Review: Never Have I Ever by Alisha Rai

Publisher: Samhain

Publish Date: 12/10/10

How I got this book: ARC from author

The higher the stakes, the hotter the game.

Ana Hudson enjoys her picture-perfect marriage to the love of her life. Everything is pleasant, easy—and satisfying. Then an anonymous e-mail arrives filled with lurid pictures of Taylor’s youthful exploits, leaving her wondering if she really knows him at all. More importantly…does she know herself?

Driven to uncover the truth and push the limits of their sexual boundaries, she convinces Taylor to arrange a weekend getaway to a friend’s luxury cottage in the mountains. It’s the perfect place to get her husband to spill his secrets—and show him there’s a wealth of kinky fantasies hiding inside his good girl.

Taylor’s spent years suppressing his animalistic side, hiding the not-completely-human DNA that once drove him wild. Except now his once quiet, reserved Ana has launched a campaign to destroy every inch of his hard-won control.

With the snowy wilderness containing his darkest memories surrounding them, and his old pack-mate dropping in to give them a few pointers, the sexual battle of wills gets fierce.

Let the games begin.

Warning: Contains a brooding, dirty-minded, not-quite-human hero, a sweet not-quite-good-girl heroine, a howling-hawt car ride up a mountain, a chase through the snow followed by an erotic adventure with sports equipment, oral sex, anal sex, and a M/F/M ménage scene that will leave you panting.

Blurb from Goodreads

Ana is happily married to the love of her life and thought that everything between them was perfect! Once she receives some pictures of her husband during his wild and crazy youth days, she begins to wonder why he is so vanilla with her.

The two arrange a weekend getaway at Taylor’s childhood friend Eli’s cabin in the woods. Ana does everything she can to get Taylor to spill his kinky secrets, but he stays very tight lipped. When she reaches a breaking point, she confronts Taylor on his exploits, and along with the truth, she also finds out that not only was he holding back on her sexually, he was also hiding his werewolf heritage.

Once Ana recovers from the shock, she will do just about anything to get her husband to include her in his wild side, and the heat in the cabin gets turned way up!

Damn, can I just say that Alisha Rai writes some incredible fantastic smut! Ana does a damn good job trying to seduce her husband, and the two have a smokin’ hawt scene in the living room, a couple of times! They also have hot scenes in the car, and the shed (with a ping-pong paddle!! RAWR!), and while playing in the snow… Now, I’m not a huge fan of the ménage thing, and am quite honestly somewhat over the whole thing. While I usually try and steer clear of ménage stories, I am a huge sucker for any werewolf story. However, this ménage isn’t a long term thing, totally smoking, and fun to read. Plus, Alisha rocks so I knew I would love it.

I had a hard time connecting with Ana at first. To me, someone who is in a picture perfect marriage should be confidant enough to walk up to her hubby, and tell him exactly how she wants him. She should be able to show him the mysterious pictures, and get the truth straight up. Ana was a little too timid and scared at first. However, once she learned the truth, she did open up nicely and really blossom into a likeable character.

I liked Taylor’s character from the get-go, but hoped that he would have fessed up sooner to Ana about his werewolf heritage. I can understand why he didn’t want to, but it would have been nice to see him really open up to her. It seemed to me like he really didn’t want to share anything regarding his part with her, and almost blew it by refusing to be honest.

I also adored Eli. He was such a great side character, and I can’t wait to get his story. He was funny, and provided a voice of reason for Taylor while he and Ana were fighting. Likewise, he was also a good friend to Ana, giving her advice on the sly about the best way to process all she learned. After all that he has been through, he really needs a great girl on his side!

This was a super sexy and great little novella. For Alisha Rai fans out there, you will not be disappointed. If you haven’t read any of her work before, this might be a great way to pop your cherry!

All in all, I give Never Have I Ever a B.