lilibetbombshell's Reviews (2.79k)

I don’t like unbalanced books: too plot-forward, not enough worldbuilding, underdeveloped characters… In the case of The Business Trip, the book is unbalanced in a way I don’t know that I’ve ever seen before: this book is almost all exposition and very little everything else. 

Exposition is a “show, don’t tell” matter, but it doesn’t seem like author Jessie Garcia got the memo, because this book feels like writing the bullet points of what the main characters are going through (this book is multi-POV, but there are two main characters, one having a larger role than the other). It’s full of chapters that feel like, “I did this. Then I did this. Then I did this. Then I did this.” At times it felt as if I could skim entire pages and not miss anything integral to the story. There was no character work, no strong plot (just vague messaging), and no underlying themes that might have given this book any depth or breadth. It all felt as shallow as a puddle. 

I don’t recommend it. I feel like I wasted my entire day. 

I was provided a copy of this title by the author and publisher via NetGalley and the SMP Early Readers Program. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. All reviews rated three stars or under will not appear on my social media. Thank you.

It’s a little political intrigue, a little action-adventure, a little epic, a little class war, a little clash of beliefs, a little international incident, a little supernatural war, a little conspiracy, a little feminine power… Lightfall has its fingers in a whole lot of little pies but ultimately it left me wondering, “When is this book going to end?”

I was enjoying this book for most of the first act: I liked the plot set-up, was enjoying the character introductions, and felt invested enough in the story that I could connect with it and engage. That feeling didn’t last long though, because by just shy of 50% I was amazed I hadn’t even reached the halfway point because it felt like I had been reading forever. The rest of the book felt like that to me, with the third act feeling like an ill-kept cobblestone path of pacing leading to a rough ending that sealed the deal on whether or not I’ll be continuing on with the series. 

The characters were enjoyable. The worldbuilding was fine (if overly descriptive). I like how there was little to no romance. I felt like the cast of characters was well-rounded and that made the dialogue enjoyable. I also liked the chapter length and the multi-POV. But when a book feels like it’s taking forever to end and has become a chore to read then you know it’s not a good book for you. 

I was provided a copy of this title by the publisher and author via Netgalley. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. All reviews rated three stars or under will not appear on my social media. Thank you.

File Under: Action Adventure/Adult Fantasy/Book Series/Dark Fantasy/Fantasy/Fantasy Series

Here’s the thing about being a scientist: We’re curious creatures by nature and we always want more data. We want answers, and we’ll pursue that goal as far as we can (ethically and following the Scientific Method, of course). 

Emily (our FMC) doesn’t know if it’s science or fate that leads Finn Visser to offer her a well-compensated, confidential, and enticing job researching designation switches, but when her new job leads her to meet the whole reason for the project’s existence it ultimately doesn’t matter anymore. All that matters is fixing what went wrong and that will take more than both science and fate. 

The Billionaires in Heat series has been one of my favorite omegaverse series over the last two years (The Omega Merger came out in April 2023). It’s how I discovered Roxy Collins in the first place and now she’s one of my auto-buy authors and a must-read when it comes to omegaverse romance. Some people have called the enigmatic Finn Visser, who has popped up as a Machiavellian character working behind the scenes in every book of this series, creepy and weird. Some speculated he might be the Big Bad. I always felt he was meant to be the ultimate hero of the series; that he always had a really good reason behind his shadow game, and he did. We got one hell of a story out of Finn, Emily, and the rest of the pack. It was more than worth it. This book was engaging, super hot, sweet, and fierce. 5 Stars

🩶 What to Expect 🩶

🧬 Complete list of TWs/CWs in front matter of book

🐝 Professor I’d Like to F*ck (is hers!) 

PhD student FMC (she’s a melittologist–bees are her love language)

🧬 Her beta bestie-turned boyfriend is so soft for her…and their alphas…and hacking

🐝 Switch designation MMC

🧬 Knots & slick & heat & a shared nest OH MY!

