The Sugar Bowl series is a contemporary romance with a revenge theme.
The author lists it as romantic suspense, but I think differently.
It's dual perspective with explicit content. Be warned that there is an assault trigger for those who prefer to avoid those.
Hopefully my reviews of these books inspires someone to give them a try.

Sugar Daddy

Sela Halstead lost her innocence in a way that no sixteen-year-old should ever have to endure. She’s spent years trying to forget that night even while wondering about the identities of the monsters who brutalized her—until a telltale tattoo flashes across Sela’s TV screen. The incriminating ink belongs to Jonathon Townsend, the millionaire founder of The Sugar Bowl, a website that matches rich older men with impressionable young women. Obsessed with revenge, Sela infiltrates Townsend’s world, only to come face-to-face with a tantalizing complication: Beckett North, his charismatic business partner.

The tech mastermind behind The Sugar Bowl, Beck always gets what he wants, in business and in bed. And yet, for a man who’s done every dirty thing imaginable, there’s something about the naïve, fresh-faced Sela that sparks his hottest fantasies. Because with her, it’s not just about sex. Beck opens up to her in ways he never has with other girls. So why does he get the feeling that she’s hiding something? In a world of pleasure and power, the shocking truth could turn them against each other—or bind them forever.

Sugar Rush

After posing as an escort for the Sugar Bowl online dating service, Sela Halstead is looking for one thing: payback. She's closing in on the site's heartless founder, Jonathon Townsend, and she needs Beckett North, Townsend's business partner and her lover, by her side. She'd thought that their intimate nights together had forged an unbreakable bond, but after a shocking betrayal, Sela begins to doubt the brilliant bad boy. When push comes to shove, can she trust Beck to do the right thing?

Now that he understands the truth, Beck will stop at nothing to secure the reckoning Sela deserves. But between his desire for her and his disgust for JT, Beck doesn't exactly have a lot of control over his emotional state. Left with no other choice, he must summon all his discipline to maintain JT's trust and pretend that they're still friends. But how far will Beck go to prove his loyalty to Sela? He nearly lost her once. To keep her, Beck might have to kill for her.

Sugar Free

For years Sela Halstead dreamed of revenge, but the quest for payback has been anything but sweet. Now, once again, she finds herself at the mercy of Jonathon Townsend, his hands crushing the very breath from her body. And even though she escapes with her life, Sela fears she may never recover. In desperate need of shelter and comfort, she runs to the one man she can trust. Beckett North has stood by Sela since the beginning. But can he handle the brutal truth?

Beck will do anything to protect what is his—and make no mistake, Sela belongs to him, heart and soul. The passion between them runs hot, even as their world begins to unravel. With the legacy of his ruthless business partner hanging in the balance, Beck stands to lose everything: his fortune, his family, his freedom. But each touch of Sela’s mouth on his skin, her nails down his back, makes it harder to let her go—and it might not even be his choice to make.

Naked Truth by Lisa Renee Jones

Previously published as the Naked Trilogy
Rating -
Standalone - Scandalous Billionaires
Release - March 7, 2024
Genre - Contemporary Romance / revenge
POV - Dual 1st person
Heat - explicit scenes
Source - eARC provided by the author
Length - 688 pages



The eldest North son is dead and it has been ruled a suicide. However, Jax has some serious doubts. All clues point to the Knight family's involvement and he intends to take them down. That is until he officially meets Emma Knight, the woman he was meant to use to further his revenge. She was nothing like he expected and he's got a choice to make—love or vengeance?

Emma tended to drive me up the wall, but I enjoyed the heck out of this story. Jax more than made up for any ill will I may have felt towards his lady love (which wasn't much). The bond that quickly grew between these characters drew me in like nobody's business. I was glued to these pages and I didn't just want, I needed to know how it would all turn out. Was Chance just like his father? Would Brody be okay? Have I already read Savage's book because dude needs his own story. And how exactly did Hunter die? Besides all that, thank you dear author for giving me some glimpses of the absolutely yummy Grayson and his equally delicious best mate, Eric.

