{ sneak peek } UNABASHED

Sasha White's OVERWATCH series will be continuing in the 

Every Which Way anthology this summer.

Did you love Ian and Ronnie as much as I did in UNFETTERED?

I am so pumped to read more about this couple! And after the sneak peak... you may just be 

gearing up for the release, yourself!

{ three questions with sasha } .

1)What scene did you enjoy the most when writing your story?
The whole story. Seriously, It’s rare I say that, but I fell in love with Ronnie and Ian when I wrote Unfettered, and it was such a joy to get back to them and dig deeper and take them to the next level of their relationship that it flowed so easily and I loved it all.

2)Is your story part of a series or connected to any of your other books?
It is. It’s a continuation of Ronnie and Ian’s relationship, from the Overwatch Series. The events on UNABASHED happen at the same time as the events in PRIMAL, only the main couple is different. Because it takes place on a stacked timeline, readers of PRIMAL will likely recognize one or two of the events, only they’ll be from a different characters POV this time.

3)If your story came with a warning label, what would it say?
WARNING: Story contains raw, raunchy, real love and power exchange. If you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen, and the bedroom, and the shower, and the dungeon.

{ sneak peek } ...

Hot lips wrapped around his cock and pulled him from sleep. It was heaven, and it was hell. 

Ronnie Mack. The girl who’d tempted him so much as a young man that he’d left town without saying goodbye to anyone. Finally, she was in his life again, and in his bed. Heaven.

He lay there, eyes still closed, enjoying the delicious torment of velvet tongue stroking up and down his cock and fighting the need to take control at the same time. It was a rare thing for him to have a sub in his home, in his bed, but it was even more rare for him to fight the urge to control. He was a Dominant, he liked to be the one in control, the one tormenting someone until they were drowning in pleasure. Any woman entering his bed knew that, but normally they’d have negotiated their boundaries. 

He’d been in such a hurry they’d skipped that step the night before. Hell. 

Damn, she was good with that little tongue of hers. He wasn’t going to last very long, which was a shock considering the woman between his legs had pretty much wrung him dry the night before. Talented fingers cupped his balls as she took him deep and he bumped the back of her throat for a too brief second before she pulled back. A growl rumbled in his chest.  

Fuck holding back, she’d said she wanted a man who was dominant, now she’s got one. Time for her training to truly begin.

He reached down, wrapped his fist in Ronnie’s silky hair and shoved his dick down her throat until she gagged. Her fingers tightened on his sack briefly then she pushed herself closer, gagging harder.

“No,” he growled roughly. He pulled her back by her hair and looked down to meet her gaze. “I’m in control. You do nothing but open wide, relax, and swallow when it’s time.” 

Her dark eyes widened, her cheeks flushed and her sharp little nails dug into his thighs as she looked up at him. Slowly, like a little tease,  her jaw dropped and she opened for him.

{ previous reviews of series }

Primal { review here }

Unfettered { review here }

review || UNFETTERED

After reading PRIMAL and being just a liiiiittle bit disappointed (and really, it was just a teeny tiny bit; it did get a 4.5 star rating from me, after all), I decided to look into the pre-Overwatch story, the one that is hinted at a bit in PRIMAL -- the story of Ian and Ronnie. I liked Ronnie in PRIMAL; I wanted to know her story.

And low and behold, the book was free. I would have paid for it, I wanted to read it enough. But when the book is free, it allows me to read it even quicker (because I have to budget every single penny).

Know what? It's still free. I urge you to go download it -- totally worth it.

Unfettered by Sasha White

Publisher: White Hot Books (8/4/2012)

Series: Overwatch, book 0.5

Genre: Erotica Romance

Source: Purchase (currently FREE)

Buy It For Your Kindle | Nook || Goodreads

My Rating: ★★★★★

You never forget your first love


Mechanic Ronnie Lang is tired of being "one of the guys". Chasing the fantasy of finding a dominant male to help her explore her sexuality she applies to Overwatch, a private Kink club where her eyes are opened to a world that's more than she ever imagined, and the man she's never forgotten.

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Connect with Sasha White || Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook

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Ronnie is 'one of the guys' -- men don't typically see her as a female-being. Tired of it, she does an Internet search (much to the later dismay of Ian), and manages to find herself an application for Overwatch. 

When the application makes it into the hands of Overwatch, it gets passed around. Each trainer to the BDSM club needs to approve of the applicant. When the application makes it into Ian's hands..

...well, really, he'd rather decline. 

'It was a bold answer, an honest answer. The way the letters started to slant and wobble toward the end made it clear that the author's emotions had leaked into her words. Someone who was so open and honest about their needs would be a joy to initiate into the world of BDSM, which was why there was already excited debate at the table about being this one's trainer -- and why his heart was suddenly pounding in his ribs.'

Ian knew this applicant and was torn. 

'"I know her," he said.

'Conversation stopped and Adam's eyes snapped to his. "How well?"

 '"Well enough."

'Adam nodded. "How do you want to handle it?"

'Ian bit back the urge to should, 'Hell, no', to those seated at the table. No way was he going to let his childhood friend's little cousin join a kink club.'

Eventually, though, he let's his feelings aside and agrees to allowing her in.

While Ian is expecting her, Ronnie never expected to see Ian again -- the guy of her younger fantasies. 

'Ian had been her first crush, the guy who caused her first stirring of desire when she was barely a teenager. It would make sense that her desire for a dominant man stemmed from her adolescent yearning for him, the good-looking boy next door who'd always been there for her. He hadn't laughed at her for wanting to play on the all-boys softball team at school, or for fighting to be able to take a shop class instead of home economics. He'd been her first friend when she'd moved out to California, and the first guy to ever kiss her.

