October 2021 Bookish Recap

November 01, 2021


Hey everyone and welcome to another recap of whatever the heck I'm reading! October is done and my family and I experienced the weirdest Halloween yet. No trick-or-treating, no costumes, plenty of treats :)

Once again, I spent the month reading whatever I wanted. Whether it was ARCs I couldn't help but request or accept, books I bought, borrowed or received, I had a blast reading. It was such a great month for me. While I didn't read many books, what I did get through, I loved!

So here's what October looked like for me book-wise:

Total Books read: 9

Total Pages read: 3281

DNFs: 0

From my TBR: 2

Avg rating: 3.89 stars


All the Books

My favorite book of the month was...



However, the other books I read were also awesome, which were...
Chalk Dirty to Me by Lani Lynn Vale
Scarred by Ari Reavis
Marked for Seduction by S.J. Rowe
A Shadow in the Reaping by Brynne Weaver
To Kiss a Demon by Stephanie Rowe
Darkness Awakened by Stephanie Rowe
A Hunger Like No Other by Kresley Cole
Dream Keeper by Kristen Ashley

Book Haul

I think this was the first time I didn't break the bank buying books in a month!



One book! I'm so proud of myself!!

Added to my tbr

And here's where things get interesting. I added a total of ZERO books to my tbr. What?!



What are you looking forward to for November? I hope it's as incredible as we deserve it to be!

Talk soon,


xo, Natalie

Review // The Field of Wrongdoing by Lili St. Germain

The Field of Wrong Doing by Lili St. Germain

In my rage, I find my solace.
In my rage, I vanquish my despair.

────── ♔ ──────


The Field of Wrong Doing by Lili St. Germain

The Field of Wrongdoing by Lili St. Germain


Standalone
Release - October 12, 2021
Genre - Psychological Thriller
Multiple POV - 1st person
Heat Level - 3.5 out of 5 / several scenes
Format/Source - ebook purchase from Amazon
Page Count - 337
Publisher - Level 4 Press, Inc.

How well can you really know someone?

The smallest towns hold the darkest secrets. And the people you least suspect are the ones you should fear the most.

When Cassie’s friend disappears, Cassie knows all too well the tragic end Jennifer has probably met. After all, Cassie is the one who found the last murdered girl in the field on her boyfriend Leo’s property nine years ago.

She never believed the love of her life was capable of such a brutal crime. Not even after Leo went to prison for an unrelated crime. But now he’s back, released on parole, and another girl has gone missing . . .

USA Today bestselling author Lili St. Germain delivers a terrifying, unpredictable thrill ride that explores how far one woman is willing to go to discover the truth - and the brutal betrayals she unearths along the way.

Purchase Links


The Field of Wrong Doing by Lili St. Germain
The Field of Wrong Doing by Lili St. Germain
The Field of Wrong Doing by Lili St. Germain
The Field of Wrong Doing by Lili St. Germain

My Two Cents

I pre-ordered this book because... Lili St. Germain and I love (read that: lu-uh-uh-uh-ove love) this author.

And as I was reading, I realized this story was very familiar to me. It was dirty and depraved and depressing and disgusting and oh so good... but it was familiar.

And then I found out that it used to be titled Gun Shy, which I read back in 2017. And it was just as amazing now as it was then. You can check out my review for that HERE.

So what can I offer that's new? Wouldn't it be hilarious if I was just as blind this time as I was before? Well, go ahead and laugh because I still had no clue!

I loved that!

Like stories that keep you guessing? Stories that are full of darkness and heartache? Read. This. Book!!

About the Author

Lili is a USA Today bestselling hybrid author who has sold over a million books since January 2014. After the success of her self-published Gypsy Brothers series, she was approached by HarperCollins Publishers, who signed her CARTEL series in a three-book deal. The Gypsy Brothers series focuses on a morally bankrupt biker gang and the girl who seeks her vengeance upon them. The Cartel series is a prequel trilogy of full-length novels that explores the beginnings of the club, to be released in 2015 by HarperCollins.

Aside from writing, her other loves in life include her gorgeous husband and beautiful daughter, good coffee, Tarantino movies and spending hours on Instagram. She loves to read almost as much as she loves to write.

Lili is represented by Amy Tannenbaum at the Jane Rotrosen Agency.

You can reach her at lili@lilisaintgermain.com

Review // Nightshade by Keri Lake

October 29, 2021

Nightshade by Keri Lake

You belong to me, Farryn. Should another man dare to lay so much as a finger on you, I will flay his hand and shine my boots with his skin.

