Reivew: Doms of Dark Haven

Dom de Dom Dom

Making the Grade: Overall C+

For My Thoughts

Cherise Sinclair's story get 4 1/2 stars, the other 2 stories get 3 stars.

I admit I only purchased this book because I needed another Cherise Sinclair fix. I am addicted to her Doms from Club Shadowlands and since I’m caught up on that series, I was on the hunt for a new Dom to love. I know it’s only a short story but it’s better than nothing and Ms. Sinclair knows how to write great stories.

All three stories in this anthology occur on the same night at Dark Haven during a Victorian era themed night.

It may have been third in the book (saving the best for last?) but I’m getting right to my main attraction.

Simon Says: Mine by Cherise Sinclair
While Dark Haven is no Club Shadowlands (*cries*) there were many similarities. Master Simon has all the same qualities as the Doms at Shadowlands.

I immediately liked Rona. Older, mature, recently divorced, grown kids, a nurse and looking to cross a few items off her to-do list. And like a lot of Sinclair’s heroine’s, she doesn’t think she’s young enough, thin enough or pretty enough. Thankfully Sinclair's Doms don’t seem to mind at all and in fact prefer this type of woman...like most of us.

A few quick impressions of Master Simon from Rona’s point of view (just to get you in the mood):

“Of course he’s dangerous - he has a flogger, and he knows how to use it“.
God, he was so gorgeous, like a blade, but not a bland kitchen knife - more like a medieval dagger. Elegant and deadly, but the look in his eyes was so caring. Almost loving.

Cue the shivers and chills!

Every time I read one of these books, Sinclair introduces a new aspect of this lifestyle she hasn’t used before. I feel like I’m getting an education right along with the heroine.

Suctions cups? WTF? Holy Moly...do these things really go on? I felt like the suctions cups should have come with a warning: Objects may appear larger than they actually are...only in this case - THEY grew/became/stayed larger - ohhhhhh my!

Things move fast in a short story. Simon is another seemingly perfect, understanding, caring, totally in tune Dom who’s number 1 priority is his sub. I liked that while Rona expressed an interest in the lifestyle - she wasn’t really looking to “tie” herself to one man. Simon took all her misgivings and through them right out the window. SMOKIN’ HOT! 4 ½ Starts


Met Her Match: Sierra Cartwright
How can 2 operatives work together and have to trust each other and have a Dom/S relationship?

Torin Carter didn’t want to cross the bounds with his partner Mia Araceli but she was determined to force his hand (or another male appendage) so when he’s forced to stake his claim on Mira at Dark Haven and publicly punish her - it changes the rules in their relationship.

Mira likes Torin‘s “heavy hand”. She’s been after him for awhile to show her the Dom/s ropes. Showing up nekkid on his bed with his belt in her mouth - well if that isn’t a clear message...??

I liked the dynamic between Torin/Mira and was wondering how they would be able to handle the Dom/s relationship and then transition to an equal footing on a partnership - work relationship.
Needless to say they worked things out to everyone’s satisfaction.

Another hot short story 3 stars

The final story Educating Evangeline was my least favorite of the three.

Evangeline's a lone wolf who needs the help of alpha Werewolf Dom Harte Sommers and his pack when she’s being hunted and stumbles into Dark Haven one night . She agrees to his terms and conditions and agrees to submit and learn from Harte in exchange for his protection.

This story was ok but just didn't pack the punch when compared to the "master" Sinclair.

3 Stars

From Goodreads:

Met Her Match (A Hawkeye Story) by Sierra Cartwright
Series: Hawkeye; Previous Book: Bend Me Over

Highly trained Mira Araceli can hold her own in the toughest parts of the world, but not, it seems, against her secret crush, Torin Carter. She'd fallen for her Hawkeye instructor years before, and to him, she'd been just another recruit; fresh, green, idealistic.

Torin, with his dark Irish good looks and fierce temper, doesn't want a partner, any partner, and especially not Mira. But assignments are assignments, and he takes his responsibilities seriously. So when the beautifully submissive Mira crawls into his bedroom, a leather belt between her teeth, he calls on all his resolve to send her away.

Unsatisfied, Mira ups the stakes and finds another dom to play with at Dark Haven. Beyond furious, Torin storms into Master Xavier's club and claims his rights to dominate Mira. For the first time in her life, she's met her match.


Educating Evangeline by Belinda McBride

This isn't what she came here for!

Pursued by a group of mysterious hunters, Evangeline Jones was desperate for sanctuary when she ducked into the doorway of Dark Haven. Instead of safety, she discovers a decadent, sensual world that challenges her very outlook on life.

Harte Sommers is charmed by the little wolf with the pink streak in her ebony hair. As alpha of the Napa pack, he sometimes feels that he's alone at the top. When he meets Eva, he knows he might not be able to keep his wild little wolf at his side, but his heart tells him that his lonely days might be at an end.


