Bad Boys With Expensive Toys

Rating:
Summary: Bad Boys with Bad Plots
Review: As a general rule, I do not read romance novels. I have, on occasion and at the request of friends, read some historical romance novels, and I did find those entertaining. I prefer a book with a few more brains in the binding, so to speak, something with intellectual layers and levels, and I expect this from all the books I read. If you enjoy a shallow book with no higher levels than what you see on the page, then you may like BAD BOYS WITH EXPENSIVE TOYS.
This book contains three novellas: "The Fourteen Million Dollar Poodle" by Nancy Warren, "The World Is Too Darned Big" by MaryJanice Davidson, and "Anything You Can Do..." by Karen Kelley.
In "The Fourteen Million Dollar Poodle," Warren tells the story of Vince "Bulldog" Granger, a tough guy living in New York, who inherits his eccentric aunt's pampered French poodle Mimi. His wealthy aunt also wills her entire estate to Mimi, which in turn will go to him, but only after the dog dies of natural causes. This clearly does not sit well with Vince's greedy cousins, foreshadowing some plot twists towards the end of the story. Vince has trouble caring for Mimi, who only understands French and who is accustomed to a more refined living than a New York bachelor can provide her. After becoming acquainted with Sophie Veneau, a pretty French nanny, Vince decides to hire her to dog-sit Mimi. Sophie and Vince become romantically involved, and with the help of Sir Galahad, a stray doberman, they must protect Mimi from a sinister plot that would end her life.
The characters in this story are extremely flat and stereotyped roles; the dialogue is dull and cliché. The poodle and the doberman reflect the main characters Vince and Sophie in personality, which strikes me as very appropriate. The plot is rather predictable. The setting, while realistic, is not detailed, and only serves as a venue for this tedious story to unfold. Even the sex scenes are dull and boring. There really is no theme to this story, other than perhaps whether it is ethical and legal to will an estate to a dog, or to give said dog a Cartier diamond-encrusted collar and leash.
Davidson's "The World Is Too Darned Big," while a slightly more interesting story-line than the previous one, is extremely unrealistic and unbelievable. Benjamin Dyson is a technology geek working for the CIA whose current project is a skeleton key card. Tara Marx enters his life, a bad-ass freelance agent who informs Dyson that his last project was not for the CIA, but for a group of bad guys posing as the CIA. Dyson and Marx track down the agents at the Mayo clinic, where there is a show-down, and find some time for canoodling together.
This novella is more interesting than the last simply because the characters are not as flat. While their emotions are very stereotyped, their personalities have some dimension that adds interest to the story. Still, the setting and the plot are very unrealistic. The bad guys are very non-lethal, and their motives are just silly.
The final story, "Anything You Can Do...," is to me the most interesting of the three stories. Alex Cannedy is a notorious playboy spending time in Las Vegas. At his sister Lisa's wedding reception, the attractive Kagen Yates, a wealthy interior decorator, catches his eye. Lisa has given Alex the keys to her apartment to house-sit while she is away on her honeymoon, and so he will have a quiet place to work on his big computer project. She is unaware that her husband Steve has also given an apartment key to his friend Kagen, so that she can decorate the apartment for the couple while they are gone. Meanwhile, Lisa finds out about Alex's interest in Kagen, and she makes him pinkie swear not to seduce her, since Kagen has been hurt in relationships in the past. When Kagen and Alex learn that they are sharing an apartment for the week, Kagen decides she will seduce the attractive Alex, and Alex tries his best to keep his promise to his sister.
The plot is relatively interesting, out-lining a game of seduction in a rather funny way that does a good job at building tension. In fact, this is actually a good story up to a certain point in the plot when the tension breaks, at which point you may as well put down the book and not spoil what you have just read. A series of sexual interludes become more and more contrived and pathetic, and the plot-line nose-dives into the same state as the other stories. The characters are slightly more interesting and dimensional than those in the other stories, and some interesting themes do emerge from this story: Is it right to set limits on someone else's love life? Is it better to avoid the possibility of getting hurt in a relationship than to jump head-in? Does a pinkie swear count if it doesn't involve spit?
All three stories sound as if they could have been written by the same person. There is nothing new or exciting about the language, characters, or story-line. On the contrary, they are very clichéd and contrived, and I am sorry to have wasted time on them. If, however, you enjoy a books on a third-grade reading level with some soft-core erotic scenes that require no exercise of the mind, then this is the book for you.

Rating:
Summary: A hot and steamy read
Review: Bad Boys With Expensive Toys has three hot and steamy stories by three favorite authors.

