Alice GainesRezensionen

This was an interesting and well-written little book on learning to write in deep point-of-view (POV). It had good examples of different types and usages of deep POV, good descriptions of when to and when not to use it, decent how-to instructions, references to other books from which you could learn more, etc.

There is only one reason this fantastic book did not get five stars. (It deserves 4 1/2 stars, in my opinion.) That reason is that it was written mainly from the POV of a romance author, and I felt like she could have shown more examples of deep POV in other types of works. I believe that deep POV compliments romances better than any other genre, and it would have been nice to see more examples in other genres in which it might not be as easy to use deep POV, such as true crime, psychological thriller, action, etc.

Still a very worthwhile read for any author. Highly recommend it; it really opened my eyes to a type of writing I had used in the past unknowingly, but had not really been familiar with.½

A quick read, and a great retelling of the story of the girl who kissed a frog and gained a prince

Sweet, sexy, and totally relatable, this contemporary romance set in California's wine country pits brains and brawn in a friends turned lovers story with an emotionally touching twist. A must read!

This is a new author for me, do I have to read another of her books? Honestly I don't think I will or honestly I won't go out of my way to read her when there are other authors that I can't get enough of. OK let clarify, did I hate it? No, but did I love it? Yeah no. There was a lot of issues packed in this book and I wished we got more answers than what we were left with, and normally if I liked a book I wouldn't care if I knew the second books was coming to finish getting our answers but not so much with this.

rcvd an ARC at no cost to author..(netgalley) voluntarily reviewed with my own thoughts and opinions.

Mating Season by Alice Gaines is a sinfully sexy battle of the sexes. To read my review in its entirety, please visit http://www.bookreviewsandmorebykathy.com/2012/08/13/mating-season/

If you are looking for a quick read that is delightfully naughty and just a little bit on the wild side, then you are going to love Storm Bound. To read my review in its entirety, please visit http://www.bookreviewsandmorebykathy.com/2012/07/19/storm-bound/

🌟🌟🌟🌟STARS
ARC-BOOK REVIEW
Release-19/2/18

His For the Week by Alice Gaines was a fun contemporary romance, So Sex columnist Désirée “Rae” Knight needs a date for the week her possible big break is an article at a couples only exclusive sex resort.
Due to her upbringing with her mother (who seems to be a magnet for inappropriate controlling men.)
Rae has sworn off men. shes sexy and single but not adverse to a little playtime with the right man of course.
Nate Winslow recognises the understated quiet woman who always takes her coffee at the same watering hole as himself and is intrigued and fascinated.
Not really in the field for a relationship either after a messy divorce under his belt.
He can't help but lust after the nondescript woman and is plucking up the courage to Talk to her when opportunity falls directly into his lap.
Eavesdropping at the ladies bathroom door may seem sneaky but when Nate realises Désirée also has a crush on him and wants a partner for the week a "hook up guy" what red-blooded man single man would say no.
The only issue is the coffee shop Désirée he has been lusting over is gone and in her place is a polished and immaculate woman, who is this new lady.
Well, nate is going to find out.
So I really liked the start of this it was fun, playful and hot like really really hot.
I adored Nate he was funny, quirky and a god between the sheets.
Rae, I had more reservations about, she seemed obsessed with being single and sexy.
I mean to the point, it was like she was wearing actual blinkers.
The more Nate fell for her and tried to pull her out of her shell the more she turtled hiding beneath her shell of make-up and clothes.
This woman was single-minded in maintaining her armour, which is fine but this is not what she was underneath, this was not Rae herself.
I know she maintained that Nate wouldn't like the true her, that she wouldn't be good enough.
But what did Rae care she was adamant she didn't want the white picket fence with him so why hide her true self from him.
Especially when it was quite apparent he liked her just fine.
It was understandable how frustrated Nate started to get with the situation on hand.
And her eventual actions the night of the party were a kick in the face, I'm sure she would have milked it like a baby if the situations were reversed.
So I have a dilemma I did actually enjoy "His for the week" I just found myself not warming to the heroine at all and I'm not quite sure if in the end that she actually deserved Nate.
I just felt that Nate was much more invested in the whole thing Than Rae.
I mean how long does one woman need to make up her mind wake up and smell the coffee.
It would have served her right if Nate told her to take a long hike back the way she came.
But hey-ho as I said I did enjoy this and was actually invested in the outcome.
His for the week was well written and very easy to get lost in.
It had many colourful and diverse secondary characters that helped set the scene and ultimately made this a good story I just wish I had found the main heroine more likeable.
I was provided with an ARC of "His For The Week " By Entangled Publishing via Netgalley of which I have reviewed voluntary.
All opinions expressed are entirely my own.



Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm.
https://www.facebook.com/beckiebookworm/
www.beckiebookworm.com

🌟🌟🌟🌟STARS
ARC-BOOK REVIEW
Release-19/2/18

His For the Week by Alice Gaines was a fun contemporary romance, So Sex columnist Désirée “Rae” Knight needs a date for the week her possible big break is an article at a couples only exclusive sex resort.
Due to her upbringing with her mother (who seems to be a magnet for inappropriate controlling men.)
Rae has sworn off men. shes sexy and single but not adverse to a little playtime with the right man of course.
Nate Winslow recognises the understated quiet woman who always takes her coffee at the same watering hole as himself and is intrigued and fascinated.
Not really in the field for a relationship either after a messy divorce under his belt.
He can't help but lust after the nondescript woman and is plucking up the courage to Talk to her when opportunity falls directly into his lap.
Eavesdropping at the ladies bathroom door may seem sneaky but when Nate realises Désirée also has a crush on him and wants a partner for the week a "hook up guy" what red-blooded man single man would say no.
The only issue is the coffee shop Désirée he has been lusting over is gone and in her place is a polished and immaculate woman, who is this new lady.
Well, nate is going to find out.
So I really liked the start of this it was fun, playful and hot like really really hot.
I adored Nate he was funny, quirky and a god between the sheets.
Rae, I had more reservations about, she seemed obsessed with being single and sexy.
I mean to the point, it was like she was wearing actual blinkers.
The more Nate fell for her and tried to pull her out of her shell the more she turtled hiding beneath her shell of make-up and clothes.
This woman was single-minded in maintaining her armour, which is fine but this is not what she was underneath, this was not Rae herself.
I know she maintained that Nate wouldn't like the true her, that she wouldn't be good enough.
But what did Rae care she was adamant she didn't want the white picket fence with him so why hide her true self from him.
Especially when it was quite apparent he liked her just fine.
It was understandable how frustrated Nate started to get with the situation on hand.
And her eventual actions the night of the party were a kick in the face, I'm sure she would have milked it like a baby if the situations were reversed.
So I have a dilemma I did actually enjoy "His for the week" I just found myself not warming to the heroine at all and I'm not quite sure if in the end that she actually deserved Nate.
I just felt that Nate was much more invested in the whole thing Than Rae.
I mean how long does one woman need to make up her mind wake up and smell the coffee.
It would have served her right if Nate told her to take a long hike back the way she came.
But hey-ho as I said I did enjoy this and was actually invested in the outcome.
His for the week was well written and very easy to get lost in.
It had many colourful and diverse secondary characters that helped set the scene and ultimately made this a good story I just wish I had found the main heroine more likeable.
I was provided with an ARC of "His For The Week " By Entangled Publishing via Netgalley of which I have reviewed voluntary.
All opinions expressed are entirely my own.



Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm.
https://www.facebook.com/beckiebookworm/
www.beckiebookworm.com

I really enjoyed the story line of this book. but if you took the love scenes out it would probably be about 25 pages long. Few to many for me, not that it will stop me getting the books for the brothers!

Mickey and Alex had more in common than each was willing to admit. A broken heart tore apart the close friendship they shared. A bruised ego kept them apart for eight years. And an inferiority complex stands in the way of a chance for reconciliation. Just One Week shows how hurt and insecurity can create a breach in the strongest of relationships. With age Michelle and Alex had to learn how to move on from the pain of the past and look ahead to a chance at happiness together. A new author, a tempting story and a insightful read.

2.5 stars

Brief Encounter

The Characters

Elizabeth Carlisle
Giancarlo DiMarchione

The Story

Short and sexy.

The Random Thoughts

3 Stars

A jewel heist romance, but one in which the sophisticated thief is pursued neither by a consulting detective nor an insurance investigator, but by another sophisticated thief. Ever since Arthur Conan-Doyle nailed the former plot device in [b:A Scandal in Bohemia|12990177|A Scandal in Bohemia|Arthur Conan Doyle|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg|18150086] and John McTiernan hit the latter out of the ball park in his 1999 version of "The Thomas Crown Affair", it's been a hard act to follow.

Ms Gaines attempts to put a new spin on this old standard by making one of the thieves a bored aristocrat and the other an impoverished commoner posing as the princess of an improbably named state in central Europe. As other Goodreads reviewers have noted, the concept of an ill-treated governess successfully transforming herself into a princess feted and followed by the bachelors, gossips and wags of the ton opens up too many plot holes and stretches the reader's credulity too far.

