brgntteva's Reviews (939)

Russian Viking-look alike Dom, Sasha, turned submissive only for the kinda naive turned Domme ginger-head, Corrine => and I am here for it!
(voyeurism, touch of bondage)

The angst! The sexy times! This one packs a lot in a really short book.
Rion former mob hitman feels like he doesn't deserve his first best friend-teen crush (whom he rejected 5 years ago). But when she steps into his aphrodisiac club, things happen (Things like threesome, voyeurism scenes, etc)

angsty, super hot and sweet
(Onto the second now now) 

 Weird, queer, MC reminds me of Ursula K LeGuin in person, as much of the atmosphere, the queer characters, but this has a precise erotic albeit crude vibe mostly. It has a dystopian background which fits a lot, deals with gender and sex, body and mind. It's raw and triggering in many parts. I wouldn't know how to describe it properly, yet, but will be back.
Unique. One of a kind.

To read!
Definitely to read 

(plenty of TW but necessary)

 Uuuuh is this hot! It's basically sexy super steamy times after super sexy steamy times, with some plot in between. Lily finds her ex cheating on her and decides that the right retaliation is having sex with his dad, ex father in law. Sounds extreme, it is if you're not into the daddy thing, but daaarn is it 🔥.

Stern brunch daddy, age gap, voyeurism 

 [I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you St. Martin’s griffin and EdelWeiss+] 
 

Aubrey is an extraordinary baker, Landon is a popular food critic. I think I didn’t need anything more than this to be sucked into this romance. What happens next is she makes a cake meant for a 6-year-old girl with gummy inside, which ends up in Landon’s mouth (to his horrified surprise). And that’s how doom starts. Oh, did I mention she’s a feisty romance-lover sunshine and he’s a smug growling grumpy? 

I love how food is not treated lightly in this book, it’s clear enough either the writer is a chef or baker herself or she got some serious research. The descriptions are freaking mouth-watering, and not just pastry or cookies, or sweet pies, but Korean food, Pad Thai, you can genuinely find any flavour on the pages and die of craving afterwards. And I am here for it! (THERE ARE EVEN TWO RECIPES AT THE END!)(just mildly saying)

This romance has depth and layers. The characters do not only pine for each other, and there’s not just lol banter (I laughed, like really did). There are family issues, and also family support, for both sides, there are real friendships, and owning one’s mistakes and one’s dreams, and growing up. 

Steam level is pretty low (closed door, basically), and I am more into steam, but I genuinely loved the chemistry between these two characters, and how vivid and lively and real they both are. I would have loved to see more of Aria and Lucien, to be perfectly honest, and there’s a thing I’m not especially fond which I’m not going to spoil here, but I’d eagerly wait for next Jayci Lee’s romance about Tara (Aubrey’s best friend) and Seth (Landon’s brother) story. 

I have mixed feelings about this book.
I LOVED the characters, mostly I loved Ryder Bergman, the over-average-sized, deaf, cinnamon-roll Beast. He's just perfection alright. I liked Willa Sutter a lot, as in her being outspoken, a footballer (and I haven't seen many in my romances). So I'd rec this romance was it only so as to spread representation of diverse characters.

The two get together bc their professor is a matchmaker, basically (and Ryder brother-in-law), and the rest is forced-proximity and banter to no end

That said, there were a few things I didn't like much. The pace in the middle felt a bit dragging (I skimmed some over-written lines, if I am to be honest, and I'm not proud of it). At times I was slightly fed up with what felt like a narrative trick (Willa unconsciously saying her thoughts aloud), and with the endless interruptions of the two MC's attempts at anything. And I felt a sting of betrayal when 

Bergman got his hearing back. I felt like the whole point of having diverse characters failed a bit. I mean, would it have been a less HEA if he stayed deaf?

 

However, the characters are truly something, I think I'm going to go ahead with the Bergman brothers if only to see the whole family again. They are that vivid, and that likeable.