Book Reviews Archives - Page 22 of 115

Heat, Flying High and Birthday Girl | Mini Romance Reviews

Jul 16, 2020

Today I thought I would share some mini-reviews of recent romance books that I have read. Two are 2020 releases while the last one is new to me author that I picked up for the first time. Let’s get into it.

High Heat (Hotshots #2) by Annabeth Albert

Pages: 336
Publish date: July 27, 2020
Publisher: Carina Press
ISBN: 9781488057069
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

Smoke jumping is Garrick Nelson’s life. Nothing, not severe injuries nor the brutal physical therapy that follows, is going to stop him from getting back with his crew. But when a lost dog shows up on his front porch, he can’t turn her away, and he can’t take care of her on his own. Thankfully, help comes in the form of his new sexy, dog-loving neighbour. As they work together, trying to re-home their little princess, Garrick can’t resist his growing attraction for the other man, even though he knows this guy isn’t the staying type.

Rain Fisher doesn’t take anything too seriously. He dances through life, one adventure at a time, never settling in one place for too long. When his hot, conveniently buff, neighbour shows up on his doorstep, dog in tow, Rain’s determined to not just save the adorable puppy, but her reluctant owner as well. He never expects their flirtation might tempt him into stay put once and for all…

High Heat:

I received an earc of High Heat by Annabeth Albert from Carina Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts and feelings about a book.

I was looking forward to High Heat. I enjoyed book one in the series as well as Annabeth Albert’s previous book. But this one just wasn’t for me. From the start, I wasn’t clicking with the characters or the story. Which I found strange. I enjoyed Garrick in the first book and I was so looking forward to getting to know him more. But as soon as I was in his perspective, it fell flat to me.

Both Garrick and Rain were both interesting characters, but that is what they felt like; characters. I love when an author can make me see their characters as real people, but I didn’t feel that here. They were entertaining and I liked getting to know them. But they were just on the page.

Garrick is this tough guy that wants to get to the job he was going before the accident. But he can’t and it takes him a long time to realise that. I enjoyed seeing this. You all know me I love seeing different types of disabilities in books, and I really liked the way that Annabeth Albert explored it here. Garrett wasn’t only dealing with the physical pain of his injury, but also the mental. I think that Albert had a great balance of this.

Rain was such a character – he did make me laugh several times. But then there were times where I felt that his personality took over the story in High Heat instead of helping it. If that makes any sense at all.

Overall, I was disappointed with High Heat by Annabeth Albert. I was really looking forward to Garrett’s story, but I was disappointed with the outcome. The romance was something that I liked, but I felt the characters were a little flat. I enjoyed the representation of disability and the many aspects that come with it. But the plot didn’t grab me. I might continue with the series – I will just have to wait and see.

Classified (The Elite #3) by Brooke Blaine and Ella Frank

Pages: 226
Publish date: 21 June 2020
Publisher: –
ISBN: 9798653162893
Purchase: Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

MATEO MORGAN
CALL SIGN: SOLO

GRANT HUGHES
CALL SIGN: PANTHER

In the heat of the hot California sun, tempers flare and desires ignite as Solo and Panther try to resist their attraction while fighting to be number one.
With passion this intense, the question remains:
Who’s gonna come out on top?

Classified:

I read the first two books in The Elite Series earlier this year and enjoyed them a lot. And with the second book finishing on a cliff hanger, I knew I needed to read book three as soon as it came out. I enjoyed it and felt like it was the perfect ending to this series.

The romance in Classified really brings the heat and I love it, Morgan and Grant and just so adorable together and I loved that the reader gets to see a different side of them in this book. The first two books in this series are about them understanding their feelings for one another and letting things go. But Classified explores their relationship more.

I did feel that the cliffhanger from book two was a little letdown. I didn’t feel that there was enough tension at that moment. It’s later in the novel that the tension is brought to the forefront. But I would have liked to see more of it from the getgo.

Both Morgan and Grant are great characters and I really enjoyed seeing them explore their relationship more. But they also had their moments. Miscommunication and insecurities are one of the main force of turmoil in this novel. And while I normally don’t like this, it did work well her.

Overall, I enjoyed reading Classified by Brooke Blaine and Ella Frank. It was a great conclusion to the series and brought together some great moments. I loved Morgan and Grant together, and the ending had me smiling so much. This is a great little series that is great for someone that loves military romances but wants something a little different.

