Review: Kari & Levi (Rojo, TX Series Book 4) by Cee Bowerman

Kari & Levi by Cee Bowerman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Third Time’s A Charm

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

This book is this fourth in the Rojo, TX series. This series is connected to others written by this author set in the same place with lots of cross over characters. You don’t *technically* need to read the other books before this one, but you’ll find it a lot less confusing if you do.

TRIGGER WARNING: This book deals with people with mental health issues including OCD, panic attacks, PTSD, anxiety and depression. There is also the aftermath of surviving domestic abuse, though not the specific details of what occurred to create the problems. If these subject matters cause you to experience emotional difficulty, you may want to stay clear of this book.

Kari has been in Cee Bowerman’s books since the beginning. Before she was introduced she was in an abusive relationship and got out, but not before she was scarred both physically and mentally. After her escape, she decided to make a safe haven for other women like her, who needed a safe place to make a fresh start. She’s spent most of her life looking after other people at the expense of her own health.

Levi has also been around in a supporting role from quite early on in Cee Bowerman’s books. After college, he went into the army and broke Kari’s 18-year-old heart. They had been dating several months when he had to go away and though he asked her to go with him she felt she couldn’t leave her family, so he went alone and their relationship ended.

After being in the army Levi became a police officer in a different city until he was kidnapped and tortured. After that, he was unable to work in the force and left to set up a gym with his family. Since he’s been back in Rojo, he’s wanted to see Kari but felt his mental health wasn’t good enough to try starting up a relationship again, especially as he knew what she’d been through whilst he’d been gone. Then when Kari moved into her old family home they discovered they were neighbours.

The beginning of this book is quite muddled and a lot of information is thrown at the reader in order to help make the rest of the book comprehendible. There are a lot of scenes from past books and flashbacks in a short period of time which was quite overwhelming as I tried to place all the reminders in the right order. I didn’t particular enjoy wading through that initial section of the book, but once past it I found the book to be of the usual high standard of this author.

This story is a journey of two very damaged people who truly love each other but don’t know how to love themselves. They are both on the same road to happiness, but they are at different stages in the journey. At first glance, Kari seems to be happy and fulfilled and it’s only because Levi lives next door and sees her all the time does he come to suspect that she’s never really dealt with her problems. Levi has a support dog who helps him with his PTSD and he is on medication and seeks counselling because he knows he’s not healthy yet. Kari however denies there is a problem. It takes a lot of work for both of them to get healthy and a lot of heartache is exposed along the way.

It’s really nice to get a HEA for Kari who has been such an important character throughout all of the books set in Rojo. She does so much for others that it’s nice to see her rewarded for that work. It’s also good to read a book about how people can appear fine on the outside but inside are screaming in pain. If you’ve never suffered from mental health issues this is a good reminder that just because your friends and family look OK, they might not be. It’s a good reminder to people who do suffer from mental health issues that you need to do the work to get better, and you need to keep doing the work to stay that way. It’s a very good example of why you need help when you spiral out of control and that it doesn’t mean you are weak or ‘broken’ to ask for it.

There’s a lot love in this book and a lot of hard work. At times it was painful to read, but it was worth it to get to the HEA that these characters deserved.

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Review: Prose Before Bros (Green Valley Library Series Book 3) by Cathy Yardley

Prose Before Bros by Cathy Yardley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Finding A New Way Of Doing Things

This is the third book in a series of connected books. This series is a spin-off from The Winston Brother Series written by Penny Reid, set in the same world, but written by different authors. The book stands alone but does have some cross over of characters and shared history.

Thuy has never lived anywhere other than Oakland, California, but she’s helping her best friend in the world, Maddy, in Green Valley, which is a tiny place in Tennessee. It’s a bit of a culture shock, especially because they are dealing with the death of Maddy’s father, who had not been a particularly pleasant man, and who had been a dreadful father. Maddy hadn’t been back to Green Valley since she went away to college, where she met Thuy. Maddy has helped Thuy through so much and she wouldn’t have graduated without her help, so helping to Tetris the food they’d been given into the fridge seems like a small step towards paying her back. Though she is a little taken aback when Maddy decides to stay and asks Thuy to stay too. Being a big city librarian hasn’t given her enough training to work a farm, but for Maddy, she’ll try.

