ARC REVIEW: Seven Sins [Anthology]

Title: Seven Sins (Anthology)
Author(s): Natalie Anderson, Amy Andrews, Michele de Winton, Robin Covington, Avery Flynn, Carmen Falcone & Talia Hunter
Published: October 19th 2015
Format: eARC | Pages: 423
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Erotica
Source: Author (Talia Hunter)
★★★  (3/5) Stars!

Seven Sins: Seven Sizzling Stories! Bikers, Stepbrothers, Bosses, Baseball, BDSM and more!

Can't get enough of hot contemporary romance? For a LIMITED time buy this sexy, EXCLUSIVE anthology with seven ALL NEW stories from top authors, including USA Today Bestsellers, and discover your favorite sin today!

I received a copy of this book, from one of the authors, in exchange for an honest review. In no way did this sway either my review or my rating!

Big thanks to Talia Hunter first of all for the opportunity to read and review this book. As an all around average for the entire book I'd give it a 3 star rating. However each individual story inside I had very different feelings for. So for the rest of this review I'll give as brief of a summary of my feelings for each one and what I would have rated it if it were an individual novella!

Envy

Blaze for Me by Natalie Anderson

★★★ 3 Stars!
When Austin Tate busts Nicoletta Valeri in a blistering moment of voyeuristic orgasm-envy, it’s the perfect chance for some payback, but instead she’s lit a fire than can be extinguished by only one thing…

So this opening story definitely gave me a crash course for what to expect within this book. The opening scene was this incredibly hot voyeuristic scene that kind of shocked me at first. There was no slowly breaking into it, it just happened on page one. It was fun in a naughty sort of way though.. As for the rest of the story, well, I liked it and enjoyed it but the dialogue very nearly ruined it for me. That and the couple was very immature at times. I probably would have enjoyed it a whole lot more if that dialogue had backed up the fun and steamy storyline.

Gluttony

Glutton for Punishment by Amy Andrews

★★★★ 4 Stars!
With a sudden hankering to be spanked, Darcy Henderson figures Mitch Callaghan is the man for the job. But is she woman enough to take it?

This story was everything I've grown to love and expect from Amy Andrews. Lots of steamy, characters you can instantly love and plenty of humorous funny moments. I think my favorite part of the whole thing was Darcy's grandmother and her friends from the retirement community. They had err...some very surprising sides...to not give anything away. They were so dang funny! I think my biggest complaint about this one would be that it was a shame it was a short story because I would have loved to spend more time with Darcy and Mitch!! Over way too soon!

Lust

Burned by Lust by Michele de Winton

★ 1 Star (DNF)
Biker, Hade Corban is set to take over the Raising Hellfire Gang and love isn’t on his agenda, but lusty goodtime girl Lee Delevinge is hell bent on burning up his heart.

To be perfectly honest...I only read about 5 pages of this one tops before I had to DNF it. You either know or you don't if you're going to like something. And it wasn't because this was about an MC because I've been reading one that I love. I guess what happened was, at least from what I could tell, one of the new guys in the gang had taken a couple of girls upstairs to try and "prove something" to the rest of the guys but was so wasted he passed out so when Hade goes upstairs because of all the banging going on up there one of the naked "ladies" on the bed catches his eye. I lost interest before they said a word to each other. No thanks. Done.

Wrath

Sleeping with the Enemy by Robin Covington

★★★ 3 Stars!
All’s fair in love and baseball…but when Kat Carter, the newly-minted GM for the Virginia Venom, is determined to recruit rival superstar shortstop (and former lover) Derek Foxx the last thing she expects is a sexy ultimatum… Best-selling author Robin Covington proves that rivalry outside the bedroom leads to sparks between the sheets.

This one was really cute and fun and even made me tear up a bit. I really loved getting to know Kat and Derek especially since I'm such a sucker for a really good second chance at love story. And this was one of them, even as short as it was. I feel like the reason my rating for this one was on the lower side was because of the abundance of the word "tits" used even by Kat at times. I have no idea why this word always bugs me so much but it there were points where it made me want to cringe. Still though I pretty much adored this one and it was probably one of my favorite of the seven.

Sloth

Princess Sin by Avery Flynn

★★✩ 2.5 Stars
There’s trouble on the horizon when Cynthia Aston, who the tabloids have nicknamed Princess Cyn for her slacker party girl ways, stows away on a yacht that belongs to workaholic billionaire Hunter McKenney, her older brother’s sexy best friend.

