Deathless & Divided by Bethany-Kris
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I admit I’m sicker than a dog and am hopped up on DayQuil and Sudaffed. Bear that in mind in the event this review turns into the ramblings of a deranged housewife.

First, I’d like to thank the heavens above for mobster romances. Such a sexy mix of sin and pleasure. My first introduction to this genre was Cora Reilly’s “Bound by” series. (If you haven’t read that series stop everything and read those books! I’m serious. Just do it.) Quickly followed that fantastic series with Bethany-Kris’ “The Arrangement”. It was a steamy book but a little too much sex to be believable and not enough content for my liking. (Yes, check outside your windows! I just said that a book had too much sex! Certainly pigs are flying!) J.M. Darhower’s “Monster in his Eyes” certainly falls in this category but left me with mixed feelings as did Tijans Books’ “Carter Reed”. Belle Aurora’s “Lev” falls somewhere in between.

Now that you’ve survived my listing of mobster romances let me assure you that “Deathless & Divided” was one of my favorites. Why? Well, the dirty talk and sex scenes certainly didn’t shy away from anything. But above that the author did a great job showcasing the nitty gritty of mob life whereas other series have painted it with rose colored glasses. There was lots of blood, senseless killings, vendettas and characters posturing for more leadership & power. The character’s reactions (for the most part) were reasonable and I could sympathize with their struggles.

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Seduced in the Dark by C.J. Roberts
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Uncle, Uncle! UNCLE! I give up! I’m sorry. I did my best to “hang in there” and get through this twisted novel but I just can’t. I’m calling “uncle” and giving up. 🙁

Are you a fan of deeply depraved erotica? If so, pick up this book, sit in a dark room and HAVE AT IT! 😉 I thought I was a big girl and could read the novel with a certain level of maturity and enjoyment. Alas at 28% into the book I just couldn’t read another page. I was squirming (not in a good way) and cringing. Kudos to the author on writing such a powerful book and characters that they left me haunted. I feel like a kid needing to sleep with a nightlight on after a bad dream. I think the next book I’ll crack open will be about unicorns and rainbows to help me bleed out the images left behind.

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Captive in the Dark by C.J. Roberts
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Alright, I’m just going to put it out there. Halfway through this tantalizing book I was pretty convinced that the life of a sex slave (at least one where Caleb is my master) sounded pretty alright to me. 🙂 I’m pretty sure if a man who’s beyond beautiful wants to sit in a dark room and repeatedly lick me I’m not going to fight against him. Several times I caught myself considering the street corners in my community to determine which one had the best luck of being captured if I lingered long enough. Pick me! Pick me!

But in all seriousness I greatly enjoyed the book. While some scenes were downright raunchy I thought this added to the story and was excited to read the next book of the series.

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Carter Reed by Tijans Books
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is the 3rd book I’ve read by author Tijans Books. In this story Emma (cliche pretty but doesn’t realize it) reaches out to Carter (sexy mobster and childhood buddy) after killing a rival mobster who was in the process of raping her roommate. As my favorite saying goes “I have mixed drinks about feelings”…the same rings true for my reaction to this book. Loved the premise- who doesn’t love a sexy mobster who rescues his childhood love from nefarious characters?!? However the story fell disingenuous for me in a few crucial parts. Perhaps with a little more explanation or understanding of the characters these could have been avoided. First, in a flashback scene you learn that when Emma’s brother AJ was murdered he instructed her to go directly to Carter for protection. For some reason she chose to ignore those instructions for 10 years while struggling to survive and inheriting a succubus friend named Mallory. Secondly, there’s several passages when it seemed the characters were being intentionally obtuse or difficult for the sake of adding more pages to the book. Admittedly it’s “voyeuristically” enjoyable (yes, I made up the term but I think it fits) when there’s angst and misunderstandings that further develops the plot but these seemed annoyingly obvious. For example, when interacting with her friends Mallory, Ben and Amanda our main lady Emma seems bound and determined to use as few words as possible, allowing them to make gross assumptions about her motives. Had she actually spoken like a “normal” character these misunderstandings could have been avoided and saved me from drowning my frustrations in a few too many glasses of sauvignon blanc.

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