Fallen Angel by Alisa Anderson and Cameron Skye

 When Jess packed up her belongings and fled her small hometown in Kansas, she never looked back. Free from her family’s dark past she was finally able to pursue her lifelong dream as a professional dancer. She never expected to find herself at his door...or at his club.

Nikolas was unlike any other man she had ever met. Sexy…Alluring…Predatory. Dangerous. The kind of man with more secrets than even she had. Every instinct warned Jess against knowing him further, but she always did like playing with fire…

Nikolas Roman took one look at Jess and knew she was trouble from the very start. But something about the defiant twist of her mouth and the wide, haunted eyes of a damaged soul touched him in places he had long ago thought dead. He knew he needed to stay far away from her for his own sanity, but like a moth to a flame he was helpless to resist…

Working at Takers Gentleman's Club was the last place Jess thought she would find herself, but she quickly learned how the game was played. See what you want, take what you can get…but at what cost?

I always wonder why authors give us books with such few pages and high interest.  Is it a way to make us keep coming back to buy more of the story or are they giving us a taste to see if there are enough bites to keep the series going.  With this one I was hooked from page one and running to Amazon to see if the next book was out already.   The author wasted no time in jumping into the story and she did it in a huge way.  Jess left her torment and home in Kansas to hit the streets in New York.  Her dream was to become a dancer but until she gets her first big break, she is going to apply to be a stripper/dancer in Nikolas Roman’s Takers Gentlemen’s Club.  When she first meets him she is a nervous wreck so her friend Allie supplies her with a line of drugs to knock the edge off and she goes face to face with Nick. 

Nick is a sexy man who is older than Jess.  He can see in her eyes she is running from something, the pain is very clear to him.  He is in an arranged marriage so we don’t know much about his wife, but he clearly has no issue with taking on other women to satisfy his needs.  Once Jess gets the job he begins keeping an eye on her. She finds that dancing nude on the stage is easier when she focuses her attention on Nick and dances for him. We find later on that she is with her boyfriend Eric who is in a band and let’s just say he isn’t the kind of man she deserves to be with but she loves him.

One night after Jess finds out that Eric and Nick’s latest girl Amy, hooked up he gets physical with her, leaving bruises on her body and her heart broken.  Determined to get even she goes and dances for Nick and they have a night together.  Nick wants more, she agrees, but there are some evil and dark demons in their path and that is where this book ends.  We know things are about to blow up, but there are so many options as to what that will be.  Nick has a dangerous feel to him and Jess, although she is a wise cracker who has no issues with going face to face with anyone, still has the innocent and gullible appearance.  Is she going to get sucked into a world with Nick that will destroy her or can she bring Nick to the other side and they find a happy ever after?

I will be grabbing the next book soon.  I need to know more about this story and what the future holds for these two. 

Fallen Angel is a solid 3-star read for me. It’s the first novelette in the series and I was well aware of that when I started reading it, so I was not expecting the full-story. Despite that, I felt like the sexual relationship between Jess and Nick moved far too fast considering her past that was alluded to in the book, especially as she was the one to move it forward. Granted, it was a hot scene, it just seemed that we arrived there far too quickly in the storyline.

Considering the length of the book, the character development (or non-development in some cases) is appropriate – the author gave seems to provide the reader with enough information about the characters that we should know about while keeping other details secret. Fallen Angel is a quick and sexy read and I hope to get the chance to read the next installment in the series as I want to know more about Nick and the dangerous games he’s playing.

This man was seriously bad news. One she knew she needed to stay away from.  She was fully aware of his reputation from Allison. Not only with the ladies, but of being a notorious Mafioso. She also knew he was very much married, an arranged marriage at that, but supposedly there was some story there and she was never discussed. Ever.

Nick swung his leg over a chair and sat down. “Okay, let’s see what you got. Get on the stage and I’ll clue Mikey when you’re ready. Oh and Manhattan…how do you feel about going topless?” 

Jess hesitated for a moment before she climbed on the stage.

This was the end of the line for her. She was desperate now. If she didn’t make this work, it was back to Kansas for her. Back to her old life, back to her family…back to her father...back to his world.

Becoming the failure he always said she would be. Not this time.

He would never get the opportunity to touch her again.

She shivered. She was never going back to them. Or him. She was done with that portion of her life. Not even if said life, depended on it.

Which, in a way, it kind of did. For her piece own piece of mind, for her sanity, to escape the dark recesses of her mind and find some semblance of happiness, she needed this.  Just once, it would be nice to get a decent night’s sleep.

