Review: Finally Mine (Benevolence Series Book 2) by Lucy Score

Finally Mine by Lucy Score
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Two Damaged Souls

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

This can be read as a standalone novel, however, it runs parallel to the first book in the series and the characters and storylines interact. Much of this story is told in the first book from a completely different point of view. You don’t need to read the first book to enjoy this one, but it will give you a deeper understanding of the characters and events in this book. There is no cliffhanger.

Gloria has been living a nightmare for 10 years with an abusive and violent boyfriend, Glenn. She has been isolated from family and friends and is not allowed a job or access to money. She feels like her own personality has disappeared and she is just a shadow. When she finally gets the courage to leave him, she does it in public not realising that Glenn doesn’t care about witnesses, especially when drunk. When Harper helps her survive the encounter, it’s the start of a true friendship. Starting again with only a high school diploma at age 27, having never held a job is hard, but she has the support of quite a few townspeople.

Aldo is gorgeous, fit and charming. He flirts with every woman he meets, no matter the age. He’s also ready to settle down, but the one woman he wants and has wanted for 10 years is Gloria. When Gloria finally escapes her ex, Aldo sees his chance, even though he’s about to go to Afghanistan for a 6-month tour of duty with the army reserves. The timing isn’t great but he’s not going to miss his chance as he did as a teenager. He makes his intentions known to Gloria and then leaves her to make her own way and learn her own wants and needs without anyone telling her what they are.

This story is so honest about the feelings of being abused and how you get stuck in the cycle, unable to see your way out. It’s revealing and enlightening for anyone who thankfully hasn’t had the same experience. Gloria experiences quite a lot of shame from taking so long to leave and hates being pitied. I love the way she grasps the opportunities she has been given with both hands and clings on for dear life, trying to shape her own future in the way she wants.

Gloria grows steadily throughout this book, leaning on her friends and learning to be honest about her feelings after years of having that honesty beaten out of her. She does the work to grow and deal with the aftermath of her trauma and gets counselling. She pushes through her conditioned fear and learns to say no to things she doesn’t want to accept no matter how scared she is to do it. Her friendships are a key part of this book and I love how she and Harper bond, in particular.

Aldo goes through his own trauma after spending most of his life able to work towards anything he wants, pushing through physical limits to condition his body and mind. He’s a successful businessman and has a lovely home and fantastic friends. Everything is rosy, apart from not having Gloria and even that seems to finally be coming together. Then he is injured overseas and his body lets him down for the first time. His worldview crumbles and he doesn’t know how to handle it.

The contrast between Aldo and Gloria’s attitude towards trauma is clear and the way they both have to work through different things in order to be happy makes for an interesting read.

These are two exceptionally well-written characters and they were both believable. I enjoyed their interactions and the way the town is involved with everything. Gloria and Aldo have to work separately on their issues and together on how those issues interact. Negotiating their way through their new relationship is tricky and reading about it is fascinating.

This is a great book and I really enjoyed it. I will definitely be reading the next book in the series because I really like this town and the characters in it.

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Review: By Her Sight (The Unitam Realm Series Book 1) by Sunny Hart

By Her Sight by Sunny Hart
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Reverse Harem Academy

This is the first book in a series. The story comes to a natural break, but it definitely leaves you wanting more.

Claire is a low-level witch, who still lives in the orphanage she was raised in, despite long being past the age of majority. She can do a few basic spells but hasn’t really had much training, because of being declared a low-level witch. As she’s also blind, there is nowhere else for her to go. She has a quiet life, mainly gardening, which she loves, and reading, using a spell to read books out loud to her. She doesn’t have any friends and has always been bullied. Then one day she is called into the Mother’s office and she is told that she is to attend the Realm’s Academy where the best and the brightest witches and shifters got to learn how to be the best examples of their races. Confused at the opportunity, she knows she has no other choice but to go.

As soon as Desmond, Everett and Malcolm meet Claire, they know she is not only their Fourth but also their respective Soul Flame and Mate. It is unheard of a Triad all being mated to their Fourth, but they know it’s true. Not wanting to scare away their ‘Little Witch’ they decide to keep their distance as she settles into her very new and challenging life.

