amreading – HEA or GTFO

Reading this Week – August 18

I’m a couple of weeks behind so this will be a long list.

Trashed by Mia Hopkins – m/f, contemporary. See my full review of this one here.
The Weight of It All by N.R. Walker – m/m, friends to lovers. This was a great story that included a hero with a less-than-perfect body. There is a lot of discussion of exercise and weight loss, but it was from a healthy perspective. No fat shaming. It was a really sweet story. I loved the characters.
Team A.L.P.H.A. Books 1-4 by Susi Hawke – m/m, mpreg, wolf shifters, fated mates – These are light, goofy stories that I tore through in no time. I don’t know why I enjoy male pregnancy books so much, but I do.
Facing West by Lucy Lennox – m/m, enemies to lovers. This was the first in the Forever Wilde series about a family made up of mostly gay guys, and I liked it. These books were good. Enjoyable, quick reads. Nothing earth-shattering.
The DILF by London Hale – m/f, age gap, best friend’s father. Meh. This was a book. Mostly just a lot of doin’ it.
Felix and the Prince by Lucy Lennox – m/m, royalty. Another Forever Wilde novel. Enjoyable. I’m glad it was on KU.
Wilde Fire by Lucy Lennox – m/m, second chance. This Forever Wilde novel was super sweet and had a little mystery.
Hudson’s Luck by Lucy Lennox – m/m. Another Forever Wilde. Guess what? That one brother you thought was straight, nope. Totes bi. Falls for a cute femme ginger.
Flirt by Lucy Lennox – m/m, age gap. Forever Wilde novella featuring the young bakery guy and the salt-and-pepper fire chief.
His Saint by Lucy Lennox – m/m. Most unusual pairing of the Forever Wilde series. Ex Navy SEAL with small antiquities dealer. There was a mystery in this one too.
Wilde Love by Lucy Lennox – m/m, friends to lovers. The story of the grandfathers of the rest of the Wilde boys. Includes a section during the Vietnam War and the death of a wife. It’s a really touching love story too.
King Me by Lucy Lennox – m/m, enemies to lovers. Final Forever Wilde novel to date. Good stuff, but Dirk Falcon is a terrible name.
Scales and a Tail by Stormy Glen – m/m, mpreg, dragon, bunny, paranormal. This book was funny and fun. A quick read. Another excellent addition to my dragon collection. And there’s good grovel here too.
Spells and Bananas by Joyee Flynn – m/m, witch, spider monkey, mpreg. Funny book in this midnight matings series.
Hot Ride by Lucy Lennox – m/m, age gap, virgin hero. Cute story about two dancers who fall for each other.
Fire and Ash by Gabrielle Evans – m/m, phoenix, fae. Another goofy midnight matings book.
Grounding Griffin by Lucy Lennox – m/m – Another family series by this author. Good stuff.
Jumping Jude by Lucy Lennox – m/m, workplace. Sweet story of country music star and his bodyguard. I liked the bodyguard character a lot.
IRL: In Real Life by Lucy Lennox and Molly Maddox – m/m, enemies to lovers, secret. Funny, cute story from dick pic to true love. I really enjoyed this one.

