Tag: Kitty Thomas

Top Dark Reads of 2020 pt. 2

OK, we’re back for part 2 of my top dark reads of 2020. Keep in mind, these are in no particular order, and just because something doesn’t get mentioned doesn’t mean that I didn’t think it was dark, it’s just that these are the ones that really stuck with me. (You should see how many GR, Zon, and WordPress tabs I currently have open, lol)

Natalie Bennett-Periculum

Natalie Bennett tends to write dark, twisted, and fucked up, and this one is no different. I don’t know why I didn’t look up the definition of periculum back when I wrote my blog post, but I did today, for shits and giggles. It means danger or risk, and that totally fits for this book. Anyway, this book stars Lana and her friends, as well as Ciaran and his friends. There’s an accident, there’s some strange and terrible things, and there’s lots of darkness and twists, so, yeah, Natalie Bennett. This is the first book of a duet, and the next one comes out in March. I can’t wait for it.

Addison Cain-Swallow It Down

You didn’t think I was going to create a dark list without an Addison Cain book, did you? Yeah, that will likely never happen. Swallow It Down is another near future, post-apocalyptic, dystopian story. Yes, I have a type. LOL. This takes place 6 years after the bombs have dropped, and what’s left of humanity is huddling around each other in small places, trying to survive. Except for Eugenia. She’s trying to get to this one specific place she heard about. She heard it was safe. But then she runs into this huge ship, and well, things change. Even months after reading it, I’m still wondering about certain things.

Kitty Thomas-The Game Maker

Kitty is one of the OGs when it comes to dark romance. And she will fuck your brain over with nary a blink. She has created some of my favorite male characters, and one of the best mindfuck books ever. Go check out Comfort Food. But today we’re talking about The Game Maker. Now, knowing that it is a Kitty Thomas book, and it’s got a title like it does, you might think that there are some mindfucks and twists around the corner, and you would be right. I never knew what was going to happen with this one.

Loxley Savage-Feathers and Fire

Feathers and Fire is a 3 book series. It’s a MFMM, RH, PNR. (My husband laughs at all the acronyms in Romancelandia) The books in the series are Bound for Blood, Cursed to Crave, and Freed By Flames. The story is about Trinity, who has spent her life as a slave. As a child, she had frequent blood draws. As an adult, she’s a sex slave in high demand, mostly because, as a 1/2 succubus, 1/2 phoenix, she can take a lot of abuse and heal quickly. Trinity goes through hell through all 3 books, but she becomes who she is and who she should be by the end of book 3. Books 1 & 2 end in cliffies, but the whole series is out, so you can go read it all back to back. Which is what I did. And I was just like WTF through a lot of it, in a good way. It is dark, it is dirty, gritty, and wow.

Alright, there we are. My Top Dark Reads of 2020. Go check them all out!

Kitty Thomas-The Proposal

Kitty has been very productive this year and has given us another new book, yay! The Proposal is an MMMf story. It’s not quite as dark as some of Kitty’s other books, but The Proposal is still very definitely a very kinky Kitty story.

We start with Livia. She’s tired of spending a lot of time with men who aren’t going to commit. She feels like it’s a waste of her time. She really wants to be married, so she’s decided that she’s going to date more like a man. She is going to keep a roster of men that she’s dating. Livia lets each of them know that they aren’t exclusive, they aren’t having sex, if the men want to go out and date other women or even have sex with them, they are welcome to. She plans on maintaining her roster of men until she connects with one, falls in love with him, and then he commits to her. And it seems to be going well, right up until the second that it’s not.

Livia’s current roster of men are Gavin, Dayne, and Soren. What she doesn’t know is that they guys are good friends. VERY good friends. They all went to college together and rushed a frat together, and, well, things happened. They like to share a woman in between them, but they also like to fuck and suck each other. When Gavin and Soren find out that they are both dating the same woman, they call in Dayne to help them out. And, oh yeah, start dating her too. Then, on one fateful night, they give Livia a proposal. She is going to marry one of them, but belong to all of them.

The book is from the POV of all 4 of them, so we get a pretty good feel for everyone. We’re in Livia’s head the most, out of all of them, I think, but I think that’s how it should be. I have to say that I think Livia’s dating plan is actually a smart way for her to handle it. She knows herself, she knows that she overattaches, she has set up boundaries that work for her. I have mad respect for her and for her decisions there. She’s not playing any games with anyone and she has a goal that she is working on meeting. So, good for her.

