Brace yourself ducklings, I’m fixing to give you something on this blog that has never been seen here before. I’m about to give you a YA kind of book. I know that you are all clutching your pearls right now. But trust me, Slumbering Ember is definitely worth it. So, let’s dig into it, shall we?
We start with Matt. He’s 16.5 years old, and American. He’s been raised by his single mother. She met his father when she was an exchange student in Denmark as a teenager. They got it on, she got sent him, and Laurits, Matt’s dad, told her that he would do everything he could to get to her. When Matt was 6, his dad died in a motorcycle accident, so Matt will never get to meet him.
Now that Matt is old enough, he’s on his way to Denmark as an exchange student. He’s staying with his mother’s friend and her husband. They also knew his father. There’s a huge connection going on there, and Matt and they are really familiar with each other and love each other like family.
Matt is doing all the student exchange kind of things, including going to school. One of the things that he needs to do for school is a report on fracking. It turns out that there is a protest against fracking, so Matt goes down there to see it and see if he can interview some of the protestors. And that’s when things began to get weird for him.
So, the Vargr, which the series is named after, are a form of shifter. They have really long lives, and they are tasked as the protectors of nature. The Vargr children get bitten by their parents on their 15th birthday to help prepare them for their lives as a Vargr. At a later date, they get the bite from the Alpha which turns them into their full Vargr self.
Now, as a YA story, there isn’t a whole lot of sex. In fact, the most we get is Matt making out with his boyfriend. And that is actually perfect for this story. The worldbuilding and establishing the characters and the mythology are so much more important. This isn’t really a romance, and yes, I do read more than romance. It’s definitely a coming of age story and one where the main character goes on an epic journey to this self discovery.
The worldbuilding in this is tiptop. It’s really one of the best books I’ve read with the worldbuilding, I think. The world and the mythology have stuck in my head, and I had to remember that the next couple of books I read didn’t take place in the same world. That’s how good it was.
I’m really looking forward to the next book/s in this series to see what is going to happen, because I fully expect it to be wonderful.
I promise I’m not ignoring the blog, but I’ve been spending time hacking away at the overgrown garden and the yard. I’m trying to make my house look like it’s not an abandoned witch’s cottage in the woods. I don’t mind some overgrown, but it’s bad right now. Once I’m done working, I go out with my son and work on the yard and try to avoid all the fucking ticks. I’ll be back later this weekend.
So, we’re back in Lee and Renee’s world of hot wolves and the women who love them. Alpha’s Vow is the second book in the Shifter’s Op series, which takes place in Taos. These books are about a pack of shifters who were in Special Forces, but who have now all left the service and have a security company. It’s a small pack and they are all very tight.
Lance is one of the wolves in the pack. He’s pretty mellow and just kind of goes along with whatever the alpha tells him to do. In fact, the Alpha is his older brother and he raised Lance after their parents died. He still is protective of Lance, and he, and all their pack, kind of see Lance as not as responsible and they don’t always seem to expect him to do the right thing. He’s also a bit of a lady’s man, a hit ’em and quit ’em kinda dude. He doesn’t have any huge lifeplan.
Then, we have Charlie. She is part of a group of 4 friends, one of whom recently got together with a security ops type. She has a lifeplan, a very strict lifeplan. Charlie wants to have a nice, stable life, with a nice, stable husband, and 2.5 nice, stable children. She’s not going to let anything mess that up for her. She knows exactly what she wants.
On her birthday, Charlie decides that she’s going to go to her favorite hot spring and just have a wonderful early morning soak for the first day of her newest year. She’s quite happy, right up until a naked man jumps in the spring. Whoops. She wasn’t expecting him, and he certainly wasn’t expecting her. He immediately starts flirting and the tension gets really high. Charlie isn’t all that interested because he doesn’t fit her plan. She gets out and leaves him behind her, she thinks.
She goes out with her friends for her birthday, and her friends talk her into having one wild and crazy night. It wasn’t originally her plan, but Charlie and Lance get together, and she tells him it’s only ever going to be one night.
Lance has taken to doing long run and long swims in his wolven form. One morning, after a swim in a cold river, he flings himself into a hot spring, while he was still in his wolf form. Luckily, he saw the lovely woman in the water before she saw him and he could change. There’s just something about her that he likes. So he flirts with her hard. What he doesn’t realize right then, and not before Charlie left, was that she is his true mate. He discovers it at an interesting time, and kinda blows any chance of a good relationship straight out of the water.
I like how strong Charlie is. She’s been through a lot, and she doesn’t want to have to deal with it again. Frankly, I don ‘t blame her for a lot of her choices. I also understand why she is so focused on her plan. It totally makes sense. But, she’s also kinda rigid sometimes and doesn’t adapt as well as she might otherwise do. I really like how she interacts with her friends and does what she can to help them out. She also makes Lance see himself differently.
