Holly's Favorite Reads of 2014

(In no particular order)

DIRTY ANGELS (Dirty Angels #1)

by Karina Halle

***WARNING*** This book deals with drug cartels and as such it contains a lot of sex and violence and some violent sex. It can get pretty ugly, pretty dark and pretty crazy. There is drug use, abuse, a bit of torture and dubious consent. The hero is not a hero and the villains...well, they're even worse. If this sort

of thing bothers you, PLEASE DO NOT READ IT. This ain't no cupcake farting unicorn kind of book. If you are even a bit squeamish about violence, brutality and rape, this is your warning to stay away from a book that you certainly will not like (and why read books that you know you won't like?)***

Enough said, right??

AMAZON | Goodreads

THE STORY OF US (CARNAGE #1)

by Lesley Jones

ASTONISHING, BREATHTAKING, EXTRAORDINARY, BRILLIANT, INCREDIBLE, MAGNIFICENT....THESE ARE JUST A FEW WORDS THAT COME TO MIND WHEN I THINK ABOUT THIS STORY, AND I AM NOT KIDDING WHEN I TELL YOU I CAN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT IT!!!

This was probably the BIGGEST book hangover of the year for me!! All I can say is READ IT!!

AMAZON | Goodreads

THE EVER TRILOGY

by Jasinda Wilder

O.M.G – The feels in this trilogy almost did me in!! I cried so much it was ridiculous! Loved every single minute of it!!

Forever & Always (#1) ~ AMAZON | Goodreads

After Forever (#2) ~ AMAZON | Goodreads

Saving Forever (#3) ~ AMAZON | Goodreads

BAD ROMEO (Starcrossed #1)

by Leisa Rayven

This was a random pic for me that just sounded good and I was RIGHT!! It was great! It was actually about 400 pages of foreplay with some smokin’ hot sex at the end!! Lots of fun and a hot read!

AMAZON | Goodreads

INSIDIOUS (Tales from the Dark Side #1)

by Aleatha Romig

I love ‘em dark and twisted and Oh Yeah! This one totally fits the bill. Aleatha Romig is a Queen of Mind Fuckery, and to that I say…THANK YOU!

AMAZON | Goodreads

CLIPPED WINGS & INKED ARMOR

by Helena Hunting

These came highly recommended to me by a dear friend who knows what a sucker I am for a tattooed, pierced bad boy and IT WAS FANTASTIC!!

Clipped Wings (#1) ~ AMAZON | Goodreads

Inked Armor (#2) ~ AMAZON | Goodreads

DEBT

by Nina G. Jones

OMFG!!! This one just soared to the top of my all time favorites list!!!! ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!!

AMAZON | Goodreads

THE SAINT & THE KING

by Tiffany Reisz

Everything by Tiffany Reisz is PURE GOLD!!! The End!

The Saint (Original Sinners: The White Years #1) ~ AMAZON | Goodreads

The King (Original Sinners: The White Years #2) ~ AMAZON | Goodreads

ETERNALLY NORTH

by Tillie Cole

This was my very first Tillie Cole book and I was instantly in love!! Tudor North is delicious!!

AMAZON | Goodreads

IT AIN’T ME BABE (Hades Hangmen #1)

by Tillie Cole

What I love most about Tillie Cole is that she can write with such amazing diversity! She can write a beautifully sweet story like Eternally North and then this AWESOME biker/cult gem that was one of the best things I read all year!!

AMAZON | Goodreads

 

NINE MINUTES (Nine Minutes #1)

by Beth Flynn

This was a very different type of biker story, I think – but if you are a fan of the biker stories and you aren’t squeamish, then I highly recommend this one!

AMAZON | Goodreads

UNDERESTIMATED & UNDERESTIMATED TOO

by Jettie Woodruff

This was my first book(s) by Ms Woodruff and HOLY SHIT did I have massive book hangover!! These books are dark, twisted and have several ‘Oh Hell No!’ moments! I mean seriously, how can you resist a warning like this….Warning! This is not your everyday fall in love romance. This book contains disturbing situations, strong language, graphic, sexual content - some forced, some not. If it's a happily ever after love story that you are looking for, you should probably move on. If you are up for the ride, stick around and it may just turn into a love story after all.

