This read like a Tiktok influencer wrote it. Or one of those cheesy click-bait short drama serials with bad acting put into book format (am DNF @ 40%
This read like a Tiktok influencer wrote it. Or one of those cheesy click-bait short drama serials with bad acting put into book format (am I the only one seeing those ads on Instagram?). I could handle cheesy but the writing is awful. All the pop culture references/world events dropped in here trying to make the characters sound educated did the exact opposite. Ex: Putin, Covid, Gen Z mentions, the hero is an older guy lusting for a 18 year old but "he's not like Epstein" y'all! ...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
-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
Single dad-nanny books really do it for me. And a Hockey sports romance on top of all that? Yes please. This hit all the right buttons. Gru4.75 stars
Single dad-nanny books really do it for me. And a Hockey sports romance on top of all that? Yes please. This hit all the right buttons. Grumpy Goalie widower Will Perry and kindergarten teacher Chloe Knot were adorable. And his little girl Ava was cuteness overload. I loved that she wanted to play Hockey just like her Daddy. ...more
The hero was terrible. His daughter was annoying and the heroine deserved way better. I've read my fair share of asshole heroes but this guy takes theThe hero was terrible. His daughter was annoying and the heroine deserved way better. I've read my fair share of asshole heroes but this guy takes the cake in being belligerent, oblivious, unfeeling, selfish, contrary and dismissive. I'm a pretty forgiving reader when it comes to mercurial HR heroes but this was just too hot and cold and dismissive for my tastes. He almost gave me bodice ripper vibes with how mercurial and contrary he was. The number of times he gave the heroine mixed signals just makes your head spin.
The heroine Norah Linton sails all the way from England to Ireland in the hopes of meeting her future groom who she has corresponded with through letters. She was desperate to get out of the clutches of her cruel stepfather in England who was planning to marry her off to a welp of a boy. She thought she was writing to Sir Aidan Kane a bereaved widower looking for a mother for his little girl. What she discovers however once she arrives at his gloomy castle doorstep is that his 15 year old daughter Cassandra was the one writing those letters and hoping to "surprise" her Papa with a Birthday gift of a new bride for him. He's furious and blusters but not at his willful spirited daughter for literally catfishing and luring a woman out under false pretenses but rants and raves at the poor heroine who was an innocent party in all this. He even taunts Norah for being "brainless and desperate enough to marry a stranger". That should have been my first red flag.
I was really hoping this would be a grand sweeping HR of old where a jaded rakehell hero falls for the plain-faced wallflower heroine looking for a home and family to love. This is that but not much is given or shown in character development and romance. Words are given but barely any action is shown to prove it. I really felt for Norah who was so eager and yearning to find someone to love her and have a home of her own. I just wanted to hug her so bad. Every time this woman shows patience and kindness to Aidan it gets ignored or thrown in her face later on when he's triggered by Feelings™️. I tried to wait it out and kept going but it didn't help that the writing is so long winded, where it's pages of endless exposition and internalizing and repeating events just to get to dialogue. I just didn't care for Aidan and how he treated Norah, being sweet and seductive one moment promising to make her happy and protect her but then going back on his word 5 minutes later. The number of times this man disappoints and crushes her hopes was one too many for my tastes and made me wish this man to Hades. It was the same thing over and over again. From rushing her to the altar and treating the wedding vows like a headache he needs to get through after promising to make her happy and give her "the wedding of her dreams" ...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
He stroked her hair and her back, kissed her temple and her cheek. "When you're gone, half of me is gone. Why do ye suppose the firs
3.75 stars
He stroked her hair and her back, kissed her temple and her cheek. "When you're gone, half of me is gone. Why do ye suppose the first thing I do is find ye?"
