Author's Pal Spotlight + Review + Excerpt + Giveaway: By The Hour by Roni Loren

By The Hour 

Pleasure Principle, 2

Roni Loren

April 25, 2017

From the New York Times bestselling author of Off the Clock comes a story of love, hate, and the fire that ignites when the two collide...

Dr. Elle McCray has a plan. Work hard. Be the best. And do it alone. After her ex-husband’s betrayal, she’s learned being feared is a hell of a lot easier than being humiliated. So when trouble personified, Lane Cannon, dares to flirt with her, she shuts him down cold. Too gorgeous. Too cocky. And his job as The Grove’s sexual surrogate is to sleep with patients. No, thank you.

Former escort Lane Cannon has spent enough years with people looking down on him. Stupid. Trailer trash. Rent boy. He’s heard it all. He’s worked too hard to shed his past to let some haughty doctor cut him down. But something about Elle’s ice queen act has his dominant instincts perking up and his body taking notice. He can’t walk away.

After an evening of verbal sparring turns into a night of steamy hate sex, Lane’s ready for round two. But Elle proposes a business deal. How better to keep things strictly physical than to pay him for his services?

Lane wants her, not her money. But he’ll play along in exchange for one thing—all the control. It’s only supposed to be a dirty little fling between colleagues, but these two are about to learn a lesson in love…by the hour.

My Thoughts:

Edge of Obsession by Megan Crane (Review)

I don't know where to begin with Megan Crane's Edge of Obsession. Truth be told I didn't read the blurb, because all could focus on was the tats, chest, and abs. You could say I was blinded by the cover. Since I didn't read the blurb, and jumped into the story without any knowledge of the story, I was surprise to find out it was a futuristic dystopia. So, we have us a dystopia with a lot of sex.

Basically, we have two societies in the story. One is the mainland, while the other was on island. However, in both societies woman are view as a commodity to serve men. In the mainland they view the woman as broodmares and if they can't produce they are cast out. While in the raiders land woman are viewed more as sex slaves. The societies seem advance and at the same time primitive. You get the feeling that it's a bit barbaric. For the first 75% of the book is establishing the society, and this is where we meet Tyr and Helena.

Tyr and Helena are both strong characters. I think you all need to know that Tyr basically takes Helena as her captive, so I start to wonder if Stockholm Syndrome starts to set in Helena. She starts to lose some of her strong character and become passive, and willing to do Tyr's bidding. At the beginning the story, Helena needs to accomplish her mission that her parents tried to do before they died. So, Helena mission becomes something the raiders are going to work on together. Yes, the series will continue.

I'm hopeful that we will get more of the plot than the culture of Edge of Obsession. Things I did like about the story, I liked how Helena and Tyr are both strong characters. I wish Helena kept her strong attitude as the story progress. I guess we had her submit to Tyr. She was willing to sacrifice herself for her sister even though she's kind of selfish. A lot of Alpha-holes, and hoping that we might have more character development. Not a big fan of the sex scenes overshadowing the plot. Don't get me wrong I don't mind sex scenes, but I do like a strong plot to coincide. I'm hopeful that it will tone down and develop plot and get to see more of the reestablish so it's not so primitive. I understand that this is a dystopia and all, but where did all the diseases go. Had they all been eradicated, because in said sex scenes there is no condoms. This is something I'm curious on, and I'm probably the only one.

Overall, I'm not sure what I was expecting on Edge of Obsession. I'm hopeful that it we will see more of a plot. This story didn't quite work for me, but it work for others. I think this depends on the person.

Copy provided by St. Martin via NetGalley

Rating:
2 Stars

Courting Innocences by Kimberly Dean ( Review)

I wanted to read Kimberly Dean's Courting Innocence, because had elements that screamed read me. I mean you have Erin who believes the Luxxor is a matchmaking service instead of an escort service. I mean that's kind funny. Then you have the forbidden attraction with Colton who happens to be the Erin's brother's best friend. Can't go against the bro-code. See that's the making of a fun story. However, I didn't fall in love with Courting Innocence. There are some good elements to the story, but there were some parts that had me go "What!?"

