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Mad About the Boys (Anthology) by J.L. Merrow and Josephine Myles (5 Stars)

A sexy anthology by two talented authors tapping into both the contemporary and paranormal worlds where three hearts are the rule.

Dinner for Three by JL Merrow (3.5 stars)

After leaving her abusive ex-boyfriend, Claire is now living with two sexy gay men, Tom and Justin. Tom and Justin have been dropping some not-so-subtle hints that they wish to include Claire in their relationship, but she isn’t catching on. They decide to make things very obvious over an extremely steamy dinner one night.

Since the story is only told from Claire’s point of view, and there aren’t a lot of conversations, we really only get to know her. She’s a great character and enjoyable to read. Tom and Justin were both nice guys with some adorable banter but pretty interchangeable. This is basically an enjoyable, well-written sex scene with some flashbacks in Claire’s life.

The Greenwood by Josephine Myles (5 stars)

Mirabelle is an immortal, beautiful sprite living in the forest where the story takes place. Jay is the sullen artist living alone with Mirabelle as his only companion. He doesn’t think she’s real, but he loves her dearly. Along comes Will, a woodcutter who has decided to live in the forest. Jay and Will quickly become lovers, but can Mirabelle ever truly become a true part of their lives living in her spirit form?

I loved this story with Mirabelle’s amazing character acting as narrator. It felt magical and tugged at my emotions. I felt like I was living in the woods with these wonderfully interesting people, and I desperately wanted them to be happy. It worked as a short story, but I could have easily read about these characters for so much longer.

Antithesis of Magic by JL Merrow (2 Stars)

Gus has had a hard life being born without magic like other people. Gus goes to the local bar to meet Max on a blind date. But while waiting at the bar, he is getting hit on by Lila. After Max arrives, it turns out that Max and Lila are together and really want Gus to join them. At this point, we learn a little bit about why Lila and Max want Gus so bad.

The story is told from Gus’s point of view, and he’s not the happiest guy in the world. The characters don’t really spend very much time getting to know each other before they have sex together. At the end of that scene, I felt like they used Gus to get what they needed, which was a bit sad. I think this story needs more character and relationship development and a stronger ending.

Changeling by JL Merrow (5 Stars)

Meg and Adam are the best of friends and do everything together. They live in a time in history where witches and faeries exist. Meg is a strong character, who works hard and is willing to stand up for what’s right. Adam is a very simple man who has had a rough life growing up, but he’s a sweetheart. His troubles stem from the time he was born when the faeries switched him for another baby. They wish to be together, but it’s forbidden until the original child can be recovered. At this point, we meet the original Adam, but now have to see what impact he’ll have on the original couple’s lives.

I loved Meg, and the story is told from her very interesting point of view. She’s the kind of character I could listen to all day long. The romance was sweet, and the plot was interesting. This was also a fairly long story which worked very well.

Kiss, Mark Two by Josephine Myles (4 stars)

Ruby loves Ty, but she really wants to invite Ty’s best friend, Mark, into their bed. Mark and Ty have been best friends forever, but can their relationship handle that kind of encounter?

This was one scorching hot sex scene with three people who obviously cared very much about each other. I actually cared about them, and really wanted to see this relationship work out.
Overall, this was an excellent anthology with several extremely good and unique stories. I really enjoyed this mix of contemporary and paranormal love stories with two sexy guys and one lady.

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Originally reviewed for The Romance Reviews. Complimentary copy provided by author/publisher for an honest review.
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Silent Night (Perfect Timing #2) by Kim Dare (5 Stars)

Vincent is completely enchanted with Hannah and believes she would be his perfect submissive. I enjoyed watching him try to figure out how he could convince her of this. Hannah was such a sweetheart, and she deserved somebody special. The way Vincent addressed Hannah’s silence made me fall in love with him. The perfect ending gave me a huge smile.

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Midnight Shadows (Midnight #3.5) by Lisa Marie Rice (3.5 Stars)

Enjoyable epilogue to the original story. It contained very little dialogue, and instead was a narrative by each of the characters about their profound love for each other and how they were dealing with the recovery of her eyesight. Although I enjoyed this visit with one of my favorite series, it should have just been a part of the original story.

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Over the Line (Mastered #3) by Sierra Cartwright (4 Stars)

Can you really protect your heart when you’re already willing to completely trust somebody with your body?

Dom Michael Dayton has already been married and divorced once. He’s going to be much more cautious with his heart next time. He knows what he wants in a future relationship and in the bedroom. Sydney Wallace knows she’s submissive when it comes to sex, but she’s extremely adventurous in everything else life has to offer. She refuses to be controlled by another man like her former master.

Michael is an excellent character with strong communication skills, a powerful body, and an incredibly insightful mind. He always pays attention to every detail about his sub making it his sexiest trait. Sydney was a strong woman physically, and she loved a good outdoor adventure. Unfortunately, after letting her last master completely control her life, she’s very hesitant to get involved in a new relationship and prefers just to play with other dominants. The focus of the story was on breaking down barriers for two people who both had prior bad relationships, and who were very determined to be much more careful the next time around. They both knew what they wanted out of their lives, and neither of them was willing to compromise.

Fortunately, what they both wanted and needed was each other. They discovered this by talking through their issues and desires, with these conversations being instigated by Michael. We definitely got to know the characters well enough through their thoughts and interactions with others, but the majority of their time together was actually spent doing scenes. I would have liked to have seen them spend more time together talking about something other than the scene. There were some brief conversations, but not enough to really buy the concept of them falling in love with each other. However, Michael’s comments and approach to life convinced me that they would get their happy ending, which we’ll hopefully see in a future book in the series.

The sex was pretty heavily laced with moderate pain including heavy flogging, pinching, slapping, and spanking along with bondage and ball-gags. Overall, I enjoyed this extremely erotic story with an incredibly sexy alpha male who knows how to communicate. If you enjoy stories that get you hot and bothered with heavy elements of S&M, this will definitely do the trick.

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Originally reviewed for The Romance Reviews. Complimentary copy provided by author/publisher for an honest review.
Book Blurb