Review: Because we Belong (Because you are Mine #3) by Beth Kerry

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Title:  Because We Belong
Author: Beth Kerry
Publisher/Year:  Penguin 11/5/13
Length:  368 pages
Series: Because you are Mine #3

Overview

The “wicked good storytelling” (Jaci Burton) of New York Times bestselling author Beth Kery continues inBecaue We Belong, the new Because You Are Mine novel

IAN…“[the] hero…dark, mysterious, and very dominant” (Smexy Books), a sexual force to be reckoned with, a man accustomed to getting what he wants.

FRANCESCA…“a fascinating heroine” (Heroes and Heartbreakers), a woman who had no idea how far she was willing to go in the name of love.

Introduced in New York Times bestselling author Beth Kery’s erotic phenomenon Because You Are Mine, they aroused an “addictive and delicious” (USA Today) romance that dared to break the rules of attraction.

In Because We Belong Ian and Francesca return to reignite the exquisite passions that drew them together, and to finally face the intimate secrets that threatened to separate them forever. The secrets of an inescapable past that was one man’s darkest mystery—a darkness that seduced one woman and forever held her spellbound with forbidden desire. For both of them, the next step is total abandon.

My Thoughts

I think that all of us who have invested time with this couple really wanted the best outcome possible for them, but knowing how volatile things could be with Ian and his past in general, the chance of things working out smoothly were slim to none.

We left off with this couple when everything was falling apart for Ian.  He learned more information from Lucien than he thought he’d find, and then his mother’s health deteriorated so quickly that she passed and things went downhill from there since you know that Ian will always blame himself for that.  Francesca was left helpless because the man that she loved, her other half up and left her without even a way to get in touch, and she didn’t know where to go from there.  Thankfully she was able to cling back to her friendships pre-Ian, and Davie took her back in and helped her survive.  It’s only when things seem to be getting a little bit better that the other shoe drops .

Lucien comes knocking on the door one day saying that they all NEED Francesca to come back since Ian left all power and authority in his company to her and they need to make a decision about acquiring a company that we know Ian wanted.  Gerard (Ian’s Cousin) and James/Anne, the grandparents are all on the board and try to do what they can to teach Francesca what she needs to know to help make an informed decision on what to do.  Lucky for Francesca, she’s got great intuition and decides that there’s too much risk in something that Gerard is pushing to do that she sides with Lucien to make another choice.  As that’s happening, fear for her safety comes along since she’s almost kidnapped one day while out running with Davie, and that’s just the start of another spiral out of control.

The whole family goes back to England for James and Anne’s anniversary ball and for the holidays and Ian learns that there’s been an attempt on Francesca.  He returns to see to her safety, while finding that things aren’t as good as they seem.  He’s got a sense that Gerard has motives outside of helping out Ian’s company -namely making moves on Francesca and doing things underhandedly.  Ian also isn’t srue what to make of things while he’s back since he knows that he still loves Francesca more than anything, but he can’t be with her until he’s sorted out his past and that’s not something that seems like it’s going to happen anytime soon.

Francesca spends a lot of her time and energy trying to fight her anger with him for leaving while knowing that it’s not a battle that she can win.  she wants to understand what drives Ian but needs the help from others to figure it out .

What i enjoyed about this final installment of the series is that you know clearly what the motives are for a lot of actions and you can follow the clear delineated path that they take – but you spend chapter after chapter wondering when it’ll manifest.  I think that it’s nice when you expect things but they aren’t really detractiona from the story.  I also like that we get another sibling in the mix and i have a feeling that this isn’t the last that we’ve heard of him.  i like how he pops up at the most inopportune times and yet at the times of need as well.  as we come to expect, someone gets killed, maybe a few people do actually – there’s a threat on folks’ lives which is nice, and some great passion which keeps this romance and story going.  i think that the power that we get from Ian is exactly what makes this story nice and the way that Francesca responds is a great compliment.

I hope that we get more from them – there was a teaser of a book to come in the spring that may give me a bit more of what i want – and i’m looking forward to that story since it’ll give us a glimpse into someone that we barely know. 2 someones perhaps.   i hope you guys enjoy this final installment in Ian and Francesca’s tale.

Review: When We are One (When I’m With You #8) by Beth Kerry

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Title: When We are One  
Author: Beth Kerry
Publisher/Year: Penguin Group 4/23/13
Length: 56 pages
Series: When I’m With You series #8

In this 8th installment (chapters 15 and 16) we find ourselves finally in a place that’s not solely about their sexual exploration.  These 2 chapters take us through a struggle in Elise and Lucien’s relationship as well as taking Lucien down quite a dark path himself.  As we’ve been  building up throughout the series an ulterior motive for Lucien moving to Chicago and getting close to Ian, we find in this installment that it all comes to a head.  what we’ve been waiting to learn, we finally uncover and it sets up # 9 (which i believe is the end) really well.

