Dean and Hailey were both victims of a "school" for troubled youth over a decade ago. Beaten, starved, emotionally and psychologically abused, they stDean and Hailey were both victims of a "school" for troubled youth over a decade ago. Beaten, starved, emotionally and psychologically abused, they still carry the scars of it. Together they try to repair and recover from a past that won't quite let go of them, especially knowing the perpetrators walked away free.
This was such a fantastic concept for a book. I loved the main twist in it, even if I figured it out within the first 10% of the novel. Both of the characters were interesting and flawed, and their back stories were just enough to feel like you knew them in such a short novel. I loved seeing Hailey as a successful professional, how she held onto and tried to release her own trauma, and how she set boundaries with the woman who sent her to that horrible place. Dean was a unique character all his own, content just to exist with his head down and his heart protected, still struggling to integrate into a society he was broken from for so long.
There were some consistency issues - especially towards the end of the novel - that pulled me out of it a bit. Otherwise it was a great read, and made me want to read books with similar histories as I was hooked from page 1.
Thank you to Hambright PR for the digital ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own. ...more
Tovah is on the hunt to uncover hockey "good-guy" Isaac James secrets and finally expose them. She's been on the run from his family for4.5 rounded up
Tovah is on the hunt to uncover hockey "good-guy" Isaac James secrets and finally expose them. She's been on the run from his family for years, hiding her identity, pretending her mother is dead, and searching for a way to finally be safe. Little does she know she's already on his radar and has been for awhile, and he'll do anything he can to make her his.
Oh this one was SO GOOD. If you're not a fan of dark romance, skip it, if you are, you're going to absolutely devour it. This is everything I love about the genre. Dubious consent, possessiveness, degradation, stalking, kidnapping, and a completely unhinged MMC. The spice? It's spicing. Isaac discovering and embracing Tovah's masochism as it fed his own beast was absolute perfection, and seeing him fall deeper into his depraved tendencies had the pace on this steady and engaging.
Having the push and pull of Isaac's hatred and obsession, with Tovah's fear, reluctance and adoration was everything. Their chemistry was tangible on the page through each of them keeping secrets and harming each other, and seeing Isaac screw up and force retribution over and over again made this book seem shorter than it was. I barely stopped to come up for air in this one because it was just that addictive and the pages flew by.
We get some insight into his family and each of their pasts, but the story is more focused on the current day until the past and it collide. There is some of Isaac and his time on the ice as well, but this is definitely more of a dark romance with mafia roots, than a sports romance overall.
All in all, this is the perfect book for DR fans, and I can't wait to read the next in the series.
Thank you to The Author Agency for the digital ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own....more
Willow will do anything to keep the family land her cousin is contesting as his, including trying to strike up a deal with the develope4.75 rounded up
Willow will do anything to keep the family land her cousin is contesting as his, including trying to strike up a deal with the developer he hired. Unfortunately, the man is an absolute shark and only has thoughts of taking over and crushing those beneath him - from what she can see. She's pushed to her limit, and realizing all of her dreams are falling through her grasp until she meets a sweet little girl on a ferris wheel that changes the trajectory of everything.
This is my first time reading this author and I was immediately hooked. Willow is stubborn, willful, defensive, and one of my favourite types of FMC's - she doesn't take shit from the male lead. Seeing them at each others throats was absolutely perfect. As was having Raymond realise he and Quill needed Willow more than he'd ever expected. This was such a slow burn, but in a way that had constant tension and the pages absolutely burning. It's a longer novel for a romance but at no point did it feel like it fell off, or took too long for them to finally get together.
Also when Raymond decided he was all in to sway Willow? Ooh boy that was chemistry, swoon, and BDE for miles. Everything about Willow and Raymond together was fantastic, even if the explicit scenes were more on the mild side. There was so much build up and tension that it was absolutely worth it. Also Quinn and Willow? Pure magic. I loved that we had selective mutism representation in two separate leads in this world, and getting peeks into Quinn's thoughts was so sweet.
I did find the ending to be a bit surprising that it leaped forward to where it did (no spoilers!). However, I think that felt rushed due to the large time jump towards the end of the story that we didn't get to see play out on the page.
Either way this was fantastic, and fun and sweet and I absolutely teared up more than once. If you like single dad, forced proximity romances where he falls hard and steady, this one is for you.
