Leopold Berry thought he had put and done away with childish things. His mom has passed away. He’s now living with an overbearing and self-important fLeopold Berry thought he had put and done away with childish things. His mom has passed away. He’s now living with an overbearing and self-important father who wants to map out every step of Leopold’s life. His friends are getting older and looking forward to their happier, brighter futures.
Leopold just spends every day in a daze, wondering if he’s losing his mind and if he’ll ever grow capable of standing up to his father. He just has this itch under his skin and in his hands telling him there’s something missing, or something is missing him, and he can’t go another minute without at least trying to figure out what’s humming inside of him.
From this point in Sunderworld, Vol. I, it’s an all-out roller coaster of urban fantasy, fantastic whimsy, a terrifically-constructed city layered over another city, great bits of Los Angeles lore, urban exploration, fun and imaginative world building, great pacing, teenagers acting like teenagers, explorations of grief, the beginnings of found family vibes, a fierce friendship, plenty of action, and a whole lot of fun secrets uncovered.
I wasn’t around for Riggs’ Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children series. Those came out while I was raising my kids, I think, and my kids weren’t readers (still aren’t). So I was only peripherally aware of Riggs as an author and his imaginative worldbuilding skills. This is why I wanted to read Sunderworld even though I knew it was going to skew toward a younger YA audience than I normally read. This book is labeled inside as being marketed towards those 14 and older, but I don’t believe in age-bracket marketing. I’m putting it here because someone reading this review might. I will say though that I think a kid as young as 10 or 12 could read this and be just fine.
I’m definitely sticking around for the next installment. This was a lot of fun to read and there are not enough books with whimsy in them, in my opinion. Give me all the whimsy.
I was provided a copy of this title by Netgalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: 5 Star Review/Book Series/Fantasy Series/First Book in a Fantasy Series/Urban Fantasy/YA Book Series/YA FantasyYA Fiction ...more
Dr. Lucas Goode doesn’t want to become his father.
Sadie Green wants someone to see her and be proud of what she can accomplish.
In a weird convergencDr. Lucas Goode doesn’t want to become his father.
Sadie Green wants someone to see her and be proud of what she can accomplish.
In a weird convergence of events, Luke has a spare room he’d like to fill because he’s not used to living alone, and after accidentally becoming pregnant after a spontaneous fling Sadie feels that living with her parents and brother isn’t something that will work out for her anymore.
Why not? They’re not strangers: Sadie works with Sage (Luke’s sister-in-law), after all. The only true boundary they’re flirting with is that Sadie is Luke’s student. That’s fine, though, because Luke doesn’t want a relationship or kids and Sadie wants to see if she can get the baby daddy to be less flakier than dandruff. They’re just roommates. Just. Roommates.
I’ve never made a secret of the fact I’m normally not a fan of the pregnancy trope, especially when the FMC is pregnant for the majority of the book and the pregnancy itself is a large part of the plot. (Please don’t ask me why because I can’t figure it out). Leave it to the fabulous Sara Cate to take one of my icks and make it tasty, because I adored this book.
As I was thinking about why I adored this book so much I think it really just boiled down to how much I love how Sara writes her characters: the candor, vulnerability, flaws, strengths, eroticism, and intrinsic essence of them as a human being. Luke and Sadie don’t just have off-the-charts chemistry with one another on the page, but they both have amazing relationships and conversations with the various other cast members in the book that reveal other facets of who they are as people away from each other, and that’s an important part of writing characterizations in an interconnected series like The Goode Brothers that not every author reaches for, understands, or achieves. As Sara has grown as a writer the more her writing skills in areas such as interpersonal relationships have sharpened, giving her books a sense of heart that’s often missing from kinky contemporary romance.
I loved that even though neither Sadie or Luke were necessarily in a Dom/sub or Dom/brat dynamic Sara still managed to find that balance that a lot of couples ride where the lifestyle itself may not be for them but there are aspects of the lifestyle that they can and do use in their lives because it makes sense for and to them. As always, she’s done her due diligence in research and wrote with great sensitivity about this topic. It always shows.