I think that Lance was happy to let himself go as the playboy who is a little irresponsible. I think that it was easier for his brother if he just went along, did what he was told, and fucked anything that moved. But, that’s really not all there is to him. I think everyone does him a disservice by treating the way that they do.
OK, that’s all for this one. Go check it out! Happy reading!
Yay! We have a new book from Sara. This time we are getting a dirty, dirty, dirty Daddy book. Did I mention it’s dirty? So, let’s talk about Reckoning.
We open to the lovely wedding of Sophia and Dean. He’s a gazabillionaire, and she’s the beautiful woman who he fell in love with. More than that, she’s also the woman who is getting married for more than a dozenth time. You see, she’s a con artist for the Family, and she specializes in the matrimony con. She gets rich men to marry them, she takes them for all they got, and then she disappears. And that’s what she does to Dean. She just up and disappears on him, on their wedding night, after cleaning out every single account she can.
Fast forward a year, and Sophia, whose real name is Willow, has now moved on to another target. The Father tells her who to go after, helps her with all the background work, and then she goes and does what she’s supposed to do. This time, she’s trying to get a rich rancher to fall in love with her. Sadly, that’s not what happens. Dean, Daddy, has discovered her, and he’s got plans for a naughty little girl like Willow.
I have to admit, it took me a minute to warm up to Willow. Mostly because, you know, con artist. I mean, I know that she was regretful over what she did, but she still did it. I did, however, warm up to her, and I eventually like her a lot. I think that she has a stubborn streak, which may or may not be the best thing for her ass.
Dean. Well, we really only get to see him through Willow’s eyes, so we don’t really know much about him. I like him though. He’s tricksy.
This is a really dirty book, did I already mention that? LOL. I enjoyed it, and it was a pretty quick read, so it was all good.
Ok, that’s all for this one. Go check it out! Happy reading!
It’s been a while since we’ve had a Kay book, so I’m quite happy to have her newest here today. Cry For Me is the second book about the Avalon club. We have Anarchy, and yes, that’s her real name, AKA Archie, a sub we met in the last book, and Master Jasper, who we also obviously met in the last book, because well, there has only been one so far, lol. As a quick reminder, at a very bad time during the last book, Archie was there for the Doms of Avalon, and rested right at Jasper’s knee. Now, we’re about 9 months out from the end of the last book.
Archie is pretty much madly in love with Master Jasper. She spends her nights at Avalon, doing her very best to be the most perfect sub ever. She follows Jasper around, watches his scenes, serves him, and hopes that he will see how perfect her submission to him is. So far, it hasn’t worked. In fact, it is so far from working that Jasper has now decided that he’s going to find her a Dom, someone who will actually see her, cherish her, and take care of her. And that’s not him. So, he talks to his friend Master Atticus to see if he will. Atticus says he’ll take care of Archie but that Jasper is a fool.
All seems to be going well, right up until Jasper tells Archie and Atticus decides to scene with her. Jasper has to leave and Archie safe words.
See, Jasper’s problem is that he’s a sadist, and he doesn’t want to hurt Anarchy. She is just too innocent for him, and he knows that as a sadist, it is too easy for him to hurt her, because he has to stay under control. So, he leaves her to Atticus, and in fact, leaves altogether for a couple of weeks, during which Archie absolutely breaks down.
OK, so, Jasper’s sadism isn’t just a kink. It’s more like a fetish. He cannot get aroused without causing someone pain. His father, curses on his name, is a terrible person, a really, really, really terrible person, and he did things to Jasper which closely tied sadism to Jasper’s soul. He likes to play really hard. And he’s good at it. And he doesn’t think that Archie can stand it, but he’s never asked her, which was his first mistake.
I like Jasper. He’s pretty seriously fucked up. Like I said, his parents are monsters. But, he’s worked really hard to get past that. He’s done everything he can to walk away from his parents and their teaching. Instead of being the perfect assassin they wanted, he’s now a landscaper. He’s funneled his sadistic needs into the world of kink, and he treats the subs he plays with really well. He has friends, close friends, and he has his found family. All in all, he’s really just a good guy. Stupid sometimes and I really wanted punch him in his left testicle several times, but that’s what makes a good character, I think. A good character makes you feel things, and Jasper made me feel.
