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1022 reviews

Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

1.5

*Disclaimer I rate novellas/short stories out of a total of three stars. 

Needed a pallet cleanser that would be quick and entertaining so I decided to reread this. Enjoyed it as much as I did the first time. 🌶🌶

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

1.0

Well, it would seem I am in the minority of people this book didn't hit the spot for. My two main issues were with the fantasy world itself and our two main characters. From the very beginning it felt like I was dropped into a world I was already meant to know and understand, the world building was clunky and info dumpy and I never felt fully immersed or entertained by it. As for the main characters, I kept waiting for some form of attachment to them to form, and it never came, and I never grew to care either. The pacing of the book is slow, likely to try and build atmosphere, but it just felt like trying to slog through mud. The concept of the story was interesting, but the execution was weak, in my opinion. I found myself bored a lot of the time, which isn't what I expected given this is touted as a Holmes & Watson-ish  fantasy murder mystery.

"I do so admire," she said. "How you can be a flippant shit with a mere handful of syllables, quite a talent." 

"Apologies ma'am, but I can't find much to smile about at this moment." I said. "Oh, you've always got to smile a little, Din."  Said Ana, "even during, you know... the abysmally fucking awful times." 

The Step Don't by Devon McCormack, Riley Hart

lighthearted fast-paced

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

2.0

Outside of the spice, this book was bland. It gave nothing in terms of story, character depth/growth, or plot of any kind. The way the entire relationship changing from stepbrothers to more came about just didn't feel natural to me at all and there is no way that someone surrounded by queer people the way Colin is that he would have been so narrow minded when it came to his own attraction to men. 

Unfortunately, this book was all spice, no substance. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a spicy book, but there has to be more to it for me to be invested. I found myself becoming bored with it after a while as that is all there was. There was absolutely ZERO conflict or angst surrounding these two deciding to have a romantic relationship after being step siblings since they were 13 and considering the way the parents are portrayed i would've at least expected some pushback/conflict from them and there wasn't which felt weird and made this entire story very one note. 🌶🌶

Forgotten Vows by Lily Mayne

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

3.0

Book 2 in the Folk series picks up where Book one leaves off, only this time it is told in first person dual POV so we get to be inside of Lonan's head alongside Ash's in this one and I really like that as after the ending of book one I had to immediately jump into this one to see how it would all play out.

Unfortunately it all felt a bit rushed, without going into any details so as not to spoil it, I wanted certain plot points to be more fleshed out than they were, everything felt like it was achieved/resolved too easily. It needed more build-up and tension for me to be as invested as I wanted to be. The longing and yearning in the first part of the book was done well, though, and made me fall in love with Lonan more than I already was. The spice was delicious as always but did become a little repetitive at times and took away from the emotional side of things. I'm interested in seeing how this trilogy is going to end, and overall, I'm enjoying reading these they just aren't gripping me the same way other works by this author have done in the past. 🌶🌶

" But before I fell unconscious, I wept. For everything I had done to Ash. All the pain I had caused him, even as I'd tried to stop it. For everything I had lost - the only thing that had ever truly mattered to me. Part of me hoped that I wouldn't wake up." 

Mortal Skin by Lily Mayne

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

As a young boy, Ash doesn't care if his playmates are real or imaginary as long as he is getting to create his potions out of mud and leaves and have adventures. It doesn't matter how a strange world and beings slowly pour into his reality and visit him often. It doesn't even matter that these imaginary friends still visit well past the age other kids have already left that phase behind them. Eventually, Ash also grows up, leaves home, and barely remembers this part of his childhood. That is until he comes back home shortly before his 21st birthday, and that strange world rolls back in, showing its dangerous side with Ash getting kidnapped and taken into unseelie territory.

I was looking for a Fae story, not the soft fairytale version but a darker more twisty one with cold scheming, foreboding weirdness and not knowing what to believe or who to trust but with some kind of romance amongst it all. And did this story deliver that? Yes and no.

