He’s always saved her. Now she’s going to return the favor…

Gray Duffy never thought he’d end up as the co-lead guitarist of Oblivion, one of the hottest rock bands in the country. Even better? He’s sharing the experience with his best friend, Jazz. Since the day she’d showed up as his family’s new foster kid, Gray has protected her. Loved her. And not just platonically either. After all these years of wanting her in his bed, he still doesn’t know what it would be like to have her mouth on his.


Except for that one time. The time he’d shared her with Nick. The best worst night of his life.


Now they’re living their dream. They’re making music together and spending every waking moment trapped in tight quarters. With success at their fingertips, the time is right for him to finally make his move toward the woman he needs.


He just never figured he would lose control. Or that she would find out.


They’ve loved each other through everything. But what if this time love just isn’t enough?

He could do anything, survive anything, but he couldn’t turn away from Jazz. She would sustain him where every other drug had failed.

It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of both of these authors, and I have been an even bigger fan of this series since i first read the prequel novella, Seduced. I fell hard for the boys of Oblivion and admittedly, Gray and Jazz’s story is the one that peaked my interest the most. You have long time friends, unrequited (or is it?) love, and oh so much angst. I mean, does it get any more delicious than that? Not for me.

They’ve loved each other through everything. But what if this time love just isn’t enough.

Gray has always been the quiet one of the guys. But you know what they say about the quiet ones, don’t you?

Jazz first met Gray when she was just 14 and he was 16. After years of being in the system, Jazz was thrilled to be fostered by Gray’s parents. All she’s dreamed of is being adopted, having a family of her own. And the Jazz of the present, years later, holds on to that same dream. Only this time, it’s not parents that she wants, but her dream husband, children, a happy life. And the only man that she can see that with doesn’t seem to share her feelings. But oh how little she knows…

Deep down, he still had a niggle of hope that things could change. That one day she’d stop looking at him as her best friend and see him as more.

If you’ve read the novella then you know that months ago Gray and Jazz made a colossal mistake in their friendship…a threesome with Nick.

It was all about timing, she’d told him once. Without it, it was impossible to keep the beat going. And theirs was always fucking wrong.

Now many people may not understand why either Gray or Jazz agreed to something like that, but I did. Gray is in such a dark place, that when he sees what may be his one and only chance to have Jazz, he takes it, no matter how small it may be. And Jazz has loved Gray for so long thinking that he doesn’t return her feelings that using Nick as a buffer finally allows her to have that piece of him that she’s always wanted…if only for a few moments. But that one night, that one decision changes everything…

This is not your typical rock star romance. It’s so much more. It’s gritty and emotional and with just the perfect amount of angst.

I knew from the very beginning I would love Gray, and I was not wrong even a little. He’s such a tortured character and my heart absolutely broke for him.

When Gray realizes that he may have lost any chance with Jazz after seeing something he wasn’t meant to see, he turns his addiction for her into a different one. A much more dangerous one. He soon begins to lose himself in a haze of cocaine and music.

But Jazz is determined to show him that he’s everything she wants, and now she’ll stop at nothing to make sure he sees her as more than a friend.

This is very much a character driven story, and there’s one thing that Cari and Taryn do a phenomenal job at; character development. Wow oh wow. These authors are incredibly talented and their ability to make you feel the characters’ inner turmoil and emotion along with them absolutely blew me away.

The story is told in alternate flashbacks from past to present. I’m not typically a fan of that, however in the case here, it was done extremely well. And it also weaved into the larger picture of the story effortlessly. Trickle feeding Gray and Jazz’s past to the reader in the way that they did as the story in the present progressed only made it that much better.

You really get to see and understand why both of them make the decisions that they do.

I adore a great friends to lovers romance, and this ticked off all my YES boxes.

While this book does have a HEA, it’s clear that their story is far from finished, so I’m happy to see a follow up book for them. I can definitely understand why two books are needed for Jazz and Gray. Their story is just too much for one book. And I for one cannot wait to see how it all develops.

If you’re a fan of this series, then this book is a must read. And if you haven’t read it yet, and you like angsty and super sexy romances, then you NEED to check it out. While each book may be read as a standalone, I wouldn’t recommend it. You really get a much better feel for all the characters if you read it in order, prequel included.

