4 stars

Book Review – Beauty From Pain (Beauty #1) by Georgia Cates

May 28, 2013 by Aestas · 3 Comments

Buy BEAUTY FROM PAIN (Kindle)

4 stars

“Baby, you’ve fucked with my mind without touching my body.”

Pure escapism. An engaging, entertaining multi-millionaire romance.

It wasn’t a very emotional read for me but it did keep me turning the pages straight through the night till the sun came up 🙂

I definitely got some Fifty Shades/Blackstone vibes off of this book (it was hot, but just straight vanilla, no kinky fuckery), so if you’re a fan of those, you should check this out for sure.

When Laurelyn goes to Australia for 3 months with her best friend, the last thing she was looking for was a relationship.

Meanwhile, Jack was actively searching for one. But… he wasn’t looking for a conventional relationship. He was looking for the right woman to share his bed for no longer than 3 months. A no-strings attached companionship at the end of which both parties would walk away. The moment he sees Laurelynn, he knew she was it.

But… to complicate matters, he insisted on personal secrecy. No names, no connections, no attachments.

“My life is complicated for reasons I won’t discuss. When it comes to dating I need it to be simple and undemanding. Disclosing my identity complicates things, so you wouldn’t know my real name.”

“You’re not joking.”

I can’t read her reaction. I have no idea if she’s on board or freaking out. “When the three months is over, so are we. I’ll move on and you will too. Because you won’t know my name or any identifying information about me, you’ll have no way to contact me. Ever.”

And despite her initial hesitation, Laurelyn agrees and then it really became a question of them being able to get through the 3 months and not stay attached…

I have to say that despite my liking him from the start, Jack’s aloofness and secrecy kept me from fully connecting with him until later in the story. I guess it bothered me a little how detatched he kept trying to be. But the more we found out about him, the more I began to understand his motivations.

The heroine just plain rocked. I connected with her nearly instantly. I loved that she was constantly one upping him, putting little cracks in his facade and not just instantly swooning into his arms.

“The three months we spend together would be the best of your life. You’d never be able to top what you’d experience with me.”

She sits back and laughs. “Well at least you’re not egotistical.”

I liked that the story was told in alternating POVs and I especially found that, given how much of a mystery Jack was, getting to see his train of thought was helpful in understanding the motivations behind his demands, actions and choices.

One thing I really loved about Jack was that, temporary relationship or not, he didn’t tolerate stupid things getting in between them. There was one incident in particular which as soon as it happened, I rolled my eyes expecting chapters of stupidity back and forth but was SO pleased that the moment he understood what was happening, he just made a call that cleared everything up quickly and efficiently and put an end to the drama. I was really impressed with him at that point.

This book built slowly but steadily with no slow spots and kept me engaged throughout.

I liked it all along but it wasn’t until the end that I really fell in love with it. Now, this IS romance so we all know going in that at some point, the hero was going to admit that he was smitten with the heroine but I guess what was holding a part of me back until the end was that, despite knowing that he would eventually get to that point, I wasn’t sure I wanted to give my heart over to falling in love a guy who seemed so willing to walk away. That said, I loved how by the end he really truly realized what he was losing and it was at that point that I began to really fall in love.

“Don’t leave. I want you to be with me.” … I swallow before I say the words that will change this relationship forever. “You’re the one I need.”

I was so happy that they finally reached the point where the pretense of their relationship being temporary was over and now I’m hoping the focus will be on them building something together.

There is a HUGE cliffhanger (but it was one that we saw coming right from the beginning) and I can’t wait to see what book #2 has in store for Jack and Laurelynn!

4 stars

Reading Order:

#1 BEAUTY FROM PAIN (Kindle)
#1 BEAUTY FROM PAIN (Paperback)

#2 BEAUTY FROM SURRENDER (Kindle)
#2 BEAUTY FROM SURRENDER (Paperback)

Casting:

Book Review – Surviving Raine by Shay Savage

May 23, 2013 by Aestas · 7 Comments

4.5 stars

This was one of those random reads that just totally grabbed my attention and made me shift my TBR. I went into it not really knowing what to expect but came out of it pleasantly surprised!

