This was such a delight. A charming, funny, angsty, endearing, adorable delight. I adored th
The bane of his life and the balm to his soul.
This was such a delight. A charming, funny, angsty, endearing, adorable delight. I adored this so much and adored the leads Max and Effie even more. Two incredibly lonely souls finding acceptance and happiness in each other. For fans of Amanda Quick's Ravished I think you'll love this one. This had a very similar set up with a scarred "beast" recluse hero and a sweet eccentric bluestocking heroine who loves her archeology. Although I found this one much stronger with more depth and emotion on top of the humor. I loved Effie's combination of confidence in her intelligence yet vulnerability and insecurity of wanting a family and to be loved just as she is. Max was the perfect gruff, brooding, grouchy "beast" to her smiling personality and open heart. Max just dissolves into a big teddy bear around her and it was so great to see. Their meet cute happens when he finds her on his land digging up holes trying to extract an old ancient pot. He first mistakes her for a boy since she's covered in mud and wearing breeches and weird goggles. The hilarity and fun ensues from there. What I loved most about this was that while we got to see this couple slowly fall for each other we also got to see them become friends first. I found that very significant and so dear considering Effie never had a real friend before this. Her "big brain" and tendency to ramble out whatever comes to her mind and debate topics always scared people off and society labels her as odd. Her scholarly father died so that left her completely alone in the world with nothing but her and her passion for antiquity to distract her. I just found her so endearing and sweet. Both hero and heroine are recluses for different reasons but need distractions from the whirling questions and thoughts plaguing them in their loneliness. They both needed unconditional love and that's exactly what they found in each other.
"Can I ask you a question, Max?" "You can always ask me anything, Effie. In fact, I insist upon it. I find your honesty and your undisguised curiosity refreshing." "Then that is a first. Most people loathe it." "Then most people are daft. What’s the question?" "Are we friends now? I feel as though we are, but I am never entirely sure. And experience has taught me that if I assume, then I am doomed to be disappointed when my perceived friend starts to avoid me." She said it so matter of factly, but his heart wept for her. It was so ill deserved. Effie was a breath of fresh air, not an irritation. "I suppose we must be." Her delighted smile was like a balm to his soul. "That’s nice. And you don’t mind all the questions?" "I don’t want you to ever think you shouldn’t ask questions, Effie. You can always ask me anything..."
Ugh. Just so adorable. ❤️ This scene honestly made me want to cry I found it so touching and vulnerable. I loved how patient and kind Max was with Effie. Her intelligence and how quick her mind works fascinates him. And him going from grumbly put-out neighbor to intrigued assistant helping her dig up treasures and artifacts on his land was really cute and hilarious. Their banter is the greatest thing. I loved the endless nicknames he came up for her when he was angry or wanted to tease her. Miss Naive, Miss None-of-your-business, Miss Ninnyhammer, etc. ...more
Lydia Michaels really needs to work on her pacing. She's a talented writer and the sexual tension in this was divine but omg she waterlogs her storiesLydia Michaels really needs to work on her pacing. She's a talented writer and the sexual tension in this was divine but omg she waterlogs her stories with endless filler nonsense that's not needed. She stuffs her books with so much mundane information and/or secondary characters that the romance completely gets overshadowed and rushed through to the very end with a bunch of loose ends barely tied up. Like the heroine not finding out about the hero's tragic backstory until the very end of the book when he proposes to her....seriously? And the crazy bitchy PA Erin not getting exposed/fired on the page after all the shit she did to the heroine Skylar and nearly hitting the hero's little girl was crazy. The heroine's lack of agency was absurd and just plain stupid. You're the nanny and you don't think it's important to tell your boss right away that his assistant almost hit his daughter?! O_o It made no sense how Skylar kept putting off telling the hero about his assistant especially after that incident. Her lack of agency and urgency was so distracting and made her such a doormat. All the "it's nothing" and "I'll tell you later" brushing off she did drove me insane and made no sense. (view spoiler)[ Neither was the fact that it was never discovered that Erin was the one who deleted a very important email causing the heroine to flunk out of her class. WTF? THEN WHY DO IT? (hide spoiler)] Your