Boy Toy Auction by CA Harms

What was meant to be a fun evening to benefit charity, suddenly became so much more…

They were both volunteered into attending the Boy Toy Auction.

One as a contestant. 

One as an attendee.

Emerson lost an internal battle the moment Nicholas stepped onto the stage. 

As soon as he started moving his hips to the rhythm of the music, she was captivated. Suddenly, the timid girl became a warrior as she fought to have the highest bid. 

There was no way she was leaving without him at her side. 

From the moment Nic saw her, Emerson became his focal point. 

The beautiful woman in the silver dress. 

The one that held his stare.

He needed her to win.

He needed her.

He’d make sure this was the best money she’d ever spend.

Or the worst…depends on how you look at it.

Because sometimes, it doesn’t matter what you want, life has a way of throwing you a curve ball that you aren’t prepared for…

Boy Toy Auction is super fun, sweet and unexpected, for both Emerson and Nic. It was supposed to be a night of entertainment and possible bragging rights. What these two didn't expect was the magic that was created that night. 

Both Nic and Emerson are enamored with each other from first sight. They can't look away. And there is no way anyone was going to win Nic that night besides Emerson. She is almost as shocked as her friend is that she actually bid on a guy....and WON!

Insta-spark and chemistry. Insta-infatuation and sexual tension. These two totally burn up the pages until Emerson's controlling father gets in the way. This man is vicious. He's controlling and manipulative. He is disgusting. Luckily Nic isn't afraid of him, but unfortunately, Emerson is. 

A series of events leaves Emerson homeless and jobless. She and Nic are on the outs and it all has to do with  her father. Gah! I despise this man. All bad things seem to circle back to him. But Nic is not going to give up. He's not giving up on Emerson or their love. The question was always if Emerson could handle that. If she was done with her father's controlling ways. You'll have to read to find out. 

I love CA Harms' writing. She is a one-click author for me and I always enjoy her characters. They are relate-able and real. There's just enough angst and drama to keep you on the edge of your seat, but not too much where its unbelievable. Just fantastic!

Booted (Trails of Sin Book 3)

The night I’m released from prison, she’s in my bed.

It’s been eight years since I touched a woman, and the Native American beauty is half-dressed, beaten, bruised, and devastatingly exquisite.

We’re toxic together, but we want the same things. Blood. Vengeance.

Violent relief in a warm body.

Beneath her touch, I’m alive.

Against her skin, I’m redeemed.

Buried inside her, I forget the past.

Until the past takes her from me.

Prison made me cold, but losing Raina makes me cruel. Ruthless. Unforgiving.

I killed before. For her, I’ll kill again.

I’ll end this once and for all or die in my boots.

TRAILS OF SIN series (HEAs with no cliffhangers - must be read in order):

Knotted #1 - Jake and Conor

Buckled #2 - Jarret and Maybe

Booted #3 - Lorne and Raina

 I'm a huge fan of Pam Godwin's. Her dark romances grip me from the first page and don't let go. There's love, lust, angst, chaos and calm, all rolled in to one amazing package. Booted is the conclusion to the Trails of Sin books I needed. 

There are so many questions at the end of Buckled that I needed answered. Not of Jarret and Maybe, but of Raina and Lorne. I had only seen Lorne from the outside in the other books, but now we get to see and feel what Lorne went through. 

Raina's life is no walk in the park either. And we get some clarity of why she was there in the first place. I get it. I'm not going to say I liked it, but it was a necessary evil. The hand she was dealt coupled with the "relationship" she had with John Holsten.... just wow. This is one strong, kick@$% woman!

Booted is well written with several twists, but the twists are the explanations we have been waiting for. All the puzzle pieces start to fit together and conclude in one mass chaos event that left me gasping for air! Their love was not normal or conventional, but it worked.

"I hear you."

Just fantastic!

"He smashed my heart against my ribs to make room for his. Now we beat side by side, stretching and growing together in the shared space."

Lost Boy ~ M. Robinson

In a world where I had no say, violence became my refuge, and nothing else mattered. Not even my own life.

Until her.

Skyler Bell.

It all started the first time I heard that voice. Giving me hope for tomorrow. My first love was everything all at once.

Consuming.

Maddening.

Forever.

Mine. 

Except, I never imagined there were secrets that needed to be shared. Lies that needed to be confessed. Truths that needed to be told. Demons that needed to be buried. Once I realized the depth, the longing, the sadness and sorrow in her eyes mirrored mine, it was too late. Love didn't come to me as heartbreak, it came as everything I've ever wanted. Walking away wasn't an option, but it was the only choice I had.

