Written On The Apple Tree

Title: Written On The Apple Tree

Author: Ann Girdharry

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: August 12, 2015

Rating: 3 *'s

A recurring moment from a past life, a possession, or a simple meeting between two strangers? 

Kim encounters Oliver at a remote spot on the heath and though she's never met him before, he seems familiar. How can it be he knows how she thinks and of things she's said? 

Oliver is both dangerous and magnetic and he seems to have knowledge of Kim's family. 

Lonely and drifting, will Kim side with Oliver or with her family? There's a mystery lurking underneath the surface of their chance meeting and Kim must make treacherous choices about her future. 

Written on the Apple Tree is a haunting, atmospheric suspense about the links, real and imagined, that run between generations and how shadows from the past impact upon the present. 

Written on the Apple Tree is a contemporary mystery, psychological suspense and a short story of 4000 words. 

This is the fourth in the Tales of the Unexpected, Mystery and Psychological Suspense series. 

Review

Written On The Apple Tree is full of mystery. One minute you feel like you understand completely what is going to happen but then you're thrown through a loop. The chemistry between Oliver and Kim is there but Kim is unsure why he seems so familiar.

I don't typically read suspense but this one drew me in. I felt like I was in someone's dream/nightmare and desperately needed to know what happened. Although a bit confusing it is a great read.

A Risk Worth Taking

Title: A Risk Worth Taking

Author: Zoe Mullins

Publisher: Ellora's Cave

Publication Date: November 11, 2015

Rating: 3 *'s

For the last year, Fiona and Matt have been inseparable. He is the calm to her storm and she is head-over-heels in love with him. The only downside? Rumors that Matt and his best friend, Travis, used to share everything, including their dates. This wasn’t an issue when Travis lived two thousand miles away, but now Travis is back in town.

Travis knows coming home and seeing Matt in a new relationship won’t be easy. Fiona is witty and sassy, and good god but she has the most amazing body. Seriously, how is Travis supposed to resist when Matt keeps suggesting having both of them in his bed? He isn’t thinking straight when he finally agrees—of course he wants to share Fiona with Matt. Travis expects her to say hell no, but then he sees the spark of interest in her eye.

Reader Advisory: This story has graphic sexual language and scenes—no closed bedroom doors (or other rooms) here!

An adult contemporary romance from Ellora’s Cave

Review

Fiona and Matt have been inseparable and happy. Their lives couldn't better until Travis comes back into Matt's life. Torn between choosing the man that once owned his heart and the woman that has won him over. Matt toys with the possibility of having both of them.

Overall, I enjoyed the story but it did feel rushed to me. I would have like more of the backstory between Matt and Travis. I did enjoy watching their relationship bloom and them overcoming their hardships.

Retribution

Title: Retribution

Author: Natasha Knight

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: January 7, 2016

Rating: 5 *'s

Adam 

Payback’s a bitch — or it would be for Elle. 

Fifteen years ago, my sister was kidnapped. For months, she'd endured hell. Somehow, she'd survived it. Someway, she'd escaped her captors. But it hadn’t mattered. In fact, it had been like losing her twice, because six weeks after she came home, she was dead, and the man responsible was alive and well, oblivious to her fate, ignorant to what he had coming. 

Fifteen years I’d been waiting for this moment, all that time, planning, preparing, readying to put things into motion. To finally make the SOB pay for what he’d done. 

Killing him was too easy. Too quick. No. There was a much better way to exact revenge. 

Take what he loved best. 

Break it. 

Break her. 

I just didn’t realize that in the process of destroying the girl, I’d destroy myself. 

Elle 

“I only want your pain.” 

I hadn’t understood what those words meant, not really. Not until he made me understand. 

I noticed Adam the first day he moved into my building. He was a badass on a bike in a thousand-dollar suit. When he looked at me, it was with a hunger just this side of obscene. 

Our meetings were strange, accidental. Too coincidental. There was something about Adam. Something I couldn’t put my finger on. 

Something I couldn’t resist. 

He told me I didn’t know him. He warned me to run as far from him as I could. He was moody. Dark. I’d found it romantic. I didn’t know and wouldn’t realize until it was too late that he’d meant for me to heed his warnings. That some part of him had hoped I would run, that I would escape him. 

For too many years, vengeance had fueled him. It had taught him hate. The object of that hate? My father. And me? I was the means to my father’s end. Adam would destroy my father by destroying me. 

