Tag: Michael

04

Make Me Yours Evermore, Part Deux: The Michael Chronicles

Regular Chintz readers will know that, every now and then, Michael and I review books in tandem. Make Me Yours Evermore, the latest book in Cari Silverwood’s Pierced Hearts series, was one we always planned on tackling together but as our schedules have been a little out of sync recently, we’ve had to do our write-ups separately. If you recall, I was a big fan of this one (although I did want to invest in some brain bleach by the close) but I wasn’t sure what Michael would be thinking by the end of it, given that he had a hard time with Klaus in Bind and Keep Me. I mean, let’s be honest, Chris really does make the former seem like a candidate for humanitarian of the year …

*Please note that the below review does contain spoilers pertaining to books one and two in the Pierced Hearts series. You can find our previous reviews for Take Me, Break Me and Bind and Keep Me here and here.

 

MICHAEL’S TAKE

Make Me Yours EvermoreTitle: Make Me Yours Evermore
Author: Cari Silverwood
Publisher: Cari Silverwood
ISBN: 9781311900234

Okay, in Take Me, Break Me, we meet Jodie and Klaus when she comes up with a money-making scheme: Have Klaus hold her captive for a month, film the whole thing, and release it to fame and fortune. In the end, things go a bit awry but they achieve a kind of working balance in their relationship.

Skip ahead a year and we get to Bind and Keep Me. When Jodie attends a wild party and dies, Klaus kills the man responsible. Only Jodie isn’t dead. And rather than either hope the police don’t figure out what happened or even try to explain what happened, Klaus comes up with a unique solution: kidnap the one witness who can expose his secret. And hold her captive for the rest of their lives. Perhaps not the greatest plan ever, but it has worked so far. Mostly.

Which brings us up to Make Me Yours Evermore. One of the mostly wrinkles is that Kat has figured out something weird is going on. We actually met Kat at the end of the TMBM. As a character, she was kind of annoying. The other characters thought so too. She still doesn’t know precisely what is going on, but she is going to find out. Only Chris, Klaus’ business partner, is determined to stop her. Because it turns out that Chris has always had a secret fantasy: To kidnap someone and hold her captive for the rest of their lives. And so to help out Klaus, Chris volunteers to do that to Kat. Continue reading →

12

Safeword: Rainbow (2013 Extended Edition) – Candace Blevins

Safeword: RainbowTitle: Safeword: Rainbow (2013 Extended Edition)
Author: Candace Blevins
Publisher: Excessica (30 October 2013)
ISBN: 9781609827717
Reviewer: Michael

The original version of Safeword: Rainbow was published back in 2010. At the end of 2013, however, author, Candace Blevins, released a revised and updated version of the book. Michael read the first iteration and gave it four stars on Goodreads; has this new, extended edition answered some of his original questions (Tyler always worried him a little) or simply made him more curious about his relationship with Viv?

 

MICHAEL

Let me tell you a quick fairy tale to start things off.

Once upon a time, in the Magical Land of New Hampshire, a dark and secretive Master named James finds the slave girl he’s been searching for. James and Katrina spend a weekend exploring the limits of passion and desire and pain. And in the end, James vanishes into the night. And they never see each other again.

Well, not exactly. Let’s skip ahead a few years. Continue reading →

24

Wicked Wednesday: Glad Tidings

Christmas Fairy

Image: Christmas Fairy. (Me, wearing my halo, whilst sitting in a Pohutukawa – also known as the ‘New Zealand Christmas tree’.)

This Wicked Wednesday is an unapologetic, sentimental and festive ‘thank you’ – a big one! – to all the amazing people who have made my 2013 so happy and wonderful.

Bloggers, writers, readers, fellow kinksters … There are so many of you that I am pleased and proud to know (both online and in person), and who have been totally selfless in support of me and this little Chintzy corner of the Interweb these past twelve months. To that end, I’d like to embarrass a few of you by specifically calling out your awesomeness. Continue reading →

12

Running off to Devon …

Chintz has been a little silent this past week – and that’s because I’ve been here, on top of this beautiful hill, in a tent, with no Wi-fi:

North Devon Coast

Stunning, no?