I do like Livia. Like I said, I like her dating plan. I do think that she’s slightly naive at times though, maybe just a weee bit innocent for her plans, if that makes sense. I don’t see her as a gold digger, because she isn’t going out there trying to get guys to pay all kinds of huge money for her, but she’s also not going to turn it down if they take her on their private jet to a fancy restaurant or if they slide their black card over to the cashier to pay for all her purchases. I think that she has a lot of self-discipline to keep her life the way that she has it

Now, when I was reading the book, there was just something that kept tickling at the back of my mind and bothered me a little bit. I love me a good bad hero, and one of my favorite Kitty men is Brian, who is, well, he’s Brian and more than just a little fucked up. I mean, I think that the Marquis de Sade might would look at Brian and say dude, maybe sadism should be named after you. And that’s just the beginning of the issues with Brian. And I love Brian. OTOH, I hate Lyndsey, from the same set of books. Like, I would happily bury him alive with a camera to watch him die. You’re probably asking what that has to do with this book and whatever kept tickling me about this book. It was while I was talking to my husband that I figured it out. I’ve put Soren in the Lyndsey class and not in the Brian class. (I talk to my husband about most of the books I read, especially when I’m trying to work things out. It helps a lot) I don’t like Soren. I don’t hate him as much as I hate Lyndsey, but I really don’t like him. There’s just something about him that puts my nose out of joint. And here’s the thing, that’s perfectly OK and awesome. He evokes strong feelings in me, and that’s the goal, right?

I like Griffin and Dayne a lot more. And honestly, I can’t tell you exactly why I like them and I don’t like Soren, but there it is. I think part of it may be that Soren has to be so very obviously the one in control. I think that he is so invested in being seen as the one in control that he might actually have less than he thinks he does. I dunno.

I loved the book. I love how Kitty wrote it and how we get to see POVs from all the guys. There is some time jumping, but I think that Kitty does it really well.

Nothing under the pic today. Go check it out! Happy reading!

Kitty Thomas-The Game Maker

Today is a twofer, and we are getting a new Kitty Thomas as our second post today. And if you’ve read here a minute or two, you know that I love Kitty Thomas. She writes twisty twisty mindfucks. I mean, the second you think you know what’s going on in any of her books, you find out that nope, you’re wrong. And that’s in her just more straightforward books. When you get into the REAL mindfucks, then oh my god, you might need a map to keep track of everything. And let me tell you, The Game Maker is well and truly a Kitty book.

We start with Kate. She’s just about to become homeless because she recently broke up with her boyfriend, who oh yeah, also caused problems with her job. So, she’s at the end of her rope and decides that she’s going to go out and get a goddamn drink. She decides, in her drunk brain, to call her former douchebag, and he says he’ll pay her to be his whore so go outside to wait for him. Only, that’s not quite what happens.

When Kate wakes up, she’s naked in a cell, and has no clue what’s going on. All she’s told is that there is a game and she’s a piece of it.

Oh, there is just sooooooo much going on in this. I really don’t want to go much further into anything, because it would be really easy to spoil anything. I like Kate. I think that she spends a lot of time in her head trying to figure out what is going on and how to handle it. It’s hard for her to get a good grasp on things, just because of the way that the game is played. When you look at chesspieces, I think that she is the pawn. Maybe. It’s not the best comparison, but I think it doesn’t suck. She can’t see the player, she just sees the moves that she makes, but not the pattern behind those moves and why she has to make those moves. If that makes sense. There’s a lot going on behind the scenes and she’s not privy to any of that information. I don’t know what she would’ve done if she had any of that information.

OK, there’s really nothing going on under the pic, because I don’t have any spoilers. I do have a thought-ish. I wonder, if we came back and checked in on Kate in 5 years, what she would be like. That’s all for this one, go check it out.

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Kitty Thomas-Perfection

Kitty usually takes a while to get us a new book, not that I’m complaining, the wait is always worth it. However, we have a new one from her not too long after her latest release. So, yay! Let’s talk about Perfection.

We open to the remnants of a murder. Casia has murdered her “perfect” husband. At least, he looks perfect from the outside. From the inside, he’s a fucking fucker who cheats on his wife and beats the crap out of her. He’s controlling, jealous, and accuses her of cheating on him with her gay dance partner. So she poisoned him, chopped him up into 19 tiny little pieces, taken him out to the ocean, and dropped him in. Which, you know, turning into fish shit seems like a good plan for him.

