Thanks to Harlequin Publicity Team for the free finished copy. All opinions provided are my own.Serving Sin was my first time dropping into Angelina M. Lopez’s Filthy Rich series but as soon as I saw bodyguard romance I said helloooooo there. Roman Sheppard & Cenobia (Cen) Trujillo met about 13 years ago when he was a former Army Ranger, newly turned private security CEO who rescued her after she was kidnapped. Now, at a special celebration in Monte del Vino Real, Spain, where Roman now lives with his half siblings & serves as adviser to the king & a freaking prince, Cen reveals (1) that it was actually her who led the initiative to help their struggling country out of a financial bind, not her father as he thought & (2) she’s receiving violent threats as her huge car production company prepares to launch its first car. Roman wants to keep her safe, even as he knows how challenging it’ll be to be around the stunning woman he’s spent the last several years avoiding. Well, call me a Lopez fan because this book has so much of the good stuff: ⭐️ Cen knows her shit. Her business acumen🏻. Her drive, her stubbornness, her tenderness. ⭐️ age gap ⭐️ Roman is just in awe. Would also like to add that he doesn’t see himself as worthy of anything & while this is very sad that’s also my catnip. ⭐️ really interesting consideration of misogyny ⭐️ throughhhh sex scenes that aren’t clinical in the slightest. ⭐️ so much respect between leads There are a couple of moments where I came out of the story a bit due to how those plot points are presented, but overall, Serving Sin has great steam, characterization, & heart, & I really enjoyed my time with it! 4 ⭐️. Out now!CW:
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Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.M. A. Grant’s Rare Vigilance hit a real sweet spot for me: it’s a paranormal romance between the bratty but secretly compassionate wealthy heir to a finance throne & the gruff bodyguard who resents his charge...at least for a little while. Bodyguard Atlas Kinkaid doesn’t talk about why he was involuntarily discharged from the armed forces. Regularly stricken with migraines, Atlas is just trying to get by. But then his sister & boss Bea puts an opportunity in front of him: working his preferred hours & guarding the son of the most famous businessperson in their community. His protectee is Cristian Salva. (Whom I imagined as a Theo James type 🤩. Prob not necessary info for this review ). But despite his attraction for Cristian, things happen & Atlas finds himself with BIG stressful decisions to make. Rare Vigilance is a fun ride that kicks off what I think will be a series focusing on the same couple. There’s some kissing, one scene where things go further, & a cliffhanger. Grant sets up things for this couple well—Atlas’s efforts to resist Cristian & the way he tests his control are delightful—& it was an escape to sit inside this world for a while. I won’t ruin the PNR aspect of the book but I love how it plays out amidst a story of capitalism & power & how it’s complicated by Atlas’s awareness that working class people (& maybe others too) are suffering. There are some aspects of this book that don’t feel thoroughly developed to me—I wanted more subtlety & clarity in the transition of Atlas’s feelings toward Cristian, for example—but I’m really excited to have discovered this author & to read her backlist! 4 ⭐️. Release date: 6/22.Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.I’ve seen so many rave reviews of Kerrigan Byrne’s Tempting Fate & honestly I don’t know that I can add anything to the conversation . But if you love beauty & the beast/she’s an angel on Earth & I will do anything I can to protect her & keep unpleasantness from her door/virgin leads/a redemption arc, etc. this book is good to snatch up. Felicity Goode is a shy, beautiful, bespectacled heiress who must marry an aristocrat to fulfill the terms of her parents’ will. But she must find a bodyguard first, someone to prevent further threats & attacks against her. Enter Gareth Severand, who is actually Gabriel Sauvageau, former leader of the criminal Fauves. Extremely scarred & with a disfigured face, Gabriel faked his own death, took on an alias, & went through a series of facial surgeries. He’s about to leave England but he’s hired by Felicity when she mistakenly believes him to be an applicant. She has no idea of his real identity, a blessing Gabriel thinks, since she fainted from terror during his previous rescue attempt. Gabriel’s feelings for Felicity are STRONG from the beginning. She is everything to him & she sees him both imperfectly—she has horrible vision & her spectacles are initially broken—but also very well indeed—as someone who can protect her & use his violence & physical prowess for good. This is classic Kerrigan Byrne to me (and therefore quite enjoyable!): an absolutely devoted hero who’s possessive & uber protective & a heroine who is such an ideal that she can bring him into the light somewhat. Make him someone who can feel joy. I’m all about drama but there are moments when the prose feels somewhat heavy-handed, & I felt surprised & a little disconcerted by the ease of the shy Felicity’s intimate emotional revelations with Gabriel. Or maybe just her lack of awareness/surprise of how revelatory she was being. But I really enjoyed my time spent with these two sweeties, especially the Epilogue, which is sweet & lighthearted & made me happy for Gabriel. 4 ⭐️. Release date: 5/11.Thanks to Sourcebooks Casa for the complimentary finished copy. All opinions are my own.Q: Do you have a fave farm animal? The older I get the more I appreciate women who say what they think & share what they want. Especially when they’re calling men out on their shit ;). Aja Everett, a curvy, 39 year old former attorney-turned-ranch owner isn’t afraid to speak her mind in LaQuette’s Jackson & I was there for it every single time. After losing her sister Aja relocated to Texas to take over the farm that’s been in her family since her ancestor was freed during the Civil War & bought it from the person who once enslaved him. She’s trying to turn Restoration Ranch into a soothing vacation getaway but her plans are being foiled by a series of vandalism attempts that turn dangerous. Is someone trying to harm her & who? Jackson Dean is the hot Texas Ranger assigned to figure that out & keep her safe. Sparks fly between Aja & Jackson immediately & this book doesn’t skimp on the steam. Their forthright convos about consent & wants are fantastic, & Aja made me want to cheer every time she’s open with Jackson about respecting the boundaries *he* set. There are no games. Crafting a romance that’s strong from a physical & emotional perspective, LaQuette makes me feel the heat & the respect between Aja & Jackson. I did have a couple of quibbles though, including how little time Jackson seems to debate how his relationship with Aja might conflict with his job—I feel like more needed to be done there—& how Jackson & the villain engage with each other—& how others view that dynamic after the big villain reveal—, but all things considered I really enjoyed my time on Restoration Ranch. 3.5 ⭐️. Jackson is out on 02/23.4.33⭐️ |
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