BEYOND SCANDAL by Brenda Joyce

PUBLISHER: Avon, 10/1995
GENRE: Historical Romance
SETTING: England, 1856
SERIES: St. Georges, #1
AUTHOR SITE: link
MY GRADE: B

FROM PUBLISHER: Adoring and innocent, Anne Stewart was seduced by Dominick Saint Georges, Viscount Lyons, then brazenly abandoned on their wedding night. Now four years have passed, and England's most mysterious lord has returned to Waverly Hall.

Anne can never forgive Dominick for the shame he caused her. She is determined to resist his advances and ignore the gossip and speculations surrounding them, but shocking revelations and deadly intrigues are drawing her ever closer to her enigmatic husband, to whom she dares not surrender again - his secretive stranger who holds the key to her survival and her heart.

MY THOUGHTS: What an emotional roller coaster Anne and Dom are on. The story seemed like it spanned just a few months. Anne is from America and is twenty-one. She went to live with relatives in England when she was eleven. She has blue eyes and black hair. She's loved Dom since she first met him when she was an adolescent and is very hurt that he's abandoned her for four years, the entire length of their marriage. I have no idea why he did that to her. Dom is twenty-eight, has golden hair and golden eyes. I got a little tired of them not getting along and the misunderstandings. That alone was a bit boring. What was very interesting was the mysterious things that were happening to Anne. Several people had a grudge against her and they were leaving cryptic clues for her alone to let her know they were behind the scary incidents.

Anne is too passive. Dom is alright except for the fact that he has two illegitimate children by his mistress of five years. It's unclear if he had that mistress, or any others, while married to Anne. I'm assuming he did. Adding those kids to the story was unappealing to me and didn't really serve a purpose.

The cousins Anne's lived with since she was eleven, Felicity and her brother Patrick, were a disturbed pair and I enjoyed them in the story. I didn't really like Dom's mother, Clarisse, too much. She's a bitter, jealous woman, same as Felicity.

Things got a bit convoluted toward the end when Dom found out about his paternity and who's behind the shenanigans.

PLEASURABLE BARGAINS (Eden's Pleasure/Antonia's Bargain) by Kate Pearce

PUBLISHER: Ellora's Cave, 6/2007
GENRE: Historical Erotic Romance
SETTING: England, 1815 & 1816
SERIES: House of Pleasure
MY GRADE: A/B

* This book contains two previously published e-books

EDEN'S PLEASURE- Eight years ago, after a summer of sexual dalliance with Gervase Harcourt and his twin brother Gideon, Eden was forced into marriage. Now widowed and twenty six, she is eager to enjoy her freedom and explore her deepest sexual desires. When she crosses paths with the delectable Harcourt twins again, they offer to make amends for their part in her miserable marriage by fulfilling her sexual fantasies. They introduce her to Madame Desiree's House of Pleasure where any erotic dream can become a reality. She also learns love has its darker side and that for Gideon, not all the fantasies played out at Madame Desiree's are pleasurable. As Eden explores her sensuality she realizes her heart still belongs to Gervase. But is she more than just a sexual plaything to him? Forced to consider another unwanted marriage and convinced that her barren state is why Gervase hasn't offered to marry her, Eden flees from Gervase and the sensual web he's spun around her. But Gervase has learned his own lessons at Madame Desiree's... Originally published in 2005. House of Pleasure book #0.5

MY THOUGHTS: I really liked this. The story was only 88 pages and oddly enough it didn't seem that condensed. Needless to say the story was mostly sex (and it was hot! hot! hot!) but it did have a plotline. Eden was married to an abusive elderly man and had a horrible marriage. She's always been in love with Gervase and is finally free to marry him. His father doesn't want them to because she may be barren but they do anyway. I never felt that they were in love. The twins are twenty-nine, blond and blue-eyed. Eden's got black hair and green eyes.

I felt this short story was more about Gideon than Gervase. Gideon's married to Caroline, a masochistic woman and he just can't deal with it. They have a bad, sexless marriage but he can't divorce her because she'd blackmail him over a secret of his that she knows. I would have liked for this story to have been longer. I find Caroline interesting and would have liked to know more about her and her background.

I grade this story an A.

ANTONIA'S BARGAIN- This book is the stand-alone sequel to Eden's Pleasure. Since the suicide of his first wife, Gideon has avoided emotional interactions with women in favor of less emotionally draining liaisons with men. When he unmasks "Anthony" Maxwell and finds he is, in fact, Antonia, he is still sexually intrigued enough to want to bed her. A reluctant heiress, Antonia knows she has to marry but she intends to do it on her own terms her wealth in return for a husband-free bed. Gideon offers to help her infiltrate the world of the ton dressed as a man so she can see her potential suitors in their natural habitat. In return, she agrees to allow him to teach her every trick in his sexual repertoire as long as he doesn't take her virginity. Her fear of marriage and pregnancy is a puzzling barrier that Gideon, despite his exceptional skills, finds difficult to penetrate. As they become more scandalously intimate, he has to decide whether to help Antonia face her fears or walk away from the only woman he believes he could ever love. Originally published in 2007. House of Pleasure book # 1.5

MY THOUGHTS: This 126 page sequel wasn't as good as I'd hoped. I find Antonia's not wanting to get married or have sex because of her parent's bad marriage silly and odd. I don't find her and Gideon's 'love' believable at all. I like both characters though I like Gideon more, probably because I know more about him. They have the suicide of someone close to them in common.

I wasn't impressed with the sex scenes, which was mostly oral sex. I'm not sure why Gideon wanted to marry her. I didn't sense a love connection. I also didn't like Antonia dressing like a boy.

This story gets a B from me.

