Review: The Baby Dragon Bakery

The Baby Dragon Bakery by Aamna Qureshi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.3 stars 

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

She was in love with her best friend. And everyone knew but him. 

The Baby Dragon Bakery was an extremely soft and cozy smalltown read with some fantasy elements. I jumped into the series here and had no problems, there is a big supporting cast, with the couple from the first and obvious future couples but they add to the smalltown setting and make you feel at home more than lost. This second in the series stared Lavinia and Theo, two midtwenties who have been friends since childhood. Getting point-of-views from each, readers can see that both have started to develop romantic feelings for the other but are scared to tell in case that ruins their friendship. 

And that was how Lavinia found herself enlisting the help of her best friend (who she had feelings for) to help her get with someone else (to get over aforementioned feelings). Which wouldn’t be complicated. Or messy. And that wasn’t a bad idea. Not at all. 

Readers get to see them going through those quarter life growing pains, Lavinia is in her second year of veterinary school while working part-time and living at home while Theo is starting to think he wants to use his business degree and make baking his hobby again, instead of his job. They're figuring themselves out while still dealing with some childhood issues. Theo's parents were extremely cold, leading him to never feel good enough and his angst keeping him apart from Lavinia, he thinks she's too good for him and while Lavinia had loving parents that has lead to her putting pressure on herself to copy the formula of their love. Lavinia is the same age her parents were when they fell in love, so she's determined it must happen now. Not knowing Theo's feelings or wanting to ruin their friendship, this causes her to date someone else, which works because it forces Theo to expose his feelings. 

He stroked her cheekbone with the curve of his thumb, his pulse quickening.

As I mentioned, this had cozy, soft vibes, Theo's issues with his parents and how it makes him feel is the lowest it gets in the smalltown of Starshine Valley. It started to feel a bit dragged out with Theo not feeling good enough and Lavinia purposefully, what it felt like anyway, not seeing that Theo did in fact have romantic feelings for her. We do get a little flashback to an emotional moment in their childhood friendship for some depth building blocks in their relationship but this was mostly kept in the sweet friendship romance vibe, with a quick dash of spice opendoor scene (bonus Ghost movie like moment!). 

If he had her, he didn’t need anything else. 

The fantasy elements are almost purely the baby dragons that appear here and there in scenes, not the stars but add a dash if looking for that element. After feeling like they were dragging their feet, their declarations of love felt kind of rushed to lead to a clunky feeling ending where we rehash Theo's not feeling good enough issues once more and then suddenly plop down the happily ever after. This was a cozy and sweet new adult (the characters had big thirties is old vibes) that had a fantasy smalltown setting that was a delight to spend some time in and the little tease between two characters who seem lined up to become enemies-to-lovers will have me checking out the next in the series.

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Review: Love Is a War Song

Love Is a War Song by Danica Nava
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

2.5 stars 

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

I was public enemy number one. 

Love is a War Song was about a Disney childstar actress trying to grow into becoming a pop star but getting wrapped up in a media frenzy when she showcases her Muscogee heritage in an ignorant way on the cover of Rolling Stone. If you're a fan of Hannah Montana vibes, then you'd probably enjoy this more than I did, it read and came across in a young way to me that I had trouble getting into. 

We were in on the joke. Taking back this Native maiden stereotype. Reclaiming it. But it backfired, because of my ignorance. It wasn’t powerful. It was problematic. 

Avery's only ever known her mother, who's also her manager, for family. She's constantly being pushed by her mom and has no real idea about her Native American heritage. When she dresses in a war bonnet for Rolling Stone, social media goes into a frenzy condemning and arguing if she has a right to wear it. When it looks like her new record deal could be in danger, her mom decides that she should go escape to Avery's grandmother's ranch in Oklahoma. There, the story has Avery trying to learn about her family, being a fish out of water, and arguing and getting turned on by a cowboy on the ranch, Lucas. 

Under these stars, I wasn’t disgraced singer Avery Fox. Right now, I was just a girl (with terrible insomnia) free to do whatever I wanted. 

This was told from Avery's point-of-view and for the first half, I honestly felt like I knew more about her Golden Goose shoes than Lucas. The second half we get Avery inserting herself into Lucas' family drama by pretending to be his girlfriend and going to a family dinner with him. Readers finally learn some about him, he comes from money but has disappointed his father by “only” becoming a ranch hand, and had addiction problems in the past but he's now clean and sober. Their relationship was a lot of Lucas eye-rolling at Avery because he doesn't like how she utilizes her Native American heritage in her celebrity persona and how helpless and naive she is on the ranch, Avery likes to poke at him because he comes off stuffy to her, but there's always the looking at each other's lips factor. There were some rom-com moments ran through for lighter moments and Avery wanting desperately for her grandmother to talk to her about not only her immediate family history but also cultural for some emotional pings. 

Love is a war song, a battle cry. Something to fight for. And I would fight for us. 

Between fish out of water scenes, Avery does slowly start to learn not only about her culture but about herself, and a big event comes up where Avery had to decide if she wanted to continue on the same path or make an effort to live a more true life. I was looking for more emotional depth while this had a lighter, younger, vibe to it, so a different audience, the aforementioned Hannah Montana fans, would more than likely end up enjoying this more.

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Review: Lady or the Tiger

Lady or the Tiger by Heather M. Herrman
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

1.5 stars 

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

You aren’t going to like me. 

Lady or the Tiger was about a young girl surviving in the American wild west and trying to come into her own. Told, mostly, all from her point-of-view with numerous back and forth time jumps, readers travel with her from the beginning at fifteen years old forced to kill a man to nineteen years old and about to be hung as the Seamstress, a serial killer. This was tagged as young adult but I'd go more new adult, there's nothing completely explicit with the sex and violence but with a first husband who is a sadist in the bedroom, I often felt the messaging of don't give up being yourself for men was stylistically written more for adult thinking; I'm a big Judy Blume fan and I couldn't help comparing the two. The “supporting women's wrongs” with claiming fierce feminism when our lead Alice/Belle lures men with her physical wiles to murder them, just wasn't groundbreaking or entertaining for me, your mileage may vary. 

