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
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
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
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 didn't work for me at all. The number of times I nearly DNF'd was too many. I probably should have but I've heard great things about this book anThis didn't work for me at all. The number of times I nearly DNF'd was too many. I probably should have but I've heard great things about this book and my goodreads friends love this so I kept going and dammit I'm trying to break this awful reading funk I've been in for 3 months now. ...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—”
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
A blue blooded heroine of 1813 just randomly revealing near the end of the book that she got a tattoo on her butt while she was in boarding school wasA blue blooded heroine of 1813 just randomly revealing near the end of the book that she got a tattoo on her butt while she was in boarding school was probably the most surprising/ridiculous/bonkers thing out of this entire book. :/ lol Also, having the hero discover he has a surprise love child from his long lost dead lover is probably the least palatable plot twist to spring on a reader. Like... ew no....more
In the event of a nuclear war, the first thing I’d do is eat.
If I was rating this book on just the first half alone, I would have given it a 1 staIn the event of a nuclear war, the first thing I’d do is eat.
If I was rating this book on just the first half alone, I would have given it a 1 star. It was that bad. If you want to read a romance about a curvy full figured woman finding love, this is not it. The first 150ish pages at least. The last 30%? Cute. Adorable. I wanted more.
The heroine Joellene Bixby is everything self-loathing, sad, body shaming, fat-shaming, self-pitying, weight obsessed, every negative thing you can think of all rolled into one. It's quite miserable. A rock has higher self-esteem than this woman. She compares herself to a farm animal, a rodent, Shrek, etc. The constant references to food and how she eats all the time and her size is uncomfortable to say the least. She's a hermit who hates drawing attention to herself but some moments that are supposed to be funny just come off awful and mean. I saw some drawing Bridget Jones comparisons and while I could see it in some parts, Bridget Jones's self-deprecating humor and clumsiness had charm and was never mean or dark. Breaking an office chair by simply sitting down just to show how awkwardly clumsy and "hefty" the heroine is was really too much and made me want to question how Geissinger pictures her own heroine. I really have no idea what the heroine looks like, all I know is she is fat, wears glasses and has "mousy" brown hair. No details are given beyond that.
Joelleen is a 36 year old plain jane copy editor who has been secretly in love with her boss the CEO, Michael Maddox for 10 years while working at Maddox publishing house. He's everything perfect and dreamy in her eyes, the British version of Clark Kent is how he is described. Her new rugged "Mountain Man" neighbor Cameron McGregor is the complete opposite of her crush. Cameron is a famous Scottish rugby player who is visiting the states for 1 month and staying at his cousin's apartment which happens to be right across the hall from the heroine. He's a brash bad boy with a lot of bad press back home but underneath that image he's a total cinnamon roll sweetie pie who manages to lure his grumpy cat lady neighbor out of her cocoon of self-loathing and loneliness. Honestly, Cam is a delight and I really wish we got more focus on him and got his POV. This whole book is from the heroine's POV which is a shame, I don't know why Geissinger chose this route for this book since Book 1 is dual POVs? I was seriously having my doubts if he even would get the girl given how slow it took to get there and how much time Joellen spent pursuing Michael.
Not that I’d blame him. I’m such a loser, it’s probably hard for someone like him to breathe the same air as me.
Mr. Bingley makes a meal of his hind paw, going at it like I go at a rack of ribs.
Then Cam performs a miracle and picks me up in his arms. I’d protest, but I’m too tired, so I allow him to carry me over to the sofa while I marvel at how effortless he makes lifting the weight of a baby elephant seem.
I seem to be not having the best luck with love triangles this year. This book suffered what some love triangle tropes fall victim to, where the “third party” gets more attention than the poor hero for a good chunk of the book. It’s kinda infuriating why authors would think this is fun to sit through. Because of course I wanna see the heroine send flirty emails back and forth with her boss at the 76% mark right? I mean at one point I started to question who the hero of this book was, Cam or Micheal. This is very much a slow burn but you can tell the hero is developing feelings for the heroine and making excuses to spend more time with her and she's so oblivious to it. Once the antagonism dies down from the heroine, the bickering banter becomes cute and friendly and you just want her to drop her interest in her boss who suddenly is showing interest in her out of nowhere after announcing he's getting a divorce. I'll give it to the author because normally you can tell the other guy has scrupulous shady motives from the start or half way in but that wasn't the case here which had me continuing to read to figure out how it would all play out in the end. Michael shows his true self near the end which makes you want to scream FINALLY! but it's a shame because all that time and energy could have/should have been spent on the lovely hero Cameron.