Short and sweet…..

 

Review: When I Need You (When I’m With You #7) by Beth Kerry

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Title: When I Need You
Author: Beth Kerry
Publisher/Year: Penguin Group (USA), 4/16/2013
Length: 68 pages
Series: When I’m With You #7

chapters 13-15 i believe are what we got this week, so i’m thinking that we’re getting close to the end, or maybe just the mid way point.  in any event, we pick up during a night of intense passion between Elise and Lucien since Lucien shows us that his kink is of the highest class with his jewelry inspired gear and his touch of romance by putting a bed on the roof for a night of passion under the stars.

What i liked about this installment is that we see that Lucien’s starting to open up a little bit and that he’s also being mindful of Elise’s abilities and ideas for the future.  In a past installment, Elise had mentioned to Lucien that she wanted to open a very specific type of restaurant, one that caters towards people who are recovering from whatever addictions plague them.  Lucien saw the sense in that both common and business and has made an offer to Elise that would be stupid for her to turn down.

Anyhow, what we get in these chapters this week is the sense that Elise is concerned that her feelings for Lucien aren’t paralleled which i guess we’ll see how it plays out.  we also get a bit more information on the search that Lucien’s doing for his biological mother.

so i guess we’ll have to wait until Tuesday to see what’s next in their story.  enjoy!

Review: When I’m With You (book 6) When you Trust Me by Beth Kerry

Although i feel like i’m getting teased with these short 2 chapter novellas, i have to say that w’ere FINALLY getting somewhere and it’s nice.  When we last left off, Lucien was in Paris trying to deal with the nonsense that’s going on with one of the businesses that he took over when his father went to prison, and Elise was back in Chicago, working at the restaurant and learning to follow the instructions of her dom…..

So in book 6, we learn that there are paranoia issues that Elise has in terms of what she thinks Lucien feels for her, about her and what he acts on.  We know that Lucien has these demons as well…or rather a past that he’s trying to dig through, and this installment is where we begin to make headway.  we finally begin to get a glimpse at what the relationship is with Lucien and Ian and why it has formed.  We see that Lucien is also willing to open up a bit more to Elise and that whatever she thought his feelings/intentions were towards her, they really go a bit deeper and are more honest.

I guess the real question is what will happen from here?  Lucien seems to really be making progress in various investigations that he’s working on but will he find out answers and will he like those answers?  Will Elise be able to keep herself from blurting out things that she shouldn’t and not meddle where shes’ been asked not to?  i have a feeling that she’s going to put her foot in her mouth at some point in the near future (namely a dinner that she and Lucien were invited to at Francesca’s and Ians).

oh, and we get a pretty naughty sex scene on a rooftop and lots of pretty jewels.  what’s better than that right girls?

so i guess we’ll know more next Tuesday.  happy reading! 

Review: When you Submit (When I’m with you #5) by Beth Kerry

As the story continues, we’ve found that Lucien’s discovered some of what Elise has been hiding, yet because of their intense chemistry it doesn’t matter.

We also learn that all’s not well in one of Lucien’s businesses so he’s forced to leave Elise and head back to Paris.  while that happens, he decides that it’s ample time to begin teaching Elise the ways of being a submissive and gives her ‘homework’.

also in this installment, we see the friendship between Francesca and Elise grow so it’ll be interesting to see what pans out there since we know that Francesca’s found out who Elise’s father is, which means that there’s a high liklihood that everyone’s going to find out soon enough that Elise and Lucien have known each other for a long time.

next installment comes in a few days so we’ll see what comes of things then.

Review: Captured by You (One Night in Passion #1.6) by Beth Kerry

if i weren’t quite so bright i’d start to get confused here.  with all the changing pseudonyms being used, i’m never sure which author to look up for which story.  In any event, we’ve been introduced to the lead female of this story in previous books.  Remember back to Rill and Katie’s story in the first installment of the series.  We find ourselves often at Legion’s Diner and the ‘owner’ so to speak – Sherona Legion is a bone of contention for Katie.  Basically, Katie finds herself to be a bit jealous of the interactions that the 2 of them share, Rill and Sherona…but we find that it’s all worry for nothing.

so…now it’s time for Sherona to get something good in her life.  What we know is that Sherona looks after her brother Derek – who’s college age and is actually a good kid.  We met him in a previous story actually as well – when he’s found himself trapped in the diner with a would be ‘killer’ or rather a community member who’s flipped ‘his wig’ a bit.

in any event, when we meet Sherona in her story, it’s in the forest as she’s just finished a swim and is exiting the water sans clothes.  We also at the same time meet chance Hathoway – an Aussie who’s the heir to a HUGE fortune and also a well known nature photographer who is friends with Rill.  (see how everything is tied together?)  Chance is visiting the area to help take photos to promote the coop and the charity that they do to get additional support and distribution etc.

