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496 reviews
Lover by Hattie Jude
Watching Lennon realize that the guys have all been weary of her from the moment she reentered their lives, even the ones who seemed to have made amends with her quickly, broke her heart. Add to that the fact that a person she thought was long gone resurfacing sends Lennon into a tailspin. She doesn't know where to turn or who to trust. The men she thought she could trust completely betrayed her and used her in some twisted test to see how loyal she was to them. When they found out that she was as trustworthy as she claimed they were desperate to make amends. But it may be too little, too late for them now. Can Lennon survive her long thought dead enemy, the betrayal of every single person in her life she thought she could trust, and find a way to graduate high school in the process?
I have not been so heartbroken for a character in a long time. I watched Lennon fall to pieces over and over again and she was so utterly alone in her pain. The guys wanted to make it up to her and apologize but some things are far too big to forgive. But I also saw her pick herself up and give every single person the middle finger. She was determined to take care of herself on her own without the protection of the guys or her Aunt Darby. She grew a backbone that I hadn't really seen until this point.
I also enjoyed seeing Lennon and the guys find their way back to each other. They all opened up about their past and commiserated. Lennon was there to put them back together just as they were for her. They were a united front when it came to foiling the diabolic plans of their enemies and I was their biggest cheerleader.
The only pitfall that I found in the book was that the resolution felt rushed. It was a lot about Lennon's betrayal and her relationships being rekindled with her guys so that the drama and antagonist issues kind of took a backseat. Normally that would be fine but I was expecting something a little more thought provoking. The mystery was easily solved as the enemies seemed to basically turn out to be vast in either one regard or another. You could throw a rock or hazard a guess as to the big baddies and you'd have probably been right. That just felt a little flubbed to me but it didn't detract from the overall enjoyment of the book.
It was a nice conclusion to a truly visceral book series that brought on tears, laughs, and swoon-age.
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3.0
Watching Lennon realize that the guys have all been weary of her from the moment she reentered their lives, even the ones who seemed to have made amends with her quickly, broke her heart. Add to that the fact that a person she thought was long gone resurfacing sends Lennon into a tailspin. She doesn't know where to turn or who to trust. The men she thought she could trust completely betrayed her and used her in some twisted test to see how loyal she was to them. When they found out that she was as trustworthy as she claimed they were desperate to make amends. But it may be too little, too late for them now. Can Lennon survive her long thought dead enemy, the betrayal of every single person in her life she thought she could trust, and find a way to graduate high school in the process?
I have not been so heartbroken for a character in a long time. I watched Lennon fall to pieces over and over again and she was so utterly alone in her pain. The guys wanted to make it up to her and apologize but some things are far too big to forgive. But I also saw her pick herself up and give every single person the middle finger. She was determined to take care of herself on her own without the protection of the guys or her Aunt Darby. She grew a backbone that I hadn't really seen until this point.
I also enjoyed seeing Lennon and the guys find their way back to each other. They all opened up about their past and commiserated. Lennon was there to put them back together just as they were for her. They were a united front when it came to foiling the diabolic plans of their enemies and I was their biggest cheerleader.
The only pitfall that I found in the book was that the resolution felt rushed. It was a lot about Lennon's betrayal and her relationships being rekindled with her guys so that the drama and antagonist issues kind of took a backseat. Normally that would be fine but I was expecting something a little more thought provoking. The mystery was easily solved as the enemies seemed to basically turn out to be vast in either one regard or another. You could throw a rock or hazard a guess as to the big baddies and you'd have probably been right. That just felt a little flubbed to me but it didn't detract from the overall enjoyment of the book.
It was a nice conclusion to a truly visceral book series that brought on tears, laughs, and swoon-age.
The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
Olive can't stand her maid of honor dress almost as much as she can't stand the best man, but she will do just about anything for her twin sister, Ami. When she stands up to give her toast at the wedding and her entire family starts puking like they're understudies for Linda Blair, her sister asks her to take the non-refundable honeymoon vacation that she couldn't attend. The only catch? She has to go with her arch-nemesis, Ethan Thomas, the groom's big brother and best man. Hawaii is a fairly big place, perhaps they can keep their distance from each other and she can simply soak up the sun as she contemplates where to go with her life after having been laid off. But fate would have other ideas. It would seem both Olive's new boss and Ethan's ex-girlfriend who tore his heart out and fed it to him, are here to force the couple to pretend their scathing hate is unequivocal love. And somewhere along the way, in all the pretending, it starts to feel a lot more natural than it should. Could Olive and Ethan's first impressions of each other have been way off the mark?
I listened to the audiobook of this book and since it was my first foray into audiobooks I was a little curious how it would feel to have someone outside of my head voicing the characters. I don't know how much I like when female narrators try to put on a fake masculine voice. It's a bit cheesy. But that's the audiobook and has no bearing on the actual story.
I was kind of on the fence with Olive. I did feel like she was super sensitive and was quick to snap at Ethan in particular any chance she got even when he didn't outright do anything to warrant the attack. I can understand her motivation and the anger and hurt she probably felt when she thought their first meeting had turned out badly because he was fat shaming her (even though Olive is described as curvy by way of a big butt and boobs... not exactly BBW territory). Once she started to open herself up to Ethan I grew to like her. I even liked that she took a stand when she felt she needed to even thought it cost her dearly. I think she was very well developed and a spitfire for sure.