So why 4 and not 5 stars?
In all honesty... and I'm no expert... but I think this story could have been shorter than it was. A lot of the happenings, though exciting, got a bit repetitive and I kept waiting for the plot to move along.

LRJ has been a favorite of mine since I rediscovered my love for romance novels. She delivers stories full of intensity, whether it's through feels, suspense, or heat. Her stories are easy recommendations to make.


New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Lisa Renee Jones is the author of the highly acclaimed INSIDE OUT series. Suzanne Todd (producer of Alice in Wonderland) on the INSIDE OUT series: Lisa has created a beautiful, complicated, and sensual world that is filled with intrigue and suspense. Sara’s character is strong, flawed, complex, and sexy – a modern girl we all can identify with.

In addition to the success of Lisa’s INSIDE OUT series, she has published many successful titles. The TALL, DARK AND DEADLY series and THE SECRET LIFE OF AMY BENSEN series, both spent several months on a combination of the New York Times and USA Today bestselling lists.

Prior to publishing Lisa owned multi-state staffing agency that was recognized many times by The Austin Business Journal and also praised by the Dallas Women’s Magazine. In 1998 Lisa was listed as the #7 growing women owned business in Entrepreneur Magazine.

Hunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton

Rating -
Book Two of the Cat and Mouse duet
Genre/Trope - Dark Romance / stalker / vigilante
Release - January 28, 2022
POV - Dual 1st person
Heat - explicit scenes
Source - Kindle Unlimited
Length - 531 pages

Don't forget to check out the first book of the duet:

I really had to suspend my belief for this one. Some things just didn't make sense in a realistic sense, but I'll tell you this: I was entertained!!

Adeline was kidnapped and being trained to be sold. I really enjoyed this part of the story. She went through so much pain and torture and it all fundamentally changed her. I kept thinking "Will she see Zade in a different light?" She gave Zade such a hard time for everything he did to eradicate the world from abusive scum, but at the same time she celebrated the fact that he would be killing everyone who hurt her while they were apart. Girl was too funny, for sure.

I know there are people who find the topics discussed in this duet as terribly dark and horrific. If that's what you think, you should definitely not read Deliverance for Amelia by Bonny Capps or The Life of Anna series by Marissa Honeycutt—those are truly dark and horrific. This duet was pretty mild in comparison, but it did gut me in places. I cringed, gasped and my eyes did bug out for some scenes. However, I also enjoyed myself a ton.

My biggest issue with this story was Adeline. While I lived in delusional-ville for the majority of this story, I couldn't let the delusion take me too far. Was I supposed to believe that Adeline became fully capable after a couple of months of training? Seriously? And every time she mentioned "we" did this in order to fool or trap the bad guys, I laughed. I know she was using the "we" figuratively, but there was no "we". She wasn't hacking anything. She wasn't building bombs or placing them to detonate. She wasn't tracking or really doing a damn thing.



H. D. Carlton is an International and USA Today Bestselling author. She lives in Ohio with her partner, two dogs, and cat. When she's not bathing in the tears of her readers, she's watching paranormal shows and wishing she was a mermaid. Her favorite characters are of the morally gray variety and believes that everyone should check their sanity at the door before diving into her stories.

Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton

Rating - ★★★★
Book One of the Cat and Mouse duet
Genre/Trope - Dark Romance / stalker / vigilante
Release - August 12, 2021
POV - Dual 1st person
Heat - explicit scenes / non-dub consent
Source - Kindle Unlimited
Length - 551 pages




I'm going to hurry up and put some words down here because I've already got book two loaded up and I NEED to know what happens next!

Adeline drove me nuts and I couldn't get enough of Zade. I know that's messed up. Dude was seriously a creepy stalker, but the author captured just enough of his sexiness on page to make it alright. Would I condone his behaviour in real life? Would I be as welcoming as Adeline? Would I have the police on speed dial and a gun permanently attached to my hand?

The answer is obviously yes. *side eye* Obviously.


Zade was a hotbed of contradictions. He dedicated his life to protecting the innocent. Women and children who were being targeted had a guardian angel in him. But he found no problem terrifying his sweet Adeline.

