Blog Tour - Starfire by Mimi Strong

 

 

 

 

Peaches Monroe works at a bookstore in small town Washington. She's also a plus-size lingerie model, and the former girlfriend of Dalton Deangelo. He's the sexy, smoldering actor who plays TV's hottest vampire.

 

Now Dalton is back in town, hiding out from his past and a ton of bad publicity.

 

He can't keep his hands off Peaches, even though she's dating someone else.

 

Peaches knows that being friendly with Dalton always ends up in complete disaster, but he does have an interesting proposal for her--a wedding proposal. He says a fake wedding will save his career, and he needs her.

 

As much as she'd love to run into the arms of the incredibly hot, deliciously sexy actor, she's also afraid. He keeps hinting that he loves her, but he won't say the words.

 

Even if he did profess his love, can you ever really trust an actor?

 

 

 

 

 

Where to begin. We're finding out who Peaches ends up with...steamy TV heart-throb named Dalton, high school crush named Adrian, or jet-setting model/rebound relationship named Keith.

This one completely threw me for a loop, so I've decided to rate parts of the book as opposed to the book as a whole and average it out. My overall impression of this book (and series as a whole) is filled with mixed emotions. I really enjoyed the first book, fell short on the second book but was left with enough curiosity to want to read the conclusion and see how the story played out. As you can tell from the cover of the book, Peaches is in a wedding dress. So she must be getting married, right? But to whom? By the start of Starfire, Peaches had been in a steamy relationship with Dalton, a rebound/physical relationship with a model named Keith, and now she was in the beginning stages of a relationship with her high school crush, Adrian. Yes, who does she pick in this "love square" of sorts? No spoilers here, read to find out.

 

Here's my take on Starfire.

Humor: 4 stars

I laughed quite a bit. I found that, because Peaches had NO filter whatsoever, her brutal honesty was refreshing and she seemed to spew things I would only think about saying long after that fact. I found her hilarious most of the time, knowing her mouth was going to be getting her into a lot of trouble. I found myself waiting to see what she was going to do next. 

Steam: 4 stars

HOLY STEAM! This is rated as an "Erotic Romance" Novel and it sure was. There were a few circumstances where I kept saying "Oh...that's happening? Yep, that's happening." But yes, hot as hell!!

Plot/Storyline: 2-2.5 stars

My confusion and ambivalence from this story line came from what was quickly referenced in the book as a "dating chain". This "dating chain" refers to Dalton dating Peaches, who's dating a guy named Adrian, who's also dating a girl named Golden, and Golden is also dating a guy named Carter, and Carter's dating so-and-so...you get the idea. Each of these characters seemed rather indifferent in regards to their relationships. My personal feelings came in to play and I just couldn't deeply connect with any of the romantic relationships Peaches had in Starfire. I don't want to add any spoilers, so I'm only going to say that these relationships, to me, came off as a tad insincere, possibly forced. The characters as individuals were fantastic. It was the relationships between all of the main characters that fell sideways for me.

Main Characters/Character Growth: 3.5-4 stars

I really liked Dalton. He embodied everything in a swoony TV star that makes me happy. Adrian was a tad swoony in his own way. He was broke, living at home and trying to reveal his long hidden feelings for the girl he wanted to date in high school. He was a pretty lovable guy who just wanted to find his happy. Peaches was the hilarious, not your typical-skinny-gal main character who is lusted after by all who look at her. She is a real woman, with real curves and a kinky sex drive to rival any horny teenage boy. But, her indifference toward Dalton, and Adrian, thru most of the series and especially this book are what really stuck out like a sore thumb. She's had to overcome some hardships and those may be the reason for many of her hang-ups, but I found her extremely wishy-washy in her many relationships, to the point where it pulled my attention away from what I liked about the series when I started book one. As an individual, I can totally relate to her daily life and see her as best friend material.

Writing Style: 4.5 stars

Mimi Strong is a fantastic author. She took me on a little roller coaster. I loved parts of the book, didn't enjoy other parts, but kept coming back for more as my curiosity was wanting to see how this story played out. Questions were answered, not necessarily always to my liking, but that's the beauty of reading. It doesn't have to fit my "perfect" to still be enjoyable.

Overall: 3.5 Stars

 

~ Review by Molly

 

 

 

I pulled the cord to shut the curtains, then slipped off my bra and walked over to the bathroom.

He met me at the door, a towel slung around his waist.

Kissing my neck, he said, “Don’t think I’ve forgotten about you. I want to make you come tonight. Many times.”

“It’s been a long day.” I looked over at the tub, which was the size of a multi-person jacuzzi. Dalton had turned the water on and it was filling via multiple spouts. “Let’s pace ourselves,” I said.

As the tub filled, I carefully removed my beautiful new watch and set it on the counter.

