Kidnapped by Pirates by Keira Andrews

by Keira Andrews

5 stars

Will a virgin captive surrender to this pirate’s sinful touch?

Nathaniel Bainbridge is used to hiding, whether it’s concealing his struggles with reading or his forbidden desire for men. Under the thumb of his controlling father, the governor of Primrose Isle, he’s sailing to the fledging colony, where he’ll surrender to a respectable marriage for his family’s financial gain. Then pirates strike and he’s kidnapped for ransom by the Sea Hawk, a legendary villain of the New World.

Bitter and jaded, Hawk harbors futile dreams of leaving the sea for a quiet life, but men like him don’t deserve peace. He has a score to settle with Nathaniel’s father—the very man whose treachery forced him into piracy—and he’s sure Nathaniel is just as contemptible.

Yet as days pass in close quarters, Nathaniel’s feisty spirit and alluring innocence beguile and bewitch. Although Hawk knows he must keep his distance, the desire to teach Nathaniel the pleasure men can share grows uncontrollable. It’s not as though Hawk would ever feel anything for him besides lust…

Nathaniel realizes the fearsome Sea Hawk’s reputation is largely invented, and he sees the lonely man beneath the myth, willingly surrendering to his captor body and soul. As a pirate’s prisoner, he is finally free to be his true self. The crew has been promised the ransom Nathaniel will bring, yet as danger mounts and the time nears to give him up, Hawk’s biggest battle could be with his own heart.

If you have read anything we have reviewed you know out fan-girl love of Keira Andrews – in our eyes she writes complete gems.   And we thought Kidnapped by the Pirate, a bodice ripping, harlequin style romance?  We weren’t sure, but really, sexy swashbuckling men, we might have a new favourite Keira Andrews book!

Loved?

-          Tropes:  So many to choose from; virgin, May-December, captives, sexy-pirates, enemies to lovers – take your pick.  So good! Now reading the list, there is a lot going on, but it all works together.  The virgin trope usually annoys us, but being set in 1710 added to the truthfulness, times were different and people were betrothed instead of jumping from bed partner to bed partner.

-          Piracy:  We found the subject of Kidnapped by the Pirate fascinating.  We haven’t read many pirate romances, and this one had so many details of the period of time, the piracy vs. privateering, we felt pulled into 1710 and life aboard a ship.

-          Fun:  This is a fun read.  Swashbuckling, kidnapping, battle on the high seas. There wasn’t’ a point we skimmed or fast-forwarded, or rolled our eyes ant the ridiculous of the situation, because it is so enjoyable.

-          Sexy times:  Wooohooo Keira Andrews can write a sheet-burner, and Kidnapped by the Pirate is smoking hot.  When Hawk and Nathaniel finally give up to their bodice-ripping desires, there is no stopping these very dirty men, it is scorching. 

-          Epilogue:  No spoilers, but man, we love a good epilogue!

Meh?

-          Hmmmmm.  We can’t think of anything – you?

Kidnapped by the Pirate promises a fast-paced, adventurous love story, and it delivers whole heartedly.  If you enjoy adventure on the high seas, sizzling sex and a sweet romance than Kidnapped by the Pirate should be your next read!  

Review of Clickbait by Garett Groves

by Garett Groves

3 Stars

A frustrated journalist. An abrasive internet sensation. Desire even enemies can’t deny.
 
Jeff Taylor is a cable news juggernaut with an ax to grind—particularly with the media industry that made him. After a tough interview with Kile Avery, online troll extraordinaire, Jeff melts down on air and tells the world just what he thinks of the media machine.
 
He’s swiftly fired and blacklisted by every major media organization… except one. NewSpin—the same fluff media company that Jeff most blames for the current state of journalism—wants to hire him to do a piece on Avery.
 
“Avery’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing. I’d sooner live under a bridge than work with him.”

Kile Avery is a viral blogger who thinks love and traditional media are dead. He’s built an online empire quickly by posting scathing video takedowns. So when Kile’s approached by NewSpin for a documentary series on his meteoric rise to fame, he can’t say no… even if Jeff Taylor is the reporter assigned to the project.
 
