On My Bookish BS

Oh Rina Kent - I love you so much. Another chapter in the RinaVerse has been released and I am, again, smitten with men who Rina has written. Kiss the Villain , the first book in the Villains duet, was released on March 20th and I quickly devoured both the physical book and the audiobook and I have feelings. Also, I HIGHLY recommend the audio on this one. Talk about perfect casting from top to bottom this full cast recording is just A++. First of all, Gareth and Kayden are right up there in terms of fuckery with Killian and Glyn and I love that for all of us. Mercy me.  Secondly, I have a weakness for the student/teacher dynamic and I was utterly salivating over that part of their relationship. And the banter between the two of them? Catnip to me. Delicious.  Thirdly, I loved watching Gareth peel away the layers and show us who he really was. His backstory was so satisfying to me. Everything with Asher and Carson? The family drama? OH MY WORD INJECT IT INTO MY VEINS. And Kayde...

Save Your Breath by Kandi Steiner is the fourth book in the Kings of the Ice series and seriously, it's unfair how each book is just SO freaking DELICIOUS. Here in book four, we meet Mia and Aleks, the squeaky-clean popstar and the hockey bad boy, who are in a bit of a tricky situation. He needs someone to help clean up his image and she needs help getting the attention off her ex and on to her and her music. So of course, fake dating and a fake engagement are CLEARLY the answer for BOTH of them.  What makes all of this extra difficult for them? Oh, they've totally NOT been entangled since they were teenagers, and he came from Switzerland to live with her family in Illinois with dreams of playing in the NHL. Of course, he promised to keep his hands off her and he did... and oh the yearning and regret.  So, of course, this is one of my favorite of Steiners books because he falls so hard it's PAINFUL in the best of ways.  This book is also so good in how it handles mental ...

Air & Essence - the follow up to Blood & Brujas by Mikayla Hornedo - had me SALIVATING for a chance to read this ARC.  Blood & Brujas was one of the most INTENSE and interesting books I read in 2024 and I was like WAIT... THE SEQUEL ISN'T OUT YET. BUUUUUUT I NEED TO KNOW.  Blood & Brujas was a beautifully wound tapestry of lore of vampires and witches and brujas and lobos wound around generational trauma in a time of war.  Air & Essence continues those story lines with the additional complications of growing love stories, betrayal, and so much character growth that it's insane that Mikayla is able to keep everything straight.  The prose is beautiful, the world is magical, and every character is so real you either love or hate them with so much intensity that it's insane. There are characters I cheered when they died, or I want to punch right in the jaw. There are characters I want to hug and protect and characters I root for every time they are ...

It's mid-March, the weather is getting warmer and I was ready for a book that started to feel a little more like spring ... training? Why not a delightful baseball romance like Scoring Position by C.L. Rose.  Ace and Lark are so delightfully sweet it makes sense that candy is such a big part of this book. He’s the rookie catcher for the Daytona Fury. He’s trying to finish his AA and is one class shy and the only elective that fits is Human Sexuality. She is a recently divorced aspiring sex therapist who loses her job which is allowing her to finish her degree. Student meet tutor. So yummy. I absolutely love these two together.  She's older, OH NO SHE'S IN HER 30s!! And still finding her way after supporting her husband in his career. He's younger, obviously an MLB rookie and trying to finish his degree to make good on a promise to his Gran. When they are paired up so she can help him with his last elective while he tries to balance school and his MLB schedule it's...