- 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.
Tag: Romance novels
Flash Review: Never a Bride
So, first of all, I am a Megan Frampton fangirl. I think her stories are so funny and sweet. I fell in love with Eleanor in Lady Be Bad and I have enjoyed every Duke’s Daughters book. This one was no exception.
I was very curious about Della’s story as we heard about her for three books before meeting her. I loved how strong she was. She’s clever and independent and she loves her kid. The hero in this book is really swoony too. He loves Della’s independence and experience. He sees her and appreciates her for who she is and it’s so lovely.
My only critique is that we are told so many times how huge and arrogant the hero is. I mean it is stated plainly over and over. Frampton does an excellent job of showing how arrogant he is, and after one or two mentions, I understood, this dude is a big motherfucker. So it wasn’t really necessary to tell me every time he’s in the scene that he’s large and arrogant. It got distracting after a while. That’s the only reason I didn’t give this book five stars.
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.
Review: From Heiress to Mom
From Heiress to Mom by Therese Beharrie is a really sweet, emotional romance. It’s not super sexy, which was a little disappointing, but as I got more drawn into the characters’ journey, I didn’t mind so much. There’s a secret baby, but *twist* it’s not the heroine’s! The baby belongs to the one night stand of her ex-boyfriend, who asks her to help care for the baby while the mom is finishing school. At first I was like, Hell no…how selfish can you be, and I wanted to throw my Kindle across the room. But I stuck with it and I’m glad I did.
The book really digs into the pair’s insecurities and feelings. We don’t get much of a sense of what their previous relationship was like, but we get a lot of their feelings and why they broke up. Seeing them work through all of their issues, with a front row seat to their inner monologues, was worth reading. But fair warning – this book is very much in their heads. They both have a lot of crap to work through. I cared about both of these characters by the time I was halfway through the book so I was very invested in their HEA. I also got curious about the first book in the series, her sister’s story, which I’ll have to track down at some point.
If you’re looking for a sweet love story that is high on feels and really creates a mood, then you will enjoy this book. I give it 4 stars.
This is the first time I’ve received an ARC directly from the author so I was really excited to get it!
Review: That Kind of Guy
This is a m/f that features an interracial, age-gap couple with friends to lovers and a fake relationship. There was excellent representation of mental health and demisexuality, and there’s a giant, sweet dog.
Zach and Rae are friends and Rae is nervous to go to a writers’ conference because her ex will be there with his new wife and their baby. Zach decides she needs a fake boyfriend and he volunteers. They get to the hotel and *gasp* there’s only one bed! They both have lots of feelings. There’s a misunderstanding. They talk about it like adults. They live happily ever after. (Given the title of this blog, I don’t think that’s a spoiler.)
The relationship between Zach and Rae grows from friends to lovers slowly and organically, and it’s very believable. Zach admires Rae and she appreciates him for who he is. When they hurt each other, they apologize. And there were some awesome cameos of previous Ravenswood characters.
I give this book 5 Big Heart-Eye-Emoji Stars. I absolutely loved this book and it will probably go along with A Girl Like Her as one of my go-to comfort reads. I received an e-ARC of this book from the author. I am a major Talia Hibbert fangirl so I was really excited to get the chance to read this early. You need to go buy this book right now.
Review: Getting Hot with the Scot
I received an e-ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Getting Hot with the Scot is about an American named Cassie who is vacationing in Europe with her best friends. She wants a hot vacation one night stand, and she meets Logan, a sexy red-headed Scottish dude. Full disclosure: I have a major thing for gingers. My first crush was a little red-headed boy in kindergarten, and I managed to fall in love with and marry a ginger. All that to say, I am predisposed to love a book with a ginger hero.
Back to the book, Cassie and Logan meet when he plays a prank on her for his web series. She refuses to sign the release but they end up banging anyway. Logan kinda creeps on her for the rest of her vacation and they have more sexytimes. He never mentions the release but she finds out anyway and is pissed. Cassie goes home without saying goodbye and she signs the release and goes home to Chicago. Logan ends up in Chicago for work and he tracks her down. They make up and there’s another misunderstanding or two and then they live happily ever after.