“When we started this, I wanted to destroy Taylor. Now I just want to sleep with him.”
 
The two have nothing in common save for their mutual hatred, but they quickly discover they share real chemistry on and off camera—chemistry neither of them wants to admit to, privately or publicly.
 
Can they set aside their differences and come together to make a ratings hit? Or is their story destined to become yet another clickbait headline?

We had so many high hopes for Clickbait, but man, we struggled to finish this story.  We usually really enjoy everything by Garett Groves, but Clickbait just didn’t come together for us.

So let us start with what we liked!  Kyle and Jeff are enemies, they essentially hate each other, and what the pother stand for and believes in.  There is a sexual tension that is palpable; they truly are enemies-to-lovers.  There are some serious sparks between Kyle and Jeff and it one of the few reasons that we kept us from not finishing this book.  Along with them being enemies, there is also a huge age difference between them, and that whole opposites attract is super sexy.

Even with all these good tropes, there is so much that made us scratch our head.  Honestly, the story doesn’t make sense.  Jeff is fired from his million dollar job, and has to take the first available position – really?  Kyle runs an anti-love blog, we think, didn’t really understand the blog idea.  And really the point of the project that they were working on together; following Kyle’s rise to fame, but they only went to his office once? There was confusion about what day it was, and on and on.  As you can see we were confused for most the story.  Clickbait is about 375 pages, not the longest book we have read, but it just felt like it dragged, and got caught up around other characters, mis-communication and co-workers plotting.  It was too much.

We so wanted to love this book; May-December, enemies-to-friends, opposites attract, how could we not?  But there was so much going on in this book that it left us feeling confused and unfortunately not invested in the actual romance.

Review of Depth of Field (Last chance #1) by Riley Hart

by Riley Hart

4 stars

Shane Wallace has made a decent life for himself in Last Chance. He built his own home on his mom’s property to take care of her, owns an automotive repair shop, and when he wants to get laid, Portland isn’t too far away. Not too shabby for the boy who spent his childhood getting bullied and feeling alone. Shane’s content to leave his past behind him...until one of his childhood tormentors comes back to town.

Maxwell Sullivan never planned to step foot in Last Chance again. Here, he was Maxwell, a teen who suffered in silence while everyone thought he had the perfect life. Now, he’s “Van,” the erotic artist and photographer. He’s only here to help his mom tie up some loose ends after his father’s death and to apologize to Shane. After that, he’s heading back to LA for good.

Shane never thought he’d have anything in common with Maxwell, but there’s a depth to Van that surprises him. Van knows what it feels like to be alone. He sees Shane in ways no one else does. There’s a shared connection neither can deny. Somehow, despite their rocky history, they get each other.

It’s not long before the two are so drawn to each other that they tumble into bed—sometimes with Van’s camera involved. Their chemistry in and out of the bedroom is undeniable. Except nothing is ever black and white. Shane can’t leave his mom and Van’s life is in LA. With two different lives pulling them in opposite directions, their picture-perfect ending might not be in the cards.

Riley Hart again nails a sexy enemies-to-lover romance in Depth of Field. She creates to main characters both hiding in their own ways who find that they fit so good together.

Maxwell Sullivan was the typical jock growing up, living what everyone assumed was the perfect life, but outside appearances can be deceiving.  Leaving his childhood town at 18 he shed that person and became Van, true to what he wants and who is really is.  Now 10 years later he is making his first trip home to support his mother in the wake of his father’s death, but he knows that he has so many amends to make – especially to Shane who he bullied most of his life.  Shane Wallace had always done the right this, instead of pursuing his dreams he has stayed in his small childhood home caring for his sick mother.  Shane is content in his life, he wants more, but as he thinks who doesn’t.  But when Van shows back up in his life trying to apologize, Shane thinks that he wants more than to just be content.

