Damn Billionaire Books

You'd have to be living in a cave not to notice the plethora of billionaire books on the market today. Over the last five years billionaire stories in contemporary romance and duke stories in historical romance have seriously gotten out of hand.

Occasionally, I'll read a duke story if it's by an author I like. I rarely read billionaire stories. I've never been one to fantasized about being a princess or day dreaming about being swept away by some guy that has extreme wealth, good looks, arrogance, and a jet.

Yet when I turned on my bestie's Kindle and it was opened to a balls deep, 'scream my name', type of scene, I was intrigued enough to want to go back and read the book from the beginning....

I usually don't read a lot of contemporary romance. You know, something that can be edited and scripted for a Hallmark or Lifetime channel movie. They take out all the spice and ramp up all the nice.

Reading these, I get my feel good rush I need, yet I rarely want to talk about them afterwards. They don't usually leave a lasting impression and frankly I'm often disappointed. Mostly the stories end up too sweet with not enough spicy spice to make up for it.

This contemporary read, lead to me reading the rest of the series, (out so far) and are easily my new favorite in contemporary romance. These are steamy romances with detailed sex scenes, and two out of three books would have to be heavily reworked in order to be appropriate for Hallmark or Lifetime. 

I started with book three (a borrow from a friend) and had no plans on reading the first two book in the series, until I got snagged by the excerpts at the end of the book.

That got me hook, line, and sinker. I bought and read them in the space of three days.

What made this series stand out? All of Jessica Clare's billionaires are different than other billionaires from similar stories. They are believably wealthy, yet not so arrogant from page one that you want to throat punch them. They have the arrogance, but it is somehow endearing not obnoxious. The heroines have all been very different from each other. Yet, whether wearing rose colored glasses, brash, or too naive, I have loved them all. 

Amazon link; http://amzn.com/B009KUNT90 

ARe link; Stranded with a Billionaire - All Romance Ebooks

Stranded with a Billionaire Book 1 by Jessica Clare

259 pages

Logan is the stereotypical billionaire. He's good looking, charming, and carries himself with a natural ingrained arrogance that comes with being born into money. One problem, he has never experienced a woman wanting him for him. When he finds himself stranded at a resort with a beautiful waitress, who thinks he's the hotel manager, he plays along. Logan revels in the simple joy of letting his guard down and having a woman fall for him as....well, not quite himself.  

Bronte would love a vacation but as a waitress, she needs to live off of every cent she earns. When she wins a trip from a local radio station she seizes the day and heads down to paradise. Finding herself stranded during a hurricane was not in the brochure, but at least it's with the sexy hotel manager. Bronte isn't usually a one night stand type of girl, but figures what happens on the island stays on the island right? What she didn't figure in was falling for a guy that isn't who she thought he was.

This was sweet, spicy, and fun. Out of all the stories I think this one could be the easiest to rework into a Hallmark/Lifetime type movie. There is sex, but at no point could the story be mistaken for an erotic story.

Bronte is a fabulous heroine with lots of pluck. She doesn't stand for being fit into Logan's world and schedule. She doesn't care about his money and Logan learns that he can't buy true love.

The secondary characters are as enjoyable as the H/h, which makes the continuation of this series all the sweeter.

 Amazon link; http://amzn.com/B009KUOC0U 

ARe link; Beauty and the Billionaire - All Romance Ebooks

Beauty and the Billionaire by Jessica Clare

261 pages

Hunter Buchanan is the epitome of tall dark and damaged. He wears as many scars on the inside as out and he's not above being underhanded to get close to a woman he has been admiring from afar.  

Gretchen is the definition of a brash no nonsense woman without a filter. When she takes a writing assignment at a giant lonely mansion, of course she gets an itch to look around. Nothing in the mansion is more intriguing than the delectable owner. Full of bluster and bark, Hunter Buchanan is an enigma Gretchen wants nothing more than to figure out. 

