honestly, i read a lot of romance books, so i kind of can tolerate the sex scenes. but, this was just so much graphic sex it just to be so much and was just kind of gross in my mind. and the whole book didn't even really follow the description, so it wasn't even that good. and the writing was also so bad. but, at least the cover is cute.

Thank you NetGalley, Prodigious Publishing and Bradley Cornish for the advanced readers copy. The description of the book made it a must read for me, but unfortunately it ended up being very hard to enjoy and to read.  I felt like the story was being to,d backwards, many of what should have been known in the beginning was not found out until the end. With this style of writing, I think it was ,want to surprise the reader with the information that it would find out, but it actually made everything easier to figure out and nothing was a surprise. This book was a slow read and very hard to get into.

The plot was ok but seemed lacking in some areas. I didn’t really care for the characters and the sex scenes just seemed redundant with no relevance to the story. I’m sure there are some who will really enjoy reading this.  
Many thanks to Prodigus Publishing and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is a new author for me and I look forward to reading more from them.  This is a story that is full of action and twists and turns that kept me turning pages to the end.  The characters brought the story to life and easy to read.  They kept the story engaging and really just made the story for me.  This is a well developed story that pulled me in right from the beginning.  This is a story about romance, betryal and lust.  I am glad I picked up this book and I think you will too.  It is really fast paced and hard to put down.  I highly recommend this book.

This book was not at all what I thought it would be. 

Lies behind the woods begins with Steve Breiten. He is a college professor who seeks a normal, quiet life, not dealing with all the failed relationships and drama. One day during office hours he meets a mysterious woman, Tara, who his tip to the police helped to save a few years ago from kidnapping.

 Tara is seductive and sexy, and that works very well for her. The subject matter does discuss Stockholm syndrome. The content may be triggering for some, and cases of abuse are included in the storyline.

This book was not what the description would lead you it to be and while I do not like to give one star this deserves it. The characters were shallow, the plot contrived and there was gratuitous, graphic sex scenes with a pretense of story tossed in. 
Even with its short length it was a struggle to finish because it was so absurd.
Give this one a hard pass. 
Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for the free e-book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This whole book description makes me so uncomfortable. i am not a.fan of poking at a traumatic experience and using it for sex. it’s a no from me, and i would encourage the author to expand their writing ability into something better.

This is when I normally thank Netgalley for the ARC, but not this time. This is the kind of book that makes me question the screening process that goes into Netgalley’s selection of authors/books. This book is a poorly-executed mystery presented in the form of a Penthouse Forum letter. It does not live up to its description by any stretch of the imagination, and I am so disappointed. 

The writing was convoluted and confusing and the characters evoked no empathy. Steve, the main character, only thought about sex. Whether he was fantasizing or actually engaged in it didn’t matter much as far as descriptions were concerned. It’s told from Steve’s POV in third-person, and there’s a lot of “introspection.” For the purposes of this review, let’s define “introspection” as fantasizing about having sex with the women in the book. Sex was described in painful detail. There’s a paragraph devoted to describing the type of nipples Steve preferred on a woman and this likely being a result of his mother breastfeeding him until the age of five. Words like “joystick” were laughable, but sentences like this one made me question why I continued reading:  “He moved up and aligned his pulsating love muscle with her waiting juicy body.” I could go on, but…. Ewwww.

So the sex takes up a good portion of the book, but I kept reading because I was intrigued by the mystery. Let me tell you up front, if you’re reading this for the mystery aspect of the book, you might as well stop because it’s not worth the trip to get there. There’s a sex cult. In other words, it’s an excuse for more sexual encounters, fantasizing, revelations, insights, what have you. Ugh. I don’t even know what to say about the plot. It’s just not worth the effort to try to formulate sentences.

Verb tenses made it difficult to determine when events were occurring. This was especially true during the epilogue, when the storytelling changed to present-tense with a bit of past-tense mixed in just to confuse things. But then there was this, which seemed like an important quote from Tara’s mother, but didn’t really make any sense. That was partly because it’s just a stupid statement and partly, I think, because the verb tenses were wrong: “Tara was suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, and the truth will never be the same.” I may never be the same.

On his 25th birthday, Steve is almost hit by a car as he was running. From that car, Steve hears a woman screaming and a man with his arm around her neck. Thinking the woman was screaming from the truck almost flipping over, Steve thinks nothing of the incident until he sees a news story about a local missing girl. Steve decides to go to the police with the details that he remembered, the girl is found two weeks late
r.
Fiver years later Tara, the kidnapped girl, comes to Steve's college class to thank him for saving her. But Tara is thinking of different ways to thank Steve. As she stays with Steve, Tara begins to make sexual advances until Steve finally gives in to them. Steve finds that Tara is not as damaged or innocent as she is perceived.
 
