ARC Review: One Taste of Angel by Violetta Rand

I'm not really sure what the appropriate numerical rating for this book is. I have very mixed feelings about what is a very mixed bag of a plot. As you may know, I'm an MC romance fan so this book certainly started off on the right foot with me. I'm just not sure if we were able to maintain a positive relationship as the story went on. I found myself less than excited about some of the plot twist and the choices the characters were making just left me alternating between scratching and shaking my head. So I don't know what to tell you about the stars but read this review and read the book in light of what I've told you.

So Angel is a stripper/virgin who is hiding a really big effing secret. She gets hired for a party in her former hometown. Things get out of hand and she is rescued by Eagle. Eagle happens to be the love of Angel's life who she escaped years ago to protect him (more on that later). Angel faked her own death and had some pretty major reconstructive surgery so that no one would recognize. Her face rearranging was apparently quite effective because Eagle doesn't recognize Angel as is his one true love. But what the eyes don't see, the heart recognizes (or so it would seem) because Eagle is instantly attracted to his long lost love.

Eagle is a bad ass biker. He checks all my man boxes- sexy, bossy, dirty mouth and a bit on the violent side. Check, check, check and wrap it up, I'll take it. Eagle focuses on Angel (who is going by Seraphina while she has the new face) and sees her as his opportunity to finally let go of the past and step into the present. And look, blah blah blah, so on and so forth. To quickly summarize the rest of the book, Eagle figures out who Angel is in a stupid way. Everyone accepts Angel's reasons for disappearing even though her disappearance sent the MC into a war where brothers died because of Angel's failure to communicate. The feud that is brewing between the clubs in the book never really materializes into the kind of drama that it is built up to be. Angel and Eagle have some hot steamy sex but there relationship is basically developed in a book that we're not reading so we're a little left out of the intensity of it.

Like I said I don't really know what an appropriate rating for this book is. It's definitely not bad but some of the puzzle pieces just didn't fit together well. If you're an MC romance fan, give this one a try but temper your expectations.

**ARC provided by Publisher**

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ARC Review: Persuasion by Violetta Rand

Persuasion is about Lang and Lilly. Lang has just become the president of the Sons of Odin Motorcycle Club and Lilly is his teenage sister’s high school counselor. Lang meets Lilly before he knows she is his sister’s counselor (Lang is the guardian for all three of his sisters as his parents are deceased). From the first time Lang and Lilly meet, the book has a really strange rhythm that I had a difficult time following. When Lang meets Lilly at a bar, there is some insta-attraction. I was thinking Lang saw Lilly as someone he would want to spend time with but suddenly he is ditching her because she won’t screw him out behind the bar. I’m cool with that as a principal but I didn’t understand how the story skipped from what we were being told about Lang’s feelings for Lilly to him ditching her for really ridiculous reasons.

Lilly has recently relocated to Lang’s area, in part, to get away from the dissension between her recently divorced parents. I was thoroughly confused by this whole thing. Lilly spends pages upon pages obsessing about the conflict between her parents or being drawn into it during their phone calls to her. My guess is that the author included all of this because she wanted to create an arc in the story related to Lilly not trusting men and not wanting to settle down. The way it comes across in the writing though is just really forced. It seemed like Lilly was too damn old to be as concerned about her parents as she was. Plus, she was living thousands of miles away, I kept screaming ‘don’t answer the phone’ at my Kindle every time she had a conversation with her parents.

After Lang initially ditches Lilly, he immediately decides that was a mistake when he runs into her at his sister’s school. This again felt like a weird jump in the plot line. Nothing changes between Lang and Lilly but as soon as he sees her at the high school, he knows he made a grave mistake and immediately begins pursuing a relationship with her. Lilly…I don’t know what her deal was. She put up some very minimal resistance to the idea of hooking up with Lang because she thought it would be a career conflict. It lasted all of two seconds and they were ripping each other’s clothes off. No complaints there, the sex was good and dirty just like I like it.

As for the other aspects of the book, yes this is technically an MC romance. There was some MC stuff in the book but I read A LOT of MC books and this one didn’t feel nearly as authentic as the stuff written by our favorite MC authors like Joanna Wylde. I did like the stuff in the book about Lang trying to clean the club up after its last president let the members run amok. I actually liked a lot of things about this book, I just felt like they all needed to be rearranged to make the book really good and easier to read. I would definitely read other books by this author.

**ARC provided by Publisher**

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ARC Review: Loving Lucas by Violetta Rand

Loving Lucas is the first book in the Lies & Leather series from Violetta Rand. This is my first book by her so I didn't really know what to expect. While there were things that I liked her, there was also a lot that I had issues with. I still have mixed feelings on this one, and i'm just not sure what to think. 

Stuck in an abusive relationship, Karlie Augustine's spirit as well as her body is broken. When things get bad one night, she finds help in the sexy cop Lucas Lafontaine. With nowhere to go and little to her name, Lucas offers her a place to stay in exchange for her help with the cleaning and cooking. The attraction between them is instant, and living together ignites the spark between them. But with Lucas trying to get custody of his young son and Karlie's ex not backing down, can Lucas and Karlie build anything together? 

I had moments that I really liked both Lucas and Karlie. Lucas was caring and protective, and super sexy. But there were also times that he came off as a a bit of a chauvinist and I didn't care for that at all. I understood that part of their deal was for Karlie to cook and clean in exchange for a place to live, but I also felt like there were some pretty offensive moments here. I was uncomfortable more than once and unfortunately those moments really detracted from all the good that was here as well. Karlie had moments were she was strong and sassy, and yet she was also vulnerable and beaten down because of what she had been through. But she made some really stupid decisions, and there were times I wanted to shake her. I was looking for more of that fire in her to come out and I didn't always see that. 

The one thing that I absolutely loved here was the heat and chemistry between these two! They were super steamy and I felt their attraction for each other instantly. I do think that the connection was a bit too instant to be truly believable for as strong as the author tried to make it. I believed they were definitely building something and the chemistry was there from the beginning, but I really thought that things progressed far too quickly for someone that had literally just ended a two year abusive relationship. There were times that Karlie struggled with things and that showed, but it was still rushed to me. Overall, I think that there was definite potential here and there were some great moments that I truly enjoyed. But I also felt like this one didn't completely deliver on what I was expecting and it was unfortunate since I really wanted to love Lucas and Karlie together.

**ARC Provided by Publisher**

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Guest Post with Author Violetta Rand and Giveaway

Meet Violetta Rand author of Sin.

Raised in Corpus Christi, Texas, Violetta Rand spent her childhood reading, writing, and playing soccer. After meeting her husband in New England, they moved to Alaska where she studied environmental science and policy as an undergraduate before attending graduate school. Violetta then spent nearly a decade working as an environmental scientist, specializing in soil and water contamination and environmental assessments.

Violetta still lives in Anchorage, Alaska and spends her days writing evocative New Adult romance and historical romance. When she’s not reading, writing, or editing, she enjoys time with her husband, pets, and friends. In her free time, she loves to hike, fish, and ride motorcycles and 4-wheelers.

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