It was refreshing to read such a different plot line than the usual. It was basically the story of two people stranded together on a life raft in the middle of the Caribbean struggling to survive and dealing with their growing feelings for each other.

But… it wasn’t that simple. The hero, Bastien, (who was the captain of the ship) was a rude, crude and drunk yet lovable jerk who was also in the process of detoxing and the heroine was sweet and quiet and just his complete opposite in every way so dealing with him detoxing and them trying to survive on top of the fact that their ship just sank definitely made for an interesting story set up.

The entire story was told from Bastien’s POV. So, basically we get the perspective of the broken, drunken (now detoxing), manwhoring, badass ex-fighter. I loved it!

“Throw her overboard or stick my tongue down her throat? I could decide and it fucking ticked me off.”

He went through a lot of change in the book. He did have some pretty low, utterly asshole moments but it was all on the outside. On the inside he was just this broken totally tortured guy who had just been completely fucked over by life and was tired of trusting people… deep down he really just wanted to be loved and I could really sense that right from the start. But… on the outside, seriously there were definitely times when I wanted to slap him. What. A. Jerk.!!

“Please stop shutting me out.”
“I never let you in, baby.”

But I’m a sucker for guys with tortured pasts… oh, and did I mentioned he was scarred? Ex-fighter… Really protective… Swoony in a really rough way. Yeah, I kinda fell for him.

I really like Raine too. Despite being sweet and shy and rather innocent, she was also quite strong and I loved that she just did NOT take his shit! I loved that she wasn’t a pushover.

But really, you couldn’t have had two more different people stuck on that raft together.

Ok, I will say this in the interest of honesty.. there were a few things that suspended my belief a little — like how quickly he opened up to her about his past given how incredibly dark it was but still, it wasn’t anything that made me disconnect from the story, more just something I noticed.

As far as the things they went through to survive, I’ve never been stranded on a boat in the middle of the ocean, but it all seemed pretty realistic to me so I liked that everything at least felt very believable from that respect.

I liked the bit of a twist to his back story. It certainly wasn’t your average ‘past’.. in fact it honestly might have been the first time I’d heard of a character being a part of something like that and I liked the way it made sense as a backstory of what had built him into the man we were seeing in the story. But seriously. It was fucked up. No wonder he drank himself into oblivion!

“I want to let you in, I just don’t know if I can.”

The book is basically very focused on two things: their survival and their growing relationship. There were a lot of survival tips and tricks. Some of them actually really interesting, and some of them seriously gross (dear freaking Lord may I never have to be in the position of needing to suck the liquid out of a fish’s eyeballs for hydration *shudders*)

“Survival 101… You can live three minutes without air, three hours without shelter, three days without water, and three weeks without food. It’s not exact, obviously, but it tells you where to put your priorities.”

But there was also a lot of focus on the relationship which eventually turned into a romance. I liked that it was slow-building and that they didn’t just fall into each other’s arms. It took its time so that by the time they got together, I believed it. I loved this part:

“I love your arms,” she said, almost too quietly for me to hear. Her fingers trailed all the way down to my wrist, then back up to my shoulder where she outlined the muscles there.
“I thought you loved my dick,” I teased.
Raine chuckled and sighed at me.
“I like that, too, but your arms are my favorite part of you. They make me feel safe.”
“I’ll always keep you safe,” I told her. I tilted my head to the side, looked into her eyes, and smiled down at her.
“I know.”

Some parts of the book felt a little “out there”, others were really sweet, and some were just downright HOT!!

“I could do it you know… I could make you come without even touching you.”

I loved the whole angle of the broken hero, utterly fucked over by life, a true survivor, and yet with zero self worth being shown how to trust love by this girl who saw right through his facade into the real him and brought out the best in him and made him feel safe, loved and worthy.