For a ghost, he looks very much alive. 

Alice gets sent to an asylum after she murders a man and her mother is killed. From there she is forced to marry Reginald, a cop, as a means of escape. She becomes useful to him by helping him cheat while gambling and they travel the west and Europe but he's the sadist in the bedroom and when Alice locks eyes with a boy in Texas, they spend a night together and escape Reginald. Alice then becomes Belle and travels the west and Europe with the carnival of The Damned, falling in love with Cal, the Texas boy, and taming a tiger to dance with. One night things unravel and Belle runs while Cal saves her from a dire situation, but eventually at nineteen Belle turns herself in for the Seamstress murders and wants to be hung because she thinks/knows she's done wrong. Her plan gets ruined when Reginald shows up and says she's crazy, citing the asylum stay, and tries to save her. 

And though I have shot two men, kissing a boy here in the fading light, without last night’s irresistible spell to carry me away or my shadow to guide me, feels like the bravest thing I have ever done. 

Like I said, the timeline is cut and spliced wildly, Alice/Belle starts off ready to be hung, then you'll go from how she escaped Reginald, her murderous time as the Seamstress, time with Cal, how she married Reginald, and the time at the asylum. There's some unreliable narration going on and an ending that takes a page from the short story it's title is inspired by (The Lady or the Tiger). If you can handle non-linear stories, telling you feminism is simply doing what you want, cool real women historical figures shout-outs, a good message (lost in the story for me most the time) of don't change yourself for love or chance at it, and an open-ended ambiguous ending, then this was something different along those lines.

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Review: All We Lost Was Everything

All We Lost Was Everything by Sloan Harlow
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

My mom is gone. My dad is dead. And my life will never be the same. 

All We Lost Was Everything was a young and new adult feeling fiction story about how lies and covering up painful pasts can lead to hurting the people you were only trying to protect. Newly graduated from highschool, River has just survived a house fire that took her father's life and all her belongings. She's staying with her aunt as her mother took one of her mental health hikes before the accident and hasn't been heard or seen from since. When her bestfriend Tawny starts a GoFundMe for her, she gets a mysterious donation of two million dollars. Not willing to spend the money before she learns who donated it, she continues working at the local cafe, where she can't keep her eyes off the new employee Logan, but he seems so angry towards her and she can't figure out why. 

Because if she knew who I really am, what I’ve done? 

It would be the end of everything. 

The first half of this leaned into those young and new adult feelings and issues of not quite knowing what to do with yourself after highschool and having the hots for a boy. River was previously dating someone that she thought she was going to marry but he broke up with her out of the blue, so she's dealing with trust issues between the ex and her disappeared mom. The story is mostly told from River's point-of-view but the middle brings in Logan's pov and readers learn that he has feelings for River but there's a mystery reason that makes him feel like he should stay away from her. The middle loses itself to focusing in on the physical relationship, kisses and having the hots for each other, between River and Logan for awhile, but the latter second half races on as numerous reveals start happening and the reader gets a bit of whiplash from it all. 

Someone who loved me enough to walk through fire. 

Some of the reveals you'll probably see coming and others will most likely be a surprise. They all were worked in believably but there were some that also felt like a soap opera sweeps week, especially when they are revealed and then moved on from fairly quickly, not letting the reader absorb and try to feel some emotion about. River had that late teen angst attitude at times that colored her with some narcissism, she wanted everyone to act the way she wanted them to act but when the reveals happen, they were so dramatic, it turned me back to her side. This bounced from keeping me engaged in the beginning with the introduction to these characters, to wanting more depth developed in their relationships between them, to barely hanging on for the soap opera drama reveal ride. I could see a younger audience (mostly making out with one open-door scene) enjoying this more as a starter that could lead them into reading Gillian Flynn or Oyinkan Braithwaite. Most of the story was hiding and only sort of working to unfold the mystery, and then raced through the reveals too quickly for them to really emotionally hit, but younger and newer readers might enjoy this step into a romance and mystery mashup.

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Review: The Kiss of the Nightingale

The Kiss of the Nightingale by Adi Denner
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

“I need you to become my thief.” 

In a magical realism late 1800s France, The Kiss of the Nightingale was a story of what you're willing to give up for the life you think you want. Told in first person, present tense, Cleo is a nineteen year old who is trying to keep her father's tailoring business going while caring for her sick younger sister. In this world, Talents mean everything. Centuries ago, gems infused with magic that greatly enhanced a person's gifted talent, were mined and then distributed among the population. A few decades ago, the mines dried up and Talents became impossible to get, unless you inherited them from your family. This has created increasingly lopsided economic statuses, especially when Elite Talents are horded by the aristocracy. Cleo's father was supposed to pass on his Tailoring Talent but after his emotional spiral downward after Cleo's mother's death, his body was found drowned in the river, with the Talent gem missing from his ring. Knowing that Cleo doesn't have a Talent, customers abandon her father's once flourishing business, leaving Cleo and her sister to poverty. 

In our relationship, I'm the dangerous one. 

Desperate to find a way to pay for a doctor for her sister has Cleo attempting to rob an aristocrat, but she's found, kidnapped and brought to Lady Sibille, better known as Dahlia and the Queen of the underworld that deals with stolen Talents. Cleo is seduced by Dahlia, physically and emotionally, and ends up agreeing to become a thief and steal Vicomte Nuriel Lenoir's Mathematical Talent in exchange for Dahlia gifting Cleo with a singing Talent and becoming Lady Adley. Unfortunately for Cleo, she feels drawn to the arrogant Nuriel and starts to develop feelings for him, leading her to feel guilty for her subterfuge and how she's going to betray him. 

But Cleo, it's not worth it if it keeps you from home. 