Archie really is a joy and delight. People think that she’s this perfect submissive subbie girl, but she’s really not. I mean, yeah, she is a subbie girl, but she’s smart, sassy, sarcastic, and strong. It’s a surprise to her friends, at least some of them, I think, to find out the real her. She doesn’t like confrontation or attention all that much, but there are times when she is more than willing to stand up for the things that are important. There’s one point where her friend needs her, and Archie stands up to everyone until the world is arranged in the way that she wants it. And not just everyone, but some D-types too. I really liked that. I think that Jasper should’ve talked to her much sooner than he did, but like I said, he’s stupid sometimes.
We didn’t see much of Alicia in this book, but I’m pretty sure that I don’t like her very much. I mean, yeah, she has a shitty background too, but I think that she needs to start coming out of her shell. I have a feeling that she’s maybe hurting Connie in some way, I can’t be having that.
I am worried about Connie. She seems so tired. I hope that we get to see her being happy in the next book, because I really like her.
Ok, that’s all for this one. Go check it out. Happy reading!
This is the 3rd book in Measha’s Mafia Bride series. Captivated by Him is Jakub’s story. We’ve seen his older brother and his sister, and now it’s his turn.
The book starts 5 years ago. Nicole and her friends are sneaking into a bar run by Jakub. I say sneaking, because they are all underage, and they have fake IDs. They get in the door just fine, which is probably more down to the fact that they are pretty young women and less about the fact that their IDs are great, but when Nicole tries to buy a drink, she gets busted. And not just busted by the bartender, but Jakub too. And Jakub has plans for little Miss Nicole. Mostly related to her naked butt and his hands. So, he ends up at her apartment, spanks her silly, and then fucks her silly. He tells her that she will see him again. We are left with her thinking that this can only happen once.
Flash forward 5 years. We find out that Nicole and Jakub had a wonderful month, but then she disappeared from Chicago. Now, she’s come back. It turns out that her father dragged her to New York with him. He’s dead now and she’s on the run from the man she was with in New York. He’s a member of a Polish mafia family, and he’s been busted, and for some reason, he’s sure that Nicole is the one who grassed him out. She, of course, knows that snitches get stitches, and didn’t say a damn thing. But, Chicago is home, and she feels safer there.
She’s working at a night club, assisting the manager and keeping things organized. Nicole didn’t realize that it was one that Jakub and his family owned. But when they see each other face to face for the first time in 5 years, things get explosive. Nicole’s crazy ex happens to be in town, searching for her, and Jakub just wants to keep her safe, which means that she has to be a member of his family. That means that she has to be his wife. So, whether she wants to or not, they are getting married.
I think that Nicole is really smart. She’s also very independent. She’s had to be, which means that it’s hard for to accept anything that Jakub wants to do for her, because she feels like she needs to go out and do everything on her own. She fights hard against Jakub because of that. I mean, I don’t blame her, because Jakub is kind of a dick sometimes. Generally he isn’t too bad, but he is a little much at times.
Jakub has all kinds of feelings, mostly because he feels like he’s left out of the family business. He is the second brother, and his older brother is the crown prince. Jakub is just left with the dregs. I think that he feels left out a lot of the time, and I totally understand that. I get feeling like he’s being ignore or left out of the important stuff. But now he has Nicole, and he’s planning on never letting her go, whatever she happens to think. And he feels like she’s more important than just about everything.
OK, that’s all for this one. Go check it out! Happy reading!
So, hey! I’m back! I had a nice break, watched a lot of TV, read a lot of books, played some games, and got high. Living in the land of legal weed and medical weed delivery is nice. I feel more like myself, and I have more energy than I’ve had in a couple of months. My husband has gotten both his shots, my son and I have both gotten our first shots. I’ve sprinkled wildflower seeds over part of my backyard, outside my kitchen, so I can stare at them while I’m working. And I can order Vanilla Coke from the grocery store again. Now that all that’s been said, let’s talk about today’s book, shall we?
Rory is the first book, sort of, in the 2nd season of Guarded Hearts. We first meet them in the Twisted Steel MC anthology. I haven’t read that story yet, but I just bought it, so I’ll be reading their story sometime today. I think that I was fine without having the backstory, but I think that it will just make things better to have read that.
So, Quake is a member of the Hell’s Fury MC. They are The Order of the Dragon, another cadre of gargoyles. Instead of being artisans and cloistered the way that the last set of gargoyles are, these guys are a motorcycle club. That comes along with a lot of drinking and fucking. The boys visit a strip club/brothel that is full of shifters, so they have a group of women who they aren’t keeping in the dark. One of those women is called Magenta, because of her hair color. She and Quake really hit it off well, and eventually they have some kind of relationship. But, some evil jackal shifters kidnap her and do terrible things. After that, she runs away, while Quake is away. She spent some time in rehab because she couldn’t control her shifting, and she met Sydney there. Sydney became her best friend and together they started a lingerie and sex toy business called Lady Chatterly’s Lover.
