Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.After going on a bit of a slog through Radiant Sin, I was so excited to be lifted & tossed around in the high-speed gusts of the sex & intense-feelings tornado that is Midnight Ruin. In this addition to Katee Robert’s Dark Olympus series, increasingly assertive Eurydice, stoic & protective BFF Charon, & artistic & guilt-ridden Orpheus find unexpected pleasure in each others’ arms as Olympus threatens to come crashing down around them. On the chemistry side of things, whew!, this book is hot. But the romance arc is a bit wobbly for me in the beginning. If I’m reading a poly book, I want all people involved in the initial relationship to equally want to pursue adding another or others to their relationship—otherwise it makes me a bit sad . In this case, I felt a teeny bit sad for Charon, but by the middle & end (this book moves fast!), he was as invested in the new dynamic as Eurydice is. Midnight Ruin is a great return to a series that has offered satisfyingly steamy reads. With that being said, I’m not sure if I’ll continue to read it—for me, Robert’s latest Threshold series holds more freshness & bounce to it. 4⭐️. Out now!CWs: reference to murder; attempted murder; reference to abortion
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Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.The pure excitement of reading a steamy & heartwarming romance that features leads that are in their fifties! As someone who is about to bid her 30s hasta la vista, I love seeing older leads having fun & falling in love. Booksta Loves, Lips Like Sugar by Jess K Hardy has it all: Aforementioned steam, including a sizzling FaceTime moment A charmer hero who’s a famous drummer & also marvels over his granddaughter. A lovely, strong “baker goddess” heroine who’s got a lot on her mind. She is so cool. References to hot flashes and other references to hot bodies that are also aging. This book is so heartfelt & delightful—it’s so cute to watch them fall in love—& it also wrestles with tough topics like addiction & parental memory loss. I definitely, absolutely rec this contemporary if you’re looking for something that will satisfy your sweet tooth *drum roll* (sorry it just came to me). 5⭐️. Out 03/28.Please see a trusted reviewer’s list of CWs.
Last: would you believe that Rich People Problems by Kevin Kwan was my oldest ARC in my NG queue (2017 ). This book was funny in moments but overall I had a tough time remembering how the many characters were all connected & just keeping up with the story (it went pretty dark for a moment and then it was all okay again?). I’m glad I read it & I enjoyed having a fun view into the lifestyles of fictional Singaporean rich & famous but I don’t know that I’ll read this author again. (Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.)
Now: Lavash at First Sight by Taleen Voskuni (loving it! So good) & listening to Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas (can’t wait to see what happens!). Next: Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend by Emma R. Alban or Sarah J Maas’s HOEAB (a reread before I can go into books 2 & 3!). Happy Thursday, friends! Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC and the publisher for the complimentary hardcopy. All opinions provided are my own.A story about two lonely people who become best friends & lovers? Not only did the steam really get to me in Ruby Barrett’s The Friendship Study, but the emotions did too. This book is hot. It also has a scene where the grumpy hero adopts a grumpy cat & the adorable, brilliant heroine also has a fave tree & likes to talk to herself. They also paint each others’ freaking toenails & unbeknownst to me, this is something that makes me swoon. Both of the leads, Jesse & Lulu, are at a bit of loose ends when the book opens. Jesse’s life status gives me some Roni Loren’s What If You & Me vibes (need I say more?). Lulu is trying to establish her own life as a professor outside of her brilliant professor-dad’s shadow. When they find each other, there’s instant chemistry. But it’s the friendship they show to each other, the acceptance, the home they provide, that really got to me. 5⭐️. Out now! Please see a trusted reviewer’s list of CWs.
Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own. Ahhhh I freaking swoon for epistolary books & A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall serves up sweet fantasy epistolary goodness. The book opens with a correspondence between two unrelated people—Sophy & Vyerin—who are connected via tragedy. Their respective siblings E & Henerey disappeared together & now Sophy & Vyerin are reading the letters they left behind, piecing together E & Henerey’s relationship with increasing commitment as they realize there might be more to what happened than they suspected. So this baby is joint epistolary: the correspondence between the surviving siblings *&* the letters between our disappeared leads E & Henerey, who had been falling in love via correspondence! So it’s a love story with a mysterious ending—romance readers, don’t get too worried about how it all turns out! Although mysteries still abound in the closing pages, I have high hopes. I love fantasy authors & what they do so much. This is a wonderful addition to the fantasy world & I’m so excited about this author’s talent. The various voices of the characters, the queer rep, the freaking OCD rep & mental health rep!! It’s so good & so powerful for someone like me & others too, I’m sure. 4.5⭐️. Out 04/23.Please see a trusted reviewer’s list of CWs.