I just adore this series so much. So much to sink your teeth into. Adventure, family, humor, lowkey magic, suspense, sexual tension, passion and yearning in spades. No one does yearning anymore like Elisa Braden does. While this wasn't my favorite installment, I still had trouble putting it down. Alexander MacPherson and Sabella Lockhart made quite the pair. I loved the whole forbidden/sworn enemy dynamic here with a bitter hollowed-out jaded angry hero pining over the sister of his family's sworn enemy. Kenneth Lockhart terrorized, tortured, falsely imprisoned and nearly killed Alexander's brother Broderick a year ago and nearly killed Alexander too. So the grudge is deep and for good reason. While the already established "I've wanted you for so long" feelings didn't work for me in Campbell's book it worked well here because we actually got to see it play out in real time in Book 2 when Alexander and Sabella meet and the fallout of him nearly getting killed. So that underlying tension has been simmering in the background for two books so it held weight. You feel that anticipation going into this book already. Was there insta-lust and tripping over things quickly to get to a marriage of convenience? Yes. But the sexual tension, pining and chemistry saved it for me. And yes there was a quite lot of tup, tup, tupping. These two are so insatiable and smitten with each other and while I wish some beats played out differently and paced out better, a fun time was had nonetheless. I just loved how obsessed Alexander was with her. He hates that he's wanted her and couldn't have her and thought he lost her to someone else. His desperation in wanting to keep her and fear of losing her was so great to see. There's just something about lovesick obsessed "I'll do anything to keep her" heroes even if they have to play a little dirty to do it. He starts off mean to her because of a misunderstanding but even underneath that bitterness you see how much he worships her. All bark and no bite is the best kind of brooding hero. I mean the switch mode from broodacious rawr! to losing his shit over her getting hurt? Ugh. INJECT IT INTO MY VEINS RIIIIGHT NOW.
“But first, I want to know why ye call me Duchess. Early on, I assumed ye intended to mock me, but I no longer think that’s true.” “Ye should be a duchess,” he answered. “But as ye’re mine, and I cannae offer lofty titles, I call ye what ye are to me—my wife, the mother of my bairns. A woman too fine for aught that’s ordinary.” He shrugged. “Ye’re my Duchess. That simple.”
The weakest points for me were two things. Their first time having sex I didn't really love. I mean it was hot but felt kind of anticlimactic; I didn't love the whole fucking her against a tree for their first time (after all that build up) and to continue to just go at it after finding out she's a virgin without pause was little WTF for me. Considering he thought she was mistress to a man he loathed for 1 whole year, yeah I wanted the coming together to be little more explosive or meaningful or at least freak the fuck out realizing how wrong he was. That moment just lost something for me and fell a little short. And second, the whole random villain conflict and resolution with the bad guy Cromartie in the end with her brother's mistress wasn't great. Considering Cecilia's role in my baby Broderick's downfall in Book 2 I really didn't care for a revisit of this character. I don't care what a sad tragic life she's had, she nearly got my man unalived and mutilated for it. ...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
Started off great. This had so much potential to be another favorite from Mila Finelli. But it just lost me half way in when all the hero and3.5 stars
Started off great. This had so much potential to be another favorite from Mila Finelli. But it just lost me half way in when all the hero and heroine did was hate fuck and get each other off with zero emotional connection in between. The cat and mouse game took up too much of the book and left me feeling hot and cold. Their feelings just happen out of the blue, it didn't feel gradual. They share maybe 2 meaningful conversations between all the sex and that's it. The heroine Gia suddenly is softening after the hero Enzo (her captor) tells her a story about putting a band-aid on his daughter's knee and she's weak at the knees. That's it. Seriously? That's all we get? We do get a rescue scene before that where she almost drowns trying to escape his yacht but that's pretty much it. They have chemistry but I wasn't entirely sold on them falling in love because we barely see it. She starts to feel things for him because he has a big dick and she loves rough dirty sex. I'm sorry but kinky sex doesn't = love to me. ...more
Highly anticipated 2023 releases have been really disappointing for me overall and that makes me so sad. :(
This booNot really what I was hoping for.
Highly anticipated 2023 releases have been really disappointing for me overall and that makes me so sad. :(
This book frustrated me and underwhelmed me in so many regards.
-Breeding Kink. How are you gonna promote/market a book having breeding kink and not actually show it? I mean we got…some. Just barely. I didn't even realize until I read this book that breeding kink is the thought of impregnating that's the kink and turn on, not the actual act per say. But even so, that barely had much airtime in this either. I’m so confused by the choices Finelli made here. You have an arranged marriage between two people who are from rival mafia families who need to get pregnant in 3 months time or their loved ones will die. What’s more higher stakes and dramatic than that?! But nothing happens. Barely any sex (compared to the other books). No pregnancy in the end, nothing. So much page time was wasted instead on the hero and heroine delaying consummating their marriage, the heroine trying to get out of it and go back to Toronto or the hero pushing her away. The constant flip flopping also confused me and frustrated me.
