{Review} Hard Wood by Luaren Blakely

Title: Hard Wood
Series: Big Rock #6
Author: Lauren Blakely
Publication Date: October 23, 2017
Genre: Contemporary Romance

From #1 NYT Bestselling author Lauren Blakely comes a hot & hilarious new romantic comedy AND the final novel in her beloved Big Rock series of standalone romances...

Women often say a good man is hard to find. And a hard man is even better.

That's why I'm quite a catch-- good, hard, loaded, and wait for it...I'm ready to settle down too. But the woman I want to pitch my tent with lives clear across the country. Neither of us wants to get lost in those woods. All I have to do is resist her for the week she's in town.

I try. I swear I try. But yeah, that doesn't work out.

And after one fantastic night with my good friend Mia, I'm ready to give her years of nights under the stars. What's a few thousand miles when love's involved? But there's a hitch in my plans -- she just hired my adventure tour company. If there's one thing I'm committed to, it's running a squeaky clean business. Number one on my list of iron-clad rules?

Don't screw your customers.

But what's a guy to do when she's so hard to resist? How hard can it be to keep our hands off each other for a quick group tour down the hills and over the trails? I'm about to find out, and I have a feeling I'm going to need a new badge of honor because things are about to get very hard in the woods.

What we liked

♥ The best friends little sister / brothers friend trope has no place here.

♥ H is a cat person.

♥ The cat. Who happens to be Instagram famous.

♥ Humorous and smart characters and writing.

♥ Cat POV. It was very proper and hilarious. He definitely stole the show.

♥ The banter between the H and h, and even their convos with the cat are hilarious

♥ Quoting literary quotes at each other.

♥ Nature whirlwind wedding.

What we didn't

• After the straightforwardness of the H in the beginning, he clammed up about his feelings/thoughts from the h. What happened to all that bravado, dude? At least he didn't keep it to himself for very long.
• Not enough cat POV.

The guys

Patrick // Instagram active dudebro and cat daddy to Zeus. Not as IG famous as his cat.

Zeus // Patrick's Instagram famous, hiking cat. Yes, you read that right, but that's not all he's good for in this story or in Patrick's life.

Max //

The gals

Mia // Hardworking girlboss who can kick ass in the woods, in the boardroom and quote literature. She's smart and fiesty. Literally wifey material.

Evie // Best sister ever.

Lust at first page

"The reason I said 'after you' at the start of the trails is that I'm a gentleman and I still believe that ladies come first." I stop, reigning in a smirk. "Go first, I mean. Ladies go first."

--Lauren Blakely, Hard Wood (Loc 428)

Lust factor

4 flames

{Review} Fairytale Shifters by Alexa Riley

Title: Fairytale Shifters
Series: Fairytale Shifter #1-4
Author: Alexa Riley
Release Date: September 25, 2017
Genre: Paranormal, Erotic Romance

Welcome to the Fairytale Shifter series... where growly alphas find their mates and heroines have babies galore! This bundle includes all of our shifter books with a BRAND NEW STORY in the back! Revisit your old favorites and discover our newest addition to the family.

Finn, Flint, and Forest have spent their lives looking for their mate. The three brothers have been through everything together, and seeing the rest of their family pair off has been hard to watch. But one day, deep in the woods, a small bunny crosses their path when the three of them are in wolf form. To their surprise, they finally find what they’ve been looking for, but it just so happens they all find it at once.

Luna Hare lost her family long ago, and she’s been traveling to different shifter villages, trying to find one that is the right fit. Secretly she’s been hoping to meet another bunny family and possibly find her mate. She never expected that when she'd come to Gray Ridge, she'd not only find a mate, she would find three. Three enormous wolves that look hungry, and not for food.

Warning: Bunnies like to make babies, so it’s a good thing she’s got three wolves lined up and waiting to take a turn. This shifter book is over-the-top sweet, and just as dirty as the rest. Come back to Colorado with us, and let’s see how this works out. We have a feeling it’s going to be a happily ever after.

What we liked

♥ The erotic/modern spin on fairytales

♥ Alexa Riley's signature instalust (& instalove)

♥ Not your ordinary shifters

♥ It made us laugh the whole way through. It was pretty hilarious.

♥ There are a variety of shifters that will appeal to readers with different tastes: wolf, bear, bunnies

♥ It's a bundle of quick stories, starring different couples

♥ Mating in the woods

♥ Women who support other women are the real MVP

♥ Ladies topping from the top. The guys like to think they're in control, but we know who really runs the world.

♥ FOURSOME

What we didn't

• The explanation of human/shifter mating was a bit confusing, nor did it seem all that plausible
• Creepy sleep-watching is creepy
• Controlling older brother

The Alphas

Dominic. Wolf. We love a man in uniform. Super protective and a certified DILF.

Xavier. Lone wolf (for a while). He's got the caveman thing going on that shows he's resourceful and wild...in and out of bed.

