Hot Damn, Thank You Ma'am! A Review of Shine, Not Burn by Elle Casey

In between reading heavy heart-wrenching books, watching Sons of Anarchy, working my desk job, being a mommy and just my every day awesomeness, I took the time to read this sweet little number Shine, Not Burn by Elle Casey.

In an effort not to give away any spoilers, I am going to include the book synopsis:

IT HAPPENED IN VEGAS.

I can't be held responsible. Things that happen there are supposed to stay there, right? Right? Yeeeah. Not so much.

Andie's just days away from tying the knot, but there's just ooooone little glitch. Apparently, she's already married. Or someone with her name is married to a guy out in Oregon of all places, and the courthouse won't issue her a marriage license until it's all cleared up. Tripping her way through cow pies and country songs to meet up with a man who gets around places on horseback is her very last idea of how to have a good time, but if she's going to get married, make partner at the firm, and have two point five kids before she's thirty-five, she needs to get to the bottom of this snafu and fix it quick ... before her fiance finds out and everything she's been working toward goes up in flames.

Sounds good, right? Right! I loved Andie. A little part of me wants to be Andie when I grow up. See, she's a well-educated, career-driven, goal-oriented woman. But somewhere along the way, she lost her spunk. Her zest for life. Her joie de vivre (and yes, that is how it is spelled). And she lost it by doing all the things she thought she wanted to with her life. But what I loved about her is that she finds it all again! I won't say how (lots of hot sex) and I won't say where (West of the Mississippi). I will say that a certain Dixie Chicks song came to mind and I will post it HERE:

All in all, I found Shine, Not Burn to be a sweet read. It was a good love story with strong character development. I feel that it was well written and it really kept my interest.There was a lot of humor infused into the story line and I found myself laughing as much as I was gasping. And the hot stuff? Whoa Nelly - it was hot!

One of my favorite lines from the book is this:

"I can't let you go because you're mine. And because I can't stand to see you sad. I'm going to fix that. You sure you don't need me in there right now? I could cheer you up real quick, I promise." - Mack

 I truly enjoyed getting to know Andie and her friends and I hope to see more from some of the other characters and their journeys to their HEAs. And now, I must go find some cowboys on the Pinterest...for research purposes, of course!
 

 

The Intensity that is Fear of Falling by S.L.Jennings

As a foreword, I was given an ARC of this book in order to wrote a totally honest review - so that's what you are about to read!

When I typed in my search to Wikipedia, I found the following definition:

The fear of falling (FOF) is a natural fear and is typical of most humans and mammals, in varying degrees of extremity. It differs from acrophobia (the fear of heights), although the two fears are closely related and sometimes indistinguishable. The fear of falling encompasses the anxieties accompanying the sensation and the possibly dangerous effects of falling, opposed to the heights themselves.<sup>[1]

 I wanted to make sure I knew what I was getting into with this book. And truly, it was such an intense story to read that I had to make myself stop and read a few books that were "fluffier" before I could write the review. At one point, I even emailed Mrs. Jennings to tell her I read a particularly emotional scene. Her response? "It gets worse before it gets better" and I thought to myself "what have I gotten myself into?" 
Fear of Falling follows the story of Kami and the end of yet another bad day for her. She's spent her entire adulthood running from her fears while never feeling safe enough to actually let them go. She makes a point of only having casual relationships because of her intense fear of being unlovable. On this particular day, though, she meets the one man that can help her face all the fears she's been collecting in her jar of origami stars. She knows her attraction to him is real and her fear of her own feelings becomes star number 253. Through the story, we learn why she is so traumatized. She has very good reasons for keeping herself in her own comfort zone.We learn why her friends, Angel and Dom, rally around her. And they are ultimately the proof that she IS capable of loving and being loved, even when she doesn't recognize it in herself.. Blaine, however, sees her strength and does his best to understand her fears. Blaine is one persistent man. He stays as strong as he can while being pushed away at every opportunity or excuse that Kami can come up with. His desire is not to fix or change her but to bring her past her fears and into her future with him.

One thing I really liked about this book was that while Blaine was a strong man, he was not without his own faults. But even with his inexperience with everything Kami is dealing with, he does his best by her. He doesn't try to fix her as he first thinks he needs to but he becomes her calm in the storm of her emotions. He even takes the approach of facing her fears head on and taking bad experiences and making them better so that Kami can have happy memories. By loving her, he eventually does save her from herself.

Another stand-out character for me was Dom. I do hope that we see more of him soon.

S.L. Jennings' book, Fear of Falling is worth your time. It is worth the heartache. It is worth getting to certain points in the story that are so intense that you have to stop reading to process it all before you can go on.</sup> 

 

Nom Nom Nom - A Lazy Girl Review of Ella Frank' s Edible

Alright . Alright.  After creating my blog and page the other day, I found myself having to make the time to finish Edible ~not for lack of want!

Edible is the third book in Ella Frank's. Exquisite series centering on the Langley siblings, Mason and Rachel and the people most important to them. The brother and sister duo co-own a restaurant together. They deal with all the ups and downs of their business lives and their personal lives as a family.

Rachel is just a minor player in the first two books. We are introduced to her in Exquisite as Mason's younger sister who surrounds herself in bright and vibrant colors as she works as a pastry chef. In Entice (book 2), we find that there's a little darkness to Rachel when she takes her friends Lena and Shelly to Whipped dressed as a dominatrix. She happens to meet the enigmatic Cole during this visit. He is the one man that sees behind the facade she is presenting and tells her he knows exactly what she needs. Their paths cross through out the book even though the story revolves around Shelly and Josh.

