⭐ 3.5 "weakest in the series so far, but I'm still getting Park/Cooper tattooed on my left buttcheek" stars ⭐
After months of postponing the inevitable⭐ 3.5 "weakest in the series so far, but I'm still getting Park/Cooper tattooed on my left buttcheek" stars ⭐
After months of postponing the inevitable, I'm back here to review the third installment of what is quickly becoming my favorite example of shifter literature.
Granted, the story ended up amounting to...
[image] But I will still take 4000 extra pages of the romance alone, please and thank you.
****************************
Firstly, I’ll need to file this as yet another example of high expectations backfiring in spectacular fashion. If the previous two books hadn’t been five-star ordeals for me, chances are I would’ve enjoyed this one considerably more.
Nonetheless, that does not mean I didn’t still find several things to appreciate, so in honor of that, my take will be split into two specific sections: Yes, Please and No, Thanks —titles that are, I’m sure, pretty self-explanatory.
Without further rambling, let’s venture forward!
YES, PLEASE
— The Continous Beauty of Cooper Dayton and Oliver Park.
Aka:
[image] These two could pour their milk before their cereal and I’d still find a way to justify the atrocity.
To start this segment off, it’s important to mention that there are protagonists I admire, others I relate to, a few select ones I truly love, and then there is Cooper Dayton, an amalgamation of all of the above. It's a beautiful sight to follow his progress and ongoing transformation throughout the series, from the begrudging and detached man he began as… to the begrudging but caring man he is now. Still extremely prickly and guarded, but what’s some charm without a little edge, amirite...more
⭐ 2.6 "Even [believable relationship development] was under arrest in this prisonmance!" stars ⭐
After much delay and dread, I decided to give the spin⭐ 2.6 "Even [believable relationship development] was under arrest in this prisonmance!" stars ⭐
After much delay and dread, I decided to give the spin-off for Elite Protection Services a go. This featured one of the previous side characters as an MC, so considering I liked him in the other books, expectations were mild to high going in.
Now that I've finished, however, I can look back at my anticipation and proclaim…
[image] While this wasn’t a wholly negative experience, going in expecting nothing would’ve made it significantly better.
********************************
For anyone who has read an Onley James book before, I’m able to tell you that you can let out that breath you didn’t know you were holding, because this first installment of her spin-off definitely sticks to her formula. Unlike with most of her other works, however, this time it didn’t entirely jive with me.
Yet there were still both Positives and Negatives overall, so that’s how the review will be structured.
Without further ado, let’s jump into the chaos…
POSITIVES
— The Dynamic Between MCs (Step-brothers gone wild… ly loving and caring for each other)
First of all, we all know the age-old proverb…
[image] (What do you mean The Office isn’t made out of verifiable life advice?)
But if a brief stint behind bars secures you a significant other like Cyrus, I am willing to do the time and engage in some canine roleplay myself. Because boy was he a devoted man. As is usually the pattern with Onley’s couples, Cyrus simply worshipped the ground Webster walked on.
No matter what Webster did, his big burly cellmate was all over it, and don’t we love to see it. If prison stan accounts were a thing, I just know the man would be running several for his beau.
I do wish there had been more pining and at least an emotional slowburn to make the relationship more rewarding, but at the end of the day…
[image] They’re not even close to being one of my favorite Onley couples, but they still had their moments (even if those happened to mostly be in the smut)
...Which takes me to my next incredibly crucial, important, and impossible to gloss over point...
— Suggestive Physical Displays Of Affection.
Or as I like to call them…
[image] Subtlety is not part of my dossier.
Let me be explicit: This book was earth’s core levels of scorching, delivering on all that I wanted and expected from a prisonmance —when it came to steam, at least. You had the sense of perpetual voyeurism (with even an instance of exhibitionism), then intense tension brought by the dangerous setting, and finally, all of that emphasized by a pronounced theme of possessiveness and ownership.
Think bruises, hickeys, scratching, biting. If it’s rough, Webster was begging for it and Cyrus was gladly delivering.
