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DNF Alert!

Forget Me Not by Q.B. Tyler DNF @ 39%

This was on a booktuber's rec video about angsty/groveling reads or something to that effect. Uh. There was not enough angst. There was not enough groveling. The author had to literally state that the hero's best friend was a good person, but all his actions suggested otherwise. Why did everyone want and expect the heroine to forgive the hero for his transgression when she had a perfectly normal reaction to an emotionally painful thing that happened to her? Why did the heroine even put herself in that position? No, no, no. This is not how we treat women. This is not how we support women. This is not a friend group we stay in. This is not a man we apologize to.

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i'm back again, 😊.

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@literatureladies mission 02 : characters of color    — lara jean covey, to all the boys i’ve loved before

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Both love and hate are mirror versions of the same game — and you have to win. 

@romancenet​ applications are now open!

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@projectliterature event 01: 2020 releases   —  take a hint, dani brown, talia hibbert

what you get out of being loved, it’s supposed to be worth the compromise. when it’s good, it makes you want to compromise

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DNF Alert!

Rush by Kandi Steiner DNF @ 32%

I wanted to love this, but I didn’t. I wanted to be excited about the format and the ensemble cast. I wanted to get back into a new-adult/college romance reading groove. This book only made me dislike all the above. Everyone is reckless and immature and selfish and secretive and hooking up without a care, and I wasn’t into it. I wanted to be interested in the fraternity/sorority thing, but all that I read just seemed so stereotypical and cliche. I didn’t relate to any character, didn’t want to root for any of them. So it’s probably best that I stopped reading.

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@romancenet get to know the members event: favorite ship ❝I back away from him, right into the wall. ‘I’m not scared of anything’

                                                                                ‘The hell you’re not.’❞

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to all the boys i’ve loved before; for @loudwithlaughter

❝ I want to say yes, but I don’t want to be with a boy whose heart belongs to someone else. Just once, I want to be somebody else’s f i r s t choice . ❞

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@booksociety’s  🎞️  books to screen  🎞️  event:

📎👗   The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

I walk over slowly and put my hands on the edge of his desk. He looks at my fishnet legs with such a tormented expression I almost feel sorry for him.

“This is unprofessional.” He glances at the ceiling for inspiration before finding it. “HR.”

“Is that our safe word? Okay.”

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Review #125 - Raised for Him

Raised for Him Author: Marissa Farrar Genre: Dark Romance Rating: ★★★ Summary: Catalina was born into a different life—hidden away on a compound where women are held for sexual pleasure and without freedom. Catalina’s future is already mapped out once she turns eighteen. But when her only companion growing up, Angelo, is instructed to teach her what is expected of her role, both come to the realization that maybe there are other options for her future.

I gave this book the benefit of the doubt and a 3-star rating. It was more like 2.75 stars—slightly intriguing but not as dark or desperate as I initially believed it to be. It helped that Catalina was raised in this sex slave compound, so it was all she knew and I guess made the situation seem less dire than it was. Then again, one girl jumped the wall and tried to run away but got shot, so…

The chemistry between Catalina and Angelo was a bit lacking to me. I felt most of Angelo’s protectiveness over Catalina to be more platonic than due to any sexual chemistry—maybe even borderline having brother-sister undertones since they more or less grew up together. But it never went into icky territory for me, so I’m going to stick with more of a platonic relationship than anything else.

There was definitely potential for Raised for Him, but the contents just never grabbed me. There are supposed to be more books in the series, but I don’t think the author has published more since this first book came out. I think the future books could be more intriguing as it would cover how Angelo’s father and the guy that bought Catalina would deal with her and Angelo running away and finding out that she’s lost her virginity. But if/when the author does publish more, I’ll probably have forgotten about this book by then.

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Review #124 - K-9 Protector

K-9 Protector Author: Julie Miller Genre: Romantic Suspense Rating: ★★★½ Summary: Veterinarian Hazel Cooper has an anonymous stalker threatening the lives of her and her daughters. K-9 cop and friend Jedediah Burke is waiting in the wings and there for Hazel. Both have been heartbroken and unlucky in love in the past, but maybe with their longstanding friendship, they can build a love to last.

K-9 Protector is another solid and standard delivery by Julie Miller. As always, the romantic suspense elements string you along just enough to keep the book interesting. I will always be a sucker for the protective moments of the man running back to aid the woman when she calls out for help in danger; Julie Miller will never disappoint me in that way, which is why I keep going back to her books.

