On My Bookish BS

I got to read the first book in the Scoring with Love series as an ARC and I was lucky enough to get to again read early it's sequel On Three ... Baby Reed.  and honestly, Katelyn Snyder has become one of my favorite contemporary authors.  Tatum Reed and Darcy Whitestone give in to one night of passion and wind up with a lifetime of commitment in the form of an unexpected bundle of joy. We get to go along with them on a super fun and complex journey from playboy and career focused woman to one happy family. Katelyn Snyder is fantastic at writing cute and funny banter, delicious spice, and the emotional and physical toll of pregnancy and the postpartum experience on both momma and daddy. It's an incredible journey from one night stand to HEA and honestly - these two were headed there from their first meeting in Shot to the Hart. This made me laugh, it made me cry, and I loved the positive representation of taking care of your mental health for both men and women when there ar...

Releasing this week, Masks and Mishaps is the third and final installment of the Streams and Schemes trilogy by Rebecca Kinkade and I am not prepared!  In the Trilogy of Streams and Schemes each book has been increasingly sexy and intense. I was absolutely blown away by how much I fell in love with Dalton and Essie though. Dalton is the most buttoned up, controlled investment banker by day and the most chaotic, foul mouthed, sexy BAMF after hours. Essie? Her brilliant freaking brain! CompSci girl in investment banking by day and queen CamGirl and CamGirl analytics by night? SAY FREAKING LESS. I love everything about these two and their chemistry is so flipping off the charts it makes me so hot my teeth sweat. Dalton looks at Essie like she hangs the stars and everyone else like they touch her and he will burn their houses down. Like all Rebecca Kinkade books you get all the best banter, competency kink, brilliant freaking people being both brilliant and kinky AF, and some of the m...

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...

When it comes to fantasy, my favorite flavor has always been post-apocalyptic, sacrifice/entrust your children to "the powers", don't trust "them" because they never tell you everything, let's gamble with everyones lives, and burn it all to the ground for what's right stories - Hunger Games, Divergent, Potter, Maze Runner. You know the books...  The Trials of the Elysian by Reese Sherron is VERY MUCH that vibe. And I am so here for the journey!  In a world where children are sent off to the City from their villages when they turn 18 in search of their soul mates and put through a series of trials to ensure they are mentally and physically strong enough to serve the City ... well... maybe those who run the City aren't all that great to begin with. What are they hiding? What is really going on behind the polished walls of City and would they really be better off perishing in the Wastelands?  Following the journey of Faye as she leaves her village to t...

Was I looking to read a grumpy/sunshine, actor/publicist, my exes brother romance? Wasn't on my bingo card for the first week of October and yet... here we are. When the author put out the call for ARC readers on Threads I said ... you know what, I really need to see where this goes.  This is A Little Bit Tempting by Courtney Corlew, the third book in the January Studios Series and will be released on October 8th.  Here we Annie and Zayn. Annie is just getting the chance of her career to have her first solo PR client after several years as an assistant/intern at a PR firm. Zayn is an actor trying to rehab his image after a year of being an utter twat to the media or else he loses out on the role that could take his career to the next level. Oh, and Annie used to date his total tool of a brother. After their first public event a picture of the two of them kicks off rumors of them dating and a of COURSE they lean in to it.  Fake dating trope - Activated. Can he help her lau...

 HAPPY RELEASE DAY TO MADI DANIELLE AND THE BREAK OUT  the newest release in the Denver Dragons series.  I was *SO HONORED* to be an ARC reader for this book and I have read it twice. Once just to squeal and squee and enjoy once to make sure I did it justice when I wrote what I wanted to say about it.  Today when you get to meet Colton and Brynn there are a few things you should know.  He really is a grade-A jackhole. When Brynn says "It really is unfair that the universe decides to give a man that face and body, but his shitty personality" You will feel it with your whole chest along with her and yet ... you're still going to want him to ride you like he rides the mechanical bull.  Brynn is everything you expect her to be from getting pieces parts of her from Brents POV in The Hat Trick and so much more. You will want to protect her from being hurt by a fuck-boi but also know she is capable of doing that all her own - thank you very much.  So what ha...

