“I might be the forge maiden, but I am no delicate flower. I am as cold as silver. As strong as iron. I will bend for destiny, but not for any man.”

Hunters, vampires, an ancient curse, a blood oath, and a forbidden romance come together in this gorgeous darkly re-imagined Snow White meets Beauty and the Beast. Floraine is a forge maiden for the Hunter’s Hamlet, she was raised to make weapons for the hunters to hunt vampires, and her entire life has been spent listening to the wills of others and having no choice of her own, not even in who she can marry. Her only solace is her family, her mother who was a forge maiden before her and her brother who is a Hunter. But on the night of a blood moon she sees her brother dying at the hands of the Vampire Lord Ruvan and decides to do whatever it takes to protect her home... even taking a forbidden elixir and going head on with the vampire lord. However, Ruvan doesn’t want to kill her in fact he wants her. He kidnaps her and brings her back to the vampire castle and he explains his true motives: he needs a human’s help in breaking the curse placed on him and his people...a cursed they believe to have been placed on them by the hunters. Ruvan and Floraine make a bloodsworn oath: she will help break the curse and not harm him or those loyal to him and he will not harm her or even come back to the Hamlet in exchange. The more time she spends with Ruvan and his covenant the more she is realizing that everything she was taught to believe about them is not true, that they aren’t mindless creatures after blood... and that there is something much darker going on here. The more time she spends with Ruvan the more she begins to question the line between hatred and love and what is the truth and what is a lie. This was the perfect blend of enemies to lovers with slow burn romance and high stakes quest. Ruvan and Floraine have to honestly question their entire histories and beliefs of what they know, and face new emotions and feelings, they have to find the bond that is deeper than blood and truly see one another for who they are. Ruvan was honestly so swoon worthy, he’s kind, supportive, patient, and my all time favorite thing: CONSENT. He is constantly checking in on Floraine and asking her if she is okay with things and that is just perfection to me. So yes, this is definitely one of my favorites from the series ( though it can be read as a standalone but I HIGHLY RECOMMEND ALL THE BOOKS) and I can’t wait to see what book Elise Kova writes next in this series!

*Thank you to Elise Kova for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

A writer who has been struggling to writ her second book after years of success from her first book finds herself in a heap of trouble when her impersonating a real celebrity ends up stirring the media and lands her as the new roommate to the the actual boyfriend of the celebrity she was impersonating. Freya Lal is a writer, she’s been struggling to write her second book and she has a secret, she’s a dead ringer for It-girl actress Mandi Roy. Wanting to get some steam out and knowing that by impersonating Mandi that Freya would be given free things and access to exclusive clubs she finds herself in a world of trouble when she gets mistaken for Mandi at a club and causes the media to think that Mandi and her actor boyfriend Taft Bamber are breaking up because he mistakes her for Mandi. Taft is hiding a secret, his entire relationship with Mandi is a PR stunt, but the moment he meets the feisty Freya at a bookshop, he can’t stop thinking about her. Mandi comes up with an idea: Freya will pretend to be Mandi for a month and move in with Taft so that the media will think that their relationship is perfectly fine while Mandi takes some time off. The only problem is that Taft and Freya are actually falling for one another, While pretending to be a fake couple these two will begin to have real feelings and soon things get complicated. The buildup to the relationship between the two was pretty good and it’s nice that we got to read both their POVs but the last few chapters were so rushed and there felt like there was barely an epilogue and the last big issue/resolution just felt so last minute that it felt odd to read. Overall it was okay, I’ve surprisingly read another similar story to this one about a doppleganger regular person who has a celebrity look alike and has to pretend to be the celebrity while they got time off and ends up falling for said celebrity’s fake significant other ( and this one was okay). Overall if you enjoy this trope of romance I definitely think you should give this one a try.

