Forbidden Passion by Ruth Gogoll

From the moment Kim saw her new boss, Sonja, she was smitten. There is just two problems though. Number one Sonja is straight, number two she is married.

When Kim and Sonja have to share a hotel room and a bed at a conference, they have a night of glorious forbidden passion. Sonja acts anything but straight and married. Kim is on cloud nine. That is until the following morning. Sonja in a rather cruel and heartless way tells Kim, they will never have more than just that one night. It is never to mentioned again. Kim is bereft. How can she continue working with Sonja anymore feeling the way she does? Sonja’s aloof indifference is just sheer torment and agony to Kim.

Sonja begins to blow hot and cold with Kim. Kim just doesn’t know where she stands anymore.

Putting aside her own feelings, Kim feels all is not well with Sonja. As time passes Sonja begins to look ill. What is going on in Sonja’s marriage, she’s obviously unhappy in it? Kim begins to feel that she doesn’t know Sonja at all. Will there ever be any chance of love for her and Sonja?

Another wonderfully well written and exciting romance from Ruth Gogoll. The book is fairly long, so I allowed plenty of time to read it. Which was just as well, I couldn’t put the book down. It’s a page turner from start to finish. This is more than a straight forward romance. There is an element of mystery and intrigue through out the book. It held my interest completely through out the whole of the story.

Kim is openly a lesbian. She has set her heart and desires on Sonja, an outwardly straight married woman. But there is much more to Sonja than meets the eye. She is hiding a deep dark secret, one that could bring her life grinding to a halt and everything she’s worked for ruined if the secret should be exposed.

Both Kim and Sonja’s characters are multidimensional and interact well with the rest of the cast of equally appealing characters. The story has many twists and turns along the way. Including a few surprising detours. The scenic descriptions are excellent and I felt as though I was among the characters as one of their friends.

There is an opening for a sequel, I’m hoping we won’t have to wait too long, if one is on the cards. These characters have lots more to say.

The book has been translated from German. I wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t read it, it’s so well done.

Summertime (No Man's Land) by Tiffany Sapphire

Jackie is married to Carmelo. Her marriage isn’t a happy one. When Carmelo invites exotic dancer, Summer, to come and live with them, Jackie is furious. Her anger is mainly because Summer is an exotic dancer, plus she thinks Summer wants to take Carmelo away from her.

As time goes by, Jackie and Summer learn to get along together. Even becoming friendly towards one another. Neither woman could know that their lives are about to be changed forever.

This story is told in two parts. The first part focuses on Summer's job as an exotic dancer. How she is exploited and extremely unhappy. We also hear about Jackie’s unhappy marriage and how Jackie and Summer gradually become friends. The second part of the story is all about Jackie and Summer. Their growing attraction toward each other, the sexual awakening Jackie experiences and eventually how Jackie and Summer fall in love.

The actual storyline in this fairly short book is quite good. Unfortunately, the book is in dire need of an editor and possibly a couple of good beta readers. The dialogue is stilted and choppy. I lost count of the amount of times the characters were ‘screaming’ at each other.There are parts of the story that simply do not ring true. For instance, what everyday woman would carry a stun gun around with them? I don’t intend to list everything, but suffice it to say, there are a lot of things that don’t add up.

I found the poetry at the beginning of each chapter distracting. It pulled me right out of the story and I found myself skipping over it. So, I may have missed some vital points in the storyline.

If you can get past the editorial problems, you may enjoy the story.

A Hotter State by Harper Bliss

Three novella’s and a short story

Hired help

When Olivia’s girlfriend of two years walks out on her, Olivia is at a really loose end. Although Olivia knew the relationship was already on borrowed time, it still hurt.

Olivia’s friend Sam, comes to the rescue. She gives Olivia a card with a phone number on it. It’s a recommendation for a high class sex service. Olivia is shocked at first. But she suddenly decides to throw caution to the wind, She calls the number and meets up with Scarlet, she has the hottest and most passionate time of her entire life with the hired help.

Red hot and sizzling, the heat radiates off the page of this nicely written novella.

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The Honeymoon

Anna and Roz are on their honeymoon in Phuket. They’ve been together for over seven years. Their love life is still as hot and passionate as their first encounters. Suddenly, they find a way to make it even hotter.

They are on the beach when they first noticed Violet. Both women are drooling over the exotic Asian beauty. They return to their hotel room and have a hot and steamy encounter. Together, Anna and Roz plan the seduction of Violet. It doesn’t take much to lure Violet into having a steamy session with them. What an unexpected wedding present to themselves.

Pure unadulterated red hot sex. Not for the prudish or faint hearted.