I read the book in one sitting. Ms Gaines is nothing if not a consummately skilled writer, and [b:Always a Princess|12356608|Always a Princess|Alice Gaines|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51rGL-Tb8qL._SL75_.jpg|17058847] was a joy to read. The ending, however, had a hurried feel about it, as if the storyteller had a deadline to meet, or was distracted by ideas for future novels.

After reading and enthusing over [b:Miss Foster's Folly|8409232|Miss Foster's Folly|Alice Gaines|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1275900586s/8409232.jpg|13270368], I had a hard time choosing a second book from Ms Gaines' extensive backlist. Many of the titles, covers and blurbs hinted at genres I avoid, so I settled for a volume with a setting close to [b:Miss Foster's Folly|8409232|Miss Foster's Folly|Alice Gaines|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1275900586s/8409232.jpg|13270368].

The first few pages were a disappointment. The contrived masquerade, the facile kidnapping of a peer of the realm, and the prospect of yet another story about revenge for sexual abuse and humiliation, not to mention a plot that seemed to be heading toward mainstream BDSM -- these were not what I was hoping for.

My reaction to the book began to change the further I read. Plot holes continued to dot the narrative landscape and the number of long, elaborate sex scenes were reminiscent of write-by-numbers erotica, but each physical encounter led to a deeper understanding of the psychology of the main protagonists and the emotional tightrope they were walking to approach each other.

The attract-repel theme is a favourite tension-building device with romance authors, but few provide enough character development to justify either attraction or repulsion.

Ms Gaines is an exception. I didn't count the number of sex scenes in the book, or repetitions of sex plays. There were too many to number. Despite the repetition, however, each encounter was justified in the insights it provided. Each step in the growth of the main characters was perfectly timed and absolutely convincing.

My five-star rating expresses my satisfaction with the book but doesn't reflect the quality of the writing and the wide gap between this book and other books to which I've awarded the same rating.

Astonishing. I occasionally browse publishers' websites and download ebooks on impulse, but this must be the first time I've bought a book by an unfamiliar author and read it in one sitting. It was that good.

A mature American socialite is left a staggering fortune by an eccentric relative and decides to spread her wings, lose her virginity, then go on a scandalous tour of Europe, posing as merry widow. She meets a moody aristocratic British rake who is looking for a headstrong, defiant wife to neutralise his hereditary arrogance and egotism.

The various narrative elements of [b:Miss Foster's Folly|8409232|Miss Foster's Folly|Alice Gaines|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1275900586s/8409232.jpg|13270368] are familiar strands of historical romances, but Ms Gaines weaves golden cloth from cliched threads. 'Chemistry' would be a feebly inappropriate description of the interaction between Juliet and David. High-voltage arcs of electricity surging from a Tesla coil is the closest simile I can think of.

And if the rapier-sharp dialogues and catch-me-if-you-can chase scenes weren't enough, when the sexual encounters finally make an appearance, they build upon each other with increasing emotional and physical intensity, lifting the story way above the mainstream mass of plodding Regency romances and turgid contemporary erotica.

I've awarded five stars to many other books I've reviewed on Goodreads, but after reading [b:Miss Foster's Folly|8409232|Miss Foster's Folly|Alice Gaines|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1275900586s/8409232.jpg|13270368] I'm tempted to go back and curve some of those downwards. If Spinal Tap can have an amplifier with an '11' volume setting, why can't Goodreads have a 6 or 7 star category?

I do believe I've fallen in love with Ms Gaines. :)

Yet another variation on the stranded-couple theme, but with an interesting twist: the couple already know each other.

On her way to a job interview, Laura finds herself stranded in a snowstorm. Things look desperate until a handsome guy in an SUV offers to put her up in a forest cabin he's borrowing from a friend. She accepts and no sooner do they get to the cabin than the blizzard snows them in for several days. How they spend those days is a foregone conclusion.

What's different and intriguing about this erotic novella is that Laura and Ethan have a history. Back in college she was a shy, mousy nerd with a serious crush on the hottest guy around. At the end-of-semester dance she gets blind drunk, corners Ethan, stuns him with a long list of all the kinky things she'd like to do to him, then reaches for his trousers. Ethan is repulsed and Laura is humiliated.

Back in the snowbound cabin, after an awkward start, Laura decides to confront the two-ton elephant in the room by apologising for her drunken outburst at the college dance. Ethan is surprisingly understanding, the tension melts, and the sexual heat rises. Laura suggests that, since the two of them are unlikely to meet again once the snowploughs make it through, this would be a great opportunity to enjoy some of the kinky sex she dreamed of in college. Ethan agrees.

I'm constantly impressed by Ms Gaines' skill in maintaining tension and reader interest through a series of sexual encounters. She avoids the genre pitfalls of repetition and cliched dialogue. Laura and Ethan's final coupling is just as fresh and exciting as the first.

