Review: Paper Princess

Paper Princess by Erin Watt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 stars

Thank you to Hilda for the recommendation!

This is listed as YA and NA, which made me a little nervous along with our characters being in high school. LOL, is all I have to say to that. Granted, I did not got to an uber rich school but this story and characters did not read like a YA, more NA. I constantly had to keep reminding myself that they weren't even in college yet, I think they read like 26ish or so.

Very angst-y (she strips to pay her mother's doctor bills at age 15), very sexy times (heavy petting all over the place), and very drama (suicide mother, secret parking lot fighting, surprise inheritance, I want you but can't have you). Basically, this was soap opera cracktastic drama that I inhaled. When it was all over, a cliffhanger!, had me running to get the second in the series but giving some time and distance, I feel a little empty from it but it did entertain while I was in the moment.

Some soap opera, some Cruel Intentions, and some brewing under the surface mystery. Get yourself a bowl of popcorn and wine and give yourself over to the moment. Just be prepared for a cliffhanger.

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Review: Anything but Minor

Anything but Minor by Kate Stewart
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Thanks to Quirky Omega for the recommendation!

Fluffy and goofy skimming romance that was a fun little escape. He plays baseball, we get some pitches thrown to the catcher and first baseman, she's a flight instructor, we get some sexist pilots not wanting to learn from her, and a whole lot of '80s movie quotes/references with some quick cute romance. Secondary characters bring a little tiny bit of angst but this is mostly cute non-taxing escapism.

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Reading Update: 20%

There was something essential and elemental to watching a man perform physical labor, something that hit her as hard as a horse kicked. Instead of an explosion of pain, though, warmth blossomed inside, a flame that somehow unfurled in her belly.

Fascinated, she watched a droplet of sweat quiver at the base of Mr. Crosby’s neck until it slipped into the furrow that delineated his spine and slid down to the waistband of his breeches. For some reason, that inner flame fed on the sight and grew hot enough to scorch.

Review: Betrothed

Betrothed by Jill Myles
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

2.5 stars

Thank you to Shanelle for the recommendation!

Started off really good with a rock and hard place heroine and dark, cold, mysterious, but standing up for her hero. Has a historical feel with setting and clothing but dialogue is modern. The world building was shaky at times and there were little contradictory things (hero has short cropped hair and then hair reaches his collar and bangs in the face) throughout. Heroine grew to be TSTL with her decision making and forced lack of seeing a character for who he really was, eye-rolling. This is first person from the heroine and I again missed any insight from the hero.
Something interesting here but felt a raw and unrefined.

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Reading Update: 30%

Seri stared into Prince Graeme’s coldly polite eyes and wanted to laugh. Revered and beloved by all, except her cold-as-a-statue betrothed. “I am Vidari,” she protested again, the objection sounding hollow even to her own ears. “I am not Athoni. By your own laws I cannot be a citizen, much less royalty.”

“The laws of the One God are irrefutable, even by royalty themselves,” Prince Graeme interjected. “I am afraid that choice is not an option.” His flat words sounded so final.

A frightened whimper slid past her teeth. “I want to go home.”

His polite, cold smile never faltered. “You are home.”

Review: If He Had Been with Me

If He Had Been with Me by Laura Nowlin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Thanks so much to Paige Bookdragon for the recommendation.

I'm 35yrs old, so I don't think I always mesh well with YA because I'm simply just older. When I was in my early teens I remember reading "Say Goodnight, Gracie" and "Don't Die, My Love", I cried and threw myself into the sadness of it all. Now some of the issues I can't help but be "ugh, get over it", "hahahahha, together in complete love and happiness from freshman year to forever" (I know it happens don't @ me), and just the general over indulgence, and scared of the newness, are kind of missed by me.

This is all first person from the heroine which is also hard for me because I like insight from other characters. I found myself more interested in the grown-ups issues, lol. I also thought some real tough issues were glossed over, there were two teen pregnancies portrayed as great gifts instead of giving them the levity they deserved, and we had a bit of a boy's love is a cure all and the key to happiness.

The ending was rushed with bombardments of events, events that felt completely contrived and manipulated for emotion; the whole "so tragic its beautiful" syndrome that has some calling Rome and Juliet a romance when it is two early teen kids killing themselves. The writing is captivating at times but manipulated emotion isn't real to me, boys and babies don't cure depression or act as a cure all, and I missed having a pov from Finn. I think I've just passed these types of books on by.

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Review: The Flesh and the Devil

The Flesh and the Devil by Teresa Denys
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

For my comments and quotes while I read, a way more in depth look at my thoughts, Buddy Read The Flesh and the Devil


The beginning of this was really enjoyable, there was a great eerie Gothic tone that had mysteries and villains seemingly in the shadows everywhere with our young, extremely sheltered heroine Juana betrothed to a lunatic. Unfortunately, the mysteries and villains get wrapped up perfectly quickly and a lot of things happen disappointingly off-screen.