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Learning Curve

Ada has been sent to Berlin by her company. She’s spent the past five months learning to speak German and lusting after her teacher, Giselle. Ada has almost given up on a liaison with Giselle, when she meets her at a club one night while Giselle was out with her friends. Although nothing happened that night, the next time Ada goes for her German lesson, Giselle makes an unexpected move on her. What follows is a boiling hot adult student/teacher educational encounter.

A nice storyline as well as being erotic.

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New Girl

Twenty nine year old volleyball player, Liz, finds out she has to share a room with twenty one year old new girl, Nina. Liz has had the hots for Nina for a while, but she won’t do anything about it. She thinks Nina is straight. Liz gets a lot more than she bargains for though once they get into bed.

A scorching hot short story.

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In this well written collection of erotica, there are three novella’s and one short story. Unlike some erotica, which is all just about the sex act, these titles actually have very nice stories. So, for those of you who enjoy erotica and a good story, you have the best of both worlds here.

I hadn’t read any works by Harper Bliss before, but now I’ve discovered her, I will definitely be on the look out for more of her books or stories.

As You Were by Kelli Jae Baeli

Singer/songwriter Tru Morgan is totally in love with her live in girl friend Brittany (Brit) Jabot. Together they share a wonderful home on Red Mountain, Colorado. Their lives are idyllic, filled with their dreams, romantic nights and riding their beloved horses in a fairy tale, snowy setting. Life just couldn’t get much better for them....... Until one day, a malicious chain of events ends up being the indirect cause cause of a tragic accident.

Tru finds herself fighting to find the life she once had with Brit. This in itself is an uphill struggle, but add to it disruptive outside influences and it is going to be almost an impossibility. Some people just do not want to see Tru and Brit back together.

The question that has to be asked is.... Will Tru and Brit ever find their way back to the love so callously torn from them?

A well written and highly enjoyable romance, mystery and intrigue, with a light touch of humor. Although this story is basically a romance, there is so much more packed into it. So many twists and turns and ups and downs, it’s a real rollercoaster ride of highs and lows. I simply couldn’t put this book down and couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. I had to force myself to slow down. I wouldn’t advise starting this late at night, unless you don’t need to sleep.

The two main characters, Tru and Brit are poles apart throughout most of the book. I don’t want to put in any spoilers, but the emotional ride they are on, is hard going for them. The only thing I will say is, I wasn’t disappointed with the outcome of the story.

All the characters in the book were well formed and they each played their parts in progressing the story forward. The scenic descriptions made it easy to visualize being amongst the characters while the story evolves.

One thing I particularly liked about this book is the way we saw how Tru and Brit got together in the first instance in flashbacks. I do like to know the background of the characters.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author, now that I’ve found her, I’ll definitely be buying more.

Being The Steel Drummer by Liz Bradbury

Private detective, Maggie Gale is back in her second outing and has some new mysteries to solve.

There has been vandalism in the Fenchester Civil War Cemetery, followed by a murder. Maggie in the first instance was hired to prove that crime was actually taking place. In light of the murder, her employment was terminated. But, that isn’t enough to stop Maggie from pursuing her own investigation.

 

As if this isn’t enough, Maggie is asked to follow a husband when his wife thinks he’s cheating. It comes to light that this may have a bearing on the case Maggie is investigating.

Then there is some old journals that Maggie simply has to read. Maggie is very surprised to read evidence of a steaming hot romance between two women dating back over one hundred and forty years ago. What has Maggie in more of a spin is, there seems to be some connections between the happenings from a bygone era and the happenings of the present day. Will Maggie be able to solve these cases? Will Maggie find the connection between the past and the present?

Last but by no means least, there is Doctor Kathryn Anthony, Maggie’s lover of the past couple of months. They are at the stage in their relationship when the L for love word is rearing it’s delicious head. Unfortunately, Maggie has to get to the bottom of these latest events, before they can both relax and move on to the next stage of their relationship.

Maggie employs Kathryn part time in her P.I business, this means they can discuss all things appertaining to Maggie’s cases without breaking any confidentialities. It’s also another step towards their togetherness.

I loved the first Maggie Gale mystery and this one is every bit as good. The book is a page turner from the start to the finish.

Liz Bradbury has created a whole cast of multidimensional characters, perfectly cast in their individual parts. They all interact and play well together. Maggie and Kathryn, the two main characters, are so obviously made for one another. They fit together so well. The relationship between Maggie and Kathryn has developed at a really nice pace, not too fast or too slow. They are comfortable together and their romance is hot and passionate. Sizzling in fact.