Casia thinks that she’s gotten away with it, and gets up to go to the ballet company that she dances in the corps for so that she can get to work, training for the next ballet, which happens to be Swan Lake. The day happens to be her birthday, and she goes to her locker, which is decorated with balloons and such, and a card saying happy birthday, and oh, I know what you did last night, appear at this old opera house on this day at this time, or else. Oh, fuck. That’s not a good thing. But, after a day of being horribly stressed out, she shows up and finds out that she’s basically going to be doing extra training with her blackmailer.

There is a Phantom of the Opera feel to this one. I’m not going to say that it’s a Phantom update or homage or anything, but there is a bit of that vibe in there. Plus, being a Kitty book, it’s dark, kinky, and has some twisty turny bits, because those are her trademarks. This isn’t necessarily the darkest of her books. I know which one I think is the darkest.

Anyway, I don’t know how I feel about Casia. She is annoying sometimes, and maybe gets into the I may have to smack her sometimes territory. I do like her at times. But that’s one of the great things about Kitty’s characters. You sometimes like them, you sometimes hate them, and in the same book.

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There were a couple of things that I totally didn’t even see coming. I mean, wow.

OK, that’s all I have to say about this one. Go check it out! Happy reading!

 

Kitty Thomas-The Escape Artist

On this chilly Tuesday, or at least chilly in my area, Kitty Thomas has given us a gift to keep us nice and toasty warm. The Escape Artist is her latest book, and when you read it, you will run into some old friends. This isn’t a sequel to any other book, and you don’t have to have read any of the other books to read and understand this one, so if you haven’t, you’re all good.

So, here’s the story of Claire and Ari. (I wonder how many times I’m going to have to catch myself typing out my name instead of Claire.)

Three years ago, Claire went through hell. She was abducted and held prisoner by a nameless man who did unspeakable things to her for 43 days. She counted each and every one of them. On that last day, she barely managed to escape with her life. Her captor was coming to kill her, but she managed to get the knife away from him, and ran away. Now, three years later, she’s hiding in her apartment which she has turned into her own Fortress of Solitude. She has massive amounts of security set up so that nothing can get to her. She rarely leaves her house, and when she does, she makes hides her face as much as possible, just in case the man is out there. It hasn’t happened yet, but she might run into him.

Ari is a Dom-ly type. He’s a D type without a sub right now, because he and his last one broke up. She was a brat and liked to try and top from the bottom, and he wasn’t having that. She ran away to be a model in Paris. Even though the two of them weren’t all that great together, he is still mourning. And by mourning, read getting shitfaced. He goes out a lot to various bars, but there is one particular cafe that he often goes to for lunch. Which wouldn’t usually be a huge problem, except for the fact that Claire saw him at the cafe. And was scared shitless because he’s the man who took her for 43 days of fucking hell. So of course, she’s going to do something about it.

I feel really sorry for Claire. I mean, what she’s gone through would seriously break anyone. Then the 3 years after, and feeling like no one has noticed what had happened… If she hadn’t been pretty damn broken before that, that would’ve definitely done it. And then, once she sees Ari out there, it just gets worse. I wish that she could’ve gone to see someone who could’ve helped her with her issues, but I’m not surprised that she didn’t. There are a lot of people who don’t go through near what she does who don’t go see a professional about it, for whatever reason. So, I’m not going to blame her for not getting help. She did what she needed to do for herself, and that’s all that any of us can do, right? I think that Ari is good for her, for a lot of reasons.

Ari is an interesting character. He is extremely controlled and very disciplined. I mean, we can see that in just the way that he acts in the beginning of their story. And even more, we see that in the way that he acts as the story goes on. I wouldn’t blame him if he had lost his temper and just gone bugfuck, but he didn’t, not at all. There really is only one point where he gets really mad, but it’s not at Claire, and even then, he is very controlled. All that control and discipline is good, I think. I mean, I think it’s good in general, but when it comes to Claire, it’s definitely what she needed. And patience. Lots of patience.

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Kane really did overstep at one point, but I totally get why he did. It doesn’t excuse it, but I do get it.

OK, that’s all I have to say about this one. Go check it out! Happy reading!

Kitty Thomas-The Con Artist

So, we have another Kitty Thomas book on the blog today with The Con Artist.