I finally found the price of love and it cost me...

My soul.

 

I don't know how Skyler and Noah could survive this, because I almost didn't. My heart broke over and over. The roller coaster of emotions was almost too much. The angst, heart-break and tragedies were devastating. 

I always liked Noah, but seeing how much Skyler destroyed him, but he chose to keep moving....well he has all my respect. He never had it easy. Everyone was leaving him or choosing something/someone else over him. I don't blame Noah for the decisions he made. Frustrated and screaming at the book because of them, absolutely. But I didn't blame him. I am surprised he remained as stoic as he did. 

Skyler has been misled her whole life. It just breaks my heart to hear all her secrets revealed and what she went through, even as a child. How does someone come back from that? How could she heal? How could her and Noah ever heal from all the tragedy??

I kept pushing because I knew M would pick up the pieces, but as my heart and jaw laid on the floor, it was really hard. I just wanted them to be happy for five minutes before something else tore them to shreds. I was very proud of Noah and Skyler even-though I was frustrated with their decisions. I loved this cover and Noah's place in my hear grew. I'm happy for this Lost Boy. 

Priest (Confessions #3) ~ Ella Frank

I am complex.
My love is all-encompassing.
And when it comes to my heart, there is only one rule:
Don’t mess with what’s mine.

Until the age of seven, I was Joel Alexander Donovan, son of Jimmy. The man who terrorized a town and made its citizens fear the very ground he walked on. Including me, the day I realized that ground ran red with blood.

At age eighteen, I became Priest.
A man without a past.
A man determined to right the wrongs of my father.
A man who never believed anyone could love the son of such a monster.

But then a thief stole my heart.
A sweetheart lit up my world.
And I forgot for a moment you should never turn your back on your enemy.

And thus begins a lesson to those who would seek to harm: Never underestimate what the Priest will do to protect the Princess and the Prick. 

I love Priest. That's it! I've said it! From the beginning, we've been annoyed, frustrated and pissed off at him. But, I was wrong!! His love is intense and fierce. He is passionate about everything and that includes the men he loves. There is no middle ground with Priest. He is full-fledged, 100% in when he commits. 

The angst, the what-ifs, the OMG moments had me flying through the pages. I couldn't get enough of Priest's troubled past and the men who are his future. The intensity of their love and fear was palpable. 

Ella is just a fantastic writer and she keeps me engrossed in the story. I feel like I am right there living this journey with them. I cannot wait for the next book and the continuation of the Prick, the Priest and the Princess!

"Your love is exactly what Julien said - powerful. It's intense, all-consuming and takes two men to return it."

Beauty Found (Hades Hangmen #6.5) ~ Tillie Cole

EVEN IN HELL, THERE IS BEAUTY TO BE FOUND.

There is life before the Hangmen. There is life before your soulmate is found.

There is life even when all seems lost.

Shane ‘Tank’ Rutherford is just seventeen when, escaping his father’s lethal fists, he ends up on the streets. Fighting for survival, he finds himself suddenly saved. Saved by a group that takes him under their wing.

A group that everyone knows . . . the Texas Ku Klux Klan.

Years later, Tank is disillusioned from the Klan and what they stand for. Recently released from prison, he is lost in a world he no longer knows. He is on his own. Until he picks up a woman hitchhiking on the side of a road. A beauty queen dressed in pink.

Susan-Lee Stewart is done with the crowns. She’s done with the glitz and glamor of pageant life. And she’s done with the bruises . . . the bruises gifted by the one person who should love her unconditionally—her mother.

Seconds after taking yet another pageant title, Susan-Lee makes a split decision and flees the stage. Flees the glossy life of a pageant queen, flees her violent mother . . . and jumps straight on the back of a tattooed muscled god’s motorcycle . . .

And never looks back.

As Susan-Lee holds tightly to Tank’s waist, neither of them know it’s a chance meeting that will change both their lives, and their hearts, forever.

There are stories of how you find your other half. There are stories of how someone can save your soul when all hope is lost.

Before they were Tank and Beauty, they were Shane and Susan-Lee. Two lost hearts who, together, were finally found.

Contemporary dark romance. Contains scenes of violence, offensive language, mature topics and sexual situations.

Beauty Found: A Novella (Hades Hangmen 6.5) is to be read AFTER Crux Untamed. Recommended for ages 18 and over.

Just when I think I cannot love these Hangmen anymore, we get a glimpse in to Tank and Beauty's story.  ::Sigh:: Their lives did not start out pretty, but their love is beautiful.