The middle introduces new villains but again, dealt with pretty quickly and from there things kind of meander into an unceremoniously mellow with added too perfect bow moment ending. The romantic relationship between the leads started off with some heat, spark, and burn as they clashed but then in Bodice Ripper fashion the hero rapes the heroine (the author clearly writes this as rape with minimal Juana foggily in her mind thinking her body could be responding) and with not a lot of emotional growth/connection featuring later in the story between the two, I lost their beginning chemistry.

The author did a fantastic job of setting the place and time, there was some inserted political talk, but my favorite was Juana's personal growth. Juana goes from being a, purposefully, sheltered naive girl to a solid capable woman and the author did a wonderful job showcasing all the bumps in the road it took her to get there.

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Review: Chaste

Chaste by Lydia Michaels
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Recommended by J.D. Thank you!


Perhaps they’d always been aware of each other, but were both smart enough to know they made no sense as anything more than acquaintances in a small town.

A small town, a girl who's mother dies early in her life leaving only a masculine presence which combined with her deeply held faith has her being a 24yr old virgin, a boy who attracts women early gaining a reputation that has him being the go to for a good night, and an attraction that doesn't seem to make sense.
The whole trope of heroine being the shy girl who loves the hero from afar and the bad boy with hidden depth who never thought he was good enough for heroine, is one I can't help but enjoy and I greatly did for the first 20%.

After years of watching him, she’d seen hidden moments where his focus drifted and his smile faltered as if he was exhausted with putting on the charm. There was no denying Kelly was a funny and entertaining person to be around, but…so much of it was a performance.

The author did a great job of giving these two trope heavy characters and giving them depth. The heroine was considered a wallflower by everyone and socially acted like that but with the hero she showed her backbone and tilted his world on edge. The hero loved women and they loved him but he kind of always wondered about the heroine (we get a few flashbacks of him talking with her highschool), wanted something deeper, but never thought he was worth more because of his early formative years of having girls only want one thing from him.
These two were so adorable in the beginning and gave me all the ooey gooey feelings.

“Would you date a virgin?”
His lips buttoned up and he looked away. “Uh, I’m a little too…I got a sweet tooth.”
She frowned. “What?”
He blew out a breath. “I like sex, love. Lots of sex. Crazy, swinging from the chandeliers, make you scream, feel it days later sex.” He scratched his head and grimaced. “I’m really not that complicated. I basically only come with two settings, hungry and horny.” He laughed and gazed away, mumbling, “If you don’t see me with a hard on, make me food. Ah, but then I start thinking about cobbler and soft peaches and…” He cleared his throat and shifted.
She didn’t know where to look, but she couldn’t look at him. Her head turned with jagged increments as she focused her stare anywhere but at him.
He chuckled. “Sorry. Maybe that was a bit too graphic on my part.”
“Sometimes waiting means more than the act,”she offered lamely. Her decision really couldn’t compete with chandelier monkey screaming antics—not with Kelly. That was for sure. And was he actually talking about cobbler or was it a metaphor? Did he do stuff with food? Jeeze, she was ignorant, but now she was really curious.

Our wallflower didn't back down around him and I enjoyed her backbone and I felt for how the hero was so vulnerable. After the beginning first half though, the heroine's virginity started to become a huge focus, religious talk featured heavily, and there was the icky "not like those other slutty desperate girls" from the hero.

“Because I’m not like other girls,” she said frowning at her lap.
“Yeah, but not for the negative reasons you’re probably thinking. I know a lot of women. You’re different, interesting. You don’t cover yourself with fancy crap and pretend to be someone you’re not. You’re honest and unguarded.”
She snorted. “We’re all guarded.”

The hero was ugh with this thinking but delightfully, the heroine would come to the defense of the women, but I got tired of the "other women are so desperate when they only want sex from me". Now, I'm not religious so I have contradictory views with Christianity, so my personal enjoyment will vary if you're of a different school of thought. The heroine is a virgin because of her faith and how she's suppose to save her "innocence" for her husband. When she is trying to date, she ends up finding out that one of her dates is a virgin, also because of his faith. What does she think? She doesn't like it, she thinks about how the hero is better because of his experience. I'm all for personal decisions but this thinking of women must remain innocent because of God but men can sleep with anything is so barfy to me, I'm just not going to enjoy a story where the whole middle talks about this.

The second half I lost the beginning spark and building connection between the two because sex became the focus. I'm not lying when I say this book is largely about God and blowjobs. I don't know if there is a category or sub-genre labeled Christian erotica but this would fit squarely there. I honestly felt like their rushed marriage was so they could have sex, their emotional connection stops being built and felt after they are married. The ending was rushed with a bunch of little added dramas and angst.

The first 20% was very close to building up to a 5 stars but I'm not a Christian and their emotional building and bonding was replaced with endless faith talk and sexy times, making me not the target audience and not feeling their heat in the bedroom.

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Review: Retreat

Retreat by Jay Crownover
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 stars

His look, the way his entire face tightened in hungry, appreciative lines made me feel like something more, made me feel like I deserved to be worshiped and maybe even loved. If that was how he looked at his girl, then I never wanted to be anything else.


