ARC Review: King of Code by CD Reiss

I love CD Reiss. I mean love love love her. You have to read some of my other Reiss reviews to really get a feel for how serious I'm being. I started reading Reiss with Songs of Submission. I gobbled up Jon and Monica's story including Coda and the follow up. I then went on to read the other books about the Drazen siblings and loved every single one on a level that is hard to describe. And I know you're all 'what about King of Code?' but give me a minute because I feel like this background is important. I love the hard core erotic action/romance Reiss and it's very difficult for me to say anything negative about her writing. Part of me feels like, if you give the world the kind of brilliance Reiss delivered with her Drazen novels and OMG The Marriage Games duet, you get a pass forever. So all that being said, it's kind of difficult to write this review of King of Code and you need to know that it's probably a more generous representation of my feelings than I would normally give. So here it goes. 

I did not like the characters in King of Code. I really really didn't like them and that made this book a struggle. Taylor is an egotistical, sexist know-it-all who doesn't really know much. He's built some indestructible code that's going to change the whole entire world and is totally unhackable until it gets hacked to pieces. Taylor follows clues left by the hacker to some small town trying to figure out the hack and close it off. In small town USA he finds Harper. From the beginning of the book Taylor's sexism is so front and center that it's actually a bit much. Harper pops up everywhere when Taylor arrives in town. She mysteriously knows every convenient answer and is around to give Taylor a ride when his car breaks down but Taylor never suspects she is the hacker because girls don't know computers. Whatever. And then there is Harper who is as you know from the synopsis the hacker. Harper is truly crazy. I know it's supposed to be the appealing sort of crazy but I was not amused. I wanted to punch Harper. Harper lies about absolutely everything. I won't spoil anything but I will tell you Harper is what my mom called a "lying wonder." Like she lied so much it was wondrous. 

The entirety of the book (well at least 70%) is Taylor trying to figure out why Harper wanted him to come to Barrington and how he can get his code back. Harper sets up this series of task for Harper to perform and gives him his stuff back piece by piece as he performs. I'm not even going to get into what the tasks are because just, no. But I will tell you that I was infuriated by Harper leading Taylor around by the nose. I was pissed at Taylor for being so awesomely weak. Taylor is portrayed as a tech guy who can't fight. He basically out snarks his opponents and f-cks their girlfriends, his words, not mine. I don't like that at all. I'm sorry but give me my alpha men with the short fuses who will go to war for their women. I don't want some weak guy who lets a woman completely manipulate him and then out of the friggin blue falls in love with her. 

In my opinion (and in the actual book) Harper just destroys Taylor s life and Taylor gets on his knees and worships her for it. I honestly did not understand the connection between these two characters. It's like they bond over the rubble of Taylor's existence and I was just like, huh? The book is told in Taylor's POV so I really had no idea what the hell was going on in Harper's head, I just knew I wanted to smack her. For as weak as Taylor was, Harper was indecisive and unstable and kinda friggin immature. 

And I know this review is long but let's talk about the Barrington story line for a second. I appreciate Reiss' efforts to highlight the plight of many places in the U.S. that have been hit hard by automation and globalization. Hell, I'm from Michigan. I've seen first hand in painful detail, the story Reiss is trying to tell. My problem is totally selfish. I don't want to read about it in a romance novel. At least I don't want to read a novel where that is the focus in the way it was in this book. I want to get away from reality, not be immersed in it for several hours. This is totally subjective but that's how I feel. I just didn't like the stark portrayal of Barrington or Silicone Valley. I know there were some important nuances but the whole book was so frustrating for me, I just couldn't get there.

In summary, I love CD Reiss. I can find no fault in her writing style or storytelling. However, I hated weak Taylor and neurotic Harper and I did not enjoy reading about them. That's all I got.

**ARC Provided by Social Butterfly PR**

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ARC Review: Follow by Tessa Bailey

This is Tessa Bailey's first self published book and if it is indicative of what is to come, her career in self publishing is going to be fantastic. I didn't even read a synopsis of this book. I just knew it was a Tessa Bailey book and figured it was worth trying. I so love when I'm right like I was here. 

Teresa is 23 and living in LA. Both of her parents are deceased. Teresa's family consist of her and her 20 year old brother Nicky. Nicky has gone to NY and gotten himself tangled up with the very crime lord that her parents escaped a decade ago. It's never really clear how Nicky got tangled up with the Devil but he calls Teresa for help. Teresa drops everything, including her dream of going to film school and goes to NY to help her brother. Teresa meets with the crime boss, Silas, and a weird thing happens. Silas is willing to let Teresa's brother out of his criminal employment if Teresa will help him. What he needs help with is getting his son Will back to NY. Will is on a cross country trip to give his dying dog one last treasure trove of memories. 

