Tag Archives: Suzanne Rock

ARC Review: For His Pleasure (Playboys of Boston #2) by Suzanne Rock

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Title:  For His Pleasure
Author: Suzanne Rock
Publisher/Year: St Martin’s Press 12/1/15
Length:  246 pages
Series:  Playboys of Boston #2

Overview

A sensual tale about the risks and rewards of falling in too deep-and loving it.

PASSION COMES WITH A PRICE.
Tired of living a lie, Arianna Perconti leaves her fiancé at the altar and runs into the arms of her family’s fiercest rival, Jason Stone. Hoping to cash in on their ‘friends-with-benefits’ arrangement while hiding out from bitter relatives, Ari instead finds herself falling deeply, desperately in love with the sexy hotelier. Jason is everything she never knew she wanted-yet she will do absolutely everything to show him she means business. In bed…

CAN THEY AFFORD TO LIVE WITHOUT IT?
Jason lives in the fast lane and has the race cars to prove it. A born adrenaline junkie, he must admit that Ari is the perfect partner for his heart-pumping bedroom games. The problem? The relationship is starting to deepen, but is Jason really cut out to be a one-woman kind of man? The question haunts his days, only fueling the passion he and Ari share during those hot, hot nights. But when an estranged sibling enters the picture, threatening to take away everything he holds dear, Jason is forced to make a decision: Say goodbye to his wild ways or risk losing Ari forever?

My Thoughts

First off i need to thank the folks at St Martin’s Press and Netgalley for getting this continuation of the series to me early.  there’s nothing i love more than having the chance to continue  with a story that i’ve loved – before it’s available to the masses.

In this 2nd installment of the series, we are focusing on Ari, the sister of the Perconti family, after she’s decided that she can’t go through with the faux marriage that her brothers had set up in the hopes of saving their business.  Neither Ari nor the man she was supposed to marry wanted to go through with it because their tastes and emotions lay elsewhere, and of course there’s going to be an issue when all hell breaks loose.  The nice thing with this story though is that we got the tease of it in the first book, and then when this one starts, it’s actually a flash back in time about a year, when Ari had met the man that she actually has feelings for – a man who is really bad for her to be in a relationship of any sort, because he’s the owner of the biggest competitor to her family’s business.

So here we are, in ‘present’ day – when Ari’s left her wedding, gone to be with the guy that she shouldn’t and of course if that’s not bad enough, you know that there’s got to be a lot more that will happen.  True to Ms Rock’s style, we have a story that’s relatively complex in the depth of story line for each character – reminding us of course of what’s gone on in the past with characters that we met in book 1.  The other bit too is that there’s not just the story line with Ari and then Ari and Jason, but we learn that Jason has his own issues, and while we don’t go into significant depth on things, we get to see that he hasn’t always been as clean as a whistle and that comes to bite him in the butt.

Where this story takes us in on a path of intense passion between Ari and Jason, personal growth and a fight for independence from Ari, a challenge of what’s more important with Jason, family and past, or the future and what can be.

The twist at the end, and the cliffhanger of sorts that we’re left on is a really intense one.  I think that it’s safe to say that it was expected, but the turn that it took in the epilogue, well that wasn’t necessarily something that i expected to see, and i can’t wait to see how it plays out.  The question will just become, is this something that the Percontis and the Stones can come out of on the positive, will there be relationships that are killed in the meantime and who’s going to end up on the positive side of business.  So all in all a lot to think about and i can’t wait to get my hands on that next installment.  Have a great day everyone!

ARC Review: At His Service (Part 4) by Suzanne Rock

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Title:  At His Service
Author: Suzanne Rock
Publisher/Year: St. Martin’s Press 2/24/15
Length: 67
Series: At His Service #4

Overview

Leo Perconti’s  life is spinning out of control. As head of his family’s hotel conglomerate, it’s his job to save his family from bankruptcy. At the center of his turmoil is Karin Norell, a quiet, alluring housekeeping manager who compliments his dominating personality and lets him feel in control once more.

As Karin explores her passion her feelings for Leo deepen. Unfortunately, Karin and Leo come from  different worlds, and when the two worlds collide, the cost can be devastating. As the service staff at The Palazzo rise up against the Perconti family, both Leo and Karin are faced with losing what each of them holds most dear. Together they must learn that true power comes from vulnerability and trust that can only happen when you let your insecurities go.

My Thoughts

what would i do without Netgalley at a time like this – if i had to wait another week to get the finale of the series i think that i would have gone crazy (sorry folks who are going to have to read it without the opportunity to get the ARC). Where we were left off in the end of book 3 was a CRAZY place and i think that i can speak for everyone when i say WTF?

We know that things couldn’t continue to work out as they have – Karin and Leo’s relationship was only going to stay secret for so long and i think that it was safe to assume that it was already not a secret.  The other bit is that while we know that Leo had to make a few choices for his business to continue, to help avoid the strike and what not, i think that we were all hoping that he wouldn’t be this callous and cold businessman that would just break Karin’s heart along with her hopes and dreams for her professional life.  We spend a bit of this final installment watching both of them try to move on with their lives while trying to pick up the pieces and make things better and prosperous once more for the hotel and the Percontis.