Not counting the story I didn't even make it through, I'd have to say this one was my least favorite. I feel like any one of the seven sins, most especially sloth, would be very easy to convey eitehr through characters or storyline without having to spell it out. However, more times than I cared to count the word sloth or slothful was thrown around to describe Cyn. It really bothered me. To me it just felt like a lack of creativity if you have to use the word sloth repeatedly to try to prove to me that this is what your story was about. But not only that the dialogue was lackluster as well. I mean there was other stuff that put me off about it too but just so I'm not completely Negative Nancy about this story I will say that there was one shining, bright moment in the book. At the end Hunter gives the perfect best man speech/grand gesture that would have had me swooning and tears if it were me. I wish the rest of the book could've been like that speech!

Pride

Accidentally Sinful  by Carmen Falcone

★★★✩ 3.5 Stars!
Stranded due to a snowstorm, Santiago Cruz must let go of his pride and acknowledge forbidden feelings for the woman he loves but can’t forgive—his stepsister.

What is it about these stepbrother stories that always makes me want to love them? The very beginning of this one was actually hard to follow and understand what was going on. But once things became more clear, the reasons for the rift between them and so on, I actually kinda liked this story. It wasn't perfect I mean it resolved way, way too quickly, almost got whiplash it snapped into place so fast, but nonetheless very enjoyable. Plus Santiago was pretty yummy!

Greed

How to Seduce a CEO by Talia Hunter

★★★ 3 Stars!

Hot shot CEO Marcus Bolton’s decided who to hire for the top job, and it’s not Angel Moore, no matter how temping she might be. But Angel will do whatever it takes to land the job of her dreams—even seduce the boss.

So I'm guessing that this was probably a novella in Talia's series The Rich List, which I read the first book in and loved. Angel isn't normally the type of female character I'm drawn to. She's almost overly driven and will do basically anything to get what she's after career wise. I didn't like a lot of the choices she made nor the fact that it really felt as if she was using her sexuality and her budding relationship with Marcus to get him on her side and to get him to fight for her for a huge promotion. But it really was hard to not like her or respect drive and ambition in a very male driven job and environment that she was in. And to feel bad for her for being so much better at what she does than most of the guys combined at her company but because it was so much a good ol' boys club she was overlooked. A lot. I probably would've gone 4 stars on this one but towards the end I lost quite a bit of respect for Angel and how she treated Marcus when things weren't going her way. Overall I liked it but I wavered for a second at the end there.

***

Sorry this was so long but I felt like trying to convey all my thoughts on the book as a whole would have been too hard since my feelings were really all over the place for each story. I had more fun than not reading this book and I feel like the majority of the novellas really made reading this book worth it and are worth getting it for. Lots of steamy, naughty and super fun times to be had!

Entangled Brazen Mini ARC Reviews

Back in 2013 when I went on a NetGalley requesting binge I got approved for 3 different Entangled Brazen books. I was so excited because I'm a sucker for wanting all the Entangled books! But life happened and that's how I find myself here... reaching the end of 2014 and just now getting to these books. Better late than never. There was one I was finding it hard to expand more than a paragraph on so I figured I'd do my first set of mini reviews and include all 3. Without further ado..

These three books were received from NetGalley and Entangled Brazen in exchange for an honest review. This in no way swayed my review or my rating of the book.

Officer Off Limits | Line of Duty #3

by Tessa Bailey

Published: June 10th 2013

by Entangled Brazen

Adult, Contemporary, Romance

★★ (2/5) Stars

His need to possess her is non-negotiable. 

Story Brooks’ fiancé just called off their wedding two weeks before the happy day. As if that isn't bad enough, her semi-estranged father, an infamous NYPD hostage negotiator, has suffered a heart attack. Not wanting to examine her lack of emotion over the broken engagement, she hops on a plane to reconnect with her father before it’s too late.

Playboy hostage negotiator Daniel Chase has never, not once, been refused by a woman, so when a debate over hospital snack foods with a delectable kindergarten teacher ends in flat-out rejection, he makes it his mission to seduce her. His only obstacle? She’s the daughter of his mentor who implicitly forbade Daniel from pursuing her.

Despite her father’s warnings and Daniel’s troubled past, Daniel and Story can’t resist their intense attraction to one another. But when the reason for her fiancé’s abrupt wedding cancellation comes to light, can Story and Daniel's already forbidden relationship survive?