-Emotional connection. I had the same problem in Mafia Madman and same problem persisted here. There was barely any time or effort shown in letting the characters actually connect and fall in love. It just seems to happen over night and come out of thin air after they have sex. The words are given and they are nice but I didn’t really believe it because of that. You literally have your heroine say at the 70% mark she doesn’t even know anything about her husband. So you just fall in love with someone you barely know? *crickets* How does that even make sense? :/ I mean we finally do get some of the sweet moments we are waiting for but it felt like a blip compared to everything else that happens there. It felt like these 2 barely spent any time together here, the pacing was very odd. I wanted much more than what was given.
-The sister. I’m gonna sound like an epic b*tch saying this but it’s fiction so who cares. But having your hero have a more visceral/urgent reaction and drop everything to run after his runaway 26 year old sister Vivian instead of fighting for his wife who he supposedly loves was a.....choice. It just left a bad aftertaste in my mouth and so underwhelming. Your wife is curled up in a ball sobbing and you just leave her there and tell her to go back home? Seriously?? THAT'S IT? Giacamo coddling his adult sister and his obsession of hiding her got tiring the more it went on. I wanted the heroine Emma to meet Vivian and become friends. Instead we got this nonsense. One conversation with Emma over the phone and that's it.
-Emma. I liked her...sometimes. She's exactly the type of heroine I usually love. Smart, quiet, sweet, selfless, minds her business. I liked her levelheadedness and good heart. That's very easy to like. But this girl really got on my nerves at times. One with the goody two shoes “the dangers of misogyny!” act. For someone so smart studying to become a doctor she would say stuff that would make my eyes roll so hard they almost fell out of their sockets.
Yes, I was a virgin. I knew it was silly. But it wasn’t like I was waiting for marriage. That perpetuated an arcane patriarchal view of a woman’s body and her rights.
“That was fast. Too bad for your wife, eh, Don Buscetta?” A stamina joke. Awesome. I guess we were checking all of the clichéd misogynist boxes today.
“You have no right to yell at me, because I did nothing wrong. I will not perpetuate a backwards society where I’m supposed to be lesser than you just because I’m a woman.”
She pushed a strand of long brown hair behind her ear. “Sex isn’t just vaginal penetration. That’s a very misogynistic way of looking at—”
“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
Now Marigold understood she and women like her were birds that flew into a window, believing the mirrored reflection they were shown,
3.5 stars
Now Marigold understood she and women like her were birds that flew into a window, believing the mirrored reflection they were shown, blind to the very real barrier until it knocked them flat.
This easily would have been a 4 star or even higher for me if the constant misunderstandings in questioning the heroine's integrity and the 3rd act nonsense didn't get in the way. Dani Collins is such a great writer. Honestly that impressed me the most. Her attention to detail in atmosphere, world building and just characterizations overall was fantastic and so fun. I could picture everything so clearly down to every crumb and wrinkle. The humor is also hilariously good and quick, if a bit crude in some parts. It just feels so fresh, honest and smart. The hero and heroine snarking at each other was a highlight. Quite a few moments that had me rolling. If Dani Collins writes more I will definitely read it. She has a fan in me if this was anything to go by.
This was my first historical that takes place during the Gold Rush trail in America. The widowed hero Virgil Gardner is a Prospector who runs a mining company in Qual's Creek where him and his employees mine for gold and he's looking for a wife to keep house and be a mother to his 3 kids Levi, Nettie and little Harley. He's a hard working man who is blunt, doesn't suffer fools and has the temperament of a bear. He puts an ad out for a wife and is expecting a young bride named Pearl Martin after corresponding through letters with her. Instead her older sister Marigold Davis shows up offering herself up as a replacement. She has no place to go and running away from the fallout of an ugly divorce scandal that sullied her reputation very publicly. She was branded an adulterer by her awful ex-husband who cheated on her and managed to take her house too. Because of this Virgil hires her on as a nanny for his kids instead. I just adored the heroine so much. She keeps getting a bad hand dealt to her but tries her best and is so resilient and emotionally intelligent. She's smart, sassy, funny, witty and quick on her feet and has a big heart. She's honest but speaks her mind and just wants a home of her own and security. The hero doesn't trust her from the start because she's a divorcee who was labeled a cheater (even though she's innocent) so it doesn't sit well with him. I gave him some leeway at first since his dead wife cheated on him and had a baby with another man while Virgil was out in California working to send money home, a biracial baby he's now raising as his own. Honestly if this character didn't frustrate me so much in how he behaved towards the heroine his bond with little Harley and how protective he is of that baby melts your heart. But that mistrust keeps rearing its ugly head through the whole book and I just wanted to throttle him and sock him in the balls. It made no sense the longer it continued because she's literally taking care of his kids and taking care of his home. I mean come on dude. I loved that all the men rallied around her and kept giving her gifts and helping her along. That was adorable. Seeing a jealous hero watch other men trying to court her didn't hurt either. She really makes that place her home and it was great to see.
