Review: Feral King (The Dominant Bastard Duology, #1) by Sparrow Beckett

Rating (Out of 5): ~4.5

Genre: Erotica/Adult Contemporary Romance; BDSM, Dark, MMF

Publisher: Self-Published

Release Date: June 2017

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Minnow Korsgaard works a dead end job to make ends meet. When she’s hired to take care of a wealthy old man with no social skills, she’s excited to have found work in her field.

The new boss isn’t at all what she expected.

Severin Leduc is only thirty. He’s also a dominant, tattooed brute who’s needs someone to break through the walls he’s built. The exiled son of a wealthy family, he’s unapologetically rude and eccentric. Raised by servants, he doesn’t want extra people in his life, let alone a pretty girl who refuses to leave him in peace.

Minnow’s submissive nature sparks against Severin’s dominance. Torrid sexual attraction flares between them. Sharing her with his best friend, Rodrigo, only strengthens their growing bond, and Severin’s life is scattered into chaos. Will he learn to trust her, or will he live the rest of his life forgotten?


Warning: BDSM, dark themes. Character's memories of prior abuse may trigger some readers.

The Cover:

I really like this cover. It's a bit intense, but not a stereotypical romance cover. I think the font and placement of the cover works really well, as do all the tattoos and pose of the model.

 

Review:

I did not expect this book to be quite so dark, or so addicting.

Minnow ends up being Severin's new housekeeper/babysitter. She thinks she's going to be helping some old man, only to find out that he's a dominant thirty-year-old with no social skills. He wants nothing to do with anyone, doesn't believe anyone will stick around. He's constantly pushing Minnow, testing her and pushing her away. But Minnow is steady and she believes in him, and she's attracted despite the threat that he might actually hurt her.

I was surprised by how dark some of the sex gets. It's violent at times, physically scarring and rough and mean. I found it seriously hot, but I'm sure some people won't. I also rather understood why Minnow stayed and kept pushing him by being a steady presence, even if it seemed like he'd gone too far at times. I'm intrigued by the MM/MMF (or is it just MFM?) undertones that were present, and am hoping they'll become more serious in the next book. That makes me hopeful.

Severin has been through some awful things, and it's dark when he's finally honest with Minnow about it. I'm intrigued to see where that cliffhanger will go in the next one.

This book gave me a serious book hangover and it took me a while to get over it. I'm still a little obsessed, and am extremely excited for the next one to be released. I can't wait for it to arrive on my Kindle.

Novel Review: Sugar Daddies by Jade West

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance/Erotica; MMF

Publisher: Self-Published

Release Date: July 2016

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository.

Goodreads Synopsis:

A sugar daddy website doesn’t seem a sound basis for an A1 life plan, but I’m a small town girl with big dreams, and there’s this one advert, this one crazy advert I can’t stop thinking about…

Two hot guys seeking their Little Miss Right.
Someone who can entertain them, amuse them, fit in with their corporate schedule.
And sex. They want sex.
Lots of sex.
Bonus, right? One major dose of epic win.

Of course, guys like Carl and Rick have their conditions. One being that they come together, or not at all.
Hell, I can live with that.

And there are no skeletons in their designer closet, none that I can find.
Just two hot sugar daddies, with particular tastes, nothing to worry about.

Until Carl and Rick spill the big one, the one that sends the girls running. A whole string of them before me, running to the hills without so much as a backward glance.

Maybe I should run, too. Thanks but no thanks, see you around, guys, nice knowing you.
But I’m already in way too deep for that.

Warning – as with every other Jade West book, reader discretion is highly advised. This novel contains vivid depictions of MMF / MM relationships, and Jade’s characters, as always, have very filthy mouths. Mature readers only, please.

The Cover:

I quite love this cover. I think it's pretty and eye-catching, and it shows what you're getting without being too cheesy, and without having two shirtless men which I appreciate.

Review:

As with all of Jade West books, I enjoyed this one. It’s not my favorite, but I liked it, and it was better than some.

Katie finds two men on a Sugar Daddies website, and decides to go for it. She needs some help in the money department, sure, but mostly she just wants to try it, to be with two guys and find out how much she wants it.

The smut is, of course, hot. It’s dirty, MMF, and I enjoyed it.

The beginning seemed a little one-sided, but about a quarter into the book, the chemistry and the attraction did start to feel real. I felt the love between the three of them, and I liked how they all worked through it. Carl and Rick are a solid couple from the beginning, and I appreciated that, and how neither of them ever wavered. Carl is also extremely honest, he doesn’t lie and he doesn’t like to hide things; I very much appreciated this. I think that Katie worked well with them, and it was obvious as their feelings grew how well they would all work out.

Katie also has a shaky relationship with her father, and her father’s family. She believes he abandoned her when she was little, and his other family dislikes her when she first meets him. Those feelings have only grown since she was little. I liked seeing how the truth came out about how things really happened, and how those relationships started to mend from there.

I quite enjoyed this book. It was fast and hot and sweet. I can’t wait for more.

