Review – Mercy by Sara Cate

Mercy; Salacious Players Club #4
(Standalone within a series)

Publication Date: August 25, 2022

Genre/Tropes: BDSM/Reverse Age-Gap/Forbidden Romance

Author: Sara Cate

Review Rating: 5 Gold Stars

Review/Synopsis:

Review:
I absolutely love how Sara Cate has written the books of this series. Yes, they are hawt…seriously, panty melting, ten thousand degrees kind of hot, but the emotion behind the story…the thought and deep personal depth that is put into each character, is what makes each book so page-turning addictive.

I will admit that Dom vs. Domme stories are much higher in demand, so there are just not as many of those books flooding the market, or perhaps I’m looking in the wrong places, regardless it is the reality we live in. As much as I LOVE reading about a strong woman and her subservient man, we live in a world where that isn’t the norm and the consequence is unfortunately less books reflecting this kind of kink. Thank you Sara for writing this book…I loved it super hard!!!!!

Mercy is not only a book about a strong woman and a bratty man, but it’s about two people who have always felt a little lost. Honestly, I love that about every book that falls under this umbrella no matter who fills the D/s roles. There is something very empowering about the trust of that relationship, knowing your partners needs and following the rules within your own construct.

D/s something new for both Maggie and Beau, which would seem odd given she’s one of the owners of the Salacious club and Beau is the son of another. They’ve both been around the lifestyle for years, or at least been aware of it, but if anyone had openly asked them what their actual preference was between the sheets, it would have been plain ol’ vanilla. Of course, that answer would have been before they were matched up on the very same app that Beau’s father created…awkward. Yes, their lives are intermingled and it doesn’t even stop there. Did I mention that Beau’s father is marrying Beau’s ex? There might be some very good reasons that Beau is a little bratty or he might just be built that way. Either way, Maggie is itching to learn and punish the bratty right out of him.

Probably what I enjoyed the most, while you’d think it was the strong woman, it actually was getting inside Beau’s head. This was a man, while a young man, but still a man who like most guys have grown up with macho ideas of taking care of everyone and making big life plans. Yet strip away all the constructs of what society expects and he actually thrives when someone makes decisions for him. He’s still a man, he loves women, he just shines when all of the pressure if off of him and he doesn’t have the potential to screw up his life anymore. When Maggie comes into his life, and she loves control, she loves turning his behaviour around…well, it’s like she was made for him.

Watching these two not only find their way on their path to true happiness, but to what works best for them it was…okay hot, but more than that, it was really great to enjoy the journey as they each blossomed emotionally and mentally.

Synopsis:
I don’t want to hurt him—I just want to punish him. ⁠
⁠
It’s bad enough being the only female owner of the Salacious Players’ Club, but I’m also the only one without a kink, or so I thought. ⁠
⁠
Imagine my surprise when the kink quiz suggests that I’m not so vanilla after all. ⁠
⁠
In fact, I’m a lot more like Emerson Grant than I thought.⁠
Just one problem—I have no idea how to be a Domme.⁠
⁠
That is, until the app matches me with someone willing to help me learn. ⁠
⁠
He’s too young for me.⁠
Too stubborn. Too good looking. ⁠
And, oh yeah, my friend’s son.⁠
⁠
Beau Grant is a brat. I’d hate that about him if I didn’t love punishing him so much. ⁠
Underneath all of that attitude is a man who is misunderstood, selfless, and in need of direction.⁠
⁠
But if he wants mercy, he has to earn it. ⁠
⁠
There are a million reasons why I should stay away, but I’m tired of doing what everyone thinks I should do.⁠
⁠
I finally know what I want, and I’m ready to take what’s mine.⁠

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Blog Tour – Smartasses Anthology

There’s nothing better than a sexy nerd!
Except maybe 12 of them!

Smartasses, an all fun and flirty, romantic comedy anthology from 12 bestselling authors, is out now!

Because what’s hotter than a sexy nerd?

