I've read quite a few books and need to actually get my reviews of them out there, so here are three books that I enjoyed reading. Two of these are from my TBR and one was a recommendation by the lovely Nadine @Nadine's Obsessed with Books. Thanks for that btw.
Ok, here goes...
My Rating - ★★★
Standalone - True North #3
Release - October 25, 2016
Genre - Small Town Romance
POV - Dual 1st person
Heat - 3 out of 5 / descriptive with a few scenes
Format - ebook from Amazon
Length - 314 pages
There’s something about tragic characters that makes me immediately love a story… and Lark and Zach were easy to love.
Lark was known as a ‘wild child’, but a trip to make lives better turned into a nightmare. Now traumatized, she’s desperate to put on a happy face for everyone. Fake it ‘til you make it and all that. Zach had been booted from a cult. He was new to life on the outside and had to overcome feelings of inadequacy and his fear of abandonment. Together, they were just barely holding on.
I enjoyed the way the author wrapped these characters with so much feeling. I’m a huge fan of the Shipleys and while I’m unsure if there are books about them (this is the 3rd book in the series after all), I want their stories. They gave Lark and Zach such a great foundation for their relationship. If I’m ever down and out, or just plain sad, I want a family like this one at my back.
My only real complaint was that there wasn’t much going on for most of this book. They woke up, milked the cows, ate breakfast, picked apples, sold apples, ate a huge dinner, went to bed, woke up, milked the cows, ate breakfast… Lark had nightmares, Zach gave her comfort, they had feelings for each other, had sex a few times, but for the most part, I was a witness to the tedium of their everyday lives.
My Rating - ★★★1/4
Standalone - Mission Mercenaries #1
Release - October 13, 2022
Genre - Dark Romance / enemies to lovers
POV - Dual 1st person
Heat - 4 out of 5 / explicit with several scenes (and some triggers)
Format - ebook borrowed from Kindle Unlimited
Length - 235 pages
I reached the end of this book and still don’t know what to think. I didn’t like the characters, and yet, they had me hooked! I couldn’t look away from the hot mess they were or the catastrophe they had created out of their lives.
Angel was a mercenary. Once he was full of heart, but being left for dead changed things. It made him harder, colder, less caring. So why did Lauren affect him so much?
Lauren was an FBI agent who was willing to put herself at the heart of true danger to save lives. Little did anyone know… she was desperate to feel used, abused and humiliated. She lived to be trampled on and assaulted. They fed her in ways they would disgust most people. Why did Angel give her everything she could ever need?
If the FBI hires agents like Lauren, I feel sorry for the federal justice system in America. She was all kinds of messed up. She wasn’t stupid, she had resources, but she did nothing to help herself. She made excuses and she frustrated me. And Angel… dude had so much to offer and I often found myself wishing he wouldn’t offer them to Lauren.
Yeah, it’s all messed up. And yet… I’m probably going to read the next book in the series. Go figure :)
My Rating - ★★★1/2
Standalone - Holiday Brothers #1
Release - November 4, 2021
Genre - Small Town Romance / forced proximity / single parent
POV - Dual 1st person
Heat - 3 out of 5
Format - ebook borrowed from Kindle Unlimited
Length - 165 pages
This was a sweet, small town, ‘ohmygosh my first crush is back AND he’s hot AND he’s my new boss AND his daughter is precious’ kind of romance. From the wonder that was the Holiday family (like seriously, can I join?) to the easy buildup of what grew between Natalie and Maddox, I was entertained. One, I love when I can actually enjoy a character with my name. I think this is the first time that has happened. Two, Violet… I loved the way she was described and I couldn’t get enough of the relationship that Natalie built with her.
You want a sweet read with a swoony kind of love? You can’t go wrong with this book.
Ok, here goes...
