Books: What She Craves and What She Needs by Anne Rainey

Rating: 6/10 for What She Craves and
              7/10 for What She Needs

I decided to give Anne Rainey another try with her two books, What She Craves and What She Needs. Both stories are about a ménage a trois relationship between Tory, Devon, and Con. In What she Craves, Tory decides to go to her friend Con's Christmas party with her other friend, Devon, since they are both dateless. However, she doesn't know that the guys have been in love with her and plan to have a Christmas Eve that none of them will forget. In What She Needs, their little threesome relationship is rocky due to jealousy. Will they be able to work things out?

Pros: Hot and passionate lovers.
Cons: Not much romance involved. I'd say this is more erotica than romance. What She Craves is too short without much substance in the story.



Favorite Parts:


Gage shrugged and turned his gaze toward Summer. “You know, baby, Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. And it’s our first.”
Summer smiled and Tory found herself smiling right along with her. “I know. I’ve already bought your present.”
Gage leaned across the table and whispered, “Does it involve lace and satin?”
Summer placed her palm against his cheek. “You’ll just have to wait and see.”
Gage took hold of her hand and pressed a kiss to the center of her palm before releasing her and sitting back. “I’m looking forward to it.” He looked at their half-empty plates and added, “Looks like I missed lunch. Sorry. Time got away from me.”
Summer waved a hand in the air. “It’s fine. It gave me a chance to catch up with Tory.”
“In that case, do you mind if I head over to the mall?”
Tory watched Summer’s eyes narrow in suspicion. “Depends,” she said.
Gage’s face split into a grin. “On?”
“What are you buying at the mall?”
Gage picked up Summer’s unused butter knife and started twirling it around. “Uh-uh. If you aren’t telling, then neither am I.”
“Not even a little hint?”
Tory took another sip of her soda and watched the display, feeling a little like a voyeur.
“Give me one and I’ll give you one,” Gage growled. “It’s only fair, baby.”
“Okay. My gift involves…leather.”
Gage dropped the knife. “Leather?”
Summer and Tory both laughed. “Yep,” Summer replied. “Now you.”
Gage stood and stepped near Summer. He leaned close and whispered something into her ear. Tory was dying to know what. He straightened and sent a wink toward Tory before striding out of the restaurant. Summer merely sat, motionless. After several seconds drifted by with no sound coming from her friend, it became more than Tory could take. “Okay, spill it, woman. What’d he say?”
“I, he…wow.”
Tory reached across the table and smacked her stupefied friend on the arm. “You are killing me here!”
“He said my gift involves a lock and key.” Summer’s face turned such a deep shade of red Tory thought she’d have to call for help.
Tory’s mind spun with possibilities, and there was only one logical conclusion. “Whoa. He totally bought you handcuffs, didn’t he?”
“Either that or a jewelry box. And trust me, Gage isn’t the jewelry box type of guy.” A grin slowly spread across her face. “Handcuffs will go quite nicely with the leather bustier I bought today.”

Book: Touching Lace by Anne Rainey

Rating: 6/10

I decided to try a new author and randomly decided to pick Anne Rainy since I found more than one of her ebook titles interesting (others being What She Craves and What She Needs). I decided to try Touching Lace and see how I like her writing.

The story seems interesting enough. It is about a guy who has always wanted his best friend, but is worried about scaring her away if he tells/shows her his intentions. The main girl has just dumped another loser boyfriend and he gets his chance. Since she is worried that the reason she can't seem to get a guy to stick around for more than a few months is because of her lack of talent in the bedroom, he plots to be her sex instructor. I would probably put this book in the erotica genre since there seemed to not be much depth in the characters or the story. I was quite disappointed. Even the "sex instruction" was hardly even formulated - just throwing in the words "lesson 1... lesson 2" does not make it an actual learning experience. But there are some redeeming parts to reading this story and I have listed those below.

Pros: I enjoyed the beginning - the teasing and the sexy talk were stimulating and exciting. It was adorable and the underlying problem between the main characters, the fear that the friendship will fail if they got intimate, is very real and an audience can relate to that.

Cons: While the plot was interesting, the book's ending leaves me unsatisfied. It felt rushed and there are even some parts that didn't feel like it fit. I understand it is difficult to write a book and leave a little tid-bit for the next book to connect to the first one, however, it is weird to have a random character introduced and not develop it a bit more. For example, her family, her two friends, and another girl mentioned in a phone call by her brother could hardly be considered supporting characters since they barely leave an impression. I would have enjoyed a bit more character development. Even the main characters seemed pretty superficial and weak (in a development sense).

All in all, I am left unsure if I want to bother trying out her other books.