Review: Changing the Game by Jaci Burton

Changing the Game

by Jaci Burton

(Play by Play # 2)

Erotica



WOW! I devoured this book! It must've been all the excitement and anticipation, or maybe just the fact that for the first 50% - 60% the chemistry and raw sensuality between Liz and Gavin was just amazing! Of course, there's the sinful cover to consider too, which I kept picturing every time I read about Gavin.

I definetely shouldn't have started the book in the morning BEFORE going to work and then reading DURING LUNCH. You do not want to have your co-workers wondering why you're biting your lip and making weird noises. But Gavin just had me in a bad state all day.

I *think* Gavin is my favorite Riley brother. He is just amazing, as I said before... He.Is.A.GOD!!! Oh so talented, creative, daring.... *sigh* There was nothing I wanted more than to have his attentions and to be his goddess! He truly made Liz feel special from the beginning. I liked that! I didn't think for one second that he ever treated her as a one-night stand, or a fling.

Now, that being said, he was a little immature about some things throughout the story, but he's entitled, he's only 29!

I came to understand some of where Elizabeth came from, however, I don't think that part of the story was developed much, there was only one conversation where she truly opened up and the way it was built up before I thought it would be a little more dramatic. However, she has had a rough life, she's amazing for having come so far and being so successful on her own. But she is also very insecure, and a lot of that shows up in this book. She has to protect herself before someone else has a chance of hurting her.

Talk about FIREWORKS between these two!!! Scorching hot!!! Favorite scenes that deserve to be mentioned and you'll just have to wait and read the book to get the details: the scene at the restaurant *THUD*, the scene on his porch overlooking the beach *DOUBLE THUD*, at his St. Louis house the first time he saw her after Florida *MELTING*

Now all that out of the way (and you should absolutely read this book for that alone!) I had the same problem with this book than I did with the first one. After a certain point after half way through I was a little bored.

Ms. Burton has managed to write the sweetest, most perfect guys for this series (along with THE HOTTEST covers), and sometimes when they are OH SO PERFECT and everything is roses it can be a bit tedious. Ha! I can't believe I just said that.

The honorable asshole mention in this book goes out to Mick Riley. I understand why he had a problem with Liz. Yes, what she did to him, Tara and Nathan was messed up. But what he did (and kept doing) to her was more hurtful.

And the cutie alert!!!!!!! OMG I was melting for Ty from the moment he first came on the story. I can tell his book will be a complete panty melter. Even if when he met Jenna he said she wasn't his type because he liked women with bigger boobs.

The ending was excellent! Gavin redeemed himself 100% and I think my heart skipped a beat along with Lizzie's.

Review: Naughty and Nice by Megan Hart, Jaci Burton, Lauren Dane & Shannon Stacey

Naughty and Nice

By Megan Hart, Jaci Burton, Lauren Dane & Shannon Stacey

Anthology/Erotica Romance

Find it on Goodreads!!

Over all about 3.5 feathers

I picked up this book because it had short stories by three of my favorite authors and it's Holiday themed, gotta have at least one of those in December.

I will give this book an overall 3.5 Stars. It was a pretty light read for the most part. 2 stories are stand-alone and 2 stories you really should read the previous books or you won't enjoy where they are going as much as you should.

And I actually ended up finding an author I wouldn't mind reading more of (Shannon Stacey). So onto my individual reviews.

Unwrapped by Megan Hart

I was a bit disappointed after reading this story. You definitely have to read Taking Care of Business and No Reservations in order to understand where this story is coming from. However, even after reading those two stories, and I enjoyed them and liked the characters, I couldn't get into this story.

Brandon and Leah have a bit of a kinky relationship, normally, but she is usually the more dominant in the bedroom, and he is happy to submit to her and her desires. Now, they've been together for a while, and this is their first Christmas together. But being that Leah is not much into mushy family togetherness they go away on a holiday trip, just the two of them, cabin in a sky resort. You know, meant to be romantic.

There's a bit of drama of her fall which seem to take up extra pages and was unnecessary, and then the fact that she didn't want to spend Christmas with family but all of a sudden she did was strange. And I just didn't like how Leah was taking Brandon for granted in general! He is such a good guy and constantly has to put up with her issues.

