Naked (The Blackstone Affair #1) - Raine Miller
Brynne Bennett is living the good life. An American art student at the University of London and part-time photographic model, she’s putting her life back on track with school and lots of hard work. When ultra successful London businessman, Ethan Blackstone, buys her nude portrait, he isn’t taking ‘no’ for an answer. He wants Brynne in his bed and makes plans to keep her there no matter what. His dominant nature captivates and ensnares despite the demons she carries inside her. But there are secrets in this relationship. Huge ones. Can Ethan free Brynne from the past that has marked her? Will Brynne let him or will the specters tormenting her resurface to destroy them both…
I'm just going to get my complaint out of the way right off the bat because I'm finding myself getting really annoyed with romance novels post Fifty Shades- we need to move past the vulnerable woman with emotional issues and wealthy men with control issues. We need to. You can change settings, names, and little things but basically it's all the same story that we're reading. Come up with an original idea.
That being said? I did like the book because I liked Fifty Shades. Granted, we don't have the BDSM theme running through the book but everything is basically the same. Brynne is emotionally fragile and she meets Ethan, who is hired by her father to basically look after her because of potential threats in regards to her horrible past. He basically falls for her and she falls for him but of course she finds out that he's not just interested in her and that he was in fact, hired by her father, so they have a falling out. Just like you knew it would.
Despite it being so incredibly similar to Fifty Shades, it's different enough where you find yourself reading it to the end and eagerly picking up the second one.
All In (Blackstone Affair, #2) - Raine Miller
The second part in The Blackstone Affair series! Looming danger. A love worth fighting for. A man who’ll go all in.
Ethan Blackstone has a problem on his hands. He’s broken Brynne’s trust and she’s left him. He’s unwilling to live without her and isn’t giving up—he’s dead-set on getting his beautiful American girl back. The passion between them was explosive, but the secrets they hid from each other are dark and chilling and are powerful enough to destroy their shot at a life together. With political threats now directed at Brynne, Ethan is running out of time and he’ll need to gather all his strength and agility to protect her from the dangers that could take her away from him forever. Will Ethan be able to save Brynne from a past that keeps her locked in fear? Will he ever feel the warmth of her touch, the solidity of her trust again? This is a love-struck man who is willing to do whatever it takes to possess the heart of the woman he loves. He’ll go to any lengths to protect her. He’ll go all in.
Here is the fiery story of what happens when two people surrender to a love so great it can heal the scars of the past and give way to a life of pure, rapturous ecstasy.
And dammit if I didn't like this one better than the first. Again, the story line is still remarkably similar to Fifty Shades that I did find myself frustrated and I was a little let down knowing that I already knew what would happen. This story is told through Ethan's point of view which honestly, I liked better than Brynne's. Brynne has all of these emotional issues and I really struggle with people who can't just buck the hell up in life, so I find myself not liking Brynne at times. Every time things get dicey you run? Come on, get over yourself nut job.
Of course we find out more about the threats against Brynne and finally at the end of the book we get some action! I'm finding myself hoping that book three turns into something more like a black ops vet saves the girl book.
Despite my annoyance of the series so far being predictable, I do like Raine's writing style and I do think she holds real promise as a writer. I will definitely check out other works of hers in the future.
1 comment:
I liked these books too. I wasn't overly wowed by them, but they were goods reads.
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