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battyaboutbooksreviews · 1 year ago

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Queer Books Coming Out January 2024

🌈 Good morning, my bookish bats! Struggling to keep up with all the amazing queer books coming out this month? Here are a FEW of the stunning, diverse queer books you can add to your TBR before the year is over. Remember to #readqueerallyear! Happy reading!

❤️ Tentacle Wonderland by Reese Morrison 🧡 Cupid’s Revenge by Wibke Brueggemann 💛 Okay, Cupid by Mason Deaver 💚 Soren by Miranda Page & Lina Ganef 💙 Just Happy to Be Here by Naomi Kanakia 💜 Stars and Soil by Dax Murray ❤️ Deep Sounding Chaos by Adrian J. Smith & Neen Cohen 🧡 Minor Disturbances at Grand Life Apartments by Hema Sukumar 💛 Evergreen by Devin Greenlee 💙 Matsdotter and Adrastus (Adventures in Levena #2) by Aelina Isaacs 💜 Thousand Autumns: Qian Qiu Vol. 3 by Meng Xi Shi and Me Mimo 🌈 Destined by Jen Carter

❤️ Her Spell That Binds Me by Luna Oblonsky 🧡 Her Mechanic Bear Mate (Crescent Lake Bears #3) by Arizona Tape 💛 That Bitter Sting by Melissa Polk 💚 Bioluminescence by Toni Duarte 💙 Lucky Bounce by Cait Nary 💜 Don’t Want You Like A Best Friend by Emma R. Alban ❤️ Bachelorette Number Twelve by Jae 🧡 How to Share a Cat and Other Life Lessons by Evelyn Fenn 💛 A Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing by Amy Allen 💙 Bound by Kate Hawthorne 💜 Moonbreak by Lise MacTague 🌈 Falling All In by Laina Villeneuve

❤️ Murder on Castaway Island by Alicia Gael 🧡 The Butler's Vessel by S. Rodman 💛 Tadek and the Princess by Alexandra Rowland 💚 Escaping Mr. Rochester by L.L. McKinney 💙 Amid Our Lines by Zarah Detand 💜 Most Ardently by Gabe Cole Novoa ❤️ A Doctor’s Touch by A.A. Fairview 🧡 So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole 💛 Never Be a Saint by Mark Runte 💙 Maude Horton's Glorious Revenge by Lizzie Pook 💜 Eli Harpo's Adventure to the Afterlife by Eric Schlich 🌈 City of Laughter by Temim Fruchter

❤️ Enthralled by Her by Chelsea M. Cameron 🧡 Knight of Staria by Iris Foxglove 💛 The Storm Gathers by Maelan Holladay 💚 Stars of Chaos: Sha Po Lang Vol. 2 by Priest 💙 Fence: Redemption SC by C.S. Pacat and Johanna the Mad 💜 Dreamer by Kris Bryant ❤️ Not Just Friends by Jordan Meadows 🧡 Winter's Spell by Ursula Klein 💛 Two is a Pattern by Emily Waters 💙 All Things Beautiful by Alaina Erdell 💜 Curse of Souls by Niranjan 🌈 Voyage of the Damned by Frances White

❤️ The Principle of Moments by Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson 🧡 Curse of the Dragon Shadow by Selina A. Fenech 💛 No Shelter But The Stars by Virginia Black 💚 Shards of Trust by Fox Beckman 💙 My Fair Brady by Brian D Kennedy 💜 The Summer Queen (The Buried and the Bound #2) by Rochelle Hassan ❤️ A Luminous Heart by Cailee Francis 🧡 To Cage a God (These Monstrous Gods #1) by Elizabeth May 💛 Out of Our League by Dahlia Adler and Jennifer Iacopelli 💙 Earth and Water by J.L. Gribble 💜 Rend Me, The Wayward Knight by Mary Vanalstine 🌈 Prince of Endless Tides by Ben Alderson

❤️ Sweet Wicked Thing by Jessie Walker 🧡 Ocean’s Blood by Thelma Mantey 💛 Breeze Spells and Bridegrooms by Sarah Wallace and S.O. Callahan 💚 A Reckless Oath by Kaylie Smith 💙 Fallen Thorns by Harvey Oliver Baxter 💜 Faded Moon by T.L. Morgan ❤️ Game On by Amy Aislin 🧡 The City of Stardust by Georgia Summers 💛 The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland 💙 Spark of Wrath by E.M. Lindsey 💜 Honeybloods by I.S. Belle 🌈 Love Me At My Worst by Adrian J. Smith

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critical-quoter · 2 months ago

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Reviews from Last Week

Failure to Thrive - Elle Rivers ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 🍺 This was such a frustrating read to me. The writing is great. I really like Elle Rivers's way of portraying characters and, as far as what I've read from her, her writing style just pleases me. The problem here came to the way Riley was treated by everyone around her. I had an addict parent, I've been around alcoholics for most of my life. Riley was not an alcoholic. She held a job, she kept an apartment, she didn't drive drunk. She stopped drinking, cold-turkey with only a minor headache. Did she drink heavily when she was unable to deal with things that upset her? Yes, and that's not a great coping mechanism. But my god, her mother and sister were the worst harpies to be around. I'd drink to excess too if I had to deal with them. And Oliver constantly questioning her sobriety was maddening. This man entrusted her with his 4-year-old, but he's still going to second guess everything she does? Either recognize that she's not a drunk or don't have her around your kid.

