Controlled Burn by Amy Briggs

Title: Controlled Burn

Author: Amy Briggs

Series: Brotherhood of District 23

Genre: Contemporary Military Romance

Publisher: Self-Published

Release Date: December 1, 2016

Edition/Format: eBook

Source: Amazon Purchased

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Blurb:  Seth Jackson, known as Jax to his friends and family, has always been the easy-going, loyal, and dependable friend to everyone. Marine Corps veteran and career firefighter, Jax enjoys a simple life, hanging out with friends, and chasing the ladies. Always the most level-headed of his friends, he suddenly finds himself spinning out of control, unable to sleep and suffering from nightmares and anxiety. When he finds out he suffers from PTSD, he second-guesses everything around him and starts searching for the normalcy he thought he was living.

Vivian Deveraux, a twenty-five-year old with a penchant for selling real estate deals like a seasoned agent, thought she was just negotiating another deal. While brokering a sale for his friends, Vivian meets Jax, who instantly stirs up emotions she had kept buried for years.

Jax pursues Vivian in an effort to fill a hole he didn’t realize he’d had, but will their connection actually create more darkness?

**Controlled Burn is the 3rd book in the Brotherhood of District 23 series, but CAN be read as a standalone**

Review: In this final installment, we meet Seth and Vivian, two great and loyal people who are trying to fight their way through the darkness.  Seth is working to come to the light and see his self-worth when he meets Vivian.  Vivian is also struggling through her own sense of darkness after the loss of her brother. 

With so many similarities they face, will they withstand the storm or crumble under the pressure?

Seth is trying to do the right thing but when confronted with the truth of Vivian’s past, will he fall back on bad habits or realize he is worthy.  Will it be too late to save themselves and each other?

I really think this book had a great storyline and I loved the characters but feel the ending was rushed.  I also felt an air of suspense around Vivian throughout the book as far as her job and wish the author would have tied up more loose ends since this is the final installment.

All in all, good book, great storyline, and great character development as well.

Purchase Links

Amazon

Don't miss out on any of the others in this series!

Fired Up and Fully Involved

Also, please check out my reviews for Fired Up and Fully Involved, here!

Review Restrained Under His Duty by Stacey Kennedy

Title: Restrained Under His Duty
Author: Stacey Kennedy 
Series: Dirty Little Secrets  Book 3
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Suspense, BDSM
Publisher: Loveswept
Release Date: April 4 2017
Edition: eBook
Source: Loveswept via NetGalley
Rating 4.5 Stars
Blurb/Synopsis:

An uninhibited politician’s daughter falls for her loyal bodyguard behind closed doors in this scandalous novel from the USA Today bestselling author of Bound Beneath His Pain and Tied to His Betrayal.

As the chief of security for a prominent senator, Ryder Blackwood is stunned when an anonymous source sends him a compromising photo of his boss’s twenty-five-year-old daughter getting down and dirty in an underground sex club. If it gets out, the media firestorm could ruin her father. More troubling for Ryder is how arousing he finds the whole situation. He’s known Hadley Winters since she was a kid. And now she’s the woman in all his most private fantasies.

Wild behavior helps Hadley get through those painful, lonely nights, but she’s been waiting a long time for a man like Ryder to protect her from herself. Ryder is raw. He’s real. And he makes her feel safe. Now that they’ve both become pawns in a blackmailer’s dangerous game, there’s more at stake than her father’s political career. As the intimate threats tear apart a tender new love, Hadley is forced to trust Ryder with her life—and her heart.

Thoughts

Danger, Intrigue and Totally HOT
Restrained Under His Duty is the third book in Stacey Kennedy’s series entitled Dirty Little Secrets, and it takes us into the erotic BDSM world of the Dominants’ Council, four men who are not only friends but also own the four sole sex clubs in the city. Though this is the third title the first two titles Do NOT need read though I highly recommend it because the main story is slowly unfolding in each installment.

The chemistry between Ryder and Hadley is off the charts hot even if it is a little forbidden in Ryder’s eyes, he tries to live by the rule that you don’t mix business with pleasure but the heart wants what it wants, and Ryder’s heart wants his boss’s daughter. Everything about her is what he craves and wants and it becomes impossible to not cross those boundaries and break every rule he set for himself. This story is filled with mystery intrigue and a little danger just enough to keep you flipping those pages, but at its core it love that keeps us engaged as we watch two people fight against what they really really want and that is each other until it all becomes too much and those self-imposed boundaries are crossed and once crossed it can’t be undone.

I love this series. I was looking forward to this one (and dying for the next one)...and as a book, it did not disappoint, but as a part of the series, I wanted more. The buildup in each story answers just enough to satisfy but leaves us craving so much more. Come on Nov I need Gabe’s Story.

**** Disclosure of Material: I received a final and/or advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley and the Author/Publisher with the hope that I will leave my Unbiased Opinion. I was not required to leave a review, positive or otherwise, and my opinions are just that... My Opinions. I am posting this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising". *****

Purchase Links 

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

iBooks

Kobo

Don’t miss any of Stacey Kennedy’s seductive Dirty Little Secrets novels:

BOUND BENEATH HIS PAIN | TIED TO HIS BETRAYAL | RESTRAINED UNDER HIS DUTY  |  CUFFED BY HIS CHARM

Review of "Gorgeous Chaos" by TK Leigh

Title:  Gorgeous Chaos
Author:  TK Leigh
Series:  The Beautiful Mess Series
Genre:  Contemporary Romantic Suspense
Publisher:   Carpe Per Diem, Inc / Tracy Kellam
Release Date:  May 4, 2014
Edition/Format: 1st Edition / eBook
Source:  Amazon Purchased
Rating: 3.5 Stars

Blurb:  How long can you keep a secret from the one you love? How can you possibly say the words that will rip both your worlds apart?

Finally able to face her fears of abandonment, Olivia Adler begins to prepare for the next phase of her life. But Alexander Burnham is still holding on to all the secrets about Olivia’s past, trying to protect her. As days go by, Olivia is slowly starting to remember her past and Alexander realizes it’s only a matter of time until she puts all the pieces together and figures out who he is…

And who she is...

But if she remembers, her life could be in even more danger than it already is, and Alexander cannot have that happen. When shadows of Olivia’s past threaten not only her life, but also those around her, will Alexander finally put Olivia’s needs ahead of his? Will she be able to put all the pieces of her past together in order to save her own life and those that she’s close to? Can she figure out who she can trust and who is threatening her very existence? Gorgeous Chaos is the explosive conclusion to T.K. Leigh’s Beautiful Mess series.

Review:  In this thrilling conclusion to the Beautiful Mess series, all will be revealed.  I thoroughly enjoyed this series, although this particular installment dealt with darker themes than the previous two.  Some of the things we find out in this book are long overdue for the series, while other events are shocking, thrilling, and on-the-edge-of-your-seat suspenseful. 

Will Olivia run when she finds out the truth?  What will it do to her when/if she remembers?  Who is on their side?  Will it be too late to save everyone?

While I did enjoy this book, there were some events that were hard to read.  Three quarters of the way through this book, I wasn’t sure she was going to be able to pull it off, but she did!  I was thoroughly surprised with TK Leigh’s writing.  She was a new to me author and I definitely will be checking out her other works.  

Book Links

Amazon

Amazon - Complete "Beautiful Mess" Series