{Review} Be Mine... Or Else by Alexa Riley

Title: Be Mine.. Or Else
Author: Alexa Riley
Release Date: February 14, 2018
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Novelette

Dove Rosetta is crushing hard on the hot guy she ran in to at the coffee shop. His big build, sharp suits and dark eyes have her flustered, and as luck would have it, they meet by chance every day. She might be innocent, but her thoughts aren’t, and she’s ready for him to make a move.

Beau Heart has been watching her for weeks. It's no accident that he sees Dove every day and he’s tired of playing it cool. He’s done with gentle and patient. He's grumpy, and now it’s time for dirty and fast.

Warning: This Valentine’s story is filled with alpha possessiveness and rough need. Good things come to those who wait, but great things come to those who claim. Get ready!

What we liked

♥ It's fast-paced; it teases just enough until we get to the sweetness.

♥ A sweet Valentine's Day love story.

♥ The h losing her virginity goes easier, quicker than anyone else's experiences. If only losing your virginity was actually as real as her experience.

♥ If this wasn't an Alexa Riley novel[ette], we'd have been weary about their first time (and every time after) having sex without any protection or talk about how he was clean.

♥ Puppies!!

♥ The H has had his eye on the h for a while before he finally let's his feelings and intentions be known and does something about it.

♥ Nothing but a pair of converse on underneath the wedding dress. That's our kind of girl.

♥ Back of the limo sex. Bonus points for it being on the way to their Valentine's Day date.

♥ The cute little family they created together.

What we didn't

• The H's stalkerish behavior.
• Their first date at his house? Classy. So romantic.
• The mystery of "B" who sends flowers to two different women misunderstanding was predictable.
• The word "slit" used to describe her...nether regions. People may be uncomfortable with "nether regions" as well, so I guess we're even.
• The title of the book sounds threatening and unsexy-like. Yes, we're judge-y about book titles as much as we are about book covers.
• (Loc 1108) was cringey.

The guys

Beau // He's a beau (see what we did there?). Your boy Beau is a smooth talker: "I'll pick you up at work." Uhh, thanks for asking? Did you just ask her on a date? We must've missed that. Luckily he's actually a lot smoother than that in the rest of the story. So don't write him off just yet.

John // Undercover spy for Beau. He seems like a loyal, well-mannered guy. He's quite likable in our opinion. He's helpful, quiet, a little rough around the edges, and respectful to his significant other.

Beau's dad // It was a pleasant surprise that his lady friend brought this stone-hard man down to earth and changed him for the better.

The gals

Dove // A fitting name for our pure h.

Tia // Dove's BFF and (former) roomie. We wish she was in it more, but since this was a short read, we understand that you can't cram everyone in while focusing on the MC's romance. We just like her that much.

Sue // Dove's older and ever-observant coworker (or was it her boss?). She was pretty cool and funny.

Katie // She's a loyal employee. We feel she's underappreciated and deserves better.

Lust factor

4 flames

{Review} Moonlight Sins by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Title: Moonlight Sins
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Release Date: January 30, 2018
Genre: Adult, Contemporary Romance, Romantic Suspense

New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout delivers the unforgettable story of a woman whose new life has just begun—but may end in murder...

Julia Hughes has always played it safe until she learned a very painful lesson. Now Julia’s starting over with a job in the Louisiana bayou—and a scorching encounter with a stranger, only to discover he’s Lucian de Vincent... her new employer. The de Vincent brothers share a massive fortune and a dark reputation. Julia cares for their troubled sister, but a menacing presence in the mansion—and the ever-present temptation of Lucian—prove dangerously distracting.

Lucian’s grandmother claimed de Vincent men fall in love once—and hard. Apparently, it’s Lucian’s turn. Julia’s compassionate care of his twin makes Lucian want to lay himself bare. But some secrets are better for Julia not to know.

The recent “suicide” of Lucian’s father is the latest in a string of deaths on the estate. Someone is eliminating the de Vincents. And the best way to get to Lucian may be through Julia...

TW: suspected suicide; murder; mention of incest

What We Liked

♥ The old family curse, secrets and hauntings surrounding the de Vincents

♥ Murder mysteries (both solved & unsloved)

♥ Slow burn relationship and delayed gratification, much to the characters annoyance

♥ Louisiana setting and the authentic NOLA experience

♥ This was a lot more suspenseful than we expected. The creep factor was on-point.

♥ A handy in the hallway... where anyone can walk by/through and see. Kinky.

♥ The whole roof scene on the roof with Maddie and the revelations was the only plot twist we didn't see coming. We screamed.

♥ It was different than JLA's other adult books, but we liked this take. We've read her YA suspense, so we knew she could pull it off in an Adult contemporary.

What We Didn't

• Some of the flirtatious banter felt a bit stilted and forced in the first half of the book, so it took a while for us to get on board for this ship, but we totally love the main characters together!
• A lot of suspect things were predictable (save for the roof scene near the end, of course).
• Incest? WTF. Luckily we didn't witness play by plays but still... Gross. How do we scrub this info from our minds? Blech.
• Seriously fucked up family, maybe not in the way the de Vincent's first thought, but in a number of other ways.
• We are still not sure who killed the father. It might've been subtly implied and we didn't catch it. TELL US.
• The MC's f*cking on the floor of his late fathers bedroom? Creepy. And kinda gross, tbh. Maybe that's just us.
• Like mysteries goes, some questions were left unanswered and unsolved.
• [spoiler] death near the end was murky and confusing.
• How Gabe's storyline--and him, in general--just dropped off the face of the earth. After that bombshell, and no mention about it again? *Sigh* At least his book is up next, so we're not left hanging too long.

The guys

Lucian // Nickname: Lucifer. His superpower is the ability to make everything sound sexual (according to him). He wasn't as much of an alphahole as I expected he would be (thank God), which was a good thing.

Dev // Nickname: Devil. He's strictly stoic, eerily indifferent and apathetic with very little sense of humor. We get the feeling that anything dark and twisted would make him crack a smile. Anyway, he's intense, intimidating and a complete ass. We wonder what or who would be able to bring his walls down.

Gabe // Nickname: Demon. He's sweeter and friendlier than the brothers, but don't let that fool you. We can't wait for his book, because we're curious about him and the woman from his past and the bombshell.

Stefan // Uncle de Vincent. Also Senator. We didn't think much about him other than that we were not sure whether to trust him or not, and when we noticed he wasn't mentioned much in the last half of the book. Whatever happened to him?

Daniel // There was something about him that didn't seem right at first, but we didn't know just how much wasn't right about him. He wasn't intelligent nor right. In a lot of ways. What in the hell was Madeline even thinking?

The gals

Julia // We liked how strong and driven she was.

Anna // Julia's friend and (former) coworker. She was in and mentioned only once in the story, but she was a good and fun friend. Wish she was at least talked to on the phone/texts with Julia, or even thought of after Julia left.

Sabrina // Entitled ice queen. Perfect for Dev. Good luck to the both of them.

Madeline // The forgotten de Vincent sister. Holy shit there was a whole lot of mystery about her and when it was revealed, we wished that we never knew. We need a (dozen) showers to scrub this info about her away.

Lust Factor

4 flames