Ethan felt a bit underdeveloped, most likely because he wasn't the main perspective of the book. I wasn't a huge fan of his despite how charming he seemed to be portrayed. But, I liked Olive enough that it made up for any smarmy feelings I had toward Ethan. And them as a couple was definitely better than when they were apart.
The book reads like a typical rom-com. It is something you would expect on the big screen and for someone coming off a reverse harem erotica spree, the fade-to-black sex was a little jarring and frustrating. However, once I took a step back and realized not all great stories have heavily described sex scenes. Some are just delightfully light reads. That was what this was for me. A delightfully light read with no raunchy sexy scenes but still a lot of heat between the pages.
3.0
Olive can't stand her maid of honor dress almost as much as she can't stand the best man, but she will do just about anything for her twin sister, Ami. When she stands up to give her toast at the wedding and her entire family starts puking like they're understudies for Linda Blair, her sister asks her to take the non-refundable honeymoon vacation that she couldn't attend. The only catch? She has to go with her arch-nemesis, Ethan Thomas, the groom's big brother and best man. Hawaii is a fairly big place, perhaps they can keep their distance from each other and she can simply soak up the sun as she contemplates where to go with her life after having been laid off. But fate would have other ideas. It would seem both Olive's new boss and Ethan's ex-girlfriend who tore his heart out and fed it to him, are here to force the couple to pretend their scathing hate is unequivocal love. And somewhere along the way, in all the pretending, it starts to feel a lot more natural than it should. Could Olive and Ethan's first impressions of each other have been way off the mark?
I listened to the audiobook of this book and since it was my first foray into audiobooks I was a little curious how it would feel to have someone outside of my head voicing the characters. I don't know how much I like when female narrators try to put on a fake masculine voice. It's a bit cheesy. But that's the audiobook and has no bearing on the actual story.
I was kind of on the fence with Olive. I did feel like she was super sensitive and was quick to snap at Ethan in particular any chance she got even when he didn't outright do anything to warrant the attack. I can understand her motivation and the anger and hurt she probably felt when she thought their first meeting had turned out badly because he was fat shaming her (even though Olive is described as curvy by way of a big butt and boobs... not exactly BBW territory). Once she started to open herself up to Ethan I grew to like her. I even liked that she took a stand when she felt she needed to even thought it cost her dearly. I think she was very well developed and a spitfire for sure.
Ethan felt a bit underdeveloped, most likely because he wasn't the main perspective of the book. I wasn't a huge fan of his despite how charming he seemed to be portrayed. But, I liked Olive enough that it made up for any smarmy feelings I had toward Ethan. And them as a couple was definitely better than when they were apart.
The book reads like a typical rom-com. It is something you would expect on the big screen and for someone coming off a reverse harem erotica spree, the fade-to-black sex was a little jarring and frustrating. However, once I took a step back and realized not all great stories have heavily described sex scenes. Some are just delightfully light reads. That was what this was for me. A delightfully light read with no raunchy sexy scenes but still a lot of heat between the pages.
Third Comes Vengeance by Lilith Vincent
After escaping the would-be Black Orchid Murderer Chiara has decided that she is done being a mouse and she is done letting her men lead for her. She is the Princess of Coldlake and it is time that she steps into that role. She lays some smack down and her men support her finding her strength while she tries to find their sisters' killer and how the killer ties into her father. Chiara will have vengeance for both her mother and her lovers' sisters if it is the last thing she does.
Meanwhile, after meeting Salvatore's new nephew, the men have a new obstacle in their way: their unrelenting baby fever. What better time to start a family than when you have bounties on your heads, a serial killer on the loose, and a evil mayor bent on remind Chiara that she is not outside of his reach? It sounds like stellar time to the boys and Chiara has never been one to tell them no.
Between family making and vengeance taking will Chiara and her men make it out in one piece?
This book was kind of all over the place where the others were very concise. The mystery of the killer is still undiscovered and while there are a few more clues to be gathered in this book the culmination of how they discovered the killer's identity had nothing to do with any of their work for intel and was just an absolute fluke. There were a lot of things in this installment that just seemed scattered. It was kind of like the author knew where she wanted to take the book but if she dove directly towards that ultimate resolution the book wouldn't reach the length that she wanted. So everything else was just fluff added in to kind pad the story.
The sex scenes were definitely even spicer than before, which is saying something since they were all pretty hot to begin with. They were still bountiful but it kinda felt like the author had done all the kinks and taboo things between the couples so there wasn't much else to tantalize the readers. Don't get me wrong, still hot stuff, but it felt like almost a cold shower next to the other two books.
I did like the resolution to the series. I like that there was a mix of violent judgment as well as legal judgment so that everyone got the ending they wanted. I think it was a good ending to the series and the world of Chiara and her boys.
3.0
After escaping the would-be Black Orchid Murderer Chiara has decided that she is done being a mouse and she is done letting her men lead for her. She is the Princess of Coldlake and it is time that she steps into that role. She lays some smack down and her men support her finding her strength while she tries to find their sisters' killer and how the killer ties into her father. Chiara will have vengeance for both her mother and her lovers' sisters if it is the last thing she does.
