Corrupt-- Penelope Douglas

I read it, I was sucked into it, but I don’t know if I liked it. How can that be, you ask? Simple. It was dark and twisty and overall all kinds of f-ed up. Seriously.

Erika

I was told that dreams were our heart’s desires. My nightmares, however, became my obsession.
His name is Michael Crist.
My boyfriend’s older brother is like that scary movie that you peek through your hand to watch. He is handsome, strong, and completely terrifying. The star of his college’s basketball team and now gone pro, he’s more concerned with the dirt on his shoe than me.
But I noticed him.
I saw him. I heard him. The things that he did, and the deeds that he hid…For years, I bit my nails, unable to look away.
Now, I’ve graduated high school and moved on to college, but I haven’t stopped watching Michael. He’s bad, and the dirt I’ve seen isn’t content to stay in my head anymore.
Because he’s finally noticed me.

Michael

Her name is Erika Fane, but everyone calls her Rika.
My brother’s girlfriend grew up hanging around my house and is always at our dinner table. She looks down when I enter a room and stills when I am close. I can always feel the fear rolling off of her, and while I haven’t had her body, I know that I have her mind. That’s all I really want anyway.
Until my brother leaves for the military, and I find Rika alone at college.
In my city.
Unprotected.
The opportunity is too good to be true as well as the timing. Because you see, three years ago she put a few of my high school friends in prison, and now they’re out.
We’ve waited. We’ve been patient. And now every last one of her nightmares will come true.

The synopsis makes it seem like this is some high-school prankery. It’s not. It’s grown-up, psychopathic terror. Throughout the first half of the book, you honestly aren’t sure of anything. Which way is up, who is right, who to trust or believe? There are glimpses of the past making this novel like a giant jig-saw puzzle that you don’t have a picture of the final outcome.

Some people are comparing it to B.B. Reid’s “Fear Me”, and while I can see the similarities, I would definitely say this has differences for the better. I completely and utterly despised “Fear Me”, “Corrupt” has some similar aspects, i.e. brooding domineering alpha male, who is bordering on being completely abusive and a female character who falls prey to said male. However in this book, our alpha-male, Michael, never truly goes into things looking to physically hurt Rika. Emotionally scar, yes. And Rika, she plays plenty of games on her own. She gives as good as she gets. But the darker, twisty-er part of this book did leave me feeling unsettled.

A few things that I was confused by:

·         Random three-some

·         The prevalence of jumping to conclusions

·         Why is revenge a dish best served cold?

A few things that I greatly enjoyed:

·         Random-three some

·         The epilogue

·         Having to postpone my gym date due to the drama-filled suspense

Will I read this book again? Probably, right before I read Kai’s story, but not on the regular. I fully admit that I enjoy feel good books. This one has some definite feel good moments but also has a lot of moments that made me question why I was reading it. I will say that my favorite thing about this entire book was the epilogue. It brought the storyline to a close in a way that was complete. I would recommend reading it if you like suspense and drama, if you are after a HEA there is one…for the most part.

Nero (Made Men 1)-- Sarah Brianne

Let me preface this by saying that I really love this series and this book was the perfect start to it.

Nero is the king of Legacy Prep, living a life of power.
Elle is the school’s punching bag, living a life of fear.
The only good girls Nero knows jump in his bed when he tells them to.
The closest Elle has come to a bad boy like him is in the cafeteria line.
The mob boss gave him orders to find out what she knows.
Her mouth is sealed.

I just want to be a fu**ing made man.
I’m just a fu**ing waitress

After witnessing a murder, Elle is determined to live life like it never happened. However, the boss has a different idea. He sent his ladies-man of a son to find out what she knows. One little problem... he has been a part of her problem for the last three years. Just a week before these event he made fun of Elle's best friend. Which we all come to find out is a sure way to get on her shit-list.

