Dirty Trick (Perfectly Matched #1) by Christine Bell

Publication: September 23, 2013

Publisher: Entangled: Brazen Imprint

Source: Bought/Own

A sexy category romance from Entangled's Brazen imprint... This matchmaker's about to meet her match... Grace Love is lousy with men. She can spot a match for someone else a mile away, and her balls-on instincts are why her matchmaking business is thriving, but finding her own Prince Charming? The only guy who makes her sixth sense tingle is her playboy best friend, Trick, and no way is she risking their friendship, no matter how hot she knows the sex will be. SWAT officer Trick Mathews is a patient guy, but Grace’s inability to see what’s right in front of her is grinding on his last nerve. Yeah, he blew his shot at breaking out of the friend zone when he tamped down the urge to lick her from head to toe the day they met, but he’s got a plan that’ll change her mind. Incognito at Salem's hottest Halloween party, he’ll show her exactly how good they could be…and that he’s the man for her.

Grace and her best friend Serena run their own matchmaking business called Love Will Find a Way. Their business is on the verge of becoming something great and to make sure it really takes off, they plan to attend the biggest Halloween party in town to gain more clientele. Enter her other best friend and neighbor Trick, who offers to be her plus one at the party. Grace politely declines and instead her and Serena attend together without dates.

Trick, a Police Officer who is on the SWAT Team has known Grace for at least a year. He’s tall, charming, and extremely sexy. And he just so happens to have a reputation for being a little bit of a ladies man. Even though Grace finds herself attracted to Trick, she believes things will only end in heartbreak for her if they pursue a relationship. So she is content with being just friends. Trick, however wants more than friendship. And in an effort to make Grace see the light, he gets an idea to go to the party anyways disguised as a “Catman”.  His plan is to basically hit it off with her at the party disguised, in hopes that she will see how good they would be together if she just gave him a chance. Needless to say, everything does not go as planned.

Dirty Trick was a fun story to read over the weekend. The beginning started out really nice and the characters were easy to like and get into. And I really liked how I got the POV’s from both Grace and Trick. It was sweet, sexy, and short. Though to me, the story seemed to drag a little towards the end and it could have been shorter. It felt like there was a lot of internal debate going on between these two and I just wished they would have talked that much about their feelings to each other instead of themselves. Having said that, it was still a good story and I enjoyed the ending.

RATING: 3  out of 5

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The Glass Arrow by Kristen Simmons

Publication: February 10, 2015

Publisher: Tor Teen

Source: Publisher

The Handmaid’s Tale meets Blood Red Road in Glass Arrow, the story of Aya, who lives with a small group of women on the run from the men who hunt them, men who want to auction off breeding rights to the highest bidder. In a world where females are scarce and are hunted, then bought and sold at market for their breeding rights, 15-year old Aya has learned how to hide. With a ragtag bunch of other women and girls, she has successfully avoided capture and eked out a nomadic but free existence in the mountains. But when Aya’s luck runs out and she’s caught by a group of businessmen on a hunting expedition, fighting to survive takes on a whole new meaning.

The Glass Arrow started off really well with Aya ( who lives in the woods with family) running from her hunters and trying to make sure her family is okay. In her attempt she is captured and held in a woman’s center to be sold and eventually bred. They are held like prisoners or caged animals with little to no regard for their thoughts or feelings. You can guess the amount of cattiness there is when there are a group of girls living together. And they end up not liking Aya too much. Not surprising considering that Aya seems to be one of the few people there who has an issue with women being sold as property to the highest bidder. She gets into a couple of little fights/arguments with one of the girls and as punishment she is held in solitary.

While she is held in solitary, she meets Kiran (Kiran is a Driver and is not in solitary with Aya) who seems to be a mute. She talks to him and tells him parts of her life.  She doesn’t know it yet, but Kiran will play a big part in Aya’s life.