Will is a hedge fund manager who has been very successful but who let work become his whole life. Will also feels like he built his life on what his Father wanted. When he realized he never really knew who his Father was, it changes his view of who he is and who he should be. So when Will finds out that his beloved dog is dying, he puts Southpaw in the car and heads out of town. When Will meets a beautiful topless stranger in his hotel room in Texas he is suspicious but he is also attracted and intrigued. 

From the first time Teresa meets Will she loses track of where her hustle begins and where she is just genuinely into Will. The attraction between these characters is seriously off the pages hot. The sex scenes are like, OMG! I really liked how the author handled role playing. Teresa has a fantasy that Will is willing to play out with her but he is so respectful about it instead of it just being sexual it becomes another opportunity to see how Will feels about Teresa. It is clear that Will loves Teresa almost immediately and vice versa. But both Will and Teresa know that Teresa is lying about something. Will keeps trying to get Teresa to tell him what it is and Teresa keeps chickening out. Teresa is terrified of endangering her brother and she hesitates too long and everything goes to crap. They get it all figured out but it was dicey for a minute there. 

If you like super dirty talking alpha men, dog lovers, travel books and a bit of action, this book is for you. It's a totally entertaining experience and very hot. Add this to the Tessa Bailey hit list.

**ARC Provided by Author**

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ARC Review: Beast: The Beginning by Mary Catherine Gebhard

Let me just start by saying that this book is neither as dark nor as erotic as it seems to sell itself as being and I found that disappointing. When I started this book I was super excited because I love me a dark/sold myself to a sexy dark man story. It seemed like that's where we were headed in this story. Frankie trades her life to Beast and the mafia in exchange for the life of her Father. Beast carries her back to his castle (well, it was more like a condo in NY but whatevs) and proceeds to possess her...sort of. 

Right away there is some non-consensual sex which may really disturb you given that Frankie is a virgin. This is followed by some other pseudo humiliation you might expect in a dark romance. But it all goes wrong really fast. First of all, beyond the opening scenes which don't give us much, there is almost no sex in the book. WHAT? What happened to all the steam? The thing that irritates me is that Beast, in his inner monologue is continuously discussing how much he wants Frankie and how she turns him on. Then in real life, he refuses to have sex with her and the reason was super annoying. Beast decides very early on that he wants Frankie to admit that wants him. Frankie is stubborn as heck. So even though her body is constantly "betraying" her, she won't admit that she wants Beast. 

Speaking of Frankie, I just honestly don't know what to think about her. Frankie is a strong character who does some really dumb stuff. Every time I thought I really liked her, she would do something that made me want to smack her. I think this may be a function of Frankie being really young. I think she is like 19 or 20. She hadn't really been anywhere in life or done anything and the author may have been too good at depicting her. 

It is obvious that Frankie wants Beast but they spend like 60% of the book locked in this battle of wills and honestly, it's kind of tedious and exhausting. Beast seems to actually fall for Frankie very early on. This is not a good thing in a dark romance. It cast the dark actions of Beast in a particularly unfavorable light. If you're going to be the dark character, be that. You can't be the beast and the good guy at the same dang time because it makes you look mentally unstable. 

Also, I appreciate the author's effort to weave some deep intrigue into Frankie's identity and the whole mafia subplot. However, I really couldn't follow the subplot. There were too many characters and family lines to keep track of. I couldn't remember who was who or who Frankie might have been. I thought the subplot could have been cleaner and clearer so that it wasn't so distracting. 

This is what I can tell you, this definitely is not a great dark romance but it's not a bad book. And even with all of the issues that I've described, I'm still going to read the conclusion to the story in Beauty because I'm intrigued enough to want to see how it all ends.

**ARC Provided by Ardent PRose**

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ARC Review: Turbulence by Whitney G.

I love this book so hard. I love every Whitney G book and this one is just as good as the others.

I don't even really feel like doing the book summary thing because I just want to gush about this book in random unrelated sentences but hang on, lemme try to do my job. This is the story of Gillian and Jake. Gillian moved to New York to make something out of life. She was well on her way with her job at the NY Times but then something happens. It's not entirely clear what happened while Gillian was at the Times, what is clear is that she blames one very specific person for her downfall. Gillian has taken up writing a blog in which she rages about the unfairness of life and later about all the great sex she's having with Jake (more on him in a second). My favorite part is that the blog randomly has one follower who constantly berates Gillian but still continues reading the blog. The thing I love about Gillian and all her blog foolishness is how imperfect she is. Whitney G is great at writing characters who have issues and Gillian is one. Gillian is a denial artist who can't seem to get a handle on some of her own more destructive tendencies and I was 100% here for all of that foolishness.