I accused him of being a monster, of being no different than those who took his sister, but even in the harshest moments, all I could see in his eyes was pain. And like a fool, all I wanted was to touch that darkness. 

To make it light. 

Please note: Retribution is a full-length, standalone Dark Romantic Suspense novel. NO Cliffhanger. Intended for mature readers. 

Review

Retribution took me on a ride unlike any other. Adam and Elle's story is completely unique and unexpected. I have been a long time follower of Knight's work and loved when she moved into dark suspense last year. Retribution is Knight's best book to date.

Adam is on a mission to get payback for his sister's death. For too long he has been planning out the best way to get vengeance. He wants Elle to feel the pain and suffering that his sister endured.

Elle knows she out of her league when she meets Adam. Something about his dark behavior draws her in and in their first meeting both of them know that they are in over their heads. 

I cannot say enough how wonderfully written this story is. It alternates between both points of view and allows us into mindset of both characters. I felt as if I was there in both of their heads and feeling their heartache.

Unacceptable Behavior

Title: Unacceptable Behaivor

Author: Morganna Williams

Publisher: Stormy Night Publications

Publication Date: August 7, 2015

Rating: 5 *'s

Maxine Reynolds knows it is careless to read naughty stories on her phone will driving, but she is utterly shocked by the consequences when she rear-ends ex-CIA agent Rafe Jennings, the head of security at her place of work. After scolding her for her reckless and unacceptable behavior, he proceeds to give her exactly what she needs—a long, hard, thoroughly embarrassing bare-bottom spanking followed by a belt whipping over the edge of his desk. 

After her punishment, Rafe informs Maxine that from now on he’ll be making it his business to keep her in line, and though she protests, she cannot help recognizing that his guidance makes her feel safer and more loved than she’s ever felt before. Still, she can’t let herself believe that he could be genuinely interested in her or that he sees her as more than a girl who needs his help. 

Yet once he takes her into his arms and claims her fully, Maxine begins to wonder if maybe he truly does want her as his own. But when Rafe is sent overseas for one last mission, her fears send her into a spiral of self-destruction. Will he return in time to rescue Maxine from herself? 

Publisher’s Note: Unacceptable Behavior is an erotic romance novel that contains spankings, sexual scenes, anal play, elements of medical play, and more. If such material offends you, please don’t buy this book.

Review

Maxine has a secret yearning to be spanked and disciplined. She begins reading stories about women being taken with a firm hand and knows it is one of her darkest desires. When her reading over takes her work and it becomes noticeable her boss, Rafe has no choice but to give her proper guidance.

Rafe has wanted to claim Maxine for a long time but never made the move. Opportunity presents itself when Maxine gets into an accident and rear ends him. Now Rafe will be able to claim Maxine and give her the discipline she desperately needs.

Unacceptable Behavior is a fun story about a naughty lady taken by a caring yet firm hand. I loved how the story flowed and how the chemistry between characters grew. I look forward to reading more from Williams.

Assigned A Daddy

Title: Assigned A Daddy

Author: Emily Tilton

Publisher: Stormy Night Publications

Publication Date: December 3, 2015

Rating: 4 *'s

After eighteen-year-old Darla Hawkins is caught shoplifting, she is sentenced to spend six months in the custody of former marine colonel Mike Beckwith, who will act as her daddy and disciplinarian during that time. Mike is more than ready to be as firm as necessary, and when Darla doesn’t obey him promptly during their first meeting he wastes no time in baring her bottom, pulling her over his knee, and spanking her until she’s a very sorry little girl. 

Darla quickly discovers that a spanking is far from the most humiliating punishment Mike is prepared to employ when she fails to do as she is told, and before long she has lost the privilege of wearing big girl panties. Her daddy putting her in diapers is more embarrassing than anything she has ever imagined, yet to her shame it also leaves her intensely aroused. Her shame only increases when Mike decides that some very special training is required to deal with her repeated disobedience, and she soon learns that even her most intimate places belong to her daddy. 

Though his disciplinary techniques frequently leave her with blushing cheeks and a sore bottom, Mike’s caring guidance and loving attention help Darla blossom in a way she never could have before, and she grows closer to him with each passing day. But will she be left on her own when her sentence is completed, or will her daddy find a way to keep his little girl at his side forever? 

Publisher’s Note: Assigned a Daddy is an erotic novel that includes spankings, sexual scenes, age play, anal play, elements of medical play, elements of BDSM, and more. If such material offends you, please don’t buy this book.

