Sunday, October 9, 2016

BOOK REVIEW: Savage Beast by Charleigh Rose

~Blurb~

Cole and Jade's story 

Warning: Taboo, ménage, dirty talk, hot as f*ck. 

Jade 

I dated a mobster. A monster. A maniac. 
He left me scarred, marred and done with men in general. The last thing I needed was another man in the very same lifestyle. I might let Cole Savage into my bedroom, but I can't let him into my heart. 

Cole 

She’s been hurt before. She thinks I'll hurt her again. 
Problem is, I’m not the one who is trying to hurt her. 
Her ex-boyfriend is a part of the Lucky Lucianos, an up-and-coming Italian mafia in New York city. He thought he could get away with what he did to her, but he won't be so lucky when I get my hands on him.


~Book Review~
2.5 Stars

If you’ve read the first book, Stepdaddy Savage, then you know that Jade and Cole met at a dinner party at Graham and Dahlia’s house. Well it’s a few years later till their paths cross again, and this time Cole is determined to get her in his bed.

I’ll admit that I clicked on this book to get more glimpses of Graham and Dahlia just as much as I was interested in Jade and Cole. Turns out, Jade and Cole don’t have nearly the chemistry or appeal as Graham and Dahlia did.

Told via Jade and Cole's alternating first person POV, Cole’s a little too caveman for my tastes at times. He’s not as dark and suave as Graham. He comes off as a big lug.  This story is also more erotic and less romance than the first one. As the description points out, it does contain a ménage scene which frankly would have made a lot more sense in the beginning when Cole and Dahlia are just fuck buddies and not after they become engaged! Yep, you read that right; they have a threesome with his roommate, Carter, after they say 'I love you' and he proposes. Again, I repeat, this is really an erotic tale more than it’s a romance.  On top of that,  Cole’s inner monologues articulate ridiculous things like, “Nothing says romance like anal,” which they engage in with his 12 inch cock that “almost smelled like cotton candy that sat in the sun too long” (Jade’s words) and no lube beyond his spit. Lots of eye roll worthy moments in this story for sure.

The first half of the book is largely Cole and Jade fucking when they are supposed to be working. It actually got a little boring after a while. I didn’t feel a special drawl between Jade and Cole like I did with Dahlia and Graham.  In fact, I only  had one major problem with the first book that I thought surely the authors wouldn’t be so unoriginal as to repeat that again in the second. So imagine my disgust when around roughly 50% they rolled out the heroine-almost-gets-raped troupe for the second time! Followed in the next chapter by a sex scene because you know almost getting raped is so arousing. So I’m just going to cut and paste from my review of book one where the exact same scenario played out. If authors can’t come up with something better than presenting the heroines as helpless victims of near rape, saved only at the last second by her man, then they don’t deserve a truly original review either. So here goes:

For authors who state in their bio that their philosophy is “fun, sexy, smut” that is “original” and that they “won't give you what you've already seen a million times before,” well they certainly missed those goals with this scene. This plot device isn’t original and has been done many times over.  But more importantly, attempted rape isn’t sexy!  I’ve ranted about books that use this unrealistic and unromantic plot climax in romance books before and it bears repeating. Rape/attempted rape/sexual assault does not belong in a romance novel and using it as simply a plot devices not only trivialized the real problem of sexual abuse against women, but contributes to a rape culture.  

All in all, I think Graham made book one, but the rest of the heroes in this series don’t have the same appeal. I’m doubtful I’ll read the next book as the hints to Quinn's backstory do not appeal to me.   



~Book 1 in the Savage People Series~

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