I really enjoyed this book. It’s not the most original of plots or the best execution but I really liked the characters. I particularly liked that Claire makes friends before she becomes too attached to her Triad. Her friends are there for her all the way from the beginning. They are supportive and protective and provide invaluable guidance. It is through these friends that we learn about the much larger world that Claire finds herself in after leaving her very small and isolated home town.

The world-building is interesting but there are big gaps, which I believe will be explained further in the series as there are references to the world outside the Academy and potentially visiting her friends’ homes. I understand the author wanting to spend this first book examining the characters to draw the reader in, but I would have preferred a little more information about the world in which they lived.

On the whole, this was an engaging and enjoyable read and I look forward to reading the rest of the series when it’s published.

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Review: Luke (Texas Kings MC Series Book 15) by Cee Bowerman

Luke by Cee Bowerman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Family Drama

This is the 15th book in a series of interconnected novels. There are also spin-off series that tie into this book, in particular Conner Brother’s Construction. The story stands alone but the history and personalities of the characters are explained in those previous books and that history is referred to.

Luke Evans is ex-military. He served for 14 years and got out a few years ago with a medical discharge and PTSD. He and his brother opened a gym in Rojo, where they grew up. They have another brother and a sister, and their Dad is still a big part of their lives. Luke is a member of the Texas Kings MC and they have helped him a lot since he got home.

Liberty Merida is the youngest Merida sister, at 21. Violet married Angus Conner and London, the country music star, is dating Angus’ younger brother, Tavin. She lives on the Conner Brother compound for safety and for family comfort. She writes and sells computer games and has got pretty rich off the back of it. Liberty recently had a health scare and her doctor told her to stop eating junk food, get to a gym and try and see daylight occasionally. So she made an appointment at Luke’s gym to see a dietician and start an exercise program.

When the two meet during one of Liberty’s epic klutzy moves they don’t realise that it's the start of something, especially as Luke believes though Liberty is all kinds of gorgeous she is far too young to be dealing with him and his messed up head. Liberty doesn’t agree.

It feels like a lot happens in this book. The most straightforward part is that Luke and Liberty are great together. They laugh and play and support each other in every way. They are passionate and loving and the age doesn’t make a difference. There are various difficulties that they have to deal with, some relating to them and other problems caused by other people and the plot is incredibly well written and keeps you crying with both laughter and sorrow.

This book had a lot of tension in it and characters we all know and love didn’t always behave the way we would like them to. Drama ensues and it isn’t resolved by the end of the book. The author notes before the book begins that redemption is always possible which means I hope they sort things out in the next book.

I love this author and her characters are fantastic, especially having written so many stories revolving around one town. There is lots of history and crossovers that make the world that she has created richer and deeper than can be seen in this one book. This is a great book but if you hadn’t read the others you wouldn’t experience the depth of emotions that I did because you won’t have any connection to a lot of the characters. I have given this book 4 ⭐ but if you take the series as a whole with its complex interconnected network of people and groups in Rojo it would probably be a 5 ⭐ series because the world-building is second to none.

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Review: Cooper: Gunslinger (Badass Security Council (BSC) Series Book 16) by L Ann Marie

Cooper: Gunslinger (Badass Security Council (BSC) Series Book 16 by L. Ann Marie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Horses Galore

This is book 16 in a continuing series about a group of MCs that are tightly bound together. The story really needs to be read in order and this series is actually the latest in a very long line of series that are all tied together, starting with The Baxters series. It doesn’t end on a cliffhanger but the story will continue in the next book when it comes out.

This book is about Cooper, the president of Elann Rising. He was raising in the club but joined up, becoming Special Forces. He has only been out around a year and a half and has PTSD, which he’s getting treatment for. Elann has been set up to provide support to former military personnel in the form of being part of the training school and ground ops and also having access to therapy horses. Cooper was raised on horses so it seemed a natural fit, especially as he has need of help.

Cooper meets a little girl, Austen who lives on land next to the boundary of the club, and she has been spying on all the activity for several months before they even speak. When she is in danger he meets her mother, Jane, and is drawn to her.

