Review & #DGRFave: Crown of Lies by @PepperWinters

CROWN OF LIES
Series: Crown of Lies Duet #1
Genre: Dark Romance
Author: Pepper Winters
Release Date: January 31, 2017

“I met the boy I wanted. But then he vanished and a new man claimed me instead. My father approved, my colleagues congratulated, and behind closed doors, I was bedded by a stranger.”

Noelle Charlston lived a fairy-tale life: a doting father, a powerful job, and a future blessed with financial security.

However, two meetings with two men changed her happy existence forever. First, she met the boy who made her heart sing. Second, she met the man who made her blood quiver.

Noelle’s freedom was no longer hers. It belonged to the man her father believed was the perfect match. The man who pulled his lies over everyone he touched.
Including her.

Seduced and manipulated, Noelle lives two lives. The one everyone sees on the outside and the one no one sees on the inside. The lies he spins, the truth he hides, the mystery he webs—it’s all enough to slowly erode the woman she’d been and turn her into something else.

Until her past collides with her present.
And it’s her turn to lie.
To everyone…including herself.

AMAZON | iBOOKS

Thieves can become saints. Saints can become thieves. Most of us deserve a second chance.

Without fail, this woman’s writing managed to blow me away once again. Lies wrapped in truth. Truths wrapped in thinly veiled threats. A mysterious draw wrapped in animal magnetism. This book completely owned me. It hypnotized. It enraptured. It was pure literary magic, weaving a story so spellbinding, it was impossible to put down.

I don’t know if I’d been the one to seduce him, but he’d utterly decimated me.

It could be said that Noelle Charlston lives a charmed life. Growing up in luxury and set to inherit a retail empire, she wants for almost nothing…except a taste of normalcy. The youngest CEO in the history of the company, she may be rich, but she’s not a stranger to hard work. She barely leaves her office and her work is all she knows and all she does. Yearning for just a few hours of normal, she makes a decision that irrevocably changes the course of her life.

Now three years have passed since that fateful night that she’ll never forget. She’s a little older, a lot wiser, and even more disillusioned. Given up on love and finding a man that will want her for more than her money and empire, she’s lost herself in her work…until a man demands her attention in a way that’s impossible to ignore.

He hypnotized me. He corrupted me.

This man is pure animal magnetism wrapped in alluring confidence. He’s not used to hearing no and he won’t take it for an answer. The sparks fly between them; a mix of antagonism and undeniable chemistry. A hate lust so strong, it practically burns through the pages.

He wants to own her. She’s her own woman. He’s determined to break her. She knows no man ever will. He’s determined to mark her. She refuses to let him close enough. What takes place is a back and forth that’s so delicious, it was enrage you as much as it will captivate you.

The story is flawlessly written in Pepper’s signature fluid and lyrical style. It kept me glued to the pages from beginning to end, completely incapable of putting it down. I read this in one sitting while trying to savor every word because I didn’t want it to end.

This is book one in a duet, and I’m already vibrating to get my hands on the conclusion. If you’re a fan of this author, this book is not to be missed.

He fucked me. He took me. He consumed me.




The conclusion, THRONE OF TRUTH, is releasing on February 28

ADD IT ON GOODREADS

Review: ★Jacked Up★ by @AycartElle

Review-JUJacked Up
Series: Bowen Boys #4
Genre: Erotic, Contemporary Romance
Author: Elle Aycart
Release Date: March 8, 2016add-to-goodreads-button-2

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Since James Bowen married Elle Cooper’s sister, tall dark and handsome Jack Copeland has become a permanent fixture in Elle’s life. A silent, rather annoying fixture, with his arrogant aloofness and my-way-or-the-highway attitude rubbing her the wrong way. So she does what any self-respecting woman would: aggravate the wits out of him.

Party girl Elle Cooper is everything covert operative Jack Copeland doesn’t want in a woman. Outspoken, sassy. A smartass. Too bad when he closes his eyes, all his mind conjures up is her. To everyone else, he comes off as intimidating and unapproachable. Everyone except Elle. So he does what any self-respecting man would: stay the hell away from her. But when Elle gets herself in deep trouble, all of Jack’s protective instincts kick in, and keeping his distance is no longer an option.

Elle’s already complicated life takes a downturn, and she’s given two choices: go to jail or stick with Jack.

With Jack and Elle in such close proximity, sparks are flying all over the damn place and it’s only a matter of time before they ignite. The only question is, who will kill Elle first? The vicious drug cartel hunting her or Jack?