Drill is in a 1% MC. He’s been part of the club since he was kicked out by his father aged 16. His father cut him off completely but he felt he had a much better family in the Iron Wraiths MC. He still kept a distant eye on his sister, Maddy, but contact with blood family isn’t allowed by the Iron Wraiths MC. Over the last few years, the Iron Wraiths have had a lot of adjusting to do after key members were imprisoned. Drill has had to step up as one of the longest-serving members, and one of the toughest enforcers. However, things aren’t really sitting right with him lately and he’s been questioning some of the decisions being made. When he meets Thuy he’s instantly attracted to this pocket-sized Vietnamese tower of strength, which only confuses him more because he’s forbidden from getting involved with her.

On the surface, these two characters have little in common, but as they dig deeper there’s much more to connect them than discourage their feelings. Drill’s crisis of identity is central to this book and Thuy is a surprising source of consolation and guidance as he tries to sort out what he wants from life. She is also a source of fascination and desire. Both are trying to lead different lives and they aid each other on the way.

This book was very different from what I was expecting. Both characters were filled with surprises and I enjoyed that a lot. Maddy was a little annoying, but she’d been through a lot so I gave her a pass when I read about that, plus how she’d helped Thuy in the past made her much more endearing. Though she wasn’t the main character she was a major part of the story and being ambivalent about her was a little distracting.

As this author is new to me, I will definitely keep an eye out for other books by her that I might enjoy. In the meantime I’ll keep reading this series.

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Review: The Ways We Betray (The Path of Temptation Series Book 4) by Auryn Hadley

The Ways We Betray by Auryn Hadley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So Good I Read It Twice

This is the fourth book of a continuing series. You need to read the first books in the series to understand this one. The book ends at a natural break in the story, but there are lots of things left unresolved that I’m desperate to read about. The first book in the series is The Price We Pay.

This book starts just before the beginning of the second and final initiate year for Nari and her chosen family. Saval has taken over the education for their year group after the disaster that nearly ended Talin’s life the year before. As someone who can also see Zeal, their god is happy to help her make plans to finish their education properly. After making their choice to specialise in Entertainment Nari and Ela are thrown into a much more complete and enlightening education. Nari is also taking her extra classes, both of which she finds fascinating and lead her to meet even more priests in different branches of the priesthood. Even though everything seems to be going well, of course, things aren’t going to stay that way.

This book only covers the period between the Summer and New Year, so there is a lot packed in. The growing emotional bond between Nari, Ela, Talin, Wraythe, Anver and Zeal is the main focus of this book. Through exploring their emotional bonds, we are also exposed to more about their history and personalities. The characters internal landscapes are explored through multiple points of view. These characters are all growing as they get a little older, gain more education and training and have more experience of what they want from life. The developments are all in keeping with their core personalities and are part of a believable and engaging journey to attaining their goals.

This book deals frankly with the difference between lust and love and how the characters separate the two things to maintain their relationships. Though we still have very passionate and erotic content within this book, the sessions the Priests of the Body engage in within this book are not just about these encounters. These sessions are also about socialising with people of different backgrounds and dealing with the differing needs of the individuals concerned. This also aids in exploring the relationships between the different temples. This is especially useful as Zeal’s siblings start to step up needing aid in connecting with their own priests.

Zeal not only wants to bring back the power of the gods for himself and his siblings but because he wants to help his people. We see glimmers of this in the way he talks about his manipulations and nudges of temptation and the things he wants to achieve with them.

The Head Priest, Kinen, doesn’t show his hand very often in this book, which leads me to believe that we’ll see more of him in the future. There are still plenty of difficulties faced by the five Priests of Temptation, but they are not all brought about by Kinen. There are external politics to be dealt with, instead of solely focusing on internal ones.

This book, like the others in the series, wraps you up and doesn’t let go until you turn the last page. I was wrapped up in it so tightly I was disappointed when the book ended. In fact, I couldn’t bear not reading more, so I read it again straight away. That NEVER happens to me. There is something about this combination of characters that resonates with me. There is something so accepting and inclusive of these priests who follow Zeal.

As always with this author, we can see the foreshadowing and the laying out of pathways that may lead to further plot twists and the tying off of loose ends that were left from previous books. It’s a masterclass in how to write a complex and engaging series and I can’t state how much I love it. Originally this series was meant to be 5 books long, but at the end of the book, we are informed that there will actually be a further two books in the series, which makes me ecstatically happy as I can’t see myself ever getting tired of these characters and the incredible world in which they live.