This series has been on my auto buy list since book one, and this book just goes to prove exactly why

DON’T MISS THE REST OF THE SERIES

Caught between a rock and a rock-hard body…

Salon owner Virginia Boca has declared herself celibate…at least until she wins the election for mayor of Bluelick, Kentucky. No hot men. No sex. And her plan to play the good girl might have worked—if the mysterious, hard-bodied stranger she’s seen around town hadn’t pulled her from the street and saved her life. The least Ginny can do is offer her savior a free haircut.

But when an innocent haircut turns into hours of wickedly hot sex, former Navy SEAL Shaun Buchanan knows his plan to keep a low profile is shot. Especially once Ginny finds out he’s the current mayor’s son. With her reputation and the election on the line, Ginny seems determined to keep their nightly sexcapades a secret, but Shaun’s not willing to stay in the shadows forever…

She cupped his balls at the same time she stroked him, stopping just shy of the flare of his head. “So, you’re touching yourself, and thinking of me, and…”

His head dropped back of its own accord, and his breath quickened. “I’d dream of you kneeling between my legs, opening your mouth, and letting me fuck you like that until I was the only thing you’d taste for the rest of your life.”

While they both watched, liquid beaded at the head of his cock and trembled there. He shivered when she used the pad of her thumb to swipe it, pressing down hard enough to explore the small opening. Then she brought her thumb to her mouth and licked it clean.

Eyes locked on him, she gripped his thighs, spreading them slightly, and brought her mouth so close her breath ruffled the hair around the base of his cock. “Could I trouble you to do the honors?”

Hell yes. He gripped his shaft and guided it to her lips. She opened her mouth, fully prepared to take him in, but he delayed their gratification by tracing his tip along her upper lip. “You have the softest lips, Virginia. Even before I ever kissed you, I knew they’d feel amazing.” He dragged his tip along her lower lip and couldn’t hold back a groan.

She chased him with her tongue, wetting her lips in the process. “Having them sealed around you is going to feel even better.”

He placed his hand on the top of her head, spearing his fingers through her hair. “Don’t rush me. This is my dream, remember?”

“I remember everything. Tell me what comes next.”

Why he wanted to torture himself he couldn’t say, but he wanted to savor this. “Kiss it…just the tip. With those plush lips of yours. No tongue, yet.”

She wet her lips again, puckered them, and rubbed them over the tip he held out for her. Somehow he managed to keep his eyes open, even though they wanted to roll back in his head. Then she parted her lips to take him deeper.

“Not yet,” he ground out, still hoping against hope to make this last more than three seconds.

“I can’t wait. I want to cradle the weight of you in my mouth. I want to hear you beg as I take you in.” She tightened her hold on his thighs and aimed a plaintive look at him.

“Sweet Virginia, you’ve got me so worked up I can’t trust myself. If you let me in your mouth, I’m going to own it. I’ve been fantasizing about this too long to sit by like a gentleman while you have your fun.”

One night. No apologies. No regrets.”

I absolutely love this series and I absolutely loved this book. A lot. Like a lot A LOT. The town of Bluelick.

When can I move? Samanthe Beck, are you taking applications? Because I am so there it’s not even funny.

If you’ve read the previous book in this series (Light Her Fire) and you’ve been panting at the chance to finally read all about wolverine and Virginia, prepare to read a book with a silly grin on your face the entire time and a major case of lady blue balls. Because wolvering aka Shaun Buchanan is everything you had hoped he’d be and so much more!

What this book has?
A take charge heroine that gives as good as she gets.
Considering that Ginny is running for mayor against someone that isn’t afraid to play dirty, you’d expect her to have a good quip or two, and boy does she.

A sexy as all hell SEAL that has no problems getting a little dirty, if you know what I mean.

I’m full of expectations. I expect you to let me peel those thin, tight, and very damp shorts down your legs. I expect you to give my mouth and tongue and hands free reign until you’re biting your lip to keep from begging for more. And when I give you more, I expect you to scream my name in gratitude.”

THE hottest public restroom sex scene I have ever read. Holy freaking ovaries!

All our favorite characters from previous books along with a good share of humor that will leave you with a goofy smile on your face the entire time.

I wonder if Tyler would Chapter Thirteen me if I gave him a shave and a haircut?”
“When you’re engaged to a man with a nickname like ‘Footlong Longfoot’, you might want to settle for two Chapter Fives followed by a nice Chapter Three to finish things off,” LouAnn observed. “Otherwise, you’ll join the ranks of fidgety pants over here, who can’t sit still through breakfast.”

