Tag Archives: M.O’Keefe

Wait For It (Everything I Left Unsaid #4) by Molly O’Keefe-a review

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WAIT FOR IT (Everything I Left Unsaid #4) by Molly O’Keefe-a review

Wait For It

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / BAM /

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date February 28, 2017

In a blistering novel of raw emotion and desire, a tormented woman teaches an alpha male that money can’t fix everything . . . but love can.

Tiffany : After fighting for a new life, I don’t want to play the victim anymore. However, with three kids to raise, I’m getting desperate enough to make a deal with the devil. My estranged brother-in-law, Blake, says he just wants to help, but he’s been trouble since I met him. I don’t know if I can believe this kinder, gentler Blake, and there’s a friction between us that has turned into the sweetest chemistry. He could be my salvation . . . or my downfall.

Blake : I haven’t always had Tiffany’s best interests at heart but I’m ready to make up for my sins. Besides, I can’t help admiring her: The girl’s a genuine survivor, tough and lean, with eyes of steel. But the more I get to know Tiffany, the more I want her. Every inch of her. Which means I’m about to make a bad situation a hell of a lot worse.

•••••••••

REVIEW: WAIT FOR IT is the fourth installment in Molly O’Keefe’s contemporary, adult EVERYTHING I LEFT UNSAID erotic, romance series. This is successful entrepreneur/inventor Blake Edwards, and single mother Tiffany Edwards’ story line. WAIT FOR IT can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from previous story lines is revealed where necessary. Tiffany and Blake’s story line has been building throughout the series. We were first introduced to our heroine in book one as the abused and broken trailer park tenant whose life was slowly spinning out of control; Blake Edwards is the business partner of former race car driver Dylan Daniels (Everything I Left Unsaid #1 & #2).

Told from dual first person points of view (Blake and Tiffany) WAIT FOR IT follows Blake Edwards as he attempts to ‘clean up’ his brother Phil’s mistakes. We were first introduced to our hero at a time when the appearance of Tiffany in his life left much to be desired. A young woman with three children, Tiffany revealed that she was Blake’s sister-in-law, and the children are the result of the relationship and marriage to his brother Phil. Believing the woman was only looking for money and revenge, Blake pays off our heroine to keep away from his mother. Fast forward one year, Tiffany and the children are struggling to stay one step ahead of the abusive man they called husband and father, and it is Blake Edwards who steps in to help the woman with whom he will fall in love. What ensues is the building but questionable relationship between Blake and Tiffany, and the secrets Blake keeps hidden from the family he loves.

Blake is a bit of a pr*ck; a man whose need for control results in his desire for suffering and pain. Cleaning up his brother’s messes has left our hero with a chip on his shoulder, and a need to protect the people he loves. A cold and calculating man Blake goes into every situation ready for a fight but his quick turn about with Tiffany is cause for concern. Tiffany knows betrayal, pain and heartbreak first hand. From the family that pushed her out of their life to the man who has broken our heroine’s spirit and soul, Tiffany set out to protect the children she loves even if it means ‘selling her soul’ to the devil himself. Learning to trust again comes with painful memories and forgotten feelings. The $ex scenes are erotic; the intimacy is questionable when Blake makes Tiffany an offer she cannot refuse.

We are introduced to Tiffany’s sister Bea, as well as Tiffany’s children Danny, Amber and Sienna. Dylan Daniels and Annie McKay (book 1 & 2) play secondary and supporting characters-Blake’s partnership with Dylan continues to struggle.

The world building focuses on domestic violence, and Tiffany’s struggle to free herself from the past. I did had some misgivings with Blake and Tiffany’s ‘ongoing arrangement’-an exchange for money that didn’t’ sit well with this reader.

WAIT FOR IT is a heartbreaking story line of one woman’s struggle against domestic abuse, and one man’s battle to control his life. The premise is challenging; the romance is controversial; the characters are colorful and passionate.

