REVIEW ~Quintessentially Q by Pepper Winters~

Title: Quintessentially Q

Author: Pepper Winters

Series: Monsters in the Dark #2

Release Date: December 13, 2013

My Rating: 5+ Stars

“All my life, I battled with the knowledge I was twisted… fucked up to want something so deliciously dark—wrong on so many levels. But then slave fifty-eight entered my world. Hissing, fighting, with a core of iron, she showed me an existence where two wrongs make a right."

Tess is Q’s completely. Q is Tess’s irrevocably. But now, they must learn the boundaries of their unconventional relationship, while Tess seeks vengeance on the men who sold her. Q made a blood-oath to deliver their corpses at Tess’s feet, and that’s just what he’ll do.

He may be a monster, but he’s Tess’s monster.

I literally felt like I was breaking right along side Tess and Q in this book. While I know by now not to expect warm and fuzzies from Ms. Winters, I do look forward to a less agonizing finale for this pair in Twisted Together. However, just to make myself clear, I'm not referring to the nature of their relationship. Quintessentially Q upheld the dark, gritty, erotic, and traumatizing road that Tears of Tess set into place. A summary of my feelings while reading are as follows: Happy, Sad face, Fist pump, Every explicative I can think of, Explicatives continue, And continue, Double fist pump, Major depression, Contented sigh. Obviously, it was a very bumpy and emotional ride. If you thought Q and Tess were broken in the first book, this book will tear you to shreds, as it did to me. 

You may be wondering why, if it tore me to shreds, I am rating it so high. A lesson well taught by Pepper Winters is: not everything is rainbows and sunshine. There are love stories where the couple find their own happiness in the twisted and screwed up reality that they live in. Tess and Q are a perfect example of this. Whether I understand their mutual need for pain, or not, they make each other happy. To see an absolute worst case scenario be made into a beautiful love, time and again is something that I thrive on. Is it a heartbreaking and hard read? Hands down, yes. Tess is put through the hardest test of her life and it breaks her. I mean, completely obliterates her. It takes the the greatest sacrifice in the world from Q to bring her back. That is true love. Ms. Winters may have broken my heart... again but, the beauty of the story she melds with its broken pieces is worth every bit of heart crushing I experienced. 

I think I'll always feel this way about Ms. Winters' books. I procrastinate so long to read them because I have to be in the right head space to finish them and show due diligence towards them. I finally reached my breaking point where I just had to read Quintessentially Q, and I inhaled the book. Tess and Q leave marks on my heart as they do on one another. I read so many books that they sometimes begin to blend together. Quintessentially Q and Tears of Tess are ones that stand out among a crowd. This book is unapologetic in its crudeness, violence, and unequivocal love. If you want to read something that will blow your mind, this is that book. I do have to strongly warn readers though- this a DARK erotic romance. It's a little scary and intimidating at first, but its well worth a read.... or 10 :)

Happy Reading!

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REVIEW ~The Day He Kissed Her by Juliana Stone~

Title: The Day He Kissed Her

Author: Juliana Stone

Series: Bad Boys of Crystal Lake #3

Release Date: April 1, 2014

My Rating: 5+ Stars

He can’t wait to leave…
Mac Draper finally has everything he’s always wanted: An amazing career. A New York City apartment. He’s this close to being free of his past forever. But a mind-blowing encounter with the sexy yet tough-as-nails Lily St. Clare has him delaying his plans to put Crystal Lake in his rearview mirror for good.

She’s finally found a place to stay…
For Lily St. Clare the charming small town of Crystal Lake is her haven – a place she can hide from her famous, back-stabbing family. It’s as close to happy as she’s ever been. Until an unforgettable night with tall, dark and tortured Mac Draper gives her a glimpse of what true happiness feels like.

Lily can’t help but melt a little under the sizzling heat of Mac’s touch. But Mac’s scars run deep, and Lily’s afraid she may be falling for the one man who can never return her feelings...

