Tag: Cosmo Red Hot Reads

Guest Review: Exposed by Zoey Williams

Posted March 11, 2015 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: Exposed by Zoey WilliamsReviewer: Tracy
Exposed by Zoey Williams
Publisher: Harlequin
Publication Date: March 10th 2015
Pages: 82
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
three-half-stars

Frustrated with her spinstery ways, Macy Grant's friends staged a Sex Intervention. But as Macy agonizes through her first—and worst—date in years, she can't help but notice the brawny, shaggy-haired artist sitting at the next table. Handsome. Sexy. With hands that are incredibly…uh, skilled. So when Macy runs into Jake Stanton at a party, it's a definitely a sign from the Gods Who Want Her To Get Laid. And oh, she does.

Except that Jake didn't tell Macy that it was his engagement party. Or that his fiancée is the hottest supermodel to walk the runway. Now Macy must decide if she can let the perfect guy walk away…or if she's ready to step into the spotlight and turn her sex life into the biggest headline of the year!

Tracy’s review of Exposed by Zoey Williams

Macy’s friends Ella and Jasmine want her to date! It’s been five years since her last date and since then she’s been losing herself in her event planning job. Having a job you love is wonderful but so is a man…and sex! Jasmine wants to set her up on a blind date with a client of hers but Macy decides that online dating is the way to go. She agrees to take off work for a week and gets her mind blown by the perviness of online dating. She soon agrees to the blind date but that’s a bust as well but the night ends well when she’s saved by the cute man who was sitting at a table next to them.

When she heads to a party for a model that Jasmine knows she runs into her white knight, aka Jake. They hit it off and spend the evening talking and laughing and generally having a fabulous time – out of and in bed!

Macy’s not thrilled, however, when she finds out that Jake is a beard for the model, Ashley, who’s gay. She is afraid to come out as she believes her sex kitten image will be ruined. Not only that – Jake and Ashley are now engaged! Macy’s friend Jasmine is devastated as she’s been dating Ashley secretly for the past year and when Ashley said there would be an announcement at the party Jasmine believed it was going to be about Ashley coming out – not.

Neither Macy nor Jasmine are happy with the people they are falling for but will literally stop at nothing to get what they want.

I really enjoyed this novella…to a point. I very much liked Jake and Macy together and I loved the interactions with Ella, Macy and Jasmine as they were such good friends. The author really got that through to me in a great way.

The evening that Macy and Jake spent together was pretty wonderful as well and I wanted them to be able to have a chance to grow their relationship into something more. I admired Macy’s guts to talk to Jake and Ashley and go after what she wanted. After that, however, I had an big issue with the story. I won’t tell you exact details but sum it up by saying that Jasmine and Macy pretty much forced Ashley and Jake’s hands in the end. I appreciated the outcome and it all worked out because it was romance novel but had this been real life I have no doubt this would have blown up in their faces. Not good decision making on the 3 friends’ part…at all.

I also wasn’t thrilled that Jake and Macy ended up moving so fast in the end but it was nice to know they were giving themselves a chance. So in the end I thought it was a cute story even though I didn’t love all parts of it. It was still entertaining and worth reading.

Rating: 3 out of 5

 

This title is available from Cosmopolitan Red-Hot Reads from Harlequin. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

three-half-stars

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Guest Review: Under Her Clothes by Louisa Edwards

Posted February 24, 2015 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: Under Her Clothes by Louisa EdwardsReviewer: Tracy
Under Her Clothes by Louisa Edwards
Publisher: Harlequin
Publication Date: February 10th 2015
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
four-stars

When Colby St. James dresses like a man to prove she can succeed in the male-dominated world of professional cooking, she never expects to fall for the handsome chef who will decide her fate. They agree that nothing that happens after hours will affect Colby's chances in the competition and begin a secret affair.

It's been years since Dominic Fevre felt a sexual attraction toward another man. He thought he'd put that stage of his life behind him when he focused everything on his career. But something about Colby St. James makes him want to break all his own rules…

Tracy’s review of Under Her Clothes by Louisa Edwards

Colby is determined to show the culinary world that a woman can get a great job as an executive chef just as easily as man could…well kind of. She actually dresses like a man to prove that she has the skills like a man but would have been passed by had she been interviewing as a woman. (She decides this after her boss passes her by and promotes yet another man instead of her.)

She heads to an interview with a famous chef, Dominic Fevre, and expects to talk the part and show him her knife skills and then be on her way. Dominic, however, has a different idea. He wants the five candidates to work in his kitchen for two weeks to show him their different skills at the different stations in the kitchen. She doesn’t plan on being brutally attracted to Dominic and she certainly doesn’t expect him to reciprocate that attraction while she’s a man. After a while thing get very interesting and very hot in the kitchen.

This was a sweet yet sexy novella. I loved that Colby dressed up in men’s clothing to prove a point even though I think her thought processes were a bit off. Yes, she could maybe get the job but once they found out she lied about her identity she wouldn’t be able to keep the job. IDK, it made sense…yet it didn’t. lol

Dominic was one hot chef. He was the strong silent type for the most part and was highly intimidating. He had a good heart, though and it showed in more ways than one during the story.

Overall a fun book.

Rating: 4 out of 5

 

This title is available from Cosmopolitan Red-Hot Reads from Harlequin. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

four-stars

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Guest Review: Cake by Lauren Dane

Posted March 12, 2014 by Judith in Reviews | 1 Comment

Cake Judith’s review of Cake by Lauren Dane

She won’t be satisfied with just one bite…

Art student-slash-bike messenger Wren Davis pursues what she wants. And what she wants now is Gregori Ivanov, rock star of the Seattle art scene. With his tattoos, piercings and sensual sneer, Gregori is the ultimate bad boy. Wren’s gotten to know the man beneath the body art, too—and it only makes her crave him more.

But Gregori loves women like he loves cake and champagne—intensely, but only for the moment. And after Wren experiences just how scorching sex with Gregori is, she’s determined to show him that just one taste won’t be enough.

This novella is brought to us through a collaboration between Cosmopolitan Magazine and Harlequin publishing.   And when I saw the author’s name on this piece I was on it like white on rice.  I’ve never met a story by Lauren Dane that I didn’t like and this one is no exception.

I think most of us know people who have constructed a fairly hefty emotional wall around themselves for various reasons.  The hero in this piece has been used and abused personally and professionally because he is famous and rich and handsome.  The people he has trusted most in the past have been the people who have disappointed him the most.  And now there is a young artist who is certainly not making ends meet with her art and who works for a messenger service, a young woman who slowly but surely penetrates Gregori’s emotional walls as she sees him and not his fame and fortune.

This is a story about the nature of true friendship.  It is about the validity of being who you really are and being able to see the authenticity in others, a quality that Wren brings to the friendship and ultimately to the relationship that grows between her and Gregori.  It is also a story that highlights the determination of one young woman to change the perspective of a man who has become jaded and whose personal life is a true emotional desolation.  Somehow Wren brings that genuine kindness and caring into his life, the kind he had become convinced didn’t exist for him.

This read is short and to the point and is as hot as advertised.  Yet it has a truly compelling message about what it means to be connected beyond the one night stand kind of temporary involvement that had become the norm for this very talented man.  It won’t take up very much time but it is the kind of read that will be fun and entertaining.  It’s worth the time to enjoy.

I give it a rating of 3.75 out of 5.

You can read more from Judith at Dr J’s Book Place.

This book is available from Cosmo Red Hot Reads from Harlequin.  You can buy it here or here in e-format.

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