Jade Sinclair became a billionaire overnight when she found out she and her brother's are the bastard children of a now dead rich man. Going from a poor recently graduated PhD student to billionaire is pretty mind boggling, and Jade spends a lot of time whining about how hard it is...what? Girl, go study your damn animals wherever you want!

When Jade finally decides to spend some money, she's set on buying a plot of land that will help ensure biodiversity, but she has to convince fellow billionaire Eli Stone to sell it to her. Well, Eli Stone is not interested in selling the land to Jade, but he is interested in fucking her.

What follows is an actually pretty tame romance between two billionaires. I was at first happy to hear the dirty talk in the beginning, but then everything just stretched on and on. Jade has so many conversations with her siblings and other characters about her doubts about why Eli is attracted to her, can't fathom that she is actually pretty, and how hard it is to have money. She's also insistent on not paying for her own way into a research job and finds it hard to figure out what to do with her money. Um, if you were a real PhD student, I can't fathom you wouldn't know about a hundred people with projects desperate for funding. Maybe start there?

So, after Jade accepts Eli's proposal of spending 10 days with him but insisting she will never sleep with him (ha, yeah right), she soon gives in. Then a terrible accident happens, spinning into a ridiculous ending and a fairly lame misunderstanding keeping the two apart.

I did read the whole thing, but the story was so uneven. I'm hoping this author will work on some of these inconsistencies because the premise is good.

I read A Wrinkle in Time as a kid, and I didn't love it then and I didn't fall in love with it as an adult. The final way to defeat IT came about so suddenly and the ending was very abrupt.

The characters were my absolute favorite part, especially Meg.

Read for my Book to Art Club and we created paper 'tessellation' projects inspired by the story.

After enduring another round of questions regarding her single-status during her beloved cousin's wedding (Natalie Chin-Williams from Not Another Family Wedding), Iris Chin is simply looking for a hot one-night stand.

She finds him at a local brew pub. Alex Kwong is hot hot hot, and he's also DTF.

Alex, despite agreeing to one night only, is still a bit stung when he finds Iris has disappeared the next morning. He can't get the beguiling, funny, and smart woman out of his mind, or it seems, out of his workplace!

Iris is the lead structural engineer on the hospital job Alex is the foreman on, and they both have trouble keeping it professional.

Neither Iris or Alex ever thought they'd want a relationship, especially one that both of their traditional Chinese families would love, but these two just can't help falling for each other.

Lovely, cute, and full of amazing secondary characters (especially Ngin Ngin!!) that is the trademark of a Jackie Lau romance.

Content warning for off-page death of a family member due to cancer, which I wasn't expecting.

Eli Dawes returns to his family home after being away in France for over seven years. He was presumed dead, but was in fact recovering from a disfiguring injury during the Napoleonic Wars. His injury and how it was incurred haunt him, and he has no wish to rejoin the society he once revelled in.

But, he finds is home is inhabited by a school of young ladies learning to paint under the tutelage of one Lady Rose Hayward, the woman his now dead best friend was supposed to marry. The woman Eli has wanted for years.

Embarrassed by his injury and his past and baffled by the hostile and cold reception from Rose, Eli must figure out how to live when all he wanted was to be dead.

For Rose, Eli is just as responsible as her dead fiancee for the scandalous publication published before they went to war. The publication that left her and other young ladies ruined for society. Now she hopes to help women see their true beauty by painting them in all their glory, no matter their age, their handicaps, their scars.

But as she learns Eli was not in fact responsible and is appalled he wans't able to do anything, she finds herself falling for the wounded Earl and wants nothing but to help him find his way back to society in a meaningful way. Too bad if she does, she can never join him at his side.

A lovely tale that is quite feminist and handles difficult subjects with a wonderful touch. Both Eli and Rose have inner mental health struggles that are rarely seen in historical (or handled as well). Great to see them find their HEA.

I received a free copy in exchange for a fair review.

Lo has lost her job and is in desperate need of a cash influx, cash she could have if only she also had a marriage certificate, the one stipulation on her inheritance left by her grandmother. With no suitors in sight, male or female, Lo asks her best friend Cara if she'd consider getting married, in name only.

Friends since childhood, Lo convinces Cara marriage would be nothing different than their best friendship, just with a piece of paper and a stash of money they could both really use.

But, as the marriage of convenience turns more and more into a real wedding, Lo can't help but wonder if the definitely straight Cara could maybe be more.

I love this trope, but for something that was fairly fluffy and lighthearted, I was a bit stressed out by the story! Told in first person POV from Lo's perspective, I found myself doubting Cara. I wanted more of them together on the page, more chemistry, more proof for Lo to believe Cara was in fact in love with her. I liked the last part of the story the best, when they both confess their feelings for the other and try dating and more.

There were definitely some continuity problems that broke into my reading as well. A friend is described as the best secret keeper ever then in a few pages as someone incapable of keeping one. Lo's real name is Loren, but in the description of the book is spelled "Lauren." I also could not get a mental image of Lo, as there wasn't much of description except her own negative comparison of herself versus Cara. There is a lot of telling instead of showing. A bit more editing would definitely help, and honestly I wish Cara could have her own POV and chapters.

What I did love was simple fact it was a romance between two women, Lo doesn't question her own queerness, and Cara goes to therapy to figure out what she really wants (LO). Also includes a trans character and there was no biphobia!

This was my first novel from this author, and I'll definitely read more! Thank you to the author for the free copy!

Noah Cortez is back home from his last deployment with the Marines. His entire unit perished in a terrible explosion that left him with a traumatic brain injury. While his scars are mostly invisible, Noah is hurting, mentally and physically.

