Allure (Spiral of Bliss #2) by Nina Lane

Blurb

After lies and betrayal almost destroy their marriage, Dean and Olivia West reignite their blissful passion. The medieval history professor and his lovely wife are determined to fix their mistakes, and Liv’s unexpected pregnancy intensifies their desire to fall madly in love all over again.

Then a family crisis forces Dean back into a feud with his parents and siblings, dredging up guilt over a painful family secret. Dean fights to shield Liv from the hostility, but for the first time, Liv resists her white knight’s defense. Her newfound resolve clashes with Dean’s desperate need to protect her.

Liv and Dean have battled obstacles together before, but bitter family conflicts now endanger their fragile intimacy. And when Dean’s career is suddenly threatened, he and Liv must struggle with events that could damage them in ways they had never imagined.

My Review

5 Beautiful Stars!!

In that place of us, Liv and Dean, love has its own poetry and language. Allure, quatrefoil, fleur-de-lis. Right here. PR9199.3 R5115 Y68. My white knight. I’m yours. Give me a kiss. Pie love you. I remember. Professor. Beauty.

Considering how much I loved Arouse, I had very high expectations for this book. And I am happy to say that this book did not disappoint. I never thought I could fall more in love with Dean and Liv's story but I did. This book delivered on all points--great main characters, steam, angst and of course, just overall enjoyment and then some.

Nina Lane, in my opinion, outdid herself in this book. It was raw, real, emotional, gripping, beautiful, tragic, heartbreaking. Some things hit too close to home, which is probably one of the reasons I loved it since I was able to really connect with it on a very personal level.

Our relationship, our love, cannot and will never be perfect. It will, however, always belong only to us in all its flawed, intense beauty. Perfect in its very imperfection.

Allure starts off hot. Real hot with Dean and Liv going at it in a coat closet. We knew that they separated briefly for three weeks and they are just getting back together and feeling each other out. You can feel the underlying tension between them, sexual or otherwise. Liv is pregnant and Dean is on the cusp of a career breakthrough but their new found togetherness is tested when Dean had to go back home to California for a family emergency and an accusation at work threatens Dean's career.

The Main Characters and the Story...

I've lost count how many times this guy had me melting. Dean West, gawd, there are no words to describe how wonderful he is in this book. He had me swooning from the first page until the last. And seriously, every time he calls Liv, Beauty, I melt. His love for Liv is so palpable and so fierce, it jumps off the page. He's overprotective but somehow I get his reasons for it.

Liv, I love her as much I love Dean. They're perfect for each other really. In the first book, her insecurities are almost too painful too read but here, she's definitely coming to her own as a woman, as a wife and more importantly as an equal partner to Dean. And I cannot wait for book three because I feel like Liv is going to seriously kick ass--or more accurately, kick someone's ass in that book. Yes, I'm talking about you Maggie.

Both characters are flawed, both with their own insecurities and fears but Dean and Liv are two of the strongest characters I've come across in a while. They have their moment of suspicion and doubt but all married spouses go through this at one point or another. This is one of the reasons why I love this book. It depicts very real situations and emotions married couples go through.

My heart broke for them when they lost the baby and it didn't feel contrived. I already had a sinking suspicion that it will happen but when it did, I seriously cried with them and was rooting for them to have that but I guess it wasn't meant to be yet.

This review would not be complete without mentioning the writing on this book. Let me tell you, the writing is phenomenal. I loved how Nina Lane was able to seamlessly switch from Dean's POV to Liv with the flashbacks. And the prose is just beautiful. I know. I sound like a broken record but it is what it is. Beautiful.

Final Thoughts

I cannot wait for Awaken to be release. I know something big is going to happen with the Maggie situation. I fear for Dean and Liv but I also cannot wait for them to face this together. Someone needs to seriously kick Maggie's ass. Seriously, the girl just pissed me off! I praying for some comeuppance coming her way in the third book. What she did with Liv in the first book and then Dean here is just unforgivable. Grr!

I'll end this review with some of my favorite quotes from the book...

“Girlfriend.” I rested my forehead against his chest. “I guess.” “Not the best word, but it’ll do in public.” He kissed my temple. “In private, you can just be my beauty.”

“You don’t need anyone to fix you, Olivia, least of all me.” Dean pulled me closer, his eyes never leaving mine. “Because you’re not broken.”

“Thanks for waiting,” I whispered. “My beauty,” he said, “I’d wait for you forever.”

He nodded. “And you told me you didn’t have a key.” “I think I do.” “What is it?” “You.”

“I was so glad you asked me.” I rub my hand over his leg. “I had a big crush on you.” “I know.” I raise an eyebrow. “You know?” “Why else would you knock the other girls aside whenever I walked in?” Dean looks rather pleased with himself. My mouth drops open. A flush scorches my cheeks. “I did not knock the—”
“You sure did. And you think I didn’t notice the chocolates or the extra cookie you’d put on my plate? Or the time you gave me a box of shortbread and told me it was a free sample?”