Novel Review: Finding Their Balance (Neighborly Affection, #5) by M.Q.Barber

Rating (Out of 5): ~4.5

Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance, Erotica, BDSM, M/M/F

Publisher: Kensington

Release Date: March 1, 2016

Spoilers?: Light.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Books-a-Million.

Wishlist Thursday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Three’s the naughtiest kind of crowd.

Getting to the one-year mark is hard enough in a relationship between two lovers. For three, just getting through the day can be half the battle. Between Alice’s headstrong insistence on pushing her sexual limits and Jay’s need to confront an abusive former lover, Henry has his hands full keeping both his partners safe and happy. But despite all the challenges—and unexpected dangers that lurk in their hedonistic world—the three have formed a union that brings each of them to the edge of something new—something they may not be able to hold onto...

The Cover:

I actually really like this cover. I think that the positioning of the three looks pretty and more natural than normal, and that their poses work for the character they're supposed to be. I like the coloring and the fonts. I think it's pretty.

Review:

Another fantastic book in this series. I have eaten up each book so far, and still re-read them. This one will be added to the list.

We continue where the third book left off, and the group confronts quite a few issues.

The main one is Cal, thankfully. The threat of him has hurt Jay to a large extent, and invaded their relationship in the previous book. He’s a major hazard, and now that the three are going to the club again, he’s starting to be dealt with for real. I definitely like the way that that plot line gets handled in this book.

Now that the three of them are going to the club again, we see a new side of Jay. We meet a few new subs and Doms, and it’s nice to see them making new friends, to see Jay opening up and growing. He’s needed this for a while. It’s also clear that Henry likes teaching, and the scenes where he’s teaching at the club are fun and helpful to a lot of people.

Jay’s family causes a big distraction in the middle, and that’s hard. I’m still waiting for him to stand up to his sister, but we haven’t officially met her yet. I’m hoping we’ll get more of that soon, especially since Alice is made aware what his relationship really is with his family. How he hides from them, and how it hurts both Alice and Henry. I just feel sad and frustrated with Jay’s family here, and am waiting for something big to happen there. Alice’s sister, on the other hand, should be showing up in the next book, and I’m excited for that. Alice also makes friends, mostly, with Emma, which is nice and should lead to good things.

I loved this book. I honestly can’t get enough of Barber’s writing and characters, especially these three. I want to see more of Leah and her Master, and I really want to see Santa Will get his happy ending. And I just want more of the threesome. They make me happy.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, Kensington, through Netgalley. Thank you!

Novel Review: Submissive Beauty by Eliza Gayle

Rating (Out of 5): ~2.5

Genre: Erotica/Adult Contemporary Romance; BDSM, D/s, MFM

Publisher: Gypsy Ink Books

Release Date: 2011

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Eager to understand her secret desires, Gabrielle enters “The Sanctuary.” Inside she’s immediately torn between fear of the unknown and a craving to learn more, until the lights dim. From the first sound of Thomas’ calm and controlled voice, she is mesmerized. With an underlying need in her emotional spirit that requires more than sex, she is easily seduced into a world of dominance and submission under false pretenses.

For Thomas, an experienced Master, Gabrielle is an interesting mix of defiant, naive and submissive. Her sharp mind and wit appeal to him as much as the curves of her lush figure. He accepts the challenge to help train her despite the danger she represents. Long term anything for him is out of the question. If he does his job right, his protégé David will end up the perfect Dom for her and Thomas will move on with his armor intact.

Their journey puts Gabrielle at the mercy of two men who teach her how to embrace her darkest needs within a tight bond of trust. Unfortunately, betrayal lurks on the path to total surrender.

The Cover:

I am in love with this cover. I think it's gorgeous. The color is beautiful and subtle, the font is perfect; the image is sensual and modest, showing the romance without being too revealing. I wish the book fit the image better, but either way I love the cover to pieces.

Review:

I went into this really thinking I’d love it. I really wanted to.

Gabby goes into BDSM training with two men, not knowing that they intend for her to be just one of theirs. But then all of their hearts get intertwined during the mix, and they can’t help it.

I enjoyed a lot of the thoughts presented on BDSM and the lifestyle. I liked the attraction, and the way they slowly fell for each other. The sex scenes were nice.

I had a couple problems with it, though.

There were a lot of time skips. We’d be in one scene in one chapter, but then it felt like it stopped halfway through and skipped to a couple days later for the next chapter. Each scene ended okay, but it felt like they were incomplete, and they could have led to a lot more character development. I could have really seen them falling in love, or getting to know each other. Along with that, none of the sex scenes really felt intense to me. But a lot of the kinkier stuff, and the spankings, were only talked about later, very few were actually shown. Even the scene where Gabby confessed her love to the men was only briefly mentioned in a scene the day after.

There were also all these plot threads—Gabby’s ex-husband threatening her, the financial scandal with a co-worker, her friend having a mental break down—that were made to be a big deal throughout the book, one after another, only to be left for an anticlimactic explanation later.

I liked the conclusion, and the ending ceremony where Gabby and the men made up. I liked the BDSM aspects. But a lot of it fell flat for me, and left me wanting more.