“As long as I’m breathing, I’m yours. Even when I’m nothing more than a fucked up dick, I still love you.”

What is it about the grouchy crude, rude, lovable badass jerks that just melt our hearts?? There were times when I couldn’t help but smile.

“What did you do before sailing?”
Here was a topic best avoided.
“Not much.”
“You must have done something.”
“Not necessarily.”
“Well you had to have done something to be able to buy your boat, right?”
“It’s a ship. Or it was. Boats are small, and size fucking matters.”

LOL. I loved that Raine was strong, but just in a very quiet way. Yes, she had moments of naivete but not stupidity and I respected that difference.

Emotionally, this was really a journey of feeling worthy of and finding love. Physically, it was a journey of survival.

There is no relationship cliffhanger however there are still really big bad guys out there who will likely try and come after them so I’m looking forward to the next one but have no doubt that they’ll remain strong together as a couple.

“I love you… I’ll never walk away from you, Raine, I swear — I’ll be with you as long as you will have me.”

I really enjoyed my read and if you just want something really different, this would definitely be one to consider. There were a few slow parts but at the same time, looking back on it, there weren’t any parts I’d want to take out either and during my read, I couldn’t put it down. It was just a total chance of pace from my normal reads and sometimes that’s exactly what you need 🙂

4.5 stars

My casting for Bastien

Book Review – Until I Break by M. Leighton

May 5, 2013 by Aestas · 2 Comments

** THIS BOOK IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE **
(it was pulled from publication by the author)

4 stars

Holy original concept!!!

From the moment I read the blurb, I knew I just HAD to read this book. I loved the premise!

Until I Break is the story of two broken characters finding each other, struggling to over come their pasts and find happiness in their future. It’s dark, sexy and dangerous.

“I’m intrigued. Tempted beyond what I’ve ever been before. To know her, to open her up. To break her.”

Samantha is a well-known author. But no one in the world knows the real her. The author they know and adore is Laura Drake – a persona created by the aid of wigs, make up and a whole lot of acting. Samantha has always been a private person and for reasons tied up in her past is willing to go to any lengths to keep her true identity private.

She’s sitting at a panel one day at an author signing and is shocked when a man walks in the room who literally IS the hero from her book. His features, dress, mannerisms are uncannily identical and she is instantly drawn to him. His name is Alec Brand.

“I get the feeling that a man like this could be the end of me, the end of my life as I’ve known it. I write about star-crossed love every day, about people who need so deeply and feel so passionately that their world caves in around them. I’d be crazy to risk something like that.

But I’d also be crazy not to. As surely as I’m sitting here, I know I would forever regret it if I didn’t say yes to this man. At least once.”

But there is something mysterious about him. A missing piece to the puzzle that builds as the story progresses and as we begin to see a little of his POV.

“It’s the innocence of a woman like Samantha Jansen that excites me. Introducing her to new things, watching her body come to life, showing her how good I can make her feel, doing things to her that she never thought she would agree to, much less crave.”

For Samantha, seeing a person so like her hero makes it hard for her to keep the identities clear… there’s the real her, there’s her author, and there’s her heroine who is also a part of her in a way. And being around Alec makes it hard for her to separate herself from her character… and the lines begin to blur as he lures her deeper into his dark world.

“I won’t hurt you, Samantha,” I pledge quietly… “This is all about pleasure, pleasure you’ve never known before, pleasure I want to introduce you too. A little fear can heighten the senses; a little pain can feel like ecstasy. Would you like me to show you?”

And then came the TWIST!!!! When characters like these have so many layers to their lives, it’s inevitable for some of them to get tangled so … TWIST!!! I totally called this twist earlier on but still loved where it took the story 🙂

Samantha had serious emotional issues, I guess you could call them traumas, that stemmed from her childhood. What she’d been through was not physical, but rather emotionally scarring and what she needed to bring her through it was not something that came naturally to Alec.

