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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