🐝 Omega awakening

🧬 Corrupt military with horrible secrets

🐝 Shitty parents everywhere

🧬 Top-secret science experiment gone wrong with torturous results

🐝 First heat

🧬 Who did this to you?

🐝 Workplace romance

🧬 Billionaire boss & his possessive, protective pack

🐝 No one gets left behind

🧬 Finn Visser finally gets his HEA

🐝 Can be read as a standalone but is part of an interconnected series

I was provided a copy of this title by the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: 5 Star Review/Billionaire Romance/Book Series/Contemporary Romance/Interconnected Series/Kindle Unlimited/Kink Friendly/LGBTQ Romance/Omegaverse/Romance Series/Polyamorous Romance/Spice Level 3/Why Choose Romance

The mythology surrounding King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table varies in many places, save for one focus point of the tales: Guinevere belongs to Arthur in some way, Lancelot is Arthur’s most trusted knight, and both Lancelot and Guinevere end up falling for one another even if it means treason. No matter what, the tragic romance of Lancelot and Guinevere is one of the central focuses to all matters Arthuriana. 

I’m a huge fan of books and fanfiction involving Arthuriana. The King’s Maiden comes across like a fanfiction that’s been converted into a novel, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. As we all know, the larger publishers have been doing this for a few decades now, and I’ve personally known authors who’ve pulled their stories from fandoms and converted them into indie novels in the past. What makes the difference between the two, in my opinion, is the editing process. You have to do a lot of content editing to smooth out the wrinkles and stitch up the seams between a fanfic and an original novel. You need to fill in the seams and then stitch them up to erase all evidence the novel was borne of other source material and you need to smooth out the wrinkles because after the seams have been filled and stitched the whole thing will need a few rounds of polishing. Ideally, this polishing should be done by new people who haven’t read the story in its pre-existing form, as you’ll want fresh eyes on the text. 

There are definitely some copy edit and proofreading errors in this book that could be taken care of, but what concerns me is the general disparity in tone between the main male characters and the female characters. It’s not about shrill versus serious or anything like that, but it’s more about how they’re written in terms of age. They’re all roughly the same age (as in they’re all in college), yet the female characters all come across as much younger (they sound like they’re still in high school) than the male characters (who sound like they’re already out of college). It creates a false dichotomy that lends to both the females and males being objectified when that objectification does nothing for the plot. It feels like pandering and it sits wrong with me the longer I think about it. 

The story overall was a fun read and entertaining. The spice level was medium (for me), with medium burn but also with instalust. There is only one partner in this book, but there are supposed to be more partners in further books and there are indications of fully polyamorous action further on in the series. This is categorized as enemies-to-lovers romance but I felt it was more like strangers-to-lovers (but the strangers have an agenda). I knew I was going to be reading a book with a virgin FMC but the manner in which her virginity is discussed and treated made me uncomfortable more than once. 

I won’t be continuing with reviewing this series. I will probably finish reading it on my own time, but I won’t be reviewing it. 

I was provided a copy of this title by the author via The Author Agency. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. All reviews rated three stars or lower will not appear on my social media. Thank you.

File Under: Billionaire Romance/Book Series/College Romance/Contemporary Romance/Kink Friendly/Romance Series/Polyamorous Romance/Secret Society/Spice Level 2/Why Choose Romance

Lia Raines isn’t just crushing on the boy next door. This girl is crushing on the five men next door. I totally don’t blame her. There she is, trapped in a mansion by herself 24/7, and yummy alpha temptation is living it up on the other side of the property line. Not only would I chomp at the bit to get out of my mausoleum of a house, but I definitely would be more than a little curious about what those men might be like. 