Stone. The actual alpha of the (wolf) pack. Except when it comes to Winnie. Took him a long damn time to give into his urges and get the girl of his dreams. We think he enjoys torturing himself.

The ladies

Ruby // Ruby is headstrong, got a heart of gold, and is a supermom. And she did not back down from what she wanted even though she was new in town.

Gwen // Gwen doesn't question phallus-shaped pastries and desserts. Gwen loves dirty jokes and isn't afraid to make us laugh at any dirty thing she says.

Winnie // Winnie may have started off shy, but she bites back. Never underestimate the quiet ones - they tend to be the most dangerous.

Snow // 

Lust at first page

"We can't serve those!" I look down at the cookies, which are shaped like tiny dicks, and I try to convince myself I'm seeing those.

--Alexa Riley, Fairytale Shifters (pg. 1)

Lust factor

4 flames

{Review} Hideaway by Penelope Douglas

Title: Hideaway
Series: Devil's Night #2
Author: Penelope Douglas
Release Date: October 5, 2017
Genre: New Adult, Romantic Suspense, Erotica

DEVIL'S NIGHT is returning! Hiding places, chases, and all the games are back...

BANKS

Buried in the shadows of the city, there’s a hotel called The Pope. Ailing, empty, and dark—it sits abandoned and surrounded by a forgotten mystery.

But you think it’s true, don’t you, Kai Mori? The story about the hidden twelfth floor. The mystery of the dark guest who never checked in and never checks out. You think I can help you find that secret hideaway and get to him, don’t you?

You and your friends can try to scare me. You can try to push me. Because even though I struggle to hide everything I feel when you look at me—and have ever since I was a girl—I think maybe what you seek is so much closer than you’ll ever realize.

I will never betray him.

So sit tight.

On Devil’s Night, the hunt will be coming to you.

KAI

You have no idea what I seek, Little One. You don’t know what I had to become to survive three years in prison for a crime I would gladly commit again.

No one can know what I’ve turned into.

I want that hotel, I want to find him, and I want this over.

I want my life back.

But the more I’m around you, the more I realize this new me is exactly who I was meant to be.

So come on, kid. Don’t chicken out. My house is on the hill. So many ways in, and good luck finding your way out.

I’ve seen your hideaway. Time to see mine.

*Hideaway is a romantic suspense suitable for ages 18+. While the romance is a stand-alone, the plot is a continuation of events that began in CORRUPT (Devil's Night, #1). It is strongly recommended that you have read Corrupt prior to reading this.

What we liked

♥ The mystery continues
♥ Confessional foreplay in a cemetery
♥ Sex in an actual confessional
♥ Holy plot twists
♥ Kai's Japanese background
♥ SEXUAL TENSION
♥ Power play between Kai and Banks is fun
♥ The Banks and Alex scene. That was HOT. And they'd barely even touched.
♥ Devil's Night flashbacks
♥ Abandoned hotel
♥ And the plot thickens...
♥ Banks and Rika in the hallway closet, then Banks/Kai and Rika/Michael going at it at the same time after the Banks/Rika show
♥ Banks and Rika catfight

What we didn't

• A few editing errors and minor consistancies
• Is it possible to hate Damon more but also feel bad for him once we know what he went through?
• Damon's dad. And his mom. His whole fucked up family basically.
• One last Devil's Night/Damon's reappearance was a bit anticlimactic after all the build up

The guys

Kai // Well, he was an enigma. He's got a multitude of sides to him, some that may surprise you for a number of reasons. While things were going down on Devil's Night in the first book, we didn't know Kai's history with Banks, or that Banks even existed. That's the thing with Penelope Douglas -- she has a way of distracting you while she waits to pull an ace from her sleeves. And tt was nice to get to know a bit about his family and Japanese background.

Michael // He didn't have much presence in this book, outside of the flashback chapters, as he was out doing basketball things. But when he did appear, he was his usual dick Michael self.

Will // We see more of him than we did in the last book, but in this one, we had our doubts about Will. Minuscule things had us suspicious about him, that turned out to be nothing. Sorry we didn't trust you for a while there, Will.

Damon // After all the hiding, the creepy texts and threats, his physical reappearance was...anticlimactic (at least to us). We were a bit disappointed with that execution of his comeback. But we did learn about his past growing up, and Devil's Night as part of the Four Horsemen guys.

The badass ladies

Banks // Penelope Douglas has been hiding Banks we were distracted with Rika in the first book. It was definitely interesting to get a peak into her past and relationship with Damon in their formative years.

Rika // Since this book is more solely about Kai and Banks, Rika doesn't have very much presence or focus, but the parts where she is in we get to see sides of her we're familiar with and parts we didn't but do expect from her. I mean, can we talk about that catfight and hallway closet...fun?

Alex // While she wasn't around that much, she made quite an impression and we want to see more of her. And Will needs to stop stringing Alex along. Just give this girl someone to love!

Lust factor

4 flames