ARE YOU IN THE HOUSE ALONE? by Richard Peck

PUBLISHER: Viking Juvenile, 11/1976
REISSUED: 2000, Puffin Books
GENRE: YA Contemporary Suspense
SETTING: Connecticut, USA
MY GRADE: B

FROM PUBLISHER: Sixteen-year-old Gail is living the upper-class suburban life when she begins receiving terrifying phone calls and notes in her locker. And the calls keep coming. When she's attacked by the town's golden boy everyone refuses to take action against him and his powerful family. A frightening drama that deals with heavy teen issues and the idea of justice (or lack thereof) from bestselling author Richard Peck.

MY THOUGHTS/SPOILERS: I'd never heard of this book before, not until last year when I watched the 9/1978 CBS made for television movie on Youtube. I finally bought the book and received it a few days ago. It's only 160 pages long and needed to be at least 100 pages longer.

The book didn't really seem dated at all. The plotline was almost completely believable. Some of the dialogue from the school's guidance counselors wasn't believable, with them not believing her and also some of the comments the police officer made to her.

The notes that Phil sent Gail were explicit but they weren't detailed in the book.

Near the end there was an incident where a female student was raped and beaten one night and Gail believes Phil did it. No reasons were given for that and no proof was brought forth.

How the film differs from the book: I think in the film they made her seventeen years old. There was no mention of her being on birth control pills. They also changed her last name from Osburne to Osborne. The woman Gail babysat for, her last name was changed from Montgomery to Hirsch. They changed her boyfriend Steve Pastorini's last name slightly to Pastorinis. She met him in the film but when the book began she'd already been dating him awhile. The movie takes place in California, not Connecticut.

I think Kathleen Beller did a pretty good acting job and didn't look too old for the part at twenty-two years old. She's now married to musician/professor Thomas Dolby (She Blinded Me With Science). Her friend Alison's acting was believable too though she didn't speak too much. Dennis Quaid, twenty-four at the time, clearly looked too old for the part. Steve was played by Scott Colomby, who was a younger-looking twenty-six at the time.

The part I mentioned earlier where a girl was raped and beaten, in the film they showed a girl getting the same anonymous note saying that she's being watched. Gail, who's into photography at school, sets up a hidden camera that's pointing to that girls locker. It snaps a photo every two seconds. Sure enough, the camera captures Phil putting another note on the same girls locker. The girl reads the note, balls it up and throws it away but there's no mention of her being raped later. I like that that was expanded on in the movie.

Near the end of the movie Phil beats up Gail in one of the empty rooms at school and is caught for it, but that doesn't happen at all in the book.

In ways each one was better than the other so I don't prefer book over movie or vice versa.

THE SPOOK LIGHTS AFFAIR by Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini

PUBLISHER: Forge Books, 12/2013

GENRE: Fictional Historical Mystery

SETTING: California, USA, 1895

SERIES: A Carpenter and Quincannon Mystery, #2

PURCHASE: link

MY GRADE: C

FROM PUBLISHER: In 1895 San Francisco young debutantes don’t commit suicide at festive parties, particularly not under the eye of Sabina Carpenter. But Virginia St. Ives evidently did, leaping from a foggy parapet in a shimmer of ghostly light. The seemingly impossible disappearance of her body creates an even more serious problem for the firm of Carpenter and Quincannon, Professional Detective Services.

Sabina hadn’t wanted to take the assignment, but her partner John Quincannon insisted it would serve as entrée to the city’s ultra rich and powerful. That means money, and Quincannon loves the almighty dollar. Which is why he is hunting the bandit who robbed the Wells, Fargo office of $35,000.

Working their separate cases (while Sabina holds John off with one light hand), the detectives give readers a tour of The City the way it was. From the infamous Barbary Coast to the expensive Tenderloin gaming houses and brothels frequented by wealthy men, Quincannon follows a danger-laden trail to unmask the murderous perpetrators of the Wells, Fargo robbery. Meanwhile, Sabina works her wiles on friends and relatives of the vanished debutante until the pieces of her puzzle start falling into place. But it’s an oddly disguised gent appearing out of nowhere who provides the final clue to both cases—the shrewd “crackbrain” who believes himself to be Sherlock Holmes.

MY THOUGHTS: Slight spoilers ahead. I'm so disappointed in this story. It started out so good and interesting but became too far fetched. John and Sabina own a private investigation business and like in the previous book in this series each was working on a separate case that turned out to be connected. Why couldn't they have worked cases that are unrelated in book two? My interest waned when the 'ghostly sightings' came along but that, thankfully, turned out to be something other than what we were lead to believe. I give the authors' credit for originality regarding the suicide/ghostly activity but the story just wasn't believable because of those things, IMO. I think what happened with the suicide was ridiculous and just not likely to have really happened. There was really no good reason for eighteen year old Virginia to want to do that anyway.

The whole robbery plot being connected to Virginia's case wasn't something I'd suspected. The Sherlock Holmes imposter made a very brief yet helpful appearance then went on his merry way. Not a fan of his character but since his time was so brief in the story, I didn't mind him. John is still letting it be known he's interested in Sabina but she's still not interested in him that way. A new man has come into her life so we'll have to see where that goes in the next installment.

I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

DEATH COMES TO LONDON by Catherine Lloyd (Kate Pearce)

PUBLISHER: Kensington, 11/14
GENRE: Historical Mystery
SETTING: England, 3/1817
SERIES: A Kurland St. Mary Mystery, #2
AUTHOR SITE: link
PURCHASE: link
MY GRADE: B-

FROM PUBLISHER: A season in London promises a welcome change of pace for two friends from the village of Kurland St. Mary until murder makes a debut. With the reluctant blessings of their father, the rector of Kurland St. Mary, Lucy Harrington and her sister Anna leave home for a social season in London. At the same time, Lucy's special friend Major Robert Kurland is summoned to the city to accept a baronetcy for his wartime heroism.

Amidst the dizzying whirl of balls and formal dinners, the focus shifts from mixing and matchmaking to murder when the dowager Countess of Broughton, the mother of an old army friend of Robert, drops dead. When it's revealed she's been poisoned, Robert's former betrothed, Miss Chingford, is accused, and she in turn points a finger at Anna. To protect her sister, Lucy enlists Robert's aid in drawing out the true culprit.