Underestimated ~ AMAZON | Goodreads

Underestimated Too ~ AMAZON | Goodreads

PUDDLE JUMPING

by Amber L Johnson

“I don’t believe there’s such a thing as conventional love. Love is bending. Love is breaking. Love is constantly learning about the other person until you go crazy because it will never be perfect, but there’s no fault in trying. I’ve loved a boy who was extraordinary beyond words, in my eyes.” I FUCKING LOVED THIS BEAUTIFUL BOOK!! HARD!!

AMAZON | Goodreads

THERAPY

by Kathryn Perez

Accepting the ugly shit in life is just part of living. Pain tells us we are still here; it lets us know we've survived. Phenomenal story! Some parts were a little hard to read but excellent and incredibly emotional!

AMAZON | Goodreads

PUSH (Push #1)

by Claire Wallis

I wasn’t really sure what to make of this book when I finished it, I just kind of sat there for awhile letting it all soak in. I’m still not sure I can accurately describe my feelings for this story other than to tell you that it gave me almost a week-long book hangover! Oh, and that I can’t wait for book two.

AMAZON | Goodreads

TRANSCENDENCE

by Shay Savage

This book has the award for most unique – I had my doubts about a story about a caveman but it was FANTASTICALLY AMAZING and caused another major book hangover.

AMAZON | Goodreads

SOCIOPATH

by Lime Craven

I truly love me a great anti-hero and that is exactly what you get with Aeron Lore! I loved him, loved the writing and can honestly say this book alone has made Lime Craven and auto buy author for me!

AMAZON | Goodreads

Release Blitz ~ The Saint by Tiffany Reisz + Beyond the Velvet Rope by Tiffany Ashley #Giveaway

It's All About The Tiffanys!!

Titles:
The Saint by Tiffany Reisz
&
Beyond The Velvet Rope by Tiffany Ashley

Release date: June 24th, 2014

About The Saint by Tiffany Reisz:

Before she became Manhattan's most famous dominatrix, Nora Sutherlin was merely a girl called Eleanor…

Rebellious, green-eyed Eleanor never met a rule she didn't want to break. She's sick of her mother's zealotry and the confines of Catholic school, and declares she'll never go to church again. But her first glimpse of beautiful, magnetic Father Marcus Stearns—Søren to her and only her—and his lust-worthy Italian motorcycle is an epiphany. Eleanor is consumed—yet even she knows being in love with a priest can't be right.

But when one desperate mistake nearly costs Eleanor everything, it is Søren who steps in to save her. When she vows to repay him with complete obedience, a whole world opens before her as he reveals to her his deepest secrets that will change everything.

Danger can be managed—pain, welcomed. Everything is about to begin.

Amazon US | Amazon UK | B&N | iBooks | Kobo

 

About Beyond The Velvet Rope by Tiffany Ashley:

Welcome to Club Babylon: where the A-list VIPs come to play

Scoring a gig at Miami's Club Babylon is a fantasy come true for New York promoter Thandie Shaw. The hottest club on the strip is a magnet for major South Beach movers and shakers. And Thandie's about to meet the biggest player of them all.

Babylon owner Elliot Richards is macho, arrogant, sexist—everything Thandie doesn't want in a boss or lover. Elliot is also the most erotic man who's ever wanted to take her to bed. But Thandie's no fool. Even as he tries to seduce her into a world of intense and shocking passion, she knows it's too good to last…especially after she uncovers Elliot's explosive secrets.

Thandie's going down a dangerous road, and she's risking a lot more than her career. Torn between doubt and desire, will she have to pay the ultimate price?

Darkly sensual and deeply moving, Beyond the Velvet Rope takes you into a world of uncontrollable desire and unexpected consequences.