Regardless, it has a HFN ending and there's apparently a follow-up novella to give them their HEA, but I'm just not in to it. I wanted to like this more but the characters just didn't do it for me.

Wretched Love - Anne Malcom ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 🏍️ This was a bit of a mess to read. As with many books that have a FMC that suffered through domestic violence, the apparent cure to it is BDSM. It's frustrating to read because frankly, therapy is rarely mentioned in books like this. Kate was beat for 18 years before she finally escaped. She was away from her abusive husband for a month and all of a sudden she's jumping into a relationship with a "alpha male biker" who can only get off by choking the life out of the woman he's sleeping with. It's just unrealistic.

The sexual chemistry was off the charts but I felt like the actual relationship wasn't really all that well built. It was just insta-lust and then basically insta-love. And the insta-love is excused because these guys live dangerous lives so they just know immediately who they're gonna love forever. Okay, weird flex.

Anyway, Anne Malcom is kind of a hit or miss author for me. I think this would have been better if the relationship was built upon, if we got me POV from Swiss, and if he actually grovelled for the shitty behavior he put out. It is what it is.

King - S.J. Tilly (Audiobook) ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 👑 This series is so off the walls unhinged. It's so hard to take seriously just based on the MMC's POV. The amount of times King is panting after Savannah's tits or ass is laughable. This isn't a literary masterpiece, but gotdamn, I love it. The men in this series are absolute simps, from the very start. King and Savannah had such great chemistry. The banter between the two was so good and Savannah gave as good as she got throughout all of it. They just worked so well together. Both of them unhinged and feral for each other.

Savannah is my least favorite FMC in this series. The focus on her weight and the whining that she does constantly were exhausting. But man, I love the writing.

I am not a fan of Jack Calihan (the MMC narrator for the audiobook). I know this is a personal preference but at times he sounds like Willem Dafoe and it just really takes me out of the book. 4 stars for the story. 3 stars for the audio.

When He Reads to Me - T.L. Smith ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 📚 I feel like I read a different book from everyone else that recommended this. So much of this didn't add up and I felt like most of the dialogue was half completed and not thought out. Conversations didn't seem to flow in a realistic way, and a lot of the time, it seemed like there were things that weren't said but mad eout like the reader should know.

The plot itself was also all over the place. There was worry for the sister, but we aren't really given any details on what had happened other than the police officer sister used to be a major drug addict and the husband had blackmail material on her. That material was used to basically pimp out our FMC, Lissie. And Milo, our MMC, has been obsessed with Lissie since school but the husband has warned him away for years. Whatever. None of it made sense. This wasn't even an issue of showing, not telling, this was an issue of neither showing or telling but expecting the reader to figure it out. I may not be the brightest but I don't think anyone should have to do mental gymnastics for a romance book that's under 300 pages, or any romance book for that matter.

The pacing and timeline were weirdly disjointed and it made the book feel rushed and incomplete. Overall, this was just not it for me. I like some of the other books by T.L. Smith but this wasn't one of them.

All Your Pucking Secrets - A. Rivers ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 🏒 I found it so hard to get behind this book. I wanted to like it. It had the set up to be liked. But in my heart of hearts, I could not bring myself to forgive Tyler for his past choices. It just didn't seem believable. There was just so much that he did to destroy the relationship in the past that I truly could not look past it, despite his groveling and celibacy.

Echo deserved better and the fact that she was so back and forth with him throughout his chase was also so annoying. She'd start to warm up, find out one of Tyler's lies, get pissed off again. Rinse and repeat. It was just exhausting to read, especially for a book under 300 pages.

Poison Heart - Mae Pierce ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ☠️ I really, really enjoyed this. The fact that Romeo was so stupid for so much of this was fantastic. How many times does your wife need to poison and/or bite you before you realize that she might not be that sweet of a woman?

Romeo's groveling was so good. Anita made him metaphorically crawl to make up for his male idiocy and it was good. They had pretty decent chemistry and the legitimate enemy to lover transformation that Anita went through was so good.

I would rate this closer to 3.5 stars. There was just something missing, or maybe something too much there. The addition of Romeo's mother's mystery seemed kind out of left field and almost just useless filler. It didn't really seem to add much to the story except far too many pages in an almost 40 page epilogue. And apart from that mystery, the epilogue was so good. It wrapped up Anita and Romeo so well.

