Saturday, July 20, 2013

Reviews of Holly Roberts Bad Boys of Rock, Books 1 & 2 *edited with additional review*

Members of the Bad Girls Team have reviewed the following books in the Club El Diablo Series 
by Holly Roberts

The Bad Boy Dom 
(Book 6, Club El Diablo Series ~ Book 1, Bad Boys of Rock, sub series)

Reviewed byPenelope Pureheart, Kimmy Sparkles & Shaggy Catch-Twentytwo


Penelope  & Kimmy both rate Bad Boy Dom 4/10
and Shaggy an 8/10...
therefore it gets a Bad Girls average
of 5 horndogs
Shaggy's Review:

Krispin Righteous... What is a woman to do? A Rockstar who is into kinky fuckery, he is behind a door that I would bang down any day.  I was not a huge fan of Angela (the sub) at first.  I wanted to scream at her a couple of times, but then Holly gave me more... and at the end, I wanted to hug Angela and high five her ass!!!

" Apprehension caused my slightly bratty wiggle against his groin when we entered the room. How would he handle me in this mood? I craved submission and knew my fear  came from the undeniable need to know if the walking sex god would master me." 

Hey, I can't give away all the "booty".  I love how the author, Holly Roberts, nailed the emotional part of the characters behind the BDSM scene, she definitely knows her stuff.  If you are a fan of BDSM I highly recommend this series... heck all of her books, but if you are new to BDSM you might not understand the emotional state of some of the characters.  I was fortunate enough to know Angela from the beginning... the very beginning, 'One Dom at a Time' beginning, where Damian meets the fiery red head Lydia, and Club El Diablo!!  It was awesome that Holly gives us peeks at Lydia and Damian (these two are explosive) who I fell in love with.

I did enjoy The Bad Boy Dom and Holly's spin on BDSM... Krispin, FYI, you have been added to my 'stable' of men (you have been warned!).
This isn't a typical hearts and flowers story, it is a story of two people who have emotional baggage and pasts that get in their way.  I loved Krispin for the way he handled Angela..  High five Damian, they are a perfect match!

I give The Bad Boy Dom 8 horndogs!

Penelope is in her 60s, a grandmother and spent 40 years as a teacher.  

This book was a bad fantasy with a strange HEA ending.  I’m at a loss on how to review this book.  I like that the main characters fell in love and end up wanting to get married but so much of this book didn’t connect with me.   

I never understood the setting, a large first class hotel in Houston that has a BDSM club on one floor and owner of the hotel lives in the hotel with his girlfriend and baby daughter.  I can’t connect with that situation.  Visualizing a hotel or resort like the setting described didn’t work; "exclusive” didn’t give me enough to buy into the setting.  Maybe places like this exist but I could never believe it, not enough to connect me.  I need more details if this hotel is based on some real place bring those details so I can buy into the setting.

The characters were kind, loving and protective, but they didn’t mind beating people or being beaten for sexual pleasure.   Oxymoron in my brain!  Punishing your best friend by torture just doesn’t do it for me. Again, this may really happen but I could never connect with that part of the book.  The characters never had enough dialog , internal or conversation, on why hurting other people helped them or the person being hurt.   The story lost believability for me.

The basic plot of the book could work for me with boy meets girl, boy falls in love and tries to help girl with her terrible childhood.  Boy is hot Rock Star, girl is beautiful but troubled and loving friends offer support to the troubled pair.  There is a good strong plot line, nice bones.  Friend that like to double team girl etc. could work.  The theme of love conquering problems and the two living HEA is a good one.

I would like to see more internal dialog with the characters.  The story could develop through their eyes and thoughts.  The dialog between the characters without the internal connection made the story hard to follow at times.  Alternating point of view between Kris and Angela help the story and gave us a chance to meet the two characters.  Maybe the use of more descriptive and sensory language would have helped more to know them better.  The little things we learn about characters that make them more human and easier for us to like.  The Mt. Dew and lemon was a great little detail about Kris that I really loved. 

Kimmy is a 32 year old mother of two that works in healthcare as a medical assistant.

Alright so this book had all kinds of issues for me. The plot was there but the scenes didn’t flow and the dialog was sloppy. I was ok with the idea of a troubled girl with an abusive past coping with the trauma of her childhood by pain for pleasure and finding love along the way.  But I just didn’t feel the chemistry between the characters. There was no build up to get to know and care about the characters, so I didn’t feel a connection to them.

I say the dialog was sloppy because there were times while reading that I had no clue who was talking. The story was missing describing words and imagery detail. Like for instance the main character Krispin all we know is he’s hot and a rock star but nothing more like the color of his hair, his eyes or if he has tattoos, a muscular body. The sex club is not described very well. I like it when an author makes me see exactly what they see and that was missing for me.

