Review - Promises After Dark (After Dark, Book 3), Sadie Matthews

Intensity, sensuality, and seduction awaits in the final part of the provocative romantic AFTER DARK trilogy that has left readers longing for more.

Can a fractured love be salvaged? Parting with Dominic has left me broken in a way I could never have imagined. We held elation in the palm of our hands, but one misunderstanding brought it crashing down around us. Now the hurt and sadness follows me like a shadow and makes choosing the right path to take impossible.

But one moment with him and the pulsing heat is singing in my blood again; his touch lights a fire that my body refuses to ever forget. I'm hopelessly lost in him. Finding our way back to one another will take trust and a leap of faith - only then we will know whether we have a chance at forever.

I read the first two books in this series a few months ago now, before I started blogging, so I can't 100% remember what I said about them. The first book Fire After Dark I read when I was still in my 50 Shades phase so according to GoodReads I've given it a 4 out of 5. The second, Secrets After Dark I've given a 3 out 5 and after finishing book 3, Promises After Dark, I think I'm seeing a downwards pattern.

To be completely honest, I got bored with this book. I remember book 1 being a bit naughtier and more relationship/sex orientated, and therefore more Dominic orientated, but book 3 just felt like I was reading the dialogue for a Broken Sword game.

The language was quite wooden in places and a number of times I found myself having a "who speaks like that!?" moment. Dominic wasn't really in the story too much and it focused much more on Mark and Andrei and Beth's relationship with the two men. I missed Dominic's presence and eventually started getting a bit irritated with Beth's devotion to him given his somewhat lackadaisical attitude to her. We kind of go through a big chunk of the book without him, then all of a sudden its 'lets buy a house and live happily ever after'. I'm not convinced by the sincerity of the relationship which ultimately makes me not care about it.

The story line was okay but after the first 2 books I think I was expecting something a little more exotic than what it turned out Andrei was up to. The final encounter with Beth and Andrei was hugely disappointing and pretty unbelievable given Andrei's fierce determination for the entire book up until that point,

I don't have too much to say about it to be honest. I'm not sure if this is the final book and Matthews is rounding it off as a trilogy or whether there's another one to come, but I'd be really disappointed it that's how she's chosen to end the story.

I after reading Promises After Dark, I wouldn't recommend this series to adult fans. If I would have to describe it in one word it would be 'average' and to be perfectly honest, if there is a 4th book, I probably will have forgotten about the series by the time it comes out. I'll give it a 3 out of 5 because I'm feeling nice.

Read More

Review - Backstage Pass (Sinners on Tour, Book 1), Olivia Cunning

Five stunning guys, one hot woman, and a feverish romance... For him, life is all music and no play...

When Brian Sinclair, lead songwriter and guitarist of the hottest metal band on the scene, loses his creative spark, it will take nights of downright sinful passion to release his pent-up genius...

She's the one to call the tune... When sexy psychologist Myrna Evans goes on tour with the Sinners, every boy in the band tries to seduce her. But Brian is the only one she wants to get her hands on...

Then the two lovers' wildly shocking behavior sparks the whole band to new heights of glory... and sin...

Okay so I wasn't sure what I was expecting from this book. I mean, I knew it was erotica but I didn't realise it was EROTICA. I'm talking no holds barred, threesomes, sex in public places, back-door action (and not in the typical way) kind of erotica.

I'm not going to talk too much about it because it may offend some of your lovely YA ears, but it wasn't my kind of thing. Now, I actually like a bit of naughty, but this wasn't for me. I picked it up because I'd read some reviews that said there was a pretty decent story line in Backstage Pass, but if there was, I missed it completely. So that was a big let down.

I also had no idea how to pronounce the protagonists name, which irritated me quite a lot. Petty, I know, but I cant connect with someone if I don't know their name! Myrna (I pronounced it Mer-Nah) was also fixated on the fact she was older than Brian, and highlighted it on a regular basis, which only made her come across as whiny and a bit self-obsessed. Brian was just as bad, being the ultimately clingy boyfriend and not in a Travis Maddox, passionate, you-are-mine, kind of way. Just in a, Jesus-get-over-it, kind of way.