Mother Maker - Jenni Bara ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⚾️ This series is just so good. I could not stop giggling, either over the banter, the pranks, or just the swoon-worthy moments that Cortney kept throwing out. And this is what I want in a book with an accidental pregnancy trope. I want a simp that's all in from the start. Cortney was head over heels for Dylan right off the bat and the pregnancy just sealed it for him. They had perfect chemistry, Cortney fit in with the rest of the charracters, and we got so many cameos of Beckett and the other women and kids. It was just so good.

This was cozy, no angst, no ow/om drama. Just a chill fun time with plenty of funny moments.

Married With Malice - Cora Brent ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 💍 Sometimes the miscommunication trope just slaps. Sometimes it just sits so good and you can just revel in grown adults not knowing how to talk to one another. And boy, do these two not know how to talk to each other. I think 90% of the issues with their relationship would have been solved if they just sat down and had an honest conversation, but no, that's not how romance books work. And thankfully, at least for someone who appreciates a good miscommunication, it worked here. Especially considering the external issues in the relationship as well.

I really liked Luca and Annalisa. I think it's important to recognize that they had more sexual chemistry than they did anything else, at least in the beginning and the middle, but they worked for me. This definitely has some Wattpad vibes, but like decently written Wattpad. And you know what, I can dig it.

No Pucking Way - C.R. Jane & May Dawson (Audiobook) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⛸️ No Pucking Way is just one of the most seriously un-serious books/duets ever. It's so angsty and filled with drama, and danger, and big tough men. I just love this so much. C.R. Jane's over the top dark hockey romances just get me.

The men (all 4 of them) are obsessive and over the top. Their circumstances don't really make sense. But man, I just love it. This is a silly goofy good time. It's not meant to be a masterpiece (at least I hope that wasn't Jane's intention) and it's just meant to be enjoyed for its ridiculousness.

Where else are you going to get a dark, reverse harem, hockey romance that's mafia ajacent? No where that's this good.

Nine Month Contrract - Amy Daws ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 🐖 This was pretty cute. But to be honest, I don't think think the surrogacy trope is for me, particularly when it changes weirdly into a breeding kink. I liked Wyatt as a character. I am a sucker for a broody silent type, but Trista was a walking ick for me. Her constantly calling herself fat, saying that she's happy with her body but then blaming it for the reason men don't date her or why Wyatt supposedly wouldn't be interested in her. And then her constantly referring to herself as a cow. I know that is done so she won't get attached, but couple it with the fat comments and it just feels like a fatphobic attack.

Overall, the tone is pretty lighthearted, and there's some comedy. But with the fatphobia, the seriousness of surrogacy, and the childhood trauma, it just wasn't for me. The comedy fell flat overall just because of those aspects.

Level Up, Love - Bethany Joy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 🎮 Honestly? Pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this. It was such a fast and cozy read. Even with the added suspense of a stalker, it didn't feel like it was high stakes. I absolutely loved Sage as a character. Is it because I, too, find myself living as basically a hermit in my home, only venturing out when I postively cannot avoid it? Probably. But she was just so unabashedly nerdy and comfortable in her nerdiness despite Leo being a complete prick about it.

Leo. . . Leo was not my favorite. He was a dick in high school. Frankly, the "prank" that he pulled on Sage because she smelled like cigarettes and essential oils (all due to her mother being a piece of shit) and being a little weird (she was new and not popular) was unforgiveable. I have grudges from high school that I will take to my grave and they weren't born from anything remotely as heinous as Leo's act. There also didn't seem to be a lot of character development on his part. He was still a health nut that judged Sage for her choices on food, activity level, and job. He didn't really ever admit that what she did was actually work. It just irritated me that he spent the entirety of the book basically thinking like he did in high school and being shocked that Sage didn't accept his half-assed apology. I'm more shocked when she did finally forgive him.

Anyway, the pacing was perfection. I flew threw this in a single sitting. The writing is a bit amateur. But I'm here for a good time, not a long time. And since I enjoyed the story overall, a 4 star review it shall receive.

War - Brittanée Nicole ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 🩰 Tyler "War" Warren is the standard. He is the perfect man, a living, breathing treasure. Honestly, I have loved this series so far, but anyone who claims that there is a better MMC than Tyler is lying. This was just such a good story. Just enough angst to keep the struggle interesting, plenty of chemistry to make the relationship believable, and characters that came alive on the page.

Apart from Tyler's perfection, we also have out wonderful FMC, Ava. She was just so good and fiesty when it came to dealing with Tyler's fuckery. She gave as good as she got with him and it made the decision to get married for Josie all the sweeter. I mean, she absolutely despised this man but even she couldn't deny that he was an amazing dad.

I just loved it. I flew through this. The pacing was fantastic. There weren't any dragging points throughout the book. I cannot wait for Daniel's story up next.

A Simple Twist of Fate - April Asher ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 🐉 ARC review posted separately

Ashes of You - Catherine Cowles ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 🚔 Listen, Catherine Cowles is just one of those authors that writes basically the same story in a slightly different font. And I eat it up every time. There hasn't been a miss for me. The suspense is just enough to keep the background plot moving while the relationship builds at a wonderfully steady pace.

