Another Brush Stroke by LW Barefoot (The Carnal Exhibitions Book 1) (A Dark BDSM M/F romance)

This is a review of Another Brush Stroke by LW Barefoot. This is book 1 in The Carnal Exhibitions trilogy. It is a dark BDSM male/female romance. It may be triggering for some readers as it deals with kidnapping, rape and abuse.

This book starts out with a young woman being held captive by a psycopathic serial killer only known as The Sculptor. The young woman decides to try to end her life to escape her torment at the hands of her abuser/captor. He threatens her and tells her she will always belong to him and that he will always find her.

We fast forward 5 years to find the same young woman living in New Orleans with her foster brother. She is a succesful artist while her foster brother Jamie is a succesful restaurant chef.  We learn that this young woman is named Harper and that her and Jamie are within the FBI's witness protection program because she is hiding from the Sculptor. Harper meets a young man named Evan that is friends with Jamie and is also very wealthy, the most elgible bachelor in New Orleans and is from a very powerful family. Evan wants Harper all to himself and he intends to have her. Evan is just a little bit too stalkery for me but he appeals to Harper very much. They do have a few bumps in the road along the way because of Harper's issues from the attack but they eventually do begin a sexual relationship with each other. Evan is delighted that Harper craves the pain that he gives her.

While Harper is attending one of her shows at an art gallery she runs in to Evan as she is fleeing the scene after her manager introduces her to a man that is jsut gives off a weird vibe to her. The next morning Harper hears Evan talking with her manager who jsut happens to be an FBI agent and so is the man that she met the night before at the gallery. She finds out that the FBI was just using her as bait to try to draw the Sculptor out of hiding and that he knows where she is. She also learns that the Sculptor is after her again.  She is given a choice to either go with the FBI or to go with Evan. Evan makes the choice for her and she goes with him. Evan puts members of his personal security detail with Harper to watch over her.

Evan and Harper have several nasty fights but they eventually make up and Harper learns some shocking secrets about Evan and his amily as well.  Harper attends a Mardi Gras ball where she is waiting on Evan and is instead escorted to a car where she assumes Evan is waiting on her but is instead drugged. Her last thought before she succumbs to the drug is that the Sculptor has kidnapped her again.

In order to find out what happens next one will have to read the next book in the series.

Recommendation: Read this one if you like dark BDSM romance

I receivied a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Stone Guardian by Danielle Monsch (Entwined Realms Book 1) (Male/Female Romance)

This is a review of Stone Guardian by Danielle Monsch. This is an urban fantasy male/female romance. This is book 1 in the Entwined Realms series. 

While I read this book and enjoyed it, I don't really feel drawn to read the rest of the books in this series as they are about different characters than the ones in this book.  I would have liked to see more books about the two characters in this book. There is a short story that follows this book about the two main characters that is laughingly called book 2 when it is only a few pages long. It is hardly a novel and is pretty much strictly one big sex scene that is pages and pages long. So I will leave that up to you if you want to pick that one up after reading this one.

We meet a young high school teacher named Larissa that is born on the day the magical realms and the Earth Realm collide. This is known as the Great Collision. Being born on this day makes Larissa special but she doesn't discover this right away. Larissa is attacked by zombies on the way to her father's house. She is saved by a gargoyle named Tarek. Larissa doesn't know why she was attacked and neither does Tarek but they decide to investigate and see if they can find out why she was attacked. Tarek was watching Larissa and following her to protect her because he was given a prophecy by The Oracle where she told him Larissa needed to be protected because the future of his clan depended on her.  Larissa is attacked yet again by Orcs this time. Once again Tarek saves her.  Soon after the attack Larissa is attacked for a third time. After the third attack they are still no closer to finding out why Larissa is being repeatedly attacked. While Tarek is away handling business within his clan, Larissa is kidnapped by the Guild and summoned by The Oracle. Tarek wages an attack and gets Larissa back.

Larissa gets kidnapped yet again this time by a necromancer who plans to destroy the Earth Realm and bring back the magical realm as it once was and he needs Larissa to do it. Tarek and the Guild rush in and manage to rescue Larissa and thwart the evil plans of the necromancer.