Reading Order and previous reviews

Everything I Left Unsaid
The Truth About Him
Burn Down the Night
Wait For It

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy

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Burn Down the Night (Everything I Left Unsaid #3) by Molly O’Keefe-a review

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BURN DOWN THE NIGHT (Everything I Left Unsaid #3) by Molly O’Keefe-a review

Burn Down the Night

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / BAM /

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date August 9, 2016

A battle for control turns explosive as a beautiful con woman takes a bad-boy biker hostage in this edgy, seductive novel set in the world of Everything I Left Unsaid.

The only thing that matters to me is rescuing my sister from the drug-cooking cult that once enslaved us both. I’ve run cons my whole life, and I’ll use my body to get whatever I need. Max Daniels is the last connection I have to that world, the one person reckless enough to get involved. Besides, now that his brothers have turned on him, he needs me too.

The deal was supposed to be simple: a place to hide in exchange for rescuing my sister. Now he’s my prisoner. Totally at my mercy. But I’m the one captivated. Enthralled. Doing everything he asks of me until I’m not sure who’s in control.

We both crave the heat. The more it hurts, the better. But what if Max wants a different life now, to leave the game . . . to love me? I thought I knew better than to get burned. Now I’m in too deep to pull away. And the crazy thing is . . . I don’t want to.

•••••••••••••••••

REVIEW: BURN DOWN THE NIGHT is the third installment in Molly O’Keefe’s contemporary, adult EVERYTHING I LEFT UNSAID dark, erotic, romance series. This is Skulls Motorcycle Club president Max Daniels, and stripper Joan ‘Olivia’ Matthews’ story line. BURN DOWN THE NIGHT can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary but for the entire backstory, I recommend reading the series in order as Joan’s personality begins to build, and Max’s family dynamics are difficult at best. Max is Dylan’s brother (Everything I Left Unsaid), and is currently estranged from his brother and his dad: the reader was first introduced to Joan when she was a resident at the trailer park where Dylan’s girlfriend Annie once lived.

NOTE: BURN DOWN THE NIGHT contains graphic language, and F/F and M/F sexual situations.

Told from dual first person points of view (Max and Joan) BURN DOWN THE NIGHT is a story that looks at betrayal and revenge. Joan is a survivor; a woman desperate to locate her missing younger sister whose last known whereabouts were with a man who ran his drug empire like a cult with multiple wives and various illegal activities. Enter Max Daniels, a man targeted by his own motorcycle club, and left for dead in the parking lot of the strip club our heroine had just blown to pieces in vengeance against the man who had imprisoned her sister. What ensues is a cross country trek wherein Joan finds help, from an unlikely source, for the injured man she now holds prisoner, and Joan’s need to get information from said man who may know where her sister is currently being held.

The relationship between Joan and Max is one of immediate attraction but neither one was looking for anything permanent as both were on the run for different reasons. For six months Joan has worked as a stripper in the hopes of learning any information about her missing sister, and Max, as the president of the Skulls MC, was a frequent voyeur of Joan’s nightly dance. Joan flaunted her bi-sexuality before Max as a form of sexual foreplay; Max is a man who isn’t afraid to go for what he wants and what he wants is Joan. The $ex scenes are aggressive, intense and erotic. There is plenty of look but don’t touch, with graphic sexual language and rough sexual situations. The world building focuses on the search for Joan’s sister Jennifer, and Max’s struggle to protect his estranged family and Joan from the people out to destroy his world.

We are introduced to Joan’s sister Jennifer, as well as Joan’s aunt Fern- a woman who desperately tried to help the sister’s when they were young. Dylan and Annie (Everything I Left Unsaid 1 &2) play secondary and supporting roles; and the numerous residents of aunt Fern’s senior condo who enjoy the company of Joan and Max. Trailer park resident and abuse victim Tiffany returns setting up the next book in the series.

BURN DOWN THE NIGHT is a gritty story line about revenge: a dark and dangerous world of bikers, drug lords and vengeance. There are no hearts or flowers; no romantic gestures or early proclamation of love and forever. Joan and Max are two broken characters whose lives were destroyed early on-Max by a father caught up on the world of the MC; and Joan by her own obstinate attitude that didn’t leave room for help from any outside source-the death of their father found Joan and Jennifer on their own at an early age. The premise is dramatic ; the characters are raw and tragic; the romance is challenging and erotic.