*Thanks Netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, G.P. Putnam's Sons for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

A woman on the run and the monster who will do anything to protect her. Galina has had to work tirelessly to scrape by, after her father’s debt spirals and he tires to sell her to cover it she’s been on the run ever since. Galina now goes by “Lina” and works as a waitress and lives in a dingy little apartment saving up until she can finally escape. What she doesn’t know is that she’s caught the eye of a very dangerous man... Arlo. Arlo is a “fixer” for the Ruin, a syndicate for crime organizations. Arlo is a killer. he’s cold, ruthless, and the only thing he is obsessed with is the soft and beautiful waitress he sees everyday he comes to the diner. Galina just wants to make enough money to leave so when her coworker offers her a job bartending at a high end club that tips generously she can’t resist... except its the same club that Arlo visits for business and when a patron gets a little too handsy with Galina... Arlo steps in and things begin to escalate. Now a dangerous man who is obsessed with hiring Arlo for his own employment has realized he finally has found Arlo’s one weakness... Galina and he’ll do anything to have her. Arlo now must take Galina in and protect her from his world... but he just might be the monster she needs if she is going to face her own demons and she just might be the light he needs in the darkness that is his world.

environmental engineer inherits a house from her favorite professor who just passed away... except there was one tiny little detail she didn’t realize... she only inherited half of the house and the other half is currently inhabited by a grumpy lawyer who wants to buy her out of it. Mara is an environmental engineer, when her professor who she loved like her own family passes away. she leaves her her house and its the perfect place for Mara to live since its close to her new job... except there is the issue of Liam. Liam is a grumpy lawyer who works for an oil company that Mara despises, and from their first meeting they both instantly get off on the wrong foot. Liam wants Mara’s portion of the house and is willing to pay any price for it but Mara is here to stay. Their polar opposites but what started out as roommates who hated each other slowly begins to turn into something more as they get to now one another and actually question why Liam’s aunt would leave each of them only half of her house. From making food for each other, watching the bachelorette together, and encouraging Liam and Mara slowly start to warm up to one another but there still might be a misunderstanding as Mara assumes that Liam wants nothing more than for her to get out while Liam can’t seem to communicate what he is actually feeling. When they come up with a bargain a clock starts ticking down to when Mara might leave and if Liam can convince her to stay. This was a super cute story and I loved that it started from the present but then jumped all the way into the past and worked its way back to the present. Mara and Liam were a cute couple and I always adore an enemies to lovers and the “and they were roommates” tropes haha.

What happens when you meet the perfect person and 24 hours later are betrayed in a way that you never would have imagined? Sadie is a civil engineer and is a bit superstitious, so when she goes to her bakery to get a specific croissant... only to find the last one was sold to the previous customer she starts freaking out because she has to follow certain superstitions... however said person, a gorgeous Norwegian man with eyes the color of the sky named Erik, offers her it her day has completely changed. What starts off as a croissant offering soon turns into a 24 hour day together where they talk, grab dinner, and then sleep together. That all comes crashing down the next day when Sadie discovers exactly who Erik is and what he’s done. Cue them being trapped on an elevator, three weeks later, filled with missed calls, blocked phone numbers, and avoidance fo the highest level... yet trapped together finally, they’ll have to finally face the events that happened between them. This story was told from both the present and past, alternating every chapter. Erik and Sadie were really cute and while Sadie definitely spirals a bit and overreacts, it was an overall cute story. I loved that we also get snippets of Mara and Liam and how their relationship has also progressed!

A NASA aerospace engineer has always dreamed about not only working for NASA but helping to engage in research herself... so when her research proposal constantly gets shut down by the one person she didn’t expect things are about to get rough. When she was in school Hannah had to interview an engineer for her class and so when her friend connects her with a distant cousin to interview Hannah takes up the opportunity, cue handsome red head and freckled Ian. During their interview Hannah takes a liking to Ian and things get a little bit handsy. however when she offers a more friends with benefits type of relationship Ian rejects it as he wants to actually date her but Hannah is just not emotionally available for that. They both go their separate ways and years later they reunite at work. Hannah thought they were amicable but when she finds out that Ian is in charge and has been vetoing her project proposal Hannah feels betrayed.. and still ends up going anyways.. and soon finds out that Ian maybe wasn’t as wrong as she thought. Hannah is injured at the arctic research center... and who else but Ian is suddenly and mysteriously on his way to save her. Now Hannah and Ian will finally have to confront each other about what happened between them and why he is suddenly here saving her. This was a cute story but I felt there was just something missing compared to the other two books.

