A Cliché Christmas by Nicole Deese is a sweet, heart-warming read set during the middle of the holiday season in a small town in Oregon. I fell in love with this story. I decided to listen to it while doing chores one day and finished it in one sitting. It is that good!

Georgia Cole is known as the “Holiday Goddess,” writing screenplays for Hallmark Christmas movies. Seriously I’d love her job! She writes (as the title of the story suggests) screenplays about cliché Christmas themes, making them up as she didn’t experience those growing up. Georgia is a complicated character who was hurt deeply as a child. As such, she doesn’t trust or love easily and believes herself unworthy of any love. Really it’s heart-breaking.

Enter Weston James, Georgia’s childhood rival and crush. I immediately fell for Weston and felt like I was betraying Georgia in doing so. He’s kind, all kinds of sexy, and it is SO obvious he’s in love our girl. When Georgia returns to her hometown after being gone for 7 years, Weston is determined to make sure she doesn’t leave again at least not without talking to him first.

The plot revolves around Georgia, Weston, and his niece Savannah. Savannah has been diagnosed with cancer and Georgia’s hometown is raising funds for her medical care. This is how Nan, Georgia’s grandmother, convinces Georgia to come home for the holidays. The book revolves around a play Georgia is directing as a fundraiser for Savannah. As you can imagine, everything that can go wrong does and this brings Georgia right into Weston’s arms. While predictable, I found myself not caring as I loved the two characters and the little town so much.

Overall, reading A Cliché Christmas was like watching a Hallmark movie in all it’s cheesy, heart-warming, teary-eyed goodness. It’s short, just barely 200 pages, making it a perfect read during the busy holiday season. If you enjoy clean, Christian romance, I highly recommend it.

Well….I don’t even know where to begin.



I was so excited to read Etched in Bone by Anne Bishop. I mean seriously guys, I was super excited. I devoured the first part of the series. I loved the off-beat humor, Simon and Meg, the Courtyard….all of it. I had extremely high hopes for the ending of the series, but y’all….it was SO boring! Almost 500 pages and really I can’t tell you what the plot was, it moved so slowly.

The premise of Etched in Bone is that the Elders, the big scary Others who even the scary ones living in the Courtyard are scared of, come to observe the humans’ interaction with the Others of the Lakeside Courtyard. They’ve come to see how much human to keep and which ones to exterminate. When I realized that’s what they were coming to do, to determine if humans were worth saving or if they should keep them on the bottom of the food chain, I was thinking that I was going to be reading an exciting, unputdownable read. I was wrong. Instead it caused all kinds of problems and the plot dragged.

The biggest issue with the book though came in the form of its villain, Monty’s brother Take everything cliché about bad men and you have Monty’s brother. He’s a thug, honestly I don’t see how he and Monty can even be related. He takes everything in life for granted and has his hand stuck out for more. He thinks everything bad that’s happened to him isn’t his fault but someone else’s. He thinks he deserves a free ride. And don’t get me started on the things he says about and TO the Others. I’m surprised they didn’t rip his head off, but alas the Elders wanted to observe how this human was bad and the other humans were good and how this bad human could cause such destruction.



And then there is Meg and Simon. I have loved these two from book one, but their romance isn’t what I expected it to be. Meg is this fragile, delicate girl and Simon is the alpha male. The dynamic between these two was something I enjoyed at the beginning of the series, but there’s been little to no growth in their relationship. Five books and I thought….no I hoped, there would be progress, but instead it’s more of the same.



To say I was disappointed in the ending of this series is probably an understatement. Etched in Bone was long, drawn out and not at all what I wanted after investing so much time in the series. Regardless, the off beat humor, the naive Meg, and the over-bearing protective Simon still hold a place in my heart. The spinoff series that comes out next year though….I’m on the fence about reading it now. I feel like the first part of this book was setting that series up rather than concluding the story for these characters which left a bad taste in my mouth for the next part of The Others. If you are a fan of the series, I highly recommend you read and judge this book for yourself. If you enjoy paranormal, urban fantasy with a touch of romance, I suggest you read the series from the start!

I’m a sucker for overly sweet, cliché holiday romance and The Faithful One by Cami Checketts is just that. This is the first book I’ve read in the popular A Billionaire Bride Pact Romance series and it won’t be the last. The series follows a group of woman who as girls made a pact to marry billionaires. It was a silly promise that Trin rarely thinks about and when she does, she’s embarrassed to admit it.