I always love the rock band theme so that's what kept me going. Cunning clearly knows a bit about music so I did enjoy some of the language she used and the general flow of the book was okay. But the sex scenes were quite repetitive and the actual sex wasn't my cup of tea and didn't give me the warm and fuzzies.

Some of the other characters were mildly entertaining and I've heard that the other books in the series are based around them. However, they're not that entertaining that I think I'll give the rest a go.

I've given Backstage Pass a 3 out of 5, but to be honest, I probably wouldnt recommend it. I think there are much better rock band based erotica's out there.

Read More

Review - Bad Rep, A. Meredith Walters

"Who gives a damn about their reputation? Oh, that would be me! Especially since mine had gone straight to hell in the span of thirty minutes".

Maysie Ardin is soaking up the summer before her junior year of college, shopping, hanging by the pool and shopping some more. But when her black belt in spending lands her in trouble with her parents, she is forced to take a second job at a local bar to dig herself out of a deep financial pit.

She thought she’d be miserable. But then Maysie didn’t count on Jordan Levitt, the hot, pierced and tattooed, drum playing bartender who also happens to be very interested in her. And the feelings are totally mutual.

It had the makings of the perfect romantic set up. Boy meets girl. Boy likes girl. Boy has girlfriend? Okay, maybe not.

But attraction is a hard thing to ignore and soon Jordan and Maysie find themselves in the middle of a gossip induced firestorm. Maysie has to learn whether she can set aside her fear of public disapproval in order to be with the one she wants. Or will she let the opinions of others dictate her life and her heart?

~ CONTAINS SPOILERS ~

I should probably start by telling you that Jessica Sorensen (The Secret of Ella & Micha, The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden) has officially ruined the NA/Contemporary genre for me. I can't help but compare everything to her writing, which is just flawless. So when it comes to reading books like Bad Rep, they're really going up against Sorensen in an all out, no holds barred battle for NA perfection.

Unfortunately, Bad Rep started off on the back foot for me anyway, with the whole sorority/fraternity concept. Being a Brit and not having this kind of culture in our Universities, it's hard for me to relate to, and as someone that's never really striven for that kind of nicey nicey social acceptance, I find it all a little melodramatic. And that's how I found Bad Rep.

I didn't enjoy the story line because of this, and I therefore found Maysie as a main character a little whiny and somewhat pathetic. I very much sided with her room mate, Riley, in that it was totally lame to be thinking her whole life was crashing around her because she'd lost the respect of a sorority (for something she brought on herself, may I add).

There was little in the story line that kept me really entertained, and the major plot points weren't particularly dramatic. I was waiting for someone to get hit by a bus or for the school to burn down (anything!), thinking that the entire book couldn't possibly revolve around one half-hearted, teenage affair at a college, but alas, it did.

Another 'unfortunately' for Bad Rep is that it touched on my big big biggest pet peeve when it comes to this genre (and YA for that matter): 24 hour love. And in this case, it was literally, 24 hours. In 24 hours Jordan had become so completely infatuated with Maysie that he decided to screw over his girlfriend of 3 years (who he wasn't happy with anyway, just leave her for Christ sake?!), risk his position in his fraternity, which is apparently so important, and try and get Mays in the sack. It's just everything I dislike about establishing relationships.

Don't get me wrong, I liked Jordan as a character, and it was nice to read a NA book that didn't revolve around the guy being the indecisive one, but it wasn't strong enough for me to really sympathise with any of their actions.

I'm not going to write a long review on this because to be completely honest, I dont have that much to say. I couldn't relate to the story line and the plot points were weak, the writing was okay, nothing particularly superb, and the sex scenes were alright, the characters weren't irritating by any stretch of the imagination, but it wasnt an exciting book.

Theres definitely books I'd recommend above this one in this genre, so I'm giving it a 2.5 out of 5 (3 stars on GoodReads)

Read More