Book Review: Midnight Playground by Eliza Gayle

Author: Eliza Gayle

Series: Pleasure Playground #1

My Rating: 4 cups

Blurb (from Goodreads):

Eve's desperate denial only means one thing...she has a lot to learn.

Eve Blake has been working at Altered Ego, a studio specializing in fetish photography, for three months when a custom order comes in for a plus-sized redhead. Ready for an adventure, she volunteers for the job. Chase, her boss, reluctantly accepts. Maybe pretending to be a sexual slave for Chase’s camera will get her one step closer to the two men she thinks can satisfy even her darkest needs.

Chase can’t believe he’s agreed to this deal. The cardinal rule in any business is not to get involved with your employees and that includes your sexy receptionist. He and his partner Murphy learned that lesson the hard way. Now Chase has a hunch the first time they touch their rope to Eve’s creamy flesh, there will be no turning back. They’ll have to have her.

One shoot leads to another and Eve finds herself at a playground at midnight. When the scene takes a dark turn, Eve sinks deeper into sensation at the hands of two masters who push for her ultimate surrender. Will she reach the limit of how far she can go, or will the ties that bind form bonds of love?

I have a confession to make: I love menage books. I never tried two girls and a guy though in my stories. Will try it sometimes, but there's just something about a heroine having two men at her feet. Not like she's dominating them, but like they worship her.

But back to the story. I read the second book in this series, Power Play, last month and I liked it a lot, so I decided to read the first book in the series and let me tell you WOW. I loved this book too.

First of all, both Chase and Murphy are so damn sexy and dominant. They act so tough and it's actually fun to see Eve making them squirm and stay on their toes. And Eve...I loved Eve. She's amazing. She's actually one of the few characters that, in real life, could be anyone. She isn't perfect, she doesn't have a perfect figure, but those things make her real. I love characters like that, male or female, because they aren't fake.

Second, this book is so very unique and memorable. You read about private BDSM clubs, about BDSM parties, but I don't think I've ever read about a photography studio specialized in fetish photography. That's what makes this book and series amazing. It is fresh. If you haven't yet read this book, you have to.

Follow Friday (11)

Welcome to Follow Friday hosted this week by Parajunkee and Alison!
The main idea behind FF is just to go see a bunch of new blogs you may never have seen before, and follow the ones you like (and they’ll follow you back!) It’s a total win/win, so take a peek around and follow me!

This week’s question is: 



What would your prefer: reading your favorite book over and over again until you got sick of it OR reading 100s of mediocre books? And why?

100s of mediocre books. First, because the chances of finding something I'd like is, of course, bigger than rereading the same book over and over. Second, because while I love rereading some of my favorite books once in a while, I feel like I'd lose any enjoyment after a while. Though I admit, after the 10th mediocre book, chances are bigger for me to reread my favorite book at least twice.

What about you?

Day 14 – Favorite book of your favorite writer

This one's easy. Since yesterday I said Marc Levy could be called one of my favorite authors, the book I love most is Seven Days for an Eternity. I don't know if the book has been translated in English, though. They really should, in my opinion.

This book is funny, romantic, witty, sarcastic, what's not to love about it? It's about God and Lucifer, making a pact. Each has to send their best warrior on Earth and do more deeds in the name of his "boss". They have seven days and the one that at the end of the week has a bigger score, wins and gets to rule over Earth and human kind for ever. God sends Zofia and Lucifer sends Lucas.

Lucas and Zofia weren't supposed to meet, but they do and, naturally, fall in love. There's one very funny scene where Lucas was trying to be romantic and send her flowers. Thinking any flower will do, he sends her water lilies. He actually filled her bathtub with water lilies. It's a very funny scene, but not the only one in the book.

I love all of Levy's books, but this one for some reason is more dear to me. One thing I love most about Levy's books: most of them have two or three characters that are in all of them. They're not main characters, but they sort of connect the books. Of course, all books except The First Night and The First Day are stand-alones.

So this is my favorite book by my favorite author. What's yours?

Dirty Little Secret (2)

Dirty Little Secret is a weekly meme hosted by Under The Covers.