────── ♔ ──────


Nightshade by Keri Lake

Nightshade by Keri Lake


Hopefully book 1
Release - October 29, 2021
Genre - Dark Paranormal Gothic romance / fated mates
Multiple POV - 1st and 3rd person
Heat Level - 3.5 / slow slow slow burn and a few scenes
Format/Source - eARC provided by the author (Thank you @ Give Me Books PR)
Page Count - 664
Publisher - Indie

A love so forbidden, it would shake the heavens ...

My father called them messengers.
He once told me they walked among us, and that somewhere in this dark and godless city, there shined a faint sliver of hope. I had only to look for the signs.

Well, I’ve spent my whole life investigating the inexplicable, and all I've found are the unsettling vestiges of iniquity - the evidence of another world shrouded by the obscure. Purgatory to some, where depravity hides in shadows, and girls like me are little more than delicious bites of temptation.

Others call it Nightshade.

This peculiar place is where I first met the cold and callous recluse living in a decaying cliffside cathedral. Jericho Van Croix is the epitome of everything I’ve been told to fear. A raven-winged harbinger who wears intrigue like a warm black cloak. An enigma that I’m determined to unravel – even if it means getting closer than I should.

One touch is forbidden. Even so much as a kiss would be my demise. But the sin on his lips burns me up like a wild flame, and his growing infatuation weakens my resolve.

Giving him what he wants, though, will mean no chance for redemption, or escape. What's worse is, the signs I’ve followed yet failed to see all these years begin to unmask a terrifying reality:

That falling may be my only saving grace.

Purchase Links

Amazon CA * Amazon US * Amazon UK * Amazon AU
Free to read with Kindle Unlimited

Nightshade by Keri Lake

My Two Cents

This read exactly as advertised! Just hearing about this story in the Vigilante Vixens group had me hungry... and I'm still ravenous because I want more Jericho Van Croix!!

Standing across from me, with the bolts of lightning at his back, the storm that still raged around us never once ruffling the feathers of his wings, he was sublime. Chaotic. Dissonance in the flesh. Both terrifying and incredible at the same time.


Nightshade was dark and depraved. Gothic and gruesome. Dirty and a bit disgusting. Nightshade was utterly delicious!!

Who knew reading over 600 pages of gothic PNR would be just what I needed?

I can't even give you anything about the plot or characters without giving some vital piece of this story away. Know that Jericho is an immortal who would make any woman want to be deserving of him. I love my soul, but... And Farryn was as annoying as any almost virginal, somewhat pure female would be, but she had a knack for hitting all of the right notes with me. So while she frustrated me, she made me cheer her on. While she had me rolling my eyes hard, she also made me smile and hope and dream.

I could have done without the extremely slow build, but then again, this story probably wouldn't have worked as well as it did if it were any faster. The world building was seriously on point!

Guessing the truth is easy, but knowing the truth, living the truth, understanding the truth... I'm still unsure what the truth really is. I'm kinda loving this opaque bubble I'm living in right now.

I want more.
I need more.
GIVE ME MORE!!
The end?

Nightshade by Keri Lake
Nightshade by Keri Lake

Excerpt

“It’s supposed to storm tonight. I’ve been told it’s dangerous up here when there’s lightning.” Hand in his, I let him guide me up the tower’s narrow, stone stairwell, lit only by the few flickering lamps that hung from the brackets on the wall.
Grip tightening as if I might try to get away, he glanced over his shoulder at me. “You’ve nothing to worry about.”
The stairwell opened up to beams and scaffolds, moving gears and the tired sounds they made. We hit a magnificent landing en route toward the bell at the tower's pinnacle, where the back end of the clock’s enormous hands ticked off the seconds in mocking. Counting down the end of innocence. I’d heard the vague rumors of the things that happened to girls in the bell tower. The utter depravity held mostly secret by its ancient walls.
“How can you be so sure?” I asked, stalling at a window, through which a cloud of lightning gave an ominous flicker over the black sea below.
His firm hand gripped me possessively, and before I even realized he’d changed direction, he backed me into the wall. Capricious as the wind that rapped against the window, he fixed his attentions on me, the chilled stones at my back a reminder that there was no escaping him.
The gentle brush of his knuckles down my cheek belied the shadow of malice that slipped behind his otherwise cold, inscrutable eye. “Because I’m so unreasonably rapacious when it comes to you, Miss Ravenshaw, that not even a bolt of lightning should dare touch your skin without consequence.”
In that moment, the thunder seemed more distant, somehow, or perhaps it was the incessant thump of my heart drowning it out.
“You’re jealous of lightning?”
He leaned in closer, the delicious scent of bergamot and licorice as intoxicating as the warm absinthe still pulsing through my veins. His lips traced a featherlight path along my jaw. Teeth grazed my earlobe, breath hot against my neck, as he whispered, “I’m jealous of anything that occupies your mind so unremittingly when you’re with me.”

