Jules and Jake were the most adorable couple! Throughout the book, you forgot how young they are because they both had to grow up so fast! Jake's relaJules and Jake were the most adorable couple! Throughout the book, you forgot how young they are because they both had to grow up so fast! Jake's relationship with his daughter was adorable and I liked that he wasn't afraid to trust Jules with her. Love Hard might be up there with Rock Hard for my favorite Nalini Singh contemporary!
Merged review:
Jules and Jake were the most adorable couple! Throughout the book, you forgot how young they are because they both had to grow up so fast! Jake's relationship with his daughter was adorable and I liked that he wasn't afraid to trust Jules with her. Love Hard might be up there with Rock Hard for my favorite Nalini Singh contemporary!...more
4.5 Stars! TW: character drugged by date rape drug in beginning of the book
I really don’t want this series to be over. Nalini Singh is my absolute fav4.5 Stars! TW: character drugged by date rape drug in beginning of the book
I really don’t want this series to be over. Nalini Singh is my absolute favorite author and she really knocks it out of the park with her contemporary stories. We’ve been waiting for Danny’s story since he was introduced in Gabriel’s book and for Danny and Catie since Isla and Sailor’s book. And man oh man, it did not disappoint. The chemistry between these two, the nemesis to lovers as they called it, just hit every mark. And Nalini truly excels at the New Zealand setting in her contemporary books.
Danny and Catie have known each other since childhood and have always had an enemies and pranking relationship with each other. But it’s more of the friendly, joking, nemesis relationship than an actual bullying or hate relationship. And with their families so closely entwined, they spend a lot of time together. (Catie’s sister is married to Danny’s brother.) So when they get stuck into a situation where the way out is a fake relationship, neither are thrilled. Especially when they start looking at each other in a different light and realizing the attraction between them.
I love the appearances of my favorite Nalini Singh characters like Gabriel and Charlotte in this book and the family dynamics are just great. Even for Catie, who has a rough relationship with her dad, everything is just handled with such care. Because of her feelings of abandonment, Catie was slow to move into a real relationship with Danny. But once they decided to make their fake relationship real, there was low outside conflict throughout the rest of the book. Despite that, their support for each other, even before they were together, is my absolute favorite part of the story. Both Danny and Catie are professional athletes and they took that very seriously. Through all of the strain that can put on a relationship, they really stood by each other and made the other stronger.
This book is really about growth. Danny and Catie are only in their early twenties and they both grow a lot over the book. Danny, especially, truly finds himself over the course of this story. He’s been stuck in this role as sport star and country golden child and the pressure of that is getting to him. He’s makes the difficult decision, especially as his relationship with Catie is growing, to go play rugby internationally and to learn more about himself. Catie too has a lot of growth throughout this book. Her family relationships, with the exception of her sister, are tough, and she learned to close herself off a lot. In addition to that is her relationship with her prosthetic legs. She realizes through the course of the book that Danny just sees her as Catie and she is able to overcome some of her relationship fears around that. I’ll admit that my knowledge of prosthetics are limited but I feel that Nalini handles this topic with grace and in a way that doesn’t define Catie.
I did feel the ending of the book was rushed a bit. I wanted more time to see them grow in their relationship. But honestly, I feel like every Nalini Singh book is too short because I just want to live in her words and worlds a little while longer. It seems like this is the end of the Hard Play series but I desperately hope Nalini Singh either continues the series or gives us more contemporary stories!...more
By now, I think everyone knows I live and die for Nalini Singh books. Honestly, she just keeps getting better and better. Payal and Canto are basicallBy now, I think everyone knows I live and die for Nalini Singh books. Honestly, she just keeps getting better and better. Payal and Canto are basically new characters in this series but man, are they fleshed out and so vibrant that they just jump off the page. Canto is the first disabled hero in this series and I felt that Nalini Singh did him justice as a hero. His wheelchair was simply a part of him. Payal, as the heroine, was just wow. She still had the trappings of Silence but it really to deal with her father and brother. Once she connected with Canto, and their past was revealed, we started to see the cracks in her shield and the loving heart that was hiding behind it.