And then there's Jake. Jake is CRAZY as all the crays. He is another Whitney G hero with a horrible attitude, a dirty mouth and stamina that will make you look at your own partner with suspicion. Jake has more issues than Vogue but as the book unfolds you learn that there really are valid reasons for all of Jake's shenanigans. Nothing is what it seems with Jake. He's a pilot and even though at times he seems like he's terrible at that, there's still a story there. Just be patient with Jake, you'll love him as much as Gillian did.

The relationship between these two characters is so thoroughly entertaining you don't want to put the book down. Like this is the kind of book you read and then hide in the closet when your kids are looking for you because you don't want to stop reading it. There is some drama built in because Gillian and Jake really aren't supposed to be having a relationship, we don't know what the deal with Gillian's lost job and we're waiting to find out why Jake is so dang crazy. There is some amazing sex and it's really sweet to watch the relationship develop between the couple.  OMG, I almost forgot how these two met! I apologize for almost overlooking that because honestly it was one of the most memorable meetings and initial hook ups you could EVER imagine. It's one of those things where you don't know whether to laugh or cover your eyes. In the end, I went with cracking up because it was hilarious.

I don't know what else to tell you. If you're still reading this review, you're wasting time that you could be reading this book and that's just not smart.

**ARC provided by Author**

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ARC Review: Wicked Grind by J. Kenner

I am not new to J. Kenner books. I read all of the Stark series and I was interested to see what these sort of spin off novels would be like. Unfortunately, I was not impressed. J. Kenner is a good writer and this book is no exception to that general rule but...it just didn't do it for me. The book is good but definitely not great and it's not something I would want to read again.

Wicked Grind is a second chance romance. I have a general bias against second chance romance but lately I've been having really good luck with second chance books so I gave this one a....chance. Wyatt is a photographer who is working on a master piece of erotic art. 27 days before the biggest deadline of his career, Wyatt has not found the model he needs to complete his work. That's when Kelsey wanders into his studio looking for a job. Kelsey is exactly what Wyatt has been looking for but Kelsey and Wyatt are not strangers. Kelsey broke Wyatt's heart many years ago but nothing about that situation is what Wyatt assumes.

Kelsey is repeatedly referred to as shy and innocent but that is not at all descriptive when it comes to her.  The book goes through a number of flashbacks between the past and present. During the flashbacks we learn about the bad things that happened to Kelsey that turned her into a runner. That's all good and well. The problem is that the vast majority of the book occurs during the flashbacks. I'm talking like over 80% of the book is in the past and not the present. I think that's what did me in. I wasn't looking to read a book about adolescents. I thought I was going to be reading a really sexy book about two grown ups and that's just not what happened. The weird thing about this book is that there wasn't a whole lot of development of the present day relationship between these characters. Most of the relationship is described in the past tense. So again, that just wasn't something that I liked.

If you like J. Kenner, you might just go wild for this book on the strength of reputation. For me, this was something I could have probably done without.

**ARC provided by Author**

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ARC Review: Disorderly Conduct by Tessa Bailey

I do not read NA books. I'm just not into millennial romance. My 20s was confusing, I'm still getting over the trauma and I try not to revisit it in my romance. However, I love Tessa Bailey so I'm willing to give anything by her a try and she did not disappoint. 

This book is the first in the new Academy series by Bailey and I already know I'll be reading the other two books. This is Charlie and Ever's story. Charlie is in the police academy. He is convinced that he is destined to give his every waking hour to his job and that there will never be room in his life for a relationship. Therefore, Charlie has perfected the art of the spontaneous hook up. Charlie meets his match in Ever. Ever was taught to believe that there is nothing a woman can gain from a relationship with a man but heartbreak. Ever lives by a set of rules passed down by the women in her family that dictate that no hook up can go past 30 days. Ever purposely picks men who she thinks are somehow unavailable to insure that they won't try to stick around past the 30 days. Ever thinks Charlie is perfect because she knows how committed he is to his job. So together Charlie and Ever embark on a super hot month of hook ups. They agree to never talk about the past or the future and no cuddling. What could go wrong?