The other story line that’s introduced here is the one of Ari – Leo’s sister and it’s her wedding to an aviation billionaire that’s supposed to make things right for the family.  We know that she doesn’t want to marry him and that there have been several conversations on how to make it work out – given that her fiance isn’t necessarily in the relationship for emotional reasons either.  It’s only when Ari reveals that there’s ‘someone’ else that piques my interest. I have a feeling from the VERY first mention of who it is (i’m sure more readers do as well) and i spend the rest of the book trying to sort out what’s going to come of it.  I think that what we get is not where i would have gone, yet some place that’s really interesting nonetheless.

Throughout this final ‘chapter’ – we get to see how the family dynamic of Leo and his brothers, sister and mother evolves.  It’s clearly been a challenge up until this point with so much weighing heavily on Leo’s shoulders that it’s nice to see that circumstances really make him take another look at things.  (circumstances AND Karin at least).

The ending of this story is a great conclusion on all fronts except for the one noted in the epilogue.  Knowing what i do of this genre – i’m almost expecting to see spin-offs of the other characters into their own novella series since i know that there’s so much more to Marco, Dante, Ari and Gio/Gianna (who we never really met).  i can only hope that we’ll see passion and heat and anxiety leap off of those pages as well  since that was the best underlying factor here.  Anyhow – read on and enjoy this finale to the series and i can’t wait to hear what you guys have to say.

ARC Review: At His Service (Part 3) by Suzanne Rock

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Title:  At His Service
Author: Suzanne Rock
Publisher/Year: St. Martin’s Press 2/17/15
Length: 88
Series: At His Service #3

Overview

Leo Perconti’s  life is spinning out of control. As head of his family’s hotel conglomerate, it’s his job to save his family from bankruptcy. At the center of his turmoil is Karin Norell, a quiet, alluring housekeeping manager who compliments his dominating personality and lets him feel in control once more.

As Karin explores her passion her feelings for Leo deepen. Unfortunately, Karin and Leo come from  different worlds, and when the two worlds collide, the cost can be devastating. As the service staff at The Palazzo rise up against the Perconti family, both Leo and Karin are faced with losing what each of them holds most dear. Together they must learn that true power comes from vulnerability and trust that can only happen when you let your insecurities go.

My Thoughts

We are DEFINITELY in the meat of the story now – not only do we see things progressing but we see them moving VERY quickly and in a great way.  I think this is always what we hope for when we’ve just crossed over the mid point of a story.

When we last left these 2, their relationship was gaining strength, they were hiding of course but they were getting to find a way to work out what they were going to be to one another for the time being. Of course though, they were in Stone’s hotel, and not only is he the biggest direct competitor for Perconti – but it turns out that he’s the CEO ex that Karin was with – and while she’s been trying to hide from his staff – they end up coming face to face.

The nice thing here is that Leo still has this trust in her and lets that go – in the hopes that he’s able to keep her in his life since he’s slowly beginning to realize that he needs her both professionally and personally.  The personal bit – well we continue to see that there’s GREAT chemistry between them, every time they get a moment alone, our lovely author makes sure that we know that it’s HOT and dirty and a bit raunchy at times.  Those are the best kinds of scenes especially when it’s so ‘clean’ given that there was a tease that Leo’s a dom and that’s part of what broke up his marriage before.

On top of all that, we start to see the layers get peeled from everything around them.  Leo opens up after being coerced into it, so that Karin starts to understand what made him the way that he is and what put him into the role of the General.   The other thing too is that we see that Karin really is getting to be something that’s new and different for him and where that goes – well we’ll have to wait and see.

The nice thing about this 3rd installment though is that we see so much turmoil coming up.  There was the talk of a strike before, Wes was feeding the updates to Karin and that’s all coming to a head – at the most inopportune time.  Dannika – Leo’s ex is now trying to take her wrath out on him and Karin (how she learned her identity we don’t know yet) and things are going to get VERY complicated i’m sure.  Also – we know that the wedding for sister Arianna is coming up – and that means that there’s more opportunity for things to go wrong.  Jason Stone even implied that he was up to something – but that never really came up in this piece of the story.  And – to make matters worse – Karin’s world is turned upside down – by Leo, in front of everyone.  and not in a good way.

So, there’s the necessary and expected tension, anxiety, passion, heat and well…..fear of everything going up in flames – which is the BEST bit of a story if you ask me.  I don’t know that i even NEED to have the heat and chemistry between this couple since the story itself is getting good – but i’ll take it since Ms. Rock did such a good job with each of the scenes.  I just wish that we’d get to see the D/s side a bit more then, and maybe go to the club – but…..there’s always time for that.  So, in the meantime, enjoy the Super Bowl everyone and i’m going to read Part 4.