It’s pretty obvious where this is going because there is a pattern to these books, biker meets cool woman and they know they are meant for each other and move in together almost instantly. Everything between them is awesome but other people suck.

At first glance, these books should be really straightforward, but they aren’t. They are actually filled with an incredibly complicated web of interactions between the various clubs, across the generations, with the local communities and governmental bodies. The clubs have masses of businesses and inventions to keep track of and the books are filled with this information. If you’ve not read the books recently you tend to get confused and lost because you can’t remember who someone is or where you read about them before and what they’ve done. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow and kind of skim over the fact you don’t know what the author is talking about.

These books are weirdly addictive. Sometimes the author seems to say things in an abbreviated manner that take a while to decipher, and there are grammatical errors and spelling errors. However, I just don’t care because I love the stories about bikers and Native Americans who are trying to save the world one person and one town at a time. It gives me a nice warm glow reading about the magic of their world.

I will always try to read these books as soon as they come out because they make me smile, even if they need a more ruthless editor.

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Review: A Different Sort of Love Affair by Shayne McClendon

A Different Sort of Love Affair by Shayne McClendon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When Two Broken People Meet

Portia is a 34-year-old author who has mental health issues. She suffers from social anxiety and PTSD. She’s never had a romantic relationship. Strange men terrify her. She has a very small and tight circle of friends who adore her and she adores them back. At a party in her honour, she escapes all the people and hides in the library where she meets a beautiful man in a wheelchair.

Edgar is 40 years old and is the cousin of one of Portia’s circle. She’s never even heard of him despite knowing nearly all of the family of her circle. They spend the next hour talking about books, their mutual passion. Excited beyond words at meeting someone whose intellect fascinates her, Portia finds herself being attracted to a man.

Edgar is a neuroscientist and was a bit of a prodigy in his day, but he ran away from it all, got married and had a child. Sadly, his daughter was killed in the accident that put him in a wheelchair. He has heard lots of stories about Portia from his family, especially his beloved nephew Jacob, who is also Portia’s godson.

Their relationship starts tentatively and hopefully as both try to navigate around their own personal demons without triggering the other person’s. It’s beautiful to see.

This book is wonderfully matter of fact in the way it deals with mental illness, PTSD and physical disabilities. It states the condition and its effects without pity or any overemotional response. We watch two damaged people learn to love each other and like themselves just a little bit more. I love the support they are given by their friends and their happiness as they watch Portia and Edgar grow.

I really love the way that Portia and Edgar start to explore their sexuality despite their individual hang-ups. They are both intelligent people who like research!

I will say that Shayne McClendon’s writing can sometimes be a little cerebral, and that is certainly the case with this book. A lot of the emotions feel a bit muted because of the way the author describes them. In some respects, that’s a good thing because a lot of the subject matter is difficult and disturbing. Facing these subjects through the veil of intellect makes it easier to read about without being too disturbed.

I haven’t checked yet, but I really hope that this isn’t a complete one-off and that there are other books written about these wonderful people because I really like all the characters that we meet in this book and want to know about their lives too. If not, I’ll just have to imagine their stories instead.

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Review: Nova: Cred : Alpha Series Book 3 (Badass Security Council Series Book 14) by L Ann Marie

Nova: Cred : Alpha Series Book 3 (Badass Security Council Series Book 14) by L. Ann Marie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Complicated

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

This book is about a million in a continuing series. If you haven’t read the others, don’t bother starting here, you haven’t a hope of understanding it. I’ve read all the others and I struggle to follow the complex knot of plot twists and character interactions across the series.

This book follows Nova at the Alpha Rising club. He’s ex-military and served with the VP of another club, so was introduced through him to BSC. He messed up in a previous book and it’s nice to see his character expanded and finding redemption as he takes over as SAA for his club. When he takes over he is stuck with problems made by his previous SAA and some of the people he brought in.

Nova is also taken by surprise to find he has a brother he knew nothing about. Parker was brain damaged as a child and it has left him developmentally challenged in some areas, but he’s still pretty bright. This part of the story was really sweet, but I don’t think it was really explained enough. Everyone just accepted that “oh, look these guys look a bit like each other, they must be related so we’ll do a DNA test.” Then it was accepted and no one followed it up to find out how it happened or why. It felt like a bit of a hole in the plot.

