Review // Hooked by Emily McIntire

March 25, 2023

Hooked by Emily McIntire

"You are, without a doubt, the only good I've ever known." - Hook

────── ♔ ──────


Hooked by Emily McIntire

Hooked by Emily McIntire


Standalone - Never After #1
Genre - Dark Romance / retelling / vengeance
POV - Dual 1st person
Heat - 4 out of 5
Format - ebook from Kindle Unlimited
Length - 312 pages

Find it here: Goodreads * Amazon

He wants revenge, but he wants her more…

James has always had one agenda: destroy his enemy, Peter Michaels. When Peter’s twenty-year-old daughter Wendy shows up in James’s bar, he sees his way in. Seduce the girl and use her for his revenge. It’s the perfect plan, until things in James’s organization begin to crumble. Suddenly, he has to find the traitor in his midst, and his plan for revenge gets murkier as James starts to see Wendy as more than just a pawn in his game.

Wendy has been cloistered away most of her life by her wealthy cold father, but a spontaneous night out with friends turns into an intense and addictive love affair with the dark and brooding James. As much as she knows James is dangerous, Wendy can’t seem to shake her desire for him. But as their relationship grows more heated and she learns more about the world he moves in, she finds herself unsure if she’s falling for the man known as James or the monster known as Hook.

Hooked is a dark contemporary romance and the first complete standalone in the Never After Series: A collection of fractured fairy tales where the villains get the happy ever after. It is not a literal retelling and not fantasy. Hooked features mature themes and content that may not be suitable for all audiences. Reader discretion is advised. For all content warnings, check the author's website.

My Two Cents

4 "Even a villain deserves to be loved" stars

I absolutely love retellings and this one is loosely based on Peter Pan. I really enjoyed experiencing the nostalgia for one of my childhood classics.

James "Hook" Barrie was driven by the dark deeds that happened in his past. His family was assassinated. He was terrorized by his hateful uncle. He was surrounded by the criminal underworld and flourished. He had the makings of an intriguing and mysterious villain and with his British accent... let's just say that I had no trouble liking this character.

Wendy was another story. Incredibly naive and sheltered, she lived a life of privilege, blissfully unaware of where her wealth and influence actually came from. All she knew was that her loving father was suddenly distant. He was hardly around and all she wanted was to draw him closer. She wasn't prepared for a man like Hook and who she became when she was with him.

It all started with a little bit of faith.
Misplaced trust.
Missing pixie dust.
And a villain who just needed to steal a little love.

Betrayal was everywhere, but together, these two found a freedom neither had ever known. For the first time, Hook found himself caring about something more than his thirst for revenge. And Wendy was becoming the woman she always dreamed of being. Someone who's thoughts and concerns mattered to someone. With Hook prepared to give her everything she wanted and needed, she only had to sacrifice one thing... her father.

Could she do it?

Read the book and find out!

The Author

Emily McIntire is an Amazon Top 15 and Publishers Weekly best selling author known for her Never After Series, where she gives our favorite villains their happily ever afters. With books that range from small town to dark romance, she doesn’t like to box herself into one type of story, but at the core of all her novels is soul deep love. When she’s not writing you can find her enjoying her family, or lost between the pages of a good book.

Find more information at https://www.emilymcintire.com

Review // Gift of Dragons by Aja James

March 22, 2023

Gift of Dragons by Aja James

In the lifetime he'd served her as her protector and slave, then as a freed leader of men, he'd only ever wanted one thing:

To be her equal.
To be her man.

────── ♔ ──────


Gift of Dragons by Aja James

Gift of Dragons by Aja James


Dragon Tails #7
Release - July 1, 2023
Genre - Paranormal Romance / forbidden
POV - Multiple 3rd person
Heat - 5 out of 5
Format - Beta read & ARC
Length - 343 pages


Every lore of every clan, across time and space, dreamed of dragons. Did you ever wonder why?

Benjamin D’Angelo is off on a new quest with helpful friends.

As always, their success is limited by seemingly arbitrary rules and an even more arbitrary sandglass of time. The only things they can count on is that: 1) each of their quests takes them to a time in the past, 2) they will witness (and perhaps even enable) True Love along the way, and 3) the Universal Balance hangs in...well, the balance.

Their seventh task is to uncover the Secret Gift.

My Two Cents

Love is patient.
Love is kind.


No two lovers know this better than Heba and Shai.
From the moment they met, circumstances prevented them from being together.
She was royalty. He was her slave.
Between them grew a love that transcended time, space, situations, and even their best efforts to fight it.

I'll admit, this story touched me in ways the others didn't. The power play between these characters struck a chord in me, wrecking me emotionally, creating all of the angst that I didn't know I craved. All I wanted was for these characters to talk and be free to be together. They had to overcome so much just to love one another.

