Skin by Michele Renae

The Basics:

Skin by Michele Renae

Swell Cat Press

Book Three in the Paris Secrets trilogy

Erotica

Published August 12, 2014

Source: Received from author in exchange for an honest review.

Amazon.ca Kobo.com

Why I picked up this book:

I had to know how it all ended!! I loved and reviewed the first two in the series: Window and Screen.

Screen by Michele Renae & A Sale!

The book that I'm reviewing today is Screen by Michele Renae, the second book in the erotic trilogy, Paris Secrets. I had the pleasure of reviewing the first book, Window, in October - it was one of the first books I reviewed for this blog, and I rated it at 4.5/5 stars. 

I am very happy to report that Window is on a 99 cent sale from February 14 through 17. I think that it's a fantastic erotic novel featuring something that's refreshingly different from the alpha male-BDSM scene that's so popular right now. Check it out on Amazon.com this weekend and grab yourself a copy - it's really a steal at 99 cents.

On to my review of Book Two!

The Basics:
Screen by Michele Renae
Swell Cat Press
Book Two in the Paris Secrets series
Erotica
Published Feb 7, 2014
Source: Received from author in exchange for an honest review
Amazon.ca 

Why I picked up this book:

I loved the first book in the series, Window, and had to know what happened next!

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme from The Broke and the Bookish in which they post a book-related top ten every - you guessed it! - Tuesday.

This week the theme is Top Ten New to Me Authors in 2013.

In no particular order:

1. Lauren Layne - I read and reviewed two books by Layne late this year and both were excellent. I'll be watching for more written by her in 2014.
2. A. W. Exley - I discovered Exley this weekend when I devoured her Nefertiti's Heart - a book I'll be reviewing on Thursday so stay tuned! (Spoiler alert: It was a book that could have been written just for me, I enjoyed it so very much!).  I'm looking forward to reading more in her Artifact Hunters series.
3. Lisa Burstein - Burstein's Sneaking Candy was another book that hit so many of my personal favourite elements that I cannot wait to read more from her!
4. Cassie Mae - Mae makes my list because her book Switched achieved what should have been impossible - making the main characters likable even though they schemed to break up their best friends so they could steal their significant others.
5. Michele Renae - Renae's Window was the first erotic novel in a while that I had read without an "alpha male as Dom" for the hero and I so, so enjoyed it. I've already got the follow-up, Screen, on my to read list for the start of next year!
6. Robyn Schneider - I didn't review The Beginning of Everything for this blog, but I really, really enjoyed it. I would normally have been irked by the ending because I didn't get everything I thought I wanted, but it was actually pretty profound just as it was.
7. Olivia Cunning - I haven't reviewed anything by Cunning on this blog yet, but I probably will as her erotic novels are numerous and will make excellent Monday fodder if I don't come up with something else to review instead. Though I don't love the extended nature of some of her series, I do find her novels always extremely sexy, kinky and full of variety (despite revolving around rock stars!)
8. Jillian Stone - I discovered Stone at the beginning of the year, speed reading two of the Phaeton Black books. I haven't returned to her since then only because I didn't realize until looking for a link to her website just now that she's as prolific as she is! I'm sure I'll binge read more of her books in 2014!
9. Kat Martin - I borrowed a ton of Martin's "Against The" series from my local library during the last months of my pregnancy in the spring. I loved them and I loved that I was able to binge read so many of them. I suspect I'll do the same with her historical romances when I hit a lull in 2014!
10. Thomas E. Sniegoski - I read the first in Sniegoski's Remy Chandler series because my library had a later book in the series in their 'new' section and I thought - "Hey, that looks kind of like the Dresden Files meets angels. I might like that!"  I was not wrong. I always love to add new authors of urban fantasy to my 'go to' list, and I was particularly pleased to add Sniegoski because I love what he does with angel mythology.

Which authors were you happy to discover this year?

Window by Michele Renae

The Basics:

Window by Michele Renae
Swell Cat Press
Erotica
Pub Date: Oct 22 at amazon.com

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Back cover text taken from the author's website:

An erotic romance behind glass

The first time she sees her new neighbor, his sexy smile arouses her curiosity — and her desires. His hard, chiseled muscles and playful invitations are irresistible.

Bared before their windows, framed and displayed above the streets of Paris, they embark upon a provocative affair.

Their daring game of exhibitionism lures her back for more and more, and she quickly realizes he is the man she has dreamed about.

Yet she’s never heard his voice. Never felt his touch. Never thought she’d experience something this exquisite.

Or this bold…

The sensual give and take of the exhibitionism is supported by the heroine's active imagination. Her fantasies about "Monsieur Sexy" (her nickname for her neighbor) emphasize how the mind works as an erogenous zone.

What worked for me:

This book was hot hot hot! from start to finish. While the action itself builds slowly from teasing glimpses of naked skin to more erotic displays, the heroine's constantly imagining one hot scenario after another. This takes what could have been a really slow story and turns it into a sizzling romp from start to finish.

I loved that the heroine was so self-aware. She knows what she likes in a lover and she's happy to take inspiration from her life to build a new erotic daydream. The way the heroine described the sexual power she derived from her new Louboutins and the ensuing fantasy about a lover slowly removing them was a compelling argument for shoe/foot fetishes. Being able to relate to the confidence that a really sexy pair of shoes can bestow, I found this a particularly convincing scene in the book.

The hero - Monsieur sexy - is a dream in and of himself. As we get to know him through the window, he seems almost to good to be true. Sexy, intelligent, playful, eager to be with our heroine and happy to let her set the pace, he certainly makes an impression. After reading so much erotica featuring alpha males/dominants who need to control every encounter or who push the heroine to go beyond her limits, it was a novelty and a pleasure to read about a man who happily let the woman expand and explore her sexuality on her own schedule. 

There's a secondary plot involving the heroine's day job that I hope will dovetail into the affair over the rest of the trilogy. I was so caught up in the developing sexual relationship that I wasn't as engaged with the heroine's day job. Still, there's something of a mystery here, and it's clear that she values variety in her day to day as much as in her sexual play - a detail that I appreciated for its consistency.

What didn't work for me:

Have you ever watched one of the reality tv shows that feature buyers looking for homes on the international market?  I've seen a handful that feature young people looking for apartments in Paris and the apartments are always the size of a breadbox. So I had a few twinges about these two individuals who could afford apartments with seemingly large bedrooms as well as living rooms. It's such a minor quibble, and the more I thought about it, the more I accepted that she was making really good money as a research assistant and that the trust fund she mentions must also have been rather large.  

Bottom Line:

If you read erotica, buy this book. I cannot recommend it strongly enough. This super sexy erotic novel was fun from start to finish. It was light-hearted without feeling like fluff.

I loved the equality in the relationship, I loved the playfulness of it. I loved the slow shedding of inhibitions, the active inner life of our narrator and the realm of possibilities left open at the book's end.

This series easily makes it on to my 'must acquire' list - I look forward to Screen by Michele Renae, coming in Feb 2014.  

I'm looking forward to hearing what you think about this book - remember, October 22nd from Amazon.com!

4.5 stars
For anyone who likes erotica, fans of exhibitionism/voyeurism, anyone with a foot or shoe fetish.