Once the third wheel is out of the equation, these two are adorable and pull at your heartstrings. Joelleen's growth in this book is another thing I will give the author credit for even though I don't like how she went about it. Deciding you need to lose 40 lbs by starving yourself for your dream man is just asking for some therapy and self-love, not romance. Joelleen learns to love herself and not try to change herself for others with a lot of help from the hero cheering her on and calling her out on her self-loathing toxic bullshit. He can't stand when she puts herself down and gets huffy and angry with her every time. It's really sweet. He's 7 years younger than the heroine but you would never think that with how he carries himself. Yes at times he did sound like an arm chair therapist with some of the stuff he would spout but considering the heroine was living in a cloud of negativity all her life with awful toxic parents who shamed and gaslit her all her life, I looked the other way. I just wish this book was filled with more of that sweetness we got in the very end. The hero is adorably sweet and sexy and seeing a woman finally be confident in her skin and giggly and happy for the first was so sweet and almost worth the whole Michael drama.
Also I just have to point out that whole thing with HR near the end drove me a little insane with how ridiculous it was. (view spoiler)[ What kind of HR personnel overhears an employee getting sexually assaulted by their CEO in a bathroom and doesn’t intervene????? The heroine believes she's going to get fired because she was caught in a very compromising position with her boss Michael in the ladies bathroom by her bitchy supervisor even though she was actually assaulted. Turns out the kindly HR lady Ruth happened to be in one of the bathroom stalls the whole time and overheard the whole thing. I know this reveal was used to corroborate the heroine’s innocence and not get fired but it was insane to me why this woman just sat in a bathroom stall and let it get THAT far to begin with...? What the ever living fuck, Ruth? She made a point of calling an emergency meeting with Joelleen's supervisor and company lawyers right away to have Micheal removed so it's not like she was afraid for her own job. That’s just grounds for a lawsuit on it’s own. The heroine not even asking why HR didn't intervene when she was seconds from getting raped also bugged me. (hide spoiler)]
This was slightly better than Book 3 for me. I appreciated that the petty drama and psycho behavior didn't happen here between our couple. Unlike Mac This was slightly better than Book 3 for me. I appreciated that the petty drama and psycho behavior didn't happen here between our couple. Unlike Mac & Arro, Arran and Ery were sweet. I didn't realize how close Arran and Eradine had grown from the last book and the timeline of how much time has passed since then did throw me off. I liked that this was a friends to lovers story. The slow burn was believable. Was it memorable though? Not really. It was missing that intensity and tension that was there in Book 2 for me. Even with both characters carrying heavy baggage (Eradine in particular) I didn't really feel the angst, especially in the second half where it was most needed.
Just going to touch on some of my overall issues:
-Every book now has at least 2 stalkers after the main couple. Why? It's a bit much now and reading like fanfiction. Everybody has it out for the Adair family and it's becoming comical at this point. Also very predictable who the bad guy is but that is neither here nor there.