Keepsake by Sarina Bowen
My Rating - ★★★
Standalone - True North #3
Release - October 25, 2016
Genre - Small Town Romance
POV - Dual 1st person
Heat - 3 out of 5 / descriptive with a few scenes
Format - ebook from Amazon
Length - 314 pages
There's a first time for everything.
Lark Wainright used to be fearless. Her life was a series of adventures, each one more exhilarating than the last. But her recent overseas adventure was one too many. Now she’s home and in one piece. Mostly. But her nights are filled with terror.
When her best friend offers her a stay at the orchard in exchange for help at the farmers’ markets, Lark jumps at the chance to spend fall in Vermont. But her nightmares don’t stop. Desperate to keep her fragile state a secret, she relies on the most soft-spoken resident of the Shipley Farm to soothe her when her dreams prove too much.
Zachariah is a survivor, too. It’s been four years since he was tossed aside by the polygamist cult where he grew up. He’s found a peaceful existence on the Shipley’s farm, picking apples and fixing machinery. But getting thrown away by your own people at nineteen leaves a mark on a guy. He doesn’t always know what to make of a world where movie quotes are the primary means of communication. Before hitchhiking to Vermont, he’d never watched TV or spoken on the phone.
Actually, there are a lot of things he’s never done.
Zach and Lark slowly grow to trust one another. One night they become even closer than they’d planned. But Lark may still be too broken to trust anyone. When she pushes Zach away, he will have to prove to himself that he's good for much more than farm labor.
Lark Wainright used to be fearless. Her life was a series of adventures, each one more exhilarating than the last. But her recent overseas adventure was one too many. Now she’s home and in one piece. Mostly. But her nights are filled with terror.
When her best friend offers her a stay at the orchard in exchange for help at the farmers’ markets, Lark jumps at the chance to spend fall in Vermont. But her nightmares don’t stop. Desperate to keep her fragile state a secret, she relies on the most soft-spoken resident of the Shipley Farm to soothe her when her dreams prove too much.
Zachariah is a survivor, too. It’s been four years since he was tossed aside by the polygamist cult where he grew up. He’s found a peaceful existence on the Shipley’s farm, picking apples and fixing machinery. But getting thrown away by your own people at nineteen leaves a mark on a guy. He doesn’t always know what to make of a world where movie quotes are the primary means of communication. Before hitchhiking to Vermont, he’d never watched TV or spoken on the phone.
Actually, there are a lot of things he’s never done.
Zach and Lark slowly grow to trust one another. One night they become even closer than they’d planned. But Lark may still be too broken to trust anyone. When she pushes Zach away, he will have to prove to himself that he's good for much more than farm labor.
There’s something about tragic characters that makes me immediately love a story… and Lark and Zach were easy to love.
Lark was known as a ‘wild child’, but a trip to make lives better turned into a nightmare. Now traumatized, she’s desperate to put on a happy face for everyone. Fake it ‘til you make it and all that. Zach had been booted from a cult. He was new to life on the outside and had to overcome feelings of inadequacy and his fear of abandonment. Together, they were just barely holding on.
I enjoyed the way the author wrapped these characters with so much feeling. I’m a huge fan of the Shipleys and while I’m unsure if there are books about them (this is the 3rd book in the series after all), I want their stories. They gave Lark and Zach such a great foundation for their relationship. If I’m ever down and out, or just plain sad, I want a family like this one at my back.
My only real complaint was that there wasn’t much going on for most of this book. They woke up, milked the cows, ate breakfast, picked apples, sold apples, ate a huge dinner, went to bed, woke up, milked the cows, ate breakfast… Lark had nightmares, Zach gave her comfort, they had feelings for each other, had sex a few times, but for the most part, I was a witness to the tedium of their everyday lives.
Lessons Learned by Marie James
My Rating - ★★★1/4
Standalone - Mission Mercenaries #1
Release - October 13, 2022
Genre - Dark Romance / enemies to lovers
POV - Dual 1st person
Heat - 4 out of 5 / explicit with several scenes (and some triggers)
Format - ebook borrowed from Kindle Unlimited
Length - 235 pages
Despite having a previous connection, I’ve hated Lauren Vos since the day she stepped over my bleeding body and left me for dead.
