Masters at Arms & Nobody's Angel - Kallypso Masters [Rescue Me]
Source: Kindle
Originally Reviewed: January 2, 2015
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Thanks, Kallypso – both for a wonderfully written first installment to this saga, and to the warnings you so thoughtfully provide.
With that out of the way, I have just one word for this: HOT! Possibly TOO hot (as you’ll read in my notes below).
Masters at Arms
First, we get introduced to the Masters at Arms – Marc, Adam and Damian. We see what led them together to a fateful day in Fallujah where limbs and lives were lost, leaving all three of them scarred and bonded for life. The writing here is rich, deep, evocative and gripping.
Nobody’s Angel
This is where things get just a little sketchy – though still phenomenal. Marc has gradually faded away from the BDSM club he owns with his other 2 military buddies, favoring solitude and time in the mountains as a SAR (search and rescue) to getting up close and personal with women he doesn’t want any kind of relationship with. Understandable, considering what we learn about him in Masters at Arms.
But when he rescues Angelina from being abused on a St. Andrew’s Cross by her abusive boyfriend Allen, his life becomes irrevocably changed. Angelina flees the club as soon as possible and writes off BDSM, choosing to stick with her novels instead, and Marc is left with scalding memories and an inability to track her down. It is by sheer chance that he ends up in her town, 3 hours out of Denver, on a SAR mission with his partner Luke, in the same bar where Angelina decides to go on her first night out on the town since “the incident.”
Let the fireworks begin!
Angelina doesn’t remember Marc, as when Marc rescued her at the club in Denver, he had a mask on and she couldn’t see his face. Marc isn’t the only one who’s been troubled by dreams, however, land something about Marc – the way he handles her, the way he speaks – reminds her more and more of her “dream Dom” – one she has managed to convince herself doesn’t exist.
Now let’s throw in Luke – guilt-ridden Luke, who lost his wife the same day that Angelina lost her father (another SAR man). He is convinced, however, that Angelina was sent to him by his late wife – on account of a dream. What a cluster.
Marc wants to help Angelina move on from her horrid experience at his club. Luke believes his dead wife has sent Angelina to him as a sign to move on – with her. Apparently both men are willing to step away to allow the other to move in, though it’s almost like a tug-of-war in terms of who backs away when.
In the end… I won’t spoil it for you. Pretty much everything comes out in the open and it’s a gigantic cluster…. but it’s a fun one!
On the Characters…
Now, I absolutely love Angelina. Truth be told, I think she’s the most well-rounded, realistic and unique individual of the three. Her psychological and emotional responses to her initial experience with BDSM, her “wolf-angel dream Dom”, Luke, Allen again, and just… everything. Everything about her is wonderful.
We don’t get a lot of genuine screen time with Luke, which is disappointing. I hope we see more of him, because he seemed to kind of fall in the space between “true supporting character” and “crowd character.” I’m honestly not sure what his purpose in the book was, other than the fact that Marc needed a SAR partner, so it was decided he’d get thrown in the middle with Angelina and Marc as well. I really believe the book could have done without him, though.
Marc… the number of times I wanted to smack him across the face and shake him by the shoulders… I lost count. I’m really starting to get a little tired of the “I’m not the man she needs” kind of crap from what are otherwise strong, capable men. I have seen that done a million times – and very, VERY few times has it been done well. This is not one of those times.
Some notes:
This is just what I noted in my Kindle as I was reading…
1. How many times can a guy’s cock harden before it can’t get any harder? I mean seriously. I think we heard about Marc’s cock getting hard a dozen different times in a 12-hour period. Oh, but then we find out it’s just been hard for about 24 hours. Even better!
2. Bad guys in romance novels, especially when the bad guy is a bad guy because he has an obsessive interest in the heroine, need more screen time. Not just “evil plans” screen time, but something to make them a 3d character that, at the very least, we can hate. Allen just annoyed the crap out of me, simply because he was distracting.
3. If you’ve had the unlucky experience to have a “dom” use a BDSM scene to abuse you, you don’t go from total panic to total acceptance in the space of a heartbeat. When Marc used the flogger on Angel and she’s freaking out because that’s what Allen had used on her, she goes from freaked out to “deep breath” mode in less than a heartbeat. I’m sorry, that just doesn’t happen. Especially not your first or second time out with the thing.
4. This goes for any erotica novel with dialogue during the juicy stuff. If you don’t understand the dialogue, you need a better lover. I can imagine soooo well what Angelina’s experiencing, because of that dialogue.
In the end, I think Masters really needs to find a better balance. She goes over the top in some areas and doesn’t flesh out others nearly enough.
