in Africa, Aliyah is captured by poachers, who are bringing wild animals to the Rockies and then releasing them to be hunted. Duncan, the local sheriff, is out investigating sightings of a tiger and a lion when he comes across the injured cheetah, and rescues her from the poachers. I enjoyed the story, and the characters, especially Duncan. Their relationship built up pretty fast, and almost bordered on the fated mates trope, which I'm not crazy about. As per the warning on the synopsis, there was quite a bit of explicit sex, and I loved seeing how Duncan reacted to Aliyah, surprising himself with his own fierceness. In between the beddings, they track down and shut down the poaching ring and it all ends on a nice HEA.

“Amber Eyes” was very different. The heroine is Kaya, who is a cougar. She was mentioned in “Golden Eyes”, as she's Aliyah's sister, who disappeared when they were young children. Unknown to her family, she'd been captured, and eventually managed to escape, but by the time she found her way home her family had moved away, and she thought she'd been abandoned and was unwanted. She's been living on her own in the mountains, spending most of her time in animal form, since then. Hunter and Jericho live in a remote cabin, and are a bit of a mystery. They've loved and lost a woman together, but to honor her memory they carry on with their work, which they don't ever talk about, and all we know is they could be called away for an assignment at a moment's notice.

“Amber Eyes” had so much more actual story to it – there is no sex until at least the halfway point if I remember correctly. While Aliyah was cautious and wary lest her secret get out, Kaya is much more so. Having not lived among humans since she was a child, she's much more terrified of being discovered and put in a cage. She's drawn to the cabin, drawn to the two men, and has been watching them from a safe distance for a long time, unbeknownst to them. It isn't until she has an injured paw that she finally becomes brave enough to actually approach them.

With Kaya we get a lot of internal dialogue as she worries about being discovered, worries about surviving, worries about Hunter and Jericho knowing her secret, worries about whether or not they want her, especially Hunter who is more standoffish. In the beginning the two men were almost interchangeable for me, in that I had trouble keeping up with which one was which. I liked them both well enough, but not as much as I liked Duncan.

My heart broke for Kaya over and over, as her tragic past and angtsy feelings were revealed. I became much more vested in her story than I had with Aliyah. The pacing of the relationship between Kaya and the men was much slower than the one between Aliyah and Duncan. Hunter and Jericho have loved the same woman before, and while they shared her, it was never a smooth and comfortable relationship because she never truly trusted the relationship. They both want Kaya, but they're reluctant to go through that heartbreak again.

Lots of feels here. Eventually the men must leave for an assignment, and are gone much longer than anticipated. When they are all finally reunited, I teared up. Then Kaya and Aliyah are reunited, and I cried a bit. And then Kaya is finally reunited with her parents, and I blubbered like a baby. So much emotion packed into the last thirty pages or so!

“Golden Eyes” is an enjoyable, sexy story. “Amber Eyes” is a wonderful and touching and sweet character study. And Maya Banks has a new fan. 

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.

Enemy Overnight

ROBIN L. ROTHAM

Synopsis: The last time Jasmine King was aboard the Heptoral, she escaped by the skin of her teeth. This time she won't be so lucky. Trapped on a ship full of sex-starved aliens and out of the pheromone blocker that holds off her physical transition, Jasmine makes a desperate escape attempt...and fails. The consequences are disastrous – she's mated to three horny warriors, and one has a huge bone to pick with her. What's a girl to do but fall in love?

The last time Shauss saw Jasmine, the deceitful little Terran stole his bondmate from under his nose. This time he won't be so trusting. Finally master of his own bond, Shauss names secondary mates Jasmine feels safe with...and lives to regret it. One can't stop puking long enough to claim her. The other challenges Shauss' supremacy by digging into his psyche at every turn. What's a Dom to do but bed them all into submission?

He sets out to do just that, but his domination takes a brutal turn when he discovers Jasmine's deadly secret...

Stats for my copy: Trade paperback, published by Ellora's Cave, 2010; purchased new from Amazon.

My thoughts: I had read a post on a blog somewhere about this author and her new release, Frankendom, and it just sounded so interesting and out there that I searched for it on Amazon. It's a Kindle only however, and since I prefer actual books to ebooks, I purchased at random one of her other books that was available in bound format. Thus, I read ENEMY OVERNIGHT, which is actually the sequel to ALIEN OVERNIGHT. I don't normally read series books out of order (other than category romances), but while the book references events from the first book it's still a basically stand alone story.

And it was definitely interesting and out there. Not to mention just plain fucked up weird. Not to mention highly hot and entertaining.

I did have a little trouble in the beginning with Shauss being the hero, because he was so incredibly cruel to Jasmine at first (and again later though at that time he believed she was a traitor and had betrayed him). I gathered that in the first book Jasmine played a rather large role in the storyline, having made a huge mess of things for the other characters and caused some problems. Okay, so I do sort of wish I'd read the first book first.

I've read quite a bit of erotica, and I'm not easily shocked when reading, but this was new territory for me. I mean at one point my jaw dropped and I could not believe what I was reading. So, you know, it's not for the chaste or faint of heart...all those Fifty Shades of Gray fans would probably have a heart attack.

The characters are well drawn. If you know me, you know I like stories that are character driven over plot driven. I like to get to know the characters, be inside their heads, and the author does a good job at making them seem real. I've not read much that dealt with aliens, and despite the physical descriptions I still had a little trouble picturing how Shauss and the others looked. I kind of got this picture in my head of creatures similar to Planet of the Apes – I don't really know why or how and at first I had to keep concentrating and thinking about how they were described to get that picture out of my head.

The storyline was interesting and integral to the plot, and not just back story to weave the sex scenes together. In fact, while there were some sexual situations, there was no actual sex until about halfway through the book. But once the sex started, it was scorching.

The last quarter of the book, I could not put it down and sat up past my bedtime to finish it. This author is now on my list of authors who's entire backlist I must now track down and read.