-The endless telling, retelling and retelling again to readers what happened in previous books. It's overkill and so excessive. It's just starting to feel like info dumping. I pretty much have Lachlan's book memorized by now, beat by beat with the number of times we are told what happened 2 years ago. I honestly don't see the point now of going back and reading Lachlan's story since all the characters keep telling ad nauseum and in great detail every single stunt the villain pulled in Book 1. It just feels like all the characters narrating the previous book. Thane has told me. Arro and Mac have told me. Now Eredine and Arran (who wasn't even there) have told me. That's more than enough, no? It's been 2 years and we are 4 Books in. [image]
-The jealousy thing. I usually don't mind jealousy in fact I normally love it in my reads if nicely handled and it's coming from the hero but how Young writes her heroines is like nails on a chalkboard for me personally. I just don't love how her heroines act when they are jealous. Ery being so territorial and openly rude whenever she sees Arran talking to another woman and saying she trusts him (when clearly she doesn't) felt kind of cringey. It was giving red flag behavior. And it happens a lot. With Arran having to keep reassure her that she has nothing to be jealous of. It just felt very High School for me. It honestly gave me whiplash because it felt really out of character for her. Especially the whole turning him down when he asked her out but confronting him about possibly going out with another woman and how she is gonna ask a guy out to gauge his reaction. It's the approach and style that I hate. It's childish and petty how Young goes about it. Like I said, I normally don't mind jealousy but how it's handled in this series gives serious Stage Five Clinger energy. It's not cute.
-The Adair siblings getting pregnant at the same time is just ick humor. It's ick because the "we conceived at the same time" joke is brought up so many times just for laughs. Sorry but I don't really wanna throw it in my brother's face how I probably conceived the same time his wife did just to make him squirm. *scrunches face*. The whole thing is starting to be a bit much. I mean it wasn't enough that 2 of the couples decide to do a double wedding and now the Adair siblings building houses right next to each other if not close to each other but now both ladies realizing they are pregnant and both are 14 weeks along? Seriously?? Why can't couples have their own moments? Aside from Lachlan and Robyn, Young won't let any of her pairings have their own special moments after their HEA and it's annoying. Like why did Thane and Regan have to share their wedding with Mac and Arro? Robyn couldn't announce her pregnancy without Arro stealing her thunder? For me it's the same as a couple getting engaged at someone else's wedding. Some things are just not cute or done or ha ha! funny. Maybe I'm just making a bigger deal of it but it's too much. It's starting to feel like campy unrealistic fanfiction and very cheesy.
Overall not bad, just not very memorable unfortunately. I'm excited yet nervous about Bradon's book. He's my favorite Adair brother next to Thane so I'm trying to tamp down my expectations. The movie star bad boy and his ex-best friend Monroe. Brodan and Roe's situation is something I don't love so we'll see how it goes. I'm more nervous about Roe than anything. Or to be more exact, I'm nervous about how Young is going to write her. Roe definitely seemed sweet and intriguing in this I just pray that sweetness doesn't morph into something else entirely like it did with Arro. *crossing fingers*...more
For a Paranormal romance this was colorful and light but some things fell a little flat for me. It's definitely on the lighter side as far as angst anFor a Paranormal romance this was colorful and light but some things fell a little flat for me. It's definitely on the lighter side as far as angst and plot. I had high hopes for this since I've been dying to stretch my wings in the PR world and heard so much about this series in particular. For one thing I felt this was more NA than adult Paranormal, in tone and how the characters acted. Which isn't necessarily a huge negative (unless it's super glaring) but considering these are 300+ year old vampires/fully adult supernatural beings it did feel a little off. The 37 year old heroine sounded like a naive sheltered 20 year old. The heroine Isadora and her sisters are powerful witches with varying skills but they acted green in quite a few things about their own world and other supernaturals, especially Jules the oldest sister and Enforcer of their district. As an Enforcer Jules oversees everything and supposed to keep all supernaturals in her district of New Orleans in check. And yet she had no idea a vampire's bite can be addictive. She dated a powerful vampire overlord but didn't know this? O_o That made zero sense. Isadora couldn't seem to understand how the hero a Stygorn vampire had super sonic hearing and could overhear conversations in a room, etc. At first I thought she was being deliberately obtuse for laughs but no she really doesn't understand or know that he has a heightened sense of hearing. Shouldn't these ladies know more about the supernatural world they live in? There was just a lot of inconsistencies. And the glamour thing. Glamour is what vampires use to entice/seduce someone, to persuade someone to do something, to wipe memory, to move at lightning speed, to create illusions, etc. So on and so on. All of that is considered glamour. I felt it was too broad a term to describe all the varying and wide range of skills these vampires had. "Tracing" from one place to another is not glamour in my mind.
