Book Review--Secret Storm and Tell Me You Want Me by Amelia James

Note: Although I write erotic stories that also include spanking between consenting adults, Secret Storm and Tell Me You Want Me, although very sensual and erotic, do not include spanking.

After reading Amelia James' The Devil Made Me Do It which I reviewed a few weeks ago, I downloaded two more of her books, Secret Storm and Tell Me You Want Me. The two books feature four different characters, roommates Sara and Jane and roommates Jack and Austin, all of whom are seniors in college.

It probably makes more sense to read Tell Me You Want Me first, though it's easy enough to figure out what 's going on if you (like I did) read Secret Storm first.

Here is the Amazon book description for Secret Storm:

"I want to let you in, Jack, but I.... Oh hell, I just want you. I know you're not what I need, but I don't care. Take me to bed now and we'll sort the rest out later."

The last thing Sara Jensen needs is another risky relationship. She wants Jack, but she's been hurt too many times to trust him even though he's more than a friend. Jack won't trust her, and that hurts more than her ex's betrayal. 
Jack Wheeler wants Sara. His long denied lust burns barely contained. But a dangerous secret comes back to haunt him, a secret so horrible he can't trust anyone with it, not even the woman he desires more than anything.

For the first time since they met, they're both available, but the timing couldn't be worse. Sara's not too eager to trust a man again, and Jack refuses to reveal his secret. Getting involved now is complicated, but Sara and Jack have waited long enough. Neither one of them can control their desires. But there's a storm approaching, and as hard as she tries, Sara can't run away from Jack's past. Jack won't accept her help, and Sara doesn't know how long she can wait for him to realize he needs her.

And here is the description for Tell Me You Want Me

"I can give you exactly what you're asking for, Janie, and I can give it to you all night long."

Their first kiss is impulsive, fun, a little wicked--everything Jane Elliot isn't looking for in a man--but desperately needs. Their second kiss is slow, deliberate, an instant connection--everything Austin Sinclair never had with a woman--and doesn't want.

Jane isn't the easy conquest Austin's used to. She's a stubborn-as-hell bookworm who's more interested in studying than dating. She needs a little--no--a lot of fun in her life, and Austin's just the guy who can give it to her. Too bad she thinks love should easy. Too bad Austin knows it isn't.

Everybody told her to stay away from the heartbreaker, but Jane knows there's more to Austin than full-body contact kisses and bad boy charm. All he ever promised her was a good time and wow, does he ever deliver....

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I'll be honest, when I realized that these stories were about college students, I rolled my eyes and nearly moved on to something else. Why? Well, for one thing, I have a son who is college age so the idea of reading romance stories about "kids" didn't appeal to me. For another, I work at a college and mostly I see a bunch of pinheads and certainly not people who ought to be dating or risking procreation.

So....it is a high compliment indeed that I actually enjoyed both stories and came to like all four of the characters. All of them are mature and interesting and they sure do have a lot of really hot sex. Lots and lots of it.

But, beyond the erotic parts of both stories, the characters are compelling and so is the story line. Sure, you know they are going to get together in the end (so to speak) but it's a fun ride getting there and there are even some surprises along the way.

I highly recommend both books. If you read them, please come back and let me know what you think.

Corner Time Story Excerpts---Part Three

A recent post at Bright Bottom gave me the idea for a series of corner time excerpts. I hope you enjoy.

As a writer, corner time is wonderful. While it slows down the action of the story, it allows for anticipation, and sometimes, a revelation, by the soon to be spanked heroine of the story.

All of these excerpts come from my collection of short stories, The Long Arm of the Law.
This excerpt is from The Candidate's Wife, which can be found in its entirety in a couple of other posts. Although this story doesn't exactly involve corner time, there is a long period of waiting which serves the same purpose.

When they got to the door of the bus, her husband sent Kennedy ahead with a whispered “Wait for me in our room. Be ready to discuss your behavior.” And then he turned to address the reporters.

“My wife and I both regret the fall that my opponent took and wish him a speedy recovery. However, I can assure you that neither my wife, nor anyone affiliated with my campaign had anything to do with what happened. It was simply an unfortunate accident. But, like all the other members of his party, my opponent likes to place the blame for every mishap on everyone except himself.”

Conversation on the campaign bus stopped when Kennedy entered. She walked the length of the bus in an eerie silence. The usually short aisle seemed to stretch on endlessly. Mercifully she got to the bedroom at the back of the bus that she shared with her husband. It was their only zone of absolute privacy in a very public life. She shut the door behind her and leaned her head against its coolness.  