So yeah, it has pregnancy. But it also has professor/student and Sara’s impeccable writing. That’s easily worth the entire read and five stars.
I was provided a copy of this title by the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
Tea Ravine has switched gears for her Eleventh Hour Duet, but there’s no need to worry something has been lost in the change: The Eleventh Hour is an Tea Ravine has switched gears for her Eleventh Hour Duet, but there’s no need to worry something has been lost in the change: The Eleventh Hour is an excellent dark, paranormal, polyamorous romance with a suspenseful edge and a psychological thrill.
Jax Shade is absolutely stuck between a rock and a hard place: The rock is her stalker of six years and her hard place is the court-mandated psychiatrist who enjoys manipulating her and is in charge of deciding if and/or when she goes back to the insane asylum. Both of these figures rule over her entire life like two regents of fear, while the queen of all of her demons is her own mind.
Then two men from out of town show up, looking for answers about the disappearance of a loved one. Jax may be the only one who can help find the answers they need. They just need to work fast and safely, because it’s more than just Jax’s life on the line.
Who can you rely on when your whole world goes to hell?
Jess may have a boyfriend, but he’s not the person she’d turn to in a crisis. That dubious honoWho can you rely on when your whole world goes to hell?
Jess may have a boyfriend, but he’s not the person she’d turn to in a crisis. That dubious honor would go to her three best friends, even though she’s never met them: MourningStar, Quietek, and Minxy. The four of them have been gaming together for a long time and are as thick as thieves. The guys don’t know Jess has wanted them for ages, just like she doesn’t know they’re all in love with her.
But biology is gonna biology and nature always finds a way. When Jess’ boyfriend goes away with his friends and her heat comes, the selfish beta refuses to come back and help her. When her gamer friends sense something is really wrong, they ride to the rescue.
This is author Sabrina Bloom’s debut title, which is set to be the first in a series of omegaverse novellas all set in the same universe. The series doesn’t have a name or a theme yet. I’m excited at the idea of a new series of omegaverse novellas because there aren’t many of them out there, more’s the pity. I also really enjoy getting to see an omegaverse story with gamer representation! Sure, we don’t get to see much of them gaming because there’s other things to get to, but I like that these characters were brought together by gaming.
Have you ever read a book that felt like it blew all its best material in the first half of the book?
Honestly, that’s what reading A Mask of Flies feHave you ever read a book that felt like it blew all its best material in the first half of the book?
Honestly, that’s what reading A Mask of Flies felt like for me. The first half of this book was an amazing thrill ride for me, full of smash, crash, bash, and slash; however, slightly after the halfway mark, the book slowed down so much it felt like the transmission had stalled and it started resemble a game of “Hurry Up and Wait” until the inevitable showdown, which was beyond predictable by the time it happened.
The beginning of this book is incredibly engaging, with a compelling hook and an intriguing protagonist. Anne Heller is an enigma to us, and she’s a badass. Everything’s gone south for her and she needs to lay low until she can regroup and figure a way out of it.
Of course things go south anyway. This is a horror novel.
The first half of this novel has tension, fast pacing, lots of action, great dialogue, a lot of terrific inner narrative, and some great story revelations that help to move the plot along. This is definitely more of a plot-forward book than character-forward. There’s a great amount of violence and even more body horror. Anne is not a nice person. Is she good? That’s a moral subjective. But she’s certainly not nice, and I love how so much of that comes through in her characterization in the first half of the book.
If all of that could’ve been carried through the back half of the book then this book would’ve been fantastic. Sadly, the momentum falters and never comes back, the vast majority of the revelations have already come and gone, and even the body horror seems rather tame by the end. I was ready for it to end well before it actually did. That’s never a good sign.
I was provided a copy of this title by Netgalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. All reviews three stars or under will not appear on my social media. Thank you.