Edible actually begins with a short insight into why Rachel feels the need to create a character to hide behind and it shows the strong bond she had with her father. It immediately reveals some of the changes that Rachel has had in her life including the fact that she is now working two jobs; running her mother's flower shop during the day and working as a pastry chef at Exquisite in the evenings. Every day is harder for her to keep going on with the strength that everyone expects from her. Another chance encounter with Cole gives her the chance to learn how to let go. Cole has his own burden to bear and as their steamy story unfolds, Rachel and Cole learn that together, they can accomplish great things in and out of the bedroom. They learn that they do not have to be alone in their struggles and come together with a strength that is surprising to themselves as well as to their loved ones.

As a book, I really enjoyed Edible. The main relationship between Rachel and Cole is heavy on the BDSM. That being said, I feel it is necessary to give a breakdown of what "BDSM" means in laymen's terms. A lot of people have read a certain book with neck ties, red rooms and bubble baths. That's all fine and dandy but it is not a true representation of what the BDSM lifestyle is about. See, B stands for bondage - which is the restraining of an active participant whether by shibari, on a St. Andrew's cross or with handcuffs to a bed frame, etc. D is for domination. Domination generally deals with one partner controlling the sexual actions and needs of the other to the benefit of both partners. Basically, the dominant partner (Dom for men and Domme for woman) tells the submissive what to do during their encounters. S is for sadism which is taking sexual pleasure from causing minor (or sometimes major depending on the limits of both partners) damage to a partner in ways such as flogging, spanking, the use of clamps, etc. M is for masochism - which usually goes hand in hand with the sadism. Masochism deals with the receiving end of pain for sexual gratification. OK. Now that all that has been lightly defined, let me say that Rachel and Cole deal in my favorite letter from BDSM; the D.

One of my favorite scenes highlights their relationship:

“I don’t remember inviting you to touch me.” Cole stated in a voice that invited no argument, but like a fool she argued.

“Well you actually invited me to suck your tongue, or have you already forgotten?”

Holding her firmly against him, his hazel eyes heated at the reminder.

“An invitation you refused as far as I am aware. So until I reissue the invite maybe you should keep your hands to yourself.”

Edible by Ella Frank

And of course, being that Rachel is a pastry chef by trade, she and the seemingly uptight Cole also have some fun with caramel...so much fun that I just had to have Milk Duds when we took the kids to movies on Saturday!

As much as I enjoyed this book, I had a hard time relating to Rachel as a character. It wasn't that she wasn't well written or that she wasn't compelling. Hell, I admire anyone that takes the risks that she takes but after her backstory, I just didn't feel the pull for her that I did for Lena and Shelly. No, in this book it was all about Cole for me. He's the proverbial example of judging a book by it's cover. He keeps his personal life close to the cuff. But when he takes off that suit and tie, there's a whole other creature that you never expect to encounter. He's a man in control. And his control is necessary to be successful. And he is successful...in and out of the bedroom! He knows what he wants and he's not afraid to seize the moment to get it.

So, all in all, I really did enjoy reading about Cole. I liked Cole. I liked Cole a lot. And I am sure that you will like him as well!

What I am reading right now. Like RIGHT NOW, right now.

So. I am totally calling myself out because this is my third post for the day and I am supposed to be lazy, right? Call me excited, I guess!

I am currently at home because I fell and broke my ankle (it's the posterior mumblejumble tibia fracture - blah). Which means that I am in my husband's recliner next to the laptop (in case you wanted to get a pinpoint for the heat seeking missiles) and the kids are running around asking for snacks and movies and games. So, of course, I am blogging and letting my son fulfill all of his sister's snack wishes (to a degree - hey! I use a lot of parentheses!).

I am actually trying to read a book. It's Ella Frank's newest release, Edible. It's the third in her "Exquisite" series and this one in particular is about Rachel; a florist by default by day and a pastry chef at night and her adventures in and out of her family's businesses....I will share more later!

For your viewing pleasure....

In case you were wondering....

You can find me on Facebook, too! Under the same page name.

Starting out with the best of intentions

So...this is my first effort in blogging. In case you missed it in the name of my blog, I'm kind of lazy...but this is a GOOD thing, believe it or not. Why you ask? Well, because I may not blog every day. So you won't get bored with me and my honest opinions. And they will be honest. They won't be mean and they may not even be grammatically correct. But they will be mine and I will try to lead you on the right path as my reader....And I am going to give reviews for whatever interests me - but mostly books. Books I am reading or I want to read or I never want to read again and can't believe I wasted my time on them. See, I love to read. If I got to read whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted to then I would do little else. But then people would want to know "Why did she read that? Should I read that?". Well - it depends on what you like to read. I find myself reading a lot of New Adult and Contemporary Romance authors. Some of them are well known and some of them are Indie/Self-Publishing. Most of them will be smexy books. I like smexy. If you don't like smexy, do not go any further.
Let me clarify - "smexy" for me does not always mean graphic. Sometimes it's the details that are left out that allow you to use your own imagination to fill in the blanks that make a situation (or an entire book in some cases) smexy. I am big on Alpha males and sassy women. That's my favorite combination. That's honestly what I will review the most of in this blog. I do also read Paranormal Romance, Young Adult, Sci-Fi and Fantasy - yep, you pegged me - I'm a Fiction girl! But, on occasion, I do read Historical fiction and some Biographies and I am open to suggestions - but don't suggest something if you don't want my Honest Opinion!
P.S.
There may also be movie reviews.
P.P.S.
Also, there may be television show reviews - but I read a lot so there aren't that many t.v. shows that I watch on a regular basis...
P.P.P.S.
My reviews may not always be about subjects that are safe for work or appropriate for persons under the age of 18. Read at your own risk....