My Favorite Reads of 2021

January 08, 2022


I'm so late, I know, I know, but I always say it's better late than never. I wasn't even sure I was going to do one of these posts, but I knew that I found so many amazing reads in 2021 and they need to be shared so all of you can fall in love with them too.

I tried to keep this list small, but seriously... how the heck could I do that?! If a book's good, it's good and deserves its place here.

So here goes...

Contemporary Romance



Dark Romance



Fantasy Romance



Paranormal Romance



Romantic Comedy



Romantic Suspense/Thriller



SciFi Romance



Urban Fantasy





Do you have any books listed as favorites for 2021? Have you read any of these books or have them on a list? Leave a comment below and tell me all about it!

I wish everyone the best that 2022 has to offer — may all of us continue to be healthy and safe this year!


xo, Natalie

Free Books & Book Deals - 01/07/2022

January 07, 2022


It's the weekend! It's been far too long since I went searching for deals, much less shared them. Here's what I found on Amazon and I hope there's something that appeals to you. Happy Reading!

Please Note: All books are listed for $2 or less (prices valid at time of post). I apologize in advance if the sale is over by the time you found yourself here.

If you know of any deals I may have missed, please let me know in the comments section below :)

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Aleatha Romig

Bella Jewel

Brenda K. Davies

Carly Phillips

Chelle Bliss
  • FREE - Flame (Men of Inked: Heatwave #1)
  • FREE - Throttle Me (Men of Inked #1)
  • FREE - Maneuver (Men of Inked: Southside #1)

Cynthia Eden

Gemma James

J. Kenner

Jasinda Wilder

K.A. Linde

Kathy Coopmans
  • 99 cents - Concede (The Diamond Empire #1)

Kendall Ryan

Kennedy Ryan

Kristen Hope Mazzola

L.H. Cosway

Laura Kaye

Laurelin Paige

Lauren Blakely

Lexi C. Foss

Lili Valente

Lisa Renee Jones

Meghan March

Melissa Foster

Meredith Wild

N.J. Walters

Nana Malone

Pam Godwin

Pepper Winters

Piper Rayne

Rebecca Jenshak

Renee Rose

Shayla Black

Sherilee Gray

Skye Warren

Susan Stoker

T.L. Smith

Tia Louise

Tijan

Review // Every Last Breath by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Every Last Breath by Jennifer L. Armentrout

“I, Astaroth, Crown Prince of Hell, am in love with you, Layla Shaw. Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow. A hundred decades from now, I will still be in love with you, and it will be as fierce today as it will be a decade later.”

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Every Last Breath by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Every Last Breath by Jennifer L. Armentrout


The Dark Elements #3
Release - July 28, 2015
Genre - Young Adult Paranormal
Heroine POV - 1st person
Heat Level - 1 out of 5 / fade to black / very vague
Format/Source - ebook borrowed from the library
Length - 288 pages
Publisher - Harlequin Teen

Some loves will last ’til your dying breath

Every choice has consequences—but seventeen-year-old Layla faces tougher choices than most. Light or darkness. Wickedly sexy demon prince Roth, or Zayne, the gorgeous, protective Warden she never thought could be hers. Hardest of all, Layla has to decide which side of herself to trust.

Layla has a new problem, too. A Lilin—the deadliest of demons—has been unleashed, wreaking havoc on those around her…including her best friend. To keep Sam from a fate much, much worse than death, Layla must strike a deal with the enemy while saving her city—and her race—from destruction.

Torn between two worlds and two different boys, Layla has no certainties, least of all survival, especially when an old bargain comes back to haunt them all. But sometimes, when secrets are everywhere and the truth seems unknowable, you have to listen to your heart, pick a side—and then fight like hell…

Find your copy of Every Last Breath here:

Goodreads * Amazon


My Two Cents

4 "How my feelings have changed" stars

I am so glad I stuck with this trilogy!

Every Last Breath gave me everything I was looking for from the beginning. Not only was there a bump in action (mannnnnn that Lilin ain't a joke), but Layla did a lot of growing up. Not once did she aggravate me. NOT ONCE!

After that cliffhanger in Stone Cold Touch, I had no clue how the story would resolve itself. Who lives? Who dies? No one is safe! And JLA kept me on the edge of my toes for all of it!

Roth was just as delicious as always. Actually, I think he was more scrumptious in this book. When a demon finds his heart...

“You are so beautiful, Layla. And if I could pick one thing I could stare at for the rest of eternity, it would be you.”

As much as I learned to appreciate Layla and as much as I loved Zayne (he's an amazing guy and I hope he finds true happiness), Roth was the true showstopper of this series. He permeated every bit of this story, even the scenes he wasn't a part of.