Birthday Girl by Penelope Douglas

Pages: 416
Publish date: April 15, 2018
Publisher: Penelope Douglas LLC
ISBN: 9781976333088
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

JORDAN

He took me in when I had nowhere else to go. He doesn’t use me, hurt me, or forget about me. And he listens to me, protects me, and sees me. I can feel his eyes on me over the breakfast table, and my heart pumps so hard when I hear him pull in the driveway after work.

I have to stop this. It can’t happen.

My sister once told me there are no good men, and if you find one, he’s probably unavailable. Only Pike Lawson isn’t the unavailable one.
I am.

PIKE

I took her in because I thought I was helping. As the days go by, though, it’s becoming anything but easy. I have to stop my mind from drifting to her and stop holding my breath every time I bump into her in the house. I can’t touch her, and I shouldn’t want to.

But we’re not free to give into this. She’s nineteen, and I’m thirty-eight.

And her boyfriend’s father.

Unfortunately, they both just moved into my house.

Birthday Girl:

Penelope Douglas has been on my to-read list for a few years now. But I didn’t know where to start. After hearing pretty great things about Birthday Girl, I thought it was a perfect choice. And I’m really glad that I decided with this one. While it wasn’t my favourite book I’ve ever read, I did enjoy reading it.

Both protagonist were such a pleasure to read and I loved getting to know both of them throughout Birthday Girl. At times I felt that their characters felt a little flat. But it wasn’t the whole book. Jordan was interesting and I liked getting to know her. I loved her growth as well.

Pike was a really interesting character. I didn’t particularly love him, but I didn’t hate him, just indifferent. I liked knowing about him and knowing his feelings. But I didn’t care too much. At times I felt that he was just annoying.

I enjoy reading age-gap romances and there is one here for sure. The romance had a great built-up I enjoyed seeing that a lot. It’s a slow burn one for sure, so that is not your thing, then this isn’t for you. But I did enjoy seeing the relationship build between Jordan and Pike. It went from nothing to something quite sweet. In saying this, I did feel that the book ended before the reader gets to see Jordan and Pike together. It’s a big book and I felt like as soon as anything happened – the book ended.

Talking about age-gap romance. I like how it was handle here. A big deal wasn’t made, but it was also not overlooked. It was a great balance and that was perfect.

Overall I enjoyed reading Birthday Girl by Penelope Douglas. It was a great romance novel that I would recommend to others, especially those looking for age-gap romances. Jordan and Pike were great together, even though I wished I saw more of them together. I will need to pick up something from Penelope Douglas again for sure.

And that is it for today’s reviews. Have you read any of these books? What did you think? Are you planning on reading them? Let’s Chat!

Series Review: The Fallen Men by Giana Darling

Jul 13, 2020

I’ve talked about this series briefly over the last couple of months. But I thought it was time for me to write a full series review of the books that are currently out. Book five Inked in Lies is due to release later this month and I’m so excited. But today I’m sharing my thoughts of the first four books in the series.

Trigger Warnings: Abuse, Abduction, Neglect, Torture, Death, Cancer. These are MC and age gap romances, therefore, some things happen throughout the series that is questionable at times. But that does come along with the MC romance genre.

At the moment this series is in the middle of being dark – but I feel that it will go there for sure as the series goes on. It’s on the tamer side of some of the MC romances I’ve read with the Hades Hangman series being one of the darkest. So The Fallen Men series is in the middle at the moment for sure. Enough of this let’s get into it.

Lessons in Corruption: Book one in the series starts with a bang. This is a slight student/teacher romance. This is one of the most taboo books of the series, and I was very hesitant to pick it up. However, it wasn’t as bad as I first thought it was going to be. This series had been on my radar for a while, but I didn’t know how I would go with the romance. But I liked how Giana Darling explored the relationship. Cress is trying to put her life back together after leaving her loveless marriage and then she runs into King.

They have an instant connection, but that gets turned on its head when he turns out to be her student. This part of the romance was hard for me. I wanted to fall in love with these characters because they were great, but this did make me pull away from the story. However, as the novel did go on and because of certain events, I did enjoy Cress and King together.