“You aren’t broken. And I’m gonna prove it to you.”
“How?” Although her question is skeptical, I can see the hope in her eyes. And I know why she was so upset with me that night… She really wants me to fix her.”

See he too was scarred. His past doesn’t come out right away but it’s clear that something had happened to him that cut deep. His “tastes”, shall we say, run into the darker side of sexy. But he soon realizes that the only way to reach her is to put a leash on his darker desires and give her what she needed.

I’ll say that at first I kind of squinted my eyes skeptically at the references to his darker side needing to be “chained” or being a “monster”. Surely that was an unhealthy outlook? But then when the reason behind everything came out, it became a lot more understandable. It was darker than what I’d expected and made his issues make a lot more sense.

I liked that the story managed have angst without being too dark. The twists took me by surprise, the plot line was original and the characters were mysterious and made me want to know more about them.

Until I Break has steam, passion, intrigue and kink *winks* and the story is told in alternating POVs so we get to see both sides of the picture. Also, its a standalone and has an epilogue. No cliffhanger! It’s safe to dive in!

4 stars

Book Review – Naked (The Blackstone Affair #1) by Raine Miller

May 3, 2013 by Aestas · 8 Comments

Buy NAKED (Kindle)

Yup. I’m an Ethan Blackstone fan now!

Fans of Fifty Shades and Crossfire should definitely check this out!

Naked is a quick, sizzling read. It’s hot, passionate and erotic – but in a tasteful way. The writing style is engaging, the story progresses quickly and while there is a cliffhanger, the second book is currently available so you can go straight on to it once you’re done with this one 🙂

I was intrigued from the first paragraph and by the end of the prologue, I was hooked. I’ve included the prologue at the end of the review to see if it’ll sell you on it too because everything about it made me want to know more!

The story starts out when Ethan Blackstone, ex-Special Forces and now head of a high end British security firm, is given the task of protecting Brynne, an American student studying in London. And while at first he refuses the job, it all changed the moment he sees her picture.

“That picture changed everything. I was not the same after I saw it and I couldn’t go back to the man I’d been before seeing it either. Not after we met that night on the street. My whole world altered because of a photograph. A photograph of my beautiful American girl.”

He arranged to run into her at an event and offers to take her home. Drawn to him somehow, she agrees. But he wants more – he wants to see her again, and he isn’t going to take no for an answer.

“I’m not your girl, Ethan.”
“You were during that kiss, Brynne.”

But they both have scars in their past — his show physically, hers show emotionally — that are touched on in this book and hopefully we’ll get to learn more about in the sequel.

I loved Ethan. He oozed an intense confidence and protectiveness and managed to be both commanding and territorial as well as sweet and understanding. His nature was to be controlling, but not overbearing. He wanted a relationship with Brynne and was very fair in the way he approached it, was not afraid to apologize when he messed up, and yet at the same time was always direct with her about what he wanted.

“He might be reserved in public, but in private with me, he wore his heart on his sleeve. What you saw was what you got. He told me what he wanted from me with no apology for how blunt the words were.”

Brynne was wonderful and sweet but with a troubled past back home that she seemed to be escaping in London. The story is told mostly from her POV and while her past held her back from being fully comfortable with Ethan, it was in a completely understandable way and I just absolutely loved that he had no problem with it. He was willing to be with her no matter what she was going through.

He tilted his head and spoke softly. “I want to be with you so badly right now. I want to take you home with me, and put you in my bed and have hours and hours with your body wrapped up in mine to do with as I wish. I want to have you there in the morning so when we wake up I can make you come, saying my name. I want to drive you to work and pick you up when it’s time to leave. I want to go to the shps with you and buy food we can cook for dinner. I want to watch some crap television and have you fall asleep against me on the couch so I can watch you and hear you breathing.”

Both of them just craved each other and wanted to make things work.