I'm here at the end and my mind is full of questions, such as:

1. Will Zayne find his mate? And who will it be? Is it Stacey?

2. What is Cayman? I know there's more to this demon. And will he appear again?

3. Will all of the gargoyles get a story?

4. Seriously... who or what is Morris?

5. And... will Layla and Roth show up somewhere?


I definitely recommend these books, if for nothing else, so you can fall in love with Roth too!

Excerpt

Cayman gathered up the slices of bacon, spreading them out on our plates before joining me at the island. If someone told me a year ago I'd be eating scrambled eggs and bacon made by a demon, I would've laughed in their face and told them that crack was whack.

Times had most definitely changed. I picked up a piece of bacon.

"What's going on with you and Zayne?"

I nearly choked on the bacon. My eyes watered as I grabbed the OJ and took a huge swallow. "Excuse me?" I croaked.

A half smile formed as he forked up some eggs. "You and Zayne, the gorgeous gargoyle. What's going on there?"

"How do you know something's going on?"

Cayman rolled his eyes. "Honey-child, a blind person could see there's major tension. What's the scoop?"

Heat blasted across my cheeks. Well then. "I…" I had no idea how to answer that question, because I wasn't even sure myself. "I don't know."

He sent me a long look. "Ah, I think you totally know, but you're just not ready to put it into words."

Shoving another slice of bacon into my mouth, I eyed him. "Oh, do you now?"

"Yeah. Your stuff is complicated. I got you, but I know what's really going on there, so I'm about to go all come to Jesus with you." Setting his fork down, he leaned over and whispered the "truth" in my ear.

I jerked back, his words echoing—no, actually taunting me—and anger rose in me swiftly. I glared at him, my hand tight on the fork. Something about what he said was so true I wanted to kick it back in his face. "I don't want to talk to you about this."

He chuckled. "Whatever floats your boat."

Ignoring him, I devoured the rest of my breakfast, then I got up and dumped the plate and silverware in the dishwasher. When I faced him, he was still grinning. I scowled. "Where's Roth?"

"He's out."

I waited and there was no answer. "Doing what?"

"Things," he replied. "Demon duties."

Sighing, I leaned against the counter. "You're real helpful."

Winking, he held up his empty plate between two fingers. Air crackled, and then flames sparked off the tip of his fingers, climbing the plate. My eyes widened as I watched the fire completely obliterate the plate. The fork went up in flames next.

"Well, that's one way to clean up," I murmured.

Cayman popped off the bar stool, all smiles. "Let's stop playing around, my own personal Beanie Baby. Zayne's in love with you. Roth's in love with you."

I inhaled sharply, but the air caught in my throat.

"Both would do anything for you—live, breathe and die for you, but you can't have both of them, Layla."

My hands fell to my thighs and I whispered, "I know that."

"And you know which one is the real deal," he continued, eyeing me intently. "You know, the forever kind of love, so why are you dragging this out?"

"I'm not dragging anything out," I protested. "I was kind of out of it, you know, what with the whole being held pris­oner and then nearly killed by my own clan thing. Then I was holed up here recovering, and then yesterday happened." Frustrated, I stalked around the island. "And maybe I don't think it's the right time for me to be with either of them. Did you ever think about that?"

Cayman cocked his head to the side. "When is there ever a right time to fully give your heart to another? There are always going to be obstacles. You just have to decide which ones are worth it."

"Whatever." I crossed my arms.

He mimicked my stance. "Don't be a coward."

"Excuse me?"

"A. Coward," he repeated, and I briefly considered picking up the vase in the center of the island and throwing it at him. "Not making a choice is the coward's way out. You love both of them. I get that. But you don't feel the same kind of love for both of them, and the sooner you accept that, the better…"

About the Author

# 1 New York Times and # 1 International Bestselling author Jennifer lives in Charles Town, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing. she spends her time reading, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell Loki. In early 2015, Jennifer was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a group of rare genetic disorders that involve a breakdown and death of cells in the retina, eventually resulting in loss of vision, among other complications. Due to this diagnosis, educating people on the varying degrees of blindness has become of passion of hers, right alongside writing, which she plans to do as long as she can.

Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She is published with Tor, HarperCollins Avon and William Morrow, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion and Harlequin Teen. Her Wicked Series has been optioned by PassionFlix. Jennifer has won numerous awards, including the 2013 Reviewers Choice Award for Wait for You, the 2015 Editor’s Pick for Fall With Me, and the 2014/2015 Moerser-Jugendbuch- Jury award for Obsidian. Her young adult romantic suspense novel DON’T LOOK BACK was a 2014 nominated Best in Young Adult Fiction by YALSA. Her adult romantic suspense novel TILL DEATH was a Amazon Editor’s Pick and iBook Book of the Month. Her young adult contemporary THE PROBLEM WITH FOREVER is a 2017 RITA Award Winner in Young Adult Fiction. She also writes Adult and New Adult contemporary and paranormal romance under the name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins.