I like Trin. She works hard for everything she has in life, including keeping her grandparents’ legacy alive, running their Bed and Breakfast, even if she no longer owns it. When the son of the new owner comes to stay at the B&B, she finds herself terrified, wondering if he is planing to sell her home. Determined to keep that from happening, she doubles down on her work, hoping to prove that the B&B is worth keeping.

Zander is a mess. I fell in love with him from the first moment he entered the story. He is so broken. As a teen, he found his mother murdered. As an adult, he turned to alcohol to numb the pain and escape the memory. Now after rehab, he is finding peace. When his father asks him to do an undercover boss type scenario at the B&B, Zander agrees, eager to help the man who has stood behind him when he was at his worst. Only one problem, he is too recognizable. Even though he doesn’t reveal who he is, he suspects the beautiful manager knows the truth from the moment she sees him. However she doesn’t reveal it, which leaves Zander able to get to know her and the staff, to find a purpose in his life.

Overall, The Faithful One is a short, sweet read about broken souls who learn to love again. If you enjoy clean, contemporary romance, I highly recommend you read Trin and Zander’s story.

Have you ever read a book that just left you smiling at the end? Or a book that you had a goofy grin the entire time reading it? Yeah, that’s pretty much every Kelly Oram book for me. This author has a way of writing a story that I immediately fall in love with. Being Jamie Baker is no exception. Until this book, the only stories by Kelly Oram I had read were all contemporary romance, both YA and some cleanish new adult. Being Jamie Baker falls in the realm of science fiction (which I make no secret of loving), YA and a little romance.

Jamie Baker was a normal teen girl before an accident that should have killed her left her instead with superpowers. Now she lives a life in a new town, dying her hair almost daily to cover up it’s new neon color, wearing contacts to cover the scary eyes that she now has, and keeping to herself by maintaining an “Ice Queen” reputation at her new high school. All she wants is to be normal and act normal, but nothing about what happened to her is normal. I really like Jamie. She’s made a new normal for herself, not taking a day for granted with her very understanding and protective parents. She’s okay with not having friends, at least she thinks she is until Ryan.

Most superhero stories start with a meteor shower or a nasty insect bite, but mine actually starts with a kiss. Whether it was a kiss of life or a kiss of death I still haven’t decided, but it was, surprisingly, a really good kiss. Not that I’d ever tell him that.

Now that 👆is how you start a story!!! Every story I’ve read by Kelly Oram I’ve said none of her boys could surpass Brian Oliver (see [b:Cinder & Ella|35001687|Cinder & Ella (Cinder & Ella, #1)|Kelly Oram|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1493341478s/35001687.jpg|42254560] for more info about him)….but Ryan Miller just might 😉 Ryan is every cliché all-star, play boy from high school. Except the playboy isn’t such a player. In fact, he’s annoyingly sweet, especially when Jamie just wants him to go away. He’s also arrogant, confident, and a total swoon-worthy addition to the Kelly-verse. After the above encounter with Jamie, he knows there is more to the school’s “Ice Queen” than she lets on, and he is very persistent in his pursuit of her. He wants to be her friend, if nothing else, and that in itself is so endearing to me.

The story truly revolves around Jamie and her powers. It’s been a year since her accident and she is still coming to terms with what happened to her. I like how the story evolves. Jamie starts out a little bitter, hard to stomach, and sassy. Her sass doesn’t change, but the bitterness eases into acceptance and a hero is born….thanks to Ryan’s persistence.

Overall, I really loved this story! I started it before bed and finished it in the wee hours of the morning….I really should have learned by now not to start one of Kelly Oram's books so late but alas I couldn’t resist. If you enjoy contemporary YA romance, science fiction, and superheroes, I highly recommend you grab a copy (only 99 pennies on Amazon OR free with KU) and read it asap. It won’t disappoint!

I received an eARC of this book from the author. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of this review.

Shattered Stars is the epic, heart-wrenching conclusion to Theresa Kay's Broken Skies trilogy. Picking up where [b:Fractured Suns|20535475|Fractured Suns (Broken Skies, #2)|Theresa Kay|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1438576692s/20535475.jpg|37759176] left off, Jax, Lir, and their friends find themselves at the mercy of what is left of the US government. Please note that if you have NOT read [b:Broken Skies|32757551|Broken Skies (Broken Skies, #1)|Theresa Kay|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1477402936s/32757551.jpg|32729438] or [b:Fractured Suns|20535475|Fractured Suns (Broken Skies, #2)|Theresa Kay|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1438576692s/20535475.jpg|37759176] that there are spoilers to those books in this review. Read at your own risk from this point on. The story picks up at a fast pace right from page one as Jax and Lir flee her old home and doesn’t slow down. I found that I couldn’t read it fast enough. I needed desperately to know what would happen at each turn of the page right to those final words “the end.” Because of the fast pace, I’m not sure how to summarize this book without giving away spoilers! I’ll just say that the final battle among Lir, Jax, and Jastren is here and it is epic!