“Right now I just wanted to be wanted. Ethan wanted me. And that was enough to make me agree. Baby steps. I would accept his conditions and he would accept my inability to share my past with him. We would go slow.”

But Ethan was keeping a secret… all I’ll say is, when you’re reading, remember the prologue!

Naked is only 192 pages long (I read it in less than two hours) and while I usually find that shorter stories usually makes it a bit harder to connect quite as deeply with the story, I really enjoyed this book, found it quite addictive, and will be going straight on to book #2 🙂

4 stars.

Full Prologue (posted with the permission of the author)

Click here to read the prologue

Series Reviews

Casting

Ethan Blackstone –> Here, here, here, here, and here.
Ethan & Brynne –> Here.

*** SERIES READING ORDER ***

Book #1 — Naked
Buy for Kindle | Buy in Paperback |My Review

Book #2 — All In
Buy for Kindle | Buy in Paperback | My Review

Book #3 — Eyes Wide Open
Buy for Kindle | Buy in Paperback | My Review

Book #4 — Rare and Precious Things
Buy for Kindle | Buy in Paperback

Spin-off Standalone Novel — Cherry Girl
Buy for Kindle | Buy in Paperback
This is an optional read in the series about a different couple.

Book Review – A Different Blue by Amy Harmon

April 10, 2013 by Aestas · 5 Comments

4 stars

“Once upon a time
there was a little blackbird,
pushed from the nest.
Unwanted.
Discarded”

This is the story about a lost girl finding herself. And the guy who took her under his wing.

This book takes the whole concept of ‘finding yourself’ to a whole new level. Abandoned by her mother at the age of 2, Blue doesn’t know her real name, doesn’t remember her parents, and doesn’t even know when she was born. She came with no immunization records, no address, no birth certificate, nothing. Raised by a drifter, she didn’t even start school until she was 10 making her older than everyone else too. Everything about her life was build on guesses leaving her with no sense of belonging, no belief in anything and in a constant state of trying to make sense of the unknown.

But her young, new teacher at school takes a special interest in her – curious about what could be behind her story. And through the lessons in his classes, he tries to help her find herself.

This book is built subtly in many layers. It’s very much a read-between-the-lines kind of book. The history lessons in school and folk lore stories all have parallels that reflect back into Blue’s life.

“What we believe affects our lives in a very real way. What we believe affects our choices, our actions, and subsequently, our lives.”

I’ll admit that the beginning of this story, despite being interesting, was a little slow for me. I struggled with it a little in places but was still intrigued by the story and after about 25% I was sucked in and read the rest of it in one fell swoop.

I have to say that this book did not go where I was expecting it to – which was something I really liked about it. Each time I thought I had a hold on it’s direction, it switched. Quietly. But completely.

The primary focus of this story was Blue’s journey of self discovery. Along that journey, she falls in love. But the story’s focus is her, not specifically the romance. That being said, I did find Wilson rather charming in a British school-teacher kind of way. And I loved how he took her under his wing and was always there for her. He didn’t always know what she needed, but he sure tried his best to give it to her.

Their relationship was very interesting because it was constantly changing. There was no insta-love and no relationship in fact really until well into the second half of the book. Rather, at first their relationship was honestly built more on a mixture of curiosity and caring.

“I keep wishing you had a better life… a different life. But a different life would have made you a different Blue… And that would be the biggest tragedy of all.”

This book had no steam, so just don’t go into it expecting that. However there are some very sweet kisses scattered throughout the last half.

Now, I know a lot of people have said that this book made them cry (ugly tears even) and hit them very strongly emotionally but, despite liking the story, I didn’t actually ever even tear up. It didn’t mean that wasn’t into it, just that, I guess it didn’t affect me that way. Or… maybe my tears are broken? :/

It’s not a long read, definitely something that can be read in one sitting. I did find myself wishing for a little more detail in certain places and perhaps also for an epilogue but I enjoyed my read and appreciated that, after all the questions the story dug up, that it had a happy, resolved ending.

