Review // Not a Role Model by Lani Lynn Vale

July 03, 2022

Not a Role Model by Lani Lynn Vale

I had a distinct feeling that she was about to ruin my life.
And not in a bad way.

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Not a Role Model by Lani Lynn Vale

Not a Role Model by Lani Lynn Vale


Standalone - Battle Crows MC #4
Release - May 31, 2022
Genre - Contemporary Romance w/ MC elements
Dual POV - 1st person
Heat - 3.5 out of 5 / a few scenes
Format/Source - ebook gift
Length - 252 pages
Publisher - Indie


You better watch out for people that bounce back from everything that’s meant to destroy them.
Those were the words that Coreline King learned to live by when it came to dealing with Tide ‘Rook’ Crow, member of the Battle Crows MC, general surgeon, and all-around jerk who lived to make her life a living hell.
It all started in high school when he stopped seeing her as a random girl and started to see her as his rival.
Together, they became ‘frenemies.’ I.e.—a person with whom one is friendly, despite a fundamental dislike or rivalry.
At least, it started out like that.
Everyone always says there’s a fine line between love and hate. And at first, Tide and Coreline don’t realize how very true that is.
Not until Tide gets hurt defending Coreline’s honor, and Coreline has to fix him because she feels like she owes him.
But one night of bad choices leads to a very big ‘oops’ that will either haunt them for the next eighteen years or bring them together as tight as they ever could be.

My Two Cents

3 "Frenemies" stars

Coreline and Tide have been frenemies for all of their lives. He makes life rough for her and she gives back as good as she gets. Fastforward to adulthood and nothing much has changed... except for the undeniable chemistry that burns between them. Can these two find a way to finally get their act together, giving into the feelings they've had for far too long?

In all honesty, I didn't like this story at first. I was actually gonna give up on it, which is unheard of because I freaking love this author!! It's just that I couldn't connect to the characters, their story felt harsh and abrasive, and it was slow going. However, as time went on, my feelings improved, and in the end, it was all worth it.

I enjoyed the tension that played out between the characters (for the most part). I did, but I was kinda sidetracked. I'm intrigued by the glimpses I keep getting of Bram and Dorcas. I want more of them. Will Bram admit his feelings for her? Will we learn more about Dorcas beyond the beautiful time seen here? And will these two remain together or finally part ways for good? Yeah, I'm really looking forward to seeing some of that.

About the Characters


Main Characters - Coreline King and Tide Crow
Children - An unnamed daughter and one on the way
Tide's family
- Derringer Crow (father)
- Reedy Crow (mother)
- Haggard "Thief" Crow (found in Always Someone's Monster)
- Callum "Shine" Crow (found in Make Me Your Villain)
- Price Crow (found in Rattle Some Cages)
- Bram Crow
- Cannel Crow (found in Chalk Dirty To Me)
Coreline's family
- Rock "Hound Dog" King (father)
- unnamed mother
- Reuben King (brother)
- Alison King (little sister)
- Enola "Toddy" Tondra King (little sister)

Check out the other books from the series:


About the Author

Lani Lynn Vale is married to the love of her life that she met in high school. She fell in love with him because he was wearing baseball pants. Ten years later they have three perfectly crazy children and a cat named Demon who likes to wake her up at ungodly times in the night. They live in the greatest state in the world, Texas. She writes contemporary and romantic suspense, and has a love for all things romance. You can find Lani in front of her computer writing away in her fictional characters world...that is until her husband and kids demand sustenance in the form of food and drink.

Visit https://lanilynnvale.com for more information!

June 2022 Bookish Recap

July 01, 2022


Hello everyone and welcome to another recap of whatever the heck I'm reading.

I haven't done one of these in a couple of months and while I feel bad, I'm ok with that. I'm here now and I hope to continue to do these consistently from now on.

June was a great reading month for me. I found not only one, but two five star reads and I cannot complain.

I do hope that your June has treated you as well (or even better) as it has treated me and I wish you all the best for July!!

Here's what my June looked like:
Total Books Read: 11
Total Pages Read: 3171
DNFs: 2
From my TBR: 2
Avg. Rating: 3.3

All the Books

My favorite books of the month were:


The other books I found worthwhile (and would recommend) were:
A Cold Dark Place by Toni Anderson
Cold Pursuit by Toni Anderson
Remedy Maker by Sheri Fredricks
Nancy and the Naga by Honey Phillips
The Ones Left Behind by Ari Reavis
King of Flesh & Bone by Liv Zander

Added to my tbr

I've added nothing and I think that's actually a good thing. I'm still trying to whittle down my TBR one book at a time.

Book Haul

Again nothing and that's awesome. I'm trying to stick to reading the paperbacks on my shelves and the ebooks on my kindle. Wish me luck!



What are you looking forward to next month? I hope you find only the best reads!

Talk soon,


xo, Natalie

Review // Queen of Rot & Pain by Liv Zander

Queen of Rot & Pain by Liv Zander

Suffering the pain of flesh is my duty; protecting you from it is my vow.

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Queen of Rot & Pain by Liv Zander

Queen of Rot & Pain by Liv Zander


The Pale Court Duet #2
Release - June 23, 2022
Genre - Dark Fantasy Romance
Dual POV - 1st person
Heat - 4 out of 5 / several explicit scenes
Format/Source - ebook borrowed through Kindle Unlimited
Length - 274 pages
Publisher - Ink Heart Publishing


Worse than a god in rage... is a god in love.