But with suspects ranging from resentful rivals and embittered family members to the toast of the ton, it will take all their sleuthing skills to unmask the poisoner before more trouble is stirred up.

MY THOUGHTS: I liked this one a bit more than the previous installment. It's a plot about poison and greed. Poor Oliver. Lucy and Robert worked together to help solve the mystery surrounding three deaths. I don't dislike Robert like I did before. He worked well with Lucy. Still no chemistry between them and they definitely have a platonic friendship. I don't like the marriage proposal at all and felt it so out of place, out of the blue, and unnecessary.

The dark plot was interesting but it wasn't too surprising who the culprit was. That's never a good thing. I don't understand why some mystery writers have the killer confess all right at the end. It's so annoying and unrealistic. Another annoying thing is the reappearance of Robert's ex-fiancé. She was in this book for no good reason just as in the previous book. This book is under 300 pages and all characters were underdeveloped.

I received this from the author in exchange for an honest review.

THE MIDWIFE'S TALE: A MYSTERY by Sam Thomas

PUBLISHER: Minotaur Books, 1/2013
GENRE: Historical Mystery
SETTING: England, 1644
NARRATION: First person
SERIES: A Midwife Mystery, #1
AUTHOR SITE: link
MY GRADE: C-

FROM PUBLISHER: It is 1644, and Parliament’s armies have risen against the King and laid siege to the city of York. Even as the city suffers at the rebels’ hands, midwife Bridget Hodgson becomes embroiled in a different sort of rebellion. One of Bridget’s friends, Esther Cooper, has been convicted of murdering her husband and sentenced to be burnt alive. Convinced that her friend is innocent, Bridget sets out to find the real killer.

Bridget joins forces with Martha Hawkins, a servant who’s far more skilled with a knife than any respectable woman ought to be. To save Esther from the stake, they must dodge rebel artillery, confront a murderous figure from Martha’s past, and capture a brutal killer who will stop at nothing to cover his tracks. The investigation takes Bridget and Martha from the homes of the city’s most powerful families to the alleyways of its poorest neighborhoods. As they delve into the life of Esther’s murdered husband, they discover that his ostentatious Puritanism hid a deeply sinister secret life, and that far too often tyranny and treason go hand in hand.

MY THOUGHTS: I found this to be very boring and it took me forever to finish because of it. Extreme boredom set in at the halfway point of a book that's only 310 pages.

Bridget is thirty years old, twice widowed, and has lost her two children. Other than that we didn't get any background on her, the main character. I didn't find her to be that likeable either. I did like her maid, Martha, but found it pointless to add in the stuff involving her brother. It just detracted from the main mystery of who poisoned Esther's husband, Stephen. It isn't anyone I suspected so I give the author credit for not making it so obvious.

There were too many characters, most of which were unnecessary, and too many murders, and I just didn't care about any of it. It wasn't interesting or suspenseful like I was hoping. I don't think Bridget is interesting enough to carry a series.

I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

SUDDEN TERROR: The True Story of California's Most Infamous Sexual Predator, The East Area Rapist, AKA The Original Night Stalker by Larry Crompton

PUBLISHING INFO: AuthorHouse, 8/2010
GENRE: Nonfiction/True Crime
FORMAT: Hardcover, Paperback, E-Book
CRIMESPAN: California, USA, 1970's-1980's
PURCHASE: AuthorHouse, Amazon
MY GRADE: A

FROM PUBLISHER: This book is based on the actual case of the East Area Rapist, later also known as the Original Night Stalker, a masked man who terrorized California communities for ten years; 1976 through 1986, and possibly to this day.

Because I was not involved in the initial rape investigations, they are written from hundreds of reports, notes, memos, newspaper clippings, conversations and interviews with those who were involved.

The crimes are factual. The crimes are real. While all characters and events have direct counterparts in the telling of the story, I have created some dialogue in the interest of readability. The cops in the initial rapes are not factual, their actions are. Their names and descriptions are completely fictitious. The names of the victims, witnesses and suspects are fictitious; the terror, the dialogue during the crimes, and the investigations are real.

The cops involved in the cases after I was involved are real, their names and dialogue is factual, the investigations are real.

The pain and terror may have diminished in the minds of the victims, I hope that the pain does not return. My intent is to tell the story without endangering the privacy or the dignity of the victims. They have suffered enough.

MY THOUGHTS: What a great book. I've been fascinated by the elusive, unapprehended EAR (East Area Rapist, also known as the Original Night Stalker and Golden State Killer) since I first learned of him in early 2001 on an episode of MSNBC's MSNBC Investigates. This is the first of only two books that have been written on the case.

The author, a former detective on the case after EAR had been active for a few years, presents us with facts about the rapes and murders with rape victims' dialogue taken right out of police reports. There's even a list of rape/murder dates and times in chronological order in the back and a few black and white photographs of murder victims and crime scenes.

Only about thirty-two pages were about the ten murders, towards the end of the book. Some reviewers complain about that but since they're dead and can't tell you what all happened like the rape victims can, I understand why more time wasn't spent on it.

One thing I really like about true crime books is that we usually learn about other rapists/murders who were active in the area we're reading about and with this book, I learned about several from the 1970's that I want to research, including a couple of California rapists who are still on the loose: East San Diego Rapist, Car Key Rapist, Stinky Rapist, Early Morning Rapist, and Wooley, a copycat EAR rapist.

I loved the book and consider it a must-read for anyone interested in this case.

Listen to what is believed to be EAR's voice in three phone calls here.

Please watch the documentaries below before they're taken down!

Parts of the MSNBC Investigates 'Deadly Behavior' episode.

E!'s True Hollywood Story from 2009.

I.D.'s (Investigation Discovery) Dark Minds, from season 2, episode 1, from 2013.