She longed to crawl into bed and pull the covers over her head, but she knew that there was still the matter of her “behavior” that needed to be “discussed” and the thought of what that meant created a knot in her stomach.

Kennedy allowed herself a few seconds to collect her thoughts and then began her preparations.

She knew without looking that the brown wooden box was in Grant’s nightstand. It always was. She pulled open the drawer, removed the box, and set it on the bed. The box always brought out mixed emotions for Kennedy.

Across the top Greek letters symbolized Grant’s fraternity.  Her fingers traced the shapes and she traveled back in time to a world that seemed a lifetime ago.  

The fraternity lounge was crowded and noisy and Kennedy, despite her outward appearance of confidence, was scared to death. Boarding school had taught her many things that prepared her for life; Latin translations, haute cuisine, and ballroom dancing. The one subject about which she was totally uneducated was men. There hadn’t been any at the school and very few in her world outside of it.  

So there she stood, with her roommate, Carla, both trying to act cool and like they went to frat parties every weekend.  

The boarding school had also not taught Kennedy much about alcohol, so when she found herself puking under a bush in the wee hours of the morning, with Carla nowhere in sight, she wondered if perhaps she was in over her head.

She stood up and tried to focus her attention in what she hoped was the direction of her dorm when a male voice made her jump.

“Maybe you’d like to use this.” A very handsome young man, whom Carla had pointed out as the president of the fraternity, offered her a handkerchief.  

“Thank you,” Kennedy said. She took the offered bit of fabric. She wiped the cold sweat from her brow. Now what? She wondered. Do I return the sweaty thing to this gorgeous man or do I keep it? Yet another piece of her boarding school education that had been lacking.  

Perhaps sensing her confusion, the fraternity president took the handkerchief from her and put it in his pocket.  

“I’m Grant Johnson, ” he said and held out his hand.  

“Kennedy Wilson.” She put her hand in his and hadn’t let go of it for nearly twenty years.  

Kennedy smiled at the memory and then remembered the task at hand. She opened the box and removed the contents—a faded t-shirt with the words “Sig Ep Little Sis” on the back and a long wooden fraternity pledge paddle with the initials GQJ etched along its length.  

She carefully removed her candidate’s wife’s suit and blouse and hung them in the closet—another useful lesson learned at boarding school---then donned the t-shirt. She was proud to see that it still fit, but just like all those years ago, it still didn’t cover her bottom. 

Kennedy put the box back in the nightstand, laid the paddle carefully in the center of the bed, and positioned herself next to the paddle crouched on her knees and elbows with her rump exposed to the cool air of the bedroom.  

And then she waited.  

The waiting was the worst part, which was precisely why Grant insisted upon it.  

He’d always known what was best for her and what she needed from the night that he handed her his handkerchief and then walked her back to her dorm, to this night when the stress and fatigue of the campaign were nearly overwhelming. Kennedy trusted that he’d do the right thing tonight too. But, that didn’t stop the butterflies from dive bombing her stomach.  

Stay Tuned for More Corner Time Excerpts.

Story Excerpts----Corner Time---Part Two

A recent post by Spanky over at Bright Bottom gave me the idea for this collection of corner time scenes. All of these excerpts are from my short story collection, The Long Arm of the Law.

This one is from The Assignment, a Halloween Story about witches who have infiltrated society to learn about us.

"Trick or treating will be over soon. I'll take over here. I want you to go upstairs and wait for me. You know what to do."

Yes, Wendy did know what to do, and she wasn't happy about it one bit. She plodded slowly up the staircase, berating herself for her foolishness. It was stupid of her to use magic on those little witches. Wendy knew that now.

She went into the bedroom and stood in the corner near the closet. While she stood there, she chastised herself for ever telling Charles about the conversation that she'd overheard at a Tupperware party. She'd been eavesdropping on a variety of conversations that night when she overheard two sisters whispering about the spankings their husbands had given them the night before. She learned that many mortals viewed this practice as a way of maintaining peace and harmony in their homes. She explained what she'd learned to Charles when she got home that night. Three days later, when she wrecked the car while putting on makeup, they put what they'd learned into practice.

Wendy had a feeling that tonight's transgression was worse than a scrunched up bumper. Waves of anxiety crashed in her stomach as she waited for Charles' footsteps in the hall.

Finally, the bedroom door opened. Wendy knew better than to look. She continued to stare at the wall in front of her and listened while Charles closed the door behind him and walked across the room. She heard the bed creak with his weight. "Come here, please, Wendy." 

Wendy slowly turned from the corner. Her long skirt rustled in the silent room as she crossed to the bed where her husband sat. Wendy kept her eyes downcast. She really was ashamed of herself.

