Customer Reviews

Release

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

STORY BRIEF:
Max hires Sean as COO in Max's security firm. Genny loves her husband Max, but she and Sean have a strong attraction. One night, Max initiates a menage a trois among the three of them. A few days later, Max is killed. Genny avoids Sean for three years. The story begins after those three years. Genny's house burns down, and she goes to the company penthouse for temporary housing. Sean just happens to be there. Genny is reluctant to stay there with him, but the snow storm and Sean convince her to stay at least one night. By the next day, lust has brought them together. Also Genny learns someone has broken into her clothing store and storage locker. Sean fears for her safety and helps her deal with these attacks and the mystery.

REVIEWER'S OPINION:
Very hot sex scenes. A lot of sex scenes, and they are well done. There is more sex than story, but there is just enough story to keep you interested. There are mysteries about some happenings three years earlier. By the end of the book, the mysteries get solved. Sometimes the author has scenes which make me a little uncomfortable, but I like that. It's got an edgy feel. Sex scenes include ménage a trois MWM, bondage, whipping, sex toys, and rear door activity.

DATA:
Story length: 328 pages. Swearing language: strong, including religious words. Sexual language: strong/erotic. Number of sex scenes: 14, most of them many pages long. Setting: current day Chicago, Illinois, and Gary, Indiana. Copyright: 2010. Genre: erotic romantic suspense.

OTHER BOOKS:
I've reviewed the following books by Beth Kery.
4 ½ stars. Daring Time. Copyrt 2009. Review Date 10-2-09.
4 ½ stars. Release. Copyrt 2010. Review Date 2-7-10.
3 stars. Paradise Rules. Copyrt 2009. Review Date 2-19-10.
3 stars. Wicked Burn. Copyrt 2008. Review Date 1-4-09.

This is an amazing, scorching, fantastic love story with a to-die-for hero. A ménage story you ask? Those who know me know I don't read erotic romances with ménages because I find them unromantic and unconvincing. Frankly I doubt I would have bought this one either, despite being a fan of Beth Kery. Luckily Beth herself very generously gave me a copy and I'm so grateful that she did. I should probably mention at this point that she did not ask me to review it in return. I'd probably feel a bit guilty if I didn't though, not to mention that I've now enjoyed 4 of her books and it's time I did a review. But mostly I'm writing this review because I want to assure my fellow ménages-not-'r'-us readers that this book is well worth reading and so romantic and hot, and not to fear it.

The 3 main characters are Sean, Genny and Max. Max has been dead for 3 years when the book starts, but with the numerous flashbacks and the pervasive effects of his manipulations in the present, he is definitely a major character. I didn't much like him to begin with, and the more his personality and scheming was revealed the more I disliked him. There is also a villain of sorts, since the unmasking of Max's killer is the driving force behind the suspense plot. But I can't help feeling the true villain of this piece is Max.

Genny is, or rather was, naive and rather gullible. Much younger than Max, he was a father figure of sorts to her and she was clueless about his true character or orientation. Though the blurb says that Genny loved Max, it seemed clear to me that she wasn't IN love with him, plus their sex life was tame tapering off to non-existent. In the present she is more enigmatic, holding her thoughts and feelings close to her chest, but the reader is aware that she suspects Sean killed her husband. In many ways Genny makes the biggest journey in this story. She is awakened to the truth about Max, she is awakened sexually by Sean, and she comes to grips with her feelings and submissive desires.

Sean? Oh man what can I say about this guy? Intense, charming, dominant, tender, sexy, tenacious. For Beth Kery fans who found Vic somewhat insensitive and Shane somewhat, er, unhinged, I promise you will love Sean. He ranks right up there with Ryan for me. I've noticed that Beth's heros (and heroines) stint sometimes on the I Love You's. But not Sean. He loves Genny and he tells her so, and not just at the end of the book either. His feelings show with every touch and kiss and gesture. The moment she appears back in his life he's determined to regain her trust and get close to her again. He's also determined to get through her barriers and make her admit she loves him too. He suspects she may have killed her husband but he doesn't really care, his loyalty to her is absolute.