Jax has to be one of my all-time favorite heroines. Theresa Kay has written her amazingly well. It’s refreshing, really, to see a character who starts so broken in the first book become the heroine in the end. The growth is tremendous, and as the reader, we get to experience it with her. She’s fierce, snarky, loyal to a fault, and out for blood in this book. Yet she’s also confused. Things she believed to be true aren’t and things she believed false are true. Her world has been turned upside down, and despite it all she comes out stronger for it.

And then there is Jace. So the first book is told exclusively in Jax’s perspective, the second is told from Lir and Jax’s perspectives which made me really fall for the alien boy, and now in this final installment we get Jax and Jace’s perspective. At first, I wasn’t sure how I felt about getting Jace’s POV. To be honest, I was just as angry at him as Jax was and ready to jump through the pages and murder him slowly. Then his first chapter proceeded and my heart broke, like shattered into a thousand pieces that were then stomped on by an angry herd of elephants. From Jax’s perspective, we know that Jace was her rock, her best friend, the only person she loved and the person who kept her sane all those years without their father. She’s built him into this unstoppable force, really she’s idolized him. Then his first chapter begins and as the reader we realize just how wrong she was to do so. This poor broken boy 😭Jastren has destroyed him. He is barely hanging on by a thread, but he knows he has to find Jax, he has to keep her safe, and he has to kill Jastren. I never thought that I’d say this after reading the heartbreaking ending of [b:Fractured Suns|20535475|Fractured Suns (Broken Skies, #2)|Theresa Kay|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1438576692s/20535475.jpg|37759176] but here goes: there is redemption for Jace after all.

All the characters in this series have become vital parts of Jax’s life and I love how the author implies this, showing how they all work together and how they inherently trust one another. Living during what they feel is the end of times does that to people. While Jax grew throughout the series, the other characters did as well, especially my alien boy. Lir starts the series as a headstrong, prejudice alien who only wants to get home. Then the events of the second book broke him. He is now as broken as Jax was in the beginning and seeing him this way is truly heartbreaking. He’s slightly unstable, yet it’s his love for Jax and hers for him that brings peace for Lir. I loved reading as their relationship grew and it culminates in this final installment.

Overall, I truly loved this trilogy! This final book wraps the series up for Jax and Lir in a beautiful way. The nonstop action, the suspense of not-knowing what’s real and what’s not, and Jace, my beautiful broken boy, and the unstoppable bond between Jax and Lir created an epic, heart-stopping ending to the series. If you are a fan of scifi, alien dystopias, and enjoy a little romance AND haven’t started the series yet, grab a copy of [b:Broken Skies|32757551|Broken Skies (Broken Skies, #1)|Theresa Kay|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1477402936s/32757551.jpg|32729438] (free on all ebook platforms) and start binging today! If you’re a fan of the series, I promise Shattered Stars doesn’t disappoint!

I received an eARC of this book from the author. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of this review.

I had the pleasure of beta reading Prophecy of Darkness back in May and I am so excited to finally be able to share it with you 😀 Prophecy of Darkness by Michelle Bryan, M. Lynn is an exciting, new fantasy about a land whose magic is gone. Without magic, the kingdom of Dreach-Sciene is dying, nothing grows, famine looms and rebellions are beginning to pop up. Their only hope is a prophecy that talks about the legendary Tri-Gard, reuniting them and bringing magic back to the land.

So the beginning of this book has a bit of a slow pace as the authors set the stage and develop the world. However it picks up quickly and I found that I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough! Prince Trystan was an easy character to like. His transition from spoiled prince to Toha is one that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. You have a prince who isn’t ready to take on the responsibility of the kingdom, yet he dons the new title without hesitation, ready to face the darkness and save his people.

In addition to Trystan though are his friends and sister. Rissa is probably my favorite character of the book. She’s a force to be reckoned with and I dare anyone to try and stop her. She’s the princess and expected to act as such, yet she reminds me a little of Merida from Disney’s Brave. She’s not the typical princess, she wants to fight beside her brother against the oncoming darkness instead of sit back at the palace. Her insistence in being trained along side her brother and Davion means she is capable of defending herself and she is a better shot than both the boys.