File Under: Body Horror/Cosmic Horror/Cult Horror/Horror/LGBTQ Horror/LGBTQ Fiction/Sapphic Romance ...more
Have you ever loved a book series so much you wished you could live inside that world?
Barbi Bancroft has. She practically eats, drinks, and breathes Have you ever loved a book series so much you wished you could live inside that world?
Barbi Bancroft has. She practically eats, drinks, and breathes everything involving the fandom surrounding the books about the realm of Akkaya and its characters. Akkaya is her whole life. One day, at a fan convention, she’s handed as-yet unannounced, unreleased manuscript to the next book in the series. However, when Barbi gets home and opens it to read, she’s magically transported to Akkaya, which turns out to be so much different than she thought it would be.
This book didn’t end up being what I thought it was in two different ways: it was both darker than I thought it would be and the FMC was different than the type I usually read or invest my time in. I never have any issues with books being darker than planned, since I love dark books in general; however, I did struggle with Barbi’s characterization at times. I loved the overall story arc and the general plot, and the ending to this installment of the series was definitely unexpected. I’m really looking forward to seeing where this story goes.
How quickly would you sign on a dotted line to get away from an untenable situation?
Ocean Caldwell may be the last Caldwell and the heiress to the entHow quickly would you sign on a dotted line to get away from an untenable situation?
Ocean Caldwell may be the last Caldwell and the heiress to the entire Caldwell estate, but that hasn’t kept the omega from being abused economically, emotionally, and physically by her aunt and uncle ever since they became her guardians. When the handsome and kind DuPont Pack alphas tell her uncle they want to marry her she sees it for the opportunity it is and signs the contract even though she’s terrified.
We met Ocean in the first Clarity Coast book, Endless. She’s one of Isolde’s two best friends and is a florist who specializes in floriography and experiments with creating hybrids. Ocean was flighty and slightly flaky in Endless, often having to leave Isolde abruptly. The events in Priceless reveal why: At first it’s her aunt and uncle’s controlling and abusive ways, and then it’s because she’s met the DuPont Pack.
I enjoyed this book a great deal, even if I didn’t connect with Ocean as much as I did Isolde or like Pack DuPont as much as Pack St. James. I loved the overall positive tone of this book, as well as how devoted Pack DuPont was to Ocean’s overall emotional wellbeing. The spicy scenes were written very well (as if I ever expect Devyn Sinclair to do me wrong) and the emotional parts of the plot were absolutely spot-on perfect.
Now we just have to wait for Trinity’s book, and I’m so excited!
I was provided a copy of this title by the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
That’s what Riley and Danny are. Just two commitment-phobes who sleep around (one-night stands only, please and thank Do you have a platonic soulmate?
That’s what Riley and Danny are. Just two commitment-phobes who sleep around (one-night stands only, please and thank you) and then spend almost all of their free time together. They have keys to each other’s places. They come and go as they please. They know one another better than anyone else on the planet. Riley’s even in the know about the supernatural world, despite being a human because he’s Matty’s best friend and Matty’s husband is a vampire…it’s all very complicated. But Riley wouldn’t have it any other way (except he hates his job). Danny certainly wouldn’t either (except he wishes he didn’t have the constant threat of his old pack hanging over his head). Yup, they’re just platonic soulmates.
Who had sex one time a few years ago before they became best friends. Unbelievable, mind-blowing, once-in-a-lifetime sex. Which they’ll never repeat. Nope.
I love Lark Taylor. Sometimes I forget I only heard of her and her books in January, because she’s now an auto–buy author and I can’t get enough of her books. They always feature captivating and endearing characters, are unspeakably hot, are well-plotted, and slot in well with her already-existing books. I love when an author’s books connect, even if it’s tangential, because it feels almost like an easter egg hunt when you start looking for the connections. (If you’re a Sadenverse reader then you know what I’m talking about.)