Here’s our story. We have Saskia. She’s a very talented artist. She used to create her own original art, but after a fire, she just hasn’t had the energy to start back up. It wasn’t like she was selling anything anyway, so now she’s a starving artist. She paints forgeries, or more accurately, she paints reproductions for people who want to have their copies of the great art. The difference between a reproduction and a forgery is basically whose signature she signs on the picture. If she signs hers, it’s a reproduction. If she signs the original artist’s, it’s a forgery. There’s more to it than that, but that’s a good basic difference.

Saskia has run into Lachlan Niche. He is a tech whiz, and is worth piles and stacks of money. He wants a particular painting by Joseph Quill. Quill had died years ago, and he specialized in nudes. This particular painting is one of his early nudes. Lachlan has tried to buy the picture more than once, but the owner isn’t selling. So he hired Saskia to make a forgery and to steal the original for him. She’s supposed to switch the paintings around, easy peasy, lemon squeezie. Except, yeah, it never is.

For one thing, Saskia isn’t any kind of art thief, no matter what she told Lachlan. And for the second thing, she’s not planning on giving him the original. She’s running the long con. Her goal is to get her own pile of money from Niche, who is sleezy and who she feels perfectly justified in stealing from, then go to a tropical island and spend the rest of her life happy and creative, painting her own art and not caring if anyone buys it.

And again, it’s not as simple as it sounds, because if it was, the book wouldn’t be all that exciting or all that dark, would it?

This is a very Kitty book. I don’t think it’s the darkest one I’ve read of hers, but it is dark. It’s like a sensual dark though, thick, and rich, and velvety, and layered, and nuanced. Does that make sense? It does to me, and that’s about the best I can explain it. Part of what makes it a very Kitty book is her “hero”, not that I would call our MMC a hero, really. She writes these men that you want to hate and hate to want and yet can’t pull yourself away from. You know how, in nature, the venomous and poisonous bugs and critters are all brightly colored and basically scream leave me alone? Well, imagine that some of her heroes are neon pink with acid green stripes. Everything is saying to stay away from them because they are dangerous, deviant, and dark. You know that they are the bad guys, but you just need to be with them, no matter what. There isn’t necessarily a whole lot of redemption arc for the guys to go through, and in some books, they get worse as the books go along, but you still can’t manage to stay away from them.

That’s not to say that her women aren’t strong or they are pushovers, because they aren’t. They are flawed, deeply flawed, often broken, and are basically just like every person out there. You can really see yourself in her women, even if you aren’t an artist or whatever, because they are so real.

Saskia got cocky, and thought that she could get away with everything she wanted, and she ended up in trouble because she found someone who had this whole dominant huge personality thing going on. He’s also more broken than she is. But even in that damage that both of them have, he does what he does for a purpose. Might not be the way that you or I would do them, but, he has his reasons.

There are some really hot scenes in books that always stick with me, and the performance art installation is one that is in my personal top 10 list, because dayum.

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The first time I read this, I wondered what went through the MMC’s head sometimes. And frankly, I still do. There’s a lot that runs through there. Fascinating though.

OK, that’s all I have to say about this one. Go check out all of Kitty’s work, you won’t be sorry you did. Happy reading!

Kitty Thomas-Twisted Fates

Kitty has such a great way with dark and twisted books, and I think that Twisted Fates really shows that. This is the latest book in the Pleasure House world. The Pleasure House books can all be read as standalones. They are interconnected, but not serial. The characters do show up from one book to the next, but if you don’t know who they are, then you aren’t going to get lost. One of my favorite of Kitty’s male main characters is in the Pleasure House world, Brian. He’s a total sociopath and beyond broken, but there is just something about his story. I mention Brian because his actions are part of what happens in this book. They happened prior to his book, which happened prior to this one, in the timeline of things.

So, the Pleasure House is one where women can go to be trained to be sex slaves. When they are done with their training, they are sold to masters. Many of the women are there more or less voluntarily, but once you walk into the house, you don’t walk out of it, unless you are owned. And if you try to get away… Well, let’s just say that there’s a reason there’s a sociopath on staff.

TF is Lindsay and Shannon’s story. Lindsay is a kink-friendly psychiatrist who is one of the owners of the house. He helps to bring women to the house and does some of the training and such. Shannon was his patient, years ago, after the man that she was in a total power exchange relationship dumped her. Once he got her to a better state, he got her to come to the house for training. That was 8 years ago.

