Synopsis
Six nights to remember, six days to forgive…
Esther is grateful for the strong arms that saved her and her young son from an earthquake. But she wishes their rescuer was someone else. Anyone other than the man who left her pregnant after a holiday fling.
Toby’s carpentry skills take him wherever there’s work, and right now that work is definitely cut out for him. He has to get over the shock that the little boy in his arms is his own son—and convince Esther that he’s always regretted walking away from her.
Esther can’t bring herself to deny Toby his right to get to know Charlie. Besides, with her own home flattened, she has nowhere to go but with him to his apartment…where she discovers a sexy role-playing card game tucked in his suitcase.
When Toby invites her to accompany him to the Northland to attend his best friend’s wedding, the opportunity to explore their still-simmering attraction is too tempting to resist. As the steamy scenarios heat up, they start to realize this is more than a game. But Esther’s hiding a secret that could cause as much devastation as the earthquake…
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396 pages
Amazon UK – £3.04
Amazon US – $4.54
Out 26th March 2013
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My Review
Three years ago, Toby and Esther spent two glorious weeks together in Fiji, where fun and sex were the main course. When the two weeks were up Toby walked away from her, leaving her heartbroken and a few weeks down the line, pregnant.
Now three years later, and in the company of a little boy, Charlie, he and Esther are saved in the midst of an earthquake by no other than Charlie’s dad, Toby, who just so happened to be at the same place, at the right or maybe wrong time.
Toby goes wherever his carpentry skills take him and now he’s in Christchurch. Rescuing the girl who he has always regretted walking away from, it’s a shock to know that the little boy in his arms that he just saved is his own.
Esther doesn’t deny that Charlie is his, nor can’t she bring herself to deny him his right to get to know his little boy. Besides, since her apartment was flattened by the earthquake and with nowhere to go, Toby offers his apartment to Charlie and Esther, which is where she discovers a sexy role-playing card game tucked in his suitcase.
Toby is leaving Christchurch for a few days to attend his best friend’s wedding and he invites Esther and Charlie along with him back to Northland, so he can get to know his son, but also there’s an opportunity to explore their still-sizzling attraction to one another, which is just too tempting to resist.
But as the scenarios heat up, they both start to realize that this is more than just a game. Old feelings are starting to rehash but Esther is hiding a secret that could cause devastation if found out and she doesn’t know whether to spill it or not. It could ruin everything.
I’d firstly like to thanks Serenity Woods for sending me an ARC copy of Six Naughty Nights. You all should know my love for Seven Sexy Sins by now and when Serenity started following me on Twitter, well, I went all fangirl on her and she offered to send me a copy of this sexy book! So here I am, reviewing Six Naughty Nights – the next book in the Love in Reverse series – which was pretty much too hard to put down. Although it did come to a time where I needed sleep and reluctantly had to stop at the next chapter.
For those who have read Seven Sexy Sins, you will know that Toby is a character in that book. The flirty one, the one who everyone teases and it didn’t seem to bother him at all. He’s still the cheeky chap he was in SSS, but we get to see much more of him and his personality. I can’t tell you how many times I laughed at the things that came out of his mouth. He was hilarious.
I love how easy he seemed to slip into the role of being a father, even when he was freaking out about it. He was a natural with Charlie and my heart ached over how much he fell in love with Charlie and how he treated and cared for him even when he had known him for a few hours. It was like he was born to be affectionate and have his own kid to love. He was very family orientated.
Throughout the book, you really see the true Toby appear. Not only is he the cheeky, flirty guy, but he’s sensitive and has insecurities of his own that he has buried deep down because he doesn’t want anyone to know that they do sting when he’s teased. He always tries to get the approval of his friends and family and it pains Esther to see him being treated this way. He’s insecure over his family because he’s the ‘least educated’ one as his two brothers are Lawyers and Doctors.
Despite his insecurities, Toby had a big heart full of love, and he and Charlie were just so cute together. As I’ve mentioned, Toby was a natural; no awkward talking between the two of them and their conversations just flowed, despite Charlie being just over two years old. And for a two year old, he came out with some goddamn funny lines. I just wanted to cuddle him up and have him talk that way with me. He was the most adorable little kid about and you really could tell he was Toby’s son. I also loved how Toby didn’t treat him as a kid as such; he didn’t talk down to him. That way, he and Charlie bantered was hilarious but they also had so many sweet scenes together and the way Charlie just accepted that Toby was his dad, and started calling him ‘Daddy’ brought a tear to my eye.
“You’ve got a big willy.” Charlie observed. “It’s bigger than mine” He studied his own offering.
“Size isn’t everything, dude, or so they’d have you believe.”
I can’t tell you how much I howled reading this conversation.
Esther is a strong, independent woman, but she also has insecurities. Ever since Toby walked away from her after their two weeks in Fiji, she was heartbroken, distrustful and left pregnant. Since then it’s just been her and Charlie against the world. She doesn’t have any family and doesn’t like anyone helping her, rather doing it herself. After Toby’s attempts of getting in contact with her, she ignores them, wanting to punish him for how he left her. She knew how to contact him but she didn’t want to, she didn’t want him back in her life, even if Charlie did deserve to know his dad and Toby deserved to know he had a son. So when she sees Toby in the supermarket as an earthquake hits, and he gets them to safety, she doesn’t deny that Charlie is his when she’s asked.
I loved that Ms. Woods didn’t make Esther withhold the information to Toby. Many books draw that out and after a while you want to scream at them, but Esther was honest and because of that, they could get past one obstacle about their past and power through the rest.
Esther and Toby’s attraction was still pure. It was still as hot as it was three years ago but right now, Esther doesn’t want her feelings to return. She wants them to stay hidden away and not get heartbroken again by Toby. She wants to resist him but she can’t. So when they propose to play the role-playing game while they are in Northland, they try to do the same as Rusty and Faith – keep it physical and not let any emotions get in the way. Oh, why didn’t they listen to Rusty? They have too much history to keep old feelings away and sex is never just physical (for some people), emotions truly do get in the way. The more time they spend together, and the more they play the games, love is inevitably going to get in the way.
Now on to the games. I FREAKING LOVED THEM! Is this game real? I think I’d like to buy it because holy hell, Toby and Esther role-playing…I needed cold water thrown over me everytime they has sex because I was burning up. I loved how dominant Toby was in the bedroom and although Esther hated being the ‘sub’ because of how independent she was, it did turn her on to be dominated. Although she was always insecure about her body every time she was naked, Toby loved every part of her and that made her come out of her shell and play along. She was brilliant and being pushed to her limits playing someone else. Every sex scene was intense and steamy but I reallllllly like the sex scene where he tied her up. It was intense and made her vulnerable but it was also a pivotal point in their ‘relationship.’
Throughout everything that happens with Toby and Esther and when her secret does come out, I felt so sorry for both of them. They loved one another but Esther was determined it wouldn’t work and the secret hurt Toby, but he kind of understood somewhere deep down, why she did it. But the ending! Oh the ending. It was just amazing and I was cheering that everything, truly, would be okay for them both.
I absolutely enjoyed Six Naughty Nights. Serenity Woods’ books always draw me in and there is always an amazing storyline wrapped into the book, where it’s not just about sex, it’s about a connection and their journey together and alone. She makes me care about all the characters and makes my emotions go all over the place, much like her characters. I will always come back for more with Serenity Woods and I am so glad that I got to receive an ARC of this book from her, because I will definitely be recommending this to everyone and saying how great it is.
PS. Much like Rusty, Toby is definitely a new book boyfriend and I really couldn’t decide who I love best. It wouldn’t be fair 😉
Z. Elizabeth 