The beginning was interesting with the magical realism world set-up and obvious in it's message of resource hoarding, social status hierarchies, and what you should want out of life. However, the middle really sagged for me as Cleo did a lot of rinse and repeat of feeling guilty and battling enjoying her riches full new life with missing her sister. Since we're only in Cleo's head, the stagnate wishy-washy gave no escape and slowed the momentum of the story for me. The scenes with Cleo and Nuriel had some banter that you could feel and believe in their budding relationship but not quite enough depth to really delve into their romance. With the inclusion of magic, it felt obvious that Cleo's feelings were probably being manipulated by Dahlia in some way, so even though there seemed to be flashes of conveyed realness, I didn't quite feel the tormented pull Cleo was supposed to be in. Dahlia seemed like a very interesting secondary character that I would have loved to have seen more of, but again, all in Cleo's head, we only get those flashes. 

Light and darkness. Safety and danger. Integrity and deceit. But under it all is desire. And the realization that, deep inside, I'm torn. 

The ending worked to draw me back in when Cleo finally has to make a decision regarding who's side she's going to be on and what she wants out of life and we get some action. The world-building was adequate, I could have used a little more in regards to the magical Talents but it was magical realism intriguing enough. The secondary characters were plentiful and each brought something to the table; I can see Cleo's sister possibly getting her own romance. The romance, between Cleo and Dahlia and Cleo and Nuriel was there but lacked romance genre depth for me. Where this excelled the most for me was in it's underlining message of how resource hoarding hurts not only individuals but holds back societies as a whole and how talents can come from anyone and all corners of the world. This had a, mostly, wrapped up ending, but some characters were left in the wind and while some relationships were getting started, there is definitely room to add to character journeys. At points intriguing, meandering, left me wanting more depth, and thought-provoking.

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Review: The Hook Up

The Hook Up by Kristen Callihan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.3 stars 

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

Tonight was obviously an ill-advised hook up for her. And I’m so screwed because it was the best thing that has ever happened to me. 

As soon as Anna and Drew see each other in class, they're hot for each other. Anna carries self-esteem issues from being overweight in highschool and social anxiety, so when she learns the tall good-looking guy that is sending tingles up her spine is the college's star quarterback, she wants nothing to do with that fish bowl. Drew doesn't know or understand fully all of Anna's issues and why she's being so stubborn about acting on their obvious chemistry but he senses deep down that she's The One, so while he'll go slower to earn her trust, he's all in. 

If only he was someone else. Something else. A regular guy. A nobody like me. But he’s not and never will be. When I think of the public scrutiny he, and by default anyone he’s with, endures, I want to hide away, run for the hills. 

The Hook Up was a New Adult story about a sparking chemistry couple in different college cliques that hotly delivered (did it ever!) on it's title, at least in the beginning. I said that Anna was stubborn about acting on their chemistry, don't worry, the stubbornness doesn't last long on the physical front. These two were hot little potatoes and bless Callihan and her open-door scenes in a contemporary romance (not surprising the original pub date on this). However, since I was enjoying those scenes so much, I grumpily felt like it was a little bit of a bait-and-switch when the second half lost some of that fervor in favor of a dragged out Anna and her issues with mini little tangents. I understand that the tangents were there to entice for the secondary characters that will star in later books in the series but too many distracted from the spicy main course. 

“Why won’t you let me kiss you, Anna?” 

I flew through the first half filled with hot, snappy, chemistry between Anna and Drew and liked how, told through alternating povs of both characters, we could see how much Drew liked Anna but was letting her lead and go at her pace, when emotionally it was hurting him because he wanted to share how much he liked her but was scared she'd run. These two had connections, Drew's parents died when he was in high-school, Anna's father left when she was young and has a mom that chases love with the wrong men, they've felt alone. Emotionally and personality wise they connected, and I felt it through their dialogue, it's the outside world that messes with them and Anna's fear of being scrutinized, which with Drew's popularity, is going to be a given occurrence. The second half has them fighting with misunderstanding where the other is coming from. That and how they're both coming into their own, Anna questioning what she wants to do with her life after she graduates and Drew realizing that he's done with the partying, helped to make this have a great New Adult feel. Their romance also had some of those sweet and angsty new adult giddy romance feelings. 

“I’ve missed you.”

The first half I was ready to give this five stars but the second half changed the pace on me so much, a decent amount of it dragging, that it couldn't stay there for me. Drew proclaims his feelings, Anna's “rules” wall crumbles, and we a get a third act break-up that simply gets resolved when Drew gets hurt during a game (people who don't like sportsball, never fear, mentions of football to more so introduce teammates for future books and only a brief look at his practice and even briefer scene of one of his games). The injury works to help them resolve their romantic relationship and then the last twenty percent was about Drew's mental health regarding his injury, it almost felt like a completely different book from how it started. We do get a two years later epilogue to check in on their HEA. A hot, new adult love first half that shouldn't be missed with a slower paced working it out second half, so maybe the best of both worlds for some readers.

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Review: A Curse of Blood and Wolves

A Curse of Blood and Wolves by Melissa McTernan
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

She felt the stranger’s gaze tracking her as she traipsed through the woods. 

On Ruby's walk home from her bartending job, she's felt a stranger's eyes. She's scared but also turned on. When the man steps out of the shadows finally, he's got glowing silver eyes and growls. Ruby's the “freak” goth girl in her small town and keeps to herself, so she feels it's on brand for her to not completely fear this stranger. It's when a wolf attacks her one night, another comes out of the woods to save her but ends up injured and she has to drag him home to take care of him, only to wake up in the morning to a naked man in the wolf's spot that Ruby starts to think maybe fear isn't a bad thing. 

He’d spent the last five years wrangling that side of himself, denying that side of himself, trying his damnedest to act human, to be human. But lately, his control was slipping. Ever since she’d started walking through his woods. Her scent drove him wild. 