The worlds Nalini created for this series are so beautifully detailed. The little threads that tie together this series, and even the original Psy-Changeling series, are just so masterfully woven throughout. I honestly believe that she the most skilled writer at worldbuilding that I’ve ever read. My sister and I, since the start of the Psy-Changeling Trinity series, kept waiting for more human/psy pairings and we were both a little surprised when Last Guard was revealed to have two psy main characters. Isn’t the PsyNet completely breaking with humans in it, we wondered? However, reading Last Guard, the need for a book about anchors, and especially these two anchors became so apparent. As anchors, Canto and Payal are just so woven into the Net that to truly understand what is going on in it, we needed to read characters like them. Just another sign of how amazingly thought out this entire series is.
As much as I love SnowDancer, DarkRiver, and the California setting, I love that Psy-Changeling Trinity is taking us around the world. Canto is stationed in Russia which means we get adorable StoneWater bears! And Payal is in India which is a great new location for the story. I was happy to visit the Mercant family too and see more of them.
What I loved most about this book was the connection between Canto and Payal. In the books without changelings and the mating bond, I love seeing the other bonds that are able to form. Canto and Payal are so shaped by their past that it makes sense that without their childhood ties, it would have been almost impossible to break down their shields to see the person beneath. But Canto and Payal did have childhood ties, albeit traumatic ones, and that really helped their adult relationship grow. In that way, this book reminded me of one of my absolute favorites, Heart of Obsidian, and Shards of Hope. With characters with such trauma and such a strong persona that they show the world, sometimes the only person to break through that is someone who them when they were young.
I finished Last Guard and immediately wanted the next book as well as reread the entire series. Nalini Singh brings back the familiarity of this world while keeping with an immense and complex story arc and introducing new and quickly beloved characters. There’s not many author who can create what Nalini Singh and every time I finish one of her books, I just feel blessed to have read it.
*Received an ARC in exchange for an honest review...more
If I had to pick one author I’m happy to have discovered in 2020, Olivia Dade is that author. Not only did she go above and beyond to get me an ARC ofIf I had to pick one author I’m happy to have discovered in 2020, Olivia Dade is that author. Not only did she go above and beyond to get me an ARC of Spoiler Alert but her books are just phenomenal. I actually read Spoiler Alert twice already. The first time was months ago when I got the ARC and then read was just for me. The second was last weekend and that read was to write this review. Honestly, even after the second read, trying to find the words to describe how much I loved Spoiler Alert and what it means to me is difficult.
I’m a curvy woman. I’ve been a curvy woman since about puberty/ high school. I generally accept my body for what it is and do my best to find things to love about it. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t look in the mirror or at photos and wish things were different. I know everyone does. Seeing April on the cover of this book, seeing the other covers of Olivia Dade’s books, made me realize how rare it is to see a heroine with my body type on the cover of a romance. And in a romance where the hero loves her so completely and totally as Marcus loves April. For that alone, I will always love this book. There is decisions of fat-shaming in this book and toxic parental relationship around weight and they both broke my heart and set me, via April, free. April faces down her mother and demands that their relationship change or it’s over. She makes the incredibly hard decision to demand that her mother respects her wishes about her weight. That scene is so tough and yet expertly crafted. The love between April and her mom is there but it’s tinged by the toxic comments and the “helpful” tips that only serve to break April time and time again. To stand up to that takes immense courage and the realization that things need to change and the willingness to not compromise if they don’t. And that’s just one scene in this powerful and beautiful book. Marcus has similarly powerful scenes with his issues with his own parents.
His cheeks were wet, and she was blotting them with a napkin, and he was too lost to feel embarrassed. “I know they love me, and I love them, but I don’t know how to forgive them.” Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade, Chapter 20
April is a geologist and so much of her job is to look beneath the surface. That is the a running theme in the book. April is able to see beneath the surface of Marcus’s carefully crafted persona to the man beneath. Both April and Marcus are at the crossroads in their lives when they met. April is moving to a new job, one where she is determined to be open with her coworkers about her cosplay and fanfiction life. Marcus’s show, which has defined him for the last 7 years, is over and he needs to determine his next move.
Millions of people could recognize him under the blinding lights of a red carpet. But if she touched him like this long enough, maybe she’d be able to recognize him even in the darkness, by feel alone, in a way that made him uniquely hers. Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade, Chapter 18
When they meet, in the cutest way possible, a celebrity asking out a fan who is getting negative internet comments, the sparks fly once April digs beneath Marcus’s surface. Marcus has a big secret that he’s forced to keep from April even as their relationship progresses. I was hesitant about this part. I’m not the biggest fan of “secret identity” issues in romances. It breaks into the trust forming between the characters. I think Olivia Dade handled this really well and I didn’t get the sense of dread upon discovery that I usually get. I knew Marcus would find a way to prove to April his love and devotion despite this secret. And that while April will be hurt, and rightfully so, she will recognize that their previous bond will only make their relationship stronger.
