Book review – Heaven Help Me, Or Hell Have Me (Jolyn Palliata)

I volunteered to read this and supply an honest review. I’d previously read CONNECTED and A MODERN LOVE STORY by the same author and had high hopes… I was delighted to say my hopes were not only met, but exceeded.

To say that Kassie is having a bad day, would be an understatement. Everything from tripping over the cat to being accosted on the way to work, seems set to ruin her day.

I’m waiting for the day when he flashes open his coat and I see more than hot jewelry. And when that day comes, I’m going to scrub my eyeballs out with Lysol. And then set them on fire.

Work sucks, as it does most days, especially when she has to fend off her boss, a man who makes wandering-hands seem tame. Eventually she’s home and repeating her mantra in bed.

Before I fall asleep, I almost ask out loud ‘What the hell else could happen?’, but I know better than to tempt the fates, and instead mutter, “Heaven help me, or Hell have me.” And then mentally amend it to Fuck Heaven, Hell take me.

I think it just this once, ‘cause I’m mad enough to go there.

Strangely, the day after is almost the complete opposite – especially when she’s told her boss is being investigated for harassment. At last! She goes home happy for once… and then things take a bizarre turn. There’s a ghost in her apartment. A rather hunky and gorgeous ghost.

 

I shoo at him like a fly. Only instead of my hand passing through his, I smack right into him. I looked right at him with wide eyes. I couldn’t help it! I just smacked a ghost for crying out loud!

Not only can she see – and touch him – they can speak to each other. He seems surprised when she assumes he’s a ghost, and that’s when she begins to wonder just what he really is.

“The other day,” he prompts. “Do you remember what you said?”

I think back – oh, that day – and scowl. “I’m pretty sure I said a lot of choice words on that particular day.”

“Yes, but one thing in particular put you in the spotlight.”

Her mantra – Hell Have Me – suddenly takes on a whole new meaning.

He studies me half a tick and nods. “Hell.”

“Hell?” I whisper. And then I do something I didn’t even think was possible, something I always thought was just a figure of speech. I gulp.

“You’re worried?”

I nod.

“Good,” he says, leaning in. “You should be.”

At this point I dragged my eyes away from the story to look at the % read counter – 66 %. Noooo, I muttered… I know this can’t all be nicely wrapped up and resolved in 34%, which means….. Yes. I have to wait for the next in the series.

Let me get a couple of caveats out there.

– This is written present tense. Normally I hate that, but Kassie’s voice is so vibrant that it makes this come alive.

– It’s short, woefully short. It is only a novelette, and so it serves as a deliciously tangy taster to Jolyn Palliata’s new series. A hell of a lot is packed in (tee hee, excuse the pun), but I still wish it was longer as I’m not very good at waiting.

Having said all that, it’s a fab quick read, and I loved it to bits.

*********

Dear Ms Palliata, if you read this review, please hurry up and release the next in the series. Yours sincerely, Impatient Reader 🙂

4.5 out of 5 (only because I desperately wanted there to be more!!

Read Full Post »

Jolyn Palliata recently burst onto my TBR List, when I fell in love with CONNECTED (see my review). I can’t tell you how excited I am at her newest project * claps hands in glee *

Read Full Post »

Guest Book Review – The Devil’s Dance (Johnny Stone)

GUEST REVIEW from Mistik

GoodReads synopsis:

“Cherry Clark is a spoiled brat, unappreciative of the good fortune she’s experienced throughout her life. She is also a solitary sex addict, experiencing her vicarious desires through her imagination and Internet porn. Her closet desire to be a submissive is shrouded in fear; and her mouthy attitude only gets her into trouble. One night after work, she finds a flier stuck to her car, advertising a mysterious club, Sheol’s Fringe. Her interest is aroused, she decides to go, unaware that her life is about to change forever. Sameal, the hot looking bartender and Sheol’s owner, is also a “devil”, and a member of the Board of Directors for Devil Corp, an organization that brokers in human pleasures through the use of a ‘Dream Journal’ service. The journal itself allows the user to experience whatever fantasy they write about while in a sleep-like trance. Sameal gives her a dream journal of her own, through which Cherry lives out her deepest and darkest fantasies. Her desires take some shocking twists. Even more frightening, they tend to manifest themselves in unusal physical form.“

