book_lover_irl's reviews
455 reviews

adventurous emotional sad tense

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Loved the slow burn. Garrett’s patience and sweetness with Sarah… Insta-love stories aren’t my favorite but this one made my heart happy. This is the first book of the KGI series that I’ve read. Now I’ll be going back to read book 1 & 2 , then continue on with the series. These brothers and this family — LOOOOOVVEEEEE!

Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️
POV: Third person
HEA: Yes
Cliffhanger: Kind of
Tropes: I’m bad at picking out tropes. Ex military, innocent girl over her head

Instagram: @Book.Lover.IRL
Goodreads: Book Lover IRL

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I loved this book
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really liked this book
⭐️⭐️⭐️ I liked this book
⭐️⭐️ Meh… bored or annoyed
⭐️ Seriously? Not worth it

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ INFERNO. P@nty melting
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Blazing h0t
🌶️🌶️🌶️ Now we’re talking
🌶️🌶️ Meh… uninspired missionary
🌶️ Does weak f0replay count?

Content Warnings

Bound Together by Nikki Ash, K Webster

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Loved both books in this duet. First book (Torn Apart) was semi-light on the steam but the second book more than made up for it. Wowsers! Good plot, lovable characters, great spice and a HEA. What more could you ask for?

Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
POV: Quad
HEA: Yes
Cliffhanger: No
Tropes: reverse harem, why choose, nerd / jock, college romance

Instagram: @Book.Lover.IRL
Goodreads: Book Lover IRL

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I loved this book
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really liked this book
⭐️⭐️⭐️ I liked this book
⭐️⭐️ Meh… bored or annoyed
⭐️ Seriously? Not worth it

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ INFERNO. P@nty melting
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Blazing h0t
🌶️🌶️🌶️ Now we’re talking
🌶️🌶️ Meh… uninspired missionary
🌶️ Does weak f0replay count?

Content Warnings

Torn Apart by Nikki Ash, K Webster

Go to review page

emotional funny reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

A rebel, hockey star, geeky girl, and coach are in a series of convoluted relationships / friendships. There is an openly gay character, a happily bi character, a v1rg1n, and a character who isn't sure what their role in life is right now. Their feelings for each other are messy. Their living situations and life circumstances are complicated and I am HERE FOR IT! I fell in love with all four main characters almost instantly. Even when you want to hate them, you can't and you end up rooting for them.

It's challenging to say much about the story without giving away part of the plot, so I'll stick to the basics. Story had excellent banter between the MCs. Ashton made me literally LOL. The spicy scenes were relatively few but excellently done. I enjoyed the story's pacing and didn't want to put the book down.

Book 1 ends on a cliffhanger, so I am super excited to jump straight into book 2, Bound Together.

Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️. (very little spice but it’s good when it’s there)

POV: Lots — Quad?

HEA: Not yet?

Cliffhanger: Yep

Tropes: gay BFF, rich kids with crappy parents, poorer kids with great parents, college kids, sports guy & nerd girl

Instagram: @Book.Lover.IRL
Goodreads: Book Lover IRL

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I loved this book

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really liked this book

⭐️⭐️⭐️ I liked this book

⭐️⭐️ Meh… bored or annoyed

⭐️ Seriously? Not worth it

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ INFERNO. P@nty melting

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Blazing h0t

🌶️🌶️🌶️ Now we’re talking

🌶️🌶️ Meh… uninspired missionary

🌶️ Does weak f0replay count?

Content Warnings

Forget Me Not by Q.B. Tyler

Go to review page

emotional reflective sad tense 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

5.0

The most angsty of angst-filled stories and I am here for it.

Normally I hate cheating tropes. They don’t do it for me and are generally a huge turn off buuuut there was something about Bennett that got to me. As much as I wanted to hate him, I just couldn’t. I mean the fact that he

continued to sleep with the a$$-hat he cheated on Livi with after she left him and all while supposedly fighting to get her back

was a bitter pill to swallow. It quite literally made me throw up in my mouth a bit. Yet… I forgave the b@stard.

Great read if you love emotional drama, knee deep angst and a FMC who doesn’t roll over and take crap from a man.

Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

POV: Duel

HEA: Yes

Cliffhanger: No

Tropes: Cheating, age gap
TWs: Infidelity, infertility

Instagram: @Book.Lover.IRL
Goodreads: Book Lover IRL

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I loved this book

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really liked this book

⭐️⭐️⭐️ I liked this book

⭐️⭐️ Meh… bored or annoyed

⭐️ Seriously? Not worth it

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ INFERNO. P@nty melting

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Blazing h0t

🌶️🌶️🌶️ Now we’re talking

🌶️🌶️ Meh… uninspired missionary

🌶️ Does weak f0replay count?