I'm going to give it to you straight, by one percent a “cock is twitching” and depth is pretty much nonexistent, worldbuilidng or character wise. Ruby and Rafe's connection is based on finding each other physically attractive, she wears short skirts and red lipstick, he's growly and muscly and they turn out to be fated mates, relationship development done. Rafe hangs around to protect Ruby and her sister Lena that she lives with ever since Lena lost her job because of a sickness, that doctors can't figure out, which causes her to trance out. Rafe walks Ruby to her job sometimes, there's some side characters that are identified as witches, nymphs, and we get to meet Rafe's werewolf brothers, Theo and Knox. Lena's barely in the picture but she seems a big part of what is going to be a continuous thread throughout the series, she could be a seer, someone who can see the future. 

Lena cocked her head, as if hearing something no one else could. “They’re coming.” 

There's not much for setting, we're in the bar, the house, and woods at times and for lightly brushed in backgrounds, Ruby lost her parent's young and lived with her aunt, there's also her continuous thinking about how the town (which we never really see) thinks she's a kinky freak. Rafe gets more with flashback scenes to how he once fell in love with a human and how that blew things up in his pack life, fighting with his father and then the fallout that lead to him leaving the pack and living on his own. He's constantly thinking about how he's a danger for Ruby, not good enough for her, but not being about to stay away because of that pesky smell of her being his mate. 

She was looking at him like he was a monster. Like the monster he was. He hadn’t wanted anyone to look at him like that again. Especially not her. 

These two were a lot of dirty talk wanting each other, with some foreplay sex for the vast majority of the story, kind of confusingly, because of the vibe of what the story seemed to want to be, they don't actually complete the bedroom deed until at around 90% of the story. With the lack of story, this should have just leaned into the sexy times and let these two rip, but it almost had them acting more like late teen to early twenties in thought and action (Ruby's 25 and Rafe is 200ish yrs old). 

She was in love with a werewolf. She was in love with Rafe. 

After numerous going in circles of Rafe not good enough for Ruby, Ruby wanting to have sex with him, and talking about the danger Ruby could be in, we get some wolves attacking Ruby again. This prompts Rafe to take the plunge with Ruby because he realizes he does love her and can't let her go. After Rafe takes care of the attacking wolves, they spend a month having sex in the woods and then we get an epilogue that showcases Rafe's brother Theo and his “friend” Phoebe, who look to continue the wolves searching for the seer story thread. I really don't know what else to say other than if you're looking for a light character and setting Little Red Riding Hood inspired story, Rafe says he's a furniture maker, so put on some Pony by Ginuwine and feel free to zone out read.

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Review: Phantasma

Phantasma by Kaylie Smith
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

2.5 stars 

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

Ophelia was now the eldest Grimm. A dead mother made her much more than an orphan. 

Phantasma opens with Ophelia's mother dying in the night, causing Ophelia to hurry and perform a ceremony where she is transferred her mother's magic. Her younger sister Genevieve, has always wanted to leave their family necromancy business behind, resenting how it tied Ophelia to Grimm Manor, their home. However, Ophelia won't turn her back on centuries of family history and intends to take over the business of helping people communicate with the dead. Until bankers show up and suddenly they only have a few weeks to pay off a severely due loan their mother inexplicable took out, before they lose Grimm Manor to the bank. Ophelia senses that Genevieve knows more than she's telling and when she leaves a note saying not to worry and she'll be back in a couple weeks, Ophelia just knows Genevieve has entered Phantasma, a haunted mansion just arrived in New Orleans, and plans on entering herself to find Genevieve. 

For as long as she could remember, the voice had been there, in the darkest corners of her mind, telling her to walk through certain doorways or her entire family would perish. 

This started off with a really cool concept, a traveling haunted mansion run by devils where contestants can enter and try to make it through levels based on the nine Circles of Hell, where if they are the last person standing, they'll receive a Devil's Grant (basically a wish granted). There's explanation of paranormal hierarchy, with Ghosts, Apparitions, Phantoms, Devils, Specters, and the like, which I thought was going to lead to a pretty detailed structured rich world. Ophelia even enters the mansion pretty early, around 15% to get the story rolling right away. However, I kind of found a lot of the elements added to create atmosphere ended up feeling a lot like window-dressing, leaving me ultimately disappointed in the lack of depth. 

The golden bauble had been in her family for generations, enchanted with a powerful magic that bound it to its wearer. 

This takes place in New Orleans but as the vast majority of the story is inside the Phantasma mansion, you won't get the feel for the city. I don't remember the time period being explicitly mentioned but with Ophelia riding in carriages and a motor vehicle being a sensation, along with her dresses and male attire of vests mentioned, it seems like it's supposed to be Victorian era. But the vernacular feels pretty modern, ex. - “I fucked his best friend on the back of a float”, “Who in the unholy fuck is knocking on peoples’ doors this early in the morning?”, and “For fuck’s sake,”. I'm guessing the clothes are Victorian era to help set the Gothic tone this was mentioned as having but Gothic stories are all about atmosphere, usually a big chunk created from the restrictions of the time, and well, language plays a decent part of helping to mesh the time period with the reader and I can't say I felt the Gothic atmosphere at all, the clothes were window-dressing. 

Phantasma. The Devil’s Manor. A place often spoken about in whispered rumors and haunting cautionary tales in the dark. 

The romance comes in when a Phantom named Blackwell, who Ophelia actually met before entering Phantasma, makes a bargain with her, he'll help Ophelia get past the levels if she helps him find a heart and key, what he told her needed to be set free from Phantasma when they first met but can't remember saying. Blackwell has no memory of existing outside of Phantasma but picks someone every time the mansion starts it's games to try and help him get free. A locket Ophelia wears around her neck that has been passed down through generations of women in her family warms when it's around Blackwell and she takes this as sign to trust him. She's also pretty physically attracted to him. You probably can tell where this is leading and a little before the half-way point, we start to get “Good Girl” scenes. The dirty talk was there but the emotion was not for me, there just wasn't enough emotional or relationship depth developed and as such, all those physical scenes may have used the trendy hot words but they were window-dressing and I found my eyes glazing over whenever the clothes came off. 

