Tag Archives: Laurelin Paige

Review: Last Kiss (First and Last #2) by Laurelin Paige

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Title: Last Kiss
Author:  Laurelin Paige
Publisher/Year:  Paige Press 2/27/18
Length:  384 Pages
Series: First and Last #2

Overview

SHE KNOWS SHE’S IN TOO DEEP.

WHO CAN SHE TURN TO WHEN THERE’S NOWERE LEFT TO RUN?

Emily Wayborn does not fully trust the dangerously handsome Reeve Sallis. But Emily knows that he is the one person who can give her what she needs—even if it comes with a cost. Reeve is the only thing keeping her grounded as the rest of her life falls apart. But the hotelier is a master at keeping secrets—and as she continues her quest for answers, someone is making sure she doesn’t find them. . .

Now, as an unknown enemy closes in, Emily is second-guessing everything she thought she knew about Reeve—and herself. Is Emily’s irresistible attraction to Reeve worth risking her own life for? Meanwhile, time is running out. . .

My Thoughts

I REALLY love this duet – not only is it steamier than much of what i’ve read by our amazing author lately, it’s also got more twists and unexpected turns than we could have imagined. We left off from the first book learning that Amber was actually alive – and that means that the great moment that we saw between Reeve and Emily is likely to crumble fast. He loved Amber and knowing that she’s alive should change things.

What we learn quickly from there on though is that every thing that Emily thought that she knew was wrong. Reeve actually knew who she was from the moment they first met. Amber had talked about her on and on and praised her and Reeve had known her name and her image long before Emily caused their paths to cross. This of course means that he feels betrayed and we have to spend much of the book watching Emily convince him otherwise.

At the same time, there’s the question on how Amber is alive and what needs to be done to keep everyone safe since we know that Micha is still after her, and then we wonder if Emily needs to be kept safe as well. Thankfully Joe is there to watch out for her but that raises flags as well.

If that weren’t enough, we keep flashing back to memories from Emily and Amber’s years together which helps us better understand the motivation behind who they each became. We also watch the implosion of Chris Blakely, the man who crushes on Emily to this day and makes Reeve jealous but also the man who was really close to Missy, Reeve’s ex who died at his property. That makes us wonder even more who’s behind everything and what’s going to happen.

They’ve forced into hiding at one of Reeve’s islands, and as a result of being there, we also see Amber push Emily further and further away from both herself and Reeve since she’s threatened and wants him for herself. The problem though is that Reeve continues to profess his love for Emily – a love that’s deeper than anything he’s experienced before, but Emily won’t do that to her friend, so she tries to walk away. That ends up with another death / murder and we’re left with everyone going their separate ways because that’s how they have to deal with their pain.

Joe becomes something even more important to Emily’s life now that everything’s transpired and frankly I think that I like him even more now …..maybe even for her. We’re left at a point of massive heartbreak and depression and there’s really no time in this book to resolve it all. So…you can imagine why I loved it so much – since every time our unrequitted lovers came together, it exploded with the sort of naughtiness and kink that we love, but yet we see that they’re never quite happy and content with their place in life. I’m sad that we only had this second book to close their story, but at least we got it all done here. Enjoy!

Review: First Touch (First and Last #1) by Laurelin Paige

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Title: First Touch
Author:  Laurelin Paige
Publisher/Year:  Paige Press 12/29/15
Length:  304 Pages
Series: First and Last #1

Overview

DESPERATE FOR THE TRUTH. OBSESSED BY DESIRE…

Emily Wayborn is finally her own woman.

After a string of shameful relationships and reckless partying with her best friend Amber, she’s now a successful voiceover actress, her wild past and everyone in it firmly behind her. Until she receives a cryptic voicemail from her former friend that sends her spiraling into the darkness she thought she had outrun. One thing is clear from the message, Amber is in trouble.