The Fourteen Million Dollar Poodle by Nancy Warren has Vince Grange a tough and manly labor negotiator who inherits a rich toy poodle. This poodle only answers to French, so Vince hires a nanny. Sophie Veneau agrees to watch Mimi, but her owner Vince is make her heart race. Vince is having serious problems with Sophie he wants her for himself. Nancy Warrens story is funny and sexy, it's a must read.

MaryJanice Davidson's The World Is Too Darned Big has Dr. Ben Dyson wishing he could use the fancy spy gadgets he makes to help safe the world. He gets his chance when spy Tara Marx falls into his willing lap. Tara Marx is working to retrieve some stolen Intel. She wasn't planning on a spy wannabe helping. Ben and Tara's wit and passion will make you laugh and swoon. MaryJanice delivers another story that will tickle your funny bone and steam up your night.

Karen Kelley's in Anything You Can Do... has playboy Alex Cannedy being a roommate for a week with the one woman he promised not to touch. He promised his sister that he would not make a move on her new hubby's best friend Kagen Yates. But all bets are off when Kagen throws a dare that Alex can't last 48 hours before he gives in to his desires. What follows is an amusing and sexy game of one upmanship. Alex and Kagen are a hot and titillating couple.

This is a fun and sexy anthology, you can't go wrong it getting it.


Rating:
Summary: Just the title alone makes you want to pick up the book.
Review: BAD BOYS WITH EXPENSIVE TOYS. Just the title alone makes you want to pick up the book. But Karen Kelley's novella, ANYTHING YOU CAN DO, makes it worth the read all by itself.
A hunky computer entrepreneur, Alex Cannedy pinky-swears to his sister to leave her hubby's best friend, Kagen Yates, alone. Seems Alex has a history of lovin' `em and leavin' `em. But Alex and Kagen must share the newlyweds' apartment for a week and unfortunately Kagen has lovin' on her mind. When Alex acts uninterested, she tries every dirty trick in the book to make him cave. And watching Alex squirm under the pressure is pure delight.
The race is on to see who will win in this sexy romp that sizzles with sexual tension. The lovin' steams up the windows when Alex has finally had all he can take and Kagen gets just what she deserves. Karen's comedic voice really shines through in this fast-paced novella.


Rating:
Summary: Another Fun Anthology!
Review: Brave is the King or I guess rather the Queen of anthologies! Their "Bad Boys" series are fun fast reads that offer the reader great escapes, yummy hero's, fun heroine's and some rather steamy chemistry between the two.

This latest is no acception. This read has some great authors contributing to it (Nancy Warren, MaryJanice Davidson, and Karen Kelley) so you know that you're in for a treat. I won't go into a long drawn out synopsis of each short story, suffice to say that all three authors manage to deliver fun reads that will have the reader laughing out loud and sighing "Ah romance". There truly was not a bad one in the bunch. I highly recommend this line and series if you like your romance spicy, laughter, and yummy hot hero's that live up to their reputation.

Official Reviewer for www.romancedesigns.com

Rating:
Summary: A sizzling erotic romance
Review: The Fourteen Million Dollar Poodle by Nancy Warren. Labor negotiator Vince Grange is known for playing hardball; thus he is the last male anyone would expect to own a toy poodle. However, he inherits wealthy Mimi, who only responds to French-speaking commands. Vince hires Sophie Veneau to watch Mimi, but he can't keep his eyes off of his new employee. This amusing contemporary stars three delightful protagonists with the human pair in constant heat.

The World Is Too Darned Big by MaryJanice Davidson. Dr. Ben Dyson invents espionage paraphernalia that helps agents make the world safer. His fondest desire is to use one of his gizmos in a field scenario. When agent Tara Marx struggles to recover stolen intelligence information, she never expected to have a civilian as her partner. This spy who stayed hot in the cold tale is humorous and hot due two strong gender bending lead characters.

Anything You Can Do by Karen Kelley. Playboy Alex Cannedy promised his sister that he would not make a play to get Kagen Yates in his bed for the week that the beautiful woman is staying with him. Alex regrets his vow as he wants her and she seems as willing, but he plans to do the honorable thing by adhering to his pledge. However, Kagen bets him that she will have him in bed within two days as their desires for one another will overwhelm his misplaced ethics. The torrid lead couple provides readers with a terrific war of the sex's tale.

All three novellas are hot, jocular and fun as the hunks exchange their toys for more interesting play things.

Harriet Klausner