Meanwhile, after meeting Salvatore's new nephew, the men have a new obstacle in their way: their unrelenting baby fever. What better time to start a family than when you have bounties on your heads, a serial killer on the loose, and a evil mayor bent on remind Chiara that she is not outside of his reach? It sounds like stellar time to the boys and Chiara has never been one to tell them no.
Between family making and vengeance taking will Chiara and her men make it out in one piece?
This book was kind of all over the place where the others were very concise. The mystery of the killer is still undiscovered and while there are a few more clues to be gathered in this book the culmination of how they discovered the killer's identity had nothing to do with any of their work for intel and was just an absolute fluke. There were a lot of things in this installment that just seemed scattered. It was kind of like the author knew where she wanted to take the book but if she dove directly towards that ultimate resolution the book wouldn't reach the length that she wanted. So everything else was just fluff added in to kind pad the story.
The sex scenes were definitely even spicer than before, which is saying something since they were all pretty hot to begin with. They were still bountiful but it kinda felt like the author had done all the kinks and taboo things between the couples so there wasn't much else to tantalize the readers. Don't get me wrong, still hot stuff, but it felt like almost a cold shower next to the other two books.
I did like the resolution to the series. I like that there was a mix of violent judgment as well as legal judgment so that everyone got the ending they wanted. I think it was a good ending to the series and the world of Chiara and her boys.
First Comes Blood by Lilith Vincent
Chiara is a very sheltered rich girl who thought that her seventeenth birthday was just another day to celebrate her trip around the sun. She was so close to being eighteen and being able to go away to college to escape her controlling father and perhaps give her mother some time to not have to worry about her so much that it made her sick. Chiara came down the stairs as a fresh-faced seventeen year old on the edge of freedom but what she found downstairs were the bindings that would be her undoing. She comes face-to-face with the four most powerful men next to her mayor father. Salvatore Fiore, Cassius Ferragamo, Lorenzo Scava, and Vinicius Angeli, the godfathers of the city and the criminal leaders her father desperately wants to get into bed with. Enough so that he is willing to marry off his daughter to one of the men in hopes of tying his family to one of theirs forever. But Chiara doesn't want to get married. Especially not any of the men who look like they'd sooner murder her in her sleep than be a loving husband to her. But when she suffers the loss of one of the most important people in her life she knows better than to go against her father's wishes.
However, little did Chiara know but her future husband, Salvatore's friends were not so easily dissuaded from having her and they kidnap her on her wedding day to hold her until they decide how to use her. Can Chiara win her captors over and find a way to set her life back on track or is she forever going to be in the clutches of the Coldlake Syndicate?
I honestly thought that this book was not going to be something I was into. I started reading it and, don't get me wrong, I love a good bully romance, but this was a bit much to start out with. I found myself feeling absolutely terrible for Chiara and the men were starting to lose any sort of redeemable quality for me. But slowly but surely they started to pull themselves out of their own ways and started forming bonds with Chiara. I have to admit, I normally have a favorite in a harem but in this book a like a little of each of them.
Salvatore: I liked how romantic he was. He was willing to woo Chiara even if he did have a tendency to throw a tantrum a bit like a toddler when he doesn't get his way.
Vinicius: I liked how he was so easy and light-hearted. It took away some of the darkness that the other characters had going on but at the same time he was not as noteworthy as the others because he seemed just to be the counterbalance for the others.
Cassius: I liked how he was Chiara's caretaker. He took care of her and make sure she took care of herself and had the emotional support that she needed. However he could be a bit suffocating at times.
And finally,
Lorenzo: He was the resident psychopath. He was the hardest to win over but seeing him care for Chiara in his own way despite trying to be the brash and hardened killer he liked to wear like a shield against anyone getting too close.
This book was the spiciest spicy read and a genuinely great first installment in the series.
4.0
Chiara is a very sheltered rich girl who thought that her seventeenth birthday was just another day to celebrate her trip around the sun. She was so close to being eighteen and being able to go away to college to escape her controlling father and perhaps give her mother some time to not have to worry about her so much that it made her sick. Chiara came down the stairs as a fresh-faced seventeen year old on the edge of freedom but what she found downstairs were the bindings that would be her undoing. She comes face-to-face with the four most powerful men next to her mayor father. Salvatore Fiore, Cassius Ferragamo, Lorenzo Scava, and Vinicius Angeli, the godfathers of the city and the criminal leaders her father desperately wants to get into bed with. Enough so that he is willing to marry off his daughter to one of the men in hopes of tying his family to one of theirs forever. But Chiara doesn't want to get married. Especially not any of the men who look like they'd sooner murder her in her sleep than be a loving husband to her. But when she suffers the loss of one of the most important people in her life she knows better than to go against her father's wishes.
However, little did Chiara know but her future husband, Salvatore's friends were not so easily dissuaded from having her and they kidnap her on her wedding day to hold her until they decide how to use her. Can Chiara win her captors over and find a way to set her life back on track or is she forever going to be in the clutches of the Coldlake Syndicate?