Showing posts with label erotica. Show all posts
Showing posts with label erotica. Show all posts
Friday, January 2, 2015
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Letting Go - Maya Banks [The Surrender Trilogy]
Letting Go - Maya Banks [The Surrender Trilogy]
Source: Barnes & Noble
Originally Reviewed: March 23, 2014
Rating: ★★★☆☆
I've been a fan of Maya Banks for a long time. The "Sweet series" knocked my socks off and left me nearly drooling with every installment. The "Breathless" trilogy was as emotionally gripping as it was physical.
In this first taste of the "Surrender" trilogy, however, she falls far short of the impeccable standard she set with her previous books.
I can't really nitpick about the book, because the things that made me grind my teeth about the book unfortunately took up a good chunk of it. So many different decisions, and thoughts, and statements, were repeated. Again and again. And then, yet again.
It slowed down the story and distracted me from what should have been a delicious undercurrent to the relationship building between Joss and Dash. I actually got more out of the budding relationship between Kylie and Jensen than I did out of the two primary characters, and Jensen only made barely more than a cameo appearance.
This was my eventual reaction to a lot of the prevalent "themes" in the story.
Joss' hesitation due to Dash being dead husbands best friend: GET OVER IT!
Kylie's reaction to what Joss wants to do in her life to make her happy: GET OVER IT!
Chessy's reaction to, well, everything: Yeah, you get it. You understand, got it. No, really, I got it.
As always once the relationship between the two main characters actually gets established (this time with WAY more "filler" in the pages than I'm used to from Maya), I can't complain. The sex is hot, the necessary conflict is interesting, and the reconciliation is a struggle between pride and love.
I see a lot of "tricks" that have been used before in the other books she's written, however, which makes me think perhaps Banks should take a break, spend a few weeks in the sack with the lover of her choice, and then come back with some new, fresh and sexy ideas.
I'll probably pass on the remaining books in this series, but pick up the next one, just to see if there's been any improvement.
Source: Barnes & Noble
Originally Reviewed: March 23, 2014
Rating: ★★★☆☆
I've been a fan of Maya Banks for a long time. The "Sweet series" knocked my socks off and left me nearly drooling with every installment. The "Breathless" trilogy was as emotionally gripping as it was physical.
In this first taste of the "Surrender" trilogy, however, she falls far short of the impeccable standard she set with her previous books.
I can't really nitpick about the book, because the things that made me grind my teeth about the book unfortunately took up a good chunk of it. So many different decisions, and thoughts, and statements, were repeated. Again and again. And then, yet again.
It slowed down the story and distracted me from what should have been a delicious undercurrent to the relationship building between Joss and Dash. I actually got more out of the budding relationship between Kylie and Jensen than I did out of the two primary characters, and Jensen only made barely more than a cameo appearance.
This was my eventual reaction to a lot of the prevalent "themes" in the story.
Joss' hesitation due to Dash being dead husbands best friend: GET OVER IT!
Kylie's reaction to what Joss wants to do in her life to make her happy: GET OVER IT!
Chessy's reaction to, well, everything: Yeah, you get it. You understand, got it. No, really, I got it.
As always once the relationship between the two main characters actually gets established (this time with WAY more "filler" in the pages than I'm used to from Maya), I can't complain. The sex is hot, the necessary conflict is interesting, and the reconciliation is a struggle between pride and love.
I see a lot of "tricks" that have been used before in the other books she's written, however, which makes me think perhaps Banks should take a break, spend a few weeks in the sack with the lover of her choice, and then come back with some new, fresh and sexy ideas.
I'll probably pass on the remaining books in this series, but pick up the next one, just to see if there's been any improvement.
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Close Liasons - Anna Zaires [The Krinar Chronicles]
Close Liasons - Anna Zaires [The Krinar Chronicles]
Source: Kindle
Originally Reviewed: November 23, 2013
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
** spoiler alert **
Mia is a college student living in New York. When we meet her, the only concern she has is a Sociology paper she’s supposed to be writing. That all changes quickly, however, when she catches the eye of a Krinar – a member of an alien race that appeared a number of years ago to “co-exist” with humans on earth.
Enter sexual tension. The Krinar (Korum) is domineering, and seems to take an almost unhealthy interest in the younger (read: a few thousand years younger), human woman. As far as he is concerned, she puts up a token amount of resistance before it turns into a matter of “I really have no choice.”
Move on to the subplot… where she also, apparently, “has no choice.” With her roommate being afraid of what’s happening to Mia’s life, she manages to get Mia involved the “resistance” against the aliens. They want to use her as a spy, as she is intimately involved with Korum (though to hear her rail against it in her head it is completely out of her control and she hates him but oh my god what an orgasm).