The rules are simple:

1. Be a follower of Under the Covers.
2. Create a post in your blog taking the meme image and copy instructions. 
3. Answer the weekly question.

For more information and for signing up, go to the Under The Covers blog.


This week's question:


So it's V-Day. You are all dressed up in your tiniest, yet most expensive undies (go figure!), got a dress on your mother would definitely disapprove of and enough condoms to keep a football team happy, where are you going and which of your favourite book boyfriends are taking you there?


The beach is where I'm going. And somewhere warm, away from all the Siberian cold influences and snow and freezing wind and rain and cloudy days. On an island probably. But one that doesn't have sharks. Or deadly fish or other creatures that might transform an otherwise happy vacation into a hellish vacation. Now as for my book boyfriends, that is a difficult choice. I think I'd go with Acheron, leader of the Dark Hunters. Let's face it, that man is a god, so he can probably keep me safe from anything and anyone. Plus, he's so tall, I wouldn't have to be afraid of wearing high heels around him. (I'm not a mountain, but I'm not exactly petite either).

Who would you bring? And where would you go?

Day 13 – Your favorite writer

Difficult choice. I think the only writer that makes me want to read everything he's ever written in the French author Marc Levy. You probably know the movie Just Like Heaven with Mark Ruffalo and Reese Witherspoon. That movie is based on one of Levy's books, If Only It Were True. So if wanting to read every book he's written makes him my favorite writer, then that's what he is for me.

But honestly, I have a lot of authors that I love and try to read as much of their works as possible. I'm really weird, if I get to read something by an author and I like it, chances are really high that I'll like his/her other books.

Book Review: Hotel Transylvania by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

Author: Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

Series: Saint-Germain #1

My Rating: 5 cups

Blurb: (from Goodreads):

France 1743 (Sun King era). Le Comte de Saint-Germain - cultured, well-traveled, articulate, elegant, learned, honorable, an alchemist, and a man of many secrets - he is a mystery to the court of Louis XV. For Madelaine de Montalia, making her debut in society, he is as fascinating as he is enigmatic, an admiration he returns. But others are interested in her as well. The dark folly of her father's youth exposes her to danger that only someone of Saint-Germain's vast experience can comprehend or repulse.
In this first book of the Saint-Germain cycle, Saint-Germain establishes himself as the compassionate hero whose adventures span continents and millennia.

This is one of the books that have a real special meaning for me. First of all, it was the first vampire book I read after Anne Rice's that I loved. Second of all, it was a book recommended to me by a girl from college (the same one who introduced me to Sookie Stackhouse and Eric Northman). There's another reason, but I'm going to tell you about it a bit later.

If you haven't yet read this book (and the series), you shouldn't wait any longer. I think this is one of the best horror books I've read. Saint-Germain is one sexy vampire. I was actually disappointed by the fact that he can't have sex, but the author makes up for it. He's dark, sexy, mysterious, compelling. I can't think of a flaw this vampire has (besides being impotent, of course).

Madelaine is a sweet, innocent young woman that becomes a target for the villain, Saint Sebastien. She also catches the eye of our sexy vampire. Saint-Germain falls for her, though he tries hard to hide his true nature from her. He ultimately decides to risk exposure to save her from the bad guy and his friends and followers.

I loved the difference between what is believed to be evil (the vampire) and what really is evil (the Satan worshipers). I really wasn't that surprised by the ending, but it still made me hold my breath a few times.

The thing I loved about this book were the letters. I loved how every chapter started with a letter. It was something very new, a glimpse "behind the scene", small subplots that developed at the same time as our main story.

I have the second book in this wonderful series, The Palace, but I'm pondering about reading it. The reason for that is that you can read these books in two ways: either in the order in which they were published, of chronologically. I decided to wait a little while and buy the entire series and then decide how I'm going to read it.

Remember there was a third reason this book was special to me? Well, this is going to sound weird a little. I first read this book 5 years ago, during my first semester in college. I think it was either November or December. I remember it was a work day and it was about...7 or 8 pm. Anyway, there was a blackout for about an hour, no electricity whatsoever. This book gets creepier if you read it surrounded by candles and with classical music as a soundtrack.

Anyway, I loved this book and I can't wait to read the entire series.