I liked The Glass Arrow, but I wasn’t in love with it. Maybe it’s because I don’t read a lot of futuristic books, but I wasn’t hooked on it like I was hoping I would be. The world Kristen Simmons created is a unique, scary, and interesting one. I did really enjoy Aya and Kiran. I loved that Aya is a fighter, smart, and resilient. She never gave up and always tried to work her current situation to her advantage. She doesn’t have the most easy going personality, but I imagine it’s hard to trust anyone except those the closest to you when you live the majority of your life looking over your shoulder trying to avoid capture.  Kiran is a pretty strong character himself. He didn’t seem afraid to take risks, but he was smart about the choices he made. They worked well together. The romance between them  in the story was nicely done. It didn’t feel rushed and there was no insta-love thrown in.

RATING: 3 out of 5.

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Romancing the Duke (Castles Ever After #1) by Tessa Dare

Publication: January 28, 2014

Publisher: Avon / HarperCollins Publishing

Source: Bought/Own

In the first in Tessa Dare's captivating Castles Ever After series, a mysterious fortress is the setting for an unlikely love . . . As the daughter of a famed author, Isolde Ophelia Goodnight grew up on tales of brave knights and fair maidens. She never doubted romance would be in her future, too. The storybooks offered endless possibilities. And as she grew older, Izzy crossed them off. One by one by one. Ugly duckling turned swan? Abducted by handsome highwayman? Rescued from drudgery by charming prince? No, no, and… Heh. Now Izzy’s given up yearning for romance. She’ll settle for a roof over her head. What fairy tales are left over for an impoverished twenty-six year-old woman who’s never even been kissed? This one.

Izzy’s father has died and left her with no money and no home to stay in. But as luck would have it, she receives a letter stating that she has been named in the will of the Earl of Lynforth. So she packs up her meager belongings, and travels to Rothbury Castle in Northumberland in hopes that she inherit money.

Once she arrives, she discovers that it isn’t money she has inherited, its a castle...Gostley Castle to be exact. A castle that very much needs some TLC and already has an inhabitant. It happens to be the home to Ransom, the Duke of Rothbury. And he isn’t very happy to have her there. Even though he finds her intriguing, he doesn’t want her staying and he is pretty insistent, that there is a mistake and that Gostley Castle is still rightfully his.  But Izzy has nowhere else to go, and she isn’t so willing to just give up the chance of having a home.

Ransom is pretty stubborn…..he is vulnerable, and not just because he is blind. He’s afraid of falling in love, and doesn’t believe someone would truly want to be with him.  Izzy is witty and smart, but insecure about her looks. Ransom can push and try as hard as he likes to scare Izzy away, but she refuses to back down easily. I loved that. Despite their differences, Ransom and Izzy have great chemistry and they compliment each others personalities so well. I couldn’t get enough of them.

Tessa Dare’s books are the type of books you read when you want to laugh, swoon, indulge in a few steamy sex scenes, and enjoy a  good old fashioned romance. And that is exactly what I got when I read Romancing the Duke. It was the perfect romantic pick me up. And by the end of the story I wanted a Ransom of my very own.

RATING: 4½ out of 5.

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Creed by Trisha Leaver & Lindsay Currie

Publication: November 8, 2014

Publisher: Flux

Source: Publisher

Three went in. Three came out. None even a shadow of who they once were. When their car breaks down, Dee, her boyfriend Luke, and his brother Mike walk through a winter storm to take refuge in a nearby town called Purity Springs. When they arrive, the emergency sirens are blaring and the small farming town seems abandoned. With no other shelter, they spend the night in an empty house. But they soon discover that not everything in Purity Springs is as it seems. When the town's inhabitants suddenly appear the next morning, Dee, Luke, and Mike find themselves at the mercy of the charismatic leader, Elijah Hawkins, who plans to make Dee his new wife. Elijah's son, Joseph, offers to help them escape . . . but the price of his help may be more than Dee and her friends can bear.

Dee comes up with what she believes is the perfect anniversary gift for her and her boyfriend Luke; tickets to Luke’s favorite band. The only thing is she needs Mike, Luke’s brother to pull off the lie she tells Luke’s parents and her legal guardians.

