Review: Captivated by Megan Hart, Tiffany Reisz

Print Length: 240 pages

Publisher: Harlequin (October 28, 2014)

From Goodreads.com: Double the passion and seduction as New York Times bestselling author Megan Hart and international bestselling author Tiffany Reisz weave two provocative tales about power, bad-boy lovers and secret desires!

LETTING GO by Megan Hart 
Colleen goes to the same bar every night and orders the same drink: a whiskey, neat. She doesn't drink it, though. Jesse the bartender notices the beautiful, sad woman who keeps to herself. Until one night when she lets go and lets him in. And after that, Jesse has only one mission--to show her one night is only the beginning.

SEIZE THE NIGHT by Tiffany Reisz 
Four years ago, a night of forbidden passion between Remi and Julien, the heirs of two powerful and competitive horse-racing families, led to a feud that is threatening to ruin both farms. Now Remi must find Julien again, but when she does, her need for Julien is just as strong and just as forbidden.

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My OVERALL Rating (combining both novellas): 4 stars out of 5

Because these were two separate stories, by two separate authors, I feel its only fair that I give them each their own separate rating & review. It should be noted that my overall feeling of this anthology as a whole was positive and I would recommend them to anyone who likes erotica, or those who enjoy a good romantic novel and can overlook the erotica aspect. I will warn you however that these stories do contain explicit sexual content, and should NOT be read by anyone under the age of 18.

Let us begin with Letting Go by Megan Hart

My Rating: 3 stars out of 5
My Review: Let me start off by saying that this was the first time I had heard of this author (much less read anything by her). And while there was a certain complexity to this story and the characters that I enjoyed, there was a lot of things that grated on my nerves after awhile.

On the positive side, all of the characters in this novel had their flaws. Colleen was a divorced woman, trying to rid herself completely of her verbally abusive and toxic ex-husband (although for some reason they still owned a beach-house together), while Jesse had a child young, and was trying to co-parent her with his ex-girlfriend. There was definitely a sexual spark and connection between Colleen and Jesse, and while I found his reactions to be on-par with his character, I found the character of Colleen to be - well annoying. 

I can understand and sympathize with her (to a point). She has certain dominate traits that her ex was determined to squash out of her. He was verbally and emotionally abusive, which I have no doubt left scars on her, but the fact that she was constantly thinking about him, comparing Jesse to him, even going so far as to still co-own a beach house with him when she obviously couldn't stand him, left me more annoyed than anything else. 

I will say that the sexual scenes were hot, and seeing Colleen stop letting her ex-husband control her actions was a nice change. I especially enjoyed the ending of this one, and will probably read more from this author in the future. 

And now lets talk about Seize the Night by Tiffany Reisz

My Rating: 4 stars out of 5
My Review: I have been a fan of Ms.Reisz since I first read The Siren back in 2012. In fact, she was the main reason I requested this novel, I had to read more from her. I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed  at first by the synopsis. Julian and Remi did not have a "forbidden night of passion" as I would call it, they were caught before anything really happened. However, that small detail aside, this was another wonderful novel from the mind of Ms.Reisz. 

This was more than just a story between two "star crossed lovers", there was a mystery running throughout, and the two not only rekindled their passion for each other, but were able to also save both their families from ruin. I loved the complexity of the characters, and hope that there will be another novella in the future about not only this couple, but also about Merrick and his conquests as well. 

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own. 

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 Captivated is available from Amazon.com