No nightmares. No terror filled panic attacks, wondering if tonight was the night her father emptied his gun in her head. No dreaded anticipation of what was to come.

Foul, alcohol-laced breath…sweaty hands…suffocating her…moving all over her body, touching her…violating her…going places no father should ever be…

“Kid?” Nick’s voice jolted her out of her thoughts and she looked up sharply and met his gaze. It was too soon to mask the naked fear and haunted, gnawing ache in her eyes. She knew he could see it all.

What surprised her was his curiously knowing silence. As if he knew exactly what she was thinking and feeling, and could relate. He was giving her an out.

One that she was not going to take. Jess shook herself.

 “I guess I’m ok with it. But will you, I mean will they be able to touch my boobs?” If he caught the slip, he didn’t let on. “And why did you ask me where I was from, if you already knew?” She was annoyed at both him and herself for the slip and for the way he made her feel.

There was an awkward pause before Nick finally spoke. “I ask because I can. It’s my club. You got a problem, there’s the door.” Nick arched his brow at her.

She nodded and glanced away. Ass.

He continued. “Now then. No touching by others period.  However, there are no rules for me. You’ll never have to do anything you aren’t good with. I promise.”

Why the fuck did he promise that?  Jess wasn’t about to ask.

“Mikey, Hot Child in City. When you’re ready, kid.”  He leaned forwarded and put a cigar in his mouth.

As the music started playing, Jess wasn’t really sure what to do at first.  How the hell am I going to do this?  She closed her eyes and started swaying to the music.  When she opened them she looked directly at him and something took over her. She found herself dancing for him, seducing him with each hip grind and twirl around the pole. 

She noticed the more she danced the harder he breathed. He was actually getting a rather large hard on and didn’t seem to care if she knew.  He was feeding her, and she got lost in his eyes and forgetting they were in a club. His club.

He was intrigued with her from the moment he saw her. Her blond hair was shining in the lights. He could see through the white tank top she wore as it stretched over her exquisite breasts. Her stomach was flat, even her belly button looked inviting to him.  Her long legs were gorgeous, and those tight black shorts she wore outlined every curve of her shapely ass.

He swallowed hard. How was it she could be so fucking hot yet be so angelic and innocent? What was she, all of nineteen? And what was it about this girl he felt he needed to protect? What was he hiding behind those eyes that hid a lifetime of pain, and were much wiser than her years? He didn’t know much about her but planned on finding out. That was for fucking sure.

He heard the music stop.

Just like that, the spell was broken.

“Not half bad. The club is open from seven till three.  The slot is two nights a week. I don’t pay my girls but you’ll be well taken care of.  Tips are yours, except for the ten percent I take off the top for allowing you to dance on my stage.” 

“Your stage name is Manhattan.  Remember it.” 

He got up from the chair and started walking toward the back.  He turned and looked at her standing on the stage. 

“See you at six, Manhattan. 

That is, if you’ll be back.”

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Alisa Anderson

well...alisa did stuff and is still doing stuff. only now she has two boys crazy enuff to want her as their mommy. hey, at least she tried to warn them, so her job is done. she doesn’t like to capitalize, partially because she likes how lower case letters look visually, but mostly out of laziness. please don't judge. it could be you. and she would say, hey. you're alright, buddy. you're ok in my book. now c'mere for a hug. the hug might be pushing it. air kiss? you are strangers, after all, with only a mutual love of poor grammar.

​she lives for a world full of controllable anatomically correct, android men programmed to meet her specific feminine needs (wink, wink, nudge, nudge with a big waggle of the eyebrows). who look like the rock. and ian somerhalder. and idris elba. and that's it she promises. variety. gotta have variety, right?

​but alas...apparently that exists only in johanna lindsey's genius mind. so until then, she enjoys her incredibly warped sense of humor. she reads tons of erotica and romantic, drippy goo that makes her heart go pitter patter. then she thought, hey. what, she said to herself. (softly, of course, so no one finds out she is indeed, 2 nuts short of a fruitcake) maybe you should write this stuff too. maybe someone will like it and maybe buy it. so she said, huh, you think? then she said, well...yeah, i wouldn't have suggested it...(inserts sarcastic tone) and then she was like lose the attitude, ok? then she was all, would you just shut up and write, already? sheesh! and she did. :)

Cameron Skye

When Cameron is not in the lab working toward a Ph.D., in Neuropsychopharmacology, which in laymen's terms is basically finding the effects drugs have on mood and behavior, she is writing stories, crating vivid, intense characters you will never forget.

She believes while life can take you down every path but the right one, eventually everyone will find their happily ever after.

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