Now back to the ménage. I appreciated that it was presented in a realistic way with real consequences, not as a be-all and end-all "ultimate pleasure" thing. Genny's uncertainty showed during the scene, as did Sean's although he was more eager to seize his one and only opportunity to be with Genny. Things are awkward between them afterwards, both immediately and later. Both Genny and Sean regret what happened, although again he less so because at least he has his memories for 3 long years. Sean and Max quarrel violently. Genny plans to leave Max. A mess all around. As for the scene itself, I didn't expect to find it hot. But when the focus lingered on Sean and Genny for long periods, it was. The intensity of his feelings for her made every touch sizzle. It felt like Sean and Genny making love, not Sean, Genny and Max having a threesome. And I got caught up in it more than once. Then Max would say something or do something, and I was jolted out of the mood, and I just wanted to b1tch slap him and tell him to shut up and get out of there already.

The other sex scenes are scorching hot, fairly kinky, and very numerous. Note: spanking and anal is included (there isn't any in the threesome, thank goodness). The plot is interesting with a twist at the end, and the suspense is good. The atmosphere is angsty and emotionally charged. But the best reason to read this one remains Sean. I love him. He can call me "girl", chain me in his lap, and feed me warm buttered toast any time :-)

Kudos to Beth Kery for penning an erotic journey about how too much power can corrupt and how strong intense sexual awakening can be overpowering. I nicknamed the characters Manipulative Max, Scorching Sexy Sean, and Gullible Genny. Genny's tame relationship with Max had not prepared her for her reaction to Sean. Sean's arrival in their lives showed Genny what a relationship could be like and also gave Max the ammunition he needed to further his sick plot. Misunderstandings and insecurities caused Genny to not speak or see Sean for three years. The fire at her home brought them back together but it was Sean's perseverance that kept her with him. The snowstorm that trapped them in the penthouse also unleashed the storm of passion between them that had been brewing for longer than they knew. Sean had a dominant personality that was the perfect foil for Genny's budding sexuality. Their time together causes them both to question what happened three years ago and they begin to realize just how twisted and sick Max had been. Well developed characters and a unique storyline will hold your interest in this book. The suspense of wondering just what went so wrong after their ménage years ago is cleverly written and the twist added close to the end of the book will neatly bring it all together. But make no mistake, the intense and erotic love shared between dominant Sean and awakening submissive Genny will have you turning the pages long into the night and is really what this book is all about. - Lisa Freeman

First of all, to be fair to Beth Kerry, the three stars given to this book is not an objective rating, as it, too, was judged by comparing it to "Wicked Burn" though compared to other erotica works it rates a lot higher. I keep buying Beth's books in the hope of finding that much missed for me combination of deep feelings and intense emotions with explosive sexual encounters so well depicted in "Wicked Burn". As in all her books (with the aforementioned exception) characterization suffers in the hands of the numerous sex scenes which seem like well rehearsed acts rather than all consuming, mind blowing, earth shattering, emotionally charged experiences between lovers whose attraction is bone melting.

Genny's husband Max has been dead these past three years. She professes to have loved him but as she watches their house and all their memories contained therein turn to ashes, she remains unnaturally detatched. She does not suffer from the loss but feels relieved, seeing this as an opportunity to go back to Chicago and the apartment she shared with Max. This place is full of memories for her as it is where she experienced menage sex with Max and his business partner Sean, an experience which changed her view on love forever. Shortly after this affair, Max is killed with Genny being one of the main suspects, though she remains unaware of it. She in turn suspects Sean as being responsible because the sex they shared that night was so ardent, as to leave her in no doubt as to his possessive attraction for her. The tragedy of her husband's death and its suspicious circumstances lead her to break contact with Sean. Now, having nowhere else to go, Genny resorts to the Chicago penthouse, though it is fraught with vivid memories for her, memories that have haunted her life these past three years.