Thank you to The Author Agency for the digital ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own. ...more
Louisa and the boy continue to try to solve the mystery of what's happened to his sister, as well as deal with falling for each other in a wo2.5 stars
Louisa and the boy continue to try to solve the mystery of what's happened to his sister, as well as deal with falling for each other in a world where even a single touch can destroy them.
I really wanted to like this novel but I think this entire series just isn't it for me. This book was so incredibly stressful that I kept having to force myself to pick it up and read it. The first half was Louisa and the boy constantly putting themselves in situations to be sexually intimate at a high risk of being caught. It happened over and over again and made those scenes completely unenjoyable because I was constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. They both kept making choices that put themselves at risk, to the point they were so incredibly obvious to everyone around them that I couldn't fathom why they weren't just tossed to the mines.
About 70% of the novel is mostly just relationship building and inner monologues with the slowest of slow pacing. From there we finally get a few interesting developments come about and start to meet characters and perspectives that can actually impact the story, and then it ends on a cliffhanger. I was left so dissatisfied, stressed and frustrated that I couldn't see myself wanting to live through these feelings through another novel.
Despite this, I can see why others would enjoy it, but I'm tapping out here.
Thank you to the author for the digital ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own. ...more
Katerina is moving to America to go to university and try her hand at a fresh start in the skating world. With an eye on Olympic gold, her and her parKaterina is moving to America to go to university and try her hand at a fresh start in the skating world. With an eye on Olympic gold, her and her partner try to overcome her past trauma in the sport in a new country. However, she isn't expecting to cross paths with a grumpy hockey player who drives her up the wall, and who brings her to her knees.
I wanted to love this one, and I gave it a lot of grace in spelling errors as I know the author said this ARC still needed final edits, but this one was a mess. The writing itself is underdeveloped. Neither lead is fully fleshed out, and they don't truly act their age or exist in a logical world. Even from the start, Katerina moves from Russia, where she's lived her entire life, to America, and has zero language barrier or any mention of an accent, culture shock, or anything. She moves there with multiple teammates and somehow ends up in a university-run hockey house that houses a handful of people, and can't be switched, while her teammates end up in a skating household.
She immediately bonds with her hockey housemates, spilling information as if she's known them her entire life, and referring to them as her best friends. We also have her Russian best friends she's known forever, and they all end up dating everyone in the hockey house as well so it's a menagerie of drama and weird enmeshment. Every character for some reason is invested in each other characters love life to a strange degree, and they all meddle and give advice despite all of them being terrible at relationships. We also have a side story of Katerina's best friend and Aiden's best friend and all of their relationship drama running concurrent to the leads story that pulls the focus onto them throughout the entire novel. It's so incredibly messy and dramatic that it genuinely started to get annoying.
From there we have a lot of consistency issues. Scenes often didn't make sense. One that sticks out heavily is driving a car to pick Katerina up from her "dorm" when she actually lives in the hockey house with them, driving that car to a concert. Then they uber "back to the hotel" when they didn't come from a hotel at all, and why did he leave his car?? We also have him taking steps towards her yet still leaning on a door frame right after, as well as mentions of Katerina having dark hair like her father, when the entire book her light hair is mentioned to the point Aiden goes as far as calling her "Goldie." Then Aiden's aunt is over for a visit yet the scene says Katerina is talking to his mom - who is dead. It's over and over with odd inconsistencies that pulled me out of the story. Multiple times it felt as if scenes were rearranged and then the book wasn't read back over, as we'd have advancement in their relationship and then the next chapter would start with them not knowing where they stood.
The layout of the book was odd as well, as it was often spaced as if one lead was saying something, then as you read forward it was actually the other lead. I'm not sure if this was an overall formatting issue, but it did make the book frustrating as I kept having to adjust to who was saying what after reading a few lines. We also get a lot of repetitive phrasing in general, that made scenes predictable.
The book did have moments where it was engaging, it started off decent enough, but then it got stagnant. There didn't seem to be any real direction to the story, with random side stories pulled in, and the characters meandering through random days. Aiden's sister was an odd side story - especially how the dad treated her. Knowing he must have been paying tons in medical expenses yet didn't care about her was odd. Also having Katerina party so frequently while training to compete for the Olympics also didn't make any sense. Also describing her clothing constantly started to have me zoning out and skimming those paragraphs as they weren't important to the story.
Overall, the author had some interesting concepts of the book, but beta readers would have been beneficial to narrow down some bigger issues and bring her book some clarity.
