Review: Goddess with a Blade (Goddess With A Blade Series Book 1) by Lauren Dane

Goddess with a Blade by Lauren Dane
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really love the main female character in this book, Rowan Summerthwaite. Rowan is a woman who has given her life up to the service of others. She is the vessel for the goddess Brigid, and as such serves during rituals and blessings. Raised from infancy by the First vampire she was taught with ruthless efficiency to be a perfect weapon and servant. Then she found out that her foster father had her parents killed. She was just a teenager and ran to Brigid’s Motherhouse for safety and became a hunter of vampires for revenge and in service once more the unaware human population.

I loved the world-building in this book. There is a careful treaty between vampires and hunters, where punishments are laid out on both sides and tribunals govern over disputes of actions taken by both parties. Hunters like Rowan are the blades that execute the vampires that go rogue. I love the idea of checks and balances between humanity and vampires.

Rowan covers Las Vegas and is returning after an absence of 8 months, during which she was being questioned by a series of tribunals and committees after killing the previous Scion of Las Vegas. She has returned to a new Scion who has taken a very deadly broom to the vampires left to him. He has got a ruthless grip on business for the Vampire Nation. The new Scion, Clive, is 500 years old and was born a vampire. He’s British and very proper, Rowan is not and when they meet sparks fly. Those sparks inevitably lead to them bumping uglies, despite themselves.

There is a series of brutal murders taking place in Las Vegas that have been brought to Rowan’s attention. Young women, junkies, are being murdered in a vicious manner and very obviously by a vampire. It’s up to Rowan to discover the murderer before vampires become exposed to the world, which breaks the Treaty.

This is a really enjoyable book with lots of wonderfully detailed world-building. There are also some really interesting characters that have depth and realism. This is a great first book in a series and introduces the world and the characters really well. I’ll definitely be reading the rest of this series.

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Review: Destiny Rising (Destiny Series Book 2) by CJ Cooke

Destiny Rising by C.J. Cooke
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Gripping Story

This book follows on immediately after the end of Book 1. The last part of the previous book was really good and this book definitely built on that. The story flies along at a great rate and is filled with emotion and passion.

The final scenes of the last book leave echoes of pain as the remnants of the student body and staff must find their way to safety. The only people capable of keeping them safe are Aria’s Elite, so they make their way to pack land in the hopes of evading the demons that destroyed the academy.

What they find isn’t as safe as they hoped with Pack politics making it an insecure place for Aria and her mates. Her magic is becoming stronger and more evident and the Pack Seer has information about who she is and where she needs to go to get more information. It seems Aria and her mates are going on a trip.

Now free of the academy structure this story comes to life. We are in the realms of an epic fantasy series as the protagonist goes on a quest through unknown lands to find the solution to the world’s problems.

There are plenty of battles, lots of passion and fascinating cultures. This book is a fantastic read and I can’t believe the cliffhanger! Thankfully the next book is already out.

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Review: Snow and the Shadows (Roteran Shadows Series Book 1) by Cara Carnes

Snow and the Shadows by Cara Carnes
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Not Enough Depth

I’d probably give this book 3.5 ⭐️ if I could.

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. It started with lots of promise. I really liked my initial introduction to Snow, a slave, born to another slave, who’s father was the king. Trapped on an old space ship, travelling around empty space for years at a time, with only a single caregiver and three guards. Of course, her guards trained her to fight, because what else were they going to do for years at a time floating through space.

One day their ship is boarded and everyone except her is killed. Her father and his new bride are there to make sure that she can’t access a well of power, which the Queen currently holds sole power over. Of course, Snow can, but she hides it, with the aid of seven Shadows. The Shadows are ruthless fighters from a neutral empire and Snow is surprised to find them in the employ of her step-mother. The Shadows take away Snow with orders to sell her at the slave market. Only they don’t do as they are told and in actual fact are there to rescue Snow because of her access to the Well.

This book had lots of ingredients that should have made it an excellent book. The general outline of the world-building, the magic system and the general outline of the characters and plot are all excellent until you dig down into it. I felt like this book sketched across what could have been really good, instead of layering the characters and plot with lots of interactions, they were skimmed over. This meant I didn’t really connect with the characters and the further into the book I got, the less I cared about them.

If you just look at the ingredients of this book it should have been 4-4.5 ⭐️, but when you actually read it, I can’t see it being more than 3.5 ⭐️ because there simply wasn’t enough depth to everything to make me care. I think if I hadn’t had such high hopes for this book I would have enjoyed it more, but because it didn’t fulfil the potential I am more annoyed than entertained and thus gave it a lower rating than if I’d not read any reviews and came into it cold. Part of me feels guilty for that, but not enough to give it more of a positive review, sorry Ms Carnes!

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Review: Destiny Awakened (Destiny Series Book 1) by CJ Cooke

Destiny Awakened by C.J. Cooke
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Great Start To A New Series

It’s always tough to start a series in a way that doesn’t overwhelm the reader with details but still allows the story to grow. This novel manages that, and what is even more impressive is that this is a debut novel, as well as a start to a series.

Aria is a 20-year-old college student, who sidelines as a cat burglar who’s work helps abused women get away from the men who abuse them. It’s a noble endeavour, that also pays her bills well and allows her to practice using her magic. Abandoned as a baby and slung into the system, she has been through a lot in her life, but she is happy with where she is now, helping other people, saving money, having fun challenging herself and helping out at the gym that helped her survive when she was young.

Her nice stable life, with enough excitement to contain her magic safely, is turned upside down when new legislation is passed enforcing all half breed magic users to leave the Earth realm and go to train with full supernaturals. No one has ever seen her kind of magic before and when she arrives at the academy she is still an outsider until she meets three gorgeous shifters who know she is something special.

This book has a lot going for it. It’s got a great strong main female character, who is confident and strong, with enough legitimate insecurities to make her relatable without being weak. I love that her magic is tied to her combat skills, which she has spent years honing. She has worked hard to achieve her strength and the magic just builds on that. She doesn’t go from ordinary human to crazy strong magic user with no foundation.

I also like the other characters, mainly the guys she meets, Kyle, the alpha of their small pack, Sykes and Liam. These three shifters are also strong but have their own flaws, though these don’t weaken them. I especially like Britt, the shifter who Aria protects and then trains. Britt is vulnerable because her society has deemed her a weak female that must be protected and controlled. Aria shows her another path that she grabs with both hands.