Determined to track down her friend, Emily follows a chain of clues that leads her to Reeve Sallis, a gorgeous and equally dangerous hotelier known for his power games and shady dealings. Now, in order to find Amber, Emily must return to her playgirl ways to uncover his secrets and track down her friend. But as she becomes more entangled with him, she finds she’s drawn to Reeve and his depravity despite her growing conviction that he may be the one responsible for Amber’ s disappearance.

My Thoughts

OH WOW. that’s what i’ve got to say when I start this one. This first installment to this story is intense, hot, confusing, rich, all those great words that go into making an amazing story. I’ve read quite a few books from Ms Laurelin Paige, our amazing author and I think that this may be my favorite so far.

As the summary hints, we are reading the story through Emilyl’s eyes- she’s come a long way from the girl that she was back in high school and even soon after. She’s established herself with a new ish identity, she’s got a job that supports her and gives her access to the nicer things in life, and yet, she’s got her troubles in the form of a mother who’s got dementia and needs full time care. It’s one thanksgiving with her mom that goes better than most days, that she’s told of a message from a blast from the past that was on her voicemail. Amber – the girl that she met back when she was a teen, a girl who was a runaway but who taught her how to manipulate and use men for what she wanted to get in life….Amber was in trouble – as she used their coded safe word in the message.

The journey from there is one that gives Emily nothing of what she expected, but all of what she wanted. She hired Joe to help her locate Amber since the police wouldn’t help and what Joe uncovers isn’t at all what Emily wants to get involved with. She was last with a powerful man named Reeve Sallis, who’s got connections for sure, but who is possibly one of the sexiest men alive. He’s got a unique past being linked to an actress who died but aside from that, it’s the allure of the luxury resorts that he owns and the lifestyle that he lives that we assume drew Amber in. The challenge is that she’s not with him anymore, and Joe can’t seem to find her aside from a few uniquely timed emails that show images of her with a mystery man that we have determined to be the leader of a mob group.

Emily decides that the way to find Amber is to get close to Reeve and while she knew what she’d have to do in order to get close to him, she didn’t know that she would have the potential to fall in love with him and have that reciprocated. He has boundaries and expectations of what his ‘relationships’ are right but Emily approaches him out of his comfort zone and challenges him in ways that no one else has and therefore she’s ‘special’ to him even though he won’t admit it.

Every time Emily thinks that she’s getting a lead, things happen and it all gets questioned. We see Reeve’s controlling side come out time and time again, edging onto the scary and dangerous side, but we also know that things like that turn Emily on more than anyone could imagine. She’s trying to be careful in her approach to learn more about what happened to Amber, but what she should realize is that Reeve is connected to EVERYONE and EVERYTHING so i’m guessing that it’s all going to blow up in her face.

Throughout this time though, we see these two become dependent on one another. Addicted in a sense because they each crave something that only the other can give them. They need each other for peace and to breathe and of course to satiate an undeniable chemistry. They’re into kink – they like it rough, and it’s so hot to see EVERY single time their chemistry explodes since it’s often and super charged.

The last chapter of this first installment takes us on a complicated path. We see them argue, we see the questioning of trust and we wonder if there’s a chance that trust can be gained. Emily takes a chance and goes back to Reeve and he gives her the emotion that she needs from him. She had bared her worst moments to her and accidentally shard Amber’s name as the only person she’s loved and that triggers something in Reeve. He finally reveals the details of how he and Amber split and while that’s put closure on things, it also only answers half of Emily’s questions. Who are the two people that he’s loved. Amber and his parting words….her best friend.

The moment that’s revealed, Reeve’s phone rings and he runs out of their room to the main room of the ranch house where Emily secretly follows. There she sees Joe, and Amber. Who was supposed to be dead. and that’s the cliffhanger that we get. Luckily for me this story was written 5 years ago so I’ve got book 2 and i’m going to read it now. I was up all night doing my best not to write this review so that I could try to go a day without reading a book, but well….that didn’t happen so now i’m off to the next installment to see how their worlds implode. Enjoy!