And boy, is the relationship between Hallie and Lawson so sweet. There wasn't much as far as push and pull. Lawson didn't jump right in, mostly due to his trust issues from his ex, but he wasn't overly mean about pulling away the few times that he did. He was kind and Hallie was sweet. The entire family unit just worked so well together between the adults and the 3 boys as well.

I love this. Everything about it, especially the cameo of Anson from Fragile Sanctuary. This is just such a good series and this is a fantastic installment of it.

Our Pucking Way - C.R. Jane & May Dawson (Audiobook) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ �� It's ridiculous. It's full of plot holes. It's hilariously Wattpad-esque. But damnit, I love this duet. It cannot be meant to be anything but an over the top, hilariously unrealistic romance. I mean, it's a dark hockey/mafia romance. What can you expect?

I love it. I really have nothing more to say than that. This is just one of those books that you need to read it knowing that it's not that serious.

Mrs Rosie and the Priest - Giovanni Boccaccio ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 👗 For being 4 short stories, slammed into 54 pages, this was surprisingly pretty good. I particularly enjoyed the first 3 stories. The 4th, Patient Griselda was not great. Honestly, it was just a story about a husband humiliating and abusing his wife for 13 years to prove that she's a good wife before he reverses everything he did and proclaims "Wow, you are a good wife so let me just take back all the horrible stuff I did!"

Otherwise, pretty good palatte cleanser from my typical reads.

Always You - J. Morales ⭐️ 📸 Oof, this really read like a first novel. We can start with the dialogue. It's so exaggerated and reads like a soap opera script with a plethora of 'bro" thrown into every line when the male characters are speaking to each other. The amount of times that an exclamation point is used, or the speech is described as some form of yelling was just way too much. People don't speak like that. Not everything is that animated.

Then we move our focus to the characters themselves. Dom is so possessive that it was instant ick. He's possessive over Mila while actively engaged to another woman. He cheats on other woman with Mila (dubious consent when he corners Mila near a restaurant bathroom and mauls her to the point of leaving a hickey.) Mila turns him down, because he's an asshole and still engaged to another woman so he runs over to the woman's house and fingers her and gets a blow job while thinking about Mila. Dom is not a good dude. But let's not put all the blame on him, Mila is just as grossly toxic. Her jealousy over any woman that makes any kind of contact with Dom is so devastatingly obnoxious. You took him back without any real groveling or proving that he's not a sack of shit, do you really have the right to be jealous? By the way, Dante, the son, is so fucking annoying.

Also, this is basically a horror story of a couple trying to survive against a "Boy Mom." And they aren't doing well at it. This was just not good. I'd like to think there's potential in the author's writing, but it doesn't show with this book.

#book #books #booklr #book lover #literature #quote #book quotes #novel #reading #lit #book review #book recommendations #books and reading #bookworm #book blog

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joyffree · 1 day ago

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Tarnished Hands (Chained Hearts) a Mafia Romance Novella by T.L. Smith is releasing July 15th! #PreOrder today

In the mafia world, I’ve been underestimated my entire life.

Men are elite. The cream of the crop, and well, women simply aren’t.

That was until the boss gave me a chance, now I’m invaluable and as deadly as any man.

Hosted by Enticing Journey Book Promotions

#TarnishedHandsCoverReveal #TarnishedHands #CoverReveal #TarnishedHandsTLSmith #ChainedHeartsSeries #MafiaRomanceNovella #PreOrder #JulyRelease #MustRead #NovellaStandalone #EnticingJourney

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talkieguru · 5 months ago

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Vengeful Lies TL Smith

Get your copy of vengeful lies tl smith! Released on February 1, 2025, this delightful read is available in both PDF and ePUB formats. Dive into all 358 pages of Under an Endless Moon (Moonlit Ridge Book 2) and let the magic unfold! Book Name Vengeful Lies Author T.L. Smith and Kia Carrington-Russell Format PDF Size mb Pages 358 Language English Release date February 1, 2025 get free…

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lboogie1906 · 8 months ago

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James “Radio” Kennedy (October 14, 1946 – December 15, 2019) was a man with an intellectual disability who was known for his association with the T. L. Hanna High School football team in Anderson, South Carolina. He first gained prominence in 1996 when Gary Smith wrote an article about Kennedy for Sports Illustrated titled “Someone to Lean On.” His story was then made into a feature film in 2003 titled Radio in which he was portrayed by Cuba Gooding Jr.

According to Sheila Hilton, the former principal of T.L. Hanna High, he earned the nickname “Radio” in the mid-1960s when he began to show up at the school football field with a transistor radio. In 1964, he befriended the high school’s then-football coach Harold Jones. Their friendship served as the basis of Radio. In 1965, he became an unofficial 11th-grade student at T.L. Hanna High. He was considered a permanent high school junior, meaning that he would never graduate or have to leave.

In 2006, a statue of him was unveiled at the football stadium of T.L. Hanna High School. In 2016, he was inducted into the T.L. Hanna Athletic Hall of Fame.