readers want to see payoff and follow through ON THE PAGE. Not dusty scenes about the heroine's Gran and Pops babysitting 20 grandchildren or her overbearing family. When you have bad characters do bad things to the h/hr then retribution of some kind is expected and earned. Also, that cover? So misleading. lol This is a fluffy cozy Christmas story with more time spent on family drama rather than sexy times. There's literally just 1 full sex scene and the hero eating her out that's it. They are together for a total of a few days before drama implodes and the heroine takes her sweet time dragging her feet in deciding to make up with the hero (which is another pet peeve of mine). It almost felt like Contemporary Fiction/Chick Lit than true CR at times....more
Started off really strong. This was cute for what it was and reminded a little bit of Mila Finelli's mafia books. Just wish it had more depth like FinStarted off really strong. This was cute for what it was and reminded a little bit of Mila Finelli's mafia books. Just wish it had more depth like Finelli's work. The world building and character development could have been better. A Mafia Don going into an arranged marriage with a Bratva princess who has a disability and uses a wheelchair. So intriguing right?! I did like the disability representation. The heroine Sofiya has a condition called EDS (Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome) which causes sensitive skin tissue, joint pain and dislocation frequently. She uses a rollator and wheelchair to move around. What started off great with a marriage of convenience disappointingly crumbled into repetitive cotton candy fluff by the halfway mark. I'm all for fluffy goodness but characters doing the same thing over and over again to fill up pages just starts to wear things down fast. I loved the sweet moments which were many but when nothing else happens in the story I start to mentally check out. The hero was a complete puppy for his "tesoro" wife which was cute. But a mafia don grabbing his wife at every opportunity to have her sit in his lap in every occasion including business dinners with all the mafia families felt a bit like fanfic for me. I love when couples have their own special "things" but when it's done all the time in every scene? Nope. There was also a looooot of giggling and lip biting happening from the heroine which kind of drove me insane.
The mafia action didn't kick in until the last 100 pages which stirred my interest again but parts were ridiculous given some of the questionable stupid stunts the heroine pulls. You want to get away from your husband fine, but why the fuck would you team up with a rival mafia to "rescue" you? ...more
If I hadn't purchased this book, I would have DNF'ed. This was painful to get through, a lot of skimming was involved. Barely any plot, zero chemistryIf I hadn't purchased this book, I would have DNF'ed. This was painful to get through, a lot of skimming was involved. Barely any plot, zero chemistry, more telling than showing, way too much exposition and both characters questioning & over-analyzing everything. When there's more exposition than dialogue then it's hard to stay engaged. I don't do well with this kind of writing style and 80% of this book is just exposition and internal monologues. The marriage of convenience doesn't even happen until 200 pages in and these two barely spend time together even after that but suddenly are in love? When did that happen? lol This book is a literal example of "don't tell me, show me" in every aspect. And I don't understand the point of writing your heroine as a single mother if you are barely going to show her child? :/ I swear little Julia maybe had 5 lines of dialogue total in this book, the kid is either always sleeping or was carted off for 1 month to stay with a friend for "safety". If you don't like to write kids then why write them in at all? What's the point if you aren't going to even bother fleshing out your own characters? Don't waste your readers time that way....more
-Weston Belmont made for a sweet hero. Was he memorable though compared to other Silver heroes? No. He's a walking green flJust some random thoughts.
-Weston Belmont made for a sweet hero. Was he memorable though compared to other Silver heroes? No. He's a walking green flag and a sweetie but he felt a *little* too perfect for me that it fell flat and kinda boring. Always throwing winks and cracking jokes felt a little too on the nose. I love nice guy heroes but I need a little something more underneath the surface. He felt way too laid back on some things too. He's supposedly protective of his kids and introducing new women to them but it didn't feel that way with the heroine once they got intimate. The fact that he didn't even bat an eye over his daughter catching them in bed together is an example of that. A lot of conversations seemed to happen off the page. He's a horse trainer but the "cowboy" aspect was nonexistent.
