So I just started smack in the middle of this series apparently, but it did truly work as a standalone. The narration was a little stilted to start, but found its groove, and overall this ended up being a lot of smutty fun with a surprise bit of plot in the middle! OV isn’t usually my jam but it worked in the universe here. I’ll definitely check out more of this series.

DNF at 59%. I just got bored, honestly. The guys absolutely were completely interchangeable and indistinguishable from one another. One was an artist… maybe? (They were such nonentities that I pretty sure that one of them still hasn’t banged her at this point.) Also there was a lot of rich people problems I couldn’t be bothered with on their parts. Ocean had potential as a plus-size FMC… if that wasn’t her entire personality. That and downplaying the actual abuse she went through even while she’s actively traumatized about it. But even that just wasn’t that interesting. Her aunt and uncle are basically mustache-twirling cartoon villains with no motivation that we can see.

Update: I skimmed the ending. The corporate espionage plot was absolute gobbledygook that I still don’t care about. And the stupid trust until she’s 35 didn’t set off any alarms for anyone other than her brilliant alpha husbands? I call shenanigans. It was almost nice to see her aunt get her comeuppance, but it was ruined by how cartoony it was. “I’m melting, MELTING!” Now I’m just mad at this book and dropping it to one-star. Disappointing cause I really did like the other Sinclair book I read.

God, I was so excited about this one, I got worried it wasn’t going to live up to my expectations, but it absolutely did! It was so wonderful to dive in further with these characters we already knew on a surface level, but really finding out what makes them tick. Poppy’s stupid family made me want to rage so hard, Novy’s covering for his internal trauma was next level, and Colton had a whole medical history we had no idea about previously, and all these factors contributed to the plot and their relationship beautifully.

My only true quibble with the story was how it fit into the previous two books. It felt like we had these glimpses of their relationship, and those moments ended up being less significant than we were led to believe— particularly Poppy coming clean to Rachel and Tess almost seemed completely out of place with where their relationship was at that point. A lot of the parts I was waiting for seemed like they came later in the narrative than they should have.

Overall, this was gorgeous, fun, dirty as hell in the best ways, and EMOTIONAL. I didn’t cry, but goddamn it was close. I knew we were coming to an HEA, but I did genuinely worry for a hot second! Absolutely lovely and I can’t wait for more of this team.

Ok, this was SO good. Just an absolutely delightful romp, with two grumpy MCs and a solid mystery they need to solve— using their fake engagement! So many good tropes in here, including just one bed, just one horse, possessive hero, self-rescuing heroine, fighting as foreplay. And I think this might be my favorite Minotaur romance I’ve read since Morning Glory Milking Farm! Zarias was just easy to fall in love with, uptight for reasons but sarcastic and sexy. And I loved that he didn’t stand in Sorcha’s way when she could handle things.

This was so seriously gorgeous. I actually had big reservations going into this book because the content warnings kept on about how dark it is with stalking, etc. So all the stalking is role play, and the kinks are dark, but the romance is NOT. Max and Mona could not be sweeter together if they tried… they just also like it super dirty. Loved that they each had their own issues in the relationship as well, but none of it tied into their kinks, except to bolster their confidences. I am so over characters with issues and that’s why they’re kinky. Plus Mona’s depression and insecurities could have gotten real old real fast, and while the latter was frustrating (and we were sort of left without a real explanation other that she’s fat), it played in at the primest of moments, keeping the conflict going. I loved this one and the side characters sold me even more to pick up the other books in this series.