I guess I had expectations from this story that I didn't see developed here.

Believe by Lauren Dane

You NEED to read Second Chances before you read this story. Only then will you be able to really appreciate it.
This is the perfect ending to the story between Jude and Rori. Definitely the connection I thought was missing at the ending of Second Chances was expressed in this short story. I can almost say it was back to how things were in the beginning of their relationship! Yay!

Very sexy, still manages to be very emotional, and even in just a few pages we get to be inside the heads and hearts of so many people.

Still a bit kinky, and very sexy. You'll like these characters. If you pick it up without reading the first book, maybe not so great.

All She Wants For Christmas by Jaci Burton

Cute stand-alone story. Small town girl who grew up in foster homes runs away at 18 after finding her boyfriend in bed with her best friend. She goes on to becoming a successful country singer. After 10 years she comes back to her hometown as part of a biography video. She comes back to finding her ex-boyfriend had married her best friend, had a kid with her who was now 7 years old and her best friend had died 4 years ago. After the story goes about half way we realize how she found them in bed together was all a setup by her best friend, who had always been jealous of her, and he may or may not have slept with her then, but now they can have a second chance to have a life together. I just couldn't get past the fact her name was Riley Jensen, LOL Just too close to the vampire/werewolf Guardian in Keri Arhur's series.

Holiday Sparks by Shannon Stacey

Cute story. Stand-alone. Hot electrician, used to be the school's geek back in high school. The cheerleader he used to drool over is back in town to spend Christmas with her parents, and is waiting at their house for them to come home from vacation. While there she discovers their house needs a major electrical upgrade and calls Scott in from the phone book. She can't remember him, because obviously he has changed and is now a hottie. He still drools over her. They decide to have a holiday fling while he's fixing her parents wiring and end up wanting a relationship (after just three weeks).

Covers To Covet

In honor of the cover reveal for the 3rd book in the Play by Play series by Jaci Burton, this edition of Covers To Covet brings you all 3 mouth watering, drool inducing, naughty thought provoking covers!  Yes, it is now official, this series has THE hottest covers out there!  Ever!!!  Please try to refrain from licking the screen, and make sure you wipe the drool off the keyboard, it's really not good for your electronics!  Enjoy!

Taking a Shot
Play by Play # 3
by Jaci Burton



If you want to score, you have to get in the game…  The last thing Jenna Riley needs is more sports in her life. While her brothers are off being athletic superstars, she’s stuck running the family’s sports bar, whether she likes it or not. Then in walks pro hockey stud Tyler Anderson. As much as Jenna would like to go to the boards with him, she’s vowed to never fall for a jock—even one as hot as Ty.

Ty, intrigued by the beautiful bar owner, becomes a regular. He senses that Jenna wants to do something more with her life. And as he gains her trust, the passion between them grows, as does Ty’s insistence that Jenna should start living for herself. With his encouragement, Jenna starts to believe it, too…
But first, Jenna has to figure out what she wants, what she needs, who she loves, and if she has the passion and pride to take a shot at having it all—including Ty…

Changing The Game
Play by Play # 2
by Jaci Burton

Most people play by the rules. Gavin and Liz aren't most people...

Win at any cost. That's always been the mantra of sports agent Liz Darnell. When she carries things too far and risks losing her number-one client, baseball pro Gavin Riley, Liz realizes that she'll have to work extra innings to win him back. It might not be too much of a stretch. She's had a thing for this player's moves since she first laid eyes on him, and by the looks of it, he wants her just as bad.

Gavin's more than ready—especially when Liz is offering herself as part of the bargain. And as much of her as Gavin wants. For added thrills, he decides to throw a little curve ball Liz's way to see just how far she's truly willing to go to keep him as a client. But when love unexpectedly enters the playing field, neither Liz nor Gavin are ready for the biggest game-changer of them all.


The Perfect Play
Play by Play # 1
by Jaci Burton

Football pro Mick Riley is an all-star, both on the field and in the bedroom. But a sexy, determinedly single mom just might be the one to throw him off his game...