She is the owner of ApollyCon and The Origin Event, the successful annual events that features over hundred bestselling authors in Young Adult, New Adult, and Adult Fiction, panels, parties, and more.

Visit https://jenniferlarmentrout.com for more information

Review // Archangel's Consort by Nalini Singh

January 03, 2022

Archangel's Consort by Nalini Singh

For the first time in forever, he was stunned to silence. Not by her words, but by the tenderness in her hands, the worry in her eyes. He was an archangel. He’d been wounded far, far worse and shrugged it off. But then, there had been no woman with sun kissed by the sunset and eyes of storm gray to tear into him for daring to get himself hurt.

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Archangel's Consort by Nalini Singh

Archangel's Consort by Nalini Singh


Guild Hunter #3
Release - January 25, 2011
Genre - Paranormal Romance / angels, vamps, hunters
Dual POV - 3rd person
Heat Level - 3.5 out of 5 / several scenes
Format/Source - ebook from the library / I own the paperback
Length - 377 pages
Publisher - Berkley

Vampire hunter Elena Deveraux and her lover, the lethally beautiful archangel Raphael, have returned home to New York only to face an uncompromising new evil…

A vampire has attacked a girls’ school—the assault one of sheer, vicious madness—and it is only the first act. Rampant bloodlust takes vampire after vampire, threatening to make the streets run with blood. Then Raphael himself begins to show signs of an uncontrolled rage, as inexplicable storms darken the city skyline and the earth itself shudders.

The omens are suddenly terrifyingly clear.

An ancient and malevolent immortal is rising. The violent winds whisper her name: Caliane. She has returned to reclaim her son, Raphael. Only one thing stands in her way: Elena, the consort who must be destroyed…

Find Archangel's Consort here:

Goodreads * Amazon


My Two Cents

4 "And my final judgment is..." stars

What do I like the most about these stories? Everything that happens and surrounds Raphael. I cannot get enough of this archangel!

After taking out Uram, who was killing all willy-nilly in NYC in Angels' Blood, and somewhat defeating Lijuan, who was making the dead walk the Earth in Archangel's Kiss, I was beyond curious to see what Raphael and Elena would have to face next. Would Lijuan rejoin the living? Who would be the 'enemy' in this one?

I guess I should have figured with all of the information bandied back and forth between this couple about their mothers, Raphael's mom would feature in some way. There was a lot of interesting lead up (questionable storms and deaths), however, I found the eventual come to mama moment to be kinda anticlimactic. I can already feel the venom coming my way from die-hard fans, but I was expecting more. And while I'm not complaining about all of the scenes that helped to solidify Raphael and Elena as a couple, I found myself being a bit over Elena. She started grating on my nerves, which could be why the big moment didn't land they way it should have.

No, I don't hate Elena. I'm just not a fan. I admire her fight, her doggedness, her determination and her strength, but I didn't like how unrealistic and ditzy she could be. I kept rolling my eyes and internally screaming grow the heck up at times. But overall, she was okay. I wanted her to really accept that although she was Raphael's consort and that he loved her above all others, she wasn't his equal. Stop it. And the whole hunter-born repetitiveness became boring. I get it. You're hunter-born. So...

I have no clue what the many books in the series following this are about, but I'll definitely start reading them. This author can write and I want more of her words echoing in my head.

Excerpt


About the Author

Author Nalini Singh

On Me

I was born in Fiji and raised in New Zealand. I spent three years living and working in Japan, where I took the chance to travel around Asia. I’m back in New Zealand now, but I’m always plotting new trips. If you’d like to see some of my travel snapshots, have a look at the Travel Diary page.

I’ve worked as a lawyer, a librarian, a candy factory general hand, a bank temp and an English teacher, but not necessarily in that order. Some might call that inconsistency, but I call it grist for the writer’s mill.

On writing

I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember. All of my stories held a thread of romance, even when I was writing about a prince who could shoot lasers out of his eyes. Creating unique characters and giving them happy endings is my favorite thing. I even love the voices in my head, so there’s no other job I’d rather be doing. When I got the call in September 2002 that Silhouette Desire wanted to buy my first book, Desert Warrior, it was a dream come true. I hope to continue living the dream until I keel over of old age on my keyboard.

Visit http://www.nalinisingh.com/ for more information