I love this quote it’s one of my favorites by far…

“I could almost taste the thick, mouth-watering fog of manly power that seeped from his pores, smothering me beneath it. Just being near him filled me with an overpowering sense of intimidation, excitement, and nervous surrender all rolled into one general package of an amazing turn-on. “ — Johnny Stone

Intense! I picked up this book after I saw it posted in one of my groups as an erotica paranormal read. I have read several erotica books and they were less than satisfactory in terms of plot and character development so I ventured into this one with caution…and an open mind.=)

This fabulous book had it all; the plot although revolving around sexual exploration worked; a very well developed female character – I felt for her, I liked her, I cheered for her; plus the intimacy scenes that were simply mind blowing. Hot, heavy but tasteful and written with such care I couldn’t help but sigh in awe.

Therefore, a read with solid writing, flowing energy both in the plot and the bedroom scenery, one that excites and renews a feeling of novelty, erases the boredom of repetitive plot construction currently in circulation among the paranormal books, is worthy of a 5 star mark regardless of the challenge to my sheltered senses. And make no mistake my senses were challenged; it was an intense read plagued with dark desires and unfathomable fantasies.

As if the taboo’s were not challenging enough, the paranormal element just brought an additional edge all wrapped up in one AMAZING read!

Pick it up!

Read Full Post »

Book review – Male Review (Lillian Grant)

What a gorgeous cover, eh.

 

When I want something light hearted, laugh-out-loud funny and sexy too, my automatic buy is Lillian Grant. Male Review, the eagerly awaited follow-up to Male Order was worth the wait.

Meg and Sam had finally hooked up at the end of the previous book, but their path to new love would run anything but straight. Her crazy nympho aunt moving in was just the start.

The thought of him lying in his reclining chair naked with his fist wrapped around his hard, hot, heaving cock sent a heat wave through her body and a definite dampening in areas that had no business being damp when you shared a bed with your eighty-something great aunt.

 

On the odd occasions they managed to get some privacy, they were usually interrupted.

Meg groaned with frustration. Not now, not when they were just about to… God, Sam was shrinking fast. His cock flopped out of her and she dropped to her knees with a moan of, “No, no,” intent on giving his manhood mouth to mouth.

 

When her scarily frigid mother followed shortly after, Meg gave up any hope of having any kind of sex life. In desperation, she goes to visit her father to try and understand why her mum has left him. She finds him entertaining friends:

“I hope you’re planning on helping to clean up before my mother gets home.”

Anyone would think she had lobbed a hand grenade into the middle of the table and shouted ‘incoming’. The two men so intent on poker a few minutes ago, jumped to their feet.

 

Then Sam drops a bombshell.

Sam met her gaze. This was a crossroads in their relationship. His answer could make or break the trust he’d built with her, but she needed to know everything about him, good and bad.

“I used to go to a BDSM club.”

Since Great Aunt Maud has just become a co-owner in a themed male strip bar, they decide to avail themselves of the facilities when the club is closed during the day. What followed, is one of the funniest scenes I’ve read in years.

Sam reached up to undo the left cuff. After a couple of minutes tugging, he glanced at Meg. “Have you got the key?”

 

If things weren’t bad enough, her arch-nemesis, the wickedly cocky Irishman Michael Monaghan is there to witness the entire scene. Could it get any worse? Well yes, actually, but that would be giving away the story, and you really need to read it for yourself.

If you like hot sex, spiced up with a little BDSM and a whole load of comedy, you’ll love it. Trust me, you won’t regret it  🙂

Read Full Post »