Steele: Into Your Heart by Rie Warren

Steele: Into Your Heart by Rie Warren

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



I am a huge fan of the Carolina Bad Boys series. Ms. Warren has created alpha males that are strong, possessive, protective, and full of love for the woman in their life. I have laughed and cried as I watched Josh & Leelee and Nick & Cat fight their way toward their respective partner and loved every minute of it. Needless to say, when the opportunity came up to review Steele: Into Your Heart I jumped at it. I could not wait to see how the author would handle the demise of one of Cat’s brother’s singledom. As expected, it was a wild ride – perhaps even wilder than I anticipated considering the tone of the previous books in the series.

Having met Brodie in Love: In the Fast Lane I was already aware that he and his brother were members of an MC. What I found interesting was that the Retribution MC is not modeled after the one-percenters that have become so popular in MC romances. Don’t get me wrong, I love the hardcore grittiness that we tend to see in the one-percenter MC clubs, but Ms. Warren’s choice to make the Retribution MC more of an actual club of motorcycle enthusiasts than outlaws was a refreshing approach. Being as Brodie’s love interest, Ashe, is a police officer it was practically necessary for the author to mix it up a bit so that a relationship between the MC’s VP and a law enforcement officer would be believable. And she nailed it.

>>>>>Minor Spoilers Ahead<<<<<

The author managed to give Brodie’s character the raw edge often associated with MC members while keeping him a law-abiding citizen. Brodie was just as alpha, possessive, protective, and bossy as any other lead I’ve encountered, but because he’s not the outlaw biker, his desire for a relationship with Ashe and her daughter was completely believable. I had no problem reconciling the bada$$ version of Brodie who would put a beat down on a man threatening his woman, with the soccer-dad version of Brodie who was there for Cara – even after Ashe broke up with him.

>>>>>End of Minor Spoilers<<<<<

As for Ashe, she’s a bada$$ in her own right. While I came to eventually understand her resistance to wanting a relationship with Brodie, I could not fault her at all for wanting to take advantage of a bike week hookup with him. Or coming back for more once they returned to the real world. By all accounts, Brodie is sex personified and his penchant for piercings just ratchets up his sex appeal. The chemistry between Ashe and Brodie is off the charts and I was surprised that they made it to an actual bed as often as they did. Holy heck! Even though the mood in Steele: Into Your Heart was not as light as Stone and Love and I didn’t laugh nearly as much, it had its moments and proved to be just as emotional of a story. Because of Ashe’s job, the author was able to introduce some external suspense elements that made this installment a more intense read than the others. This book kept me on the edge of my seat as I waited to see how the various elements played out and Ms. Warren did not disappoint. I loved Steele: Into Your Heart and it has been added to my re-read list. I am looking forward to reading Boomer’s story in Chrome: With a Heart Forged in Steele and cannot wait to get my hands on Hunter the first book in the spin-off series, Bad Boys of Retribution MC.

I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Reviewed by Angela at Crystal's Many Reviewers!

Check out the Steele: Into Your Heart (Carolina Bad Boys #3) by Rie Warren blog post on Crystal's Many Reviewers.


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Ride: In Between the Covers by Rie Warren

Ride: In Between the Covers by Rie Warren

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



I LOVED IT!!!! If you read and enjoyed Stone: At Your Service, then you’ll be pleased to know that Ride: In Between the Covers is the new adult novel featured as Leelee Songchild’s book. When that fact finally clicked for me, I couldn’t wait to read it. Even though Ride didn’t feature the cast of characters I’ve come to know and love from Stone and Nicky’s lives, it was a treat to read because Jase and Avery would fit right in with that crew.

On paper, Jase and Avery do not fit. He’s a trust-fund baby who’s also the tattooed bad boy. She’s a scholarship student who is all about studying and keeping her head down. The only thing they have in common is that neither is looking for love. And an address because Avery needs a place to live that is not the dorms and Jase needs a roommate. Despite their initial animosity towards one another, they become friends. Their banter, baiting, and flirting was always entertaining for me and frequently had me grinning like a loon. As their relationship evolves, the sexual tension is ramped up quite a bit. But because of his secret (and no, I won’t tell you what it is), Jase refuses to cross that final line with Avery. While it’s sweet that he wants to protect her from the worst parts of himself, I could empathize with Avery’s sexual frustration because she wasn’t the only one seduced by Jase’s dirty mouth. Jase’s continued refusal to have sex with her just causes Avery’s self-doubt to worsen as she fears that it’s because she told him about her rape. When things finally align and they find themselves in bed together, well Jase learns that you really do have to watch out for the quiet ones.

