PROTECTING HIS OWN
Series: Masters of the Shadowlands #11
Genre: BDSM Romance
Author: Cherise Sinclair
Release Date: May 31, 2016
Landscape designer, Beth King survived an abusive husband and built a new life for herself with the help of Master Nolan, the strongest, most protective man she has ever known. She loves him with all her heart, but the one thing he wants, she can’t give him. To her grief, the damage from her abusive first marriage means she can’t bear him children.
As Beth and Nolan change their plans and pursue adoption, they’re already imagining a baby girl in the nursery. But when two boys from the local domestic violence shelter see their mother taken to the hospital, they call Beth in a panic. Agreeing to care for them temporarily, Beth soon falls in love with the two adorable boys.
Now Master Nolan has a new problem. How can he protect the children when their drug-addicted mother is released—and how the hell can he keep his sweet submissive’s heart from being broken when they leave?
Three years ago, wife had been a four-letter word. Beth had transformed the word into one that meant miracle.
How is it possible that this series just gets better and better? Because with each new book, I just fall more and more in love with these characters. But no characters touched me as much as Nolan and Beth. This couple was first introduced in Breaking Free, which I highly recommend reading before this one. It’s a full standalone with a HEA but it builds the foundation you’ll need to truly understand the depth of these characters.
Now normally I am not a reader likes continuations, especially if I felt the first book had a perfectly satisfying HEA, but in the case here, I wasn’t about to pass up another book by one of my favorite authors. Boy am I glad I read this! This was best sort of follow up you could get for a beloved couple. It manages to strengthen their relationship, show a natural progression of their life, and yet somehow also be that perfect little cherry on the top you didn’t realize their story needed.
Protecting His Own takes place three years into Beth and Nolan’s marriage. It shows the struggle that Beth still faces with the remnants of the memories of her abusive past and her devastating pain over learning that the one thing she’s wanted, she may never be able to have.
As a mother, this book managed to be a one two punch straight to the feels. I spent a good portion of it a blubbering mess. This was brilliantly written with just the write amount of emotion that guarantees it won’t leave a dry eye in sight. It was also a beautiful story of second chances.
Cherise Sinclair added a secondary POV from one of the two young boys that are introduced in the story. I have to say that this may have been one of my favorite parts. Not only do you get to see Beth fall in love with them, but you get to experience their side of things. It broke my heart to read about their horrible situation, and having the older boy’s POV just added that perfect something that this book needed.
Of course beyond all that, this is also the continuation of Beth and Nolan and their relationship. Nolan is still the intense Dom that he’s always been; completely and utterly in love with and devoted to Beth. You’ll just fall in love with him all over again in this book. Guaranteed.
Cherise also introduces two new VERY intriguing characters, and their set up is so freaking delicious, that I’m practically salivating for their book.
Protecting His Own is an emotional journey of second chances and love. Written with Sinclair’s signature mix of erotic and emotion, it was so far beyond just a BDSM romance. It was beautiful, touching, and one of the most satisfying continuations for a favorite couple that I have ever read. It made me cry and brought the giddiest of smiles to my face at the same time. It was gripping, touching, and sexy. Just perfect. There’s a reason this author is on my auto-buy list, and this book only serves to show why. If you haven’t yet discovered this amazing author and this series, I’m not sure what you’re waiting for. It’s an absolute must read.
If there’s one thing I know when I pick up a new book by Elizabeth Finn, it’s that angst and a punch straight to the feels is guaranteed. There’s a damn good reason why she’s become my go-to when I’m craving an addicting combination of angst and feelings and she’ll deliver on the promise 100% of the time. Reading the synopsis I knew I was in for one heck of a read and I was not wrong. It’s everything I hoped it would be; seductive, emotional, angsty and hot enough to burn.
What begins is a dangerous push and pull between two people that have everything to lose and yet chose to loose themselves in each other. The chemistry between them is undeniable and you can practically feel the electric current that crackles between them. The fact that you’re basically reading the book just waiting for the other shoe to drop makes it for one absolutely unputdownable read.
Ladies and ovaries, prepare to meet your kryptonite. Because this book just may cause some spontaneous ovary cumbustion. I’m not even kidding.
This dirty girl gobbled it up like a starving pervert. True story. But ultimately, within all the sex happening in the book, I began to want more story and connection to the characters. There’s quite a bit of character development, don’t get me wrong. But I also began to feel like it was getting lost in all the sex…and there’s a lot of sex. I can’t even believe I’m complaining about it.
This was my first Natasha Knight book and I can already tell the woman will be my guilty pleasure read indulgence. Sometimes even when a book doesn’t quite blow you away you still click with the writing style and become an instant fan. That was definitely the case here. Beautiful Liar is a little gritty, insanely hot, and certainly one entertaining as hell read.
MacKayla escaped everything after what she did three years ago. She regrets what she cost Slater, but she had her reasons for doing what she did. Barely making ends meet working two jobs at a book store and a strip joint, the last face she expects to see during her dance is Slater. Slater isn’t going to let her escape again and he’s quite blunt in what he wants.