Well, Ever changes her mind and decides to give dating a serious try. Charlie doesn't think he can be the "dating" guy for Ever but he absolutely can't stay away from her. The idea of her being with another guy causes him to quite literally lose his mind and all sorts of hilarious hijinks ensues. This book is actually really funny and a lot of fun to read. There is a hilarious speed dating scene, a mishap with a fire alarm and a part y with a bunch of middle aged women that gets totally out of hand. Meanwhile Charlie and Ever are supposed to be just friends but there chemistry is just impossible to ignore.

Charlie and Ever have like super hot dirty chemistry that is just wild. They hold out for as long as they can but they keep "slipping up" and muddling the friendship. Charlie is hoping that he can convince Ever to go back to their hook up arrangement by showing her that there is nothing better for her. Ever is holding out hope that Charlie will change his mind about not being the dating type. Unfortunately, Charlie's strategy requires some deception. As amusing as it is for the reader to watch Charlie's maneuvers, Ever was less than amused when she found out what he had been up to.

It all works out in the end. This is a book with fantastic dialogue, great writing, a super entertaining plot and a compelling supporting cast of characters. If you like NA you will love this book . If you don't like NA, I still think you will really enjoy this book so give it a try.

**ARC provided by Publisher**

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ARC Review: Perilous Trust by Barbara Freethy

This book starts off really fast paced and draws you right in to the story line. In the very first scene, Sophie's father, Alan, an FBI agent, leaves her a message. The message turns out to be his dying words and his instructions for her survival. In the message he tells her run and don't trust anybody, especially his fellow agents. The issue is that one of those agents, Damon, has been in Sophie's head since she had a one night stand with him 4 years ago. Damon didn't know that Sophie was the daughter of his FBI mentor and Sophie didn't know Damon was an agent in training at the time of the hook up. All they knew was that they were in the middle of a bad moment and the chemistry between them was undeniable.

Fast forward four years and Damon is basically the only person Sophie can sort of trust. They both set out to follow the cryptic clues her Father left her to determining who inside the FBI is a mole and just what Sophie's Father was into. The book rotates POV's between several of the characters but is mostly told from Damon and Sophie's POV. The characters are strong and the mystery is well conceived.

For me this book lost some of it's steam about a third of the way in. Once Sophie and Damon are on the road, the plot develops slower than I would have liked. I was also hoping that the chemistry between Sophie and Damon would be more obvious. The author uses flashbacks to explain how Damon and Sophie were attracted to each other in the past. My issue is that I just didn't feel the chemistry in the story told in the present tense. The other thing is that I felt like the mystery and suspense kind of lulled at places in the book. If you read the first few chapters of this book, it's exciting and you feel like this is going to be one of the heart racing suspense novels. But there are parts of this book where I think the author tries to focus on Damon and Sophie's personal relationship and the mystery and suspense slow way down. 

These books are best for readers like me when both the romance and the suspense maintain their intensity. Because this one hit some down times, I ended up feeling like it was definitely good but I still wanted something more.

**ARC provided by Author**

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ARC Review: The Flirtation by Tara Sue Me

I know I've been saying this about this series for awhile but I mean it this time, this is my last book in the series. There were a couple of books about this BDSM group that I really liked. I kept reading the series hoping to recapture what I loved but I finally see that it's just not going to happen.

The premise of this book is that Lynn started BDSM training with Simon. Simon abruptly broke off their relationship but neither of them has been able to forget the other. Simon gave Lynn some BS excuse for ending their first relationship. He told her she was not truly submissive. In reality, Simon just thinks what he wants is too much for someone so new. He doesn't think Lynn can handle what he really wants so he just ends the relationship with her completely. What Simon does not realize is that even though Lynn was new to the life, she didn't need or want Simon to go easy on her. She really wanted what Simon wanted that he was afraid to tell her he wanted...wow, I just got dizzy writing that.

Lynn hatches this kind of crazy idea to reconnect with Simon online. It works. In fact it works so well, Simon wants to move things off the internet and in to the real world. Lynn hatches this completely crazy scheme to hide her identity. You can guess how that turns out. Simon then has to decide if maybe he was all wrong about Lynn and she's exactly what he wants. In the background there's a crazy subplot that is a little tired because the same thing happens in every one of these books. I was completely uninterested in the subplot. It neither added to the story of Lynn and Simon or took away from it. It was wholly unnecessary.  

I don't know what it was about this book but it just felt very ho-hum to me. I didn't care at all. I didn't care about Lynn or Simon or the crazy sub-plot chick. I walked away from this and I had no feelings about any of it. Something about the way these books are written alienates the reader. You don't feel like you are a part of the story. You also don't feel grabbed by the chemistry of the characters. We're just all kind of along for the ride. I don't want to write another one of these meh reviews about this series so I'm done reading books in it. 