I enjoyed this book. Logan was funny and sexy, but a bit of a creeper. I felt like he should have been more honest with Cassie upfront. Another less-than-cool aspect was Cassie’s best friend gives Logan Cassie’s number without her consent. It helped the story move along but it was a violation of privacy. On the other hand, I liked Cassie and how she grew from “I’m not a relationship person” to “I think this could really be something,” in a real, honest way. And here’s a tiny spoiler — I really liked how she turned the drama over the prank and her romance novel reading into a story about strong women who read romance. I think there are more of us out there than the world would expect.
I give this book 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 for Goodreads. If you’re looking for a very light, no-angst, funny read, pick this one up for sure. Also, the book very obviously set up the rest of the series, pointing a big neon sign at the next couple and giving clues to another friend’s story as well. It was almost distracting from the main story, but I enjoyed the side characters, and I am excited to read the next book in the series.
Flash Review: A Prince on Paper
I received an ARC of A Prince on Paper by Alyssa Cole from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is the final installment of Alyssa Cole’s Reluctant Royals series. I have thoroughly enjoyed all the books in this series, and I was excited to see how it ended. I had a hard time getting into this book. It took me over a month to finish it as I would read a chapter or two and then move on to something else. But once I got about 60% in, it really picked up and I loved the ending. The book had humor and heart and lots of growth in both of the main characters. Cole’s writing is fantastic. I guess it was just a slower burn than I prefer.
I give this book 3.5 stars. I probably will reread this in a few months to see if it was just my mood that made it difficult to stay interested because it really was a good story and beautifully told.
Review: American Witch
I received an e-ARC of American Witch by Thea Harrison from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This is the first book in a new trilogy and it’s set in the Elder Races universe. I loved Dragon Bound so much so I was glad to be in that world again. However, this was in an entirely different part of the country and I didn’t see any characters I recognized from the three Elder Races books I’ve read, but I think there were mentions of some characters from her other books.
Molly Sullivan is in an unhappy marriage to an asshole lawyer. She discovers he’s cheating on her and she leaves him in spectacular fashion. She also discovers she has awakening Powers. She meets Josiah, a very old witch, and he gives her some training. Molly is extremely powerful and learns quickly. There is a mystery involving some shady business dealings of her ex-husband’s and a centuries-old feud between Josiah and an ancient witch. Molly and Josiah don’t hit it off right away but there’s an attraction and they develop a relationship. Magical and mundane stuff happens. It’s all very enjoyable and drove me to devour the book in one day.
I enjoyed Molly’s journey of self-discovery. She is a strong woman who had let herself be beaten down by a bad relationship and getting free from her husband opens her up to explore a positive future for herself. Josiah is controlling and overbearing, but somehow still likable to me. I think what I appreciated the most was that Molly stood up to him and he respected her for it. He acknowledged when he was being a jerk, and he really grew to care for her. When he drops the first “I love you,” I believed it. And I liked that he was willing to (mostly) abandon his quest for revenge to be the guy that Molly deserved.
I give this book Five Big Magical Stars, and I can’t wait for the next one in the trilogy. This book reminded me how much I enjoy Thea Harrison’s world building and characterization and just her writing in general. I wonder which of the secondary characters will be featured. This book introduced lots of people but didn’t give a strong hint to any other relationships. Which I appreciated. I hate it when there’s a big neon sign pointing to the next book. It feels like an advertisement.
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 21
- Bad Blood by M. Malone – I read this for the first book of the Romance Sparks Joy book club, which is promoting diverse romance. It was a sexy, fun read. I’ll probably track down more in this series.
- Fake Wife by Stacey Lynn – This is the first book in the series of the 28 Dates book that I read last week. I think I liked this one better. I really like the characters.
- Getting Hot with the Scot by Melonie Johnson – I received an e-ARC of this one from Netgalley. The book comes out on April 30. Full review coming. Spoiler: I’m a sucker for a ginger hero.
- American Witch by Thea Harrison – Another one with a full review pending. It will post on April 29, the day the book releases. It will be my first full review on this site, actually!
I ended up reading a lot of bits and pieces of many books this week, but not much caught my attention enough to finish it so that’s why the list is a little shorter this week.
HEA or GTFO 