Danny’s story is the last in for the Damned Connections series, and it was a very loose thread that needed to be tied up from the second book in the series, Justice. Finally we get to see the pack Danny left behind, the reason he left, and learn what he needs to do to resolve that situation. I didn’t find this book as touching on an emotional level as Justice, but I did love the idiot x idiot trope. It’s another win for Lark Taylor and we’re off to visit the angels next!
I was provided a copy of this title by the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
Meeting your in-laws for the first time is always a nerve-wracking event.
Toby and his son, Luca, are headed to Texas with Toby’s wife, a pediatricianMeeting your in-laws for the first time is always a nerve-wracking event.
Toby and his son, Luca, are headed to Texas with Toby’s wife, a pediatrician and heiress named Alyssa. Alyssa has given Toby every reassurance she can muster about her family, because Luca is starting to show signs of being queer and Toby doesn’t want him around bigots; and, well, Alyssa’s grandfather is a famous televangelist. Alyssa tells him her family is too rich to be bigoted. Well, you can see how well this is going to go.
I liked the idea of this book much more than I liked the book itself. I liked the individual story components more than the whole. I liked the tropes, but not how they were assembled. Does that all make sense? It was like the ingredients were all there but the measurements were wrong and it was baked wrong.
For one, it was baked too long. This book was too long by far. The third act of a thriller should be where you kick it up a notch, but I honestly thought the third act was the slowest of the entire book. I kept saying, “We’re not done yet?”
Second, the repetitiveness. By the end of the second act my eyes were starting to glaze over every time I read the term “mind palace”.
Third, the ending. I’m sorry, but I can’t vibe with the ending. It wasn’t good.
I am going to list off a few TWs for you: incest, “wilderness” camp, homophobia, internalized homophobia, transphobia, CSA, suicide. Those are the big ones.
In the end, it was a very average novel that was well-written for the most part but just didn’t vibe as a whole.
I was provided with a copy of this title by Netgalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Since this review is rated three stars or lower it will not be appearing on my social media. Thank you.
The Dalton twins are so close they almost can’t exist apart from one another. One has a hangover, the other has a How close are you to your siblings?
The Dalton twins are so close they almost can’t exist apart from one another. One has a hangover, the other has a sympathy hangover. One’s depressed, the other feels it too. They know one another so well they can pretend to be one another; point in fact, they’ve been getting away with this very thing since middle school. Or, they were until Benny Dalton went and fell in love during the fall semester. Now it’s spring and Emmett Dalton is starting to feel like a frayed thread. He’s lonely, kind of lost, and can’t sustain pretending to be his twin anymore. He’s too full of secrets, even ones his twin doesn’t know.
We first met Emmett Dalton (in Franklin U 2) back in the second book, Saxon James’ A Stealthy Situation, with Emmett being the one to take Benny’s statistics classes for him since Benny isn’t good at math. While Benny was swooning over their classmate Harrison, it turns out Emmett was swooning over someone too: their stats professor, Jonah.
Twincerely Yours offers up a lot of great tropes, including some of my favorites:
The end of the world is upon us. What would you do?
Well, Major Atlas Brandt is going to get to work. He’s going to fight to protect his country, humanThe end of the world is upon us. What would you do?
Well, Major Atlas Brandt is going to get to work. He’s going to fight to protect his country, humanity, or he’s going to die trying. That was the plan, anyway, until one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse and an angel with black wings came and turned what was left of his world upside down. That’s only the beginning of what to expect from the first half of this companion duet to Moreau’s fan-flipping-tastic The Four Horsemen series.
Point of order: It is completely necessary to read the entirety of The Four Horsemen book series before starting this book. You will not understand anything going on in this book if you don’t read that series before starting this book. Atlas is not a whole story unto its own: it’s a companion story to a much larger and more complex story that begins and ends in The Four Horsemen series. Atlas is an entire story that happens within (and likely after) the main events of The Four Horsemen but is ultimately supplementary material borne of love for the character Atlas Brandt (at least that’s why I wanted it and have been excited for it) and wanting to read his side of the story. So if you start Atlas and are lost then don’t say you weren’t warned.