The other main character in this book is Mikey, who was raised at the Mass club with the Princes of Prophecy. Her Dad was an officer, so she got the same education as the other Princes of Prophecy kids, even though she had no special abilities. As a result, she has always been pushed to excel and succeeded at it. She moves to Alpha Rising because after her father died, her mother ran off within weeks of his death and left her behind. She wanted to get away from all the pity and reminders of her situation.

As usual, there is insta-love involved, a bit of external relationship drama and the rest is focused on how happy they are together and working within the club. This is the pattern for all the books, so you shouldn't be surprised. It’s one of the reasons I like them because they are sort of predictable in some ways and totally random in other ways.

As always the plot is complicated, slightly obscure and leaves you scratching your head at times wondering if you missed something. There are often big leaps and you have to struggle to catch up. However, I still love these books and will continue to read them.

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Review: Repeat Offender (Soul Chapel Revenants MC Series Book 1) by Lani Lynn Vale

Repeat Offender by Lani Lynn Vale
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A Bit Rushed

This book is about a character from another series by this author. Though I’ve read some of her works I don’t think I’ve read the books that relate to this character specifically. I get the feeling that this book might have been more enjoyable if I knew some of the people and their history, however the author did state at the beginning of the book that the timelines were a bit awry to make the story work, so maybe I wouldn’t be less confused by reading the other books.

The story is about Six and Lynn. Six is a woman in her 30s who lives quite a solitary life. She films nature documentaries and is forced to attend her father’s political dinners on an occasional basis through emotional blackmail. She had a traumatic brain injury as a child that lead to her inability to be anywhere on time, keep track of items or plan anything. School was not easy.

Lynn is mature guy (we only know he has silver in his hair, not his exact age) but he’s in great shape. He has a very dubious past with encounters with the seedier side of life, but also serving in the military and recently becoming mayor of his town. He became mayor to clean up the trafficking going on in his locale, even though being a political animal wasn’t something he enjoyed.

Six and Lynn meet at one of these political dinners. They are both intrigued and they keep meeting over the course of several months, until finally they crack.......and that’s pretty much the plot. There’s bad guys and Lynn getting some guys together to help him out .....and that’s about it.

It’s fairly entertaining, but the plot isn’t exactly riveting. The novel is pretty short and it doesn’t leave much space for plot or character development. The romance is also a little bit rushed. I get the feeling that this book will be more enjoyable as part of the series as a whole, but I probably won’t be buying those books. If they were KU, I’d probably do it just to see if I’m right, but I’m not spending money for curiosity about plot structure.

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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: 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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Review: Black Sheep (Flight of The Javelin Series Book 1) by Rachel Aukes

Black Sheep by Rachel Aukes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Fast Paced Space Opera

I do love a good space opera, and this is a great example of a good space opera. I listened to the audio version, narrated by Emily Woo Zeller, and enjoyed her storytelling skills as much with this book as I have with others.

Throttle is a captain of a cargo ship that has been converted into a colony vessel. She and a handful of crew, including the man she loves, an ex-pirate, take it in turns to sleep on the 15 years of the journey so far. The colonists are all in cryogenic sleep and they are all looking for a fresh start away from their star system that has been riddled with wars.

The ship is starting to fall apart as it was not designed for deep space long term journeys and eventually there is a system-wide failure. The crew decide to take the ex-pirate ship they have in the hold to try and find help, not really expecting to find any, except they find a ship, lying dead in space with no one aboard.

When they take the ship back to the colony ship to rescue all the colonists they find a hole in space and evidence of pirates having stolen the vessel. Throttle has made a promise to get those colonists to a safe new home and she is determined to keep that promise.

I loved Throttle so much. She is a paraplegic who wears leg braces to ambulate most of the time, but a wheelchair when the braces are not possible. It’s not often you have disabled characters in Sci-fi because usually, they have miraculous cures or cybernetic limbs that are better than the originals. To have a disabled main character, who also has a successful and loving relationship is fantastic for someone who is also disabled. I particularly loved how much she enjoyed floating in zero gravity because I can imagine how freeing it would be.