And I was in love with the many ways Shai and Heba stayed devoted to each other, even before they realized the endless love they felt.

And when finally the true greatness of Shai was revealed... I was as thrilled, awed, and in love as Heba.

He knew what he truly was at last.
He was dragon.
He was man.
A man who loved a mortal woman.
A dragon who could not exist on earth.

One of the things I adore most about this series (and the one before) is the many moving parts it takes to tell this story. It's not just about the couple of the day. It's about everyone and their loves and lives. It's about what happened and what is to come. It's about the mystery surrounding Ben and when it will finally be revealed. It's about so much more than the romance. So much more. I can't help but fall for the people. I've become so invested and the way this author writes her words, the way she puts everything together, the way she's built this world... it will keep me engaged FOREVER!!

The Author

Best-selling author, Aja James, just completed the Pure/ Dark Ones paranormal-fantasy romance series in 2020. If you want your heart battered, bruised, shattered and skewered, then put back together in the most glorious ways, check out the series below. Every couple gets an HEA, but they fight like hell for it on the way.

Aja is now working on her new series, Dragon Tails, because dragons are her favorite shifters of all!

Check out Aja's expanded distribution of the Pure/ Dark Ones series on Google, Apple, Kobo and Barnes & Noble Books.

Visit https://aja-james.blog for more information!

Review // Marrow by Trisha Wolfe & Brynne Weaver

March 16, 2023

Marrow by Trisha Wolfe & Brynne Weaver

She's the marrow.
She's my marrow.
Kyrie didn't start as a killer—she was made.
And I helped make her.

────── ♔ ──────


Marrow by Trisha Wolfe & Brynne Weaver

Marrow by Trisha Wolfe & Brynne Weaver


Standalone
Release - March 23, 2023
Genre - Dark Romance / enemies to lovers
POV - Dual 1st person
Heat - 4 out of 5
Format - eARC provided by the author
Length - approx. 300 pages

Two rival serial killers. One common enemy.

Forensic anthropologist Dr. Jack Sorensen is the perfect serial killer. In the bright lights of his public persona he’s a respected scientist, a leader in the field of human decomposition. But in his shadowed secret life he’s a ruthless and elusive killer, unseen by the authorities who have failed to follow his faint trail of destruction. Beautifully cold, brilliant and cruel, Jack wants nothing more than to keep his life captured in his vise-like grip of control. And Jack Sorensen never makes mistakes…

…until he underestimates Dr. Kyrie Roth.

Wildlife biologist Kyrie is the enemy Jack never noticed, another murderer in his midst. A killer with equal cunning and stealth as the great Jack Sorensen, she knows all his darkest secrets, even the pieces of a past he might have forgotten. Kyrie has created the perfect habitat for her favorite research subject, but she’s finally had enough of being bitten by the beast that lives at Jack’s core. Pushed past her breaking point, Kyrie has decided to do whatever it takes to make Jack suffer. But when Kyrie’s traumatic past descends on her broken oasis, the only person who can help Kyrie banish her painful shadows might just be her greatest enemy.

History can’t always be left to decay in a cold grave. Time has a way of thawing secrets, leaving them to shine as bright as bleached bones in the sun. Can Jack and Kyrie set aside their battle and survive a world built to hunt them?

Or will they kill each other first?

***Marrow is a dark romance intended for an adult audience. For complete CWs, see Brynne's website***

My Two Cents

5 "Welcome to Thunderdome" stars

🎵She's a very kinky girl
The kind you don't take home to mother...
🎵

Don't even ask me why Super Freak enters my mind when it comes to Kyrie, but it does.
Surviving a serial killer made her change. She saw the world in a whole new light and had to adapt.
There were bad people out there, she had first-hand knowledge of them, and she chose to take them out.

Jack was a seemingly different kind of monster and he liked things a certain way.
He was a dominant hunter who didn't like someone else in his territory.
But nothing he did would make her leave.

Let the games begin!

He pushed her away. She found new ways to torment him.
She was broken. He was emotionless.
Together... they were magical!

These authors delivered a story that gripped me from the start, had me laughing and cringing my way merrily through, and left me with a huge smile on my face at the end.

The Author


USA Today bestselling romantic thriller author. From an early age, Trisha Wolfe dreamed up imaginary worlds and characters and was accused of talking to herself. Today, she lives in South Carolina with her family and writes full time, using her imaginary worlds as an excuse to continue talking to herself.


and


Brynne is a fan of velociraptors, the Alien movies (well, most of them), red wine, and wild adventures.