Reading Order and Previous reviews
Everything I Left Unsaid
The Truth About Him (see review below)
Burn Down the Night

Copy supplied by the publisher through Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy

___________________

The Truth About HimTHE TRUTH ABOUT HIM
(Everything I left Unsaid #2)
by Molly O’Keefe
Genre: adult, contemporary, dark, erotic, romance

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / BAM /

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date November 24, 2015

We played our roles, told each other lies.

But now Dylan is no longer just a mysterious deep voice on the other end of the line. We’re face-to-face and our relationship is very, very real.

We still have secrets—but so much is crystal clear:

The thrilling danger.

The raw, naked desire.

The need to keep feeling the way he makes me feel. Forever.

Dylan is putting up walls, trying to keep me safe, but he can’t shut me out. He has seen my darkness and rescued me. Now it’s my turn, if only he will let me.

••••••••••••••••

REVIEW: THE TRUTH ABOUT HIM is the second installment in Molly O’Keefe’s contemporary, adult EVERYTHING I LEFT UNSAID dark, erotic romantic suspense series. This is the continuing story of Annie McKay and Dylan Daniels. THE TRUTH ABOUT HIM should not be read as a stand alone- too much important information and background to the storyline is revealed in book one.

Told from first person point of view (Dylan) and third person perspective (Annie) THE TRUTH ABOUT HIM begins immediately after the events of book one, and follows Dylan and Annie as they traverse the minefield that is their life. Annie’s abusive ex-husband is determined to bring Annie back into his life, while Dylan continues to push away the father and brother he barely knows. Annie and Dylan are two broken souls whose paths have crossed for better or for worse. Someone is hunting Dylan’s brother Max, and everyone Dylan’s knows and loves is targeted for extermination.

THE TRUTH ABOUT HIM reveals Dylan’s family history and the reasons he was imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit. Dylan’s demons ride our hero, angry and hard, and he is a man who believes himself incapable of commitment and love. Annie’s need to fix everyone finds our heroine to the point of no return including remaining behind when no one else will help the people she has grown to love.

The relationship between Dylan and Annie is very much a ‘push and pull’, ‘yin and yang’ such that Dylan continues to push Annie away, while Annie refuses to help herself out of a worsening situation. Both Annie and Dylan have some dark and dangerous secrets; heartbreaking pasts; and the inability to trust-especially when the heart is involved. The $ex scenes are intimate and exploratory. The character development reveals the important details that were missing in EVERYTHING I LEFT UNSAID –the characters relationships, history, thoughts and ideas.

The large ensemble cast of secondary and supporting characters include Dylan’s troubled brother Max, his penitent father Ben, Dylan’s business partner Blake, and an assortment of stereotypical Trailer Park misfits (Tiffany and Kevin) whose own lives are spiraling out of control. Max’s part in the destruction of Dylan’s life comes full circle when he finds himself on the run from the people trying to destroy everyone’s life. The dysfunctional Daniels family is a mess; no one is safe when the past comes back for power and revenge. Joan returns with a couple of secrets of her own. Max and Joan’s storyline is next.

THE TRUTH ABOUT HIM is a suspenseful storyline that follows the growing relationship between Dylan and Annie, and looks at the events leading up the Dylan’s current circumstance and the people that destroyed his earlier life. The premise is engaging and emotional; the characters are dynamic, colorful and frustrating; the romance is forged through a mutual understanding of betrayal and loss. The happily ever after and epilogue advances the storyline approximately three years but it is the missing information about those three years that I suspect will be the topic of Molly O’Keefe’s next couple of series’ installments.

Copy supplied by Netgalley.

Reviewed by Sandy

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Everything I Left Unsaid by M. O’Keefe-Review and Interview

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EVERYTHING I LEFT UNSAID (Everything I Left Unsaid #1) by M. O’Keefe-Review and Interview

Everything I Left Unsaid

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / The Book Depository / BAM

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date October 13, 2015

I didn’t think answering someone else’s cellphone would change my life. But the stranger with the low, deep voice on the other end of the line tempted me, awakened my body, set me on fire. He was looking for someone else. Instead he found me.