One of the things I wasn’t as keen on was the choice of using an academy and then half hearting it. There was very little structure to the academy and the teachers were very lax and more like friends than teachers. They were able to do pretty much what they wanted, when they wanted and Aria became a mentor, rather than receiving training herself. It felt like a plot device to get everyone together in one place, rather than a natural part of the story. I felt that the headmaster and Caleb the combat trainer were weak characters until they got outside the academy structure and then they became much more believable, because as teachers they weren’t. Once we were outside the ‘structure’ of the academy the story came to life for me.

This book is a great start for a new writer, and I love the characters so much that the plot wobbles didn’t bother me that much. I will definitely be continuing with the story because I really want to know what happens to them all next.

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Review: Wildflower (Cricket Kendall Series Book 2) by Willow Hadley

Wildflower by Willow Hadley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sweet NA RH Paranormal Romance

This book continues immediately after the first book in the series and carries on being sweet to the max. All the characters are lovely, though there are some really caustic girls at the school who seem to really dislike all the attention Cricket’s getting.

Nothing much happens in this book except we get to see more of the characters and Cricket’s relationships with Theo, Hollis and Cas gets more heated and involved.

One thing that does happen is that Cricket makes more friends. She has expanded her social circle outside of her guys and the people she makes friends with are all quite interesting in different ways.

Everything is building up to her 18th birthday when everyone believes her mate marks will appear, swiftly followed by Mabon when she will have her ‘coming out’ celebration of achieving her powers.

I don’t know why I’m enjoying these books so much, probably because it reminds me of teenage high school drama books of yesteryear, however, there isn’t much drama between Cricket and her guys. It’s pretty soap-opera-like, but in the good sucking you in way.

I’m kind of annoyed the next book isn’t out yet, because I’m enjoying being in Cricket’s happy little world at the moment and don’t want to come out quite yet.

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Review: The Heir of Shadows (Underestimated Series Book 4) by Candice M Wright

The Heir of Shadows by Candice M. Wright
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Not a Relaxing Read

**Just a quick warning that there is sexual and physical abuse featured in this book. If you feel that this subject matter might cause you to experience emotional distress, you should probably skip this book.**

Ava is the daughter of Garrett, a serial killer cop who went undercover at Kings of Carnage for years. Garrett is obsessed with his daughter and his abuse of her started early on. Though she managed to escape for a while with her uncle, under witness protection, she was forced out into the light when Garrett found a perfect replacement victim in Reign, who Ava’s uncle had come to care for.

After Ava emerged from witness protection she was abducted by Garrett and her uncle was killed. She has been subject to his obsession for a year and a half, whilst her newly discovered brother, Saint, and the rest of the Kings of Carnage hunt for her.

The story starts just before Ava gets away from her father and the book gets going with quite traumatic events. You don’t get eased into this book. In fact, I didn’t really ‘enjoy’ this book. There is quite a lot of difficult subject matter, and it doesn’t have much in the way of levity to counterbalance it. I also found it difficult to connect to Ava, and I think that is because of the trauma involved which subjugated a lot of her normal personality and that a chunk of the book was more about how she was viewed than what she was experiencing. I understand why the author made this choice, for plot reasons, but it didn’t help me actually empathise with the character much until towards the end of the book when more of her actual personality was allowed out.

I felt that the author took some shortcuts on character development for the male characters in this book because they had appeared in previous books in the series. It meant that they didn’t really show themselves properly in this book, which I felt was a bit of a shame, as they are all interesting characters.

This felt like a necessary book for the series as a whole, but as a stand-alone book, it didn’t work for me as much as the other books in the series. However, I will still be downloading the next book in the series as soon as possible because I really want to know what happens next as there was a tiny bit of a cliffhanger at the end of the book.

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Review: Cricket (Cricket Kendall Series Book 1) by Willow Hadley

Cricket by Willow Hadley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Sweet NA RH Romance

I’d probably give this book 3.5 ⭐️ if I could.

Cricket is a teenage witch. She’ll soon be turning 18 and her family have sent her to Colorado to live with her aunt who is also a witch to help her learn more about her magic, as her immediate family have none. She’s close to her brothers, who are twins, who are at college in Denver so being closer to them also helps.

What she doesn’t realise that she’s also there to meet three werewolves. There are three young werewolves that will probably form a pack when they reach the right age. They are also in the senior class of the local high school where Cricket will go. Cricket’s aunt has had a vision that she belongs with these three werewolves and that’s why she wanted her to come and stay with her.

This is a very sweet book. There is tonnes of sweet affection and caring for Cricket. There’s some sexual tension but to be honest not as much as I would have thought given that all of the teenagers have plenty of experience prior to meeting.

What this book doesn’t do is actually go anywhere much. The content of this book could have been covered in at least half the pages. However, I enjoyed reading those pages, so I shouldn’t complain too much. This book felt very much like stage setting or an introduction to all the players in the series.

I’m definitely going to read the next book because I like all the characters and want to see what happens next, but this is not a challenging book by any means. It’s a feel-good, sweet high school type romance book.

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Review: Hitting the Wall (Stonecut County Series Book 1) by Cate C Wells

Hitting the Wall by Cate C. Wells
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Even Better Than The Blurb

I decided to try this book, based purely on the blurb because I’d never read anything by this author before. I thought it would be your standard small-town romance but it was so much more than I thought it would be. If you read a lot (and I do) you read the signals given in the blurb in a certain way. Your brain takes shortcuts and decides what a book is going to be like and if it fits your criteria you download it. This book ticked boxes for the mood I was in and when I read it got something a lot more than I was expecting.

This is a small town second chance romance, but it’s also about Shay, a mother who has been forced to step up to the plate at a really young age to fight for everything her daughter needs. She was run out of town, aged 17 and pregnant, and forced to go back to her neglectful mother. 7 years later circumstances are such that she feels forced to return to her deceased grandfather’s trailer to live for a few months whilst she saves up enough money to start again somewhere fresh.

A few weeks into her return the father of her daughter, deputy sheriff and town golden boy, Kellum, sees them and recognises his daughter. A daughter he didn’t know existed. Kellum is divorced from his high school sweetheart and his boss and godfather is under investigation by the FBI. The shine is starting to tarnish on his golden life and when he finds his daughter and Shay he grabs onto his chance of real happiness with both hands.

See it all sounds good doesn’t it. Except it isn’t, because the men who ran Shay out of town are still there, still doing the same sorts of things and these men are Kellum’s beloved family. Shay doesn’t trust the situation and even though all she wants is her daughter’s happiness, she can’t help but want a little happiness too, but she doesn’t trust she’ll be allowed to have and keep it.