“Ophelia,” he repeated, tasting every syllable. Her name on his tongue sounded like a wicked prayer. “You are exactly the person I’ve been waiting for.” 

Along with being a lifelong romance fan, I've been a lifelong horror fan, why I was so excited for this but while the levels would occasionally have some gory descriptions of deaths, window-dressing in place of any actually feelings of horror, tension, or fear. This felt more New Adult to me, in regards to maturity of characters and tone and I'd put Christopher Pike books ahead on the feeling horror scale. The levels Ophelia has to complete don't last very long and while we get to know some other contestants and devils, they're more blip on the radar secondary characters. As we raced through the trials when it's time to complete them, lingered on Ophelia wandering through the mansion trying to find what Blackwell's looking for, and hopped from physical scene to physical scene between the two, I felt the middle second half started to feel stretched out. 

A deep sense of dread began to sink into her gut that being within Phantasma wasn’t going to be the thing that broke her. 

The ending really rushed Ophelia's and Genevieve's plot, but delivered on answers. Ophelia learns some family secrets and what Blackwell's story really is, and while it is pretty obvious (I would say blindingly obvious and Ophelia should have realized much sooner) what the answer was to what connects and could solve Blackwell's issue, it was an enjoyable plot thread. Once Ophelia and Blackwell figure out some things, the ending again feels a bit rushed as it jumps to give readers a quick look at where things are and are headed. One element that I thought worked really well and want to mention is Ophelia's Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, since this was a paranormal book, I was wondering where this element was headed. Ophelia hears a “Shadow Voice” in her head that causes her to have to do things in threes, otherwise the voice says her family will die. The story showed how this tormented Ophelia and the struggle of how living with such a form of OCD can effect people and I thought how Ophelia battled it showed a care and respect for this aspect of her character. 

While I found a lot of elements to be window-dressing and the romance didn't have the depth to deliver the emotional connection I like to feel from my romance leads, others who like a little descriptive gore without the deep emotional horror feel, trendy dirty talk scenes, and a New Adult vibe, might want to give this lighter horror and romance mash-up a try.

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Review: Tangled Up in You

Tangled Up in You by Christina Lauren
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

Still, she was so ready for the change, she could practically taste it. 

Ren's twenty-two but finally about to have her first real world experience, going to college. Raised by parents who lived on a farmstead and off the grid, Ren's found some way to get them to allow her to attend community college classes. When a science course reveals a secret that her parents have been keeping from her, Ren ends up on a road trip with, Fitz, the campus local rich playboy. The trip opens Ren's eyes to all the possibilities life has to offer and the possibility of love. But when her parents find out she's left the state and where she's headed, lies, danger, and love from unexpected places, swirl all around her. 

What a surprising thing you are, he thought. 

Tangled Up in You was an re-imagining from the Disney movie Tangled. Printed by a Disney publishing company, you get a ton of cute pulled characters and moments from the movie, along with some kisses only moments. Ren started off seeming like a Disney princess, talking to animals, but even though she had that sweet naivety, there was still a common sense core that made a better fitting for a real world setting. There were moments that felt a little overly cheesy for the “real world” but I thought most of the story managed to put these characters in a believable New Adult contemporary plot. Fitz was, of course, captured by Ren's long blonde beautiful hair and big green eyes, but his own character issues had him fighting to keep things on the friend level but when the road trip starts, around 25%, they learn more about one another and develop deeper feelings. 

Ren had barely seen anything in the world, and Fitz had already seen too much. 

The road trip had them going on adventures like Mount Rushmore, Wall Drug, and a Nashville festival, getting alternating chapters of Ren and Fitz's point-of-view helped immensely in letting the reader into their thoughts and feelings, making it easier to feel and believe in their growing emotions. They open up to each other and it's easy to see why both would be drawn to the other. When the third act black moment happens, some of it I had called and some was a surprise but it will definitely ramp up the tension. 

He liked her. Too much, in fact. And she liked him, too. He knew she did. But God, this would be so much easier if she didn't. 

The ending delivered danger and high emotion, something that I'm not quite sure fit the more cutesy feeling beginning but it will definitely keep you locked in. If you like golden retriever girlfriends who get their more guarded boyfriends to lighten up and expose their softie side, then you'd definitely enjoy this. The ending danger was a bit jarring but their happily ever after was sweet. I hope Disney commissions more re-imagined stories like this!

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Review: The Truth According to Ember

The Truth According to Ember by Danica Nava
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

“I’m pretty sure this is a bad idea.” 

The Truth According Ember was a story of what can happen when all those little white lies you told start to add up. Ember is twenty-five years old living paycheck to paycheck after her younger brother skipped out on bail and she lost the money she had saved to continue her college classes. After not even receiving a call for an interview after the umpteenth job application, she and her bestfriend Joanna come up with the idea to check the Caucasian box instead of the Native American one and fudge her credentials a tad bit. Lo and behold, she gets called in for an interview, lands the job and even finds herself soon promoted. However, the lies are starting to snowball and that little interoffice HR rule about not allowing romances, seems more like a suggestion when Ember and the IT guy Danuwoa have chemistry impossible to ignore. 

I was just Ember Lee Cardinal, a sometimes liar, but mostly an overall good person. 

This was all told from Ember's pov and in a way that readers are on her running thoughts ride, this isn't typically my personal favorite writing style. I started to feel it lead to overly describing on focuses I didn't care about anymore and thought paced in a way I started to find exhausting, if this style doesn't bother you, though, your mileage will vary greatly from mine. I also thought this had more of a New Adult chik-lit feel but for Ember being twenty-five, all of her pop culture references felt pretty dated (yes, I know about those quirky youngin's that love older movies (Say Anything) but all the references were like this). For the most part, Ember is a character you're going to root for, even when some of her white lies will start to have you stressed out and yelling for her to stop. Starting from a place unprivileged, she tries to out play a system that wants to keep her locked out of it. There's definitely confronting racism, sexism, and nepotism moments in this. 

