naomi_jayne's reviews
108 reviews

To Love Jason Thorn by Ella Maise

funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

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

5.0

I have to say, as a person who hates friends-to-lovers, I personally classify Jason and Olive as that and I bloody loved this book! The chemistry between the pair of them, the sex, the plot, it just ticked all the boxes for me. I will definitely be picking up Lucy’s story next and looking forward to more by this author 

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

dark emotional 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

4.0

Overall I really enjoyed this book as you can tell from my rating. It was beautiful written and tackles a difficult subject matter with respect, and does not romanticise the relationship between Vanessa and Jacob like a feared it would. Even though Vanessa makes it seem like it is romantic, you can tell from how it is written that she knows it isn’t. The reason it didn’t get 5 stars from me was two things; one, the mother of Vanessa really annoyed me. As an SA and R victim myself, it just didn’t seem like how a mother would react. And the last…say 200 pages just seemed to drag on a little, meaningless scenes with repetitive writing. 

Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood

adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted relaxing 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? No

5.0

Eeek this book!! I didn’t think it could live up to the Love Hypothesis but it certainly did! I adore Levi and Bee, I definitely prefer Bee over Olive (LH) but I don’t know who I prefer out of Levi and Adam (LH)! Ali is the queen of the grumpy sunshine trope in my eyes. And the best friend in this one was way better than in LH. I did guess Shmac’s identity very quickly but I didn’t mind, but the twist in the end was not expected at all! I loved there was more spice in this one, I was laughing and blushing so much while reading this book and I cannot wait for more books from Ali

The Virgin and the Beast by Stasia Black

dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

2.0

I pushed through to finish this Okay. I like to start with the positives. I loved Mel as a character. She was badass and deviant, strong and sassy. The sex scenes were okay.
The rest of it however, I found myself questioning “what the hell am I reading” quite a lot. I like a lot of dark romances and I love a good Dom/Sub dynamic and even pet play but to me, this wasn’t a good example of those dynamics. It was practically abuse and I did skip through those scenes when I realised what was going on. I won’t be reading any more in this series because the writing style and such just wasn’t for me

Mercy by Sara Cate

emotional funny inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This series! I’m so glad that Sara is going to be writing more surrounding characters at Salacious because I don’t want to say goodbye to them. I’m so glad Beau got his own book, I was hoping so when I read the first in this series. Him and Maggie have an amazing relationship, and so many characters grew in this book. Never in my life did I think I’d enjoy a Domme book with a male submissive, but here I am craving more 

Give Me More by Sara Cate

emotional funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This! This is by far my favourite in the series and it’s going to take a lot to beat it. I adore these three together and love how their relationship develops so realistically

Pirate's Witch by Jessamine Rue

adventurous dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

4.0

Pure pirate filth and I loved it. That’s it, that’s all I have to say 

Eyes on Me by Sara Cate

dark emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I didn’t think Emerson could be beat but I was wrong! Garrett is 🥵 and I adore the dynamic between him and Mia. They had amazing chemistry and I loved how they brought peace to each other. Garrett is a damaged sweetheart I want to cuddle

He Called Me Angel: A Halloween Romance Novella by Hannah Bayles

funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.5

To say this is the first novella from Hannah, it’s really good! It’s short, sexy and smutty. Nice quick read and the chemistry between the two main characters was lovely. It is very insta-love but it is only 45 pages long so I understand why. I hope Hannah writes more and makes her stories a little longer as she has so much potential as an author

Den of Vipers by K.A. Knight

3.0

I picked up this after hearing all the fuss it kicked up on Booktok and...yeah, what can I say. There are two positives I can pull from this - I loved how well developed the characters were, especially our male Vipers, they were well rounded with backstories that shaped who they were. Roxy was bad-ass and I loved how she brought them all out of their shells by handling them differently. Unlike what Booktok said, there was a plot and not just pure smut - the plot was very basic and predictable in my opinion, but the plot was there. The "shocking spicy scenes" were not as "Oh my god" as people made them out to be, but I have been reading books with spicy scenes in since I was 15 years old so maybe I've just seen it all at this point. For me, the plot was just too simple, and the book could have been shrunk down a lot which probably would have made it better - cut out some of the smut to develop the plot a little more. I might re-read this but I'm in no rush to, but I did like it