There are several websites dedicated to this monster: Ear-ons.com (earons), Casebook of the Bedroom Killer. There's an informative discussion board dedicated to the case, earonsgsk, here. Earons has a complete listing of all EAR's crimes, link.

Here's an audio interview that Larry did with Blogtalk Radio in early 2013, I think.

Here's an excellent article Michelle McNamara (she's married to Patton Oswalt) did on EAR for L.A. Magazine.

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

THE ARNIFOUR AFFAIR by Gregory Harris

PUBLISHER: Kensington, 1/2014
GENRE: Historical Mystery
SETTING: England, early 1900's
SERIES: A Colin Pendragon Mystery, #1
AUTHOR SITE: link
PURCHASE: link
MY GRADE: B

FROM PUBLISHER: Set against the fog-shrouded backdrop of turn-of-the-century London, Gregory Harris's new historical mystery series introduces tenacious sleuth Colin Pendragon, and a case that illuminates the darkness lurking in the heart of one of England's most noble families.

When a carriage bearing the Arnifour family crest--a vulture devouring a slaughtered lamb--arrives at the Kensington home of Colin Pendragon, it is an ominous beginning to a perplexing new case. Lady Arnifour's husband has been beaten to death and her niece, Elsbeth, left in a coma. Is the motive passion, revenge, or something even more sinister? Police suspicions have fallen on the groundskeeper and his son, yet the Earl's widow is convinced of their innocence.

Even as Colin and his partner Ethan Pruitt delve into the muddy history of the Arnifour family, a young street urchin begs their help in finding his missing sister. Ethan, regrettably familiar with London's underbelly, urges caution, yet Colin's interest is piqued. And in a search that wends from the squalid opium dens of the East End to the salons of Embassy Row, the truth about these seemingly disparate cases will prove disquieting, dangerous, and profoundly unexpected. . .

MY THOUGHTS: This was a somewhat interesting mystery novel. It certainly was a family affair, in more ways than one. I like thirty-eight year old Ethan Pruitt, the narrator, business partner and lover to Colin. They've worked together as detectives for twelve years. We don't have much backstory on either one. I really wanted to know more about Ethan since he's a recovering opium addict who grew up on the streets and that I find interesting. They're a gay couple who live together but who knows they're gay? Is that known by everyone they're close to, house servants included, or do people just assume they are? Those answers weren't given. Since this is the first in a series I feel all of that should have been established.

As for the murder itself, very interesting. All the secrets and drama that ensued near the end, ridiculous, mostly, and slightly farfetched.

There was a subplot involving a young missing girl. I was initially interested but soon became bored with it. Looking back I'm not sure what the point of adding that to a relatively short novel was.

One thing that irritated me in this novel, and this happens in most of the historical mysteries that I've read, was how one person figured who the killer(s) was/were right at the end and told everyone, then the killer(s) confessed to it all with no remorse.

I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

SIMPLY SINFUL by Kate Pearce

PUBLISHER: Aphrodisia, 5/2014
ORIGINAL PUB: Aphrodisia, 2008
GENRE: Fiction/Erotic Historical Romance
SETTING: England, 1817
SERIES: House of Pleasure, #2
PURCHASE: link
AUTHOR SITE: link
MY GRADE: A

FROM PUBLISHER: Forced to wed at a young age, Abigail Beecham is tired of living in a sexless marriage. She longs to succumb to the delicious pleasures of pure carnal lust that she has only read about. And if her husband can't satisfy her erotic needs, she's ready to find a man who can...

Peter Howard is accustomed to unusual sexual requests. His ten years as a slave in a Turkish brothel left him skilled in sensual delights. But there is little that actually arouses him--until he meets Abigail. Now he longs to tease and torment her until she cries out with pleasure. Maybe then he'll finally experience that exquisite feeling of bliss he so desperately desires...

MY THOUGHTS: Boy, did I enjoy this story, which is book two in the series. This story begins two years after the previous book ended and spans 2 1/2 years. It was about Peter and Abby's husband James more than it was about Peter and Abby. This was a bit unusual too as in it's a ménage situation that stays intact throughout the story. It's not a marriage that turns into a threesome situation that goes back to being about Peter and Abby with James not in the picture via death or divorce. He gets the girl in the end, sort of.

There are at least 16 different sex scenes with five being strictly m/m. Those are always my favorite.

Thirty-four year old brown-haired and brown-eyed James is clearly more into men than he is women, specifically his own wife of sixteen years, whom he was forced to wed at 18. She was 16. They rarely have sex together and have no children. James has trouble being sexual with his wife so he invites Peter into their bedroom to help both him and Abby find some sexual enjoyment together.

Abby has very short dark hair and is built like a 'boy', which I find to be a total turnoff for a heroine. I find her to be kinda bland too, a 'go with the flow' type of person, too agreeable.

Peter first appeared in book one, Simply Sexual, as the heroes close friend. He has blond hair and blue eyes. I think he's about 32, same age as Valentin. In this story his relationship with Valentin and Sara, from book one, continues to be rocky. Val helps him learn about his mother and his past before he was abducted and forced to work in a brothel when he was eleven. That info doesn't help his low self-esteem much. I don't normally like when past characters reappear in later books in the series but I did like hearing from Val.

Overall I really liked two of the three main characters and the entire story except right near the end when James went to search for a man from his past. I friggin' love this series.

I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

FINDING ME: A Decade of Darkness, a Life Reclaimed: A Memoir of the Cleveland Kidnappings by Michelle Knight with Michelle Burford

PUBLISHING INFO: Weinstein Books, 5/2014
GENRE: Nonfiction/Memoir/True Crime
PURCHASE: link
MY GRADE: A

FROM PUBLISHER: Michelle was a young single mother when she was kidnapped by a local school bus driver named Ariel Castro. For more than a decade afterward, she endured unimaginable torture at the hand of her abductor. In 2003 Amanda Berry joined her in captivity, followed by Gina DeJesus in 2004. Their escape on May 6, 2013, made headlines around the world.