'Unfortunately, he disappeared from her life after that kiss.' 

But while he was expecting her, he hadn't truly been prepared for her.

'Christ, she still had those big dark eyes that he'd loved years ago. "Hello, again," he said.

[...]

'They looked at one another, and the years fell away. She wasn't someone he used to know anymore. She was Ronnie. The same girl next door he'd looked out for. The same one who'd sat at his side after his Grandmother passed, and tempted him beyond reason until he'd kissed her. He'd been eighteen at the time, and hand no business kissing a fifteen-year-old.

With novellas, an author has to be cautious about passage of time. While a reader can get engrossed in the story and forget that, hello, the book took place over a whoppin' forty-eight hours and yep, they just met and sure thing, that's right, they're engaged -- I mean, who gets engaged after forty-eight hours (don't answer, I'm sure someone out there knows someone who did just this and they made it work) -- but it helps when the characters already have history.

But beyond that, sometimes a passage of time needs to happen during a novella to make the story more believable. I loved how Sasha did just that -- the story didn't feel rushed, but she made plenty of notes stating 'the next week', 'the next Thursday class', and so forth, to make the reader understand that this short story is taking place over a number of weeks.

When Ronnie and Ian finally succumb to their emotions, it's not about playing in the club -- after all, their first time is actually not in the club, but at Ian's home (where her makes sure Ronnie understands is not a place he brings submissives) -- it feels real, honest, and believable.

It made me want to, and therefore I did, revisit their scenes in PRIMAL. I'm a super-fan of Ian and Ronnie, and if what Sasha said is any indication, I'm super, super excited to see more of them in the future.

review || PRIMAL

Primal by Sasha White

Publisher: White Hot Books (10/24/2012)

Series: Overwatch, book 1 (follows novella UNFETTERED)

Genre: Erotica Romance

Source: Author/NetGalley

Buy It For Your Kindle | Nook || Goodreads

My Rating: ★★★★1/2

BDSM club owner Adam Kessler is no one’s hero. He joined the army to get away from the gang-life that had taken his brother, only to come home to heartache. He doesn’t hide his dominant side, and he doesn’t hesitate in his need to protect or enforce his particular brand of retribution on those who’ve earned it. There’s no way in hell he could walk past a man hassling a woman in an empty parking lot and do nothing. Only when the confrontation is over and the voluptuous blonde turns eyes filled with desire to him, does Adam realize he’s in trouble.  

Psychologist Olivia Lang grew up with the proverbial silver spoon, and has never regretted spending more time on her career than on romance, until she meets Adam Kessler. He’s dark, he's dangerous, and he's deliciously dominant... and she wants him.     

Passion burns quick and hot between them and soon they’re caught up in an intensely carnal relationship that neither can deny. But when Olivia’s life is threatened and she learns just how dangerous he can be, will it be too much for the civilized psychologist to handle, or will she truly accept the man and win her hero’s heart?

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Connect with Sasha White || Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook

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I'm huge on character development. I've decided that that alone is typically what drives how I feel about a book. Sometimes it's difficult to develop characters to their true, full extent in a novella-length book, though.
 

I went into PRIMAL super pumped and excited. Heck, I had a social-media conversation with the author, Sasha White, beforehand and I knew, just knew, that I wanted to like her and her writing. In the few brief exchanges, I could totally tell she's personable and that makes her a good person in my book.
 

Now, to keep that euphoria up there for a moment... The development of Adam was Spot. On.

Right from the prologue, you knew that Adam was a darker type guy -- after all, he even states he's one who lives for and in shadows. That alone shows he's dark and mysterious.
 

He's dark, mysterious, deadly... And sexy. Yet he feels that Olivia is just too good for him.

'"You're too vulnerable for me to take what you're offering tonight. You're way out of my league, and in the cold light of day tomorrow, you'll realize it, and I don't want to be a regret. But if you ever feel like slumming it, you have my number."'

To which, of course, she tries to appease him:

'"I'm going to think about you," she spoke quickly, before he could hang up. "When I'm in bed tonight. And just so you know, it won't be tomorrow, but I'm going to come see you soon, and it won't be slumming when I do. It will be amazing."

'Then she hung up. She didn't want to hang up on him, but she didn't want to give him a chance to argue, either...' 

When it comes to Olivia, at least initially, her development was just... a bit off for me.

Maybe it was rushed and not full simply because the book needed to get to the real meat-and-potatoes of the story.... but I am a bit sad that the development of Olivia was pretty much left at 'she's a shrink in fancy clothes on her day off, who drives a fancy car, who's beautiful and wellllll out of Adam's league, who also has a bit of hero worship syndrome'. Understandably, though, most of the story is centered around Adam: his past, his company, his fears, his concerns, etc. So it makes sense that, as a reader, you understand Adam more than Olivia.
 

Of course, once I moved away from the development and got into the (previously stated) meat-and-potatoes.... It looked up again.
 

Novella-length stories are meant to be quick, easy, fun reads... However I always find myself judging them a bit harsher, as if I expect all the points of a full-length story to be met and achieved in a much, much shorter story.

All of that aside, I did still 'purchase' (it's currently FREE) the Overwatch novella, UNFETTERED. The glimpses I got of Ronnie in PRIMAL made me interested in her story. UNFETTERED is much shorter than PRIMAL, an already short story, but I'm looking forward to cracking that baby open later tonight.