No Weddings by Kat Bastion and Stone Bastion

I was given an ARC of this book via Netgalley. 

It caught my eye because it was advertised as a romance book written from the point of view of the man! I initially thought it was part of the erotica genre however there was absolutely no sex in it at all. 

However, looking beyond that, it was a very good story and I was hooked.

Cade is a successful business man (although it was hard to work out his age because he was still at 'school') and the youngest of 5, with 4 older sisters who feature prominently throughout. 

On building up his newly formed events business, Cade is introduced to Hannah, the ice queen who Cade is instantly attracted to and makes it his mission to get to know her better. 

The thing I liked about this story is the way the characters were built up. It allowed the reader to actually empathise with them and feel what they were going through. Although Cade is made out, in the beginning, to be a bit of a player and a 'lad', as he gets to know Hannah she affects him in a way he wasn't expecting. 

This story is part of a series, with the next part being told from Hannah's point of view so it will be interesting to find out how that works. But I would highly recommend this book to fans of the romance genre. If you are a fan of erotica you might be disappointed but you could give it a go anyway?

The Second Time I Saw You, by Pippa Croft

This is the second novel in the trilogy of Women's fiction / Erotica novels written by Pippa Croft and I was again lucky enough to be able to read this book via Netgalley in return for an honest review.

This novel carries on from where the last one left off, bar a couple of weeks for the Christmas Holidays, and it's the second term at Oxford for Lauren and Alexander. In the previous novel, they had parted ways and looks like they hadn't spoken for the whole of the holidays.

However, when Lauren returns to her room at Oxford for the new term, she is greeted by a distraught Alexander, with some devastating news.

This novel follows the same format as the last one and is just another chapter in the drama that is Lauren and Alexander. I wasn't overly enamoured by the first novel but this one curiously drew me in to their lives again.

It is an easy read, and at times it feels like you are inside a soap opera, or overhearing a group of girls gossiping in the pub, about boys and shopping and school. There isn't much substance to it and it is quite predictable.

There was definitely more sex in this one, and I can't help but compare it to the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy, in which there was mild drama and lots of unnecessary sex in the second book. Pippa Croft's trilogy is much the same. We know the characters now and are just following them in the up's and downs of their lives and there is lots of sex thrown in for good measure. The one difference I noticed, was that when the sex did happen, it was more interesting to read, whereas the descriptions of the acts in Fifty Shades became quite monotonous.

Once again, this novel ended on a cliff hanger which is a clever tactic to get the reader to move on to the next one, and that's exactly what I will be doing. It is light reading where you don't have to concentrate too much and there is just about enough excitement to move the story along at a good pace and keep the reader hooked.

The next novel, Third Time Lucky, is available for pre order now - and after the first two stories the title of the third book seems very fitting. I'm looking forward to reading it!