I don't think that Marie Lu has ever written a book I didn't like. Just putting that in writing and as a follow up, please note that I loved Stars and Smoke.

This is book one of the series so it's definitely early stages but this book set the characters up for more. I loved Winter and Sydney and I especially loved them together. The whole spy aspect of it had me turning the pages to see what was going to happen and of course, I'm a sucker for the romance too so I loved how Lu built the relationship between Winter and Sydney. Characters are what get me invested and Lu does such a great job of building out who Winter and Sydney are before they even meet. They both have their own lives and history and it plays a role in how the story progresses.

If you're looking for a new YA series to start, definitely pick this one up.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

To Swoon and to Spar is book 4 in The Regency Vows series. This series has been hit or miss for me but mostly because I have to connect with the characters and some I do and some I don't. In this case, I did and I really enjoyed the book. There are overlapping characters from one book to the next and they do have active roles in this book but I don't think I missed too much.

Penvale is the mmc. The Viscount has been trying to buy back his ancestral home for years but his uncle has been holding out until one day he says he's willing to sell but the catch is that Penvale must marry his uncle's ward, Enter Jane our fmc. Jane has been passed from one man to the next and while she has no real desire to marry, she will if it means she can stay at Trethwick Abbey...possibly on her own if she can convince (scare) the Viscount back to London after the marriage.

When they meet for the first time, neither is really impressed with the other. He thinks she's sharp-tongued and she thinks he is aloof but they agree to marry and return to Trethwick Abbey. When they get there, Jane and the household staff decide to stage a haunting but Penvale isn't as easily scared as his uncle was. As he sticks around and they get to know each other better, they both realize maybe they can make the marriage work while living in the same house.

If you're looking for a new historical romance, definitely pick this one up. I may go back to read the one that I missed to see if it hits differently this time around.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

A Problem Princess is book 6 in the Lords of the Armory series and I am sad that this series is now complete. With that said, I enjoyed this one and thought Harrington did a great job of wrapping everything up.

Harrington did a great job of building the relationship between Clayton and Cordelia. Both have their own histories and reasons for being at the palace but when Cordelia is attacked, Clayton is aligned as her bodyguard as he works to find out if there is a connection between whomever wants her dead and Spectre. The more time they spend together, they come to realize they can only trust each other if they are going to survive.

If you're looking for a great historical romance series and have not started this one, I recommend picking this one up. Not only is there a mystery behind Spectre that follows all the way through, but Harrington does a great job of building out each book's storyline while focusing on the main characters relationship. Not only with each other but the other lords of the armory too.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Secret Service of Tea and Treason is the 3rd book in Dangerous Damsel's series and if you haven't picked up these books yet, you are missing out. I think the thing I love most about them is that they aren't your typical historical romance. Don't get me wrong, I love the genre as it is but it is wonderful to have some variety now and then and this book / series definitely mixes things up.

In this book, Alice and Daniel are rival spies who work with the Agency of Undercover Note Takers, a secret government intelligence group. When they are assigned to go undercover as husband and wife, they find that while there is healthy competition to prove each one is the best, they are also attracted to one another and they can't let that derail their plans.

There is so much to love in these books and in this one in particular, we get to see characters from prior books come back into the fold (I love seeing how things progress once a book ends), the banter is always well done, and of course there is magic, flying houses, and a whole host of things that will keep you turning the pages.

If you're looking for a historical romance that has a bit of a twist, check out this series / book. While not necessarily required, I would recommend reading the other books in this series first because you may miss some reference to the other characters and how these two were originally introduced. I'll be looking forward to more books from Holton in the future for sure.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

Yours Truly, The Duke is book one in the Say I Do series by Amelia Grey and I enjoyed this one enough to say that I will probably pick up the next one when it is released.

This book introduces us to Fredericka Hale who realizes in order to keep her dead sister's three children under her care, she needs to marry and marry fast as her cousin is pushing the court to give her custody. When the Duke of Wyatthaven proposes an arrangement she never expected, she can't say know. They agree that he will help her keep the children but they'll lead separate lives.

Wyatt has his own reasons for proposing to Fredericka. In order to get his inheritance, he has to marry within a week. When he finds out he will get to maintain his life as is and she is willing to stay in the country, he's satisfied the problem is solved but when something forces Fredericka and the children to show up on his doorstep, Wyatt realizes he needs to change (and wants to).

I thought Grey did a great job of developing the characters, both individually as well as their relationship together. Of course you have the cousin as a protagonist but as the story progresses, I liked how Grey addressed the relationship of the cousins instead of just defaulting to the "they are a villain to be a villain" purpose.

If you're looking for a new historical romance series, I recommend checking this one out. I'll be picking up the next one.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

I've really enjoyed Laura Thalassa's other books so when I saw this new one, I grabbed it. Bewitched is a brand new series with new characters but appears to be tied to the world she has built in her other books.

Selene is the fmc in this story and as a witch, she has been trying to get accepted into Henbane Coven for a while. There are a few hurdles she has and the most prominent being that when she uses her magic, she loses her memories but she is determined to not let that hold her back. When she is told that in order to be accepted she needs to go on a quest and obtain a familiar, she randomly books a flight to South America and on the way there, a supernatural force invades her thoughts and crashes her plane in the jungles of Peru where she finds herself face to face with a past she has no knowledge of...and a familiar.

In the jungle, Selene awakens an ancient evil, Memnon the Cursed, who mistakes Selene for his long-dead wife. The wife who betrayed him. Selene manages to escape and begin her studies at Henbane, but when Memnon turns up at the coven and witches are found dead across campus, Selene becomes entangled in a dangerous plot. Accused of the murders on the basis of her memory loss, Selene must rely on Memnon's help for answers―and his plans for her will change everything.

The story started out a bit slow for me but once Selene frees Memnon, things got going for me. There's plenty of action in this book and plenty of danger and deceit. I can honestly tell you that if you read this, you're going to want book two pretty quickly as this ends on a cliff. I will be keeping an eye out for when that one is scheduled to come out and already have it on my TBR as I can't wait to see what happens next for Selene (and Memnon).

If you're looking for a new adult paranormal romance, pick this one up.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review.