Review

After caught shop lifting Darla is sentenced six months in a new program. One that is supposed to help women just like her that need a specific type of guidance. Darla feels nervous from the moment she meets Mike Beckwith. Unsure what the next six months will bring Darla forces herself to be open minded to Mike's ways but sometimes she goes astray.

Mike feels this new program is the change he needs in his life. Meeting Darla he knows he'll have his hands full but he is more than ready to take on the task. With a firm hand Mike guides Darla and helps her open her eyes to possibilities she never imagined.

I loved the uniqueness of this story and the beautiful bond that Mike and Darla form. It was realistic in that Darla questioned everything Mike did and her need to hesitate showed through even when she complied with her Daddy's wishes. The growth that Darla experiences from beginning to end is absolutely wonderful. With her Daddy's firm hand Darla is sure to change and blossom into her true self.

The Truth About Sugar

Title: The Truth About Sugar
Author: E.M. Youman
Publisher: Will Records Publishing
ASIN: B0190MWXLC
Pages: 34
Rating: 4 *'s

Description: On the verge of healing, an absentee stepfather takes his daughter to counseling, but explaining the past maybe too much for either of them to bear.

She's a banshee screaming, sugar-starved monster, and her zookeeper has left you all alone with her.
That's what's running through twenty-nine-year-old Henry Dalton's mind, when his five-year-old stepdaughter, Rebecca, enters the room and utters these fatal words. "Where's Mommy?

After deciding that fixing this problem-child is the key to winning his wife back, Henry comes up with the perfect recipe for turning Rebecca into the world’s little angel. Out goes the Valium and sugar-free snacks. Add a little pizza, ice cream and presto! But he soon discovers there's more than meets the eye with Rebecca. Now he'll have to remember what it's like to be a five-year-old and learn to communicate on her level.

At the center of the chaos is a sweet, little girl, who can charm the pants off him.
Which leaves him wondering if she’s an out of control banshee, or a victim screaming for help?

The child he never wanted to claim is the one who needs a Daddy the most.
A heartwarming coming of age tale about appreciating the gifts you have right in front of you.

My Review: Rebecca is a five year old little girl. Worried about her mommy she is constantly asking where she is. Her erratic behavior has her step-father worried about her. Letting loose may be just what she needs to feel safe about coming forward.

Henry marries Molly with the promise of starting a family of their own. When Molly walks out on her family Henry has to learn to cope with Rebecca and learn all about her.

Even though this is a quick read it is a wonderful story. It shows how hard it is for young children to come forward as victims of abuse. It also shows how difficult it is for someone to have their spouse walk out on them. The only thing I would have liked is more from Rebecca's point of view. To know her feelings and emotions as well. I look forward to reading more of Youman's work.

Top Reads In 2015

I didn't accomplish as much reading as I would have liked but I definitely discovered some new authors!

Elsa Black was a new author to me and reading this brought me into the world of Eden and all it had to offer. I really enjoyed this and loved that I made a new friend out of it!

Ava Sinclair was another new author to me. This was my first time reading Historical Age play and i new I found an author that I could read her historical novels and be interested in it.

I had heard about Trent Evans and his writing style. I ended up reading this in one session and quickly discovered that I'd be a long term fan of Evans.

BJ Wane another first time author for me and I loved the chemistry and lay out of this story. It is definitely one of my favorites.

This was another story that touched my heart. Wane certainly knows how to make you feel emotions that you didn't think you could feel.

In 2015 Knight took to a darker writing style. It wasn't the usual BDSM romance. Instead there were darker elements and it made me love Knight even more. Then when she co-authored with Evans I knew I had to read it.

Dawson was another new author to me. I loved this story! Love, love, loved it! I am not big for Historical Romances but the way Dawson wrote this captured me from page one.

This was another one by Knight that completely roped me in. I love the journey and the characters. Definitely one I'll be rereading.

This was definitely one of my top reads. I couldn't put this down once I started reading this and the way Alleman wove the story just kept me interested from page one.

The Don's Daughter is my favorite out of the Bossman Series. I love that Renee Rose has a strong writing style and to be able to enter the Mafia world is an absolute blast!

I love Katherine Deane's writing style because it is such a sweet style of writing. 

I loved this by Morganna. It was humorous and realistic. Also another new author for me in 2015!