I enjoy these darker reads. And I think this story could have a lot of potential but it needs more. The sex scenes or the BDSM in it was like I said missing something. I need everything described to me the way the smack of the whip felt against her ass, the sting it gave, the look on his face, the setting the way the room look from ceiling to floor.  It also seemed like the sex scenes were cut short. They were like wam bam thank you mam and done. I want that all described to me, I think that BDSM and even these hot rough, raw sex scenes could be good just once again needs more detail.  I just felt confused at times and wasn’t able to picture the setting. 

It has potential just needs more describing words. I would not recommend to a friend. 



Loving Two Doms 
(Book 7, Club El Diablo Series ~ Book 2, Bad Boys of Rock, sub series)

Reviewed by: Kimberlyn Kandie, Mia Rose, Mimi Durham and Meggie Bean






Kimberlyn, Mia, Mimi & Meggie's average
 rating for  Loving Two Doms

Keep reading to see exactly how the same
book
can have different appeal to
different readers!


Kimberlyn & Mia collaborated on their review and rated Loving Two Dom's 3.5 out of 10!

This book started out with a bang but quickly fizzled out!! This book is about two best friends Matt and Stephon that play in a Rock band and are into BSDM.   

We learn that they served in the Marine Corp in the Afghanistan war together and went through a tuff situation where a mother and infant child are shot to death. This is what causes Stephon to need to be whipped to help with deal with the pain from that fateful day.  This story line of the mom and infant being killed was a complete turn off for us with this story. We understand that there needs to be background for a character going through pain but not a line of an infant dying. 

Plus Matt and Stephon say they are not gay several times during the book but they are way to touchy feely.  You see when Matt starts to get bored and goes to a diner where he meets Jewel. She is a waitress at the diner who lost her fiancé in a motorcycle crash years before also leaving her with a scar on her face. We do like how Matt sees her beauty past the scar and thinks she is beautiful.   

Jewel is not a strong woman in this book though she is independent and has a smart mouth that earns her punishment from Matt and Stephon. Jewel seems to fall too quickly into Matt and Stephon’s kinky life style of BSDM.  As well as falls in love with them and seems to enjoy it way to fast after telling Matt that spanking would be a deal breaker for her in the beginning.  Then she loves to see the welts on her ass in the mirror after each spanking. Don’t get it. Seems like the book is being to rushed and story lines are being left out. 

We felt like Jewel did not get enough of her background told in the book. The sex scenes seem to not be followed up with all the way. Then there were scenes in the book that felt unnecessary like when Lydia was whipping Angela. I got more interested in Krispen and Angela than anything else. It just seemed the book dragged and was hard to finish.

Mimi and Meggie on the other hand rated Loving Two Doms 7 out of 10 each.  They reviewed it individually, keep reading to see what they thought about it!

Mimi:  I have read a few books on BDSM but I am no expert on the subject by any means. I did find this book to be very steamy & sexual.    

***Spoiler Alert***

This story is about Matt and Stephon who are your bad boys of rock, whose bond is as strong as any brothers.  Then there is Jewel, an innocent, vanilla waitress with a nonexistent love life.  Jewel barely makes ends meet but seems to be content with her mundane, quiet life. She bears physical scars which she feels self-conscious about, but also carries emotional scars that may never heal.

By way of a fluke Matt, the guitarist of a popular rock band, finds his way to the diner where Jewel works waiting tables and baking scrumptious muffins.  Matt is immediately attracted to Jewel and loves the muffins.  When he finds out she bakes muffins for the diner daily a flirtatious friendship forms.  The friendship grows into an intense sexual attraction and a wild night of love making with some kink introduced, something Jewel has never tried.

What makes the story different is that Matt has an intensely close friendship with Stephon, a buddy who he has been through hell and back with.  Because of this close connection, they have shared many women in their bed, a way of expressing the love they have to one another that few understand.  Matt felt they would never find their forever woman until Jewel came along.  Matt convinced Stephon to go to the diner to meet this incredibly beautiful woman who could fit into their lifestyle and hopefully fill the void in their lives.

As Stephon approaches the diner he hears a woman screaming.  He runs toward the sound to find a woman being attacked.  After saving the woman from her attacker, he finds she is Matt's Jewel, that he has come to like so much.  He and Matt make sure she is taken well care of allowing her to recuperate at the luxurious hotel where the band members are staying.  After she has recovered, the fun begins.

Not only is there lots of hot steamy sex scenes that Holly has a talent for writing, but the emotional aspect of the story line is what adds to the heart felt plot.  Overall, I give Loving Two Doms  7/10 Horndogs for a great story and hot sex scenes.

