I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.


This is my first Evelyn Motgomery read so I was unsure what to expect. Unfortunately, her writing style may not be the best fit for me. While this story is labeled as fast paced, I found it to be the opposite. The first few chapters were dragging for me and while yes, the number of secrets give you whiplash from all the guess and back and forth, it also confused me. I had to re-read several paragraphs as I kept getting lost.

Once I had a firm grasp, everything fell into place but so did the obvious answers to the secrets minus a few BIG reveals. Also the warp speed kicked into overdrive which was exciting.

The spice scenes were phenomenal and well written. This is both an enemies to loves and second chance love. Once the characters stopped fighting and communicated, I was very happy. I wish that the female character's POV had been provided, if only for one chapter and/or an epilogue.

I was bullied into reading this. Shain Rose herself is freaking adorable. She posts reels on social media that are basically just her doing generic dances to music while quotes from her books pop up on screen. After months of seeing them on a daily basis I felt like I needed to stop ignoring her and dive in. I kicked off my journey with Heart of a Monster due to a few very notable quotes.

If I had done a bit of research, I would have known the Stonewood series came first. However not reading them hasn't hurt this story in anyway. It just triggered my OCD knowing I was going out of order.

Heart of a Monster is about Rome and Katie. Trigger Warning: Sex trafficking

Katie and Roman first meet as teens, cross paths again, then eventually become acquaintances who run it the same circle as their roles and relationships within the Italian Mafia make associating necessary.

A reoccurring theme in this story is survival. Katie does what she needs to do to survive. She is strong, intelligent, analytical, and beautiful. She's also all alone in this world. She reminds me of Vivian from Pretty Woman.

This story had a mini emotional love triangle and some RH vibes.

"We were power and chaos bound together."

I do not even know how to begin to present the emotional and physical explosion that was this book. There is so much to say. Katie is so freaking bad ass. I love everything about her. I admire her desire to eliminate sex trafficking. Not just in her territory but nationwide. She is ruthless when it comes to this atrocity. As a victim of it herself, she is fierce and protective, and her men are ready and willing to stand by her and see to it that her demands are met.

There are a few scenes that give you RH vibes. Where you are on the edge of your seat wondering OMFG are they, is this about to happen. But it's' just love, devotion, loyalty. No RH spice. But still very good and exciting.

Rome is just everything. He's a super alpha and struggles with accepting that Katie doesn't need him to be her knight in shining armor. We so sooo many sides of him in this second book. It's like every time he opens his mouth, he's either melting your panties or your heart.

Trigger warnings: Sex Trafficking is a major subject in this series. However, there are flashbacks in this book from when Katie was a victim. They aren't super descriptive or upsetting but in case that's something you are sensitive to I wanted to make it known. Skipping the scenes will not take away from this book.

I absolutely loved this duet and look forward to reading the previous books and all future stories. Bastian, Cade, and Dante deserve stories. It was never clarified but if Marksam is single I want his story too! LOL

Zoe was the most unexpected kinky empowering female. At first, I didn't love her. I had a feeling something bad had happened, but I wanted her to trust Wes and just spill.

I love how Wes was super assertive in his desire for her. He was in control and dominated for a majority of their time together. But then the tables to turned and every woman in the world started screaming until our throats were raw because Zoe is a muther freaking boss and sex goddess.

So yeah, this was a good one. It was filthy, dirty, kinky, and HOT AF!!!!

And.... in regard to Owen and Pyro, just WOW I need to know everythang and I need Owen's book to drop yesterday. Like, that would be great.

This book has been the topic of many heated discussions in my various reader groups. Some feel it's a disturbed love story featuring a pedophile. Others argue that it's a beautiful coming of age story. Obviously, every reader will have different responses to this story and those responses will steam from their own experiences with love, childhood trauma, and life experiences.

I will caution anyone considering this book, while it is NOT a graphic account of a young girl being groomed and touched (which I believe is the most common assumption), however it is very upsetting. The environment that Wavy is raised is not the social norm. Her parents are selfish, drug dealing, drug using, backwoods, alcoholic, mentally ill, sorry excuses for humans who should never have been allowed to reproduce.

The love that Kellan develops for Wavy stems from him seeing the situation and wanting to protect and care for her and her brother. It grows and morphs inappropriately. We get to see his POV, we see him struggle with right and wrong and how to proceed. What's interesting is the fact that he is so incredibly honest and open about his feelings. I think a lot of readers find this disturbing because it's difficult to hate this man. He is so not the scum on the bottom of your shoe. He does not fit the generalized pedophile stereotype. I've seen readers suggest that the author is trying to make you sympathize with this "monster" but I disagree. I think some may feel conflicted by their desire to hate him and inability to do so.