We were never meant to be. She’s an undercover FBI agent, and I’m a mercenary that goes where the highest bidder takes me.
After seeing each for the first time in years, she thinks we can just pick up where we left off, but the man she once knew died long ago.
What I didn’t know is that the man I became after her betrayal was the man she needed all along.
I feed on her urgency for degradation, but heaven help me, it may be the death of us both.
We were never meant to be. She’s an undercover FBI agent, and I’m a mercenary that goes where the highest bidder takes me.
After seeing each for the first time in years, she thinks we can just pick up where we left off, but the man she once knew died long ago.
What I didn’t know is that the man I became after her betrayal was the man she needed all along.
I feed on her urgency for degradation, but heaven help me, it may be the death of us both.
I reached the end of this book and still don’t know what to think. I didn’t like the characters, and yet, they had me hooked! I couldn’t look away from the hot mess they were or the catastrophe they had created out of their lives.
Angel was a mercenary. Once he was full of heart, but being left for dead changed things. It made him harder, colder, less caring. So why did Lauren affect him so much?
Lauren was an FBI agent who was willing to put herself at the heart of true danger to save lives. Little did anyone know… she was desperate to feel used, abused and humiliated. She lived to be trampled on and assaulted. They fed her in ways they would disgust most people. Why did Angel give her everything she could ever need?
If the FBI hires agents like Lauren, I feel sorry for the federal justice system in America. She was all kinds of messed up. She wasn’t stupid, she had resources, but she did nothing to help herself. She made excuses and she frustrated me. And Angel… dude had so much to offer and I often found myself wishing he wouldn’t offer them to Lauren.
Yeah, it’s all messed up. And yet… I’m probably going to read the next book in the series. Go figure :)
The Naughty, The Nice, and The Nanny by Willa Nash
My Rating - ★★★1/2
Standalone - Holiday Brothers #1
Release - November 4, 2021
Genre - Small Town Romance / forced proximity / single parent
POV - Dual 1st person
Heat - 3 out of 5
Format - ebook borrowed from Kindle Unlimited
Length - 165 pages
One week with one little girl—an angel, according to my staffing agency. Acting as the short-term nanny for a single dad should have been an easy way to make some extra cash. Until I show up for my first day and face off with a demon disguised as a seven-year-old girl wearing a red tutu and matching glitter slippers.
Oh, and her father? My temporary boss? Maddox Holiday. The same Maddox Holiday I crushed on in high school. The same Maddox Holiday who didn’t even know I existed. And the same Maddox Holiday who hasn’t set foot in Montana for years because he’s been too busy running his billionaire empire.
Enduring seven days is going to feel like scaling the Himalayas in six-inch heels. Toss in the Holiday family’s annual soiree, and Christmas Eve nightmares really do come true. But I can do anything for a week, especially for this paycheck, even if it means wrangling the naughty, impressing the nice, and playing the nanny.
Oh, and her father? My temporary boss? Maddox Holiday. The same Maddox Holiday I crushed on in high school. The same Maddox Holiday who didn’t even know I existed. And the same Maddox Holiday who hasn’t set foot in Montana for years because he’s been too busy running his billionaire empire.
Enduring seven days is going to feel like scaling the Himalayas in six-inch heels. Toss in the Holiday family’s annual soiree, and Christmas Eve nightmares really do come true. But I can do anything for a week, especially for this paycheck, even if it means wrangling the naughty, impressing the nice, and playing the nanny.
This was a sweet, small town, ‘ohmygosh my first crush is back AND he’s hot AND he’s my new boss AND his daughter is precious’ kind of romance. From the wonder that was the Holiday family (like seriously, can I join?) to the easy buildup of what grew between Natalie and Maddox, I was entertained. One, I love when I can actually enjoy a character with my name. I think this is the first time that has happened. Two, Violet… I loved the way she was described and I couldn’t get enough of the relationship that Natalie built with her.