But Nero makes it his mission to right the wrongs he didn't stop and to win her trust. She becomes more important to him than finding out what she knows. But the family needs to know. She was lucky to be alive, and it was only because she is 17. Dante Caruso doesn't kill kids.

Nero is pretty much exactly what Elle needs. She has spent the last three years of her life lying to everyone but Chloe. Nero has one main rule, "Don't lie to me." That rule is definitely a test for Elle. One because she doesn't fully trust him and two because it is so deeply ingrained in her. Nero also has that little extra something, you could call it dominance, alpha-male extreme, hot sexiness--what ever you call it, he has it in spades. So for Elle's first dip into the dating pool it would be overwhelming. In a great way.

Nero and Elle have their ups and downs. I mean it's basically the worlds worst emotional roller coaster. I know you are thinking but isn't that unhealthy? Why yes, yes it is. But they are both kinda screwed up, Nero holds onto an amazing amount of guilt and Elle is broken from abuse. This is where I get frustrated.

Elle has spent three years at Legacy Prep High School on a scholarship. She has spent those three years being bullied, verbally and physically. Like bloody heap beatings. No-one did anything. They stood by and watched. Her family didn't notice (granted they addressed that a little). One of the teachers knows that her time there hasn't been the best and yet he does nothing. This school has terrified this girl and her reasoning is that they would be glad to have her gone so they would save money. THIS IS NOT OKAY. EVER. Now, the school may feel like Nero did and think that it was only verbal insults being said by girls. Still not okay. However when Nero found out that it was more than just the girls, he went nuclear. He also beat the crap out of a lot of people.

Now that being said, if you have seen, I hated (with a fiery passion) Fear Me by B.B. Reid. You might question why I like this book, well Nero was never really abusive towards Elle. Especially when they were in their relationship, he cherished and protected her. There were no threats, blackmailing or issues of consent. He stopped when she said stop. Yes, he pushed her boundaries but she had the final say. This book is more on the line of Bully by Penelope Douglas, than the monstrosity Fear Me.

The Anatomy of Jane-- Amelia LeFay

This steamy novel is not for the closed-minded or the younger crowd. Definitely earns an NC-17 or even an X rating. Whoooeeeee! The moments in this books were up there in scorch level. Wes, Max and Jane have such a great chemistry together and apart you can literally feel it through the book--like into yourself not through the story-line but you see it that way too.

There is more than just sex, which is huge. I feel quite a few books nowadays try and go "50 Shades" but get lost on plot. "The Anatomy of Jane" weaves a tangled web of love, lies and hope. They love each other, they lie to/for each other and they hope for the best for each other. Each character goes through a journey, trying to find out who they are and what's important to them. Of course, they do that while having a tantalizing ménage à trois.

I will fully admit that there is the cliche of extremely rich, attractive men save a poor, young attractive girl. But in this cliches the two men are totally gay for each other. It's fantastic. I fully admit to enjoy an occasional gay-smut. This book was different from those in the sense that we were the interlopers in their relationship. As the reader (and Jane), we are awkwardly getting turned on as we stumble across their steamy love fest. Ms. LeFay does a their relationship justice. They aren't something new. They have been together for four years. They know the ins and outs of each other and then adding someone new to the mix unbalances somethings. She made it seem so realistic as to how this might actually occur in life.

Please read it, so you too can share in my despair of having to wait for book two. The last three pages, boy did they destroy me or what?! I seriously hate books that end this way, but it's so good. I will just have to re-read it.

The Eden Series--Georgia Le Carre

Each of the books was sitting just under two hundred pages so I didn’t count each one towards my Goodreads challenge. So I am reviewing the series.  It’s about 550 pages, if that. The formatting was a bit funky and the writing was super basic. I mean it took me maybe three hours to read all three books, and for the first hour and a half Captain America was on in the background. Chris Evans is quite a distraction.

That is how I would describe this series, I think. It didn’t grab my attention. Usually when I read not even Chris Evans can distract me from a good story but I was drawn into a movie I have seen countless times to not read this book.

