Independent reviewer for Divine Magazine, I was gifted my copy of this book. A year ago, Kelly and Blue took the friendship to a whole other level. But Blue plays football, and doesn't wanna come out yet. He just needs to bide his time. Kelly, however, is growing impatient with Blue. Can Blue keep Kelly happy, while he gets himself together? This is book two in the Rules of Possession duet, and you NEED to read book one, The Blueprint, first. I listened to book one, and I said that I found that the narrator for Blue didn't quite for me, even though Sean Crisden is a firm favourite of mine. However, since READING book two, I've decided it's NOT the narrator, but Blue himself who is the problem! I could hear Kelly when I read his chapters, but not so much Blue. I connected better to Kelly than Blue. I loved Kelly, but Blue?? Nah, wanted to punch him so bad! Keeping Kelly happy is Blue's number one priority, but he still has to work, to play football, and to leave Kelly from time to time and that does rather kill Blue. He DOES love Kelly, that much is obvious, but he just can't come out yet, not to everyone else. BUT everyone else? Those around Blue and Kelly all the time?? THEY know, they knew BEFORE Kelly and Blue did! When a couple of players voice what they know, and Blue gets caught kissing Kelly on their vacation, he knows he has to come out. And he does. I just *insert sigh* expected the fall out of that to be . . . MORE . . . you know?? Blue goes on about how big a deal it is, to come out as a football player, about how BAD it will be, and I expected the fall out to be nuclear. But it's more of a damp firework, to be honest! I DID enjoy reading this, but the thing I struggled the most with was Blue himself. But Kelly's voice is so strong, it balances out Blue perfectly. And the story rounded off beautifully, in a very Kelly way! 4 solid stars **same worded review will appear elsewhere**

Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book. A sensual heiress, a wounded playboy and the soldier who will serve them both. Oh I liked this one, I liked it a LOT!!! Meet Kat, a wealthy business woman trying to help expand her company and repair a very damaged Germany after WW1. Meet Sam, Kat's best friend, fiancee, and her dead brother's lover. And Friedrich, a decommissioned soldier forced to sell his body to keep his widowed sister-in-law and her baby fed. Like I said, liked it A LOT! The scene is set with Friedrich going to the club Kat and Sam frequent for the first time. There is am immediate connection between the three, and it burns bright through the whole book. I didn't find it as explicit as some BDSM or menage books, but that might be just me. It IS sexy, oh yes, don't think that it isn't, and what is here is very well written. Maybe it's because a lot of words used were from that time, and not today's words for things. I didn't mind that I didn't find it as explicit, I just needed to mention it! I LOVED how it all worked though! Kat is a Dom; Sam, a confirmed homosexual (but he can be with women, should he and Kat actually get married and need to produce an heir!) and Friedrich is the glue that binds all three of them together. Kat shows him all kinds of things that he didn't even know existed and Sam shows him just how good it is to be with a man. I liked the business espionage line, wasn't sure how that was gonna go and I do so love being kept on my toes! And I absolutely LOVED the solution that Sam comes up with to get Friedrich, Elise and Rudi out of Germany; to give Kat a husband; to give Sam a wife AND heir and for the three of them to be together back in the States. I was reading when Sam was talking and I'm thinking "What the bloody hell is he going on about?" And then, ping! Light bulb moment just a fraction of a sentence before Sam laid it out! Loved it! First I've read of this author, unless there is something tucked away in a bo x set I might have read. I'd like to read more! You know what?? I wrote 4.5 stars at the top pf the page when I sat down to write this up, but now? I can't think why I did that, or what to take the half star off for, so . . . . 5 full stars! **same worded review will appear elsewhere**

Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book. After THAT kiss on Halloween, Leo and Ace have been avoiding the issue.Or rather, Leo has, and it's all Ace has on his mind. Sent together with a team of Black Raven agents undercover on a gambling cruise liner's maiden voyage, they are thrown into the thick of things, with so much left unsaid. This is book 4 in the Black Raven series, but you don't need to have read the other three for this to make sense, they can all be read as stand alone novels. Books one and three are five star reads from me, though. But this one?? Not so much and I've no idea why! And ya'll know how much that pains me so! maybe it will come as I write this up. Leo is emotionally stunted after the death of her father on 9/11. She doesn't wanna talk to Ace about what happened on Halloween but she has been thinking about it. Ace is her best friend, has been since they started working together. That kiss, though, changes everything for them both. Ace wants to move the relationship on, but they have a job to do first. Feelings for your partner cannot get in the way of a job. But they have a way of worming in, and Leo can see those feelings in Ace's eyes, even if he doesn't want her to see. Told mostly from Leo and Ace's point of view, we also get some of the bad guy in a couple of places, and in the other two books I've read in this series, I loved that. Those bad guys are deeply twisted, and were difficult to read, but it's more of less why I gave those two books 5 stars: the connection I had to the minds of those bad guys. But something didn't quite work here, for me. While clearly insanely greedy (cos it's all about the money) and a lot screwed in the head (cos a LOT of people will die) I didn't feel any connection to the bad guy at all. That makes ME sound a lot twisted in my head, but I think you know what I mean. There seemed to be no background as to WHY (other than the money) the bad guy was doing this, what made them want to blow up a brand spanking new ship, and kill all those people? I needed some background and I didn't get it. This book is HEAVY on the agents work. A little bit too much for me, I think. I got lost when they were running around the ship cos I have no idea what half of those ship terms meant! AND!! It's only the first part of Leo and Ace's story. They are Happy For Now, and I do hope they get their Happy Ever After in the next book. Ain't gonna be plain sailing for them I know that much! So, because on the lack of connection to the bad guy, and because of the heavy action (which gives me the WHY I didn't enjoy this one quite so much) . . . 4 stars, still a really good read, just not on a par with books one and three. **same worded review will appear elsewhere**

Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book. This is book 4 in the Obsessed series, and you MUST read book one through three before you read this one. You need to know how Meik ended up in this position. And they are all 5 star reads from me! I would STRONGLY recommend you don't read these unless you have all 4 parts in your possession. They are addictive, and cliffhangers and you will NEED that next part so badly, it will hurt. So, yeah, all FOUR parts, ya hear me?? But this one?? Not so much. Still really great, just not quite hitting the spot that the others did. Why?? Because I was CONFUSED! At the beginning of this book, Meik is drowning his sorrows in booze and sex. Or at least he's TRYING to. The sex thing seems not to be working so alcohol is his drug of choice. What I was confused about was WHY! At the end of book 3, Sebastian tells Meik he loves him, and Meik responds. . .not badly, but with the wrong words. Here, Sebastian is just GONE!!! It took me far too long to figure out Sebastian must have left Meik, and that was why he is drowning in galleons of whiskey. FAR too long, and it spoilt it slightly for me. BUT!!! We get another side of Meik, while he's drowning his sorrows: the loving, sweet teenager about to have his whole world broken by the loss of Gabe. We get all that, in the memories that flash up between the now bits. Gabe's illness and diagnosis. His failing health as time goes on. Meik and Gabe's growing physical relationship, despite Gabe's illness. The total and utter LOVE that Gabe and Meik have for each other screams at you in every snippet of those memories. And you get to understand a little bit more why Meik fights so bloody hard against the love that he has for Sebastian. So bloody hard! He doesn't want to feel that kind of pain again. And he does LOVE Sebastian. He just needs to find him to tell him. Pulling himself out of a week long bender took some doing, but I'm so glad that boy did it! Just when he thinks he's lost Sebastian for good, he finds him. And with the RIGHT words, tells Sebastian he loves him. It would be nice to catch up with these two later down the road, it really would. But for now, a very fitting end to the story of Meik's Obsession with Sebastian. 4 solid stars **same worded review will appear elsewhere**

Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book. So! This is book 8 in the Nights Series, but this one really can be read as a stand alone. I'm not sure I recall Lana or Tom from any of the previous books, but that might be me. Also, books one through 6 are male/male pairings and book7 and this one are male/female pairings. Again, I'm not picky, especially when the author pulls off the difference incredibly well, but I know some readers are. Books one through 3, and 6 and 7 are all 5 stars reads from me too. Lana has been the bane of Tom's existence since he fell in love with her at 16. Having worked for her for 4 years, Tom really has reached the end of his tether, and feels he needs to move on. But when Lana turns up at his door, drunk, demanding sex, what's a guy to do, huh?? He does the right thing, and puts her to bed, while sleeping on the sofa. But, things change between Lana and Tom, and Lana begins to feel things more keenly. These feelings she never realised she had. And the feelings that she wants more than the verbal battling they have every day. But Tom runs, and Lana has to face some facts. A thoroughly enjoyable addition to this series, even if i found it not quite up to par as the rest. Oh, don't get me wrong! It's a great book, told from both Lana and Tom's point of view. It's sexy and hot, and I did read it in one sitting. It just doesn't have the heat level the other books have, and I think I missed that! Ya'll know I made a new shelf for these books, "fan yourself, it's a hot one" and this book doesn't get to join the others there, simply because of that fact. There is, though, more emotions in this one, I think. Having loved Lana for the better part of his life, Tom's feeling are front and centre, right from the beginning, but Lana's take some digging out. I LOVED the scene when she's talking to Eveline and Lincoln from book 7, about just WHY Lana is annoyed with Tom! I really have enjoyed this series, and there is just one book to go, and I will be so bloody sad to see the end of these books! I also find myself curious as to what name this author usually writes under, as AM Salinger is a pen name. I'd LOVE to read something written under that name, just to see the differences. But then again, it might be young adult, or zombies and they really don't float my boat. So, on reflection, no, I don't want to know! 4 solid sexy (but not quite as sexy as the rest) stars **same worded review will appear elsewhere**