Review: Man in Love (Man in Charge Duet #2) by Laurelin Paige

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Title: Man In Love
Author:  Laurelin Paige
Publisher/Year:  Paige Press 11/24/20
Length:  304 Pages
Series: Man in Charge Duet #2

Overview

Scott Sebastian is a liar.

Fitting, since I’m a liar too.

Yet there’s no place for me in his glittering world of half-truths.

With all our secrets in the open, I should stop trying. What I’ve learned should send me running far away. I can’t keep pining for a man in love if I’m not the woman he’s in love with.

But it’s not that easy to escape the Sebastians. I already knew they owned this city.

Now I’ll find out if they also own their son.

My Thoughts

Well, I think that we all expected that Kendra would be the undoing of Tess, yet the way that it comes about is completely different than the path we were on. The assumption is that at some point K would come back from her ‘vacation’ and get the intel on what Tessa did to get DRF funded via the Sebastians and fire Tessa. What we didn’t know though is that there was more to the story there as to why she wouldn’t pitch the Sebastians before. Her fiance. Scott.

While i’m surprised, i’m not really, given the context of what he shared about himself to Tessa and how he evaded all questions tied to his past with Kendra. I was happy to see though that there wasn’t really anything malicious or evil going on, and that perhaps the surprise confirmation of an engagement was a surprise to scott at the same time as Tess.

Throughout this second book, we watch the truths unfold, and at the same time we watch the need to keep some lies going, even to the detriment of whatever happiness could be had. Scott has to stay with Kendra because of an agreement that he made with his father to get out of the role in the family business that he’s in now. He has to marry Kendra, but ironically, they probably both don’t want to get married for similar reasons.

Henry, Scott’s father is evil and vindictive, however we meet the elder Sebastian, Scott’s grandfather Irving who started the business and we get to see that there is something good at the core of the family and we start to see reason. Irving knows that Scott is a good guy, and wants to see him happy an would love nothing more than to see him out from under the thumb of his father, but clearly it’s more complex than that.

While that fight’s being fought, Kendra is beyond angry at what Tess did while she was away and has now threatened her livelihood, although Tess is at the point where perhaps she wants to move on anyway. All she really wants is to make sure that Teyana has the care that she needs which she would get through the DRF, and alas hands are tied.

The saucy and hot parts of this story though are around Tess and Scott. They have this insane chemistry and attraction that leaps off the pages and it’s truly entertaining watching Scott try to dive into her kinkier side all the time. At the same time, where there’s usually a gap in life styles given their background, they fall into a comfortable routine that works for them. When Tess decides that she needs more though, even though she loves him and he loves her, there’s still the engagement that’s looming, she walks away and we watch what that means to Scott and his world.

I think that there’s a lot to be said about standing up to your family and your heritage, but given that this family has endless personalities and branches, we can only hope that good can come of it. Brett as always is there to be a voice of reason, and Teyana is as well. (she’s got an interesting twist involved in this story as well). So on that note, i’m done with this duet but I believe we get Brett’s story in a few months – so i’m on the look out for that one. Enjoy!

Review: Man in Charge (Man in Charge Duet #1) by Laurelin Paige

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Title: Man In Charge
Author:  Laurelin Paige
Publisher/Year:  Paige Press 10/20/20
Length:  258 Pages
Series: Man in Charge Duet #1

Overview

The Sebastians own this city.

Hell, they own the whole world.

All I want is one little piece of it, a corner that I can call my own.

So when my boss runs away to “find herself”, I seize the opportunity and dive head first into the Sebastian’s glamorous universe. It’s everything I’ve ever wanted-fast paced and high stakes-and, even though I don’t fit in, I’m excellent at faking it.

Until I come face to face with the man in charge, Scott Sebastian, the arrogant, playboy heir with the mind of a devil and the body of a god and a mouth I can’t stop thinking about.

