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Life hasn't been easy for Charlie. Her mother was a monster. And when Charlie left home, there wasn't always a warm bed, food, or a hot shower. She figured out how to get by on her looks. When her mother dies and she comes home to put that part of her life behind her, she finds the diary. It fills her with rage. She's out for revenge. But along the way she meets him. Ethan DOES play by the rules. And at the top of his list is "Don't get involved with clients." Will he break his rules for Charlie?
Atmospheric scientist Kelsey March is under siege. Her tornado research project is on the skids, and she's fighting conflict in her university department. So when irresistible bad boy Archer West suggests a hot, wild fling while he's in town, Kelsey is unable to resist his sexy offer.
Her story began long before she started working at The Sky Launch... Screw fairytales. The only reward Gwen Anders got from her rough childhood was a thick skin and hard heart. She's content with her daily grind managing a top NYC nightclub - Eighty-Eighth Floor. So hers isn't a happily ever after. She doesn't believe in those anyway. Then she meets JC.
Face it, ladies: love sucks and then you cry while your ex rides off into the sunset banging your best friend. But why let a break-up end in tears when it can end with sweet revenge? Enter Magnificent Bastard Consulting and me, chief executive bastard. I've got it all - looks, brains, a heart of gold, and the killer instinct guaran-damn-teed to make your ex regret the day he said goodbye.
I have a history of picking the wrong guy. Gay? Player? Momma's boy? Check, check and check. Now I can't stop fantasizing about one of the customers at the coffee shop I work at between classes. It's just a harmless crush, right? It's not like I ever see this guy outside of the coffee shop. It's not like I'm going to see him while attempting to get birth control at the student clinic. While wearing a paper gown. While sitting on an exam table. Because he's the doctor. Shoot. Me.
A new standalone novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author, Vi Keeland. The night I met Drew Jagger, he'd just broken into my new Park Avenue office. I dialed 9-1-1 before proceeding to attack him with my fancy new Krav Maga skills. He quickly restrained me, then chuckled, finding my attempted assault amusing. Of course, my intruder had to be arrogant. Only, turned out, he wasn't an intruder at all. Drew was the rightful occupant of my new office. He'd been on vacation while his posh space was renovated.
Life hasn't been easy for Charlie. Her mother was a monster. And when Charlie left home, there wasn't always a warm bed, food, or a hot shower. She figured out how to get by on her looks. When her mother dies and she comes home to put that part of her life behind her, she finds the diary. It fills her with rage. She's out for revenge. But along the way she meets him. Ethan DOES play by the rules. And at the top of his list is "Don't get involved with clients." Will he break his rules for Charlie?
Atmospheric scientist Kelsey March is under siege. Her tornado research project is on the skids, and she's fighting conflict in her university department. So when irresistible bad boy Archer West suggests a hot, wild fling while he's in town, Kelsey is unable to resist his sexy offer.
Her story began long before she started working at The Sky Launch... Screw fairytales. The only reward Gwen Anders got from her rough childhood was a thick skin and hard heart. She's content with her daily grind managing a top NYC nightclub - Eighty-Eighth Floor. So hers isn't a happily ever after. She doesn't believe in those anyway. Then she meets JC.
Face it, ladies: love sucks and then you cry while your ex rides off into the sunset banging your best friend. But why let a break-up end in tears when it can end with sweet revenge? Enter Magnificent Bastard Consulting and me, chief executive bastard. I've got it all - looks, brains, a heart of gold, and the killer instinct guaran-damn-teed to make your ex regret the day he said goodbye.
I have a history of picking the wrong guy. Gay? Player? Momma's boy? Check, check and check. Now I can't stop fantasizing about one of the customers at the coffee shop I work at between classes. It's just a harmless crush, right? It's not like I ever see this guy outside of the coffee shop. It's not like I'm going to see him while attempting to get birth control at the student clinic. While wearing a paper gown. While sitting on an exam table. Because he's the doctor. Shoot. Me.
A new standalone novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author, Vi Keeland. The night I met Drew Jagger, he'd just broken into my new Park Avenue office. I dialed 9-1-1 before proceeding to attack him with my fancy new Krav Maga skills. He quickly restrained me, then chuckled, finding my attempted assault amusing. Of course, my intruder had to be arrogant. Only, turned out, he wasn't an intruder at all. Drew was the rightful occupant of my new office. He'd been on vacation while his posh space was renovated.
I'm getting really good at cutting my losses. First, the husband. Divorcing him was the best decision I ever made. But between single-parenting and job-hunting, I can't catch my breath. When a celebrity blogging position falls into my lap, I'm determined to succeed. That is, until I get my first assignment and actually see Noah Frazier for the first time...practically naked and dripping wet. My heart races and I forget how to form complete sentences. His chiseled abs, irresistible smirk, and crystal blue eyes are too perfect to be real. So, what do I do? Get drunk and humiliate myself, of course.