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Review: Crime and Periodicals (Green Valley Library Series Book 2) by Nora Everly

Crime and Periodicals by Nora Everly
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Hot Cop and the Shy Librarian

This is the second book in this series of connected books, which stand alone. The books all contain the same characters and they all have shared history, but the other books aren’t required to make sense of this one. The series is a spin-off from Penny Reid’s Winston Brother Series, and is written by different authors.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series and was intrigued by the characters selected for this book and decided to give it a go despite never having read anything by this author before. I’m glad I gave it a chance because I enjoyed it a lot.

Sabrina is incredibly shy and suffers from anxiety and panic attacks. She is an assistant librarian and hides from nearly everyone, even at work. She lost her mother when she was a young child and later lost her sister when she was 17. Since the death of her sister, she has raised her sister’s children along with her father at the family ranch. Sabrina's father is a pretty famous surgeon and popular in the small town where they live. The two eldest children they are raising are now in their teens and will graduate in the next couple of years. They are happy and well adjusted young people. Harry the youngest was born the day his birth mother died and sees Sabrina as his mother, he is also
on the autistic spectrum.

Wyatt is one of four brothers and is the odd one out. The others all work for the family construction firm but after he got injured and couldn’t play football anymore he became a cop in Nashville, where he attended university. He recently moved back to Green Valley and became a deputy sheriff after his now ex-wife left him for a country music star and decided she didn’t want anything to do with their adorable daughters. In Green Valley, he gets help from his mother and his new job allows him greater flexibility to be a parent.

When Wyatt bumps into Sabrina on a traffic stop he falls for her instantly. He’s great with Harry and later on his daughters are also great with him. When he asks her for a date her shyness overwhelms her, but he is kind and gently persistent.

This is a very sweet love story that is as much about Sabrina becoming less afraid of the world and the people in it as it is about the romance. It’s also not surprising that the children are a big part of the story and they are incredibly sweet and funny.

I like that there is great family support for Sabrina. Her relationship with her 16-year-old, highly intelligent niece is more like a friendship than that of a parent and daughter. Sabrina also starts to find friendship outside her family because of the strides she makes in facing the world.

It’s a really lovely story and I’ll definitely be looking for other books by this author.

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Review: Enlightened (The Ascension of Meghan May Series Book 2) by Jaya Moon

Enlightened by Jaya Moon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

History is Revealed

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

This is the second book in a continuing series. You need to read the first book to understand this one. The book concludes at a natural break in the story, but there is a lot more yet to come.

After Tallow has told her to stay away from the Kin for her own safety, Meghan tries to return to her usual dull routine of sleep, eat, work and repeat. However, it seems like the world of the Kin does not want to let her go now they have found her and her abilities. At least it gives her a chance to see Tallow and Mox again.

This book is full of revelations about Meghan’s history and about the men she has come to care for. She seems to spend quite a lot of this book being overloaded with information about what she hears. Some of the information seems to conflict with things she thought she understood and it leads to confusion.

There is violence in this book, counterbalanced with passion elsewhere. It made me feel like I was being thrown from pillar to post, never knowing what emotional wringer I was going to get pushed through next. Poor Meghan experiences much worse than me. Her emotions are all over the place. She’s still grieving the loss of her family, she has strong feelings for an owl shifter, a human and an angel, she finds out she’s not what she thought she was and the Kin want her to risk her life for them. If some of her decision-making skills are a little shaky I can forgive her, given the state of her life.

This book is just as compelling as the first in the series. Meghan is someone I can empathise with and I really want to know what happens to her next. The plot is intriguing and I want to know more about the men in Meghan’s life. I will definitely be reading the next book soon.

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Review: Love in Due Time (Green Valley Library Series Book 1) by LB Dunbar

Love in Due Time by L.B. Dunbar
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Second Time Around

This is the first standalone book in a spin-off series. The original series, Winston Brothers, was by Penny Reid and this series is set in the same location, Green Valley, with a lot of the same characters. This first book got my attention because I enjoy reading books by LB Dunbar. I’ve read the first couple of books in the Penny Reid series but got sidetracked. I will have to go back and finish my read!

This book is about one of the librarians at the Green Valley Library, Naomi, who has worked there her entire working life. At 39 she’s quite stuck in her ways, living a quiet and unassuming life. She’s a practicing Wiccan and lives in a little cottage in the woods. She is often accused of being a witch but she tries to ignore that and let go of the hurt that causes her.

Naomi has only ever been with one man, when she was 21, Nathan. They were together one time and then he disappeared from Green Valley. Now he’s back and when they run into each other sparks of attraction light between them.