 I finally gave in and read the Twisted Series by Ana Huang .  I have to say I am a bit disappointed in the Booktok/Bookstagram folks. All I heard about when people talked about this was "ohhhh Alex Volkov...."  And yes, he is a solid choice for a book boyfriend - a genius, a billionaire, over the top possessive, a stud in the bedroom. I get it. Alex is a fine choice... but ... why drool over Alex when JOSH CHEN IS RIGHT THERE.  I know, not the same name but close enough for government work... Josh is a doctor, smart, funny, cocky, protective, willing to do anything for his family, stubborn AF, and HOLY CRAP THE BEDROOM ACTIVITIES. The spice in Twisted Hate was *SPICING.* Seriously though, if I had to rate the men of the Twisted series it would be  Josh (Twisted Hate) Christian (Twisted Lies) Rhys (Twisted Games) Alex (Twisted Love) Now, are they all delicious, ABSOLUTELY. Would I turn any of them down? Nah. But still - Alex is the least interesting of the four ...

 Oh the Langfield Brothers. Kings of sarcasm as a love language, ducking swear word replacements, and shenanigans that lead to true love. Of course it was time for Aiden Langfield to find his happily ever after and I am HERE FOR IT. Let's get in to it with Hockey Boy.  Aiden and Lennox were high school sweethearts who ended abruptly and both of them... kind of gave up on the whole love thing. I guess they weren't all that over after all... Which is even more evident ten years later when Aiden proposes to his long term, and really horrible girlfriend, and Lennox winds up as their wedding planner and after their first meeting he ends the engagement. POOF. Bye horrible lady! Seriously, every mention of that chick in the previously books has made my skin crawl... she was even worse than expected. Anyway, road block gone... he keeps up the facade of being engaged and keeps planning a wedding just to stay close to Lennox. Because that's the kind of insanity these boys do to get a...

Sloan St. James is a fantastic writer. All of her men are boyfriend material... but Lee Sullivan is a book HUSBAND.  Meet Coach Sully .  Retired captain of the Lakes hockey team Lee Sullivan is looking for love and getting bored out of his mind with the dating game. When one of his best friends wives asks him to take a meeting with one of her friends about a reality dating show, he reluctantly agrees. What he finds is so much more than he could ever have possibly expected. Meet Kendra Ames, the young television producer who pitches the AI based reality dating show to Lee. He has no intention of doing the show but he has every intention of doing Kendra. The sparks are immediate - not just physical but more than that. They just connect.  Then he has to do the show or he doesn't get his dream job of being a hockey coach.  Awkward.  This book has sports, a women's hockey team becoming awesome. It has romance, seriously Kendra and Lee are so fucking cute together som...

What would happen if you blended black, southern traditions and Arthurian legends? The Legendborn Cycle by Tracy Deonn.  Sixteen year old Bree Matthews is starting the early college program at UNC Chapel Hill with her best friend, dealing with the memories of her deceased mother who was a student here years ago, dealing with being home sick, and ALSO being a hormonal teenager. It's enough to destroy anyone. She begins to see things that can't really be there.  The weird things she sees brings her into the world of the Legendborn and a secret society of students that track down and keep the weird creatures at bay. Also, the heads of the secret society are the descendants of KING ARTHUR AND THE KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE. So... yeah, that's a thing. Along the way Bree begins to get in touch with her own ancestors, her history, and the mystical force known as 'root' which is a mystical-life-force-energy that the Legendborn also call 'ether.'  Bree also gets cl...