She arrives on a freezing evening just as the city is about to be hit by one of the worst snow storms in years. Imagine her shock and distress when she sees Sean in the bedroom with a volumptuous blonde practicing what she had been fantasizing about all these lonely, loveless years! Circumstances force them to share the apartment (without the blonde) much to Sean's delight who cannot keep his eyes, hands, mouth and other parts of his anatomy, away from her. When her husband was alive, Sean took every opportunity to be with her, unable to resist the strong attraction he felt for her. Max, in fact, encouraged him to spend time with his beautiful wife, sensing the sexual undercurrents that ran between them. He proposed that Sean share his wife for one night and though Sean guessed there was more to the offer than meets the eye, he could not resist making love to the woman he had fallen passionately in love with.

The snow storm brings the lovers together, giving Sean the chance to turn his most extreme fantasies to life. He can demonstrate to Genny the depth of his feelings for her by loving her in ways he has been dreaming about, exposing her to her passionate, unreserved nature. Genny feels guilt and remorse for capitulating to the man she suspects of having murdered her husband but his sexual prowess and drive reveal aspects of her sexuality she was uanaware of possessing. Certain 'coincidences' also lead Sean to the conclusion that someone wishes to harm Genny so he has to protect her by solving the mystery of Max's death.

It is a well written book with a plot which keeps you involved but I would have preferred three dimensional characters. The characters of Sean and Genny did not intrigue me and I would have liked to know something more about the heroes other than their sexual obsession for each other and that they were exceptionally attractive and well endowed. I consider a book to have succeeded in drawing me in when the characters and their predicament linger in my mind when the story ends. In this case I shut the book and had to refer to it to remind myself of their names prior to writing this review. I am certain that Beth Kerry could devise more memorable characters if she concentrated less on the constant turnout of books which traps writers into writing stories which follow a well rehearsed pattern.

Three years ago, her beloved Max asks Genny if she would like to try a ménage a trois to include his business partner, Sean. Having been attracted to Sean even more than she was to her husband, she agrees. It was heaven. A few days later, Max is dead; the police and the couple's family and friends believe Genny killed her spouse.

Genny has stayed as far away from Sean because she fears exploring her feelings for him and his dominant desires. However, someone is violently stalking her and has burned down her home, broken into her office, and scoured her storage bin. She needs help so turns to security expert Sean though that also means dealing with her feelings for him.

With a super spin to the whodunit, fans will relish this strong investigative woman in peril erotic thriller. Genny is terrific as the vulnerable lead protagonist as her fears are from the stalker who wants to checkmate her for some unknown reason and from her heart (and libido) tied up in velvet knots by Sean. The blending of danger and sex is deftly done as Beth Kery's latest Release is a strong sexual suspense story.

Harriet Klausner

Sean meets Genny and feels an instant connection with her. The only problem is she is married to Max, Sean's boss. They maintain a platonic friendship until New Year's Eve when, Genny's husband suggests a threesome. They agree in order to be together in an intimate way. Even during the threesome you feel love and connection between Sean and Genny. Some erotica these days focuses too much on the sex and not enough on connecting two characters and understanding motivation. Though there is plenty of hot sweaty sex in this book you always feel the connection and passion between the two main characters. This is erotica at its best! The reader is drawn in and cares about what happens to the characters. I will be reading more of this author's work!

Ok, first fire warning! Be prepared to burn your fingers off while reading this book. Kery know how to write an explosive book.

Some of the events in this book is told in flashbacks, by the way I love that it is not in italics. The events three ago when Max shared his wife Ginny with Sean is still etched in Ginny's mind. But that night led to murder, and she has not seen Sean since then. In present time her house burns down and she goes back to the flat where she spent thay fatal night 3 years ago.

Oh yes one hot night 3 years ago, but one night shared for all the wrong reasons. And the consequences were high. And now when Ginny and Sean rekindled their relationship they do not know if they can trust each other.

The murder story is a big part of this part. Someone killed her husband, but they still do not know who? And now someone seems to be out after Ginny. The suspense keeps building up page after page and close to the end, I really want to know who did it, and what on earth is going on.

Kery keeps my attention up, while delivering some hot sex scenes in between. Some very very hot ones, there was one with a window, oh, shall not say more. I like to tease. But what I can say is that some menage (well of course, just read the blurb), bondage and a bit of spanking is in store for the reader.

The writing flowed easily, and I enjoyed this even more than my first Kery book. Which is strange really cos I am not a suspense kind of girl. But then again the who did it question always drives me insane, and I always want to try to be clever and figure it out.