Nathan left Green Valley after an incident involving the Iron Wraiths MC, for who he was a prospect at the time. He ran and didn't come back until now because his family is here and he needs help raising his two daughters, Dahlia and Clementine. When he bumps into Naomi again he’s delighted to find the woman who he has thought about over the years and asks her for a series of dates to convince her that he’s not going to run away again.

This book has a lot of different threads running through it. The romance part is complicated by those threads, the history of the couple, the MC’s involvement, issues with bullying and problems with the library. The plot is tightly constructed and kept me reading as I wondered what was going to happen next.

Naomi is a wonderful character. She’s complicated and filled with regret and guilt, but is determined to try and connect with the world around her. She loves her job dearly and inspiring people, especially children, gives her life meaning. She has a highly evolved philosophy on life and tries to live according to her beliefs. I loved watching her evolve and change through the course of the book, whilst still holding true to herself.

Nathan is another character filled with guilt and regret. He loves his daughters, his mother and his brother and tries to do what is right. He has morals and tries to live life accordingly. He didn’t strike lucky with the mothers of his children and has been the main carer for both girls for some time, with the help of his mother. He’s more sad for his daughters’ sakes about the failure of his relationships. This journey is less of an evolution of character for him than it is for Naomi. His story is more about seeking happiness and being determined to hang on to it no matter what. He has to fight for his relationship to succeed and he has to let go of his guilt and regrets for his happiness to stick around.

I really like how the passion and emotion slowly grew between the two main characters. They didn’t just hop into bed with each other again, despite their history. They spent time together getting to know each other and the passion built gradually between them. It felt very real.

This is a wonderful story of two people with a complicated history taking hold of their second chance and being determined not to waste their opportunity. Even if you haven’t read Penny Reid’s original Winston Brothers series, you can still enjoy this book.

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Review: Crush the King (Crown of Shards Series Book 3) by Jennifer Estep

Crush the King by Jennifer Estep
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Some Loose Ends

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

This is the third book in the series and you need to read the first two books in order to understand this one. The narrative appears to end with the conclusion of this book, but it’s been left open for future adventures.

This book is about the Regalia, an international competition for physical, mental and magical abilities. Each country enters their own top competitors in each category and then they all compete for the top slot. The Regalia is held every three years on Fortuna Island, which is an independent port/trading post/banking centre. Fortuna Island is home to the DiLucis who are the ruling family and are so wealthy they behave like royalty. They seem to be up to no good in relation to Everleigh and no one can work out why.

The Regalia give Everleigh the opportunity to finally meet the Mortan king face to face for the first time. With all the royal families on the continent together since taking power, Everleigh plans to use the opportunity to make some alliances and to cause Morta some problems, of the terminal variety.

One thing I really liked about this book was the Everleigh employed multiple avenues of attack. She had several ways to try and accomplish her goals because she knew that not all of them would work. She utilised the skills she learnt from her warrior training and Lady Xenia’s spy/political training and mashed them together to come up with some unique options that might not be obvious initially.

I felt a bit sorry for Sully in this book because he went from being a major part of the story to being basically backup for Everleigh. All he really did was comfort her and play guard, when he’s a really powerful magician and swordsman in his own right, not to mention he grew up in his father’s court, so he should have been a really valuable resource and he wasn’t given much to do or consulted much at all. It seemed like his role was to basically hug and kiss Everleigh and tell her she was wonderful. It felt like once he became her consort the relationship became unimportant to the story except as background filler.

This book was all about the plot and there was so much less about the emotional aspect of the characters. It felt like a run to the finish line to get everything accomplished by the end of the book. It left a lot of loose ends, that I really hope get resolved in a future book, but I don’t know if that is planned or not. I know there is a spin-off series about Gemma, set 15 years after the end of this book, but I don’t know if there is going to be anything else in this timeline, and if there isn’t that will be a shame.

So whilst I enjoyed the political, magical and physical plotlines, I didn’t enjoy this book as much as the previous ones, which is a shame because they were exceptionally good books. This was just a good one. However, if another book came out in this series, I would probably snap it up because I want to know how all those loose ends tie up!

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Review: Beyond the Bases (Out of Reach Series Book 1) by Kaylee Ryan

Beyond the Bases by Kaylee Ryan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Sweet Single Mother Romance

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

This is the first book of a series, but the story stands alone and there are no cliffhangers.