Atlas is finally here and I’m beyond excited. From the first time he was introduced in War, Atlas has been a completely transfixing character in The Four Horsemen series: A character that represented the human race in a story writ large for supernaturals. Atlas not only needed to stand out so his signal didn’t get lost in the noise, but we needed to be invested in him without seeing him as either a victim or villain. Sienna Moreau made him an advocate instead, and he is fierce. While he’s not my favorite character in this universe (that’s Paul, of course, iykyk), this book completely elevated him in my esteem.
Seeing The Four Horsemen story through Atlas’ eyes (this book covers the events of the series throughout War) is something I knew I wanted but didn’t know I needed this much. Atlas is somehow the best of what humanity should be, but he’s just so battered. He’s indefatigable. Resilient. Implacable. He’s also lonely. Desperate. Needy. Deep down, in the places sealed off from even himself, Atlas is terrified and so tired. What Atlas is the most, though, is angry. That’s what makes him burn so brightly and I’m here for it.
Sienna Moreau already built us a rich world for this book to take place in, but now we get to see her work with Conquest, Raziel, and Atlas down to a deeper, more emotional character level that wasn’t possible in The Four Horsemen series. Conquest is the shortest of The Four Horsemen books (not by much, but still), and it also had the job of introducing the series. That’s a tough job and doesn’t allow for the same amount of character-building that the other three horsemen received. Atlas part one clocks in at 411 pages, longer than any of the horsemen novels. This gives us a lot of time to get to know our trifecta, as well as lots of action and plot.
Let’s not forget the spice. All of the horsemen books are seriously spicy (I’d still say Famine is the spiciest and kinkiest) and Atlas doesn’t disappoint on that front. I don’t think it’s as spicy as the other horsemen books (it’s been a few months since I’ve read those), but it’s a rather fast burn and there are more than enough scenes. You’ll have to forgive Atlas for being human and not having the same…abilities as Con and Raz.
This book was totally worth the wait and I adored it. It ends on a mild cliffhanger but not an unexpected one given we know where the story is going. It was great spending time with familiar characters (PAUL) and I am just going to have to sit here and pout while waiting for part two.
I was provided a copy of this title by the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: 5 Star Review/Book Series/Dark Romance/Apocalyptic/Gay Romance/Kink Friendly/LGBTQ Romance/Romance Series/Polyamorous Romance/Spice Level 3/Supernatural Fantasy ...more
Popped is one of the strongest romance anthologies I’ve read in quite awhile, full of great first-time stories fWhat was the last anthology you read?
Popped is one of the strongest romance anthologies I’ve read in quite awhile, full of great first-time stories from some of my favorite LGBTQ indie romance authors working right now. Some dip into these authors’ existing universes and some look like they could be the start of something special all on their own in the future (I’m looking at you, Lily and Cora!).
My rating of this anthology isn’t rooted in anything more substantial than the quality of the anthology as a whole. I’m not looking to nitpick short stories included in a charity anthology that’s meant to go to a good cause. These authors donated their time, effort, and IP to this project, and others donated production materials and labor to put this all together. It’s an honorable project and I don’t think subjecting it to extended scrutinization is a worthy endeavor.
That being said, I’m going to go over the stories I loved best and tell you what I loved about them!
Are you looking for a great book to sit by a body of water with and read? Maybe with a cold drink in hand? Some salacious, sReal Rating: 3.5 / 5 Stars
Are you looking for a great book to sit by a body of water with and read? Maybe with a cold drink in hand? Some salacious, soapy, and thrilling? Then you might be looking for Ladykiller.
Ladykiller is author Katherine Wood’s debut novel, and even if it’s pretty obvious this is a debut novel, it’s a pretty good shot for a debut thriller beach read being published smack dab in the middle of summer. Set mostly in the sublime Greek islands and filled with sun, food, drink, sex, and secrets, there is nothing about this book that doesn’t meet the criteria needed for something fun and diverting to read when it’s hot outside and you just want to drink your daiquiri and be left alone.