Based off a tale as old as time, Beauty and the Billionaire is my favorite in the series. Besides having some of the sexiest, all out spiciest scenes in the series, the beauty and the beast theme is superbly done. Hunter has the reactions of a wounded animal when approached by Gretchen. He wants so badly to meet her and have her like him, yet he can't stop himself from pushing her away. 

Gretchen is painfully unfiltered and brash. Something I can completely relate to. She thinks it's the brazen things she's said or done that has caused Hunter to be annoyed with her.This is heartwarming and humorous to watch unfold. 

Growing up around rich and beautiful people has ensured Hunter being shunned more than not. He's not used to daily physical contact let alone being in close proximity to someone he is so painfully attracted to. Of course he is extra guarded, but that only makes the desire and build up all the more combustible. The love scenes are beyond titillating and this is definitely a romance that boarders on drool inducing erotic. 

When Gretchen starts trying to get Hunter to open up we find out how he became scarred. This is another reason I love this book. I can't tell you how many disfigured hero books I've read with the same type of tragedy. Of course, I will not be giving it away, I will only say it's refreshingly inventive, believable and thankfully doesn't involve fire.

This story contains a few more quirks that makes it fresh and original, not to mention one of my all time favorite blow job scenes, but I'll let you discover them on your own. 

Amazon link; http://amzn.com/B009NY47D0

ARe link; The Wrong Billionaire's Bed - All Romance Ebooks

The Wrong Billionaire's Bed by Jessica Clare

258 pages

Audrey has been in love with billionaire Cade Archer since he was a just a middle class boy that lived down the street from her parents house. When her twin sister shanghai's Audrey into spending a month at his cabin she believes this is her chance to make her move.  

Reese Durham didn't set out to ruin all of Audrey's plans to seduce his best friend Cade, but tempting the strait laced Audrey is just too much to resist. The more Reese teases Audrey the more he wants her to look at him the way she looks at Cade. 

This book was actually the first one I read, that led to me reading the rest of the series. This is one of the most playful with the deepest underlining story. We meet Audrey's twin sister in Gretchen's story. She's a train wreck musician who got way into drugs. Now she's a junkie trying to get clean. Her part of the story is what keeps it from being too fluffy. 

The play between Reese and Audrey is great. Reese loves to provoke Audrey, but when she proves just how much she's been holding back it ignites a passion hot enough to burn them both. Reese is a talker. So, this story definitely has the most  hot dirty talk. 

               Coming Soon

   http://amzn.com/B00FX7UKUA

Once Upon A Billionaire by Jessica Clare

*Available April 15th 

Warning: Content of series may cause unrealistic expectations concerning young available billionaires. 

Thank You, Jessica Clare

Jessica Clare is also Jill Myles and Jessica Sims
For more on Jessica Clare please visit @ http://jillmyles.com/

Tessa Freakin' Bailey

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How's Your VD?

I have a confession. I'm one of those freaks that has always loved Valentines. Especially when I was single. My mom always got me chocolate and jewelry. Nothing fancy, and always age appropriate. When I was little I would get plastic bead necklaces and as a teen she would get me the funky clunky type of things you may find in Hot Topic.

It was a simpler time.

As a teen and young adult I would get tons of flowers to hand out to my girlfriends and make brownies. I didn't like the forced romantic aspect of coupling up for the day. I received my first real valentine with chocolate and flowers from a boy when I was 10. His Mormon-ish parents were already planning our wedding. Even as a child I knew enough to be disturbed and slightly creeped out.

As a teenager, every year I was in a 'couple' I got some horrible illness over Valentines.

My junior year my boyfriend and I had the flu together. My mom let him spend the night. We took cold medicine, spooned and slept, between coughing and sneezing bouts. My mom made us soup, probably laced with Tylenol PM, and made sure our temperatures didn't spike over 102.

It was actually rather sweet.

