Tag Archives: Friends To Lovers

Sex Machine

By Marie Force

Synopsis

He’s good for one thing and one thing only—and she wants it bad.

Honey Carmichael has never had a decent orgasm, and she’s out to change that with the one man in town known for his superior skill between the sheets.

Blake Dempsey is happy to help Honey with her “problem” as long as she knows he’s only interested in sex. His heart was broken when his high school girlfriend was killed in the car he was driving, and he has nothing to offer other than more orgasms than Honey can handle.

Which is just fine with her—until fantastic orgasms aren’t enough anymore for either of them and unexpected feelings turn hot sex into messy entanglement—and that most definitely wasn’t in the plans.

But you know what they say about plans…

Review

“I want you to fuck me.”

When a book starts like that, you know you’re in for a ride. Honey is desperate to have some good sex and word on the street is that Blake is the man to see. An emotional robot since the death of his high school girlfriend, he and his huge dick will give a woman a night to remember, but only one night because he doesn’t do repeats. But Honey has always been on his radar, and he knows that one night with her won’t be enough.

I try to avoid books where one of the lead characters refuses to fall in love again because of a single incident in their past, but I’m a huge fan of Marie’s Fatal series, so I gave this one a go. I enjoyed the story for the most part, but to be honest, this story is predominately about sex between two people who try to deny their feelings for each other. Especially Blake, who had my eyes rolling due to the number of times he thought about his girlfriend⎯who died twelve years ago⎯and using it as an excuse to keep women at arms length.

Unfortunately, there were a few other things in this story that didn’t sit right with me.
1 – Blake letting the women in town use him for sex and not caring about his reputation.
2 – Honey’s friend, Lauren, kept pushing her to have sex with Blake because she’d slept with him in the past and knew from experience how good he was. That was a bit icky.
3 – The drunken anal sex scene that physically hurt Honey, yet she claimed she loved it.

Don’t get me wrong, Blake and Honey are VERY nice characters, and I liked that Honey wasn’t afraid to step up and fight for what she wanted. But I think I would have preferred Blake to fight for the relationship instead of Honey. SEX MACHINE is told in dual POVs and is a stand-alone that comes with a nice HEA for Blake and Honey.

Sex Machine

My Rating:

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Ignite (Legacy # 0.75)

By Rebecca Yarros

Synopsis

It only takes a spark…

In Legacy, Colorado, I buried my father alongside his elite Hotshot team.
Ten years later, I’ve followed in his footsteps—fighting fires in the mountains of Alaska with my brother.
Amid the flames, nothing ignites me like Avery Claire.
She’s stubborn, strong, sexy as hell, and my best friend.
She also has no idea that I’m in love with her.
But Colorado is calling me home, needing every Legacy-born firefighter to successfully rebuild our fathers’ team.
One night will change everything between us,
But she’s tied to Alaska and my future is in Colorado.
Now I’m torn between what my honor demands,
And what my heart can’t live without.

Review

IGNITE is the second prequel novella in the Legacy series that takes place in roughly the same timeline as POINT OF ORIGIN. As with the first novella, the Legacy Hotshot crew is still trying to come together, still trying to get enough legacies to reinstate the team. River and Avery have been best friends for seven years, and have secretly been in love with each other for most of that time. Now that he might be headed back to Colorado, River feels it’s time to make his move on Avery, to take their friendship to the next level.

I liked Avery, but I did have my issues with her. I can respect that she took care of her father, but at the same time I hated that she let him treat her so horribly. He’d use the word “family” to guilt her into helping him, but not once did he treat her like family. I liked River, who was a very patient and understanding man when it came to Avery. I loved that he was willing to make so many sacrifices just to keep his relationship with Avery alive.

IGNITE is told in dual POVs and while it’s part of a series, it can be read as a stand-alone. As with the first novella, there’s no firefighter action to be seen, but maybe we’ll see some in a future novel. This novella was short and sweet and came with a nice HEA.

Ignite (Legacy # 0.75)

My Rating:

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Legacy Series

Highland Fling (The McLaughlins # 4)

By Shelli Stevens

Synopsis

Sleeping with her boss can only lead to trouble. And pleasure.

Delonna comes by her Scottish-style frugality honestly–her parents’ spendthrift ways once left her temporarily homeless. She’s been tending bar at McLaughlin’s Pub, looking forward to the day she can call her own shots. Until her now ex-boyfriend makes off with her hard-earned savings. Now she’s got a bookie breathing threats down her neck in an apparent attempt to squeeze blood from a turnip.

Aleck McLaughlin has three good reasons to keep his hands off the delectable Delonna. One, he’s her boss. Two, she’s a good ten years younger. Three, he’s sworn to never again leave his heart vulnerable.

