Skin Deep by Pamela Clare

Skin Deep

by Pamela Clare

Genre: Western, Crime, Romance, erotica, Drama.

Kindle Edition, 181 pages, Published May 15th 2012 by Pamela Clare

Book 5 in The I-Team series, althought it can be read as a stand alone.

Megan Hunter has worked hard to get back on her feet, leaving the nightmare of her teenage years behind. The last thing she wants or needs in her life is a man. But when she is attacked by someone from her past, a scarred stranger intervenes, saving her life and that of her little girl. Looks can be deceiving, for despite the man’s rough appearance, she feels safe with him. And for the first time in her life, she knows the stirrings of desire.  Nathaniel West paid a high price serving with the Marines in Afghanistan. He returned to his family’s ranch in the Colorado mountains to heal—and be alone. Disfigured as he is, he has put all thoughts of sex and romance aside. But something about Megan brings him back to life, heats his blood, makes him feel like a man again. As danger pursues her, and the truth about her past is revealed, he vows to protect her—and to heal her wounded spirit.  But confronting the past is never easy—especially when it’s carrying a gun. Megan will have to learn to trust Nate to survive and to claim a passion that is much more than …  Skin Deep.

There is something about a scarred and broken hero; I fall for them all the time.  (See Z in BDB, V in V for Vendetta and The Phantom in Phantom of the Opera for examples of scarred and broken men who own me.)  Add in the fact that the male character in this book is not only scarred but ex-military AND a cowboy and well, I never stood a chance.  I was in love with Nate before I even read the first page of this book and luckily he didn’t disappoint me.

I really liked this story.  It was short, sweet and had all the elements needed for a good book.  I loved the story line even though I have seen similar stuff before.  What is different with Skin Deep is the way the characters handle the situation they are in.  There is no unneeded angst or drama.  Megan isn’t some self-pitying, dramatic victim that we are all used to reading about.  Nate is not some over protective borderline abusive Neanderthal.  In Skin Deep the characters act like actual human beings, which was really refreshing.

All the characters are likeable in this book apart from the bad guys who are just awful.  They were all well-rounded and believable.  The author has also managed to write a child character that is not teeth grittingly annoying, instead she is cute.

I loved the romance in this book.  It was not about sex; instead it was about two people learning to trust again, it was about rebuilding your life after losing everything.  I liked Megan and Nate apart but I loved them together.

I have read a lot (and I mean A LOT) of western/rancher romance this year and so far Skin Deep is by far my favourite.  I look forward to reading more from this series and more from this author.

My Rating 4 out of 5 stars 

Check out the links: Goodreads, Amazon, AmazonUK, Authors Webpage

Let me know what you think in the comments!

Let me in by Callie Croix

Let Me In

by Callie Croix

Genre: Romance, Erotica, Drama, BDSM (not really)

ebook, 103 pages, Published May 21st 2012 by Carina Press

*The publisher provided me with this book for review, via Netgalley*

On leave for Thanksgiving, the last thing marine lieutenant Talia Barnett expects to find is Liam Brodie waiting for her at the airport. He’s had a starring role in her fantasies for the past two years, and although she’d love to make them a reality, she has a dark secret that prevents her from taking things further. A former marine, Liam’s specialty is planning tactical operations, and that’s just what he plans to do to win Talia. The woman has kept him at arm’s length for too long, and this time he’s finally going to claim her—body and heart. What begins as comfort quickly turns hot. When Liam shows Talia a hint of the dominant nature inside him, the submissive part of her flares to life. Though she desires him, she’s going back on deployment and doesn’t want to dump all her drama on him. Will he find a way to break through the protective walls around her heart and convince her they have a future that goes far beyond the bedroom?

Let Me In does exactly what it says on the tin.  It is short, sweet and hot. Do not be fooled by the cover though because this book also has a plot. I always love to see an effort made to write a proper story line in these types of stories so I won’t be too harsh about it, but unfortunately it is the plot where the problems with this story lie.

Really the problem I had here was with Tal, the main female character. She is incredibly stubborn and at times comes across as self-pitying. She constantly changes her mind and never seems to know what she is doing. My main problem was with the way she treated and felt about her mother I understand that dealing with someone who has manic depression is hard, and I love that Talia sticks by her mum but she also has an attitude that says everything is her mother’s fault. She sometimes sounds as though she believes depression is something you chose to have. I just didn’t like that at all.

Another problem was that towards the end the plot seemed to repeat itself. The same thing just seemed to happen over and over again. Talia just couldn’t stop changing her mind so everything just seemed to go round and round in circles.

There are also good things about this book. All in all it is very sweet, parts of it had that ‘aww’ factor and other parts were touching. Another good part of this book is Liam. He is generally a good guy, he can, at times let his temper get the better of him and he can be a little pushy but most the time he is caring and kind. There was not one part of this book where I doubted his feelings for Talia.

The love scenes are also a great part of this book. I found them to be less about the graphic-ness and more about the emotion which I would rather read 100% of the time. It is worth mentioning that this book is being labelled as BDSM. To be honest that is an untruth, it is mentioned but it is not acted upon at all. Do not go in to this expecting bondage and spanking because you will be disappointed.

Let me in is not a masterpiece and it is not a book I would rant and rave over but I certainly did enjoy it and would recommend to fans of the genre.

My rating 3 out of 5 stars.

Agree or disagree with the review? Let me know in the comments.

Want to find out more? Check out these links: Goodreads, AmazonUK, Amazon.com, Author Website