Oh my heavens! I LOVE this book! I'm reading along, and I like it and I'm engaged and then the second half of the book happens along and blew my freaking mind. Don't get me wrong, the entire book is magnificent. The second half just happens to pack the biggest punch. Emotionally, I was exhausted after reading this book. Mac and Lily obliterated my heart but, thankfully pieced it back together as well. I'm now going to have to take a good 24 hour break from reading just to decompress. I always have to be ahead of my reading schedule when I dip into a Juliana Stone book because she's always hits me with a massive book hangover. But, hey, you'll never hear me complaining :)

The Day He Kissed Her revolves around the third and final bad boy of Crystal Lake, Mackenzie Draper. Mac, as he is affectionately known, may be the most damaged out of the three. Well, their measures of damage can't really be compared, but his damaging factor, aka his father, is still around. Lily, bless her heart, is just the most stable, and supportive heroine I have ever read. Together the two of them make up a dysfunctional, and perfect puzzle. Lily had planned their chance meeting to stay a one-time deal. Fate had another plan in place. Through mutual friends and changed plans they meet once again. This time Mac isn't going to let her get away so fast. Although, part of me, thought he was just in it for the chase. I love it when I'm wrong about my cynical views. Mac is all in, granted he may not know it yet, but he is. Lily, try as she might to fight it, is equally deep into their relationship. While their relationship is rocking along just fine, Mac's tortured youth is always there to remind him he can't have the white picket fence and 2.5 kids. Lily would love to prove him wrong but, he's just not susceptible to the idea. Matters only turn worse when the source of his pain returns full force and solidifies Mac's doubt in himself to care and love for another person. And it just goes downhill from there. Because once Mac is already turning to run, Lily drops her own bomb that may ruin any chance of him ever warming up to the idea of loving and keeping her.

Before I get into all of my feelings, and sappy emotions, let's touch on the one thing all of us romance junkies want to know about: the sex. I will tell you this- for as much as Lily and Mac are emotionally drawn to each other their physical connection is as equally gratifying and amazing. I have to say, this felt much sexier than Juliana's previous books, in my opinion. Mac just cannot get enough of Lily and they are so incredibly, sickeningly adorable together. Gah! Love it! Resume sappy, emotional talk- Through one of the toughest heartbreaks, Lily remains calm and collected. But she says her piece. Which I love. I never felt like she should have said more of stood up for herself more. She was a picture perfect arguer and lover. Mac on the other hand was the complete opposite. The best way to describe it is, Lily she is Mac's gravity. She reigns him in and holds him down.While he may try to fight it, he's just not able to. This book made my heart do that tight, palpitation thing. It literally made me ache. No joke, in a matter of about 80 pages I felt the widest array of emotions. What I have to appreciate about Ms. Stone's books is that they aren't the screwy, dark emotions though. It may have a dark tinge to it, but for the most part it's a contemporary romance book with a more than average emotional aspect to it. It's just those couple of pages where Ms. Stone let's her evil twin out to twist and stomp your heart a few times. Overall, I'm really at a loss. I wish emotions could speak for themselves through the internet because I'm not doing this book justice with my words. Just trust me when I say to go grab this book. It's quite fantastic. 

Happy Reading!

*ARC provided by the author/publisher in exchange for an honest review*

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RELEASE DAY REVIEW + GIVEAWAY ~Lost In Me by Lexi Ryan~

Title: Lost In Me

Author: Lexi Ryan

Series: Here and Now #1

Release Date: April 7, 2014

My Rating: 5+ Stars!

LOST IN ME is the first book in the Here and Now series, a spin-off of the New York Times and USA Today bestselling New Hope series. This sexy amnesia love triangle is intended for mature readers.

The last thing I remember is having drinks at Brady’s and trying to avoid eye-contact with my life-long crush—the gorgeous, unattainable Maximilian Hallowell. They tell me that was a year ago, but I have no memories of anything since then. What I do have is this ring on my finger that Max says he gave me, and this much-thinner body I’ve dreamed of most of my life. Aside from a case of retrograde amnesia, everything seems almost…perfect.

But the deeper I immerse myself into this new world of mine—planning a wedding to a man I don’t remember dating, attempting to run a business I don’t remember starting—the clearer it becomes that nothing is as it seems. Do I have the life I’ve always wanted or is it a facade propped up by secrets I don’t even know I have?

I need answers before I marry Max, and the only person who seems to have them is the angry, tatted, sexy-as-sin rocker Nate Crane. And Nate wants me for himself.

LOST IN ME is not a standalone novel, as the story continues in Here and Now book two, FALL TO YOU, releasing in June.