The story is well laid out and the scenic descriptions pulled me right into the story, it was like actually being there and being invisible in the midst of all the goings on.

There are so many twists and turns and ups and downs in this book. The story is so exciting, full of secrets, old eerie crypts, tunnels under the city and tragedy. I really wanted to rush through to find out how it all ended. But I had to slow down to savor it. I was quite sure I knew who the perpetrator was quite early on, I changed my mind three times and in the end I was wrong! For me, this meant the story was brilliant. I hate it when it’s obvious ‘whodunit‘ early on.

I really liked the way the past and the present were intricately woven together to seamlessly progress the story onwards in a smooth uncomplicated manner.

I’ll just add in here, that although this is the second book in the Maggie Gale mysteries, there is no need to have read Angel Food and Devil Dogs first. I would however urge you to read it as you will seriously be missing out on an excellent book if you don’t. I can’t wait for the third book in this wonderfully refreshing series.

Reapers Inc The Hunter by B.L. Newport

Brigit Malone has been dead for five years now. She’s been employed at Reapers Inc for the whole time. Originally Brigit had joined Reapers Inc so that she could keep her promise to her beloved Maggie, to always be there for her.

Maggie is moving on with her life now though. Five years is a long time to be alone and Maggie has another love in her life, she’s asked Brigit to let her go. Brigit has no choice. She can’t deny Maggie her happiness. It breaks Brigit’s heart, but she must let her go. She throws herself in to her role of Assistant Grim Reaper. She has to keep busy, she can’t keep dwelling on Maggie.

The Reapers have been busy reaping and expanding the firm worldwide. The Head Grim Reaper, John Blackwick, feels in need of a vacation. This means Brigit stepping up to take over as Head Reaper. She chooses Katuri-Buttercup, the Reaper in charge of dangerous cases as her assistant. Unfortunately, Katuri-Buttercup disappears while on an assignment. Brigit is in a race against time to find the small woman.

In her search, Brigit comes across the ghost town of Alpina. A town where Reapers Inc used to have a satellite office, until the reaper in charge disappeared years earlier. Brigit meets a ghostly hunter, Kit James, out to avenge the death of his brother, Lenny at the hand of Ned Cadoc. The whole town is turning in to a battle field.

Brigit is not pleased to find the hunter is responsible for Katuri-Buttercup’s disappearance into Limbo. She’s faced with two choices. Cross the hunter over to his final judgement or recruit him as the Reaper in charge of dangerous cases. Which will she choose?

Another absolutely spellbinding, page turning, adventure with Brigit and her band of Reapers. Just when I thought this series couldn’t get any better, so I’m proved wrong.

A lot of this book is set in the wild west. I’m a sucker for any book set in this period of time. The new characters B.L Newport has introduced fit in nicely with the rest of the characters and progress the story along to yet another climatic ending. The storyline is exciting and thrilling. I’ve been glued non stop to the whole series.

I am hoping there will be more books in this series. The Reapers have a lot more to say. As far as I’m concerned, this series could go on endlessly. I would at least like to see Brigit happy again, with or without Maggie.

The whole series is a definite re-read for me.

Reapers Inc Dark Souls by B.L. Newport

Brigit Malone is still Assistant to the Head Grim Reaper, John Blackwick at Reapers Inc. Since Brigit was seriously injured by Seamus Flannery, Mama Dee has been holding down the fort.

Once Brigit has recovered and gets back on her feet again, she goes off on an extra special assignment. Anything involving true love, Brigit is there. Reuniting two souls in death who had been parted in life by the death of one of them, is all too close to home for Brigit and the least she can do is to help them cross over to their final judgements together.

In Brigit’s absence, Mama Dee takes on a dangerous reaping task. The mayhem that ensues from a small mistake, ensures the other Reapers have a race against time to round up all the dark souls that have escaped from the bowels of hell. Will the Reapers be successful in their task before the dark souls cause mayhem and disruption throughout the whole world?

I am absolutely hooked on this series. I found these books quite sometime after they were published. Which, in a way, was a stroke of luck for me. I’ve been able to read them back to back and I still have one left to read. The truth is, I can’t put them down. No sooner have I finished one and I have the next one lined up to read.

The storytelling in this series, is far beyond average. To say B.L Newport has a wonderful and vivid imagination is an understatement. Her way with words is magical.

As the series progresses, I notice the storyline becomes darker, more dangerous for want of a better way of explaining it. It all adds to the ‘edge of the seat’ feeling I get with these books.

The characters, as in the previous books, are all well formed and compliment each other. Reading all about the dark side is like looking in from afar. Which is as close as I’d really want to be.

A fantastic series that I hope goes on for a long time to come.