Simon Says: Mine by Cherise Sinclair

Related Title: Master of the Mountain

With an empty nest and divorce in hand, Rona decides it's time to explore the fantasies that nourished her through a long, tedious marriage to a man whose idea of outrageous sex was leaving the lights on. At the top of her fantasy list is touring Dark Haven, the BDSM club, but she isn't prepared for the effect of a powerful Dom. When Master Simon takes control and introduces her to toys and sensations she's never felt before, she realizes he could fulfil every fantasy on her list all by himself. But she's vowed to never get trapped in a relationship again.

One of the most popular Doms in Dark Haven, Master Simon has had his fill of eager, shallow, young subs. Rona is older, intelligent, independent...and sweetly submissive. After an evening of intense pleasure and despite her obvious attraction, she refuses to see him again. He needs a way to change her mind. She's not the first sub he's taken on a journey of exploration, but he's beginning to think she might be the last.

Publisher's Note: This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable: Anal play/intercourse, strong BDSM theme and elements to include exhibitionism and voyeurism.

Review: A Little Bit Naughty

Making the Grade: C

For My Thoughts

Their hands reach across the grocery shelf at the exact same moment, the prize within their grasp...it’s the only box left on the shelf and over a box of caramel corn - a friendship is born.

A Little Bit Naughty by Anne Rainey is your typical friends to lovers story. I got the feeling Amanda and Leo had been “best buds” for years and my only question was why? These two obviously had chemistry and real feelings for each other.

Amanda and Leo spend more platonic time together than most couples in a relationship. Lunches two to three times a week, going to the movies, out to dinner, he calls her sweetheart and touches her at every opportunity. And then there is their shared love of caramel corn. If that isn’t a match made in heaven I don’t know what is.

Again why are these two just friends? I guess they just needed the right incentive to take their relationship to the next level. And what better excuse then the fake fiancé ruse.

Amanda’s got the upcoming dreaded family reunion she doesn’t want to attend alone where she will be subjected to the usual questions and concerns from her family about her *gasp* lack of a boyfriend. Leo the ever gallant BFF offers to attend with her as her “pretend boyfriend”. Amanda has real misgivings about their ability to carry off the charade in front of her family for a weekend, but she can’t forget the feel of the bulge in Leo’s pants when they practice fake kissing. *Whispers* he’s hung don’t you know.

Sharing a cabin offers all kinds of sexy opportunities for Leo and Amanda to get down and dirty and they do over and over again. They discover quite quickly that they are indeed compatible in and out of bed…and they like it.

I think in the future they’ll be sharing a lot more than caramel corn together and more importantly Amanda will no longer be attending the family reunion solo.

From The Author's Website

Samhain Publishing — 10/2010
A Tahoe Nights Story
Read an Excerpt here

Amanda Harding has always been a grave disappointment to her parents. She’s slightly plump, owns a bookstore and single. All no-nos. When the annual Harding family reunion comes around, Amanda dreads the thought of going alone, again. In comes best bud Leo Prentice with a plan. He’ll play the smitten lover. No worries, right? But what happens when the fake kiss turns both of them inside out?

friends turned lovers romance

Review: The Heat is On

Making the Grade: C

For My Thoughts

The action in The Heat is On by Elle Kennedy starts out fast and furious (mmmm I sense a movie title in there somewhere), a bank robbery in progress, people cowering on the floor, lives being threatened by the likes of Hook Nose, Black Hair and Red Shoes. Not exactly the place to be scoping out your next potential date, but it’s hard for Matt O’Connor to resist the beautiful blonde lying on the floor next to him as they share a snarky, running commentary on the ineptitude of the idiots robbing the bank.

With the crisis averted, Matt decides to make a move on his snark-alicous partner-in-crime and ask her out for dinner. When she appears to think it over before stamping “Denied” on his forehead, Matt is dumbfounded, literally in shock - Who the hell mulls over going out on a date with him? With a sympathetic grin and a sassy wave, Savannah Harte leaves Matt O‘Connor in her wake to nurse his wounded ego. You go girl!

Big, bad-ass, bald, commitment-phob, Navy SEAL Matt O’Connor finally meets the one girl who doesn’t want a relationship. He’s been a man-slut for years and in his own words “if he were counting notches on his belt - he would need 10 of them.” It seemed kind of like poetic justice then that Savannah Harte, owner of her own florist business Harte to Harte was the first girl to put the unflappable Matt off his game.

Savannah should have been the girl of Matt's dreams...she just wanted to have sex with him and then when she got bored with him as she inevitably would, she would just send him on his merry way with no regrets. But the more serious Matt got about having a real relationship with Savannah, the more she was determined to keep things between them all about the S-E-X.

This is my first Elle Kennedy book and although it’s the sixth book in the series, I had no issue picking up this series midstream. There are mentions of characters I’m going to take a major leap and assume are from previous books, but they had no real bearing on this story.

This was a fast, easy, sexy read as this commitment challenged duo tried to get past their fears and give love a chance to bloom.

I will definitely be checking out some of the other Men in Uniform stories in the series.

From The Author's Website

The Heat is On
(April 5, 2011, Samhain Publishing)
Out of Uniform #6

Read an Excerpt here

It’s all about the thrill...

