There is just something about well-executed body art that is so darned sexy, and the grumpy men of Brothers in Ink in Four Tattoos by Stephanie Brother are prime examples.
The female lead character is Rose, a beautiful woman in her 20s who works in Island Java (a coffee shop owned by her brother) by day and at the front desk of Club Red (a male revue club) at night. She meets her men for the first time when she delivers coffee to their shop.
Mace, Zipper, Christian, and Hutch are the owners and tattoo artists behind Brothers in Ink. They bonded while in the army and have been as close as brothers since.
From the moment Rose meets the four she found herself inexplicably drawn to them and at the same time confused at how she can be attracted to all of them at the same time. Despite Christian’s and Zipper’s initial grumpiness, it didn’t detract from their appeal. She was excited for their next coffee delivery order so that she could see them again.
Christian, Hutch, Mace, and Zipper usually have different preferences when it comes to the women they date or sleep with. However, in this instance they found themselves unanimous in their desire for Rose. This was not the first time they have found themselves all attracted to the same woman. They had a polyamorous relationship in the past that did not end well. Nevertheless, this did not deter them from deciding to pursue Rose together. It’s a good thing they did or we wouldn’t have this story, lol!
I was bothered by the fact that she was keeping them as her “dirty little secret”. I understand her hesitation in saying anything to her brother Patrick and his fiancé, Nancy. I had hoped, though, she would have told someone in Club Red, like Brittany. She would definitely understand Rose’s situation, as would the the owners of Club Red and some of the dancers and Duke.
When it comes to their intimate moments, despite there being four of them, the men mostly tend to give each other one-on-one time despite all being in the same room. So, smut level is dialed down but still leaves room for my imagination to run wild. I thought that was actually sweet because it meant that Rose had the opportunity to really connect with each man and it didn’t read like a gang bang.
If you like age gap romances, tattoo artists, and grumpy men (in general) then you will enjoy. Four Tattoos by Stephanie Brother. You can get a copy of this story in Kindle and paperback format on Amazon, free with Kindle Unlimited. 🙂
Eager to know what else happens to Rose, Christian, Hutch, Mace, and Zipper? Check out the bonus chapter HERE.
Female main characters come in all shapes and forms but this is probably the first time I’ve encountered one who is pretty much a tomboy. In Fake and Don’t Tell by Rebel Bloom, Poppy grew up with 5 brothers and if that wasn’t enough to make her a certified tomboy she also has 3 male best friends she’s known since they were in diapers. Despite all that testosterone in her life, she was still girl enough to fall in love with Andrew.
For 10 years, Andrew has been mean and unkind to Poppy and only used her sexually when it was convenient for him. Poppy, on the other hand, worshipped the ground he walked on. They eventually broke things off when Andrew said that Poppy was not mature enough for them to marry.
A couple of years later they meet again at Poppy’s family reunion. Why? Because he was engaged to her younger cousin! As if that wasn’t bad enough, they add insult to injury and invite her to the wedding. She has no desire to attend but isn’t given much of a choice so she needs a fake boyfriend, stat!
Enter her best friends: Jude, Cyrus, and Sam. They have known each other for years. At her SOS they go to her house and wait for her to arrive. She tells them what happened and somehow the idea of one of them being her fake date comes up. But how does she choose? Poppy ends up kissing them one after the other to help her decide, but that opens a different can of worms.
From hanging out every week at a sports bar, going to each other’s houses to drink beer and shoot the breeze, and playing baseball with her friends and brothers … now their thoughts are occupied with kisses, hardons, and so much more! I’m on Team Why Choose so I was rooting for all three men from the get-go but I was curious how this would play out.
It was so much fun! To be honest, it wasn’t the intention of the author but I actually forgot about Andrew, lol! Poppy’s encounters with Jude, Cyrus, and Sam were just so different and eye-opening (and dare I say, fun!)
I also need to mention her lovely family from her parents to her brothers who are all very loving and supportive. I don’t want to say more. This was just so much fun to read so I think you should check it out yourself. 🙂 Fake and Don’t Tell by Rebel Bloom is on Amazon for $2.99 but if you have Kindle Unlimited, it’s free!
I kid you not, at the moment this is my favorite story written by Rebel Bloom.
I am so glad I discovered Rejected Mate by Sam Crescent. I have read many rejection stories but this one stands out. It is not about a rejected she-wolf being stronger than she thought she was. It isn’t about a bully who rejects a she-wolf changing his mind and deciding to accept her again. It isn’t about finding a second-chance mate.