There were parts of this I found slow going. The beginning hooked me straight away, then the middle kind of stagnated, and then the ending picked the pace right back up again and left off on a major cliffhanger. So much so that I'm immediately jumping into book 2.

Anyway, without giving too much away about the overall story... I found the world building was done well. It wasn't info dumpy but was descriptive and felt tangible. The side characters are interesting, and I enjoyed not knowing who if anyone could be trusted or what their motives were. Lonan, the other MMC, has more to him than first meets the eye, and I enjoyed how the relationship between them developed, and as always, with Lily, the spice was delicious. This book is kind of a cosy fantasy, and yet there is an element of ticking time bomb threaded through it, so you are just waiting for the other shoe to drop, which creates some great tension. Overall, it is an enjoyable urban fantasy, MM, paranormal romance. Now, onto book 2.

" I bit down hard on the inside of my cheek as fear flooded me, the sharp pain bringing everything into terrifying focus. These things had kidnapped me and were taking me somewhere through the woods. I was fairly sure I wasn't dreaming at this point. Which meant they were real. This was real. The Folk were real." 

"We ignored all of it because those were the things that were likely to tear apart the fragile thing forming between us. And the longer we ignored it, the stronger that thing became. So we ignored it all."

Ground Zero by Aimee Nicole Walker
Did not finish book. Stopped at 46%.

Im not connecting to the MCs or the story. For a book based on two detectives, the crimes are very surface level and the first one wrapped up far too easily. It just feels formulaic. 🤷‍♀️

Make Your Move by Cali Melle

funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.0

Make your move follows Nova & Lincoln, who shared a single kiss ten years prior to this story starting on the night before Linc leaving to pursue his NHL career. With Nova being Nash's sister and Lincs best friend he didn't push for more and they went their separate ways, fast forward 10 years and Linc has been traded and is back in town and ends up sharing a house with Nash and surprisingly Nova & her 2yo daughter Posey and old feelings and desires are soon rekindled.

This is a very typical hockey/brothers best friend/single mom romance with no real angst at all. The story, although predictable, was cute and an easy and quick read, and after my last read, leaving me with a book hangover, I needed something really light, fluffy, and super low angst, and this gave me that. The romance was cute, Posey was a sweet kid, and the spice was ok. This did exactly what I needed it to. 🤷‍♀️🌶🌶

"I always tried to keep my distance out of respect for your brother, but you’ve always been the only person I see. In a crowded room or in an empty one, it’s always you, Nova. You’re a permanent fixture inside my mind."

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Check content and TWs if necessary before diving in as this book deals with a lot.

This book delivers a post-apocalyptic/dystopian story differently than I've seen it done before. The unnamed midwife wakes in hospital surrounded by the dead after a plague has wiped out majority of humanity and the numbers of surviving men vastly outweigh those of surving women which makes being a woman a very dangerous thing for the reasons I'm sure I don't need to spell out. So she sets out on a mission to find a place for her to survive whilst pretending to be a man to keep herself safe, and we are taken on that journey with her.

This blew me away. The enhanced ratio of men to women in this post-apocalyptic world showcases the brutal but harsh reality of men becoming more domaneering and animalistic while trying to prove their "alpha" status, survive and take whatever it is they want/believe is owed to them. The parallels from this book within our own society are real and as a woman you don't have to stretch your imagination to KNOW this is how it would be and that made this one of the harder hitting things I've read in a long time.

This story is going to stick with me for a long time and has made me want to read more from this author. The audiobook for this was included when I downloaded the book with Kindle Unlimited, so I listened whilst reading along, and the narrator did a seriously incredible job. If you're looking for an impactful story about humanity, the brutality of survival and hope presented in a unique way, then this will without question deliver that.

"Some people had been waiting their whole lives to live lawlessly, and they were the first to take to the streets. Some people knew that would happen; they knew better than to open their doors when they heard cries of help. Others didn't. What disease can not do, people accomplish with astonishing ease." 