I honestly thought that this book was not going to be something I was into. I started reading it and, don't get me wrong, I love a good bully romance, but this was a bit much to start out with. I found myself feeling absolutely terrible for Chiara and the men were starting to lose any sort of redeemable quality for me. But slowly but surely they started to pull themselves out of their own ways and started forming bonds with Chiara. I have to admit, I normally have a favorite in a harem but in this book a like a little of each of them.
Salvatore: I liked how romantic he was. He was willing to woo Chiara even if he did have a tendency to throw a tantrum a bit like a toddler when he doesn't get his way.
Vinicius: I liked how he was so easy and light-hearted. It took away some of the darkness that the other characters had going on but at the same time he was not as noteworthy as the others because he seemed just to be the counterbalance for the others.
Cassius: I liked how he was Chiara's caretaker. He took care of her and make sure she took care of herself and had the emotional support that she needed. However he could be a bit suffocating at times.
And finally,
Lorenzo: He was the resident psychopath. He was the hardest to win over but seeing him care for Chiara in his own way despite trying to be the brash and hardened killer he liked to wear like a shield against anyone getting too close.
This book was the spiciest spicy read and a genuinely great first installment in the series.
Ruthless Crown by Amanda Richardson
Briar was glad to have a fresh start away from all the pain and turmoil of her previous home. Her mom is freshly married and Briar finally gets to meet her new stepbrother. Too bad that he seems to have a major chip on his shoulder as do the rest of his motley crew of friends. She is content to just make her way through her school year and go off to college without looking back. Her life was put on hold for so long with her trauma that she needed to move forward. But Hunter and his friends are determined to make Briar's life a living hell simply for existing near them. But Briar is not a roll over and take it sort of girl. She lashes back at them and brings the Kings of Ravenhood to heel. However, her victory and power stance is short lived with a ghost from her past comes back to haunt her. Can she escape his clutches again alone or will she be able to enlist the help of her new stepbrother and his three friends?
Briar as a character was not it for me. She talked a big game about making people pay and holding her head up and the like but she had very little follow through that I saw. She had one quote where she was the Queen and they were gonna see her attack... I waited for the attack. There wasn't much that could backup that statement... She was portrayed as this strong woman in the face of her bullies but I felt it was all bravado.
I know that a lot of reverse harem books have MM relationships in the dynamics. This is fine and love is love and all but for me, it just feels like that makes it more polyamorous and less reverse harem in my opinion. I am not a huge fan of the polyamory in books. Nothing against it, just not my cup of tea. Reverse harems for me is one girl being worshipped and shared between a group of friends. Not relationships within that dynamic as well. But, anyway, this book had a lot of MM romances referenced. Samson in a guy who committed suicide, Samson and another boy in the harem, Ash with another guy from school, and references to Hunter wishing he wasn't straight at some points so he could join in the MM scenes. It was very... MM centric which I would have thought that it'd be more focused on the female protagonist. But if that's your jam then, this is it for you.
The plot was choppy and felt like it was all over the place. It started as a bully romance that fizzled out very quickly so another antagonist had to be added into the mix to keep the story going. Just, not very well structured in my opinion. Maybe if the bully romance had been stretched through the one book and the secondary antagonist introduced and defeated in the second it would have felt more concise.
Overall, this book wasn't really it for me. The subject matter wasn't comfortable for me, the romances were all over the place and the plot was stuttered.
2.0
Briar was glad to have a fresh start away from all the pain and turmoil of her previous home. Her mom is freshly married and Briar finally gets to meet her new stepbrother. Too bad that he seems to have a major chip on his shoulder as do the rest of his motley crew of friends. She is content to just make her way through her school year and go off to college without looking back. Her life was put on hold for so long with her trauma that she needed to move forward. But Hunter and his friends are determined to make Briar's life a living hell simply for existing near them. But Briar is not a roll over and take it sort of girl. She lashes back at them and brings the Kings of Ravenhood to heel. However, her victory and power stance is short lived with a ghost from her past comes back to haunt her. Can she escape his clutches again alone or will she be able to enlist the help of her new stepbrother and his three friends?
Briar as a character was not it for me. She talked a big game about making people pay and holding her head up and the like but she had very little follow through that I saw. She had one quote where she was the Queen and they were gonna see her attack... I waited for the attack. There wasn't much that could backup that statement... She was portrayed as this strong woman in the face of her bullies but I felt it was all bravado.
I know that a lot of reverse harem books have MM relationships in the dynamics. This is fine and love is love and all but for me, it just feels like that makes it more polyamorous and less reverse harem in my opinion. I am not a huge fan of the polyamory in books. Nothing against it, just not my cup of tea. Reverse harems for me is one girl being worshipped and shared between a group of friends. Not relationships within that dynamic as well. But, anyway, this book had a lot of MM romances referenced. Samson in a guy who committed suicide, Samson and another boy in the harem, Ash with another guy from school, and references to Hunter wishing he wasn't straight at some points so he could join in the MM scenes. It was very... MM centric which I would have thought that it'd be more focused on the female protagonist. But if that's your jam then, this is it for you.
The plot was choppy and felt like it was all over the place. It started as a bully romance that fizzled out very quickly so another antagonist had to be added into the mix to keep the story going. Just, not very well structured in my opinion. Maybe if the bully romance had been stretched through the one book and the secondary antagonist introduced and defeated in the second it would have felt more concise.