This book is mostly told from two POVs: Gia is the scion of a wealthy family who is in the midst of divesting herself of the beloved family estate in Greece, and Abby is her best friend who was also the daughter of their family cook growing up. Abby’s story is told in first-person POV, while Gia’s is told in chapters from a manuscript she wrote for the majority of the book. Along for the ride as a narrative foil is Gia’s younger brother, Benny. If you’re thinking unreliable narrator, you got it. If you’re thinking “best friend’s brother” trope, you got it. Is it spicy? Not in my opinion. There’s titillation, but no explicitness. Nudity, but not smut. Fade to black, mostly.
This book isn’t heavy and it’s not meant to be; even so, there’s just so much of this book that seems to breeze by and so much stuff that seems to be a bit too incredulous. I can only suspend disbelief so much. Either that, or I’m more of a cynic than I thought I was. Either way, I just wasn’t as engaged as I’d hoped. I want to be swept away by my beach reads. This was fun, but not quite fun enough for me.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
How well do you remember your childhood? Are you sure you’re remembering it correctly?
Lenny Marks is alive, but she’s not living. She’d be fine with How well do you remember your childhood? Are you sure you’re remembering it correctly?
Lenny Marks is alive, but she’s not living. She’d be fine with that if it weren’t for the fact she knows it makes her mom (well, her former foster mom but the closest thing to a mom she’s had in a long time) upset if she doesn’t at least try and engage with the world around her. If Lenny had it her way she’d keep to her strict routines and schedules, never letting anyone get too close to her or know anything much about her. It’s safer that way. No one can abandon you if you don’t let them in, after all.
The themes of abuse, abandonment, fear, anger, loneliness, and loss are all at the heart of Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder. If you think this book is lighthearted at all, be forewarned it’s not. I cried more than once. My eyes are unhappy with me.
Debut author Kerryn Mayne has written a book with an extraordinary protagonist who will rip your heart out from your chest, break it, then repair it before placing it back inside and stitching you back up all shiny and new. Lenny Marks is written as a neurodivergent character who also has a large issue with dissociation surrounding a traumatic event from her childhood. Lenny’s type of neurodivergency isn’t explored or explicitly stated, but Mayne did a terrific job of writing a neurodivergent character without coming across as precious or exploitative. If you don’t fall in love with Lenny I don’t know what kind of person you are, because Lenny is so easy to love. I think that’s why this book has been so widely lauded for breaking people’s hearts and making them cry. You just feel so much for Lenny and what she’s been through. And after all she’s been through, she’s still out there trying her best to survive and do right when so many people who should know better choose to do wrong.
The pacing of this book is lovely, with a natural progression and no filler. Mayne’s writing style is sharp and insightful, with a dark sense of humor and a deep well of emotion. Her characters are well-drawn and her plotting is clear and well-rounded. The dialogue in this book is a delight and one of its best features.
This is definitely women’s fiction, but it’s definitely on the lit fic side of women’s fiction. It’s women’s fiction because the book deals with, in a large amount, issues that widely affect women and their children. The take on these issues is more on the darkly humorous side, which I always enjoy. If you love a tale that ultimately results in revenge, then you’ll end up loving this.
TW for child abuse TW for mild animal abuse (one scene) TW for violence TW for child death TW for domestic abuse
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: 5 Star Review/Dark Comedy/Disability Rep/Literary Fiction/Women’s Fiction...more
Have you ever gone into work and ran into someone you didn't expect to? Was it awkward?
Willow Dixon’s sixth book in the Crimson Club series follows JeHave you ever gone into work and ran into someone you didn't expect to? Was it awkward?