We really liked Depth o Field, it is an easy read, and although there is angst – cause really the bully coming back to apologize years later – it isn’t overwhelming, and adds to the push pull, enemies-to-lovers theme that Riley Hart masters so well. Shane and Van have this really amazing emotional connection, the history they share from grouping up in the same small town, that jumps off the page and won’t be denied.  There is like this string between the men that even if they try to fight it, it keeps pulling them together. Shane is a generous person, we don’t know if we would have been as forgiving as he was, and we wished that he’d have made Van work a little harder for forgiveness.

So can we say this book is smoking!!!  Burning, smoldering, scorching, intense, passionate we could go on and on.  Van is an artist and takes erotic photos – this ends up in the bedroom and adds this level of voyeurism to the sex between these men.  It is distractingly hot.

Depth of Field is a great read, exciting and moving and SO realistic! We really enjoy Riley Hart’s writing, and the way she creates her characters. She has an authenticity to her writing, these feel like real people in real life, just finding someone to love.  

Review of The Chimera Affair by Keira Andrews

 by Keira Andrews

4 stars

When young Sebastian Brambani meets a sexy and exciting older man, he’s easily seduced. But for spy Kyle Grant, it’s all business. Sebastian is simply a pawn in Kyle’s mission to acquire a dangerous chemical weapon from Sebastian’s criminal father. Kyle’s life is his work for a shadowy international agency protecting the world from evil, and he can’t worry about what will happen to Sebastian when the job is done.

Sebastian’s unwitting role in Kyle’s plan is the last straw for his ruthless father, who has been embarrassed by his gay son for the last time. But when Kyle discovers Sebastian could be the key to finding the deadly Chimera, he rescues him from his father's hitman and fights to keep him alive. Can a hardened spy and naïve college student take down a criminal kingpin, stay one step ahead of the killers on their trail—and fight the scorching attraction between them?

This gay romance from Keira Andrews features sexy spies, an age difference, a sheltered and passionate virgin, action and adventure, and of course a happy ending.

Keira Andrews, sexy spies , suspense and a fast paced European adventure – sign us up!   But really we are unsure why we missed reading this Keira Andrew gem, but so glad we spent time with Kyle and Sebastian.

Sebastian Brambani is a spoiled rich kid, who has never measures up to the expectations of his criminal father, and being caught in compromising pictures with his college roommate has put him firmly on the best behavior list.  Hoping that spending the summer acting like the perfect straight son will get him sent back to his prestigious university in the US, but a chance encounter with a mysterious older man and one of his father’s famous parties blows that idea out of the water.  Kyle Grant is a spy, and is willing to do anything to get the job done; including seducing the son of weapons dealer he is hired to steal from.  But when the Chimera he is tasked in finding isn’t where Intel says it set in motion a deadly trek through Europe, trying to keep them both alive.

This book took us a while to warm up, we aren’t really much for the ‘virgin’ stories, age-gap, yes, but the unexperienced lover story isn’t our cup of tea.  But the action is the book pulled us through and we are so glad for that.  We jump straight into the story, the action starts on page 5 and goes goes goes from there.  There is a balance between the suspense and the romance and Keira finds this balance pretty effortlessly.  The best part is the blood pounding adrenalin rush in the action and the ramp up of the sexual tension between Kyle and Sebastian.

Kyle keeps trying to resist Sebastian, but the pull between these men is just too strong.  There is a significant age difference between Kyle and Sebastian, significant not only in age but in life experience but it works somehow. Sebastian brings out the protective nature of Kyle, and helps Kyle remember that he is a person outside of being a spy, that he deserves a real life.  And Kyle helps Sebastian realize that he is a capable, strong grown-up man, regardless of what his father thinks.  These men find each other at the right time, when they both need each other.  It is sweet and sexy, but oh so HOT!  Keira Andrews can write a sex scene that simmers off the page, and sometime we felt like the sex was ill timed, but it added to their chemistry.

The Chimera Affair is a must-read, a stand-out in the suspense/spy trope and a really believable romance. Fast-paced, sweet, sexy, enemies-to-lovers, age-gap, fantastic read! And one of the best parts is the added bonus follow up story  The Argentine Seduction, a great little bonus at the end of a great book!