For years Mick has been taking full advantage of the life available to a pro athlete: fame, fortune, and a different girl in every city. But when he meets and beds confident, beautiful event planner Tara Lincoln, he wants much more than the typical one-night stand. Too bad Tara's not interested in getting to know football's most notorious playboy any better.

As the single mother of a teenage son, the last thing Tara needs is the jet-set lifestyle of Mick Riley; even though their steamy and passionate one-night stand was unforgettable. Tara's life is complicated enough without being thrust into the spotlight as Mick's latest girl du jour. Tara played the game of love once and lost big, and she doesn't intend to put herself out there again, especially with a heartbreaker like Mick.
But when Mick sets his mind to win, nothing will stop him. And he has the perfect play in mind.

Review: The Perfect Play by Jaci Burton

I really enjoyed reading this book. I read it just in time for the Superbowl too so I was all in the right mood! If you like Jaci Burton, and I do, you'll love this book. I just love how her writing usually flows, and her stories are hot and sweet.

This story is hot from page one.... oh wait.... It's Smoking from the cover. *drool* This HAS to be one of the hottest covers ever!  I just want to stare at it (maybe lick it).  I even got my postcard of this cover from the author's blog!!

Ok, so getting past the cover, Mick Riley is the star quarterback for San Francisco, he's 30, he's a laid back, family guy, who has a reputation of being a playboy thanks to his agent Liz, who throws all the hot young Hollywood stars at him. But he is tired of that. And when he meets Tara, normal girl, party planner, dedicated to her work and to her 14 year old son, he is totally and completely smitten.  Of course it helps that their sexual chemistry is off the charts!

Mick is a "way-too-good-to-true" character, Tara is a bit more real, but she does have lots of issues to deal with. I really liked her son Nathan and how he and Mick were able to relate and interact. And speaking of interactions, Tara and Mick have some very very hot moments in this book, did I mention that before?  Yeah?  OK, I'll move on then. Their story does has ups and downs, although at one point I thought it was all ups, but it was still interesting.  Yeah maybe at times it felt just too happy-mushy and when is something going to happen, which is why I'm giving this 4 feathers, there was no tension in over 50% of the book for me, which can sometimes make the story a bit boring.

I liked Mick's brother Gavin A LOT, and from the beginning of the book I could tell he was going to end up with their agent Liz, and even though Liz came across as the biggest bitch, I could tell there's a lot more to her personality and that we'll get to read in the next book. Of course I'm sucker for punishment and after reading the teaser for it at the end of this book, I can tell I'm going to enjoy that one as well.  Can't wait!

Review: Riding The Night by Jaci Burton

 

I couldn't put this book down! I originally found the Wild Riders series by reading "Nauti and Wild" and I've loved every single book in this series! I've been looking forward to reading AJ & Pax's story, and knowing this will probably end up as a permanent menage.

The book starts off giving us a glimpse of AJ's past, when he was 19 and in love with Teresa, both having not much of a future in their small town, and with his questionable (criminal) activities, he decides to walk away from her.

Now fast forward 10 years, AJ is part of the Wild Riders, he's made something of himself and him and Pax go on vacation, ending up back in AJ's hometown. They stop at a biker bar and he finds Teresa now owns it. In good WR fashion, even on vacation they find trouble, there's a war between the local biker club and the one from north of town. The leader of the north club is stabbed and Teresa's brother is accused of the murder, while Teresa is the only witness. Now she has to find the killer herself since the cops think she's lying to protect her brother.

Of course AJ & Pax decide to stay, to help and protect Teresa. But soon enough they realize they both want her. And then they find out what's happened to her since he left. With a lot of care, they both soothe her and make her comfortable with being with both of them.  The rekindling of the teenage love between AJ & Teresa was so sweet.  I loved the parts when we could see Pax's point of view, and how Teresa's feelings developed for him too, even though she was already in love with AJ.  The sexual chemistry between them was explosive! 

This book has a lot of action, mystery, bikers, beers, bike rallys, and some pretty hot sex. It wasn't my favorite book in the series, but it was a great addition to it and I'm sad this was the ending of it, I'll miss our bikers, but I'll definitely be looking forward to Jaci Burton's next book.