REVIEW: Restrained Under His Duty (Dirty Little Secrets #3)

Restrained Under His Duty (Dirty Little Secrets #3), by Stacey Kennedy
Publish Date: April 4, 2017
Publisher: Loveswept
Format: e-ARC, provided by the publisher via Netgalley
Genre: adult suspense romance
To Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Rating: 4 STARS

(Synopsis) As the chief of security for a prominent senator, Ryder Blackwood is stunned when an anonymous source sends him a compromising photo of his boss’s twenty-five-year-old daughter getting down and dirty in an underground sex club. If it gets out, the media firestorm could ruin her father. More troubling for Ryder is how arousing he finds the whole situation. He’s known Hadley Winters since she was a kid. And now she’s the woman in all his most private fantasies.

Wild behavior helps Hadley get through those painful, lonely nights, but she’s been waiting a long time for a man like Ryder to protect her from herself. Ryder is raw. He’s real. And he makes her feel safe. Now that they’ve both become pawns in a blackmailer’s dangerous game, there’s more at stake than her father’s political career. As the intimate threats tear apart a tender new love, Hadley is forced to trust Ryder with her life—and her heart.

Restrained Under His Duty is a great unrequited love story with a hefty dose of intrigue, suspense and danger thrown into the mix. And, of course, when you add those particular items, that unrequited love (which, actually, is completely requited, as it turns out) has no choice but to build into something pretty awesome. 

Ryder has a lot of reasons for not getting into it with Hadley, despite his desire to do just that. He's known her since she was just a kid. He's friends with, and employed by, her father. He's into some kinky stuff, as is evidenced by his ownership of a BDSM club. But, it's getting harder and harder to resist her when she keeps suggesting the opposite of a friends-only relationship.

Hadley has wanted Ryder ever since she knew what it meant to want someone. She trusts him. She's attracted to him. She thinks he can give her what she needs. She's been biding her time in one sex club or another, waiting for Ryder to wake up and claim her, but she's just about done waiting. I would be too, if I were her.

Unfortunately, she and Ryder are forced into close quarters when she's threatened in a horrible way and Ryder's caveman protector instinct kick in. It was a really beautiful thing when that happened. It was like, all those years of frustration and angst exploded into this crazy passion. But, that doesn't fix all their problems. Ryder still has his hang-ups, Hadley still feels largely unwanted, and there's still a guy out there blackmailing, kidnapping and attempting to murder, and no one knows who it is.

I really like this series about a bunch of sex club owners and BFFs who have these secret meetings and help each other out. I like how Stacey Kennedy has woven this over arching plot into all their stories, too. There's one final book left in the series, and I can't wait to see how it all comes together in the end. 

REVIEW: Pipe Dreams (Brooklyn Bruisers #3)

Pipe Dreams (Brooklyn Bruisers #3), by Sarina Bowen
Publish Date: May 2, 2017
Publisher: Berkley Romance
Format: e-ARC, provided by the publisher via Netgalley
Genre: adult contemporary romance
To Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Rating: 5 STARS

(Synopsis) Mike Beacon is a champion at defending the net, but off the ice, he’s not so lucky. A widower and a single father, he’s never forgotten Lauren Williams, the ex who gave him the best year of his life. When Lauren reappears in the Bruisers office during the playoffs, Beacon sees his chance to make things right.

Lauren hates that she’s forced to travel with the team she used to work for and the man who broke her heart. There’s still undeniable sexual tension running between her and Mike, but she won’t go down that road again. She’s focused on her plans for the future—she doesn’t need a man to make her dreams of motherhood come true.

Lauren plays her best defensive game, but she’s no match for the dark-eyed goalie. When the field of play moves to Florida, things heat up on the beach.

One of Mike’s biggest fans doesn’t approve—his teenage daughter. But a true competitor knows not to waste the perfect shot at love.

Sarina Bowen's series about hot hockey players gets better with every book. And Mike Beacon may just be the best book boyfriend this year. This man is honorable and determined and a really good dad. Without a doubt, he's the sexiest Bruiser yet. 

I didn't know how I'd feel about Lauren's book. She's always been kind of awful to everyone around her. We discover in Pipe Dreams that there's a very good reason behind this, and I loved watching Lauren's cold attitude slowly change as her orbit starts to expand to include hockey and Mike once again - two things she used to love, but had to give up. 

Lauren's relationship with Nate is especially sweet. He's her boss, but he seems like a really close friend as well. And Nate is definitely a friend you want to have. Not only is he loaded, but he gives good advice and friendly nudges in the right direction when they're needed. 