-West's two kids Oliver and Emmy were cute, I especially loved Oliver. But his little girl Emmy who is 6 years old sounded like a 12 year old going on 20 and it kept throwing me off and taking me out of scenes. It was so distracting. Does anyone know a 6 year old who talks this way?...
“I’ll come up with one and show you. If you like it, we’ll need to negotiate a price. I don’t work for free.”
“No, fancy girls don’t drink out of cans, Skylar,” Emmy argues. “What about a champagne glass? I think Dad has one back here somewhere.”
Emmy lets out a little scoff before turning to me dramatically. “It’s amateur hour over here.”
-Skylar Stone made for a sweet heroine. I don't love musician characters/stories, so that didn't really grab my attention and probably why I wasn't as invested as I should be in this story. It certainly didn't help here that Skylar didn't really feel like this big famous musician considering all the details about her music making and lifestyle wasn't really shown. She's supposedly a Taylor Swift-type of famous but it really didn't come off that way. Like her writing her whole new album pretty much happens in small bits and pieces and then boom! skip a few months(?) ahead... album is out. Which made no sense. Your heroine is a superstar shouldn't we see that creative process in real time? Her abusive asshole parents pushed her into stardom at a young age and controlled her whole life so it was nice to see her break free from that and discover what she really wants in life. Just wish the actual plot and chemistry was more exciting. I didn't feel invested/interested until the last 100 or so pages. I especially didn't feel the chemistry and angst till the near end which felt late.
-The standout character for me: The heroine's foul mouthed African Grey parrot, Cherry. ...more
“Is it really you?” I ask into his neck. “Yeah. It’s really me.”
How can something so simple be so perfect? To think I originally 4.5 stars
“Is it really you?” I ask into his neck. “Yeah. It’s really me.”
How can something so simple be so perfect? To think I originally DNF'd this. I'm so glad I went back. Majority of this novella is through email format. That's what initially threw me off. But my absolute weakness is epistolary romances so I had to see how it would play out till the end. I just love that trope so so much. This story covers 10 years of what starts off as an email being accidentally sent to the wrong email address which becomes a yearly tradition between 2 strangers checking in every Valentine's Day only to find each other in real life. So sweet, adorable and feel good. The execution is so straightforward and so simple but worked. I didn't want to say goodbye to these two when they finally just found each other. Their first face to face after she finally figures out it's him? *chef's kiss* I have never swooned harder over a hug. So much meaning punched into just one hug. I felt it....more
So so so much better than Hail Mary (Leo sweetie I'm so sorry you were done dirty). Clay and Giana were a treat. Very adorable. I just really4.5 stars
So so so much better than Hail Mary (Leo sweetie I'm so sorry you were done dirty). Clay and Giana were a treat. Very adorable. I just really wish this author would lay off the 3rd act drama in her books that takes up 100 pages. I'm fine with break ups and conflict but why is it always family drama and adults being so fucking awful and toxic to their kids in Steiner's books? Or whatever 3rd act drama there is, it's always dragged out for much too long IMO. And parents getting excused for abusive behavior to their kids cause they "mean well" and need help isn't it. Absolutely not. Don't care if it's his mom who raised him, that shit with Clay's bitchy conniving ex-girlfriend and her interfering father was ridiculous. But shout out to that breakup scene cause a hero crying because he can't stand hurting the heroine and leaving her? THE ANGST. ❤️ Emotional heroes are my kryptonite. Just hits different....more
“Fadat besham, Asal.” Three words paralyzed me. I am willing to sacrifice myself for you, Honey.
Just so wonderful and feel good.4.75 stars
“Fadat besham, Asal.” Three words paralyzed me. I am willing to sacrifice myself for you, Honey.