Charles held both of her hands in his and looked up at his wife. Blonde ringlets fell forward across her breasts as she hung her head.

"What you did tonight was very serious." Charles' voice was calm, but Wendy recognized the steely determination beneath his tone. "You could have compromised our whole assignment, not to mention our futures with The MOB, by using magic tonight." Wendy shivered with the realization, and Charles slid his hands up her arms to warm her. "I know how much you hate Halloween here, and I rushed home as quickly as I could to try to relieve you of as much of it as I could. And then I pulled into the driveway just in time to watch your hand flick just before those little witches went rolling across the lawn."

Charles squeezed his wife's arms, and she looked at him. "Those little girls could have been hurt."

"I know." Wendy felt a stab of shame at the realization that she had used magic, and broken her word, for such a petty reason.

Book Review---Chubby Girl's Vacation by Michelle Fawkes

I reviewed Chubby Girl Hot and couldn't wait to read more in this series by Michelle Fawkes. Chubby Girl's Vacation did not disappoint.

In Chubby Girl Hot we meet Katie, who is sweet and funny but also chubby. The first book in the series is about how she and Brad, the hot new guy at work, fall in love, despite Katie's determination that he can't really love a curvy girl like her.

Chubby Girl's Vacation continues the relationship between Katie and Brad as they head off to Cancun for a much needed vacation.

This story is romantic and sexy, but it also includes characters that are likeable and who genuinely care for each other. Brad is the sort of guy everyone would like to meet, but he's not perfect, and that's part of his charm.

The back story to the vacation is the series of events that look like they will sabotage the couple's get away. I won't go into the details, but it starts to look like more than just a coincidence. This part of the story is also resolved in a very satisfactory way at the end. Again, I won't spoil it for you, but it's fun.

Chubby Girl's Vacation is a fun read that stands alone, though I'd suggest reading the whole series in order. It's just the right length for before bed or during your lunch hour (provided you can get back to work without being too distracted by all the hot sex scenes!).

Chubby Girl's Wedding is also available and I'll be reviewing that soon.

Book Review--The Devil Made Me Do It by Amelia James

I loved Amelia James' book The Devil Made Me Do It.

I think my husband, who didn't read the book, is probably an even bigger fan (though he doesn't know it) because after reading these very romantic and erotic stories I was feeling romantic and playful myself. I guess we'd say he was an indirect beneficiary.

And...isn't that the goal of writing romance? To elicit feelings in the reader? I've read a couple of stories recently (which I won't be reviewing) where it was just a sex scene, as though I was peeking in someone's windows. I know some people like that, but I want to connect with the characters so that I feel something other than just titillated.

The Devil Made Me Do It is twelve short stories. According to Amazon, it's 104 pages currently selling for $1.99 so that makes it quite a bargain too. The stories range in length and can be read over time or you can do what I did and just go for it and read them all at once.

What I particularly liked about the stories overall is that they were about married couples who had loving and playful relationships and despite being married for several years or having children, they were hot for each other. Really hot.

Each story also had a fun twist at the end, which was clever and unexpected.

Ok...I'll admit it...there were several times when I thought "Damn, I wish I'd written that!"

Ms. James has several other books available and I'm looking forward to reading more of her work. I encourage you to do the same.

You can check out her blog, which is in my blog list, and other books here.

Chubby Girl Hot---Book Review

I follow author Michelle Fawkes on Twitter and was intrigued by the title of her book, Chubby Girl Hot. Since I've struggled with my weight my whole life, I was curious about a sexy heroine who is chubby.

This story was really fun and sexy. Katie, the heroine, is likeable and real. Because of her weight, Katie thinks she's not allowed to play in the A leagues of dating so she settles for a friends with benefits relationship with scrawny Freddie.

When Brad, a new and hot, guy turns up at work, Katie is smitten, but she assumes that she's not his type because of her size. The rest of the story follows Brad's efforts to get to know Katie and her struggle to believe that she might actually be able to attract a hot guy.

I enjoyed this book. For once, I could identify with a herione who had to struggle to get into (and out of...heehee) her jeans.

In addition to being a fun read, I think this book makes a good point about how society/movies/television/etc tell us that only thin and beautiful women are worthy of love and the chubby girls are relegated to secondary roles as the loyal and funny sidekick. The sad part is that many of us who are not model thin believe this about ourselves too and sell ourselves short.

I say, it's time for all of us chubby girls to go out and get ourselves some good lovin' just like Katie.

A second book, Chubby Girl's Vacation, about Katie and Brad is also out...I can't wait to see what happens next.