I’d like to say that I was reading saucy books and writing more but I, um, spent most of my time exploring the gorgeous North Devon coastline and getting myself wet in the mighty Atlantic. Oh, and eating fish ‘n’ chips and scones slathered in jam and clotted cream. (Lush. Totally, totally, lush.) Continue reading →

20

Take Me, Break Me (Pierced Hearts) – Cari Silverwood

Take Me, Break MeTitle: Take Me, Break Me
Author: Cari Silverwood
Publisher: Wolf Charm Press (04 March 2013)
ISBN: 9781301060573
Reviewer(s): Michael and Jane

Yep. As requested, Michael and I are back once again as a book-reviewing double act. Are we less ranty than last time? I think so. But I still ended up drawing stick figures. Couldn’t seem to stop myself. He, meanwhile, took the high road and included intelligent and insightful quotes. (I think it’s clear which of us is Batman and which of us is Robin in this instance …)

 

JANE’S TAKE …

Before I say anything else, I just want to make it clear that I liked this book. The story was interesting, the characters likeable, and the sex hot. (Very, very hot in fact.) But it disturbed me. And I felt bad for enjoying it at times. Continue reading →

28

Rush (The Breathless Trilogy) – Maya Banks

Rush - Maya BanksTitle: Rush
Author: Maya Banks
Publisher: Berkley Trade (05 February 2013)
ISBN: 978-0425267042
Reviewer(s): Michael and Jane

Prepare yourselves. Michael and I decided to read and review Rush in tandem. And let’s just say that we had, er, pretty strong reactions to it. Warning: it’s a general winter of discontent below the fold and we only just refrained from using SHOUTY CAPITALS in our respective reviews. Buckle up.

 

MICHAEL’S TAKE …

First off, let me say this. Maya Banks has been doing this for a while now. I don’t really think this is her version of Fifty Shades of Grey despite the fact that it did sort of feel that way. (Oh, and if you don’t want spoilers, don’t read this because this is a fully-fledged rant.) Having said that, she has accomplished something I wouldn’t have thought possible: created a male lead in Gabe Hamilton that makes Christian Grey and Gideon Cross (Bared to You) look like normal, well-adjusted, thoughtful young men. Continue reading →

16

Board Resolution – Joey W. Hill

Board Resolution - Joey W. HillTitle: Board Resolution (Knights of the Boardroom
Author: Joey W. Hill
Publisher: Ellora’s Cave (20 January 2010)
ISBN: 9781419925771
Reviewer: Michael

What do you call a tale where a woman shows up for a business meeting only to be assaulted, manhandled, stripped naked, rendered immobile by being bound to a specially designed piece of furniture, blindfolded, gagged and forced to submit to her captor and, possibly, his stalwart management team?

Aw, you guessed it – it’s a love story.

Geoffrey Tennyson wasn’t one of those men who felt sorry for himself because he had a daughter and not a son. He just played the hand life dealt – and spent every moment from the day she was born until the day he died instilling in her his own version of the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition. There simply wouldn’t be a situation that would come up in any business negotiation that Savannah wouldn’t be prepared for.

But then Matthew Kensington enters the equation. Continue reading →

17

Unexpected Consequences (Rod and Cane Society #1) – Cara Bristol

Unexpected Consequences - Cara BristolTitle: Unexpected Consequences (Rod and Cane Society #1)
Author: Cara Bristol
Publisher: Loose Id (20 September 2011)
ISBN: 9781611185768

I think ‘Unheld Conversations’ would have been a better title for this book.

Jared is a member of an organisation called the Rod and Cane Society. Personally, I prefer to refer to it by its original name when it was founded back in 1937: The He-Man Woman Haters Club. Therefore, throughout the rest of this review, I am going to call it He-Man for short.

So, anyway, the guys in He-Man are all into Domestic Discipline (DD). DD, if you aren’t aware, is a form of relationship where one partner gets to decide if the other partner has done something bad and, if they have, punish them for it – usually with a spanking. It can actually function either way (the Wife can spank the Husband) but that isn’t a He-Man idea. Oh, no. And when I say ‘guys’, I mean ‘guys’; ladies don’t actually get to join He-Man. They have to join the He-Man Ladies Auxiliary. More on that aspect a little later. Continue reading →