This story was so well-written that I was captivated from page 1! It takes popular tropes (shifter romance, rejection, and age gap) and puts a unique spin on them. I hesitate to even call this a bully romance as the bullying part is incidental to the story.
Constance is a late bloomer. Where everyone else she knows shifted at 18, she didn’t shift until she turned 21. Tanner is the Alpha’s son. He has been bullying Constance for many years, calling her fat, ugly, and disgusting. Constance and Tanner realized they were mates on the day of her shift. Oh, horror of horrors! Constance hates his guts!
At this point in other books it would go one of two ways … Tanner would realize how he has been stupid all these years and would do his damnedest to win her or outright reject her. In this book, he chose the latter … Tanner rejected Constance and he did it publicly. Since he is the Alpha’s son, the pack took his rejection as a sign that they should all reject her, so they did. Her parents threw her out, she lost her job, and the rest of the pack turned their backs on her.
Rejection is painful, as we know from shifter lore, but this is the first time that I know of where the effects of the rejection go beyond chest or belly pains or pains caused by infidelity. Instead, the rejection is described as feeling very cold from the inside. Being rejected by one’s mate is bad, but imagine being rejected by the entire pack.
The entire pack, except for one … Gage, the Alpha, and Tanner’s father. In an emergency pack meeting, he announces that according to scripture, when a wolf is rejected, a relative of the one who did the rejecting can step up and accept the rejected wolf in their place. And that is what Gage did.
What a twist! Is it just custom or does Gage really want her for himself as a mate? Will Tanner change his mind and decide to take her back? Will Constance fall in love with Gage and decide to take him as her mate?
If you’ve never read any of the books from Sam Crescent’s Alpha Shifter Collection, this is a good book to start with. It isn’t in Kindle Unlimited but it won’t cost you an arm and a leg. You can get Rejected Mate by Sam Crescent on Amazon for $3.99. All the books in the Alpha Shifter Collection are $3.99 a piece.
If I could only use one word to describe Grand Slammed by Stephanie Brother it would be sweet. This may come as a surprise to some of her readers who are more exposed to her steamy books, but yes, Stephanie can and has written romantic tingle-inducing books. It isn’t always about the heat, although there is definitely enough heat in this book to get the blood pumping.
We met Naomi in Roommates 8: Power Drilled as the massage therapist hired by Great-aunt Evelyn to provide massages for the wedding guests. Towards the end of the story, we know that she hired Naomi for 1 week to give massages to her nephew and friends in Florida. This is where the story picks up.
Dominic is Great-aunt Evelyn’s nephew. He and his friends Justin and Tyler are professional baseball players who have recently retired and are studying for the LSATs in preparation for entering law school in Georgia. This seems like a drastic career change for these young men (who are possibly in their late 20s or early 30s) until she learns why. It just made my heart melt. Philanthropy is just so hot!
Interestingly, in this story, Naomi does not give any “special” massages. If at all, she finds herself on the receiving end of a 6-hand special massage. I don’t know if this story is shorter or if I just read it really fast. The way it was written flowed so smoothly that I didn’t notice the transition of chapters except to note whose POV it was already. Also … not much drama to worry about. There wasn’t even any hullabaloo about Naomi having 3 boyfriends.
Absolutely HEA guaranteed! You can find Grand Slammed by Stephanie Brother on Amazon for $2.99 or FREE with Kindle Unlimited. Don’t forget to read the bonus chapter by clicking HERE.
I discovered Bullied Mate of the Lycan Kings by Deenma on Dreame while looking for something new to read. I didn’t see the preview blurb on the app, just the first chapter, and it was an intriguing start.
Everyone in school hated Lily, a wolfless Omega, because of her father, who was executed for being a traitor. Despite that, she has always been a good student and mostly kept her head down and tried her best to ignore everyone’s bullying. One day she just reached her breaking point and tried to take her own life by slashing her wrists. She would have become successful, too, if not for Cade.
Cade became her only friend and later her boyfriend. When asked why he saved her he told her that they are mates. But things are not as they seem as it turns out, he was playing a long game and plotted with his friends to pull the ultimate prank on her which ended with a rejection.
In despair, she pulls out of school and decides on homeschooling. A couple of years later she enters Shadow Cove Academy, an elite school in hopes of graduating with flying colors so that she could enter an ivy league school after and improve her and her mom’s lives. It is there that she meets the three most powerful Lycan Alphas … Aiden, Ren, and Zac.
On her first day, she accidentally bumps into Aiden … that was all he needed to green-light the bullying from everyone on campus. She also meets Ren who becomes her guardian angel. Then there’s Zac who has a deep dark secret only a few people are aware of. She finds herself strongly attracted to Ren but unfortunately, he has a mate, Mauve. As the book progresses her only friends are Ren, Rhea, and Chelsea.