Buy LinksAMAZON | B&N 

Review4.5 starsJacked Up-DGR

I say when we are done and we are not. Not by a long shot. You’ve been taunting me for months. Years, pet. Now that you got my undivided attention, you can’t say you don’t want it. You can’t back down. I won’t allow it. You’ve been asking for it. For me. This is what you get: me. I’ll tie you down and fuck you so thoroughly you will be limp by the time I’m done with you.

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!

She sighed. “That tone is not going to go down well with me, Borg.”
“Which tone?”
“The obey-me-or-else tone, the one that demands servitude. Doing things on command is not a skill I’ve acquired or have any interest in acquiring.”

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.

Who’s that?” one of the women whispered to her.
Judging by his language and social skills, the missing link between humans and monkeys.
“A friend of my brother-in-law.”

Elle is exactly the kind of woman Jack doesn’t want; fun-loving, slightly flighty party girl that doesn’t take much in her life seriously…unless you take aggravating him as a thing, because she does that real well. But beneath the zingers, insults and barbs they throw each other’s way, there’s such a heavy undercurrent of lust, that you find yourself squeezing your legs together until that final big boom you know is coming and these two will finally CUMbust.

You don’t want to fuck with me, pet.”
“But I do.”
“You can’t take me on. I like my woman tied up. Ball-gagged. Blindfolded. Plug up their asses. Pussy spread open for me to fuck it however I want. If I take the gag off, it’s to fuck their mouths.”

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.

You think I can’t even look at you? I want you so fucking badly I can’t even breathe.”
“Well, I hope your ninja training includes holding your breath for long periods. Or let me ask at the counter, they might have an iron lung somewhere. Either way you said your dick is not in charge here, so order it back to its cave and don’t waste my time.”

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.

The sexual chemistry between them was so hot, it practically crackled on the pages. I appreciated the slow burn approach the author took and not throwing them into bed together right away. I love a good sexual tension and this book certainly had that.

But beyond the super sexy romance and fantastic characters, Jacked Up had a great plot that served to tie everything together flawlessly. The suspense was the perfect touch. It wasn’t so intense that it took away from the romance, but it was the perfect spark to spice things up even further.

Jacked Up was the perfect combination of sizzling hot erotica, romance, and story. If you haven’t read anything by this author yet, you are seriously missing out.

On a side note here’s a particular secondary character that I’m beyond thrilled will be getting a book because I was salivating for his story the entire time.


READ THE REST OF THE SERIES


MORE THAN MEETS THE INK | HEAVY ISSUES | TO THE MAX

★DGR’s Ultimate List of Hate-To-Love Romance★

DGR-Ultimate list of hate-2-love Let’s talk about hate-to-love for a hot minute here, shall we? It just so happens that this is easily my favorite trope to read…EVAH. No joke. Something about the banter, that repressed sexual tension, the sparks that fly between the H & h when they argue yet you know they’re probably 2 seconds from jumping each other. *shivers* Delicious. So obviously what this means is that I’ve read a lot in this genre…like a lot. So much so, that when I started to put together my list, my brain began to hurt. There are so many books that I wanted to put on this list, but they’ve also been in my previous ones and so I decided not to mix genres. A lot of the hate-love I read in my dark romances, but since that’s not everyone’s cuppa and I already made my ultimate list of Anti-Heroes, I decided not to be redundant and skip this particular genre. If you’re curious about the Anti Hero list, you can read it HERE.

If you’re new to my blog, my Ultimate List is a monthly feature that I do on the last Saturday each month with my favorites in various categories, tropes, and whatever else. If you’ve missed any of my previous ones, you can read them all here:

★ULTIMATE LIST OF DIRTY TALKERS★

★ULTIMATE LIST OF ROCK STARS★

★ULTIMATE LIST OF FIGHTERS★

★ULTIMATE LIST OF ANTI-HEROES★

But let’s get back to hate-to-love. You’ll notice my list is random and features books that were recently published and some from quite a while ago. I’ve read all the books on the list and they’re my go-to recs for this trope. I loved them! Of course there’s probably plenty that I haven’t read yet, so I’d love to hear about any of your favorites that I may have missed in the comments below. Now without further ado, let’s get to the list!