The lifestyle in Kansas territory is rough and brutal with very very humble living conditions. All the men live in tents except for Virgil's family where the five of them literally live in a hovel shack that's not even finished completely which our dear hero wasn't very honest about in those letters of his. Just want to point that out since he was so high and mighty about *honesty*. Hmmph. Marigold toughs it out and makes the best of things with zero complaints and even comes up with clever ways to create dolls for the kids and clothes and bedding so yes I felt super protective of this character. (view spoiler)[ That whole drama over Virgil's missing lucky golden nugget and thinking she stole it was so stupid and offensive if the end result wasn't so hilarious and deserving. It involved a toddler, poop and a chamber pot getting thrown at the idiot hero. But if that wasn't enough silliness, to make matters worse as the final act of conflict the "pretty" younger sister Pearl shows up in the end thinking Virgil's offer for marriage to her through letters still stands and throws a tantrum when she finds out he was about to marry Marigold. I hated this selfish twat of a character so much. We literally have a switcheroo Wife Swap moment where Marigold gives her sister a chance to play house with Virgil and the kids since Pearl technically had "first dibs" on him and Marigold "owes" her and no I'm not kidding. She gives up her happiness with the man and kids she loves so her sister can take her place and the hero lets her walk away after she lies to him about not loving him. At this point I nearly threw my kindle out the window. I love angst but not this kind near the end of the damn book and at the expense of the heroine's own happiness she worked so hard for. I have no idea why the author thought this was a great idea in the last 20 pages of her story but it just killed things for me. To be fair, I normally love high angsty situations like this but if it plays out earlier and if the hero wasn't acting like a distrusting jerk for so long. Those poor kids bonded and loved Marigold like a mother and their reaction to finding out they were finally going to have a mother in Marigold was so heartwarming and sweet so it was so hard to see her sister try to take her place and the hero trying to go along with it. WHERE IS YOUR AGENCY SIR? His own insecurities of feeling unwanted since he himself is an illegitimate child from rape is a big part of his distrust and feeling unworthy but even so.....I needed him to step up. This wife swap misery only lasts 3 days but it just was too much, too far and so ridiculous. It made it hard for me to believe the hero loved the heroine given how he continuously didn't believe her and distrusted her. (hide spoiler)] This was a good book in the sense that the writing is fantastic and the overall characters are engaging and so endearing, Levi, Nettie and little Harley were adorable and a hoot. But the hero Virgil is a fucking idiot and the heroine is an angel who deserved better if you ask me.
“Take the shortest road to Hades, sir. And take that nugget with you.”
“Maybe I’m just over being nothing but the footnote of an epic love story!”
I didn't feeI came for Nalla but stayed for Bitty.
Nate & Nalla
“Maybe I’m just over being nothing but the footnote of an epic love story!”
I didn't feel the chemistry between these two at all. Everything felt rushed and instantaneous so it fell flat. I appreciated Nate's backstory being similar to Nalla's father Zsadist. As a young, Nate and his mother were tested on and tortured horrifically by humans in a lab for scientific studies where they would inject Nate and his mother with human diseases and cancer. He was rescued from the lab by BDB Brother Muhrder and his mate Sarah who ended up adopting and raising him. Thirty years later we still see some of that trauma and PTSD peak through. All the elements were there to make this a great love story but unfortunately I struggled to connect with either of them. I didn't believe in the connection between Nate and Nalla because there was literally no build up to it. Like zero. Nate goes from pining over Rahyvnne for 33 YEARS to instantly lusting/smitten with Nalla after 1 scene. Page 83 no less. That's all. These two barely talked or knew much of each other before that so it didn't resonate. All it takes is one moment of seeing Nalla karate chop a lesser for Nate to snap out of his self-destructiveness? Seriously? ...more
Easy sweet read. Low angst and with a sweet cinnamon roll hero. But this did not need to be a 436 page book. A good 100 pages could have been3.5 stars
Easy sweet read. Low angst and with a sweet cinnamon roll hero. But this did not need to be a 436 page book. A good 100 pages could have been cut down. There wasn’t enough tension or conflict to drag it out that much. The last 50 pages especially felt pointless, like a long running epilogue.