Apart from being disabled, Throttle is a gifted leader. She is strong, fearless and will do anything to get the job done. She’s called Throttle because of her incredible skills as a pilot. She’s also a crack shot and great at hand to hand combat, even in leg braces. The other characters were as well rounded as Throttle, but she is the main focus of the story, though there are other points of view.

The story rockets along at a cracking pace and I really enjoyed the notion of two different branches of humanity’s colonisation efforts meeting centuries after the fact and finding a divergence in law, technology and social structure, but who still have a common language.

There were a few plot twists along the way, especially toward the end, that knocked me askew. They made me very likely to read the next book in the series but didn’t leave me gnawing my nails to the quick in frustration about the way it ended.

I really enjoyed this book, especially the audio version, I will definitely be reading/listening to the next in the series.

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Review: Basic B*tch: A Reverse Harem Rejected Mates Romance (In Love and War Series Book 1) by Katelyn Beckett

Basic B*tch: A Reverse Harem Rejected Mates Romance by Katelyn Beckett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Interesting Start To A Series

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

Riley has a wonderful future mapped out for her. She’s going to be turned into a werewolf by her lover, become an omega for his pack, then get married and have pups after she finishes her nursing degree. Except the ranking test is wrong and when she turns into an alpha wolf her new pack turns on her.

After being hunted by the pack after they fail to kill her, being shunned by her human parents, and finding danger at every turn she tried to find a way out and ends up enlisting. In Basic, she has to learn how to be a soldier at the same time she learns to be a werewolf in a hostile environment.

This book is quite intense and people who have emotional difficulties that can be triggered by reading scenes of violent assault and attempted sexual assault should approach this book with care.

There’s a lot to enjoy about this book. Riley is a strong character dealing with an exceptionally difficult set of circumstances. She tries to do her best but keeps getting punished for her existence. She fights with heart and strength and keeps getting back up again and faces her opponents with dignity.

I really liked Shawn, the omega drill Sargent with a prosthetic limb, who battles for his recruits with all the strength and determination of an alpha, despite his pack ranking. I respect that he fights his attraction to his recruit and continues to do his best to train his recruits to keep safe when they are posted to their new units.

Hunter annoyed me, as he was a cocky mischief-maker, who kept dragging Riley into trouble. However, he did try to look out for Riley in his own way.

What I had a problem with was the hostile environment the shifters within the army were subject to. The way they were treated as second class citizens. It grated on me and infuriated me, as I’m sure it was supposed to. It just made me tense throughout reading the entire book and it meant I couldn’t relax into it enough to really enjoy reading it.

This book very much felt like an introduction to a series. Nothing really got resolved, it all felt like a set up for something to come in the future. It probably would annoy me less if the next book was already out.

I feel like I would have enjoyed this book a lot more if I was reading it at any other time than at this moment in history. There is so much tension and darkness in the world that I’m looking for relaxing reading matter, and this just wasn’t. It was well written and the characters were engaging. The world-building was well thought out and I’m sure the plot is going somewhere interesting. However, I just couldn’t relax enough to really enjoy it. When the next book comes out, I’ll probably re-read it and enjoy it a lot more.

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Review: Covering Ollie (On Call Series Book 2) by Freya Barker

Covering Ollie by Freya Barker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hiding From The Mob

Ollie is 40 and for 18 years she’s been hiding from her deceased boyfriend’s family. She lost her lower leg to a car bomb and found out that the reason was that her boyfriend was a very bad man and part of a criminal organisation. When she lost her limb she found out she was pregnant and immediately took steps to run away to protect her child from becoming embroiled in that world.

Joe is 45 and has been a widower for the last year and a half. He has two sons, aged 8 and 12 and he recently moved to Durango to take over as Chief of Police as living in Denver as a homicide detective wasn’t a good way to raise two young motherless boys. Joe moved in across the road from Ollie a few months earlier and got to know her daughter Trinny well as she babysat for the boys most days, after school.

When Joe and Ollie finally meet there is a definite attraction there as they become involved in each other’s lives because of circumstances. There is pushing and pulling between them as they try and work out whether they are willing to risk being hurt in order to have something fulfilling.

