Ames’ review of Because I Am Yours by Beth Kery.

Secrets are exposed, love is challenged, and the future is compromised, when Francesca and Ian face an inevitable decision that will change their lives forever as national bestselling author Beth Kery’s Because You Are Mine comes to a spellbinding conclusion…

From the moment Ian and Francesca first met, the attraction was mutual—a purely, exquisitely physical charge that ignited between them. It couldn’t be ignored—only indulged, evolving into a bond of pleasurable subjugation. But Francesca’s open sensuality left her wanting more. Getting it from a man as mysterious and resolute as Ian was a challenge she never anticipated.

Francesca knows there’s only one way for them to move forward–to follow Ian to London and show him that she doesn’t want him to suffer alone. But when Ian’s past and inner torment is revealed, he experiences a nearly unbearable volcanic mix of emotions for the woman who has dared to love him, despite his inner demons. After exposing Francesca to the limits of his anguish, he wonders if he’s lost her forever. Can he bend enough to compromise to true intimacy…and something called love?

The final installment picks up with Francesca chasing after Ian.  She’s figured out there’s a research facility he visits in London.  She goes haring off, not thinking about what she’ll do once she gets to that research facility.  But of course Ian is there…and why isn’t very hard to figure out before Francesca does.  Meh.

Then Ian is upset because she sees him at his most vulnerable.  Meh.  He tries to punish her with sex (gosh darnit!) but she knows what he’s doing so lets him get it out of his system.  This is on the plane ride back to Chicago.  Then they’re back in Chicago, ten days go by, no word from Ian so Francesca assumes they’re broken up.

They’re not.  He stages a show of her artwork as an apology and I Love You.  The end.

Meh.

Needless to say, the final installment was a let down.  The separation after London was pointless.  It was typical of something Ian would do: he was fond of not telling things to Francesca.  I know he was waiting to trust her, but it felt like too little too late.  And I would have liked to have gotten a bit from his perspective at the end, like what made him realize how he felt.  All in all, the ending was definitely rushed.

Because I Am Yours gets a 2.5 out of 5 from me.

As for the reading experience overall, I am underwhelmed.  Maybe I’ll hold out for another serial that gets rave reviews across the board, but for now, I’m ok sticking to regular books.  😛

This book is available from Penguin. You can buy it here in e-format.

You can read more from ~ames~ at Thrifty Reader.

Because You Are Mine series:
Because You Tempt Me
Because I Could Not Resist
Because You Haunt Me
Because You Must Learn
Because I Said So
Because You Torment Me
Because I Need To
Because I Am Yours

Ames’ review of Because I Need To by Beth Kery.

After time away, Ian pursues Francesca once again. She can’t resist him, despite his secrecy… As their relationship deepens, Ian begins to take pleasure in teaching her his strengths while she tempts him with the beauty of spontaneity and the rush of letting go of control. And for a while, they do let go…

It’s intoxicating and it’s exhilarating as they indulge themselves in the sweet, addictive fruit of passion. But as Francesca knows, when pleasure gets this intense, the quick burn-out can be devastating. For Ian’s secrets have tested Francesca yet again, leaving her to despair that the one man with whom she has become obsessed is the one man she may never really have.

I found this second to last installment bitter sweet.  Francesca pissed me off at the beginning and then I liked the last chapter, I thought it did a lot towards building their relationship.

But Francesca.  Oy.  In Paris, Ian pulled away after he felt vulnerable.  So when Ian opens up to her in a big way back in Chicago and then the next day he has an emergency he has to take care of, Francesca freaks out and thinks he’s pulling away again.  So she gives him an ultimatum, if he leaves to go take care of this ’emergency’ (that he won’t give her details about) she will leave and he shouldn’t bother calling her when he gets back.  That gets Ian upset and he tells her they’ll talk when he gets back but nope, she sticks to her guns and when he leaves, she goes home.  And mopes because he doesn’t call her.  Hello!  You told him to consider you guys over if he left!

I did not like that.  She puts so much trust in Ian with the way he treats her sexually (tying up, harnesses, etc) that I felt like she should have trusted him more at this junction when he said he really had to go take care of something.  But I do understand that the parameters of their relationship were blurred on her end because she fell for him.  It felt like a cheap way to create conflict though.

Now, throughout this whole series, Francesca has been working on that painting that brought her into Ian’s sphere in the first place.  The commission that will go into Noble Tower’s lobby.  She’s in the lobby a few days after Ian walked out, checking out the light and how her painting will look there.  She’s visiting a friend in the restaurant in Noble Tower when Ian finds her.  He has something he wants to show her.  Back to his apartment they go.  And when Francesca sees what Ian has done, she melts and falls back into bed with him.

The chapter ends with Ian having to go away again for some emergency and Francesca determined to go after him…

I liked the parts of this installment where Francesca and Ian’s relationship grew.  But I really didn’t like the ultimatum she gave Ian.  Especially when she does it because she’s stubborn, and she knew it.  But with stubbornness comes pride and even though she knew she might be overstepping the boundaries, she kept with it anyway.  It annoyed me.   And then for her to go jetting off after Ian?  We know how that’s going to play out.