And I found a hot, secret world where I felt alive for the first time.

His name was Dylan, and, strangely, he made me feel safe. Desired. Compelled. Every dark thing he asked me to do, I did. Without question. I longed to meet him, but we were both keeping secrets. And mine were dangerous. If I took the first step, if I got closer to Dylan—emotionally, physically—then I wouldn’t be hiding anymore. I would be exposed, with nothing left to surrender but the truth. And my truth could hurt us both.

••••••••••••

REVIEW: EVERYTHING I LEFT UNSAID is the first installment in Molly O’Keefe’s contemporary adult Everything I Left Unsaid erotic, romantic suspense duology focusing on Annie McKay and Dylan Daniels.

Told from first person point of view (Annie) and third person perspective (Dylan) EVERYTHING I LEFT UNSAID follows Annie aka Layla on the run from her abusive husband, arriving in Carolina from the Flatlands of Oklahoma. Layla is hiding and working in a run down, trailer park to escape her life and the man who has all but destroyed everything she has ever loved. Enter the mysterious Dylan Daniels, a former NASCAR driver, and the man who will be the focus in all of Annie’s fantasies and dreams. When Annie answers a lost cell phone, she will inadvertently becomes part of Dylan’s life, but Dylan wants to remain anonymous, and Annie becomes a distraction that he isn’t willing to give up.

A good portion and the foundation of the storyline follows Annie and Dylan’s phone Sex and text messages. Not having yet met face to face with Annie, Dylan and Annie’s relationship is sexually aggressive and suggestive with Dylan instructing Annie in the ways of pleasuring herself and talking dirty on the phone. Annie is an innocent; inexperienced; and naïve. Dylan is an enigma with a dark past, and an even darker present. What little we know, leaves us wanting more. Most of the $ex scenes are limited to phone $ex; their physical intimacy has an expiry date when Annie decides she doesn’t want or need Dylan’s help.

EVERYTHING I LEFT UNSAID has a large ensemble cast of characters from the Flowered Manor Trailer Park and Camp Ground: Joan the stripper who hides her true identity from those around; elderly Ben whose past is mired in dark and dangerous secrets; Kevin the trailer park manager who hires Annie for maintenance and clean up; and Tiffany, a young mother in an abusive relationship.

The world building focuses on the lives of the people at the Flowered Manor Trailer Park and Camp Ground; Annie’s need to keep ahead of her past; and Dylan’s hermit existence upon the mountain he works and owns.

EVERYTHING I LEFT UNSAID ends on a cliffhanger that leaves many unanswered questions about the how and why. Dylan’s life is revealed a little at a time, but our leading hero has secrets that he doesn’t want anyone to know. EVERYTHING I LEFT UNSAID is a story of mystery and suspense; flawed, impassioned characters with heartbreaking stories and tragic lives but saying that the storyline barely scratches the surface of the truth. EVERYTHING I LEFT UNSAID leaves you wanting more-right now !

Copy supplied by the publisher through Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy

Everything I Left Unsaid teaser

Interview

TRC: Hi Molly and welcome to The Reading Café.

We would like to start with some background information. Please tell us something about your self?

Molly O'KeefeMolly: Well, I’m a romance novelist by day and an ass-kicking vigilante at night? Actually, I’m a mom and romance novelist by day and exhausted at night. No time for ass-kicking vigilantism. I’ve written 30 books for Harlequin and Bantam over the last fifteen years.

I have two great kids and a lovely husband. We live in Toronto, Canada.

TRC: Who or what influenced your career in writing?

Molly: I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was a kid. And a romance novelist since I was about fifteen years old. I’ve been incredibly lucky over the years to meet mentors, teachers and friends exactly when I needed them. And all along I’ve had hundreds of amazing books to inspire me.

TRC: What challenges or difficulties have you encountered writing and publishing your stories?

Molly: Well, this business is both a challenge and a difficulty and an opportunity – often all at the same time. I find the largest challenge I have is in my own head. Staying motivated, not comparing my career to other author’s careers. Keeping my head down and getting the work done and constantly and consistently finding joy in the process and work.