Only Ms. Ryan can give you the biggest love/hate complex I'm suffering from right now. I sat down and devoured this book in 4.5 hours. In return, it left me with a whopper of a book hangover. I mean, of course, what more could I expect when Hanna has been my favorite since she was introduced, heaven forbid my favorite character go the easy way in life. 

Lost In Me follows Hanna and her recovery from a bout of amnesia that stems from a nasty fall down the stairs. The amnesia has only affected the last 11 months of her memory. So good news, she still remembers who she is, and who her family and friends are... well most of them at least. What she isn't prepared for is to have a ring on her finger, a thriving business, and a few dirty secrets she never even told her twin, Liz, about. Hanna is slowly but surely stringing together the last year of her life. And realizing that everying was not as rosey as she though when she woke up. Through a few loosely linked flashbacks, Hanna will find herself at a crossroads once again between the two men in her life. One that has a darker past than we know, and the other that has so many secrets, it's hard to trust him as far as I can throw him. 

I genuinely ached for Hanna. Learning her struggles and heartbreaks and then having to witness her reliving it, it was so incredibly painful. I know this isn't the end of the revelations though. I think that scares me even more. Right now I am dead set on who I am for, and who I am against. I just hope Hanna's resolve is absolute. However, Ms. Ryan surprised me to the nth degree in this book, and I know that she has more tricks up her sleeve. I just need to fast forward to August and have the third book in my possession already. I dread it but, I am chomping at the bit to have too. Again, with the mixed feelings.

I was actually wondering how this story was going to become 3 books. Yes, I read the premise but, I've read vaguely similar books that have wrapped up in one book. Nope, do not expect to even skim the top of the iceberg in this book.  And there is SO much more to this book than what the synopsis covers. The cards look laid out all neat and pretty a first, but before I knew it the whole story is a big cluster eff. I'm quite positive at one point or another a loved and hated each of the main characters. I didn't know who to trust, who to like, who to love, and who to hate. I began doubting a favorite character or two of mine and then I'd do another 180 and love them again. To put it lightly, I was an emotional wreck by the end of Lost In Me, and I don't expect to recover for at least a few more days. This is the book you'll hear me blabbering about for days, weeks, maybe even months to come. It's just stuck with me. I keep trying to fit the pieces of the puzzle together. Kind of like a Rubik's cube... and then just like with a Rubik's cube I get to unbelievably frustrated. But in such a good way. Yes, I'm an angst addict. No, I don't think it's a serious problem :) Just trust me, this is one of those books that will leave you flabbergasted and dying for more.

Happy Reading!

*ARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest review*

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Meet Lexi:

Once a college English professor, I now write full time. I live in rural Indiana, where, when I’m not writing, I get to hang out with my husband and two kids–a six-year-old boy and a two-year-old hellion, er, girl. Not surprisingly, reading and writing remain my favorite activities, though both come in bits and pieces these days, not the big hunks of time I enjoyed before I had children. When I’m feeling virtuous, I like to go running (I use that word liberally. I’m really, really slow) or do yoga. Don’t worry, I’m always careful to balance out such activities with a hearty serving of ice cream or a chocolate martini.



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REVIEW + GIVEAWAY ~Off the Record by K.A. Linde~

Title: Off the Record

Author: K.A. Linde

Series: Record #1

Release Date: March 11, 2014

My Rating: 5 Stars!

Liz Dougherty has no idea a single question is about to change her life.

Her first big reporting assignment for her North Carolina college newspaper has her covering a state senator’s impromptu press conference. Brady Maxwell may have everything it takes to be a politician—a winning pedigree, devastating good looks, a body made to wear suits—but his politics rub Liz the wrong way. When Liz’s hard-hitting question catches the upstart senator off-guard, it impresses Hayden Lane, Liz’s editor who feels she’s headed for a promising career as a reporter.

But Liz is also headed into a secret romance with Brady that could destroy both their ambitions. Though he’s a bachelor, potential voters might frown on Brady cozying up to a reporter. And Liz isn’t sure sneaking around is enough for her—especially when things between her and Hayden might be less platonic than she thought.

Sleek, sexy, and smart, Off the Record ventures into a high-stakes campaign and an even higher-stakes affair to answer the question: When politics and love collide, can there ever be a winner?

