Review: All That We Are Together - Book #2 Let It Be Series - Alice Kellen - April 2019 I'll be honest—this book caught my eye purely because of its gorgeous cover. Sometimes I'm that reader who absolutely judges a book by its cover, and All That We Are Together had me completely smitten from the moment I spotted it. It's been sitting on my shelf for a couple of years, practically calling to me with its stunning design, and I finally decided it was time to dive in. As the second installment in Alice Kellen's Let It Be duology, this story picks up three years after the dramatic ending of book one. Axel and Leah's relationship was torn apart by well-meaning family and friends who couldn't see past the eleven-year age gap—he was thirty, she was nineteen—and believed Axel was taking advantage of her. Now, both are grappling with the aftermath of that painful separation and questioning whether everyone else was right about their relationship. When fate brings...

Review: The Rose Bargain - Book #1 Rose Bargain Duology - Sasha Peyton Smith - February 2025 I'll be honest—when I picked up The Rose Bargain, I was skeptical. As someone who typically steers clear of romantasy and fantasy in general, I expected to struggle through another overwrought magical romance. Instead, Sasha Peyton Smith delivered something unexpectedly engaging that reminded me why I fell in love with dystopian fiction during the mid-2000s boom of series like Divergent and The Chemical Garden. The premise immediately hooked me: an Immortal Queen who once saved King Edward's kingdom, only to usurp his throne and rule with an iron fist for decades. Every year, she offers eighteen-year-olds "Rose Bargains"—the chance to gain something precious in exchange for a devastating sacrifice, whether physical or emotional. It's a brilliantly dark concept that feels fresh despite drawing from familiar fairy tale elements. Our protagonist Ivy wants nothing to do with...

Review: Blown - Nolon King - May 2022 As a devoted thriller fan always hunting for that next adrenaline fix, I stumbled upon "Blown" while doing my usual late-night Kindle scroll. The cover practically screamed "edge factor," and honestly, I'm a sucker for a great cover . Little did I know I was about to embark on a white-knuckle journey that would keep me up as I read the ebook in one sitting! Nolon King introduces us to Alison, a character whose moral compass doesn't just point north—it's practically welded there. This is a woman who side-eyes people taking Panadol for a headache, so when she's summoned to her daughter's school over a weed incident, her world begins to fracture. But that's just the appetizer to her catastrophe banquet. Returning home to find her husband Tom murdered? That's the main course of chaos that Nolon King serves up with brutal efficiency. What follows is a masterclass in "how quickly can a normal life ...

Review: Give Me Butterflies - Book #1 The Oaks Sisters - Jillian Meadows - July 2023 I had been holding out to read this book and was so excited as it had given me vibes of one of my favorite series by Erin Mallon - The Natural History Museum series. Give Me Butterflies is also set in a museum and we have Millie Oaks who is an Entomologist and Finn who is an Astronomer. The only difference between the two series is that Give Me Butterflies is a bit more serious and touches on a few edgier topics compared to the hilarious LOL moments that are sprinkled right through Erin Mallon's series. Besides that, these were very similar and I feel that reading Erin's work first actually in a way set me up to love Jillian Meadow's book just as much. In Give Me Butterflies, Millie is up for a promotion as director of Entomology but the thing is that the other person also up for the position happens to be her awful ex-boyfriend Kyle who is an arse and gaslit and mentally abused her. The t...

Review: If the Sun Never Sets - Book #2 If Love Series - Ana Huang - July 2020 Ana Huang does it again with If the Sun Never Sets , the heart-tugging second installment in the If Love series. Picking up five years after If We Ever Meet Again , this book throws us right back into the whirlwind chemistry between Farrah and Blake — this time in the hustle and bustle of New York City. Farrah has come into her own as a passionate interior designer, but her career is stagnating thanks to a toxic workplace dynamic. When her colleague-slash-competition (who also happens to be sleeping with the boss) nabs the promotion she deserves, Farrah finally snaps — and quits. Enter Landon, Blake’s best friend, who unknowingly sets the wheels of fate back in motion by hiring Farrah to furnish Blake’s home. What neither man realizes is this Farrah is that Farrah — the one Blake left behind in China. Now a successful and more grounded version of the heartbreaker we met in book one, Blake is determined...

Title: Bride by Initiation Series: The Underworld #1 Author: Maggie Cole Genre: Dark Romance Tropes: Secret Society/Mafia Romance Friends to Lovers/Forbidden/Marriage Pact Release Date: February 26, 2025 BLURB From International bestselling author Maggie Cole comes her highly anticipated secret society, deliciously dark, next-generation Mafia series about two lifelong friends. Sean O’Malley Jr. and Zara Marino have a similar obsession with their fathers’ secrets, but discovering the truth requires them to surrender to each other and the unknown of their Underworld vows. If secrets and lies, desires and denials, bonds and betrayal didn’t exist, Sean O’Malley would stay my friend forever. That’s not the case. There are two things we’ve always wanted but were off the table. First: The truth about our fathers. Second: Each other. So when a mysterious man shows up with a branded skull on his hand, speaking in riddles about an Underworld he claims we’re meant to reign in, it’s too t...

Grieving Graves M.H.B. Publication date: October 17th 2024 Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance One grave. Two futures. Almost three years of grief. Four beating hearts healing from pain. Five lives forever tied. I never thought this would be my life. And falling for my boss, Damon Dreygon, was never part of the plan. I was meant to seek from him what my boyfriend, Harvey Stark, refused to give me—someone to kiss me, someone to touch me and maybe even someone to heal my wounds. Instead in Damon, I found a mentor. I found an enigmatic dark prince. Most importantly, I found my voice coupled with my own strength. This was never supposed to hurt Harvey. Damon and I were never meant to be together. With each choice, an entirely different future greets me, yet a few things remain the same: we’ve all known pain, we’re all in need of healing and we’ve all hurt each other in different ways. All I wanted was for this melancholy to disappear so that I could find peace. But p...

Silent Screams M.H.B. Publication date: September 19th 2024 Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance One accident. Two men. Almost three years of despair. Four beating hearts growing in pain. Five lives forever changed. Everything fell apart in the blink of an eye. These days my own misery keeps me company. I never thought this would be me—a twenty-four-year-old—stuck in a dead-end relationship. Gone are the thrilling adventures with Harvey Stark. Gone is his smile. Gone is the sight of his dimples and the sparkle in his bright blue eyes. He’s changed into a hollow version of himself and I’m just a shadow following him around our home. Then I meet my new boss. Damon Dreygon challenges me in ways I never knew existed and makes me believe in myself again. Our souls match instantly, and meeting Damon feels like a step towards peace. Except it’s not. Because everyone grieves differently. While one man refuses to touch me, the other won’t love me. And I’m crawling throug...

The Rumble and the Glory JA Huss Publication date: June 27th 2024 Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Suspense Deep in the hills of West Virginia, three small towns have found a way to flourish in the face of extreme poverty. Disciple runs a side-show tent revival that brings in millions of dollars a year. Bishop flaunts traditional ways in the vein of Colonial Williamsburg, luring weary city people to the slow-living lifestyle. And Revenant offers them an experience of sin filled with tattooed bikers and live-music dive bars. It’s a sacred trinity that worships the almighty dollar and everyone plays their role like a well-trained Broadway actor. But these hills have secrets, and so do the people. Collin Creed is a killer, but he’s Lowyn’s killer. And after a twelve-year separation, she wants him back. To the untrained eye, Lowyn is the good girl to Collin’s bad-boy reputation. But to those in the know, she’s just like everyone else up in these hills—not as wholesome and p...