Reading this Week – August 4

Her Christmas Cookie by Katrina Jackson – Somehow I missed this one when I was reading the Welcome to Sea Port series. It’s a continuation of the throuple in From Scratch where they meet each other’s families. m-m-f, happily ever after.
Dirty by Kylie Scott – m/f, contemporary This was funny and cute. A quick read.
The Client by Meghan O’Brien – f/f, former bully. This was a quick, steamy story. I have trouble with the former bully trope, but it was well-done here. I wish this had been longer and gone more into their relationship and a true HEA instead of the quick HFN.
By Fairy Means or Foul by Meghan Maslow – m/m, magic, dragons, fairies. This was an adorable and funny book. The first in a series and I am looking forward to reading more.
Brazen and the Beast by Sarah MacLean – m/f, historical – This was an amazing story with an AMAZING heroine! It is indeed the Year of Hattie and I am here for it! Whitt was an excellent hero as well. I don’t always love the grunt-y heroes, but this totally worked for me. I already bought the paperback for my keeper shelf.
Man vs. Durian by Jackie Lau – m/f, fake relationship. OMG, I loved this book! My review will post on the 27th, release day. Another that I’ll have to track down in print for the keeper shelf. Peter is total book boyfriend material.
Swallow by Piper Scott and Virginia Kelly – m/m, dragons. This is a spinoff of the bananapants crazy series that I loved so much by these authors. It’s about the dad dragon and his HEA. Major age gap. Something like 1,000 year-old dragon with a 20 year old. haha. This wasn’t as bananas as the original series but I still enjoyed it and loved seeing some of my favorite characters from the original series pop in.
Loving the Secret Billionaire by Adriana Anders – m/f, disability rep, age gap, virgin hero. This was a good story. Older heroine (I don’t remember if it ever says how old, but I’m guessing late 30’s) falls for a 23 year old billionaire hacker.
Endless Stretch of Blue by Riley Hart – m/m, grief, friends to lovers. This was a sweet story of two straight guys who both lost siblings in a bar fire and they meet and fall in love.
The Beast in Him by Shelly Laurenston – m/f, wolves, wild dogs, shifters, paranormal, friends to lovers. Like everything from this author, this was a funny read with enough steam and some original characters. I really hope the hero’s sister gets a story in this series. She’s mean and crazy, but kind of my favorite.

Reread this week:

A Boy Called Cin by Cecil Wilde
S.O.S. by Arabella Faith
Getaway Girl, Runaway Girl and Halfway Girl by Tessa Bailey

Reading this Week – July 23

The reading slump is over!

Wound Tight by Tessa Bailey – very sexy m/m between a CEO and his security guy. I like stories with two alpha dudes falling in love.
Toxic Desire by Robin Lovett – crazy-pants m/f alien romance. It’s a planet full of a toxin that will kill you if you don’t have sex regularly. First in a trilogy. Naturally, I’m reading them all as fast as I can.
Captivated by Tessa Bailey and Eve Dangerfield – m/f, neighbors. This was good. Funny and dirty.
Heat Wave by Ceri Grenelle – m/f, neighbors, friends to lovers. This quick read was cute.
Building Up to Love by J.V. Speyer – cute enough m/m. See full review here.
Written on His Skin by Simone Stark – m/f, epistolary, plus size heroine. This quick and dirty read was good.
Drilled by Brill Harper – m/f, age gap, plus size heroine, brothers bff – The author describes it as trope soup and that’s accurate. This came up in KU recommendations and it was ok.
Captive Desire by Robin Lovett – m/f, enemies to lovers, aliens – Second in the crazy-pants sex planet series. More wtf sexytimes. Very entertaining.
It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time by Kylie Scott – m/f, age gap, surprise baby. This was cute and funny, but I was let down by the ending. Still, I enjoyed the author’s style enough to know I’ll read more of her stuff.

Reading this Week – July 14

Another two weeks together. The reading slump is somewhat better. I read more but I wasn’t super enthusiastic about it.

Obey by Piper Scott – m/m, omegaverse, mpreg, billionaire, bdsm. No shifters in this one, just regular old human omega men who can get pregnant. haha.
Theirs for the Night by Katee Robert – m/m/f, good enough menage novella
S.O.S. by Arabella Faith – m/m, sweet, writer hero. I enjoyed this one a lot.
Runaway Girl by Tessa Bailey – m/f, funny. You can always count on some good old Tessa Bailey dirty talk to bust a reading slump.
Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey – m/f, funny, brothers best friend. I loved this one. Tessa Bailey can do no wrong to me.
Wound Tight by Tessa Bailey – m/m, workplace. This story was intense and somewhat uncomfortable because both dudes were so alpha. But I liked seeing how they worked it out.
Tied to the Tycoon by Chloe Cox – m/f, wtf sexytimes. I read this one from a Romancelandia friend’s WTF sex scene spreadsheet. They do butt stuff while the heroine is suspended by ropes off a skyscraper in Manhattan. Totally nuts.
Smoke Signals by Meredith Katz – m/m, dragons! This was a new type of dragon shifter and I loved it. His hoard was comprised of every game in existence. So cute.
All Grown Up by Vi Keeland – m/f, age gap. This older woman, younger man romance was a cute, fun, quick read.