Cyrus Warner had just as many control issues as I did, which was why we both liked to test the other’s limits and neither one of us liked to fail.


This was pretty different from the usual Crownover stories I have read and I not only applaud the author for trying something new but I really enjoyed it.

Mostly first person from heroine's pov, she's a bit cranky, has some trust issues, and been burned but I liked her tough cookie act up against our hero. Hero's a cool, straight-shooter, sexily self-assured, and wary of love cowboy who wears motorcycle boots. They played off each other well and had some hot scenes (who knew campground showers could be such a scorching sex setting).

Hero's brothers with heroine's bestfriend feature heavily, they're stars of the next books in the series and worked great to add and round out the story. There's some mystery/action/suspense that will keep the pages turning. I thought the last 1/3 or so of the ending was slowed things way down and there were even some sex scenes I started to skim, I felt like the story dragged on a bit too much and the action and danger our characters found themselves in got fantastical and instead of feeling sad/worried, it lost me.

Otherwise, this was a great something different and I'm definitely going to continue reading in the series.

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60%

Lost the Gothic feel but a new villain has risen up and hoping for a strong finish.

For comments and quotes - Buddy Read The Flesh and the Devil

Review: A Gentleman Never Keeps Score

A Gentleman Never Keeps Score by Cat Sebastian
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

When his godfather leaves his house to him, Hartley's reputation gets banded about in less than complimentary terms. Feeling shunned, Hartley finds himself losing servants and becoming a bit of a shut-in.
Sam just wants to see his brother and his friend Kate finally get married and when he learns Kate fears a scandalous painting of her becoming public knowledge, he sets out to find it for her.
When Hartley and Sam meet, the spark is instant but circumstances, emotions, and life are going to give them a bumpy road.

Hartley went utterly still as he contemplated how thoroughly ruinous this was going to be for both of them.

Second in the Seducing the Sedgwicks, a series following along the Sedgwick brothers, this book focuses on Hartley, the brother who is deeply conflicted about how he sees trading sexual favors with his godfather for money to help his family. He doesn’t like to be touched and has a little bit of a prickly personality. Maybe because Sam was such a strong character but Hartley didn't leap off the pages for me. He's pretty self-contained and we do get a couple scenes with two of his brothers that highlight his personality but overall, he didn't grab me.

There was no reason for Sam to be thinking of Sedgwick at all, in fact. He wasn’t even that handsome unless you had a liking for fragile-looking men with fussy clothes.

Sam was the character that shone the brightest to me, he's a strong character but in the most gentle of ways. He has a similar shy, hidden aspect of his personality like Hartley, which due to their sexuality in their place and time is a necessity, but he also has rise to the front proclivity for, simply, caring. It is not an overdone martyr syndrome but no thought, generous, and loving way he makes his choices. The way he acts, responds, and encourages Hartley, is what make this story shine and will fill your heart.

And while only a fool would believe that a kitchen table supper between a rich man, a black boxer, and a three-legged dog could be the beginning of something good, maybe Sam was more foolish than he thought.

The writing showcased here is good and the ease of conversations and interactions between the main couple and secondary characters is the escape into fictional worlds above average quality that will suck you into the world. The first in the series, It Takes Two Tumble, I thought did a great job with the emotional growth in the lead's relationship, here I found that aspect lacking in the beginning. Hartley and Sam's sexual relationship develops pretty quickly, the emotional layers were a ways behind and as a consequence, I found their romance lacking. The sexual play scenes start very early and then when they do have a more solid emotional connection, I thought their sex scene was a bit short and abrupt and didn't deliver the impact (Hartley overcoming his touch issues) I was wanting to feel. The ending did provide some wonderful simple talking between Sam and Hartley that I wish had replaced some of the earlier sex scenes as I felt this showed their attraction and closeness more.

Nobody should have that kind of power over anyone, no matter how much money they had or if they had a title in front their name.

This story is heavily about relationships, the outer story and catalyst for getting Sam and Hartley together involving paintings is made to seem important only to be casually pushed to the background for most of the story and then a little rushed importance at the end. The secondary characters are superb (love Alf, Hartley's sort of valet) and add immensely to the story and world. This is one of the more realistic fiction romances with social issues realistically playing a role. If you're looking for a lot of action or adventure, this wouldn't be it but if you want sweet and aching emotion, you'll want to dive in.

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50%

He didn’t know what Sam wanted to hear, but he had a sinking feeling that whatever it was, he couldn’t say it.

30%

Bodice Ripping element was strong in this part :/ and some uh-oh for heroine character flip scripting.

For comments and quotes - Buddy Read The Flesh and the Devil

Reading Update: 20%

He reminded himself that rich people, including the pretty one sitting across from him, were a puzzle he didn’t want to solve. Even if they did have misbuttoned waistcoats.

Reading Update: 15%

Enjoying this dark, ominous, twisty-turny atmosphere. 

For comments and quotes - Buddy Read The Flesh and the Devil