Twelve of your favorite Rom Com authors bring you a new anthology
celebrating geeking out and falling in love.

Featuring Smartass Stories by:

Avery Flynn
Erin Mallon
Helena Hunting
Jana Aston
Jiffy Kate
Karen Grey
Kayley Loring
Krystyna Allyn
Penny Reid
Sara Ney
Sonali Dev
Susannah Nix

Fall in love today for ¢99!
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3vjxI8y
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***Smartasses Anthology is available for 99 cents until August 30th!

Keep reading for a look inside Smartasses: a Sexy Nerd Anthology!

NOT JUST A CRUSH by Helena Hunting

The blustery wind pushes me through the door and causes a swirl of flakes to follow me. As soon as I’m clear of the door, she tries to close it. But the wind is strong, and she’s . . . tiny. The kind of tiny I associate with the girl on top of the cheerleader pyramid or those creepy semi-life-sized dolls they sell in department stores. It’s clear she’s using her full weight against the door, yet she’s losing the battle.
I lift a hand over her head—I don’t have to reach high to accomplish that—and push it closed. She stumbles forward a couple of steps, and her toe catches on the doormat. She recovers herself and spins around, her face a shade of pink I associate with embarrassment.
She takes three large steps to the side, putting a few feet of distance between us. She pushes her glasses up her nose and glances from the door to me and back again. “Good fucking God, are you part bear? You’re huge.” Her hands flail around in the air, then find each other, then part again.
“Maybe you’re just small?” I offer.
My breath puffs out in the air with each exhale, and so does hers. It’s freezing in here. Which explains why she’s wearing a parka, a beanie, a scarf, and a pair of giant mittens. All in matching shades of pink. She looks like a chewed-up wad of bubblegum with a face and limbs.
“Having trouble with the fire, then, Princess?” I motion to the hearth where the fire sits unlit.
She crosses her arms. “My name is Dahlia, not princess.”
“Dahlia?” I echo.
I inspect her closer. It can’t be . . .
Dahlia is not a common name. Tiny Dahlias with long, dark wavy hair and almond-shaped eyes so dark it’s nearly impossible to see where her iris ends and her pupils begin seem even more rare. But the odds seem . . . implausible.
“Yeah. Like the flower.” She pushes her glasses up her nose again with her mittened hand and goes back to crossing her arms.
And I stand there, like an idiot, and keep staring. Because it is her.
Dahlia Forest.
Seriously, that’s her name.
And I had the biggest fucking crush on her in high school.

Like seriously, the biggest fucking crush.

But I was on the football team, and she was a mathlete. We ran in different circles. I was a giant asshole with even bigger asshole friends, and she was a gorgeous nerd. One of my best friends back then, who I still talk to now, used to make fun of her all the time. It was juvenile. And dickish. I didn’t participate, but I also didn’t stop him. Which makes me just as bad, if not even worse.
So far, she hasn’t recognized me. It’s been four years. Maybe she won’t recognize me at all. Maybe I wasn’t on her radar in high school. Maybe she was too busy being a fucking genius to notice the jocks. Although she did tutor a couple of my teammates along the way.
I realize I haven’t replied to the whole flower comment or responded in general. “Looks like you had some trouble starting the fire.” I thumb over my shoulder.
“I never got the fire-making badge in Girl Scouts.” I can’t tell if she’s being sarcastic.
“Have you unpacked anything yet?” Man, my conversation skills need a serious workout.
“No, I was too busy trying to earn my fire-making badge.” Her nose is pink from the cold, and her cheeks are already flushed, but the way she ducks her head tells me she’s pretty damn embarrassed by her lack of fire- making ability.
I nod once. “All right. Well, let’s grab your bag and get you out of here.” “Out of here?” she parrots.
“Yeah. I’ll take you back to town. Set you up at the motel.” I take my gloves off because my hands are starting to sweat. The great thing about my jacket is that it keeps me warm in subzero temps. The bad part is that now that I’m no longer facing -30 degrees and a face full of snow, I’m over here sweating my balls off even though it’s pretty freaking frigid in here.
“Motel?” Her nose wrinkles. “Why can’t I stay here?”
“You can, but they’re gonna close the roads soon, and when they do that, you’ll be stuck here until they open them again.”
“Close the roads?” Apparently, she’s trying out for the role of parrot tonight.
“Yeah. Unless you missed it, there’s a blizzard happening out there. We’re getting another twelve to eighteen inches between tonight and tomorrow afternoon. If I don’t get you off the side of this mountain soon, we’re both going to be stuck here until the storm is over and they’ve had a chance to plow the roads.”
“Oh, my God. How long will that be?”

