Erotica with a heart and some serious issues to boot. Ambitious and sexy. ( )

Lots and lots of sex. Carly sneaks off to the big city to have sex with a stranger and ends up taking on two men for a ménage. She leaves while they are sleeping and never expects to meet either of them again. Until Jake becomes a police officer in her small town. Both of these folks were abused as children and while Jake works on healing Carly, he learns he still has some healing himself. All the while having lots of sex. Not sure I want to continue with this series.
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Bad Girl By Night
3 Stars

Uncomfortable with the idea of becoming sexually involved with a man from her small home town, Carly Winters releases her pent up frustrations under the guise of an alter-ego, Desiree. During one of her excursions in the big city, Carly/Desiree meets Jake Lockhart, a sexy as sin stranger, and finds herself engaging in one of her most secret fantasies. Never expecting to see Jake again, Carly’s quiet life is turned upside down when she learns that he is the new cop in town and that he refuses to let their night of passion remain in the past.

The first half of the book is completely captivating as Carly lives out her secret fantasy and then comes face to face with the man who played a leading role in it. The chemistry between Carly and Jake sizzles on the pages and their clash of wills leads to some incredibly steamy scenes.

Unfortunately, the book takes a turn for the worse at the halfway mark when Jake’s angst raises its ugly head. It does not bode well for a story when the alpha male turns into a quivering mess and his sexual hangups overshadow those of the damaged heroine.

The menage trope is usually one that I dislike as it is difficult for me to believe that an alpha male who loves the heroine would accept her having sex with another man. However, the initial encounter in this book is more plausible as Carly and Jake are strangers. The same cannot be said for the second encounter, which epitomizes everything that irritates me with this theme as Jake encourages Carly to engage in sex acts with not one, but two of his closest friends. A hero who behaves in this way loses all of his appeal and Jake is no exception.

All in all, Carly and Jake’s romance has potential despite the problematic elements and Lacey Alexander is very skilled at writing an incredibly HOT sex scene. ( )

Well, this was pretty darn delightful. I enjoyed the characters, it was well written, and took place in Northern Michigan, a place I know and love. I don't want to include spoilers here, but my one issue was with the concept that people don't judge and that paranoia about reactions is all in our heads. The inaccuracy of this message is addressed with some later musing by our heroine, but not convincingly given everyone's response to what happens on the boat in Traverse City. That is all I will say except to note that it stopped me from giving this 5 stars. Will absolutely be reading the remainder of the series ( )

I CANNOT WAIT for this book. I love all her books written under Toni Blake and I have really enjoyed the Lacey Alexander books I have read.