My Valentine's Days were always a positive experience that transcended romance. My mom would tell me the story of how the King forbade his soldiers from marrying because he believed it made them weak. So, premarital sex was on the rise, children were conceived out of wedlock, and labeled bastards, and daughters were cast out of their homes. (Yeah, I think my mom was going the After School Special route with this story, but I didn't know it at the time)

Anyways, Father Valentine was in horror of what was happening. He believed these couples should be married, and they deserved to be a family whose union was blessed by God. Defying the ruler at that time, he of course married these couples in secret until he was found out and beheaded for his efforts.

There are different versions of this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Valentine, if you want to study up on your Saint Valentine trivia.

Now that I'm married Valentines feels different. As I said before, I don't like the forced romance aspect of the day. Media continuously perpetuates the idea that if you are single on Valentines, you are a pathetic loser.

In a way, being in a relationship can be even worse. Jewelry companies are putting the pressure on men to put a ring on it, and ladies are pressured to buy every fancy negligee and sex toy out there.

When you're in a couple it feels like the world and all the advertisements are saying "You better think of something sweet, loving, and sexy, OR ELSE!".

Well fuck.

We still have sex and candy for breakfast, but my husband and I have tried to steer away from over the top plans since our Valentine's Day Debacle. *Dun Dun Daaaa

Yeah, it was bad. Our first Valentines together was seven months into our relationship. I guess my husband's college g/f (the ex) was pretty uptight about getting fancy on Valentines, so he was not really understanding my free love feeling for the holiday.

I wanted something from the heart, and he was still thinking commercial. He drove me to a hotel blindfolded. I got car sick. Once there he had a barbershop quartet come to our room to sing to me. They were nice old men, very fatherly, grandfatherly looking. And they came to the hotel room I was going to have dirty slutty sex.

That was kind of awkward.

The thought was nice. He totally got points for creativity. Execution needed some work. Never, I repeat never, have someone come to your hotel room to sing or play music, unless you are throwing a crazy party or they are going to be part of the hotel room sex-a-thon.

I think the grandpas put a hex on my young nubile self getting sexed up, because right after they left, I got my period.

it was bad

We went to the movies since hanky panky wasn't an option. My husband, (boyfriend at the time) gave me the cash while he went to the restroom. I lost the cash while waiting in line.

Dinner was nice, but I still remember the harassed look on my husbands face. I could tell the night was not going according to plan and he was ready for it to be over. We had a long talk that night about feelings, expectations, and what I meant by 'from the heart'.

We have made each other cards for the past eleven years. When I told him he needed to make me a card, he was pissed. He has since gotten into the spirit of things and some years his cards blow my out of the water. Last year's card made me cry. This years card I seriously want to frame.

I still make a fancy dessert and I usually make something special for dinner or my husband takes us out. Some years are romantic, some years are not. This year my husband is working late, so I'm ordering take-out, and I'm painting the dinning room. When I informed my husband this is how Valentines night was going to go down he left the Google search engine, on my phone, open to How Amazingly Awesome Is My Wife.

We have 364 other days to be uber romantic and sexy. I'm cool with that.

Now that I have a kid I'm trying my best to instill in him the spirit of the day my mom instilled in me. We put together valentines for his class. I get him card and candy every year. I tell him the after school special version of Valentine's my mom always told me. My husband usually let's him in one the secret of what he has planned for my card and takes him with to get me my special confection. He knows that my husband and I make each other cards and do sweet things for each other, and I hope that sets the correct tone for when he's in a relationship.

In parting, Valentine's Day is what you make it. Buy flowers for your friends and for yourself. Have dessert. Make sure it's something chocolate. Then celebrate a guy that didn't want anyone having premarital sex, to the point he was willing to be beheaded to make sure all those promiscuous couples got hitched.

Poor Valentine, he's so misunderstood

Happy Valentine's Day

*And remember, chocolate will be 75% off the day after!!!

What Happens When The Dom Dies?