Amazon US | B&N | iBooks

About The Authors:

Tiffany Reisz

Tiffany Reisz is the author of the highly acclaimed series The Original Sinners. Her first novel, THE SIREN, won the RT Editor's Choice Award for Best Erotic Romance of 2012. Slightly shameless, Tiffany dropped out of a conservative Southern seminary in order to pursue a career as a writer. This move, while possibly putting her eternal salvation in peril, has worked out better than she anticipated. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her boyfriend, author Andrew Shaffer.

Website // Twitter // Facebook // Goodreads // Amazon Author Page

Tiffany Ashley

As a child, Tiffany always dreamed of writing her own novels. Having possessed a passion for books, her desire to become a published author is now a reality. Her first novel, Love Script, released in 2007, received rave reviews. Known for her steamy and sometimes emotionally exhausting interracial romances, Tiffany looks forward to a long and adventurous career. Tiffany lives in Dallas, Texas where she continues to write her novels.

Website // Twitter // Facebook // Goodreads // Amazon Author Page

a Rafflecopter giveaway

ARC #Review The Saint (The Original Sinners 5) by Tiffany Reisz

Title: The Saint

Author: Tiffany Reisz

Series: The Original Sinners #5

Release date: June 24, 2014

Synopsis:

In the beginning, there was him. 

Gutsy, green-eyed Eleanor never met a rule she didn't want to break. She's sick of her mother's zealotry and the confines of Catholic school, and declares she'll never go to church again. But her first glimpse of beautiful, magnetic Father Søren Stearns and his lust-worthy Italian motorcycle is an epiphany. Suddenly, daily Mass seems like a reward, and her punishment is the ache she feels when they're apart. He is intelligent and insightful and he seems to know her intimately at her very core. Eleanor is consumed—and even she knows that can't be right. 

But when one desperate mistake nearly costs Eleanor everything, it is Søren who steps in to save her. She vows to repay him with complete obedience…and a whole world opens before her as he reveals to her his deepest secrets. 

Danger can be managed—pain, welcomed. Everything is about to begin.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Author website:

http://www.tiffanyreisz.com/

Five Stars

HOLY FUCKING AMAZE-BALLS!!!! That is EXACTLY what this latest installment in The Original Sinners Series was!!

Every single time I finish a book in this AWESOME series I say, 'Yep, this one is my favorite' so guess what I said when I finished The Saint?? You got it! It ROCKED MY WORLD!! I literally laid in bed for over an hour last night after I finished just to let it soak into me some more!

Now, those of you who are new to the series, or have never had the pleasure of being a guest in the phenomenal mind of Tiffany Reisz may not get where my absolute gushing is coming from, but those of you that have know EXACTLY where I'm coming from!

"Jeg elsker dig, min lille en." ~Soren to Nora 

I will talk a little about the story but not too much since it won't be released for another month and was lucky enough to get my little hands on this advanced copy but I would never want to ruin the experience for any of you! (go ahead, be jealous :))

"You have fallen in love with the king of all mindfuckers." ~Kingsley 

I will start by telling you that I am incredibly and deeply in love with the characters in this book. I am in awe of them, they fascinate me like no other characters I have ever read. I am head over heels in love with Soren, I have never been as intrigued by a character as much as I am with Kingsley(oh, and I love him too) and I totally want to BE Nora!!! Now, in the Red Years(The Siren, The Angel, The Prince, and The Mistress) we have met and fallen in love with our characters as they are now, with hints of how they came to be the people they are. As we enter the White Years, which The Saint is the beginning of, we are going back to learn how it all began. In The Saint, we get to be a voyeur in the story as Nora and Soren meet and fall in love. OMG, just typing this me thinking about parts of the story and I'm getting goose bumps again, I swear!!

I highlighted passages like a crazy bitch while reading this so I want to share a few of my favorites with you...

"You're going through all this trouble for me, why?" Soren looked back and her and gave her a smile that stripped her soul naked and put it on it's knees. "Because there is nothing I wouldn't do to protect you, Eleanor. Nothing I wouldn't do to help you and nothing I wouldn't do to save you, Nothing." The way he spoke the final "nothing" sent a chill through her body. It scared her instead of comforting her. He meant it. That was why it scared her. 

See....chills right??