I loved the way the children were involved in the relationship and they were front and centre for both Joe and Ollie. Their relationship was important, but nothing was as important as their children’s happiness and safety.

I liked the way they took their time getting to the physical part of their relationship. They were incredibly attracted to each other but waited until the right time and knowing how they felt about each other before jumping into bed. I think this is the difference between characters in their twenties and those in their forties. Fewer hormones running rampant and having different priorities.

The mystery aspect of the story was well done. No one behaved idiotically trying to get themselves killed by being stupid. Precautions were taken and stuck to. I love it when adults behave like adults! The mystery wasn’t the main focus of the story, but simply a vehicle for the romance, but it was still done well and there were a couple of surprises along the way, which is always good.

I will definitely be downloading the next story, as I like the way this author writes about people, in an engaging way with an eye to reality.

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Review: Red City by Michaela Haze

Red City by Michaela Haze
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Hell on Earth

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

I tried this book because it was free and sounded quite interesting. I’m really glad I did because I really enjoyed this journey into a demon city on earth. I have a feeling that though this is a standalone, it may have made more sense if I’d read the books set in the same world previously. However, I enjoyed the journey into understanding this darkly captivating world.

Jane Doe is a prisoner who has chosen to transfer her sentence to a place in Red City, the city for demons, and to become their plaything and their food in exchange for no longer living in a cage. Jane has no memory beyond waking up in the psych ward in the prison 5 years ago and has been tormented every day since waking back up. She was so sure that Red City couldn’t be worse, but then she is bought at auction by the head of one of the houses in the Lust sector and she is terrified of what is to come.

But whilst there is beauty in cruelty and the warmth of friendship in the cold and the dark, there is also fear and weakness in a world of power where she has none.

This book created a dark and captivating world that really drew me in. I also really enjoyed it was written by a fellow Brit. It did my heart good to see the word ‘bum’ used in a ménage book!

The characters themselves were intriguing on so many levels. The initial rush of introduction hooked me and as each page turned and more about each of them was revealed, the more I needed to learn about them.

The plot was different enough to keep me reading late into the night and wake up early to finish the book. I wanted to know what was going to happen next as it was carefully, slowly and tantalisingly revealed. It was gripping at the same time as tortuously slow. It was an interesting dynamic that I really enjoyed.

I will definitely be looking out for the other books set in this world because I think I will enjoy learning more about this wonderfully dark world created by Michaela Haze.

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Review: Worth It by S M Shade and C M Owens

Worth It by S.M. Shade & C.M. Owens
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Funny, Weird and Sweet

I bought this book when it first came out and never got around to reading it. I thought I would love it but didn’t want the disappointment if it didn’t live up to the hype. Now enough time has passed for the anticipation to have died back to normal proportions. I now know I’m daft for waiting so long because I could have been on the second read through by now if I’d read it when I got it!

This book was hilarious; laugh out loud, snort drink out your nose funny. The set up is simple enough, three friends go to a wedding week. One of the friends, Lydia, is the ex of the groom and he’s marrying the woman he cheated on her with. One of the friends, Kasha, is the step-sister of the groom. The other friend, Henley, is there for moral support. Neither Henley or Kasha really understand why Lydia is there, but they are there to support her.

Then Henley meets her first love and Kasha meets a guy she knew of at school and their interest in staying at the wedding increases enormously. The book is filled with hot encounters, hilarious sabotage endeavours and fantastically funny banter. The authors are incredibly creative and the situations the friends find themselves are mind-boggling. I honestly can’t comprehend how their minds work. However, when one of the authors also writes the Violent Circle Comedy Series Box Set books it’s not surprising what her brain comes up with.

The relationships between the friends is lovely. Supportive, funny and believable. The relationships between Kasha and Roman and Henley and Davis are sweet, hot and funny. I also like that the relationships between Kasha and the members of her family are explored.

I know I’m late to the game but this book is a perfect pick me up in a rubbish year and in a way I’m glad I saved it for when it was really needed! I recommend it highly, it’s a perfect Rom-com!