He’s infuriating. He’s a distraction. He’s the man who wants me in his bed as much as I want to be there.

And, if I get too close, he’ll be the one person who could expose me for what I really am-a fraud.

My Thoughts

The summary doesn’t quite do this story justice. It’s not so much that Tessa seized the opportunity to dive into the elite world, but she was pushed in part by her best friend who felt that she had to live more. So Tessa ends up at this fancy party, surrounded by hot sexy men, and ends up walking into a kinky voyer situation when she’s gone to the roof for air, which then turns into an amazing night of well….she’s not sure what. They agree on no names, but both are drunk, and Tessa’s memory of what happened wasn’t quite accurate.

Now Tessa is trying to land a sponsorship contract for a charity that’s close to hear heart, getting the Sebastians to invest, working sort of behind her bosses back since for some reason Kendra won’t let the Sebastians invest with her company, and well…..the world is turned upside down. The man that Tessa went home with that other night is a Sebastian, and a powerful one at that.

We spend much of this story watching a cat and mouse game between them. There’s an insane attraction between them, but there are so many secrets that Tessa is hiding that she’s afraid that it’ll be one more thing that will burst her bubble.

She finds friendship in a Lesser Sebstian and a romance with a Greater Sebastian, and she’s close to landing a deal that has potential to help her career and will help a charity close to her heart. The chemistry that these two have is insane, they can’t keep their hands off each other at the worst times of course, and there’s such tense banter between them all the time that im sure everyone else can feel it too. We know that Brett has a crush on her, yet he’s seeing what’s going on and continues to warn her off of Scott.

Scott says all the right things to her, telling her that he doesn’t date but he wants more, that he thinks she’s perfect, and of course that means that the other shoe will drop. And boy does that shoe drop….the night Kendra comes back from her ‘vacation’ and we find ourselves at a party. I”m desperate to see what happens at that party, but I think I just have to wait until next tuesday for the final book to be out. Enjoy!

Review: Man on Top (Man in Charge Duet #0.5) by Laurelin Paige

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Title: Man on Top
Author:  Laurelin Paige
Publisher/Year:  Paige Press 9/29/20
Length:  80 Pages
Series: Man in Charge Duet #0.5

Overview

It was Teyana’s idea to crash the Sebastian’s party. Once in a lifetime, and all that.

Which was why I snuck in, even after she got sick and bailed, though it isn’t really fun without her. 

Until I end up on the rooftop with the most stupid-hot guy on the planet, and when he offers to take me home, I can’t imagine telling Teyana I turned him down. 

So I’ll be Cinderella for the party, and a very wicked girl in the bedroom. 

After that, I’ll disappear in the daylight, without even an exchange of names. I don’t belong in his world. One night is all we’ll get.

Unless, of course, fate has other plans…

My Thoughts

I needed something new to read and since we all know what a fan of Laurelin Paige I am, it made sense to pick up another series. Fortunately, this one had a novella come out as a prequel just recently so it’s easy to dive right in.

In this intro to the series, we meet who i’m going to guess is our leading lady, Tess. A girl who’s recently graduated from college and who’s a loyal friend to a fault. She’s part of a group of three girls who all met in college, yet once they left school, life hit hard, they realized that there’s maybe not so much in common. Tess is the glue it seems, Teyana is her closest friend but she was diagnosed with a disease that really puts her through her paces, and this diagnosis kind of put a crimp in the friendship they share with the third girl Kenda. Who turned out to be from New York’s elite and who doesn’t really like to focus or spend time on anything that’s not all about her. Where we find ourselves though is Tess works for Kendra and while Kendra’s ‘away on vacation’ yet again, Tess is able to really try to stand on her own.

Starting with an invitation to a party that Kendra received that Teyana convinced Tess she had to go to. This isn’t just any party, but one thrown by the most elite family in New York and what happens there is world altering.

