I received this book for free from Rock Star Lit in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Dirty Sexy Cuffed by Carly Phillips, Erika Wilde Series: Dirty Sexy #3
Series Rating:
Published by CP Publishing on June 21st, 2016
Genres: Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 230
Format: eARC
Source: Rock Star Lit
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Are you ready to get Cuffed?
As a cop, Levi Kincaid is all about discipline and control . . .in the bedroom, and out of it, and he's always been very careful about choosing women who abide by his rules. Hot sex and intense pleasure? No problem. Emotional commitment and forever promises? No way. But he never anticipates falling for a blue eyed angel who makes him want to cuff her to his bed and do dirty, sexy things to her. And that control of his? It doesn't stand a chance against Sarah Robins, the one woman he can't resist . . .
Dirty Sexy Cuffed is the third installment in the Dirty Sexy series by Carly Phillips and Erika Wilde. I’ve been looking forward to this one since the beginning. There’s just something about a man as tightly wound as Levi that makes me really look forward to seeing him lose his shit.
Levi Kincaid is the youngest of the Kincaid brothers, and the one who took their crappy upbringing most to heart. He lives his life in extremes, absolutely rigid in his pursuit of truth and right as a cop, and refusing to even taste alcohol, pain killers, or any other substance that could alter his reality even a little bit. He’s never been an addict, never even tried any of those things, but he saw what they did to his parents, and he won’t allow the slightest possibility that they’ll get their hooks into him. His older brothers don’t share this particular outlook, and he’s always felt like he was on the outside looking in with them. They’re all close, but they don’t all understand each other’s choices, and it makes them wary of each other.
His hero complex is well-served by his crush on the cute girl who works at his local convenience store. The thought of Sarah working at the gas station in a bad part of town late at night has him constantly checking on her and hanging around after his shifts as a crime deterrent. A late night robbery, a bullet to the gut, and Sarah’s refusal to tell him anything about herself have all of Levi’s cop instincts pinging, and he manages to insert himself into her life in order to keep her safe.
Sarah does have secrets; she’s on the run from an ex-boyfriend and the crazy cult he got them both embroiled with. She’s ready to run again, just saving up enough money, and the last thing she needs or wants is to get mixed up with a cop who could potentially call attention to her.
I liked seeing Levi let loose a little bit, seeing him give up a little of that control he guards so tightly. And Sarah was a sweet girl. The books in this series are short, each one only taking me about an hour and half on my initial read, so we just didn’t get to know her as well as we’ve gotten to know Levi over the course of the series. We really only see her in relation to Levi; she doesn’t have any family or any other friends that we see her interact with. By the end of the book we don’t know that much more about her than we did in the first chapter. The relationship between them also seems to happen really fast. The events of the book seem to take place in a short amount of time, though the two of them have been talking during his late night stops for months before the book opens, which could explain some of their connection.
Overall, I liked this, but not quite as much as I liked the second in the series, Dirty Sexy Inked. The hidden side of Levi was delicious. His brothers don’t even know about his preference for kinkier sex, and I was thrilled to see thaat he allowed himself some kind of release for all that tension. I just wanted a little bit more of this story, a chance to go a little deeper, so to speak. I didn’t really like the resolution with Sarah’s issues, either, I didn’t think it really fit with what we’ve come to expect from Levi. But the epilogue set up a fourth book I didn’t see coming, and I will definitely be pre-ordering that as soon as the links go up.
About Carly Phillips
After a successful fifteen year career with various New York publishing houses, and over 40 sexy contemporary romance novels published, N.Y. Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Carly Phillips is now an Indie author who writes to her own expectations and that of her readers. She continues the tradition of hot men and strong women and plans to publish many more sizzling stories. Carly lives in Purchase, NY with her family, two nearly adult daughters and two crazy dogs who star on her Facebook Fan Page and website. She’s a writer, a knitter of sorts, a wife, and a mom. In addition, she’s a Twitter and Internet junkie and is always around to interact with her readers.
