Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.Did I read a book that isn’t out until September & love it? Yes, yes I did. Shelby Mahurin’s The Scarlet Veil is such a delicious bite of vampire romantasy. It gave me those vampire book thrills I look for: danger, beauty, temptation, & a bite that brings pleasure . At the beginning of the book Célie is a Huntswoman, the only Huntswoman in a group of men who largely deride her & her abilities. Her fiancé, the Captain, is so busy trying to protect her that he stifles & under-appreciates her in a different way. Then Célie finds a dead body & in short order is kidnapped by mysterious, obviously dangerous people she realizes are vampires. Two mysteries surround everything: the recent crop of similar deaths in her city & the death of her sister & the trauma Célie experienced in its aftermath. If you’re looking for an atmospheric vampire book with kissing, check this one out. If you’re looking for a tortured MMC who speaks and moves & acts in a silky, clearly dangerous way, a spirited and beautiful FMC who can talk to ghosts (!), and a prophecy that suggests their romance is doomed, check this one out. Don’t be mad at me about the cliffie, please! Also I should note that this is a spin-off of the Serpent & Dove series but I’ve only read book 1 in that series & I was fine . In closing, this book is delivering big vampire energy & I’m here for it. You might want to be too . 4.5⭐️. Out 09/26.[ID: Jess’s white hand holds the ebook in front of a mural painted on a red background of a white woman with red lipstick wearing a tartan corset & holding a set of bagpipes.]
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Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.The last Psyche & Eros retelling I read was Katee Robert’s. This version, written by Luna McNamara, is quite different in execution. While there is a romance, for me the most successful part of this story is just in the retelling itself, with the romance present but subsumed to the arc of the myth. There is little emotional intimacy, for example. But there is an intriguing tale of a fated warrior legend—Psyche—a ticked off goddess, Aphrodite, & a god who curses himself with love & who has a lot to learn about the subject of his spell. The plot moves along from one moment of tension to another, as Psyche & Eros both journey to great lengths to save each other. For me, the best part of the story is in Psyche’s realization about heroism & what actions the stories of heroes are based on. In the end, Psyche & Eros is a quietly affecting retelling of the myth, great for people who want a story of growth & devotion, with a happy ending for the pair. 4⭐️. Out now!CWs: death, imprisonment, violence. Reference to slaves, to rape, & suicide.
Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.If found family is your jam Ann Aguirre’s The Only Purple House in Town has you covered. This book has such an interesting premise: Iris Collins is from a family of psychic vampires but she’s the only one who hasn’t manifested any talent yet. She feels like a disaster & a constant source of disappointment to others. Then she inherits a purple home that needs some love & chooses renters to live with her, including Eli Reese, a hawk shifter who has never forgotten the impression Iris made on him at young age—even if Iris can’t say the same about him. The family that Iris & her housemates build is my fave part of this book. How she & the people who live there—despite their wildly different personalities—welcome others & give them acceptance & a place to call home. The LGBTQIA rep in this book is also fantastic & I adore the overall whimsicality of the world. But I didn’t connect with the writing or the characters as much as I had hoped. The actual romance between Iris & Eli left me a bit cold, & that’s not a commentary on the fade to black aspect of the book but just on the romance arc itself. I’ve heard so many great things about this author so I might give another book a try at some point but I only liked this one & didn’t swoon for it. 3⭐️. Out 07/11.Please see a trusted reviewer’s list of CWs.
Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC and the publisher for the complimentary hard copy. All opinions provided are my own. Unfortunately, Yours has: golden retriever & cat energy an MC defending another MC him panicking over the possibility of her being in present danger or past Some steam Comfort After not loving Secretly Yours, Tessa Bailey’s upcoming novel UNFORTUNATELY, YOURS out tomorrow, feels like a return to the hotness & the infatuation & the pure goodness of a TB dirty sex, he-will-love-her-to-the-end-of-time story. I adore August Cates. Like in a way as big as the man himself. I love his golden retriever energy, which gives me Brent from Asking for Trouble vibes. I love when Natalie gets pissy with him, how she calls him bonehead, & how he’s basically like “I know but you want me so what does that make you” in return. I love that you just know they will be in each other’s corners forever, defending the other from anyone else. It’s opposites attract, class difference, marriage of convenience, dislike-ish to love, and total wish fulfillment for someone who just wants a fast, low angst, ticks all the boxes, hot read. 4.5⭐️. Out now!CW: Heavy alcohol use. Reference to rehab, which her parents made her go to when she was younger.