Mike is a veteran on the team. One of the oldest guys, he has a thirteen-year-old daughter, a dead wife, and feelings for Lauren that haven't died out for years. His story is definitely a sad one - his choices were not easy. He and Lauren had 18 perfect months before he had to leave her, and although I think the way he went about it was all wrong, his reasons behind them were true. 

Mike's determination to get Lauren back in his life isn't dampened by anything - not her constant refusals or his daughter's vehement objections. A man who knows what he wants is super sexy, and Mike may be the sexiest of them all. He wants that love back, and he's not going to stop until he has it. This man is unbelievable. 

There's actually some movement on the Nate and Becca situation in Pipe Dreams, so I don't know if they will get their own book or not. Especially since neither is a player. But, I loved their little side story that was running parallel to Lauren and Mike's. 

There's tons of hockey action in Pipe Dreams as the Bruisers enter the playoffs and start the hunt for the Stanley Cup. Sports books with very little sports action are always a bit disappointing. So, I was glad that this one was full of all the sports action that makes sports books one of my favorite sub-genres. 

Pipe Dreams not only didn't disappoint, but it blew me away with it's passion, it's excitement and it's honesty. I certainly hope that this isn't the last we've heard from the Brooklyn Bruisers.

REVIEW: Blade Bound (Chicagoland Vampires #13)

Blade Bound (Chicagoland Vampires #13), by Chloe Neill
Publish Date: April 25, 2017
Publisher: Berkley Books
Format: e-ARC, provided by the publisher via Netgalley
Genre: adult paranormal romance
To Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Rating: 5 STARS

(Synopsis) Since the night of her brutal attack and unwilling transformation to vampire, Merit’s stood as Sentinel and protector of Chicago’s Cadogan House. She's saved the Windy City from the forces of darkness time and again with her liege and lover, Ethan Sullivan, by her side.

When the House is infiltrated and Merit is attacked by a vampire seemingly under the sway of dark magic, Merit and Ethan realize the danger is closer than they could have ever imagined. As a malign sorcery spreads throughout the city, Merit must go to war against supernatural powers beyond her comprehension. It’s her last chance to save everything—and everyone—she loves.

I read Some Girls Bite (Chicagoland Vampires #1) a bunch of years ago when I was looking for something to fill the Sookie Stackhouse-sized hole left in my vampire book loving heart. I fell in love with the strong, plucky, bacon-loving Merit and her sire, the enigmatic Ethan Sullivan. Over the years they have been through more than any one couple should ever have to go through. No really. It's been RIDIC. But here we are, at the final Chicagoland Vampires book, and it seems that their future might be happy, full, and pretty damn perfect after all. 

This last book is absolutely everything you could want or need in a series ender. With thirteen books under her belt, Chloe Neill has brought back nearly all of the side characters that made the Chicagoland world so full and rich, for at least a little glimpse. There are at least a few mentions of the other Chicago vampire masters, Scott and Morgan as well as Merit's Red Guard partner Jonah. We get to see Gabriel, the Apex of the North American Central Pack call Merit "Kitten" one last time. The Ombuddies - Jeff, Catcher, Mallory and Merit's grandfather - are on hand to solve one last Chicago plight. And the Cadogan vampires who we've come to expect to have Merit and Ethan's back - Malik, Luc and Lindsey - are kicking ass and taking names. 

Every one of the loose threads are tied up. Even threads I didn't realize were loose were tightened to an incredibly satisfying degree. Weeks after I finished reading Blade Bound, I thought back on the events that unfolded during the course of the book, and I realized how masterfully Chloe Neill wove those finalities into the story. I didn't even realize they were happening until later when I was thinking about all the characters I had grown to love and how they had all found this amazing life alongside Merit and Ethan. 

And, of course, Merit and Ethan are going to have an amazing life. We get to see them fight side-by-side, and puzzle out a new problem, and argue and make up and GET MARRIED. And yes - the big question that we've all had for years now about the prophecy that Gabriel made is answered. And I promise, it's a satisfying resolution to a story line that's kept us hanging for a long time now. 

I realize I'm being rather vague with my review, but the events that unfold in Blade Bound are a continuation from the events in Midnight Marked (Chicagoland Vampires #12). So, I can't go into specifics without giving away some pretty big spoilers. Suffice it to say that Blade Bound has tons of action, danger and humor. And the romance pegs the swoon meter. Merit and Ethan have found this incredible love and respect for one another that can only be borne from all that they have encountered and survived together, and that shows in their words and their actions. 

Thankfully, Chloe Neill seems as reluctant to leave the Chicagoland Vampire world as we are, and she announced at the end of Blade Bound that there will be a spin-off featuring certain characters from the series. If you want to know who they are, well... you'll have to read the book. :)