Review: Hot trio of novellas but the last one was the best.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 09 2, 2013
Story #1 - Copping To It - Elements: Voyeurism, exhibitionism, oral sex, menage M/F/M. - Rating: 2/5I was very disappointed in this couple, the heroine in particular. Her need for kink with a dangerous edge in order to get off aside, she rarely engaged her brain throughout this story; slipping from one dangerous situation into the next while riding on the high of her angst of letting the one man she's lusted over to want her as she is. I have no problem with dark eroticism, but it didn't work for me in this story. Using a potentially life-threatening situation as a catalyst for the romance between the hero and heroine was quite a stretch. While I did see the chemistry between the two characters, and I have to admit that the sex was hot, I really missed any indication of intelligence from either of them. The heroine was so oversexed that her emotions kept swaying back and forth between want, need, lust, jealousy, fear, hurt ... I got whiplash. I didn't by her reactions to what was going on around her. In fact, she didn't seem to fully know herself. At least that was my impression of her character. I think she crossed the line from enjoying a kinky edge to being seen as a floozy. The "danger" was just a convenient cover for them to get what they both wanted.Story #2 - Cop Appeal - Elements: Ménage M/F/M, Stalker, Reunited lovers, Older heroine-younger hero. - Rating: 3/5I enjoyed this story a little more than the first. The story of Luke Anderson and Sarah Larson was one of the rich guy and the girl from the wrong side of the tracks. I didn't dislike the characters per se, but I didn't love them either. Sarah still has hangups over her social status in comparison to Luke, even though he had never given any indication that it bothered him. That misconception was all on her. She was a little older than Luke, but out of the two, he seemed the more mature one. Now that was a disappointment. She also had the bad tendency to verbally put herself down in front of him. Again, the sex scenes were hot, but the heroine was a little too weak and self-sacrificing for my taste. There's submissive, and there is weak. She came across more as the latter. Still, this story wasn't as over the top as the first one, so that counts for something. As for Luke, I thought he had his heart in the right place. He didn't see the signs that would have clued him in into just how insecure Sarah felt around him, both in the past and in the present. But when you have such a dominant male as a character, I like to see a female who can be an equal and choose to submit out of love and desire, not because she has no backbone.Story #3 - Copping Attitude - Elements: Heroine is a rape survivor - Rating: 4.5/5Noah was the dreamiest hero of the three, and this was my favorite story in this collection. He was gentle and sweet and mindful of Jenna's trauma. He pushed her, but he always let her set the pace or take control of the situation. He was also incredibly patient with her. Jenna was sweet, and you could tell there was a tough cookie underneath that vulnerable exterior just waiting to be freed. The sex was hot, but I got swept up by the emotions and kind sincerity behind each of his gestures.Overall this was one scorching hot trio of stories. What I really liked about it was that I was able to read them back to back to back, and the heroes made cameos in almost all of them. Even though I found the first two stories to be less enjoyable than the last one, I enjoyed this author's style. I just didn't agree with some of the choices that were made. With that said, I would still read more from this author, under either name. If Copping Attitude was any indication, I know this author can deliver something to appeal to different tastes and expectations. I recommend it.Disclaimer: I received a review copy from the publisher via NetGalley for the purpose of an honest review.