I love how nuanced this book is. There are so many layers peeled back on small-town living and how different the experience is for those who have money and power and those who do not. It explores how hard things are when good people in power do nothing and let the bad people rule the roost. It explores how different the experience is of having a child with special needs when you have money and power and when you do not, even in a small town where resources are not as stretched as in a big city.

I think this book especially resonated with me because my family has experience with facing the educational establishment with special needs children. I recognised some of the battles Shay fought, even though I’m in a different country. I’ve also been the poor person surrounded by people with money and power and it’s an uncomfortable place to be, even when those people are good.

This book isn’t just a small-town romance it’s much more layered and challenging. I couldn’t stop reading it, it sucked me it and my brain won’t stop whirring with it. I’m so glad this is the start of a series, I’m definitely reading the rest of it because this book starts a chain of events I can’t wait to see resolved. The characters are amazingly complex and layered and the supporting characters are still convincing and obviously will come into their own in future books.

Now I have to go back and read all about Kellum’s older brother who’s a member of an MC (another of my favourite genres) as I’m intrigued to know how the author has made that genre much more than usual.

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Review: Betrayal (Grimm Brother's Tattoo Series Book 1) by November Sweets

Betrayal by November Sweets
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Intriguing Paranormal RH

This is the first book I’ve read by this author and for the most part, I enjoyed it. I will say first off that it could do with a good proofread because there were some truly awful errors, eg, ‘reigns down’ instead of ‘rains down’. However that aside it was an interesting start to a new series.

Delphina (Dell) is a hybrid chameleon shifter/intention witch which means she is powerful and deadly. She has a 5-year-old son, Max who is her reason for living and he is a hybrid wolf shifter/witch so is a little bundle of mischief. One of the things I liked most about this story was the relationship between Dell and Max, it’s natural, funny, loving and infuriating.

Dell has raised Max on her own because the day she was going to tell her five mates about her pregnancy is the day they disappeared from her life with a note that read a couple of sentences that made no sense to her. Her mates have been based for the last 3 years in Colorado working as tattoo artists, drowning their loss in women and each other.

Dell shows up with Max, supposedly to take a holiday, but really to tell her ex-mates she wants to either break their mating bond or alternatively she can just kill them.

The story unfolds as we see her mates try to win Dell back and we find out more about all their lives over the last 5 years and why they left, though Dell doesn’t find that out. I must say that when I found out why they left I wanted to tear my hair out. It was a ridiculous reason for 5 grown men to leave and they needed a slap to wake them up. I had to put a pin in that reason and kind of ignore why it happened because otherwise, I would have stopped reading in annoyance.

I really liked Dell. I thought she was a fantastic complex character who used to be all sunshine and rainbows until her mates left and then she became dark and despairing, but there is still that person underneath who is kind, loving and protective. I love that her relationship with Max has helped keep her warm, but she still has become lethal, turning that protective instinct to number 11 on the dial.

We don’t have a lot of time to spend on each of Dell’s mates, but what I see is enough to like their diversity in both species and characters. They also have strong ties both physical and emotional with each other as well as Dell. There is plenty of steamy scenes both with MMM and MM action as well as MF.

Like I said at the start, this book has lots of things I like. The plot is interesting and kept me reading to find out what was going to happen next, the characters are strong and complex, with plenty left to discover in future books and the world-building has promise. What I felt was lacking was the slight predictability of some of the plot constructs, but there were sufficient twists to keep me guessing sometimes, but also the world building wasn’t as strong as it could have been. There were hints about the greater supernatural world in which the book was set but it didn’t feel fully formed. I’m sure that as the series progresses, we’ll get to know more about the community in which they live because it’s only by understanding the society in which they live can I begin to comprehend some of their actions.

I’ll definitely read the next in the series because I want to know what happens next.

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Review: The Price We Pay (The Path of Temptation Series Book 1) by Auryn Hadley

The Price We Pay by Auryn Hadley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Fantastic Introduction To A World Of Gods

This book was fantastic from the first page. I’ve been really excited about this book from the first time we got a teaser of the first chapter on the author’s Facebook Group a few months ago and the rest of the book did not disappoint, rather it exceeded my expectations.

This is a story of a small girl, Nariana, who taken to the temple on the one day of the year a child can be surrendered for service to the gods in exchange for a gold mark. It’s a day when families can save their starving children by giving one to the gods to make what they have go further and with the extra money feed the rest of the family through the winter.

Claimed by Zeal, the God of Temptation, Nariana is introduced to a world filled with his priests and priestesses. She is educated and loved by her mentor and her guardian who form a little family inside a greater one.

This book is really about Nari’s education from the time she enters the temple, and the people she meets throughout that time. The alliances and enmities she makes during her education help shape who she is and her devotion to Zeal. Her education also teaches us about the world in which the series is set. As a child, Nari is taught about the world as well as her role within it in a way that is clearly laid out for us. At the same time as we are being entertained by the plot, we are learning about Nariana’s world and her place within it.

This is a complicated fantasy world, filled with gods and magic and the science and fashion of the Victorian era. It’s a decadent dive into passion, rage and the temptation of greed.

This is a reverse harem story and there is plenty of passion as the children grow into adults. As older teens there is fooling around but no actual sex until they are around 19-20 years old. The sex scenes that are included are very well written, tender and still fan-your-face hot. The relationships are not just about passion but about friendship, love, acceptance and a shared path.

I loved all the characters, who are wonderfully well rounded and flawed in a believable and consistent way. There are some different points of view during the book, but it is mainly from Nariana’s POV. The alternate POVs are enlightening both in terms of plot and allowing us to see things in a different way.

The book doesn’t finish on a cliff hanger, but a natural break. I was still gripped with a fierce desire to know what comes next because the plot is wonderfully compelling. Once you start reading this story you won’t be able to stop. Thankfully the whole series is already written, I just have to wait for each book to be published on the due dates. It’s nice to have things to look forward to and know that your expectations will be met!

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Series Review: The Draga Court Series by Emma Dean

Sometimes when life isn't going the way you want it to, and life at the moment is very unpredictable, it's comforting to read books you've enjoyed before because you know you aren't going to be disappointed. When I re-read books I don't post about them on the blog unless I've not reviewed them before. However, after re-reading The Draga Court Series by Emma Dean I decided to try something a bit different. When I re-read a series I'll do a summary post with links to the individual book reviews I've written. On a purely selfish note, it makes it easier for me to post recommendations for the complete series to the various Facebook groups I belong to.