Tess first walks in on a couple in the throes of it, and when she’s caught by the guy, she realizes that not only was she turned on by what she watched, but it’s the man too. Although he’s too cocky so she walks away. Into another guy who seems just as amazing yet they can’t mix business, which is what she proposes. She decides that while she knows that Kendra is against working with this particular family, she wants to make her best effort to grow,

What happens from here is a night of insane drinking and passion, without the exchange of names, in the hopes that it would help get Tess over her dry spell, but she quickly realizes that she’s mixed business with pleasure unintentionally and that’s where we are left at the end of this intro. So….i’m off to dive into book one since I have no choice but to see what happens. Enjoy!

Review: The Open Door (The Found Duet #2.5) by Laurelin Paige

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Title: The Open Door
Author:  Laurelin Paige
Publisher/Year:  Evil Eye Concepts 8/15/19
Length:  128 Pages
Series: The Found Duet #2.5

Overview

I knew JC was trouble the minute I laid eyes on him.

Breaking every rule in my club. I never forget how he made me feel that night. With all the women in that room, all those bodies on display, but his eyes were only on me.

Of course I married him. Now years have passed. Kids have been born. We’re still in love as always, and the sex is still fantastic…

And yet, it’s also not. Like many who’ve been married for a while, I long for the high intensity of those days of the past.

I’ve heard rumors for years about the Open Door. An ultra-exclusive voyeur’s paradise. A place to participate in-or watch-any kind of display you can imagine.

My husband’s eyes would still be on me. And maybe other eyes too. If that’s what we want.

So when an invitation to come play arrives, how could we turn it down?

My Thoughts

We’ve read so much about experiences at The Open Door through Trish’s story, through Celia’s story and now we get it in Gwen’s. The perspective this time is completely different since her reasons for going are unique to what we’ve seen from couples before.

We’re put back into the world of JC and Gwen, they have two kids now and they are settled in their relationship. They’re happy yet exhausted and there are times that Gwen wonders if she’s enough for JC who still looks as sexy as the day she met him. She feels like her body’s gone to shit from having kids and she’s not going to be able to keep the interest of her husband. That’s definitely not the impression that we get from JC but you know how women get in their heads sometimes.

When JC’s given a membership from an investor, they go back and forth on whether its the right thing for them and what their boundaries would be. They discuss whether it’s even for them, even though it seems like JC is really intrigued. Gwen’s heard about it from the folks she hangs with but she’s never known that it was real so this is a chance to really see that in person. She’s afraid of what it will do to her relationship but at the same time she’s hopeful for some nudging in the right direction.

The path that we take in this novella is one that spans quite a bit of time. They go to a party and experience it from a far. They aren’t sure what to make of it, but they know that they’re intrigued – and there’s a positive effect on their romance at home for a bit coming out of it. That begins to wane when life takes over and they try again. Each time they go, their boundaries are pushed further out until they are crossed.

So we’re left to wonder if this was a good idea or if The Open Door means the end of their relationship, and of the bond that they once shared. The only way to know who gets involved and how….is to read. Enjoy!

Review: Find Me (The Found Duet #2) by Laurelin Paige

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Title: Find Me
Author:  Laurelin Paige
Publisher/Year:  Paige Press 8/13/19
Length:  272 Pages
Series: The Found Duet #2

Overview

I came to The Sky Launch to begin fresh, away from the horrors of my past. The circumstances that brought me here were not the best, but I’ve become good friends with Alayna and Hudson Pierce, and my family has healed in ways I never thought they could. With them around me, I’ve never felt more at home.

But starting anew means letting go.

And there are some things I don’t want to leave behind – like JC, the man who taught me how to let loose. The man I wasn’t supposed to love. The man I don’t want to lose.

My life is safe now. The threats from before have become less menacing, and I’m faced with a choice: either move on completely or keep holding to the hope that JC loves me enough to come and find me.

My Thoughts

There were so many ups and downs from that first book that we have to know that the same will come in the second. Even though Gwen thinks that her life is in the right / safer path, that’s the furthest from the truth, and we have to sit by and watch it all play out.