The heroine Caroline is a 22 year old kindergarten teacher who has lupus. She had a kidney transplant when she was 11 years old so she's spent most of her young life in and out of hospitals. She's now trying to make up for "lost time" and find her independence and normalcy after living such a sheltered smothered life. I liked the chronic illness representation here. Seeing her deal with her lupus flare-ups was also great to see because you don't normally get that. I learned stuff here I didn't even know about lupus and kidney donors, like a transplant recipient getting similar food cravings from their donor. So interesting! I also liked that the heroine was an artist who paints and sells her work. I just wish her personality was a little more interesting. She's very shy and skittish in the beginning but slowly comes out of her shell with the hero's help. Their first kiss and the hero "teaching" her was quite sexy I have to say. ...more
Really loved this. There's just something about Shupe's writing I really enjoy when the story is right. It's so intelligent, precise, sexy an4.5 stars
Really loved this. There's just something about Shupe's writing I really enjoy when the story is right. It's so intelligent, precise, sexy and well researched. It does take on a bit of a modern tone in some areas as far as female autonomy and independence but it's not distracting. This is the biggest age gap romance I've read and I'll be honest if this was a Contemporary I would not have touched it. There's a 23 age difference here. The hero is 41 and the heroine is 18 and yes it took me some getting used to considering he's known her since she was a baby and he has a teenage son who is 2 years younger than the heroine Violet. I would have liked it more if Violet was 21 at least. But she's very mature for her age (a little too mature at times if I'm being honest lol). It definitely helped that the hero Max tried to put some distance and barriers between him and Violet who is doggedly pursuing him and is freaked out that she wants him. She's hurt that he's put distance between them since her coming out and it turns out he did it for a reason as he found her beautiful but much too young for him and it freaks him out. This also helped because if he had just went along with it easily I would have dropped this in a hot second. He's terrified and tries to scare her off at first which was great character development.
The Duke of Ravensthorpe is Violet's father's best friend and a family friend and Violet's crushed on him from afar since girlhood. He's a widower who enjoys single life after his marriage was a disappointing disaster after his wife died during child birth. He's a rake through and through who loves naughty times in the bedroom and honestly I found him so sexy and delicious. He's so intimidating, commanding, intelligent, earthy, sensual and masculine but also kind and a gentleman. I can't blame Violet for wanting him. A silver fox Duke with a filthy mouth. I wanted to climb him like a jungle gym so I get it. lol He steals the scenes and then some. Violet for her part I thought could have been developed a little more in comparison. The fact that I don't know what she looks like beyond having blonde hair and a curvy body for example did bug me. Her face is a hazy blur in comparison to the Duke who we get every little detailed description on. I liked that Violet's passion was in photography (I didn't even know Kodak camera boxes were a thing in 1895?) and studying photography (were classes available for women back then?). The sex scene involving her taking pictures of him naked was insanely hot and erotic. I thought that was nicely done. (ETA: I just realized the model on the cover is holding a camera. Very clever.) This is a very hot spicy novella and I loved every minute of it. I honestly wish this was a full length book given how quickly these two acted on their attraction and I wish that was dragged out a bit more given the forbidden aspect of it and Max's hang ups over their age difference and his friendship with her father. The hero caves a little too soon for my liking but since this is a novella you kind of just go along with it. I thought the emotions, the connection and tension was nicely done. If this was a full length book I probably would have given this a 5 star TBH. I could not put this down. Maximilian Thomas William Bradley III could absolutely GET IT. ...more
Oh boy. I've heard Jessa Kane's books can be weird and wild, I knew beforehand and heard this is a lighter tamer sampli“Make me squeak louder, Daddy.”
Oh boy. I've heard Jessa Kane's books can be weird and wild, I knew beforehand and heard this is a lighter tamer sampling of her work and the blurb intrigued me. This started off cute and fun but oh man it quickly veered into WTF territory for me. For starters, this has Daddy kink. I've made a point of avoiding this kink in my reads for years and had I known it was in this novella I would have skipped it. And sometimes you come across something you swore off and it may change your mind. Welp I can now 100% confirm, it's still very much not my thing, it will never be my thing, not here or anywhere. I don't like Daddy kink, Sam-I-am. It will never be sexy in the bedroom and it weirds me the hell out. For me it's the same as if a guy yelled Yes, Mommy! in the throws of passion. See? Not sexy. ...more
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