Overall, this book wasn't really it for me. The subject matter wasn't comfortable for me, the romances were all over the place and the plot was stuttered.
Hard Limits by Suki Williams
Nicolette was happy in her life as a high priced call girl. She got to explore her hedonistic desires and got paid handsomely for it. But her boss and ex-lover was about to shake up her world, call in that favor owed to her and put Nic directly in the pathway of four handsome mercenaries in hopes of digging up dirt on her current husband and dispose of him as all the others had been. Nicolette knows enough about her boss and her husband to be able to assist the men in their mission. But little does she know that a few of the men she already was well acquainted with. The tall, hulk of a man is one of her clients and the other with a sly grin is her roommate of a few months. It seems that these men had already been in her life in one way or another and now they were meant to share even more time together.
Along the way they also come in contact with Nic's very possessive stalker who will stop at nothing to have her for himself. But as feelings start to grow and Nic starts to wonder if she can have both her career and her relationships, she may be at risk of losing them off. Because her stalker isn't just sending love letters to her but also killing off his johns both present and past. Can the five navigate their growing attraction for each other as well as their mission to rid the world of Nic's boss's husband while Nic's stalker is also becoming a very deadly thorn in their sides?
This book is incredibly saturated with triggers so it is not for the faint of heart. The only other book I have read that had more triggers was one that had necrophilia. This one had a very small touch of that but it was more the non-con and dub-con that was the most prevalent. If you are easily trigger, you will definitely want to skip this one.
I struggled to get into the book as a whole. I am not a huge fan of relationships within the harem (IE: the men being with each other or them having sexual relations outside of the harem dynamic). So this was hard to stomach. Not only was their a relationship already established by two of the men but there were the possibility of more connections between the men and the fact that Nic was still active in her career as a call girl even after they had established they were together. This made the story a bit hard to stomach while also dealing with some very violent scenes.
However, the plot was intriguing. The reasoning for the husband needing to be knocked off and the role Nic's boss played in all of it was never really discovered. But the pursuit of information and the knowledge base that Nic provided for them was a great way for the characters to form connections.
The writing style, plot, and overall spicy-ness was what saved the story for me but it still wasn't at the top of my list of reads. It was middle of the road for me.
3.0
Nicolette was happy in her life as a high priced call girl. She got to explore her hedonistic desires and got paid handsomely for it. But her boss and ex-lover was about to shake up her world, call in that favor owed to her and put Nic directly in the pathway of four handsome mercenaries in hopes of digging up dirt on her current husband and dispose of him as all the others had been. Nicolette knows enough about her boss and her husband to be able to assist the men in their mission. But little does she know that a few of the men she already was well acquainted with. The tall, hulk of a man is one of her clients and the other with a sly grin is her roommate of a few months. It seems that these men had already been in her life in one way or another and now they were meant to share even more time together.
Along the way they also come in contact with Nic's very possessive stalker who will stop at nothing to have her for himself. But as feelings start to grow and Nic starts to wonder if she can have both her career and her relationships, she may be at risk of losing them off. Because her stalker isn't just sending love letters to her but also killing off his johns both present and past. Can the five navigate their growing attraction for each other as well as their mission to rid the world of Nic's boss's husband while Nic's stalker is also becoming a very deadly thorn in their sides?
This book is incredibly saturated with triggers so it is not for the faint of heart. The only other book I have read that had more triggers was one that had necrophilia. This one had a very small touch of that but it was more the non-con and dub-con that was the most prevalent. If you are easily trigger, you will definitely want to skip this one.
I struggled to get into the book as a whole. I am not a huge fan of relationships within the harem (IE: the men being with each other or them having sexual relations outside of the harem dynamic). So this was hard to stomach. Not only was their a relationship already established by two of the men but there were the possibility of more connections between the men and the fact that Nic was still active in her career as a call girl even after they had established they were together. This made the story a bit hard to stomach while also dealing with some very violent scenes.
However, the plot was intriguing. The reasoning for the husband needing to be knocked off and the role Nic's boss played in all of it was never really discovered. But the pursuit of information and the knowledge base that Nic provided for them was a great way for the characters to form connections.
The writing style, plot, and overall spicy-ness was what saved the story for me but it still wasn't at the top of my list of reads. It was middle of the road for me.
Wrath by Coralee June
Juliet's boys are still at each other's throats. There was no comradery or mutual determination to make her happy. They were all competitive bastards who just wanted her for themselves. Or... in one special case, lost to their own madness so they felt they didn't deserve her as theirs entirely. Juliet's battle to not lose herself in the sea of testosterone riddled men bent on owning her is a losing battle. But it is only once she decides to sever ties and demand space that she starts to realize who she truly is. Her love for them had overshadowed who she was fundamentally and she was determined to not let that continue. Even if she lost them, she couldn't lose herself. One of her boys hurt her and abandoned her under some misguided thought that she was better off. But when part of your soul goes missing you will stop at nothing to return it where it rightfully belongs. Add to that her best friend turned would-be murderer returning demanding Juliet talk sense into her boys so they could help her out of a sticky situation and you have Wrath.