I adored this book. It was sexy and funny and completely unputdownable. If you haven’t discovered this series yet, I strongly advise you to get better acquainted with the town of Bluelick.

Who knew he’d survive four years at Annapolis, six years as a SEAL, dozens of dangerous missions all over the globe, only to die in Bluelick with a smile on his face, his extremely grateful dick limp in his lap, and a gorgeous redhead completely at fault?

Wine lover, sleep fanatic, and USA Today Bestselling Author of sexy contemporary romance novels, Samanthe Beck lives in Malibu, California, with her long-suffering but extremely adorable husband and their elementary-aged turbo-son. Throw in a furry ninja named Kitty and Bebe the trash talking Chihuahua and you get the whole, chaotic picture.

When not clinging to sanity by her fingernails or dreaming up fun, fan-your-cheeks sexy ways to get her characters to happily-ever-afters, she searches for the perfect cabernet to pair with Ambien.

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Blood.

That’s the only memory he carries from a childhood he does not remember. And now it is all he knows. Blood is his life.

Knox Bishop has done a lot of horrible things, all at the command of the man who holds his leash. It’s a matter of loyalty for him. Allegiance to the man who saved his life when he was a child. So he goes where he is needed and does what he is told. He tortures. He kills. He kills. He tortures. It is an unrelenting cycle that he constantly craves and can never quite satisfy.

Until her.

Eighteen year old Lacey Barnes distributes her assets to fund her dreams. Medical school is the end game and she is determined to get there by any means necessary. But a family member’s careless mistake derails her plans and now she must pay a price in order to save him.

She goes to Knox willingly offering him the only valuable thing she has. Herself. In doing so he allows her into his world, a world filled with darkness but rather than being scared it intrigues her. It lures her, calls to something in her that she hadn’t known existed until he awakened it.

Every bit of his flaws is reflected in her and Knox will do anything to keep her in the darkness with him.

Knox

I’m not what you would call normal. The word has no meaning to me. But I’ve been pretending to act normal. It’s something I’ve been practicing since I’ve been aware of the thrum and its significance in my life. I was seven when I first heard the lullaby. Second grade, just before recess. It happened in a squall. Nothing and then all at once. I remember everything about that day. The bell rang and the other children went to play. Not me. Never me. I always stayed behind, mostly by choice, but never contested because the other children thought I was weird. I think maybe they unconsciously knew that I was lacking something fundamental. Something they all had and I didn’t, and maybe even never had at all. Whatever it was, I was alienated, excluded from their games. But I couldn’t say it bothered me. I was indifferent to it. Katia would sometimes play with me. Yuri’s youngest daughter, my adoptive sister, kept me company when she wasn’t with her own friends. But she’d been home sick that day.

In the small classroom with its oversized, rainbow-colored letters hanging over the chalkboard and tiled number blocks littering the carpeted floor, I sat in the beanbag chair staring fixatedly at the class pet. Sweet Ms. Devon always stayed with me but she’d left for a moment. A moment to heat her lunch. A moment to speak to a fellow staff member in the teachers’ lounge. But it’d been a moment too long for me. The noise in my head had been too loud. The urge too strong. The pink-eyed little rabbit, Mr. Apples, and the yellow pair of scissors sitting blades down in Ms. Devon’s “Best Teacher” mug had been too much of a temptation for me to resist.

The pounding of my heart. The lullaby and the thrum. The latch had given way beneath my shaking fingers, soaked with apprehension and anticipation. The struggle. The frantic movement of something living, something warm, with the same accelerated heartbeat as mine grappling for life. Desperate for freedom even while knowing the inevitable hand of death loomed was intoxicating. The thrill, the excitement, the sweet seductive power. I swam in it. Like too much candy on Halloween. Too much ice cream in the summer. It had been a quick death for Mr. Apples. It had been crude. Amateurish. But ever so effective in quieting the discord of my mind.

Poor, sweet Ms. Devon came to find me on the floor of the overly-bright classroom. Huddled on the floor, covered in Mr. Apples. She’d been one to smile a lot. But I stole her smile that day and replaced it with horror instead. Her pretty features contorted like a Kabuki mask.

Have you ever looked at something so beautiful, so utterly alluring that you just wanted to destroy it? That’s what you are to me. You are this beautiful thing I want to destroy.