A popular way to tramatize or humanize a Dom is to tragically kill off his sub or slave. I've read this again and again. Recently I was reading the description of Kitty Thomas's Tender Mercies, that involves yet another Dom whose slave tragically died, and my mind started yelling the question, What the fuck happens when a Dom dies?

I know we like to put ourselves in the role of the sub/slave. Doms tend to be our infallible anchors. Just the thought of losing our Dom or Master is devastating. I imagine writing this would be a horrendous undertaking. The sub would have to be strong enough to keep going, yet vulnerable enough to be understandably tragic, yet not so much that is drags for the entire book.

I imagine a heartbreaking Prelude then Chapter One beginning three years later to a sub with enough baggage she needs a U-haul.  It's so much easier to put together a wounded Dom. Finding all the pieces of a shattered sub is a whole other beast. A journey less taken.

We want to be part of our fictitious Dom's salvation. We want to be the sub that heals our wounded hero. We want to be the sub that benefits from a powerful man finding his soul and making him realize it's not to late. But I also find, a sick part of me wants to read about the devastation, death, and healing rebirth of a sub shattered by such an extreme loss.

Well, at least I thought I did.

I know what you all are thinking.

What about The Reluctant Dom by Tymber Dalton? The Dom dies in that book. 

Indeed. The Dom does die.

The book it self is actually the second Doms story, BUT it fits the devastation, death, and healing rebirth criteria I was looking for.

By show of hands, how many of you have read this book? I would like to have a group therapy session, because I seriously have PTSD after this one.

http://amzn.com/B008H746YY

The Reluctant Dom by Tymber Dalton

This is actually a different cover than the one shown on the site. I'm not sure which publisher it's under right now. That's besides the point. My soul has been rendered, and even after healed, will never be the same again. Tymber Dalton makes the heartache experienced reading a Nicolas Sparks seem like stubbing your toe.

My guts feel like they've been ripped out through my eye balls. 

For those of you who have no idea what this book is, well, let me introduce you. 

Seth's best friend since infancy. The man who has been more brother, for the past forty years, is dying. Kaden has always been Seth's rock. His anchor in life. Now his anchor is dying and wants Seth to marry his wife. Yep. Kaden has this whole other part of his life Seth had no idea existed. Kaden's wife, whom Seth has always loved, is also Kaden's slave. Now Kaden wants Seth to live the life he's no longer going to get to live. 

That's a little nutshell of what this book is about.This is a story of friendship, love, brother hood and having to live the 'after'. It's all written in third person from Seth's POV. It's deva-fucking-stating to read this man's journey. Seth has always looked up to Kaden. He's always envied Kaden. Now all he wants is to be the one dying, so that Kaden can live. 

I've never, EVER, cried so much reading one book. I was snot bubble crying on and off from beginning to end. This is not safe to read in public. I would be reading a section and for a moment forget Kaden's dying, and then BAM! 

Just typing this shit and recalling the events of this book tear me up. You go through the guilt, the regrets, the denial, the acceptance and through it all the soul bleeding sorrow. 

The thing is, Tymber Dalton has the gift for writing characters that are extremely three dimensional. They are personable and real. They don't have any over romanticized traits. Their conversations are real, their reactions are what you can imagine saying or doing under those circumstances. They sometimes have bellies, they have real jobs, with realistic hours and pay. They have guilt, jealousy, and insecurities. 

I think the best example is her Slave For Two series. She has a triad that goes through the daily nuances of navigating that kind of relationship. Some days are boring. It's not always dramatic. Insecurities often creep up on us and fester before coming to the surface. Those hard times that a relationship go through aren't usually in the first year. They usually come to head two three years into the happily ever after. These kind of Tymber Dalton books are iconic for making alternate lifestyles, and all they entail, real.  

And The Reluctant Dom feels painfully real. 

How Tymber Dalton made it through writing this book, I have no idea. Days later and I'm still having moments I just tear up recalling a part of the book. 