Kristina knows something is up wit Noah. She's been his best friend since they were children, and the man who is now home isn't the boy who left, the boy who wrote her letters and shared her interests, the boy she never felt any attraction to.

Now everything has changed. There's something there behind Noah's pain, something more, and when Kristina and Noah get caught up in a passionate embrace after Kristina finds Noah recovering from a panic attack, Kristina is ready to jump right in to a relationship and to do anything to help Noah find peace.

But Noah isn't ready and he doesn't know if ever will be. He doesn't want to bring his demons into Kristina's life.

What follows is a utterly angsty and satisfying romance, with a wounded warrior who finds his way back to his one true love through the power of a fight club, art therapy, and mental health professionals, not sex.

You will fight for these two, and will want to read more in this series!

5th Read - audiobook!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE these audiobooks narrated by Will Patton. I'm currently doing a comfort re-listen/binge of the entire Raven Cycle and I'm so happy.

3rd or 4th read - not sure 03.27-03.28.2016
Decided to start my re-read of the Raven Cyle in preparation for [b:The Raven King|17378527|The Raven King (The Raven Cycle, #4)|Maggie Stiefvater|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1477103790s/17378527.jpg|24170172] on Easter, because resurrecting an ancient Welsh King seemed appropriate for Easter. Just as amazing after so many reads, and Maggie Stiefvater's prose just keeps on giving gifts. So in love, and so excited and so afraid for this series to end.

2nd read:

So in awe of this story, the writing, and the characters. My favorite books are about bands of misfits who are meant to be together yet grind against one another in the most delicious of ways. After listening to this on audiobook (and book 2) I was so glad to go back and read it to absorb even more of the details and my god the FORESHADOWING that I missed the first go around. It is clear that Stiefvater has a true plan for this series, and I cannot WAIT to discover where we are going. I am afraid though, that it may shatter my heart (but it will be totally worth it).


1st "read"
**Review based on audiobook read by Will Patton

Blue Sargeant's mother and aunts are all psychic. Blue is not, but somehow her presence helps amplify their gifts. Blue has also been told by every psychic she meets that if she kisses her true love, he will die. Now 16, Blue is just fine not kissing anyone and living her life. That is until a huge mystery involving a group of boys from the prestigious Aglionby Academy, a long lost Welsh King's bones, and some powerful ley lines threatens to rock her entire world.

I love Maggie Stiefvater's characters; they are deliciously well-drawn and so alive, even when minor. Blue's scenes with the boys (Ronin, Gansey, Adam, and Noah) simply sparkle with life. Will Patton also does an amazing job capturing the South Carolina flair in speech, and each character is entirely distinct. He does a marvelous job narrating women too. Love.

This book, well seemingly a 'romance' due to the nature of Blue's curse (kissing leading to death) is really not a romance yet at all. The story focues on creating the deep ties between the characters that I'm sure is going to lead to some tough times later on in the series.

I will defintely be loading up Book 2, the Dream Thieves, in the car soon!

When Max Doyle accidentally sees Rosie Madden changing clothes through a skylight while fixing her roof, he realizes he may not quite know everything about the girl who's been his best friend forever. What he does know is that he must find out why she has that rose tattoo on her hip and why he suddenly feels like he may actually have been just a little in love with Rosie his entire life.

Featuring a sort of insta-love but in the best way low-angst fluffy romance arc, this was just a balm to my soul. Max adopts a tiny chihuahua he names Cupcake. He gives her doggy CRP. He buys her pink glittery sweaters. He takes care of Rosie and helps her with her house. He lets Rosie be exactly who she is without any expectations. He cries. He's bomb in bed.

Fluff with hot sex is my favorite type of romance right now.

I just loved this story, and this isn't the best review but whatever. Just read it.

Olive Cunningham, young, smart, beautiful, is not for the likes of Rory Price. He's too old, too jaded, too dark for the sparkling sunbeam who unexpectedly illuminated his life ever since he saved her from a terrible accident.

But Rory wants her like nothing he ever has before, and miracle upon miracle, Olive wants him back with a passion as strong as her light.

But falling in love is easy. Proving to yourself that you deserve love is the fight both Olive and Rory must win to make it work.

A deliciously sexy new adult romance that will make you yearn for summer love, beaches, and romps under the boardwalk. Bailey knocks it out of the park with this novella, and you'll be anxiously waiting for Rory's brothers' stories.

I'm especially anxious for Jamie, as I helped name him!

Rylann Pierce, an Assistant US Attorney, finds out the best witness to her new case is billionaire Kyle Rhodes, recently released for time served after taking down Twitter. Not only is he bound to be uncooperative with the USAG who hit him with the book for his mistake, he is also the same sexy, charismatic man who stood Rylann up years ago after they met cute at a bar while she was in law school.

While Rylann long ago forgave him for standing her up (his mother died the night they were supposed to go out), she is worried that their past and the obvious chemistry that still exists between them will jeopardize not only her case but her new career.

Can one kiss nine years ago really be that hot? You know it.

Oh, this was so great. The reasons why the characters are kept apart are totally legitimate, and I appreciate how James doesn't have Rylann and Kyle do stupid shit that would actually cost them their livelihoods. The romance is realistic but super hot, and both characters are fully fleshed out, pasts and all. Rylann was a great heroine who has her shit together and has very real concerns about what dating an ex-con could mean for her career, and James finds the perfect ways to resolve the tension. Also, the "billionaire playboy trope" is so over done, but Kyle defied the odds and made me love him. Love it!

And, since this series is set in Chicago, this book fulfills the "book set no more than 100 miles away from where I live" category for my 2017 Book Riot Read Harder Challenge!