Lauren Blakey's Sinful Nights series is so great - and now we finally get Colin's story in SINFUL LONGING! Read on for my review, an excerpt and an incredible giveaway for a Kindle Fire!
Sinful Longing (Sinful Nights #3), by Lauren Blakely
Publish Date: November 17, 2015
Publisher: self-published
Format: e-ARC, provided by the author and Inkslinger PR
Genre: adult contemporary erotic romance
To Buy: Amazon * Barnes & Noble
Rating: 4 STARS
(From Goodreads) He's the inked brother. The one you're wondering about. The bad boy of the family. Colin Sloan has a past. He's done things he's not proud of, but he's living differently now. Making changes in his life. Working hard, working out harder, and trying to win over one woman. He's utterly crazy about Elle Mariano, and though the sex is epic, their friends-with-benefits arrangement just isn’t cutting it anymore. He wants all of her, and is determined to prove he’s what she needs in her life.
Elle is fiery, loyal, and in major lust with Colin Sloan. He’s everything she craves in a man -- smart, sexy, kind -- and a rock star between the sheets. But his past hits too close to home for her, and the people she has to protect. There isn't room in her life for a relationship with Colin. Especially when she’s forced to keep a secret that could tear his family apart…
Lauren Blakey's Sinful Nights series is so much more than sexy books with hot alpha men. I mean, it's those things too, but the best and most surprising part about this series are the crazy twists and turns that are woven throughout, and then there's this mystery that continues unravelling with each book in the series. It's so masterfully done that you just can't help but want to read every book in the series.
We've met Colin before. He's the black sheep in the family. The wild child. He doesn't drink - anymore, that is - and now we know the story behind his hard living that landed him in AA and swore him off alcohol forever. It's a sad story, but Colin is all about making amends. He's back on the straight and narrow, and when things get too stressful at his venture capitalist workplace, he uses exercise to get through it instead of booze and pills. And, he's trying to give back by volunteering at a community center.
That is where he meets Elle, the center director. She's the mother of a 14-year-old son and the widow of a man who died from an overdose. She has resolved - for both her sake and her son's - to never tangle herself up with another man with an addiction problem ever again. Which makes things problematic with Colin because they have crazy amazing chemistry together.
Isn't it adorable when men or women in books think that one quick roll in the hay will get the other "out of their system" and they can go back to business as usual? Ha. That plan doesn't work out too well for Elle and Colin either. To be fair, Elle is the only one with that mentality. Colin wants her. In every way, shape and form. And not just for one night.
I love that Colin knows that Elle and her son Alex are a package deal. He knows that he has to win the kid over in order to win the mom over too. He's great with the teenagers, and I loved reading about his interactions with the kids at the center that he tutors in math.
Elle is very guarded with Colin, and for good reason. Not only is her past with her ex a factor, but the fact that she has to think about her son as well. She has every reason to be cautious with Colin in her life. And, just about the time that she makes up her mind to go for it, she's hit with an extenuating circumstance that makes things a lot more complicated for her. And for Colin too. This situation puts Elle's and Colin's budding relationship in jeopardy, and to be honest, neither of them handled it the best.
Elle's hot and cold drove me a little mad. She seemed to be on board the hot Colin train one moment, and then want to run away the next. Back and forth she went several times - it was amazing Colin put up with all the waffling. But, of course, in the end, it all paid off for him.
Sinful Longing backs up the timeline that's been established and overlaps a bit with the events from the second book in the series, Sinful Desire. Sinful Desire ended on a huge reveal and cliffhanger, so now we're seeing the events leading up to that moment. We also see that moment again, from Colin's POV this time instead of older brother Ryan's. And, in keeping with the pattern that's been established, yet another bomb is dropped at the end of Sinful Longing, so I have a feeling we'll come back to that in Sinful Love, which is the final sibling - Michael's - book.
“Do you like the music?” he whispered, his lips so close to her skin. Goose bumps rose on her flesh as she blinked open her eyes.
He raised a hand to adjust his tie—he was always doing that, as if ties weren’t his thing—and her gaze settled on his fingers.
Magic fingers, she called them. She knew what they could do to her.
“Yes, I like the music,” she said, trying to center herself.
“I do, too,” he said softly, then stroked his chin. “It’s beautiful. And it reminds me of something.”
She raised an eyebrow. “What does it remind you of? Some other piece of music?” She hadn’t known him to be a classical fan. He was rock, alternative, and indie music all the way.
He shook his head. “Not music. But something else I enjoy. Trying to remember exactly what.”
“Tell me,” she whispered, her curiosity now piqued. Her eyes met his. She searched those dark brown irises, as if she could find the answer there.
The sounds from the stage grew louder. “Wait. I think I know.”
She widened her eyes, and held out her hands as if to say tell me now.
“Turn back to the stage. It helps me think.”
She shot him a look, because that made no sense. Shrugging, she returned her focus to the musicians and the victorious sound of the final movement of Beethoven’s Ninth.
“Ah, that’s it,” Colin whispered. “Now I remember. It reminds me of that thing you like so much.”
That thing.
His fingers gently traveled up her neck. A small gasp escaped her lips. “Your neck. The way you move when I kiss you right here,” he said, stopping to trace the outline of one of her birds with the pad of his thumb. She nearly moaned out loud. Elle was convinced every woman had a spot on her body that melted her from head to toe when touched the right way by the right man.
For Elle, it was her neck.
“How you sound when I touch your shoulder,” he continued, letting his fingers graze her collarbone. Her bones turned liquid. Any ounce of resolve still left in her evaporated. She could say it was the thrill of the night, that it was the joy of hitting a massively vital professional goal, or perhaps it was the fact that no one had made her feel this way in years.
But none of that was true.
It was him. He just did something to her.
A shiver rolled down her spine. “No, it doesn’t sound like that at all,” she said, trying faintly to deny the way she responded to him.
He nodded vigorously. “Yes, it does. Just listen to that crescendo. It sounds like you when I— ”
She grabbed his thigh and dug in her nails. The contact silenced him, but reminded her of how much she liked contact with him.
Great job, Elle.
Being so close to him was an injection of lust in her bloodstream, and Elle knew what happened when she was ruled by lust. She knew it well, and she had the lifetime of upended choices to show for it.
Not that she regretted anything in retrospect.
Not one bit.
But she was older and wiser now. Wasn’t she?
She must be, because that wisdom was jostling its way to the front of her brain, trying to strike a deal with her body. They’d tangoed, they’d played—they’d done plenty. But she’d only fully had this man a few times. Maybe one more time and she could finally eradicate him from all her thoughts, from the dirty dreams that lasted all night and lingered too long during the day. She could say good-bye to these rampant hormones, and concentrate on her job, her family, and her promises.
There was no reason not to enjoy the final minutes of this evening to the fullest. One last night of passion, then she could move on from this turbulence of longing that engulfed her every time Colin Sloan was near. Let go of the longing, let go of him.
She couldn’t have him in her life, but she could have one more night.
The concert ended, and the crowd applauded; their clapping and cheering rang through the ballroom.
Seize the night. She turned to face him. Arched an eyebrow. Took on his challenge.
Forget poker. She had other plans now. “So what’s the new tattoo, Colin? You ready to show me?”
Links:
Website: http://www.laurenblakely.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LaurenBlakelyBooks
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LaurenBlakely3
SINFUL LONGING Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25384178-sinful-longing
Lauren Blakely Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6860216.Lauren_Blakely
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LaurenBlakelyBooks
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LaurenBlakely3
SINFUL LONGING Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25384178-sinful-longing
Lauren Blakely Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6860216.Lauren_Blakely
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