I seriously looked just like this after reading the book

Now, my soul feels cleansed. I was actually in a really bad funk the light of day just couldn't penetrate, before reading this book. I think the story shocked me out of it. My step feels lighter, the air smells sweeter, and I appreciate my loves all the more. 

Just from the synopsis and reviews, I knew this book was going to put me through the ringer. I actually discovered it over a year ago and knew I wasn't ready for it. I'm glad I waited until I was in a sad bastard state of mind. There is nothing like crying, for the better part of two days, over fictional character's devastation and spiritual healing, to make your world a better place. 

318 pages

Warning: This book contains bdsm, whipping, sex toys, bondage, anal, M/f/M sex and a M/f HEA that is so heartbreakingly beautiful you will die a little while reading it. Not for the faint of heart, or those that are in the mood for a 'light' read. 

Thank You Tymber Dalton!

For more on Tymber Dalton, please visit @ http://tymberdalton.com/

Stockholm's, Captives, & Sadists, Oh My

Guess who has been on a dark captive fantasy kick? Rev up your Stockholm Syndrome, I have two books I couldn't put down. I believe dark captive fantasy fans will enjoy. They are more than worthy of their warning labels.

AMZ;http://amzn.com/B00HFAGB42

ARe;Make me Yours Evermore - All Romance Ebooks

Make Me Yours, Evermore Pierced Hearts-3 by Cari Silverwood

Chris has always had some dark and twisted fantasies. When the object of his obsession uncovers things that could destroy his friend's life, he decides to make his fantasies into reality. What he doesn't count on is his best friend, Andreas, tagging along, trying to play savior.

I'm going to get into your head right there. 

Where you can never ever get me out.

-Chris

I had no idea what I was getting myself into with this book. I had actually passed this title up many times thinking it was a vampire book. It was the Evermore that threw me off. When I realized it was a contemporary dark captive fantasy, I jumped right in.

The story opens from Kat's POV. Kat wakes up in a box, all tied up with a gag in her mouth. She knows two things, she's been kidnapped by Chris and she can't breath. I was, of course, immediately pulled into the story. I was already emotionally drawn in, panicking right along Kat.

Each chapter is a different character's POV. This makes the book even harder to put down because you want to know what's going on in the other persons head. The way the story unfolds makes you feel like you are experiencing it right there with them. I was a fly on the wall and I wasn't about to leave.

What are five things you'd most like to do that are illegal?

Chris and Andreas may be the best captors, ever. Andreas tempers Chris and keeps him from going too far. You know, besides kidnapping Kat. That is nonnegotiable.  They play off each other well, in a bad cop/good cop, good cop goes wicked, kind of way.

Chris is the perfect amount of  crazy, but you know right off the bat Andreas's has twisted depths that are just waiting to be brought to the surface. Andreas genuinely wants to save Chris, but discovers a part of himself in the process that he can't deny. In a way Andreas does save Chris, but not in a traditional sense.

Cari Silverwood does a magnificent job with so many elements of this book. The twisted love scenes that are mostly told from Kat's POV make for optimal arousal, that will keep your panties wet throughout the story. There is a cage but it's not overly described. The reader can use their imagination and fit it to their comfort levels.

The characters of this book pull on your emotions. Chris is a sadist, but isn't so sadistic the reader get's jolted out of the story. Yet, Chris is sadistic enough to do creatively fucked up shit to captive Kat, without mercy. In other words, Kat is 110% helpless, things are forced, but lubrication is involved, and female orgasm is achieved.

The end switches gears and we get more emotion from Chris. There is no declarations of love, but there are declarations that made me melt. He also makes it clear he doesn't want Kat's love, he wants her submission. He wants to own her, mind, body, and soul. Sexually the last part of the book tapers off. Their is another character introduced, that livens up the excellently played out plot. I don't like or trust this new person and they made me wonder what's going to be happening in the next book.

