New Release Review! PURE WICKED by Shayla Black (A Wicked Lovers / 1001 Dark Nights novella)

We are so excited to bring you the Review & Excerpt Tour for Shayla Black’s PURE WICKED! PURE WICKED is a Wicked Lovers Series Novella brought to you by 1001 Dark Nights. Go grab your copy today!

About PURE WICKED: A Wicked Lovers Novella

During his decade as an international pop star, Jesse McCall has lived every day in the fast lane. A committed hedonist reveling in amazing highs, globetrotting, and nameless encounters, he refuses to think about his loneliness or empty future. Then tragedy strikes.

Shocked and grieving, he sheds his identity and walks away, searching for peace. Instead, he finds Bristol Reese, a no-nonsense beauty scraping to keep her family’s business afloat while struggling with her own demons. He’s intent on seducing her, but other than a pleasure-filled night, she’s not interested in a player, especially after her boyfriend recently proposed to her sister. In order to claim Bristol, Jesse has to prove he’s not the kind of man he’s always been. But when she learns his identity and his past comes back to haunt him, how will he convince her that he’s a changed man who wants nothing more than to make her his forever?

Excerpt (note: it’s not a typo; Jesse’s given his cousin’s name to everyone he’s met at this point in the novella. Jesse IS Jamie 🙂 ) :

Bristol fought to catch her breath. When Jamie cradled her face and looked into her eyes as if nothing in his life meant more than this kiss, an electric spark had sizzled down her spine. The answering jolt darkened his hungry stare.

She hadn’t felt important to anyone since her father. She wasn’t unhappy being alone, but her ill-fated relationship with Hayden had taught her that she couldn’t play second best anymore. Looking back, she saw that he’d always gravitated to Presleigh. Too often, he’d been happy to forego an evening with her to have dinner with her mother and sister. Jamie could care less that her beauty queen sibling was anywhere in the building.

“Good. I’m going to kiss you.” His voice sounded husky, rough. His grip on her tightened as if he didn’t want to let her go. “I’m going to make you open to me so I can taste every corner of your mouth. I want to know what it feels like when you melt against me and moan in surrender.”

Her heart picked up speed until she could hear its beating in her ears. “Sure of yourself, aren’t you?”

He shook his head. “I’m banking on the hope that this pull I’m feeling toward you isn’t one-sided. The way you’re looking at me says it’s not. If I’m wrong, tell me.”

“You’re not,” she breathed. “This is crazy. We met an hour ago.” But she still felt as if she knew him in some weird way on a soul-deep level. Jamie made her hormones swirl and did something she couldn’t quite classify to her heart. Walking away from him now simply because they hadn’t had a requisite date at Chili’s before sharing a movie didn’t make sense. It didn’t have any bearing on whether they slipped into bed.

Hadn’t she vowed earlier to have flings? Jamie seemed as if he’d qualify as the perfect one.

He leaned closer, his gaze focused on hers as his lids shut. Her breathing stopped. Her heartbeat stuttered, then lurched. Bristol wanted to know how being close to him would feel.

Review:

Another sweet and sexy novella in the 1001 Dark Nights series!

I liked both Bristol and Jesse–but oh, boy, did they both have some major issues to deal with! It was a bit of a challenge to resolve everything in the space of a novella, but Ms. Black did a valiant job.

Jesse’s been trying to clean up his rocker image–he’s stopped drinking and drugging, at least–but when his bandmate and friend uses Jesse’s room for an illicit liaison that turns tragic, Jesse’s left not only grieving, but having his name dragged through the tabloids. He needs to lie low for awhile, but has nowhere to go and no one to go to. He’s left adrift.

Bristol’s been left for another woman–her own sister! Even though she’s a successful businesswoman in her own right, the small town she lives in is starting to talk. Bris has had it with love, though–flings seem like the way to go.

Enter Jesse…incognito, all cleaned up and de-rockered. Bristol’s fling rapidly starts to feel like a whole lot more, but can she even begin to have a relationship with a guy who hasn’t even told her his real name?

The time frame on this story is really short. It definitely has elements of insta-love going on, though the characters both freely admit (before and after Jesse comes clean about who he is) that they’ve moved fast, and ultimately it feels almost believable. There’s a whole lot of crazy thrown in toward the end with Bristol’s ex and her sister–soooo much crazy–probably the entire novella could have been expanded into a full-length novel and given everyone’s storyline the attention they needed.

Still–enjoyable characters, cute ending, steamy sex scenes–what more can you ask for in an afternoon’s read? Definitely worth it if you’re a fan of either (or both!) series or the author.

Pure Wicked is #9.5 in the Wicked Lovers series, but I haven’t read any of the others yet and found that it worked just fine as a standalone. (The series is listed as having BDSM and/or menage, which this story definitely doesn’t, so I guess in that this one is a bit of a departure.) Jesse does (briefly) go to visit an ex, who clearly had her own book earlier, but you don’t have to have read it to understand what’s going on here.

Rating: 3 1/2 stars / B

I received a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

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About Shayla Black:

Shayla Black is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than forty novels. For over fifteen years, she’s written contemporary, erotic, paranormal, and historical romances via traditional, independent, foreign, and audio publishers. Her books have sold well over a million copies and been published in a dozen languages.

Raised an only child, Shayla occupied herself with lots of daydreaming, much to the chagrin of her teachers. In college, she found her love for reading and realized that she could have a career publishing the stories spinning in her imagination. Though she graduated with a degree in Marketing/Advertising and embarked on a stint in corporate America to pay the bills, her heart has always been with her characters. She’s thrilled that she’s been living her dream as a full-time author for the past seven years.

Shayla currently lives in North Texas with her wonderfully supportive husband, her teenage daughter, and a very spoiled cat. In her “free” time, she enjoys reality TV, reading, and listening to an eclectic blend of music.

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