Reading this Week – June 2

Seriously H*rny by Piper Scott and Susi Hawk (m/m, dragons and unicorns) – Another bananapants KU find. Piper Scott and crew write crazy shifter mpreg romances that are so ridiculous. I love them.
Dangerously H*rny by Piper Scott and Susi Hawk (m/m, dragons and unicorns) – Not as good as the others by this author but I still enjoyed it.
Renaissance Man by Tessa Baily (m/f, instalove) – This was a really cute novella.
Bad Habit by Charleigh Rose (m/f, new adult) – Angsty. Friends to lovers to enemies to lovers. I wasn’t really into it but at the same time I wanted to see what the misunderstanding was that made him he hate her so much. It’s weird for me to read about people that young getting sexy.
Lucky Charm by Chace Verity (m/m, disability rep) This novella was the sweetest! Set just before the great depression when talking films were just starting out. A deaf actor loses his place in Hollywood and hooks up with an old friend to get revenge on his former director/lover. It was so cute and sweet!
Disturbing His Peace by Tessa Bailey (m/f, workplace) – Ok, Tessa Bailey is so good at dirty talk. This was a great story. I loved the heroine. The hero was alpha and really walked the line between sexy and too obnoxious but he stayed on the right side of the line.
Hardcore by Dakota Gray (m/f, workplace) – Fun, very steamy read. Hero is kind of annoying.

Reading this Week – May 19

Playing with Fire by RJ Blain – m/f, urban fantasy. This was a bananapants crazy world with shifters and gorgons and phoenixes and angels and succubi and basically every paranormal creature I’ve ever heard of. The romance was very low heat so that was my only complaint. The banter between the main characters was funny and I laughed out loud at least once.
Teach Me by Olivia Dade – m/f, workplace romance. I’ve got a full review of this one coming next week.
Launch the Hunt by Mia West – m/m, shifter. This was a fun read. An eagle shifter who can turn humans into shifters with his magical sperm.
Surrender the Chase by Mia West – m/m, shifter, age gap, second in this series. This one was two wolf shifters. It was good too. Also the first romance I’ve read where one of the heros had a less than perfect body. Dadbod for the win!
Embrace the Beast by Mia West – m/m, shifter, more dadbod! This friends to lovers was another fun read.
Smitten by the Brit by Melonie Johnson – m/f, sweet, funny romance. I’ve got a full review of this one coming soon.
So Sweet, So Right, So For Real by Rebekah Weatherspoon – m/f, series of novellas, age gap. I love this author and I loved this series. Kayla is a great heroine.
Mrs. Martin’s Incomparable Adventure by Courtney Milan – f/f, seasoned romance. This one took me a long time to finish. I just never got into it. But it was really well written and I wanted to like it more than I did. Which is usually how I feel about this author’s books. I can see she’s good at what she’s doing and I enjoy it, but the magic isn’t there for me.
The Principle of Desire by Delphine Dryden – m/f, dadbod, bdsm. I will forever sing the praises of dadbod in romance! We get heroines with less than perfect bodies, why not heros too!

Reading this Week – May 12

Sinner by Sierra Simone – m/f, fake relationship, age gap. I didn’t like this as much as I wanted to.
Just Past Two by Elia Winters – m/f, open marriage. I’ve got a flash review on this one coming closer to release date.
Raze by Roan Parrish – m/m, age gap, so sweet. I’ve got a full review of this one coming closer to release date.
Feels Like Summer by Six de los Reyes – m/f, cute story.
Alpha Awakened by Piper Scott – more m/m, dragon, mpreg craziness. I can’t resist.
Alpha Ablaze by Piper Scott – m/m, dragon, mpreg, second in this series. This was probably my favorite of the four.
Alpha Deceived by Piper Scott -m/m, dragon, mpreg, third of the series. unexpected omega.
Alpha Victorious by Piper Scott – m/m, dragon, mpreg, age gap. I probably would have abandoned this one if I hadn’t been curious about what happened with the bad guy. I don’t like it when the hero is called “daddy.”
My Lady’s Choosing by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris -m/f and f/f. Choose your own adventure meets romance. This was such a fun book! It took me back to reading those choose your own adventure books, which I loved. All the HEAs were satisfying.