Through Norma’s work relationship with Hudson, Gwen gets a dream job at The Sky Launch beside Alaynna and what comes from that is an amazing friendship that’s even more like a family. While she’s trying to live her life knowing that JC may never come back, she’s also hoping that in some way he will find her even though everything about her including her appearance has changed. She moves on slightly with Chandler, Hudson’s younger brother and while he helps with one itch, he doesn’t fill the hole in her heart.

What happens next – is what changes her world forever. They see JC on TV talking about the court case that he’s the star witness for and that means that Gwen’s world implodes – he’s in New York and hasn’t made contact. The minute she decides to go down to the courthouse to watch the trial is the moment that changes her trajectory. He sees her and he goes after her and they realize that they are more in love now than ever before.

JC has an uphill battle – remember the last time we saw him was in Vegas right after he married someone else on the night he had wanted to marry Gwen. She walked away from him and JC let her. So with a lot of explaining, and a video that explains a lot, JC finds his way back into her life.

The romance story blossoms from there – we know that they are both the other’s only necessary thing in life – JC wants to marry Gwen still but she’s guarded and makes him work for it. They don’t know yet what their future holds but they know that they want to be with each other. Until……Gwen finds that she’s pregnant….which is interesting. Not only is she un sure that she even wants kids, but the timing of the conception means that it could be either JC or Chandler.

Add to that stress, the win that JC thought he had from the court case is overruled when the murderer gets out on a technicality, forcing JC to go into hiding again.

A baby with unknown paternity, going back into hiding with no sense of what that means for anyone, a murder attempt, and oh yea, Gwen’s father is a heroin addict who still wants money from her. So you can imagine what comes from this ‘final’ installment to their story and I can’t wait to see how it plays out – you should read as well! Enjoy!

Review: Free Me (The Found Duet #1) by Laurelin Paige

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Title: Free Me
Author:  Laurelin Paige
Publisher/Year:  Paige Press 8/13/19
Length:  270 Pages
Series: The Found Duet #1

Overview

I wasn’t supposed to be working the night I met JC.

Before him, I’d been content with the daily grind, managing one of NYC’s top nightclubs. So what if my life didn’t have a happily ever after? I didn’t believe in that anyway.

Then JC showed up.

Sexy, rich and smooth-talking, JC is nothing more than a distraction. I’m not interested in a night-in-shining latex so it’s easy to push the playboy away. Or it is until my life spins unexpectedly out-of-control. Then he’s there for me, offering a new method of survival, one based on following primal urges and desires that requires me to abandon my constant need for control.

His no-strings-attached lessons obliterate my carefully built walls. And as I discover freedom, I start to feel things for him that I shouldn’t. Things that make me fear for my newly vulnerable heart. Because JC has secrets of his own, and his secrets don’t want to set him free.

My Thoughts

I love how i’ve read so many stories around the world of Pierce an Edward and Celia and Alayna – now to find the story about Gwen. There’s so much that we learn about her that really surprises me and makes me wonder why I didn’t realize things before.

The story of Gwen is a hard one to swallow. She’s had a rough life with her father abusing her and her siblings, even more so once their mother passed away and as a result, she’s become hard and tough. Reserved and guarded. They ultimately put their dad in jail for what he’s done and life changes.Her older sister took over as guardian until she was old enough and as a result, she’s had this reliable example to take from. That older sibling is non other than Norma – the CFO at Hudson Pierce’s company. The salary that he pays her gives them more than enough money so that Norma can support them in a luxury high rise apartment and even send money to their younger brother Ben who lives in LA.

The journey here is watching Gwen go through the motions at a job that she actually loves as a manager at one of the most successful clubs in NYC. It’s only when she picks up a shift for someone else that she finds herself at a point of tension where her nature as a rule follower crosses paths with the sexiest man who is NOT a rule follower. that man….JC.