3 out of 5.

This book is available from publisher. You can buy it here in e-format.

You can read more from ~ames~ at Thrifty Reader.

Because You Are Mine Series:
Because You Tempt Me
Because I Could Not Resist
Because You Haunt Me
Because You Must Learn
Because I Said So
Because You Torment Me
Because I Need To
Because I Am Yours

Ames’ review of Because You Torment Me by Beth Kery.

Francesca takes the reins, blossoming under Ian’s tutelage and leading to a bold act of rebellion and sexual empowerment—one that sends Ian closer to the edge.

As far as Ian’s concerned, Francesca’s gone too far. It’s not just her flirtation with disaster, but her flagrant defiance and an agenda to torment him until he’s seeing red with need and desire. He will see the willful young woman submit, but when she does, Ian finds himself losing all of his carefully guarded control and leaping into the consuming flames with the woman he can’t live without

Things in Paris didn’t end on the greatest note.  Francesca sensed that Ian pulled away after her pleasuring him.  And he tried to play it off by saying he was stressed about work.  They return to Chicago and Ian quickly sets up future dates with Francesca, alleviating her fears that he was tired with her.

On their first date after Paris, he asks her to join him while he finalizes the deal that he’d been working on.  He’ll be meeting with the owner of the company he wants to take over.  The personal shopper he had in Paris has sent over the clothes she found for Francesca and when Ian asks her to put a dress on, Francesca is miffed.  Did he not listen to her in Paris when she said why she wouldn’t wear his clothes?  So in an act of defiance, she wears an extremely sexy outfit and then flirts with the guy Ian is meeting with.  Ian is furious and turned on.  So Francesca is in for one hell of a lesson when they get back to Ian’s.

Ok the stuff I felt was missing in the previous chapter was definitely rectified here.  There was some plot, not just sex.  There was sex, don’t get me wrong, but other stuff happened.  And Francesca told Ian it was ok to lose control, and I felt that he did.

I thought what Ian and Francesca did after their date was a bit much for someone so inexperienced sexually.  And again there was a bit of the detachment I felt, because of the set up Ian had going.

Part Six was definitely an improvement over the last installment, but I don’t believe what Francesca’s feeling at this point.  Ian has been too distant.  Yeah he’s showing her a good time, giving her gifts and he has the odd tender moment, but I don’t get how that would satisfy her.  Why she would feel that way so soon.  We’ll see.  Two more to go.

3.5 out of 5.

This book is available from Penguin. You can buy it here in e-format.

You can read more from ~ames~ at Thrifty Reader.

Because You Are Mine Series:
Because You Tempt Me
Because I Could Not Resist
Because You Haunt Me
Because You Must Learn
Because I Said So
Because You Torment Me
Because I Need To
Because I Am Yours

Ames’ review of Because I Said So by Beth Kery.

An outing in Paris, a luxury car, a dangerous rain-slicked street—and Francesca eagerly takes the wheel sending her and Ian spinning deliriously out of control. The risk would frighten most women. Not Francesca. It’s arousing. A moment of le petit morte that steers her relationship with Ian into a daring new direction.

Scorched by the depths of Francesca’s fresh, generous response to him, Ian begins to question his ability to keep his distance from the vibrant beauty. She’s like fire in his blood, striking a cord in him unlike any other woman, and every time he touches her, his need for total possession only mounts…

After her lesson, Ian has a personal shopper come measure Francesca for a new wardrobe.  She doesn’t like it, feeling like it’s too close to him buying her.

“Well I’m not interested in that ‘sort of thing.'”
“I made it clear that this would be on my terms, Francesca, and you agreed.  I’ll accept your stubbornness in small doses, but you go too far this time.”

She tells him to accept her the way she is or not at all.  He sends the personal shopper away.  Ian then takes Francesca out to a museum and a late lunch.  He also finds out that she never learned to drive so he decides to teach her.  While he’s going down on her in the back of the car, she reveals to him that she wants to return the favor.  So the rest of the installment is her giving him the bestest bj evar! and him feeling vulnerable because she just keeps surprising him so much.

I’ve got nothing for this one.  Like she’s just a natural cocksucker!  OMG!

Yeah that’s me being sarcastic, but it made me roll my eyes.  Beth Kery can write smoking sex scenes…but that scene was a bit clinical.  And overall, that’s how I feel about Ian’s need to always be in control.  He’s detached.

BUT!  Francesca finally talks to him about some stuff, so there’s one thing I felt was missing from the previous installment that I got with this one.

I think because each installment is only two chapters that I feel like there’s nothing happening when all they’re doing is having sex.  If that makes any sense.

3 out of 5

This book is available from Penguin. You can buy it here in e-format.

You can read more from ~ames~ at Thrifty Reader.

Because You Are Mine Series:
Because You Tempt Me
Because I Could Not Resist
Because You Haunt Me
Because You Must Learn
Because I Said So
Because You Torment Me
Because I Need To
Because I Am Yours