Thank you to the author for the digital ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own. ...more
Cali and Connor's parents are killed in a violent attack in their home. Connor is the one who finds them, and ends up being arrested for their murder.Cali and Connor's parents are killed in a violent attack in their home. Connor is the one who finds them, and ends up being arrested for their murder. He's let off, but the suspicion that he's responsible for it still shadows him. Three years later, Cali and Connor are thrust together to share her home while he's under house arrest, and the walls start crumbling between what she believed previously and who Connor is showing himself to be today.
This one was one of my top reads I was looking forward to this month, and it started off so strong. I was burning through chapters but then everything slowed down drastically. I was two thirds of the way through and it still felt as if I had as much information as the first few chapters, with the same teasers into who is responsible being dangled and then pulled away. Despite this, the guilty party was obvious the moment they were introduced, and it made the attempt at a push and pull instead drag on through the same interactions of shared meals, days in front of paperwork, and stewing over emotions.
I wish we had more depth and development of Callie with the other characters that were supposed to be muddling her thoughts into who was the culprit. They were so few and far between that it ended up feeling repetitive instead of diving into what were the motivations for each action. The alternate male lead also felt like a very obvious attempt at a red herring, and didn't do anything to develop the plot, as if anything it made the actual killer stand out more.
The chemistry between Calli and Connor was solid though, as was the tension, and having them grow into their relationship together and heal their trauma's kept the story from falling too far off tract. I found the taboo around them being step-siblings to be a little silly, and the idea that a CEO of a shipping company would be so ripe for tabloids in the public eye. Otherwise the story was well told, if not a bit too drawn out and surface level.
Thank you to Sunny Babe PR for the digital ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own. ...more
Ravina is thrust into a life of hiding after her royal parent's are killed in their home. Secreted away in the night, she's lived as a null fae - one Ravina is thrust into a life of hiding after her royal parent's are killed in their home. Secreted away in the night, she's lived as a null fae - one without powers - in a village that views them as subhuman. Each and every day is a fight for survival and to keep her secrets hidden, until the day she's conscripted into a battle academy to train and fight with the very people that want her dead.
This was SUCH an incredible novel. It very much felt like a mix between Fourth Wing and Throne of Glass, with enough unique differences and interactions to keep it a book all it's own. The pacing was solid, without feeling like too much was tossed in at once. I loved that we got POV's from all 4 leads, and that it was a slower build-up instead of an instant interest or infatuation.
Ravina's crow familiar Nero was hilarious and quirky (especially his obsession with eyeballs), and I loved their bond and how it grew and adapted throughout the story. The side-characters are also well developed, especially the terrible ones, and the found family aspect is genuine and so well done with those she trusts.
I'm a sucker for a strong female lead, especially in a chosen-one special powers trope and this is honestly everything I wanted and more. The cliffhanger was definitely expected (and I was hoping for it so much sooner!) and has me hooked for the next book in the series. If you love fantasy, strong female leads, found family, and dragons - this one is for you!
Thank you to the author, S. E. Alexander, for the digital ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own. ...more
Susan isn't the kindest human in the world. In fact, many people would call her a selfish b*tch. All of that changes the moment she steps in front of Susan isn't the kindest human in the world. In fact, many people would call her a selfish b*tch. All of that changes the moment she steps in front of a bus without looking and her life ends as she knows it. Waking in an in-between space between life and more, she's made to confront who she was, how people perceive her, and how her soul can heal and move forward.
This was an unexpectedly impactful novel. I felt like I was gentle parented through my own feelings of what makes a person "good" or "bad" and how their own perception is twisted and distorted based on the filters through which others see them. Susan is a volatile lead that we're not supposed to like right out of the gates. She starts out as rude, manipulative and entitled. From there we see the layered abuse from people in positions of power over her, her own perception of those events, and how that impacted who she is and how she treated others while she lived.
Accompanying her is the soul guide who acts in the role of a therapist or inner voice, prompting Susan to recognize the generational trauma she has and how she dealt with it, as well as the small ways she broke the cycle, and how she impacted those around her - whether it was with genuine intent or not. Seeing the good she did inadvertently, mirrored with her self-serving intent showcased how layered humanity is.
I loved how time was explained, the moments of pop-culture references, and how each soul and its lifespan is presented. This novel felt like a continuous story of self-realization as we broke through each fault in Susan's foundation. It was a conversation that addresses the core of Susan, and people as we are, and it ended in the most perfect way for her soul after that journey. I genuinely loved this novella and look forward to reading more from this author!
Thank you to the author, Gwenna Laithland for the digital ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own....more
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