ENJOYABLE.

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I liked this one a lot. It’s a really fast read and I loved how easy it was to fly through. I love how Kortney Keisel writes a sensual/steamy type of read without being spicy. It was written so well in that vein and I love that vibe.

I really liked Jenna and Cody. The enemies banter was there and there were many great celebrity moments that allowed for that kind of forced proximity I love. Even the fake dating was fun to venture into to as well.

What I didn’t love was what felt like forced promotion of the authors other books through Jenna and Cody acting in movies of them. I don’t know, to me it came off kind of odd and took me out of the story multiple times.

Otherwise, an honestly good read. There were many swoony moments I loved and I thought the ending was wonderful.

Overall audience notes:
- Contemporary Romance
- Language: none
- Romance: make-outs
- Trigger/Content Warnings: mentions of previous custody battle/divorced parents 

 Thank you Park Row Books for the gifted copy.

NOT FOR ME.

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This book felt like one really long complaint. And while it did get marginally better I just wasn’t enamored with much of anything at all.

And now that I’m sitting here to write it I’m realizing I don’t really want to. This one wasn’t for me and wouldn’t be a book I recommend. Moving on.

Overall audience notes:
- Contemporary Romance
- Language: some strong
- Romance: fade to black 

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the ALC.

A GREAT MYSTERY.

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I just have no complaints. I really enjoyed listening, I thought the story was great, the subtle romance was sweet (with some fade to black steam) and I love these characters. They’re flawed without making you feel like pushing them off a cliff. There’s apologies and strength and I love the way Erin Beaty crafts her characters.

The mystery kept me guessing and I love the change of location from the previous book (which you do have to read before this one!!). Exploring a new area, side characters and a killer on the loose. This has a slight cozy vibe while also being on the darker edge. With some action mixed in and some twists that made the ending feel like you have to keep going.

I’m a big fan girl of Erin Beaty and this continues to ring true. Another brilliant book!

Overall audience notes:
- Upper YA Fantasy + Romance
- Language: light
- Romance: multiple fade to black
- Violence: high
- Trigger/Content Warnings: serial killer, blood/gore depiction 

Duologies are a delicate balance. And Rachel Gillig knocked it out of the park. Y’ALL. This is it. This is how to finish a duology. I flew through this. It’s a shorter fantasy that even when you’re not trying to speed, the need to know what happens next will keep those pages flying.

There’s multiple points of view that lend all sides of this dark tale. And the new romance absolutely SENT ME. I am deceased. I am kicking my feet in the air, wide eyed giddy at the romance in this book. The romance isn’t the forefront of the plot, and that’s totally fine because the plot is SO GOOD. I love this magic system and the world building. The Nightmare cracks me up, and one the best morally gray crafted souls I have read about. I loved every single characters arc. Everyone landed right where I hoped and right where they deserved.

That’s kind of all I want to say because I don’t want to spoil anything. There’s everything you could hope for in this sequel. The build was insanely good and I can easily put this as one of my favorite reads in 2023.

Overall audience notes:
- Fantasy + Romance
- Language: low-moderate
- Romance: vague open door
- Violence: high
- Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of life, physical/weapons/magical violence 

 SOLID STANDALONE.

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Y’all know I’m always after a great standalone because I’m a notorious series reader. And this worked really well within one book. I was surprised that it wasn’t actually a fantasy, definitely a magical realism read (everything is in the real world). FYI.

I loved the sister relationship and even though they’ve been separated that they found ways to work together and truly wanted to reconnect when the chance came. There’s three POV’s, the two sisters and Nicholas. All three points of view were necessary and I liked the flow between them. There was truly a different angle from each character and seeing the how’s and why’s.

The magic system was bloody and interesting. I thought it was cool to have the blood writing and the magical libraries and everything in between. The magic system building was there and easy to follow. The plot is a solid mystery and kept me guessing. There’s twists I didn’t see coming and honestly I just genuinely enjoyed this so much.

Overall audience notes:
- Magical Realism
- Language: some strong
- Romance: kisses
- Violence: moderate-high
- Trigger/Content Warnings: cutting (blood is used to make the books), loss of life 

A SWEET GEM.

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I went into this with the best of hopes and I was gratefully charmed by the entire story. I absolutely loved the way LInk was written and how we learned more about his background and reasoning. I’m hit or miss on celebrity romances and I loved the way this one was crafted.

I also really liked Hadley too. These were both just two genuinely kind people trying to make the best decisions with the life they’ve been handed. I looooved the mutual pining and the increasingly tender moments they had as their connection reignited. It’s a sweet story with some good fake dating moments and let me tell y’all, the communication towards the end?? LOVED IT SO DANG MUCH. Exactly what I hoped for, made total sense, and really showed that Hadley and Link trusted and cared for each other. I am smitten.

