Review: Paradise Rules by Beth Kery

This book falls into my Erotica Reading Challenge.

I bought this book because I'd read good reviews, but before I'd read Sweet Restraint. I didn't care too much for Sweet Restraint so this one lingered on my bookshelf for a long time. I decided to read it because I was looking for a contemporary read.

Paradise Rules surprised the hell out of me. It was really good - very, very erotic. I enjoyed it from cover to cover and there were only a few spots where I felt like"really?".

Lana Rodriguez is a famous jazz/blues singer who has come to Hawaii to hang out with her friend, who's going through an ugly divordce. Lana spent her childhood in Hawaii (we don't learn all the particulars until near the end of the book, needless to say she has a secret) and isn't thrilled about being there but wants her friend to have a good time.

Jace Koa is a local celebrity, an olympic swimmer/surfer who's come home to Hawaii and runs a surf shop and a restaurant. He first runs into Lana and her friend at his surf shop while he was getting a hand job from a client. Lana was not pleased as he was supposed to be teaching them how to surf.

Later, she hires a male escort for her friend and ends up getting one for herself too. Little does she know Jace's cousin runs the escort service and when Jace hears she's hired their services he steps in to be her "date". Hot sex ensues. Hot, angry sex. Oh, my....

The first half or more of this book is Lana and Jace's relationship, which consists mostly of sex - on a beach, on a boat, next to the boat.... Both Lana and Jace were very strong characters, so there was a lot of pushing back and forth between the two of them. Lana was kind of a bitch, and I did sort of wonder what Jace saw in her that kept him coming back, but let's be honest, I wasn't too worried about it - Ms. Kery knows her way around a sex scene!

There did turn out to be a scandal involving Lana and Jace, and Jace tries to figure out who's responsible while Lana is angry and blaming Jace. I knew who the culprit was but Jace was so sweet while he figured it out. I did wish Ms. Kery had gone into more detail at the end of the book; I kind of felt like it was too open ended, but that's just my preference.

I really enjoyed this book and I give Paradise Rules 4 out of 5 stars. A super sexy read!

Review: Decadent by Shayla Black

This book falls into my Erotica Reading Challenge.

I read Ms. Black's first book in this seris, Wicked Ties (review here), and I liked it, but it had some issues that were hard for me to get past. I wanted to try another book before gave this series a thumbs-up or not. Well, I'm giving it the thumb's up....I like it and am looking forward to the next book. Okay, the premise was a bit unbelievable, but once I got past it I didn't care - it was a sexy, sexy book!

Kimber Edgington is a twenty-three (I think!) year old virgin. She's been saving herself for her long-distance boyfriend Jesse, who is a famous musician that's been on tour for several years. Kimber and Jesse met while Kimber's dad was doing bodyguard work for Jesse, then after an intense summer he went on tour but they stayed in touch. Kimber knows Jessie likes menage, and she wants to be taught the "tricks of the trade" so to speak, but she wants to remain a virgin for Jesse. She knows that one of her father's former employees, Deke Trenton, is into menage and she asks him to teach her.

Deke has known Kimber since she was a teenager, and he respects her father, his former employer. He turns her down at first, but his cousin Luc convinces him that if they don't teach her she'll find someone who will - and they may not be as gentle with her as Deke and Luc will. Deke reluctantly agrees and Kimber moves in.

I think you all know about how I get creeped out about people who are related by blood being in a menage together. I guess 2nd cousins don't count in my book because it didn't bother me as much as I thought it would. Deke and Luc are sexy, sexy men.

Deke had some weird hangup/terrible secret about not having sex with a virgin, but they worked around that. I did spend a good portion of the book trying to figure out how Deke killed someone during sex. I just knew that had to be his terrible secret - what else could it be? I mean, honestly, why else would he not want to have sex with a virgin unless he accidentally killed one? But, in the end that part of the storyline made sense. There was also another storyline going on with Kimber's dad and a stalker which made for some conflict (conflict here meaning more opportunities for Kimber and the guys to have sexytime *wiggles eyebrows*).

Well, I know this review is all over the place, but what I'm trying to say is that it was a fun, sexy read. I can't believe I'm writing this but there may have been a bit too much sex for me (I may have skimmed the sexy parts a time or two). I'm looking forward to her next book, Delicious - Luc's book.

I give Decadent 3 1/2 out of 5 stars.