Tarek gives up his clan in order to be with Larissa but his clan remains loyal to their leader and they join him in bringing the gargoyles into the modern age.

My recommendation: If you like urban fantasy with a little bit of romance mixed in read this one. 

The Vampire Julian (The Whitcombe Legacy Book 1) by Ann B. Morris (M/F romance)

This is a review of The Vampire Julian by Ann B. Morris. It is book 1 in The Whitcombe Legacy Trilogy.  I will try to purchase the next two books in the series so I can get those reviews up as well. This is a male/female romance between a male vampire and a female human.

Simone LeClerc is a young woman that is in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina looking for her missing sister. Simone becomes stranded in New Orleans because the hurricane hits. She stays in New Orleans for a little bit to continue searching for her sister. She is almost out of money and is drawn to a bar called Mike's After Dark.  The bar is owned by vampire Julian Whitcombe. Mike is a shapeshifter that is Julian's friend and has been a protector of the Whitcombe line from way before Julian was born. Julian has a prophecy that he is trying to fulfill. The prophecy will allow Julian to become human again but Simone will also have to die and to do it of her own free will to save Julian, fulfill the prophecy and allow Julian to become human again. Julian's brothers won't be able to complete their transformations if he does  not. The 3 Whitcombe brothers are part of a prophecy to help defeat evil vampires. Simone almost dies at one point from Julian's bite as it triggers a virus in her that almost kills her. She recovers from the bite and lives though. Simone is kidnapped by an evil vampire and it is up to Julian to rescue her.  Simone has no knowledge of the prophecy but the truth is revealed to her by the evil vampire that kidnaps her. Simone still chooses to sacrifice herself to save Julian. Julian and Simone both survive and Julian fulfills his part of the prophecy, becomes human again, begins his life with Simone and begins to do what he needs to do to lead the fight against evil.

Recommendation: Read this one.

Feral Touch (A Rockstar Romance) by Athena Wright (Feral Silence Book 3) (A M/F romance)

This is a review of Feral Touch by Athena Wright. It is book 3 following the rock band Feral Silence. This is Ren's story. It is a male/female romance.

Feral Silence has been reunited and is hotter than ever. Ivy is a classical cello player and is dragged to a concert by her friends. She hears one of the band members play a violin solo that really touches her but is too far from the stage to see his identity. Once the concert is over and the band is leaving the venue, Ren sees Ivy and neither one of them can believe they are seeing each other. The band is rushed out of the venue by their bodyguards and Ivy is grilled by her roomates about her relationship with Ren.  Ivy is in shock because she grew up with Ren and he disappeared 5 years ago without any further contact. She was hurt by the way Ren disappeared and she has a hard time getting over that. Her roomates convince her to enter a contest where she is to make a video for a meet and greet contest the band is having. The winners of the contest are to be selected by the band and they will get to meet the members of Feral Silence. Ivy is selected as one of the winners of the contest and leaves with Ren's phone number.

She eventually starts a relationship with Ren only for it to hit a snag when Ren makes a scholarship donation to the school she is attending. Ivy refuses the scholarship and it is a source of contention with Ren. Ren devises a plan where he will perform and record a  classical duet with Ivy and will give her half of the royalties the song earns. This way she will have enough money to continue her education.  Ren and Ivy have a few more fights along the way but manage to work things out between them and both find out that they have been in love with the other since they were kids. Their duet is a hit and is wildly successful.

My recommendation: Read the two previous books in the Feral Silence Series and then pick this one up.

Feral Voice (A Rockstar Romance) by Athena Wright (Feral Silence Book 2) (M/F/M Romance)

This is a review of Feral Voice by Athena Wright. This is book 2 following the rock band Feral Silence. This is a rockstar romance and a male/female/male menage romance as well. In this book we get more of Kell's story.

Feral Gaze ended on a bit of a cliffhanger. In this book the reasons for that cliffhanger are revealed but it is something I never saw coming.

Kell was the lead singer in Feral Silence. He has now left the band and embarked on a solo career. Emily and Dylan have a fledgling online magazine and they are given the opportunity by Ailey to follow Kell and document his rise to stardom as a solo artist. They work very closely with Kell and the three become friends.