Being caught kissing him in front of the CEO’s nephew was the absolute worst thing that could ever happen. 

Danuwoa comes into the picture pretty early, they have one of those relationships where Ember's always somehow embarrassing herself in front of him and telling him obvious lies to make herself look better (she's borrowing the car, not the owner of a 1996 holding on by a thread Toyota). Even though we don't get his pov, it's easy to read that he likes her and, mostly, finds her obvious lies amusing. However, I found the romance fairly weak, this is more Ember's new adult, coming into my own, slice of life story. For the vast majority of the story, Danuwoa is a paper doll, it's not until around 70% that we get a deeper look at his character and background, he has a younger sister he cares for because his parents died. He's the acts perfect, looks perfect interest for the heroine that I, personally, didn't find had much substance to his character make-up. They go on a work trip where suddenly, there's only one bed!, and we get a feeling required hot bedroom scene and from there you'll get all the buzz and bullet point words and phrases that stands in for emotional depth romance. 

This all started because I just wanted to be an accountant, damn it. 

The latter half is about Ember talking about how important this job is to her and thinking about how that HR rule about not dating could ruin things but inviting Danuwoa up to her floor for a hot quickie because her boss is supposed to be gone an hour, it just didn't fit right and felt ignore previous character building in favor of hot scene, so I guess, again mileage may vary. Danuwoa also proclaims once how important the job is to him but he's more of the “doesn't want to be a dirty secret” and wants to just come clean to HR. It, of course, all blows up in Ember's face, the romance and job lies, and we get Ember learning some life lessons and what she really wants out of life. 

There's some family life issues going on for Ember, relationship with her brother, father, and community that I enjoyed, I found myself wishing this just would have been made a contemporary fiction coming of age and left out trying to add enough romance to get a romance tag. The relationship between Ember and who became a bit of a work mentor, Natalie, was one of my favorite relationships in the book, that friendship would have been great to see grow. Also, Ember learning to ask for help from her community and getting a talking to from her Auntie felt like it could have been a great heart of the story. 

The writing style of riding Ember's thoughts, created a pace I started to find exhausting and along with a romance I didn't find myself invested in, had this not hitting the right mark for me but I also think there was some great coming of age and cultural issues threaded into here that definitely hit right.

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Review: Bride

Bride by Ali Hazelwood
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Buddy Read this with the wonderful Wanda, for all our thoughts, quotes, and comments: Bride buddy read 

Thought Misery had a bit of an Ilona Andrews heroine vibe, which made me wish for more than one pov (Misery's) so that I could get more depth on some of the plot threads and character emotions. 

Some surprises and steamy scenes, and I would definitely jump on board again if Owen every gets his own book. 

A little bit of Gothic vibes, mystery, suspense, and romance, with more of a New Adult tone, to me.

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Review: Heartless Hunter

Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 stars 

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

Because wherever Rune Winters went, her carefully crafted reputation came with her. 

She was an informer. A witch hater. A darling of the New Republic. 

Rune was the girl who betrayed her grandmother. 

The Crimson Moth series is a planned duology (so brace yourself for that cliffhanger) about a fantasy world where witches once ruled but two years ago, there was a revolution by the Blood Guard and the ruling three witch queen sisters were killed. Now, The New Republic has outlawed witches and the Blood Guard have hunted them to the point that very few are ever seen, identifiable by their scars cut into their bodies to supply the blood they need for their spells. Rune was sixteen when the revolution happened and forced into an impossible situation that had her surviving but drowning from guilt. She also gets a shock when, as a later bloomer, she gets her menses and it's revealed she's a witch. Knowing her survival depends on staying hidden, she uses her aristocrat lineage to pretend to be an empty headed society miss, but wanting to fight back, Rune also becomes the Crimson Moth, a vigilante that rescues captured witches and ships them away to freedom. 

Gideon Sharpe. 

Rune’s lip nearly curled at the name of Alex’s older brother. Devoutly loyal to the New Republic, Gideon was a ruthless, bloodthirsty witch hunter who’d sent more of Rune’s kind to the purge than any other member of the Guard. He’d also famously helped assassinate the Sister Queens, sparking the revolution into a blaze. 

The older brother of Rune's bestfriend, Alex, is Gideon a captain in the Blood Guard and helped start the revolution but killing two of the witch queens. When they were kids and Rune met him for the first time, she had a crush on him, until he was rude and dismissive to her. Now that she's eighteen and he's twenty, Rune tries to avoid him as he could be the cause of her death if he ever found out what and who she is. With chapters that alternate giving us Rune and Gideon's point-of-view, we get a good luck at Gideon's character and learn important information about his past, thoughts, and feelings. His family was poor until the queens favored his parents for their dress designs and while that should have made things better for their family, it was their downfall. Gideon catches the eye of the youngest queen, Cressida, and from there he's forced into a relationship that he initially wanted but then can't escape as she becomes murderously jealous and Gideon can't escape people knowing about his relationship with the witch queen and knows he has to stay with her for his remaining family member, Alex's, safety. Gideon has reasons to hate the witch queens and when Nicolas, the commander of the Blood Guard, lays out a way to get his revenge, he takes it. 

He was a witch hunter. He suspected her. He was closing in on her even now. 

And yet. 

I flew through the beginning first half of this, the world-building that was starting to be laid out with Rune having to remain hidden for her survival but having two friends, Alex and Verity, a girl Rune becomes friends with after Verity tells her the story of how she's not a witch but her two sisters were and her mother turned them in, set-up magic, danger, and then intrigue when Gideon came into the picture. Verity pushes Rune to find someone to court and then marry who has access to information so they can safely rescue even more witches, but does think Gideon could be too dangerous. Alex also has tried very hard to never betray his brother and refuses to completely side with Rune against him. However, since this is romance along with fantasy, Rune has a little bit of that drawn to Gideon and tells herself and friends that she's only going to use Gideon for information. Since we get Gideon's povs too, readers also know that Gideon's friends Harrow and fellow guard Lelia, also encourage him to pretend court Rune for information, when it's found out that Rune's family business of ships helped the last witch escape. So a really great cat and mouse dynamic is set-up with Rune and Gideon trying to use each other but also ultimately developing real feelings. 