I shrug. “Could be a couple of days, could be a week.”

“A week?” Her tone is dog whistle shrill.

“It’s a big fucking storm.”

Read Kay’s Review: Smartasses

Blog Tour – My Worst Best Mistake by Kenzie Reed

Release Date: August 17

He thinks he can make me quit…I think I can drive him crazy. We’ve got 8 weeks to find out who’s right…

When it comes to sexy oil baron Grant Kingsley, you can leave out the drilling jokes—I’ve heard them all before.

The question is, how did I, mayor of a tiny island on the Forgotten Coast of Florida, end up working directly under him? And why does my mind go to the most inappropriate places every time I ask myself that question?

And what would he look like without that custom-tailored wool suit and expression of insufferable arrogance?

Doesn’t matter. After vanishing from my life when I needed him most, he’s swooped into town with plans to turn our little slice of paradise into an ecological disaster. And he’s forcing me to help pave this highway to Hades—well, he thinks he is. I’m here to block him by any means necessary, and as he’s about to find out, I fight dirty.

So dirty. Just like my thoughts about Grant Kingsley. In fact—

Wait, where were we again?

Oh yes. All I have to do for the next eight weeks is 1.) Resist the charms of a delightful family of eco-villains, 2.) Hide an earth-shattering secret, and 3.) Try not to fall in love – again – with my greatest nemesis.

That last one may be the toughest assignment of them all.

Grab Your Copy Here!

Free in KU

Read Kay’s Review: My Worst Best Mistake

Meet Kenzie Reed

Kenzie Reed lives in beautiful New England and is addicted to happily ever afters.

She has a black belt in sarcasm and makes the worst puns ever—just ask her kids. She spends her days clearing dog fur from her keyboard and dreaming up snarky dialogue for sexy heroes.

Her taste in books ranges from science fiction to thrillers to romantic comedy, and her bookcases have multiple personality disorder.

She loves to hear from readers!

To learn up more about Kenzie Reed, visit: https://kenziereed.com and sign up for her newsletter, so you do not miss out on any news: https://kenziereed.com/newsletter/.

 

Blog Tour – Pen Pal by J.T. Geissinger

Pen Pal, an all-new dark and gripping story from international bestselling author J.T. Geissinger is available now!

The first letter arrived the day my husband was buried. It was postmarked from the state penitentiary, and contained a single sentence:

I’ll wait forever if I have to.

It was signed by Dante, a man I didn’t know.

Out of simple curiosity, I wrote back to ask him what exactly he was waiting for. His reply?

You.

I told the mystery man he had the wrong girl. He said he didn’t. I said we’d never met, but he said I was wrong.

We went back and forth, exchanging letters every week that grew increasingly more intimate. Then one day, the letters stopped.

When I found out why, it was already too late.

Dante was at my doorstep.
And nothing on earth could have prepared me for what happened next.