Honestly there are two reasons that I kept reading. I read the description for Eden 3 and it was quite a captivating little blurb. I felt compelled to know what happened in that book. My second reason was that all three of the books were on kindle unlimited and I could read them for “free”.

Now onto the actual story line: in the first chapter you have the instant attraction, the lust at first sight kind of thing.  You have this sexy gangster who owns the strip club that our heroine is dancing at.  Well they fancy each other in the most carnal of ways. They give into their desires and a world wind romance ensues. Sound familiar because it sounds like most of the stripper-y books I have read. BUT WAIT! There’s more.  Of course I can’t tell you the more because that would be big ole giant 

However I can tell you that it is a nice little turn of events that takes this mostly cliché, slightly bland book up a notch.

When I say bland I mean that the characters weren’t all that intriguing to me, they fell a bit flat. I did not mean that the sex scenes were bland.  A bit overdone, like seriously how much sex can one couple have?  It wasn’t like just sex, I mean if they were ever alone with each other they were fucking, hardcore, rough and dirty.  I liked it.

Overall not great, but the plot twist in Eden 2 was definitely enough to keep me engaged.  Eden 3 was by far my favorite. I think that was where the most character development was.  Also there was more interesting things that happened besides sex.

Fear Me--B.B. Reid

I have absolutely no idea how the average rating of this book is so high. This book is basically glorified rape. I know that the disclaimer says dubious consent but I understood that as maybe drunken or drugged sex not the rape that occurred. The main male lead is described as an antihero, and alpha male, when in reality he is in high school, a grade-A asshole, abusive and a rapist--no dubious consent about it. He is a rapist.

The story stars of with Lake’s first encounter of Kieran. They are young, I think around 8.  Someone is stuck up on the monkey bars, no one moves to helps so Lake being the new kid goes to help him.  One quick shove and she is hurt on the ground.  This is when Kieran first starts threatening her and hurting her.  He threatened to kill Lake just like he did her.  For ten years, he is verbally and physically abusive to her for reason she has no idea about except that she reminds him of her.  Her friend informs her that he is back from incarceration. The psychological trauma is so extreme that she hyperventilates to the point that she PASSES OUT!  

Well, now he is back and he threatens to kill her aunt and tells her that she can longer be friends with her best friend of ten years. He controls almost all aspects of her life, including making her quit her job. All of this is done with ulterior motives and sexual ones at that.  As previously stated, he threatens to kill her aunt if she doesn’t become HIS--his to take however, whenever he wants. She fights especially the first few times, Lake even calls Kieran a rapist. Sure she is attracted to him and always has been, but it doesn’t counteract all the crap he pulled.

There is more to the story that is a great big spoiler, but that whole storyline is so not plausible. It’s basically we have two stories one with a bullying rapist and one where someone’s past comes to destroy everything.  Of course the past is also kind of rape-y. This whole book was a cluster of rape and abuse.

This is not okay. This book was not okay. Not only all this but the storyline just is hokey. No! There was just so much wrong with this story. Maybe if it wasn't set in high school? Maybe if there wasn't rape? Maybe if the characters were likable and not annoying? Or maybe not. I'm not sure if this book could have been salvageable to me.

The Starlight Rite--Cherise Sinclair

Description:

“Genre: BDSM Futuristic Science Fiction
Her voice is known throughout the galaxy; her face is completely unknown.
Fleeing her monstrous husband back on puritanical Earth and the police assassins he's hired, singer Mella Archer becomes stranded on the frontier planet of Nexus. Desperate to survive, she picks the wrong target--Dain, the head of planetary security.
Dain is amused by the attempted theft, and when Mella is sentenced to serve time indentured as a bedroom slave, he buys her contract. As he introduces the repressed Earther to the pleasures of sex with a dominating warrior, he slowly comes to realize that the little thief has stolen his heart.
When the monster arrives on Nexus and has lunch with Dain, Mella is panic-stricken. Her owner must be part of the conspiracy to kill her, and it will only be a matter of time before the monster discovers that she’s still alive. She attempts to escape. She fails. Embittered by her lies and mistrust, Dain returns her to Indenture Hall to be sold again.
Now the monster has found her. And she has nowhere left to run...