I found that this book and the description do not match. I think that if they had this book would have made its way to readers who enjoy aspects of the story, I found that at some points in this novel, the plot was there but was not elaborated on. At times it felt like I was reading two different stories as the first half of the book does not collaborate with the second half of the book.
Thank you to Netgalley, Prodigious Publishing, and Bradley Cornish for allowing me to read this ARC.

Shortly after I started this book, I realized it was not for me. The cover intrigued me but I only got to 20% before throwing in the towel. I did not connect with any of the characters at all.  I want to thank the publisher for this complimentary copy of this book and opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Steve is a college professor, out for his daily run. A van comes speeding by without regard of anyone or anything in the road. What Steve sees is a man driving, one hand holding down a young woman with a foot hanging out the window. And she's screaming.

He turns it over in his mind and decides it was really nothing ... until a week later when he reads in the newspaper about a missing woman .... the picture is of the woman he saw in the speeding van.

His report to the police leads to finding the woman and arresting the man ... who ultimately spends 3 years behind bars.

Today ... a woman walks into his office. It's the same woman who was kidnapped. She's profuse in her thanking him, although belatedly, for playing a role in her rescue. One thing leads to another and he's getting a not-so-great feeling about her. She's offering herself and he's finding it hard to say no.

It’s only a matter of time before she leads him to the secret that lies behind the woods…

I found the plot a little on the thin side. Mostly the first part of the book was graphic descriptions of every intimate encounter Steve has with his multiple conquests. The second half of the book takes place deep in the woods .. where he learns a lot about his past. All the characters were abused one way or another when they were children. The kidnapper was abused while in prison. This was just an okay book for me.

Many thanks to the author / Prodigious Publishing / Netgalley for the digital copy of LIES BEHIND THE WOODS. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

It was really hard to get into this book for me. I wanted to keep reading but this needed up being a do not finish for me. Just didn't grab my attention.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free copy of the book!

On his 25th birthday, while jogging down, Steve witnesses a kidnapping case. He thought he did a right thing by saving her and he thought he was a hero. Three years later, Tara, who was the victim visits him, after the abduction and Steve is juggling with various lust feelings as Tara is doing sexual advances towards him. 

I am having mixed thoughts about this book. First taking positive side, the plot line sounds great to me. However, I didn't very much like the book much--it became kind of lame and predictable. The writing was a bit sloppy and I didn't really enjoy reading this book. Too much unnecessary things. If the unnecessary stuff was not in the book particularly the sexual things, then this book might have become great. 

I don't really like giving negative reviews but this is one of the books I didn't really enjoy reading. Worth two and a half stars in my opinion.

First of all, I'd like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for granting me access to this book. As much as the cover is eye-catching and the blurb sounds intriguing, I gave up reading after the first three chapters due to the following reasons - the writing is choppy and most of all, the whole premise definitely doesn't fit what the blurb is saying as I thought it's a suspense thriller (well it still is in a way) but the direction then veers off and left me rather stumped. In other words, it wasn't what I'd expected and it left me disappointed, as I thought the blurb sounds promising and have potential.

Lies Behind the Woods was not really what I was expecting it would be from the description. It sounds more like a thriller (and it kind of is).. but I would say it takes more of an erotica turn. I loved the idea behind the story but unfortunately this one was just not for me due to the some of the very graphic sex language.

The pace was a bit slow and the plot a bit predictable.  I don’t always have to like the main character to like the book but, in this case, I actively DISliked him and found myself hoping things would not work out for him.  Not the best attitude to bring yto a mystery!   People who like a bit of sex with their mystery reads may like this book more than I did.

TW/CW: kidnapping however, I ended up DNF'ing this book so please do your own research!

Synopsis: He thought he witnessed a kidnapping. He thought he did the right thing. He thought he was a hero. He thought, he thought. Until his thoughts came back to haunt him.

Steve Breiten is a college professor who has a long line of failed relationships behind him. All he wants is a long vacation in the mountains, free of drama and responsibilities, where he can relax, read, and maybe even start writing his book. He didn't expect a mysterious woman to walk into his office - not that woman, the one who had been kidnapped all those years ago and rescued after a tip he'd left at the police station.

Now, his plans for the summer have taken a dramatic shift. Tara Murphy is determined to show her gratitude for his actions that fateful day, and she won't take no for an answer. As the heat builds between them, Steve finds himself at a moral crossroads. He doesn't want to take advantage of this young, damaged woman. But he finds his resistance to her sexual advances fading fast.

It's only a matter of time before she leads him to the secret that lies behind the woods...

Thoughts: I've never read anything by this author before, but the cover and the synopsis drew me in so I requested an early copy to review. Right from the start I did not like the writing. I felt it lacked depth, and that's saying something from someone who prefers concise writing. I only managed to make it 17% into the story before I had to DNF the book and let me explain why.

