If I wanted to struggle, I could do it in real life (Fall by Cora Brent: Commentary)

I consume romance novels (of the erotic and contemporary variety) like I used to consume Ramen noodles in my college days.

[Sidebar: I hated Ramen and never ate that ish but it was the most appropriate cultural reference so I went ahead and took creative license with reality there].

There are probably many different reasons for my appreciation of romance the majority of which I lack the sort of insight into my personal psyche to discern.  What I know for sure is that the world of romance is a world of fantasy that provides a delightful escape from the harsh light of reality. In romance, the dicks are bigger, the orgasms are certain and love is forever, what more could a girl ask for?  Ah, yes- money! And lots of it.  After hopping off of an epic schlong that you just rode until you came unicorns and fairy dust, the only thing you need to complete your night is FINANICAL SECURITY.

What fun is it to fall madly in love if the next thing you know you’re dining on beef jerky and saltines? Financial instability is one of the number one causes of divorce in real life.  In fantasy romance world, there are few things that can make me dump a book faster than two broke characters.  That brings me to my review of Fall by Cora Brent.  If you want to read the full review, click here: LJ Amazon Review

I’m not a snob.  I’m not rich enough to be a snob.  In the spirit of full disclosure, I’m also not broke…anymore (college was rough).  That’s kind of the point though.  I don’t need to fantasize about what I am or what I’ve been.  No, fantasy was meant to be the barely attainable vision.  The thing that is wonderful about fantasy is the possibility of the thing.  The possibility of shacking up with a guy inside of his crappy trailer where the only furniture is one chair doesn’t do anything for my romance novel libido. It’s not fantastic, it is catastrophic.

So any review you read by me is always going to be biased against a novel that doesn’t include a reasonably wealthy Hero.  That’s just how I roll. 

It's like when you have to pee really bad: February Book Releases

You know how you hop from foot to foot and try not to think about waterfalls when you really need to go to the bathroom? Well if you subtract the hopping from foot to foot and avoidance of waterfall thoughts, that's how I feel about all the February book releases coming up. I can't wait!


Rebel by Callie Hart: February 9- this is the 7th installment in the Blood & Roses Series that began with the Zeth and Sloan story. If you have not read the first 6 installments of the BR series, Ima have to treat you like the girl in school who was surreptitiously rotating her finger between her nose and her mouth. I'm not going to go into all the details of the first six books but you can find my Amazon review here: LJ BR 1-6 Amazon Review


In the event that you're not in the mood for link clicking, Zeth and Sloan's story might be my favorite of the erotic romance action/suspense genre. In fact, I'm sure it's my favorite series. Zeth is a alpha sociopath who knows what to do with a popsicle (ya gotta read it). Sloan is a smart heroine who still managed to ride for her man no matter what. Sloan and Zeth are trying to get Sloan's sister Alexa back after she was sold as a sex slave and mayhem, killing fires and panty incinerating sex ensues. That brings us to Rebel. Rebel is the story of said kidnapped sister and the president of the most powerful MC who purchased Alexa. If Rebel is just a quarter as good as the first six BR books, I'm all in. You know I'll spill all the book tea as soon as I can work my speed reader magic and devour the story. Needless to say, I canNot wait.


Obligation by Aurora Rose Reynolds: February 11- I'm not quite as 'need to pee' about this book. Actually, I'm not sure I need to use the bathroom at all thinking about this book. This is Reynolds' second installment in her "Underground Kings" series. The fist installment, Assumption, left me feeling like I could have had a V8. It had the potential to be good. The main characters were hot. Kenton was just the brand of brooding/possessive that cooks my grits and what's her face wasn't a total idiot/pushover so I was prepared to be wowed. And then I wasn't. The book fell into the very common pitfall of undeveloped relationships. It was one of those books where you get to the end and you canNOT figure out what the two main characters have in common beyond sex. HOWEVER, Aurora wrote the "Until" series and notwithstanding Unitl Nico, I ate that series up (although, all the books in the series felt a bit rushed in terms of the relationship development. See my review of Unitl November here: LJ Until November Amazon Review ). So I'm going to take a leap of faith and see whether Aurora can remind me of why I've spent a quarter of a hundred dollars on her books so far.


Slow Burn by K.Bromberg: February 24- K. Bromberg is the author of The Driven Series featuring Colton and Rylee. Again, if you haven't read that series, please log off immediately and head to the nearest bookstore or pull out your Kindle and GET YOUR LIFE TOGETHER. If I bit my nails, I would be chewing the fuck out of them waiting for Slow Burn. As excited as I am to read it (I've already taken the day off work...because that's how I roll), there is a potential for disaster. When the Driven Series came out, K. Bromberg was an independent writer who produced a great love story. Now K. Bromberg is a super duper-everybody's damn list-bestseller. She has a publishing company which comes with editors, page requirements and deadlines. All of that shit can make your writing...less than stellar. So right now, we need to join hands and rebuke the "commercial effect" and pray that we can once again bask in the erotic glory of the Driven Series. Whatever the case may be, I'm giving this 5 out of 5 stars on the need to pee excitement list.

I was pregnant once, I was 20 once but I don’t remember any of this shit… [Enjoy Your Stay: Sugartown #2 (Greetings from Sugartown)]

 I recently finished reading Enjoy Your Stay: Sugartown #2 (Greetings from Sugartown) by Carmen Jones.  Let me just be the first to say that after reading that book title I have a feeling similar to what I used to get when I worked out for like two minutes and had to wrap a towel around my neck, chug down a bottle of water and lay down dramatically on a gym mat for 5 minutes to recover.  That title is just exhausting so for the purpose of this entry, we’re just going to call the book Sugar 2.  You’re welcome.

I like Carmen Jones as an author.  The first book I read by her was Kick, it had a much different vibe than Sugar 2 but the writing was good enough that I decided to explore some other Carmen Jones material.

I learned an important lesson about myself about half way through Sugar 2. Somewhere along the way in life, I grew up.  As fucked up as that is, it’s my new reality, I’m grown.  The first downside to being a grown ass woman is my ridiculously limited capacity to be entertained by youthful melodrama.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve read several books with extremely young heroines (we need a whole separate blog post to discuss that phenomenon) but depending on the plot and writing style of the author, we can often and mercifully forget that the characters are barely out of high school.  Not the case in Sugar 2.

I forgot, but apparently Carmen Jones didn’t, that when you’re 20, you never say what you mean and a 20 year old man never knows what he means.  So if you write a book about the relationship between two characters in this age range and you actually care about an accurate depiction, you have pages and pages of arguing where nobody is saying what they mean.  How do we know this? Because we as the readers have the unfortunate pleasure of being privy to the thoughts of the characters as well as their dialogue.  I swear, I had a migraine the size of Alaska by the time this book was nearing the finish.

It’s not that Sugar 2 isn’t well written, but being trapped inside the mind of a 20 year old pregnant chick, her boyfriend, and baby daddy is a nightmare of 16 & Pregnant proportions. 

Read my full review here :

LJ Sugar 2 Review