Resurrection  Child 
Author: Lee Pletzers
Genre: horror
Length: novel
TBR Reviewer: Mark
Rating: 2 stars - This had potential but we didn't like it.

Attempting to bring H.P. Lovecraft’s  Cthulhu Myths into the modern age, Resurrection Child follows the story of  Damon Hutter; a Neo-Nazi thug who is given the task of tracking down the woman  who will bring forth the seed of Cthulhu, thus heralding in a New Age, which will  see the return of the mythical Old Ones of legend. Before long, Damon  realizes he is the only one who can protect Caroline from the evil of the  Cthulhu cult when they turn against him. With Caroline’s life hanging in the  balance, it quickly becomes a race against time between two warring Cults and  the Police to determine who reaches her first and whoever wins holds the fate  of our world in their hands...
 
This was an okay novel that I had kind of high hopes for but which ultimately didn’t deliver. The amount of books and novella  that have been based around Lovecraft’s most famous creations by now must number  in the hundreds if not thousands and this was not amongst the better of them. I just felt as though the characters lacked some depth, the story just didn’t ring  particularly true and that Cthulhu here could have been replaced with any other  generic demon/ monster and the plot would not have overly suffered one whit. To  me, it just didn’t feel like a Cthulhu story and was more akin to
something like  Rosemary’s Baby or Dean Koontz’s Servants Of Twilight at times.
 
It felt like a bold effort to try and bring this myth into today’s modern setting but for me, it just didn’t try quite hard enough. I appreciate that maybe I might have gone in to this expecting a  bit too much but I just felt I wanted something more intense, more gritty than what I got here, which instead felt like just another generic horror thriller with nothing, outside of the presence of Cthulhu, that made it stand out. I want memorable characters and an involving plot not something that all rests upon a single thread and characters who I will forget within another one or two books. This is not the only Cthulhu book that has been released lately and I just felt if it wanted to compete it just needed to deliver something more...

Beast within the Maze by Mark Alders
Genre: m/m, fantasy
Length: Short
TBR Reviewer: Brutally Honest
Rating: 2 stars – this had potential but we didn’t like it.

I was so excited to read this book but was disappointed. It was so rushed that the characters felt flat. The time period didn't match with a lot of story elements. The plot was fantastic but with the lack of fleshed out scenes I couldn’t get into it. We just meet Dymas when he talks about meeting mouse and then suddenly it’s several months later. As that section plays out things get very telling rather than showing. Then suddenly Dymas who we know very little about, is in love with Mouse. It all very disjointed I’m sorry to say. 
 
 I just read two other books by Mark Alders. Titan Prime and Ripple in Time Eternal, both were fabulously written so I was surprise at this book. It was hard to get through and I know Alders is a great writer. Trust me, pick up another Mark Alders book and you will not be disappointed!

Black Rose
Author: Mira Draken 
Genre:  Erotic romance 
Length: 67
TBR Reviewer: Shyla
Rating: 2 stars - It had a lot of potential.
Heat: 4 Handcuffs - An Erotic Ride.

The summary for Black Rose really intrigued me. Tattoos and romance sounded like a match made in reader heaven. I’m sad to say that wasn’t the case for me this time. The story pretty much lost it’s luster with the introduction of the heroine, Rose. She came in to get a tattoo of a rose which we learn symbolized every man she’s slept with. The horrific story of her first time with a gang member was atrocious and didn’t seem to serve a purpose because she didn’t learn
from her bad decisions. She just kept making more, like entering a marriage with an alcoholic who made her miserable. I understand we all make mistakes, but if you’re not going to learn from them… 

The tattoo artist/hero, Jonathan seemed to be more and more in lust with Rose after each tattoo he inked, despite her sob stories. He drools every time she sashays into his shop with her tight fighting clothes, and lack of undergarments. Really?  I never got into this story as a romance. It lacked the caring, connection, and warm fuzzy feelings. The descriptions were superficial. I felt like I could be reading about anyone.  Perhaps that was the intention, and Ms. Draken wanted the reader to be able to literally put herself into the roles? I’m not sure, but for me it didn’t work. I would be interested in reading something else by Ms. Draken, its clear she has fresh ideals.