I liked this story cos they both think the other person is a murderer, but they still spend that time together cos they are obviously in love with each other. Sean is all alpha, and Ginny is sweet. A cute couple I wish could get that HEA in the end. But there is always a struggle on the way there.

So if you are looking for a hot read, look no farther, this one will work this cold winter.

As Genevieve "Genny" Bujold stands at the elevator entrance to her late husband's private sector intelligence company, "Sauren-Kennedy Solutions", she reflects back on the last time she entered the company's penthouse. It was 3 years previously after a lovely evening celebrating New Year's Eve when she shared a night of passion with her husband Max Sauren and his then Chief Operating Officer, Sean Kennedy. What happened that night was her `dirty little secret'. Five days later, Max was found murdered in his car and the murder weapon, his own gun, was never found. Genevieve was horrified.

Genevieve is a designer and entrepreneur who operates a small high end fashion boutique and design studio on Chicago's Oak Street. Genevieve had been married to Max for 4 years. He was a handsome, debonair man 24 years her senior, a former CIA operative who through trading secrets and careful investigative work had built a successful company in "Sauren Solutions". Max and Genny lived in an estate home in the suburbs where they often entertained his high profile clients and company staff. It was at one of these events that Genevieve met Sean.

Sean is a war hero with a history working in Army Intelligence. I don't know how to describe Sean effectively, I could say he is totally hot and that would be true, but his is more than that. He is passionate, charismatic, ruggedly handsome with a New Orleans drawl, has cultivated impeccable manners, and he possesses a sensual aura that as a reader I found was literally palpable. Under a seeming somber, contained exterior, however he is ruthless and does have a temper, a volatile side. Sean knows the world of espionage, and in his world, "knowledge is the essence of power."

Sean is the only person on the planet that calls Genevieve "Genny", and made it sound natural. In the months leading up to that fated New Year's Eve, they spent innocent time together which was condoned by Max. During that time the sexual tension increased between them to the point that you would need a machete to cut through it. They fell head over heels in love, and Genny's husband knew it, which lead to the night in the penthouse.

"She'd been another man's wife and he'd never so much as kissed her. But somehow, it hadn't been Max who had allowed Sean to make love to his wife that night. It'd been Sean who had permitted another man to touch her in his presence."

Release © Beth Kery

Following Max's murder Genny refuses to see Sean, and for 3 years he yearns for his `soul mate.' To Sean, Genny isn't just outwardly lovely, she has an inner beauty and sensuality that consumes him. Genny is also a vulnerable woman who thanks to her husband's mechanizations needs protection from an insidious threat, unknown to her Sean has provided that protection.

Which brings us back to the elevator and the Sauren penthouse. After Max dies, Genny inherits co-ownership of the company and when her house burns to the ground, she has no where else to go but the penthouse. There Genny finds Sean with another woman who he quite swiftly sends on her way. A major blizzard has the city in it's grip and Genny agrees to stay with Sean on her terms, while he knows there are significant issues between them that need to be discussed he burns for her so badly, he reluctantly agrees. Genny felt like an empty shell until Sean comes back into her life, she can no longer resist him. You will have to read the book to understand the passion that is shared between these two people, it flames and literally blazes as they explore the depths of each other's desire.

Festering in the background of their reacquainted love, Sean suspects Genny could have been Max's murderer. Genny believes without question that Sean murdered her husband. In addition, Sean knows in his bones that Genny is in danger. He suspects who may be the threat, but Max had gathered his associates and enemies private skeletons, keeping them secreted away in a high security briefcase that was never found after his death. Essentially it could be one of many who was after and willing to kill Genevieve Buojold, to get the briefcase. However, a former business associate is Sean's prime suspect.

As the storm outside ebbs and the threat to Genny moves closer, Sean works against time to keep her safe. Then Genny learns startling secrets about Max and his mechanizations that send her reeling and running from Sean again.

I found "Release", to not only be a well crafted, emotional, erotic romance, IMHO it is also a riveting suspense packed full of exciting plot twists and surprises.

