Unwrapping a Review of Shelly Bell's White Collared series - MERCY, GREED, REVENGE, & PASSION

In all honesty, I wish this series had been one book or two at the most because I can’t imagine having had to wait between installments for this one to play out. Take my advice and purchase all four at once, load them on your reader and have them ready to read one after the other. Yes, they are that good, and that addicting. Rather than review them individually, I’ll give you a few thoughts on each but review them together as a whole.

***purchased for my own personal reading but sharing my honest and unscripted review.

Blurb for MERCY - Part One:

The first sexy installment in Shelly Bell's four-part serialized erotic thriller about a young law student who must go undercover at a sex club to prove her client is not guilty of murder.

Driven by ambition …

Third-year law student Kate Martin outran her tragic past to become an intern for her idol and secret crush, the powerful attorney Nicholas Trenton. She is thrilled when Nick assigns her to represent his best friend and client, millionaire Jaxon Deveroux … the prime suspect in his submissive wife Alyssa's murder.

Seduced by desire …

Kate knows they have only a few days to find the real killer, and since signs point to a member of the BDSM community, she volunteers to go undercover as Jaxon's submissive at Benediction—the private sex club where he is a member—to covertly investigate Alyssa's last few months. For years, Kate has kept her dark fantasies a secret … but a chance to explore them with sexy, dominant Jaxon is just too tempting to pass up.

An amazing and engrossing start to a mystery that even when you think it’s solved, it’s not. The first installment of this fabulous series teases and cajoles you into the mysterious and misunderstood world of BDSM. Kate is attracted to two very Alpha males while involved in a relationship that has never been exciting for her but instead, just safe. Eager to please her boss, Nick Trenton—one of the men she fantasizes about—and advance her career, she can’t help but imagine herself in the arms of their client, a man suspected of killing his wife in a decadent and abusive fashion thus putting her life and her career on the line. The knowledge that Jaxon and Alyssa Deveroux were heavily into BDSM does nothing to deter but instead, incites fantasies she’s always had but never admitted, even to herself.

This first installment ends with a warning, perhaps she should take it.

~*~                      ~*~                        ~*~                      ~*~

Blurb for GREED - Part Two:

In the second installment of Shelly Bell's four-part serialized erotic thriller, law student Kate Martin enters a world of dark secrets and seductive fantasies at the exclusive sex club Benediction.

Restrained by duty …

Reeling from a threatening phone call and frightened that her past will be revealed, Kate turns to the one man she can still trust: Nick. She can't deny her attraction to him, yet she craves the passionate connection she has with Jaxon.

Bound by passion …

Undercover at Benediction, Jaxon introduces Kate to the sensual pleasures found in exhibitionism and voyeurism. While they mingle with the club's patrons, Jaxon and Kate unearth clues about his wife Alyssa's last days that could lead them to her killer. But as she investigates further, Kate is shocked to learn of a cold case that is eerily similar to Alyssa's murder … and when the evidence ties Jaxon to yet another death, Kate begins to question everything she knows about her enigmatic lover.

We venture deeper into the world of BDSM with Kate and Jaxon while truths are exposed from all directions, and we continue to stumble over clues pertaining to Alyssa’s murder and Jaxon’s involvement. It’s getting complicated as Kate begins to succumb to the new world she’s exploring at night while trying to do her job during the day, and keep her distance from Jaxon.

This installment ends with an attack that will surprise you.

~*~                       ~*~                         ~*~                        ~*~

Blurb for REVENGE - Part Three:

In the third sexy installment of Shelly Bell's serialized erotic thriller, Kate will finally entrust Jaxon with her secrets, but the lies he's told have the power to break her heart … and threaten her life.

Motivated by honor …

After a gruesome discovery, the men in Kate's life unite to protect her from imminent danger, but Jaxon becomes consumed by the fierce desire to possess her fully. Kate trusts him enough to surrender to him in the bedroom, but she still fears the vulnerability of complete and utter submission.

Enslaved by pleasure …

Jaxon continues to push Kate's sexual and emotional boundaries, penetrating her defenses and crumbling the walls she has built around the painful memories of her past. But just as she opens her heart and accepts a future with Jaxon, the devastating truth about Alyssa's death shatters the tenuous bond they share, testing their relationship and propelling her directly into the path of a desperate murderer. 

Kate is discovering she enjoys the world Jaxon is showing her but she still can’t bring herself to succumb completely to it, especially with her past rearing its ugly head at nearly every turn. Having thought she’d put it completely behind her, she’s coming to realize that it doesn’t take much to bring it screaming back to the forefront…just a little investigative ingenuity. When the truth of Alyssa’s death and the time leading up to it is revealed, Kate isn’t sure what or whom she can trust anymore.

This installment ends with Kate learning she’s not the dangerous person she’s come to think she is.

~*~                         ~*~                       ~*~                      ~*~

Blurb for PASSION - Part Four:

In the thrilling conclusion of Shelly Bell's White Collared series, Kate and Jaxon are finally free to put the past behind them, but a shocking betrayal could have deadly consequences that neither saw coming.

Compelled by truth …

With Alyssa's murder solved, Kate attempts to fix the damage to her relationship with Jaxon, but with his reputation and career destroyed by false accusations, Jaxon asks for time to consider their future. Yet as hard as Kate tries, she can't extinguish her desire for Jaxon, or forget the pleasure she's found in submission.

Dominated by love …

In an attempt to convince Jaxon they truly belong together, Kate allows him to dominate her completely, signifying her trust and proving her love. But just as everything she's ever dreamed of is finally within her grasp, Kate discovers a chilling secret from Alyssa's past that brings her world crashing down … and reveals a murderer hiding in plain sight. 

This installment will have you questioning everything that you thought you already knew and start questioning where the investigation has already taken you. That’s all I’m going to tell you because if I say anything more, I’ll be giving up too much information and you have to experience it for yourself.

The White Collared series by Shelly Bell is an extraordinary, exciting, steamy hot as all get-out story line, and definitely makes FIFTY SHADES OF GREY pale in comparison. This is the real emotion, psychology, and excitement of the world of BDSM. Shelly Bell has done an incredible job of presenting this hidden world in a way that we can all understand and hopefully, appreciate. Whether it is your cup of tea is up to you but as a reading experience, it rocks big time. This is a series that most certainly has to be read in order to capture the full impact of the story, the mystery, the romance, and the eventual happily-ever-after.

I highly recommend each book in the White Collared series by Shelly Bell, MERCY, GREED, REVENGE, and PASSION because one without the others would be a travesty in reading. Take a walk on the wild side and trust me, if you even half-way liked FIFTY SHADES OF GREY, you’ll fall head over heels in love with Shelly Bell’s works because that other one looks so dull in comparison.

Happy Reading Everyone! 
**Also, if any of you review regularly on Goodreads, Avon Books would love to send you egalleys in exchange for an honest review. If you're interested, click here to sign up. xox

About the Author:

A sucker for a happy ending, Shelly Bell writes sensual romance often with a bit of kink and action-filled erotic thrillers with high-emotional stakes for her alpha heroes and kick-ass heroines. She began writing upon the insistence of her husband who dragged her to the store and bought her a laptop. When she’s not working her day job, taking care of her family or writing, you’ll find her reading the latest smutty romance. 

MERCY, GREED, REVENGE, and PASSION, White Collared novellas by Shelly Bell, Red Avon Impulse, available in print and ebook formats at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobobooks.

    

Unwrapping a Review of REVEALING US, book 3 in the Inside Out Trilogy by Lisa Renee Jones

I’ve read every installment of the Inside Out Series so far and I’m so ready for the STARZ mini-series. With REVEALING US, book three in this fab series by Lisa Renee Jones, we finally discover all the secrets – or do we?

***purchased a copy for my own personal reading but am sharing my honest and unscripted review.

Blurb for REVEALING US:

The third installment in the sexy Inside Out erotic romance series—in the seductive tradition of Fifty Shades of Grey.

You've discovered Rebecca's secrets. You've discovered Sara's secrets. Now Sara will discover "his" deepest, darkest secrets...but will those secrets bind them together--or tear them apart?

*                     *                       *                       *                     *

Sara McMillan and Chris Merit travel to Paris, France to find out if they truly are meant to be together and to find out what’s happened to Sara’s friend, Ella Ferguson. Once in Paris, Sara confronts a part of Chris’s life she must decide she can handle even as she feels lost in a strange city, unable to speak the language, and not even comfortable with the food. Chris has promised to reveal the truth about his past, and she has promised to handle it without freaking out and leaving him, but when she meets two women who are a great part of his past, she struggles to pull an inner strength forward to resist running. When they discover someone else is looking for Ella, Sara becomes concerned the events surrounding Rebecca are repeating themselves, and dealing with Ava is more than enough right now.

Lisa Renee Jones managed to keep us on the edge even as the series starts to come to a close - or does it? She manages to dangle yet another mystery in front of us at the end of this one, but not wishing to give away too much, I’m not going to say anything more. REVEALING US by Lisa Renee Jones may not be as intriguing, as edge of the seat, or addicting as the first two books, IF I WERE YOU and BEING ME, were but it begins to give us closure even as it dangles the carrot for more yet to come.

