Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Heat (Club Inferno #1) by Jamie K. Schmidt with Excerpt & Review



HEAT: Club Inferno
Loveswept Contemporary Romance
Written by Jamie K. Schmidt
Releasing, June 3, 2014

Blurb
Style and seduction collide in Jamie K. Schmidt’s Heat—sure to please fans of Fifty Shades of Grey—as the world’s best-dressed men and women shed their clothing . . . and their inhibitions.

On the run from her abusive fiancĂ©, ER doctor Mallory Bryant arrives at her sister’s Connecticut resort desperate for a place to restore balance to her life. But Club Inferno is more than a haven for the rich and fashionable. Beneath its elegant facade is an erotic playground where dominants and submissives play out their fantasies. At first, Mallory is wary of Max Spencer, the martial arts trainer acting as her bodyguard—until he introduces her to passion so intense she wants nothing more than to surrender to his touch.

As one of Couture’s most skilled doms, Max enjoys taking Mallory to the limits of pleasure. It’s a dangerous proposition, and as their sensual games draw them into a relationship beyond the boundaries of pupil and master, Max starts spiraling out of control. But when Mallory’s violent past catches up with her, Max knows what he must do: draw her closer than ever before, even if it means risking a surrender of his own.



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Excerpt:
Mallory had read the story about Blackbeard and his wives, and she knew she really shouldn’t snoop around in places she wasn’t welcome. However, after a very pleasant shopping trip, when Max finished carrying her bags up to her room he shouldn’t have said, “Tonight, Happy Buzz is sponsoring a party in the Hot Spot. It’s not Club Inferno—the members-only dungeon—but it’s still going to be pretty hard core. You wouldn’t last a minute.”
That got her back up. It didn’t matter that he was probably right. She was fascinated to know what a man like Max would call hard core. It couldn’t be too bad; otherwise it would be in the dungeon, on the erotic side. Although from what Max had said, Club Inferno wasn’t a dance club. It was a sex club. Mallory lay back on the bed, kicking her shoes off and staring at the ceiling.
The Happy Buzz purple vibrator on the bedside table kept catching her eye. It was her own fault. She should have left it in the box. But she was curious. The instruction manual was very informative. Mallory had tossed the vibrator in the drawer, but then decided it added to the room’s ambience. She even named it Winky—although it didn’t have one eye. She needed something to distract herself.
The Hot Spot.
Safer to stay in her room, though maybe she should go and at least thank Happy Buzz in person for the welcoming gift. Or maybe she should send a card. Did Hallmark make one that said “Thank You for the Vibrator”?
Hard core. If pleasuring two men while people watched wasn’t hard core, just what the heck was?
When the headboard from the room next to her started to knock against her wall, Mallory threw back the covers. “That’s it,” she said, rifling through her shopping bags for the nice new jeans she’d bought. Was there a dress code in the Hot Spot? Heck with it. She was wearing her good bra and her underwear that didn’t have holes in it, so she was going for it. It beat sitting up here and wondering.
Would Max be in the Hot Spot? Mallory felt a thrill of anticipation shiver up her spine. They’d had a nice time at the mall. He graciously let her take her time and even had an opinion on some of the outfits she tried on. He didn’t ask her any more questions about how she was reacting to the scene or about being tied up. Which was good, because she didn’t trust her answers. She had been turned on, that was the honest truth, but she could never have all those men touching her. Even in a fantasy, she would be too shy. No, she’d just want one man and she wasn’t sure if that was kosher around here.
When he texted her about an hour later, her heart had leapt in her throat. She didn’t really expect him to come out and invite her to the Hot Spot, but it certainly was a letdown to see a detail of her schedule for tomorrow—including what to eat for breakfast. It wasn’t as if she had anything against an egg white, spinach, and feta omelet, but screw him, she was going to have bacon also. She didn’t want to be good.
And that was exactly what was wrong with her life—well, aside from a drug-addicted ex-fiancĂ©. Mallory had spent so much time trying to be the perfect girlfriend and the perfect employee that she never got the chance to do stupid stuff like the things Colleen based her career on.
When Mallory was on Long Island studying to be a doctor, Colleen had been in Las Vegas taking her clothes off. When Mallory graduated cum laude, Colleen had just missed being busted for running an escort service for the “whales” at the Diamond Dreams Casino. While Colleen was dating football players and oil magnates, Mallory had been going steady with David, a lawyer from the Bronx who was understanding about her long hours at the hospital because he worked like crazy too. When Colleen’s romance hit the skids, she married up. When Mallory’s romance imploded, she ran for cover. She lived her whole life being the good girl, and what had it gotten her?
“A broken nose,” she said, running her finger down the bump. David had pushed her and she broke her nose on the door. “A broken life.” She scowled at herself in the mirror. Well, no more. Who was Mr. Max “I have two black belts” Hottypants to tell her she couldn’t handle the Hot Spot?
“I earned my shot at the Hot Spot.” Mallory pointed a finger at her reflection. “Right, Winky?”

The purple vibrator didn’t respond, which was probably for the best because as she locked up her room and headed toward the forbidden place, Mallory wondered if she had lost her mind instead of her inhibitions.
My Review: 4 stars
This was interesting to read, but I honestly thought it would be more than it was. Mallory was always the good girl, while her sister Colleen was the bad one. Funny how things work out sometimes. Mallory's life falls apart and she runs to her sister to hide from her now ex-fiance, but also to wrap her head around everything that happened to her. While there, Mallory meets Max who is put in charge of keeping her safe. Max also happens to be a Dom on the other side of her sister's business, which is kind of secret. To me, there really wasn't that much BDSM, and Max didin't really seem too dominant. The chemistry that Max and Mallory was fantastic, and I really enjoyed the way their relationship came together. It wasn't all sunshine and roses, but I defintitely enjoyed the ending. I was happy that Max and Mallory hit it off and found what they had been looking for, just not in the right places or people. The characters were good, as was the story line. I just thought the blurb a bit misleading. I thought it would be darker than it actually was. Jamie did a good job with this book, and I'm looking forward to reading more of her work.

Author Info
Jamie K. Schmidt has published more than thirty short stories in small-press journals and e-zines. She’s an active member in the Romance Writers of America, serving as the president for her local chapter in Connecticut. When not writing, she relaxes with a mug of hot tea and knits or makes beaded jewelry. She sells her handcrafted items at the Dudley Farm during the summer.

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(Grand Prize: $25.00 e-retailer gift card or Copy of HEAT and Loveswept Tote/Mug)

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