Within these walls, he became my solace, my sanctuary, and my strength. I am not strong. I am just a survivor of circumstance. Isn't that what we all do? Survive? Each of us has our own set of circumstances to muddle through. Mine are just more.... complicated.
The last thing Vaughan Hewson expects to find when he returns to his childhood home is a brokenhearted bride in his shower, let alone the drama and chaos that come with her. Lydia Green doesn't know whether to scream or cry in a corner. Discovering the love of your life is having an affair on your wedding day is bad enough. Finding out it's with his best man is another thing altogether.
He wanted nothing at all...until he found she had everything to give.... Sunder lead singer and guitarist Sebastian Stone has everything - fans, fame, and fortune. He also has a heart full of bitterness and a reputation for a short-fused temper. But an outward reputation rarely reveals the true man inside.
Thirty days. That's all Adam Steinbeck demands of his wife. Thirty days in a remote cottage, doing everything he demands. After that, he'll sign her divorce papers and give her their company. That's how long he has to rediscover the man he once was. The dominant master he hid when he fell in love with her five years before.
Battered, barefoot, and huddled under a bookstore awning in the pouring rain, Blue only knows one thing. After 15 months of captivity, finally she is free. Self-made millionaires JD and Ark are not out to save anyone when they stumble upon a wet and shivering girl one early Sunday morning. But when you sell sex for a living and salvation rings your bell, you answer the call. After years of searching, love lifts the veil of darkness, and three people - with three very big secrets - find themselves bound together.
We all have someone who crossed our path and fundamentally changed us. That one person who blew through our lives, their presence forever stamped on our psyche. They linger in our thoughts, in our hearts, and in the decisions we make. A soul crusher or a dream maker, depending on the perspective. My person is Mister Black.
Travis King is the worst kind of a**hole. He taunts me for being a good girl and mocks my high standards. He's cruel, crass, and has enough confidence to last two lifetimes. And I hate him. He's always loved getting under my skin, and one night against my better judgment, I let him in my bed. I've succumbed to his manw**re ways, but that doesn't change a thing. Because the King is about to get played at his own game - and lose.
Billionaire Caleb Blackstone lives in the glamorous world of wealth and success, with every material luxury. But the moment he sees Brooke Casterley, none of that matters. Caleb is filled with a raw, undeniable need that he can't ignore...for a girl who is so completely different from everything and everyone he's ever known. Only Brooke isn't looking for love. She knows all too well just how much damage the wrong guy can do.
Enter Hayes Whitley. Mega-movie star. The man who has captured the hearts of millions. But I gave him mine years ago. He was my first love. He was my everything. Right until he up and left to chase his dreams without so much as a simple goodbye. When he showed up out of the blue 10 years later, I should have known to steer clear. I should have rejected his offer to take me to my ex's wedding and told him he was crazy when he suggested we act like a couple to show my ex, it's true, I could do better than him.
After breaking off her engagement with Hollywood actor Miles Storm, Rebecca is ready for a change of scenery in her life and in her bed. So when the opportunity to work for StoneHaven Publishing, one of New York City's most respectable publishing empires, presents itself, Rebecca doesn't hesitate moving to the Big Apple. Convinced she can show the owner of StoneHaven Publishing that she has the "right stuff," Rebecca agrees to a six-month trial as the personal assistant to the owner's playboy son, Nicholas.
Just call me Mister O. Because your pleasure is my superpower. Making a woman feel "oh god that's good" is the name of the game, and if a man can't get the job done, he should get the hell out of the bedroom. I'm talking toe-curling, mind-blowing, sheet-grabbing ecstasy. Like I provide every time. I suppose that makes me a superhero of pleasure, and my mission is to always deliver.
"Come here, beauty," he says. "You need to be kissed."
He's right. I need to be kissed, and he's the one who needs to kiss me.
He is Professor Dean West, a sexy, brilliant scholar of medieval history and the love of my life. He is my white knight, my rock, and the keeper of my dark secrets. He taught me the meaning of both love and erotic pleasure. He has slayed monsters for me and alongside me. He knows he has all of me.
And then...I discover that I don't have all of him.
This is book one in New York Times best-selling author Nina Lane's sexy, passionate Spiral of Bliss series. This contemporary erotic romance about Professor Dean West, a protective alpha male and his cherished beauty, Olivia, will melt your heart, turn you on, and enchant you with the power of a love to end all loves.
Dean and Olivia. The perfect couple right? Their marriage was as strong as it could be, their love for each other as deep as it could get until the talk about family, and a secrete Dean’s been holding on to is revealed, threatens to break their bond.