Willow Dixon’s sixth book in the Crimson Club series follows Jett, who works part-time at the Crimson Club as a bartender. His day job is construction and carpentry, which he learned from his former father in-law. Jett can only work so many hours, though, and he wants to try and get out and try to start living his life. So he goes out to a club, maybe looking to get a little action. He certainly finds it (in a series of scenes that are scorchingly hot). It just becomes a bit awkward when Monday rolls around and the same couple Jett unexpectedly and impulsively hooked up with over the weekend just happen to be his new coworkers (because this is romance and of course they are).
Willow Dixon’s cast of characters are just so endearing. They feel genuine without feeling cloying or cheesy. Their expectations of one another are realistic, their dialogue has a nice rhythm to it that doesn’t feel too practiced or overwrought, and there aren’t any speaking pieces that feel like a speech or soliloquy, which was a nice break from some books I’ve read recently. I loved the array of sexual preferences that could be found from other characters and how the main characters had tastes that were still developing and evolving.
The relationship between the core three characters in this book was sweet, and the growing pains all three went through were realistic when you consider all the angles. The spice was so, so hot. Some of my hottest hot buttons (exhibition, voyeurism, dirty talk) are included in almost every spice scene and I’m never going to complain about that. It was a fantastic book, and I highly recommend it for any MMM fan.
I was provided a copy of this title by the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
The first book in this series, House of Omega, was one of my top indie romance of 2023 and remains one of my favorite omegaverse novels. Roxy Collins The first book in this series, House of Omega, was one of my top indie romance of 2023 and remains one of my favorite omegaverse novels. Roxy Collins is also one of my favorite omegaverse authors. So of course I was going to want to read The Alpha Club. I wasn’t going to miss it.
Thankfully, Roxy delivered a great novel about Jasmine, the omega who was resigned to having to bond to Grace’s psychotic stepbrother Kayden from the first book. In House of Omega, every time Grace tried to help Jasmine escape Kayden, the omega reluctantly told Grace she was staying where she was. Did Jasmine have good reasons for staying with Kayden? Yeah. She also had a plan. But you make plans and the universe laughs. Especially in romance novels.
This book has so many things I consider to be some of my top-tier omegaverse tropes: two omegas who are involved with one another, some serious spice, why choose with LGBTQ content, disability representation, polyamory, and a twist on designation. The choice to write both omegas and one of the alphas as disabled (yes, I am counting mental illness) was something I didn’t know I needed but was very welcome. I like the acknowledgement that it’s not only omegas that can have issues, and I like that it’s not only one character that has issues.
I always love Roxy’s characters, spice, stories, and writing style. There was only one issue with this book, and that was the plotting. The first half was even, but the second half felt very rushed. I actually feel like the book could’ve been longer (I wouldn’t have minded at all) in order to give the characters and relationships more time to interact, integrate, and develop. In the end it didn’t affect my overall enjoyment all that much, but it did affect the overall quality. I love everything Roxy Collins writes and I’ll always read it, though. That hasn’t changed!
I was provided a copy of this title by the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
I discovered the Dark Witch Academy series late in 2023, gobbled up all three existing books in less than three days and have been waiting with baitedI discovered the Dark Witch Academy series late in 2023, gobbled up all three existing books in less than three days and have been waiting with baited breath ever since for the fourth book. I got myself a spot early on for the ARC team because I knew I wanted to read Gemini Wicked as soon as it was ready. It didn’t disappoint!
This installment picks up as Zara and her court (as it exists) head to her birthday celebration on a superyacht moored in the harbor outside the academy. The opening chapters of this book are tense and full of action, because of course they are. Nothing ever goes according to plan when a crown is up for grabs in a fantasy novel! (Plus, that’s kind of the major plot arc for the entire series, so we’d be without a story without a precipitating event, right?)
This disaster of a birthday celebration is only the start of a raucous set of events that stand between Zara and the crown. The pace of this book is fast, interspersed with action, lots of spice, and intimate conversations.
One of the things I love most about Laura’s Navarre’s writing in this series is her inner narrative for Zara. Most of the time I can’t stand first-person POV that breaks the fourth wall and has an extreme amount of slang. Somehow it just really works for me in these books. It fits the character, somehow. I can’t imagine Zara Gemini without her charming, cheeky inner voice.