If you haven’t read this series, I don’t want to give away too much but I highly recommend you do. There’s so much hoopla over that SHADES movie coming out, but this is the series you won’t want to miss when it premieres on STARZ – dates still unknown, and we’re getting very anxious, Lisa. ;-)

I highly recommend REVEALING US by Lisa Renee Jones, not because it’s the best read but because it starts us on the road to closure, which we need for Sara and Chris. If you haven’t dipped your toes into this seductively erotic romance series then by all means, do. Start with IF I WERE YOU, follow it with Rebecca's Lost Journals before moving on to BEING ME and REVEALING US. And don’t miss the novellas, featuring Chris and Mark’s stories from their point of view, either. They give great insight into the men, and then you'll want to read NO IN BETWEEN, the 4th book in the Inside Out series, just as I do. Next!

Happy Reading Everyone!

REVEALING US, an Inside Out novel by Lisa Renee Jones, Gallery Books, available in print and ebook formats at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobobooks.

***click on links above or cover below for purchasing information, remember even pennies per sale using my links help keep this blog alive. Thank you.

   

Unwrapping My Thoughts on FIFTY SHADES OF GREY, the Movie & BDSM in Romance Novels

With all of the excitement building over the upcoming release of the movie version of FIFTY SHADES OF GREY by E.L. James, I got to thinking about the way BDSM (Bondage-Dominance-Submission-Masochism) is portrayed in romance novels today. I am not a fan of the FSofG series and do not expect to see the movie unless I hear some very good things about it – namely that it’s better than the book, but since a movie version of a book is so rarely better than the original, I doubt it will happen.

Have you seen the trailer? Some think it's really sexy, racy, or whatever. I think it's about as exciting as the book. Not.

There are many romance authors today who portray BDSM from mild to extreme so much more erotically, and genuinely that it got me thinking back to some older romance novels which were never labeled as BDSM but actually can be added to the list. One in particular is WARRIOR’S WOMAN by Johanna Lindsay.

Now, before fans of Johanna Lindsay jump on me and proclaim, NO WAY!, if you’ve read this particular book and its series, think about some of the sex portrayed. I loved this trilogy of sci-fi romance created by Johanna and wish she’d revisit this type of romance again.

In the year 2139, fearless Tedra De Arr sets out to rescue her beleaguered planet Kystran from the savage rule of the evil Crad Ce Moerr.

Experienced in combat but not in love, the beautiful, untouched Amazon flies with Martha, her wise-cracking, free-thinking computer, to a world where warriors reigns supreme - and into the arms of the one man she can never hope to vanquish: the bronzed barbarian Challen Ly-San-Ter.

A magnificent creature of raw yet disciplined desires, the muscle-bound primitive succeeds where no puny Kystran male had before - igniting a raging fire within Tedra that must be extinguished before she can even think of saving her enslaved world...

Many erotic romance novels today have a dominant male paired with a confident yet submissive female where mild to extreme BDSM is introduced between the couple but WARRIOR’S WOMAN was first released in 1990 by Avon Romance and for the time, it pushed the envelope further than most romance novels had ever gone before. There was a cultural traditionalism behind the behavior on the part of the hero, Challen, and the heroine, Tedra, was a self-sufficient, tough, warrior who challenged her hero every step of the way. Her refusal to submit to his dominant behavior resulted in a few punishment scenes, one of which even included an explicitly non-painful spanking scene, which left her hero with a very bad taste in his mouth. His punishment amounted to bringing her as close to orgasm as possible without allowing her the satisfaction desired by her. When she told him if he wanted to truly punish her, he should do it properly with a spanking. His means of punishment was never about pain but simply a means to make her understand he was in control of her, and her pleasure. 

Well, as women, we may not agree with that because we all know we are responsible for our own pleasure and it’s our willingness to share it with our men, which enhances it and makes our men feel triumphant. But along the lines of BDSM, Challen believed himself in charge, dominant if you will, but in truth, we know it was Tedra who led his heart and so led his desire to please her and keep her from pain.

So with this in mind, I’m drawn back to FIFTY SHADES OF GREY and its manner of pushing the envelope toward humiliation, Christian’s need to crush Ana, her heart, and make her feel as low as he feels. These are things which turned me off about this series. I’m all for reading erotic romance with BDSM themes, even when they don’t particularly make me comfortable. Voyeurism themes tend to make me uncomfortable but not necessarily because of the theme but it’s the idea of a man who loves his woman and yet still feels it’s okay for other men to watch her pleasure that turns me away. I believe there’s play and then there’s respect. Love needs respect to survive, just as it needs respect to exist in the first place.

True, in any games of BDSM, there is a level of mutual acceptance and the dynamic is supposed to be one of consensual play but again, I don’t feel that in FSofG the way I feel it in other erotic romance with BDSM elements. So my question to you is the same one I would ask a partner in real life, how far is too far when introducing elements of bondage, dominance, submission, and masochism into a romantic relationship?

Also, will you be seeing the movie? 

Feel free to comment, rant, blast me, or agree - I want to know your thoughts. Happy Reading Everyone!