In these books it feels like any antagonist added to the plot line is secondary to the antagonists that the supposed PROTAGONISTS are supposed to be. It is non-stop bickering and sniping and possessiveness. Don't get me wrong, books with possessive men who are also willing to share with those they care about? Those are the types of books I want to be signed up for. But these men seem to be willing to share but at the same time wanting to manipulate Juliet into choosing one of them. If that just a momentary struggle in their new dynamic I could understand it but we are now two books in and it's STILL happening. It's just annoying at this point. Either man up and walk away because you can't handle her sharing or get your mind right with it. All they are doing is hurting the woman they supposedly love. Their romances are incredibly toxic and not by any standard something someone should measure a relationship by.
There were some redeeming merits. It was a lot better structured and the outside antagonist had a bit more flesh to it than Cora did in the first book. They were forced to work together which was new for them. Nick was calming down a bit which I loved to see. Anthony will always be my favorite little crazy pants but Nick, when he's chill, is a close second.
I do believe this book was better than the first minutely. It's enough that will keep me reading on in the series.
3.0
Juliet's boys are still at each other's throats. There was no comradery or mutual determination to make her happy. They were all competitive bastards who just wanted her for themselves. Or... in one special case, lost to their own madness so they felt they didn't deserve her as theirs entirely. Juliet's battle to not lose herself in the sea of testosterone riddled men bent on owning her is a losing battle. But it is only once she decides to sever ties and demand space that she starts to realize who she truly is. Her love for them had overshadowed who she was fundamentally and she was determined to not let that continue. Even if she lost them, she couldn't lose herself. One of her boys hurt her and abandoned her under some misguided thought that she was better off. But when part of your soul goes missing you will stop at nothing to return it where it rightfully belongs. Add to that her best friend turned would-be murderer returning demanding Juliet talk sense into her boys so they could help her out of a sticky situation and you have Wrath.
In these books it feels like any antagonist added to the plot line is secondary to the antagonists that the supposed PROTAGONISTS are supposed to be. It is non-stop bickering and sniping and possessiveness. Don't get me wrong, books with possessive men who are also willing to share with those they care about? Those are the types of books I want to be signed up for. But these men seem to be willing to share but at the same time wanting to manipulate Juliet into choosing one of them. If that just a momentary struggle in their new dynamic I could understand it but we are now two books in and it's STILL happening. It's just annoying at this point. Either man up and walk away because you can't handle her sharing or get your mind right with it. All they are doing is hurting the woman they supposedly love. Their romances are incredibly toxic and not by any standard something someone should measure a relationship by.
There were some redeeming merits. It was a lot better structured and the outside antagonist had a bit more flesh to it than Cora did in the first book. They were forced to work together which was new for them. Nick was calming down a bit which I loved to see. Anthony will always be my favorite little crazy pants but Nick, when he's chill, is a close second.
I do believe this book was better than the first minutely. It's enough that will keep me reading on in the series.
Malice by Coralee June
Juliet had a normal life working at a diner with a best friend she saw on a semi-regular basis and a grandmother she loved to death. But her best friend of three years had secrets and while Juliet was fine letting her keep her secrets until her best friend's mob boss brother shows up at the diner she works at and calls Juliet out as a rat. Faced with the prospect of being tortured and killed by Nicholas Civella Juliet must harness her inner psychopath. Once Nick realizes Juliet has nothing to do with his organization outside of befriending his sister, he and his two other brothers start integrating her into their family. She is to be the fly on the wall that they need to sniff out their actual rat. Meanwhile she gets to know the brothers and how damaged each of them are.
Anthony was captured, tortured, and assaulted to the point where he is more comfortable with the dead than the living. He is a special kind of psychopath but she finds a kindred spirit within him. He was a sweet and beautiful soul inside a killer's body.
William has been listening and learning about her for the past three years as her best friend's bodyguard. He has an obsession with Juliet that borders on a tragic poem. He is romantic and willing to do anything for Juliet that she asked. But he has a hard time standing up to her older brother. In his words, Nick is the heir, William is the spare, and he lives his life exactly like that.
Nick is cruel, quick to anger, and psychotic in the worst way. He has the ability to shut himself off from his feelings. He is the least redeemable of the three men in my opinion. He is domineering and controlling to the point of being a monster.
I feel if the book had been written with a bit less of Nick and a bit more of Anthony or William it would have been a highly regarded book for me. Nick wasn't just domineering and controlling, he was abusive. His tantrums reminded me that of a child. He's so willing to burn everything down to get what he wants without any thought to the consequences of his actions. He was what spoiled the book for me. Juliet is a psycho disguised as a nice girl. There is a darkness in her I kept waiting to see come out completely but it just trickled out around the seams and never fully developed. I hope that in the next books she is a bit more fleshed out.
And as always, I always have at least one favorite in a harem. Anthony is it. I found him so delightfully quirky that, much like Juliet, I was able to overlook his clear mental issues. But I know that those issues aren't so quickly fixed.
All in all, the book was middle of the road for me. It would have rated higher if there was even an ounce of humanity to Nick's character.
