Burn by Maya Banks

Ash McIntyre has always explored his wilder side of well... you know. He demands control. His two best friends, Gabe and Jace, are both settled in their relationships with their new wife and fiance. So Ash has been left on his own. When Then Ash meets Josie, things seem to take a dramatic change.

I'm just gonna come right out and say it... I was pretty disappointed in this book. I was so excited for the final book in the Breathless Trilogy because it was about Ash, who has only made small appearances in the other two. He was who I was looked forward to seeing in the other two books. They constantly were saying how he was the polar opposite of Gabe and Jace... Turns out they were wrong... So wrong. He was exactly like the other two boys. So much so I felt like I wasn't even reading a different book. In Rush we got to see Gabe and Mia's interesting and commanding relationship. In Fever we got Jace and Bethany's dark turned sensitive relationship. Both those books were so different from one another. I felt like Banks just took Gabe and Jace and tried to mash them together to give us Ash. It didn't work out.

The only thing that was different in this book was the small twist towards the end and the girl. Josie was actually different from the other two women featured in one and two. She was suppose to be like the other two women so I guess it was nice that at least someone ended up different.

Burn was also a lot less steam than the other two. The flow of the story was nice and it kept a pretty steady pace, but overall was just lacking the spark that we got from before. Some parts of this book were five star quality while others were more like two. I find myself going back and forth when I was trying to rate this on Goodreads... One second I put it at a four right after I put it as a two.

I didn't like the build up between Ash and Josie. The reason I liked the other two guys was because they were all dominant and in control... and owned that. Ash was like that at first but then slowly started slipping... 

Levering himself upward, he kissed her forehead and then smoothed the hair from her face before kissing her lips. "Was that good for you?" he asked. "If it was any better, I'd be dead," she said ruefully.

No! Just no. The Ash I've read up until now doesn't ask how it was for you, because he knows he's good. None of these men ask the women. tisk tisk. Josie was also suppose to be strong willed and when the painting thing is revealed she should have stood her ground longer. I just didn't get them. Sigh. Pretty sure I spent most of my time shaking my head and saying no than I did actually enjoying it. 

I love Maya Banks writing, covers, and how she has her books set up. But Burn was not my favorite of hers. She could have given us so much in this book, and there was so much I wanted. She could have came hard with Ash and really made him the wild card she said he was from the get go. The small twist at the end of the book didn't really make up for the lack of everything else. Come on Maya you can't give us these amazing covers, an amazing first and second book, and then hand us this and expect us to just take it.... Ugh... Guess now that I think about it I'm more disappointed than I originally thought.... Hopefully the next series I pick up from her wont have an ending that let me down so much. 

4/10 Stars 
-Angela

Rush by Maya Banks

Rush by Maya Banks 
When Gabe Hamilton saw Mia Crestwell walk into the ballroom for his hotel’s grand opening, he knew he was in for trouble... After all, Mia is his best friend’s little sister. Except she’s not so little anymore. Gabe has starred in Mia’s fantasies more than once, ever since she was a teenager with a huge crush on her brother’s best friend. So what if Gabe’s fourteen years older? She’s an adult now, and there’s no reason not to act on her most secret desires. 

When I first picked up Rush all I knew was that it was going to be supa hot and hot it was. When I read the first few chapters all I could think of was that it was so much like Beautiful Bastard and 50 Shades (it could be their lovechild), but the further I read the less it was like 50 Shades. Rush is a story about Gabe Hamilton and Mia Crestwell. Jace's little sister, Mia, has had a crush on Gabe ever since she was a little girl. I mean who wouldn't crush over their brother's hot best friend! If I had a brother and he had friends like Ash and Gabe I probably would have too. Mia is currently working in a coffee shop while she tries to figure out what she wants to do with her life. Little does she know that when she goes to visit her brother at their hotel grand opening she would get the job offer of all job offers. Gabe has always been apart of Mia's life, but always slightly in the distance. After a very public and brutal divorce he has been set on not finding love again.

Even with Gabe's age being a little higher than I would normally like I don't really have to many complaints with him. The main thing was sometimes the things he said were a little..... interesting?! Sometimes he would speak and it would make my ears blush and others times I was super weirded out. It's mainly hot though. Mia was a character I really enjoyed.  Her only downside was sometimes her actions in my opinion were spot on then sometimes they were so far off from what I think a real women her age would have done. Overall I really liked their characters and how their relationship was built. I like that this trilogy follows a different guy in each book, because I really want to know more about Ash and Jace's "situation". They were both people I wish we would have gotten more of in this story.