King was a really interesting male protagonist. I enjoy the vibe that he had. He was this bad boy, but also loved reading and gosh I loved that. There was this small alpha male trope going on – but it wasn’t really heavy on that. So I didn’t mind too much.

While Lessons in Corruption didn’t have a lot of the traditional MC tropes or events until the last 30% or so and I enjoyed that as well. One of the things that I also loved was the relationship between Cress and the men of the MC. I just loved it. The banter, the respect and the love that they have. It was a great introduction to The Fallen Men world.

Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

Welcome to the Dark Side: This one follows King’s father Zeus and his romance with Lou. This is the most taboo of all the books and one I did struggle with a little. But I also really liked how the relationship between Zeus and Lou built throughout the book. Lou has known Zeus most of her life, in fact, he saved her. And this is what started their friendship. After Zeus is realised from prison he tries to distance himself from Lou, until she takes matters in her own hands.

I also want to make a quick note that I am not condoning a lot that happens throughout this book if it would happen in real life. This is a work of fiction for me. Okay, let’s go back into the review.

Things get a lot darker in a sense of the MC world in this book. Things are starting to heat up for Zeus and his Fallen Men. And I loved getting to look more into this. As I mentioned, I enjoy reading MC romance and the reader can start seeing more of it here.

Lou was such a lovely protagonist. I loved getting to know her. I loved that she was girly, but then she was this tough ass and ah yes! The reader gets to see these two sides of her. But then the reader can see the side of her that even Lou doesn’t want to expose. This book was quite heartbreaking at times and gosh did I just want to get Lou a massive hug.

As I said things are starting to heat up in this The Fallen Men book, in regards to the MC and things, are getting much more intense. I like a lot about this one

Good Gone Bad: This is probably my less favourite book from The Fallen Men series, but I didn’t hate it at all. I just wasn’t able to connect with the characters as much compared to the other books. I liked the start and the end, but the middle was just a little eh to me.

Good Gone Bad follows characters the reader already knows very well. First, we have Harleigh Rose, daughter of Zeus and brother to King. I loved that we got a book from her perspective. She was such an interesting character to see from the sidelines. But then being in her head. I loved it. She is a true biker’s daughter. In saying that there were times where I wanted to shake her up. I wanted her to talk with her family. They would do anything for her, and then to see her distance herself.

Then we have Danner. He was such an interesting character and the perfect romance interest for Harleigh Rose. I loved that he had this good and bad side. He would do anything to protect those that he loves, especially Harleigh Rose.

The romance in this one was really interesting. I loved the banter between the two. They fit each other perfectly without changing them. They were both able to be the best of themselves and the other brought it out so well. I loved that we got to see more of both Danner and Harleigh Rose when they were younger the dynamic that they had then and how it grew throughout both of their lives. It was really interesting. Darling can create such fantastic romantic tension and it works brilliantly here.

Like I said I didn’t love the middle of this one. It just felt as if things were being dragged along. I felt like I didn’t care what was happening – and that was a shame.

Overall, I did enjoy getting to know Harleigh Rose and Danner more and I can’t wait to see more of them as the series goes on.

Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

After The Fall: This book tore me to part. I did not survive this book. Seriously I was a sobbing mess for most of this week. If you want a book that won’t make you cry, then this one is not for you. While the series isn’t over this felt like it was an ending to one story and the beginning of another.

After the Fall follows Cress and King as things are starting to heat up for the MC. Things are starting to get much darker and more heartbreaking. I think all the books that do follow won’t be suns and daisy, The Fallen Men are going to be in for a ride.

I loved getting to see more of Cress and King and not just through other characters eyes. The reader gets to see where their relationship is and how far they have come. I did love them together much more in this one then their first book. Everything felt more fleshed out and clicked more when reading.

Another that I loved about After the Fall was the reader can see everyone else as well. It’s not just Cress and Kings’ book, but it’s a Fallen Men book. And that was fantastic.

There are so many things that happen in this book that tore my heart out. The last maybe 50 pages or so I was crying so much. It hurt. It hurt. But it was also so beautifully done. It hurt, but it hurt good.

***

And that is it for this series review! Have you read The Fallen Men series? What did you think of it? Are you planning on reading it? Let’s Chat!