Download your copy today!
Read FREE in Kindle Unlimited
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Excerpt

It’s raining as my husband’s casket is lowered into the hole in the ground. Raining hard, as if the sky itself is about to rip in half like my heart has.
I stand motionless under an umbrella with the other mourners, listening to the priest drone on about resurrection and glory, blessings and suffering, redemption and the holy love of God. So many words, and all so meaningless.
Everything is meaningless. There’s a Michael-shaped hole in my chest, and nothing matters anymore.
That must be why I feel so numb. I’m empty. Grief has blown me apart, scattering my bones into a desert wasteland where they’ll bake in silence under a merciless sun for a thousand years.
A woman behind me quietly weeps into her handkerchief. Sharon? Karen? A colleague of Michael’s who I met at a long-ago faculty party. One of those awful holiday work parties in a school auditorium where they serve cheap wine in plastic cups and people stand around making awkward small talk until they’re drunk enough to say what they really think about each other.
Sharon or Karen behind me told Michael he was a prick at that party. I can’t remember why, but that’s probably why she’s crying now.
When someone dies, you start counting all the ways you failed them.
The priest makes the sign of the cross over his chest. He closes his Bible and steps back. I walk slowly forward, bend down to grasp a handful of soil from the pile to one side, then toss it onto the closed casket.
The wet clump of dirt makes an ugly hollow sound when it lands on the gray lid of the coffin, an uncaring splat of finality. Then it slides off, leaving a smear of brown behind like a shit stain.
Abruptly, I’m shaking with anger. I taste ashes and bitterness in my mouth.
What a stupid ritual this is. Why do we even bother? It’s not like the dead can see us mourning them. They’re gone.
A sudden gust of cold wind rattles the leaves in the trees. I turn and walk away through the rain, not looking back when someone softly sobs my name.
I need to be alone with my grief. I’m not one of those people who likes to commiserate over a tragedy. Especially when the tragedy is my own.
When I open the front door of the house, it takes a moment for me to register that I’m home. I have no recollection of the drive from the gravesite to here, though the blank spot in time doesn’t surprise me. Since the accident, I’ve been in a fog. It’s as if my brain is blanketed in thick clouds.
I kick off my shoes and leave them under the console table in the foyer. Tossing my wool coat onto the back of a kitchen chair, I head to the fridge. I open the door and stand looking inside as rain drums against the windowpanes and I try to convince myself I’m hungry.
I’m not. I know I should eat to keep my strength up, but I have no appetite for anything. I let the door swing shut and press my fingers against my throbbing temples.
When I turn around, I notice the envelope on the table next to the fruit bowl. It sits by itself, a white rectangle with neat handwriting and a stamp that reads “LOVE” in red letters.
I know for a fact it wasn’t there when I left.
My first thought is that Fiona must’ve brought in the mail. Then I remember she cleans the house on Mondays. Today’s Sunday.
So how did it get there?
As I cross to the table and pick up the letter, a rumble of thunder rattles the windows. A sudden gust of wind whistles through the trees outside. The eerie feeling intensifies when I read the return address.
Washington State Penitentiary.
Frowning, I tear open the edge of the envelope and pull out the single sheet of white unlined paper inside. I unfold it and read aloud.
“I’ll wait forever if I have to.”
That’s it. There’s nothing else, except a signature scratched below the words.
Dante.
I flip the page over, but it’s blank on the other side.
For a fleeting moment, I think the letter must be intended for Michael. That idea gets tossed aside when I realize it’s addressed to me. That’s my name right there on the front of the envelope, printed in neat block letters with blue pen. This Dante person, whoever he is, meant for me to receive this.
But why?
And what is he waiting for?
Unsettled, I fold the letter into thirds, stuff it back into the envelope, and drop it on the table. Then I make sure all the doors and windows are locked. I draw the drapes and blinds against the wet gray afternoon, pour myself a glass of wine, then sit at the kitchen table, staring at the envelope with a strange feeling of foreboding.
A feeling that something’s coming.
And that whatever it is, it isn’t good.