I have one question right now: Where has this series been all my life?! No really, what a perfect treat this was to get a fantastic balance of super hot sex AND a wonderful story. Sometimes a girl just needs some great smut in her life, and this book hit the spot so well. But it’s so much more than erotic romance, the story is great, the characters well developed, and the writing just flows. Suffice it to say I loved it!
I simply adored Mason. He was such an endearing character. The way he calls Katrina ‘Kitty-Kat’? *swoon* I loved everything about these two; the way they protect each other; their shared history, their friendship, and their clear affection for one another. And between the sheets they’re absolutely combustible! Katrina was a wonderful heroine as well but I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you that Mason really stole the show here. This was a man that really went after what he wanted once he realizes what he’s missed all these years. He knew what he needed and he didn’t hide it.
Do you like broody, protective uber alphas who prefer monosyllabic conversations unless they’re in bed and letting their inner caveman do the talking? Do you like sassy as hell heroines that give as good as they get and have more zingers than an episode of SNL? Do you like a sizzling hot sexual chemistry that brews even hotter with a slow burn sort of pace the author sets? Do you like your erotica written perfectly balanced with an addicting sort of story and a dash of suspense thrown in? Well lucky day! Because do I have the book for you!
If you’ve read the previous books in this series, then you’ll remember Elle Cooper, Tate Cooper’s sister and now James Bowen’s sister-in-law? If you haven’t, no worries, because you can easily read this book as a standalone and not be even slightly lost. Jack Copeland is James’s shadowy and grumpy friend that now has a tie to Elle that he’s not too happy about. The woman infuriates him almost as much as she turns him on. And Elle absolutely loves to tease Jack to within an inch of his sanity.
Jack does an upstanding job avoiding all things Elle, until the day where Elle lands in life threatening trouble and Jack is determined to protect her at all costs. He’ll do his job and walk away afterwards, but Elle is determined to make him lose all reason and patience in the process.
I gobbled up this book with a pervy sort of glee I haven’t felt in a long while. I loved these two together. Nothing beats a good hate/love scenario for me, and boy do these two serve that up on a silver platter. You can’t help but love Elle even if she lands herself in scenarios where you’ll want to throttle her. Jack is everything I love in an alpha; broody, slightly crass, protective, and a dirty, dirty man in bed.
If there’s one thing that Pam Godwin knows, it’s how to write one seriously intense alpha. The mere name alone, Emeric Marceaux, is enough to get my motor revving. This man will give you shivers and you’ll actually feel his intensity crackling through the pages. It’s utterly delicious. He’s a dose of dangerous, with a splash of depraved, and all of it is tied around a sexual magnetism that’s so captivating, your fingers will tingle turning the pages.
Dark Notes is a standalone dark romance with a deliciously kinky element of the forbidden teacher/student. Add in the fact that Ivory is only 17 years old, and you got yourself one crazy ride of a book. But that description doesn’t even begin to do this book justice.
Things begin to simmer between the two of them at first sight, and the author does an incredible job in making the sexual tension practically palpable enough to taste. Emeric is one of the most captivating characters I’ve read in a long while. He oozes sexuality and yet there’s this edge to him that adds an element of fear that just works so well.
While the sexual tension between Ivory and Emeric is instantaneous, that is the only instant thing in this book. The rest is the most delicious sort of slow burn. It’s almost like watching the most sexual game of cat and mouse unfold, and even though you know what the end result will ultimately be, you still can’t stop reading.
Powerful.
Sparrow Raynes grew up the daughter of a drunken father who happened to work for one of the most feared men in the Boston underground. But now that man is dead, and his son who’s known to be even more ruthless is to be her husband…and she has no idea why other than it’s been arranged and her father agreed to it. So she’ll do it, but she won’t like it. In her eyes it’ll be a marriage in name only because no way can she give her heart to the devil with the steel-blue eyes that’s known as The Fixer. He’s ruthless, he’s cold-blooded, but she refused to cower from him like even the most deadly of the deadly underground seem to…
Sparrow was exactly the kind of gritty anti-hero that I needed. L.J. Shen was not afraid to stick true to her characters and pulled no punches to do so, and I respect the hell out of her for this. Yes, Troy did some things that may not sit right with some readers, but for this reader, I loved to hate it. See I love when an author takes risks to stay true to the characters and that was definitely the case here. This is no insta lust, insta-love, or insta-anything. Troy and Sparrow’s connection formed over time and it felt authentic because of that. Considering how Troy is and where he came from, I wouldn’t have bought it any other way.
L.J. spared no detail to make her story gritty and real. It was action packed, super sexy, and filled with twists and turns. It was enough to keep me at the edge of my seat the whole time and eagerly turning the pages to see what will happen next. The romance was sizzling hot and together with the plot it all came together perfectly.
My only minor quibble with the book was that it went a little much and too creative with the analogies at times. But that was such a minor thing compared to everything that I loved about it that I barely batted an eyelash at it.
Seven books. Seven erotically charged and deliciously addicting books. All of it leading up to this glorious moment; Drake. I’ve been anxiously anticipating for the leader of the Guardians and constantly growling and smoke billowing dragon shifter to get his book, even before his heroine was introduced. And when the author did reveal who the heroine would be in one of the biggest twists ever? Let’s just say on a scale of 1 to ten, I was somewhere around rabid. I wanted it BAD is what I’m trying to tell you here.
