raereadssmut's reviews
72 reviews

Adelaide by Genevieve Wheeler

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

What a beautiful, heartbreaking, yet hopeful debut novel from Genevieve Wheeler! 

Adelaide is a 26 year old living in London. She has the job of her dreams and meets Rory. Rory eventually has a tragedy strike in his life and Adelaide tries her best to be there for him, but all he ever does is push her away and blow her off. He refuses to reciprocate the love she feels for him. 

When love asks too much of us, how do we find the strength to put ourselves first?

**SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD**

THIS IS NOT A LOVE STORY. Please keep that in mind before you start this book. 

Adelaide is struggling with undiagnosed mental illness and spirals throughout this book. It’s read as someone narrating her life. 

Adelaide’s story is relatable in many ways. She just wants to feel wanted, she wants to love and be loved in return. Her relationship with Rory was toxic and one sided. He took and took and took from her until she decided enough was enough. 

At the end, Adelaide finally seeks treatment because she’s dealing with suicidal ideation. It ends on a hopeful note, and I’m so happy she had the most supportive friends to help her get through the darkness. 

Please check TW before proceeding with this book, it was very raw and very emotional.

No Place to Hide by Harper Ashley, Wren Hawthorne

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

3.5⭐️ 

This short and spicy novella was really well written! One of the authors hadn’t written anything before (but she is an avid dark romance reader) so I was skeptical at first thinking maybe there would be some cringey verbiage used but I was wrong! 

“𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞. 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬.”

Sir you’re scaring me 👀

This book was so hot and I absolutely ATE up the hide and seek aspect of this! This book was quite obscene and I loved every minute of it! 

“𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭. 𝐂𝐫𝐚𝐰𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐞, 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐫. 𝐂𝐫𝐚𝐰𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐥𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞.”

Your wish is my command 🤡

Ngl tho I probably would’ve cried too at the things Jackson was saying so that’s the only reason I rated 3.5, cuz he was downright mean in some parts and it secondhand hurt my feelings 🥲

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

challenging emotional funny inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

4.25

I don’t even know what to say about this right now because wtf 

Trick Shot by Kayla Grosse

emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.0

4⭐️ only because I’m not into the daddy kink tbh… I find it kinda cringey 🫣 

BUT

This was the absolute hottest, nastiest, and sweetest book! Was basically pure smut, the smuttiest of the smut, but DAMN Leo and Jace and Riley had me SWOONING! 🤭 

Peppermint Wishes by D.L. Darby

emotional funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

Oh my gosh this book was literally a rollercoaster of emotions. 
I read the warning at the beginning about it being a HEA but not in the way you think. 

Evie and Jonathan’s banter was hilarious and I was laughing half the time during their conversations! 

**SLIGHT SPOILER AHEAD** 

The ending is incredibly bittersweet. What would have happened if Evie saw Jonathan’s note sooner? This question is eating at me, and the what ifs will be the end of me!! I am so happy that Evie found herself and was able to get her own HEA tho!

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Content Warnings

Minor: Miscarriage, Child death, and Death of parent

Well ... That Was Awkward by Megan Montgomery
Did not finish book. Stopped at 4%.

Did not enjoy the FMC. Found her to be super annoying and couldn’t keep reading this one.

Stuffed by the Were-Turkey by Tate McKirk

lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.0

Tears. ACTUAL TEARS OKAY. I’m questioning everything about my decisions right now

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

adventurous emotional funny mysterious sad 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? No

5.0

OH MY GOSH THE TENSION HAD ME IN A CHOKEHOLD AND I’M STILL GASPING FOR AIR!!!! 

I’m not a fantasy girlie okay but this book had me on the edge the entire time. 

Xaden was seriously such a menace for the majority but HOT DAMN he’s sexy as hell!! 

Violets growth 🤌🏼 
She is so utterly knowledgeable and this book really proves that knowledge is power. She’s a fighter and I loved that we got to go through all her emotions together- anger, fear, happiness, lust, love, all of it!! 

"𝙔𝙤𝙪'𝙧𝙚 𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙡𝙮 𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙢 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙨𝙝𝙚'𝙨 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙝𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙."
"𝙄𝙩'𝙨 𝙖 𝙩𝙮𝙥𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙒𝙚𝙙𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙚."
This line was GIVING. Okay. Everyone out here is a fan and I’m living for this energy. 😤😤

All in all I will definitely be reading Iron Flame when it comes out and I already have it on preorder 🤡

Unhinged by Vera Valentine

funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.0

Okay so the title speaks for itself. 
But like, I was literally dying of laughter while reading this and it honestly put me in a good mood 😂😂 

“𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝘀, 𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆-𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗿, 𝗜 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗳𝗲𝗹𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱.”

This door treated Tana better than most human men! He got consent from her every time and was always so respectful towards her. Thats all you can really ask for right? 
He also has a praise kink 😏🤭 

Tbh 4⭐️ from me cuz while the whole plot was completely out of pocket, but it was a fun time 😂

The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Okay so I did like this one, I really did. 

I honestly didn’t really feel all that connected with Millie and I think that’s partly due to the fact that we don’t really get to know her until nearly the end of the book. We don’t know who she is or what landed her in prison or why she did the things that she did, so I never fully developed a good enough connection with her. 

The whole story was just a bunch of gaslighting and although the twist was good, I wouldn’t say it was off the charts or as wild as everyone else says it is. But that’s just my opinion 🤷🏻‍♀️

Nina was absolutely insufferable. I couldn’t stand her character, even reading her POV chapters I still didn’t care lmao!! Sorry not sorry 😂