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January Releases I’m Looking Forward To

December 20th, 2019
Happy Friday!

Since it’s almost the end of 2019 (crazy, right?), I’m looking forward to new releases coming in January 2020. Here are my top two:

Wicked Bite (Night Rebel, #2) by Jeaniene Frost
- Publication Date: January 28, 2020
- Publisher: Avon
- Genre: Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
- Blurb from publisher: In the newest Night Rebel novel, set in New York Times bestselling author Jeaniene Frost’s Night Huntress world, beautiful, daring vampire Veritas risks all to protect Ian…
Why I’m looking forward to it: Finally, the second book in the Night Rebel series! The series takes place in Frost’s Night Huntress universe, and I personally like Shades of Wicked better than the Night Huntress novels. Veritas and Ian are much more interesting little weirdos than Cat and Bones, in my humble opinion. Bonus: Shades of Wicked is currently $1.99 on Amazon.

Mermaid Inn by Jenny Holiday
- Publication Date: January 28, 2020
- Publisher: Forever
- Genre: Contemporary Romance
- Blurb from publisher: Escape to Matchmaker Bay in this hilarious and heartwarming second chance romance from the USA Today bestselling “master of witty banter” (Entertainment Weekly). Eve Abbott has a problem-actually, make that a lot of problems. And they’re all going to get worse the moment her toes hit the sand in Matchmaker Bay. Once a blissful summer escape, now the tiny town just reminds Eve of loss. Inheriting her aunt’s beloved Mermaid Inn is the only reason Eve is coming back. She’s definitely not ready to handle nosy neighbors, extensive renovations, or the discovery that a certain heartbreaker still lives down the street…
Why I’m looking forward to it: I don’t know about you, but I could use more hilarious and heartwarming in my life right now, considering current events. Also, I am always here for second chance romance. I haven’t read Holiday’s Bridesmaids Behaving Badly series yet, but I’ve heard good things about it.

Are there books releasing in January that you’re looking forward to reading?
Book Review: Murder Takes the High Road by Josh Lanyon

December 19th, 2019

Murder Takes the High Road by Josh Lanyon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

You know how sometimes you go back to reading a book, and it’s the right place and right time for you to be reading it? Despite reading the first few pages before November, it wasn’t until after I started my novel for National Novel Writing Month that I got into Josh Lanyon’s mystery romance.

For various reasons, this book just clicked with me during my reading “breaks” from grinding out words. Maybe it was that I wanted to escape into a world quite different from what I was writing, and I was looking for that frequently elusive thing called inspiration at the same time.

It was definitely the fact that this book is freaking good. I didn’t want to put it down. I’ve come to expect a tightly constructed mystery or suspense B plot from a Lanyon novel, as well as a fairly satisfying–though not necessarily swoon worthy–romance A plot. Murder Takes the High Road; however, provided a little extra. It’s a lot about books and fandom, but it’s also about the nature of the relationship between an author and her readers/fans. What does an author owe her readers and vice versa? Is an author to be viewed separately from her work, or all of a piece?

As for the romance between the main characters, it was expertly paced within the short time frame of the narrative. Their chemistry felt believable, and their HFN was earned.

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Book Review: Her Naughty Holiday (Men at Work, #2) by Tiffany Reisz

December 19th, 2019

Her Naughty Holiday by Tiffany Reisz

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’m not crazy about the holidays, but I’ve recently found that I like watching uplifting Christmas themed romance movies a la Hallmark and Netflix and reading holiday romances. (Maybe it’s because they help me deal with the sad?)

I picked up this holiday romance on a whim one night after hearing about it on the podcast Fated Mates. They did an episode about holiday romances, and Her Naughty Holiday was one they touted. It did not disappoint. Tiffany Reisz knows how to write a steamy category romance. But, never having actually read anything by Reisz before, I didn’t know to expect the hard hitting commentary about the familial and societal expectations of women that came across in this book.

One of my favorite quotes: “Welcome to the world of being a woman. We’re not supposed to have sex, but we’re also supposed to have kids. And we wonder why so many women are on Xanax.” Clover, the heroine, delivers this line, and I found myself nodding my head while reading it, as well as nodding my head along to other passages from the book.

Clover is in a tough position–one many women can relate to. She loves her family of origin, but they don’t accept her as she is because she’s unmarried and child free and DOESN’T see marriage and having children as the be-all end-all of her existence. And her family is constantly a-holes about it. And it’s her turn to host the Thanksgiving dinner.

Enter single dad contractor Erick who, unbeknownst to Clover, has a crush on her. He agrees to be her pretend boyfriend for Thanksgiving so she can finally maybe get some relief from her mother always hounding her about her biological clock. Because it’s a Blaze novel, there are a lot of sexy times. (Erick is fire, by the way.)

All in all, recommended if you like: steamy holiday romance, fake dating/fake relationships, “plain Jane” heroines, and quick reads.

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Book Review: Connection Error (#gaymers, #3) by Annabeth Albert

March 12th, 2018

Connection Error by Annabeth Albert

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Though this isn’t the best of Albert’s books, I still stayed up way past my bedtime consuming it last night and then proceeded to get no work done today as I instead read this on my Kindle while curled up in a semi-comfortable armchair at the library.

