morganthebee's Reviews (489)

Head Over Heels is the second book in Cassidy Langue's Delmont series and while it could be read as a standalone I wouldn't recommend it here. This one focuses on Josie, who's been in unrequited love with her BFF (Mel from the first book) for years, and Florence, who runs Delmont Hospital. The two are both looking for companionship, and when Josie finds Florence's profile on a dating app they decide to meet up, and the two have instant chemistry.

The story is a mix of fake dating, insta-love (but weirdly slow burn at the same time), with a bit of an age gap, and there's a heavy dose of family mystery/intrigue. There is spice, although less than the previous book and it starts further into the story. I wasn't super impressed by the part of the plot connected with the fake dating, which was a shame because I love a good fake dating story, but the family mystery was interesting if a bit predictable at times.

Head Over Heels was more enjoyable to me than Cast Aside was. I think the plot is better, the characters are stronger and don't have the immaturity I felt in the first book, and the story was just more interesting overall. I definitely plan to continue with the series, assuming (and it's a pretty good assumption) that there will be more.

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

A Hunger Soft and Wild is a fabulous debut novel from Moira Darling. It's a dual POV romance between vampire Aria and mercenary Roan. with a bit of spice late in the game. It jumps into the action right away, then takes us on a slow ride through Aria's healing as the two begin to open up and trust each other, then brings us back into the fray as they run from the vampire enforcers determined to bring Aria back to the clan.

The writing style was right up my alley: flowy and flowery, descriptive and a bit poetic, without being over the top or feeling pretentious, and the editing was super clean, especially for an independently published debut (I usually expect to see more than the handful of errors I did).

I really loved Aria's character, how this "monster" vampire is so caring and gentle. Roan, so prickly on the outside, opened up to Aria and their relationship and desire to protect each other was quite sweet. There aren't many side characters in this story, but I enjoyed Roan's acquaintance/nemesis. I do wish there had been a bit more delving into Aria's past and her clan, and if there was anything more I wanted it was a little more worldbuilding, but it really is a wonderful and well-written story.

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

Love, Unexpected is the final book in the Lighthouse Lovers series, and it wraps things up nicely. The previous books cover the months leading up to Alana's wedding day from the perspective of her friends, and this one takes us from the wedding day forward. 

Of course, things don't go as expected when Alana becomes a runaway bride, escaping to a home that's being remodeled on her family's property. It's there where she meets Harmony, single mom and sexy contractor who is working on the home. Like the other books in the series, the two quickly develop an attraction to each other and things progress from there.

The story itself felt a little disjoined to me, more so than the previous books, and the ending—despite multiple epilogues updating us on where each of the couples are—felt abrupt to me. I wanted to see this one wrap up a bit more before getting to the point of epilogues, but it was a satisfying end to the series regardless.

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

To Be Loved is the third book in the Lighthouse Lovers series, and a bit more serious than the others. Norah, widowed but (unbeknownst to almost anyone else) pregnant through IVF with her husband's baby, is rooming for the summer with Gemma, a traveling nurse and her best friend's college roommate. The two develop a friendship and very quickly start crushing on each other, but Norah is confused by her feelings and is still struggling with grief over the loss of her husband.

Both of the women are really lovely, and Gemma is so gentle with and understanding of Norah. If only we could all find someone like her. I did find this installment to be a bit more dependent on having read the previous books, and there were some grammatical errors that will hopefully be fixed, but overall I really enjoyed it.

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

I've got some mixed feelings about Fevered Strokes. The writing was good and the editing was clean, but the story felt very convoluted and kept looping back on itself. There were quite a few points where it seemed like it was trying veeeeery hard to be pretentiously artsy given the subject. I found it a bit repetitive and there were some things that were just unclear, to the point where I actually wondered if my ARC copy was missing parts of the story. Perhaps it was, I don't know. Do I regret reading it? No. Would I read it again? Also no. 

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

This was my first time reading Ami Spencer's work. I didn't know anything about them going in, but the blurb caught my eye so when I got the opportunity to read it, I took it. The plot is really lovely, with wonderful characters who it's easy to fall for. 

Debs is funny, caring, and loyal, and she does everything she can to build up the people around her and be the best mom she can for her two children. She's never been with a woman before, but she feels drawn to Sienna Daly from the get go. Sienna is kind and gentle, but she's got a lot of trauma hiding under the surface. She doesn't think her crush on the presumably straight Debs is going to go anywhere, but their connection just gets stronger the longer they know each other. Sienna struggles to reconcile the woman Debs sees with the woman she's afraid she is, her self-worth having been destroyed by an emotionally abusive mother. I have to admit that I identified with Sienna much more than I'd like, and there were quite a few scenes that left me in tears.

The other characters are also great, particularly a couple consisting of Debs' two best friends Grace and Mica (who, I take it, are from an earlier book), and Sienna's best friend Max (who I expect we'll get a story for later), although I found myself wishing for more of Sienna's boss, Liz, and a few of the others.

There was a side conflict that didn't make much sense and just felt like filler to me, and there was a pretty big time jump fairly early in the book that I felt took away from the opportunity to show the relationship develop between Debs and Sienna. I also found the writing to be a bit choppy at times, but overall Secure Attachment was a really good read, and I'd definitely recommend checking it out.

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