Content Warnings

One Too Many by Jade West

Go to review page

adventurous challenging emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I am so torn about how to review this book. I was very invested in the plot and wanted to see where it was going. There was good emotional and spicy tension leading up to the first main event. The characters were interesting and well developed. The situations they faced gave them opportunities to deal with “real” emotions.

The second and third bouts were different. The last third was … challenging. The spicy parts were over the top for me and too violent to be enjoyable.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about the final chapters and that epilogue…

If you had asked me in the first half or two thirds of the book, I would’ve thought it was potentially a five star book. However by the end I was trying to decide between three and four stars. SIGH

Last note, I didn’t like the narrators. The female narrator sounded waaayyyyy too old. The male narrator was just not for me. Sadly I guess I don’t like romances with British English words. If I have to hear knickers or shunted one more time… sorry, not sorry. Others loved it but it wasn’t for me.

Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ (not my cup of tea, but it might be your yum?!)

POV: Three

HEA: ?

Cliffhanger: No

Tropes: Financial issues leads to desperate decisions, s3x outside married couple

INSTAGRAM: @Book.Lover.IRL

STORYGRAPH: Book.Lover.IRL
GOODREADS: Book Lover IRL

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I loved this book

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really liked this book

⭐️⭐️⭐️ I liked this book

⭐️⭐️ Meh… bored or annoyed

⭐️ Seriously? Not worth it

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ INFERNO. P@nty melting

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Blazing h0t

🌶️🌶️🌶️ Now we’re talking

🌶️🌶️ Meh… uninspired missionary

🌶️ Does weak f0replay count?

Content Warnings

Lights Out by Navessa Allen

Go to review page

adventurous dark funny fast-paced

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

5.0

Updated Review 3/12/2025:
SUMMARY
Lights Out by Navessa Allen is the viral TikTok stalker, dark romance, burning with high heat, hilarious banter, and a love story like you’ve never seen before. It is a fast-paced dark romance with a morally gray male lead. Some themes and scenes may be disturbing to listeners. Please check the TWs at the beginning of the book.

REVIEW
I read Lights Out last summer shortly after starting my sp!cy book journey. My first thought was: “H0ly sh!t. What did I just read? I have so many thoughts and feelings!” At the time, it was by far the darkest and sp!ciest romance book I had read to date. (I have since gone deep down the rabbit hole of dark romances.) My second thought was: “This is my favorite audiobook that I have EVER listened to!!! Period. Full stop!”

NARRATORS
Elena Wolfe was fantastic. I really enjoyed what she brought to the FMC. I’ll happily listen to additional books narrated by her.

Now, Jacob Morgan... Jacob Morgan’s voice acting is unparalleled. His cadence, intonation, ability to vary his pitch and volume to suit the situation is on point. He has perfect timing for comedic delivery, consistent pacing, and the ability to make his voice drip with whatever emotion is called for in that moment. I will sing Jacob Morgan’s praises to high heaven and actively seek out any book narrated by him.

On to my review of the actual novel.
As I mentioned earlier, Lights Out was the darkest romance I had read up to that time. I wasn’t sure if I would be comfortable with the stalker, instalove, k!ll for her vibe that it promised. If I had read the book, instead of listening to it, I fear I may not have loved it as much as I do. I think some of the primal play and knife play that pushed me outside my comfort zone could have been overwhelming, but with Jacob Morgan’s sultry voice and hysterical delivery, I was enthralled.

HILARIOUS
When I say this story was laugh out loud funny, I truly mean it was hysterical. I woke up my poor husband from a dead sleep on more than one occasion with my big a$$ belly laughs that I simply could not contain. Multiple times I rewound sections of the novel just so I could re-listen and continue my maniacal laughing.

* Josh’s comments re: Fred as his child
* Mentioning stalkers aren’t supposed to be two-pump chumps
* Momentary panic that MC was blind because of sleeping in their contacts
* Forgetting to disguise his voice

======
Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
POV: Dual
HEA: Yes
Cliffhanger: No
Tropes: stalking, rom-com, dark romance, CHECK THE TWs.

Instagram: @Book.Lover.IRL
Goodreads: Book Lover IRL
StoryGraph: Book.Lover.IRL

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I loved this book
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really liked this book
⭐️⭐️⭐️ I liked this book
⭐️⭐️ Meh… bored or annoyed
⭐️ Seriously? Not worth it

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ INFERNO. P@nty melting
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Blazing h0t
🌶️🌶️🌶️ Now we’re talking
🌶️🌶️ Meh… uninspired missionary
🌶️ Does weak f0replay count?