My favorite thing about Albert’s writing is her way with characterization. The MCs are often complex, flawed people who are nonetheless trying their best in less than ideal circumstances (kind of like real life). From these less than ideal circumstances and the characters’ fears and flaws come the conflicts, so the conflicts often feel believable. Connection Error is no exception. I loved the two MCs. I loved how they came together and how they struggled to figure out how to make things work. Their life situations (one dealing with ADHD and the other injured in the line of duty) were sensitively and gracefully handled.

I will happily read whatever comes next from this author.

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His Royal Secret (His Royal Secret, #1) by Lilah Pace

March 11th, 2018

His Royal Secret by Lilah Pace

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Well this was fun. And hot. And well-written.

A prince (the Prince of Wales, to be precise) gets his own prince charming in the form of a rugged Israeli journalist with abandonment issues and a penchant for denial.

Their chemistry is off the charts. The external conflict that keeps them apart is believable. James, the prince, is not out and doesn’t think he can ever come out, for various reasons. Ben, said rugged journalist, is fine with this because he doesn’t want anything serious. He values his freedom above all else, and, due to a previous messed up relationship, he thinks that romantic relationships and independence are mutually exclusive.

Overall, I really liked this, and I found reading about the life of a royal fascinating, but I also found myself wondering at the end how it was they actually fell so deeply in love. The resolution to this first book in the duology is emotional but not totally satisfying.
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Broken Protocol (Smoke & Bullets #2) by A.R. Barley

March 6th, 2018

Broken Protocol by A.R. Barley

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I wish I could say I liked this more than I did, but I DNF’d it at about 70%.

It wasn’t really the book; it was me. I wasn’t much of a fan of Dante, one of the MCs, who came across as unlikable at the best of times. I thought further reading would change my mind about Dante; however, the opposite happened, unfortunately. Also, in my opinion, the story got off to a somewhat rocky start in the very first scene in terms of how it was described. The scene ended up being a bit jumbled in my head.

Ultimately, I couldn’t seem to care enough about what happened to the characters to finish, especially when there are so many other books waiting to be read.

I received an eARC from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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The Wolf at the Door (Big Bad Wolf, #1) by Charlie Adhara

February 1st, 2018

The Wolf at the Door by Charlie Adhara

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Consider me blown away. I find the fact that Adhara is a debut author incredible because everything about this book is solid.

I loved the mix of mystery/police procedural, romance, and paranormal. The paranormal element comes in the form of werewolves, but Adhara’s take on the way they shift and how they’ve been able to survive for so long before “coming out” to the world’s governments is different from what I’ve seen before. Since coming out, the werewolves have had to contend with bigotry from some of those in the know, which reminded me of things happening right now, ahem. The mystery was much better than I expected, especially the police procedural scenes which seemed entirely accurate in my admittedly limited knowledge.

How was the romance? Wonderfully done and completely satisfying. I’m so impressed with this author’s debut. I can’t wait to read the next book in this series, or whatever their next book is.

ARC received from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
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Tribute Act (Porthkennack, #8) by Joanna Chambers

January 23rd, 2018

Tribute Act by Joanna Chambers

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I loved this. Two opposite main characters fall in love over the course of one’s recovery from donating part of his liver to their extremely ill sister. Yes, they are stepbrothers, but they don’t meet until right before said donation due to a crappy father situation. Normally I’d be a little wary of stepbrother romance, but Chambers could publish her to do lists and I’d probably read them. That’s how crisp and lovely her writing is.

Last year, her other entry in Riptide’s Porthkennack series, A Gathering Storm, was one of my favorite reads. The series is definitely made pretty excellent by Chambers’s contributions. I look forward to reading more in this series and more by this author.

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Review: Renegade Cowboy (Rocky Mountain Riders, #3) by Sara Richardson

December 21st, 2017

Renegade Cowboy by Sara Richardson
3 of 5 stars

This was a good, somewhat sweet romance to read this time of year. It was my first cowboy romance, and it didn’t disappoint, especially after reading and DNFing way too many books. I’m not sure cowboy romance is really my thing yet, but that’s not a reflection on this book but rather on my personal tastes.

I enjoyed following Cassidy’s and Levi’s journey to ending up together, even if I was sometimes annoyed by Levi’s antics. (I guess bad boy heroes aren’t really my thing.) Cass is a complex heroine whom I appreciated, and the conflicts that got in the way of their being together are believable. Although this is not the first book in Richardson’s Rocky Mountain Riders series, I didn’t feel like I was missing anything by not reading the previous two, as with most romance series.

Definitely recommend if you like cowboy romance, or just want a contemporary with an independent heroine and a bad boy hero.

An eARC was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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Review: Dragon Fire, Angel Light by Shara Godwinson

December 12th, 2017

Dragon Fire, Angel Light by Shara Godwinson
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

*I received an eARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

I really wanted to like this. It has an intriguing premise–a dragon shifter thousands of years old falling in love with a human–but it did not work on paper. The main characters were not believable as three dimensional characters, and the narrative was off. Characters’ reactions felt stilted, and there was too much telling going on and not enough showing. Don’t even get me started on the villains (the first one introduced was described as a black man; I mean, really?).

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