Reading this Week – May 5

Never a Bride by Megan Frampton – m/f, historical, fake relationship fun. I’m posting a flash review of this book tomorrow. The Goodreads review was actually quoted by the author on Twitter and I died.
The Lion, The Dragon, and Their Unicorn Omega by Lorelei Hart and Ophelia Heart – m/m/m shifter mpreg craziness. Just a fun, silly read.
The Hottest Daddy: After She’s Gone by Michelle Love – m/f, contemporary, somewhat suspense. It was ok.
Halfway Girl by Tessa Bailey – m/f, contemporary. This was virgin hero catnip fun.

Reread this week

Bond by Piper Scott – m/m, mpreg, dragon craziness. This is the bananas series I read last month and I was in the mood for it again.

Reading this Week – April 28

A Prince on Paper by Alyssa Cole – Full review coming on Tuesday!
Shaft by Krista Gold – This was a cute m/f novella. Not exactly happily ever after but it leaves you with the potential for happy. I wanted more.
Under His Protection by LaQuette – This was a really great m/m romance with forced proximity and second chance love. I loved the cop character.
Rebel Hard by Nalini Singh – Five stars, all the heart eyes, diverse m/f love story. This book was my catnip. Two virgins falling in love over time and learning to chase their dreams together. So good.
Cherish Hard by Nalini Singh – This one was good too, but anything was bound to be a letdown after Rebel Hard.

Reread this week:

One Dance with a Duke by Tessa Dare – This book just keeps growing on me.
Dragon Bound by Thea Harrison – I was in a bad mood this week and needed some funny dragon shifters to cheer me up.

I’m very excited because my first full review is going live tomorrow! Come back and check it out and squee over books with me!

Reading this Week – April 14

Three-Way Split by Elia Winters – fun m/m/f. I’ve decided that I prefer m/m/f to m/f/m. I like for everyone to be in love with everyone in my poly-romances.
Love Will Always Remember by Tracey Livesay – m/f romance. I am not always of fan of one of the MCs being in a relationship when they get together with their True Love, but I was able to get past that because the writing was so gorgeous and the hero was so wonderful.
Picture Perfect Cowboy by Tiffany Reisz – short and sweet m/f. My first exposure to Tiffany Reisz was the totally bananas The Red. This was a fun one with some D/s in there.
Single AF by Sherelle Green – clever, funny m/f. This was one of my better finds on KU.
Before Girl by Kate Canterbary – 35+ m/f. I enjoyed reading about a couple that’s my age and older. The hero called the Heroine “sweet thing” and that took me out of the story every single time.
Cocky Cowboy by Jamila Jasper – m/f with a mystery attached. I didn’t love this one, but I didn’t hate it either. I liked the Heroine. She was really strong. I guess I just had trouble believing their relationship because they didn’t really get to know each other much.
An Unseen Attraction by KJ Charles – m/m with a mystery attached. The relationship was sweet but the mystery was kind of boring to me until the very end, when it was solved and hinted at further mystery that comes along later in the series.
That Kind of Guy by Talia Hibbert – m/f, last in the Ravenswood series. I have been anticipating this one like crazy and I got an ARC from the author. It comes out May 2, and I’ll post a full review that week. I have squee for this book.
28 Dates by Stacey Lynn – m/f, sort of second chance, friends with benefits to friends to true love. This book has a horrible cover on the ARC but it was a sweet story.

Damn, I read a lot this week. But I didn’t do any rereads and a lot of these were 2 hours or less.