As a Navy SEAL, Matt O’Connor specializes in Bad Boy. At least, that’s what he thinks…until he finds himself face down on the floor during a bank robbery, arguing with a sexy, bad-girl blonde who wields her sharp tongue with surgical precision.

Just like that, Matt begins to wonder if maybe the idea of settling down with one woman isn’t as crazy as he thought.

Savannah Harte is addicted to first kisses and whirlwind romances. Once the thrill is gone, though, she’s outta there. She’s eager to follow the adrenaline rush she feels with Matt into the nearest bed, but when tangled sheets begin to feel like tangled heartstrings, her first instinct is to cut him loose. There’s only one problem: Matt’s not going anywhere. And not even a steamy threesome seems to dull her growing feelings.

Which leaves Savannah having to decide what she wants more. The casual thrill of now…or the scary thrill of forever.

Warning: This title features a hot threesome with explicit sex, a bad-girl heroine, and two Navy SEALs guaranteed to make you sweat.

January TBR Challenge: What The Librarian Did

Book Blurb

Is Rachel Robinson the only one on campus who doesn't know who Devin Freedman is?

No big deal except that the bad-boy rock star gets a kick out of Rachel's refusal to worship at his feet. And that seems to have provoked his undivided attention.

Devin, the guy who gave new meaning to the phrase 'sex, drugs and rock 'n roll'.

Devin, the guy who somehow becomes wedged between her and the past she's kept hidden for years.

It's up to this librarian to find out first-hand just how 'bad' he really is. Because her secret - and her growing feelings for a man who claims he's bent on redemption - depend on his turning out to be as good as he seems.

Which is really, really good

Making the Grade: C

For My Thoughts

As part of the TBR Challenge hosted by Wendy the Super Librarian , our task this month was to read a category romance.

There was a lot of buzz and rave reviews about this book and although I had never read Karina Bliss before and the title and cover of this book would not have originally inspired me to purchase this book, I did based on past success reading Harlequin Super Romances and the good reviews. So when I joined this challenge to try and whittle down the TBR, I thought since January was a category romance read month, that What The Librarian Did was the perfect way to kick-off the challenge.

I should have known right off the bat that I wouldn’t like the character of Rachel (based solely on how she looks on the cover - much to prissy for me) and then to discover on page one she doesn’t like the color pink??? Big red flag right there that her and I weren’t going to see eye to eye since pink is my favourite color.

Prim, prissy librarian and bad boy rocker, What The Librarian Did is the perfect example of a story where opposites attract.

I loved the character of Devin, he’s the sole reason I kept reading this book and gave it a C grade. Although the story could have been clichéd (bad boy/good girl) there was much more to Devin than meets the eye.

Devin was the burnt out rocker , recovering from his own stint after rehab, returned home to New Zealand to escape the paparazzi, look after his mom who’s recovering from her own health scare and is trying to make positive changes in his life after being in the music business since he was sixteen years old. Deciding it’s time to take responsibility for his future and his finances, he enrols in a business course at the local university.

I could not connect with Rachel at all. I tried not to let the cover influence my feelings for her, but what you see - a prim, prissy uptight, vintage clothes wearing Librarian is what you get. She’s supposedly left a string of boyfriends in her wake earning her the nickname “Heartbreaker” but myself,  I had no problem seeing why she was still single. I liked when Devin called her Heartbreaker, but I didn’t believe it about her for a second.

I guess I can understand how Devin was initially attracted to Rachel, since she wasn’t a groupie and in fact had no idea who he was and could have cared less. Since Devin was so used to having women throw themselves at him, I can see why Rachel’s disinterest towards him would have seemed novel and intriguing.

I think I was supposed to empathize with Rachel since she’d gone through a very trying experience when she gave up a baby for adoption as a teenage but I just didn’t. Rachel was always quick to assume the worst about Devin whether it was in his interactions with his young protégé, his actions with her, or with other women, I don’t think the rock star would have put up with her for every long in real life. There was a scene in the book where I thought maybe we were going to see another side to Rachel, when we discovered she had a mountain bike. It was just a small mention when Devin tripped over it, but it seemed so out of character to imagine Rachel even riding a bike in her buttoned up clothes, but it turned out to mean nothing and it was never mentioned again. I would have liked to seen Rachel give that bike a spin maybe it would have loosened her up.

I also found it hard to swallow that an 18 year old boy would uproot his life and move to another part of the country to attend a university in the hopes of trying to ferret out his birth mother because he thinks she works there.

Devin was certainly the star of What The Librarian Did in my opinion. His touching moments with his mom, his big brother/mentor relationship with Mark, his contentious relationship with this brother and his numerous attempts to break through to Rachel made this book for me. I just wished I could have warmed up more to the Librarian. She tried his patience and mine and she should be glad he stuck around long enough to uncover the Rachel buried under her prudish clothing.

I will be reading more from Bliss and in fact have Here Comes The Groom waiting on my Kindle App.