Book 1: Princess of Draga by Emma Dean

4 out of 5 Stars

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Book 2: Crown of Draga by Emma Dean

5 out of 5 Stars

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Book 3: Jasmine of Draga by Emma Dean

5 out of 5 Stars

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Book 4: Heir of Draga by Emma Dean

5 out of 5 Stars

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Book 5: Queen of Draga by Emma Dean

5 out of 5 Stars

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Book 6: Fate of Draga by Emma Dean

5 out of 5 Stars

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I hope you like the new format, and if you think of anything I should include on the summary page, please let me know.

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Review: Sentinel Station (Sentinel Station Series Book 1) by Brittany Rose

Sentinel Station by Brittany Rose
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Completely believable premise for first contact

Set in the 2060s Dr Maya Adams is a professor in linguistics at Harvard. She’s bright, articulate and often the recipient of prejudice against her abilities because she’s beautiful. No one believes she’s capable of her level of attainment because they assume she slept to her position. This means when she is called to investigate the space station that suddenly appeared over Earth she faces a great deal of obstruction from the man in charge who has been lead to believe by jealous colleagues of hers that she is a bimbo.

In fact, Maya may be the only one capable of solving the mystery of the crazy complex language that seems to fit no recognisable pattern. As someone who speaks 15 languages, several of which are ancient languages, she knows better than most that it’s probably not a language at all.

I really enjoyed this book. It’s an interesting premise for how first contact could take place. I love the idea of a space station just appearing over Earth, completely empty, in working order with an open bay just waiting for humans to arrive and start using it, once they can read the instructions.

Maya is an interesting character. She’s young at 28 to be a professor at Harvard. She divorced around 18 months ago after her husband cheated on her after finding out she was infertile. She had retreated into her work and hadn’t dated since, but the space station appearing in the sky woke her up a bit. She has a curious mind and an instinctive intellect that she doesn’t shy away from. She’s not a pushover and resents the prevailing attitude of older male colleagues towards her, but she doesn’t act unprofessionally about it, just allowing her work to speak for her.

I like that she meets at least one good man on the station and Daniel, who is 12 years older, is attractive and very interested in her, but his career comes first.

I like the romantic conflicts that arise as a result of the strange circumstances and that Maya has to re-evaluate what her future relationships are going to look like because of her situation.

My one complaint would be that there was a lot of the book with Maya telling us what she talked about with Daniel, not the actual conversation. It distances us from the action somewhat and makes the development of the relationship seem more dry and intellectual than it should be for such a passionate series of encounters.

There were also a few typos, but they weren’t too bad, just enough to annoy me a little.

I can’t wait to see what happens in the next stage of communication with the alien empire that left the space station. Things could be really interesting.

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Review: Entered in the Alien Bride Lottery (Khanavai Warrior Bride Games Series Book 1) by Margo Bond Collins

Entered in the Alien Bride Lottery by Margo Bond Collins
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Easy Reading

This is a book that really poses no challenge to the reader. It’s very straight forward and doesn’t offer any surprises. Sometimes that is what you want from a book.

60 years ago Earth was targeted by an aggressive alien race, and we were offered protection by the enemies of their attackers in exchange for offering Earth women as brides for the aliens who had lost women from their own populations. To ascertain whether mates are compatible there is a lottery and the women are transported to a site off-world where they take part in the ‘Bride Games’, which over the years have become prime time entertainment.

Natalie has just turned 21 and is celebrating that fact with drinks when her name is called out on the lottery and is instantly transported to the site of the games. Natalie has one more year of her degree in biochemistry and is angry that the day after she becomes eligible she is drawn.

Cav is a well-respected warrior who wants to join Special Operations and his commanding officer arranges for him to go to the Bride Games because it looks good to be a mated male in Special Operations.

Obviously, these two are meant to be together and all the drama that ensues. We know who the bad guys are, we know who the good guys are and that there is a HEA. There really aren’t many plot twists but it’s still entertaining.

If you want something to divert you without too much angst, this is a good story for you.

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Review: Grady (Texas Kings MC Series Book 13) by Cee Bowerman

Grady by Cee Bowerman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Mayhem and Motherhood

There’s a distinct theme to this book, the absolute ruthlessness and strength of the women in this MC, especially when it comes to motherhood. Whether that means protecting their offspring or facing down mothers who didn’t live up to the job specifications.

This story deals with Grady, who is a few years younger than the main guys running the MC. He’s a really interesting guy, who adores his ex-stripper Mom to pieces. He owns part of his mother’s company, which is a range of clothing and beauty treatments that have been a roaring success. His Mom put herself through college and got two degrees whilst stripping and raising her son without support from her family or Grady’s father. As Grady learnt from his Mom, he got a degree which he uses to help his Mom run her company, but he also works as a mechanic and a bouncer at the MC strip club. Basically, he barely sleeps!

Whilst working at the strip club he met Ella who he becomes smitten with. He does nothing about it for a year until she comes into work beaten up by her ex. He and Hank (his boss and surrogate father) step up and take her to the women’s shelter which is supported by the club. Grady makes his move after falling even more head over heels for her and her four-year-old daughter who he adorably calls Squid (Cydney).

Ella’s very smart and tried to get away from her abusive mother by going to college but had to drop out when she got pregnant and lost her scholarships. There are a lot of parallels between Ella and Grady’s mother in the way life hit them both which only enhances Grady’s admiration for Ella.

Ella is great fun. She’s strong, determined and loving. She’s also pretty funny and adores her daughter who is just so cute it’s not true.

At first glance, this feels like another case of insta-love but actually, it’s taken a while to brew, it’s just we didn’t get to see Ella thinking Grady is hot and nice and way too good for someone like her. We don’t see Grady thinking she’s awesome and gorgeous. We just see the final stages of their falling for each other feelings.

This couple/family is lovely. I just want to pick them up and hug them. They deserve each other and to have a good life together. It’s certainly not all plain sailing, but things get taken care of with the usual club ruthlessness and Ella fits into the same mould as the other MC women where she will do anything to protect those she cares about.

These are not sweet and innocent people which is what probably saves it from being too saccharine sweet, though there is a certain insouciant approach to violence which makes it much less traumatic in the moment but with hindsight is kind of chilling, but then these are MC people.

As always this author provides a fun and easy read that entertains. I’ll always read her books because they are a great pick me up.

