bandherbooks's Reviews (3.65k)

First of all, the narrator for this audiobook was phenomenal. Absolutely brought the characters to life, including the few chapters that were in a different POV than the two love interests. Just stunning. I kept lingering in my car to keep listening.

Secondly, this story was beautifully balanced between the difficult and traumatic flashbacks between Shane and Eva's first six days together and their current attempt to reconnect. There are very difficult scenes and traumatic events, but never once did I lose hold of the thread of hope and love Tia Williams wove throughout the journey.

I received a complementary copy from the publisher, and listened to an advanced audio copy from LibroFM and Hachette Audio.

Promising American heiress & debutante is now free from her scandalous sister's shadow after the sister marries and hopes to land her own lord, but instead finds she cannot help but keep challenging her new brother-in-law to show her the ways of the world and of the sexy times.

As the second-son Lord Andrew Mabry knows he is not for the virginal and innocent Gina, but he can't help but stop staring at her anyway. As she continues to barge in on his nightly outings, he also cannot help but succumb to her charms.

This was super sexy for a novella, thank you Lorraine Heath! Bonus points for the brothel scene where Gina follows Mabry to his brothel and then proceeds to pick out her own girl (it turns out she and sex worker are talking about the birds and the bees and NOT having sex, but still, what a move)! Also a great peep hole scene.

see more comments at #bHeathRead21

I was looking forward to Julian and Lily, and it was a fun read with the #ButDoTheyBang book club. Lily is deaf to a childhood illness, and discovering Julian's mother was deaf, and was raised in a community of others who spoke sign language, was a lovely plot point to include.

The mystery about the killer the arced through this series was meh for me, but I also am not a big mystery reader, so YMMV.

Julian's double life was also intriguing, and the sexy times were super fun!

CW for racial slur

So, I'm still attempting to turn my incoherent screams of joy into a review for this long anticipated romance, but really I'm going to have to re-read and unpack my emotions. BUT that said, it was exactly what I hoped for as I've been watching Rye and Brenna circle each other throughout this series, and wow what a payoff.

I also loved how the author had Rye address a few lingering concerns I had about some of the things Rye has said to Brenna RE: her sex life.

CW for past suicide attempt of a character

Aspen Phillips loathes Bramwell Gage, her college roommate and best friend's brother. Bram clearly thinks Aspen is a poor, grasping climber, using his sister for her money and connections (despite years of friendship and proving otherwise). But when Aspen is asked to cover for her friend's rehab check-in by lying to Bram, it sets off an epic road trip vacation and it soon becomes clear that Bram has been desperately pining for Aspen, for years.

Adored the road trip vibes and the pure angst in this story. I could have done without the whole side trip to the motorcycle club that clearly ties this book in with the author's other series, but overall I very much enjoyed my first Kati Wilde!

*read with Fight Club in 2021

What a delicious short. For being a short, the character development and steam were absolutely divine, and I am excited to read the next in the series.

Oh my. We did KU roulette to pick this one, and while I definitely read the whole very very long story, this was quite an experience. It felt a bit Bertice Small meets Wales, what with the hero, Richard, meeting his future heroine at the old age of 15 y-i-k-e-s, getting engaged to her at 16, wedding her at 20, and bedding her a bit later after the wedding.

Lots of strategy, lots of banging. wow so much banging after they get going, but overall a fine read.

Richard mostly redeems himself in the end, for this story's purposes.

I'm a totally sucker for starchy one falls for chaos one, so I loved seeing how Cade and Selena sparked together. I am also a sucker for "these are my final words and testament and I will *make* you live/work together for this goal* romances, so the part with having to try and flip the sex shop into a viable business worked for me.

There were also so many truly romantic moments, and the author really knew how to play on that sexual tension. I was *ready* for these two to bang when it finally happened. Also Cade's outfits, how they were described, unf, and Selena's motorcycle? Loved it.

As others have noted, this is a very vulva focused story, even at the sex store, so please do know that going in. I cannot otherwise comment on the rep.

I was also hoping that Cade telling Selena she had never orgasmed did not result in Cade immediately having orgasm(s) with Selena the first time they are together, but hey, good for Cade.

Overall a truly solid romance that I had a blast reading. Great to see a ff romance from a major publisher too. More please.

Thank you to the publisher for the eArc. I also checked out a finished copy from the library.

I typically do not enjoy fitness career characters, but Daria did an excellent job making Gabe focused on health and form, with shape/looks being secondary, so this ultimately worked great for me.

This one was a bit of a slower start (in me knowing if I would love it), but eventually Gabe and Mich won me over. Have to say I appreciated the horniess in this book SO MUCH, and the intersection of family and the pain and joy family can bring was deftly balanced with the romance.

The big conflict between whether or not Gabe would move to NYC or not, with Mich not currently having a physical job location was also ultimately wrapped up well, even if for a little bit I was like why are you two so allergic to trying some long distance. Reading about Gabe's struggles with meeting the expectations of his father but also realizing his own expectations were what was holding him back was a nice journey to see.

Loved the casual diversity of the story, including a character with they/them pronouns, and Gabe's niece who is trans. Both Gabe and Mich are bisexual.

Thank you to the publisher and Edelweiss+ for the ARC - full review to come from Library Journal.

A bit of a mixed bag for me with this slow-burner, kisses only romance about a final girl and an effects makeup artist available August 3rd.

The plot meandered a bit and the stalking plot line kept me feeling uneasy. There is a ton of detail about movie making and makeup effects. You might love that or not, but I did skim a bit. I was a little disappointed in how Noa was so disdainful of Lilah's tastes - especially in films and romance novels. Noa is a horror fan, which is the oft disdained cousin of romance. Why????

I did like the queer community in the story and both main characters are Jewish. An author to watch for sure.

I received a copy from the publisher for review.