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Review: Fain (Texas Kings MC Series Book 12) by Cee Bowerman

Fain by Cee Bowerman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Funny and Sweet

It won’t come as a surprise, if you’ve read any of my reviews about this series, but I really enjoyed this book. It fills in the story about Fain and Jenna that was hinted at in some of the previous books.

Jenna fell for Fain when she was 16. He was a lot older and had been to prison before becoming a prospect. A few years have passed and they have become best friends, except Jenna wants more and Fain doesn’t think he’s good enough. They have a fight and she gets in a car wreck. This story covers what happens following the accident when Jenna gets flown to a rehab centre in Colorado and Fain goes with her. This is all information from previous books, so I'm not giving you any spoilers here.

We find out about Fain’s history and meet his siblings. We get to see Jenna finally grow up as she learns how to use her damaged body and we see them both learn to to handle difficult situations together.

It’s hilarious, as all these books are. It’s sweet too, which is no surprise. These books are a quick bite of pure entertainment that make me smile. I can’t resist them. I really hope there are books in the future that cover Fain’s siblings because they are all awesome and there’s definitely enough of them to create a decent sized series.

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Review: Endue: Women, Twins, Cyborgs? (Champion Series Book 2) by L Ann Marie

Endue: Women, Twins, Cyborgs? by L. Ann Marie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Twins All Over The Place

This book continues the story of Jinx and Debra, who started their relationship in Allegory. Jinx is the VP of Champion and was raised in the club. Jinx and Brinks, his twin brother, had a difficult time of it, having an emotionally abusive father, who raised them, until his death. Then Crow took them in and raised them on the Reservation. After Crow died they were ‘adopted’ into Cort’s family and when Cort’s Dad died as well, everyone kind of lost their way. Despite the many tragic deaths Jinx has had to deal with, he is still incredibly positive, cheerful and engaged with the world around him. He is very intelligent and works hard to understand the way things work and as an obsessive puzzle solver.

Debra was raised by Amish parents and managed to finally get away to college, where she met AJ when she studied IT. AJ helped her get the IT Second’s job at Champion after graduation and she and Jinx hit it off, despite her fear of the club’s way of doing things. This hesitation was the reason the relationship started out so slowly in the previous book. This book is about what decisions she makes about the way her life is going to go, whether she is going to let her parent’s way of life stop her from being happy.

I’ve always liked Jinx and he goes through the mill a bit in this book, recovering from the injuries sustained when a grenade went off during an attack. This incident showed the way Badass comes together when life gets tough.

There’s more Alpha-bits stuff, more connections drawn between East Coast and West Coast BSC and between PBSC and the Masons. Once again it’s a fun positive story, that entertains and explores better ways of living life.

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Review: Making Faces by Amy Harmon

Making Faces by Amy Harmon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

You’ll Need Tissues

I swear this book had me choked up for around 50% of it. It’s a proper tear jerker. This is a story about youth, leaving it behind and learning to live.

Fern is petite, has a head of bright red curls and wore glasses and braces through high school. She was teased and overlooked but she was beautiful inside. Her cousin Bailey was almost exactly the same age as her and they lived next door to each other growing up. They were best friends and close as siblings. Bailey also had Duchennes Muscular Dystrophy. He had the heart of a lion, the wiseness of an old man and a mighty brain. He was also unlikely to live much past aged 21.

At school Fern had a huge crush on Ambrose, a boy who was strong, tall and good looking, and had the weight of the town’s expectations on his shoulders, and barely had any time for a girl like Fern. Instead of heading to college after high school on a full wrestling scholarship he decided to sign up for the army and talked his best friends into joining him.

The book skips back and forth between high school and the current day. We see how each character saw the other and how they relate to each other now they are in their twenties. It’s a really beautiful book and I devoured it in one sitting. I sat with tears streaming down my face for quite a few pages, which is unusual for me. I might get a bit of dampness in the eyes, but never to the point of actual tears.

This book is full of wise and sad things, about the poignancy of grief and loss of loved ones. It’s also about grabbing life with both hands and living it to it’s fullest no matter what. I will say that this is a less a romance and more a book about friendship. It’s definitely a clean romance as there is nothing more than a few kisses. Fern is the daughter of a pastor and her faith and that of her parents is front and centre in the book. As an atheist I find that sort of thing in a book difficult to deal with, but it wasn’t overdone, it was just part of the characters and how they dealt with life.