ARC Review: At His Service (Part 2) by Suzanne Rock

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Title:  At His Service
Author: Suzanne Rock
Publisher/Year: St. Martin’s Press 2/10/15
Length: 86
Series: At His Service #2

Overview

Leo Perconti’s  life is spinning out of control. As head of his family’s hotel conglomerate, it’s his job to save his family from bankruptcy. At the center of his turmoil is Karin Norell, a quiet, alluring housekeeping manager who compliments his dominating personality and lets him feel in control once more.

As Karin explores her passion her feelings for Leo deepen. Unfortunately, Karin and Leo come from  different worlds, and when the two worlds collide, the cost can be devastating. As the service staff at The Palazzo rise up against the Perconti family, both Leo and Karin are faced with losing what each of them holds most dear. Together they must learn that true power comes from vulnerability and trust that can only happen when you let your insecurities go.

My Thoughts

We pick back up with this series after Karin’s tried to distance herself from Leo – because she’s had her own experience being burned by getting emotionally attached to someone of power – the CEO of another hotel company.  Of course, what we know of Leo (The General), he’s not going to take it sitting down, and that’s the basis of where we start with this 2nd installment.

What i like about this 2nd book is that we get to see the development and growth of the relationship while at the same time we’re starting to see all of what’s been stable in the other character’s lives fall apart.  Wes and Marco aren’t in the same place anymore and that of course will have an impact of what advice he gives Karin and of course what her choices are in pursuing Leo.  Then there’s Sabrina and Dante – the romance that crashed and burned, yet still has something pulling them to each other.  So, that’s the undertone of this story while Leo and Karin sort themselves out.

There were things that i thought were teased in the first book that seem to be coming true and something that i discarded in the first book that i think is something that i overlooked.  The end few pages of Part 2 really begin to make you wonder what’s going to happen since there are clearly secrets that are going to come out – either from a reporter revealing them or from an admission of sorts and i can’t wait to see what happens.

The nice thing here is that our author Ms Rock continues to give us that heat and passion.  Even when the timing is less than ideal for this couple, we still see that there’s a strong connection and the way that their scenes are written is hot and just a bit raunchy in a good way.  I can’t wait to see where this plot takes them and what it will mean to everyone’s future.  Enjoy!  and now i’m on to book 3.

ARC Review: At His Service (Part 1) by Suzanne Rock

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Title:  At His Service
Author: Suzanne Rock
Publisher/Year: St. Martin’s Press 2/3/15
Length: 65
Series: At His Service #1

Overview

Leo Perconti’s  life is spinning out of control. As head of his family’s hotel conglomerate, it’s his job to save his family from bankruptcy. At the center of his turmoil is Karin Norell, a quiet, alluring housekeeping manager who compliments his dominating personality and lets him feel in control once more.

As Karin explores her passion her feelings for Leo deepen. Unfortunately, Karin and Leo come from  different worlds, and when the two worlds collide, the cost can be devastating. As the service staff at The Palazzo rise up against the Perconti family, both Leo and Karin are faced with losing what each of them holds most dear. Together they must learn that true power comes from vulnerability and trust that can only happen when you let your insecurities go.

My Thoughts

Again I have to thank the folks at NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for allowing me early access to this series since it’s got the makings to be something great.  What we have here isn’t the typical story of the Billionaire Businessman and the girl who’s not quite as successful, we have the businessman alright, but i think that we’re only now just starting to understand what’s going on with him under his suit.  Leo – ‘The General’ as he’s nicknamed has a reputation of being the brother in the hotel family that’s the toughest on everyone and who makes the toughest decisions.  He’s also been named most eligible bachelor so many times since he’s yet to settle down after having some less than savory relationships in the past.

Our leading lady – Karin works at the hotel (interns actually) and while it’s not exactly what she thought she’d be doing in her life, it’s the next step in the direction of her career.  It’s when she’s forced to clean up the penthouse in expectation for Leo’s arrival that things go awry.

Where we go in this first novella installment of the series is a fast paced beginning of what can be a stormy relationship.  While these 2 aren’t really suited for one another – they are opposites, that usually makes for some hot passion and that’s what we start to get.  Karin’s not naive really – but she’s much less experienced than Leo and that means that he’s definitely got control.  Karin’s not really looking to ruin her professional life and that’s where we end things in this story – she draws a line and he’s willing to give her maybe a second or 2 until he goes after her.

What i find to be the most intriguing bit of all this is that there’s clearly a lot of heat between these 2, Leo’s very steamy and direct in what he wants – but what is only hinted at is what sparks my interest.  There’s a tease that Leo’s a dom – and maybe that’s what he’s been trying to keep from the tabloids.  But…the idea that he IS a dom and that he wants Karin to be his sub is something that i’d like to see if i’m right on.  And then if i AM right – i can’t wait to see where he takes things and what it does to liberate Karin.  so….onto part 2 since i’ve been lucky to get that as well – and i’ll be back shortly i’m sure with my thoughts there.