This is book three. There are thing in book three that made me want to check out book one and two, but I don't know if I will. The first book is a m/f story, but then the same m/f are the characters in the next book, which is m/f/f book. This makes me leery of where the story is going to be going for book four. I'm not a fan of f/f action. I'm okay with it in small doses, but I'm much more of a m/m, m/f/m kind of girl.

Cari Silverwood is known to write plenty of, highly rated, m/f/f stories. Although Make Me Yours, Evermore is a very hot, very well done m/f/m (no titillation between the guys), I believe that dynamic may have been an exception to her norm. Which of course is a bummer for me, but great news if you are a fan of m/f/f books.

294 pages

Warning: Capture fantasy; dubious consent, anal play; strap-on, M/f/M and f/f scenes; BDSM themes including caning, spanking, bondage, piercing, as well as some upside down naughtiness. 

Thank You Cari Silverwood! 

For more on Cari Silverwood please visit @ http://www.carisilverwood.net/

****

The next book greatly contrasts Make Me Yours, Evermore and has been out for a while. It is a literary erotica and if you haven't read it yet you're in for a treat. It's a mind fuck of a treat.

*The term 'literary erotica' actually encompasses all written erotica, but in this case means, although it involves a lot of sex, it's not necessarily designed to arouse.

    http://amzn.com/B003DKJ9Q0

Comfort Food by Kitty Thomas

Emily Vargas is an out going, intelligent woman, that makes her living public speaking. When she's captured, she learns the power of silence and that she will do anything for human contact. 

This book begs the question, have you had your mind fucked today? Emily's captor doesn't talk. He touches. If she denies his touch, he leaves. Then she is alone in a cell without any comfort. No window, no mattress, no pillow, no blanket. No sound, other than her own voice. Just her, a toilet, and four walls. She gets three meals a day of chicken soup with crackers. If she's good, he'll feed her and stroke her face. 

She tries to hold herself apart from him, but she soon finds herself leaning into the touch. 

She has no idea who her captor is. He seems to know much about her interests, so she assumes he's a stalker. When the intimacy begins, it's told in third person. As the reader you feel the shift in the experiences as she is unknowingly removing herself. 

Every horrible, twisted thing he does, any pain inflicted,  Emily has to ask for. She has to ask for it, and accept it. If she does, she's rewarded. If she doesn't she's sent back to the bad cell. The book is brilliantly done, with mind fuck after mind fuck. 

Comfort Food is very different beast from Make Me Yours, Evermore. In Evermore you get a glimpse of sadist, Chris's soul. Emily's 'Master' is a sociopath worthy of the most twisted psychological thriller. You wont be sure if he has a soul. In fact, this book reads more like a psychological thriller that will have your mind reeling. You know Master is Emily's puppet master, but you don't know how tight a hold he has on her strings until the very end. 

I felt a little traumatized after reading this book. If you are looking for dark arousing titillation, this is not the book for you. If you are looking for something different that gets in your head and leaves you visibly shaken, sitting in the corner, thinking that was some fucked up shit, this story is perfect. 

Waring; Comfort Food is a literary erotica that explores the power dynamics and psychology of ownership. This is NOT a romance. This is not a book about consensual BDSM. This is a story about actual slavery. If reading erotic without a safeword makes you uncomfortable, this is not the book for you. This is a work of fiction, and the author doesn't condone or endorse any behavior done to another human being without their consent.

This book contains BDSM elements, master/slave dynamics, dubious consent, psychological conditioning, oral and anal play. 

Yeah, so, if the three page warning isn't a clue. This book is pretty fucked up. Proceed with caution. 

I do have some more Kitty Thomas on my TBR list. Tender Mercies being one of them. She does have dark erotica and 'lighter' dark books that are more designed to arouse. Her short novella The Auction involving monster aliens is a favorite of mine.

Thank You Kitty Thomas!

For more on Kitty Thomas please visit @ http://kittythomas.com/