I listened to this on a car journey and it did keep me awake - it was an ideal listen to make the kilometres pass quickly.

I'm not sure that it left me with much, and more importantly, I'm not sure if I finished it??? as I don't recall the ending - before it returned to the library.

So I'm kinda surprised that i'm giving this 3.5 stars, but if I gave it less it might be discrimination on my part! against romance novels about billionaires! I find that sub-genre one of the most embarrassing for an intelligent (!) woman to be reading....X@#$! So, 3.5 stars it is.

And of course, very good narrators. Samantha Prescott, whom I don't know, but gave the heroine some substance, and Teddy Hamilton - say no more - if anyone can improve the calibre of a billionaire novel, it's him. I love the chutzpah and swagger in his voice.

Later: thanks to the comments below, I do recall an ending where Kenneth, the Spiked Roses GM, reveals he's in love, not just lust, for Anita. Love is always touching - I'm not knocking it, even here! it was wonderful - but in the context of these characters it did require a suspension of disbelief, given the unattractive machine Kenneth was before his smiting by Anita! ( )

Some parts were slow - there was a lot of internal dialogue I could have done without - but the overall story and the characters were quite lovable - for once I didn't love the ending - it was too cut and dry for me, granted I knew it was going to happen that exact way but still, there were some things said between them that were a bit blah to me, the middle part is where the action happens ( )

Alta has brought us another book to devour. This is sort of the first book in a new series. We were briefly introduced to this world in her story in Royally Mine. This book just expands on that world and gives us the skinny on Spiked Roses, the club for very, very rich men who have very, very interesting tastes, a club where anything goes and no one says no. And this is the club that Anita, a young woman from a town without a name walks into on her first day in New Orleans.

Anita was working as a caretaker for her friend Virgie. Virgie wasn't going to let Anita waste her life in their nowhere little town, so she called the daughter of a friend, arranged a room in a boarding house, and gotten Anita a Greyhound ticket to New Orleans, and off she goes. When she gets to NOLA, one of the other women gets her a job at Spiked Roses, where she meets Kenneth, the man in charge.

Kenneth is one of the founding members of Spiked Roses and a lawyer. He's responsible for creating the contracts that Spiked Roses uses. These contracts are there for the benefit of both the members and the employees. The way that the contract works is that the member and the employee in question negotiate what's going to happen between the two of them, the length of the time, and the monetary compensation. Then the member "owns" the woman for the length of time in the contract.

In the Tasting Room, the members have themed parties in which the women who work at the club can enter into special contracts. When Anita walks into the Tasting Room for an extreme party, Kenneth is upset. When she walks out with a mob boss, Kenneth gets even more upset. And when she runs away from the guy after one night with him, Kenneth sees read and goes off to find her.

OK, I have to say that I really didn't like Kenneth in the beginning. He really is a bastard a good deal of the time. However, he does come around and start being a nicer guy. Anita gets under his skin and makes him see things differently, which changes his perspective. I wasn't sure that they would get to their HEA, it was kind of hard to see coming, which I really enjoyed, even if I kind of wanted to strangle the man for part of the book. They did get to their HEA and it worked well within the framework of the story. Definitely a good read and definitely an Alta Hensley book.

I got an ARC from the author, and this is my honest and voluntary review and opinion. ( )

4.5 stars

This book was hot As hell. I loved the premise it was built on and the characters were well thought out and perfect. If kinkville was a place Kenneth would be the Mayor. Good lord that man was hot. This author knows how to write steam.

I'm looking forward to the next book. ( )

This is my first book by Alta Hensley. I knew when I wanted to read this book it was gonna be down right dirty and it delivered. It was dirty, and it was delicious. The characters were colorful, and in some ways off putting. However I don't know if it was just me, but at the end everything seemed a little rushed, and everything was tied in a nice little bow. You go from eff you to eh maybe I like you, to, lets be in love. So it was just a little disconcerting is all. Otherwise I liked this book and I look forward to the next in the series.

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