I guess I should get the thing that bother me the most off my chest, which was her best friend working at the Luxxor and not being up front about it. Yes, I understand that she had to keep it on the download, but Erin was her best friend stuff like that goes to grave. No repeats stuff like that. On the same token, Erin would probably still be waiting to make a move on Colton. I still don't have to like that part. The other thing that kind of bother me was Erin and Colton's relationship. It felt kind of like a dirty little secret. Okay, I get it, it was about honoring the promise Colton made when he was younger, but take it like a man get punched in the face by the brother. Yes, I was thinking that. Those are my gripes about the book.

The things I liked about the story. Even though one of my gripes was Erin and Colton's relationship, I still liked the relationship. They were hot and heavy when they weren't focusing on being each others dirty little secret. Plus, they were adorable. I also liked Erin's friends Sienna and Jason. I liked them so much I want to go back and read their story. The other person that played a big part in the story was Nina who was Erin's sounding board. Even though she was owner of Luxxor, she provided reason and a good friendship for Erin. Especially, when she need advice when it came to her relationship between Colton. I believe Erin would have left everything as the status quo, because it was something she wanted for so long. Why rock the boat. Plus, the ending kind of left me believing there might something in the future between Nina and a certain detective. Let's hope so.

Overall, not a bad read. It was hot and sexy at times. Okay, majority of the time. However, I did have a couple of hang ups, but it's not going to stop me from checking out other books from this author. Plus, I want to see how Sienna and Jason develop, so I have to go back to Courting Trouble. Maybe I'll gain a better understanding on Sienna being silent on the whole escort thing. Till next time.

Copy provided by author via Sizzling PR

Author's Pal Spotlight + Review + Excerpt + Giveaway: Call On Me by Roni Loren

Call On Me 

Loving on the Edge, #9

Roni Loren 

Berkley 

July 7. 2015

Blurb:

Oakley Easton wants two things: to be a good mom to her daughter and to ditch her less than ideal night job. Hooking up with bad boy drummer Pike Ryland? Not on the agenda. She needs a promotion. Not sex, tattoos and rock ’n’ roll.

Pike isn’t about to let Ms. Prim and Proper shut him down so easily, especially when he stumbles upon Oakley’s sexy night job. She’s only playing a role on those late night calls with strangers, but when he gets her on the line, all bets are off. He won’t stop until that sultry voice is calling his name for real.

But as they move from anonymous fantasies in the dark to the flesh-on-hot-flesh reality of the bedroom, the risk of falling in love becomes all too high. And the safe, quiet world that Oakley’s worked so hard to create is about to be exposed to the one person who could ruin it all.

My Thoughts:

eARC: Drawn Together by Lauren Dane

I received the opportunity to read Drawn Together by Lauren Dane. Let me give the back story to how I came about reading the story. Back in July I signed up with Penguins First to Read program which gives readers a chance to preview books that are coming soon from Penguin. I selected a couple of books I would be interested in reading and they would randomly select people to read. Honestly, I didn't think I had a shot. So, to my surprise I was selected to read Drawn Together.

I probably should go back and read the previous books to fully appreciate the story. However, I mange to read the story and wasn't too lost. Yeah, I might have had a better understanding of the other characters in the book. Hey, I have been known to jump into a middle of a series.

Anyway, I'm just going to focus on my thoughts of the story. Overall, I enjoyed the story. I enjoyed the relationship between Raven and Jonah. Yes, Jonah is a bit demanding. However he seem like the type of guy who goes after what he wants no matter what. Raven is a bit rough on the edges and doesn't let anyone in. Yet, Jonah manages to worm his way in Raven's life. So, they tend to have bumps along the way. I really liked how Jonah was there for Raven when she really need someone.

As I said, I manage to get through the book. Yes, Drawn Together does have some pretty hot, rough sex scenes. Not a bad story, and I actually liked when Raven called out Jonah's ex-wife and called her a whore. So, if you don't mind rough hot sex, you might enjoy Drawn Together.

Copy provided by Penguin

Rating: