Review: Rules of Entanglement by Gina L. Maxwell

Rules of Entanglement (Fighting for Love #2) by Gina L. Maxwell
Category Romance, Contemporary Romance, Erotic
Ebook $3.79 (219 pages, ENTANGLED: BRAZEN)
Seven days. And seven rules to break…
District Attorney Vanessa MacGregor firmly believes that structure and order are the stuff that dreams are made of. Happiness can be planned—and it starts with the seven rules she’s laid out for her future. But as she’s organizing her best friend’s wedding in Hawaii, all of Vanessa’s best-laid plans are about to meet their match in a wickedly hot MMA fighter…
Jackson "Jax" Maris is focused on surfing, training, and fighting. That is, until he opens up his big mouth and finds himself having to pretend he’s engaged to his little sister’s best friend, Vanessa. When they’re forced to share a romantic bungalow, however, their little charade suddenly takes a turn for the seriously sexy. And while Jax is definitely not part of Vanessa’s long-term plan, he has seven days—and seven naughty nights—to turn her seven-rule plan upside down.
Author Site: website

Enjoyable characters, flimsy plot... (3 stars)

When Jax Maris, brother of SEDUCING CINDERELLA's Lucie, gets stuck helping her BFF, Vanessa MacGregor, finalize Lucie's wedding plans things get sultry in Hawaii. Vanessa lives by her own special set of rules. Rules intended to protect her from reliving past hurts. But the disciplined D.A. isn't totally immune to the laid-back surfer boy charm of her best friend's older brother. Jackson is a smoldering MMA fighter hiding from his own secrets and determined to get Vanessa to let her guard down. When one little lie has the pair forced into pretending to be engaged, the rule breaking begins to snowball.

Jax might not know why Vanessa needs her rules but if he wants more than a fling he'll have to come clean... and hope he has a fighting chance at making her believe that sometimes the rules need to be broken.

As much as I wanted to love RULES OF ENTANGLEMENT, there was just something missing. I've decided part of the 'meh' factor is that SEDUCING CINDERELLA is a really hard book to write a sequel to. It was that phenomenal. Keeping that in mind I really did like both Jax and Vanessa. Together there was great chemistry and apart they were both compelling, a little wounded but not broken. I'm not a fan of any trope that focuses on a character who lives by a literal set of rules and Vanessa's, while understandable in their motivation, felt really ridiculous to me. Especially since I found them to conflict with her personality... as if she made them to keep herself in line rather than to truly protect her heart.

While the steamy scenes were enjoyable and I liked Jax and Vanessa the overall plotline was really dull. I enjoy a soapy fake-engagement from time to time but this really wasn't one. It was them pretending to be Lucie and Reid to fool an exclusive wedding planner. Which meant a lot of plodding along doing nothing interesting and then a nice flirty scene concluded with a great dirty romp. Not totally bad but not enough to really make it a read I want to do again. I did, however, really enjoy the look at Jax training and the MMA scene, it was a nice break from the usual.

Ultimately, I just didn't enjoy RULES OF ENTANGLEMENT that much and it's very much the result of it's predecessor being so awesome. One Maxwell's fans definitely shouldn't miss, especially for the late entrance of Lucie and Reid and the conclusion, but one newbies to her work shouldn't read as a first.

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Other Reviews:
Dear Author
Happily Ever After-Reads
Books vs. Boys
Sugar and Spice and Everything Naughty

Notes: Review copy received via publisher.

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Guest Post: Author Angela McCallister [BAD MOUTH Blog Tour + giveaways!]

The dangers of friending an author

(AKA How to get sucked into a book)

I’m an author, which really means no one is safe around me. Whether I’m writing a paranormal world or alien characters, I won’t hesitate to put you in a book. You might be surprised how much of an author’s life makes it onto the page.

In Bad Mouth, Ezra, the hero Kade’s best friend, is a powerful vampire. He’s compelling, and I know this because all who’ve read Bad Mouth are waiting eagerly to read more about him. He’s funny, seemingly light-hearted, but with a darkness you only see the edges of. What you might not guess is that he’s based from my real-life encounter with Alex Skarsgard, not his alter-ego as Eric, but the man. I spent half the day with Alex when he filmed scenes of Battleship on my Destroyer. Let’s get this out of the way: yes, I touched him, hugged him, and got to be close to his sexy, masculine scent *sigh* But he was funny and compassionate and down-to-earth, and he left a big impression on me, enough to make him a character in my book.

Review: Bad Mouth by Angela McCallister

Bad Mouth by Angela McCallister
Category Romance, Paranormal Romance, Vampires
Ebook $2.99 (180 pages, ENTANGLED: COVET)
After her ex-husband’s obsession with vampires, Valerie Craig is on a mission to stop transformations. Of all vampires, Kade Rollins is the worst of the worst, but when multiple murders plague Seattle, Val is forced to enlist his aid. Kade’s crude wit and seductive nature attract her like no other, but she can’t ignore his violence toward his human servants, no matter her yearning to forget.
She’s torn when she learns Kade may be behind the murders. Val's worked hard to protect humans from vampires, but the truth surrounding the murders could ignite a bloody battle between their races, one humans are sure to lose. Someone is pulling strings to build a vampire army and spark the war—setting Kade up to kick it off. But if she trusts the vampire prince, she risks her job, her integrity, and her heart if he betrays her as all the men in her life have.
Author Site: angelamccallister.com

Crisp world building. Great series starter. (4 stars)

McCallister really pulls the everyday category paranormal romance out of the ordinary with BAD MOUTH. With crisp world-building that establishes a dual-caste vampire society living side-by-side with humans this could easily have become a strong fabric for an urban fantasy or full-length paranormal romance series. I'm impressed with how well she pulled it off in such a short format without completely veering outside of the trope-y goodness categories are known for.

