Foster was ok.
McCarthy wasn't for me.
Dimon I liked. ( )

*Playing Doctor by Lori Foster - Playing Doctor is the final novella in Lori Foster's Dean Brothers & Friend series. Playboy Axel Dean is the last man standing, as his brother and best friend have both succumbed to the bite of the love bug. Axel, however, has no intention of falling in love or marrying. He's having far too much fun being single and playing the field. In fact, he's a bit of a man whore, taking a different woman to his bed almost every week. Because of this, I wasn't sure how I'd feel about him as the hero of his own story, but Lori Foster really redeemed him in my eyes. I liked that Axel had a few scruples left. He won't sully virginal women, although the way in which he goes about turning Libby down when he finds out she is a virgin definitely lacked the finesse for which he's known. It was fun to watch Libby take him down a peg or two and make him squirm. It was even more enjoyable to see him not be able to stop thinking about Libby, even though she's not his usual type and hits his “Won't Go There” list on multiple counts. He's even a little jealous and can't stand the idea of some other guy initiating her into sex. What really made me like Axel though, is how he makes sweet, passionate love to Libby and just can't seem to resist her or get enough of her, but best of all, I loved how tenderly he cares for her when she gets sick. He definitely proved he's a very bad boy who can be very good when the right woman comes along to reform him.

Libby can definitely go toe to toe with Axel. She's a little mouthy and usually not afraid to tell it like it is. She's fourteen years his junior, which might be a little off-putting to some readers, but I didn't mind. She has a sympathetic past in which she had to grow up fast, so she's more mature than most women her age would be. Still, her youth and virginal status make Axel put the kibosh on their halfway-there garden tryst pretty quickly. Even though Libby was rather humiliated by that, she can't stop thinking about the hot doc. Normally I'm not a huge fan of heroines who are in a hurry to lose their virginity, but at least Libby wasn't really even thinking much about sex until Axel came along. She also admits to herself, after their first time together, that she didn't expect the feelings to be so strong and would have a hard time sticking to their casual sex agreement if Axel decides to bail. I have to give her credit though, for being mature and realistic about the situation, knowing what she might be in for, if she allowed herself to get involved with him.

So overall, Playing Doctor turned out to be another very enjoyable novella from Lori Foster. Axel's best friend, Cary, and his now-wife, Nora (Some Like It Hot) got a little page time in this one too. They both have a hard time not rubbing it in when it becomes obvious that Axel's finally fallen in love. Playing Doctor was a nice way to wrap up the series. Now I just have to decide which of Ms. Foster's works to try next.:-) Playing Doctor was originally published in the When Good Things Happen to Bad Boys multi-author anthology, but is soon to be reprinted (Dec. 2015) in the single-author anthology, Give It Up, along with it's two companion novellas. Star Rating: ****1/2

The Lady of the Lake by Erin McCarthy - The Lady of the Lake is the third novella in Erin McCarthy's Bowling Friends series. It pairs the geeky Violet with hot, sexy baseball player, Dylan. The two meet when he rescues her from where she's treading water in the middle of Lake Erie after accidentally falling off her boyfriend's fishing boat. Unfortunately, her boyfriend is even geekier than she is and got so wrapped up in fishing and chatting with his friends that he didn't even notice she was missing. Enter Dylan, who becomes Violet's knight in shining armor. Of course, being saved by a hot guy is great, but Violet is painfully shy and self-conscious about her body. She's a very sweet heroine, and when Dylan starts hitting on her, she can't believe that someone like him would want someone like her. Aside from her overly endowed chest, which she's spent most of her life trying to hide, she thinks of herself as pretty ordinary right down to even wearing glasses. She's basically a prim librarian in a stripper's body. When Dylan finds Violet, she's extremely upset and disappointed, not just because she realized she's so unnoticeable that her boyfriend left her in the middle of a lake, but also because she wants more than anything to have a baby and was counting on his sperm to accomplish that. Violet's self-consciousness is very endearing and relatable. She's also very sympathetic, because she has no idea why her girlfriends go on and on about how great sex is. She doesn't even like sex, because it's never been good for her, not that she's the type to sleep around though. Overall, I really liked Violet a lot, and was pleased to find that I correctly predicted that she would be my favorite heroine of the series (thus far anyway).

Dylan is a sweetheart too. The day they meet is his birthday, but he's not feeling very celebratory. Most of his adult life, women have thrown themselves at his feet, but that's not what he truly wants. He's spent the last year celibate, simply because he realized that his sexual encounters had turned into nothing more than two bodies joining together with no feelings attached. He longs for someone who wants him and loves him for himself and not just for his money, or prestige, or for the bragging rights of having had sex with a celebrity. When he realizes how sweet and innocent Violet is, and most of all, that she doesn't want anything from him like most women do, it makes her incredibly attractive to him, so much so that he impulsively offers to father the baby she so desperately wants. I admit that it takes some suspension of disbelief to buy into the idea of two strangers agreeing to make a baby together the same day they meet, but this story was very light-hearted which made it easier to not take it too seriously. Also, it's definitely all about the fantasy, and what girl who's a plain Jane geek wouldn't want a hot guy to give her all his attention and show her exactly what she's been missing in bed. I also loved that Dylan wasn't satisfied with just making a baby, he wanted to be there for Violet and make a commitment to her, regardless of whether he got her pregnant or not.