The hunted had fallen for the hunter. 

The second half slowed down for me some as the romance became more of the focus and it stagnated with rinse and repeat of Gideon feeling he couldn't give into his feelings for Rune because he knows his brother Alex has romantic feelings for her and Rune, rightly so, scared that Gideon would turn her in to be killed if he discovered she's a witch. There was an open-door bedroom scene but I thought the best scenes between the two was when the tension ramped up because both are trying to fight their chemistry and both have some fear, Rune getting discovered and Gideon thinking he could be getting played and wanting to protect his brother. The latter second half also brought in some love triangle that I really didn't like and lead to a component of the ending that didn't quite deliver on the desired emotional impact for me; I'm not sure that character was flushed out enough. 

She was the Crimson Moth— a wanted criminal, not to mention a witch, hiding in plain sight. 

The last twenty percent picked up the stagnated pace and we get a rush of movement with a reveal that some will probably guess early at, some battle, and Rune and Gideon more divided than ever. This is tagged as a YA and it has some of that feel in the beginning but by the end I'd say it was more New Adult, the open-door scene and the method of how they kill the witches might be a little gruesome for the lower end of YA (but for YA/NA I loved that Rune used her menses blood for a source of power, using that blood so she wouldn't have to cut herself and have scars signaling she was a witch). There were characters I would have liked flushed out more, The Good Commander had such an impact on Gideon's life that I really missed seeing more scenes of the two together, not to mention Gideon and Alex. As I mentioned in the beginning, this ends with a cliffhanger and while I wanted more depth in some places, I'll definitely be in line for when the second comes out as in one aspect Rune got what she wanted but it may have just put her in danger from another foe and Gideon is going to want revenge even more.

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Review: The Prism Society: A Spicy Friends to Lovers Novel

The Prism Society: A Spicy Friends to Lovers Novel by Gabi Salas
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

2.5 stars 

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

His eyes held mine in a silent conversation, filled with unsaid words and hushed confessions that had yet to cross our lips. It was as if his stare was whispering secrets his voice couldn't articulate. 

The Prism Society tells the story of childhood friends, Emma and Liam, as they separate after Emma leaves town to go to design school in NYC and Liam continues his college in UCLA. The story opens with Emma leaving and while it's clear that two years older Liam has missed Emma at college and there are some feelings there, Emma only sees the diving head first into freedom and women Liam has partaken in after escaping his extremely restrictive parents. While they try to keep in touch through texts and social media, a surprise visit, where Emma sees in real time Liam about to hook-up with a woman, has her running away and slowly distancing herself, they eventually lose touch for three years. But when Liam shows up out of the blue as Emma's about to graduate in NYC, they find that time and growing up has only ignited their chemistry. 

It was as if we were picking up right where we left off, but this time, we weren't just teenagers dreaming about what our lives could be. This time, we were adults living our own separate lives, hoping they somehow intersected. 

The first half of this started off slower, with a New Adult vibe (Emma is 22yrs old and Liam 24yrs old) and Emma trying to work towards her dream of interior design. Told all from Emma's point-of-view, we get a lot about her worrying about her career. Her college career is skipped through, with her roommate Jessie getting added in as a secondary character and their shared dream of working for the “it” company Spectra. Since Emma talked about how it was her and her mother's shared dream and how close they were, I wish we would have gotten to see more of this relationship, instead of a very quick ending scene between the two. However, Liam comes back into the picture and the two realize they still have those feelings for each other that they were trying to hide before. Since we don't get Liam's pov, his character didn't feel as flushed out to me. You can tell that he has feelings for Emma, but his relationship with his friend and business partner Dominic and why they're working to set-up a club where people can be free to safely and consensually indulge in their chosen physical activities, isn't really delved into; it felt like a wobbly constructed table to get Liam to be able to say “good girl” a couple times. 

“I see the beauty in The Prism Society. I see the beauty in what you're trying to create. And I'm sorry that it took me this long to admit that to myself...and to you.” 

The conflict comes about because when Emma gets a job at Spectra, she has to sign a non-compete but she just can't help herself with helping Liam design his new club, even coming up with the name. It makes it hard to feel bad for her when it all comes back to bite her, because, she clearly knew she was in the wrong but just kept forging ahead anyway. There's some misplaced blame put on Liam and then Emma deciding a new path for herself that eventually, in the very last few pages, has her getting back with Liam. As far as the “spicy romance” tag, your mileage may vary. I don't consider any and all open door scenes in romance to be “smut”, I actually never use the term, but I know some younger and newer readers to romance have different thoughts on this. Liam is into voyeurism, which is where you could say the steamier scenes come from, there's a handful of them but they're fairly short and, yeah, “good girl” gets thrown around but there wasn't a lot of intimacy to them, more of the by rote “this sounds hot” that gets shared around; closer to a Tessa Bailey and far from a Cherise Sinclair. I did like how Emma and Liam started off open and addressing issues and this did have readability, but I thought the first half showed more care in setting up the story, while the latter half wobbled around and wasn't sturdy enough to deliver a hot engrossing read.

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Review: Undecided

Undecided by Julianna Keyes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 stars 

Thanks so much to SAM(AMNREADER) for picking this out for us to buddy read! 

A story that on paper I shouldn't like, all first person pov, some stream of conscious, New Adult, and a little bit of love triangle. But I ended up really liking it! 