3.0
Juliet had a normal life working at a diner with a best friend she saw on a semi-regular basis and a grandmother she loved to death. But her best friend of three years had secrets and while Juliet was fine letting her keep her secrets until her best friend's mob boss brother shows up at the diner she works at and calls Juliet out as a rat. Faced with the prospect of being tortured and killed by Nicholas Civella Juliet must harness her inner psychopath. Once Nick realizes Juliet has nothing to do with his organization outside of befriending his sister, he and his two other brothers start integrating her into their family. She is to be the fly on the wall that they need to sniff out their actual rat. Meanwhile she gets to know the brothers and how damaged each of them are.
Anthony was captured, tortured, and assaulted to the point where he is more comfortable with the dead than the living. He is a special kind of psychopath but she finds a kindred spirit within him. He was a sweet and beautiful soul inside a killer's body.
William has been listening and learning about her for the past three years as her best friend's bodyguard. He has an obsession with Juliet that borders on a tragic poem. He is romantic and willing to do anything for Juliet that she asked. But he has a hard time standing up to her older brother. In his words, Nick is the heir, William is the spare, and he lives his life exactly like that.
Nick is cruel, quick to anger, and psychotic in the worst way. He has the ability to shut himself off from his feelings. He is the least redeemable of the three men in my opinion. He is domineering and controlling to the point of being a monster.
I feel if the book had been written with a bit less of Nick and a bit more of Anthony or William it would have been a highly regarded book for me. Nick wasn't just domineering and controlling, he was abusive. His tantrums reminded me that of a child. He's so willing to burn everything down to get what he wants without any thought to the consequences of his actions. He was what spoiled the book for me. Juliet is a psycho disguised as a nice girl. There is a darkness in her I kept waiting to see come out completely but it just trickled out around the seams and never fully developed. I hope that in the next books she is a bit more fleshed out.
And as always, I always have at least one favorite in a harem. Anthony is it. I found him so delightfully quirky that, much like Juliet, I was able to overlook his clear mental issues. But I know that those issues aren't so quickly fixed.
All in all, the book was middle of the road for me. It would have rated higher if there was even an ounce of humanity to Nick's character.
The Words to Bind by P. Stormcrow
Luna is new to the BDSM community. She has had a few experiences but they weren't the best. However, she decided to give it one more shot before she threw in the towel and resigned herself to a life of dissatisfying sex. She attends a munch and joins a community of like-minded individuals that are more than willing to help her along as she learns the ins and outs of BDSM. Along the way she comes face-to-face with an attractive dungeon monitor/trainer named Jacob. From the moment she lays eyes on him she can't fight her desire to have him as her Dom. However, the ghosts of Luna's past threaten to make it a bit more difficult for her. Skittish and green she befriends other community members and forces herself to push past her reservations to see whether her role as a natural submissive is what she truly desires.
Luna was delightful as a character. While the mousy characters are usually a huge cringe-fest for me, Luna was able to be shy without making it so that it was unnatural. She had her own way of opening up and being herself and I found a lot of similarities between my own personality and hers. I loved every facet of her character even down to the fact that she was honest to a fault. I detest liars and lying. All-in-all, Luna was a breath of fresh air that was long overdue for me.
Jacob, I had wished was a bit more developed. While Luna was very firm in her creation, Jacob was a bit lackluster. Don't get me wrong. I loved him as the male protagonist. I just wish there was a bit more substance to him than just being a dungeon monitoring submissive trainer. A bit more of his background would have probably solidified him a bit more. That being said, he was no Christian Gray. He was respectful, always requested consent, and stern when he had to be but with a light tone that bother brokered no argument but also seemed to have an air of request rather than demand. He was a stellar Dominant.
I am also as green as Luna is in the BDSM community. I can recognize her skittish disposition and reservations as a lot of the same I do. I have a friend who is a Dom who I discussed the book with after completing it and he also confirmed just how accurate and well depicted the community is as a whole. I have also had a fear that since I am inexperienced that I would be seen in a negative light within the community. But this book made me feel like that couldn't be further from the truth. This is the book that deserves all the hype that 50 Shades got. It's informative while also maintaining that fantasy love story that everyone hopes to have.
If you are curious about the real world of the BDSM community, I would suggest reading this book over any other you may find saturating the market. The author weaves a world of fantasy straight out of real life and will leave you panting for more.
5.0
Luna is new to the BDSM community. She has had a few experiences but they weren't the best. However, she decided to give it one more shot before she threw in the towel and resigned herself to a life of dissatisfying sex. She attends a munch and joins a community of like-minded individuals that are more than willing to help her along as she learns the ins and outs of BDSM. Along the way she comes face-to-face with an attractive dungeon monitor/trainer named Jacob. From the moment she lays eyes on him she can't fight her desire to have him as her Dom. However, the ghosts of Luna's past threaten to make it a bit more difficult for her. Skittish and green she befriends other community members and forces herself to push past her reservations to see whether her role as a natural submissive is what she truly desires.
Luna was delightful as a character. While the mousy characters are usually a huge cringe-fest for me, Luna was able to be shy without making it so that it was unnatural. She had her own way of opening up and being herself and I found a lot of similarities between my own personality and hers. I loved every facet of her character even down to the fact that she was honest to a fault. I detest liars and lying. All-in-all, Luna was a breath of fresh air that was long overdue for me.
