Book Sojourner: (Adult) Book Review, Excerpt, Giveaway: Rare and Precious Things by Raine Miller

RARE AND PRECIOUS THINGS

(The Blackstone Affair Book 4)

Author: RAINE MILLER

(Adult Romance, Erotica 18+)

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The fourth part in the New York Times bestselling series, The Blackstone Affair: A bright beginning for two damaged souls fighting for their hard-won love, and the promise of a new hope to secure their happily ever after.

Fresh from an idyllic honeymoon along the Italian coast, the Blackstones prepare for the birth of their precious baby and the challenges of settling into a new home. But things get complicated when specters from the past reappear to threaten the very foundation of their relationship. Ethan and Brynne will have to fight harder than ever for each other. Rare and Precious Things is the story of two people who both need the other in order to be complete, but learn just how "rare" their brand of love is when they have to risk everything in order to hold onto it.

My Review:

Brynne and Ethan begin this novel fresh from their wedding, starting their honeymoon, and they truly embrace everything there is to love about being newlyweds. Because that is what this book is really all about - Ethan and Brynne's undying, unconditional, and unrelenting love for one another. Their love has no bounds, and despite the fact that they've known each other for months, not years, they are truly soul mates. I could feel the love and passion pouring off of the pages between them. They not only embrace their joy at finding one another, but are also embracing their pending parenthood. I loved reading their joyful anticipation (and hearing them compare the baby to different fruits and vegetables. Very cute!)

They are not only stronger as a couple, but individually they were also really strengthened throughout this series. Here they must face their past traumas, and I appreciated the care that Miller took addressing not only their pasts, but also how they handle things now and in the future to be mentally healthier and be able to heal. The love and understanding that Ethan and Brynne demonstrate to each other beyond just words really brought the healing to reality. Now there's some drama thrown in there for good measure, as well, but I didn't feel like it was as angsty as the past books.

Beyond the drama, they are not only a loving couple, but a funny couple. I enjoyed seeing all the different sides to their relationship. And, of course, they are a very sexy couple, so there is no shortage of intimate scenes. But I appreciated that Miller didn't detail and graphic every single moment between them. There was a nice blend of steamy scenes and steamy hints. The sweetness of their HEA with baby Blackstone was the cherry on top. It was so lovely to see their story wrap-up so well.

My only negative was that the story got a bit repetitive at times, and slow of pace. They were also almost too perfect and lovey-dovey, and I wouldn't have minded them having a few flaws.

Overall, I enjoyed this series following Ethan and Brynne's relationship, and loved seeing them get their beautiful HEA in Rare and Precious Things. This novel would be appreciated by any fan of this series. I also read The Passion of Darius (aka, His Perfect Passion), the prequel novella that the journal entries refer to, and I have to say I completely loved it (see my review). So I would recommend that also to fans of this series.

4 SWEET STARS

I sighed with need and forced myself to take a step backward, creating some distance between our bodies. My arm stretched out as I slid back, my hand still clasped in his much bigger one. “Okay…how does this room in fifteen minutes sound?” I stepped backward again, moving closer toward the bathroom door, my eyes never leaving his blues as they tracked my movements.

Those same beautiful blue eyes also glittered at me with all the shuttered heat of a man who would be ravishing me very soon. He allowed my hand to be released from his grip, the heat of his skin noticeably absent the second contact was lost.

He gave me the serious Ethan-stare, the one I’d seen many times and was well familiar with by now—the one raw with male prowess…and the overpowering sexual dominance that made me burn. “Like fifteen minutes too f--ing long, my beauty.”

I had to suppress the slight moan that escaped my throat at the effect his words had on me. I was just a mortal woman after all. Ethan was the one that looked and acted like a Greek god to me.

He seared me with another look dripping with the promise of the molten sex to come, before turning away, walking through the door, and closing it with a soft click.

Once he was out, the room was instantly quiet and I felt more than a little bereft without him. I just stood there and absorbed the reality of where I was in the moment. I’m getting ready to make love with my husband. That idea jolted me out of my stupor and sprung me into action pretty fast.

I fled for the bathroom and worked myself out of my dress, which gratefully was not difficult at all with its easy access placement of a side zip. I hung it up carefully on the boudoir hanger that had been arranged, for what I assumed, especially that purpose. I would have to remember to do something nice for Hannah. She’d thought of everything.