However, I didn’t find myself as invested in the romance in this book. I did like that this was an older couple, so there was responsibility, thought, respect, and maturity infused into the relationship. And while I liked that there was an established friendship and comfort level between Hazel and Jedediah, we didn’t get to see much of it, so the transition to a romantic relationship felt like there was lacking chemistry on the page. Maybe because they were an older couple so the author purposely wrote less fanfare into their relationship? I don’t know. The timing of the whole book was also really quick for both the romance and the stalking that was seemingly on the cusp of happening or ongoing, respectively.

Still, Julie Miller is one of my go-to authors when I’m in the mood for reaching a Harlequin romantic suspense. While probably nothing will ever beat my all-time favorite Man with the Muscle, K-9 Protector was a decent read.

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DNF Alert!

His Many Demands by Ali Parker DNF @ 38%

So, you want to have sex with your soon-to-be stepsister, but you visibly flirt and have sexual relations with other women to entice your soon-to-be stepsister about your sexual needs and ways of pleasure, but you don’t want to be in a relationship at all, but you’re going to pretend to be in a relationship with your soon-to-be-stepsister so your coworkers/underlings at work will not throw themselves at you because they think you’re in a relationship, but they don’t know that it’s with your soon-to-be stepsister.

What?

This weird book is weird.

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Review #123 - Code Name: Sentinel

Code Name: Sentinel Author: Sawyer Bennett Genre: Romantic Suspense Rating: ★★★ Summary: Energy scientist and niece of POTUS, Barrett Alexander finds herself the target of some bad guys due to the breakthrough project she’s working on. POTUS hires his once Secret Service bodyguard Cruce Britton to protect her. Of course, the close proximity and the reliance on Cruce has Barrett for once thinking about more than just her job.

This book wasn’t bad; I just lost interest. Even though I thought there was the right amount of suspense and the right amount of romance, I found myself skimming the last few chapters just to get through it. I don’t know. I liked everything I read. I liked the characters. The plot was decent enough. So I don’t know what happened here. Maybe I was lacking chemistry with the book and the writing?

I genuinely don’t know what to say, and this has become the shortest review ever for me. The book was just… fine, nice in an extremely neutral way, okay. Nothing great, nothing special, nothing horrible. So, maybe if I have a lack of reaction, Code Name: Sentinel perhaps falls flat?

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Review #122 - Mason

Mason Author: Dale Mayer Genre: Romantic Suspense Rating: ★★★ Summary: Software developer Tesla finds herself in danger after the wrong people are after her new technology. Mason and his team of Navy SEALs are tasked with the job of protecting her time and time again and quickly take her in as one of their own after witnessing her endless courage to survive.

Okay. This book. On the one hand, I was in need of some solid romantic suspense, and this at least delivered on the latter. Tesla was kidnapped like four times in the matter of like three days or something. It was back to back to back chapters of action the whole way through—explosions, shootouts, jumping out of helicopters, kidnappings, you name it. These action sequences, though… They were simultaneously the reason I kept reading and the reason why people didn’t like the book.

Literally at every turn, Tesla was being kidnapped. Mason and his team would turn their back for a second, and she would be gone again. And I agreed with some of the reviews I read; even though I know nothing about the military, these constant kidnappings made the SEAL team look pretty incompetent, especially when the villain didn’t have a physically scary presence the book. So was it unrealistic? Yes. Did I still read willingly read through it all? Yes.

A couple of other things bothered me. First, what was the technology Tesla was working on? I don’t think the author ever specified, and this annoyed me. This technology was so important and would save lives in the military and the enemy was trying to take it to use it for the wrong reasons, but what was it? How would it be used? This missing information bugged me to no end because what was the point of the book and Tesla constantly in danger if the reader couldn’t understand and get behind the physical property causing such chaos? The other thing that bugged me was some of the tonal writing shifts, especially related to the romantic relationship between Tesla and Mason. They were hot and cold and all over the place. Tesla would miss Mason, then slap him. Mason wouldn’t ‘claim’ her but would do anything to protect her—but kind of didn’t for reasons in the previous paragraph. And Tesla didn’t want to be ‘claimed’ but kind of did. All these sentiments were just put on paper, but they were not organized, which left the romance rather incoherent and unsatisfying.

Three stars for Mason (can’t we get a real book title instead of a guy’s name, geez) because I did rather enjoy the action-packed pages. But otherwise, this book was lacking in most other areas.

