For the first time ever, Bookworm in Pearls brings you two reviews in one because these novels were far too short and as one Goodreads reader calls, "cheating the readers". It is very frustrating when authors do that as I lamented in my review for Bad Boy Rock Star. I find that it's very lazy and bad writing to cut your novel halfway when there's still so much more you can fit in. It speaks about how limited a writer's imagination is when he/she has to resort to chopping the novel into three/four parts just to keep readers reading and the money flowing in.

"A woman dances the same way she fucks.

Soft and self-conscious; lithe and graceful. Or wild. Passionate.

Unleashed.

It’s not just women either. If you want to know how a man will perform between the sheets, just take him to the nearest dance floor. You’ll learn everything you need to know. His stamina, his rhythm, the slow grind of his hips. Some people are born to it, others learn through years of careful study.

And dancers? We fuck best of all.

Our bodies are our instruments, and we use them in a symphony of pure pleasure. We know just how far to push you, the breathless pacing of true art. The rise and fall that will make you beg for mercy; the ache of satisfaction when we give it to you hard and strong.

Dancing is the ultimate in sensual pleasure, a timeless erotic ritual that needs no words.

I thought I knew what it was like to dance with a skilled partner, a woman who could match my every step. My drive.

My passion.

Then I met her.

Every step she takes conjures wild, dark fantasies in my mind. Every sway of those hips demands satisfaction. My hands on her body. Her lips parted in the sweet gasp of release. Easing those sweet thighs apart and sinking inside deep her, inch by ravenous inch.

Her innocence is intoxicating. My lust is fierce. Primal.

To watch her dance is to know the torment of true temptation.

She will be mine." (Melody Grace)

Title: First Position (Dirty Dancing #1)
Author: Melody Grace
Published: 2014
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Contemporary Romance, New Adult and College Romance

TL;DR Review: 

Too awful for words.

Review: [May Contain Spoilers]

The blurb was hot, hot, hot and I was so excited to read this for I am a staunch believer in the sexual powers that dancing gives men and women. I did quite like Annalise in the beginning for she seemed like a headstrong woman who was flawed in that she liked dancing but she had to live up to her mother's name. There was also an insight into the insane dieting of ballerinas.

However, that was all ruined by Raphael, the lead male who seemed like a down right prick and of course, Annalise's reaction to him. She went from zero to sixty in three point five and one of the character's pointed out the same thing. She needs to stick her tongue back into her mouth and stop drooling over some stranger who seems to be written straight off the pages of a porn script.

Plus, Annalise is an innocent little virgin and I absolutely detest virgin stories. I don't appreciate having men teach me about sex which Raphael seems bent on doing with Annalise, the poor naive little girl. And I don't appreciate female characters who have no backbone and just fall into throes of awfully written lust and sexual fantasies. Annalise is constantly turned on by the sight of Raphael. He probably did some Italian voodoo on her or something with her lady bits constantly on high.

To reiterate, Raphael is just puke-worthy and nothing about him was remotely sexy. I kept trying to picture some hot Italian guy but nothing comes to mind.

Everything was cheesy and awful from the moment Annalise spies Raphael in a courtyard. I've never felt less turned on in my entire life.

Rating: 1/5
Other Details: I read the Kindle edition, approximately 83 pages and published 2014


"Charity Thompson wants to save the world, one hospital at a time. Instead of finishing med school to become a doctor, she chooses a different path and raises money for hospitals – new wings, equipment, whatever they need. Except there is one hospital she would be happy to never set foot in again--her fathers. So of course he hires her to create a gala for his sixty-fifth birthday. Charity can’t say no. Now she is working in the one place she doesn’t want to be. Except she’s attracted to Dr. Elijah Bennet, the handsome playboy chief. 

Will she ever prove to her father that’s she’s more than a med school dropout? Or will her attraction to Elijah keep her from repairing the one thing she desperately wants to fix?"

Title: Saving Forever Part 1
Author: Lexy Timms
Published: 2013
Publisher: Dark Shadow Publishing
Genre: Contemporary Romance

TL;DR Review:

Saving Forever Part 1 is the beginning of a cute and adorable romance. I expect that in the later parts, there will be conflict that will give this novel more substance. For now, it seems like an incomplete piece of writing designed to just introduce readers to the main characters at stake. Also, I'm not a fan of writers chopping their books and stopping half-short just to drag it out over a couple of publications. When I finished this one, there was more than half of my book bar left and even after the four "sneak peak" chapters, it wasn't quite full. A glance at the content page revealed just a lot of book-plugging and self-promotion. I loved Part 1 but I'm not interested in getting the rest because I don't feel like having each novel cut short just to force me to purchase the next one.

Review: [May Contain Spoilers]

Saving Forever Part 1 was actually a very, very good read but I didn't appreciate that the complete bar on my Kobo wasn't even half full when the novel ended. I finished it in about an hour. Four chapters of Part 2 were given as a sneak preview. Honestly, who gives you four chapters for a preview?

Like Timms so aggressively states in the novel, this is NOT erotica and I was glad for it. I'm quite tired of reading badly written erotica that makes me cringe more than get my lady bits all bothered. A sweet little romance is just what was needed to clear my palette. Most people didn't quite like it because this novel is honestly nothing but just a prequel. There was no conflict, no anything. Just two adorable characters liking each other.

The lousy length and novel-chopping aside, Timms writes and crafts rather well. It kept me interested to see what would happen between Charity and Elijah. Plus, I did fall quite a bit in love with Elijah but I kept picturing him as Dave Franco.


However, there was a scene where I felt was out-of-place, awkward and pretentious. I don't see a bunch of late-twenties and thirty-somethings going CLUBBING. Honestly, they'd go to a bar or to some dive-in or something but not clubbing for Merlin's sake. This scene, of course, served to showcase Charity as a trained dancer and gave Elijah a chance to be hero which seemed a little unnecessary.

Rating: 3/5
Other Details: I read the Kindle edition, approximately 116 pages and published 2013.