Which is of course how romance works in this fantasyland, and I’m not complaining at all.
(What do you mean meeting your step-brother in jail does NOT qualify as a meet-cute? Are you implying porn has been lying to me all these years???)
Moving on...
— Introduction Of Future MCs.
So yeah, Cyrus and Webster were fine. They were cute. And had hot sex.
I was still more invested in the side characters showing up though. Older guy Preacher, who wore a crucifix despite not being religious and called himself the Switzerland of prison. Mysterious Lawson, who presented himself as a hillbilly, yet hid the genius of a man with the mental prowess to scam millions out of casinos. And, last but not least, badass Javier, in charge of Webster not offing himself accidentally Webster’s security while inside, with mysterious ties to the Mexican mafia and who looked like he could beat everyone up with his hands tied behind his back (also tattoos? and written representation of a Latin man who didn’t use gratuitous Spanish every 0.3 seconds? I swooned...more
⭐ 3.4 "Can I get some [porn] with a side of [porn], please?" stars ⭐
What I expected from this book? Smut. What I got? Also smut… but featuring one of ⭐ 3.4 "Can I get some [porn] with a side of [porn], please?" stars ⭐
What I expected from this book? Smut. What I got? Also smut… but featuring one of the most hilariously psychopathic protagonists I've read in a while.
So clearly…
[image] Because what more could I ask for in my erotica truly.
*****************************
First and foremost, I'll open this up by letting my cavewoman instincts kick in and say...
This was HAWT.Blood-boiling, underwear-tossing, sweat-inducing kind of hot. So if you're looking for something to melt your kindle, phone, or whatever other device you read on, then look no further.
The real star of the show besides the steamy content, however, and who I will be focusing on for the sake of this review, was our dearly unbalanced MC Isaac Kaz.
You know Joe from the show/book series "You"? Well, now make him the kind of loser who takes "vape breaks" at work and wears shoes indoors, then rearrange his looks until he resembles a twink (because let's face it, Joe is a twunk at most), and that's the protagonist Isaac right there.
He was cray cray, an unrepentant asshole, and had the empathy of a loaded pistol. Which, of course, meant I instantly liked him.
But don’t take my word for it. Instead, allow me to drop some gems from his treasure trove of delusions:
(Context: Isaac is pestering his friend for tips on how to sway Atticus, aka the "cleanfreak" from the title)
“This civil shit doesn’t work. He hates me too much.” “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” said Zack. “You think you’re going to undo all the ill will in eight hours?” “Then I don’t give a shit about ill will. He doesn’t have to like me,” Isaac asserted, insisting. “He can think I’m a fucking shit person, just as long as he lets me kiss and fuck him.”
⭐ 3.7 “The dirty uncle stereotype… but make it actually appealing” stars ⭐
I haven’t had the best fortune when it comes to Cara Dee, so after my last d⭐ 3.7 “The dirty uncle stereotype… but make it actually appealing” stars ⭐
I haven’t had the best fortune when it comes to Cara Dee, so after my last dud by her I decided to cave in and ask my much wiser pals for some recs. Now consider my surprise when one of those ended up being for a little less than 200 pages of an uncle and his nephew getting down and dirty, and all of it neatly packed in a some voyeuristic wrapping of its own…
Well, of course I had to read it.
Did I enjoy it, however?
[image] I’m finally getting the Cara Dee hype, and I’m decidedly NOT looking back.
****************************************
Now, let me first address this, considering it was a bit of a disappointment for me at the start: this is not actual incest, but rather stepcest, since Adam was adopted by Everett’s older brother when he was a very young child. Yet while this might make the premise a little less appealing for some (if you are a twisted puppy like me), rest assured that Mrs. Dee does not pull any punches when it comes to the taboo or taboo adjacent angle.