Trystan along with his sister, best friend Davion, and Lady Alixa begin the long journey to find the Tri-Gard and stop the dark from rising. Their journey is filled with perils and adventure, but also hardship. The journey acts as an eye opener for Trystan and Rissa. They see for the first time what their people in the villages are facing and become even more determined to find the legendary Tri-Gard, despite not believing in magic (at least Trystan doesn’t).

Full of action and adventure, entangled romance, and betrayal, Prophecy of Darkness is one of my favorite reads of the year. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys epic fantasy, [b:Throne of Glass|7896527|Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, #1)|Sarah J. Maas|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1495278054s/7896527.jpg|11138426] or [b:A Game of Thrones|13496|A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1)|George R.R. Martin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1436732693s/13496.jpg|1466917]. It doesn’t disappoint!

I received an eARC of this book via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of this review.

Chosen One by Scarlett Dawn is the 6th installment in her massive series Forever Evermore and the third for her heroine Caro. This book was lukewarm for me. There were parts I loved, parts I disliked, and parts that were just “meh.” I wanted to love this book because I really like Caro, but there were some issues that I just couldn’t overcome.

The Likes:
➣ Caro! I really enjoy this character. She is one of those that just faces the world and what it brings her head on and doesn’t care what others might think about her. She’s feisty, courageous, and loyal. Seriously I root for her all the way through the book.
➣ Time travel: if you read the last book then you know that we were left with a major cliffhanger and Caro forty years in the past. Personally I loved this development. I haven’t read the first trilogy in this series so I don’t really know the elders that are fleshed out in this book, but I loved seeing more of them, getting to know them better, AND then going back and rereading parts of Caro’s books when they were “first” introduced. So much makes sense now!
➣ Merrick….I won’t say anymore than that because of spoilers….but y’all *swoon*
➣ Cast of characters keeps growing and I’m not confused! I love this. Whenever there are a ton of characters, I usually need a glossary to refer back to in order to keep them all straight. However Scarlett Dawn has done a fantastic job of making each character unique enough that I don’t need it.

The Dislikes:
➣ The pacing: at times, the pacing for this book was fast, like I couldn’t set it down or turn the pages fast enough for my own liking…that fast. But then about the midway point the pacing went from blazing to ice cold. I’m not sure what happened, but it was like all of a sudden it was almost – dare I say it – boring *cringes* I’m not sure what to think about it. Then probably the last 50 pages the pace picked back up.
➣ The love interest or interests? I’m not sure. I didn’t really follow well what was going on. It felt like the author was possibly setting up a reverse harem type situation for our Caro and I’m not so sure that follows with her character. Maybe it’s just me, but Caro doesn’t seem like the type to be into more than one and she sure doesn’t like to share so….I’m just confused. The main love interest was a hate-to-love type thing and while it worked in the beginning of the book, it got real old REAL quick.
➣ Plot? Ummmm….y’all I can’t even tell you what this book is about because I don’t know myself. While I love Caro, her story so far has lacked direction. I’m not really sure what’s going on, what she is trying to accomplish, or why she is doing what she is doing. I’m lost. I noticed this in the last book and had hoped that this one would begin tying some threads together. So far no such luck.

Overall Chosen One was just an okay read for me. I’m interested enough in Caro to continue reading the series but I’m also disappointed that I’m still so lost in her story. I wanted….no NEEDED her story to begin making sense by now. Despite this I will continue to read and follow the author as I do love her storytelling ability. I have confidence that in Caro’s last book (which I believe the next one is) all these loose ends and directionless plot will make sense because Dawn is that good! If you enjoy the series, you don’t want to miss this next installment! If you haven’t read the series, than I highly suggest you begin with the first book and set some time aside to binge.

I received an eARC of this book via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of this review.

12 Days at Bleakly Manor by Michelle Griep is a Christmas retelling of the Dickens classic Bleakly Manor. I started this story with zero expectations but quickly fell in love with the writing style of Michelle Griep, the mystery surrounding the manor and its guests, and the jilted romance between Ben and Clara. It reminds me a little of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None minus the murdering of course.

Clara is a young woman who has lost everything in the last year. On Christmas Eve the year prior she was to wed a man who not only left her at the alter but was arrested for stealing her family’s fortune, leaving her destitute and at the mercy of her older brother and aunt. Clara has hardened herself since that time, but her mind never strays too far from the thoughts of her fiancé and what he done. She’s angry, bitter, yet accepted what has befallen her.