Even if it was weird, she liked that. Life would be weird from now on. She was the mistress of a Catholic priest who was the best friend of the king of and S&M empire. Life was weird and wonderful and all she could say to it was Amen, Amen! 


I have never read a more amazing love story than this one, it is amazing in its unconventionality!! These stories are not for everyone, so if you don't have an open mind then you're gonna want to just move along!! Seriously...go! Because if you can't open your mind and heart then you will never be able to fully enjoy what you will experience here.

So, I will leave you with this. If you haven't experienced this series, it is a MUST! If you have been a fan all along you will be thrilled to digest even more of the lives of these incredible people!! One last quote and I promise to stop!!! 

I mentioned how much I LOVE THIS SERIES, right??? :)

Why did people flee from pain and avoid it like the plague? Yes, it hurt, but so did everything that mattered. Love hurt, life hurt, birth hurt, changing hurt, growing hurt. The dead didn't hurt, only the living. She had never felt so alive. 


***This was and ARC provided to me by Netgalley (thank you, thank you, thank you!)

Misbehaving by Tiffany Reisz

Title: Misbehaving

Author: Tiffany Reisz

Release Date: February 11, 2014

Synopsis:

 Wanted: Adventurous, open-minded man willing to try anything…

As a popular sex blogger, Beatriz gets paid to have orgasms. So being on deadline the week of her sister’s wedding isn’t as rough as it sounds. There’s just one hitch: Bea’s assignment is to write a review of a sex position manual, but she doesn’t have a plus one to play with.

The good news: Ben, the one who got away back in college, is also attending stag--and he's as temptingly gorgeous as ever.

The bad news: Ben turned down Bea’s offer of graduation night sex five years ago.

The best news: He’s not planning on making the same mistake twice.

*

A red-hot retelling of Much Ado About Nothing for people who love Shakespeare but thought his plays could use a few more sex scenes.

A Cosmo Red-Hot Read

Book Links:
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble 

Author Website:
http://www.tiffanyreisz.com/ 

 Five Stars

I have said it before, but Tiffany Reisz is goddess with a pen! With The Original Sinners series being one of my all time favorites she is an auto buy/read for me, well, because she just ROCKS IT!! That said, Misbehaving was no exception, different from her norm but great just the same!!! This was such a fun, sexy little that I read it in one sitting!!

This is a sweet little story of Bea and Ben and their second chance at love!

Bea is popular blogger who reviews sex toys and sex books for her blog, she basically gets paid to have orgasms, rough job huh?? Hell, sign me up! While heading off to her sisters wedding her boss asks her to review a book while she's away. Bea thinks no sweat until she realizes the book she grabbed to review is a sex position manual. So she needs to find herself a partner, and quick! Can't very well review a sex position manual by herself, now can she? :)

Ben is in town for his best buddy's wedding and knows he's bound to see 'her' again! Five years ago Ben let Bea walk away without even attempting to explore the amazing chemistry between them, all because of a promise he made his buddy. He is NOT going to let that happen again! When Bea approaches Ben to help her out with her book 'review' he pretty much jumps at the chance. Oh yeah, let the fun and sex begin!!

This was a great little romp with a lot of delicious sex, love, laughs and a really sweet HEA!!

Absolutely loved it!!

 

The Mistress (Original Sinners #4) by Tiffany Reisz

The final book in The Original Sinners Series - The Red Years.

There's punishment-and then there's vengeance.

Nora Sutherlin is being held, bound and naked. Under different circumstances, she would enjoy the situation immensely, but her captor isn't interested in play. Or pity.

As the reality of her impending peril unfolds, Nora becomes Scheherazade, buying each hour of her life with stories-sensual tales of Søren, Kingsley and Wesley, each of whom has tempted and tested and tortured her in his own way. This, Nora realizes, is her life: nothing so simple, so vanilla, as a mere love triangle for her. It's a knot in a silken cord, a tangled mass of longings of the body and the heart and the mind. And it may unravel at any moment.

But in Nora's world, no one is ever truly powerless-a cadre of her friends, protectors and lovers stands ready to do anything to save her, even when the only certainty seems to be sacrifice and heartbreak....

