morganthebee's reviews
452 reviews

I went back and forth quite a bit on what rating to give Back in Your Arms. I feel like it's not quite a 4-star read for me, but I also don't think it deserves a 3-star, so I'm erring on the higher side. I loved Sawyer, I enjoyed Quinn, I liked the side characters (except the one I wasn't supposed to, of course). I think there was just too much happening and not enough focus on any one thing, and that was a detriment here. 

 

I really wanted to see more of the recovery of the relationships between Quinn and both her sister and her mother. I felt like the house aspect wasn't very developed, it was just a vehicle to get Quinn back to Kingsford, and while it did bring some character development for Sawyer the resolution of it just felt odd to me. 

 

Overall it is well written and I definitely don't regret reading it, but I've enjoyed other Monica McCallan books more. 

Love and Cherish is billed as an age gap, but I wouldn't have realized as it's not a major factor in the storyline and isn't addressed by either of the main characters. In my opinion that's not a bad thing as age gap is one of my least favorite tropes, but if you're here for that specifically it's probably not going to scratch that itch.

Cherish and Haylee are both well written, but I did find myself getting a bit annoyed with Haylee's over the top insecurity at times early on in the book. Like girl, chill. There's quite a bit of development, though, and her self-esteem and confidence definitely improves as the book goes on, and I loved her determination. Most of the drama in the relationship is tied to miscommunication (or perhaps more accurately a lack of communication) and Cherish getting stuck in her own head, but I was fairly satisfied with how it worked out in the end.

There aren't a lot of side characters here but they've all got their own distinct personalities and I enjoyed them all. The brothers are both great, I loved Allegra, and I'm definitely looking forward to reading Febe's story when it comes out. The book also gets fairly steamy, with 3-4 nicely done intimate scenes that I quite enjoyed.

I received a free ARC from the author, but my review is unbiased and left voluntarily.

Murder by Rote is the second installment of the Meredith and Alec Thatch Mysteries. This installment has some issues that the first didn't, including a much more convoluted storyline that got bogged down in too many characters. So many, in fact, that at times the wrong person is mentioned, and it just didn't make sense the way the first mystery did.

Normally I'm forgiving of grammar issues and typos in ARCs because those are often caught and corrected before a book is published, but this installment suffers from the same repeated incorrect usage of apostrophes in plural, singular possessive, and plural possessive names that was extremely prevalent in the first, which I read the final published version of. I found it distracting to the point of frustration, and I'm doubtful that I'll continue with the series as a result.

I received a free ARC from StoryOrigin, but my review is unbiased and left voluntarily.

Okay, before we get into the real review, I would like to advise everyone interested in reading False Start to check your triggers, especially those relating to drugs, addiction, and the side effects of detoxing.

Now. Holy crap this is a good book. It is not a happy-go-lucky sapphic romance (although make no mistake, it is certainly a sapphic romance). It is a raw, down and dirty, sometimes ugly, sometime steamy, always realistic take on addiction, grief, and mental health. It's about found family and loving someone despite—or perhaps because of—their imperfections, because let's face it, who among us is perfect? Knox handles this with a deft and gentle hand, and Nia and Cat are so well written that I felt like I really knew them. The side characters are well developed and I felt a connection to virtually everyone who graced the page, and I say this as someone who didn't read Crossed Over, which is part one of this duet, so it can definitely stand on its own.

I had an ARC and I do hope that the published version got one more pass through a proofreader to catch a few things that I noticed, like missing closing quotation marks and a few incorrect words (heckles instead of hackles, too instead of two at one point, that sort of thing), but I'm not dinging this one for that since my copy may not have been the final edit. Honestly, even with that this probably would have stayed a 5-star read for me.

I received a free ARC from BookSirens, but my review is unbiased and left voluntarily.