A friendship that ends in betrayal and a forced marriage but maybe there is more to this story... Hannah “Ana” is a witch and in a world where witches are reviled and are forced into marriages with priest she wants nothing more than to get out of her arranged marriage so she does what any person would, she begins writing letters to the priest she is supposed to be married and pleads with him to call it off. To her surprise he also does not want the marriage that their parents are forcing upon them, and so their letters begin to turn into something more, into genuine friendship... until on the day of the wedding when Anna believed that David would save her by calling off the wedding he commits the ultimate betrayal and goes through with it. Now she is forced to be his wife, live in his house, follow his rules, he controls her money and everything else. She is still reeling from this betrayal and the only thing she wants now is to be able to get her educational degree and become a professor but the school she wants, where David teaches, is known for it’s deep prejudice and mistreatment of witches. Though Anna has been fighting with David for all these months they strike a bargain, if she is willing to share a bed with him and at least become friends again he will let her go to school. With both of their magics constantly being attracted to each other but their complicated past building a wall between them. their relationship is about to get complicated. What Hannah doesn’t know is that David is deeply in love with her and is willing to do anything to prove to her that he loves her and that he will do anything to make up for what he’s done. The true question is, will Anna be able to forgive David for what he’s done and the hurt he has caused or will it be too much and their relationship will never grow? While I did come to like the characters I just felt so bad for Hannah and the situation that David put her in. She begged him, she befriended him, and he betrayed her and forced her into a situation in which she had no control over anything and forced her into a marriage in which he controlled everything. Yes he did it for love and he had another reason, but it just didn’t sit right with me on how Anna had to offer things to him in order to even get what she wanted. It did work out in the end and they do truly love each other now but like I said, it definitely was a rough start and I definitely felt more remorse for Hannah.

A book all about Jane Austen, from A-Z we get an insightful look of Austen’s themes and fun little details and facts. This was honestly such a delightful read, you get to learn so much and discover more about Jane Austen’s world. Filled with linguistic detail and fun new perspectives and and insight, this book is the perfect book for fans of Jane Austen!

*Thanks Netgalley and Bloomsbury Academic for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

A futuristic London, kidnapped children forced to work in factories, and a ghost girl all come together in this story about a young boy and his friends who hope to escape the factory they’ve been kidnapped and forced to work in. Luke is a 12 year old boy who has been kidnapped and forced to work shoveling underground in order to fuel London. He hopes that by working hard he can hopefully earn his freedom from Tabitha Margate, the person in charge of the station he is trapped in. He has a secret though, Luke can see things other people can’t. specifically, he can see ghostly things. Luke meets Alma, a ghostly firl who can bend the shape of clouds to her will. With her help Luke will discover his own powers and why Tabitha has been kidnapping children and forcing them to shovel coal. Luke and his friends will team up in order to find a way to escape. While this was an interesting premise, the story felt a bit long and dragged on and the characters felt a bit flat to me. I just couldn’t get into this as much as I would have liked. Overall, it’s an interesting story but it just didn’t work for me, definitely give it a go though if you like stories about friendship and adventure.

*Thanks netgalley and Holiday House / Peachtree / Pixel+Ink, Peachtree for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Three people, one snow storm, with strained relationships, people hunting them, and the snow storm that gets worse, they’ll have to figure out if they can trust each other before they all freeze to death. Lottie is forced to go with her mom to stay in a cabin in Tahoe, right as snow storm’s are said to be coming. Her mother is leaving for a honeymoon leaving Lottie with her new stepsister Jade, all alone. Jade is the daughter of a wealthy geek celebrity who just happens to own Einstein’s telescope, a priceless piece. When the girls are forced to bond things start off fine, until a solar flare causes a massive blackout leaving them with no power or cell signal. Things get worse when a cute stranger with a dog appear on their door asking for shelter, said stranger is named Alex. Lottie is immediately suspicious and her suspicions grow as the night goes on but Jade is perfectly trusting and fine with this stranger, insisting that Lottie is being paranoid. When the fireplace malfunctions and causes a fire, the three of them are forced into the blizzard and must rely on each other to make it to safety... except Alex is hiding a secret that could endanger them all and as the snow storm goes on more dangers appear and soon they’ll all be forced to rely on one another. This was an alright stranded snow storm mystery complete with suspicious but cute stranger and secrets. I was initially weary of Jade as a character because as a 16 year old she was so naive and trusting of a complete stranger while her step-sister kept trying to get her to see the danger, but then again she is 16 so maybe that naivety is forgivable? Also a few of Lottie and Alex’s decisions were just questionable but then again their all about 17-18 so maybe that’s why? Overall it was a nice ending to the story. This would make a great winter time thriller read, especially with a hot drink and a warm fire.

*Thanks Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Fire, Sourcebooks Fire for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*