The plan seems simple, make up a story to tell the parents, hit the road, see the concert, then stay overnight at a hotel and head back the next day. Unfortunately for them, things begin to take on an eerie turn when they run out of gas and have to walk to the nearest town (Purity Springs) in bad weather. What follows is a crazy fight for survival against an unbalanced religious maniac and his followers.

Dee is a fighter; she has had a rough childhood, but now she is in a better and stable home. Luke is very smart and is also a star athlete. Mike and Luke are very close. Mike likes to talk a lot of smack, which often gets him in trouble. Thankfully Luke has no problem attempting to bail him out. No matter how hard of a time these two may give each other, they have each others back.

Bits and pieces of Dee’s past life are talked about, but with not much detail.  I wished that I was able to get more information about what happened to her before.

Creed was a very interesting read. It did take a few chapters for me to really get into the story.  I was expecting it to be a lot more scarier or creepier than it actually was. I wasn’t always on the edge of my seat with anticipation, but I did find myself caring about what happened to Luke, Mike, and Dee. The ending made me think that there might be a second book. But that is probably just wishful thinking on my part.

RATING: 3-3½ out of 5.

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Once Burned (Night Prince #1) by Jeaniene Frost

Publication: June 26, 2012

Publisher: Avon

Source: Bought

She's a mortal with dark powers... After a tragic accident scarred her body and destroyed her dreams, Leila never imagined that the worst was still to come: terrifying powers that let her channel electricity and learn a person's darkest secrets through a single touch. Leila is doomed to a life of solitude...until creatures of the night kidnap her, forcing her to reach out with a telepathic distress call to the world's most infamous vampire... He's the Prince of Night... Vlad Tepesh inspired the greatest vampire legend of all—but whatever you do, don't call him Dracula. Vlad's ability to control fire makes him one of the most feared vampires in existence, but his enemies have found a new weapon against him—a beautiful mortal with powers to match his own. When Vlad and Leila meet, however, passion ignites between them, threatening to consume them both. It will take everything that they are to stop an enemy intent on bringing them down in flames.

Once Burned is one of those books that I just happened upon while I was in the bookstore browsing. After hearing someone mention the the title, I was curious as to what kind of book it was. I am happy that my nosiness paid off in this case.  I didn’t think a story about a vampire would turn out to be one of the most entertaining and sexy paranormal romances I had read.

After Leila’s accident that gave her supernatural powers and killed her mother, she left town and now works at a circus with her close friend Marty where she tries to blend in and can hide her abilities. Trying to do a good deed and possible save someone’s life she unwittingly outs herself and her talents (with just a touch, she has the ability to get impressions/information from people or something that the have come in contact with).  Because of this, she is kidnapped in order to force her to use her talent to find Vlad Tepesh aka Dracula.

They are both strong willed and independent. Leila is very caring, determined, and isn’t afraid of voicing her opinion to Vlad. She isn’t one of those cowering women that are just waiting for someone to save them or sweep them off their feet.

Vlad hasn’t accumulated such a dangerous and respected reputation by doing nothing. He is sexy, dangerous, methodical, and a little tricky. It is also  wise to know that one must be very careful when asking him for a favor or making him promise something. He almost always finds a way around it without actually breaking the promise.

I really enjoyed this story. It was so much fun. I loved when Vlad and Leila first met.  There is a definite sparks between these two, both literally and figuratively. Leila tries very hard to not give in to her urges when it comes to Vlad, but it’s pretty obvious she isn’t going to win that fight. Not only do they work amazingly well together in tracking down Vlad’s enemy who is after him, but once they both give in to the the passion,  their feelings are taken to a new height.

The second book Twice Tempted is already out and the third and I believe also the final book in the Night Prince series, Bound by Flames releases January 27, 2015. If you haven’t read Once Burned and you are one of those people who don’t like to wait a long time in between books when you start a series, you are in luck since January only three months away.

RATING: 4½ out of 5.

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