Helena Winsome is being blackmailed into spying on the Duke of Greybrooke in order to keep her brother out of debtor’s prison. She has to find proof that he’s a traitor and her brother’s debts will be paid.

I have mixed feelings about this. While the writing is awesome and the characters are great, I think Helena is a bit of a moron. Who lets themselves be coerced into a situation and does zero research? I know I would have done some digging before I let myself be pushed into something. Her family owns a newspaper for fuck’s sake! And her brother? Omg, I would have killed him. Ok, I know this is historical and he’s technically head of the house, but I’d still kick his ass. Period. Also, she’s gutsy and intelligent and lets herself be led around by her pussy. Ugh. Stop.

I don’t particularly like the Duke of Greybrooke either. Guys who think they can get whatever they want because that’s always been so for them piss me off. Arrogance without redemption is a huge turn off for me and I don’t think he changes enough over the course of the book to get in my good Graces. Hehe See what I did there?

DNF @33%

Book source ~ NetGalley

Miss Angela Ripon thought Matthew Harkness, the Earl of Colton, was going to ask her to marry him. Instead he dropped her like a hot potato. Now she wants revenge. She wants to seduce him until he can’t live without her and when he asks her to marry him, she rejects him. Seeking the advice of Madame Rouge, or Ruby as she’s known by her patrons, Ruby warns Angela that the game she’s playing will most likely not end up the way she hopes. Angela forges blindly on anyway. Matthew is newly intrigued by this change in Angela, but he’s wary. He’ll not be trapped into marriage. When Angela insists that she’s not looking for marriage he cautiously decides to play along and see where it goes.

The writing isn’t bad, but the characters are horrible. Neither one is honest with the other and neither thought or had the balls to just come out and say what they want, so they circle endlessly in a continuous loop of lies and prevarications and at 33% I just could not stand it anymore. I just couldn’t face another 67% of these two dipshits never coming out and saying what was actually on their minds. So, they are dead to me. Moving on.

*Book source ~ NetGalley

This is the continuation of Dougie and Mat’s story of how they were kidnapped and sold into sexual slavery. They have begun their training with Nikolai who must mold them into the perfect submissives before they are sent off to their new Master.

It’s not the story, it’s definitely me. I’m just not interested in Dougie and Mat’s dilemma anymore. I don’t know if it’s all the psychological stuff, all the internal debate, Nikolai or it’s just not moving fast enough for me, but I’m done with this series. It’s still well-written with great characters, but apparently my tastes have changed. Don’t let my ennui put you off reading this series.

*Book source ~ NetGalley

Mat and Dougie have survived (barely) the flesh auction and head to the home of their new Master’s professional trainer, Nikolai Petrovic. Only they don’t know that until they get there. Each brother doesn’t even know where the other is even though they are traveling in the same RV. Is life about to get harder for them? Or will they escape?

I’m not finding this series as enthralling as I did when I started. It’s still compelling and the writing is great, but maybe my tastes have changed. I want the brothers to escape their situation, but I’m not getting much hope to cling to. Maybe that’s the problem. They didn’t sign up for any of this, so I want to see them triumph over the bad guys, but it’s just not happening fast enough for me. If it ever does? I’m not sure. I probably wouldn’t continue except I have the next section from NetGalley. Maybe things will look up for the brothers then.

*Book source ~ NetGalley

Brooke Armstrong is a nerd with her own computer store, but when she witnesses a murder she ends up with two hunky bodyguards. Gavin Kirkwood and Riley Landon have lusted after Brooke since they moved to Pleasure, Montana, but they’ve been a bit busy settling in to ask her out. When Brooke finds out she’s the center of these two hot guys’ fanatasies she doesn’t understand why they want her overweight nerdy self. The guys just need to convince her they want her all while keeping her safe from a murderer. Multitasking is their middle name.

The characters are the best part of this story. They each have their good and bad points and they’re fairly believable. However, the plot is a long stretch of the imagination and for professionals the guys are incredibly awful at protection. I wouldn’t trust them to watch my plants after seeing them in action in this book. The writing is clunky, the dialogue is stilted and the BDSM is so-so. The sex scenes themselves aren’t bad though. All-in-all this story is just meh. I have no interest in reading the rest of the series.