It’s now been a year. Rory, AKA Magenta, is living her best life, mostly. She is living with Syd, and her baby Quinn. She still has flashbacks to things that happened, and she still does have security on call, headed up by Guy. She is planning on living for Quinn, and to hell with everything and everyone else. Then Quake shows up. And all of a sudden, her best life ain’t all that great any more. She immediately tells him to leave her alone and calls her security so that she can be protected.
Quake is in New York with some of his brother, visiting the Order of the Phoenix when all hell breaks loose. In the wake of that, he discovers where Rory is working and goes to see her. He’s shocked to find out that she wants to have nothing to do with him. He follows her to her house and finds out that there is a man and another woman there, along with a baby. He figures that the kid is the child of the woman holding him, which would be Sydney, and that the man is the baby daddy, that would be Guy. With that “evidence” in front of his face, he decides that Rory is in some kind of triad with those two.
They manage to stay apart for a while, right up until Quinn gets kidnapped by the trusted nanny. Quake steps in with his brothers to help find Quinn.
I like Quake, but sometimes I want to just knock his head into a wall because he’s being a stupid asshole. I know that he’s trying to do his best, and he’s trying to be a good man, which he is, I think, but he just lets his assumptions get the better of him. Because he lets that happen, he sometimes makes some really huge mistakes, which is when I want to just smack him and tell him to stop, look, and use his brain. He really is a good guy. He has such a good heart, and we get to see it over and over in this. He is really loyal to his friends and his family. He’s also really strong and is willing to stand up for a lot of people.
Rory is remarkable. She has overcome a whole lot and has managed to put herself back together and build herself up. She is really strong, she’s a loving mother, and she’s a good friend. I really like her. I really admire her and think that she deserves all the good things.
I am seriously mad at Sydney and Guy. They can just fix themselves.
Rory has made a new life for herself since escaping the Death’s Head MC sex slave ring. Her company is global, her baby boy is a blessing, and her best friend is her housemate. Haunted by memories of a traumatic past, she’s shocked when she comes face to face with the biker who saved her, the man she was forced to leave behind. Desperate to protect herself and the secrets she’s kept hidden, she pushes Quake away.
For over a year, Quake hasn’t been able to forget the beautiful redheaded shifter who slipped through his fingers. But the passion they’d shared has turned into nothing but cold, hard embers. While visiting New York, the Hell’s Fury MC enforcer stumbles across her picture on the internet and manages to track her down. The reunion isn’t anything like he’s dreamed. Rory is different, distant, and living a new life.
When her baby is kidnapped, Rory learns her past isn’t as buried as she’d hoped. Suddenly, the Death’s Head MC threatens all that she holds dear. Catapulted into a world she’d once escaped, Rory must fight to save herself and her child.
Feeling responsible for not killing the Death’s Head MC President, Khan, as he’d promised, Quake offers the Hell’s Fury MC to help find Rory’s son. Forced to put aside their differences and work together, he quickly learns that the chemistry between them is still there. When events take a twisted turn and fate reveals its hand, Quake realizes that there’s more at stake than either of them could have imagined.
Rory is a second-chance, MC romance with adult situations and potential triggers, written for Ages 18+.
Guarded Hearts Season One features The Order of the Phoenix. Season Two features members of The Order of the Dragon, Hell’s Fury MC, who appear as secondary characters in Season One. Quake and Rory’s story begins in Hell’s Fury MC: Dangerous Curves (Guarded Hearts Book 7.5/Season Two Prequel), part of the Twisted Steel 2 MC Anthology out 13 April 2021. Rory can be enjoyed as a standalone, but your experience will be enhanced by reading their back story first.
A native Brit, I live in Italy with my husband and daughter. When I am not writing and drinking copious amounts of tea, I enjoy taking photos of my adoptive country, trying to stay fit with running, reading amazing books, and being a stay-at-home mother.
International Best-Selling Author Nia Farrell is a four-times Golden Flogger Finalist and a founding member of the Wicked Pens. Dubbed “The Queen of Steam,” she writes hot sex and happy endings in multiple genres and subgenres, including BDSM, ménage (MFM and MMF), MM, reverse harem, paranormal, MC, romantic intrigue, and Mafia. Regardless of genres, ultimately, her books are about the healing power of love.
Nia writes erotic romance as Nia Farrell, historical romance as Erinn Ellender Quinn, and erotica/romantic comedy as Ree L. Diehl. Her three pen names share a webpage at http://niafarrell.wordpress.com, where you can see tantalizing teasers and read steamy excerpts. As one reviewer puts it, “If you love sensual, emotional and powerful romance with a definite D/s dynamic, you should be reading Author Nia Farrell.”
In Between the Pages 