“No doubt about it, beauty.” I press my face against her sweet-smelling hair. “You’ll always be my allure.”

“Feel that?” he asked. “You’re the first woman who’s ever made my heart beat like that. You’re the first woman I’ve ever wanted to spend all my time with, the only one who could convince me to start a new life. You’re the first woman who’s ever made me genuinely happy. Who makes me glad to be alive, who makes me burn hotter than fire. You’re the first woman who’s ever made me afraid.”

“You know I’m not much of a romantic.” He looks at me. “But that semester, even I had to admit it was more than just a coincidence.” “What was?”
“The fact that I was studying the perfect harmony of the stars and planets at the exact same time I was falling in love with you.”

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TROPHY HUSBAND BOOK BLITZ!!!

Here it is my lovelies, Lauren Blakely's hilarious new book, Trophy Husband! Read on and before you go don't forget to join our Rafflecopter Giveaway!

Synopsis:

Sometimes you can't help falling in love, even when you try to do the opposite...Successful fashion blogger McKenna Bell has spent far too long protecting herself after the way her ex-fiancé left her at the altar for a college chick he met the night of his bachelor party. Loving again, trusting again, well, that's just not in the cards. Especially now that her ex is back in town with his new woman, demanding custody of McKenna's favorite creature in the whole world--her dog. No effing way. McKenna's had enough of him, and she decides to even the score by finding her own hot young thing -- a Trophy Husband. Sure, she's only twenty-seven, but doesn't that make it even more fun -- and infuriating to her ex -- to pursue a younger man? When she declares her intentions on her daily blog, her quest quickly skyrockets in popularity, and that's when Chris enters the picture, and he’s got all the assets. He's handsome, successful, and turns her inside out with a kiss to end all kisses, the kind that makes you feel like a shooting star. But loving again could mean losing again, and it's so much easier to focus on getting even, isn't it? Unless, you just can't help falling in love. Which means McKenna will have to come face to face with what she really wants in life -- protecting her heart from hurt, or letting go of her fears of a new beginning.

Excerpt

My timing is impeccable.

    I do not want to miss a chance to see Chris walk across the sand, so there’s no reason for me to be on time when I can be early.

    I park on Taraval Street along Ocean Beach, get out of my car, and wait. I try my best to look busy, fiddling with my phone, and checking compartments in my purse, but when Chris appears on the horizon, surfboard in hand, wet suit tucked under his arm, I freeze.

    And then I blush, remembering what he did to me in my mere imagination yesterday. I’m sure he’ll be able to tell, to read it in my eyes. I really should pretend I’m not watching him. But it’s impossible not to. I didn’t look away during that scene in Casino Royale either when Daniel Craig emerged from the water. He wears board shorts, low on his hips, and a pair of flip flops. I watch him as he walks through the sand, closer, closer and there, now I can say without a shadow of a doubt that I would like to lick all those water droplets off his chest and his abs and then run a hand down his body to sear into my memory the feel of that kind of firm outline.

    He’s lickable. He’s kissable. He’s chat-up-able. He’s precisely the type of guy a girl can fall into some kind of crazy crush for. He catches my gaze, and I should be embarrassed, I should act as if I’m not staring, but there’s this fluttery feeling inside me, and I want to hold onto it, especially because he’s looking at me and not letting go either. Those green eyes of his are the definition of dreamy, and if I were a writer, I’d find a way to pen a song about them, how they draw me in, romance me, entice me.

    Soon, he’s mere feet from me, scratched-up surfboard by his side, in all his glistening, ocean-ed up glory. Neither one of us says anything for a few seconds, and it’s the kind of silence that’s filled with unsaid things.

    With wishes, with hopes.

    Mine at least.

    “Hey.”

    “Hi.”

    “Thanks for meeting me here,” he says, as a wet shock of hair falls across his forehead. He pushes it back.

    “Thanks for being a surfer,” I say, then I want to kick myself for sounding so goggly-eyed.

    He flashes me a grin and walks to his car, a sporty red car that I recognize as being one of the newest hybrids. He stows the wetsuit in the trunk, then slides the board into the rack on the roof, stretching his arms to lock the board in place. I picture myself slinking into the narrow space between Chris and the car, the look of surprise on his face, then wicked delight, as he closes the gap between our bodies. He’s warm and wet from surfing and sun, and I’m warm and wet from him, and I imagine him lazily tracing a finger down my arm, enjoying the way the slightest touch sets me ablaze. I’d shift closer, my hips inviting him to become a puzzle piece that locks into place with me.

    I force myself to shutter those images, because they have no bearing to reality.

    He opens the passenger door, reaches inside and hands me a bag with the camera in it.

    “Good as new,” he says.

    “How did you fix it?”

    “I can’t give away all my secrets now, can I?”

    I smile. “I suppose not.”

    “But maybe you’d be willing to tell me your last name now that I’ve fixed your camera.”