The R-words sum up this story perfectly:

Redemption, Resolution, Revelation.

4 stars

PURCHASE LINKS

CASTING

Wilson –> Click here and here

Book Review – Insanity (Asylum #1) by Lauren Hammond

March 20, 2013 by Aestas · 8 Comments

4 – 4.5 stars.

“I. Am. Not. Crazy. That’s just ludicrous. Ridiculous…. I can’t be. But if I wasn’t I wouldn’t be here, right? So maybe… I am.”

Wow – I was looking for something unique and just “different” and this absolutely fit the bill!

The story was creative and original and honestly was just a total mind fuck that constantly had me questioning each theory I’d come up with.

The book was told from the perspective of a young woman, Adelaide, who was committed to an insane asylum. She didn’t believe she was crazy, but everyone else seemed to think she was. So… who was right?

The story was instantly gripping – the kind that made me curious and desperate to find out more. But the more I found out, the more I wondered. Was she crazy? Was she broken? Was everything that I was reading imagined? Or did it really happen? Where was the line between illusion and reality?

As to whether this book is a romance, I’d say yes. Technically. Ish. Kinda? It wasn’t your typical romance to be sure. There was sex and some hotness but I don’t want to say TOO much about it for fear of spoilers. I do think though that over the course of the whole trilogy it’ll be really really interesting to see where the author takes that part of the story. But the romance is a key part of the story. I just don’t want to give away too many details because honestly, they’ll just lead to spoilers.

The story was told in a mixture of both “before” and “after” she is committed. In the “before”, you saw her abusive home life and the build up of what led her to where she was now. And the more you saw the pieces of her “before”, you couldn’t help but wonder… what the hell happened to her?

Even in the way Adelaide talked, I could sense that something just wasn’t quite right with her. Or was I just looking for it because I was expecting it? I love books that make me question everything. That make me search for answers and where everything is not just black and white. There was just this constant feeling throughout the whole book of reality being JUST beyond my grasp.

The book was very well written. I enjoyed both the writing style and the pacing as well as the back-and-forth between the past and present story lines. I think I felt a tiny bit disconnected simply because I felt like I didn’t have even one solid piece of reality to hold on to because EVERYTHING was in question, but at the same time, that really set the exact right tone for the story.

It was also fairly short (not a novella though) and could easily be read in a few hours.

There was a huge twist near the end. I suspected it about half way through the story but honestly was just really happy to be proven right because it was almost a bit of “proof” that despite the book being a mind fuck, I had still retained my sanity 😉

The ending is a cliffhanger and I definitely want to read the other books in this series. I feel quite invested in the story and can’t wait to see where the author is going to take it.

I wanted something “outside the box” and this book most certainly delivered!

Here’s a small teaser that might help you decide if you want to give this book a shot:

There’s a ringing in my ears that I can’t shut out. There’s a hand on my wrist that doesn’t let go. Before exhaustion takes over I look up. Blue eyes is at the end of the bed. He releases my wrist and laces his fingers through mine. I squint as the sedative blurs my vision, begins to decapitate my mind, and then notice the painful look in those blue blue eyes.

On top of the pain in the two blue gems there’s familiarity.

Oh God. Oh God. Oh God.

How could I forget him? Him, of all people. The one person in the entire world who holds the key to my heart. The one and only person who has ever really loved me. Then I remind myself that they feed and inject me with so many drugs, that its a miracle I don’t forget who I am.

I struggle to sound coherent, “Damien?”

He mouths something.

Six words.

Six words that seem too impossible to be true.

Six words that bleed hope into my soul.

Six words.

“You’re not crazy. I love you.”

4 – 4.5 stars.

READING ORDER for THE ASYLUM TRILOGY (click links to buy books):

Insanity (Asylum #1)
White Walls (Asylum #2)
Beautiful Nightmares (Asylum #3)

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