Kade is the cocky vampire tasked with helping Val and her partner solve a slew of murders that are causing tension in Seattle. She dislikes him from the start but there's no denying the growing attraction between them. Well-bred and on the serious side she's annoyed with Kade's crass language and blunt way of saying things, yet it grows on her as the story progresses. A relationship between them is a really bad idea considering that he's a vampire prince and she's working on legislation to make all vampire transformations illegal. The sensual tension sparking between them, however, just can't be denied.

This is one of those yummy enemies-to-lovers type stories that somehow flows so organically you forget they shouldn't be able to make it work. The steamy scenes practically melted my poor ereader and Kade's bad mouth made me blush more than a few times! But what really helps this one be a great series starter is the small cast of secondary characters. I'm well known for latching onto secondaries and while I liked Killian and Alice—who are the couple in the next series entry—I just love Ezra, so here's hoping McCallister writes a story for him too. There's a lot of room to dig around in this unique vampire society so fans of lengthier fiction might love BAD MOUTH as a palate cleansing read between longer ones.

Love a good dirty-talkin' hero? Kade's your man! Salivate for enemies-to-lovers without feuding families involved? BAD MOUTH's just what you're looking for. If you love your PNR with the world of the paranormals open to the humans ala True Blood, this one is a must read.

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Notes: ARC received via publisher.

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Review: A Riveting Affair (anthology)

A Riveting Affair Anthology by Candace Havens, Lily Lang, & Patricia Eimer
Steampunk, Romance, Anthology
Ebook $2.99 (249 pages, EVER AFTER)
Beauty and the Clockwork Beast
Rose Verney wants to fulfill her father’s dying request: to complete construction of the teleportation device he designed. Knowing just who can help her succeed, she seeks out Sebastian Cavendish, her father’s brilliant former student.
Sebastian hasn’t left his home since he returned from the Civil War. He's a broken man, his prosthetics a reminder of the terrible destruction his inventions brought to the battlefield. He wants nothing to do with Rose and her father's masterpiece, but when she barges into his abandoned lab and begins construction, it’s everything he can do to resist getting involved. Especially when she charms her way into his monstrous heart.
Demon Express
Professor Maisy Clark, professional demon hunter, is on the trail of an evil scientist responsible for the deaths of hundreds. Julian is worse than the monsters he creates, but he's also obsessed with Maisy and willing to kill anyone who gets too close to her.
Just when she thinks she has Julian cornered, the sexy marshall Jake Calloway insists the investigation is his, and everything goes to hell. Maisy came to Texas to corner the scientist whose macabre experiments have taken so many lives, and Calloway is just another distraction she doesn’t need. Julian is her responsibility, one she’s not about to share. Even if Calloway can help, Julian will know Maisy is falling for the marshall, and she's not willing to risk his life.
The Clockwork Bride
When engineer Aida Mulvaney attends a masquerade ball at the home of a staunch Luddite earl with a personal vendetta against her father’s company, she doesn’t expect to end the night married to the earl’s son Julian Capshaw, a brilliant engineer in his own right. The marriage will allow both of them to pursue their love of science, without interfering parents and ridiculous social stigmas. Though they escape to the Continent to start new lives, Julian’s father will have none of his heir’s disobedience. Before long, a marriage begun for the sake of convenience becomes a union of passion, but will it survive the machinations of an earl determined to destroy everything they love?

Pretty good starter stories for Steampunk Romance newbies... (4 stars)

As a pretty avid reader of steampunk romances I was very excited to see what this anthology from Entangled Publishing's Ever After imprint had to offer. Having previously read both Havens and Eimer I was pretty sure I would love it. Each story has a pretty unique premise and blends both steampunk elements and a romance well.

[DEMON EXPRESS by Candace Havens], was definitely not my favorite of the bunch. I just couldn't quite feel this mesh of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, steampunk-ish (I admit the tech didn't quite feel truly steampunk), Frankenstein, and wild west coming together. It had a very choppy feel and I didn't care for either the hero or heroine. There's definite potential but I think this could have fleshed better in a longer format where there was more time to understand the villain's origins. Not horrid, but one of those short stories that just falls short of its potential. (3 stars)

[THE CLOCKWORK BRIDE by Patricia Eimer], an Irish engineer and a wealthy earl from opposing families join forces in a marriage of convenience. Great premise! It's a little sexy, kinda funny, and plenty adventurous. This is the first story I've read from Eimer outside of her LUCK OF THE DEVIL series and while not as hysterically funny it's a great stretch of her talent as a writer. I really enjoyed Aida and Julian's banter but especially seeing their marriage of convenience go from friendly admiration to something more. If you love this classic trope and want to try steampunk this is a great one to start with! (4 stars)

[BEAUTY AND THE CLOCKWORK BEAST by Lily Lang], I had never heard of Lang before picking this anthology up and her offering was my favorite of the collection. A wounded hero and a heroine desperate to grant her father's last wish. They make for a dashing pair and my inner nerd just loved the science-y stuff. This is a great example of steampunk romance, one of the best short stories I've seen in the genre in regard to making the two mesh flawlessly. Tinkering and automatons, tea and kisses... yep, this one hit all my favorite parts of the genre nicely. One I also highly recommend for those who are new to the genre but even more so for those who already love it. (5 stars)

On the whole, it's a nice starting place for readers looking for a taste of romance in their steampunk or vice versa. I would love to see Entangled Ever Afters put out another anthology of this sort!

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Notes: Review copy received via publisher.

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