Emily lusted after Kell from the first time she met him and is determined to find out who the real Kell is and why he left Feral Silence to embark on a solo career because he isn't talking and neither are his former bandmates. Emily is also secretly in love with Dylan who happens to be her best friend in addition to being her business partner. Kell realizes that the two of them are in love with each other so he pushes the two of them together with himself in the middle.  Emily wants both Dylan and Kell and is very conflicted about which one to choose because she doesn't want to hurt either man. Kell is mostly a lot of fluff but Emily finally starts to see the real man instead of his public persona and she learns the shocking secret of why Kell left Feral Silence. Kell struggles with the decision when he sees what it is doing to the fans and he has a bit of a meltdown. He asks Emily not to tell anyone why he left the band and she agrees. She also learns that Kell is in love with her and that he wants a relationship with both her and Dylan. The three begin to settle into their relationship and we also see the reuniting of the guys of Feral Silence.

My recommendation: If you read Feral Gaze, you need to pick this one up and if you haven't read it, pick that one up and read it first before you read this one.

Feral Gaze (A Rockstar Romance) by Athena Wright (Feral Silence Book 1) (M/F/M Romance)

This is a review of Feral Gaze by Athena Wright. Feral Gaze is a rockstar romance (because who doesn't love sexy, badboy rockstars). It is a M/F/M menage story.

Jayce is one of the guitar players and also sings back up vocals for rock band Feral Silence. This is his story.

Ailey is a young woman that has a blog where she reviews musicians and she has quite a large following. She receives a dream job as the social media coordinator for one of her favorite rock bands. She gets to go on tour with them for the whole summer and help promote the band and coordinate their presence on social media as well as post behind the scenes info and pics.  Prior to accepting the job Ailey, is friends with a young man named Neil that she met online and has yet to meet this man. They agree at the end of the summer that they will get together for a drink. Unbeknownst to the two of them they end up on the very same tour and end up working together.  Jayce has feelings for Ailey and she for him but they decide they can't be in a relationship because Jayce tells her the fans need to think he is single. So Ailey decides to pursue a relationship with Neil once Neil's real identity is revealed. Jayce and Neil are both jealous of each other because they both think that Ailey has a romance going on with the other one. Ailey wants both men in her life. The three of them have some hiccups along the way but end up working things out between them and they settle into their relationship.

We also meet the other members of Feral Silence. Kell, Morris, and Ren. We get a look inside Kell's head and see that their really is more to him than appears. I actually felt that we got to know Kell better in Jayce's story than we did in his own story. We don't really learn much about Morris or Ren in this book. Ren does get his own story in a later book. Morris remains a bit of a mystery to me and one can only hope he will get his own story as well.  As of the time of this post Morris does not have his own story.

Recommendation: If you love sexy, flawed badboy rockstars pick this one up and give it a read.

Game by London Casey & Ana Fawkes

This is a review of Game by London Casey & Ana Fawkes.

I was unable to finish this book. To me, it was boring. I read about half of it and could to bring myself to finish it.  So I can't tell you much about this book.

We meet Finn who is an Irish underground MMA fighter that works for the mob. We also meet Shayna. Shayna is trying to find out what happened to her sister who has disappeared. Finn's boss tells Finn that if he wants to live that he must make Shayna pregnant so that he can take the baby to replace his dead grandson. Finn is determined that if he makes Shayna pregnant that no one is going to take the baby. Honestly, I can't tell you anything beyond what has happened up until this point since I was unable to finish this book.

Recommendation: Skip this one.

Devoted by Sierra Riley (A M/M Romance)

This is a review of Devoted by Sierra Riley. This is a male/ma;e romance.