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ROMANCENET IS OPENING UP APPLICATIONS! ♡

— Welcome to RomanceNet! We are a network dedicated to romance novels and romantic relationships in literature. As a network, we will be hosting monthly events in which members and/or non-members will be able to create edits for a ship that corresponds with the theme, and members will also have access to a discord chat!

— How to apply:

follow the network

follow the matchmakers, annabelle & kate

reblog this post

track the tag #romancenet

fill out this application

— Applications are due by August 28th. If you’ve been accepted, you will be notified by the 31st. Thank you for your interest!

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Review #121 - I Hate You, Fuller James

I Hate You, Fuller James Author: Kelly Anne Blount Genre: YA Romance Rating: ★★★½ Summary: Wren Carter is all but forced to tutor Fuller James, the school jock and her tormentor. She hates him. She wants nothing to do with him. But the more time she spends with Fuller one-on-one helping him with his English paper—and math homework and talking about their respective family dynamics and issues and responsibilities—maybe, just maybe, Wren doesn’t hate him as much she thinks she does.

I Hate You, Fuller James was a quick YA romance read that didn’t bring anything new to the table. The book had your typical cliches and immaturity given the setting and age of the characters, which you just have to overlook at this point if you’re reading young adult and are not a young adult. I think the only reason I finished the book was because it was such a quick read and because I’m a sucker for ‘the bet’ plots.

My biggest problem was the fact that Wren was given an unfair ultimatum and essentially forced to tutor Fuller against her wishes by her teacher, her uncle, and the principal. Fuller and the rest of the basketball team had the school wrapped around their finger that they overlooked a lot of their inappropriate behavior in favor of championship glory. They essentially made the victim of bullying tutor her bully, the popular white boy. That’s so messed up. And I know this is fiction and a love story, but that didn’t change the fact that it was still messed up no one cared to ask about Wren’s feelings and why she didn’t want to tutor him. No, instead, they threatened to take away academic achievement from one of if not their top students in the grade. That’s… horrible.

Fuller was also an immature jerk. He bragged about all his so-called conquests, he bullied Wren, he constantly said he didn’t want to hurt Wren and felt bad for starting the horrid nickname and yet he literally did everything he said he wouldn’t do. He said he wanted out of the bet, and yet he conveniently happened to accomplish all three tasks he had believed he could never complete? What an idiot.

The saving grace of this book was Wren—smart, beautiful, brave Wren who aside from Fuller’s horrible antics, really had a good thing going for her with great friends, a supportive family, and all the smarts. I was rooting for Wren all the way even when you could predict every single thing that happened in this book. Alas, if you want a quick YA romance read, this is exactly that.

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Review #120 - A Lot Like Love

A Lot Like Love Author: Julie James Genre: Contemporary Romance, Romantic Suspense Rating: ★★★★½ Summary: When the FBI promises to release her brother from his prison sentence early, of course Jordan Rhodes is willing to help with their undercover operation. She just didn’t think she would end up in a fake relationship with a man who gets so under her skin. And while undercover jobs are Agent Nick McCall’s bread and butter, no other assignment has ever made him feel quite like this pretending to be Jordan’s boyfriend.

I don’t think any book in this series will ever beat Something About You, but A Lot Like Love comes close. This book is full of good characters, great dialogue and banter, and the perfect amount of sizzle. I loved the dynamic between Jordan and Nick—Jordan showing Nick that his stereotypical assumption of her being some rich socialite was completely wrong, and Nick showing Jordan… well, what she was missing out on with the type of men she was used to dating.

Two minor things that stuck out to me that I ended up not rating this book five stars. One, the romantic suspense aspects of the book were definitely an underutilized side plot. I think it was supposed to go this way since it was a fairly simple undercover operation that they dragged Jordan into—that subsequently got prolonged—but I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t more and the wrap-up at the end was a little anticlimactic. And then two, the timing. Honestly, yes, I believed in the dynamic and connection between Jordan and Nick for them to have strong and intense feelings about each other that they could say they loved each other. But the end made it seemed like… that was it. Is there nothing else to know about the characters?

This book is worth checking out if you’re a fan of fake relationships and a quick dose of suspense. The characters were front and center, and Nick and Jordan’s banter and dynamic stole the show. Seeing my favorites Jack Pallas and Cameron Lynde were just the cherry on top too. All in all, a great read.