Ben breaks my heart. This is a man who has spent a year in jail thinking his beloved put him there and is living the high life without him. This is a man wrongly accused who has been sentenced to transfer to Australia and a work camp there. Ben is angry and it’s his need for revenge that keeps him going. The kind man he once was is missing and his heart is full of anger.

Then both Clara and Ben receive an anonymous letter inviting them to spend the Christmas holidays at Bleakly Manor. If they stay the full 12 day holiday, each will receive what they want most. For Ben, that’s a full pardon and release. For Clara, it’s the money that was stolen from her a year earlier. Neither knows the other will be at the manor until they arrive which creates some fantastic dramatic irony as the reader knows thanks to the alternate POVs. On arrival, Ben and Clara are faced with what happened a year prior and forced to acknowledge the past and who may have wronged them.

In addition to Clara and Ben there are other guests who have also been promised their own heart’s desires, and it becomes a competition to see who will be left on Christmas Day. I LOVED the mystery surrounding the manor, the guests, their desires, and their host. It was a suspenseful read with just the right amount of romance to balance it out. If you enjoy Victorian era fiction, I highly recommend this holiday tale!

I am the world's worst person to judge a book by its cover, meaning that if the cover is cheesy or doesn't catch my eye I don't read it. Kinda like when you meet someone for the first time, you know first impressions stick. Same with book covers to me. So I started this book hesitantly, not sure if I would like it. Let me be the first to say I liked it and then some!

My reaction when finishing this book:


Awaken: New Bloods Trilogy by [a:Michelle Bryan|7866413|Michelle Bryan|https://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-d9f6a4a5badfda0f69e70cc94d962125.png] is the story of a young woman, just turned 18 living in a world after "The Shift." The land is like a desert, nothing grows, water and food are scarce, and to her there is just her small community. But on her "born day," tragedy strikes in the form of iron monsters killing all the adults and taking all the young'uns except Tara who was hidden by her Gra'da before the attacks. Now it is up to her to find what's left of her kin.

The characters in this story are brilliant! I loved Tara and her way of speaking. She was blunt and straight to the point, no beating around the bush, just honesty. Tara is a strong-willed (stubborn) character. I thought she was a perfect cross between Katniss Everdeen and Rogue from X-men, in fact while reading this is what I pictured:

Tara is even stubborn as she learns about being a "New Blood" or what she calls a mutie, but this endeared her to me even more. She is a relatable character especially as she learns that not all she's been told growing up in her small community is true.

The other characters she meets along the way - Finn, Tater, and Jax - I also adore. Finn is a boy around 12 with a "demon cat" as a pet who's community is destroyed the same as Tara's. He's high-spirited, inquisitive, and daring, and once he learns that Tara is out to find her kin, he argues to tag along. Tater is a middle-aged, "half-man" trader who comes upon the two one night in the dead woods and decides to take them with him to Littlepass. He is funny and knowledgable about the world outside Tara's community, but I wasn't too sure if I could trust him. Jax joins their party after they've been captured by Raiders. He is closer to Tara's age and provides a bit of a love interest. This is not your typical YA romance you see in most books today which was refreshing. It's subtle and I enjoyed that.

The world building is amazing. Imagine a world that is so far into the future that cars, technology, everything that makes us modern today is folk tale and legend to Tara. It was incredible! The Iron Bones chapter is amazing to me, seeing the ruins of a city through the eyes of someone who has never seen the buildings before, such a great feat for an author to describe. I loved it!

So why four stars and not five? Well, for me, I felt that the story dragged after the initial chapter. There was the hook of seeing as Tara did her community destroyed by the metal monsters, but after that it took a while for the flow of the story to pick up for me. Not that I didn't still enjoy it, but I wanted it to go a little faster. I didn't need half a chapter describing how lonely she was walking through the sandlands. Once I hit about the half way mark, the plot of the story really got my attention and I didn't sit it down til I finished it!

If I was not told, I would never have known that this was [a:Michelle Bryan|7866413|Michelle Bryan|https://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-d9f6a4a5badfda0f69e70cc94d962125.png]'s first novel. Little to no grammar issues that I found, the characters were well-developed, the world-building is amazing, and she left me wanting more! I have so many questions, the biggest being what was the Shift that caused this dystopian universe. If you enjoy YA dystopian with some sci-fi/fantasy thrown into the mix, you should really get a copy of this book. I personally can't wait for book two!

I received a copy of this ebook from the author in exchange for an honest review.