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Review: Rebels and Runaways (Eden Academy Series Book 1) by Grace McGinty

Rebels and Runaways by Grace McGinty
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Joining Together All The Strands

If you’ve read all of Grace McGinty’s books, you’ll absolutely LOVE this book. If you haven’t read them, go and do it now, you won’t regret it. However, you can probably get away with not reading the previous books because this book is about the next generation of supernaturals.

Set at Eden Academy, which was established to protect and nurture supernaturals and provide a refuge for those that needed it, the new academic year is starting for those that have graduated the high school portion of their education and who are in need of a further four years of supernatural specific education.

Starting the new term are the three adopted children of Raine, from Pleasantly Undead in Dark River, and her mates. The three wolf shifters were brought to Raine when they were five years old, when Lucius took them from a slave auction. The darkness that lives inside of Carmen was bred during that time at the auction house. She is in a constant battle to fight and to let blood because of her anger. She is a beta wolf who’s siblings are an alpha and an omega, which she sometimes resents but she still loves them completely.

This story is principally about Carmen and the men she falls for. Like her adoptive mother, Carmen seems to need multiple mates to keep up with her. Though the story is about Carmen and her mates we are also introduced to lots of other young shifters at the academy, which I’m sure will be covered in future books.

One of the things I really enjoyed about this book is that it isn’t really an academy book. There is very little about lessons or students interacting (though there is some with some of the usual jealousy etc, but there isn’t much of it). This is just a setting for the story, Carmen and her siblings are actually just day students because they live so close by.

As usual, this author manages to blend the good and evil beings together to show that even if you are labelled ‘evil’ it doesn’t mean you aren’t capable of great acts of love and friendship. There is violence and death in this book but it pales in comparison with the love of mates, family and friends that binds all the characters together.

There is some really creative plot construction in this story and I love all the characters so much, especially the weird ones such as Flint the half ifrit and Monster the wendigo. There is humour, sadness, pain, violence and sex scenes in this book, sometimes two or more at once!

I know I’ll read this book again because there is so much in it to enjoy that I’ll get more from it the second time around. I’m also really looking forward to the next book in the series as there is a cliffhanger to lure us on into reading about the next group of young people at the academy.

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Review: Veronica's Vice (Nesting Instinct Series Book 4) by Clairissa SinClair

Nesting Instinct: Book 4: Veronica's Vice by Clairissa SinClair
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Two For The Price of One

I’d probably give this book 3.5 ⭐️ if I could.

This is the fourth book in a series about vampires and their half-vampire mates, all based around a new American nest, with new ideas.

Roni has been brought on as a computer expert for the security company owned by the nest and she is a complete nerd in all her pink haired glory. She loves her new home where she is valued for her skills. She doesn’t want to be a traditional half-vampire and have a mate, babies and have to give up work. So when she walks back to her little cottage after a really long shift and catches sight of one of the twins who’ve moved in next door and feels that instant attraction that finding your destined mates has, she runs for her cottage and locks her door behind her in a blind panic.

German vampire twins, Luk and Nik are master farriers and sword-smiths. They have travelled all around the world gaining new skills. They finally decide to settle down in the new nest because it sounds like they are innovative and open to new ideas. They left their family smithing business because there were already too many people involved and they wanted to branch out on their own. When both vampires find their destined mate on the same day they are rather surprised to find it is the same woman, which is highly unusual, if not completely unheard of. They don’t realise that they are in for a long haul endeavour in gaining her trust.

This is an entertaining, if predictable book. I like the characters and it’s nice reading about the characters from the previous books. I don’t enjoy the really awful typos and poor editing. It’s really distracting when you have to look at a sentence for 30 seconds before you understand what the author is trying to say because they’ve missed out words completely or spelled them really badly. I don’t mind the odd typo here and there, it’s to be expected, however when they are so bad they disrupt my reading to this extent, it becomes a problem. It’s a shame because it makes it harder to be fair about star ratings for a book that otherwise is enjoyable.

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Review: Rage: Redemption (Odin's Wolves MC Series Book 1) by Candi Fox

Rage: Redemption by Candi Fox
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Interesting Spin Off

This book comes between books 3 and 4 of the Naked Truth series by the same author, Candi Fox. It’s needed to understand the timeline which makes it less of a spin-off and more a change of focus in my opinion. However, there is a definite change of focus, so it makes sense to label it as such.

This spin-off is about Odin’s Wolves MC, which is made up of Odin’s warrior wolves of legend. They are immortal and half shifter and half god. When they felt Freya wake on earth a year or so ago, they decided to move to White Horse OK, to be close to her avatar. What they didn’t realise that by coming there they would be meeting someone who had been important to them a previous life.

This story is about Jami, or Rage as he is known. We actually met him in an earlier Naked Truth book when he seemed to know Harley, but this was never followed upon. Rage met his mate, Desiré when she walked into the meeting room to waitress on her first day in her new job. He knows it is her immediately and a huge chunk of ice in his chest begins to melt at the thought of having a mate.

The problems is that Desiré comes with a violent ex-husband, who she has been running from for 3 years, to keep her and her son safe. This time her ex has involved the Twisted, the corrupted werewolves that Odin’s Wolves MC fight as their duty and right. Harley came across the Twisted in book 3 of The Naked Truth Series and they infected her lover with their venom. Harley and OWMC’s purposes align and they work together.

The POV is from the OWMCs side. Harley is a supporting character in this book. In some ways, this book is more like a traditional Paranormal Romance/MC book. It’s one alpha male and one damaged female in need of rescue. I enjoyed the book and it filled in some information that I felt was missing from The Naked Truth books.

I like the idea of Odin’s Wolves and the mythology of it all and I enjoy an adventure into the territory of the gods and goddesses. As with previous books in The Naked Truth series there was a bit of jumping around and assumptions made that weren’t explained until later, when the characters (and the author) acted as though it had been explained to us poor confused readers, but it hadn’t, and we just had to scratch our heads for a while until it became obvious.

There was plenty of heat and the romance worked ok, but as is often the case with these fated mate stories it was a bit insta-love for my taste. Still, I’m sure I’ll read the next book in the series because I kind of like the supporting characters and I’ll be interested to see what happens to them.

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Review: Becoming (Mountain Magic Series Book 1) by Dakota Brown

Becoming by Dakota Brown
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Untrained Mage Goes to College

Sofia is a young woman who is just starting her freshman year at college. She’s also a magic-user who is completely untrained and in the closet. On her first day on campus, she meets three good looking and nice young men who all seem interested in her, which flusters her. She also meets her new roommate, Veronica, who is a supernatural rights activist, which makes it slightly easier to reveal her magic to her, because it turns out the magical black market really wants to get its hands on her.