I climbed into the hot, welcoming bath, and soon we were bobbing around in sudsy, fragrant hot water. (Okay, one of us was “bobbing” a little more than the other, and I do mean my peaches.)

I’d never been in such a fancy hotel room before, and I wouldn’t have been surprised to learn Presidents had stayed in that suite. The bathroom alone was bigger than should be legally allowed, on account of spoiling people forever. After a night there, how could I ever go back to my own hovel of a bathroom? With the sink and the tub and the toilet all sharing the same room? (This fancy bathroom had a separate enclosed space for the potty, in case you’re wondering, and, yes, there was a bidet, too.)

We took our time soaking in the tub, playing footsies and making eyes at each other from opposite sides of the tub.

“Does this hot tub remind you of anything?” Dalton asked.

“Do you mean the time we almost got shot by some crazy guy with a shotgun?”

“That was a good day.” He took a breath and disappeared down into the water. His hands pulled my knees apart, and he dove at my pussy with such speed, I practically screamed, but it turned into a sigh when he just gave me a gentle, underwater lick.

He surfaced in front of me, wiped the water from his eyes, and kissed me.

It had been too long since I’d felt his lips on mine, but now that we were kissing, the time and distance disappeared.

After a moment, he pulled away.

“That was a great kiss,” he said.

“You’re welcome.”

He smiled, looking almost shy. “Earlier today, at the airstrip, you made me a promise.”

I gazed into his beautiful green eyes, made brighter by the hot water of the tub. “I did? That doesn’t sound like me, because I make threats, not promises.”

He grinned wider. “I said that if I kissed you, everything would get complicated. You agreed with me, and promised me nothing short of disaster.”

That did seem familiar. “How do you have such a good memory? Oh, duh. From memorizing scripts. Wow, I’m going to have to be careful what I say around you.”

He kissed me again, then settled onto his knees before me in the enormous tub. “I do remember things. You and Shayla rented an apartment, sight-unseen, when you went away for college. You said the landlord must have taken the photos from a ladder, outside the windows, to make the place look bigger.”

I splashed some water his way jokingly. “Showoff. Let me think about this. Your first apartment had rats and a toilet in the kitchen.”

He laughed. “A tub, but close enough.”

“And look at us now, in this fancy-schmancy hotel bathroom. It’s a good thing one of us has talent and good looks, and the other is great at playing a vampire.”

His eyes flew open in mock anger. “Someone’s going to pay for that horrible joke.”

I was running through a few comebacks in my head when I noticed his attention drifting down to my breasts, looking like pale, flesh-colored islands in a sea of bubbles. I ran one hand down the middle of my breasts seductively, then cupped both of them and pinched my nipples to firmness.

His eyes didn’t stray from the waterline. I continued to stroke my fingertips around my breasts, enjoying the look of concentration on his face.

He swept the surface bubbles aside so he could see all of my body.

“That’s new,” he said, looking down at my new tattoo, on the inner edge of my hip bone.

“Oh, that. I had a lapse of judgement in LA.”

He traced the tattoo with his finger. “You had more than one lapse of judgement in LA.”

“But it’s cute, right? My tattoo?”

“Doves Cry. Of course it is. Everything’s cute on you.”

I smiled, and then relaxed in the warm water as he ran his hands along my thighs.

“Touch yourself,” he said, and I knew he meant further down than my breasts.

He waved more bubbles aside, so the water was clear. I settled down into the tub further, and I parted my legs so he could see everything. I slid my hand down my front and theatrically ran my index finger up and down over my clit. Damn, but that felt good, especially with him watching.

I could feel my cheeks flushing, but I couldn’t tell if it was from embarrassment, or arousal, or both.

His voice deep and thick, he said, “Keep going.”

I opened my mouth to say something lippy about me doing his job for him, but the expression on his face was so serious. I slid down further, curving my spine to a comfortable shape. Self-conscious of how much I was hunching, I rolled my shoulders back and adjusted my position so my arm wasn’t squashing my right breast in half, but angled underneath. That small change, however, put my hand in an awkward position.

Dalton must have sensed this, because he said, “Don’t worry about a performance. I don’t want porn. I want to see the truth. Do you trust me enough to show me your true beauty?”

“I don’t know. Can you kiss me some more?”

“Yes,” he breathed, and he moved in close again, licking and sucking my lips, then kissing me as we shared one breath, back and forth.

 

 

 

Bestselling author Mimi Strong thinks life is too short to be anything but outrageous.

 

She's the author of 3 USA Today Bestsellers, STARDUST, FOR YOU, and BORROWED BILLIONAIRE, as well as STARLIGHT, HER TEDDY BEAR, BILLIONAIRE NOVELIST, KISSING COACH, and PRETTY GIRLS.

 

Mimi lives on the west coast with her green-eyed husband and two ginger cats. She loves her beautiful readers and sends you all big hugs in the form of awesome books full of sex, humor, and heart.

 

 

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