Both Beauty and Tank made decisions or choices that they were not proud of. So, there comes a time where both are just DONE. They're out. They leave and crash right in to each other. Tank is not a saint, but Beauty doesn't need that. Beauty is just the kind of passion and light that Tank needs. 

From reading the other Hangmen books, I knew I liked Tank and Beauty, but I just fall more in love with them in Beauty Found. Tillie is an amazing writer that makes you feel like you are a part of their lives; that you are walking step by step with them through this journey.  I just love these Hangmen, their old ladies and their love stories!

A Little Bit like Desire (South Haven #2) ~ Brooke Blaine

What if you had everything in the world you wanted...except the man you never knew you needed? 

Shaw Jennings, the seductive, enigmatic owner of Body Electric Tattoo works hard and plays even harder. He’s built a life he’s proud of, and though that doesn’t include a significant other, he’s got plenty of sexy men to keep his bed warm at night. None of them have ever made Shaw sit up and take notice for long, though. But that all changes when a famous rock star walks through his door. 

Trent Knox had the world in the palm of his hand as the lead singer of TBD, one of the biggest rock bands in history…until the day he walked away. A getaway to South Haven Island seems like the perfect place for Trent to find himself again and reignite his passion for music. But what he never expects is to find his muse in a six-five, tatted-up badass whose sinful smile he can’t get out of his mind. 

The only problem? Trent’s a notorious womanizer, and Shaw isn’t interested in being someone’s experiment—muse or otherwise. But in a town as small as this one, Shaw is finding it more and more difficult to keep the persistent rocker at arm’s length. 

As the tension between them builds, maybe it’s time to finally give in and get carried away with something a little bit like...desire. 

I absolutely loved Shaw and Trent's story. There was the perfect amount of angst that makes it feel more like a real relationship. Sure they both had their fears and hangups, but they were honest with each other. They supported each other in whatever decision the other made and that was before they really knew what to call each other. 

Don't get me wrong, there was some time before they jumped into some fun, but there wasn't an ex storming back in to their lives messing everything up. That had a a getting to know you period, a few drunk evenings and talks, that definitely cleared the air. They had their own issues, like most people do and they worked on it. 

I wish there were more Shawes out there. Holy hotness batman! He is just so delicious. He's straight forward, honest and supportive. The best book boyfriend, even if he didn't think he could have a relationship. 

Trent is all sorts of messed up, but he doesn't burden anyone with it. He turns on his performer switch to ensure others feel comfortable and are happy, even if it makes him unhappy. He's selfless and sexy. A great match for Shaw.

Shaw and Trent are super hot together and I just love their non-relationship-ish. I was so excited for them to get to know each other and explore their feelings. This was wonderfully written. I just love these men from South Haven!

Buckled (Trails of Sin #2) ~ Pam Godwin

I protect what’s mine.
The ranch, my family, our buried secrets.

Nothing will stop me from reassembling the life that went terribly wrong.
Not the law.
Not our enemies.
Not even Maybe Quinn.

The gorgeous, quarrelsome journalist shouldn’t have meddled.
I shouldn’t have let her stay.
But she’s hiding something in those deceptive blue eyes.
Something deeper than her thirst for a news story.

I make a deal with her to buy time.
To unravel her lies. To play with her. To satisfy my darker appetites.
When she buckles beneath my belt, I’ll send her away.
Unless I buckle first.

I just love these cowboys! Seeing Jake and Conner again was fantastic, but seeing Jarret's continuation of the story was just excellent. This was not as dark and twisted as the first in the series, but it does deal with the fall out. 

I was constantly wondering how or why Maybe came Sandbank, Oklahoma and I know that she was not expecting Jarret Holsten. The secrets between them kept me on the edge of my seat and while we think we know all Jarret's secrets, their domino effect still threw me for a loop. There were a lot of times where my mouth just hung open in shock. 

Jarret and Maybe had major chemistry from their first meeting. While I know why Jarret was trying to warn her away, Maybe kept showing up. Jarret finally gave in to the old cliche, keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Jarret was loyal, self-less and compassionate. He's a great man, but he was the enemy for Maybe. 

"A man cannot be good unless he possesses the capacity to be evil. Decency is a choice."

I loved Maybe's stubborn and persistent character. I will admit, there were times where that persistence got her in a lot of trouble. While being very independent, she needed Jarret, but had a difficult time admitting it. While I don't agree with some of her actions, I do feel they were necessary. 

Both of Maybe and Jarret's lives have heartbreak and tragedy. Some of the heartbreak, they caused each other. It was so hard to watch each of them struggle knowing they were trying to do what was right for the other. Their story was passionate and intense. It was well written and exciting. I cannot wait for Lorne's book!!