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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
This one took me by surprise with Austin's character and I was HERE FOR IT
What to expect: "good boy"/"yes ma'am," undercover/disguises, tea
Spice: 3.5
What to expect: "good boy"/"yes ma'am," undercover/disguises, tea
Spice: 3.5
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
funny
fast-paced
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Upped my rating from 4 to 5 stars because even though this isn’t my favorite romance when I’m in need of the Boy Obsessed trope Austin Shaw always delivers. He’s the most whipped hero ever written and I ADORE him for it
I'm completely addicted and devoted to Tessa Bailey. I try to pace myself and spread out all her books over time but its so difficult to resist. Her characters are just so darn complex and intense that every book is a myriad of discovery and development. In this book a conman and a hacker, part of a mismatched band of ex-criminals, join together to bring down a common enemy. From the first book in the series, Austin and Polly have been circling each other. Little bit here, little bit there...foreplay at its best. Tessa Bailey had a bit of a twist with her alpha but it didn't detract from her usual alpha-caveman-protective guy she usually portrays.
One more to go in this series. How long can I resist?
One more to go in this series. How long can I resist?
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
We all know how much I love con-men. Well this has con-men and a group of reformed criminals who are forced to work together to help catch other bad guys. So yeah, I am a fan.
While this one wasn't as full of dirty talk as the others, Austin and Polly really made me love them. I was surprised in this one because there was some FemDom play that I don't read nearly enough about and quite frankly is sorely lacking on my TBR.
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Minor: Gun violence, Blood, Alcohol
Boiling Point by Tessa Bailey is a 2016 Entangled Select publication. I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This story charges from the gate with incredible promise, as a pair of low level criminals, now working undercover for law enforcement, team up to take down a master con artist whose crimes led to loss of life, a situation that is personal for Polly Banks, a master computer hacker.
Austin Shaw is a jaded con man, a master of disguise, who immediately feels a connection to Polly, and becomes her unsolicited bodyguard, thus worming his way into her lust for revenge against a diabolical con man, a man Austin knows all too well.
Often times book reviewers will post a low rating for a book based on sexual content or language, because they didn’t research the content of it before making a purchase. To me, that’s on the reader. Do your research, read the blurb/synopsis and read some reviews. Check to see if the book is listed in the erotic categories etc. In my case, I read the blurb, but the book was offered pre-release, and so I went with my impression this was a basic romantic suspense novel, with a high heat level. (Although the cover might have given me clue otherwise, if I had been paying more attention)
Sadly, the plot, which was a little bit like a cross between White Collar and Leverage, which had huge potential, was delegated to second chair in favor of a lot of silly sounding dialogue and entirely too many sex scenes.
BDSM is out of my comfort zone, and I avoid books with that element, although in some instances I can deal with that, if it is a small section of the story and the plot is worth sticking it out for. In this case, though, the plot wasn’t given enough attention and so the book is basically erotica with a thin storyline thrown in.
Now I find myself in a conundrum because this genre is not my favorite. So, I put on my critical thinking cap and tried to distance myself from any personal likes and dislikes in order to give this book a fair review.
First of all, this book is a part of a series, another thing I failed to realize, but I’m not sure if that makes any real difference unless there are recurring characters who play a big role or the plot line crosses over in some way from one installment to the next, which could be the case here, since Austin apparently has a wild and crazy background that has left him with a lot of baggage to clean up. If his story was addressed in a previous chapter of this series, then by all means you need to read the other books first. If it was not mentioned, then the author did a very poor job of outlining his situation more fully, because I was left feeling mostly confused by his backstory.
Secondly, this book is erotic/erotica first and romantic suspense second. If you read this type of material, then perhaps the dialogue will be familiar to you. There is nothing too emotionally deep here, with the dialogue consisting of dirty talk and lots of sexual demands and not much else. This set up is most likely the norm for this genre, but I would like to have seen the characters fleshed out more so that I could feel something toward them, which I had a very hard time doing.
Lastly, I can’t say I’m familiar enough with this type of ‘romance’ to give readers an informed opinion of it, try as I might. But, as far as the writing goes, I thought the characters needed more development, the backstories needed fleshing out, because even if someone is following along with a series, a few reminders of what took place previously is always a good idea, especially if the stories tend to bleed over into the next book in one way or another. The conclusion was a little rushed and that was too bad, because again, if the plot had been given a little more attention, I could have dealt with some of the other issues I had with the book.
Overall, this was not my cup of tea ,but if you like erotica with elements of BDSM then you may find this book to your liking.
Overall, this one gets two stars.
This story charges from the gate with incredible promise, as a pair of low level criminals, now working undercover for law enforcement, team up to take down a master con artist whose crimes led to loss of life, a situation that is personal for Polly Banks, a master computer hacker.
Austin Shaw is a jaded con man, a master of disguise, who immediately feels a connection to Polly, and becomes her unsolicited bodyguard, thus worming his way into her lust for revenge against a diabolical con man, a man Austin knows all too well.
Often times book reviewers will post a low rating for a book based on sexual content or language, because they didn’t research the content of it before making a purchase. To me, that’s on the reader. Do your research, read the blurb/synopsis and read some reviews. Check to see if the book is listed in the erotic categories etc. In my case, I read the blurb, but the book was offered pre-release, and so I went with my impression this was a basic romantic suspense novel, with a high heat level. (Although the cover might have given me clue otherwise, if I had been paying more attention)
Sadly, the plot, which was a little bit like a cross between White Collar and Leverage, which had huge potential, was delegated to second chair in favor of a lot of silly sounding dialogue and entirely too many sex scenes.
BDSM is out of my comfort zone, and I avoid books with that element, although in some instances I can deal with that, if it is a small section of the story and the plot is worth sticking it out for. In this case, though, the plot wasn’t given enough attention and so the book is basically erotica with a thin storyline thrown in.
Now I find myself in a conundrum because this genre is not my favorite. So, I put on my critical thinking cap and tried to distance myself from any personal likes and dislikes in order to give this book a fair review.
First of all, this book is a part of a series, another thing I failed to realize, but I’m not sure if that makes any real difference unless there are recurring characters who play a big role or the plot line crosses over in some way from one installment to the next, which could be the case here, since Austin apparently has a wild and crazy background that has left him with a lot of baggage to clean up. If his story was addressed in a previous chapter of this series, then by all means you need to read the other books first. If it was not mentioned, then the author did a very poor job of outlining his situation more fully, because I was left feeling mostly confused by his backstory.
Secondly, this book is erotic/erotica first and romantic suspense second. If you read this type of material, then perhaps the dialogue will be familiar to you. There is nothing too emotionally deep here, with the dialogue consisting of dirty talk and lots of sexual demands and not much else. This set up is most likely the norm for this genre, but I would like to have seen the characters fleshed out more so that I could feel something toward them, which I had a very hard time doing.
Lastly, I can’t say I’m familiar enough with this type of ‘romance’ to give readers an informed opinion of it, try as I might. But, as far as the writing goes, I thought the characters needed more development, the backstories needed fleshing out, because even if someone is following along with a series, a few reminders of what took place previously is always a good idea, especially if the stories tend to bleed over into the next book in one way or another. The conclusion was a little rushed and that was too bad, because again, if the plot had been given a little more attention, I could have dealt with some of the other issues I had with the book.
Overall, this was not my cup of tea ,but if you like erotica with elements of BDSM then you may find this book to your liking.
Overall, this one gets two stars.