Despite Ride being a novella, Ms. Warren avoided the insta-love trap and allowed Jase and Avery to fall in love gradually. She does this in part by clearly indicating breaks in time (e.g., two weeks later, a month later, etc.) and by writing the book from both Jase and Avery’s points of view. By being privy to their thoughts, I could see when their feelings for one another began to change. That they began the story with a seeming hate-on for one another doesn’t hurt either. While I expect that some will complain that Avery forgave Jase too quickly when she found out about his big secret, I felt it was consistent with the genre, the novella format, and the couple. Jase and Avery talk to one another instead of at one another, and they actually listen to each other so Avery didn’t just hear Jase’s explanation, she felt his pain and his truth. This just made the relationship that much more believable for me and the book that much more enjoyable. Yet another book in the Carolina Bad Boys series has made it to my reread list. Makes me want to jump right into Steele: Into Your Heart, but alas, I cannot. At least anticipation is a good thing.

I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Reviewed by Angela at Crystal's Many Reviewers!

Check out the Ride: In Between the Covers (Carolina Bad Boys #2.5) by Rie Warren blog post on Crystal's Many Reviewers.


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Love, In the Fast Lane by Rie Warren

Love, In the Fast Lane by Rie Warren

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Having met Nicky Love in Stone, At Your Service, I was looking forward to reading his story. Fortunately Ms. Warren did not disappoint and this time around fans of the series get to watch Nicky as he falls in love, gets his heart broken, learns to forgive, deals with rabid fans, and falls in love again in Love, In the Fast Lane.

While I really liked Nicky’s character in book one, I came to love him thoroughly in Love, In the Fast Lane. Nicky has a LOT of baggage and it often gets in the way of him finding happiness. Much like Josh, Nicky isn’t looking for love so it’s not surprising that it must walk into his life and slap him across the face (literally) before he realizes what he really wants. That love walks into his life in the form of the ultra bada$$ Catarina Steele just makes their ride even wilder because she’s not looking for a relationship due to the matching set of baggage she carries abound with her. Fortunately Nicky is persistent and refuses to let Cat drive him away – especially with how much the sparks fly between the two. Yikes! There are some seriously hot sex scenes. Between their personal baggage and the interference that their friends and family cause, it’s amazing that they actually work together. They have so many strikes against them that I’m surprised that they were even willing to give it a go. Yet they do and Ms. Warren takes the reader on yet another wild ride in the courtship between Nicky and Cat.

As the second book in the Carolina Bad Boys series, Love, In the Fast Lane is an excellent addition to the series. While you can read it as a stand-alone book, you will lose out on quite a bit of context, so I would strongly recommend reading book one first. If you have already read Stone, At Your Service, you will be pleased to know that Ms. Warren not only gives you the chance to catch up with Stone and Leelee, they actually have a significant amount of story time in the book. Considering that Stone and Nick are like brothers, I wasn’t surprised that the couple made an appearance in the book but I was ecstatic with just how much we got to see of them as their relationship continued to progress alongside that of Nick and Cat’s. Love, In the Fast Lane was a great book and I look forward to reading more of Ms. Warren’s work.

I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Reviewed by Angela at Crystal's Many Reviewers!

Check out the Love, In the Fast Lane by Rie Warren blog post on Crystal's Many Reviewers.


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Review of Stone, At Your Service by Rie Warren

Stone, At Your Service by Rie Warren

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Oh my goodness that was such a fun read! I freaking LOVE Josh Stone. Not because he’s sexy … and he is. Not because he’ll do anything for a friend … because he does. Not because he’s a take-charge, alpha male … and oh my lord is he ever. Not even because of the way he treats Leelee as he attempts to win her heart while trying to protect her from the world. The reason I love Josh Stone is for the way he loves his son. It was the sweetest effing thing I’ve ever read. I’m blown away by Ms. Warren’s ability to write such a multi-faceted character who was so heart-stoppingly sexy while being heart-breakingly sweet (yes, I’m making up words here) and making him believable.

And Leelee is just as great of a character as Josh. She’s vulnerable, unbelievably shy, witty, and drawn to Stone like a moth to a flame. Considering the reason for her previous breakup and her belief that Josh and Nicky are a committed GAY couple, her resistance in completely understandable … even if it’s futile. I absolutely loved it when she stood up to LaForge – both times. I felt frustrated for her as she fought her desire to be with Josh – thinking that he’s involved with someone and that he’s gay. The need to control their actions and responses when around one another resulted in some rather explosive sex scenes when they finally got together.

Ms. Warren has kicked off her Carolina Bad Boys series with a bang. Stone, At Your Service is an excellent start for the series. She has created a great cast of characters that I’m looking forward to learning more about in future books in the series. I was thoroughly entertained as I laughed and cried with Josh and Leelee. This is a definite reread for me and I am so looking forward to the next book in the series for Nicky’s story.

I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Reviewed by Angela at Crystal's Many Reviewers!

Check out the Stone, At Your Service by Rie Warren blog post on Crystal's Many Reviewers.


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