This is a pretty slow-paced book. It doesn’t really get exciting until the very latter stages. Everything leading up to the action at the end of the book relates to Sofia and her relationship choices.

The world-building is sketchy and we only find out limited facts relating to how magic users are perceived and treated. We are given some facts about a very small amount of supernatural creatures, but not many.

I did like the characters but there was very little depth to them, especially Sofia who seems to have emerged from a pre-college cocoon where she has no real-life before we meet her.

There wasn’t anything wrong with this book, but I just didn’t feel connected to it. I didn’t want to give up and return it after 20%, and I was happy to finish it, I just don’t feel compelled to read the next book in the series.

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Review: Solstice (Naked Truth Series Book 3) by Candi Fox

Solstice by Candi Fox
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Letting People In

The last book left us on a doozy of an emotional cliffhanger, and this book takes a surprising twist with Harley finally being able to give in to her crush on her contact with the police, with the blessing of his wife. This is a difficult subject for some people who may not understand how polyamory can work for people in established relationships as time changes them and they decide to alter how their relationship looks.

During the course of this book, we see more of Freya becoming involved in Harley’s life and we discover more about her powers. In fact, her powers seem to be developing more quickly than she thought was possible and she has to reach out to others to learn how to use them. She also learns to start letting people into her life in a more than superficial way, which has a direct impact on her friendships as well as her relationships.

I like how this series handles polyamory and the various levels of emotional connection Harley has with the people in her life. There are people she is friends with, those she has sex with, those who are both and those she has a romantic and emotional connection with. All the people she is involved with are involved with other people too and it’s all out in the open and discussed to ensure no one gets hurt.

There are a few confusing moments in this book, as there were in the previous ones, where things get raised and then sort of abandoned or forgotten about, or half tied off without more explanation. I don’t know if they’ll be raised again in future books but it’s a little frustrating at times. But there is also lots to enjoy, with Harley’s caseload and her romantic endeavours mingling together to produce something interesting and sensual.

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Review: Cry Wolf (Alpha and Omega Series Book 1) by Patricia Briggs

Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I’d probably give this book 4.5 ⭐ if I could.

This story is a spin-off from the Mercy Thompson Series and the meeting of Charles and Anna is explained in the novella Alpha & Omega, which is also in the On the Prowl book.

Charles returns to Aspen Creek, the main werewolf town in the mountains, from Chicago, bringing Anna his new mate with him. Anna was brutalised by her old pack to keep her Omega nature a secret and to force her to work her magic on the alpha’s unstable mate with her presence. Anna’s last three years of isolation, fear and the everyday brutality of her existence has turned her into someone scared of dominant male werewolves, something her new mate is, as are many of the wolves in her new pack. Leaning on her wolf for strength has fooled Charles into thinking that Anna isn’t as broken as she is and she doesn’t know how to tell him.

Being brought into a new pack in the middle of the Montana wilderness, with no money, no role and no friends has left Anna uncertain and fearful of her future. With Charles so badly injured from his trip to Chicago, they don’t have time to sort through all her problems before Charles’ father sends them both into the mountains to track down a rogue shifter.

This story is complex and multi-faceted. The relationship between Anna and Charles is complicated and evolves quickly through the experiences they share. But also at the heart of the story is Bran, The Marrok, Charles’ father. We learn a little of his history and why he chose to mate Leah a woman who is vain and cruel. We learn of Asil, The Moor, and his lost love. We learn about the bravery of strangers who try to do what is right in the worst of circumstances even when they are damaged themselves.

Through this book, you can almost smell the crisp scent of the pine trees and hear the crunch of the snow as they trek through the mountains. This author conveys emotion and place with surety and precision, never leaving you in doubt of where the book is situated or how the character is feeling, even if it’s only confusion.

This is not the first time I’ve read this book, and it won’t be the last because Anna may be damaged and she may feel weak, but she has a mighty strong heart that can’t help but captivate the reader and her strong and silent mate is the support and protection she needs. How can you help but fall a little in love with these characters and want to know more about them, even if you’ve read their story before?

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Review: Witch's Transformation (The Naked Truth Series Book 2) by Candi Fox

Witch's Transformation by Candi Fox
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Plot Thickens

In this book, we see a smooth continuation of the previous one as Harley starts a new case after finding an email from a potential client who wants a ‘magic stick’. She finds out her client is transgender and wants something more than the usual surgical options for a transgender man. Fascinated by the concept Harley dives in by taking a drive up to Dallas to meet with the young man.

In Dallas, things get a bit tricky when the diner they meet in gets blown up. This is not the end of the attempts on her life. Supported by Lt Meyers, her contact with police and his new witch employee, she tries to keep under the radar whilst still working her case and trying to find out who wants her dead.

In this book, we find out more about the world in which the book is set and it becomes more and more interesting. We also find out a little bit more about why Niccolo might be interested in Harley, apart from wanting her in his bed. We find out a lot more about Harley’s magic and see why she is a bit different from other magic workers.

There is plenty of hot sex scenes in this book and I really like how polyamory is worked in this book. It could be labelled a Reverse Harem book, but it isn’t really. It’s more about a witch who is sexually self-aware, knows what she wants, is open and honest with her partners and uses sex to heal herself!

The cliffhanger on this book is a bit of a doozy, but it’s more of an emotional one than a perilous one.

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Review: Delphine's Destiny (Nesting Instinct Series Book 3) by Clairissa SinClair

Nesting Instinct: Book III: Delphine's Destiny by Clairissa SinClair
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Entertaining Story

This is the third book in the series that follows a new nest of vampires. This story follows Delphine, a drug addict, thief and prostitute. Left outside a church shortly after her birth she went into the system with just her name. After many years of truly awful experiences, she now drifts from place to place, selling her body, stealing enough to keep buying enough drugs. This time she ended up impaled on a tree when her stolen car hit a pothole at speed.

When the doctor recognises her as a half-breed vampire, he gets in touch with the local nest as it’s their responsibility to care for the young woman whilst they try to find her family. Predictably enough, one of the vampires from the nest, Angus, recognises her as his mate and instantly takes over her care whilst they try and track down her family.

Delphine is a very damaged young woman and has spent a long time relying on drugs to cope. She never wanted to get clean until she was found by the vampires and then the love and care they gave started to heal a little hurt, bit by bit.

Angus is a larger than life, man mountain, Scottish warrior type. He’s also incredibly sweet with Delphine.

I also like how this isn’t just about Delphine finding her mate, but also her family and new friends, something she’s never had before. She also gets some serious talk therapy as well as the blood of her mate. It’s not an instant fix for everything and I like that she has to work for it.