Three days into her stay, Shannon made a huge mistake. She laughed at Brian. Beyond being a sociopath, Brian ain’t the most stable person. He grabbed her, dragged her down to his personal dungeon, whipped the shit out of her and cut her with his knife, then left her for dead. She now has scars all over her back as well as some on her chest and stomach from that time. They couldn’t let her go, because, well, you just don’t leave like that. So, for the last 8 years, she’s been in a kind of limbo at the house. She manages the spa, gets played with very occasionally, and serves as kind of an object lesson, really. The lesson being, don’t fuck with Brian. She still has nightmares, and goes out of her way to avoid Brian. Then, there comes a day when it all becomes just too much. She goes to the spa, swallows a handful of pills, and lays down to wait for it all to end. But in walks Lindsay.

Lindsay tells her that he’s wanted her for all those 8 years. Shannon tells him that she hates him. Which, I don’t blame her, do you?

I really despised Lindsay. I have from the first time I read Brian and Mina’s story.  I thought that he was an asshole who thought being a psychiatrist meant that he was actually God, and that he messed around with things that he shouldn’t’ve oughta done. He seriously causes a lot of problems and doesn’t fix any of them. I just can’t stand him. At all. I mean, I have been cheering for Brian to kill him. Or hell, let Mina do it. I actually think that Mina might have more right to kill him than Brian does, but that’s just me. After having read this book, I’m kinda torn on Lindsay. I’m pretty sure that I still don’t like him. I think that I don’t like him a little less than I didn’t like him before. I don’t want to say I like him more, because that insinuates that I might have good feelings for him, and I sure the fuck don’t. I think that he is still an arrogant, condescending asshole who thinks that he knows everything, can make all the decisions for everybody ever, and is God. There are several places where he almost comes off as a good guy, but there are more places where he really doesn’t. I tried really hard to not let my dislike of Lindsay color this book before I read it. It was impossible to totally do, I mean, I am only human, but I wanted to give him a good chance, and I feel like I was able to do that.

I have always felt sorry for Shannon. She got dragged into something that was way beyond her with Brian. He was in a bad, bad, bad place when he did what he did to her. Not like he’s ever in a good place, but he was in a really bad place then. (Again, Lindsay’s fault) She has sat in the house for 8 years, watching woman after woman after woman getting what she wanted. All Shannon wanted was to have a master who loved her, took care of her, and wouldn’t throw her away. Now, she can’t even get any of the trainers to really even play with her. She feels like she’s worthless, she feels like she’s too scarred for anything and that everyone is disgusted by the way that she looks, and she can’t even look at herself because of the scars.

I loved this book. I wanted to read it faster and slower at the same time. I couldn’t wait to see what happened, but I knew that once I read it, I wouldn’t be able to discover the story again. I’m mad and sad and happy that I’ve gotten to read it for the first time. TF might be my new favorite Kitty book. If not, it’s at least tied for first. It was so intense, and I got so many feelz from it. It really is just a wow book.

And, oh, Ralph? Funny AF.

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I thought that the addition of Damian was really interesting. I also think that Damian had a point with some of what he told Lindsay, and he should’ve listened to Damian.

I liked seeing Quill and Saskia, and I think that the afterparty scene is probably one of the most intimate that I’ve read.

OK, that’s all for today. I honestly can’t recommend this one enough, or any of Kitty’s books, so go check them out. Happy reading!

 

Kitty Thomas-Comfort Food

Comfort Food was the first book I read by Kitty. It was free at the time, and another author recommended it, and I thought, well, it’s free, might as well. And I definitely am glad I did.

Here’s our story. Emily is a self-help author, and does reasonably well. She has a degree in psychology and basically knows what she’s talking about. She thinks that she’s pretty aware of things that women need to do to keep themselves safe, including not leaving her drink alone. Except for the one day that she did.

She wakes up tied to a chair, blindfolded. There is no sound anywhere. Finally, a man comes in and feeds her chicken noodle soup and saltine crackers, with water. At least, he feeds her as long as she lets him touch her. If she says no or flinches, then he stops. He never says anything to her, just feeds her, unties her, and leaves her in a room with a toilet, a drain, and a biometric and coded lock on the door.

That is how Emily’s journey starts. In that room. With no interaction. With no stimulation. The only time her captor comes in the room is when she is in the far corner, as far away from the door as she can be, and even then, he only comes in long enough to slide in her trays of food, chicken noodle soup and saltines, with bottles of water, three times a day, or to slide in a bucket of water and bathing supplies.