He had been treated for pancreatitis as well as diabetes and kidney issues. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

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allthingsdarkanddirty · 9 months ago

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#WhenHeReadsToMeNewRelease #WhenHeReadsToMeTLSmith #NewRelease #TLSmithAuthor #AvailableNow #ForbiddenRomance #MCRomance #EnemiesToLovers #MustRead #EnticingJourney

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tastywordgasms · 16 days ago

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🖤𝕹𝖊𝖜 𝓡𝖊𝖑𝖊𝖆𝖘𝖊🖤 Mischievous Lies by T.L. Smith and Kia Carrington-Russell 𝔦𝔰 𝔄𝖛𝖆𝖎𝔩𝖆𝔟𝔩𝔢 N𝖔𝔴! 𝕱𝔯𝔢𝔢 𝔴𝔦𝔱𝖍 K𝔦𝖓𝖉𝔩𝔢 U𝖓𝔩𝔦𝔪𝔦𝔱𝔢𝖉! 𝔊яᗩ𝔅 y𝖔𝖚𝖗 𝖈𝖔𝖕y 𝖙𝖔𝖉𝖆y! #NewRelease #MischievousLies #NewRelease #MischievousLiesTLSmith #MischievousLiesKiaCarringtonRussell #VengefulLiesSeries #TLSmithRelease #KURomance #KiaCarringtonRussellRelease #MustRead #DarkRomance #EnticingJourney

Title: Mischievous Lies Series: Vengeful Lies Series Authors: T.L. Smith & Kia Carrington-Russell Genre: Dark Romance Tropes: Second Chance; Alpha Male; Sassy FMC; Labrador vs Black Cat Vibes Release Date: June 7, 2025 Cover Design: RBA Designs Alternate Cover Design: Hang Le Hawke Ivanov is known to excel at two things. Sex and violence. It’s why I never took our fling seriously,…

