Cavalier

A Crimson Elite Novel

By: T.L. Smith

Narrated by: Teddy Hamilton, Mackenzie Cartwright

Length: 6 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

Welcome to Crimson Elite, the most exclusive sex club in the world. Enter at your own risk, and always remember our number-one rule: You must never speak of Crimson Elite - the punishment is severe. 

If God created the perfect man he would closely resemble Creed, on the outside that is. He’s as cavalier as they come. Unconcerned. Cold. Dismissive. I wonder if he has any feelings at all. And when his lips touch mine, everything goes black. He takes me into his world, and it’s the most magical thing I’ve ever experienced. And I’m sucked in time and time again. Like a moth to the flame, I am ready to be set alight. 

Elicea is a firecracker. She has piqued my interest, and no one piques my interest anymore. Beautiful women are what I do - it’s my work. Not one of them has managed to get their claws into me the way she does. It’s as if she’s seeing my icy heart and trying to melt it, set it alight with each touch of her sinful lips. But that can’t work, it won’t work. Not in my world. 

All books in the series can be listened to as stand-alone stories.

Contains mature themes.

©2018 T.L. Smith (P)2019 Oh My Audiobooks

BLEW ME AWAY

I have tried one of T. L. Smith's books before.. but sadly it didn't wow me. However, recently.. okay okay - for a long time now, I've been a wee bit of a stalker when it comes to all things narrated by Teddy Hamilton (deep breath in.. and sigh). So, with the cover pic, the blurb and Teddy, I was hoping for greatness.. and thankfully that's exactly what I got. It's a great start to this new series centered around four wealthy friends who own a VERY secret and VERY elite Sex Club. Each of the men have their separate roles within the Club.. and Creed's job is getting new women. So, when a beautiful feisty brunette stirs his interest and suddenly needs a job, well, what else can he do but offer her one.

Her new bartending job is absolutely perfect for sassy Elicea.. but Creed's smouldering stares, droolworthy good looks, protective glares and possessive actions are distracting her.. and are also all kind of dangerous. He's a man of few words, he's oh so sexy but broody too, he's intense and closed-off to all.. and every sizzling smouldering look between them melts her panties and tests her willpower. Both of them try to ignore their explosive chemistry.. but how long can that last? and what dramatic twist could happen to bring them together? Well sorry folks but I'm not telling.

Right from the start I just knew this was going to be an awesome listen. I got that 'fluttery' excited feeling early on.. you know the one.. and this love story certainly lived up to my initial feeling. I was gripped with Creed and Elicea's sizzling interactions, intrigued by the Crimson Elite's alpha owners, proud of Elicea's strength of character as she rolled with the punches, had a backbone and stood her ground, equally proud of Creed's character growth and I was blown away with the whole package.

Worth a credit? Yes definitely - it's not one to be missed. There's interesting characters, a slow-burn high tension romance, sexy times, drama and a hiccup or two along the way. The dual POV narration was wonderfully done by Mackenzie and Teddy who brought all the delicious feels to life. Creed and Elicea's love story did reach its happy place.. but I'm sure we'll be hearing more about them in cameo appearances in future books as each of the men find love.

Are these people stupid?

SPOILERS!


These two are ridiculous. They have great sex, never date, don’t even have conversations, she gets pregnant and then they’re in love? He never explained why he wanted her to work in the sex part of the club. He always sleeps with her and leaves. And he stares at her so much, it’s just creepy. They don’t even know each other, yet he buys her a house that she had NO say in, not to mention all the baby stuff that she didn’t pick out. These two seem immature and don’t seem to know what love actually is!

No. Just. Stop. Don’t.

