aislinghelen's reviews
843 reviews

Off the Hook by Julie Olivia

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 14%.
I just couldn’t feel any chemistry. I think the dialogue is to blame, it felt quite dry. Even when there was meant to be a touching/heartfelt moment I wasn’t feeling it. I would say avoid this if you want something fast paced and that makes you want to turn the page so fast it might rip. This is kind of slow and more focused on the family dynamics. 

I hate Peter omg why was he written like that??
Lights Out by Navessa Allen

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dark lighthearted mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Going into this I was expecting a smutty novella rather than a full length book with a plot beyond stalking and sex. That said I did enjoy it. I did find some of the dialogue cringy
specifically when they kept calling the cat their son and themselves mommy and daddy
. I love that her cat was called Fred, same as mine. I did really enjoy having more to the story than what I was expecting but it did make it a very different read:
they had met before because he was her former hookups hot roommate, she worked this out fairly quickly, he accidentally kills someone who was trying to hurt her (in the most anti climactic way) and then throws up
. Overall it was good but not as dark as I was expecting it to be.
Flirting With a Firebird by Lauren Connolly

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emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

Ophelia is amazing, I love how strong she is. She’s so cute and just wants to live. I also love Broderick and how awkward but kind he is. They are so good together and the whole story is adorable!
The Secret Fiancée by Catharina Maura

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dark emotional funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This was great for the first 80%. I don’t know why she insists on adding a third act break up
especially when it is completely out of character like this was. It happened because either he has PTSD (which she should have been informed of and his sister never should have pulled that shit) or it was straight up out of character. Either way Im mad at someone.
It honestly ruined this book for me and it was so good up until then, but it was just so out of nowhere and unnecessary.

Ignoring that I did love Lex and Raya. I love the inventing and creativity they both have. I also love the robots/assistants that he has in his house - Lola is my favourite.

This next part is going to be a rant with spoilers because there is a lot I want to say: 

WHY WERE THERE SO MANY FAMILY SECRETS?? Like her dad isn’t her bio dad but she didn’t know until 22 about the existence of the other man or her mums prior marriage? Also his grandma is dying and didnt tell anyone for a year? Also why did Catharina do the third act break up that way when it could have been a jealousy thing with her BFF? Like that man was in love with her. And her other friend KNEW they were married but that plot was just dropped.


At least the smut was good

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Endless by Devyn Sinclair

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emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Ok, so this was fantastic. I love how satisfying the endings to these books always are although I wish there was an extra bonus revenge epilogue in this one. If Im being completely honest this was my least favourite of Devyns omega verse books but that is because of personal preferences with tropes:

Insecure FMC, inexperienced FMC, previous bad relationship that continues to show up, bitchy new GF of former relationship


I did love the story aside from those tropes. It was fantastic (as they always are). The spice was great and I love the exploration of many kinks through each guys taste, it kind of reminded me of Inked 8 by Stephanie Brother. I did struggle a couple of times to tell the guys apart, specifically Vaughn and Hawk because for some reason those names are the same to me.

I would like to thank Devyn for the arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women by Kate Manne

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informative

4.0

I knew most of this already but there was some interesting points on reframing arguments and discussions of privilege.
Wrecked by Lauren Asher

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emotional lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

This made me really sad but I still loved it.
Skin of a Sinner by Avina St. Graves

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dark emotional sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I honestly think I would have preferred this without so much plot. Don’t get me wrong I love when spice has a plot and more to it but this just made the FMC seem really annoying. 

I like the flashbacks, even though they usually annoy me. I loved the kinks etc, so good!

It kind of reminded me of Bloodshed by Molly Doyle
Only For You by Samantha Leigh

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emotional hopeful lighthearted tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I absolutely love valentines bay. Will and Abbie have such good sexual tension and I love how their story develops. There is so much going on and at points it did feel like a couple storylines were forgotten but overall it was really good.

I wish we had more of a wrap about Seb’s mom and who had posted the daddy will stuff

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The Rule Book by Sarah Adams

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 65%.
Thank you Netgalley, Hachette Australia & New Zealand, Headline Eternal for this ARC.

Ok, I want to start by saying that I absolutely loved The Cheat Sheet. It was one of my favourite books and I absolutely could not wait to read this one. But unfortunately it was not what I was hoping. 

I ended up very much disliking Bree, Nathan and other characters I loved in the first one because they were all incredibly annoying about Derek not dating. I also struggled to like Derek and Nora. Within the first 50% there were countless times I wanted to DNF and while they did get slightly less frequent in the second half, they didn’t stop. So I did give up at around 65%.

If you didn’t like the “quirky” nature of Bree in book one or loved it because of the friends to lovers tension, you may not like this one. My favourite things about The Cheat Sheet were Bree and Nathan’s relationship and the positive relationship between the team. I didn’t hate Bree’s quirky nature but it definitely wasn’t a bonus by any means. I do enjoy Noras colourful clothing but she just comes across as stupid a lot of the time. Derek is also an ass with little to no justification. Some of the ‘tasks’ he comes up with for his agent are just annoying.

This kind of made me never want to reread The Cheat Sheet again and that is what makes me more mad than anything. How could a sequel ruin one of my favourite books??