Barely out of her own tumultuous childhood, Michelle was estranged from her family and fighting for custody of her young son when she disappeared. Local police believed she had run away, so they removed her from the missing persons lists fifteen months after she vanished. Castro tormented her with these facts, reminding her that no one was looking for her, that the outside world had forgotten her. But Michelle would not be broken.

In Finding Me, Michelle will reveal the heartbreaking details of her story, including the thoughts and prayers that helped her find courage to endure her unimaginable circumstances and now build a life worth living. By sharing both her past and her efforts to create a future, Michelle becomes a voice for the voiceless and a powerful symbol of hope for the thousands of children and young adults who go missing every year.

MY THOUGHTS: What an ordeal Michelle went through. She suffered the most abuse of them all. Out of the three kidnapped girls, Ariel Castro hated her most, for some reason, and Amanda Berry was clearly his favorite and may not have suffered as much abuse as the other two. Michelle was raped, physically abused, and emotionally abused every day for eleven years and even had five babies beaten out of her. Hopes of seeing her son again one day seems to be the only thing that kept her alive.

She tells of her terrible childhood, her pieces of garbage parents, and her molester. She wasn't even allowed to bathe for the first eight months of her kidnapping, not once. Her hair was so filled with Ariel's semen that it was hard.

Her story is an honest one and for that, the book gets five stars from me. You can read about the kidnappings here.

I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

DIRTY ROCKER BOYS: Love and Lust on the Sunset Strip by Bobbie Brown With Caroline Ryder

PUBLISHER: Gallery Books, 11/2013
GENRE: Nonfiction/Memoir
PURCHASE: link
MY GRADE: A-

SYNOPSIS: Who could forget the sexy "Cherry Pie" girl from hair metal band Warrant's infamous music video? Bobbie Brown became a bona fide vixen for her playful role as the object of lead singer Jani Lane's desires. With her windblown peroxide mane, seductive scarlet lips, and flirtatious curves, she epitomized every man's fantasy. But the wide-eyed Louisiana beauty queen's own dreams of making it big in Los Angeles were about to be derailed by her rock-and-roll lifestyle. . . .

After her tumultuous marriage to Jani imploded, and her engagement to fast-living Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee ended in a drug haze--followed by his marriage days later to Pamela Anderson--Bobbie decided it was time Hollywood's hottest bachelors got a taste of their own medicine. Step one: get high. Step two: get even.

In a captivating, completely uncensored confessional, Bobbie explicitly recounts her encounters with some of the most famous men in Hollywood: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kevin Costner, Mark McGrath, Dave Navarro, Sebastian Bach, Ashley Hamilton, Rob Pilatus of Milli Vanilli, Matthew and Gunnar Nelson, Orgy's Jay Gordon, and many more. Whose bedroom did Bobbie (literally) set on fire? No man was off limits as the fun-loving bombshell spiraled into excess, anger, and addiction.

Bobbie survived the party--barely--and her riveting, cautionary comeback tale is filled with the wildest stories of sex, drugs, and rock and roll ever told.

MY THOUGHTS: Unfiltered doesn't even begin to describe Bobbie's mouth. She's blunt and doesn't hold back much and is hilarious. The memoir flowed nicely and I really didn't want to put it down. It was a quick read, 264 pages, but it's not for everyone because of her coarse language.

Bobbie came from an abusive home (her father Bobby, for whom she's named after, was a wife beater, as was his father) in Louisiana but wasn't abused herself. She went on to be in countless dysfunctional, sometimes abusive relationships (Tommy Lee, who grabbed her by the throat in front of people). She's been on drugs most of her adult life and I don't think she's ever been to rehab. She never mentioned wanting to go. She never mentioned how she felt seeing the abuse then or how she feels about it now and if she thinks it may have to contributed to her drug use.

She detailed some of her sexual exploits with many men. The most memorable one was with Leonardo DiCaprio in 1996. He had her perform oral sex on him while wearing a condom. It tasted bad so she took it off. She said his penis was huge, 'on steroids', bigger than Tommy Lee's, and she could hardly fit it in her mouth. She said Tommy's was 'as big as a baby's arm'. Tommy's very immature, a big kid, needy, extremely jealous, and a big whoremonger. I think he's the one she said always wanted to remove her tampons for her.

She barely mentioned having a nose job at around age 19/20 'to remove the bump' and getting breast implants and having them redone. Never once mentioned that they leaked and she got really sick and has lupus now because of it (according to her). A few years ago I watched a documentary that she narrated on VH1 called Do It For the Band: The Women of the Sunset Strip and she mentioned the leakage. She failed to mention being diagnosed with trichotillomania yet mentions it in interviews. I found out about it online when I should have just read about it in her own book. That developed during 2005 during what she says is the worst relationship she's ever been in but I don't recall reading about it and I don't know who's she's talking about. How on earth can you write your memoir and leave out the most important things of all?! You can't have surgeries and barely mention them. I want details. I want to know why you had the surgeries, what it was like recovering from them and all that. What lead to wanting them? Any regrets?

The most interesting story was when her ex-husband Jani (Warrant), a crying, drunken mess at the time, confided in her about something awful that happened to him years before he was famous. Page 250:

He was nineteen when it happened. It was after a show. And older man, a major rock star, had invited Jani to hang out with him and the big guys. Jani was young, and easily impressed. Later that night, along with an accomplice, that major rock star put Jani through an ordeal he had been too ashamed to talk about until this moment. It was violent. It was ugly. It was exploitative. Jani said he had been too scared to tell anybody and had been pushing the memory under the carpet, pretending it wasn't there. Jani was a proud man and hated to think of himself as a victim. Now, finally, I understood why he had been acting like one for so many years.'

Bobbie did a lot of acting/modeling when she was in her early twenties, and some things since, so this book should have had a filmography.