So now Mia has both her body supposedly working against her, as well as feeling a need to do something to protect her race against the invading alien race dead set on harvesting women as sex slaves and taking over completely.
A number of events repeat themselves in annoying frequency.
1. The number of times Mia gives in and has sex with Korum no matter how mad, disgusted, pissed off, or otherwise absolutely SURE she won’t ever sleep with him again she is. Give him five seconds in her presence and she’s a goner.
2. While there are a number of sexual encounters insinuated but not detailed, the ones that are inevitably end with Mia berating herself, her self-control, willpower, etc. and reminding herself she’s only doing this because she has no control, has to pretend everything’s okay, yada, yada, yada.
3. How often can Mia puzzle over how completely up-side-down her life has turned? Granted, she’s a naïve junior at a university in New York. Yet we discover she’s got an internship lined up for the summer prior to her senior year, she’s going for a degree in Psychology and knows exactly what she wants to do with it. This is a woman of conviction and strength, yet you barely get to see it. You’d think, with a focus like that, she’d have better things to think about than sit around wondering how everything got so out of control. She’s a walking contradiction.
And then we get to the end. Korum knew all along Mia was betraying him, and did nothing about it. The whole time, Mia was afraid of Korum, afraid that he would kill her once he found out what she had been doing. Yet, for all of that fear, when everything hits the fan… he simply takes her hand, offers to take her to see her parents, and whisks her away to one of the Krinar compounds, steady as you please.
As a whole, the book left me completely unsatisfied. The intimate scenes were lacking, the emotion between Korum and Mia was barely thought out (at best), and every time there was a discussion with or about the resistance, I found myself rolling my eyes, skipping it, and realizing in the end – I didn't miss a darn thing. I got this book off of Amazon for free, but I can’t convince myself spending the money on the next book to see if it gets any better will be worth it.
Source: Kindle
Originally Reviewed: November 23, 2013
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
** spoiler alert **
Mia is a college student living in New York. When we meet her, the only concern she has is a Sociology paper she’s supposed to be writing. That all changes quickly, however, when she catches the eye of a Krinar – a member of an alien race that appeared a number of years ago to “co-exist” with humans on earth.
Enter sexual tension. The Krinar (Korum) is domineering, and seems to take an almost unhealthy interest in the younger (read: a few thousand years younger), human woman. As far as he is concerned, she puts up a token amount of resistance before it turns into a matter of “I really have no choice.”
Move on to the subplot… where she also, apparently, “has no choice.” With her roommate being afraid of what’s happening to Mia’s life, she manages to get Mia involved the “resistance” against the aliens. They want to use her as a spy, as she is intimately involved with Korum (though to hear her rail against it in her head it is completely out of her control and she hates him but oh my god what an orgasm).
So now Mia has both her body supposedly working against her, as well as feeling a need to do something to protect her race against the invading alien race dead set on harvesting women as sex slaves and taking over completely.
A number of events repeat themselves in annoying frequency.
1. The number of times Mia gives in and has sex with Korum no matter how mad, disgusted, pissed off, or otherwise absolutely SURE she won’t ever sleep with him again she is. Give him five seconds in her presence and she’s a goner.
2. While there are a number of sexual encounters insinuated but not detailed, the ones that are inevitably end with Mia berating herself, her self-control, willpower, etc. and reminding herself she’s only doing this because she has no control, has to pretend everything’s okay, yada, yada, yada.
3. How often can Mia puzzle over how completely up-side-down her life has turned? Granted, she’s a naïve junior at a university in New York. Yet we discover she’s got an internship lined up for the summer prior to her senior year, she’s going for a degree in Psychology and knows exactly what she wants to do with it. This is a woman of conviction and strength, yet you barely get to see it. You’d think, with a focus like that, she’d have better things to think about than sit around wondering how everything got so out of control. She’s a walking contradiction.
And then we get to the end. Korum knew all along Mia was betraying him, and did nothing about it. The whole time, Mia was afraid of Korum, afraid that he would kill her once he found out what she had been doing. Yet, for all of that fear, when everything hits the fan… he simply takes her hand, offers to take her to see her parents, and whisks her away to one of the Krinar compounds, steady as you please.
As a whole, the book left me completely unsatisfied. The intimate scenes were lacking, the emotion between Korum and Mia was barely thought out (at best), and every time there was a discussion with or about the resistance, I found myself rolling my eyes, skipping it, and realizing in the end – I didn't miss a darn thing. I got this book off of Amazon for free, but I can’t convince myself spending the money on the next book to see if it gets any better will be worth it.
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