Rounding out the RinaVerse is the well loved Legacy of Gods series. This is where I started reading Rina Kents work and there's a reason I read 30+ books in total to make sure I knew how everything tied together.  First we meet Killian Carson, son of Asher and Reina Carson, and Gwyndolin King, daughter of Astrid and Levi King, in God of Malice. She's grieving the death of her friend Devlin who drove his car off a cliff and she's got mad survivors guilt because he wanted her to go with him when Killian comes upon the scene and gives her a choice - sex or death. Which sounds sexy in theory but kinda rapey.  Killian is a bad, bad, BAD man, a med student, a member of a mafia feeding club called the Heathens and an all around baddie. And seriously hot. He is waving red flags like a high school flag squad and I'm still like YAAAAAAS.  Gwyn is an art student, empathic as fuck, very sweet and virginal, and totally out of her depth. Yet she wades into the world of the Heathens ...

The Monster Trilogy is the last stop on our trek through the RinaVerse. This may be the most interesting in terms of drama that we've gotten to enjoy from Rina thus far.  Back when we were with Ria and Kyle a secret came to light about Aleksander, the closest body guard to Kirill Morozov and this series explores that in incredible depth.  We travel back to Russia to the military and special ops training and meet a younger Aleks and Kirill and how they became so close, what they survived, and the journey from military brothers to... something more.  This was a weird book to me at first and I wasn't sure it was going to pass the sniff test for handling issues of gender identity well but it far surpassed my expectations. I love Aleks and Kirill together and they are by far two of the most multidimensional characters we get to meet in the RinaVerse.  Total whiplash while reading this series. I'm going to give this an extra high rating of 5.25 out of 5 for the wild ride i...

All aboard for the next stop in the RinaVerse journey - The Deception Trilogy. When I first read the Legacy of Gods series, Lia and Adrian Volkov made my spider sense tingle. There was something about their history as told from the perspectives of Anti and Jeremy that made me wish to know more and now I do. I know it all and and I am SO FREAKING HERE FOR IT.  First of all, Adrian is the father of the LOG kids that would NEVER do anything to hurt his woman. The lengths Adrian goes to in this series for his beloved is just insane. There's murder, mayhem, lies and deceit to the rest of the bratva, but he does everything with his eyes on the prize of bringing home his one true love - Lia.  When I started reading and met Winter I was like WTF IS THIS. THIS IS NOT ADRIAN FROM LOG! And then as the story progresses and you see the facts, the truth behind his actions... it is swoon worthy in that way only dark romance guys can be. Did he do bad? Was he an unmitigated ass? YES and OMG Y...

Continuing the RinaVerse sojourn we come to the flip side of the Reina/Ria story with the Throne of Power duet.  Ria, the twin that wound up with the mafia, and assassin extraordinaire Kyla Hunter get their time to shine in this duet full of drama, death, betrayal, and spice.  As they come together we get to see the power of a woman taking her place in the world of made men while her arranged marriage to the lost heir of another family both threatens and heightens her power.  Kyle is so freaking hot, y'all. I mean honestly once they start banging I'm like "Can you stop fighting this and do that more, because DAAAAAAAAAMN.' He's that hot. And has that British accent. And he's like the best trained killer of a generation. Give in and stay in, hon. You won the mafia husband jackpot.  This duet is so freaking fantastic I read it twice because I enjoyed the story and the prose so much. 5 stars. No notes.

So, know how I've been all like "Spicy!" when it comes to books up till now? Well this is where Kents books started to get ghost pepper hot for me. The Empire series is four interconnected, standalone novels that are all legit super spicy.  In Empire of Desire we get to watch as Gwendolyn Shaw struggles with her feelings for her dads best friend and business partner who is also like 17 years older than she is. When a tragic accident leaves her father in a coma, Nate and Gwen wind up in a marriage of convenience which is fun for neither of them until it super is. Once the spice starts it ratchets up to a boiling point.  Nate has big daddy energy and his relationship with Gwen is delightfully dirty in the best of ways. Who knew vanilla could be so kinky?  Empire of Sin brings us back to the boys from the RES and Knox Van Doren, foster brother of Teal Van Doren, big time lawyer, international playboy and all around bad ass. When he meets Anastasia mafia princess, on the run...

