Praise (Salacious Player's Club #1) by Sara Cate

 

He calls me perfect. His flawless pet. His good girl. Broken down and wounded by my emotionally neglectful ex, I wanted someone to tell me I was good enough. Then, I stumbled into a new job with a boss who brings me to my knees - literally. He has me do things a real secretary would never do. Emerson Grant tells me I'm more than just good enough. I'm worthy of his praise. There are a million reasons why I should stay away. The owner of the Salacious Players' Club is not just my new boss, he's twice my age. And my ex-boyfriend's father. With him, I am treasured. I am adored. I am his. I'm a good girl, but I'm falling for the wrong man. Praise by Sara Cate was published in March 2022. This book is the first book in Salacious Player's Club. This book was a nominee for Swoon Award for Erotic Romances in 2022. 

HOLY SMOKES on a cracker was this book spicy. But first, we need to talk about the characters in this book. The two main characters are very different from each other. One is a Dad of an adult son and a divorcee and he runs a kink club with several of his friends. Also has a kink of being a Dom I believe. The other is a girl who can not get her life on track. After having a nasty breakup and a father who has abandon his family she is just trying to keep her head above water. She finds out that she has a kink of being praised. Both characters have personalities but I didn't think of them as three dimensional quality. I needed more faults in this book to come in play I think and needed more just in personality. The plot in this book though really does make up for the characters lack. The plot was so well written and I loved getting inside both of the main characters head. I loved finding out the background of what started the club. But I didn't feel like the two main character showed that they had feelings for each other outside of bedroom/kink activities. But that did not take away from the book at all so it was easy to over look. I actually loved the smut scenes were throughout the book and not so much that it became the plot. Which I am sure is a big risk when you right about a person owning a kink club (be kind of fun to find one of these clubs for myself.) The age-gap in this book didn't bother me at all though I think the female character kind of had some daddy issues. I really enjoyed all aspects of this book, especially the intense smut scenes. I really enjoyed it but I wouldn't say it was one of my top favorite books. 

Quotes That I Loved 

"So, I had a fistful of her hair in my hand, and we were both in the moment when I looked her right in the eye and said, 'Suck my cock like a good little girl.' The next thing I knew, she reared back her fist and clocked me right in the face." 

"Ms. Underwood, you looked exquisite on your knees." 

"You're such a good girl, Charlotte." 

"You are so fucking beautiful. Make yourself come, baby." 

"Ill fill out that form for you if you want, but I don't need to. You want me to tell you that I want to taste you, Charlotte? Because I do. I want to touch you, tease you, fuck you, bend you over my knee and turn that pretty little backside red. There's not a thing on that list I don't want to do with you, so you can put the paper and pen away, little girl. Every single thing would get a five from me." 

"You taste so fucking good." 

"Do you want me to fuck you, baby girl?"

"Yes"

"Tell me you're worth it. Tell me how beautiful you are." 

"Stop being a fucking tease, Charlotte, and suck my cock like a good little secretary." 

Salacious Players Club Series in Order

1. Praise

2. Eyes on Me

3. Give Me More 

4. Mercy 

5. Highest Bidder

6. Madame 

Tropes 

BDSM

Age-Gap

Dark Romance

Boss / employee 

Billionaire 

Twisted Lies (Twisted #4) by Ana Huang

 

Charming, deadly, and smart enough to hide it, Christian Harper is a monster dressed in the perfectly tailored suits of a gentleman. He has little use for morals and even less use for love, but he can't deny the strange pull he feels toward the woman living just one floor below him. She's the object of his darkest desires, the only puzzle he can't solve. And when the opportunity to get closer to her arises, he breaks his rules to offer her a deal she can't refuse. Every monster has their weakness. She's his. Twisted Lies by Ana Huang was published in June 2022. This is the fourth book in Twisted series. 