Kindra, Ashley and Trish, all three of Violet's best friends, along with Mack and Luke, the heroes from the first two novellas were there for Violet as she awaited the results of her pregnancy test. I was a little disappointed with what Trish pushed Violet to do toward afterward, but at least, Violet realized it wasn't the right thing and admitted it to Dylan. I suppose in her defense though, Trish thought she was just looking out for her friend's best interests, so hopefully, her actions won't taint my reading of her novella (“It's about Time” from Bad Boys of Summer) which is the next and final one in the series.

Usually lack of believability in any romance is a downside for me, but The Lady of the Lake ended up being a really good read. I liked and related to Violet so much and loved that Dylan treated her with such care, it would have been impossible for me not to have fun while reading it. Not to mention, it was off the charts hot without quite stepping over the line into erotica. Overall, it was another great novella in this, so far, very enjoyable and steamy series. Star Rating: ****1/2

Hardhats and Silk Stockings by HelenKay Dimon - Hardhats and Silk Stockings is the first novella in HelenKay Dimon's House Rehab Men series. It's the story of architect, Whit Thomas, who has been hot for Hannah Bridges, the lead contractor working on refurbishing a historical family home of which he is part owner. She doesn't even seem to like him, usually either ignoring him or throwing barbs his way, but he suspects that if he can just get her alone for a while, she'll sing a different tune. That's why he conspires to lock them in his late uncle's secret sex dungeon for the weekend.

Out of the two main characters, Hannah is the best developed. She's pretty much alone in the world, except perhaps for her cousin, Cole, who seems to look out for her. She also has a grandfather, but he's a hard-ass, who doesn't show her any affection. He gave her the construction company to run, but also set her up to fail by giving her more jobs than any reasonable person could complete in the time frame allotted. If she doesn't deliver, then she loses the company. Hannah is determined not to give up though, and is working her butt off to prove herself in a man's world. She also struggled through school and doesn't consider herself to be very smart, which is partly why blue collar work appealed to her. It gave her someplace where she felt she could belong. She's attracted to Whit, but because of her background, she's not very amenable to being involved with a guy who's both intelligent and rich. As a result, she's extremely prickly and stand-offish toward him for most of the story, even after they've had sex. Granted he did kind of trick her, and I understood where she was coming from, but she wouldn't even give him a chance to explain for quite some time. Even after they talk a little and even after she realizes that he's trying to help her bring in her jobs on time, she still gives him the cold shoulder, until an eleventh-hour turnaround at the very end of the story. I really felt like she should have given him the benefit of the doubt, especially after she found out how he was helping her, but she remains skeptical of his motives until his brother, Adam, intervenes.

I don't feel like I got to know Whit as well. He's apparently a talented architect and owner of historical properties. He's also had a thing for Hannah for quite a while, ever since seeing her picture at his friend and her cousin, Cole's house. He cajoled Cole into telling him all about her. Since she won't give him the time of day, he essentially tricks her into coming down with him to the secret sex dungeon that he'd accidentally found but that she didn't know about yet. I had mixed feelings about this. I could feel a connection between them while they were locked in the room together, which made me a little more forgiving of Whit's trickery. However, when Adam and Cole show up, their conversation makes it seem like Whit's intentions weren't so good after all, like he just lured her down there to have sex and only changed his mind and truly started caring for her after Hannah opened up to him a bit. I'll admit that maybe I'm misreading the situation, and Whit's generosity in helping Hannah meet her deadlines afterward did show that he had feelings for her.

I also have somewhat mixed feelings about the way in which the story progressed. The first few chapters, while Whit and Hannah are locked in the secret pleasure room, really drew me in. Hannah telling Whit about her life was touching, and their sex play was hot and steamy with a little fun handcuff action. However, my anticipation of them being locked in together for an entire weekend with lots of intriguing sex toys at their disposal, was dashed when Adam and Cole showed up unexpectedly. I suppose there was some humor in the situation, but after that, the story was too much talk and not enough action for my taste. There was also a bit too much arguing between Whit and Hannah, because of Hannah being upset over Whit's subterfuge. Later another almost love scene is interrupted by Adam again. I found this all rather frustrating, and wishing that Whit and Hannah would have stayed trapped in the basement for as long as Whit had originally intended. I think it would have given them more time to explore their feelings for one another and to build their romance, as well as some added opportunities for more love scenes. As is, there's only the one, and while it was pretty good overall, I felt like there could have been more. They also go from Hannah being angry with Whit for days on end to her embracing the idea of being with him and then declaring her love, which was perhaps a little too quick to be entirely believable. Still, Hardhats and Silk Stockings was reasonably entertaining, which is why I gave it four stars. It was my first read by HelenKay Dimon, but I'd be open to reading more from her. The House Rehab Men series continues with novellas for both Cole and Adam, both of which can be found in the anthology Hard As Nails. Star Rating: **** ( )

Fun and very steamy short stories. First by Lori Foster was my favorite about sexy doctor Axel that has his eye on Libby who he thinks is the caterer. Next by Erin McCarthy was enjoyable about baseball player Dylan who fishes Violet out of the water. The last by Helen Kay Dimon was just okay.
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Loved Erin McCarthy's story! The other two were meh. ( )

Contemporary romance. Perfect beach read. Quick read. Easy way to pick up a new author or catch up on existing characters. ( )