The title and the blurb imply that this is a reverse harem. It also shows 4 males. However, 68 chapters in and there are no signs that the story is going anywhere in that direction. Also, if I had read the blurb first (which I only saw a few minutes ago when I visited Dreame from the computer) I probably would not have opened this so soon as it is way too graphic for me for a blurb. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for steamy scenes per se, but I think the build-up to those scenes matters.
That aside, many parts of the story are quite compelling. I confess I found chapters 65 to 68 difficult to read because I don’t like seeing Ren suffering or in pain. I only wish that the story moved a little faster so that we could see how Aiden, Ren, Zac, and I assume Cade, find themselves mated to Lily which will lead to the contents of the blurb.
If you think this is something you might want to sink your teeth into you can check out Bullied Mate of the Lycan Kings by Deenma on the Dreame app.
Craving His Virgin Mate by Sam Crescent is the second book of the Poison Wolves MC series that revolves around Agatha, a human, and Bayon a member of the Poison Wolves MC. Even without reading the first book, I still got a sense of what happened there since the author made sure to reference back and make short explanations. Although it does not erase the fact that I wish I had read the first book first. Seems like a lot happened in that story!
In comparison, Craving His Virgin Mate by Sam Crescent appears tamer. (I cannot give you 100% assurance on that since I haven’t read the first book yet.) There is no big bad but there was still a mystery that needed to be solved.
Agatha is a solitary creature. Growing up she mostly kept to herself, did not make any friends, and spent most of her time with her adoptive parents or taking long walks in the forest. When her adoptive parents died she decided to uproot and travel with no particular direction or place in mind. She found herself in a town called Poison.
For whatever reason, the people of Poison seemed to hate her, they were not at all welcoming, not even a little bit! Despite that, something about Poison made her want to stay. Poison felt like home.
Poison is actually a pack of werewolves. Boyan is a member of the Poison Wolves MC that protects Poison. The Poison Wolves MC is made up of men who are all technically Alphas but decided to band together instead. Their club president is called Alpha. I don’t know if that is his club name or his designation as the leader. He seeks out Agatha to find out why she seems adamant about staying despite being mostly ignored or rudely spoken to by the pack members.
And then he discovers that she is his mate. This is problematic because of events that happened in Book 1 where they discover that humans cannot become werewolves so a mating between a werewolf and a human is likely not feasible. Despite this, Boyan could not help seek her out, in the guise of finding out more.
But there really is something mysterious about Agatha. Aside from her not wanting to leave, her scent also disappears into the pack! How is that even possible? Is she a regular human or was she one of those that was experimented on by Dr. Milton? Curiouser and curiouser!
The way Agatha and Boyan are with each other is hot, to say the least. From the title, you can tell that Agatha starts the book with her virginity intact so part of me was curious to see how the author would have them jump that little hurdle. In my personal opinion, it was perfect! I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Craving His Virgin Mate by Sam Crescent could be classified as quick and light reading. There is enough going on to keep me engaged and enough chapters to give me something to sink my teeth into. Since it was written so well, I couldn’t help but look for the first book, Hard For You, just so I can get the complete story firsthand.
I recommend this book, definitely! But better if you read the first book also. You can get a copy of Craving His Virgin Mate by Sam Crescent on Amazon. The Kindle version is $3.99.
The female lead character is Rose, a beautiful woman in her 20s who works in Island Java (a coffee shop owned by her brother) by day and at the front desk of Club Red (a male revue club) at night. She meets her men for the first time when she delivers coffee to their shop.
For 10 years, Andrew has been mean and unkind to Poppy and only used her sexually when it was convenient for him. Poppy, on the other hand, worshipped the ground he walked on. They eventually broke things off when Andrew said that Poppy was not mature enough for them to marry.
This story was so well-written that I was captivated from page 1! It takes popular tropes (shifter romance, rejection, and age gap) and puts a unique spin on them. I hesitate to even call this a bully romance as the bullying part is incidental to the story.
We met Naomi in 
Everyone in school hated Lily, a wolfless Omega, because of her father, who was executed for being a traitor. Despite that, she has always been a good student and mostly kept her head down and tried her best to ignore everyone’s bullying. One day she just reached her breaking point and tried to take her own life by slashing her wrists. She would have become successful, too, if not for Cade.
In comparison, Craving His Virgin Mate by Sam Crescent appears tamer. (I cannot give you 100% assurance on that since I haven’t read the first book yet.) There is no big bad but there was still a mystery that needed to be solved.
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