Kitchen Affairs - The Riverside Trilogy by Brooke Cumberland

Drake Staglinao is from a wealthy empire family who owns Riverside Hotel & Restaurant in downtown Chicago. He's attractive, charming, witty, and will do whatever it takes to get the one he wants, Molly Woods.

Molly, a chef intern at his five-star restaurant, shows no interest in dating Drake, or dating at all for that matter since the death of her fiancé four years earlier. After several attempts, Drake goes to extreme measures to get some alone time with Molly, knowing that he just needs a few hours for her to realize their intense chemistry is too hot to ignore. Drake finds out why Molly is reserved and guarded - but that doesn't stop him from getting who he wants.

Molly and Drake need to keep their relationship private, but when a surveillance video goes viral of the two of them, they must overcome obstacles that most relationships don't have to endure. 

Molly needs to let go of her past in order to let Drake in... but how far can she go without cracking? 

I thought this would be a good, steamy read and while there was definitely steam, the characters were absolutely horrible! Basically you have an egotistical hero who is essentially sexually harassing someone who works for him, THEN steals her wallet and then does nothing but have sex with her. 

Then you have our heroine who you believe to be a grieving widow-esque person who is a single mom to a four year old and within days of meeting Drake, she's sleeping with him all over the place. I was appalled by her behavior and her lack of ethics where her child was concerned. There was no dimension to these characters;  neither was likable at all. Could hardly finish it with all of the random secondary plotlines did nothing to enhance the story because they were never fully explained or fleshed out.

It was basically a book that should have ended much sooner than it did.  Just because something has a higher word count does not mean that those words enhance the story at all.  That was completely the case here.  This story just went on and on and on and on until I thought I would scream.  The only reason I actually finished the book was because I kept hoping it would get better.  Not worth it the $2.99 price for the eBook. 

Continental Breakfast by Ella Dominquez

Bella Darcy is personal assistant, muse and plaything to wealthy businessman Mr. Pettifor. Their 9-5 relationship is unconventional, but mutually satisfying.
 

Mr. Pettifor is alpha male personified - demanding, stern, insatiable, emotionally closed-off and seemingly indifferent to anything that doesn't involve six zeros behind it.

Bella had never wanted more until the day she heard passionate cries that didn't belong to her, coming from his office. 

Deeply hurt and realizing that she cannot be with a man who can so blatantly be with another woman while she is mere feet away, Bella turns in her letter of resignation, throwing Mr. Pettifor into a tailspin. Everything he's worked so hard for now seems insignificant and the woman whom he trained to be everything he wanted, has now decided to move on, leaving him reeling.

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This 16,000 word erotic novella was both interesting and annoying.  Ella Dominquez's writing style was a little hard for me to get on board with because she doesn't write how most of us speak.  Their vocabulary was very formal and it came across as being stiff at times.

I'm not one who has jumped on the Fifty Shades train but this novella had just the right amount of everything to make it steamy and sexy and an excellent page turner. Very enjoyable!  Definitely worth your .99 cents to get it on Kindle.

Video Trailer for Ever After by Samantha Chase

This is the video trailer for Samantha Chase's latest novella, "Ever After".  Check it out exclusively on Kindle for only .99 cents!  
 

"Ever After" by Samantha Chase

"She walked away from her fairytale wedding in search of her true happily ever after.

She hadn't counted on it coming searching for her first.

Eight months after canceling her wedding, Ava Callahan finally has her life in order and sees nothing but blue skies ahead. A chance encounter with the man responsible for ruining her wedding has her newly organized world in chaos.

Brian McCabe had persevered for eight long months seeking the woman he loves and his patience was about to expire. Purposely putting himself in every path Ava was on might not always work to his advantage, but he wanted to make sure that she truly saw him for who he was.

Her happily ever after..."
 
"Ever After" is the follow up to Samantha Chase's best seller, "The Christmas Cottage".  Picking up where "The Christmas Cottage" left off (well, maybe 8 months later) we now get to read Ava's story.  Ava was the best friend in the previous book - a modern day Bridezilla who had some pretty definite ideas on how she wanted her fairytale wedding to be.  There were binders...it was wild!

Now, eight months later, she is planning her future but the reappearance of sexy Brian McCabe into her life has her feeling confused.  After all, it isn't every day a man proclaims that he loves you and then disappears for almost a year!  Feeling like it would be wrong to get involved with him, Ava does her best to discourage Brian but the man is suddenly persistent!

Ava was a high-maintenance woman in "The Christmas Cottage" and was a little more than over the top, Samantha Chase stays true to that character and has Ava still a little hard to handle.  While some were seemingly put off by her character, if you had read the first book, you knew that this was clearly her personality.  And Brian?  He is just yummy.

A great, light romantic novella; perfect for a weekend read.  "Ever After" is currently available exclusively through Amazon on Kindle for only .99 cents!  Enjoy!