#Kia Carrington-Russell #Mischievous Lies #T.L. Smith #Vengeful Lies Series

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jxrm · 9 months ago

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book log - 2023

the librarianist by patrick dewitt

same time next year by tessa bailey

did you hear about kitty karr? by crystal smith paul

lore olympus: volume one by rachel smythe

a court if thorns and roses by sarah j. mass

summer sisters by judy blume

the demigod files by rick riordan

mistletoe and mayhem by carly winter

you shouldn’t have come here by jeneva rose

a house with good bones by t. kingfisher

christmas presents by lisa unger

z: a novel of zelda fitzgerald

the storm runner by j.c. cervantes

just another missing person by gillian mcallister

take me home by beth moran

blood sugar by sascha rothchild

a court of mist and fury by sarah j. mass

the christmas orphans club by becca freeman

under her care by lucinda berry

paris: the memoir by paris hilton

our wives under the sea by julie armfield

the celebrants by steven rowley

keep it in the family by john marrs

housemoms by jen lancaster

the woman in me by britney spears

just like home by sarah gailey

trespasses by louise kennedy

silence for the dead by simone st. james

a good family by matt goldman

the fire keeper by j.c. cervantes

dead silence by s.a. barnes

sunshine nails by mai nguyen

lore olympus: volume one by rachel smythe

the mystery guest by nita prose

her little flowers by shannon morgan

woke up like this by amy lea

legendary children by tom fitzgerald

midnight is the darkest hour by ashley winstead

the leftover women by jean kwok

everyone here is lying by shari lapena

mother-daughter murder night by nina simon

you may now kill the bride by r.l. stone

the man i never met by elle cook

hold my girl by charlene carr

legends & lattes by travis baldree

the golden spoon by jessa maxwell

bright young women by jessica kroll

suddenly a murder by lauren munoz

the only one left by riley sager

zero days by ruth ware

good bad girl by alice feeney

the christmas wager by holly cassidy

fortune by elle won steil

theme music by t. marie vandelly

close to home by cara hunter

the true love experiment by christina lauren

penelope in retrograde by brooke abrams

everyone in my family has killed someone by benjamin stevenson

the modern girl’s guide to magic by lindsay hall

i feed her to the beast and the beast is me by jamison shea

hello stranger by katherine center

the unlikely pilgrimage of harold fry by rachel joyce

gone tonight by sarah pekkanen

the library of the dead by t.l. huchu

what never happened by rachel howzell hall

look out for the little guy by scott lang

the christmas mourner by marian mccarthy

every little breath by keri beevis

this might hurt by stephanie wrobel

the last word by taylor adams

a court of wings and ruin by sarah j. mass

forth wing by rebecca yaros

hello beautiful by ann napolitano

summer rental by rektok ross

the house across the lake by riley sager

a cursed covenant by leigh ferguson

her rebel highness by diana ma

stone heart by katee robert

the perfect match by dandy smith

camp zero by michelle min sterling

one by one by frieda mcfadden

the wishing game by meg shaffer

a court of frost and starlight by sarah j. mass

that summer feeling by bridget morissey

to die for by lisa grey

the wrong family by tarryn fisher

heiress apparently by diana ma

the school for good mothers by jessamine chin

tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow by gabrielle zevin

she started it by sian gilbert

best friends forever by shannon hollinger

the housekeepers by alex hay

secluded cabin sleeps six by lisa unger

lore olympus: volume two by rachel smythe

of women and salt by gabriela garcia

kismet by amina akhtar

the devil wears scrubs by frieda mcfadden

girl, forgotten by karin slaughter

come closer by sara gran

the exorcist’s house by nick roberts

august blue by deborah levy

hang the moon by jeannette walls

the thursday murder club by richard osman

a whole new world by liz braswell

run on red by noelle w. ihli

the last thing he told me by laura dave

lore olympus: volume three by rachel smythe

how to sell a haunted house by grady hendrix

the dead romantics by ashley poston

cassandra in reverse by holly smale

i used to be fun by melanie summers

the showrunner by kim moritsugu

runaway groomsman by meghan quinn

i want to die but i want to eat tteokpokki by baek she-hee

the whispers by ashley audrain

e. aster bunnymund and the warrior eggs at the earth’s core! by william joyce

allergies: poems on grieving and loving by maggie bowyer

hermione granger and the philosopher’s stone by sara baines-miller

the summer house by keri beevis

exiles by jane harper

just the nicest couple by mary kubica

the very secret society of irregular witches by sangu mandanna

have you seen her by catherine mckenzie

the shallows by holly craig

a love letter to whiskey by kandi steiner

hermione granger and the chamber of secrets by sara baines-miller

the coworker by frieda mcfadden

tiny beautiful things by cheryl strayed

you’re not supposed to die tonight by kalynn bayron

the little old lady who broke all the rules by catharina ingelman-sundberg

hermione granger and the prisoner of azkaban by sara baines-miller

the blonde identity by ally carter

nicolas st. north and the battle of the nightmare king by william joyce

women in white coats by olivia campbell

the ex talk by rachel lynn solomon

hermione granger and the goblet of fire by sara baines-miller

the wife before by shanora williams

gone again by minka kent

know my name by chanel miller

in the lives of puppets by t.j. klune

the homewreckers by mary kay andrews

going dark by melissa de la cruz

all the dangerous things by stacy willingham

counterfit by kirsten chen

the rewind by allison winn scotch

have i told you this already? by lauren graham

beyond the wand by tom felton

jana goes wild by farah heron

the perfect son by frieda mcfadden

america’s next reality star by laura heffernan

the new mother by nora murphy

georgie, all along by kate clayborn

the storied life of a.j. fikry by gabrielle zevin

a flicker in the dark by stacy willingham

the villa by rachel hawkins

device free weekend by sean doolittle

what the neighbors saw by melissa adelman

the library of lost and found by phaedra patrick

motherthing by ainslie hogarth

the block party by jamie day

tanqueray by stephanie johnston

the ex hex by erin sterling

rock paper scissors by alice feeney

the kiss curse by erin sterling

it ends with us - colleen hoover

the summer of broken rules by k.l. walther

the wife stalker by liv constantine

in my dreams i hold a knife by ashley winstead

the family remains by lisa jewell

my secret sister by lauren westwood

the engagement by samantha hayes

if we were villains by m.l. rio

the sleepover by keri beevis

twenty years later by charlie donlea

the doctor’s wife by daniel hurst

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splendeurcaisse · 1 year ago

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#covereveal #virtuous vows #t.l. smith #kia carrington-russell

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critical-quoter · 22 hours ago

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Reviews from Last Week

💍 Sinners Anonymous - Somme Sketcher ⭐️⭐️ Truly, this almost became a DNF when the author used the word gauge instead of gouge. That's the kind of writing issues that boil my blood. The only reason I did not was because I was already in bed and I didn't want to have to decide on another book.

I want to say it got better, but I'm not actually sure it did. There were still some glaring spelling and grammar errors that popped up infrequently, but while I was not as distracted by those, I was then able to focus on the characters in this "romance." And yeah, that was a problem. Rory was annoying on top of being pretty dumb. If I ever read another book with a character that uses random objects instead of curse words, I will burn something down. In Rory's case, it was birds. Think "oh, crow" and "oh, flamingo." I wanted to hold her down and scream fuck in her face.

You'd think with Rory being annoying, at least Angelo makes up for it with his hot brooding. You'd be wrong. Because when I was trapped in his POVs, I got the displeasure of reading about him calling Rory a whore nonstop. Even when he moved beyond the thought of hating Rory, he was still thinking about her as a whore.

It was bad. The plot was mediocre and the characters were laughably terrible.

🩸 Moments of Madness - T.L. Smith ⭐️⭐️ I think this is my sign to stop hoping that I'll like books from T.L. Smith. Because this was painful. Even if I could look past the stilted and outrageously bad dialogue, I'd still be left with terrible characters. Right from the start, Kyson was just foul. He was insulting, aggressive, and didn't show any kind of compassion. Do people like that in a man? He watched her fall and smash her face into the ground. She was clearly struggling, like obviously homeless, and here are some direct quotes from him: "Go and shower. I bet your pussy stinks like rotten eggs." He then proceeds to push her into a river (this is a metropolitan area, you know that water is foul) and then says: "Someone needed to clean that pussy. Respect the pussy."