The fall vibes are once again in this series, immaculate. These authors have all done a fantastic job of creating this world. I found this to be a super fast read and once that made my heart flutter.

Overall audience notes:
- Contemporary Romance
- Language: None
- Romance: kisses
- Violence: low
- Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of loved ones (happened prior to book) 

Thank you to the author and publisher for a gifted ARC.

I AM IN MY FEELS.

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I was warned before going in what kind of ending I was heading towards so I feel like I’ll mention that here, it is in the bittersweet vein. My rating was not changed by this, a lot because I knew going into it, which I VERY much appreciate. My four star is centered around that I thought the first half was a bit slower and took me awhile to get fully involved.

Anyways, I loved these characters. I loved the themes. The subtle woven in faith elements that played a role in how the three POV’s lives connected, crossed, and ultimately found common ground. It’s a got a really sweet and tender romance. There’s great introspection and realizations. I loved seeing the characters stumble, learn and make the best decisions in rough situations.

And I loved that this was focused out at sea and on codebreakers. It was a different scene of the war I haven’t read much in the historical fiction genre and it was a well researched take on what was happening on the ocean fronts.

I felt ALL THE THINGS throughout. I love the way A.L. Sowards writes her books. I’m happy that I took the chance on reading this, even in my heart is in utter chaos at present. It was such a good book and I loved seeing everything come full circle.

Overall audience notes:
- Historical Romance
- Language: none
- Romance: closed door between a married couple
- Violence: moderate
- Trigger/Content Warnings: active WW2, loss of loved ones, shipwrecks, grief depiction 

WELL.

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If you know anything about me, it’s that The Spanish Love Deception is one of my all time favorite romance reads. I love Elena Armas books. Buuuut I will say this one missed a few marks for me. Still recommend, still good, just not everything I hoped for.

The second half was MUCH better. I thought the chemistry finally combusted and you got to see both characters together a lot more without as much contention. I know this had an enemies to lovers vibe and it kind of worked? The soccer girls were real cute and I love all things small town romance. There’s some realllllllly great swoony lines that had me in a puddle and I ended up loving Cam. Doing all of the little things paints a big picture.

The first half though was definitely missing something. I didn’t feel that connection between Cam and Adalyn and the plot wasn’t going much of anywhere. And with the third act, it didn’t make me wildly angry, BUT I did see a clear route it could have gone and I think would have been even better. And it happened at NINETY PERCENT? That’s too late. Adalyn could have really used a karmic retribution moment. I wanted to see a few people in her life actually suffer the consequences of their actions. She was left out to try way too many times.

I still enjoy the writing and story telling style. It’s not a bad book, just missing some of those key aspects that I was hoping to find.

Overall audience notes:
- Contemporary Romance
- Language: very strong
- Romance: 3-4 open
- Violence: low 

Thank you to Get Underlined for a gifted copy.

FANTASTIC BOOK.

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I love a good origin story/prequel novel. And I kind of wish I had this book before the two other duologies in this world because I really think it set-up a lot of wonderful context and world building to those duos.

I loved how deep this sister relationship went and what they both did to each other. There’s an imbalance they have and I like how that was represented and handled between them. There’s many poignant moments and things that made me feel ALL THE THINGS. The interwoven romantic, politicking and magic plot lines really brought this book home.

These characters absolutely had my attention and I loved seeing Channi’s story come to life. There’s plenty of action and mystery and honestly wondering how things were going to wrap up. Highly recommend this book!!

Overall audience notes:
- YA Fantasy
- Language: very little
- Romance: kisses
- Violence: moderate-high
- Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of parents, loss of loved ones, battle scenes 

 3.5 stars

IT WAS FINE.

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I don’t really know how to even go about this review because I just don’t have a lot of feelings about it. I definitely liked book one a lot better. There was nothing inherently wrong wit the story, other than it was a little slow. I want to FEEL all the things when I’m reading and this missed the mark in that aspect.

There’s some cute and sweet moments. I liked the general dynamic between Pet and Matthias. Throw in some forced proximity and fake dating and it set up for the kind of romantic moments I also enjoy reading about. There’s even a little bit of suspense too that I thought upped the whole vibe of the book as well.

Overall audience notes:
- Contemporary Romance
- Language: some strong
- Romance: 1-2 open door
- Violence: moderate
- Trigger/Content Warnings: physical assault, loss of a loved one, weapons violence