When Olivia suggests that they could start a family Dean’s reaction startles her. His reluctance to talk about it and his change in personally has her puzzled and slowly they seem to be drifting apart.
What happens when Olivia finds out the real reason for Dean’s sudden change in behavior? Will their marriage be salvageable? Follow their journey of letdown, disappointment, temptation and how they overcome what’s threatening to break them apart. A wonderful story of true love and trust.
I liked the narrators. I thought they fit the characters well.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
I was so excited when I learned that my most favorite book had finally been released as an audiobook! Finally I could hear my beloved Professor West as he spoke to his Beauty with so much love. And I was so happy when I heard the narrator's voices- they're perfect! I've read and loved sooo many other books, but this book/series will always be my most favorite.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful
The book's main characters were shallow, predictable and frustratingly uninteresting. The main female character, Olivia West, was self-deprecating, depressed, and, even in her strongest times when she confronted her husband, non-committal in her attempts at contention. The character had a difficult childhood – one in which she had to learn to fend for herself, but she requires her husband, Dean, to fight her battles for her lest she have a panic attack (example: the scene in the bookstore and the three male college students). The husband is overbearing and ridiculously over-protective to the point of expecting her to do as he expects or instructs.
Jay Crow, the voice of Dean West, used appropriate inflection and accurate change of emotion to make the scenarios in which Dean was involved more tolerable, albeit not more pleasurable, which was through no fault of his own. I would very likely listen to other books narrated by Mr. Crow.
Eliza Grace, as the voice of Olivia West, only made the character more pathetic. Her voice was frail and whiney and when the author gave the character the opportunity to show strength, as in standing up to her husband, her conviction was sorely lacking. Her voice got louder, but the emotion required to develop the believability of the scene never manifested.
Finally, the intimate moments between Oliva and Dean were painstakingly identical in each instance (save the first two - somewhat). After about the sixth or seventh bedroom/couch scene, I just fast-forwarded through it. I didn’t see the need in rehashing what I’d already heard. Basically, it was the same scene, different page.
Nevertheless, I believe in giving authors, like Ms. Lane, whose books aren’t familiar to me, second chances. I will purchase and listen to the other two books in the series in the hope that the story will become one on which I would gladly spend credits. I look forward to better staging, diversification of similar, repeated scenarios (reference the intimate moments mentioned in the paragraph above) and more complete development of the characters in the consecutive books in this series.
Book was alright. Tons of erotica, which at times wasn't plausible. Didn't really care for the narrators. Overall the book was ok.
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Most definitely, especially if they loved romance novels and series as I do. The narration of Eliza Grace and Jay Crow totally nailed Liv and Dean.
What other book might you compare Arouse: A Spiral of Bliss Novel, Book 1 to and why?
I don't know if there is one to compare. This was a story of mature adults rather than high school or college age young folk. It is a story of two people who floundered through life never have a connection to anyone or believing they would ever have that connection and then find each other and the connection.
Which character – as performed by Eliza Grace and Jay Crow – was your favorite?
Eliza Grace was probably favored for me because so much of the story was from Liv's point of view; however, Jay Crow, whom I didn't immediately latch onto but later grew to love his portrayal of Dean, totally nailed Dean with all of his insecurities and his deep and abiding love for Liv.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
Probably after Dean learned of Liv being attracted to another man enough to kiss him. Instead of being angry at her for betraying him, he was disgusted with himself for failing her somehow to the point that she turned to another man. That was so pivotal in this story, their marriage, and in relationships in general. Dean often wondered, "why do I keep failing my wife," and Jay Crow portrayed that anguish expertly.
Any additional comments?
I loved the whole narration and the way the narrators obviously read and studied the books to learn and "become" Liv and Dean.
Any additional comments?
I read this book before I listened to the audio book. I really like this book and series but not the audio book. The female narrator was annoying and because of her I don't think I'll spend anymore time listening to the series on audio book. The male narrator did an excellent job bringing the character's personality to life. He always does a great job. Unfortunately the male pov is infrequent in the entire series so he won't have much opportunity to turn the situation around.
Any additional comments?
This was the first Nina Lane novel that I have read, and I couldn't put it down. Lust, Love, Betrayal, Affairs, this book has it all. Dean and Liv have the perfect marriage, they love each other more than anything in the world but when the communication stops, accusations occur, feeling get hurt and mistakes happen. Dean and Liv have been through a lot both apart and together, but they have never done anything to hurt each other. Though most of the pain that is caused is unintentional, it still lingers on hurting. Their relationship is being ripped apart and neither knows how to fix what is going on. I loved this book so much because not only was it wildly hot and sexy but it was realistic. It's not all the glamorized romance that a lot of novels are, it has issues that couples could actually fall into. I promise if your read this one you won't be disappointed and you will want to jump into Nina Lane's next novel Allure!!!