I set my veil aside while I brushed my teeth and drank a glass of water. I stripped out of my lingerie except for stockings and garter belt in pale lavender silk, and looked at my side profile in the mirror. I had a bump. Not much of one yet, but it was definitely there. I gave our sweet little peach a caress and reached for my veil again. I reattached it and stepped back out into the bedroom. I climbed up onto the raised bed and sank down into the downy softness of the duvet on my knees. I was careful to arrange myself with my back facing the same door Ethan had used when he left the room. He would pass through it again when he returned, and I wanted him to have a first vision of me as I’d planned it out in my head. I was ready even though my heart was racing.

I closed my eyes.

And waited for Ethan to come to me.

✤ ✤ ✤

The sounds of the door opening and then closing told me when he was back in the room.

I sensed him staring and the idea gave me a rushing thrill to know what he was seeing of me. I turned my head and found him with my eyes.

“I just want to look at you for a moment,” he said, remaining still, a few feet away. I could tell he was affected by the hooded eyes and the set of his jaw, and that knowledge emboldened me.

“Only if I can do the same.”

My Ethan had prepared for me as well. The beautiful tuxedo with the purple brocade vest had gone the way of my wedding dress probably. In its place just one garment. Silky black pajama bottoms slung low at his waist. The contrast of the black fabric to his skin displayed his golden muscled chest and carved abdomen to perfection. And I got to drink him in. The muscular cuts which tapered into a spectacular V below his waist made my mouth water, forcing me to swallow. One of the most beautiful parts of my man. I needed my mouth there.

So gorgeously made in body, so full of male power and strength…it almost hurt to look at him sometimes.

I lowered my eyes to the side.

“Turn all the way around.”

The deep command of his voice heated me instantly, rendering me completely enslaved to his unrelenting dominance when it came to this part of us. Ethan’s control of our sex. His control over me. It made me hotter than hell.

He stepped closer, his body radiating power and desire as he waited for me to comply with his directive.

I rotated my body until I was facing him full on, my body completely bare except for my stockings and my wedding veil. I set my hands flat on the bed and made my arms straight, in effect thrusting my breasts up and out. They tingled under his intense perusal, my now ultra-sensitive nipples hardening with a lick of awareness suggestive of pain. My gesture of offering myself to my husband as a bride on our wedding night had aroused me to an incredible level of anticipation.

“Just for you,” I said softly, lifting my eyes to his.

I saw the muscles of his neck tense as he moved forward. “Baby…you are so sexy-beautiful right now. Don’t move. Just stay as you are and let me touch you.”

I knew how this game played out. The one where I was blissfully rewarded for following directions. The edge of the mattress dipped as he joined me on the massive bed, kneeling right before me, so close I could feel the radiating heat his body was throwing off.

I remained still, but I tensed in anticipation of what he would do first.

He hung there before me, for a moment, just studying me, claiming my body with his eyes at first. Ethan liked a splash of voyeurism in our encounters. A little kinky at times, and a lot dominant, but I was used to it with him.

Finally, after what felt like eons, he dropped his head to my sternum and inhaled deeply against my skin. Then I felt his tongue draw across the curve of one breast until he reached the tight bud of my nipple. He took the whole thing in his mouth and pulled it inside of him. I gasped in some air and steeled myself to remain still for his onslaught.

“Just feel, baby. Let me suck on your beautiful, perfect tits for a while. I’ve been starved for them.”

He took his time getting his fill as he worked me up with need.

Swirling his tongue in relentless circles over the tender flesh until he felt like giving me a rewarding jolt of sensation by clipping my nipple between his teeth for a gentle bite.

I shuddered against his mouth, desperately aching for more, but knowing I would have to wait until he gave it to me. Those were the rules. And I was always a good girl.

Raine Miller has been reading romance novels since she picked up that first Barbara Cartland book at the tender age of thirteen. And it's a safe bet she'll never stop, because now she writes them too! Granted Raine's stories are edgy enough to turn Ms. Cartland in her grave, but to her way of thinking, a hot, sexy hero never goes out of fashion. A part-time teacher and writer of sexy romance stories every other chance she gets pretty much fills her days. She has a handsome prince of a husband, and two brilliant sons to pull her back into the real world if the writing takes her too far away. Her sons know she likes to write stories, but gratefully have never asked to read any, thank God! Raine loves to hear from readers and to chat about the characters in her books.