This book is incredibly intimate, for so many reasons. It’s all from Emily’s POV, and we learn so much about her. We are in her head the whole time, and we are drawn into her journey and why she makes the choices that she does. They aren’t ever really easy choices, and they might not be the choices that I would’ve made in my life, but I’ve never been in that place, so I don’t know what I would and wouldn’t do. Even though we see in her head, and see why she is making the choices she does, I still wonder if she is doing the right thing for her or not. But isn’t that the joy of reading a book like this?

This is one that I’ve gone back to reread several times and every time I read it, I get new and different insights from it. I expect that will continue to be the case every time I read it in the future. Kitty knew what she was doing with this one. If you pick it up, be prepared for a roller coaster ride.

There’s no spoilers down below. Anyway, go pick it up, you’ll thank me. If you haven’t read anything else that Kitty Thomas has written, I can’t recommend her enough.

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Kitty Thomas-Pretty Lies

I have Addison Cain to thank for getting me hooked on Kitty Thomas, so thank you, Addison! Comfort Food was the first book of her’s I’ve read, and I know that I’ve mentioned it here before, at least once. It’s one I recommend to anyone who is looking for a new dark read or new dark author to read. It didn’t take me long to move from that one onto more of her books, including the Pleasure House series. In fact, I think that the first book I read of Kitty’s after reading Comfort Food was Broken Dolls, one of the books in that world. That’s where I first fell in love with Brian and Anton and decided that I really hate Lindsay. Nothing has changed from that time to now. Except, Pretty Lies, the newest one in the Pleasure House world, has only made me love Anton even more. In fact, he may actually be tied with Brian, if not, he’s really, really close.

Anyway, even though this one was written last doesn’t mean that it takes place last. In fact, Anton and Annette’s story is the first story in this world. It’s also the origin story, more or less, of the house. I’ve wanted Anton and Annette’s story ever since I read Broken Dolls and first met them. Anton and Annette had a beautiful, settled relationship and it was obvious how devoted to each other they were. I was so excited when Kitty said that she was writing their story. I was looking forward to finding out how they got together. When I got Pretty Lies, I stopped reading the book I was reading so that I could immediately read it, that’s how excited I was.

Annette is a phone sex operator. She stays home, answers the phone, and tells men all the pretty lies that they want to hear. She’s good at lying and telling them all those pretty little lies doesn’t cost her anything and doesn’t hurt them. On this particular morning, she barely woke up in time to take her regular call because she had been at a bar the night before and gotten rip-roaring drunk. All she remembers is a beautiful Russian man and whispering filthy little lies in his ears.

Annette has a twin sister named Janette. Janette calls Annette and tells her that she’s going to go to a spa to get a massage. When Janette never comes home, Annette worries because that isn’t like her. That’s when she finds out that Janette has been abducted by a beautiful Russian man.

Anton met a beautiful woman at the bar, after listening to all the filthy things she told him, he was planning on taking her home and playing with her, except she drunkenly slammed the cab door in his face. When the beautiful woman wearing her face walks into his spa, he figures that she tracked him down and wanted to play, so he took her.

Anton and his friends, Lindsay (boo hiss), Brian, and Gabe have decided that they are going to start a house where they can train submissive women and sell them to men who want them. Theoretically all the women are supposed to be volunteers and screened carefully before they come to the house. They’ve just purchased the house and are just getting it set up. They don’t really have anything set up yet, including a training protocol, but that’s where Anton took the woman he kidnapped. She keeps telling him that she isn’t who he thinks she is, but he doesn’t want to believe her, until he’s confronted with the truth, with Annette walking in to trade herself for her sister.

OK, you know the way it goes. You get to choose whether you are going to stop here or keep going. I’m sad to say that my beloved Brian doesn’t come off really well in this book. Then again, he’s a complete and utter psychopath, so… Anton doesn’t come off all that well throughout this book either. There are a few times when he’s almost dislikable. I did really enjoy seeing the start of the house and what it took to get it moving smoothly. The other books all take place well after the house has already been established and is running the way that it should. I also liked seeing Anton not quite combobulated. He makes mistakes, all kinds of mistakes, and it takes some time for him to figure things out. He may or may not have to get smacked upside the head once or twice too. I was glad to see as little of Lindsay as we did. Don’t ask me why I don’t like him, I just don’t. There’s something about him that just annoys the fuck out of me. I don’t want him to ever have a HEA. In fact, can we have an unhappily ever after just for him?