3.5 Stars

…And so the game continues. The pieces are in place; the board is set. Who will walk away intact and who won’t walk away at all?

How I felt when I got approved for the Mistress: Excited, ecstatic, deliriously happy, worried and scared shitless

How I felt when I finished the Mistress: Confused, bewildered, sad, happy, heartbroken and I-need-a-drink

The jumbled mess of feelings after re-reading the last 30% over again and reassessing: Brilliant writing, still incredible storytelling, still love Nora’s world of beautiful men, ignore and resolved

First and foremost, I have to give props to Tiffany for giving us this gift of a series. I have nothing but respect and awe for her. I will forever be a fan of stories. They get me so riled up (see my status updates for further details). You have to love it.

Okay. Fangirling aside, here I go. Are you ready?

So I’ve had a week to stew over my initial disappointment in the story. Then after a few days, I decided to reread the last third of the book and with a more open mind. Though not a whole lot of my initial feelings changed, I was able to see a few things in a newer light. Whatever I say in this review, please remember that these are my opinions and my feelings alone. 

Tell me. 

I think the majority of you who love the series will probably LOVE this installment, but alas, not I. I will probably be in the minority, but this wasn’t what I expected. Don’t get me wrong, there are still some scenes that made me smile, cry, squirm and made reading it so intriguing, but they were pretty few and far in-between. 

The King & The Queen

“What father doesn’t want his children to play nice together? Come…let’s go play nice.” ~ Kingsley to Nora 

Once again, I found myself loving Nora’s character. If I have to be honest, I loved when the chapter was going to feature her. Even though she’s being held captive, her wit and wicked smart tongue had me smirking and kept the darkest moments, a bit more tolerable. Her stories about Søren left my heart pounding and me speechless. The way she would talk about him, you just knew that he would always be the love of her life. However, her stories that had her, Søren & Kingsley…together **smirks** left me squirming. 

As for Kingsley…No words can describe how amazing he is. He’s one of the strongest characters I’ve ever come across. His love and his sacrifice knows no bounds. He continues to astound me. I love him. Plain and simple. 

The Knight: Oh, Wesley. What happened to you, my love? If you guys know me, you know I’m OBSESSED with this man. I would totally crazy stalk him if he actually existed. After the first three books, I thought he could do no wrong in my eyes, ever.

WRONG!

He broke me in this book. I have never been so angry and confused in all my life. Pardon my rant, but I’m going to lay it all out: So Nora’s been taken. The love of Wesley’s life has been kidnapped. You would think the man would be inconsolable; a wreck. Ask me now if that happened? Go ahead. Ask me…NOPE! He wasn’t. This version of Wes left me heartbroken. I didn’t know what alien crawled into his body, but this was NOT the Wesley I came to know and love. I won’t give away what happens, but he disappointed me most of all. You can’t just love someone with your whole heart, your whole being, then turn around and just fall for another…**snaps fingers** like that. After finishing this, I chose to ignore this version and erase this stranger from my heart. The Wesley of books one to three will always be the love of my life. The version in this book is dead to me. 

The Rook & The Pawn: Grace & Leila, respectively. I’ve spoken with a couple of reader friends of mine who have read this too, and they agree with me when I say: “Who the fuck are you and Why are you in this story?” Seriously? I did NOT know the point of having these two added characters joining in. They made minor appearances in the previous three books, but to make them essential in the storyline did NOT make any sense to me. 

Checkmate 

So there it is. The Red Years portion of Original Sinner Series is done. I had hoped it would end better, but don’t fret dear readers, the ending really wasn’t an ending. Though I wouldn’t really consider it a cliffhanger, it did leave me with gaping. Then I shrugged it off and told myself that only the brilliant Tiffany would leave it like that. It’s has been one crazy, crop-inflicted-pain journey she has taken us on, but there’s always room for more. I beg for more stories of this world. With that, I’m anxiously awaiting the beginning of the White Years portion of the series. 

Thank you Harlequin MIRA and NetGalley for providing me this ARC