Just so wonderful and feel good. A persian flight nurse heroine? I mean come on. I knew I had to give this book a try after learning Layla is Persian and her hero is calling her "asal" in Book 2, that had my antennas go up and eager to go back and read this. I was nervous but I have to give Maggie C. Gates her brownie points for really doing her research with all the details as far as language and customs, either she knows someone Persian who helped her out or she really did her homework. Some things were a bit exaggerated as far as customs go and religious practice and how phrases are used in what context but even so, I was very surprised and impressed by her thoroughness and care.
“But I’m most thankful that you spent your life making your soul just as beautiful. Dooset Daaram, hamsar-am.”
I just love and adore bilingual romances, whisper sweet nothings in my ear in another language and it really does things for me. I mean a hero who learns Farsi to tell the heroine how he feels? COME ON. Heart melting. Ovaries gone. He learned how to make her chai with nabat. This book made me want to squeal out loud like a lunatic. GIVE ME A CALLUM FLETCHER PLEASE. ...more
Perfect cozy holiday novella. Just what I was looking for and needed to end the year with. A grumpy Welsh man with a jaded heart and 3.74 stars
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Perfect cozy holiday novella. Just what I was looking for and needed to end the year with. A grumpy Welsh man with a jaded heart and a sunshiny sweet American curvy heroine who live in the same apartment building in Paris and hate each other but get stuck in their tiny elevator lift on Christmas Eve. Colin and Jules were cute. And the body positivity and praise kink in this was nicely done. That nod to Love Actually was sweet. I recommend this for those who love wanderlust romances!
ETA: Ok after reading the bonus epilogue I just have to say Ms. Anders is in need of an editor or a good one at least. The amount of typos in just 20 pages is hard to miss. I noticed this in the initial story too, for some reason she tends to skip over her words a lot and it's really obvious especially during intimate scenes and dialogue. Important words are missing or repeated at odd times so it reads like mistakes. Her writing is a bit hiccupy because of that....more
This started out with strong potential. I loved the concept of single pregnant heroine working for her boss who slowly falls for her and her2.75 stars
This started out with strong potential. I loved the concept of single pregnant heroine working for her boss who slowly falls for her and her baby. I was expecting an office romance with a pregnancy trope that's slow burn but this quickly morphed into insta-lust/love fanfic smut halfway in where the supposedly emotionally detached hero is suddenly pouring out endearments and moving her into his house and buying her a whole new wardrobe and giving her money and fixing all her problems at the drop of a hat. It just didn't work for me. It's a nice fantasy but it's just not interesting or exciting. Especially when it's so instant. Office romance power dynamics usually don't bother me and I normally love that trope but the heroine pretty much going 'okey dokey' and going along with everything just made the whole story collapse like a cheap suitcase. It just became so one dimensional and shallow. Where's the conflict? The tension? When there's no agency or conflict then you lose me. I love a care-taking hero but he gives her everything from the very start and she happily goes along with it. The minute he said "once I put my dick in you, you are mine" I knew where this was heading. The assistant falling for her boss and having sex in his office and nobody raises a brow over it? Really? And I can't tell you how much I hate the endearment "sweetheart". It's like nails on a chalkboard and makes my skin crawl. ...more
So adorable. Surprised me how adorable. Wish this was a full length book given the emotional beats played here. Sumner was a giant love bug h4.5 Stars
So adorable. Surprised me how adorable. Wish this was a full length book given the emotional beats played here. Sumner was a giant love bug hero and Britta (hate these names by the way) kinda drove me up the wall with her hangs up on not doing committed relationships and keeping the hero at arm's length. Girl, this man is crazy in love with you and just wants to take care of you! If you don't want him I'LL TAKE HIM. I'll climb him like a tree and cling like a koala and never let go. Glad her mind, heart and lady parts got with the program eventually....more
This is how it had been in California. One measly lunch had led to months of staring off into space trying to remember the exact sha
3.75 stars
This is how it had been in California. One measly lunch had led to months of staring off into space trying to remember the exact shade of her eyes.