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I was really disappointed in Anton after the big Brian episode. The fact that he threatened Annette with Brian right after what he had done was just bad. I’m not surprised that Annette did what she did after that. This was definitely one of the places that Anton screwed up, big time. He should have realized after that episode that Annette wasn’t OK.

I hated Phyllis. I mean, what a judgemental bitch. I really wanted to someone to just smack the crap out of her. She shouldn’t have been so nasty to Annette. She didn’t know the situation at all, which means that she should’ve just kept her big mouth shut.

Anyway, I totally recommend this book. I’ll read it over and over, just like the rest of her books. So, go grab it, and happy reading!

Top Ten Books of 2017 Part 2

Yesterday we had half of my Top Ten books of 2017. Today we are getting to the second half. Keep in mind, these aren’t in any particular order and they may or may not have been published in 2017, just that I read them this year, so no judging me that way. Also, I may have already mentioned them on my blog, but they are the books that affected me the most, in one way or another.

Pet

Isabella Sterling has become one of my favorite authors. She has a beautiful way with words. I would read a tech manual that she wrote. And since she has a beautiful accent, I would listen to her read said tech manual. Anyway, Pet was one of those books that I loved and I cried and I cursed Isabella’s name. I had to wait a couple of days before I could leave a review on it because I had to process all the feelz I got from it. Pet, Stranger, and King have a permanent part of my heart. It’s one of those books that I wanted to reread immediately after reading, but I was devastated by it. I was also elated by it. I haven’t reread it yet, but I will soon. Writing about it has made me want to read it again.

Alpha’s Claim & Alpha’s Control series

I refuse to see using series in a book list as cheating. Especially when they are as good as Addison Cain’s Alpha’s Claim and Alpha’s Control books. These books were pretty much my first real foray into dark romance, and I have never made it out. Addison is a gateway drug. LOL. So, Alpha’s Claim is Born to Be Bound, Born to Be Broken, and Reborn. OK, Alpha’s Claim is the story of Claire and Shepard while they live in Tholos and I can’t even tell you how much it killed me. I read books 2 and 3 back to back in one day. I don’t recommend doing this. I cried. Oh my fucking gods, I cried. Addison completely killed me. My husband still refers to this series as the one that devastated me. I’ve had long conversations about this series. The Alpha’s Control series is just one book so far, Stolen. We got to check in with old friends and met Brenya and Jacques from Bernard Dome. It was like OMG. As intense as the first series was, this one is as intense as all three of them combined. I hate Jacques. I’m going to say that right here and now. I hate him. I can’t wait to see what comes next.

Dollars Series

Pepper Winters has written some great books. The Dollars series is one of them. You lucky reader you, if you haven’t read them yet, since Millions just came out, so you don’t have to wait. The series is Pennies, Dollars, Hundreds, Thousands, and Millions. The story is about Pimlico and Elder. Their story is amazing, and all about love, redemption, and getting away from your past and finding your future. I don’t know if I can even explain the whole series and do it any justice. Pim was kidnapped and sold into sex slavery. Elder rescues her after several years. The whole series is about how they manage to heal each other and fix themselves. Go check it out.

Destruction

Jennifer Bene writes epically dark stories. Destruction is the latest one of her dark stories. It’s dark and gritty and filthy and oh, so very good. This story just gets to you in all the dark places that you didn’t even really know that you had, but now that Jennifer has exposed them to you, you want to know more about them. Of course, I’ve been knowing all of those dark places for a while now, and I like playing in those places. Luckily, I can count on Jennifer Bene to write a story that will let me do that. This is the first book in a new series, so I’m looking forward to the rest of the series and how everything that happened in this one plays out in the next stories. It ought to be interesting. If you like dark and kinky sex, check this one out, for sure.

Comfort Food

Kitty Thomas writes dark too. All of her books are pretty dark, but Comfort Food is the first one of hers I read. Addison Cain posted the link for this book when it was offered for free on King Zon. It is a total mindfuck. I mean, it makes you look differently at what things are really comforting and which aren’t, and how they change. I don’t want to go too far into the story, because really, it’s one that you have to read to understand. But, it had me saying whoa at more than one place because it is just that trippy. I will never, ever look at crackers and chicken noodle soup the same way again.

OK, there we are. My Top Ten books of 2017. Check them out. Tell me what you think of them.

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