"I love that I scare you. I love that you try to run from me. The push and pull. The cat and mouse game. I fucking love it. And I think a part of you does, too.” — Zade

Adeline's denials to Zade got old pretty quickly, but I did enjoy the cat and mouse game going on between them. Every scene they shared was explosive. Every time they spoke, I learned another one of their truths. And the feelings that were growing... Let's just say I'm excited to start reading the next book.

This man is going to ruin me after tonight. I can taste it on my tongue.

This story is a mixed bag and I can see those who really appreciate something filthy and taboo really loving it.


"You want to know why I love the house of mirrors?" he murmurs in my ear, eliciting sparks throughout my nerve endings. His voice is full of dark promises and dangerous beginnings.
I swallow thickly. "Why?" I whisper.
"Look around you," he commands softly. Hesitantly, I pull my eyes away from his, dragging my gaze across the dozens of mirrors.
"What you're seeing now is what I see every day. No matter how far I run, how hard I try to escape you—you're everywhere I go. You're everything I see. Loving you is like being trapped in a house of mirrors, little mouse. And I've never felt so at home while being so lost inside of you."



H. D. Carlton is an International and USA Today Bestselling author. She lives in Ohio with her partner, two dogs, and cat. When she's not bathing in the tears of her readers, she's watching paranormal shows and wishing she was a mermaid. Her favorite characters are of the morally gray variety and believes that everyone should check their sanity at the door before diving into her stories.

Clown Motel by Lani Lynn Vale

It’s not every day you meet a man at the bar, stare at him for hours, and then right when you decide to make a move, he gets up to leave. Worse, when you follow him outside, you see him completely change his appearance by shucking a wig and a button down shirt, dropping them into the nearest trash can.

When Crimson looks around to see who noticed the complete one-eighty that’s just taken place, not a single person notices or cares. When she looks back, he’s gone.

Dejected, she leaves, thinking maybe she’d hallucinated and made the whole night up.

Only, just as she passes a dark alley, she’s taken. Literally and figuratively.

That’s the night that Winston Cyrus Osborn, III walks into her life.

***

Crimson is the worst type of woman.

She’s curious.

And curiosity kills the cat in his line of work.

With nothing else left to lose, he’s set to rid this world of the filth that infests it. And in doing that, he’s made a lot of enemies that would like nothing better than to ruin him and every single person he cares about.

At every turn, she’s there, insinuating herself into his life. And despite his attempts to keep her at arm’s length, she blows past every single barrier he erects.

He should really stay away.

He should also make sure that she stays out of his business.

Yet, he keeps letting her in. And she keeps reminding him why he wants her to stay.




I thought I knew what I was stepping into. Three books deep and I figured I knew what to expect from this series. Book four has thrown me for a loop. It went deeper, it went harder, and all the ugly pain got out... at least for the Singh siblings I've met so far.

I feel like I should be embarassed by how much I enjoyed Crimson's stalker vibes. The way that she didn't allow Winston any personal space gave me life! It wasn't like he wasn't aware of her every move too and that shared obsession was beautiful to witness.

I watched him from across the room.
I didn't know who he was.
I didn't know why he was there.
I didn't know why I was there.
What I did know was that I wanted him.
I'd never wanted someone so much in my life.

Winston had a backstory that broke my heart, but it wholly explained his hesitance to have something real with Crimson. She had her own story of trauma and honestly, no one had it easy. However, whatever they saw within one another made them better people and I was just happy to read about their journey.

I laughed, I cringed, I cheered, and I almost cried. Clown Motel was a remarkable read.

Other books in the series: Fun House * Freak Show * Show Off

Lani Lynn Vale is married to the love of her life that she met in high school. She fell in love with him because he was wearing baseball pants. Ten years later they have three perfectly crazy children and a cat named Demon who likes to wake her up at ungodly times in the night. They live in the greatest state in the world, Texas. She writes contemporary and romantic suspense, and has a love for all things romance. You can find Lani in front of her computer writing away in her fictional characters world...that is until her husband and kids demand sustenance in the form of food and drink.

Visit https://lanilynnvale.com for more information!