I punish lies and deceit,
An eternal damnation of agony and pain.
Yet, when it is my wife whose deception plagues me,
I know what I must do.

Shackle her soul to the lying, cold corpse that she is,
Ensuring that she never escapes me.
My wrath,
My torture,
My pain,
And my pleasure.

I am the King of Flesh and Bone,
Every part of her I possess and own.
She is mine,
Death shall never do us part.

Welcome home, my queen.

My Two Cents

5 "Not even death can end us" stars

With the way the first book ended, I had no idea what was going to happen in this one. I could assume a lot, such as the fact that Ada dies and Enosh finally gets to keep her with him for eternity. But that's not what I wanted. I wished for them to fall in love, for her to gain immortality somehow, for a happy ending.

And honestly... I got everything I wanted and so much more!

Ada was dead, but no matter how cold she got, it never stopped their heat. Enosh was very creative in his ways of punishing her for what he believed was her betrayal and, through this horrific journey, Ada grew into a woman who deserved to stand by his side. He was a god after all.

I loved Ada. Loved her like I had never before, with no precaution over the pain it had already caused me, nor the pain that was certainly yet to come. I loved her with a ferocity that was not safe for me or her. Certainly not for this world.

The death had a life of its own in this book. The magic of the way Enosh wove flesh and bone into clothing, furniture, animals, etc... I'm truly awed by the way this author illustrated this strange world with her words. And the terrifying beauty that was created for Ada and Enosh was ugly and sexy and painful and real. So freaking real.

About the Author

Liv has an unhealthy love for sexy villains. To cure herself of her poor choice in men, she's currently undergoing therapy, but who can afford that these days? To fund her co-pays, she's writing deliciously dark fantasy romance about the men who would burn the world to the ground for their women. Is that counter-productive? Probably, but it's also a lot of fun.

When she's not joking around, she can be found procrastinating in her office with a mug of coffee or a glass of wine (depending on time of day and how miserable the writing is going). Oh, she also loves skulls. And ravens. And skulls.

Visit http://livzander.com for more information

Review // King of Flesh and Bone by Liv Zander

June 29, 2022

King of Flesh and Bone by Liv Zander

Flesh of my flesh, bone of my bone. Never my whore, forever my woman.

────── ♔ ──────


King of Flesh and Bone by Liv Zander

King of Flesh and Bone by Liv Zander


The Pale Court Duet #1
Release - April 21, 2022
Genre - Dark Fantasy Romance
Dual POV - 1st person
Heat - 4.5 out of 5 / several explicit scenes
Format/Source - ebook borrowed through Kindle Unlimited
Length - 258 pages
Publisher - Ink Heart Publishing


Worse than a ruthless king... is a king obsessed.

Isolation, darkness, and rotting flesh,
Surrounds me, suffocates me,
But I am the vile ruler who controls it all.

I long for warmth,
Yet, all that I touch,
Is cold.

Then, she stumbles in to my domain,
Lost and frightened,
Alone and confused.

And I terrify her even more.

She calls me the devil,
So I show her pleasure,
Like only the devil can.

I am the heat that stirs her flesh,
The longing that trembles her bone.

She begs her body to refuse,
To escape my embrace,
But I am her master,
The puppeteer of passion.
I am the King of Flesh and Bone.

Welcome to my court, little one.

King of Flesh and Bone by Liv Zander King of Flesh and Bone by Liv Zander

My Two Cents

4 "Devotion for eternity" stars

Can you imagine being so used to the walking dead that it becomes commonplace?
Imagine bodies clawing themselves out of their graves and wandering around aimlessly?
And this is normal???

That's just a glimpse of the surreal world created for this story.

➼ corpses don't rot, so they end up walking around
➼ babies born on the full moon are likely to be born dead
➼ everyone knows that the King of Flesh and Bone is the one responsible for this life
➼ old-fashioned misogyny and religion keep a good woman down
➼ a gothic and eerie feel to everything
➼ new-to-me author blew me away!!

Did I find it icky? Ummm... yeah. Enosh was the god of all flesh and bone. His palace was built with bones, he created clothes out of skin, he didn't do his duty of rotting the dead, and it was all a bit gross. But also oddly intriguing. I couldn't get enough of it. And for all her denials, neither could Ada.

Giving him a broken heart didn't hurt because I love a damaged hero (or anti-hero) and made for some interesting tension between him and Ada. She did everything to resist the irresistible and I lived for their every interaction.

And when the danger came, as it inevitably would, I was loving that too. Those torture scenes were fantastic!

I have no idea what the next book will bring, but I do have some blind requests, such as Ada being granted immortality, that she falls in real love with Enosh, and that somehow, amidst the death and rot and yuck, these two get a happy ending.

Luckily I've already got book two loaded up so I'm off.

About the Author

Liv has an unhealthy love for sexy villains. To cure herself of her poor choice in men, she's currently undergoing therapy, but who can afford that these days? To fund her co-pays, she's writing deliciously dark fantasy romance about the men who would burn the world to the ground for their women. Is that counter-productive? Probably, but it's also a lot of fun.

When she's not joking around, she can be found procrastinating in her office with a mug of coffee or a glass of wine (depending on time of day and how miserable the writing is going). Oh, she also loves skulls. And ravens. And skulls.

Visit http://livzander.com for more information