Player's Ultimatum
by Koko Brown

Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Erotica
Main Characters Ethnicity: BW-AM
Format: eBook
Sensuality Level: Extra Spicy
Rating:

How far would you go for a friend?

Roma Internazionale’s team captain, Paolo Saito is mourning the death of his best friend and teammate João Schmitt. Paolo wants to punish his new teammate, Robbie Gutierrez, who he feels is responsible for João slipping into depression and killing himself. So, he hires an unscrupulous paparazzo to follow his new teammate around and get the dirt on him.

After all, there’s nothing in the world the Brazilian born, Japanese footballer wants that he doesn’t get.

Nothing – whether it’s revenge or a woman. And if getting revenge upon the one person he hates most, happens to involve seducing a woman he can’t keep his eyes or hands off of, even better.

Yvonne Floyd’s best friend, Robbie Gutierrez has a problem. He needs to get the press off his back regarding his sexual preferences. And what are friends for if they can’t help you out in times of need? They’ve been friends forever, so she agrees to it. After all, aside from getting to spend time with her best friend in Italy while shopping in exclusive designer stores, Robbie’s going to pay off her student loans and give her enough money to buy herself a condo to show his gratitude.

Simple enough, right? Wrong.

Problem is, the chemistry between Yvonne and Robbie’s arch-nemesis, Paolo is immediate and absolutely off the charts. And while the appearance of Robbie’s fiancée might quiet the press, every fiber in Paolo’s body screams that Yvonne might love Robbie, but she belongs to only him.

Now, Yvonne and Paolo have another set of problems.

How can she support her best friend in obtaining his life’s goal, while going after what her heart and body desires the most? And for Paolo, how can he honor the memory of his best friend and still “sleep with the enemy?”

From the opening scene of Koko Brown’s “Player’s Ultimatum,” Ms. Brown simply asks readers, “How far would you go to protect a friend?” and more importantly, “Can you selflessly give up a chance at real love and personal happiness for the sake of a friend?” Yvonne and Paolo, even with all of his arrogance, from time to time have to ask themselves this question and it’s not an easy question for either of them to contemplate, never mind answer honestly.

Packed with sexual tension and hot love scenes from beginning to end, “Player’s Ultimatum” reminds readers of how passion can get so hot and out of control that it cannot, and will not, be denied. Even in the face of impending disaster for all concerned.

What IMRR….

Likes…dare we say, LOVED that the author chose a Japanese hero that had been born and raised in Brazil. He gave the book an interesting flavor that we truly enjoyed.

Dislikes: We’ve given this book a 4 ½ Star rating. Do you REALLY think there was anything we could’ve disliked about it?

The only reason, the book didn’t receive a 5 star rating was due to some easy to ignore punctuation/grammar errors that spellcheck may have ignored due to the fact that the words weren’t misspelled. Shoot, we gladly volunteer to beta-read anything Ms. Brown writes from this point forward to assure that her next review from us is a 5 star.

IMRR’s Favorite Scene:

***SPOILER ALERT***

There’s a toss-up for favorite scene.

We LOVED the masquerade ball scene.

Dressed as Little Bo Peep, Yvonne, finds herself at the…ahem…mercy of the Big, Bad and Deliciously Sexy Wolf. She lets down her guard enough to be honest enough with him to say, “I don’t want to sleep alone tonight.” Not that she did a lot of sleeping. Ha-ha-ha!!!!

But equally seductive is a scene in a ladies room further along in the story. We won’t go into detail, but it’s in a ladies room and it’s the kind of scene that not only forces a reader to turn on a fan, but smile near its conclusion when Yvonne gives Paolo a reality check.

You’ve gotta love a woman willing to give a man a reality check!

The Dragon Who Loved Me
by G.A. Aiken

Publisher: Zebra Books/Kensington
Genre:Fantasy
Ethnicity:WW-WM
Sensuality Level: Spicy
Rating:

Southland Dragon, Rhona The Fearless has been fighting on the battle field under the Mad Queen, Annwyl The Bloody for five years. During those five years, she’s also been training her youngest siblings to become soldiers worthy of becoming Dragonwarriors; an aspiration she does not share with her siblings, much to her mother’s despair. Rhona, quite simply, is satisfied with merely being a soldier.

When Annwyl embarks on a suicidal mission to enlist the help of The Rebel King, Gaius, alone, it’s not long before Rhona is sent to retrieve the Queen….Dead or Alive. But before she can step one claw in the last known direction of Annwyl, Northland Commander Vigholf The Abhorrent, informs her that he’s going with her. Not that he doesn’t think she’s capable, but just because….she intrigues him.

Lighting Dragon, Vigholf The Abhorrent is part of the new generation of Northland dragons who no longer believe in capturing females against their will and claiming them as mates. But he still feels that females shouldn’t be on the battle field. At least that was his thought until he met Rhona. Rhona’s the perfect soldier. She takes orders…even the crazy ones, without flinching and gets the job done. But when she’s sent to retrieve Annwyl, his innate desire to protect her has him following her whether she likes it or not.

He just hopes she likes it…a lot.

“The Dragon Who Loved Me” is the fifth book in G.A. Aiken’s  Dragon Kin series and like its predecessors, it delivers a laugh-filled tale of a loyal, vicious, yet clueless (when it comes to males) heroine who loves her family fiercely and the clearly besotted, male who’s decided she belongs to him even if she doesn’t know it.

What IMRR….

Likes: Well, there’s three things that I “Like”

1. That Ms. Aiken didn’t neglect to continue the saga of Iseabail and Éibhear. Eventually, they’re going to get their own story and it’s going to be off the charts!
2. She fully introduces us to the next generation (other than Izzy) of kids in Annwyl and Feargus’ twins Talwyn and Talan as well as Talaith and Briec’s “perfect, perfect daughter” (his words not mine), Rhian. I looked forward to their scenes as much as I did those of Vigholf and Rhona.
3. Virtually every character we’ve ever loved in the Dragon Kin universe makes an appearance in “The Dragon Who Loved Me” and I not only still love them, I’m pretty sure I want to be Annwyl when I grow up!

Dislikes: That it will probably take another three to five years before we get to read about Iseabail and Éibhear because she’s still WAY too young to make her a heroine with a book of her own.

IMRR’s Favorite Scene: **MINI-SPOILER ALERT**

The last battle scene...in a book chocked full of great scenes and characters, it’s in the last battle scene, about two seconds before it all goes up in flames and the flash of steel that Vigholf utters my favorite line of the book to Rhona….

Vigholf released Rhona, pushed her away from him. “Kill them all. Leave none to remember this day.” He grinned at her. “We’ll remember it for them.”
It’s the perfect line because we know if he hadn’t won Rhona’s heart before that point in the book, those fourteen words would have won it for him.