You want a sweet read with a swoony kind of love? You can’t go wrong with this book.
Why would I want to stay in my lane when everyone else's lane is a whole lot more fun?
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I'll Just Date Myself by Lani Lynn Vale
My Rating - ★★★★
Standalone - Gator Bait MC #7
Release - June 27, 2023
Genre/Trope - Contemporary romance with suspense elements / enemies to lovers
POV - Dual 1st person
Heat - 4 out of 5
Format - eARC provided by the author
Length - 300 pages
Standalone - Gator Bait MC #7
Release - June 27, 2023
Genre/Trope - Contemporary romance with suspense elements / enemies to lovers
POV - Dual 1st person
Heat - 4 out of 5
Format - eARC provided by the author
Length - 300 pages
Other books in the series: Nobody Cares Unless You're Pretty * Good Trouble * Cute But Psycho * Annoyed at First Sight * The Voices Are Back * Special Kind of Twisted
Normally when you say, “I have a stalker,” you think bad thoughts. That wasn’t the kind of stalker Folsom was when it came to Kobe Sano. Folsom liked to call herself a “guardian angel in disguise.”
The first time he catches her attention, he’s been assigned to hunt her down and throw away the key. All she did was steal someone else’s child. Well, embryo, that is. What Kobe doesn’t know, though, is the man that hired him is up to no good, and she has no other choice but to run without looking back.
From that moment on, she spends the rest of her spare time running away from him while also digging into every nook and cranny of his personal life, finding every weakness he has and utilizing it any way she needs to keep herself one step ahead of him.
Only one day, when she goes to do her usual snooping, she finds out that not only is her favorite person in trouble, but he’s also in need of her help.
Too bad it takes her years to find that help.
Her next step is to break him out of the pokey prison-break style.
If she knew he’d go without question, she very well might have.
***
It didn’t take a genius to know when someone was stalking you. The signs were all there, and they eventually pointed right at Folsom.
When he figures it out, he plans to confront her and maybe address the silent sexual tension that’s been brewing between them for the last few years.
However, right when he’s ready to admit to himself that she might be the one—daughter who intimidates the hell out of him or not—she up and disappears for a year.
In that year, he spends every waking moment searching for her.
And eventually he finds her, confronts her, and is hit in the face with the secrets she’s kept from him for years.
One of which is a big one.
The daughter that she protects with everything she has—the one that he’s come to love with all his heart, just like her mom—is the very abducted child from his one and only unsolved case.
Find I'll Just Date Myself here: Goodreads * Amazon
My Two Cents
After being told that I'd be due for a surprise because the main character was given an overhaul, I didn't know what to expect. Would I even like the new and improved Folsom?
Well, let me tell you...
I DID!!
Folsom was sweet, kind and generous. She also had a knack for being all up in your business and you not even knowing it. She'd help you in ways you didn't even know you needed. She would do anything for her daughter and for those she chose to love.
She was also a woman of mystery. While she was very blunt, she wasn't very forthcoming about her circumstances. And I liked it! It gave her character an air of intrigue that kept me guessing. Even at the end of the book, I'm still wondering if I got her full story.
Kobe was a man who I struggled to get to know in the previous books. It seemed like even the men he served time with had a hard time really knowing this guy. But Folsom found a way and I loved how her meddling created an atmosphere in which they could truly connect.
There are hit men, weird contracts, missing persons, and an easy kind of 'oops I felt into it' love.
I'm still a bit broken hearted over what Kobe had to go through to get his happy ending, but it was a sweet ending and I'm so glad these two unknowns found such happiness with each other.
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!
Hello and welcome! Today I'm sharing the first five books on my Goodreads TBR. They've been sitting there for almost 10 years and I don't suppose I'll ever be getting around to them.