Everything I Left UnsaidTRC: Would you please tell us something about premise of EVERYTHING I LEFT UNSAID-the first book in the series of the same name?

Molly: Well, it’s a dulogy – the first book ENDS ON A WICKED CLIFFHANGER – so be warned!

It’s about a woman on the run from her abusive ex-husband. She ends up in a trailer park in the middle of nowhere and finds a ringing cell phone that had been left behind by the previous tenant. She answers the phone and begins a dangerous and sexual relationship with the man on the other end.

The characters don’t actually meet for a huge portion of the book – so it’s all done through phone calls and texts.

TRC: Are any of the characters based in reality or a mixture of real and fiction?

Molly: Well, the hero is HEAVILY inspired by the delicious actor Tom Hardy!

TRC: How many books do you have planned for the series?

Molly: Well there’s Everything I Left Unsaid, The Truth About Him and then at least two more. Possibly more.

TRC: How do you keep the plot(s) unpredictable without sacrificing content and believability?

Molly: It’s a matter of very carefully leaving hints so that when a big twist happens the reader is totally surprised and can still believe it.

TRC: There is a fine line between romance, erotic, and erotica in many of today’s popular contemporary fiction. What do you believe accounts for the differences between the sub-genres in today’s romantic stories?

Molly: That’s such a great question! When I started writing Everything I Left Unsaid I thought it was going to be just like my other books but with this really sexy premise. But then as I started to write it – everything was just…sharper. More dramatic. The language – the POV’s….so that’s one difference.

As for the erotica – I think the more crucial the sexual relationship is to the storyline and the characters development and arc – the more erotic the romance. And then it’s a matter of making those scenes as charged and unpredictable as possible.

TRC: Do you believe the cover image plays a deciding factor for many readers in the process of selecting a book or new series to read?

Molly: Absolutely. Lots of readers – myself included – pick up books on the amazing covers alone. I’ve found so many great books because of it. I’ve been burned too, but it’s a gamble I love taking!!

TRC: The mark of a good writer is to pull the reader into the storyline so that they experience the emotions along with the characters. What do you believe a writer must do to make this happen?

Molly: I think it’s a combination of a lot of things – for me it’s a matter of making the characters as human as I can – which means real and relatable flaws. Slick, perfect characters are a total turn-off for me.

After I come up with my characters and make them as three dimensional as possible – then it’s a matter of showing the characters to the reader.

I think as writers write faster and faster – we’re getting told so much about the story and the characters. We need to get back to that immersive showing rather than the slick telling.

TRC: Many authors bounce ideas and information with other authors or friends and family. With whom do you bounce ideas?

Molly: I’ve had a crucial group of writer friends since the very beginning of my career. I would be LOST without them.

TRC: Would you like to add anything else?

Website: http://www.molly-okeefe.com/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/mokeefeauthor/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MollyOKeefeBooks

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1657059327869189/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MollyOKwrites

LIGHTNING ROUND

Favorite Food –The steak and a beautiful salad

Favorite Dessert –chocolate cake

Favorite TV Show –oh, so hard. Currently obsessed with Scandal and The Walking Dead but all time favorite is West Wing.

Last Movie You Saw in the theater- Yikes it’s been ages. But we just watched the 3rd Harry Potter movie. Huge hit at my house.

Dark or Milk Chocolate –Dark

Secret Celebrity Crush Not- so secret – Tom Hardy

Last Vacation Destination –ha – we JUST got back from three weeks in a campervan in the UK. Though – it was so intense I’m not sure it counts as a “vacation”

Do you have any pets?- A dog named Daisy and a lizard named Pip.

Last book you read- oh I am LOVING A Madness So Discreet. Dark and scary and mysterious. LOVE IT!

Pet Peeve- hmmm… I can’t think of one specific thing which probably means I have seven million. But I really hate it when people don’t help. No matter how big or small I think we can all help out.

TRC: Thank you Molly for taking the time to answer our questions. Congratulations on the new release. We wish you all the best.

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