There are quite a few typos and grammatical errors in this book, but it doesn’t spoil the flow too much. I just thought I’d mention it in case it drives people nuts.

I like this easy to read series, that doesn’t shy away from difficult topics but kind of glides across the top of them so they don’t go too dark in the descriptions. I’ll definitely be reading more.

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Review: Harlequin's Deception (The Naked Truth Series Book 1) by Candi Fox

Harlequin's Deception by Candi Fox
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Interesting World Building

I’d probably give this book 3.5 ⭐️ if I could.

Harley is a powerful generational witch (one who inherits their powers), who gained strength when the shift happened 10 years ago and magic surged into the world. Paranormals finally got rights in the US 2 years ago. Harley has a successful paranormal consulting business and often consults with the police.

She is called in to consult on the report of a gargoyle attack and heads out, where she finds that all is not what it seems. She gets sucked into the sphere of Niccolo an ancient and powerful vampire who has plans for the powerful witch that don’t all include the bedroom. Niccolo introduces her to Aiden, a jester who is someone who's laughter can incapacitate, who is his hitman, but Harley is strangely drawn to the young man.

As well as dealing with these two new men in her life, she also has her Cowboy, her friends with benefits, who likes to dominate her. Cowboy is a werewolf and is not happy about the vampire showing such an interest in someone he wants as his.

There was a lot to like in this book. The world-building was interesting if a little fuzzy around the edges. The characters were strong if lacking a little depth and the plot was intriguing. However, the style of writing was a little choppy. Things didn’t seamlessly lead into each other and they changed direction quite abruptly which sometimes meant you had to think a little harder about what was going on.

This is the first book in the series and I think some of the gaps in character building and the world structure may be filled in with future books, but I can’t say that for certain.

There is a cliffhanger because this is an ongoing series of events and the original ‘case’ is not solved. The next book in the series is already out, so at least I won’t have to wait to find out what happens next.

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Review: Single in Sitka (Odds Are Good Series Book 1) by Katy Regnery

Single in Sitka by Katy Regnery
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sweet Long Distance Romance

This was a good solid romance. It was sweet and a little bit spicy and ticked a lot of trope boxes; single dad, a cheating ex, long-distance relationship, holiday romance, sassy girl reporter, law enforcement. However, when I was reading it the book didn’t feel like I was playing trope bingo, it’s just with hindsight whilst trying to describe the book I realised that was the case.

Luke is has been a widower for 2 years. He is raising three children with the aid of his sister, who has recently had twins and is therefore becoming less available. His parents are deceased and his deceased wife’s parents live hundreds of miles away. He hasn’t dated since the death of his wife and his sister decides to put an advert in a magazine to help him find a new woman.

Amanda has recently broken up with her cheating ex after five years. She lives in Seattle and has done so since college. She writes a column with the Seattle Times with her best friend and after mooning over Luke’s advert imagining what he looks like etc and called to task in a meeting for her distraction she spontaneously makes up a story about bears in Sitka (that she read about whilst researching where Luke came from) and ends up being sent there for 2 weeks to research it.

This book follows Luke and Amanda trying to work through going from a short term fling to a long-distance relationship and trying to find the compromise that works. I really liked that Amanda’s relationship with the kids was a bit mixed, with the three children having very different reactions to their Dad being involved with someone. It wasn’t all smooth sailing and life gets in the way a few times and they have very real conflicting emotions about what to do moving forward.

It was an engaging story with nice characters and a feel-good HEA.

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Review: When She Purrs (Risdaverse Series Book 3) by Ruby Dixon

When She Purrs by Ruby Dixon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Alien Abduction With A Twist

This next book in the Risdaverse Series is a little different. Normally in alien abduction stories it’s all about the alien doing the abducting, but in this book it’s the human abducting the alien, or at least hiring someone to do the abducting, she just doesn’t realise that the alien wants to be abducted.

Kim is living on Risda, one of the female humans freed from slavery and given a farm to provide a living. She’s feeling isolated and scared after hearing one too many tales of human women being forcibly married off and killed for their land. She hires a bounty hunter to find her a kind and protective mate who will tolerate a platonic marriage. Despite the bounty hunter telling her it’s a stupid plan, she wants to go forward with it.

Kim’s neighbour is Nassakth, an ex-gladiator who is from a race of cat-like aliens and has been watching Kim for a while after seeing her and wanting her. When she finds out the bounty hunter is looking for a husband for Kim he insists on being her kidnappee.

Though this is a lighthearted and sexy story, there are also some really tender and sweet moments between Nassakth and Kim. Their two cultures and differing traumatic pasts causing conflict. Nassakth is incredibly patient and kind, just like Kim wanted, she just wasn’t expecting him to be sexy too. Their courtship took time, even though it started with a wedding. They got to know each other and learn to trust each other.

I really do like this series. It is based on ridiculous premises but the stories themselves are really enjoyable.

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Review: Always Only You (Bergman Brothers Series Book 2) by Chloe Liese

Always Only You by Chloe Liese
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Inclusionary Romance Done Well

I’d probably give this book 4.5 ⭐️ if I could.

I’ll start off by saying I am very impressed with how well this author wrote about disability. As a woman who became disabled in my 20s I can understand the FMC, Frankie, and how she views living with an invisible illness and how people view her. I also love several neurodivergent people and seeing how well this author described living with having a different view of the world and how it affects themselves and those around them I was elated. This book reveals so well how people whose bodies and brains work differently from the norm are whole and worthy of love.

On top of all that, the disability isn’t the star of the show. The FMC has let how people have treated her in the past alter the way she views people who may have the power to hurt her in the future, but we all do that to a certain extent. The way her brain works differently also affects the way she approaches relationships because she’s unable to comprehend the more nuanced expressions of other people’s emotions.

Setting these facts aside, this is actually a really sweet love story. Frankie is smart and resourceful. She’s always on point with her job, which she adores, and though she only has a couple of close friends, she loves them fiercely. I love her brilliant mind and her determination to work through her body’s limitations.

The MMC, Ren, is a star ice hockey player, for the team that Frankie does the social media for. He’s always smiling, he’s kind, incredibly professional,, adores his huge Swedish-American family and has has an unrequited crush on Frankie since he met her 3 years ago, but his professionalism prevents him from making a move on her.

When Frankie gets the opportunity to leave her job to go to law school things shift. Things happen to make her see Ren in a slightly different light and Ren finally sees his opportunity to make a move.