It did take me a little longer than usual to connect with the characters, but it was worth it for the ending, which I was more than pleased with. I loved the way Gabe and Mia describe each other and it had me very giddy. I loved almost everything about this book... EXCEPT one thing. When they go to Paris. If I could go and edit this book that would be the only thing I would take out of it. You could replace that whole area with something, anything else... They could watch paint dry I don't care. I just hated everything about that little section. I think It brought the books rating and flow, way down. It was just too much. I'm pretty sure at one point I said:

 It was just that Weird! This books steamy scenes were written to a point where it wasn't too much (Paris aside) and did bring everything back together, even after that whole awkward area. I would love to hear how this audio-book is; as weird as that might sound. I got everything I didn't get  from 50 shades of lame out of Rush. Which made me a happy camper.  I was drawn in by the cover and then by it's pages. I think if you're a fan of books like Wallbangers and Beautiful Bastards then you will more than likely like this one as well. I will be continuing the series and will be looking to get more of Maya Bank's books in the future. 

7.5/10 Stars 
-Angela
 

Beg By C.D Reiss

Beg by C.D Reiss

Jonathan Drazen is a known womanizer and a gorgeous piece of
man candy. But Monica won't get sweep up in his ways.. Right? Yeah, he's rich, beautiful, charming has that whole mysterious thing going on, but he's made it perfectly clear that this is a short-term screw. Monica believes him when he says he can't love her, because she can't risk falling in love either. 


I think this book falls closer to a novella than it does a novel. Hey it might even be listed as one I honestly don't know... It was free on kindle so I downloaded it and it took less than a hour to read. The reviews below said that this book is beyond steamy... I beg (pun intended) to differ. It's the average amount of steam. And apparently it's like a six or seven part series thing.... I don't know how to feel about that either.

Basically this girl meets her ginger boss, they're attracted to each other, she says twice she won't sleep with him because that clearly playing hard to get, after a dumb bet they sleep together anyways, but wait he can never love her because of his ex wife, so they do it once, ex pops up, girl leaves.

Monica was whiny, pitiful, and about as interesting as an old cracker. Jonathan besides his smile just doesn't sound hot to me at all. He actually sounds the opposite of hot. The sexual scenes are boring and background stories are weird. There's this whole underlying story about how her roommate tried to committed suicide that is constantly brought up that makes no sense... Plus they try to throw baseball in the mix; like actual baseball stuff not just talking bases. Then the romantic scenes were just lame and poorly written. It's all just a mix of messy and a lack of smexy. 

   

Seriously things like this were said... 

I felt every pore of his tongue, every turn of his lips.

Um Ew. No. All I could think of was a tongue covered in blackheads. Sadly the story was odd and tacky the whole way through.

 
This book had all the potential to be a top guilty pleasure, but just didn't play out well.

I gave this novella two stars instead of one because it was free and because of the cover. 
Seriously the cover is amazing! I wish it was on a different novel.  

Guess you get what you pay for.


2/10 Stars 
-Angela 

Beautiful Bastard by Christina Lauren

Beautiful Bastard by: Christina Lauren

Hardworking, smart, sassy, and on her way to an MBA, Chloe Mills has only one problem: her boss, Bennett Ryan. He's exacting, rude, blunt, inconsiderate, and completely irresistible. Bennett has returned to Chicago from France to take a vital role in his family's massive media business. He never expected that the assistant who'd been helping him from abroad and has worked for his family for awhile now to be gorgeous and completely infuriating. Despite what people say around the water cooler, he's never been one for a workplace hookup. But Chloe's so tempting he might be willing to smash all the rules if it means he can smash her all over the office. As their appetites for one another increase to a breaking point, Bennett and Chloe must decide exactly what they're willing to lose in order to win each other.

If you read or follow our blog at all then you know that once or twice a month I like to break out my norm and read something a little more.... more... I'm sure you get what I mean. Well this month I read Beautiful Bastard. It was mmmm interesting. This probably wont be the longest review ever but I will give you some kind of sum up of everything.  

Chloe is a witty, silver tongued leading lady who can dish it out as well as take it in. As far as character development goes she doesn't really have any. She was funny but as the story went along I liked her less. At the start of the novel I really liked her bluntness and how up front she was about everything. As it went on though I started to care less and less for her. Everyone keeps saying how smart she is but yet she never really gets to display her intelligence. As for Mr. Bennett he was the complete opposite. As the story went on I liked him more and more. He went from this un-realistic to good to be true man to an actual person. He made the book interesting, and had the character development that we didn't get from Chloe.... Plus he sounds Smokin' Hawt!

As far as the plot goes, well, there really isn't to much of one. This story is based almost 100% on steamy scenes, and sometimes I was like:

 










Goodness gracious this is hot....

and sometimes I was like:

This is just a little too much, and not in a good way.  

Overall though this book is a quick, fun, and hot read with a few moments of ehh mixed in. I really liked how the story played out and the ending was actually pretty cute.

It was a really good book to read in between series, but I don't think I'll be reading book two. I just don't think there's really anywhere for it to go. 

7.5/10 Stars 

-Angela