Review: Wicked Firsts is a Wicked Good Read!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 27, 2013
Wicked Firsts was a wicked good read.  This box set contains six stand-alone stories/novellas.  Each one is between five and twelve chapters.  The theme is "firsts".  First lovers reunited; first tattoo; first undercover assignment, etc.  The other common thread in most of them is that either the hero or heroine has a tattoo - designed or inked by Rush Merrick.  All of the stories contain some hot, sexy action between the hero/heroine.  I tried not to give any spoilers in my review.First Exposure by Elizabeth Naughton features Avery and Cade.  Avery is a prominent Hollywood actress whose assistant has gone missing researching an assignment at a sex resort.  Avery hires a security agency to help her locate her assistant and the agent assigned to be her "pretend" husband on the trip is none other than Cade, her first love.  Avery and Cade have a lot of past and secrets to work through.  Avery's anger at Cade is much easier to understand when she confronts him with an event in this past.  Parts of this story were heart wrenching but it was worth it to discover whether they could let go the past and find a future together.First Rapture by Alexandra Ivy is about a Maddy being reunited with her first love.  Maddy shares herself with Luc on her eighteenth birthday.  She tells him she loves him and he walks away.  Maddy leaves the next day with her heartbroken.  She gets her big break in New York as a model and starts her own agency.  She, however, is unable to have a committed relationship with another man due to her issues with Luc leaving her.  She returns to Vegas eight years later with a plan to have revenge sex with Luc so she can move on with her life.  Luc realizes that Maddy is the best thing that ever happened to him - and works to win her back.First Taste of Darkness by Cynthia Eden is set in Las Vegas.  Jess is jilted by her fiancé but goes on her honeymoon to Vegas anyway, alone.  She goes to a Club where she encounters Blake (who owns half the real estate in Vegas).  Blake is only good at one night stands and Jess is just looking for a walk on the wild side - she needs to shed her good girl image - so they hook up for the night.  Needless to say Blake is not all that he seems and after an attempt on his life he and Jess hook up at another of his hotels.  There are some misunderstandings -a kidnapping - and a friend who isn't really a friend -- but it was a quick read with some good suspense.First Ink by Laura Wright is a first person POV story.  The chapters go back and forth between Addy's POV and Rush's POV.  Although this does not work for every story it worked well for this one.  You could get both POV while still maintain the storyline.  Addy dumped Rush at the homecoming dance in front of the entire school, causing Rush to leave town the next day.  Over the years Addy has tries to apologize but Rush will not return her calls, letters or e-mails.  Finally she attends a convention where Rush is the featured tattoo artist and by a little deception manages to be selected to be tattooed.  Addy works to talk to Rush and break down his defenses about the way she treated him in school.  I don't normally like a switching POV story but it really worked for this one.First Surrender by Katie Reus is a spin-off her of her Red Stone Security Series.  Sierra and Hayden are buddies.  Hayden has harbored a secret lust for Sierra for almost a year, Sierra feels the same way but each are afraid to let the other know and lost their friendship.  When Sierra is attacked at work Hayden gets his chance to get her to himself and "make his move".  There is a short appearance by Iris and Wyatt, which tied the story into Red Stone.  This was a quick read with some suspense.First Temptation by Joan Swan is about a border patrol agent on her first undercover assignment.  All I can say is wow do Zoe ad Taft have some kind of chemistry.  They start out antagonist towards one another but that morphs into something super-hot and it's not anger. The story takes place quite quickly - a matter of days and therefore the relationship develops quite quickly also - but what else can you do when you're working undercover in a sex toy store?