I adored Ren, he’s an amazing character. He’s sweet, funny, kind and patient. He’s this fantastic blend of a physically powerful and competent hockey player, with a shy sweet nerd who loves Shakespeare.

Both these characters are utterly unique and I loved them both. When you love characters this much the plot almost doesn’t matter, but I like the way this book was paced. This was completely about their feelings for one another and working their way together. There were no big dramas with exes or families, no huge misunderstandings, just two people working through their emotions and history to reach each other.

This book reminds me a little of Mariana Zapata’s work. It’s a little spicier than Zapata’s work, but it has the same deft hand at character building and emotional layering.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author and I will be reading more.

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Review: Broke Down: My Over the Top Possessive Alpha Harem by Sharan Daire

Broke Down: My Over the Top Possessive Alpha Harem by Sharan Daire
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sweet and Sexy RH

This was actually written by Joely Sue Burkhart, of Queen Takes Knights fame. This book is written under a pen name and I can see why. This book is NOTHING like the dark RH works this author is known for. This book is a very sweet RH, with very little conflict, filled with sweet insta-love and a little steam thrown in for good measure.

Shelby is a single mother. She’s broke, alone and desperate. She only has one family member left, her grandmother, who she hasn’t seen since she was a child. She finally caves in, packs up her belongings in her very broken down car, scoops up her children and heads off for pastures new, where hopefully she at least won’t have to worry about rent.

With a grand total of $20 in her purse, her faithful old car gives up the ghost. They are on a deserted road, with no food, no heat and no money to call for a tow truck. Shelby doesn’t know what to do until flashing lights pull up behind her and the sheriff comes up and rescues her. Whisking her up the road, where he, his twin brother and two best friends run a fancy hotel/lodge/retreat.

Shelby can’t believe her luck and is waiting for the other shoe to drop, but the sheriff and his friends can’t believe their luck too. They’ve been looking for a woman to share, to have a family with and they all want Shelby and her adorable kids.

The characters are really fun. Shelby is very real, down to Earth and a little bit beaten up by life. Her kids are well behaved and sweet, without being over the top and cutesy stereotypes. The guys are big characters. Derek, the sheriff, is a big burly protector type, his brother Kaleb is a big teddy bear of a mechanic, Everett is the charismatic hard-working poor boy, done good and Chris is the broken billionaire ex-marine with PTSD. They even have a dog.

You can probably guess where the plot goes. It’s sweet and lovely, filled with grand gestures, dreams come true and passion. It’s a sweet and loving romp of a book and is pure escapism as you imagine yourself taking Shelby’s place instead of in your normal grind of a day.

It’s a fun book, without any great challenges, but it’s well written and you feel good when you read it. Sometimes all you want in a book is something to make you smile and this book hits the nail on the head.

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Review: Alien Conquest (Alien Invasion Series Book 1) by Honey Phillips

Alien Conquest by Honey Phillips
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Alpha Male Alien Alert

I normally quite like alien romances but I think I’ve hit my quota for the alien alpha version of these types of books. The first thing I’ll say that there needs to be a trigger warning for this book because there is sexual assault in the book.

The book also opens with the MFC, Emily (or M’Lee as the alien MMC, T’Lan, calls her) waking up with an awful hangover and no recollection of the night before, but with her body showing evidence of having had sex with her alien ‘friend’.

The start of this book was really hard for me and I imagine it will be for a lot of women. What follows is Emily running to her grandmother’s after the place she works with aliens is blown up and her ‘friend’ dies. She hides in her old home town, until a few weeks later she discovers she is pregnant with a half alien baby.

T’Lan shows up to investigate the explosion because she should have been there at the time but wasn’t because she was hungover and her ‘friend’ made an excuse to her boss and let her sleep in. Obviously T’Lan falls for her immediately and claims her for himself and takes over Emily’s life.

The story is all about his wooing of Emily and her falling for the handsome, giant alien with horns. All of her doubts are washed over and she doesn’t complain much at all the restrictions placed on her by this alien who is part of a race of beings who have invaded Earth, all be it under the cover of rescuing Earth from the humans.

This alien race is so sketchy, it’s so hard to envisage a situation where a human woman would be ok with their behaviour, but Emily just keeps forgiving them, as does her grandmother. It’s all acceptable because she is ‘enlightening’ this advanced race that what they are doing is pretty much sexual exploitation at best and sex trafficking at worst.

It must be the combination of pregnancy hormones and lust that keeps her in his thrall, because we don’t see much past the first couple of months after giving birth. Once she’s no longer too tired to think, I hope she wakes up!

Apart from my problems with the content, the book is well written and if you like this type of thing you will probably enjoy it as it’s full of lust-filled activities and romantic claims. There is plenty of building of tension and peril, it’s just not for me.

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Review: Driver: Grit : The Badass Geek (Badass Security Council Series Book 12) by L Ann Marie

Driver: Grit : The Badass Geek (Badass Security Council by L. Ann Marie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A Little Confusing at the Start

I’d probably give this book 3.75 ⭐️ if I could.

This is the first book in the new chapter of the BSC MC books. This one covers Alpha Club where Jordan is the Pres and Brinks is the VP. Both men are meant for Stella, Sheila and Jax’s daughter from Enforcer. Stella is a genius and deaf. She hasn’t got any extra psychic gifts but she took part in all the training the other kids had. She’s pretty deadly as well as very very clever.

I was pretty confused for the first 20-30% of the book. There was stuff going on with Jordan but it was only insinuated rather than explained and it left me frustrated that I couldn’t quite work out what was going on. I think this is because there was so much set up for the new club as well as writing about the relationship between the three people. This is an MFM story, but even though the relationship between the two men isn’t physical they are very much a partnership in loving Stella and their relationship with each other is as important as each of theirs with Stella.

It was interesting learning more about Jordan. We already knew quite a lot about Brinks because he grew up with Cort and Jinx is his twin brother, both of whom are long-established characters in the series. Jordan was always more of a peripheral character and as such, we didn’t know much about his background. This book explores his past and how he became involved in the club. We also get to know more about his abilities and his tech/business skills.

Now I know more about the set up of this new club, I’m looking forward to reading more about it, especially with all the information dumped on me in this book. The relationship aspect was again not the most important part of this book, it was a central part of the story progressing, but wasn’t the main focus. A lot of the problems in the relationship and the obstacles stopping it were sorted out in previous books. There wasn’t much of a hint about who will be covered in the next book as there were no real hints, for once. I’m sure all will be revealed in due course.

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