Oh, and if you love breeding kink? Trust me, you’re not going to want to miss out. All of the Dark Witch Academy books are spicy af, but Gemini Wicked takes spicy af and adds a hefty dose of breeding kink on top for maximum effort. It’s giving ghost pepper levels of spice and I'm here for it.
I was provided a copy of this title by the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
I confess I’m obsessed with Veronica Franco, Lucrezia Borgia, and Giulia Tofana. All three of these women were incredible exReal Rating: 3.5 / 5 Stars
I confess I’m obsessed with Veronica Franco, Lucrezia Borgia, and Giulia Tofana. All three of these women were incredible examples of “don’t judge a book by its cover”. The Assassin of Venice takes place roughly a couple of decades after Lurezia’s lifetime, during Veronica’s, but around a century before Giulia’s. Do I really just like Renaissance women and the idea of them making any combination of sex, intellect, power, and/or violence work in their favor? Why yes, yes I do. Am I under an assumption that all the stories are true? No, no I’m not. Let a girl dream.
Alyssa Palombo takes us readers back to the early half of 16th-century Venice, where Honest Courtesans ply their trade and the Council of Ten watch over the city-state to keep it free of any and all outside influence. Venice was a vitally important port city to Italy during the Renaissance and the military security of the country, the Adriatic Sea, and a chunk of the Mediterranean depended on the Italians due to the threat of the Ottoman Empire from the East. Italy was insular and paranoid, with good reason. Political intrigue and the trading of secrets was a national sport.
The plot of The Assassin of Venice is a good one, romantic and dramatic with an almost-cinematic feel to it. It would make a good movie. That doesn’t necessarily mean the book was executed in the same manner. While well-paced, I never once felt concerned for the characters in this story. I never once felt like any of them were in any real danger. I actually felt like they were being overdramatic more than once and not seeing the forest for the trees. There were also quite a few speech anachronisms in the protagonist’s inner narrative that made me wish the editor had done a bit more thorough job.
It’s a diverting read, if not too exciting or challenging. I think you’ll love it if you love your historical fictions heavier on the fiction side and a bit soapier without a lot of accurate worldbuilding or detail. If you’re looking for accuracy and high stakes, then I’d look for another story.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
There’s a huge thrill that comes with being a long-time fan of both Saxon James and Eden Finley and their “Sadenverse”, and that’s when you get blastsThere’s a huge thrill that comes with being a long-time fan of both Saxon James and Eden Finley and their “Sadenverse”, and that’s when you get blasts from the past as your new main characters and get to watch the new generation fall in love. In A Stealthy Situation we’re getting a call from the CU Hockey series in the form of Benny Dalton, one of the Chaos Twins from both Line Mates & Study Dates and Puck Drills & Quick Thrills (don’t worry, Emmett’s in here too).
The Chaos Twins fell out of love with hockey before they could be drafted and fled to California in order to get away from the pressure that had surrounded them all their lives. The pair of them still love to sow a little chaos, which is why they take great pains to make sure no one in San Diego knows the Dalton Twins exist. They each go to a different school, they keep their appearances identical, they dress similarly, and don’t go out in town at the same time. They rely on each other to get through anything and everything, which is why things start to go awry when Emmett is suddenly expelled from his university and takes to crashing on a mattress in Benny’s bedroom at the DIK frat house.
A Stealthy Situation is cute and sweet, with a great sense of humor to it. I love a good cinnamon roll and snark monster dynamic, and that’s exactly what Harrison and Benny have. Benny has a deliciously morbid sense of humor that I adore and insults being used as a love language is something I myself use on an everyday basis, so I can totally be book bffs with him.
I thought the supporting cast really came in clutch here for comic relief and emotional support, and I thought the disability rep was very well done.
I can’t wait for Twincerely Yours (which comes at the end of FU 2) so I can read Emmett’s story!
I was provided a copy of this title by the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
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