[Read more…]

Review: ★Dare Me★ by Stella Rhys

Review- Dare Me
Dare Me
Genre: Contemporary, Erotic Romance
Author: Stella Rhys
Release Date: September 30, 2015add-to-goodreads-button3

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CALLUM

Lake and I never had a chance at normal. She was drop dead gorgeous from day one – our maid’s granddaughter who became my mother’s spoiled living doll. I hated that girl with all my heart and at the same time, I worshipped every inch of her skin, every word that she spoke. I lived for her and the twisted game of truth or dare we created to feed our f***ed up needs for shock, shame and one-upping each other. Lake was my drug, my bad lifestyle choice.

And I’d fallen in and out of love with her a thousand times till the day she disappeared.

LAKE

I know I ruined Callum Pike and going back to New York may be the worst decision I’ve ever made, which is saying a lot. But I’m willing to risk it. I never wanted to leave and now that I can, I’m going back – to be with the man I made, who made me. I know I screwed him up. I know he’s hardened and become cold. I know the love we had is gone. But I need him now more than ever and no matter how much it hurts, no matter what kind of sick or satisfying way he decides to torment me, I’m going to fight through it.

I’m going to repent for the way I broke him and I’m going to find the Callum Pike I loved again – even if it tears me apart.

**a standalone novel**

Buy-Links10AMAZON

DamnedResponsibilty

Review3.5 starsDare Me2-DGR

Dare MeDare Me by Stella Rhys
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 Stars


Plain and simple, I hated her…
Because of my mom, this random girl became my damned responsibility, and I wound up hating her as much as I fucking loved every inch of her skin and every goddamned word that she spoke.


Now before I get into my review, allow me to clarify my rating. 3.5 stars means I liked the book. Quite a bit. And I did. I loved the story, the characters, and I highly enjoyed the writing. There was just one particular part missing for me (which has everything to do with my tastes as a reader and not with the book itself) that kept this being from a solid 4 stars. But I’ll get to that in a bit…

Stella Rhys is a new to me author that caught my attention with this book and it’s delicious synopsis. What can I say? I’m a sucker for the hate-to-love trope and I haven’t read one book with it yet that I haven’t liked. Dare Me was certainly no exception. We have hate to love AND second chance romance all in one book? That’s like waving a bone in front of a rabid dog for me. I kid you not. I’m on it like there’s no tomorrow.

Lake and Callum grew up together when Lake’s grandmother passed away and Callum’s mother unofficially adopted her into the family fold. Always wanting a daughter, she doted on Lake and spoiled her with all the luxuries Lake’s former upbringing didn’t allow her. Callum was the boy that she hated to love…. or is it loved to hate…

While they’re not “together” in their youth, they do allow themselves a game through their truth or dare games that constantly finds them together. They date other people, but always find themselves gravitating towards each other until they finally fall in love….but then Lake disappears and leaves Callum a broken, and cold hearted man in the place of the naive boy that was in love. Now six years later she’s back and determined to right her wrongs, but Callum won’t make it easy on her. He wants answers for her leaving; answers she’s not so ready to give.


Am I worth it to you, Callum?”
“You are. You are and you always will be.”

Now here is where I felt the book had a chance to go from good to great; the flashbacks. The flashbacks to their youth is told in a recap type of writing, that’s not quite past tense and not quite fully recap. Basically you get a retelling of what happened but you’re not fully taken back to the moment…if that even makes sense. This is what effectively took me out of the story a bit. Had the story given an actual flashback as opposed to the recap, it would have been more effective in my opinion. As it was, I felt like I was more on the outside looking in as opposed to truly being a part of the story. I also wished that their past was fleshed out a lot more. As it was, I found it difficult to truly connect to the why’s of their game. They have feelings for one another, but they continue to date other people and they’re never officially together. I can write it off as youthful stupidity or naivety, but there’s never a good enough reason that we’re given. Had this part of the story been fleshed out more, I think I would have been able to connect to it better.

I loved the characters and their romance. Lake and Callum are both very compelling characters. I knew right away that I’d fall for Callum, and I really did. His struggle for his feelings for Lake were like a live-wire you feel though the entire book. He wants to hate her, but he simply can’t because a part of him has always loved her even when he hated her. I didn’t expect for the story to be as deep as it was. It was certainly no shallow hate/love thing they had going on. Lake had her reasons for doing what she did, and the reasons you get piece by piece throughout the story. I really found myself wishing that these reasons were once again told in the form of a true flashback by really taking the reader back to that day as opposed to getting it in the form of a recap, as I felt that this would have made the actual story a lot more compelling. As it was, I found myself going in and out of the story since I did struggle a bit with the transitions of present to “recap” back to present again. For me, it messed with the flow of the story.