Wavering on the rating. This was cute. I liked it for the most part but to be honest I was really hoping to love it. I was obsessed with Burgess from just a gruff "hello" in the last book so yeah my expectations for this were a little skewed and I'm being harsher. The meet cute set up and tropes at play really had me looking forward to this. But a lot of odd plot choices were made here that felt contrived/forced into the book. I don't know it just felt very sloppy and lackadaisical in places. Some details didn't make sense or explained clearly. And I have never seen a book take such drastic left pivot in the first 30 pages just to introduce a new character to set up the next book in this series. Like...why? That was so clumsy and so unnecessary. You're telling me Chloe couldn't be introduced another way? Chloe whose soon-to-be stepsibling is a teammate and friend of the hero's? Instead you had to have your heroine in the opening scene of the book suddenly get cold feet for her new Au Pair job (that has free boarding) just to randomly go apartment hunting and meeting her new "friend" Chloe to create a new friend circle and set up for the next book?...... M'kay. Felt like a waste of page time for me. Moving on....
“Could you kiss me? One time. I’ll never ask again—” He went into the kiss like a bear being handed a pot of honey after a winter in hibernation.
“Burgess,” she gasped, patting him on the shoulder with a shaky hand. “O-okay. Okay.” “Okay what, gorgeous?” he muttered thickly. She moaned as he licked up the side of her neck. “This is . . . we’re getting c-carried away.” “I’ll carry you anywhere you want to go.”
She wasn’t sure what compelled her to break into a jog, only that she wanted to be in those strong arms as quickly as possible—and he was already opening them for her. She ran, jumped, and was enfolded in the warmest, safest hug of all time. All she had to do was dangle there, surrounded in strength.
He rubbed at the back of his neck. “I guess I want to be important to you. Instead of the man you could . . . maybe fall for someday. When I take you to bed for the first time, I want you looking back at me like you might. Like you could, you know. Fall for me.” He cleared his throat extra hard.
Burgess and Tallulah were very cute and sexy, the sexual chemistry and steam was ...more
The hero's students were so conniving and awful. To use a teenage crush as the 3rd act conflict for your adult couple is a real.....choice. The hero's students were so conniving and awful. To use a teenage crush as the 3rd act conflict for your adult couple is a real.....choice. ...more
The perfect nanny/single dad book does not exist. Liz Tomforde: WANNA BET??!
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“I simply stopped running when the t
⚾️ *5 Golden Stars* ⚾️
The perfect nanny/single dad book does not exist. Liz Tomforde: WANNA BET??!
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“I simply stopped running when the two best boys I know caught me.”
Wowie did I love this. Happy New Year to meeee! This was a complete home run and yes I just used a baseball analogy for a baseball book I don't care. lol I need to sue Liz Tomforde for emotional distress. Her books keep stomping on my ovaries, flambéing, frapeying, just kaboom boom booming them to smithereens. ...more
This was adorable and charming all around and I get the fanfare over this series if4.5 Stars
"Sometimes the quietest love is the loudest."
This was adorable and charming all around and I get the fanfare over this series if this was anything to go by. Ryan Shay and Indy Ivers just melt your heart, two extreme opposites forced to live as roommates who slowly fall for each other was so sweet and satisfying to see. This definitely was one of those books that checks off all kinds of tropes and I personally didn't mind it because it felt like little surprises that popped up and didn't feel forced in.
What I loved: -Hero Ryan Shay is a NBA basketball player who looks like a cross between Stephen Curry & Michael Ealy (in my head at least). -Heroine Indy is the hero's twin sister's best friend who is coming off an awful break up when she caught her fiance cheating on her and now needs a new place to live. She's a flight attendant who is a caretaker by nature and wears her heart on her sleeve and the embodiment of sunshine and firecracker. She's hilarious and adorable in trying to fluster the uptight OCD hero. -Heroine's full name is Indigo so hero gives her the nickname Blue. (it's a recurring joke) -Hero builds heroine a bookcase to hold all her romance books. -Hero learns ASL to communicate with heroine's father who is deaf. -Hero makes sure to bring veggie food to a camping trip with his General Manager's family who didn't know she's vegetarian. -The praise kink. (The way these two hype each other up is really sweet too) -Care taking when heroine is sick. -Fake dating shenanigans including one bed scenario and a jealous hero. (I have never laughed so hard over a guy confusing the craft store Michael's for a real man ...more
You know when you try an author that everyone raves about with that one very popular overhyped book and it's an underwhelming fail, so you decide to tYou know when you try an author that everyone raves about with that one very popular overhyped book and it's an underwhelming fail, so you decide to try her again to see maybe if it was just a fluke and a case of a bad book for you? Welp, this was my attempt at that. And I can now say with 1000% clarity, Ali Hazelwood is not for me.