She can relate nearly anything you say to a line from the movie Hot Fuzz. She has been trying unsuccessfully for years to convince her husband that they should acquire a pet mink to add to their menagerie of animals (what could possibly go wrong with that plan?!).

Brynne has been everything from an archaeologist to a waitress, a deep-sea core analyst to an advertising account executive. For the last several years, she has been working in the field of neuroscience clinical research. Brynne has been writing since childhood and has published a non-fiction book under her real name, but she won’t tell you what it is unless you provide a live, fully trained velociraptor.

When not busy at her day job or writing, Brynne can be found working with her husband and their son on their family farm in Nova Scotia, Canada, or enjoying her other passions which include riding horses, reading, and spending time with family and friends around a raclette and a bottle of wine.

Review // Code Name: Genesis by Sawyer Bennett

March 07, 2023

Code Name: Genesis by Sawyer Bennett

I force every bit of worry, planning, and strategy out of my head, and I concentrate on this amazing woman in my arms.
The woman I once loved with all my heart—who I'm fairly certain I've fallen right back in love with. Thus, keeping her safe and taking this stalker down just became the most important thing I'll ever do in my life because I'm ready to see what waits on the other side of that for Joslyn and me.

────── ♔ ──────


Code Name: Genesis by Sawyer Bennett

Code Name: Genesis by Sawyer Bennett


Standalone - Jameson Force Security #1
Genre - Contemporary Romance with suspense elements / second chance / security
POV - Dual 1st person
Heat - 3 out of 5
Format - ebook
Length - 306 pages

Years ago, we were in love. She was an up-and-coming superstar and I was the security professional hired to keep her safe. We fell hard and fast, no matter how much we tried to resist one another. But not everyone around us was happy about our relationship, and a string of lies and deceit destroyed what we once had. I moved on from her and didn’t look back.

Now I’ve taken the helm of a nationally renowned protective services company, and I’m looking to rebrand my career. The newly crowned Jameson Force Security is moving from the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas to the mountainous steel town of Pittsburgh, and the last thing I have time for is to deal with my past.

More than a decade has passed since our split, but even a bruised and battered heart remembers its first love. So when Joslyn Meyers comes to me for help, I reluctantly agree to keep her safe from a terrifying stalker who keeps threatening her life.

As the danger continues to intensify, it becomes clear that I’ll stop at nothing to protect the woman who turned her back on me all those years ago. Because one thing is certain—no matter how hard I try to convince myself otherwise, Joslyn still has my heart.

My Two Cents

4 "When a stalker brings back your true love" stars

Years ago, Joslyn and Kynan fell in love. She was a music and acting superstar. He was her bodyguard. Think you've heard this story before? Think again because even I was surprised by some of the things that happened here.

Joslyn is back... and she's not alone. After being attacked in her home by her stalker, she basically begs Kynan for his help. But he's not in a very charitable mood. He's still hurt by her actions years ago. She left him without any kind of explanation and he's still messed up when it comes to her. However, she's truly in distress and he can't resist her case.

First let me tell you what I liked...

❥ the creep factor of the stalker. I liked that I couldn't figure out who it was and the smooth moves he made to keep himself unrecognizable.
❥ Bebe. This woman has been through hell and I'm excited to see her happy ending. Her reunion scene with her son and her mom was so touching.
❥ Cruce and Saint. I know they get their own books and I'm looking forward to finding out more about these intriguing men.

And that's it. Notice I left out the main characters. Here's why:

❥ Joslyn left Kynan because of a dossier that outlined he was a cheating jerk. She asked no questions. She didn't confront him. Just up and left him.
❥ Kynan's opening scene with a strange woman he met at a club... it was 10 times hotter than anything her shared with Joslyn. Yet she was the love of his life. She was the one woman he truly wanted.
❥ Kynan flaunted this one-night stand in Joslyn's face. I couldn't get past it. And even though my feelings did warm up towards him in the end, it didn't take away my distaste for his earlier behavior.
❥ Joslyn didn't trust the man she hired. The man she loved.

Overall, I obviously enjoyed this book. I will be reading the others in the series. And I recommend this story to anyone who enjoys a romance with a bit of suspense and a second chance at love.

The Author

New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal Bestselling author Sawyer Bennett uses real life experience to create relatable stories that appeal to a wide array of readers. From contemporary romance, fantasy romance, and both women’s and general fiction, Sawyer writes something for just about everyone.

A former trial lawyer from North Carolina, when she is not bringing fiction to life, Sawyer is a chauffeur, stylist, chef, maid, and personal assistant to her very adorable daughter, as well as full-time servant to her wonderfully naughty dogs.

If you’d like to receive a notification when Sawyer releases a new book, sign up for her newsletter (sawyerbennett.com/signup).

Find more information here: https://sawyerbennett.com