Book Review: The Dare by Elle Kennedy

Jul 8, 2020

The Dare (Briar U #4) by Elle Kennedy

Pages: 354
Publish date: June 16, 2020
Publisher: –
ISBN: 9781777112134
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

College was supposed to be my chance to get over my ugly-duckling complex and spread my wings. Instead, I wound up in a sorority full of mean girls. I already have a hard time fitting in, so when my Kappa Chi sisters issue the challenge, I can’t say no.

The dare: seduce the hottest new hockey player in the junior class.

Conor Edwards is a regular at Greek Row parties…and in Greek Row sorority beds. He’s the one you fall for before you learn that guys like him don’t give girls like me a second glance. Except Mr Popular throws me for a loop—rather than laughing in my face, he does me a solid by letting me take him upstairs to pretend we’re getting busy.

Even crazier, now he wants to keep pretending. Turns out Conor loves games, and he thinks it’s fun to pull the wool over my frenemies’ eyes.

But resisting his easy charm and surfer-boy hotness is darn near impossible. Though I’m realizing there’s much more to Conor’s story than his fan club can see.

And the longer this silly ruse goes on, the greater the danger of it all blowing up in my face.

The Dare:

I’ve been reading Elle Kennedy for some time now. She is one of my most read authors and while this series hasn’t been my favourite, I did want to finish it. It’s been nearly two weeks since I finished The Dare and I’m still not sure how I feel about it. There are parts that I loved and others that didn’t sit well with me.

The Dare follows protagonist Taylor as she tries to navigate her life in college. But Taylor feels like she doesn’t fit in. When she’s challenged by her sorority to seduce the hottest hockey player, she has no choice she accepts. But Taylor has a trick up her sleeve. When Conor Edwards becomes Taylor’s dare he doesn’t know what to expect. And he can’t help but want to help her. But what starts as a game, turns into something more the longer they play.

Photo by Arthur Edelman on Unsplash

Taylor was an interesting protagonist. At first, it was hard for me to connect with her. I’m not sure what it was that held me back, but as the novel went on I began to enjoy reading about her. I felt that her voice was really strong and I liked getting to know her more. Taylor’s character arc was really interesting and the reader can see her grow throughout the book. I will talk more about this later, but I felt that there was a big focus on her insecurities. And that took away from getting to know Taylor as Taylor.

If you have read any books previous in the Briar U series you would have met Conor. And while I wasn’t his biggest fan, I did want to know more about him. At first, Conor is your typical New Adult college boy and male protagonist. But like Taylor, as the novel went on the reader gets to see him grow. It’s always strange when your perspective changes on a character. Maybe it’s because the reader can see Conor in a different light. And instead of seeing him from the perspective of others, we get to see the real him.

The romance in The Dare was really enjoyable. I liked that Taylor and Conor were friends before anything. It added something more to their romance and I loved that. They were adorable together, it just made me smile. I love the fake dating trope and this was a fun way to look at it. The chemistry is very clear from the start and the reader gets to see both Taylor and Conor fall for one another.

Photo by Samantha Gades on Unsplash

Like I said I love the fake dating trope, so I loved that side of the novel. It was fun, engaging and just made me smile. Elle Kennedy is great at writing fantastic chemistry both romanticly and friendship wise and that is evident here. At times I did feel that the plot lack something, but I can’t figure out what it was. It was just missing some -. I don’t even know the word. I’m not a massive fan of the miscommunication or not talking trope and there was some of that here.

There were a few problems that arose for me while reading The Dare. I wasn’t a massive fan of how body image was presented throughout the novel. At first, I enjoyed that Taylor was curvy. But then it became all about that. I felt that her insecurities too over the novel, but not in a good way. I just want a novel where there is a curvy/plus size protagonist and it doesn’t come down to her weight or how she looks. That would be nice. I also felt that there were a few moments throughout the novel that made me cringe and second guess what I was reading. They were just some side remarks that didn’t sit well with me.

Photo by Vince Fleming on Unsplash

Overall I enjoyed reading The Dare by Elle Kennedy. It was a great conclusion to the end of a series. While I didn’t fall in love with everything in this series, it was still fun to read. I’m interested in what Elle Kennedy brings out next. I enjoyed the romance between Taylor and Conor and loved seeing them fall in love. And while I did have some problems with the book, it didn’t take too much away from me. If you are looking for a fun new adult romance series, this is a great one to pick up.