Guest Review: The Gift and A Spanking for Valentine

These books are two short novellas from Ellora’s Cave so I thought I’d just review them together.

First up is The Gift by Lena Matthews and Liz Andrews.

Ethan Neilson will do anything for his twin brother. Even father the child Benjamin is unable to with the woman they both love. All their lives, the brothers have shared everything—everything but the woman who matters most.

After several failed attempts to conceive a child, Hannah desperately wants a break. A weekend getaway to celebrate the birthdays of the two men she loves seems like the perfect opportunity to relax and unwind.

Benjamin knows Ethan and Hannah love one another, just as he knows the three of them together forever is the way it always should have been. Now the only thing he has to do is convince his brother and wife. Having a child would be wonderful, but sharing his wife’s heart and body with his brother is the gift Benjamin wants most of all.

Ok, I liked The Gift.

Ben and Hannah have been married for a few years now and they’re reproductively challenged. After the latest bad news and Hannah’s despondence, Ben decides to ask his identical twin brother Ethan to father their child. Ethan agrees because he is in love with Hannah and he’d like to give this gift to his brother and his wife. Ben decides to broach the subject with Hannah on their yearly getaway. But once Ben gets his plan rolling, he discovers that he wants Ethan more permanently in his marriage, and he realizes that Hannah would like that too.

But Ethan and Hannah feel guilt over their love. They don’t want to hurt Ben. But what they don’t realize is that Ben is all for it. Nothing would make him happier.

I thought this was one hot little number with lots of emotion! First there’s the issues surrounding Ben and Hannah’s fertility. I thought it was a great set up to show how strong their marriage was. I mean, you can only introduce a third into your marriage if it has a strong foundation to begin with. And everyone’s emotions and feelings were explored and the pros and cons of their arrangement was discussed. It was all very mature and nothing squicky about it. A solid 4 out of 5 for me.

You can buy it here in e-format.

Second is A Spanking for Valentine by Evangeline Anderson.

Valentine Nichols wants two things for her birthday—for Shane Daniels to notice her, and a taste of the wild D/s sex scene she’s been longing to experience. When she sees Shane at the local BDSM club, she hatches a plan to have both and convinces Shane to give her lessons in submission.

Shane Daniels has wanted Valentine for years but as his best friend’s little sister, she’s strictly off-limits. But when Valentine talks him into giving her D/s lessons, he gives in to some of his darker urges and dominates her sexually.

Now they are locked in a battle of wills as Valentine pushes him for a consummation of their new relationship while Shane tries to keep himself from taking her completely. Who will win? They’ll both find out when Valentine takes her spanking.

What made me interested in this one was the fact that Shane was Valentine’s brother’s friend. That’s one of my favorite set-ups. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy A Spanking for Valentine. First there was some inconsistencies with Valentine’s character. That annoyed me. And then there was the altercation at the BDSM club. Now, I am not an expert in the lifestyle. But it seems to me that things should be consensual between all individuals involved. And there was some non-consensual stuff going on that Valentine needed to be rescued from. Fortunately, I had a friend I could discuss this with and she said in her experience at clubs, things were set up differently but for sure there had to be consent. So I’m thinking for someone who might be interested and they were to pick this book up, they may get turned off by that part. That annoyed me as well. The sex scenes were plenty hot, but the rest of A Spanking was a bit of a miss for me. I’m giving this one a 2.75 out of 5.

You can buy it here in e-format.

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