After asking for alpha male giveaways on twitter, Margie Church sent me her book The 18th Floor. I had never heard of it, and didn’t know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised.
When the book began, I thought “Holy Crap! This is total lady porn!” in other words, all sex, no story. but as the book went on, a story that I really enjoyed developed. This is a novella, about 120 pages, so you can never really get a deep story from a novella, but it was a nice, quick, HOT romance.
Alexa is an engineer. A horny engineer!!! She puts in 12-15 hour workdays every day, comes home to her empty apartment with chinese takeout, and listens to her upstairs neighbors go at it ALL.THE.TIME. Alexa fantasies about her co-worker, Sebastian, as does the rest of the female staff (side note, Sebastian is a strong, black, shaved head, great dresser, Alexa is white.) One morning, very early, Alexa wanders in to the conference room on…you guessed it….the 18th floor, and is imagining Sebastian (Sebi) and her going at it on the conference table, when he walks in, and they end up doing just that as the rest of the staff arrives for work. Whew! They barely know each other, and the risk of getting caught ratcheted up the HOT factor even more.
So here I was thinking, it was just about the sex, but then they actually began a relationship. Sebastian (Sebi) invites Alexa out on his boat for the weekend, where he meets up with other boaters who share the same lifestyle as Sebastian. What lifestyle you ask? Sebastian is a Dom! Alexa has an ex who beat her, so the idea of spanking and flogging do NOT sit well with her, but she does enjoy the exhibitionist stuff, and wants to try to work on a relationship with Sebi. The boat scenes were pretty hot, and though I’m not a lover of m-m scenes, there was one gay couple on one of the boats that had a truly, super hot scene.
As the book continues, it is clear that these two are falling in love. Yes, in this case sex came first (c’mon, we all know it often does), but it developed into something more. There was also some conflict, a little suspense, and romance. I liked the way Sebi was able to step back a bit from the things he enjoyed in order to pursue a relationship with Alexa, and that Alexa was able to give into some of Sebi’s needs for him.
Likes:
- I loved the black and white combo, and I liked how the author didn’t make any big deals about it.
- I liked that the couple both made compromises to be together.
- I like a relationship that starts with sex and ends with love.
- Clit spanking! There is a lot of that, and I must tell you, I have recently discovered how much fun that is 😉
Dislikes:
- I would have liked to have gotten to know Sebi a bit more.
- Though hot, Sebastian did not seem that Dominant in bed at all, it seemed he let her lead the way more than he did.
- Too expensive for a novella.
Though the book didn’t really delve too deeply into anything. It was a light, sexy, hot romance. Though it is a BDSM romance, the BDSM is very light, and the biggest BDSM scene was actually not involving the primary couple. I enjoyed the second half a lot more than the first (when I thought it was just lady porn), since I really like a story. It was all wrapped up a little quickly, but then again, the same goes for most novellas.
Recommended for a quick hot read between heavier, longer, more angsty books.
Would you like a chance to read this story for Free? Margie Church (I gotta say, her name makes me giggle considering she writes scorching hot sex) has graciously offered to give away a copy of The 18th Floor to one lucky reader. Just follow the rafflecopter instructions to win.
Purchase The 18th Floor by Margie Church
Amazon || BN.com || iBooks
She also writes a story called Razor that I will try to fit into my schedule ASAP because it sounds really scorching hot!
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Margie Church says
Ana, I’m glad you enjoyed my sizzling novella and thank you for a terrific, detailed review. With your permission, I’ll link to it on my website.
As for the name, yeah, my SIL said, “Who the hell is going to read smut from a woman named Church?” Apparently a lot of people. 🙂 I own it.
I hope your fans will enjoy The 18th Floor, and I can’t wait to hear what all of you think of Razor. Enter the contest, tonight, too.
Best,
Margie
anasdiary says
Link away!!!! Thanks for the comments!
Margie Church says
🙂
Denise Gardner says
This sounds like am awesome read. Going to be added to my “Must read!” list.
Margie Church says
Thank you. And don’t forget Razor, too.
Denise Gardner says
Oh, and thank you for the giveaway. Looking forward to reading this book.
lisa w says
Thanks for your great reviews! They really help me decide what’s next on the TBR pile!
Margie Church says
Hi Lisa, I hope my books will get on your TBR too. I think you can see mine via satellite. :-p
anasdiary says
Thank you! Come back and let me know which ones you love!
lisa w says
Yes– been caught! ‘Sorry, Officer, but he is my husband” It was hilarious!
Karen says
I think it is hard to develop a good story in a novella but it can be done. This sounds like it will be a very good read, I am looking forward to checking it out. Thanks for the review and the chance to win!
Margie Church says
Hi Karen, ICAM. I wrote three short stories this summer – the longest was 20k words and the shortest 7k. It takes skill to hone in on the core story and cut out anything that doesn’t have to be there. Perhaps readers don’t realize that when the publisher says 7,000 words max on a story, they mean it. I’m currently writing a full novel and I’m so enjoying stretching my writer’s legs to include all the delicious back story and details without word count restrictions. I love letting the characters tell the story.
I hope you’ll check out The 18th Floor, Razor, and the other 13 books on my back list.
Karen says
Thanks I will check out your sight. I can appreciate the struggle to limit how you tell your story even tho I do not do it professionally. I remember it from education classes, and writing essays for scholarships and employment. It is very hard limiting a story to a set number of words. I admire those that can do it and make it look easy!
Denise Gardner says
My other comments did not apply, used other email. Sorry. Going to be a hot read for sure.
Margie Church says
LOL No problem.
lorna says
Sounds like a great little read
Margie Church says
It is, Lorna! It definitely satisfies. I hope you enjoy it.
Jo S says
Thanks for this one. Your the second person to have recommended it so will be adding it to my ever expanding TBR.
Margie Church says
Much appreciated Jo. Good luck in the contest. If you follow my blog and on Facebook, you’ll find lots of places to win my books.
anasdiary says
Glad to see you got this covered Margie 🙂
Margie Church says
I’m always thrilled to meet new readers and find new places to promote my work. Thank YOU for having me.
Tracy says
Yes, but thank god we weren’t caught!!
Dawn says
YES I have and THANK GOD I was never caught!! Now while I say I was never caught that doesn’t mean that no one saw – I’m sure plenty of people saw me a few times but no one ever stopped us – lol