Hi and welcome to my blog tour stop for Bride by Ali Hazelwood! I adored this one. Pure fun--marriage of convenience in a sexy PNR kinda way. [ID: Jess, a white woman wearing sunglasses & a pizza sweatshirt, holds the ebook & sits in front of a lake.]Summary.A dangerous alliance between a Vampyre bride and an Alpha Werewolf becomes a love deep enough to sink your teeth into in this new paranormal romance. Misery Lark, the only daughter of the most powerful Vampyre councilman of the Southwest, is an outcast—again. Her days of living in anonymity among the Humans are over: she has been called upon to uphold a historic peacekeeping alliance between the Vampyres and their mortal enemies, the Weres, and she sees little choice but to surrender herself in the exchange—again... Weres are ruthless and unpredictable, and their Alpha, Lowe Moreland, is no exception. He rules his pack with absolute authority, but not without justice. And, unlike the Vampyre Council, not without feeling. It’s clear from the way he tracks Misery’s every movement that he doesn’t trust her. If only he knew how right he was…. Because Misery has her own reasons to agree to this marriage of convenience, reasons that have nothing to do with politics or alliances, and everything to do with the only thing she's ever cared about. And she is willing to do whatever it takes to get back what’s hers, even if it means a life alone in Were territory…alone with the wolf. My review.This book is such a delight. IMO it’s not perfect. But the vibes are close to it. If that doesn’t make sense, maybe my review will clarify. In Bride, vampyre Misery agrees to a marriage of convenience with an alpha shifter so that she can find out more info about her missing sister. Vampyres & weres have been long-standing, often violent foes & to make matters more complicated for Misery, she’s never been fully embraced by Vampyres either. Misery & Lowe’s meeting doesn’t go well in her opinion, but the reader can sense something else going on (PNR readers where you at ). This book gets a lot of mileage from undercurrents & from significant moments in shifter / vampyre dynamics: marking, knotting, feeding OH MY. This book is quite hot & really delivered for me in all of those moments (still not quite sure I understand knotting though ). Added to those tensions & heat are some humor & compassion & found family elements. I adored it. Are there some things about the plot that I did not adore? Yes. But I didn’t hate them & in a way, they did some work for the vibes too. So the end, this is just a fun, relatively low angst (despite all of the threats of violence & acts of violence in the story) shifter tale that satisfies on basically all levels. Gimme more. 4.5⭐️. Out tomorrow!Please see a trusted reviewer’s list of CWs.Are you a shifter romance fan? Is this release on your TBR? Let me know and thanks for stopping by!
Finally Saturday & I’m using my quiet morning to catch up on some reviews!
Katee Robert’s Radiant Sin. Maybe it’s because of my mood, but I just wasn’t fully engaged with this fake dating story of Cassandra & Apollo. I did like the audio though & how the British narrator says “condom” . Other positives: the Queer rep, the tension, & a nice hero (for Olympus). 3.5⭐️ ️, out now. Kristen Ciccarelli’s Heartless Hunter. The tension & showmanship in an anything-you-can-do, I-can-do-better situation is so good, bonus points if one of the leads has their life hanging in the balance. But the ending cemented for me that—while this story has definite positives—I’m not going to pursue the rest of the series. 3 ⭐️️, out 02/20. (Thanks to the publisher for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.) Jaswinder Bolina’s English as a Second Language & Other Poems. I wish I could offer some astute analysis of these poems but all I can say is that I really enjoyed them; the writing is both lovely & striking & had some definite stop-me-in-my-tracks moments. Reading this collection reminded me of how much I love poetry—glad I read it for BookRiot’s Read Harder Challenge! (“Read an indie published collection of poetry by a BIPOC or queer author.”) Have you read any of these? If not, what title jumps out to you most: Radiant Sin, Heartless Hunter, or English as a Second Language & Other Poems? Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.Have you seen as many recs for Danielle L. Jensen’s fantasy with romance books as I have? I’ve seen a lot. I finally read this author with A Fate Inked in Blood, Jensen’s upcoming release, & it was quite the experience. With some levity, some banter, some murderous vengeance, some magic, steam, betrayal, & selflessness, this book really took me through the wringer & I enjoyed it so much. Freya is a fishmonger’s wife until she’s manipulated into revealing that she actually has some god magic in her. The Jarl decides she is the fulfiller of a great prophecy & from there the book goes on wild twists & turns, all underpinned with emotional resonance & the building tension between Freya’s wants & what she thinks are her obligations. I stan a heroine who isn’t afraid to express herself & a hero who openly shares his devotion to her. I wish the ending hadn’t been quite so predictable, or so angsty , but this is a really great fantasy with some Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young vibes, a keen sense of suspense, & the emotional impact I want in my fantasy. 4.5⭐️. Out 02/27.Lots of CWs including murder & violence. Please see a trusted reviewer’s list.
Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC and the publisher for the complimentary hardcopy. All opinions provided are my own.If you like dark-ish fantasies with characters who’re determined to pursue a greater good, come what may, you might like To Cage a God by Elizabeth May. In this book, gods can live inside of people, either from birth or through violent body manipulations later in life. The latter is what happened to sisters Sera & Galina, & both suffer their own hardships trying to accommodate the god imprisoned within them. Overarching everything is the evil empress, the most feared god-wielder in the land, who’s committed countless atrocities including against our leads’ families. The coup the sisters want to enact is both general & personal. The leads’ efforts to protect each other offers some nice softness to this story, as does their growing attraction to their respective lovers. None of those entanglements are easy, & my romance-loving heart enjoyed both, especially the fervor of the morally grey Vitaly who loves Sera passionately, wholeheartedly. Ending with an action-packed series of events & great disability rep, this book sets up book 2 in this duology with an oomph. 4⭐️. Out 02/20.Please see a trusted reviewer’s list of CWs.
Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own. Imagine having to film an intimacy scene for a romcom with the person you’ve disliked with fervor since you were teens—when he publicly stomped your heart. The former is actually my fave part of Right on Cue by Falon Ballard, when the two leads—who have had less than stellar interactions throughout the book—suddenly have to film an intimate scene. Before they even begin, the jerk-ish Grayson makes a speech promising to respect screenwriter-turned-actor Emmy, & what follows is respectful & also unexpectedly hot, for the leads & this reader. That middle section of the book is where it really shines for me, after a beginning where both leads come across as a bit immature & before the 3rd-act conflict, which had me agitated. There are aspects of this contemporary that I really, really like: the steam totally works for me, the Nora-Ephron-like heroine, the aforementioned middle, where everything makes sense & gels for me…but unfortunately, the totality of the story—from beginning to end—isn’t there for me. 3.5⭐️. Out 02/27. CWs: previous loss of beloved dad; parental estrangement.
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