Do you like dark romance that have a redeemable hero that slowly succumbs to his inevitable love for the heroine? Perhaps an anti-hero that has what you’d like to think is a semblance of a conscience? Well fuck that and your delicate sensibilities! Because you sure as fuck won’t find it here!

I’m serious. This book is like the love child that would result if Seduced In The Dark and Dexter ever had wild monkey sex and then had a baby that was seriously fucked in the head. Holy mother this was all sorts of fucked up. It was also Francette Phal’s best book to date. If you’re like me and have read every other book that this author has written, then you know she leans towards the super angsty, a little gritty, a lot dark, and seriously fucked up stories. Well, this is her most dark and fucked up yet.

If you’re looking for an anti-hero that is unapologetically flawed (pun intended), meet Knox. A serial killer, a cold and brutal borderline sociopath. This is not a man that will make your happy place tingle. This is a man that will have you quivering in fear and questioning your sanity because you find yourself liking it…and then finding that your happy place tingles. (Just don’t expect that till pretty much the very end of the book)

Lacey is a product of her circumstances. A high school senior who has all the skills to get into the best universities…if only she wasn’t constantly taking care of her junky mother and a brother that she’s constantly bailing out of trouble.

I know I am the constant in this never ending cycle of fuckery. I don’t know who I killed in my past life, but it seems I’m paying for it in this one.

Your heart will break for this girl and everything that she goes through. The author spares no gritty or painful detail when it comes to what she deals with on a daily basis.

But then her life takes an unimaginable turn when she meets him.

If you’re looking for a book that is dark but has this undercurrent of a budding romance, this is NOT that. Not at all. At least not yet. There is nothing soft or even redeeming about Knox in this book. He is a cold and ruthless bastard. There are scenes of borderline non-consent. There are also scenes of extremely graphic violence. Knox doesn’t look at the Lacey and all of a sudden become a different person. Fuck no! He’s just as cold and ruthless with her…

I will treat you like a favorite toy and break you simply because I can. In this room, you are an object, my object. You have no voice. You have no opinion. Your wants, your needs, are inconsequential to the pleasure that I will reap from your pain.

Yeah. Exactly.

This book takes you deep into the underbelly of a Boston crime family. It’s depraved, and dark, and violent. It spares no details and makes no excuses. There’s murder, rape, human trafficking, and then there’s the beautiful faces with the ruthless hearts that run it all. It’s fucked up is what I’m trying to tell you here. Don’t expect any moments of light or any dose of happy.

It’s a truth you will never say aloud. A want you will never admit to, even to yourself, but i can see your sweet, dark truth. I can smell how badly you want to be controlled. And rest assured, Lacey, there will only ever be one man who pulls your leash. Me.

Through all this the author manages to build an inexplicable connection between a predator and his prey. This truly goes to show you Francette’s talent as a writer because as depraved as it was, you’ll believe it, you’ll actually find yourself rooting for this couple at the end and yet you won’t have the slightest idea why.

He seduces me with his words, lays a path of pleasure-laced agony for me to follow and I do. Stupidly, I follow him down the blinding darkness of this euphoric hell. Shame can’t touch the girl he wants me to be, the girl who needs his absolutely mastery.

I can honestly tell you that this is one of the darkest books I’ve read to date. When I finished it I wanted a hug, a shot, and my mama…maybe not in that exact order. I can also tell you that it was a book I couldn’t put down for even a second. If the second book was already out, I’d be diving straight into it because it was THAT good.

Notice that I barely gave you any details about the plot? That’s because it’s best that way. Trust me when I say you don’t want to read any reviews before reading this one because you’ll just ruin the entire effect. You want to experience it along with the characters; the surprises, the secrets, the revelations, everything.

This is part 1 of a 2 book series and it does end with a cliffy. A big one in my opinion. A cliffy so bad that I’m practically foaming at the mouth for the next book. But I recommend you read this right away anyway, if anything just to experience the crazy along with me. As a matter of fact I’m still trying to find my sanity after finishing this and loving it as much as I did.

Francette lives in Massachusetts with her amazingly supportive husband of ten years and her darling two year old son. Reading amazing books has led her to writing and she’s dabbled in fan-fiction before self-publishing her own works. She’s constantly thinking up new stories to write and does her best work when music is playing in the background. Romance is where she’s most comfortable but she hopes to one day venture in mystery novels. She has a weakness for coffee ice cream, tropical fruits and a good glass of wine.

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