So Chance typically only shoots nature landscapes and the sort, but finds himself completely ensnared by the image of Sherona’s naked body as she comes out of the water.  We get additional insight to how amazing she really is – how truly beautiful since that detail really hasn’t been provided in previous installments.  It’s after a few moments that Sherona realizes that she’s being watched, and in a sense gives a little show – getting physical with herself.

fast forward a little bit and Chance finds himself at the diner – looking for Sherona to talk through taking pictures for the coop and knowing full well at this point that she’s the woman that he saw in the woods.  His body responded to her in such a way that he can’t wait to interact with her more.

Sherona recognizes him as well from that same day and her body responds in a way that she’s not accustomed to.  She realizes that she’s organically responding in ways that are uncharacteristic to her because of the raw sexuality and sensuality that comes from Chance.  While they are talking about the photos for the coop, Chance makes an ‘indecent proposal’ by asking to take additional photos of Sherona – with her approval this time and decides upon a theme of bondage and captivity since it seems to be something that Sherona has naturally responded to.

As a result of this steamy set up and their natural attraction, things lead to other things and we get to see exactly the kind of sexual creature Chance is and what he’s able to draw out of Sherona.  It’s hot, it’s steamy and it kind of makes me want to go camping in the hopes that i could find my own hot photog that’s quite so natural.

The issues here with their relationship though is that chance is only visiting and not only is he not planning to be in the area permanently, he’s from an entirely different world.  he’s wealthy, he’s international and he travels a lot.  Sherona is a home town girl who’s never had the opportunity to live past her means.  She’s been forced to be a mother to Derek and take on the responsibility of the diner without the option to really say no.

so…1) what happens from here with the 2 of them? 2) what has Sherona learned of herself and how will that change her outlook on things?

it’s all stuff that gets uncovered in the story and a great little novella read to get through in a handful of hours.

Review: Addicted to You (One Night in Passion #1) by Bethany Kane

well – i made the error of reading things slightly out of order – accidentally reading book 2 first, however i don’t think that it really took away from the experience of reading Addicted to You.

So, to back up, in the 2nd book, we meet Rill and Katie…a pair that had been a part of a tight knit group of friends all through college and then some.  Rill is an accomplished Hollywood director, Katie is the sister of A list celeb Everett….and that’s part of the glue that keeps everyone together.

We meet Rill in this story when he’s at what’s probably the lowest point in his existence.  He’s been in this deep depression since the death of his wife…and he’s secluded himself into Vulture’s Canyon – a community in the middle of Shawnee National Forest.  He’s managed to drink himself into a perpetual stupor – no one wants to be around him, no one can pull him out of his funk…and therein lies the problem.

The night that we’re introduced to katie, Rill is in rare form – soo drunk that he’s not even sure what he’s seeing…who he’s seeing and decides to think of it as just part of a drunken imagination / dream scape.

In fact, it’s Katie, who’s come all the way from LA to see if she can smack some sense into him.  Everyone’s been worried about Rill, Everett didn’t have success so now she’s trying her hand at it.  Mind you, she kind of has ulterior motives because she’s always had a little crush on Rill and well…she’s quite dissatisfied with her life in LA. So on the night that they both are in the same space at the same time….their interaction is charged, electric and HOT HOT HOT.  Katie lets Rill do what he wants, and knows that there’s a large chance that Rill won’t even remember any of it.

Circumstances happen of course, and nope – Rill doesn’t remember that it was Katie, Katie finds herself temporarily if not permanently tied to Vultures Canyon for reasons other than Rill, and Rill is less than thrilled with this.  Katie then takes it upon herself to sober Rill up, get him healthy and figure out what the heck is going on with him.  She also finds that there’s clearly unrest between her brother and his best friend…and has to get to the bottom of that one.

So, in clear Bethany Kane/ Beth Kerry style, we’re drawn fast and hard into a sexually charged, hot and steamy interaction between people that doubt they are good for one another, yet can’t keep their hands off each other.

The sex is hot, the dynamic between the duo is hotter and we can only sit back and hope that they don’t combust from all that steam and fire.