This is the first book I’ve read by the author and next time I feel the need to bawl my eyes out I’ll look for one of her books.

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Review: Legacy (Shifters of Consequence Series Book 2) by Mazzy J March

Legacy by Mazzy J. March
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Meeting the Neighbours

This is the second book in the series and carries straight on from the first book. Wendi is getting much stronger and doesn’t need her wheelchair often. She’s still not completely secure about the use of her body, but she’s getting there, the longer she is without the pills.

Another local pack has heard about Wendi and invokes an old treaty that allows them to ‘court’ her whether she likes it or not. She is forced to visit their pack in order to avert a war. She goes with Escher, because it used to be his pack. It’s during this visit she is first introduced to the idea of harems. It’s not the best introduction.

I enjoy these books, but part of me is a little sad that the main character gets better and no longer has a disability. I don’t mean it’s sad that someone gets better, but that it’s so rare to find books about characters with disability that I kind of hate it was a plot device rather than a difficulty the character had to live with. It plays into the idea that if you try hard enough you can find the reason for disability and get better. This isn’t the case in real life very often and I don’t like the attitude to bleed into fiction when I deal with it in real life. Apart from this I still enjoy the books for the character development.

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Review: Mag: Loyalty (Badass Bravo Series Book Three) by L Ann Marie

Mag: Loyalty: Badass is in the showing! Book Three by L. Ann Marie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Bravo Rising Starts To See The Big Picture

This book is about Mag, SAA for Bravo Rising a Badass MC Affliate. His son is 10 year old Tyson who has been a wheelchair for a very long time but is incredibly bright, friendly and personable. Mag’s sister is AJ, who is the VP’s Ol’ Lady. They haven’t been with this section of Badass for very long but Mag is finding his true home at last and using all the Badass philosophies his Dad taught him. He’s making sure to pass on those lessons to his own son and the Alpha-Bits.

In a previous book Mag hooked up with Leya the owner of the ice-cream parlour. She’s not been in town long either and is mourning the death of her young daughter, who had cancer. She really likes Mag, but she’s scared to get involved too quickly as her ex was not great and left when their daughter was born with Downs Syndrome.

I kind of liked that a big chunk of this book was spent with the couple not actually together or really talking directly too each other much as Leya got her head around something serious with Mag. Mag was really sweet and gave her time whilst he got on with being an all round awesome guy.

It’s a very sweet love story and left most of the drama outside the relationship and more with ongoing problems the club was having with attacks being made against them. Some interesting bits and pieces were also revealed by the head honchos as BSC. Things are ramping up again.

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Review: Close to Her Heart (Carrigans of Circle C Series Book 3) by C J Carmichael

Close to Her Heart by C.J. Carmichael
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Straight Forward Romance with A Tiny Twist

I’ve had this book ages and was only reminded about it by an advert so dug it out to give it a read.

Dani is a researcher at the University of Washington, researching childcare practices and loves her job with a passion. She also loves that she is far away from her Montana ranch beginnings. She has a nice boyfriend, who also happens to be her boss and she is happy with her life, though she wishes she got to see more of her boyfriend but understands that he is a widower with a young daughter, so his time is precious.

She has two good friends who live in her building, Miriam and Elliot. They get together at least once a week for drinks and board games and chat.

Everything is going well until Dani gets pregnant and then everything starts to unravel, and she starts to turn inwards rather than reaching out for help.

This is an unsurprising romance and goes in a predictable direction, but I liked the characters a lot. They were well thought out and their personalities solidly built. I also liked the way the author handled one of the main problems for Dani. It was handled with compassion and in a matter of fact way.

However, the story was a little plodding and I’ve found that books that don’t have lots of speech in them bore me a little. I think it comes from a background in theatre. I have no problem with lengthy paragraphs of internal debate or descriptions of the world, but I like the characters to talk to each other and to learn about each other and this book didn’t have very much of that.

All in all, an enjoyable book, but I didn’t enjoy it enough to read any more from the series. 

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