Nest of Lies is another banger of a novel by Tea Ravine, and anyone who’s read my reviews before knows she’s one of my auto-buy authors when it comes to omegaverse. So it’s likely unsurprising I loved this book as much as I have the rest. The only risk in me liking or disliking this book was that it’s a MC romance and I tend to dislike MC romances. What balances out the MC aspect of this book is how absolutely soft the alphas in this book are for Lia. 5 ⭐️

🩶 What to Expect 🩶

🍒 Horrible, abusive mother

💣 (CWs & TWs in front matter of book)

🍒 A fantastic father figure during childhood

💣 Abandonment issues

🍒 Prisoner in her own home

💣 Room with a view

🍒 Hidden passages

💣 Breaking and entering

🍒 Prank wars

💣 She’s innocent but not naive

🍒 She’s traumatized af but not weak

💣 Stolen kisses

🍒 Touch her and…well, you can guess the rest

💣 Unhinged alpha who enjoys making her mad

🍒 Funishments for his and her pleasure

💣 Baking treats

🍒 She has a secret

💣 So do they

🍒 Who did this to you?

💣 She’s ours

🍒 Leather and motorcycles

💣 Found family

🍒 Fully polyamorous pack (hell yeah)

💣 HEA guaranteed

I was provided a copy of this title by the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: 5 Star Review/Book Series/Contemporary Romance/Found Family/Interconnected Series/LGBTQ Romance/Omegaverse/ RomanceRomance Series/Polyamorous Romance/Spice Level 3/Why Choose Romance

Not a fan of the narrative style. 

There are just some books that you’ll find aren’t suited to you. I think Breath of the Dragon is one of those for me. 

This isn’t an objectively bad book. It has a great start, with an engaging and fast-paced first act. Likewise, the third act runs rampant and wild like a martial arts film on paper almost to the finish. It’s the whole second act of the book that gives me pause, along with a completely unnecessary romanticism subplot that I feel not only distracted from the main plotline but also belittled all of the main characters. 

I don’t think I’ll be reviewing further entries in this series because I don’t know if I’m going to enjoy the rest of the story any more than I did this first section of it. I do think that this book is worth the read if you like tournaments, martial arts, political intrigue, great on-page fight choreography, broken families, and magic based in spirit/soul/Qi.

I was provided a copy of this title by the publisher and author via Netgalley. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. All reviews three stars and below will not appear on my social media. Thank you. 

When there’s a follow-up to a debut author’s book that you rated five stars there’s always that sliver of doubt about how good it’ll be. We’ve all been burned, right? They don’t call it the Sophomore Slump for nothing. Luckily, Kate Pearsall managed to navigate the tough waters of producing a companion novel (or is it a second in a series, maybe?) to the fascinating and excellent Bittersweet in the Hollow, which I rated five stars in 2023 and have never stopped recommending. 

Lies on the Serpent’s Tongue has a lot of the same charm to it that Bittersweet in the Hollow did, even if it lacks some of its warmth. This is likely due to the increased action and adventure in the plot and the decreased time spent around the James family home and business. We spent a lot of the first book in and around all of the members of the James family, learning about each family member and growing to care about them. In this book the plot is more about Caball Hollow at large, the legacy of the James family, and Rowan’s contentious relationship with Hadrian Fitch than anything else. 

Speaking of plot, take this as a serious warning: If you haven’t read Bittersweet in the Hollow you won’t understand the plot of this book. 

As with the previous book, I was utterly charmed by the folklore, herblore, folk medicine, recipes, spells, and magic in Pearsall’s writing. It was one of the things that captivated me most in BitH and the prodigious use of it in this book was not only important to the plot but also adds so much character and atmosphere to the book I just think it sets the whole thing apart from other books in the genre. I respect the research that had to have gone into the writing process and the due diligence paid to issues that are plaguing our national forests (like are portrayed in the book). 

I can’t wait to read the next Pearsall book. Whether it’s another BitH book or something new, I’m eager to see what’s next. 

I was provided a copy of this title by the publisher and author via Netgalley. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: Amateur Sleuth/Book Series/Fantasy/Folklore/Paranormal Mystery/Paranormal Romance/YA Book Series/YA Fiction/YA Paranormal Romance