If anything, both Everett and Adam get off on the family connection here, instead of trying to overcome it as yet another hurdle in their blossoming liaison. They refer to each other as Uncle and Nephew (which absolutely does include those steamy scenes), and in fact barely ever acknowledge the fact that there’s no actual blood relation linking them. So if taboo generally rocks your boat? I can promise your proverbial watercraft WILL be swayed.
(You’re gonna be able to fill up a couple of saunas with that steam, to put it mildly).
For me personally, this sort of exploration of boundaries and kinks is a large part of what made the story so exquisite. You get two ends of the spectrum with Everett, an older and recently divorced architect who is only just now beginning to grapple with some of his less conventional desires, and then Adam, considerably younger yet seemingly so much more assertive and secure in his own identity.
After these two reconnect under the guise of forming some kind of familial bond (they were estranged family members, after all), the lines quickly get blurred to the point where affection and attraction become indistinguishable. And for Everett in particular, this is at first hard to accept since he was never before able to fully admit his desires for other men. So not only recognizing he feels an allure towards his same sex, but also his much younger nephew? Let’s just say the man was using all sorts of excuses to justify himself, in true GFY/OFY fashion.
But who doesn’t end up accidentally pulling a Peeping Tom on their estranged relative, watching them engage in an impromptu jerk sesh across the street while thinking oh how neat would it be to draw them juuuust like that?
Don’t worry, though, it’s only artistic curiosity.
Luckily for him, his nephew was just as obsessed (what kind of taboo adjacent story would this be otherwise?). Indeed, the stalking here was fully reciprocated. And as a reader, you just get a kick out of watching these two grown men mutually pining for each other, circling the object of their desires without fully daring yet to engage, and, on top of that, doing the title of this story justice by engaging in a voyeuristic dance of faraway admiration.
Because windows do absolutely play a big role in this, of that I can assure you.
[image] Adam and Everett’s dynamic summed up in a single gif, pretty much.
And then, when finally all of that delicious forbidden crushing and UST reached its crescendo… boy, how Cara Dee delivered. Adam and his Unc (no joke, that’s his pet name for Everett) don’t only cross into forbidden territory, but embark on an entire odyssey past it. Of the decidedly kinky variety.
Yet even past the gloriously written smut, you get a nice degree of emotional attachment going on for this couple as well. Their romantic connection, at least for me, went well beyond just some (considerably spicy) steam. So while I’m guessing a lot of people will end up reading this simply for that taboo twist, the truth was that I found myself looking forward to those small moments of domesticity shared between them just as much.
Both Everett and Adam were parents with daughters of their own (although Everett’s was in college, while Adam’s was just a kid), so actually getting to watch the men bond over that and even teach each other a thing or two about parenting was quite an unexpected pleasure. It fleshed out their characters better in a way, gave them a motivation beyond just being a centerpiece in a romance story, and in return provided a new kind of believable intricacy to their relationship.
(Basically, I went in for the smut and did not expect to actually get an interesting character/relationship arc along the way)
Not everything was perfect, however, and I could point out some issues with the pacing as an example. How most of the last few pages seemed to be rushing to tie up all loose ends… only to end up welcoming the kind of lackluster epilogue that left me famished for some real closure. It was still very firmly in the HEA territory, but I wished we could’ve seen the main couple actually interacting instead of just narrating how the past few months had been.
I could point all of that, and perhaps a few things more, such as Cara Dee’s bizarre insistence of painting wives/ex-wives as gold-digging caricatures without any sort of redeeming qualities. Besides Aftermath, this has been the unfortunate second time I’ve noticed that happening, and I’m afraid of it turning into a pattern.
Yes, certainly I could elaborate more on all of those niggles… but being completely honest?
[image] Because the author managed to deliver on all of what I was ultimately craving and then some more. So for that alone, I can’t find it in myself to be too critical.
All in all, a definitive recommendation from me to anyone who considers themselves a fan of blurred lines, a side of taboo lite and some wholesome family times (sans comically evil ex-wife). Believe me, chances are you will enjoy this too!
God knows I did, at least.
