5⭐️/3🌶️

Okay!!!! Sera and Ash are my new favs. I actually think I enjoyed this more than Poppy and Hawke but it’s really close! 

I decided to read this and start this prequel series since I finished book 3 of FBAA. A lot of people said this was the best reading order so I thought why not! I think as of now I’d have to agree. Though I almost feel like I need to go back and reread fbaa 3 just to put the pieces together. A lot of it aligns and makes sense now, and I can see how this prequel sets the stage for fbaa but there’s a few names and details I forgot and feel like a reread would solidify for me. (But in so lazy I probably won’t RR)

Sera is such a badass. She’s so strong and hardheaded and I kinda love it. I really enjoyed the banter and humor here between our two mc’s. It’s nice to see that continuing here since poppy and hawkes banter was what I loved most from the other books. I’m not sure if it’s just a character thing or how this author writes but it’s so good and my fav.

The unknown identity at the beginning was an awesome addition to the slow burn and tension. I hope we eventually learn from maybe Ash’s pov of how it felt to be at the lake with Sera knowing who she was. How the forbidden aspect for him was, cause I love to hear of a yearning man 🙂‍↕️

I’m curious to see how this prequel continues… since it’s 4 total books and damn theses books are LONG. I just worry about burnout and falling into the same trap I usually fall into when a fantasy series is more than 3 books lmao. Usually when a series is more than 3 books I start to resent the series cause my adhd can’t comprehend how there’s so much happening. I will say this prequel coming in after fbaa 3 is perfect as a way to break up the series for my brain to prevent that book 4 burnout so I suppose let’s see how this continues! ❤️

5⭐️/4🌶️

😰 new parts of my brain unlocked after this…

Okay first of all, Jacob Morgan took his place as #1 in my heart after this audiobook. (He was already up there but this just confirmed it). Man can do NO wrong and his voice is just perfect for this. 

The audio narration in general was such a vibe. This story was so fun and awesome. It gave me major Butcher and Blackbird vibes in regard to the dark tropes, kinks, and overall mood of the book. The duet narration and even audio editing was so fun and cool. That voice mod? 🫣 spooky. 

I wasn’t sure about this book initially because I do not enjoy many dark romance books that involve obsessive men/stalkers. I actively avoid them. But this was pretty playful and generally not too worrisome (I would love a man to break into my house to leave me breakfast and also shovel my driveway okay).

The book is definitely meant for people with an open mind, but overall I loved it. It was super funny, playful, sexy, and also had a surprising mystery/crime/mafia plot I didn’t expect! 🎭🙂‍↕️

5⭐️/3🌶️

Oh my god.

Twitter would NAWT stop screaming about this book for all of December. People argued the hype was too much and surely it was and reviews were paid for but damn, I hate to be that guy but this book is THAT book. I decided surely this book everyone is gassing up is gonna be either mid as hell or just bad, but NOPE. Book 1 of 2025, 5 star. Instant favorite. 

-boss x employee
-enemies to lovers
-grumpy x grumpy in a way
-he falls first
-revenge plot 
-miscommunication
-fake marriage

BUT ALSO so much personal growth, banter, so many laughable moments. 

Frankly, this book reads a little like an old wattpad novel, and I say that as a compliment. It feels light and airy, has some very steamy and sexy moments, but also has that ebb and flow that just feels so natural and not forced like someone wrote this wanting to make it on a best sellers list (does that make sense?) this feels lime it was written by someone who just loves writing and wants to share a cute steamy story. The dialogue makes sense and I didn’t feel cringe at any point which is awesome. I was literally in bed laughing out loud, but also kicking my feet at some moments, and blushing so hard lmao.

Holy shit that man has a mouth on him. I INSTANTLY signed up for Kyra’s news letter to get the bonus chapters 🫣😰



Minor spoiler details, 
Admittedly I felt a little hesitant at the start because it felt lime our fmc was assaulted and no one was taking her serious and it made me mad. Mmc was more worried about glitter than the idea someone groped her and clearly made her upset.  Plus we never even found out who did it or why! (Men, am I right)

4⭐️/2🌶️

I’m so thankful to have received an arc of this book from NetGalley :) 

This was a very sweet and lovely story omg. I was so happy to have time to finish it before new years too. 

Finn is one of my favorite boy names so we already started with an advantage. But this man was just absolutely to die for. So sweet and caring - a very present and patient father and boyfriend to Millie :”) how supportive. 

Millie’s family is also to die for, one you dream of having. It was amazing seeing her have that kind of support in contrast to what Finn was raised with. 

4⭐️(?)/2🌶️

First I’ll rank NetGalley for an ALC of this audiobook! 

Now… I saw this book all over Twitter recently, people calling it bad and all sorts of other things and I was interested. Usually I enjoy the silly books people hate so I thought why not. 

I was so confused for 75% of this book, but I persisted. I will say the description was a bit cringe… and okay like half the books writing was also sort of cringe. But if you just take a step back and enjoy the cringe for the comedy it’s meant to be, it’s not that bad of a book! 

The plot is there, somewhere. It had a lot of promise. The writing unfortunately felt a little juvenile for me at times which made the world building moments hard to grasp but I caught on eventually. 

I loved the modern Greek tie ins, love the pet partners, and the trials. As an audiobook, it was super entertaining how well it was voice acted, though a lot of Alexis’s dialogue was while she was losing her mind and it low key gave me a headache to listen to the slurring of speech lmao. 

Overall I enjoyed the story. Would I read this again? No. Would I have DNF’d this as a book? Probably. Audio is much more digestible while I do other work so it vertically helped. Will I read book 2 next year? Maybe, yes if audiobook 😉

If you have spare time and like Greek inspired books I’d say give this a shot for sure. Just remember not every book has to be a literary masterpiece to be enjoyed, and don’t forget to laugh along the way!

(And to be clear the ? In my rating is because it’s low key a 3, but I was blown away by how silly this was so I’m just confused 😂)