bandherbooks's Reviews (3.65k)

read for climate action book club - a great poem

inspired by the definitely taboo Folgers commercial, this was a hot, horny bite of a novella. glad they were stepsiblings lmao.

BUT BUT BUT i knocked a whole star off because the j*zz should have ended up in the coffee.

rounded up to three stars for the amazing SLEIGH multi-use sex toy.

A completely insta-lust / insta-love novella with a hot, reclusive mountain man who is also a sex toy creator genius who finds her perfect muse and product tester passed out from a head injury on the mountain he recluses on. Just put aside any thoughts and enjoy the sleigh-ride okay?

Comet the dog was cute, also the man created his own geothermally heated CAVE / hot spring in his basement so i wouldn't ask too many questions either.

Thanks to HEAapologist for this rec.

forgettable and just, not for me. i reviewed a copy for Library Journal.

Another very tall man lusts for the one girl from high school who never knew, never got it and she's still oblivious as an adult.

the podcasting stuff, especially the 'hey maybe you should get with him to promote your career" was meh as well.

thanks to the publisher for the ARC. I don't really remember anything else.

3.5 stars for Mia Hopkins story - a forbidden romance between a woman and the now-priest she fell for and had a hot makeout session with before he went to seminary. For the length, it was well done, but i wanted a bit more heat and taboo for the premise? BUT still it is a Mia Hopkins and I glommed it up, and I'm glad those two got their HEA.

I'll read the other stories at some point :)

I'm going to have to start this over from the beginning; nothing wrong at all i just got distracted, and then the union strike is going on, and I'll wait.

PAY YOUR WORKERS A FAIR WAGE HARPER

i'm just so glad Mel recc'ed this series to me! it was the perfect thing to fill my need for fuckboi flyboy fighter jet pilots post-top gun maverick and miles teller mustache thirst. there's even a mustache scene *evil laugh*

give me a flight suit and a cocky pilot any day of the week, the heart and loins want what they want.

oh my gosh the way Cleeton made me WORRY about Easy and Dani. HOW would she pull off this widow romance??? WITH APLOMB ACTUALLY.

I love when he's been pining for ages and is so damn noble, and finally she gets a clue and is like, hey, it is okay to love me. The time/distance the author gave for these two was also important, and I'm glad they got their HEA.

I'll try to write a more coherent review sometime.

i was highly anticipating NEVER CROSS A HIGHLANDER for well over a year. I will note this book did get a cover update/edit? and it appears to be to better match the hero's description to include his locs.

What I liked - the heroine=, Ailsa Connery, deserves it all. This poor woman has been through it, and continues to go through it, in this story. Ailsa is Black, of 'mixed birth' per the story, and she is being held as a slave in a court of a Scottish Laird after being kidnapped/retrieved mistakenly from a raid as a 'runaway.' She is abused both physically and verbally by her charge, a spoiled young princess and is threatened with sexual assault and r@pe by multiple people at this court, and on page after she escapes/is 'rescued without her consent' by the hero, Kallum MacNeill.

I do like Kallum, i just wish he and Ailsa had a few more moments to make me believe they were falling in love; there was a whole lot of exposition and explanation that to me took away from the central romance overall. Because dang, when they are together on page was I having fun. Kallum is SEXY and also noble, even if that gets him into some situations and frustrates Ailsa.

And let's talk about how Lisa Rayne wrote the best waterfall sex I've ever read okay? like made my robin hood prince of thieves dreams come true!

overall i'm excited about this series, this author, and i hope as we move forward we get more work; a solid first from her for me.

thank you to the publisher for the advanced copy

Content notes: Ailsa is Black, but of described "mixed birth"; Kallum is a Scottish Highlander and Black. on page sexual assault of heroine, attempted r@pe. physical fights/battles/swords/blood/wounds that come from fighting. Colorism, racism from secondary characters, countered.

parts of two wrongs make a right were so glowingly beautiful, and then i felt like i wanted to pitch this one across the room in annoyance. whyyyy are these adults so juvenile, especially Bea and her sisters?? ugh. i'm usually such a heroine romance reader but bea just made me grit my teeth into dust too many times.

as for jamie (james), he's definitely in the "too good to be true" kornacki khacki snacki pediatrician competency p*rn romance grouping where his character was great but almost too great, but then what bea did to him in the last 5% of the story my gosh WHY. no point to that end conflict at all, and he should not have groveled. I'm just saying. Also, the male narrator for me felt all wrong for this character. A very deep overly sexy voice that just made me, uncomfy? i wish the other narrator did all of it tbh, even if her voice made me a bit twitchy too. I believe that narrator did Tessa Bailey's Bellinger Sister's duology and just overall a big meh.

i dunno, i'm starting to think as a storyteller Liese and I don't suit; she writes some sparkly sentences and breath-takingingly romantic moments but then ruins it all with too much physical humor/hijinks (both accidental and purposeful, i'm sorry grownups tossing food around even as a joke is really annoying) and other childish behavior. why is a pediatrician, grown man living with a shitty roommate?

okay. i know a LOT of readers will find resonance in the rep of this story, bea is pansexual & autistic; jamie is straight & has severe social anxiety. all of that was well done, as is Liese's usual (based on this and the other story i read). i hated how their friends treated them, how they tricked them and kept throwing them together. it just read so...college for a group of supposed adults.

ALSO miss me with the thin characters getting a pass for having their junk food/'crappy food' eating as a big part of their personality.

also as far as i could ascertain everyone in this story is white, which in an otherwise large city with casually diverse characters, is disappointing and worth noting.

content warning: drinking, depression, social anxiety (on page), autistic overload (on-page and discussed), toxic & gaslighting ex (Bea), off page; emotionally abusive and socially isolating secondary character who is dating bea's sister; fist fight between two secondary characters leading to one's hospital visit for stitches/checkup (off page but described, due to misplaced jealousy), food aversions

reader's advisory review of audio coming for Library Journal; thank you to PRH Audio for the ALC.