Tirzah's Allure
Author: Gabriella Bradley 
Genre: paranormal , erotic romance, Sci-fi
Length: 148
TBR Reviewer: Shyla
Rating: 2 stars - It had potential but we didn't like it.
Heat: 4 handcuffs - An erotic ride.

I have to start off saying I wanted to love this one.The descriptions were amazing, and the world she created was easy to get lost in. It was the characters that I got hung up
on. There was a lack of emotion I couldn’t gleam from the writing. It had new lands, interesting, vivid, description, plenty of hot, sensual encounters. But I felt like the soul was missing from the characters.  They came off as very two dimensional, a case of too much telling and not enough showing. The information really pulled me into the world, but it took away from Tirzah and Cain in many instances. 

Discontent with her life and the rules of her people, shape shifter, Tirzah takes to the forests and into the forbidden zone. She longs for cities of days long forgotten and new people with fresh ideals. What she finds is Cain. A shifter of a different breed who sends her hormones through the roof. Cain is a sexy, intelligent, shifter who waits patiently for Tirzah to learn his
language and custmos before he makes her his own. The sensitivity mixed in with his overt masculinity made him a delectable treat indeed. 

The plot was intriguing, but it went from mysterious to overly coincidental somewhere in the middle of the book. Things fell into place like a puzzle piece, and the driving force of the plot was lost. 

Loving the partner by Shawn Lane
Genre: m/m, contemporary, erotica
Length: Short
TBR Reviewer: Brutally Honest
Rating: 2 stars – It had potential but we didn’t like it.

It was great to have the characters from the previous books have a few lines. I’m sort of torn on this book though. Walt is dating Rebecca when he sleeps with Jacob. Essential he’s a cheating bastard so Walt isn’t exactly a character I liked. Jacob was really well written but again, he sleeps with Walt while he was dating another person. They’re both...low in morals and that for me, made this book somewhat hard to enjoy. 

I definitely recommend the first two books in this series but I can’t condone cheating.

The path of the fallen by Dan  O’brien 
Genre: Science Fiction
Length: novel
Reviewer: Mark
Rating: 2 Stars - Had potential but we didn't like it.

The world as we know it is no more.  Generations have passed and many centuries into our future, only a few remnants  of humanity remain, secreted in a frozen and inhospitable Tundra. E’Malkai  Armen is our last hope as he sets off  on a pilgrimage that could be the last
chance for victory against an onslaught  of unstoppable evil....

 
Path of the fallen is like an amalgamation of  several different Sci-fi stories and concepts that seems to find its main source influence in the likes of Frank Herbert’s Dune and Ian M. Bank’s  Culture series, with a little bit or lots of other ideas thrown into the mix for good measure. 
That is not to say this isn’t original in its own way because it is. It is just that anyone of a certain age who has been reading Sci-fi for a long time now will recognize some of the authors inspiration for this story and may feel a little that they have seen similar things done before. And done better....
  
 In this book, there was heavy, storming Sci-fi  action set against a vast villainous intelligence that the odds say can’t be beat, coupled with long often unpronounceable names and varying points of view. I was  slightly less impressed and though I kind of liked the direction this story eventually takes, I did find it a bit slow to start and had trouble really getting to grips with the universe O’Brien had created here very early on. You are kind of thrown into E’Malkai’s world a little, sink-or-swim style and it took me a few chapters to really work out who was who and what was going  on.
 
To say I enjoyed this book would be  overstating my experience slightly. I found it okay but never really got over my initial problems getting to proper grips with the plot. This kind of tainted the  rest of my reading and I did find myself struggling a little to maintain my interest in parts. That said, I found this okay as far as heavy Sci-fi goes but no more than average at best.

A Shimmer of Silk by Raven McAllen
Genre: BDSM, erotic, historical
Length: Novella
TBR Reviewer: Brutally Honest
Rating: 2 Stars – It had potential but we didn’t like it.

The amazing and shocking acts toward the beginning were...boring. The wax event was not even sensual just well, boring. There was nothing really to capture the reader and bring them into this historical romance. Oliver was boorish and not at all likable. It is also insta-love, which takes away from both characters and story. And despite having a tragic, horrible past Deb takes Oliver into his arms and accepts the whole BDSM thing in the span of a few hours! She doesn’t even know him!

