Read and Review #28 - Unravel Me (Tori St. Claire)

Title: Unravel Me

Author: Tori St. Claire

Publication date: 24 February 2014
Publisher: Entangled Publishing — Brazen

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Synopsis:

Letting go might be the key that unlocks her pleasure…

Attorney Cassie Blaire has spent most of her life living by rules. Rules that keep her life sensible, and on the right path. But five years after losing her husband, Cassie is saying sayonara to “sensible.” And it starts now—with indulging a need she’s long denied.

When he arrives in Colorado, all Brad Steele wants is a scotch before he has to play nice in the first face-to-face meeting with his co-counsel in an ugly divorce case. But instead, he finds her—a lush, inviting stranger whose dark eyes invite him to sin...and thirst turns into a raw, undeniable hunger.

Now Cassie is initiated into a world that has nothing to do with being sensible, and everything to do with sensuality. Under Brad’s guiding touch, she’s receiving an education in desire—one that breaks all of the old rules, and explores tantalizing new ones. And once she learns that her naughty one-nighter is her arrogant co-counsel, all of her objections will be sustained...

My rating:
2 / 5

My review:
"ARC generously provided by the publishers via Netgalley in exchange for an honest opinion"

The first few chapters of the book is great. Until I get to the rest of the book. 

I'm all in for people who meet and part after a one night stand. A very hot one night stand. Cassie and Brad's encounter was refreshing and a good opening to the story in my opinion. Strangers meet, have sex then leave. No name, no info, no expectations. I didn't expect anything and that's why it was great. And then came the post one night stand.

It left a bad taste in my mouth because after reading the chapters after, it's like reading about two completely different people. Who is this woman claiming to want to break out of submission? Who is this man trying to be a dominant wannabe? It's hard to process their relationship because while I get that the author wants them to be two different people by day and night, it just didn't work out. 

I gave it a 2 rating out of 5 because of the first few chapters. If only it stopped there.

Read and Review #27 - Tempted by the Soldier (Nicolette Day)

Title: Tempted by the Soldier (Falling for You #2)

Author: Nicolette Day

Publication date: 24 February 2014

Publisher: Entangled Publishing — Brazen

Get a copy! Amazon | Google Play Store | Barnes & Noble

Synopsis:

When one touch isn’t enough, why resist?

Road trips are supposed to be fun. Or, at least, full of hot sex. For photographer Lilly Grayson, the fifteen-hour drive to her friend’s wedding with Nate Jennings will be neither. Not that Nate isn’t sexy—the man is six-foot-three-inches of mouth-watering Marine. But Lilly’s been there, done that…and he walked away. Now it’s time for a little payback. The kind that’ll make a man desperate for a taste of what he can’t have. 

And Nate wants a taste—so badly that he can barely keep his hands on the wheel. But the scars and ghosts of his last tour still haunt him. He can’t give into temptation, not this time. Lilly deserves a whole man—one who can love her the way she deserves to be loved, even if she doesn’t believe it can happen. And that can’t be Nate. Not when he’s leaving again in two weeks, and this time, he’s not sure he’ll return...

My rating:
3.5 / 5

My review:
*ARC generously given by the publishers via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

I love roadtrips. It's one of the best ways to get to bond with someone and have fun at the same time. In this story, Lilly and Nate were previously linked but Nate left her after a one night stand. I hadn't read the first book, but from the glimpses in this book, it was stated that Lilly and Nate met each other again multiple times after their one night stand, with much hostility on Lilly's part. I mean yeah, she deserves to be mad for being treated like a whore.

The thing is, I don't really find myself connected to Lilly or able to relate to her. She may be headstrong but at the end of the day, she still succumbed to her heart. Her feelings for Nate never died down, so was his for her. Alas, my cold cold heart did not melt at this.

I've read a few PTSD related romance and yes, Nate really made it believable. Not only that, he blamed himself for the death of his fellow comrades. PTSD added with guilt is one dangerous combination. I can understand his need to push Lilly away. And Lilly was determined to help him go through it. 

The sex was HOT. The banter was ridiculously spot on. Emotional turmoil? Don't get me started. However, when you feel so detached from a character, no matter how good the story is, it can rub you the wrong way and tilt your whole view of the story. You start to scrutinize every single thing the character say and do, to find that thing to connect with them. I didn't find that with either Lilly or Nate.

Needless to say, it's a good story. Roadtrips, banter, hot sex, emotional roller coaster. They're all there. It will make your heart (sadly not mine) ache and melt. Maybe I read it at the wrong time, with the wrong mood but it is what it is to me.