Wavy is one of the strongest characters I've ever read. She is intelligent, resilient, a survivor, and a fighter. Her homelife forces her to adapt and mature beyond her age at an advance rate. Her personal growth in this book is incredible. Poor thing can't catch a break. Again, I believe readers felt conflicted in the fact that you want Wavy to be happy, you want her to have her HEA but the one you believe is right for her. Not the one she wants.

I absolutely appreciated that this included multiple points of view not just from the main characters but from the teachers, police, family, and friends. This book is definitely a conversation topic, regardless of where you stand on the relationship between Wavy and Kellan, it's an outstanding read.

Is it just me or fake relationship troupe are always so fun?? I think I like them because of the honesty. The two people go into it knowing they are using one another. As always there are unexpected emotional connections, physical attractions, and blurred lines. With that said this will never get old.

For those who are not familiar with the Svensson series, your first intro to Liam is him being a selfish, arrogant asshat. He comes around and has many redeeming moments and is very protective of Karlie.

Karlie is super submissive and is constantly being victimized by her "friends" and family. It reminded me of how people treated Evan's little sister in Alina's Bridezillas and Billionaires book, where in my review I called out the bullying. She's awkward and anything that can go wrong does go wrong with her.

I liked that she wasn't down on her luck. A lot of times there seems to be a trend of these women needing to be saved. While Karlie isn't super successful, she comes from money, isn't homeless, and has a support system. Her relationship with her dad is so sweet.

Super excited that a Richmond brother was featured, fingers crossed a cross over series with them is in the works. We get more Crawford (he's soo freaking hot) and of course Belle and Greg interactions.

I really liked this book. I highlighted so many funny moments. Karlie isn't my favorite female lead out of the brothers series but she was someone I felt protective of. I think the constant bullying was present to help us understand her insecurity and difficulty believing she was worthy.

Liam's little sister Kiki was cut but not as present as the other sisters had been in the other books. She was just more of a background character as many of the little brothers are in the Harrogate series. Not a bad thing but would have liked to see interactions.

Overall, I am happy with this book and will continue to read this series as it's entertaining and fun.

I really struggled when it came to rating this book. I gave it 3 stars. This for means it's a good book.

The first 85 pages of this book was like pulling teeth. There was a bunch of irrelevant paragraphs with backstory and unnecessary descriptions that we really could have lived without.

Lottie is feisty and kindhearted. I was annoyed that she was super stubborn and acted as if she was a victim to the arrangement she agreed to. I mean the payout/reward for her participation well exceeded what was asked of her. She just acted like an ungrateful toddler throwing themselves down and screaming because they got the wrong McDonald's toy.

With that said, once she got her head out of her ass she was cool.

Huxley was very hot and cold but there was no denying his drive, loyalty, giving heart, and thoughtfulness. He dug himself in a big hole and his attempt to get out of it was comical. His super alpha, domineering personality exceeded all expectations. The way he talked and took control I had to step back and remind myself that this is a romcom. I felt like at any minute he was going to pull out some rope and a whip and choke a bitch... sadly this never happened.

I loved both Lottie and Huxley's siblings. I am sad that this is a standalone. I WANT/NEED to know their stories.

One of the things that annoyed me about this book is the author's need to almost explain herself. This story involves both a fake engagement and fake pregnancy. The author went above and beyond to acknowledge the struggle that many have with infertility and expressed empathy towards women who have suffered miscarriages. I understand why she did this. It's almost as if she felt guilty or was worried that she would trigger a reader.

I personally was turned off by this. So much of this book was a lighthearted comedy that when this issue was addressed it almost made me the reader feel guilty for enjoying myself. I, like many women have experienced pregnancy loss. I know how devastating it is. But reading is a part of escapism. I don't need the author to apologize for a fictional scenario. Especially one that lead to so many hilarious interactions and surprise twist. I would have much rather had a note in the beginning, a trigger warning or a statement acknowledging the author's intent versus peppering in excuses within the actual story as it took away from the happy mood.


I read this so that I could take part of a big club discussion. It was my first read by this author so it could be that I'm just not familiar with her writing style. I thought this was an entertaining and solid story. But I didn't love it, I can't even say I really liked it. It was like the B movie that exceeded expectations but not enough for you to go see the midnight show on dollar night.

