5 Smooches!

Synopsis

From the USA TODAY bestselling author of Where Sea Meets Sky comes a new adult novel about a young woman who becomes a nanny in Capri and falls for her charges’ bad-boy brother.

It’s time for twenty-four-year-old Amber MacLean to face the music. After a frivolous six months of backpacking through New Zealand, Australia, and Southeast Asia, she finds herself broke on the Mediterranean without enough money for a plane ticket home to California. There are worse places to be stuck than the gorgeous coastline of southern Italy, but the only job she manages to secure involves teaching English to two of the brattiest children she’s ever met.

It doesn’t help that the children are under the care of their brooding older brother, Italian ex-motorcycle racer Desiderio Larosa. Darkly handsome and oh-so-mysterious, Derio tests Amber’s patience and will at every turn—not to mention her hormones.

But when her position as teacher turns into one as full-time nanny at the crumbling old villa, Amber finds herself growing closer to the enigmatic recluse and soon has to choose between the safety of her life back in the States and the uncertainty of Derio’s closely guarded heart.

Review

Gosh, I love all of these little travel romances by Karina Halle.  I love the covers.  They are always so gorgeous and unique.  I especially love the travel.  Karina has a brilliant way of totally immersing you into a place that you have never even imagined before.  She makes you want pack your bags, hop on a plane and take a chance on a new place or a new someone.  Racing the Sun was no different and Derio just may be my new favorite of Karina’s.

Signor Desiderio Larosa looks like he just rolled off the model runway in Milan and then hitchhiked his way here.

Oh Derio!  You hot Italian, troubled, possibly alcoholic stud!  I fell for you so hard.  There were a lot of reasons.  We all love a troubled bad boy and Derio was just aloof and uninterested enough in seemingly everything to have me nearly salivating.  So, aloof and mean Derio needs an English teacher for his seven year old twin siblings who is raising.  Amber needs a job.  She has been traveling the world and has finally ran out of money in glorious Italy.  She has an English degree but no experience with children but lands the job anyways.  (we meet Amber in Where Sea Meets Sky but all of these books are standalones and you totally do not need to read Where Sea Meets Sky to enjoy Racing the Sun)  Amber and Derio have an instant attraction and the sexual tension is smoking hot and so is the angst!

“I need you, deeply.  Madly, even.”

OH, this one just has so much drama.  Derio was just so messed up and Amber falls for him so hard and I cannot blame her.  We all fantasize about the troubled bad boy falling for us and us making him all better.

“I need to know if I can feel anything.  I want to feel something.”

Ahhh, the feels.  So many.  I don’t know if it was all the tragedy or the children, or the magical island, or The House of Sad Lemons but this book just felt so emotional and I was there.  I was in it and living it so completely.  God, I just loved it.  And it was sexy.  Just so damn sensual!  This book was everything.

“You are like the sunrise when you come.”

“All this light, chasing away the dark.”

So basically what I am saying, is that this book rocked my socks, A LOT!  There is a quote in this book that pretty much stuck with me in a big way because I felt really it described all of these travel romances that Karina writes.  I think this is why I Iove them so.  This one line pretty much sums them up!

Some feelings transcend any language.

Another amazing book from Karina Halle.  All I can hope from what I gathered from this book is that the next one will take place in Norway and I can honestly say that I cannot wait for next adventure.

~Amie

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4 Smooches

Synopsis

Never in your wildest dreams could you begin to imagine all the filthy and depraved things that go on inside The Wicked Horse. Step inside and Woolf Jennings will make every one of your dirty fantasies come true.

He’s covered in a facade of deception. An enticing blend of multi-millionaire and hot-as-hell Wyoming rancher, those that think they know Woolf Jennings admire his abilities to preside as CEO of his family’s cattle and oil empire. But only a privileged few truly understand what fuels the glitter of depravity in those gorgeous blue eyes. Only a few know he’s opened up a sinfully erotic and private sex club named The Wicked Horse right at the base of the beautiful Teton Mountain range.

Sweet Callie Hayes has returned home to Wyoming and is looking forward to starting her life over again. After a night of impetuosity, she’s managed to put herself right in Woolf’s line of sight… the man who she foolishly offered up her virginity to years ago and was flatly turned down.

Now Woolf is seeing that Callie is all grown up and has a kinky side to her that leaves him as confused as it does turned on. Worse yet, both Callie’s dirty desires and sweet heart are getting under his skin, and making Woolf question everything he’s ever believed about himself.

Review

“Woolf is watching me. He’s like a real wolf.  Predatory and dangerous.”

Wicked Fall was a dirty, fun and entertaining read about a cowboy sex club owner and the little sister of his best friend who dies who has always had feelings for him. With Callie offered up her virginity to Woolf after her brother’s funeral and was rejected she left town for college and for years didn’t look back. But now after a failed engagement she has returned home and right back into the sights of sexy and naught Woolf.