Publisher's Note: This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable: Anal play/intercourse, BDSM theme and elements (including/not limited to: bondage, caning, spanking), dubious consent.”

I loved this book. I mean the genre says it all “BDSM Futuristic Science Fiction”. Obviously from the genre we can imply that this NOT SUITABLE for those under the age of 18. It definitely is not, nope, not suitable. Cherise Sinclair is probably one of the best BDSM writers out there. I originally found her though her Shadowlands series. Those are addictive and wonderful, but once I was finished with those I looked into her other books.  This one sort of fills all the requirements for a random afternoon/evening read. A hunky Alpha male, a different world with different cultures, a young woman unwilling to conform and sex. Really well rounded in that sense.

Now to the nit-picking.  Mella comes from Earth but is charged of a crime on Nexus where she becomes an unshuline or sex slave. Well in the first moments with Dain, he goes through her body parts and tells her the word in his language.  BUT then we come to find out that sex is almost taboo on Earth and Mella (who was married) hadn’t actually seen or felt any of the goods. So how on earth (heehee) do the translated words mean the “dirty words” (cock, pussy, etc.)?  For a society so sexually repressed they sure do get off on some of the more vulgar words. I mean they could have called it “her precious flower” or something like that but NOOOO.  That is really the only issue I found while reading this book. It was like she wanted to be “dirty” while using the different language but it didn’t fit in with how her worlds were described. Like I said before, it was the nit-picking.

Just a little bit more on the story, I thought that the romance developed in a way that eliminates Stockholm Syndrome, which I feel like a lot of sex slave stories go in that direction. Dain is a very strict law-abiding man and he does right by Mella. Their relationship while starting out sexual expands to more than that. Quite a bit of it due to his dominant personality, he wanted to know her concerns and fears. In doing so they both opened up to each other, reaching a level of trust that neither expected and of course that trust was tested by being pushed to it limits.  The story is beautifully woven for a storyline focused mainly on the sex. There was also more storyline in this book than some of her others. Sex may be a main part but it is not the storyline, whereas some of her books sex is the story line.

Soul Rest-- Joey W. Hill

This was my first book of this series (of course I didn't realize that until I had started it but luckily they can be read as standalones). So far the series is truly amazing; Joey W. Hill did an amazing job of weaving this twisted tale. There are so many insignificant things that we don't see or think about but Celeste being the awesome reporter that she is does. Not only that I think it's a very inviting way to reveal hidden clues. Some books you get the feeling of being an idiot because you didn't piece things together. In this book though, everyone but Celeste feels like an idiot, too.

Now, on to the beefy-man-cake that is Leland. He is an Alpha male with a capital A. once a Marine now a police sergeant. He sees Celeste and knows that she has the spark he wants and needs in a relationship. He also knows what he will do to get it. Celeste refusing to submit while being naturally submissive, as you might guess it causes some problems. Those infractions are solved by Leland’s 'master'ful hands. He was a very well written and rounded character.

The book kept bringing up the fact that he is black, I don't mind the description reminders but it just seemed forced at times. If you read the book, you know he's black we don't need to be reminded every few paragraphs. Also, Celeste is told to have a pixie cut in the very beginning but for the life of me I was not picturing her with one. She had longer hair that she loved to wear up out of her face. A pixie cut didn't work with who I saw her as. (Obviously the author saw her with a pixie but I couldn't reconcile the two.) There were things like this that made this book read slow to me. I just wasn't as engaged as I wanted to be.

I enjoyed the book, no doubting that, however there was something that stopped me from sinking fully into this book. I don't know what it was, but that's what knocked down the rating for me.

3.5 STARS