Read Kay’s Review: Pen Pal

About J.T. Geissinger
J.T. Geissinger is a #1 internationally bestselling author of twenty-seven novels. Ranging from funny, feisty rom coms to intense, edgy suspense, her books have sold over five million copies and been translated into more than a dozen languages.
She is a three-time nominee in both contemporary and paranormal romance for the RITA® Award, the highest distinction in romance fiction from the Romance Writers of America®. She is also a recipient of the Prism Award for Best First Book and the Golden Quill Award for Best Paranormal/Urban Fantasy.
She’s a Southern California native currently living in Nevada with her husband and rescue kitty, Zoe.

Connect with J.T. Geissinger
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Website: http://www.jtgeissinger.com

Blog Tour – The Reckless Union by Monica Murphy

THE RECKLESS UNION (Wedded Bliss Book 3) by Monica Murphy
Release Date: August 16th
Genre/Tropes: Arranged Marriage/Fake Relationship/Dark Romance/Contemporary Romance/Billionaire Romance/Enemies-to-Lovers

AVAILABLE NOW!!!
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Start the trilogy with #1, The Reluctant Bride FOR FREE today!
https://monicamurphyauthor.com/the-reluctant-bride

The Ruthless Groom #2
https://bit.ly/3xPmyuQ

Add to Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61124722-the-reckless-union

Blurb:
Our marriage may look like a fairytale, but outside forces threaten to tear us apart. Don’t they realize that nothing will keep me apart from Charlotte? Not my family. Not hers either.

What started out as a relationship in name only has evolved into something much more. Something deeper. And when Charlotte is taken from me, I launch into action, determined to rescue her.

She’s mine. Nothing is going to stop me from being with her.

Not a damn thing.

Read Kay’s Review: The Reckless Union

About the Author:
Monica Murphy is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the One Week Girlfriend series, the Billionaire Bachelors and The Rules series. Her books have been translated in almost a dozen languages and has sold over one million copies worldwide. She is both a traditionally published author and an independently published author. She writes new adult, young adult and contemporary romance. She is also USA Today bestselling romance author Karen Erickson.

She is a wife and a mother of three who lives with her family in central California on fourteen acres in the middle of nowhere, along with their one dog and too many cats. A self-confessed workaholic, when she’s not writing, she’s reading or hanging out with her husband and kids. She’s a firm believer in happy endings, though she will admit to putting her characters through many angst-filled moments before they finally get that hard won HEA.

Connect with Monica:
Website: http://monicamurphyauthor.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MonicaMurphyauthor/
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New Release – Sweet Like Poison by J. Wolf

Release Date: August 18

You need a keeper, Elsa.

The first time I laid eyes on the delicious mountain of a man, Lachlan “Lock” Kelly, he walked out of the room without giving me a single glance.

You’re in trouble now.

It’s my junior year at Savage U and life is grand. Except for the fact that Lachlan Kelly lives right next door, he acts like he doesn’t know my name, and he barely acknowledges my existence.

I don’t get it. How can he so easily look away from me when he’s all I see?

The ice queen is melting…

A few angry frat boys and their arm candy make it their mission to ruin my semester and possibly my life. But I show those boys that messing with Elena Sanderson is a fatal mistake, and Lachlan surprisingly backs me up.

And when he finally gives me his attention, I greedily soak up everything he has to offer.

You’re arsenic-laced candy

Lachlan tells me I’m bad for him, but he can’t resist the pull between us anymore.

I don’t break things.

I know he’s not staying.

When he goes, he’ll leave me tangled up in memories.

I won’t play games.

His promises have a time limit, even though I’m beginning to wish they didn’t.

Even if it hurts…

We were over before we ever began.

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Read Kay’s Review: Sweet Like Poison

Meet J. Wolf

Julia Wolf writes sexy rockers and badass women. She’s a huge believer in happily ever afters, no matter how complicated the road to get there is.

Julia lives in Maryland with her husband and three crazy, beautiful children. When she’s not writing romance, she’s reading it. Some of her favorite things are, in no particular order: goats, books, coffee, and Target.

To learn more about J. Wolf and her books, visit here!