The Chase by Elle Kennedy

College/New Adult romance may very well be my favorite genre. That being said, I like to think I know a good NA author when I read one. Elle Kennedy is in my eyes one of the best out there. I feel like I say this a lot when I post but she is definitely one of my favorite authors. There's enough love to go around! Her Off-Campus series is one of my go-to rereads. She has a knack for making you feel. Love, laughter, light, happiness, and humor are all woven into her writing. She manages to do all that and put a serious undertone in all her books. She even addresses serious issues that need more spotlight. Any writer that does that will always have a spot on my bookshelves. I love that so much.
The Chase had me from hello. The blurb pulled me in and held my mind captive. I read it and thought to myself "I have to have it!". At first I fought to look for something else. I need to find more authors to read and branch out a little. So I spent 30 minutes reading though blurb after blurb trying to find something, ANYTHING that sounded as good. My mind was stuck though. I had already decided what I wanted. After a hefty sigh of defeat I went back and bought The Chase. Let me tell you, I tore into this title with such vigor that had it been a paper copy I would have seriously risked damaging the pages in my excitement. I felt like a kid in a candy store. The blurb promised everything I love in a good book. And I'll tell you right now, IT DELIVERED.
It had a tattoo covered dreamy hunk of man meat.
It had the "opposites attract" thing going for it that I love.
It had a good love triangle moment.
It was so hot the pages sizzled.
PLUS I'm adding bonus points for the brothers friend angle.
It. Had. EVERYTHING.
The Chase was everything!
She even took it deep in some places addressing sexual assault in universities, stereotyping, and learning disabilities through her characters. She showcased that not all football players are dumb jocks and not all pretty girls are self centered "fluff". Things everybody should already know but the world can always use a reminder of. "You are not stupid you just learn differently" hit me right in the feels. SO many people need to understand that learning disabilities do not make a person stupid. Don't get me wrong the book was funny and lighthearted but she still managed to get her more serious points across.
The actual story itself was great. The characters were people you would want as friends. The love story was something you'd want for yourself. Summer and Fitz had chemistry that jumped off of the pages. I fell in love with them as they fell in love with each other. I would 110% recommend this book to any one of my friends. It earned its 4.5/5 out of 5 Stars. I would have given it a 5/5 but it just wasn't one of those book I couldn't put down. It was good. It was great! But when it came down to it, I could put it down. That's the only reason it didn't get 5 Stars.

Happy Reading! The link to buy The Chase is posted below.



https://www.amazon.com/Chase-Briar-Book-Elle-Kennedy-ebook/dp/B07G6M9HDV

Wicked Wish by Sawyer Bennett

Several years ago I got on this very blog to give a rave review of a book titled Wicked Lust by Sawyer Bennett. Since then, I've embarked on an amazing journey reading all of the Sawyer Bennett books I can get my hands on. All of them excluding this spin off series, The Wicked Horse Vegas. Not because I didn't want to read them. Mostly, because I'm a giant nerd and wanted to save them for myself. I figured I would save WHV and read it when I was in a bit of a book slump. Well, here I am several years later after I finally remembered I was saving this for later.
Now...I read the first book Wicked Favor a few days ago and thought "OK OK I could potentially get into this but mmmm". My first worry was that while I did love Wicked Favor I just didn't think it was as good as the original Wicked Horse books. I think that stemmed from me not enjoying the characters as much. While I liked Jerico and Trista, (to an extent) I felt that their personalities were almost immature? My second issue was that I feel most of the conflict in the book could have been avoided had they just been open with eachother. That was a major face-palm for me. Like, be adults and practice being honest and open. That's most likely where I felt the immaturity, if I'm being honest. However, I loved the rest of the book and its characters. If I were reviewing it I would still give it a solid 3.8 Stars. Not that it matters because we're here to discuss a completely different book. I'm getting distracted and off topic OOPS. Back to my original thought which was...I read Wicked Favor and was worried that this series wasn't going to end up being as good as the original. I almost didn't continue reading because I didn't want to ruin one of my favored authors for myself. However, I bought Wicked Wish after reading the blurb regardless of my concerns. Let the record reflect that I am a sucker for a "brothers best friend" romance. I honestly can't pass one up. After purchasing my ebook, I let it sit for a few days. Then today at around five PM I sunk into my couch and became immersed in the sinful, sultry world of the Wicked Horse: Vegas.

From the minute I opened my Kindle app I was consumed. Sawyer Bennett killed it with this one. When Jorinda Pearce is invited to The Wicked Horse by a good friend for a masquerade party she can't say no. And why would she want to? After finding out about her husband cheating on her I think she probably adapted the thought "To get over one man, get under another".  They arrive to discover that someone is demonstrating a new sex toy. A sexy someone. He invites Jorie up to play. Little to her knowledge thanks to his black leather mask, that sexy someone is her brothers best friend Walsh. They get into it and after its already too late he recognizes Jorie. After he reveals himself to her and tells her that can never happen again she decides it wasn't enough and she wants more of what Walsh has to offer. Honestly, who wouldn't? The way he's described I even want more. After that she decides to seduce him. I'll leave the rest for you to read. 100% this storyline is obviously a favorite of mine. That is part of the reason I loved this book so much. Jorie is probably one of my top 5  Favorite Sawyer Characters and that helps too. Walsh I like. And he is sexy as sin. But he's the whole reason I'm giving this book a 4 and not a 5. 

Not because I didn't like his character. That's not it at all. It's something his character did. And if/when you read this book there's very good chance you'll know exactly what I'm talking about the minute it happens. There are two big reasons why it bothered me to the extent that I'm taking a star away from this title. Without giving it totally away, the first reason I'm bothered is because I would be genuinely disgusted and embarrassed in that situation. The second reason I am docking a star is because CONSENT CONSENT CONSENT. I understand that being in a sex club there are a lot of things people are OK with or into. However! Being in a sex club does NOT excuse not getting express verbal consent from a partner to take pictures, videos, voice recordings, or anything of that nature. Obviously, security cameras may be in the club and members may have to sign a consent form for that. That doesn't mean someone doesn't have to get consent to take personal pictures or whatnot. For that very reason I give Wicked Wish 4 Stars. I do however highly recommend it, especially to all my kinky friends out there. When they say mature audience only, they definitely weren't playing. Happy reading!