Magnus Semper Fi by Jambrea Jo Jones

Title: Magnus Semper Fi

Author: Jambrea Jo Jones

Publisher: Liquid Silver Books

Publication Date: 2009

ISBN: 978-1-59578-627-2

Genre: Contemporary

Length: 116

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Rating: 4 diamonds

Heat: explicit

Other: oral and a whole lot of Marine-grade cussing

Reviewer: Steph Beck

Date: Jan 2, 2010

Emily loves her work with NCIS, but part of her job is an undercover assignment that has her screwing up while under the command of Colonel Joe ‘Magnus’ Rivers. Mag’s new teammate has ‘FUBAR’ written all over her. She’s cute and tries hard, but isn’t what he wants for his team. Something is off about Lieutenant Emily Patterson, but he can’t figure it out. Things come to a head when Emily has to trust Mag with her true assignment. Their attraction boils over but does he know more about the smuggling than she hopes he does?

Ms. Jones knows her Marines. The characters are rough around the edges but decent to the core. I love that in a military story. There are some disturbing scenes from the story’s villain’s perspective that left a bad taste with me, but I think that was intentional. The main characters, Joe and Emily, had a wonderful chemistry I would have happily read about for much longer and since the story line is all set to continue into another Marine’s story, I hope to read more of them soon. I give Magnus four diamonds. It’s an all-around great story, but not for those with delicate sensibilities.

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Joe's Birthday Girl by Corinne Shaw

Title: Joe’s Birthday Girl

Author: Corinne Shaw

Publisher: The Wild Rose Press

Publication Date: 2009

ISBN: 1-60154-733-1

Genre: Erotic

Length: 180

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Rating: 4 diamonds

Heat : Explicit

Other: anal

Reviewer: Steph Beck

Date: 12/1/09

Determined not to spend another birthday marking time, Elena has thrust herself forward, trying to be better, write better and treat herself better. Enter Joe who suddenly finds himself infatuated with the big beautiful woman across the bar. Their passion becomes a one night stand when Elena’s self-doubts resurface but a bank robbery brings the journalist and FBI agent together again. Can they get beyond the hurt feelings and insecurities to finish their amazing night? And who is the person giving Elena goose bumps at every turn?

Joe’s Birthday girl had many elements that I enjoyed very much. I loved that Elena was a woman and a big, beautiful, accomplished one at that. I liked that Ms. Shaw gave Elena dimension with her size and didn’t just mention once or twice that she was kind of chubby. There was loads of sex in the story; a good two-thirds of it was against the wall, in bed, in the shower, etc. The downside to that is some of it felt repeated even when the situation and position changed. I give Joe’s Birthday Girl four diamonds. It was a great story. I enjoyed it and I would recommend it to anyone who likes a lot of sex with their love story.

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