I can't be the only one whose reading habits or choices have drastically changed in the last decade, right?
Let me know if you've read any of these and what you thought of them. Maybe your words (if they're positive) will give me the push I need to finally pick one of these up.
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Rose by Sydney Landon
My name is Rose Madden and I have spent my life being the perfect daughter. Thanks to my daddy, I'm an expert marksman who dresses like some modern day freaking June Cleaver. My life has been perfectly scripted since the day I was born. I've never deviated from the plan—until I met attorney Max Decker. Now he has me doing insane things to get his attention, like grabbing him in his car and being arrested for stalking my ex-boyfriend just so he'll come bail me out of jail. He thinks I'm crazy—but he wants me anyway, he just can't admit it. I'm tired of living my life for others, and Max has just given me a reason to show everyone that this good girl is going bad.
This is the first book of the series. The first three books were about another couple and I remember really wanting to get my hands on this book. Rose was this proper lady who could definitely handle a gun. That's about all that comes to mind. I don't recall much else about her and the longer this book sits on a shelf, the more I forget that it's even there.
Should I read it?
Revived by Samantha Towle
India Harris didn’t have the best start in life. Abandoned as a baby, she and her twin brother, Kit, spent their lives in foster care, only having each other to rely on. Then, at a young age, a relationship with the wrong man left India pregnant. Wanting to give her son the life she never had, she put herself through school and graduated with honors.
Now, at the age of thirty, she’s a highly respected therapist.
At the top of his game as a Formula One driver, Leandro Silva had everything—until an accident on the track left him staring death in the face. After enduring twelve months of physical therapy, Leandro is now physically able to race, but his mind is keeping him from the track. Frustrated and angry, Leandro’s days and nights are filled with limitless alcohol and faceless women.
Entering the last year of his contract, he knows he has to race again, or he’ll lose everything he spent his life working for. Forced into therapy to get his life back, Leandro finds himself in the office of Dr. India Harris.
Falling for his uptight therapist is not part of Leandro’s plan.
Having unethical feelings for her patient, the angry Brazilian race car driver, is not part of India’s plan.
But what if the wrong person is the only person who is right?
Now, at the age of thirty, she’s a highly respected therapist.
At the top of his game as a Formula One driver, Leandro Silva had everything—until an accident on the track left him staring death in the face. After enduring twelve months of physical therapy, Leandro is now physically able to race, but his mind is keeping him from the track. Frustrated and angry, Leandro’s days and nights are filled with limitless alcohol and faceless women.
Entering the last year of his contract, he knows he has to race again, or he’ll lose everything he spent his life working for. Forced into therapy to get his life back, Leandro finds himself in the office of Dr. India Harris.
Falling for his uptight therapist is not part of Leandro’s plan.
Having unethical feelings for her patient, the angry Brazilian race car driver, is not part of India’s plan.
But what if the wrong person is the only person who is right?
Okay, so I don't really know how this one ended up on my list. Back in the day, I think if I enjoyed a book, I added whatever was next for the author to continue the good streak. However, this isn't something I would choose for myself today. Or is it? I don't know. I'm terrible at this. Part of me is wondering if this may be one of the great reads of my year.
What do you think?
Fighting for Forever by J.B. Salsbury
Slut. Hooker. Whore.
The taunts never bothered me. They only see what I allow them to see, and a Las Vegas stripper is the perfect cover.
My life had direction. I had a mission—until the man I needed vanished and is presumed dead.
It’s time to move on—give up the dream for revenge—and no one shows me that more than the mop-headed fighter with eyes the color of the ocean.
If anyone can teach me just how sweet life can be, it’s him. But first, I’d have to let go.
Mase. Baywatch. Mayhem.
I’m known by many names, but there’s only one that stirs panic and worry in my gut every time I’m called it.
Brother.
I’ve bailed him out of trouble for years, so when he turns up in Vegas and asks for me, I’m prepared for the worst. And the worst is exactly what I get in the form of a lilac-eyed beauty named Trix.