When she continued staring at the ceiling, silent, he spoke again. “You don’t owe it to me. I know that. My love doesn’t buy me absolution, and I didn’t say it to sway you. I said it because you should know. No matter what happens between us now, you should know that you’re loved. Even if you don’t forgive me.” Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade, Chapter 25
There are just so many things I love about this book. The friendship between Marcus and Alex and their obsession with British baking shows and claggy sponges (so freaking excited for Lauren and Alex’s book next!) The bonds developing between April and her new coworkers. The little scenes from Marcus’s other movies. That I wanted and then didn’t want because of the ending, Gods of the Gate to be an actual show. And the fanfiction. I’ll be the first to admit, I’m not really into fanfiction. In my early days of romance, I went through a phase of reading Pride and Prejudice fanfiction. It didn’t last very long because I discovered both that, A. people actually wrote books that were Pride and Prejudice fanfictions, and B. I starting reading more and more romance. So I was never in the fanfiction community. In many ways, the fanfiction community in Spoiler Alert felt similar to that of Romancelandia. Less writing retellings or AU of stories but the way people interact and how the stories are broken down and discussed and the excitement of book events and meeting people in person for the first time. So in that respect, the fanfiction scenes were familiar.
There is honestly so much to love about this book. My review could go on and on. But I think I should end it with a simple and heartfelt plea to read this book. I truly believe that there is something in this story for everyone.
*Received an ARC in exchange for an honest review....more
I reread Archangel’s War before reading Archangel’s Sun but I actually think this book could be read as a standalone if you don’t mind spoilers from tI reread Archangel’s War before reading Archangel’s Sun but I actually think this book could be read as a standalone if you don’t mind spoilers from the rest of the series. Archangel’s Sun picks up after the events in NYC during Archangel’s War. However, this story is focused in Africa and the aftermath of dealing with the reborn. Sharine, the heroine, is better known as The Hummingbird throughout the series. When we first meet her, Illium’s mom is clearly in her own world and not in touch of reality. At times, she thinks Illium was still a child and it was clear that the parent/child relationship was flipped between them. However, as the series progresses, Sharine comes out of that fog and is put in charge of healing Lumia (events in Archangel’s Heart). In Archangel’s Sun, we see her heal even more and step away from the moniker of The Hummingbird and truly be Sharine, or even better, Shari to Titus.
Sharine gets sent by the Cadre to assist at Titus’s court. The warlord and boisterous Titus isn’t happy but is taken aback when Sharine isn’t a delicate bird but a fierce woman coming into her own and determined to help. It was enjoyable to see Titus concerned about being too rough with Sharine and seeing Sharine hold her own against the loud Titus. This book, like some of ones in the series without Elena and Raphael in the center, show us different glimpses into the angelic world. Titus has three typical and annoying older sisters who completely ignore him being an archangel and continue to act as big sisters. The relationship between Titus and Sharine is a slow burn and it has to be. Initially, Titus is ashamed of the sexual thoughts he is having about angelkind’s beloved Hummingbird. But as she grows into Sharine over the course of the book, so does the relationship between the two grow. In between the slow burn is the hardships that Sharine and Titus must undertake as they try to destroy the reborn, heal Africa, and discover the truth about what the Archangel of Death and the Archangel of Disease created.
As much as I love the relationship between Titus and Sharine (and I especially love how it plays out in the end), this is really the story of Sharine healing, paralleled with the healing of Titus’s land. We learn of her trauma and what caused her to slip from reality, into the kaleidoscope. In this, I saw some parallels to Sahara in Heart of Obsidian. Both created mental ways to escape and cope with traumatic events. In Archangel’s Sun, Sharine is allowed a chance to confront and best one of those past traumas, in the form of her former romantic partner. Even more so, alpha Titus does not force his way in to protect her and Sharine gets to handle it on her own, showing her continued growth.
There was no doubt that I wouldn’t love this book, as I love all of Nalini Singh’s books and I did. Raphael and Elena have been the focus of two intense books lately and it was great to give them a break and a chance to heal while getting the story of two other beloved characters. Sharine and Titus don’t initially seem right for each other, being on the surface polar opposites, but beneath that beats strong hearts and ones who desperately love each other. Another beautiful story from the master of paranormal romance.
*Received an ARC in exchange for an honest review....more
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