When I think glamour I think this: [image] [image] [image]
This is Juliette Cross's world and I'm just visiting but I felt her world building wasn't fleshed out in places it needed to be or contradicted itself at times. The Savoi sisters and their wide-eyed inexperience for one. Supernaturals and humans coexisting ....sort of? Some humans are aware of supernatural existence and cool with it while others are oblivious to it, some establishments are literally built around that. How does that even work? That's maybe explained better in Book 1 which I didn't read. The mystery subplot of human women going missing also really wasn't as exciting and just took up page time. It really wasn't much of a mystery for one thing.
I did love that Cross had a blend of varying supernaturals living in the same world: witches, Grims, Werewolves, vampires. That made it fun. It kind of reminded me of a paranormal Zootopia just minus the class divisions. I loved that you get diverse characters as well. Which comes to the highlight of the book and the lowlight that made this a mixed bag for me. The hero, Devraj Kumar is an ex-Bollywood actor, 300 year old Indian Stygorn warrior vampire. He was absolutely delicious. [image] Major points and snaps there. He's an alpha hero but total Beta material in how sweet, gentle and considerate he is. I loved his backstory and that he's a practicing Hindu. The fact that he was turned into a vampire at a young age I found intriguing and surprising. Another interesting element to Cross's world. The guilt he carried over having to drink blood when he first turned and trying to hide it from his mother I thought was very compelling and gave this character weight and nuance. On the flip side, where the hero was fully fleshed out, dynamic and layered the heroine was....not.
I found the heroine Isadora so flat in comparison and I just struggled to connect with her unfortunately. On paper I usually adore shy, socially awkward, introvert heroines but I just couldn't click with her and her grumpiness. I don't do well with grumpy heroines. :/ She's an introvert who likes her quiet time and space and doesn't like interacting a lot with people and as a fellow introvert I get that but she just irritated me even when the author tried to make her likable. She loves plants and spending time in her greenhouse creating herbal remedies to sell at her shop and stops by the animal shelter but even so I struggled. Her unreasonable dislike and judgement of Devraj at the beginning felt a little overblown and extreme. Their meet cute was him hitting her with his car and he does everything to get her to forgive him. Once they get over that hurdle she was more tolerable but she just never wowed me for some reason. She also felt extremely underdrawn in comparison to the hero. All I could picture of Isadora was green eyes and blond hair. You get detailed obsessive depiction of the hero, down to his trimmed beard, long thick hair, his silver ring and mother's bracelet, stacked muscles and pierced tongue. But quiet Isadora is a hazy undefined blob in a summer dress. :/ I almost want to say she didn't have much of a personality outside of her standoffish demeanor and shyness. So that's what made this disappointing for me mostly, when you can't click with one or both of the main characters then it's hard to buy into the romance or chemistry. The sex scenes were steamy but overall I wanted more.
The only sister that intrigued me was Clara and that interesting snippet between the 2 guys Charlie and JJ. So I'll probably try the novella and wait for Clara's book if I'm in the mood. But overall this felt like a miss when I wanted it to be a hit like it was for everyone else. :( I'm clearly in the extreme extreme minority on this one....more
Leave it to a novella to get me out of my 2 month reading slump. I had no idea this was even a novella until I opened it on my kindle. But this was 56 Leave it to a novella to get me out of my 2 month reading slump. I had no idea this was even a novella until I opened it on my kindle. But this was 56 pages of delight and everything I've been looking for lately. Mary Jo Putney did a wonderful job with her own spin on the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale. I thought both hero and heroine were unique with so much heart and depth. A recluse hero who has an aviary and takes in stray animals who are disfigured or deemed "ugly". MY HEART YOU GUYS. (view spoiler)[ My very first hero who is bald! I thought that was an interesting bold twist on a disfigured "Beast" hero. (hide spoiler)]. The angst ugh! *chef's kiss* I adored James and Ariel so so much and I really wish this was longer. Like 20 pages longer, or 50 or 100. Whichever. I just wanted more time with them and that's a high compliment to the story. When you are sad it's over you know it's a good one. Read it!...more
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