RELEASE, Beth Kery's latest contemporary romance, will capture you right in the heart. Widow Genevieve Bujold has never forgotten the night she spent in Sean Kennedy's arms at the bequest of her husband Max. Now, three years later Genny is once again contemplating her feelings for Sean - even though he may have killed her husband.

Genevieve Bujold has never gotten over her attraction to Sean Kennedy. Neither time nor one dead husband has done anything to diminish the feelings she has for Sean, and even though she is a widow, and has been for three years, Genny is unsure if she is able to allow Sean back into her heart, life, and her bed. When her house burns down and Genny returns to the only place she can to spend the night, she finds Sean there as well. Amidst the worse snow storm of the century Genny and Sean intimately explore their burgeoning feelings for each other while shutting out the rest of the world. Real life interrupts more than once, however, and it seems that Genny has an enemy - one that does not want her to find out the circumstances of her husband's death.

Sean Kennedy has loved Genny Bujold since the first moment he saw her almost four years ago. The COO of Sauren-Kennedy Solutions, Sean has watched and waited and wondered why, even after she became a widow, she refused any contact with him. Three years ago, she and Sean made the sheets come alive at the suggestion of her husband, and though Sean regrets how the ménage happened, he doesn't regret the emotions Genny made - and still makes - him feel. When she interrupts him by coming to the penthouse in order to spend the night, Sean once more realizes that the love he has for Genny continues to burn in his heart - even if she did kill her husband.

Sean and Genny have a lot to work out in RELEASE. Most of all, they have to get to the bottom of their feelings for each other. Sean makes Genny feel things she is almost afraid of - she is an independent woman and her need to submit to Sean in the bedroom has her head spinning. The words "unwavering loyalty" come to mind when I think of Sean. He is like an open book when it comes to the woman he loves - you can tell his feelings with every glance, touch, and kiss that he gives Genny. He wears his heart on his sleeve and his love is unconditional. Sean loved her before her husband died, and he loves her now. Genny is a bit harder to figure out - not because this is a bad thing - but because as a woman, she keeps her emotions closer to her heart and not as `out there' as Sean. The fact that she loved Sean before her husband passed away makes Genny relive over and over the night they spent exploring each other, but it hasn't made her stop loving him.

The suspense is high in RELEASE. Someone doesn't want Genny or Sean to find out what is in her dead husband's possessions - possessions that Genny has no idea about even though evidence points differently. Add in sultry hot love scenes dominant in nature, as well as fascinating to see, unfold and RELEASE is a read worthy of any keeper shelf. Beth Kery has successfully transitioned from digital author to mainstream print, and the results are fabulous: well written stories that will charm, captivate and keep you on the edge of your seat. Try not to fall in love with Sean and Genny's story - I dare you!

Natalie S.

Release by Beth Kery is one fantastic book from start to finish. It is not very often that a book will grab you from the very first opening line, so much so that you don't want to put it down, but for me, this is exactly what Ms. Kery did with Release.

Sean has moved up in my hero ranking to near the very top! If I close my eyes, not only can I picture him, but also hear his voice, with that New Orleans accent! I mean can I be in love with a character from a book? I think so! And Genny is one lucky girl, to have caught the eye and heart of Sean. Their one night of shared passion, which involved Genny's husband Max, seemed to have changed their lives forever, and even 3 years apart could not stop the feelings and emotions from coming out in them. And that is what really did it for me, was the love that I really understood and felt from both Sean and Genny. Yes, he was dominant and called the shots, but it was not in a degrading or humiliating way. It was in a way that left no doubt that Sean loved Genny, and what was between them was not something he shared with anyone else.

I loved that parts of this story were written as flashbacks. Ms. Kery did a fantastic job of keeping pace with had happened in the past, and what was going on in the present. The reader really understood the thoughts and emotions that both Sean and Genny were feeling. I loved the suspense, the emotions, the hot sex scenes (hot sex + cold glass = meltingly HOT), everything about it! The suspense keeps you on the edge of your seat, making you think that maybe you have it figured out, but written in a way that you cannot be sure until the end.

If you are looking for a sexy novel that will knock your socks off, then you for sure want to read Release. This story is sure to not disappoint!