"She gave herself the luxury of a few days of madness. They were dark and deep and held in them the wreck of the entirety of civilisation."

Save the Game by J.J. Mulder

medium-paced

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

1.5

After enjoying book one, I was looking forward to this. Unfortunately, it missed the mark for me. Especially the handling of the SA storyline surrounding Max, he is roofied and sexually assaulted at a college party, and there's no repercussions for the school? There were absolutely no resources provided to him, like school counsellors or community partners, etc. I understand SA is often swept under the rug in situations like these, but every college has investigations surrounding events like what Max goes through, especially if that student is hospitalised because of it. Surely, the police themselves would have interacted with the college on some level regarding it. 

As for the rest of the story... it all felt unearned. Max and Luke meet, click & start dating right away,  Margot (who we'd never met before) tells Luke what happened to Max, which felt like yet another violation of his character to me. Max just happens to overcome his trauma to an extent by having a few conversations with his coach, sex with Luke, and maybe some visits with a therapist? (Not sure if he DID see a therapist as if he did it wasn't shown on page, and what a missed opportunity that was to show him working through his trauma with professional support.) Also his rapist just casually reveals himself to Luke at the one party he attends all year.🤨 Both Luke and Max were one-dimensional. I wanted to know these characters but feel like they were just vessels for a poorly written story about SA and yet again the book/story ended really abruptly which I'm starting to gather is the norm for this author and tbh I'm not sure I like/can get on board with it. I'm not sure if it will continue with this series. 

"Careful what you wish for, Luke Kelly,” he warns, holding his hand out to me palm up across the centre console. “You’d be an easy person to fall in love with."

Finn by Ashley James

emotional funny medium-paced

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

4.0

ALC in exchange for an honest review. 

Ash has just been laid off and calls his twin sister Violet in a panic about what he is going to do. Thankfully Finn who she has been dating for a couple months has found himself in need of a new live in nanny for his 4yo son Tucker at short notice, so it's a good job Ash is more than qualified for the position and Finn agrees to interview him. The interview doesn't go smoothly, and Ash is convinced he won't get the position and will end up living on his sisters couch, which would be less than ideal... however, Finn is convinced to give Ash a try, so he moves in, and the story goes from there. 

Single dad/nanny, ex girlfriend’s twin brother, forced proximity, grumpy/sunshine, bi awakening, and a sprinkling of daddy kink... say less! This was right up my street! What I enjoy about awakening stories like this is the journey of self discovery and ultimately acceptance that the character goes through, sometimes it's smooth sailing and others it's more bumpy and Finn initially hit bumps on his journey so seeing him eventually reach an understanding and acceptance about himself and his feelings made for great read. 

There is tension and chemistry between these two from the moment they meet and that continues to build until it snaps and that's where the delicious spice I've come to expect from an Ashley James book comes into play. Yes there is a decent amount of spice in Ashley's stories but she also weaves the emotional connection and heartwarming feels throughout too so this felt very balanced and believable to me, and I loved the development of Ash's relationship with Tucker, again it struck the right balance and felt natural and made for some really cute moments. 

Alex Kydd & Gregory Salinas do an incredible job narrating this story in dual narration. Alex does really well voicing playful/sassy characters, and his portrayal of Ash was great. Gregory's more serious/broody tone really suited Finn and the things the character goes through in the story, and both were great delivering the banter and spice throughout. Overall, this was a fantastic listen. It releases on March 6th, and I highly recommend giving this a go. 🌶🌶🌶 

"Daddy Finn is mad... and I like it." 

"Something carnal took over my body, something I didn't recognise, and suddenly, doing exactly as he was begging me was all I could think about. I had a one track mind for Ash and the way he was making me feel." 

"He's the person occupying more of my mind than I care to admit. The one who's confusing me the most. The one making me question everything I thought I knew about myself. He makes me nervous, and I don't do nervous."