Um this is literally the dumbest book ever. I mean. What? No. This was free. Thankfully. I only made it 3 hours in. Yes. 3 hours of my life I’ll never get back. Teddy Hamilton is literally the best and he couldn’t even save this book. A couple of things. If there’s gratuitous violence. Build up to it, like give the reader a good reason for it. Also if the characters are as deep as the shallow end of a kiddie pool at least make the sex scenes over the top. I do not understand the positive reviews. Are these people paid. It’s perplexing. I can’t. I’m done. No more. I’m afraid to try any more of her books. Gah.

Men in this Series are Horrible Human Beings

Don't waste your time. Cavalier is the first story in the Crimson Elite series. Spoiler Alert: I'm going to reveal much of the storyline. The men in this series are horrible human beings. The author seems to imply that they are good people because they stand up for each other and are physically beautiful. But in truth, they are a group of entitled pimps who own a private sex club with a staff of highly paid prostitutes who reject that name tag because they are paid so well. Creed, the main character, is a sadistic narcissist who releases his stress by killing and torturing anyone who might threaten their money—and that would include his love interest Elicea who witnessed a man being tortured if he hadn't decided he wanted her for himself. The women "employees" who agree to perform any sex act in public view (inside the club) with men who are famous and rich are paid lots of money to sell their bodies. Elicea forgives Creed for his sadistic behavior because he is handsome and great at sex. People are being tortured and killed—no big deal, right? The police are being paid off so it must be okay. When a sex employee no shows one night right after Creed has sex with Elicea, he suggests she fill in for the woman, and he is confused that this upsets her. But she forgives him because he's really good looking and has sex with him again. When she wakes up alone in his bed, she finds him in a soundproof room, covered head-to-toe in a victim's blood. The victim is still alive but missing fingers and teeth. Creed loves his work, and Elicea is no better than Creed. She does nothing to help the victim because it might mess up her relationship. Because Creed "loves" her, she is willing to stay with him and raise a baby with him as long as she never has to watch him kill someone else. Out-of-sight, out-of-humanity. And Creed is willing not to kill her or let his partners kill her as long as she keeps their secrets. And everyone lives happily ever after. Seriously, this book is horrible.

Just no!

This is horrible. Creed goes around maiming and murdering people. The girl has a problem with it, breaks up with him. Then finds out she is pregnant and now she loves him even though he continues what he hams always done. I’m glad I got this book free and didn’t waste my money. I do like the narrator.

Not impressed...

I totally got this book because of Teddy and now I am so disappointed. This book was all over place. The heroine was sooo weak. I just couldn’t figure out what this book was really about. A sex club, a bartender, a hit man, and sex...The reviews for this one are very misleading. I will not follow the series.

Teddy is beautifully flawed here!!

I'm trying to keep my review short. First I missed that this was a series with a cliffhanger but I love the book regardless!! Mackenzie Cartwright is being partnered with some really great male narrators and is great herself. I really liked her narration too!!
This story is like taking a bite of the forbidden fruit but still loving it.
Teddy knows how to do dark, sexy and bad on top of sounding delectable. There's some violence, sex, angst and an unexpected storyline with a few twists and turns and a not so predictable love story. Teddy was awesome as Creed but he's such a favorite of mine so maybe I am a little biased. 😉 Loved it and really looking forward to the next book. Great story by T.L. Smith.

Could not finish – not for me.

This is the first book in a series and a stand-alone. I bought both the Kindle and Audible versions to Whispersync them. At the time, it was cheaper than an Audible Credit, so it was well worth it to get both versions.

***Be warned the rest of this review is mildly spoilerish.***

I could not finish this book. I am writing this review to help anyone trying to decide whether to purchase or not. I misunderstood “sex club” from the blurb to mean a place where adults go with partners to have sex (like Dominants and Submissives do in BDSM novels). But no: Sex Club means “brothel.” The hero, Creed, is one of the owners. He “collects” women to work in his “Club.” We are told the women’s pay and conditions are very good compared to where they have been rescued from, and I have to accept that (and pray it’s right in order to see Creed as a good guy. The heroine, Elicea is employed by Creed to be a bar-tender. Their chemistry is intense; he is a very silent-type bad-boy alpha.