Content Warnings

Terms and Conditions by Lauren Asher

Go to review page

funny lighthearted tense 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? Yes

4.0

The grumpy billionaire MMC and poor but extremely intelligent FMC isn’t my favorite romantic trope. However I love a strong, sassy, independent and whip-smart FMC. Was a little frustrated with the crappy attitude and actions of the MMC for the first third of the book. He was downright mean and I didn’t appreciate it. Novel was a slow burn for the spice.

Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

POV: Dual

HEA: Yes - extended epilogue is a great touch

Cliffhanger: No

Tropes: Billionaire x poor, Boss x employee

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I loved this book

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really liked this book

⭐️⭐️⭐️ I liked this book

⭐️⭐️ Meh… bored or annoyed

⭐️ Seriously? Not worth it

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ INFERNO. P@nty melting

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Blazing hot

🌶️🌶️🌶️ Now we’re talking

🌶️🌶️ Meh… uninspired missionary

🌶️ Does weak forepl@y count?

Content Warnings

That Guy by Kim Jones

Go to review page

funny lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

This was supposed to be a rom com and it certainly had a few funny parts but mostly I was just bored or irritated with how “quirky” the FMC was. She was straight up looney and most of the time impossible to relate too.

Then the MMC… his character was under-developed and shallow. What’s that famous Harry Potter quote: the MMC had the “emotional range of a teaspoon”.

He was raging and mean in the beginning, then suddenly he desired her and appeared to be falling in love, then he’s overheard telling his BFF that he only wants something casual. None of it connects or flows together.

According to my teenagers, I don’t have a sense of humor so maybe the negative review isn’t valid. The book is meh for me. It was relatively lighthearted and maybe I just needed more drama and darkness for my little black heart. 🤣

Stars: ⭐️⭐️ 1/2

Spice: 🌶️🌶️

POV: dual

HEA: yes

Cliffhanger: no

Tropes: instalove, enemies to lovers, poor girl / rich guy

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I loved this book

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really liked this book

⭐️⭐️⭐️ I liked this book

⭐️⭐️ Meh… bored or annoyed

⭐️ Seriously? Not worth it

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ INFERNO. P@nty melting

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Blazing h0t

🌶️🌶️🌶️ Now we’re talking

🌶️🌶️ Meh… uninspired missionary

🌶️ Does weak f0replay count?

Content Warnings

Girl on the Line by Faith Gardner

Go to review page

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad 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? Yes

4.5

Emotional, heart wrench!ng, sad, ultimately hopeful. The author did a fantastic job of sharing what it is like to be inside the head of someone with mental health challenges. The internal dialogue and outward actions of the main character were spot on and helped capture the dysfunctional side of living with bipolar. I really related to this story as a survivor of a suicide attempt and as a parent of two children with bipolar diagnoses. Overall wonderful and good read for someone trying to understand what it’s like to live with mental health issues.

POSSIBLE SPOILER COMING UP re: my concern with the novel

At one point in the novel, the MC decides to stop taking their medication. The MC does not tell anyone they are stopping their meds, and does not consult their doctor or parents about their decision.

I am very upset that the author failed show the realistic fallout (both emotional and cognitive) of being unmedicated. The novel showed the MC managed their internal thoughts and emotions better when she took her meds, but did not show the reverse when she stopped taking her meds. There are real-life consequences when someone stops taking their mental health meds without proper medical guidance. Since mental health meds balance your brain chemistry, your behavior and thinking patterns can revert back to their un-medicated ways within a couple days (or less).

It was irresponsible of the author to fail to show the mental health consequences of being unmedicated without the guidance of a medical professional. That is NOT the way it works in real life. Folks with bipolar are notorious for feeling better while on their meds and then decided to stop taking their meds because they start to feel better. However, it is a catch 22. They feel better because they are medicated, so because they feel better, they want to stop taking meds. However, as soon as they stop taking the meds, they become dysregulated again. Sometimes they fail to realize the entire reason they feel better is because of the meds. There can be very serious side effects and awful episodes of depression and mania without stabilizing meds.

Content Warnings

Bad Situation by Brynne Asher

Go to review page

emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

Solid and enjoyable read. Not overly enthralling or surprising. Slow burn, spicy at the end.

Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

POV: Multi

HEA: Yes

Cliffhanger: No

Tropes:

Instagram: @Book.Lover.IRL
Goodreads: Book Lover IRL
StoryGraph: Book.Lover.IRL

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I loved this book

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really liked this book

⭐️⭐️⭐️ I liked this book

⭐️⭐️ Meh… bored or annoyed

⭐️ Seriously? Not worth it

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ INFERNO. P@nty melting

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Blazing h0t

🌶️🌶️🌶️ Now we’re talking

🌶️🌶️ Meh… uninspired missionary

🌶️ Does weak f0replay count?

Content Warnings

More...

book_lover_irl's reviews 455 reviews

book_lover_irl's reviews
455 reviews