I did however really enjoy the author’s voice and writing style. I loved the story itself, my quibble aside, and I can say I would read any future books from this author. If you’re looking for a sexy hate/love story with an intense alpha hero and the heroine that brings him to his knees, this is a book you want to check out. My quibble aside, this is definitely a book I’d recommend and enjoyed myself quite a bit. It may not have been perfect, but it was perfect for my mood and it hit the spot just right.

ARC courtesy of author in exchange for an honest review

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Review: ★Bully★ by @PenDouglas

Review Bully BULLY
Series: Fall Away #1
Genre: New Adult Romance
Author: Penelope Douglasadd-to-goodreads-button3

20871378

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Penelope Douglas delivers an unforgettable New Adult romance that toes the fine line between love and hate…

My name is Tate. He doesn’t call me that, though. He’ll barely refer to me at all, and he’ll hardly ever speak to me.

But he still won’t leave me alone.

We were best friends once. Then he turned on me and made it his mission to ruin my life. I’ve been humiliated, shut out, and gossiped about all through high school. His pranks and rumors got worse as time wore on. I even went to Europe for a year, just to avoid him.

But I’m done hiding from him now, and there’s no way I’ll allow him to ruin another year. He might not have changed, but I have.

It’s time to fight back.

When one brave young woman stands up to her best friend Jared, now tormenter, the consequences go beyond anything either of them ever would have imagined…

Buy LinksAMAZON

Review

5 starsBully- Dirty Girl Romance

I had loved Jared once, but now I knew, without a doubt, that “my Jared” was gone.

God. This book. I mean, THIS BOOK. Words fail me to describe just how much I loved this. I’ve had this in my kindle for what feels like ages since I got it as a freebie way back in 2013. I’ve seen it making the rounds on Goodreads and for some reason I still hadn’t read it. If I can kick my own ass for not reading this sooner, I would, because this book? This book reminded me about all the reasons why I fell in love with New Adult romance to begin with. And I’m not talking about the manufactured angst, stupid decisions, at at times gratuitous sex scenes. No. I’m talking that all-encompassing feeling, just the right amount of gut-wrenching angst, you hate but love the hero, and you want to high five the heroine kind of read. It was like it was custom written just for me.

This is how bullies are made…

Bully teaser- Dirty Girl RomanceJared will be a hero that every reader will love to hate. I sure as hell did. But as much as I wanted to hate him, I can’t deny that I was always wondering what was buried right below the surface to make him act the way he did because you just knew there had to be something. I have to say that Penelope Douglas did a phenomenal job with character development and that’s what made the book as good as it was. The characters were multi-faceted and strongly developed. You get to know both of them as the story progresses and you also begin to understand both of them that much more.
Bully teaser3-Dirty Girl RomanceWhat truly made this book for me was Tate. She wasn’t your typical NA heroine. This is a girl that had a backbone but didn’t take it overboard. She wasn’t intentionally cruel or flippant, she stood up for herself and she owned it. She was comfortable in her own skin and it was the perfect balance to the Jared’s mercurial moods.

You were my tempest, my thunder cloud, my tree in the downpour. I loved all of those things, and I loved you. But now? You’re a fucking drought. I thought that all the assholes drove German cars, but it turns out that pricks in Mustangs can still leave scars.”

I can’t remember the last time a book kept me up all night, completely incapable of setting it down for even a second because I needed to know what happened next. I was sucked in from just the first chapter and read this in one sitting. This is exactly the kind of angst that I’m starving for. Imperfectly perfect, rage inducing and yet flawless. That probably doesn’t even make sense, but if you’re an angst whore like me, you’ll know what I mean. My absolute favorite trope is the enemies-to-lovers, hate/lust thing and Bully delivers that in spades. While there were parts I wanted more from, I still can’t rate it down for that simply because this book absolutely enthralled me. So much so, that I couldn’t even bat an eyelash at any minor quibbles it may have had.

We can be confused about what is good for us but not about what we truly want.

Bully teaser2-Dirty Girl RomanceSimply put, it was amazing. Just amazing. This is a book that I recommend to any lovers of New Adult romance. I have found myself a new author to obsess over and my only regret is not reading this fantastic book sooner.

Yesterday lasts forever.
Tomorrow comes never.
Until you.


THE SERIES

Click directly on book covers for buy links!

Fall Away #1

20871378

Fall Away #1.5

20803962

Fall Away #2

18129852

Fall Away #3

18343413

Fall Away #4

23437291
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