Meggie Bean:  Loving Two Doms follows the lives of three different people but they all need one thing - each other.  Matt and Stephon - also known as the two dominants - are best friends, ex-Marines, fellow band mates and in a way - Lovers.

Stephon
Matt



They are in love with each other but need one thing - a woman to share.  Both men have a tragic past that fuel their twisted and oh-so kinky lives. 

Stephon seems content with what they have and what is expected but Matt wants more and then he meets Jewel.  




She's a little bruised, and scarred both emotionally and physically.  The very scars that kept men away are what draws these bad boys to her.

At first Jewel meets Matt and her body craves his in a way that she doesn't believe is possible.  

"His hand landed on hers, sending an electric current straight to her pelvic region,  and before she could pull away, his warm chocolate eyes paralyzed her."
She jumps into what could be a potential one-night stand and gets so much more than she ever expected.














These doms though share everything so before she can be considered a girlfriend - both men have to fall for her - and she has to agree.  When Jewel meets Stephon the sparks were undeniably present.

"Now Stephon smiled and Jewel's stomach flipped.  He was devastatingly attractive - with brown eyes darker than Matt's, classically gorgeous facial lines, a strong jaw, and had an unshaved shadow of facial hair surrounding a circle beard.  His sparkling eyes caused the flutters in her stomach to zing to her lady parts." 

But since she does not know the depth of their relationship—she begins to feel guilty. After the first impression wears off, Jewel begins to strongly dislike Stephon, and honestly—I hated him.  Eventually though the truth had to come out and Jewel needs to decide if this new life is something she can accept or if she will lose both men—forever. 
*              *              *
With all that said there were some good and bad things of this book.  For starters—I hated Stephon in the beginning (he did regain back some of my respect later) but not till later.  He was jealous, weird, and a total douchebag.  Dom or no-dom, he was so rude and conceited.  

Then there was Matt and he was great until I saw the way he responded to his friend/lover’s behavior.  I mean Jewel, who has a hard time trusting men, stomps home after Stephon screws with her the second time he meets her.  So what does Matt aka the mediator do?  Oh, well of course he tells Stephon to go fix it—and he sends him to Jewel’s apartment.  It was just wrong.  Jewel didn’t know Stephon (she hardly knew Matt) and now a pervy-douche is in her little place, bossing her around and digging through her things. I would have kicked his ass out and that would have been the end of those two in my opinion.  It wasn’t and she eventually caves in to some of their kink without knowing the depth of their relationship.

The relationship between the two men was one I wasn’t a fan of.  Their banter was fantastic—truly entertained me and I understood their—take a bullet for him—feeling.  It was the love and cuddling and the rest that I didn’t like.  However, I feel that is more personal preference than anything else.  

Aside from that, I was a little confused by some of the scenes.  There were so many names/characters that I found myself getting lost.  Sometimes it was difficult to tell who was speaking or what exactly was going on and I would have to re-read it a few times.  My other big issue was I felt there was just a lack of character connection.  More than once I felt I was being told about how someone felt.  Jewel liked Matt, he liked her—and I knew that because that’s what I was told to think.  It didn’t flow in a way that made me feel I was in the moment—that was one thing I wanted more of.  

My favorite thing about a book is feeling every little emotion, heartache and butterfly in my stomach.  It doesn’t happen with just any book I read and honestly, it is rare for the connection—it is just how I am.  


Overall though, if you are into some kink, sexy dominating men and some fantastic sex scenes—this is definitely one to check out.  It’d make a great quick, fun read and be a little escape from the real world, if only for a little while.  Personally, it was not my cup of tea but that doesn’t mean you should hold back from checking out this book!  It could be just the one you were looking for.  For me though I would give this book 7 out of 10 Horndogs

2 comments:

  1. Thank you Penelope, Kimmy, Kimberlyn, Mia, Mimi, and Meggie for reading my books and taking time to write your reviews. I respect you immensely.

    Mimi and Meggie, a very special thanks for “getting” me and my writing. You put a smile on my face this morning.

    As to the critical aspect of the reviews—I will wholeheartedly strive to improve. Your insights are invaluable and essential to being the best I can possibly be. (I’ve taken notes.)

    I, however, cannot change the fundamental theme of BDSM erotic romance and will continue to be true to the genre and the lifestyle. I understand that some readers will find the pain/pleasure intricacies not to their liking and Penelope’s review will undoubtedly keep them away. And yes, this is a good thing and I’m glad her review points out the proclivities of the story.

    I love your blog and look forward to the next installment. I give you ladies the highest complimentary theme from my books… You Bad Girls Rock!
    Holly

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  2. Thanks so much Holly for trusting us with your work. We loved working with you and will always continue to provide honest reviews xxx

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