Oh man, did this book not disappoint me at all. Sometimes by the fourth book in a series you get a lot of repeats of plots. This one did not though the plot has similar characters that we loved in books one through three. I had a feeling Christian was going to be hung up on Stella when she moved into his apartment. If you didn't know Christian was the one who hired Rhys to bodyguard for the Princess. Christian is such a complex creature in this book and I really wanted to go in depth of how he got to be this complex. But didn't really find closure for that part of the book. He's a pretty private person. Though, if you read other book series by Ana Huang you will see Christian throughout them doing things. I still felt like Christian could be a true person and not just a two-dimension character. Stella is not as well. You learn about her family and how much pressure she puts on herself to be perfect for her social media. I think I could find a million influsters who deal with the same feelings as Stella did in this book. The plot in this book is amazing and it has the perfect ebb and flow. Also no weird sentences that I trip over while reading (it's happened in other books). I really enjoy that it was instantly fall in love either. Both of them had to work for it which makes it even better. Also the smut in this book is supreme and not over the top. Highly recommend checking this book out. But highly recommend reading the other books in order. 

Quotes That I Loved 

"Touch Stella again, and you'll no longer have a fiancée." I slammed the door in his face. Dante was my first client and an old friend. I didn't provoke him often. But like I said, I didn't like people touching what was mine. 

"Careful Stella....."I'm not the gentleman you think I am." 

"What I want......is for you to be safe. There are bad people in this world, Butterfly, and some of them are in the room right outside. So next time, I don't care if I'm in the middle of conversation with the queen of fucking England. Interrupt me. Understand?" 

"Is that all you want?"

"Not even close."

"Because you don't want to go through the trouble of finding another regular companion for events."

"Because I don't want to be jailed for murder if anyone touches a hair on your head." 

"Stella was just about to tell me who her mystery man is."

"I bet he's hot....You can tell by the watch."

"That's what I said!....Great minds think alike."

Some photos were worth a thousand words. This photo said only one. Mine. 

"I see caffeine hasn't improved your mood....I'd hoped it would bring Dr. Jekyell back. Mr. Hyde isn't doing it for me." 

"If you saw yourself the way other people see you....you'd never doubt again."

"How do other people see me?"

"Like you're the most beautiful, most remarkable thing they've ever seen." 

I wanted to fall to my knees and worship her with my mouth. To touch her, taste her, fucking drown in her. 

"Do you like being finger fucked out in the open like a good little slut?"

"Good girl" 

Twisted Series in Order

1. Twisted Love

2. Twisted Games 

3. Twisted Hate 

4. Twisted Lies 

BookTok Made Me Do It

Tropes

Fake dating

Billionaire 

Age gap

Grumpy Sunshine 

Stalker

Dark romance

Terms and Conditions (Dreamland Billionaires #2) by Lauren Asher

 

Declan is destined to become the next CEO of his family's media empire. The only problem? His grandfather's inheritance clause. Fulfilling his dying wish of getting married and having an heir seemed impossible until his assistant volunteers for the job. Their marriage was supposed to be the perfect solution to his biggest problem. But the more they act in love for the public, the more unsure Declan feels about their contract. Caring about Iris was never part of the deal. Especially not when breaking her heart is inevitable. Terms and Conditions by Lauren Asher was published in February 2022. This is book two in the Dreamland Billionaires series. This book was nominated for Goodreads Choice Award for Romance in 2022. 

Let's talk about the two characters in this book first. I fell in love with Iris and her quick thinking. I wanted to high five her for trying to help Declan out. But also I loved how she didn't let Declan ruin her life. Also her friendship with Declan's little brother was so funny. She had her faults and strength. It was interesting to see how her faults came to play with her own relationships. Declan, I hated in book one and the start of this book. I didn't want to like him and his mean remarks. But, like in book one we know what the kids went through to be the way they are. You slowly seem to see the soft side of Declan that he hides from everyone. The plot in this book is amazing that I read this book in a day. I did not want to put it down and fell in love with both characters. I wanted to fight their fight. The smut in this book is to die for. There was not too much that is was overpowering but just the right amount for me. I highly recommend checking out this book after book one. 

Quotes That I Loved 

"Special is the last word I would use to describe you." 

"You're trying to tell me that you're engaged to Declan Kane? Willingly? 

"Is it so hard to believe?"

"No. Not really, to be honest." 

"Declan and I could be the last two people on Earth and I would still choose my vibrator over him." 

"I never asked for an increased paycheck, but since you so generously offered..."

"Well played."

"Thank you sir. You taught me everything I know." 

"I finally found the perfect way to shut you up...All I need to do is keep your mouth permanently occupied." 