    Another smile. Another nervous laugh. “McKenna. McKenna Bell.”

    “Well, thank you for letting me fix the camera your friend’s cat peed on, McKenna Bell.”

    “Maybe if I’m lucky, the cat will pee on my router next.”

     He smiles, then runs a hand through his wet hair. There’s something so effortless about the way he moves, so natural, that I don’t even think he’s aware of the effect he has on women.

    Of the effect he has on me. I want to run my hands down his chiseled chest, exploring the lines between his muscles, the way his stomach is outlined so firmly. I want to know what those arms feel like wrapped around me, pulling me in close. I want his hands on my hips as he teases me and taunts me with sweet kisses on my cheeks, my eyelids, my forehead. Then his tongue flicks across my earlobe, and I gasp with pleasure. He pulls back, a satisfied little grin on his face before he returns to my neck, burning up my skin in an instant with those lips that were made to mark my body.

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AUTHOR BIO (no author picture)

Lauren Blakely is an unabashed fan of clever jokes, toast, and good guys in novels. Like the heroine in CAUGHT UP IN US, she thinks life should be filled with movie kisses and coffee drinks. Lauren lives in California with her husband and children, and spends her days writing both true stories and make-believe ones.

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Unbeautifully by Madeline Sheehan

4 Crazy Stars!!

“All scars tell a story, beautiful girl,” he said, releasing me to trace the marks on my stomach. “Yours are tellin’ me how healthy and fuckin’ perfect my kid is gonna be.”


Crazy. Wild. Crass. Gritty. Uninhibited. Just a few words that come to mind when I think of this book. I couldn't put this book down. I forgot how many times I went, 'OMG, that didn't just happen,' to 'Oh no, he didn't,' during the course of reading this book. I would have rated it higher if not for some issues, which I will address later.

Ripper

Ripper is the sergeant-at-arms of the Hell's Horsemen MC. Physically and emotionally scarred after being attacked and almost killed by a psychopath in the previous book, Ripper didn't think anything beautiful could happen to him. That is until Danny.

Danny

Danny is the quintessential princess of the Hell's Horsemen, daughter of the MC president, a good girl whose life at home was slowly unraveling, saw something beautiful in Ripper. And after one passionate and intense night, Ripper and Danny's road to hell began.

After reading Undeniable, I've already mentally and emotionally prepared myself for this book. We are talking about Madeline Sheehan after and Ms. Sheehan doesn't do sweet and fluffy. I was prepared to get another Deuce-like behavior from Ripper, so I was pleasantly surprised that unlike Deuce, Ripper was actually very likable. Of course, he still yells and say fuck and bitch a lot but compared to Deuce, Ripper is a sweetheart. Danny had her TSTL moments but overall, she was more stable than Eva, in my opinion, and like Ripper, I actually really liked her.

My Two Cents

As I mentioned earlier, I would have given this book 5 stars if not for some issues I had with the story. I get the crazy in this book. In fact, I was entertained by all the craziness that went on. That said, I felt that all the drama and craziness that went down with Deuce and Eva, Jase and Dorothy and Hawk and Chrissy, Tegen and Cage overshadowed the story of Ripper and Danny. It was just too much and it contributed nothing to the development of the main characters. It was almost like all those things were written in for shock value. And I admit I was shocked and appalled but after that it left me with...nothing.

The sub-plots surrounding Nikki and the (view spoiler)[Danny's abortion (hide spoiler)] was like an afterthought and resolved too quickly. It wasn't explored as much and we are just basically told that Deuce knows everything and it was okay. That frustrated me a bit. I thought that was something that could have been great for both the characters but yeah, it was there and then it wasn't. Even the Mama Vi angle felt rushed. *shrugs*

Another problem for me was the timeline. Maybe I'm just slow on the uptake but I couldn't get my head around it especially with Deuce and Eva. I gave myself a headache trying to figure out how everything fits in the timeline from the first book to this and I couldn't. Doing math makes my brain hurt. It is known.

On the other hand, I was glad we got a lot Deuce and Eva on this book. But was it just me or was Deuce and Ripper started to sound alike after awhile. LOL! It must be a biker thing! Seriously, I had to double check whose POV I was reading because Deuce and Ripper, they could be the same guy with the way they talk and everything. But other than that I loved the multiple POVs.

I thought Cox and Kimi were outstanding. LOL! They brought so much comic relief to the story and Cox was pretty awesome in this book. I loved the wedding of Deuce and Eva. I thought that was pretty hilarious especially the interaction between Preacher and Deuce and the things that went on inside Deuce's head at that moment.

The Epilogue

I was hoping to get a glimpse of Ripper and Danny's wedding but I guess you can't have two weddings in one book. Otherwise, I liked the epilogue. I wasn't wowed by it but it was pretty sweet.

Overall, a solid four-star read. I enjoyed myself immensely. Definitely looking forward to Tegen and Cage's story.

*****DISCLAIMER*****

All images used in this review are not mine. I do not claim any ownership to them.

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