**ARC provided by Publisher**

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ARC Review: The Billionaire's Intern by Jackie Ashenden

This is the first book I've read where the heroine had ADD. I thought that was a really interesting twist in the story and I really like this author. But none of that was enough to make me feel very strongly about this book. It is indeed a Billionaire intern romance and there really isn't much to tell in terms of Kira as an intern. The thing that struck me and kind of turned me off was Lorenzo's attitude towards Kira. Lorenzo has no Kira since she was a hyperactive child throwing temper tantrums at party with her Dad, Lorenzo's business associate.

In the past, Lorenzo helped young Kira to focus and calm down by showing her how to make paper cranes (gave her something to do with her hands I guess). Young Kira fell in hardcore love with grown up Lorenzo who bothered to pay attention to her. Lorenzo was in love with someone else at the time who also happened to be an adult and not a hyperactive child. Kira grows, tragedy strikes Lorenzo and the two find themselves thrust back together. Kira's father ask Lorenzo to take Kira on as an intern. He has ulterior motives and so does Kira in a way. Kira just wants so badly to be accepted by her parents that she would do almost anything.

Kira is working hard to put away everything that makes her herself. She feels like being her caused a terrible accident and she is determined to be someone else who is more responsible. As for Lorenzo, he has just grown cold and hard. Since his first love died, he has completely sealed off his heart and is just a giant a-hole by the time this book kicks off. I'm ok with jerk alpha heroes who love the heroines but I think Lorenzo crossed a line. Kira was so broken and Lorenzo was so awful to her it might have been too much. Watching Kira trying to hold on and do a good job while Lorenzo treated her like something on the bottom of his shoe, that was unpleasant.

In the end, I didn't find the book difficult to read. It moved at a good pace and never seemed to drag. The writing is good as I would expect from this author. I just couldn't completely get into the characters or the romance.

**ARC provided by Publisher**

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ARC Review: Illicit by M.N. Forgy

Illicit is the 4th installment in the Sin City Outlaws MC series. I read the book before this but I have not read any of the other books in the series. So, let's start there. I do NOT recommend you read these books out of order or as standalones. I also suggest that you take my opinion of these books with a grain of salt for the reason that I did read them out of order and don't have the best context for understanding all the background information. When I write reviews like this I try to separate the things that are objective from the things that are just the result of my history with the series or other personal bias. I'll try to do that here. But don't read this review if you want to get into this series and you haven't read the books before this one, there will be spoilers of past books.

We met Raven in book 3 and Machete, a member of Sin City Outlaws in prior books. Raven is the "bad guy" from book 3 but it's kind of hard to say that because the lines between good and bad don't really exist between Raven and Machete. Raven is seriously out of her skull. She's a trained killer who was taken as a child and placed in a survival compound where it was hurt somebody else or starve. Raven learned from an early age to give pain, to take it and to push her emotions way down deep. In other words, she's crazy as all hell. If you read the last book (which I assume you did if you're reading this review) then you know that Raven held a grudge against Alessandra who was also at the kiddy killer compound. That didn't end well and as a result, Raven is now the prisoner of the Sin City MC club. 

Machete is...a total psycho. He's sexy but in past books we learned that people are generally scared of him and those people are smart because he's scary. Machete is drawn to Raven because he sees the darkness inside of her and it's a total turn on for him. When I say a total turn on, I really mean that. The crazier Raven is and the more she is unaffected by the "torture" Machete is supposed to be doling out, the more he wants her.

Ok, so here are the issues. There was a lot of redundancy in the book, especially at the beginning. I felt like I was reading the same scene over and over again. Machete couldn't figure out how to get through to Raven by torture and then he would want her and there would be endless internal monologue about how drawn he was to her darkness. Another thing is that it seems like this book is going to be really hot and there are all these lusty morsels dangled but it takes a long time to get down to the actual business. I was also just mystified by the length of time it took for Raven to choose sides. I felt from the beginning of the book that she had absolutely no reason to be loyal to Cross. At one point pretty early in the story, Raven realized that she wasn't really on team Cross but she still refused to give in to Machete and tell him what he needed to know. My last thing is that there isn't the traditional amount of MC club stuff you might expect if you are a fan of MC romance.

In the end, I felt like the book was pretty good but I just needed to be much more invested in the series to really enjoy it.

**ARC provided by TRSoR Promotions**

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