When Woolf rejected Callie is was most definitely now because he didn’t want her and was entirely because he was convinced he could never be good enough for her. While he still feels that way being around a sexier grown up Callie, who it turns out shares a little kink along with Woolf, it becomes impossible to say no and not give in to his every temptation.

“I’m going to hell. I’m going to hell. I’m going to hell. I don’t fucking care.”

For me personally, the highlight of this book was Woolf’s dirty talking mouth! He knew just what to say to get my engines (and Callie’s lol) revving! It was apparent from the beginning that he was both attracted to her and had protective feeling for her so all of that together along with a sexy as hell man made for explosive chemistry. But mixing the kinky side of the club with the good girl politician’s daughter image is not easy and everyone’s relationship gets out to the test.

“I’m confident I can master and captivate her body, I’m not quite sure what to do with her heart.”

Overall, this book reminded me a bit of Nicole Edwards Alluring Indulgence series but with a heavier concentration on the club aspect. Sexy and and fact paced if you enjoy a kinky book with a lot of feels than give this one a shot!

~miranda

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5 Smooches

Synopsis

They don’t play for the same team. Or do they?

Jamie Canning has never been able to figure out how he lost his closest friend. Four years ago, his tattooed, wise-cracking, rule-breaking roommate cut him off without an explanation. So what if things got a little weird on the last night of hockey camp the summer they were eighteen? It was just a little drunken foolishness. Nobody died.

Ryan Wesley’s biggest regret is coaxing his very straight friend into a bet that pushed the boundaries of their relationship. Now, with their college teams set to face off at the national championship, he’ll finally get a chance to apologize. But all it takes is one look at his longtime crush, and the ache is stronger than ever.

Jamie has waited a long time for answers, but walks away with only more questions—can one night of sex ruin a friendship? If not, how about six more weeks of it? When Wesley turns up to coach alongside Jamie for one more hot summer at camp, Jamie has a few things to discover about his old friend…and a big one to learn about himself.

Warning: contains sexual situations, skinnydipping, shenanigans in an SUV and proof that coming out to your family on social media is a dicey proposition.

Review

“I have the same damn weakness I’ve always had. It’s still there as I stare up at the big screen. As I watch up at that big screen. As I watch Jamie Canning stop another dizzying slap shot. As I admire the grace and deadly precision with which he moves. My weakness is him.”

OH MY .  . . . This book was HOT! But it was also so much more than that. Sweet and fun with a dash of drama and angst, Him by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy was a perfect lazy day read that had my heart constricting, my belly sore from laughing and in desperate need of a fan to cool off. I loved every moment of this m/m book and the moment it was over wanted to relive it all again. In my opinion the best m/m books are those in which friends become more, they have depth and and emotions and if even just one of them could be straight well then I am hooked! Add to that the fact that they are both sexy hockey players who are both about to go pro and there was no way I could not read this book.

“But holy fucking shit, I want it. Rain pours off the awning and slides over our heads as my best friend’s lips latch onto mine.”

 Wes and Jamie had been best friends for years having met at hockey camp and continued to stay close all year till they would meet up again, that is until one sinful night before college changed everything. Wes is gay and scared that one drunken, yet oh my god HOT, night with his straight best friend had ruined everything he walks away from the friendship and Jamie. But four years later when they meet up at a championship it is clear that Wes’ feelings for his straight best friend have never gone away and more that the desire he feels for him the root of their friendship is still intact. Soon, both boys find themselves roommates while coaching at the same camp that they grew close at and it doesn’t take long to realize that Wes underestimated how Jamie would react to their night and how much even Jamie was starting to desire a repeat.

“Jesus Christ. This man is wrecking me. I’m wrecked.”

But balancing being a gay upcoming pro player and keeping up family expectations has Wes hesitant to become more with the one man he has always been weak for. Unwilling to let down his new team and live up to the expectations his dad has placed on him lead him to make some choices that while were frustrating for a reader also understandable for his situation. I loved how not everything was cut and dry for these two. They had to truly work at becoming who they were and watching them develop as both people and as a relationship was a joy.

“Good thing he’s not a traffic cop, because he’s sending enough mixed signals to cause a ten-car pileup.”

So  many beautiful amazing blow jobs. Does it make me a complete horn-dog how happy that made me? But this book was so much more than the panty melting sex. The root of it all was that Jamie and Wes’s friendship could withstand anything. Them being open and honest with each other was a struggle at times but watching them open up to each other and be honest about what they were feeling made the book so much more. I absolutely loved how much these two truly cared for each other, even before they became more and I wish every person coming to terms with their sexuality had a family like Jamie’s.

“Our mouths fit together so perfectly. Every time we kiss, I fall even more in love with him, and it has nothing to do with sex or lust. It’s him. His closeness and his scent and the way he soothes me.”

Hockey books are a weakness of mine and add that to two sexy men, some amazing writing and a story that made this more than just a book about sexy men getting it on and this is definitely one book I hope everyone takes a moment to read!

~miranda

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