The chemistry that we watch rolling off them is intense and it’s a battle of wills to see when they actually take the steps towards one another. The arrangement that they come to is something that’s a bit unorthodox, but it works for them. JC wants to help Gwen relax, get out of her comfort zone and loosen up, and at the same time he gets to spend time with a woman that he’s so attracted and drawn to that it’s a win win.

We watch them make this no attachment situation work with their unique schedules and we see what always happens – the notion of no emotions and no relationship always backfires. It’s when there are too many secrets to keep hidden, that things start to crumble. They developed feelings for each other and that means that issues from their past will bubble up. All that JC is hiding (and it seems like a lot) will come to the surface and Gwen’s past comes to her present in the form of her father.

We are left at a point in the story where they are bonded and committed to each other but there are intense an unsafe factors at play that will keep them apart. Gwen chooses herself and walks away, takes steps to change her life, knowing that it means that JC won’t be able to find out. so, what that means for us is that we get to watch what happens with his life, watch to see if he sorts things out and then watch his attempts to track her down. I can’t wait to dive in right now to see how it ends up. Enjoy!

Review: Dirty Filthy Fix (Fixed #5.5) by Laurelin Paige

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Title: Dirty Filthy Fix
Author:  Laurelin Paige
Publisher/Year:  Paige Press 11/21/17
Length:  124 Pages
Series: Fixed #5.5

Overview

I like sex. Kinky sex. The kinkier the better. Every day, it’s all I think about as I serve coffee and hand out business agendas to men who have no idea I’m not the prim, proper girl they think I am. With a day job as the secretary to one of New York’s most powerful men, Hudson Pierce, I have to keep my double life quiet. As long as I do, it’s not a problem. Enter: Nathan Sinclair. Tall, dark and handsome doesn’t come close to describing how hot he is. And that’s with his clothes on. But after a dirty, filthy rendezvous, I accept that if we ever see each other again, he’ll walk right by my desk on his way to see my boss without recognizing me. Only, that’s not what happens. Not the first time I see him after the party. Or the next time. Or the time after that. And as much as I try to stop it, my two worlds are crashing into each other, putting my job and my reputation at risk. And all I can think about is Nathan Sinclair. All I can think about is getting just one more dirty, filthy fix.

My Thoughts

Here I was thinking that this novella took place after the others in order of being written when I should have realized that it took place way earlier given that this couple was already a couple in everyone else’s story.

Nate and Trish. We met them through Hudson’s story – Trish is Hudson Pierce’s assistant and a woman who’s not just beautiful but smart as well. We never really knew what her story was but in this novella – we get to see a side of her that we should have realized yet never ventured to think about.

Nate on the other hand is a guy that teased us enough with his less traditional ways that i’m not surprised at all by what we learned. He’s the guy who’s first to make comments that are a bit off color and ironically he seems like the more grounded of the pair in this story.

They meet at a part called Open Door – which is a gathering that we saw with Edward and Celia – one that is more BDSM in nature – people who have their kinks and who don’t get judged. they are established and safe and often their identifies are kept secret. Trish managed to get into the group through a friend who had the credentials to be a member and when she sees a tall green eyed sexy man, her life is changed. The rules she put up were to protect her but he quickly tore them down.

She quickly learns that the green eyed god is Nathan Sinclair – a co-owner of Reach and a business associate of Hudson. That’s how their paths cross and that’s how they will stay forever intertwined.

We have a quick and REALLY DIRTY story with these two, watching them tease each other, give the other what they need and then we watch Trish push him away because she’s so non-traditional that she’s not willing to have a true relationship and be tied down. She clearly doesn’t know Nate well enough to know that perhaps he’s on the same page as well, and we get to watch that play out.

Where we saw dark and dirty with Donovan and Sabrina, and we saw risque with Weston and Elizabeth, and we got sweet with Audrey and Dylan, we have Kink to the highest potential here with Nate and Trish. Now there’s just Cade to figure out and from what i saw on Laurelin Paige’s site, we have to wait until this year at some point to see how that plays out. Enjoy!