This one was a pretty big disappointment for me. It felt like the storyline fell flat and sex was the main focus. I'm a huge fan of the steamy scenes as long as there's a story of substance to go along. I just didn't get Story, I mean within hours of meeting Daniel she was humping his leg. Literally. And Daniel, sometimes a guy can be cocky and I'll find it adorable, humorous and attractive...on Daniel it's just annoying and over the top. How he gets any women is beyond me. If a guy ever talked to me the way he did to Story I'd most likely laugh in his face. Three lines he used the first time they had sex, within 48 hours of meeting each other but who's counting right? Anyway:

"Are you ready to scream, gorgeous?"
"Very good. Now you get more."
"Hold on to the headboard if you can't take it."

Word for creeptastic word. Needless to say this book and I just didn't get along. Oh well, you win some you lose some. I feel like I just didn't really like the characters with my first impressions of them and it got in the way of my enjoyment of this book. Things that normally wouldn't bother me just became irritating. The storyline was fine I just didn't like the people it was about.

Wilde Nights in Paradise (Wilde Security #1)

by Tonya Burrows

Published: June 10th 2013

by Entangled Brazen

Adult, Contemporary, Romance

★★★★ (4/5) Stars!

He’ll guard her body all night long.

Former Marine Jude Wilde’s motto has always been “burn bridges and never look back,” so nobody is more surprised when Wilde Security is hired to protect assistant district attorney Libby Pruitt, the woman he loved and left. Although she makes it clear she wants nothing to do with Jude, they’re forced to fake a relationship for her safety. He can’t ignore the heat still simmering between them, and when her stalker’s threats escalate to attempted murder, he’s left with no choice but to whisk her away to a friend’s safe house in Key West, FL. 

Cooped up in paradise together, Jude begins to chip away at Libby’s resolve to hate him. But even as she gives in to his proximity and her body’s demands for his, she refuses to fall for his charms again. Maybe a torrid affair in the sun is exactly what she needs to get him out of her system. But when her stalker tracks them down, can they escape the steamy Key West night without anyone getting hurt?

This book was intense in more ways than one. Not only was there this incredible chemistry between Libby and Jude but there were elements of danger and psychotic stalkers involved. Jude could be my bodyguard any day of the week. I really liked him, he was all kinds of confidence but with a brokenness underneath that I found irresistible in an "I want to fix him" kind of way. I'm such a girl... Libby was great too. A little too trusting and unconcerned for the gravity of her situation for my taste but she was spunky and I enjoyed her. This book was difficult to put down. Lots of humor and I even enjoyed watching Jude and Libby have verbal sparring matches and push each other's buttons. Those are always elements for fun foreplay. I'm also very intrigued by the other 4 Wilde brothers and will absolutely be getting their books in the future and keep going on with this series. I'm definitely hooked! Loved it! 

 

Playing the Part

by Robin Covington

Published: June 10th 2013

by Entangled Brazen

Adult, Contemporary, Romance

★★★✩ (3.5/5) Stars!

The harder they play...the harder they fall.

After publicly self-destructing over a heartbreak a year ago, bestselling romance writer Piper James is now making nice with her publisher by agreeing to teach Hollywood's favorite action star how to act like he's in love. Only playboy Mick Blackwell has no clue what love looks like. 

When a seductive heat ignites between Piper and Mick, she jumps at the chance for a bit of fun between the sheets, but with two stipulations: she's kept out of the public eye and things end when she returns to New York. Only Mick keeps changing the rules on her. Tempted by America's favorite bad boy, Piper is wondering how far she's willing to bend...

Playing the Part was actually really fun and very steamy. It was also the one of the three I was most nervous about. While I wasn't head over heals in love with it and found a couple things cringe worthy and cheesy I still really enjoyed it and whipped through it in no time. At times Mick came off as your stereotypical Hollywood bad boy but I still liked him. He had his sweet and thoughtful moments that overshadowed the whole "I'm Mick Blackwell I can get whatever I want" attitude. Piper I was on the fence about. She was very contradictory. For a woman with her history in the Hollywood spotlight, who didn't want to go down that path again, she certainly didn't use her brain very often when she was in public with him. I don't know, maybe that was the point? Mick was just supposed to be so irresistible that a woman would forget everything going on and go for it? It just got silly a few times for me. Overall though I actually enjoyed it and would definitely read more from Robin Covington in the future.