She’s everything I hate about Vegas: a stripper, loose with her body and her morals. But there’s something about her, a complexity that she buries deep, and I’m determined to uncover it.
The deeper I go, the less I understand. When I finally learn the truth, we engage in a battle where life and death hang in the balance.
Fighting could kill us both, but if we win, forever is the prize.
The taunts never bothered me. They only see what I allow them to see, and a Las Vegas stripper is the perfect cover.
My life had direction. I had a mission—until the man I needed vanished and is presumed dead.
It’s time to move on—give up the dream for revenge—and no one shows me that more than the mop-headed fighter with eyes the color of the ocean.
If anyone can teach me just how sweet life can be, it’s him. But first, I’d have to let go.
Mase. Baywatch. Mayhem.
I’m known by many names, but there’s only one that stirs panic and worry in my gut every time I’m called it.
Brother.
I’ve bailed him out of trouble for years, so when he turns up in Vegas and asks for me, I’m prepared for the worst. And the worst is exactly what I get in the form of a lilac-eyed beauty named Trix.
She’s everything I hate about Vegas: a stripper, loose with her body and her morals. But there’s something about her, a complexity that she buries deep, and I’m determined to uncover it.
The deeper I go, the less I understand. When I finally learn the truth, we engage in a battle where life and death hang in the balance.
Fighting could kill us both, but if we win, forever is the prize.
I remember reading this entire series and loving it. Seriously, I easily 5-starred the first book and probably ever one following. So I'll definitely be reading this at some point as I re-read this series and share my love of this author's writing.
See... this post was worthwhile because I found not-so-new books to fall in love with all over again.
Never Never by Colleen Hoover + Tarryn Fisher
Charlie Wynwood and Silas Nash have been best friends since they could walk. They've been in love since the age of fourteen. But as of this morning... they are complete strangers. Their first kiss, their first fight, the moment they fell in love... every memory has vanished.
Charlie and Silas must work together to uncover the truth about what happened to them and why. But the more they learn about the couple they used to be, the more they question why they were ever together to begin with.
Charlie and Silas must work together to uncover the truth about what happened to them and why. But the more they learn about the couple they used to be, the more they question why they were ever together to begin with.
I don't really have anything to say about this book or series. I don't even remember the hype surrounding it. However, I have enjoyed books by Tarryn Fisher.
Is this worth my while?
Confess by Colleen Hoover
Auburn Reed is determined to rebuild her shattered life and she has no room for mistakes. But when she walks into a Dallas art studio in search of a job, she doesn’t expect to become deeply attracted to the studio’s enigmatic artist, Owen Gentry.
For once, Auburn takes a chance and puts her heart in control, only to discover that Owen is hiding a huge secret. The magnitude of his past threatens to destroy everything Auburn loves most, and the only way to get her life back on track is to cut Owen out of it—but can she do it?
For once, Auburn takes a chance and puts her heart in control, only to discover that Owen is hiding a huge secret. The magnitude of his past threatens to destroy everything Auburn loves most, and the only way to get her life back on track is to cut Owen out of it—but can she do it?
Here's the thing... New adult romances used to be my jam. I couldn't get enough of them. Now though... I'm super picky and I don't know if this one will be a hit with me.
The last two books I've read from Hoover were pretty meh to me. I gave them 3 stars.
Do you think I'll love this one?
Hello hello! I'm back with some more books that didn't really work for me, but might be winners for you.
Vow of Revenge by P. Rayne
My Rating - ★
Genre/Trope - New Adult Contemporary Romance / arranged marriage
POV - Dual
Length - 358 pages
Genre/Trope - New Adult Contemporary Romance / arranged marriage
POV - Dual
Length - 358 pages
BLURB: Nothing ruins a perfect day like your dead fiancé showing up in the middle of your first class.
