Customer Reviews

When Alex Was Bad: A Novel of Erotic Suspense

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

 

 

I loved this story. Normally I don't care for infidelity in storylines, but the way this was written was so good that you just didn't care. Alex is an ass, no question about it. But he's a lovable Alpha ass, so he gets away with it. He's a man who's totally in love with his wife but his pretty much ruled by his penis. The true powers in this triad are Olivia and Jason. Olivia, the playful Mistress (think Beta Dom) and Jason the oh so sexy Sub are the ones who keep this story fun. In allowing Alex to have seven affairs, Olivia is actually manipulating him. It's quite entertaining to watch. I would highly recommend reading WHEN ALEX WAS BAD. Shelf your preconceived notions and just enjoy.

As Olivia Quinn watches her husband Alex almost succumb to the beauty trying to seduce him, she makes a decision. A decision that she hopes will save her marriage and make her relationship with her husband stronger. Olivia puts her plan into motion and discusses this with Alex. He seems hesitant, but is unable to contain his excitement. Olivia's plan? Alex can cheat seven times. He is allowed to stray seven times and afterwards he has to tell Olivia everything and then accept any punishment she deems worthy. Alex is more than aroused at the thought of this plan, but when he realizes that Olivia's discipline will include their new next door neighbor, Jason Strickland, he is not sure what he feels. There is more to Jason than meets the eye - but can he be trusted because there is definitely someone out to get Alex and that someone wants him dead.

As a fan of Jo Davis' work, I requested to review When Alex Was Bad without hesitation. This definitely wasn't a good idea for me because I stray from books that feature the subject matter that is in When Alex Was Bad.

Olivia and Alex were "in" love and had been married for fifteen years. In those fifteen years, neither had fallen out of love with the other. Their lives were filled with work and their enjoyment of each other as a couple. They didn't fight. They didn't say ugly things to each other. They were a busy, professional couple. The fact that Alex was in danger of committing adultery, did not set well with me. I couldn't get past the fact that he had sex with someone else, even at Olivia's urging.

Was When Alex Was Bad, well written? Yes. Did the characters click and seem to flow? Yes. Did the suspense of the story keep me guessing? Yes. Will I ever read anything else written by Jo Davis? Most definitely. I just did not agree with the storyline of When Alex Was Bad and that is my problem. Other readers will enjoy this erotic, naughty and suspenseful novel. I just wasn't able to at this point in time.


Talia
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

Well, well Alex is indeed a very bad boy so it's a good thing he has an understanding wife whose figured out a way to punish him for his errant behaviour. This is some fine erotica with a premise that really interested me and luckily doesn't disappoint. Written along the lines of Lauren Danes LAID BARE (except without all the great dialogue) this is a wicked little story where just about anything goes. I will admit that I had to read WHEN ALEX WAS BAD interspaced with another book because well, Alex is bad every other page. (That man has some serious stamina) So if your looking for hot, sexy, erotic loving with M/F, M/M and M/F/M action including light bondage, exhibitionism and multiple partners all tossed together with a murder mystery plot then this should do it for you.

After 15 years together Alex and Olivia have become strangers within their marriage and the bedroom. In fact things have come to such a point that Alex is tempted to cheat and Olivia knows it. In order to save her marriage Olivia comes up a bold plan, she will allow Alex seven nights of pleasure with anyone he chooses providing he confess in explicit detail to each liaison. However he must then also agree to accept any form of mischievous punishment his wife can dream up. No questions asked.

With Alex's first indiscretion and subsequent punishment out of the way the plan seems to be working wonders. Sure they were both worried as to how this would play out but now they're more in love than ever, Alex never knew his wife had a deviant side and Olivia is learning some things about Alex as well. However when the lovely but mysterious Jason Strickland moves in next door Olivia wastes no time in taking the young lover as her own and then inviting him as a third into their lurid deal. But this shy boy-next-door isn't so innocent, Jason has a dark past and when one of them falls in love with him it may just destroy everything.

Could this be the end for Alex and Olivia or will they somehow manage to find their way out of the web of lies and murder and make room in their hearts for another?

I first discovered author Jo Davis through her great romantic suspense series The Men Of Station Five. If you like smoking (sorry) hot firefighters with less erotica check out TRIAL BY FIRE. Cheers!

STORY BRIEF:
Liv and Alex have been married for 15 years. Liv owns a restaurant. Alex runs a top criminal defense law firm. Jenna is the newest lawyer to join the firm and is hot for Alex. Liv sees Jenna kissing and fondling Alex and realizes that Alex desires Jenna but refuses due to his marriage. To save and improve her marriage, Liv offers the following to Alex. He may have extra marital affairs as long as he tells all the details to Liv afterwards. Then Liv will punish Alex in different ways, which include bondage, pain, and watching Liv have sex with someone else. Alex agrees. He enjoys his affairs, and he is surprised to learn he enjoys his punishments even more.

Jason is between jobs. He inherits the house next door to Liv and Alex and moves in for awhile as he decides what to do. Liv is attracted to Jason and tells him of her open marriage. She invites him for sex and he happily complies. She then invites him to participate in Alex's sexual punishments which he does.

Alex is defending Boardman charged with sex-trafficking. Someone connected to Boardman has been spying on Alex. Jason is involved somehow. Hitmen have been hired to kill Alex.

REVIEWER'S OPINION:
The purpose of this book is a lot of erotic sex scenes. It was a little uncomfortable seeing Alex enjoy sex with other women so easily. If you don't mind marital infidelity, men with men, rear door activity, submission, light bondage, and pain, the erotic scenes are probably above average. The scenes with Jason were the most interesting and erotic. He was with each of them alone as well as ménage a trios. The mystery and suspense were pretty good, mostly at the end when the intricate relationships and everything else was revealed. Although some of the motivations and roles of certain bad guys were too vague for me. There's not much character development. All the characters are gorgeous. I had trouble deciding between 3 stars and 4 stars. I rounded up thinking one could read this opinion to decide if they might be interested.