Some of the music videos she's been in aren't mentioned online so I'll list them all:

I'm On To You by Hurricane- 1988 (pre-implants and nose job)
Cecilia by Times Two- 1989
Once Bitten, Twice Shy by Great White- 1989
House of Broken Love by Great White- 1989
It Feels So Good To Love Someone Like You by Terence Trent D'Arby- 1989
Sittin' in the Lap of Luxury by Louie Louie- 1990
Cherry Pie by Warrant- 1990

I loved the book, thought it was highly entertaining and I do recommend it.

I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

PRIVATE PARTS- A creepy gem from 1972 with Trailer

Boy, this is strange and unique. I've never seen a clear water-filled blow-up doll nor have I seen the vaginal region of one get filled with the contents of a blood-filled syringe. Have you? Of course you haven't. That was truly a WTF?! moment.

There are some unexplained things that keep this from getting high a 4/5 stars from me. I'm rating this a low 4. We find out George (John Ventantonio) is really a woman but are we to assume George is Martha's daughter, which makes him Cheryl's cousin? That's what I'm believing. If she's Martha's daughter is she her biological daughter? Earlier Martha told her niece Cheryl (Ayn Ruymen) that her late husband wasn't the father, that he was too old, (I guess she's saying he was impotent) and that there were other ways of getting pregnant or getting a baby (something to that effect).

George told Martha once that she ruined his childhood. What's that about? That seems to be more evidence that Martha is George's mother.

I wish George had had more dialogue (I like his mildly creepy voice) and there'd been less comedy toward the end with the cops' dialogue. Ayn, as Cheryl, overacted a bit. I think Lucille Benson, as aunt Martha, is a fine actress.

Best line of the film is near the end at the hotel when the cops are going to George's room and the old lady says, 'Oh, I wouldn't disturb George at this hour. He's probably still jerkin' off'. I almost died at hearing an old woman say that.

You can see a photo of a topless scene with Cheryl here.

Watch it here like I did in in October 2013 before it gets taken down.

SIMPLY SEXUAL by Kate Pearce (House of Pleasure # 1)

PUBLISHER: Aphrodisia, 4/2014
ORIGINAL PUB: Aprodisia, 2/2008
GENRE: Historical Erotic Romance
SETTING: England, 1815
SERIES: House of Pleasure, #1
AUTHOR SITE: link
PURCHASE: link
MY GRADE: A-

FROM PUBLISHER: Sexual Satisfaction... Ten years as a sex slave in a Turkish brothel left Lord Valentin Sokorvsky with an insatiable appetite for sex. Now the time has come for him to marry, but finding a woman who can satisfy his lustful desires proves a challenge...until he meets Sara and all he can think about is having her lie under his rock-hard body, begging him to taste and touch her...

Sensual Seduction... Sara Harrison knows she should be shocked and scandalized by Lord Sokorvsky's bold advances, but instead she is secretly aroused by this sensual, seductive man. For beneath her calm and composed manner is a wanton woman who longs for a man's intimate caress. She is most willing to be educated in the art of sensuality, to receive and give pleasure and to succumb to the wild desire that knows no limits...

MY THOUGHTS: Damn, this is one explicit book. Right off the bat Sara caught Valentin in a compromising situation with a servant.

Valentin is about thirty, with dark hair and violet eyes. He was forced into sexual slavery as a child, until he was eighteen. He was forced to have sex then with both men and women and is mostly into women now. He's become wealthy due to owning a shipping company.

His future father-in-law, John Harrison, was at that brothel and bought Valentin's and his friend Peter Howard's freedom since they were English like him. Twelve years later John is low on funds and wants Valentin to marry his younger daughter, Charlotte, but Valentin is interested in his older daughter, twenty-six year old Sara. They marry very early on, within twenty-five pages. Details of the wedding are skipped and the story goes right into their wedding night.

Sara's got dark hair and blue eyes. She's a little too passive and easy going for my taste. There was only a little bit of friction between her and Valentin throughout the story, which spans at least six months. Caroline Ingham, Valentin's jealous ex-mistress, is at the center of some of the drama.

There are at least ten sex scenes between Sara and Valentin and two or three of them involve m/m interaction between Valentin and Peter and about two threesomes with them. Words can't really express how I enjoyed those descriptive sex scenes. It was like a porn film put into words. I think I've read all but two in this series and this is the most explicit and it's certainly not for everyone. It'll leave you longing for a penis.

I really like Peter. He's very close to Valentin and when they were first given their freedom, he was addicted to and was reliant on him, as well as to opium. Peter gets his own story in the second book in this series, Simply Sinful, and I cannot wait to read it.

I was turned off by Sara getting her nipples pierced and by a few of the things that went on sexually. I didn't like rushed kidnapping story right at the very end the mystery as to who's stealing money from the company wasn't very suspenseful.

I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

INTO PASSION'S DAWN by Michele DuBarry

PUBLISHER: Star, 1981
ISBN: 035230913X
GENRE: Historical Romance
SETTING: England, Scotland, 1802-1806
SERIES: The Loves of Angela Carlyle, #1
PURCHASE: link
MY GRADE: A-

FROM PUBLISHER: An unselfish motive led lovely fifteen-year-old Angela Carlyle to consummate a brazen bargain in Lord Harrington's bedchamber. But the wedding night unleashed anothers conniving lust, planting the seeds of passion in Angela's breast. And thus her new life began, a tumultuous story of lost innocence and restless desire, sweeping the beautiful Angela into a world of flesh and fear. For the fire, which consumed her, could be quenched by one man alone-the man she both detested and desired.

PARTIAL SPOILER SUMMARY: EXTREME BODICE RIPPER ALERT! Brace yourselves. I've stumbled upon the most effed up over-the-top anti-hero ever, but I'm getting ahead of myself. I'll detail the abusive stuff below.