*Very mild spoilers. Nothing specific. Just my feelings surrounding the events*

If it were possible to experience a book for the first time again, I would want it to be this book. Off the Record blew my mind. I couldn't get enough of Brady and Liz together.  I read it in one sitting and loved every second of it. First off, where is my Brady? Because the one in this book is pretty fab-tastic and I want one of my own. And Liz! Gah! Her raw emotions and her ability to stand up for what she wants is exactly what I want to see in a heroine. Ms. Linde gets my vote in every aspect of this book. Plot, characters, emotions, sex, chemistry, everything is deserving of 5 stars!

Brady Maxwell is a man of power and money. He gets what he wants, and when he wants it. But when Liz Dougherty steps on the scene, she finally proves to him there is one thing he can't have. Her. As a politician who just announced his candidacy for a seat in the House, Brady can't afford to be caught with a college news reporter from his Alma Mater. There are too many strings attached and too many hurdles to jump. Chemistry this magnetic is a force to be reckoned with though. They know it's wrong. They know it can never go anywhere. But they can't stop. Be it the forbidden aspect, or their off the charts sexual encounters, Liz and Brady can't throw away what they have. In a series of stolen kisses, romantic getaways, and close calls these two toe the line of ruining both of their careers. It always seemed like it was Brady's choice to make. Liz or politics. But when it comes down to it, she will end up making the decision for them both.

Off the Record is one of my new favorites. It left me wanting and needing more. It gave me the most awful book hangover. This is a book where I felt everything the characters did. There were also times I took a step back and begged the characters to rethink their choices. It was heart-aching, but seductively dazzling at the same time. Brady and Liz's time together was equal parts sweet and raunchy. And their time apart made me want to weep. I have a hate-love relationship with this book. I knew where it was going, and I went with it anyways. In truth I have no one to hate but myself. It was like being in slow-mo, seeing a baseball come right at you and still not moving. Yet, I continued to devour the whole thing. I'm not sure what that says about me, but we're not focusing on that right now :) This book is nothing short of phenomenal. As a new reader of Ms. Linde's, this book has already convinced me that she deserves a spot on my auto-buy list as well as my bookshelf! I can guarantee you, I will be not so patiently waiting for the arrival of Brady and Liz part two.
*Note: this is not a cliffhanger by my standards but, it will be an ongoing series with the same couple.

Happy Reading!
*ARC provided by the author/publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

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RELEASE BLITZ ~Destroyed by Pepper Winters~

Title: Destroyed

Author: Pepper Winters

Release Date: March 7, 2014

She has a secret.

I’m complicated. Not broken or ruined or running from a past I can’t face. Just complicated.

I thought my life couldn’t get any more tangled in deceit and confusion. But I hadn’t met him. I hadn't realized how far I could fall or what I'd do to get free.

He has a secret.

I’ve never pretended to be good or deserving. I chase who I want, do what I want, act how I want.

I didn’t have time to lust after a woman I had no right to lust after. I told myself to shut up and stay hidden. But then she tried to run. I’d tasted what she could offer me and damned if I would let her go.

One secret destroys them.

Raising my eyes to lock with hers, I murmured, “I want to lick you.”

Her eyes flared wide; her toned tummy tightened. 

When she didn’t move, I cocked my head. “Let me taste you and I’ll gladly let you touch my back. But I’m not going anywhere until you obey me. Come here.”

She shook her head, a blush covering her cheeks. “I can’t. How would you—”

Logistics seemed simple to me. “You have to sit on my face, Zel.” I couldn’t stop the small smile and the thrill in my stomach at the thought of her presenting herself to me. She’d have to willing expose herself and hold herself in place while I pleasured her. 

“Move. Now. I won’t ask again.” –ROAN

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Meet Pepper:
Pepper Winters wears many roles. Some of them include writer, reader, sometimes wife. She loves dark, taboo stories that twist with your head. The more tortured the hero, the better, and she constantly thinks up ways to break and fix her characters. Oh, and sex… her books have sex. 
She loves to travel and has an amazing, fabulous hubby who puts up with her love affair with her book boyfriends. 
Her debut book Tears of Tess will be followed with Quintessentially Q. You didn’t think Q could stop so soon, did you? Her other two titles, Last Shadow and Broken Chance will be coming soon.
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