shaykay's reviews
743 reviews

Freaking Love, Part One: First Love by Bethany Monaco Smith

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 39%.
I'm just so bored with it. I thought there would be a lot more drama since it's a teen pregnancy but other than the FMC's mom all of the other parents are just fine with it and on board to help them. Then the drama with the baby daddy is okay, I wanted it to be a little bit more cataclysmic. More drama overall. It might even happen but with the pacing and feeling like we aren't going anywhere after 151 pages, I'm just tapping out. Plus this is only book 1 of the trilogy! This year I'm just trying to be more brutal with my DNFs and if the book isn't doing it for me, especially after 100 pages, it just has to go. I feel like my reading time is already limited so I won't keep forcing a book in hopes it might get better. 
Seraphina Bryce: Omega Unleashed by Elizabeth Dear

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adventurous emotional mysterious 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

4.5

Seraphina! I love this omega so much and the fact that she got her own book, and we got to see a lot of the past characters as well, it was just so good. This one was hard to put down. Plus, I love how much she's grown since the ending of the duet. She's reaching her goal of becoming Dylan and a badass FMC of her own. But this world is still terrible to Omegas and she has to figure out how to keep control over her life while everyone is trying to force her into a pack. It's just so wild! I need Daisy's story now because I'm so curious about what is going on not just with her but between her and Derrick. We do see them again here but it's just kind of sprinkled in instead of a big angle. 

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Twisted in Chaos by Aly Beck

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

4.5

I loved the main characters here. Arrow is one of my all-time favorite unhinged characters. Every time he appeared here he was always saying or doing some of the craziest things ever. Plus, the pet lions! I just had a hard time putting this one down. It feels like it took me forever to read it though and I blame it on this one being a longer book. But other than that, I had a lot more fun with this one than the first book. It did leave me wanting a tiny bit more here and there. Especially with the HEA for this harem. But I cannot wait until we get Olivia's story! Olivia is one of my favorites and I need more info on here! She is just kind of mysterious and we just get tiny bits of her here and there, but she was actually in both of these books a lot since she is Jericho's cousin, and it just made me want her story even more! If you like this author, then you'll love this duology just know they are both long. The first one is a bit rough in the beginning because it lays out a lot of stuff that becomes important in the overall story and then this one has the most action and suspense. 

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Twisted in Obsession by Aly Beck

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dark mysterious tense slow-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

4.0

Okay so here's the thing with Beck's books, I love the stories. They end up being some of my favorite stories. However, I know going into them, especially the first one, I'm going to struggle. I don't know if it's where these books are bigger and a little on the slower side and we get hit with a lot of information in the first book, but they always drag for me. For example, Bitter Notes the first book in the Second Sets Duet, I actually DNF'ed the first time I tried reading it and it wasn't until the second try that I pushed through the beginning and then became obsessed with that duet, especially book 2! Kind of the same thing happened with The Apocalypse Society trilogy but that one was more book 2 that I had issues with than the first book. But anyway, overall, I tend to really love these stories. Even by the end of this first book I was hooked and couldn't put it down, which is why I am so happy that I waited until book 2 was out before I picked up the next one because now, I need to know where we go after that ending! I need to know how that ending even happened! It was just so good and hard to put down. It is a bit different and definitely darker than the Second Set duet, but I went into this one knowing it's mafia-related therefore it was going to be darker than a rock band duet. But don't get me wrong River goes through a bunch of crap in her story, we just don't have an unhinged mafia going around killing everyone. But I love Sheppard and Arrow so much. Shepp is our MMC here that's sees himself as damaged and went through a lot while Arrow is just completely unhinged and does some of the most messed up crap and I cannot wait to see how he and Jericho are going to handle that ending. I really hope everything works out, especially for Shepp! 

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Knot All is Perfect by Holly Monroe

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dark emotional hopeful slow-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

This series! I'll be honest I have been avoiding it whenever it popped up in my Kindle recs. The covers are beautiful don't get me wrong but they give off light, fluffy reads, and for that kind of book, I have to be in the right mood or need a pallet cleanser because I tend to lean more and even when I'm in the mood for lighter books I tend to be left wanting more drama because it gets alluded too but then ends up either not going anywhere or wrapped up really fast. So, I just never picked up the first book. But whenever I saw videos on TikTok hyping the series or one of the books it always sounded so good! They sound gritty and intense and just right up my alley. I finally jumped into the first book, and I loved it. It's so hard to put down but it is a sad book! As to the point, I was tearing up. The FMC goes through so much and I love how the guys are determined to be there for her and help her and want to take care of her from the very beginning. I was just so obsessed with these guys and the FMC. I do wish we had a little bit more closure in the end because the bad guys do get what they deserve, I just wish we got to see it happen versus being told about the fallout after the fact since they put her through so much and the book is so focused on it all. 

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When She Needs Them Most by Jillian West

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 47%.
I think this one is more on me and fighting off a reading slump than a true DNF. I hope to circle back to it eventually. I'm just bored and wish we would focus more on the suspense/stalker angle a tiny bit more, instead, we're just so heavily focused on pack dynamics. Don't get me wrong, I loved the guys and seeing how obsessed they are with Chelsea, but the little breadcrumbs we keep getting about who they really are and what they do for a living and the stalker stuff just sounded so interesting and I needed more of it than the little breadcrumbs we were getting so far. But I am a mood reader, so I think this is just a DNF for now not a permanent DNF because it's just not working for the reader I am today.
When the living fall by Maya Riley

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emotional fast-paced

2.5

So, I probably shouldn't have picked this one up, but I wanted to know what happened after that cliffhanger! I didn't hate the first book, I just felt like I was starting in the middle of the story. But this one just really didn't work for me at all. I needed more groveling and more time with the camp groveling too. It just felt like things were a bit too rushed in this one for me.

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Since The Dead Rose by Maya Riley

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

3.0

 I went into this one thinking it would be a lot of fun, and another reverse harem meets zombie apocalypse. But from the very beginning, I just felt like I was missing something. It felt like I was starting the book in the beginning because Emily was already on the hunt for the medicine. The ex-dude already betrayed the camp. I just think it would've been better to start the story either by meeting the dude and bringing him in and then seeing it all go down or just start with him betraying everyone. I feel like we never really got on the right foot with this one.
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Pack Dutton: Part 1: A Dark Omegaverse Novel by Megan Cain

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

5.0

 
I waited forever to read this one. I got the book while at a book signing back in March but needed to wait until book 2 was out before picking it up and I'm so glad that I waited because of that cliffhanger! Anyway, it is one of the darker omegaverses I've read. It deals a lot with the cult and Hazel's life there. We eventually get out of there, but the cult remains an ongoing issue for the rest of the book like a looming threat, and the book does end on a cliffhanger. The HEA happens in book 2. Even though it was hard to read it was also hard to put down. Plus, I love how it was kind of a second chance/childhood crush for Hazel. I really hope we get a book for both Calla and Logan! I think Calla's getting one but I’m not sure about Logan. 

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Pack Dutton: Part 2 by Megan Cain

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

4.0

 
I liked this one and the story overall was so good. But it left me wanting more in the end. Especially when it came to this world. I'm really excited to see Calla's book and I hope Logan gets one too. So hopefully we will get more of the world set up in the sequel books. 

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