Whoever this man is, he must be a figment of my imagination. There's no other explanation for the backward ball cap, athletic pants, and T-shirt speckled in powdered sugar. 

"Welcome to the dark side --we have liquor." 

"Jose does have a way with words."

"Who the fuck is Jose?"

"Nobody important."

"Good, then at least no one will miss him when he's dead."

"I'm enjoying the view."

"Says the man who hasn't even looked outside once."

"That's not the view I'm talking about." 

"What are you doing?"

"Helping my wife."

"You're growing a bit too comfortable with that nickname for my liking."

"I use it to remind you of your place."

"And what's that?"

"Mine." 

"Daisuki"

"Szeretlek"

"Ich liebe dich" 

Dreamland Billionaires Series in Order

1. The Fine Print

2. Terms and Conditions 

3. Final Offer 

Tropes

Billionaire

Boss / employee

Fake Dating

Age Gap

Grumpy Sunshine

Forced Proximity 

The Pucking Wrong Number (Pucking Wrong #1) by by C.R. Jane

 

One text to the wrong number...mine...and everything changed. He won't tell me his last name, and maybe that should throw up a thousand red flags, but when I'm all alone in a new city and struggling to make ends meet, his texts are the lifeline I've been desperate for. But I never would have answered that text if I'd known that Lincoln Daniels, superstar hockey player extraordinaire was the one sending them. He's trying to sweep me off my feet now. He says he's obsessed. The Pucking Wrong Number by C.R. Jane was published in May 2023. This is book one of Pucking Wrong series. 

I like dark romance and I also like hockey romance. What I didn't expect was this book was both dark romance and hockey romance. I thought I was reading a normal hockey romance with some smut. What I got was hockey, smut ridden, dark, stalker, billionaire romance. But I need to warn you this book was on the edge of put down and walk away for me. It was riding a very thin line. I also think I came close to chucking my kindle across the room. But first let's talk about the characters...

Monroe made my heart hurt so much with all that she went through growing up. The abuse she received with her mom and then with her foster home. Never did I want to rip someone out of a book and strangle them before this awesome foster dad. Anyways, I wanted to invite the poor girl to my house so she could feel loved. But also wanted to know more about the amazing homeless man. Anyways, Monroe is such a complex character but so naïve in most of this story that it shocks me with all that she went through to not pick up the many many red flags. Lincoln....what can I say about the villian (he's the main character). Lincoln caused so many red flags being thrown. He is the man that all of us mom's want to protect our sweet daughters from. Though we did get some background info on Lincoln. I still don't think it was enough to know what caused him to be this way. 

The plot in this book, started slow as you are going through some of what Monroe dwelt with growing up. Though she finds a sweet unexpected hero who was not Lincoln mind you. I do really want to know more about the unexpected hero but you don't know much in the book. Bummer. Anyways the book picks up once Monroe and Lincoln meet. It starts off really sweet then took a small weird turn at first. The readers will know when it happens but it wasn't explained as you were in Monroe's head. Anyways, then it took a turn where my kindle almost flew across the room. I also wish I had a flag to wave and be like.....Monroe "RED FLAG." Also yelling a lot at Lincoln. Anyways after that you will be throwing a lot of red flags and screaming at Lincoln. There was two points that had me screaming, "GO MONROE!". The ending was not what I wanted but I could totally see it happening. 

All in all if you are into the stalking type of books this is a great book for you. If you are into the hockey romance...you might want to just back away slowly and hope that Lincoln did not see you. Also...booktok made me read it. 

Tropes 

Sports -Hockey

Dark Romance

Stalker

Forced Proximity

Virgin

Check out other BookTok Famous Books  

Quotes 

"You think you don't have a claim on me?" he finally growled, breaking the sex-fueled silence. "You think it's possible for anyone else to exist now that I've found you?" 

"When did you -?" My words trailed off...because, really, what did you say about a dick tattoo of your name?

I'd never let her leave, I thought as I drove. No matter what, I'd make her happy, even if it meant locking her up and waiting for fucking Stockholm Syndrome to take hold. 

My absolute favorite quote: Anstad. That was his name. I needed to use that in my head before he took on the life of Voldemort and I started referring to him as "He Who Must Not Be Named."