**********************************
And once more, before signing off…
Keywords to figure out if this book might be for you:
Stepcest. A down on his luck Uncle figuring out his lot in life and the commanding Nephew who shows him the way. BDSM lite. Humiliation kink (the uncle gets off on being uncomfortable, and the nephew just loves to have him at his mercy). Enough dirty talk to require almost constant eyebrow wiggling. Yet more than enough tender and domestic moments for those starving for some gentleness. Wholesome family dynamics, plus toxic ones that slowly get healed. Kid characters that are not annoying. Sexuality Discovery or GFY/OFY (The uncle). Shamelessly owning who you are (The nephew). The mandatory jealousy scene at a club setting. And, last but not least, enough Peeping Tom moments to amply justify this book’s title.
⭐ 4.5 “move over Sam Kage, there’s a new growling alpha in town and this time he’s a COWBOY” stars ⭐
I got into this one after several people recommend⭐ 4.5 “move over Sam Kage, there’s a new growling alpha in town and this time he’s a COWBOY” stars ⭐
I got into this one after several people recommended it to me, and was it exactly what I expected even before setting my eyes on the first page?
[image]
Was that a bad thing? HELL NO.
If you haven’t read this but you’ve read any other Mary Calmes book, then you know the formula by now. Protagonist with Gary Stu tendencies (in this case Stef, the city slicker who accompanies his longtime BFF to her wedding by the countryside), and the grumpier, considerably more emotionally stunted love interest (aka the BFF's older rancher brother, Rand). Despite this not being anything new under the sun, however, I’m not afraid to say I’m the kind of basic bitch who falls for it every time.
The romance was front and center here, as it should, yet even when some of the drama ended up being a bit silly towards the end, I was way too busy swooning over the cowboy deliciousness that was Rand to give a crap.
My thoughts on him summed up in a single quote:
“I would have said something else, but he was walking away too fast, whistling for his dogs, all of which came charging across the paddock to reach him. Watching him kneel and pet them, seeing their absolute joy at his attention, I realized that if I had a tail, I would have wagged it every time the man got near me too.”
[image]
Because same, Stef. Sameeee.
The man was every romance fantasy of a stoic yet caring cowboy made reality. And he was surprisingly willing to communicate with Stef on several occasions where situations were primed for miscommunication, admitting wrongdoings and proving he was willing to do whatever it took to get his HEA with his man. For him, Stef was “the one that got away”, and while reading I definitely got the impression that these two were written in the stars from the start. As obvious as the title is, it really was truly all about timing for them.
And lastly, when these two came together, boy was it magic for me. The steam was off the charts, as well as the chemistry that just poured off from them whenever they interacted. They couldn’t keep their hands off once the hesitant first steps were taken.
Plus…
(Warning for explicit smutty goodness.)
“I could feel the muscles in my ass clenching and unclenching, ready for him, wanting him, needing him. “Fuck me.” “Yessir.” He exhaled as he thrust inside, sheathing himself in me, the burn white-hot for seconds before the pleasure twisted quickly into bliss.”
The use of “yessir” in this really did it for me, so I rest my case y’all.
[image]
****** Timing series by Mary Calmes.
Timing — 4.5 ⭐ After the Sunset — TBR. When the Dust Settles — TBR....more
⭐ 3.4 “A bit nonsensical, but still fairly enjoyable” stars ⭐
To be completely upfront, I’ve been dreading picking this one up for a while now. After s⭐ 3.4 “A bit nonsensical, but still fairly enjoyable” stars ⭐
To be completely upfront, I’ve been dreading picking this one up for a while now. After some specific spoilers I spotted while researching (aka reading other’s reviews), my plans for grabbing this any time soon were scrapped… until all the hype for the spin-off series got to me, that is.
Once that happened, it was only a matter of time until I caved.
The verdict, now that I’m done?
[image] Plus, the plot might’ve been Sloane Kennedy’s levels of OTT, but the smut was HOT! And I’m nothing if not a woman of simple tastes.