In Devoted, we meet Russ. Russ is a single father raising his young son after his wife's tragic death. Russ is barely keeping his head above water financially and is struggling. He finds out his son needs major surgery and doesn't know how he is going to pay for it. Jake, his best friend since college comes up with a solution. He proposes that the two of them get married so that he can add Russ and his son Ryan onto his health insurance. Jake has been in love with Russ since college but Russ does not know this. Russ agrees to the marriage but is afraid that they will get in trouble for insurance fraud.  Ryan has his surgery. The news of Russ and Jake's marriage is revealed with an article in the newspaper and they are left to deal with the fallout from the article. They deal with that issue and receive the news that the insurance company is investigating them for insurance fraud. The insurance company uses some unscrupulous practices trying to prove they committed insurance fraud. During this time frame, Russ has fallen in love with Jake and he jumps to Jake's defense. The two work on building their life together. They also receive the news that the insurance has decided to cover Ryan's surgery and any medical claims that they may have in the future.

Recommendation: Read this one. It is a very heartwarming read with real emotion.

The Best Laid Plans by Lauren Gallagher (M/M/F romance)

This is a review of The Best Laid Plans by Lauren Gallagher.

Shahid and Gabe are a gay couple who keep getting turned down to adopt a child due to the fact that  they are gay and Shahid is Muslim. They are on the verge of giving up on having a family of their own. Kendra is one of their best friends. She comes up with the idea to have a child for Shahid and Gabe so they can begin their own family.  After some discussion Shahid agrees to Gabe and Kendra trying to have a baby the natural way instead of using IVF. Gabe is bisexual so he is the one that gets to try to impregnate Kendra. Kendra however, finds out some unsettling news that she is unable to get pregnant and will need a partial hysterectomy. She ends up sleeping with Gabe one last time and this causes a huge fight between Shahid and Gabe. Things are strained between them for a while until Kendra pays Shahid a visit. After Kendra's visit Gabe and Shahid talk and work things out between them. They both realize that they are both in love with Kendra. They talk to Kendra and they work things out. They settle into a life together and as Kendra is recovering from her partial hysterectomy they get a phone call that they might have a baby that they can adopt. The three of them meet with the birth mother and she is more than happy to have her baby go to their family despite their unconventional relationship.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Recommendation:  This one is worth a read. It is a very sweet story and not to heavy.

Cruel Water by Freya Barker

This is a review of the novel Cruel Water by Freya Barker.

NOTE: THIS NOVEL MAYBE A TRIGGERING EVENT FOR SOME READERS AS IT DEALS WITH MENTAL,  SEXUAL, AND PHYSICAL ABUSE OF A CHILD AND CONTINUED ABUSE AS AN ADULT AND THE RAMIFICATIONS OF THOSE EVENTS. 

I don't want to trigger anybody so I am not going into as much detail with this review as I normally do.

As I mentioned in my above note this story deals with mental, sexual, and physical abuse of child and an adult and the ramifications of that abuse on the lives of all involved.  The book is a tough read and if one can manage to get through this brilliantly written novel, it tells a story of loss, hope, redemption, courage, love, healing and forgiveness.

We meet Viv who has endured horrific abuse and who has tried to move past this abuse by not really dealing with the abuse and just bottling it up inside her. She won't even reveal the extent of the abuse she suffered to her therapist. She is just existing from one day to the next until she meets Ike. Ike is dealing with his own demons because he feels responsible for the loss of his own family. He feels responsible for his brother's death and for the death of his parents and is being eaten alive with guilt over it. He bottles up these feelings and tries to pretend they don't exist but they continue to haunt him. Ike falls hard and fast for Viv and she does the same for him. Viv still has lots of issues from her past abuse as a child and adult that she hasn't dealt with and they come out after certain triggering events in her life. Viv has some rough stuff going on with her family as they deal with a decline in her father's health . The abuse she suffered as a child at the hand's of her father comes out as he lays dying in the hospital and it tears her family apart. She feels ganged up on by her family because they don't believe her at first. Eventually her family does come to believe her one by one and she begins to mend the relationships she has with her brothers. Her mother still doesn't believe her but she eventually comes around and her and Viv begin to mend their relationship as well.

Ike helps Viv to deal with these events and helps her to heal with his love and unwavering support. Viv helps Ike to heal from his guilt over losing his family. They find happiness together and get married and begin their lives together.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

My recommendation: This one is worth a read if you can get through the difficult subject matter.