There was just one part of the story that left me a little disappointed. Throughout their cabin sex-fest, Laura makes clear to Ethan that the only reason she's able to let herself go is the knowledge that it's a one-time fling.

Ethan accepts this, but still finds himself falling for Laura. I was hoping the intimate sex would have mellowed Laura too, but when the snowplough arrives she brushes off Ethan's plea to continue the relationship and insists she was serious about it being a one-time fling. Somehow I was hoping that Laura would have gone through the same kind of emotional development as Ethan and changed her mind about turning her back on him.

There is, of course, a happy ending, but the recovery from Laura's uncompromising leave-taking is a little hurried and a little contrived—understandable, perhaps, considering the limitations of length imposed by the novella format.

Ms Gaines writes great erotica that not only arouses but also exhilarates. [b:Heat Rises|14061794|Heat Rises|Alice Gaines|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1339033956s/14061794.jpg|19699495] is no exception. Marvellous stuff.

Drake, Crown Prince of the dragons, has been looking for his mate for years. She had been kidnapped and sent to live on the other side. The only contact he has with her is sexual energy that leaves them both panting.

Ilona is a princess of dragons but she has no idea because she has been raised as a human. She has dreamt about a dragon that started off as her friend and has become so much more. Even though he can’t exist, she can’t help but wish that he did.

According to dragon law, both must come together as a pure couple or it is loneliness, early death and no heir for both. That wouldn’t be a problem but the family that has been raising Ilona is not what they seem. They are actually demons and they need Ilona to get pregnant by a demon in order to receive the favor of the leader. They call in heavy reinforcements by the name of Zimm. Drake needs to find Ilona so they can bond and become a mated pair. This will determine if the next generation will continue.

Dragon Shifter by Alice Gaines started off pretty well with the telling of the legend and getting to know Drake. Both are to stay pure and Drake has, which kind of felt weird but also a bit romantic at the same time. Ilona seemed more a Cinderella character to the evil sisters in this book and you feel so sorry for her. When they bring in Zimm I found myself wanting him more than Drake, which is what the demons wanted so I guess if it had been me I would have lost my innocence. Once Drake and Ilona meet you do feel the sparks between the two, no pun intended.

Bitten by Books for AReCafe

Professor Elizabeth Carlisle is an art critic and does a good job of exposing counterfeits. She's at an exhibit of erotic art where she catches the eye of a handsome Italian stranger. They are viewing a more private collection only to find that they've stayed past closing time and are now effectively trapped inside the museum for the night. Surrounded by so much eroticism, life immitates art and they succumb to the passion that had been building between them. The next morning, Giancarlo makes a confession.

I think if it had been longer or even a full length novel, I'd have more stars to give. Why was Elisabeth such a closed off woman? What made her decide to jump on the couch with a stranger? What made Giancarlo want to seduce her specifically? I've read novellas that give you quite a bit of character development or a stronger plot, so I do find it a shame that this was aptly titled with emphasis on the brief. For an erotica novella this was rather forgettable.

MISS FOSTER'S FOLLY by Alice Gaines is a historical romance set in 1886 Manhattan Island, New York and London.What a passionate delightful full of adventure and romace story. It is well written. The plot is interesting and flows easily. The characters are engaging. It has passion, wit, love, romance, sensuality, lust, trust issues, letting go of past disappointments, and learning to truly love. The heroine, Juliet, is tall, comely in her eyes and the eyes of her siblings, independent, determined, wealthy, spinster, rebellious, looking for adventure,seduction with plans to sleep across the continent and no plans of marriage,she believes marriage is just a trap.....but enter David, the Marquess of Derrington. The hero, David, is handsome, restless, defiant, rebellious, looking for a wife who can break the Winslow curse....enter Miss Juliet Foster. While David is determined to win Juliet's heart and her hand in marriage, she is determined not to marry but use him to take her virginity then move on to her plan. What a wild, sexual ride they pursue with twists and turns galore. In the end hearts win out. The secondary characters are witty, strong and help carry the story. If you enjoy a fast paced story with wit,lust,adventure,passion, and just possibly a happy ever after ending you will enjoy this one. This book was received for review from Net Galley and details can be found at Carina Press and My Book Addiction and More.

I read "The Well-Tutored Lover "by Alice Gaines

Great command of the language. Lively dialog. Could have used a more complex plot.½

Porn, or more commonly called erotica. Some sweet Dragons in story one, Odd race of men in story two. A collection of ebooks from Changeling press in book form it is all fun, and terrific mind candy

Finding Magic - Kate Douglas - 4/5
4 Play - Eve Vaughn - 3/5
Sea God's Pleasure - Alice Gaines - 3/5