I snort at his wide-eyed I-didn’t-know-the-essay-was-due-today-and-my-dog-ate-it-anyway expression.
I laugh at his old-man-yells-at-a-cloud eye roll.
I am but a cornucopia of regret. Because we’re all bad bitches—till a scowling Were stands outside the bathroom door while we’re washing our hair.
If you are a Hazelwood fan who has loved all her books, then you will probably love this. If you are an Adult Paranormal Romance fan, then you probably won't. I fall in the latter category. I'm putting emphasis on 'adult' because this didn't feel or read like an adult PR for me and that falls heavily on the writing. For obvious reasons the blurb intrigued me and what pushed me to give this author another try. A Vampire heroine and Were Alpha hero thrown together in an arranged marriage to help broker peace between the two feuding species? Sign me up. I will give Ali credit for stepping out of her comfort zone and trying something different from what she normally writes. But this really felt like her STEM characters cosplaying as paranormal characters. The same fumbling tension, the same irreverent snarky awkward humor, same single-POV driven story with an oblivious heroine not realizing the hero is smitten with her, same poor communication and stilted awkward conversations.
I don’t consider myself a sensitive person. As a rule, I’m not opposed to people implying that I am a disappointment to my family and my species. But I do ask for one thing: that they keep that shit away from me.
The heroine Misery Lark has been used as collateral by her father who runs the Vampyre council since she was 8 years old. She was sent to live in human territory for 12 years as a trade off/peace treaty and returned back reviled by her own people and labeled as a traitor. She's had humans, Vampyres and Weres who have attempted to kill her. Because of this she returned to the human territory to live with her human best friend Serena until her Father summons her back to be collateral once again by marrying a Were, Lowe Moreland. Misery works in tech coding(?) in the human world, can't cry at all and finds everything either weird or gross and has the vocabulary of a med student. Words like "zygomatic" "ontological" "exsanguinate" and "phenotypes" are a mouthful and doesn't really fit with this setting or character who literally doesn't even understand her own species much less humans. It felt like Hazelwood's own voice coming through or just one of her STEM heroines talking. Why is your Vampyre heroine talking like a PhD student?
This friendship, or lack of enmity, appears to be highly rewarding to my dopaminergic system.
People who shared a placenta for nine months should not talk about this stuff.” Am I flushing? I am. “We’re dizygotic twins, which means that we never shared a placenta or an umbilical cord. A womb at best, really.”
“I could have poured triazolopyrimidines in your blood bags a million times over in the past twenty years.”
“You realize that’s not a sentence, right? Just a temporal subordinate clause.”
“Is it another Alpha thing? And your motor proteins are suuuuper dominant?”
This is a single POV book, all from the heroine's perspective and that's a big disadvantage. I really don't want to be in your heroine's head for 400 pages. Unless the writing is really good and engaging. And it's just not here. I'm not asking for mind blowing or deep shit, I just want a readable story and the readability factor with this author is very low. It's headache inducing. The limited narrative perspective doesn't really do the story or the hero here any favors. Lowe Moreland is the Alpha of his wolf pack, he's visually intimidating but has the demeanor of a golden retriever beneath the stoic face which at times is sweet and at other times falls short and left me wanting. I was expecting Rawr rawr rawr! instead I got soft puppy. I love softie cinnamon roll heroes just as much as the next person but I need some semblance of emotional insight or an edge of some kind to go along with it. I mean why have your hero reject the heroine at the 80% mark out of nowhere with no explanation or motive and just have him bashfully shrug his shoulders when the heroine realizes he lied to her? If you are gonna have your hero dump/reject the heroine with no warning then you need to give us a reason or motivation for it. The heroine nearly dies from poison and is unconscious for 5 days and the most we get from the hero when she wakes up is "My felicitations"........ ...more
“I’m done pretending to be head over heels in love with you because I’m legitimately head over heels in love with you. And acting lik
4.5 stars
“I’m done pretending to be head over heels in love with you because I’m legitimately head over heels in love with you. And acting like I’m not tears me up.”