**************
In this final installment of the Elite Protection Services series, we are reintroduced to Jackson, the boss of the security/bodyguard company and another badass ex-military guy… as is the case with half of the MCs in these books lol. Jackson was someone who I was glad to see stepping into the spotlight, particularly because despite his title of “boss” he’d been majorly sidelined by the author in previous entries. Here, we finally get a taste of the kind of man he is, and while he won’t be winning any awards for “biggest personality”... at least the man knew how to use his other attributes, if you catch my drift.
(And I’m obviously talking about his loyal and considerate nature as a partner over here, you dirty-minded people!)
Then, opposite him and playing the other half of the main couple, we have Dayton, a camboy who gets assigned to Jackson as a pro-bono case after becoming a witness to a horrible incident. Dayton was someone who I felt for, considering his tragic backstory and struggles with severe dyslexia, yet… I didn’t entirely find myself liking him. He earned my pity as a reader, but not exactly my earnest appreciation.
All in all, these two were okay MCs for me, following the usual “hurt boy and the big strong man who safe keeps him” dynamic that is a staple of the series. And which I adore, but has, in my humble opinion, been done way better by the same author in previous entries.
Here, the attempts at setting up an actual romantic connection between Jackson and Day fell kind of flat for me. We were told these two were in love and each other's soulmates a lot, but I didn't personally feel it. I did enjoy their tender moments, however, like when Day was opening up about his struggles and then when Jackson introduced him to his family early on, but I wished there had been a bit more emotional meat to the story. Other than the proverbial meat everyone was peeling out of their pants every two pages or so… but you won’t hear me complaining about that.
[image] Accurate scientific depiction of the reading process. Because this has some of the best smut I've read by this author, and that's no exaggeration.
The bottom line, though, is that If you have read and liked any of Onley James’ books before, then chances are you’ll also find enjoyment here. It’s an easy read, with some great steam, and an also easy to root for (if not a bit shallow) relationship. In spite of the fact that this did end up being my least favorite book of the series, I have no regrets finishing it.
⭐ 5 "got into this for the dark ponyplay erotica, stayed for the surprisingly complex characters and tentative relationship development" stars ⭐
[image⭐ 5 "got into this for the dark ponyplay erotica, stayed for the surprisingly complex characters and tentative relationship development" stars ⭐
[image]
A drawing of how I pictured Erik Dal aka Bluefinger (HD-ish version here), the love interest and Reuben/Copper’s master. Because you know the series left an impact when I had to pause mid-read to sketch one of the MCs lol.
⭐ 4 "these writers could write a phonebook and I'd be pre-ordering" stars ⭐
I've been a fan of all the stories I've read from this pair so far (who are⭐ 4 "these writers could write a phonebook and I'd be pre-ordering" stars ⭐
I've been a fan of all the stories I've read from this pair so far (who are also known as K.A Merikan for their m/m works, while they use Miss Merikan for their f/m and f/f ones), and this was not exception.
A short read that takes place in the zombie infested version of early 19th century London, and which works as a standalone despite having several connections to some of the authors' other books (primarily the Copper Horse trilogy, which I loved myself, and whose characters make a few cameos here). Coal/Dante was a great lead and his chemistry with Crema/Annie was a lot of fun to read, even if most of the "set up" happened off page due to them having known each other for a year prior to the book's start. I specially enjoyed the play scenes after they both embrace their roles later on.
As a dark erotic tale, this one worked well for me. Clearly not as in depth as the books for The Copper Horse trilogy, since the page count is so much shorter, but I still had a good time reading. Plus the Merikans always deliver with their seemingly completely odd, yet wholly enjoyable tales... as well as with the sex scenes in them lol. Boy do they know how to turn up the steam.
Never thought I'd be into this kink, and I still feel like it would weird me out irl personally... but on a book format and with the Merikans dark twist? SIGN ME UP....more
![럽미닥터 [Love Me, Doctor]](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1636918267l/59617790._SX50_.jpg)
Loading...