Black-haired, light blue-eyed Angela meets the seventy-something year old Lord Percival 'Percy' Harrington at her parents home when she was ten. He's a distant cousin by marriage to her mother. Five years later, she realizes her father is running out of money so she doesn't know what else to do but write to Percy and let him know, in a roundabout way, she needs money. He visits and lets her know that if she wants money, she has to marry him. She's horrified at the thought, since she's only fifteen, and lets him know it. He's described as being tall, fat, with yellow, tobacco-stained broken teeth. She agrees to it and before the wedding, she meets his son, Scott, one day when she's outside. That's when his obsession with her begins. He's ten years her senior and has brown hair and brown eyes.

On their wedding night, she lays in bed and waits for Percy. He arrives drunk and passes out. Out of the darkness appears Scott. He tells her he drugged his father and that he's going to rape her right in the bed with him passed out. He rips her gown off, she claws his face and bites his lip. He flings her off of him, hitting her in the face in the process. He throws her on the bed, she claws his back, he calls her a bitch and ties her hands to the headboard, then rapes her. She bleeds heavily for a hour. The next morning Percy wakes up thinking they'd had sex.

Soon after that incident she finds a diary in the house that belonged to Scott's aunt Blanche. It talks about how Scott was unwanted, neglected, ignored, and she begins to feel sympathy for him but hates him with a passion at the same time. We never learn exactly what went on in his childhood. We just know that he and his father hate each other. She took the diary to him and he had the nerve to proposition her- have sex with him willingly or he'd continue to rape her. She doesn't agree to it.

His abuse towards her is off the charts from then on out. He continues to drug (more likely have a servant do it) his father every night, her too sometimes, and sneak into her bedroom through a secret underground tunnel that leads to his own house on the property and rape her.

She shot him once when she realized she'd been drugged by him. He smacked her twice, put her over his knee and whipped her until his arm hurt, then raped her. Another time Angela insults him and he calls her a bitch and slut, carries her into the ocean and drops her in, right as she was telling him she was pregnant. He rescues her then and they get in bed and have sex, her supposedly not remembering the near drowning. She's as mentally screwed up as him for saying that him doing that was partially her fault for 'goading' him into anger. Another time, Scott sneaks into her room and finds her in bed with her friend, Keith. He beats the heck out of him and smacks Angela. Now for the worst of his abuse- right after beating Keith up, he tied Angela to the bed, with Keith passed out on the floor, and began biting her all over- lips, breast, neck, nipples, everywhere! He turned her over and alternated between beating her with her quirt (short riding crop) and raping her. He heated his signet ring in the fire and branded her butt cheek with it. If ever a hero needed a bullet to the brain, it's him. At some point in the book Keith smacks and rapes Angela once too.

He kidnaps her at her wedding to Keith and takes her to Scotland. At this point, she's nineteen. She becomes pregnant again. He's trying hard to get her to marry him but she refuses. He tells her that he'll take her home to England but the children have to stay with him. She says and they begin a consensual sexual relationship with each other. She finds happiness with him and agrees to marry him and that's how the book ends.

MY THOUGHTS: Nothing shocks me in old historicals anymore but there were several moments in this book that made my jaw drop and eyes pop. Scott is beyond disturbed. Unfortunately for the reader, we never learned what happened to him in his childhood that helped turn him into the jealous, possessive monster he became. He's really arrogant too.

Poor Angela sees herself as an 'unwilling captive of desire and revenge'. She's very spirited and feisty, not passive at all. She hates yet loves him and he won't let her break free. There are periods of consensual sex between them throughout the story. She has a sexual relationship with three men and never has sex with her elderly husband, who's not in the story much.

There was a part in here where she's kidnapped by a highwayman named Jack Newton, who's forty years old. She's about seventeen. He's not abusive while he's holding her for ransom for six weeks. They become lovers, even though they're both married. He eventually hangs for his crime. This part became boring to me once he was captured and went to trial.

I like warped romances and this one fit the bill.

ABDUCTED BY A PRINCE by Olivia Drake (Barbara Dawson Smith)

PUBLISHER: St. Martin's, 4/29/2014
GENRE: Historical Romance
SETTING: England & Scotland, 1800's (I guess)
SERIES: Cinderella Sisterhood, #3
AUTHOR SITE: link
PURCHASE: link
MY GRADE: D

SYNOPSIS: Ellie Stratham gave up her childhood dreams of a fairy tale romance long ago. To repay her late father’s debts, she’s forced to serve her spoiled cousin, Lady Beatrice. But Ellie has devised a secret plan to escape her life as a drudge. A plan that is thrown into jeopardy when she’s abducted by a mysterious stranger.

A notorious seducer of women—and a scoundrel to boot—Damien Burke has earned his nickname as the Demon Prince. But his plot to kidnap Lady Beatrice to make her brother return a priceless heirloom backfires—and he ends up with their penniless cousin, Ellie, as his hostage. By the time Damien realizes his mistake, he and his fiery-willed captive are trapped in a remote castle during a wild winter storm. And he soon finds that the true hostage may be his own heart.

MY THOUGHTS: Oh, dear. Another terrible one and another one where the year isn't given. The heroine, twenty-six year old auburn-haired Ellie lives with her awful aunt, uncle, two cousin, and Lady Anne, a nonrelative who's very nice to her and is the only nonservant in the house who cares about her. Ellie's parents died separately when she was six and fourteen and she had no choice but to live with them. She's secretly writing a 'storybook'.

Twenty-eight year old black-haired, green-eyed Damien has been given the ridiculous nickname of The Demon Prince when there's nothing demon-like about him and he's not a 'notorious seducer of women' either. He's your regular, run of the mill self-made hero who grew up poor and has become wealthy. He's widowed with a young daughter, Lily. He never knew who his biological parents were but that changes for him near the end of the story.

My favorite theme of all is abduction of the heroine by hero, or someone sent in his place to do it. That's why I was excited to read this. Aside from the abduction itself this was pretty uneventful until the laughable bit of stuff near the end regarding his paternity. I liked the story until her abduction and my opinion of the book went downhill fast after that. She was obviously angry with him at first for abducting her but soon became resigned to her fate. He treated her well and they became friendly with each other, then turned into lovers. And that's about it. I understand why they married but damn, why'd they have to get married just a few weeks in? I think the story only spans 2-4 weeks. Both characters were likeable but my mind tuned out when they became friends and the storyline disappeared. It became endless pages of her working on her storybook.