DATA:
Story length: 278 pages. Swearing language: strong. Sexual language: strong/erotic. Number of sex scenes: 24. Total number of sex scene pages: 88. Setting: current day St. Louis, Missouri. Copyright: 2009. Genre: erotic romantic mystery suspense.

OTHER BOOKS:
To date I've read one other book by Jo Davis. My 3.5 star review of "Trial by Fire" Copyright 2008 was posted 11-27-08.

Fifteen years of marriage has led to Olivia and Alex Quinn drifting. Since she still loves her husband she offers him a deal to save their marriage. He is to have seven trysts; after each he must describe in vivid detail the sex; after his account, she will punish him with her choosing the method. Alex is shocked but fascinated so he agrees.

While Alex explodes in anticipation, Olivia meets Jason Strickland, the nephew of her neighbor Bill. She decides to have fun and games with him while her spouse performs with his women. After Alex performs with another attorney, he comes home to "mistress" Liv who punishes him into submission. Their relationship has changed to her being the boss. However, as she brings Jason into the punishment, some nasty people want a piece of Jason's ass and not for sexual reasons.

This is a profound BDSM romance that is filled with numerous sexual encounters. The story line is at its best when Jo Davis digs deep into the psyche of the three prime players especially Liv's control of the two hunks. A suspense subplot involving Jason seems out of place as this super orgasmic tale is at its best WHEN ALEX IS BAD.

Harriet Klausner

Bring a big fan when you read this one. This is one I probably read over and over again.

Jo Davis' first foray into erotic suspense combines those things she does so very well. Sexual tension and steamy eroticism, page turning suspense, and witty dialogue that keeps you wanting more, even after the last page.

Alexander Quinn loves his wife, Olivia, when she's home and emotionally available to him, which sadly has started to be less and less. His young legal colleague wants in his pants, literally showing him this at a party he and Olivia throw for his company. Wanting to stay faithful, Alex avoids falling for the other woman this time, but his resistance has major chinks in it.

Olivia observes the younger woman's intimate assult on her husband's determination to remain faithful and realizes if she doesn't do something drastic, she could lose him forever. She comes up with a plan that could save their marriage, altering it forever or ending it completely.

All the while Alex and Olivia explore their kinky sexual fantasies in hopes of rekindling their passion, someone outside their bedroom has designs on stopping Alex...permanently.

Could it be Jason, their mysteriously sexy new neighbor? Or could it be Alex's rival at his own company? Or maybe even the young lawyer who wants more of Alex's attention?

Don't miss what happens WHEN ALEX WAS BAD!

Where should I begin with this review? The bad, the good or maybe the in between? First of all this is definitely a book for the 18+ group. Heck, I am in my 30's and I was still blushing and uneasy in some parts of the book. What can you expect in this book? Well, the author touches on many sexual appetites in this story. As you read the book you will find M/M, M/F/M, BDSM, open marriage, voyeurism and even hot wax thrown in to the mix. Oh wait, there is some suspense and plot thrown in as well.

Let's start with what I didn't like about the book. Alex and Olivia are finding that their marriage is going downhill in the sex department. They both have successful careers and have put their marriage on the back burner. When Olivia catches Alex being seduced by one of his sexy employees, Olivia hatches a plan to amp up their sex life. I am all for finding new ways to spice up a marriage, but the way Olivia goes about it was just wrong. She basically gives Alex the go ahead in having sex with anyone he chooses as long as he admits it to her and tells her everything about it. Then he must accept his punishment that she chooses. Hello? Giving your husband a free pass to go mess around with anyone is suppose to spice up your marriage? I don't think so. I still consider that cheating and was a bad excuse for a plot.

The in between for me about this book was the suspense. I thought the barely existent suspense of a sex ring going bust was kind of lame, but plausible. I accepted it and tried to enjoy it. I just wish there would have been more suspense and real action in exchange for some of the sex scenes that weren't as great.

The good part of the book was that the author took it a step further and also introduced another player in the punishment game. I like how the author was willing to explore the male/male scenes and make them sexy as hell without going over the top. I enjoyed the character of Jason. His personality was great and he actually had some funny dialogue. Even if the author did stumble in some parts of the book with the plot, I did find myself wanting to finish it just to see if Jason would have a happily ever after as well.

Overall not a horrible book, but not one I will re read anytime soon--if at all. It was great for a quick and steamy read that you sometimes crave, but not one with enough plot or substance to warrant it a keeper book.

I like Jo Davis' Firefighter series, which is why I bought this book; and I like erotic novels, but this one did not make it to my library of them. I could not even finish this book, which happens very rarely for me, because I did not care about any of the characters. I wish I could tell you more, give you details about why this book was such a turn-off for me; but, you know, I think that is part of the problem...I did not care enough to analyze, and nothing about the book has stayed with me, except that I don't know what to do with it and have no interest in finishing it.

THE EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES ALEX FOUND HIMSELF IN, THE CONFESSIONS, THE PUNISHMENTS, THE MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE, THE INSTANT AND INTENSE ATTRACTION BETWEEN ALEX, OLIVIA, AND JASON. PLUS THE SEX SIZZLED. JUST LEFT MY BREATHLESS! I PURPOSELY READ IT IN SEVERAL DAYS SO AS TO DRAW OUT THE PLEASURE. WHAT A KEEPER!!!