Review of These Violent Delights by Jess Whitcroft

 by Jess Whitecroft

5 Stars

Flunking English, short on cash and trying to keep up with the demands of dancing a principal role in Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet; Milos has a lot going on right now. The last thing he needs is his English teacher riding him about his poor class performance. 

For teacher Tom, still raw from an ugly breakup, the last thing he needs is a new romance, especially one that drags him into the thorny ethical issues of dating a student. 

When a chance encounter opens the door on unexpected lust, Tom and Milos plunge headlong into an erotic, all-consuming affair, but can the violent delights of new love survive secrets?

This is only our second book by Jess Whitcoft, but WOW…. that’s all we can say.  We are bowled over by These Violent Delights and are eager to snatch up everything Jess Whitcroft has written.

The love?

- Writing Style:  There is something about the writing style, it is short to the point, like every word Jess Whitcroft uses fit perfectly there and need to be there.  The voice of the characters is strong and concise and easy to follow.  We loved the voice of this book.

- The relationship: We loved the relationship between Milos and Tom, they are funny, have fantastic banter and really seem to connect.  And we liked that even thought they are both a bit flawed they fit with each other.

- The Chemistry: WOWOWOWOWOW.  This book is hot.  The chemistry between Tom and Milos is palpable, it jumps off the page.  There is this magnetic pull between them, that you can’t help feeling the sexual tension, and it is so realistic, so authentic.

- Ballet:  We loved the references to Ballet, and Milos’s profession.  There aren’t a lot of MM books with ballet and this one was so interesting.  We also really loved how Jess Whitecroft put Milos’s feelings into his performance, and how that made him a better dancer.

The meh?

- GFY plot:  I have no issues about a GFY plot, and this one is easy to accept, as it is Milos discovering he is sexually fluid.  But, yes, there is a but, I wish there had been some thoughts from Milos about being actually Bi. 

- The editing:  There are a few little issues of editing and consistency in the 2^nd half of the book.  Nothing to really distract us, but they were there. 

- The Simon plot:  Hmmm, would have like to have that wrapped up a bit, it just kinda ended and wished there was some closure.

These Violent Delights is a fantastic read.  It is an engaging read, we were totally engrossed in Milos and Tom, we laughed with them, cried with them and fell in love with them.  Jess Whitecroft is a magical storyteller and we can’t wait to read all her other books. 

Review of Off the Ice (Hat Trick #1) by Avon Gale and Piper Vaughn

by Avon Gale and Piper Vaughn 

3 stars

Tristan Holt is nothing if not pragmatic. Despite a flourishing career as a defenseman for the Atlanta Venom, Tristan knows he can’t play hockey forever. One day he’ll retire—if an injury doesn’t force him to hang up his skates first. His backup plan? Finishing his business degree. But he doesn’t count on a very inappropriate attraction to his standoffish sociology professor, Sebastian Cruz.

Sebastian is on the bottom rung of the Sociology Department at Georgia State. He has his sights set on tenure, and he can’t afford to be distracted, especially not by a sexy student with a body straight out of Sebastian’s dreams. No matter how much Tristan tempts him, that’s one line Sebastian won’t cross. At least not until summer classes end. After that, everything is fair game.

But Sebastian lives loud and proud, and Tristan is terrified of being the first out player in the NHL. Neither of them can afford to risk their hearts when they can’t imagine a happily ever after. The problem is, unlike hockey, when it comes to love, there are no rules.

We don’t know where to start with this one.  Avon Gale and Piper Vaugh, match made in heaven, and add a hockey romance, a sure fire winner.  But, we HATE to say this but it didn’t work for us, there was so much going on, but never really felt that nothing really worked for us

The good:

-           - Teacher/Student:  We really liked how Avon Gale and Piper Vaughn dealt with the teacher/student relationship.  We appreciated how Tristan waited until he was no longer Sebastian’s student before jumping into bed.

-           Tristan:  We loved Tristan.  We felt connected to him, a super-star hockey player struggling with his sexuality, struggling with coming out, and wondering how to be his authentic self.  Sebastian would not be who we choose for him, but alas it is who we got.

-         -  The kink:  This is a good and bad.  We liked the hot-between-the –sheets, hot, sexy, and plentiful, how we like our sex!

The bad:

-          -So much going on:  There is so much going on.  Teacher-student, sports romance, coming-out, age difference and on and on and on.  It was a little much and we didn’t really feel that they all worked.  Example – the age difference, other than a mention we didn’t really feel that Sebastian was significantly older; it just didn’t work for us. 

-          -The jock coming out: Off the Ice is actually like may sport romances.  Does the jock come out?  Sebastian acts like a petulant child and essentially gives Tristan an ultimatum, come out or we are done.  Yeah, we really didn’t like where that went.

-          -The kink:  We love kink. But this kink didn’t really fit.  There was a spanking scene that came out of left field, and about halfway through Tristan turns submissive to Sebastian’s dominant cranky personality.  As we said we love kink, however humiliation play isn’t one we are particularly fond of ,but there was no build towards the change in their relationship and we felt it just didn’t fit.

We don’t know why but Off the Ice fell flat for us.  We didn’t particularly like Sebastian and the humiliation play was unexpected, but it was a combination of so many things that just didn’t help Off the Ice come together for us. Off the ice is the first in a series so fingers crossed for a winner in the next book!