This is the quality of prose and characterization we're working with her.

I don't even know if I can say it gets better. Because it really doesn't Kyson remains just an absolute piece of shit and honestly, Kalilah isn't any better. They're just two badly written toxic people who do toxic things while the author tries to convince us that this is romance. No, thanks. I'm over it.

🌪️ Storm Warning - Nellie Wilson ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Did this read like a Twister/Twisters fanfiction? Marginally. But I really enjoyed this, for the most part. It was just a fun ride. I particularly liked the slow trickle of flash backs that went farther and farther back. It showed the history of chemistry but also the tentative building and breaking of the potential relationship at the start.

The problem I had with Storm Warning though was the second chance part of the relationship. Violet and Julian could not talk civilly to each other. They bickered and fought non-stop. Then all of sudden, they're confessing their love for each other? It just didn't feel realistic.

Also, I know misogyny was warned. But the fact that at no point did Julian actually stand up for Violet when it was clear that she was being talked about and treated like a blow up doll was embarrassing. Find better, Violet.

🐎 Rebels and Queens - Kate Prada ⭐️⭐�� I should have stopped when, in a thank you to readers who acquired the book through legal means, the word "illegal" was spelled as illeagle. I really should have stopped when, within the first 7 pages, the words "chonky" and "lil" were both used unironically. But I thought, in my infinite wisdom, or my masochistic subconscious, I persisted.

The prose did not get better. The typos stayed prevalent. The characters were weird. Maybe I don't understand horse girls. (Don't get me wrong, I like horses. I think they're impressive and majestic. But I would never consider myself in the realm of horse girl.)

But some of the actions didn't make sense to me. And honestly, I think this novella would have been better served without the romance. Because once Jacoby. started lusting after a girl that had been held captive by a violent militia for weeks, I was instantly icked out. But I'm also a big proponent of romantic suspenses not being novellas.

Not for me. I don't worship horses and I want romantic suspenses to actually be fleshed out.

🌈 Shades of Grey - Jasper Fforde ⭐️⭐️⭐️ I might be misconstruing the point of some of the world building in this book by making an assumption, but I think the reason I spent most of the book confused was because of the deFacting. I think the reader was meant to be confused. If the characters in this world didn't know the history, then why should we?

I like the concept of this novel. And I really wanted to enjoy this. But frankly, this was painfully British. I don't know any other way to describe this, to be honest.

I also really did not care for any of the characters (except Jane, but probably because she hated everyone too). I just found it difficult to connect and care about out protagonist, Eddie, when he is unbelievably stupid, selfish, and boring.

And it felt like everything from the plot, to the dialogue, to the prose overall was left nonsensical just for the sake of being weird. It wasn't for me. But frankly, I think someone that's obsessed with Doctor Who would like this. It's just not me.

🌄 Sunlight - Devney Perry ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I don't understand how she manages to do it, but Devney Perry gets me every time. I wasn't expecting to be this blown away by a book. I've been hitting several duds lately. But holy hell, Sasha and Jax absolutely saved me from a slump.

Everything about the chemistry between Sasha and Jax was perfect. Jax had such golden retriever energy that worked so well in contrast to Sasha's closed-off black cat vibes. They just were perfect together.

The mystery of Eddie wasn't very high stakes (in regards to danger). It stayed a mystery to me, but that's probably because I'm pretty dumb. I mean, it could have gone one of two ways, boyfriend or brother. I didn't get the twist but honestly, I wasn't looking very hard either.

Overall, I loved it. I want more in this series. I just want to keep coming back to Haven River Ranch.

🍀 My Secret Irish Baby - Sienna Blake ⭐️⭐️ This took some time to get through, because honestly, Michael was bottom of the barrel when it comes to MMCs. The fact that he ditches her in a cabin with 100 Euros and a note saying it's for the bus. Then we get Abbi's POV where she's pregnant, and she calls only to realize that he doesn't remember her (at least as far as it goes when his receptionist tells him who's on the line). We're then forced to read several sex scenes of Michael with random women, including his personal assistant that he had when he first met Fiona. He's not a decent person. But why women authors feel the need to create these men who fuck anything that breathes and still make the women completely celibate because they've essentially been pining is maddening.

And I really don't want to talk about Abbi. She really didn't exist beyond how she could be a figure used to support Michael's supposed character growth. She was a mom, but only when the child was needed to show how much Abbi struggled and needed a man to help. I guess she worked at a law firm but as what? Who knows. Her job doesn't matter until she becomes Michael's personal assistant. She's a friend to Sandra? Sure, as long as Sondra is only there to tell Abbi that she needs to get laid or she's still in love with Michael. She was just non-entity.

