Reviews- Catch Up

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I just came from a one year old's birthday party. You may envy me now.

I tweeted a blog post I posted earlier this week on my Twitter account. I didn't tweet it originally, but then I read something that set me off again..so I took the link to Twitter.

So, my overdue review. Let's get it on shall we?

Dangerous Secrets- Lisa Marie Rice

Now, I previously posted a review for Dangerous Lover. Secrets is the second book in the trilogy and is Nick Ireland and Charity Prewitt's story. Charity is a librarian in small town Vermont who has unknowingly befriended a Russian mobster who fancies her to be the replacement for his murdered lover. He is also forging a terrorist plot against the United States. Nick is sent in undercover to get close to Charity and find out what she knows about her friend. He becomes Nick Ames, a big city businessman. And after briefly (and I mean briefly) hanging out with Charity at the library under the guise of opening a business in town, he asks her out and she says yes. They go out to dinner and the sexual tension is palpable. And here is where my issues with this book begin. It moved WAY too fast for me. They have one date, have sex, and he practically moves in. Then after what seems like a day...they get MARRIED! I was like huh? And I can't really divulge anymore because I don't want to ruin the ending. But it moves even faster from that point.

I liked Nick and Charity as characters. Charity is intelligent and sweet. She is well-loved and admired amongst the town people. Nick is tough, smart and has sensitive core which he exhibits when helping Charity with her elderly relatives. What I didn't enjoy was how fast their relationship moved. But, that is also a personal preference of mine.

I have yet to decide if I am going on to the third book yet. So I am keeping these on my bookshelf until I make that decision.

BONUS REVIEWS!

I read Kristen Ashley's Knight (apparently it is the start of a series...I didn't know that until I checked her website) and I was iffy on it. I liked the characters Knight Sebring and Anya Gage, but Ashley's writing of Knight's dialogue caused me to re-read several parts over and over. Not a fan of that. Plus, I wasn't a super huge fan of Knight's chosen profession and the whole "Daddy" thing during sex? Blech. So when they were discussing her other books on a website I frequent, I was told to check out her other books. Now, Knight was a lot more erotic (the sex was more graphic) than her other series/stand alone books. So I decided to take the website's advice and started with the Dream Man series.

The Dream Man series consists of four books. Mystery Man, Wild Man, Law Man and Motorcycle Man. I suggest reading them in order. The characters follow through the books. I also found out as I read characters from another Ashley series, Rock Chicks, also show up in these books. So if you really want to be up to date, read those first. I kind of wish I had, because of my OCD (Obsessive Chronological Disorder). I finished Mystery Man, Wild Man and I am almost through with Law Man (insomnia and I read ridiculously fast. Seriously.) So here is my review for Mystery Man and Wild Man.

Mystery Man- Gwen meets her mystery man in a bar. She has what she thinks will be a one night stand with him. Instead, he returns to her bed at night. Not every night, but only at night. He finds his way into her bedroom, rocks her world and then leaves. And this goes on for a year and half. She doesn't explore other relationships, just her Mystery Man. Then Gwen's life takes a turn and Mystery Man is a mystery no more. He is Cabe "Hawk" Delgado and he is taking his relationship with Gwen from strictly night time pleasure to a full-time relationship..whether she likes it or not.

I had a little of the same issue I had with the dialogue. Hawk is a bad-ass and talks like one...and Ashley writes it verbatim. Can be tough to read sometimes. But I really enjoyed Hawk and Gwen. The unorthodox start to their relationship, Gwen's family troubles, Hawk having to deal with Gwen's antics and the competition for her affection makes their relationship seem real. Introduced in this book is Mitch Lawson, Brock Lucas and Tack who show up in Wild Man and Law Man. All together, I really liked this book. So I moved onto Wild Man.

Wild Man- This is Brock's story. Brock shows up in Mystery Man as the undercover DEA agent involved with Gwen's family issues. He is undercover again, but with a far better assignment. He is assigned to get close to Tessa O'Hara and find out what she knows about her drug dealer ex-husband. And he gets close...as her boyfriend. For four months he is Jake Knox. And Tessa is in love with him. Until she gets taken into custody by the police for having lunch with her ex-husband and she finds out who Jake really is. During her interrogation, Brock find out what really happened to Tessa when she was married to her husband. Tessa isn't sure that she can get over the fact that he lied to her and she feels like he used her to build his case against her ex...and Brock doesn't want to let go of his sweet, cake baking Tessa. Tessa continues to be unconvinced until things start happening to her. And she also find out that Brock comes with a psycho ex-wife and two children.

I loved Wild Man. I loved the contrast between rough and tumble Brock and sweet, but strong Tessa. Their relationship had even more reality than Mystery Man. It wasn't neat and clean. It came with exes, kids, insecurities and nosy families. And that's as real as it gets. The same dialogue issue..I wish Ashley would use descriptors of how they are talking, instead of writing it how they would actually speak. Mitch and Hawk are also in this book. Mitch gets his own story in Law Man...which I am currently almost finished with.


I will post a review for Law Man and Motorcycle Man (Tack's story) as soon as finish. Both of these books will be staying on my bookshelf. I enjoyed the flawed alpha male characters and the sweet, yet strong female leads.

I hope everyone has a great week. As always, comment with reading recommendations or follow me on Twitter @jessieobrien25


Just a note- I try not to get into too much detail with these reviews because frankly, I don't want to ruin the book for you. I have read reviews where they break the whole thing down and then reading the story seems rather pointless. But, if you want me to elaborate on anything further before you spend the money...just ask!