Thanks to the author for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own. Recently I was bookstagram influenced to try Tracy Sumner’s historical romances. If you’re a Kerrigan Byrne fan, if you like oomph & drama & intensity & steam, you might want to check out The Wicked Wallflower. Lady Philippa Darlington is a woman with a plan & when that plan doesn’t work, she’s a woman with a backup plan. She is sneaky & brave & refuses to be cowed. She also has pants feelings for her brother’s close friend & business partner & altogether unsuitable hottie Xander Macauley. Xander basically tries hard to resist. & then when he gives in—finally—they nearly sex themselves into beautiful oblivion. The Wicked Wallflower isn’t about subtlety IMO. As an example, characters (even secondary) are often described as beasts or brutes etc. Sometimes—like in those cases—it feels excessive to me. But I also appreciate it when it comes to aspects of the leads’ dance together—the descriptions of the temptation & passion & the lovely bewildering majesty of falling in love & being in love. 4⭐️. Out now!CWs: reference to child abuse; violence. Also the book makes note of certain items the hero imports from the American colonies—“He imported the very best from the Carolinas.” This gave me a squeamish feeling given America’s history of slavery.
Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs is one of those fantasies that slowly winds together a few different stories & then WHOOSH pulls them tight. I love that, don’t you? The sign of an author’s master plan coming into big & gorgeous effect. This story takes as its premise a world where magic can be found (& even created) in books & it’s activated through those books & blood. Magic has separated sisters Esther & Joanna, but it brings them back together when Esther is threatened. Magic is also part of the secrets surrounding Scribe Nicholas, who sees his carefully constructed world start to peel apart. Taking the reader from Antarctica to Vermont to the English countryside, Ink Blood Sister Scribe is an adventure that really started captivating me about 1/3 of the way in & that I loved from then on. There are visceral, violent moments & there’s also love, hope, sisterhood, & the possibility of a new romance. So, like, a great fantasy. 4.5⭐️. Out now!Please see a trusted reviewer’s list of CWs.
Hi and welcome to my blog stop for Harper St. George's The Duchess Takes a Husband! A big thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.Summary.A scandalous arrangement between a London rogue and an American duchess leads to lavish stakes—perfect for fans of Bridgerton! Despite her illustrious title, Camille, Duchess of Hereford, remains what she has always been—a pariah. Though her title means she’s technically accepted by London Society, the rebellious widow with her burgeoning interest in the suffrage movement and her American ways isn’t exactly high on every hostess’s guest list. But Camille starts to wonder if being an outcast is not without its perks when the tantalizing answer to her secret fear appears in the shape of Jacob Thorne, the illegitimate son of an earl and co-owner of London’s infamous Montague Club. Jacob is used to making deals with his club members—he’s just not accustomed to them being beautiful women. Nor have the terms ever been so sweetly seductive as Camille’s shocking proposition. To finally buy his own club and gain the crucial backing of investors, Camille offers Jacob the respectability of a fake engagement with a duchess. In return, the tempting widow has one condition: she wants Jacob to show her if it’s possible for her to experience pleasure in bed. The lure of such a bargain proves too delicious to resist, drawing the enterprising rogue and the wallflower duchess into a scandalous game and an even more dangerous gamble of the heart. My review.The Duchess Takes a Husband was one of those pleasant reading surprises for me. In the interest of total transparency, the hero of book 1 in the series made me mad (and that's obviously something I have a hard time getting past ;)) , I didn’t read book 2, & I wasn’t sure what to expect from this one. But the vibes here are so good: the fake engagement, the hero’s desire to protect the heroine, the first crackling sex scene—which is written in a way that had me captivated & more than a little heated. At the beginning of the book widow and dowager duchess Camille has decided to approach Jacob Thorne, a friend of a friend, & ask him to show her sexual pleasure. She’s never known it before & wonders if this is even something she’s able to experience. Eventually they work out an arrangement that leads to some very real kissing, although neither of them will catch feelings no they won’t. This is a great historical with a heroine who risks embarrassment to pursue her own desire & the chemistry between Camille & Jacob is really something to experience. The inclusion of Camille’s burgeoning interest in the suffrage movement is also something to cheer—hurrah for brave women. I took a leap with this one & I’m really glad I did. 4⭐️. Out today!CWs: Camille was abused in previous marriage. Camille is scared of sex. Suffrage protest infiltrated; she was almost struck with a baton. |
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