The pacing is pretty good and the writing is decent. But the characters were such 2-dimensional caricatures that it took away any real enjoyment.

🏡 Within Fields and Flowers - Elisabeth Rose ⭐️⭐️⭐️ This started off pretty sweet and had a very cozy feel. I was enjoying for the most part. Right up until they started having sex. The dynamic between Charlotte and Dallas was good. The chemistry was written in enough. It did seem a bit stilted and it moved far too fast than you'd expect. Despite it being a fairly short book (under 300 pages), it definitely needed a little bit slower of a burn.

But as soon as they got physical, that's when it became painful to read. There was no indication that it was going to happen, but apparently Dallas needed Charlotte to refer to him as 'sir.' Enough that he demanded it out of her. They did not use a condom. Charlotte had been celibate the entire time of their 8 year separation and Dallas claimed the same thing. The problem with that is that Dallas fucking lied. I don't think it matters if he's clean or not. He lied about celibacy when a woman is completely vulnerable with him. Charlotte of course finds out and she runs off again, which is her M.O.

Anyway, these two 'adults' don't speak to each other. There's no communication. It started as a slightly cozy second chance romance and devolved into a weird smut, miscommunication mess. Overall, just not for me.

🖼️ The Spy - A. Rivers ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Hate to Love where? Sure Fiona disliked Zeke, and honestly, I would too if he consistently called me 'Fifi.' She's right, by the way, that's the quintessential name for a poodle. But frankly, this just lacked a little bit of everything. There was no real suspense. The mystery basically solved itself and any potential suspects were literally nonexistent.

There also was absolutely no chemistry and no building up to it either. They went from Fiona disliking Zeke to literally fucking in a safe house. 30 minutes before that, Fiona was pissed because she wasn't included on the plan and that meant that Zeke didn't trust her. Insert aggressive eye roll here.

Nothing about this book was able to keep me interested enough to read it in more than 5-10 minute burst. And with another book from A./Alexa Rivers being a middle of the road book for me, I think this is the last book I'll read from them.

🏍️ Swagger and Sass - Autumn Lake Jones ⭐️ This being a "Happily For Now" romantic novella is certainly a stretch. This just felt like a kind of cringey, far too long, prologue to a book that I will not be reading. Honestly, the love song that Shelby wrote and sang for Rooster less than 24 hours after meeting him had my skin crawling.

It's less than 200 pages. If you like insta-love, heavy smut (so much cock mentioned), and run of the mill characters, this is the prologue for you. Although, to my understanding, this series is actually serial and needs to be read in order. So, the conclusion to Shelby and Rooster's story is #16 in that timeline and certainly not worth it for me.

🧛🏻 Bleed for Me - Reverie Hargrove ⭐️⭐️⭐️ This was about as run of the mill as you can get for a paranormal romance. There's vampires and fated mates and an abusive ex-boyfriend whose only purpose is to drive the plot ahem FMC ahem towards accepting the mates situation.

I enjoyed it for what it was, I suppose. The problem comes with the fact that every advancement in the plot felt like we had stuttered forward. Coral donates blood (I guess to a blood bank specifically for vampires? Who knows? It wasn't explained) then she's told to get back to the place for a situation which turns out to be our MMC, Lev, demanding that she become his personal feeder for $10k a month. She denies him. Then she gets fired because of her ex, who then approaches her and tells her about a job, which she accepts. But she also takes up Lev's offer. And Lev seems to just despise her. He is unpleasant towards Coral the entire time, until he's just. . . not.

The story had such weird and uncomfortably uneven pacing. The spice scenes just felt so 1-dimensional since there wasn't any real chemistry or relationship building. Overall, it wasn't terrible. I didn't feel the. urge to DNF it, but I also am not interested in any more books in this universe.

🎙️ Pretty Things on Shelves - Maggie and Landon Gates ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I did not realize that my trauma with religion and purity culture was as bad as it was, right up until I read this. So, I suppose keep that in mind before starting this. There was a caution at the beginning of the book, I just made the incorrect assumption that I would not have a problem with it.

I really really liked this. I'm a sucker for a second chance but I especially like when the original relationship didn't really fall apart from anything more than the characters growing up. And from the start, it was obviously that Blair and Caleb had chemistry, not just romantically but as friends. Clearly they had some communication issues, I think that came from them knowing each other before but not who they are post-divorce.

I think my only real issue with this story was the disparity between the sexual experiences. It always feels like a double-standard when the FMC remains celibate while the MMC gets to have relations with other women. While Caleb didn't become full playboy, he was still far more experienced on the second iteration of the Blair x Caleb relationship. I kind of wish that when they came back together they either learned from each other or (with talking through the act) or MAYBE they had both experimented (either with other people or through porn). Regardless, I just don't appreciate the disparity.

Overall, I loved it. I really liked the characters (even the sides), and I loved the resolution to everything. How the story wrapped up made this near perfect.

#book #books #booklr #book lover #literature #lit #reading #novel #book review #book recommendations #book blog #bookworm

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