Review: Sweet Fate (Dirty Sweet Duet #2) by Laurelin Paige

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Title: Sweet Fate
Author:  Laurelin Paige
Publisher/Year:  Paige Press 3/7/19
Length:  266 Pages
Series:  Dirty Sweet Duet #2

Overview

Dylan Locke knows that pining over the young ingenue Audrey Lind is pointless. He can’t offer her what she wants. He definitely can’t give her what she needs. Thank goodness she’s half a world away, and he doesn’t have to deal with his attraction head on.

But fate has other plans for him, and when Audrey once again lands in his path, it’s only too easy to fall back into their easy rhythm. And then their easy banter. And of course, each other’s arms.

He tells himself nothing has changed. She still wants forever, and he still thinks tomorrow is long enough. But watching her search isn’t as easy as he thought it would be, and now Dylan must figure out if he’s really the love Scrooge he professes to be or if he’s been Fate’s willing victim all along.

My Thoughts

We pick this story back up at the unplanned wedding of Donovan and Sabrina, where Dylan has decided to make an appearance and Audrey of course is helping execute all the arrangements. After this pairs time together back around Thanksgiving, she is all that Dylan can think about even once he’s resumed his life back in London. It’s hard to get Audrey out of his head even though he knows that he’s not the right guy for her based on her romantic notions. Audrey on the other hand has managed to go on with her life, somehow working to finish her degree and is now on the path to get her first real job.

What’s nice here is that the chemistry picks up right where they left off all those months earlier, but they both have a level of restraint (or denial) sine they don’t act on their attraction. The handle all the duties that come with being friends with the couple getting married and then they go their separate ways. What Dylan hates though is that apparently to Donovan, he’s transparent and we know that Donovan is a pupeteer and has the ability to make whatever he wants happen – and apparently that means putting this couple together.

So we fast forward to London where Audrey has apparently unexpectedly gotten her first job working at the national gallery. She doesn’t remember applying for the position but it puts her in Dylan’s path and that sets them on a journey that’s not what they planned for but one that’s interesting for us readers to watch.

There’s clearly an attraction between them, and like I mentioned from the last book, the skill that our author has in writing this couple’s dynamic so differently than the previous two gives us something to dig deeper into. They circle each other – they play games both with each other and with themselves since they won’t admit what’s really going on. Audrey still has her romantic notions and the idea of moving to London and finding The One is definitely in the forefront of everything. She’s quite smitten still with Dylan but knows what he’s willing to put out there, so she settles for a complex friendship and kind of works him like she did back in New York in the hopes that it’ll make progress. (mind you this isn’t admitted overtly, but it’s Audrey’s MO I think so i assumed).

There’s Dylan on the other hand who’s clearly interested in all that Audrey has to offer and while he doesn’t go after her, he also doesn’t date anyone at all. he’s always available for Audrey when ever she calls or texts and we watch him get sucked in further and further.

The dynamic that started us off in book one of teacher and student carries through here with a new twist of mature advisor to an innocent. it’s great to see how our author wraps it all together throughout this story line.

When they realize that the lines that they don’t want to cross are stupid, they cross them and we know there’s no going back. The issue though is that neither wants the future that the other see and that means that it’s really just a short lived physical connection that they’r going to play out. It’s not until one set of cards are on the table and tragedy hits that things are forced to change.taking one back to america, leaving the other behind in the UK. What happens from there is heartbreak, fear and a twist to the story that’s expected yet not. Definitely the closure that they needed.

What I can’t wait for though is the story that’s set up around Cade. I do’nt know if the next one in this journey is Cade or Nate, but we know enough about Nate from the Slay series to guess where it’ll go. Cade on the other hand is a complete mystery and one that i’m really excited to dig into . so i’m off to find the next book. Enjoy!