Emma Holly / Selah March

To avoid marriage, Merry Vance has concocted a sinfully scandalous scheme: to pose for Nicolas Craven, London's most sought-after artist. No man in his right mind would marry a woman who posed nude for this notorious rogue.
But Nicolas has his own plans for the fiesty young woman. And Merry has no idea how hot it can get in an artist's studio.

 

Comment: This is the sort of sequel to Beyond Innocence, a book I've read last month. This one features a known character from that book, Merry Vance. I thought Merry was very bold in trying to get her way out of marriage and she thought a plan that wouldn't make any man want to marry her, but she didn't think things through and her family had to deal with her actions. However, Merry falls in love with Nic, the painter she "uses" to help her without his knowledge of everything. Of course many situations come from Merry's bold but reckless actions in particular related to her own feelings. I liked this story, it had all the elements to work out just like the previous story, but it didn't captivated me as much and I thought it was more centered in the sexual side of things before they fell in love for real. It was good, especially the surrounding things but overall, weaker for me then the first.
Grade: 7/10

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Sweet-natured Etienne LeFevre must give up his birthright and flee into the snow-covered forest to

save himself from the murderous greed of his brutish elder brothers. When Etienne ends up alone and hungry, with a ramshackle cottage his only shelter and a feral cat his only friend, he believes himself doomed to a sad, cold death.
But out of the shadows of the night arrives a visitor who brings comfort. He presents himself as a servant, but the man called “Jacques” spends the long hours instructing Etienne in the cruel delights of a disciplined passion.
Jacques is gone with the morning light, but Etienne thinks he knows the stranger’s secret. Will Etienne tame the beast that lurks within his lover? Or will he find himself a victim of the bitter rage that rules Jacques’ heart?
Based on the classic French fairy tale, “Puss In Boots,” this story explores what happens when the servant becomes the master, and the master lives to serve...

Comment: This is a sort of version of the Puss in Boots tale. It's obviously very sexual and not very romantic in my opinion. I thought it would be interesting to see how the author would play the story with two gay men but this was more like a exaggerated story on some D/S relationship. I wasn't very fond of the story neither did I think the plot had much to it. The major elements were there but I didn't feel any affinity towards the main characters. Their relationship was weird and lacking important things. Very weak this story, for me.
Grade:3/10