Mirabella La Rosa
When my father arranged for me to marry the next in line to lead the Costa crime family, I swore I’d do anything to escape that fate. I have way more to offer my family than being some man’s arm candy, producing heirs, and making appearances at weddings and baptisms.
Marcelo Costa might be my fiancé, but he’ll never be my husband.
Somehow, I get lucky because he and his father are killed in a car bombing. Not only do I not have to go from being a mafia princess to a mafia wife, but now I can attend college at the Sicuro Academy—an affluent private college created for mafia children like me.
I’m so excited. I’ve moved into my dorm room with my best friend, put on the uniform and am ready to learn. But all my plans come to a screeching halt when he shows up on campus alive and well, seeking revenge on those that crossed him.
Marcelo Costa
The look of shock on my fiancée’s face when I walk into the classroom at the Sicuro Academy gives me more pleasure than it should.
Mirabella made it clear she didn’t want to marry me, and she’s a problem to be dealt with for sure. But now, she’s the smaller of my two problems.
The only reason I’m at the Sicuro Academy is because my investigation into the bomb that killed my father and almost took me out has led me here.
So I’ll allow Mirabella to stay at the academy while I track down my father’s murderer, but once I’ve brought that person to my own particular brand of justice I’ll remove her from campus and make her my wife.
And no amount of pleading on her part will change my mind.
I’m sorry Jess, but I quickly realized that this book isn’t for me. I loved the reviews I found for this book and grabbed it up real quick, but nah. It ain’t for me. The characters are too young, too entitled, too too too too much.
The Selkie Wife by Andie Beckham
My Rating - ★★
Genre/Trope - Paranormal Romance / instalove
POV - Dual
Length - 121 pages
Genre/Trope - Paranormal Romance / instalove
POV - Dual
Length - 121 pages
BLURB: From the deep, she's scented him: her perfect match.
On his bleakest night, Arran, a lighthouse keeper's son, encounters a beautiful stranger with a mysterious, glossy coat. Struck by her alluring magic and feral kinship with the ocean, Arran's trepidatiously-balanced life quickly descends into dreamy, passionate chaos.
One thing haunts him: he can't let his violent father find her.
As Arran's heart drifts toward the Selkie like a beacon, he learns the wild seal woman has plans of her own. Her startling proposition to give him a child is only the beginning. The selkie's powerful allure unlocks Arran's secret that could change everything.
I’m still unsure how I feel about this story. While I liked the concept of the selkie female finding her mate on land, I found it hard to engage with this book because of the writing style. I’m not a fan of reading in the present tense, so it kept throwing me off. However, I enjoyed the way this author captured these characters. Rose’s speech patterns and mannerisms were super cute and Arran’s naivete and vulnerability made him incredibly endearing.
Contempt by A. Zavarelli
My Rating - ★★
Genre/Trope - Contemporary Romance / amnesia + second chance
POV - Dual
Length - 554 pages
Genre/Trope - Contemporary Romance / amnesia + second chance
POV - Dual
Length - 554 pages
BLURB: Before the world knew me as a rock god, I was just the angry boy who stole her heart.
She was a good girl.
The forbidden fruit I wasn’t meant to taste.
Our stars were crossed, and fate had doomed us from the start.
She was promised to someone else.
I had her secret smiles.
Moments stolen in dark corners.
But I couldn’t have her future.
Destiny tore us apart, and all that remained was the ghost of her memory.
When she died, I did too.
But when I catch a glimpse of her five years later, alive and well, that love turns to hate as the bitter truth emerges.
She left me.
She lied.
And now, I’m going to make her pay.
I love the concept of this book. I can get behind a good amnesia/revenge plot. But I couldn’t really get behind the way this story was told. There were too many flashbacks and not enough answers. Even in the end, I’m still wondering why it was told this way. It didn’t make it more mysterious. It made it more annoying. Every time there was a flashback, I got irritated. Why? Because just when I thought the glimpse into the past would give me SOME FREAKING ANSWERS, I got nothing. What was the point???
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