This had a lot of promise but fell flat. The author has a great plot idea and I think in time I’ll revisit their work.

Sucking Santa’s Candy Cane by Angelina Rain
Genre: erotica, Christmas
Length: Novella
TBR Reviewer: Brutally Honest
Rating: 2 Stars – Had potential but we didn’t like it.

With a title like that who wouldn’t want to give this a read?

I have a big issue with this new trend, women inviting strange men in their car/house just because their hot. Life is not a fairytale and that hot guy is probably some psycho looking to cut you into little pieces. Call me cautious. Anyway Noelle, our lead female, invites Santa a strange hot man into her car because his vehicle broke down. Not the best way to start a story as Noelle now sounds like an idiot. However, she is a cop so she should have more training than the normal woman should. Therefore, I’m not judging her character yet. That is until they start making out on the side of the road. Sigh. Let’s say for fiction’s sake, there’s no such things as std’s or crazy killers and the author wanted to keep this light hearted. Santa is still a STRANGER! There’s no connection between the characters so the sex is very aloof. Then she’s torn about her ex cheating on her but takes Santa’s word he’s single. Come on! 
 
If Noelle was a good girl and had been spurned, why would she possible trust this stranger’s word? The plot was thin but the characters were nearly translucent. There was no depth.  The
peppermint-tasting penis was an interesting idea. I think this story was rushed and needed a more solid plot to be successful.

Seduced by the Storm by Sydney Croft
Genre: Paranormal, Erotica
Length: (Softcover – purchased)
Reviewer: Brutally Honest
Rating: 2 Stars - Had potential, but we didn't like it.
Heat: 5 Stars - Orgasmic

I’ve read several Croft novels before and in this series. They’ve been great. This one however, was an absolute let down. The beginning of this book was very muddled, I think the author was trying to introduce new readers into this world but it just came off as confusing. It was jumpy throughout the book with all the POV’s. It’s like two separate books meshed into one. Ms. Croft needed more balance between story and passion. There were just too many sex scenes that
really began to take away from the plot. Don’t get me wrong, the sex was creative and really hot but there was too much. 

As the story progresses I really started to dislike Faith. She’s trying to save her sister, Liberty, but stops to have sex with Wyatt and then she helps him recover from a dive and then sex again. Then in the middle of getting the motherboard that will free her sister, she stops and...yes, you guessed it, they have sex, again. Some sister she is.
 
I read about three quarters of the book before I gave up. The characters didn’t work. I
disliked Faith so much that I don’t care what happens to her and Wyatt. I could not get over Faith trusting Wyatt and taking every opportunity to sleep with him instead of saving her sister. Liberty, her sister, was nearly forgotten in all the nakedness.

Seduced by the Storm was not seductive and left me wondering if I should let this collect dust on my shelf or donate it to the library. 

Fresh squeezed by Bonnie Biafore and James Ewing 
Genre: comedy thriller  
Length: novel
Rating: 2 Stars - We didn't like it.

When Juice entered the Government’s  Witness Relocation Program and began his new life as Ted, the hapless Fishing  Guide, he picked the small community of Wanaduck because he thought it would be  quiet. He was wrong! After a giant plastic hotdog falls on him during a fishing  trip (don’t ask!) along with a dead body, he soon finds himself pulled into a  Police
investigation that uncovers a grand conspiracy that has implications for  the future of the whole town. A secret that certain people are prepared to  kill to protect! Before long, his identity is at risk......along with his  sanity.
  
Fresh Squeezed comes described as a cross between the likes of authors such as Carl Hiaasen, Elmore Leonard, and Tim  Dorsey but seeing as how I have never read any of these authors, I came in to  this not sure what to expect. What I got was an okay read that seemed a bit too  over-complicated and convoluted. High points for me included an incredibly  inept hit-man who comes to the town and his hilarious efforts to take out his  three intended targets.....low points included the length. For me, this book  started to drag on and out stayed its welcome and I found the over involved  plot a little too much at times!
 
Overall, this was an okay read but nothing to write home about. It had some very funny moments and Juice was quite engaging as a character but, as a whole, I was left  feeling a bit drained after wading through this novel and its  more-complicated-than-it-needed-to-be plot.