It's new adult with the characters being sophomores in college, the female main character partied hard her freshman year, her nickname in highschool was Nora Bora so she wanted to have fun but ends up befriending a party girl and long story short, she has way too many one night stands and ends up arrested for indecent exposure. She loses half of her scholarship and has to have meetings with the Dean of the school, where he brings up her sex life????? So, it's good girl time for her second year in college, break out those cardigans! 

She tells the party girl that she also works with that they can't be friends and answers an ad asking for a quiet, studious roommate. She talks with the guy who took the ad for a while and they seem like a good match, but when she shows up at the apartment to look around, popular track guy Crosbie answers the door with his bestfriend Kellan the king of campus right behind him. It turns out that Kellan wants to buckle down too. The big problem was that Kellan was one of Nora's one night stands but he doesn't remember her, which she knows will make things awkward if they room together but he offers the first month of rent free. Broke college kid and all, she takes it. 

It all sounds like cliché stuff and it definitely has some of that but it gives you those beginning love feelings as Nora and Crosbie start to connect, they really are a sweet make you feel all those butterflies couple. The obvious danger looming on the horizon is that Crosbie has always felt second place to Kellan and you know it's going to come out that Luna and Kellan slept together. Without Crosbie's pov, I had some questions about what he was thinking at times but his caring about Luna still came across enough to make you gooey over him. 

Some stuff, "Crosbiebabes" and bathroom sex lists, that make your eyes want to roll at times, along with Crosbie and Kellan being track stars but not really getting much on that, and Crosbie doing magic (Illusions!) that didn't feel like it fit in well to me, but this was really one of the best for the butterfly in the tummy, new love, make you grin sweet moments. I also liked how the party friend was more than that and there was a good friendship with her and Luna, along with a little secondary romance. 

Recommended if you're wanting new adult sweetness with some steamy open door scenes.

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Review: Check & Mate

Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

2.7 stars 

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

“I don't think you understand.” He holds my eyes. I think his throat moves. “I want to play chess with you, Mallory.” 

Told all from Mallory's point-of-view, Check & Mate is the story of a girl who's father took advantage of her amazing chess skills, left her and her family wrecked, then a chance comes back up for Mallory to fulfill her dreams, and little bit of falling in love along the way. After getting a glimpse of Mallory following along to who Nolan “Kingkiller” Sawyer is, a young “bad boy” dominating the chess world, the story jumps two years to Mallory being eighteen and Nolan twenty. When her bestfriend Easton begs her to join her team in a charity chess tournament, Mallory ends up winning it all when she beats the number one player in the world, Nolan. Nolan seems fascinated with her but she runs out before anyone can talk to her. Mallory doesn't want to give chess another chance to ruin her life again but when a woman who runs a chess training club offers to give her a paid fellowship for a year, Mallory can't turn down the money. 

There is a beautiful, indecipherable half smile on his lips. “You think I don't want you to know me?” 

This story was a lot of Mallory trying to reconcile, deal with, and heal from her family drama. She's always loved chess and with a father who was a grand master, he always encouraged and pushed but her mother didn't want her in ranked tournaments until she was sixteen. Readers get that Mallory blames herself for something that broke her family up, before her dad died he had left the family, but the reason doesn't get revealed until the later second half. It's a lot of Mallory putting the world on her shoulders, her mother suffers from chronic rheumatoid arthritis so she skips going to college to work and pay for the mortgage and help take care of her younger teen sisters. There are times in the middle where it's a bit martyr syndrome but that does get addressed towards the end. 

“Touch-take rule,” he murmurs. He stands, too. Every step back I take is one forward for him. 

“I---What?” 

“You touched me. Can't stop now. Touch-take rule.” 

While Mallory is stressing about her family, money, and trying to not fall back into loving chess as much as she did before, the chess champ of the world Nolan is hanging around on the sides. It takes a while for these two to really share page time and even though we don't get any of his pov, it's pretty obvious to readers that Nolan likes, has feelings for Mallory. I personally find it somewhat off-putting when the female main character actually, literally fears the main male character, a little a' la The Hating Game. Nolan grew-up in the chess world and when he younger, adolescent to teens, he threw tantrums and sometimes got a bit physical when he lost or got angry, it's stressed he hasn't acted out like that in years but he still has the “bad boy” of chess moniker because of it. Since we don't get his pov, we don't truly know what he is thinking and all we have are Mallory's thoughts and she worries that he is or could get really angry with her (she does fear physically) and while you could say it's in a romantic comedy tone of “I could kill them!” thought, it didn't read it that way, to me. I “know” as the reader this isn't the type of genre to have Nolan be truly “bad” but Mallory doesn't and I therefore can't feel the tingly anticipation of romance feelings I'm supposed to, with her literally fearing him. As always though, The Hating Game was extremely popular, your mileage may vary with this kind of beginning tone. 

“I hope,” I say, serious, “that you're going to like this as much as chess.” 

“I think,” he tells me with a small smile, “that I already do.” 

There was a good amount of chess talk in this, which definitely added to the setting and as even someone who watched Netflix's The Queen's Gambit, there was some new and cool things to read about. There's some drama with Mallory and the players she goes against, delivering some suspense and the thriller aspect of delivering on an ultimate goal ending of her and Nolan meeting up to play in the World Championships (Mallory won't play him for fun). The author devotes a good amount of time to addressing sexism in the chess world, Mallory's experience, some side characters that give their own high and low stories, and then the importance of seeing yourself in spaces that do their best to keep you out. 

My eyes begin to tear up, but I'm not sad. For the first time in a long, long while, I'm a million things, and sad is not any of them. 

The ending has a third act breakup with Mallory feeling some betrayal and then working through her issues with herself, friends and family, and Nolan but then ends abruptly when it gets the game we all were waiting for. The epilogue then comes in with a news article that answers any and all questions. This was more about Mallory's journey to me but did have romance (with a fade to black door slam scene). If you're a chess player who also likes New Adult fiction with some romance and want to read a story about a girl who realizes that she doesn't have to carry the world on her shoulders, this is one definitely in your lane.

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