There are a few early incidents that demonstrate Creed is a violent enforcer type of character. Somehow I overlooked them hoping his character would improve. I stopped reading, however, when Elicea discovers Creed administering “severe punishment” (description from the blurb) in the form of injuries causing the loss of a lot of blood to another person.

At this point, I couldn’t escape the fact that Creed is a conscienceless, violent thug. My romance novel taste does not include this type of character as heroic. But other readers may not feel revulsion the way I do. I need Creed to stop his violent ways. Could Elicea help him redeem himself with half a book to go (2 hours of Audible listening)? I don’t know, because I didn’t stick around to find out what happens next. I was too shaken. This book is not for me. I’m returning the novel and Audio, sadly.

And I say “sadly” because I loved the narrators, Mackenzie Cartwright and Teddy Hamilton. They were wonderful, but I couldn’t cope with Creed’s work and life choices - they caused me distress. If this doesn’t bother you, however, you might love this book as other reviewers clearly do.

I could not get in to it. Female narrator was so-so

The story had potential but I could not get into the characters at all. The hero’s attraction was not felt and seamed forced by the author. I did not care for the female narrator but loved loved and will always love teddy hamilton, he one of my top 5 for sure. I will be returning this book for the character development was weak and not engaging enough to capture my attention enough to finish . Not even Teddy Hamilton could save it, though his voice melts me like butter

Cavalier – Alisha and Creed

Elisha witnesses a crime and reports it to the police. She does not know that Creed committed it. She meets him at the bar/club where she worked. One patron there kept groping her and she hit him and quite before she was fired. Creed and his friends are in the club at the time and Creed witnesses this. When she leaves, he follows her out and offers her a job making much more money. While she is working at his extremely exclusive club, Crimson Elite, he could not keep his eyes off of her and eventually they end up getting together. Creed is one cold b@stard who kills any club member who talks, not to mention to horrible torture he inflicts. Elisha actually walks in while he was torturing someone in his basement. This was a really good book that I finished in one sitting. I hope there is more about Creed and Alisha in future books. Also, Creed’s mother was great! Teddy Hamilton and Mackenzie Cartwright did a great job with the narration.

A book for teenagers!

3 hrs in and I find the story repeats itself a lot. Quite annoying, takes too long to moved on - not sure how often a point needs to be made before the writer realises the reader gets the point. So much more could've been explored, but it just jumps from on scene to another without much details where there should be.

Disappointing!

Great series starter

This is a really enjoyable, entertaining story and couldn't to put it down. It has a Great, engaging storyline and good suspense with well written characters.

Doesn't make sense

It started well then it all goes down hill quickly. Didn't manage to finish

Unexpected torture scene

I thought this was a run of the mill romance/erotica book, but a third of the way through there’s an torture scene. Members of Crimson Elite who talk about the secret club are punished….I stopped listening at this point.

Great start to the series.

I enjoyed this story. I love the camaraderie between the Crimson Elite men. I read Lovesick (a stand-alone book I believe) and because it was so good, I wanted to explore the Author’s work further, which brought me to the Crimson Elite series and I must say T.L. Smith did not disappoint. Plus, it helps that the narrators did an amazing job 🥰

love this story

I love it!! and I think the narration really suits the story.
looking forward too reading more......

Predictable story. Robotic narration

The story is very one dimensional. Very predictable and quite boring. Female narrator is extremely irritating. Nasal and monotone inflection in voice. Gave up!

Too much back and forth

They get each other right away, and the rest if the book is back and forth where they take turn in rejecting each other. It's just not for me. The male is also a sociopath. Ew.

Great story

Absolutely loved this story, it had me gripped right from the start, on head strong girl and on very dangerous man , lots of fire works and passion, Highly recommended read can’t wait to read more in this series.

Brilliant

One of my favourites! she is a fantastic author, I have read almost all of her books now! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