Besides the horrible lackluster writing I felt like this was the authors idea of a sexy romp. I was able to move past his inner monologue constantly objectifying her at first, but when it got to the part where she wanted to spend the night at his place and “thank him” and he continued to objectify her in detail I just couldn't continue. Oh and this happened on the very first day of their actual meeting after the incident where he saved her somehow? From what little I know she was taken and raped and Steve had a part in saving her (but maybe not because the chapter after I DNF'd it started talking about some weird camera thing which I'll jump into in a moment).

As this is an ARC I will not directly quote, but suffice it to say things like: Steve telling Tara the problem is he had sex with her mom and saved her life so the relationship dynamics would be on uneven footing, Steve could not stay with a woman for more than a year and a half because he had daddy issues, and Steve wanting nothing more than to dive into Tara's "country-bred mounds" actually happened in the first 15% of this book. Even with as awful as that was I continued. The next chapter "The Flying Mirror" talked about a new type of intelligent traffic-enforcement camera that would be able to detect if something looked suspicious about an automobile, or anyone within the automobile. Are you crazy? You expect me to believe this crap? I think not. Basically I think I am reading a book of convenience where Cornish is jacking off the entire time. No thank you. Hard pass!

Rating: DNF

Hashtags: #LiesBehindtheWoods #NetGalley

This book was a DNF for me, I couldn't get past the main character who was unlikable from the start. I made it to the first very open door sex scene and gave up. It didn't add to the story and just made it creepier. Sorry to the author but this was not for me. 
NetGalley made the ARC available to me for an honest review.

I didn't find this book very interesting and honestly, felt kind of bored while reading it. I don't have too much to say about it because I found it uninteresting, and not much really stood out to me.

Wow, I hate giving bad reviews, but sorry to the author, I just can’t avoid it here. 

Steve is a creepy professor who likes creeping on the young women in his psychology classes. One day three years ago, he unwittingly saw the abduction of a teenager. 

Steve has sex with every woman he comes across and he apparently loves fantasizing about literally everyone. He does have some morals, I guess. He tries to reject the advances of the abduction victim, Tara, since he feels there’s a power imbalance... and also because he slept with her mom. And the DA that charged her case. And his last girlfriend’s older sister. 

This dude is just too weird. 

Here are some text examples: 

“ He thоught ѕhе hаd a country wholesome quаlitу about hеr—ѕеxу, but rеаdу tо milk a соw if nееdеd. Someone he would love to have fun with if given the opportunity.“

“ Hаd ѕhе ѕеlесtеd that blоuѕе to arouse him? In light оf the еvidеnсе оf hеr maturity, and her еаѕе with hеr past trаumаtiс еvеnt, hе now thоught maybe she hаd dressed to impress him. Hе саught himself ѕtаring аt her breasts аnd thеn rерrimаndеd himѕеlf. Hе was соnfuѕеd. He didn’t knоw hоw hе should treat her. The six-year age difference didn’t bother Steve at all, but he couldn’t help but view Tara аѕ a уоungеr ѕiѕtеr, оr as ѕоmеоnе whose life he once saved.”

“ mоrе thаn tо divе intо thоѕе whоlеѕоmе country-brеd mоundѕ—tо tеаr аwау hеr blоuѕе and expose hеr milkу white bosom. His testosterone couldn’t hold him back as he wanted to see whаt her niррlеѕ lооkеd likе; he imаginеd they wеrе large аnd pointy, with rosy but рimрlу аrrеоlаs. Hе соuld еаѕilу imаginе ѕliding his big hard erection bеtwееn hеr аmрlе breasts.”

“ Stеvе ѕаw Jаnе’s big brеаѕtѕ and perky hard nipples staring at him. They were nоt too lаrgе, but rather, thеу wеrе nаturаllу реrfect. Steve ѕtооd thеrе for a moment аnd tооk in the ѕight оf tорlеѕѕ Jаnе. Aѕ a breast mаn, hе relished thе mоmеnt whеn a nеw lover exposed hеr brеаѕtѕ tо him for thе firѕt time.”

And this zinger: 

“ Hiѕ mоthеr breastfed him until thе аgе оf five аѕ a wау of соmреnѕаting fоr hеr broken mаrriаgе, and hе сrеdited thаt fоr hiѕ fascination with female breasts. Hе аdmirеd аll shapes and ѕizеѕ, аnd аlwауѕ evaluated hоw thеу would lооk bra-less in a ѕhееr whitе blоuѕе.”. 

I read up to the 30% mark and it only gets more sexual from there. Which, that’s not a problem, exactly, it’s just that I thought I would be reading a thriller and not erotica. 

So if erotica about power imbalances is your thing, here you go.