Jacob, I had wished was a bit more developed. While Luna was very firm in her creation, Jacob was a bit lackluster. Don't get me wrong. I loved him as the male protagonist. I just wish there was a bit more substance to him than just being a dungeon monitoring submissive trainer. A bit more of his background would have probably solidified him a bit more. That being said, he was no Christian Gray. He was respectful, always requested consent, and stern when he had to be but with a light tone that bother brokered no argument but also seemed to have an air of request rather than demand. He was a stellar Dominant.
I am also as green as Luna is in the BDSM community. I can recognize her skittish disposition and reservations as a lot of the same I do. I have a friend who is a Dom who I discussed the book with after completing it and he also confirmed just how accurate and well depicted the community is as a whole. I have also had a fear that since I am inexperienced that I would be seen in a negative light within the community. But this book made me feel like that couldn't be further from the truth. This is the book that deserves all the hype that 50 Shades got. It's informative while also maintaining that fantasy love story that everyone hopes to have.
If you are curious about the real world of the BDSM community, I would suggest reading this book over any other you may find saturating the market. The author weaves a world of fantasy straight out of real life and will leave you panting for more.
Keys and Kisses by Heather Long
Frankie is just trying to make it through her time in high school and get out the outside alive. She has her best friends turned boyfriends to protect her and a secret admirer turned best friend having her six, but that doesn't stop the sharks from circling. Frankie is on the radar of all the girls her guys dumped after their sketchy summer without her around. Those girls, especially Sharon and Patty, seem to be willing to slander Frankie anyway they can to try to garner favor with the guys and make her the laughing stock of the school.
However, it's not just the girls at school trying to make her life hell. Frankie's mother who has been in and out of the picture has decided she will be marrying her married boyfriend who happens to be one of the guy's fathers and they are moving in together. Frankie is pushed to move with them but refuses which causes a rift the size of the Grand Canyon between her and her abusive and neglectful mother. Now Frankie must find the strength to stand up to the girls at her school and her own mother if she ever hopes to be her own person. But they're not the only ones bent on Frankie's destruction and things can always get worse.
Frankie is still a crowd favorite for me. She is very docile and meek until she gets this fire in her that makes her snap back with a sharpness you wouldn't expect. She is pampered and coddled despite wanting to be independent and it has caused a myriad of issues with her fellas. I keep my fingers crossed through every book I read in this series hoping that Frankie can find a way through all the bullshit and be able to be happy with her guys.
Add to that the fact that Ian is an idiot and martyrs himself thinking he's doing right by Frankie. Ian is the most frustrating character of the bunch. He is this golden retriever-esk character but Rachel's assessment of him being "shit for brains" is incredibly accurate. He wants to throw himself on his sword and distance himself from Frankie because he doesn't want to face her inevitable choice later down the road and break up all the friendships. No, more like he's afraid if she makes that choice it won't be him so he's cutting and running. Nobody is fooled, Ian. You're a coward. However, I do hope that he finds a way to fix things with Frankie because she needs all the support.
This was a great third installment in the series and I find myself not growing tired of the characters or plot like I may with other books. Every book has a new obstacle or some increase in turmoil that makes every page packed with action. The sex scenes in this series so far as a whole are not the spiciest I have ever read but they're packed with emotion which helps.
3.0
Frankie is just trying to make it through her time in high school and get out the outside alive. She has her best friends turned boyfriends to protect her and a secret admirer turned best friend having her six, but that doesn't stop the sharks from circling. Frankie is on the radar of all the girls her guys dumped after their sketchy summer without her around. Those girls, especially Sharon and Patty, seem to be willing to slander Frankie anyway they can to try to garner favor with the guys and make her the laughing stock of the school.
However, it's not just the girls at school trying to make her life hell. Frankie's mother who has been in and out of the picture has decided she will be marrying her married boyfriend who happens to be one of the guy's fathers and they are moving in together. Frankie is pushed to move with them but refuses which causes a rift the size of the Grand Canyon between her and her abusive and neglectful mother. Now Frankie must find the strength to stand up to the girls at her school and her own mother if she ever hopes to be her own person. But they're not the only ones bent on Frankie's destruction and things can always get worse.
Frankie is still a crowd favorite for me. She is very docile and meek until she gets this fire in her that makes her snap back with a sharpness you wouldn't expect. She is pampered and coddled despite wanting to be independent and it has caused a myriad of issues with her fellas. I keep my fingers crossed through every book I read in this series hoping that Frankie can find a way through all the bullshit and be able to be happy with her guys.
Add to that the fact that Ian is an idiot and martyrs himself thinking he's doing right by Frankie. Ian is the most frustrating character of the bunch. He is this golden retriever-esk character but Rachel's assessment of him being "shit for brains" is incredibly accurate. He wants to throw himself on his sword and distance himself from Frankie because he doesn't want to face her inevitable choice later down the road and break up all the friendships. No, more like he's afraid if she makes that choice it won't be him so he's cutting and running. Nobody is fooled, Ian. You're a coward. However, I do hope that he finds a way to fix things with Frankie because she needs all the support.
This was a great third installment in the series and I find myself not growing tired of the characters or plot like I may with other books. Every book has a new obstacle or some increase in turmoil that makes every page packed with action. The sex scenes in this series so far as a whole are not the spiciest I have ever read but they're packed with emotion which helps.