Her predicament sends all those reasons out the window, and Aleck moves her in with him for protection, then whisks her away on a whirlwind trip from Whidbey Island to Scotland.
The romance of being in Edinburgh only increases their need for one another. But it quickly becomes clear they’re facing a past that’s just as painful as the present is dangerous…

Review

HIGHLAND FLING is the fourth and final book in The McLaughlins series and takes place a few weeks after LOCH AND KEY finished. Here we have the oldest McLaughlin brother, Aleck, and his young employee, Delonna, who have been flirting up a storm since they started working together. Their age gap, the fact that they work together and that they’re always dating other people, is what’s kept them apart…until now. When her life is threatened, she has no choice but to move in with Aleck until the threat against her is gone.

Aleck is your standard tortured soul who is unwilling to fall in love and get married because of one (albeit tragic) incident that happened twenty years ago. He knows his feelings for Delonna are strong, but he refuses to acknowledge them and therefore hurts Delonna in the process. Of course, when tragedy strikes and he thinks he’s lost her forever, he quickly changes his tune and is suddenly more than ready to give her the world. I can’t say much about Delonna because I can’t remember much about her. I’m not saying she’s bad or anything, she’s just not very memorable.

HIGHLAND FLING is told in dual POVs, with part of the final chapter being told in Debra’s POV (The McLaughlin matriarch) and takes place a few years later, where we see every couple is still living happily ever after. As with the previous books, the story moves quite fast and the ending seems to come out of nowhere. Overall, I thought the entire series was nice and easy to read.

Highland Fling (The McLaughlins # 4)

My Rating:

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The McLaughlins Series

Happy Pants Cafe (Happy Pants # 0.5)

By Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

Synopsis

The Happy Pants Café has no public information—no website, no address, no phone number—and it doesn’t show up on any map, either. Yet, there’s a line of single women around the block, waiting to get inside. And when they come out, their smiling faces don’t look like coffee buzzes. (Or afterglows.)

So what could they possibly be doing inside?

Harper Branton thinks she knows their dirty little secret, and it’s just the story to save her mess of a journalistic career. There’s just one problem: her competition. He’s sexy, he’s arrogant, and he’s about turn Harper’s life upside down with a few secrets of his own.

Review

HAPPY PANTS CAFE was an OK read, but at times I found it to be a little too much, like it was trying too hard to be funny. I don’t remember much about Austin or Harper, other than they spent most of the book behaving like children and trying to one-up the other. Harper doesn’t believe in love because Austin broke her heart when she was nine and she’s carried around that thinking for the past nineteen years. Harper broke Austin’s heart when he was eleven, but he still believes in love and marriage and thinks that Harper is the one he’s been waiting for, despite the fact that all they’ve done since they were reunited is fight. Throw in some humour, misunderstandings, meddling friends and potential love rivals, and you have yourself a story that’s cute and quirky, but also cheesy and over-the-top.

There were times I did laugh, but after a while the jokes stopped being funny and instead became silly, or in the case of the sexist farmhands, just plain gross. Sometimes I was distracted by the huge amount of inner monologue in the middle of conversations that, by the time a question was answered, I’d forgotten that a question had even been asked. HAPPY PANTS CAFE is the prequel to the Happy Pants series and is told in dual POVs, with a few sections told in the cafe owner’s POV. Sadly, this one didn’t win me over and ultimately didn’t make me want to read the next book in the series.

Happy Pants Cafe (Happy Pants # 0.5)

My Rating:

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Happy Pants Series

Seducing The Boss

By Mari Carr

Synopsis

Kellan James is unwinding at Score when he spots the last person he’d ever expect to find in his favorite bar. Sara Connelly—ER nurse, do-gooder, charitable crusader, and frequent pain in his ass. Both grew up privileged in swanky Southampton, but that’s where the similarities end. Kellan’s made it his mission to seek out life’s pleasures; Sara gains pleasure from lecturing him on his lifestyle. Kellan would never date someone like her. Ever.

But when Kellan discovers Sara’s been stood-up by an online date, something fierce and protective awakens inside of him. Typically, Kellan would enjoy teasing the jilted Sara, but something in her face sends him over to her table with a plan. He encourages her to take a walk on the wild side, one weekend of sin, no holds barred.

She accepts, but it quickly becomes apparent that one night isn’t enough. As the pull between them grows stronger, Kellan discovers it’s a very dangerous thing to say never.

Review

SEDUCING THE BOSS was a nice and easy read about Kellan and Sara, co-workers who have been just friends since they were children, until Kellan proposes adding benefits to their friendship. Simply put, this was a classic story of two friends who add sex to the mix, but the man is resistant to relationships, so the woman walks away, man realises what he’s lost and can’t live without her anymore, makes a grand gesture, and we get a HEA.

SEDUCING THE BOSS is a novella, so everything moves very fast; Kellan goes from commitment-phobe to married man in the span of a month. I did have some trouble following the timeline, but I think that timeframe is accurate. The sex was hot and I loved the backstory about why Kellan didn’t believe in marriage. It’s told in dual POVs and while it’s part of a series that’s being written by multiple authors, I’d classify this as a stand-alone.