Larissa is a young single mother, whose husband died in the line of duty before his daughter was born. Larissa is trying to raise her daughter, Paisley, with the aid of her mother, whilst trying to earn enough to survive and finish an accountancy degree. She’s stretched thin but is determined to make life better for her and her 4-year-old daughter.

Easton is a successful baseball player who loves his family and has reached a time in his life to be sick of the kind of women he can pick up easily because of his profession. He grew up around other famous baseball players and has seen the pros and cons of fame and wants what his parents and their friends had with close and loving relationships.

When Larissa is persuaded by her girlfriend to go out for drinks they end up in the bar that the baseball team often go to because they are protected there by the owner. As soon as Easton sees her he is smitten. However, Larissa doesn’t want to get involved with anyone because of the pressure she’s under on a daily basis, plus she has her daughter to consider.

Easton doesn’t know why Larissa is reluctant when she is so attracted to him so he pursues her, until he finally meets her with her daughter by accident and he is great with Paisley.

This is an incredibly predictable book. It doesn’t surprise me to learn this was written as a novella because there isn’t anything particularly complicated to work out in terms of plot. It progresses from A to B in straight forward and orderly manner providing sweetness and cute kid stories.

I see this book as something to read as a palate cleanser after reading something a bit dark or heavy going. It’s not challenging and makes you smile, which is something you sometimes need.

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Review: Protect the Prince (Crown of Shards Series Book 2) by Jennifer Estep

Protect the Prince by Jennifer Estep
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Now She’s Queen

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

This is the second book in a continuing series. In order to understand this book, you need to read the previous one. The book comes to a natural break in the storyline, but the narrative definitely continues after this book is done.

I listened to this as an audiobook, so the review is written with that in mind. This may alter my experience of the book because listening to a narrator can change how a story is perceived.

This book starts after Everleigh has been Queen of Bellonia for 3 months. She’s spent that time clearing up the mess that her defeated cousin made in her short tenure as monarch. Now she’s finally trying to start getting her reign back on track. At the first formal court session she faces her nobles and wealthy families trying to manipulate her and sway her to their own advantage, including try to marry her off to their own children and grandchildren. What her court isn’t expecting from the ex-Royal Stand-In is someone who is fully capable of standing up for herself and has a long memory for those who slighted her during their petty cruel court games.

One thing everyone seems to agree on is that Everleigh needs to stay away from Lucas Sullivan, something they are struggling to do. The next thing on Everleigh’s agenda is to travel to Sully’s home and try to patch things up with the royal family after the death of Sully’s half-brother the Prince, during the massacre at Seven Spires that demolished the Bellonian Royal Family.

Travelling to a new court means Everleigh has to deal with unfamiliar politics and individuals. She may be Queen now, but she’s on unfamiliar territory with a King who has his own Court to deal with.

It’s always strange in a series when the protagonist achieves success at the end of the first book. Everleigh deposed her cousin and took the Crown. That’s the sort of thing that comes at the END of the series normally, rather than in the middle. However, I think this book handled it well and the challenges that Everleigh faced in a foreign court were sufficiently difficult to make the story continue to flow.

I was surprised that we seemed to see less of Sully in this book, especially when we were on his home territory, but it made sense in the context that both he and Everleigh were fighting their own battles here. Sully was being split between his two loyalties, his father and Everleigh.

I enjoyed the people that Everleigh surrounded herself with. She kept her friends from The Black Swan gladiator troop with her as her key advisors and guards, but she also accepted a few others that she trusted from her earlier days in the palace. I liked how she was willing to take advice and work together with those she trusted, but she was also in charge and not afraid to make big choices without advice.

This book essentially covers Everleigh coming into her own as a Queen on the international stage. She has to deal with assassination attempts, political manoeuvring, learning about her magic and trying to find a path to happiness.

There weren’t any huge surprises plot-wise with this book, but the story was well told and this isn’t a mystery book that requires me to be shocked at the plot twists. I enjoyed the journey on which Everleigh and her friends took me, in this book, especially as I think for me the most enjoyable aspect was the growth of Everleigh’s character. She has changed and matured over the course of the series in a believable and enjoyable way.

As with the first book, the narrator is convincing and entertaining. Her ability to differentiate between the characters through voice is very good and not over the top, which is sometimes a danger with narrating a series with a large number of characters. The narrator read naturally and smoothly and this helped suck me into the story. I found it hard to stop listening once I started, and finished the book in one day!

Though this book ended with a HFN, there is a lot to intrigue me about the next book in the series and I can’t wait to read about what Everleigh does next. I’m especially excited about her discovering more about her magic.

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