About the Author

Keri Lake is a dark romance writer who specializes in demon wrangling, vengeance dealing and wicked twists. Her stories are gritty, with antiheroes that walk the line of good and bad, and feisty heroines who bring them to their knees. When not penning books, she enjoys spending time with her husband, daughters, and their rebellious Labrador (who doesn’t retrieve a damn thing). She runs on strong coffee and alternative music, loves a good red wine, and has a slight addiction to dark chocolate.

Review // Dream Keeper by Kristen Ashley

October 25, 2021

Dream Keeper by Kristen Ashley

Auggie was the impossible dream.

────── ♔ ──────


Dream Keeper by Kristen Ashley

Dream Keeper by Kristen Ashley


Standalone - Dream Team #4
Release - November 30, 2021
Genre - Contemporary Romance / military / unrequited
Multiple POV - 1st and 3rd person
Heat Level - 3 / a few scenes
Format/Source - eARC provided by the publisher
Page Count - 544
Publisher - Forever

Pepper Hannigan is determined to keep any romance off the table—and out of her bedroom—while her daughter Juno is still young. Sure, a certain handsome commando is thoughtful, funny, and undeniably hot, but Pepper’s had her heart broken before, and she won’t let it happen again. Not to her or her little girl, even if this hero could melt any woman’s resolve.

Augustus “Auggie” Hero can’t deny his attraction to beautiful, warm-hearted Pepper or how much he wants to make a home with her and her little girl, but Pepper’s mixed signals have kept him away. That is, until Juno decides to play matchmaker. Her efforts finally bring Pepper into his arms, but they expose the danger Pepper is in. To protect Pepper and Juno, Auggie will have to live up to his last name and prove happy endings aren’t just for fairy tales.

Purchase Links


My Two Cents

Oh wow... it was all about Auggie for me!!

KA has such a talent with creating Alpha heroes with hearts of gold. This man... THIS MAN!! He had far more patience than was warranted. Honestly... I kinda wanted him to give up and move on. C'mon, if I had a friend who was basically pining for someone who repeatedly shut him down, then let him in, only to tell him HE was a mistake... yeah, I'd tell him to let her go.

But Auggie persevered and I couldn't knock the man for trying because it eventually pays off. And I can't lie, I enjoyed the makings of what Auggie and Pepper built.

Don't even get me started on how much sunshine little Juno brought to this story. The idea of The Parent Trap was so sweet and I loved how Mr. Brett Cisco got happily roped in. When am I getting a story for this man?! He needs a happy ending STAT!!

Dream Keeper gave me so much of what I needed!
❥ a hero to make my heart sing
❥ a heroine who drove me nuts and yet made me cheer her on
❥ a sweetheart of a child who seemed to be wise beyond her years
❥ side characters who were once main characters who continue to be fun characters
❥ Brett in all of his glory. Seriously, this dude needs to find the love of his life. PLEASE!
❥ I even had a little somethin' somethin' for Pepper's ex. Is it wrong of me to want this man to find some forever happiness too?

Great writing as always. Great story. And a wealth of emotion. That's what I got with this book. If I wasn't aggravated, I was smiling. If I wasn't frustrated, I was weepy. If I wasn't annoyed, I was swooning. Sweet and charming and full of KA pizzazz (yeah, that's me using the word), Dream Keeper is a must-read for lovers of romance.

About the Author

Kristen Ashley is the New York Times bestselling author of over sixty romance novels including the Rock Chick, Colorado Mountain, Dream Man, Chaos, Unfinished Hero, The ’Burg, Magdalene, Fantasyland, The Three, Ghost and Reincarnation, Moonlight and Motor Oil and Honey series along with several standalone novels. She’s a hybrid author, publishing titles both independently and traditionally, her books have been translated in fourteen languages and she’s sold over three million books.

Kristen, born in Gary and raised in Brownsburg, Indiana, was a fourth-generation graduate of Purdue University. Since, she has lived in Denver, the West Country of England, and now she resides in Phoenix. She worked as a charity executive for eighteen years prior to beginning her independent publishing career. She currently writes full-time.

Visit https://www.kristenashley.net/ for more information