Wow... the title for this short story is perfect because Viola Tempest shattered my freaking heart.
I was NOT expecting the ending. This is such a tragic love story. Granted, the protagonist is forced to learn from his mistakes and make difficult decisions, at no point does he ever catch a break.

This is my first read by this author. I really liked it. I frantically checked to see if maybe hopefully this the beginning of a series and sadly it doesn't seem so... unless maybe hopefully it's still too soon to see. (fingers crossed)

With that said, I am now intrigued by Viola and will be seeking out the rest of her catalog.

****I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. ****

It's been a very long time since I've been so consumed with an entire series that it's devoured in days and each book is given 5 stars. I am NOT one to throw fives out like confetti. For me 5 stars means that this story pulled a physical or emotional reaction from me.

Sadly, my drive to finish the series meant I am reviewing the entire series as a whole versus each book. However, each book was rated immediately upon each individual completion.

This series has been highly recommended in multiple reader groups as well as author live with Nyla K and Dana Isaly. Everyone praised this series as being incredible and a true mind fuck. No one provided actual details other than saying "OMG, This is sooo good, It's a Must Read". I went into this blind with knowledge of the storyline or author.

I really do NOT want my review to look like the beginning of an internet recipe where the author gives her entire life story before telling you what 5 ingredients you need for Texas Cavier, but there is so much to say I figured I'd get it all out in book one's review so that I can focus on the actual storyline in the individual book reviews.

Last fall I read The Dark Side series (review available in Goodreads) by Kristy Cunning and I struggled with it. I loved books one and three but books two and four were just okay for me. It felt off rating half the series low. I'm bringing this up because part way through the Mindfuck series I thought to myself that this author gets it. She's staying on task and at no point did I feel like momentum was lost. I thought back to the Dark Side series because I really did love the overall storyline and hated that I struggled with half the books. I wonder if the authors knew each other.

It wasn't until the completion of the Mindfuck series that I discovered that S.T. Abby and Kristy Cunning are the same person. CM Owens being the main pen named used. As many of us know, CM Ownes passed in July of 2021 at the age of 37. This breaks my heart. As an author this woman had an incredible imagination and artistic mind. I am grateful that she left behind a large catalog for current and future fans to follow and appreciate her talents.

-- On to the good stuff---

So, we have a female serial killer attracted to/dating an FBI profiler who just happens to be assigned to her case!! What in the Law & Order Criminal Intent is this?!?!

It's pure gold I'll tell you that. This first book is an introduction to Lana and SSA Bennett.

Lana is a bad ass serial killer. She is organized, ruthless, and checking off a list of men who have wronged her. Her attention to detail and counter forensics has the FBI following their tails. She's not just killing; she's torturing these butt munches and it's described in tummy turning detail. However, when it comes to flirting, she's incredibly cute and awkward. She has no idea what she's doing and every interaction with SSA Bennet makes made me feel giddy like it was 1998 and a new edition of Tiger Beat just dropped.

SSA Bennet reminded me of Holden from Mind Hunter. *These books dropped first just sayin* He is straightlaced, a bit up tight but at times just says what's on his mind. He is hard working, highly respected, talented, and sexy. Like Lana, flirting is NOT his strong suit.

Everything about the two of them is just so adorable. Mix in the almost comical fact that she has to hide her true self from him, and you will find yourself rooting for these two.

"A serial killer sharing a house with a homicide detective and a FBI agent."

Book two,-

So at this point emotions are high and real. We are super excited that Lana and Holden are going for it as a couple. However, there are obstacles such as nosey invasive co-workers and a serial rapist murder who gets butt hurt and is opening threatening SSA Bennet.

This book reminded me of a dark comedy. Remember the episode where Dexter is so exhausted from sleep deprivation due to having a newborn and loses a dead body?? That didn't happen, Lana is too organized to ever do something that dumb, but her trying to figure how to move forward with her planned kills while juggling an FBI profiler serial killer hunting boyfriend and a security detail gave me those types of Dexter laughs.

Hadley annoyed me a lot in this book. She's just such a nosey bitch. And Lisa!!! The ex who happens to on Logan's team is super petty. I was both irritated yet appreciative of the fact that Logan aka SSA Bennett has suck a strong and loving support system. But it also pushed the fact that Lana ONLY has her partner.

We get more background in this book, we have action, and suspense. It felt like an episode of Criminal Minds or whatever show deals with hackers and profilers.

I think my favorite part of this book was Lana's Dr. Evil moment complete with monologue. She is super self-aware about it too! Which just made it even funnier.