I waited to this weekend to read THE KING MAKER by Kennedy Ryan because I knew I'd need to sit with my feels. You don't read one of her luscious stories without being completely consumed.

Wow. Explosive and challenging, and ah I screamed at that ending. Cannot wait to read THE REBEL KING on November 18th.

If you don't want to know anything else, stop reading here. The rest of the review is mildly spoilery.

I appreciated the author's call to attention for her sensitivity readers and the time she took to research Lennix's heritage and her call to stand up for her beliefs and find a career and calling to advance them.

This story spans decades and I did kind of wish Lennix wasn't a minor when she first met Maxim, but YMMV. Nothing happened between them then, but still. I absolutely adored their second meeting in Amsterdam, I've been twice, and loved watching these two young, beautiful people fall in love and then lose it so quickly. So heart wrenching!

Ryan loves to kick you in the heart and write powerful characters, so I'm intrigued to see how this story ends.

The sense of family, found and otherwise, and community imbues this lush second-chance-romance. FADE and Delightful are fated to be together, but the murder of Delightful's older brother, FADE's best friend and music partner, bring their young love to an end.

Years later, Delightful and her sister are winning an Oscar for their screenplay written in honor of their talented brother's life, a biopic bringing FADE, now a famous musician, back into Delightful's circle.

But complications of grief and secrets threaten to end any hope of their second chance.

Thank you to the author for the advanced review copy!

Gosh, that was so good.

I'm just going to sit here with my feelings.
(April 2020)

2nd read - audio & print (my own copies) - July 4 - July 13 2020

It is truly difficult to write a coherent review for a book you adore I've discovered. Let's just mash some keys on the keyboard and call it done? No, I cannot do that! Plus I had to review the audio book for my Library Journal gig and I don't think lkjsdflkjakjl would work.

Mildly spoilery and if you haven't read the other books in this series (or this book):

Okay. So here goes. I have to admit I didn't worry about Ewan's redemption like I worried about Malcolm's from [b:The Day of the Duchess|31307650|The Day of the Duchess (Scandal & Scoundrel, #3)|Sarah MacLean|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1477616140l/31307650._SY75_.jpg|51979220]. I felt MacLean deftly showcased Ewan as cold and calculating and completely without hope until he discovered Grace's existence. I fully believed he has ulterior motivations for attacking Grace and her brothers so I could sink into this story ready for his redemption.

And oh Grace, she is so awesome. I connected with her tendency to give others the pleasure they seek without taking pleasure of her own. Her loyalty to her family, her brothers of her heart and her crew of women. I loved seeing her discover what would give her pleasure, going to seek it, but never compromising herself or her ideals. Duke was hers by right, and Duchess would never be enough, and finally seeing Ewan understand this and burn it to the ground was SO SATISFYING.

Grace and Ewan also both have a past. So often in this trope the woman often remains unkissed, a virgin, and I'm glad Grace's past was not dissected but was presented in a way we know that she has taken lovers before. She is not shamed for living her life, but instead is glorified for who she has become.

I want to revel in the world more, and will reread this series often. It is a true treasure.

I'll post the LJ audio review when it is live.

For the promise of Sophia's character in Goddess of the Hunt, this was a big let down. I was bored most of the time reading this high seas tale and made it through mostly by skimming. There was one amazingly hot voyeuristic scene between Gray and Sophie, but it ended with her crying and the rest of the book was sort of a horny let down. Still readable and you can see the roots of Tessa Dare's later work forming here, but definitely not a fav for me.

Oh my god, what a follow-up to 2020's Written in the Stars.

I was super intrigued by Brendon in Bellefleur's first book, and I'm so smitten with the fact he gets to win over his childhood crush in this story. I do so adore a good glow-up moment when our older love interest returns and is completely like holy heck how did you get those biceps and wow I want to now climb you like a tree, what do I do with these feelings?!

Brendon being the true romantic who is out to convince Sagittarius Annie that romance not only exists but that she deserves those moments was so delicious.

I'm also just in love with the way Bellefleur builds tension that makes for the natural "break" moment. She takes such care of her characters and oh, these two.

I've got more words but I need a re-read to better wrap my head around them.


*Annie is bisexual, Brendon is straight.

I listened to the audiobook of Hang the Moon, and it had the same narrator as Written in the Stars, who I found delightful and chirpy. She brought the characters to life, and I enjoyed this second read through just as much as the first.

Thank you to HarperCollins audio for the ALC.

I started reading Cate C Wells on the recommendation of Katee Robert, Jenny Nordback, and Leigh Kramer. What a ride this book was. The hero is an actual sociopath, and I was so grateful to have his POV throughout this story because it was both unsettling and fascinating, and ultimately really sexy? He really wanted to fuck up whoever put that sex tape out, for her.

There is a lot of murder and blood in this book, forced kidnapping, and some dubcon, but it was such a consuming read that I enjoyed the shit out of it. My favorite part was when he figured out he really loved giving her head.

So super sexy, and a quick read. I loved the main protagonists but some of the jealous, overbearing brother stuff was too much for me.

I struggle-bussed with this one all week y'all. I'm so glad it is over! I would have DNF'ed at the first five chapters if not for the #ButDoTheybang read-a-along. So many great early Tessa Dare threads are woven into this story, but none of them panned out in a way that worked for me as a now reader.
I'd rather have had a full on Hetta and Joss story, but understand why she didn't write that one. But their arc was undersold. The whole part with the chimney sweeps could have been cut and more time spent giving Hetta and Joss's relationship a little more build up.

I also cannot believe Bel was the one to grovel when Toby was the one who was lying the entire time. She sure wasn't innocent, I just never felt these two were right for one another.

An absolutely compelling set of short stories exploring various myths both familiar to me and unknown to me. My favorite story involved two warriors, one also a queen, who finally succumb to their pining before going off to fight and maybe perish. I'm a sucker for "let's live tonight, for tomorrow we may die" so that hit the spot for me.

I reviewed a complementary copy of the audiobook from HarperCollins audio for Library Journal, and checked out a print copy from my library.