I'll be honest I'm a little conflicted on the rating for this. It's between a 4 and 5 stars. Which is still great either way. This was a 5 star for a good chunk of it but the steam factor and the last 20ish% kind of made that last star fall off a bit for me. I've been in a not great head space the past week so reading was a struggle in general. But even so, this grabbed my attention and the distraction I needed from reality. Beau and Bailey were adorable and so sweet. Two lost souls trying to find themselves and their way in life and finding comfort in each other. Bailey was a great combination of innocent, vulnerable yet smart mouth and guarded. I loved the age gap here. Beau is 35 and Bailey is 21. Beau is a special ops soldier who is back home after a rescue mission left him with burned scarred feet and a serious case of PTSD. He's the jovial "goofy" Eaton brother but underneath the bravado is someone who is very weary and lost. Bailey Jansen is the misfit outcast that everyone in Chestnut Springs treats like a pariah given her last name. Her family is a bunch of drug addicts, petty thieves and bullies that the entire town find a nuisance. Bailey has been getting the burnt end of her family name when she's just trying to make her way on her own. I felt for her. Did the conflict in the end feel overblown and a bit silly? Yes. I was expecting it. It was overblown considering the timeline of it. But thankfully it didn't drag on too long and they talked it out. I love how slow burn this felt. Elsie said this was her "least" slow burn book from this series and frankly I disagree. I'm a little confused what she meant by that because this felt pretty slow burn in my book. The amount of pining/yearning/edging that drags on is both delicious and frustrating at the same time. lol
You don’t tell a person you love them with the expectation they’ll say it back. You tell them because you want to. You tell them because it’s true.
I personally love shy virgin heroines who find their own voice and independence. Bailey fit that bill. I just wish the steam was a bit more exciting in this rather than focused solely on "I wanna get rid of my virginity now, a sex toy already got rid of my hymen". It felt heavy handed. I know I'm in the minority when I say this but I absolutely hate when virgin heroines are portrayed like this in romance, specifically CR. Like it's some big shocking annoying thing a young girl in her 20s should be ashamed of? It's a weird gross narrative that I'm seeing more of and I truly don't get it and so tired of seeing it. A woman in her 20s (or any age for that matter) being a virgin is not gross or shocking please stop treating it that way authors, it's insensitive and utterly ridiculous. But that's a rant for another time. Also the porn thing, do all of Elsie Silver's heroines love to watch porn? I'm not knocking porn fanatics and normally don't even care but it feels very disingenuous here because these are women from different lifestyles and backgrounds but all of them just casually watch porn when they are horny or bored, in every. single. book. With uptight "ice queen" Winter it felt weird and very forced and here it felt forced too given how much it was brought up. Like yes, the heroine is a virgin but she's a COOL virgin ya'll! She watches porn and has a box of sex toys to prove it. RME. Please stop. It was doing too much IMO. Also, when you have an experienced hero and a virgin heroine who is eager to try things and discover sex, why not show some of that sexual exploration? *cries into my pillow* That's the part I felt let down the most TBH. This book kinda felt like a big ol' tease in many ways in that regard. And I want to throw my shoe at people who labeled that bathtub scene as "steamy" all over social media because it built up expectations in my head I wasn't aware of until I got to it. (view spoiler)[ Your man helping you shave your pubic hair is sweet but standing in a bathtub full of floating pubic hair (I really didn't need that visual Elsie Silver thanks) while he performs oral sex on you is not my idea of sexy time. But that's just me. (hide spoiler)]...more
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