I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

GREAT INTERIVEW WITH AUTHOR JENNIFER BLAKE ABOUT BODICE RIPPERS

Today I was checking out author Regan Walker's review blog and came across this interview she did with veteran historical romance author Jennifer Blake last year, in which Jennifer discusses bodice rippers. Yay! Please check it out here.

NOTHING DENIED by Jess Michaels

PUBLISHER: Avon Red, 2/2010
GENRE: Fiction/Erotic Historical Romance
SETTING: England, 1800's (I guess)
SERIES: Albright Sisters, #3
AUTHOR SITE: link
MY GRADE: B-

FROM PUBLISHER: Entering her seventh unsuccessful season, Beatrice Albright is beginning to realize that her beauty cannot compensate for her shrewish ways. A desperate woman whom no one wants, she must seek a man whom no one else will marry: the despised and mysterious Marquis of Highcroft, Gareth Berenger. Rumor has it he is a killer, but Beatrice is far more terrified of spinsterhood and the company of her mother than she is of Berenger's dark reputation.

But Gareth, while intrigued by the alluring hellion's proposal, has a proposition of his own. A man of particular tastes, he will wed no woman unwilling to satisfy them. His bride must be adventurous, afraid of nothing, and eager to experience any passion and pleasure he can devise, no matter how shocking and taboo. If Beatrice agrees to a trial affair if she can happily shed all her inhibitions in the end they will be wed.

And so the die is cast as Beatrice and Gareth embark on an erotic path where danger awaits them at every turn, en route to a world of exquisite ecstasy where there is nothing forbidden...nothing denied.

MY THOUGHTS: I feel this story is underdeveloped and a touch lightweight. It took place within two weeks, not counting the epilogue that jumps ahead five years. We didn't learn anything about Beatrice's or Gareth's childhoods. I don't even know how old they are or what year this took place. I guess she's twenty-three, since girls had their first 'season' at sixteen. This novel is fairly short, 260 pages, but there was still room to fully develop the characters.

I liked Beatrice at first, until she got rude with a servant. She's direct and didn't hesitate to go after what she wanted, in this case, Gareth. She's got jealously issues and feels like her family has pushed her aside in order to find her sisters' husbands. She's gotten tired of it so took matters into her own hands out of pure desperation. I still don't understand why no one would marry her. Having a 'bad attitude' doesn't seem reason enough to keep men away from an attractive woman.

The widowed Gareth is looking for a wife he's sexually compatible with, since he wasn't with his first wife. Their relationship turned real sour. She did something terrible and I'm not sure I understand why and there's no sense in trying to figure a fictional character out. I don't really have an opinion on Gareth. He and Beatrice embark on a two week sexual relationship to see if they're compatible and if they are, they're to get married. I liked that the sex was graphic but was turned off by the mild bondage. That never does anything for me. I was glad the author used the P word, as most tend to say 'cunt' instead. There was also anal sex, which was a nice change. You don't get that a whole lot in historicals.

There was a mystery thrown in right near the end that was solved just as quick as it came. That should have happened sooner in the story and should have taken longer to solve.

Overall, I liked the story up until the later part when her sister and brother in law made and appearance and the mystery at the end.

THE SCOUNDREL'S SEDUCTION by Jennifer Haymore

PUBLISHER: Grand Central Publishing, 5/27/2014
GENRE: Historical Romance
SETTING: England, 1812 or 13
SERIES: House of Trent, book 3
AUTHOR SITE: link
MY GRADE: C

SYNOPSIS: Undercover agent Sam Hawkins has devoted his life to protecting king and country. So when he receives orders to assassinate a ruthless traitor, he doesn't question his mission. But Sam didn't know his deed had a witness—the beautiful and mysterious betrayer's wife. Now he has no choice but to take her as his prisoner—one he can neither trust…nor resist.

Élise, Lady Dunthorpe, will do anything to escape her powerful captor—including seducing him senseless. She didn't know of her miserable husband's crimes, but she has secrets of her own—secrets that threaten everything she holds dear. With his piercing dark eyes and gentle touch, Sam inflames Élise's deepest desires, but how could she ever trust a man who won't let her go? Caught between the crown he's sworn to serve and the woman he's come to love, Sam will risk his heart—and his very life—to keep her safe.

MY THOUGHTS:. There wasn't anything that I liked about this story. It was more of an action-adventure story than romance and that I didn't like at all. I think the story spanned about a month or so, not counting the epilogue.

Twenty-eight year old heroine, Élise, a blue-eyed blond, was in a bad childless marriage for eleven years. She's French but has spent most of her life in England. She sees her husband murdered right in front of her by Sam and within a few day, she's lusting after him. I'm not sure what to make of that.

Thirty-two year old brown-haired and brown-eyed Sam being twice widowed is a major turnoff. I don't really like that he confessed to Élise that he didn't love either wife. I thought that was ridiculous too. They met too soon, during chapter one. They're both bland and boring, as is the story. There's really nothing more to say about either character.

We finally learned what happened with his mother. She disappeared a year ago, during book 1 of the series, and Sam found her over halfway through the book. Élise told her that her children had been searching for her the whole time and the moron was real surprised to hear it. Really, duchess? You up and disappeared without a trace and you're surprised that everyone was worried? What makes no sense is why you didn't tell anyone you were leaving. I don't think that in real life that would have happened. There was no reason for you to run away. You're a grown woman who could have and should have told everyone the truth.

There was a major revelation during that initial reunion involving Sam and his birth father, and his younger sister Esme, that I can't get into without giving it all away. I didn't see that coming and I wish it had happened a bit sooner in the story.

This was, by far, my least favorite of the series. Here are links for my reviews for books one, two, and a novella.

I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.