 Stumbling through the RinaVerse, we come up next to the Thorns Duet.   Red Through and Black Thorns tell the story of Sebastian Weaver and Naomi Chester and their very messy, bloody love story.  Naomi is a cheerleader, in theory, but she has never really belonged to the inner circle.  Sebastian is the hunkiest football player.  When Reina Ellis, the queen bee of the cheerleaders, makes a dare for Sebastian to sleep with Naomi he has to take the bait and thus the chase begins.  And I mean that literally. So much chasing and some incredibly dirty primal play sexy times later they realize how good they are together but not before Naomis history comes back to haunt them.  Who is her dad and why is he such a mystery that her mother refuses to acknowledge him? That's the big question and that question leads to the incredibly nail biting cliffhanger of book two.  Which leads us to a time jump as fashion house CEO Naomi and bad ass lawyer Sebastian conti...

I started out the RinaVerse by reading the very BookstaGram loved Legacy of Gods series.  I loved them and I was obsessed with the very dark, morally grey to black MMCs. Then one day while scrolling IG I saw a thread about the most recent book in the LoG series and how "Aiden King would never..." My brain was like wait, how do they know what his dad would do?  One Google rabbit hole later I realize there are not just 6 books in the LoG series but multiple other series that add up to THIRTY FOUR books to read and now... here I am. On the last trilogy before I am fully caught up to the LoG series.  I am further obsessed. I mean goddamn there is some fantastic writing, incredible characters, and twisted storylines to enjoy long before we meet the LoG guys.  Starting with the Royal Elite Series .  Eight books of intense dark romance. 4 of them are "standalones" and then there is the trilogy that covers the story of one couple, and an epilogue that gives us some clos...

Let me say first, Rebecca Kinkade is one of my favorite follows on Threads . She's just nice, and fun, and delightful, and I love her energy. So I was so excited to love this book so much.  Streams and Schemes is a neighbors to lovers, super spicy, rom-com about a cam girl and a lawyer and their absolutely ADORABLE friends.  While I love the romance here, I love the found family aspect of this story more than just about anything. I want to be a part of the guys friend group, the girls friend group. I just want to be friends with every character in this book.  Valeria is a cam girl who has been eye fucking her lawyer neighbor, Lander, for a year but refuses to approach him because her hard limit is ... no lawyers. Which I can respect. Standards are important, ladies.  That of course lasts only a short while until it doesn't and they begin the sexy war of wills and sexy schemes transpire to see if they will give in to the heat between the two of them. And of course the...

If you've been reading the Playing to Win series like me you've been DYING to know who Brynnie had on the couch since Ares walked in on them in The Knock Out and now we know! In the newest book in the series, The Sweet Spot, we meet Deacon Kane the new coach of the Revolution and get to watch Brynnlee get her happy ending!  And what a happy ending it is! He's the older man, he's a single dad, he's forbidden because he's her boss, and she's dealing with a life changing medical issue, it's got all the pieces parts for a delicious yummy drama. And delicious it is!  I love this series so much. They're pretty, rich kids with pretty, rich problems and its so fun to get lost in this world for a little while. I devoured this book so quickly. Deacon is a great new addition to the family. This is a solid 4 Star read and a great beach day read too. Highly recommend for a chillin pool side with a beer or mocktail. This whole series is great for that vibe!  I am...

I stumbled on the writing of Shain Rose due to an instagram post about Shattered Vows and I was like ... interesting. So, then I had to read the Tarnished Empire series because you can't start a series in book three, obviously. I am so glad I did. Now I have read every book she has in print and I am so glad I have. I may have read her series out of order but they're all worth a read and all... delicious. So, lets talk about them. First up is the New Reign Mafia Duet , Heart of a Monster and Love of a Queen . Here we meet Rome Armanelli and Katie who share a dark and twisted history and a romance that is ... unconventional? Let's go with that. Kate-Bait is one seriously bad ass bitch who goes from victim of sex trafficking to queen of an empire. Rome, Bastian, and Dante and the entirety of the mafia? Kind of along for the ride.  Next up, let's go over to the Stonewood Billionaires trilogy.   This is where I really started to fall in absolute LOVE with Shain Rose. Trul...