Another wonderful read from the equally wonderful Mrs. Bev. This friends to lover forced marriage of convenience started out in a whirlwind but quickly blossomed into a love between Jewel and Eli. I loved the small town of Grayson Grove as so much too and would love to visit there and see all these quirky townspeople. Honestly I so so entrenched that I had forgotten Cecile when she showed up and knew that she was no threat to them at all.

And of course, as always, there is a nice dose of history in this story with a bibliography to back it up. You don't need to read Vivid before this one but you still should because it's equally as amazing.

Full disclosure; I've never read Jane Eyre. I'm not really a fan of that Gothic style of romance as I hated Wuthering Heights. But the preview of this book caught my eye and so I decided to give it a try.

And I was not disappointed.

This book was so twisty, banana pants crazy. It kept up a good pace for a majority of the book and then it took off like a rocket and never let up. You never knew who you could trust in this book as everyone you met was suspect. This was enhanced by the fact we knew about the upstairs wife early on.

Whether or not you're a fan of Jane Eyre, I would recommend this book since it is very entertaining.

I received a free e-ARC for an honest review

This was a fairly enjoyable story. I enjoyed that both of them were grumpy as opposed to the typical combination of one being grumpy and one being sunshine. These two men were just cranky and what had initially started out as a "Frenemies with Benefits" grew first to a employer/employee relationship and then more. It was a slow burn in that regard since they had sex fairly early on and I did appreciate that sot of relationship in reverse approach.

That said there were some moments where seeing thing from Oscar's point of view became tedious. I understand that he had anxiety and he admitted that honestly throughout his narration and, from my limited knowledge of that, it seemed accurate enough. Still, there were a few moments that left you feeling frustrated, even with knowing that. It would have been nice to see things from Jack's point of view occasionally, even if it was every few chapters or so.

I did appreciate how their friends didn't expect Oscar to be fixed or okay. In fact, they were present and supportive without being overly smothering. And they did respect his wishes when he wanted to be left alone, and periodically checked in on him just to make sure he was okay. It was also nice to see how, even when he was being super grumpy, you could see when Jack was supportive of him and the progress he made with his anxiety.

This was an HFN ending, which honestly seemed more realistic based on how the story started. They were still happy with each other and the way their relationship worked, and their friends were supportive. of it. I would recommend this book if you're looking for a M/M with two grumps that ends realistically. It's not what I would call a warm hug but it is still a sweet book.

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Well the first thing I will say right off the bat is that this book lives up to the title. Slaughter is the only applicable thing for happened here. It read very much like a slasher movie only more in the Eli Roth vein with the sheer violence, gore, and mostly unlikeable characters.

The set-up is typical. Various groups of people head to a remote cabin for different reasons and meet up with a cannibal. Murder spree ensues. Ambiguous ending as to fate of the killer and the survivors. That said it is darker and more gory than others I've read, like Kill River. And it goes into fairly graphic detail with regards to the cannibalism. So if that is not your thing then you may want to skip this one.

One thing I didn't enjoy was the representation of the killer and that is what knocked off a star. They were obviously written to be neuro-atypical but the execution was, bluntly put. poorly done. It read very much like what you would expect in the early nineties when not a lot was known about that and was full of clichés. The constant reference to his mom calling him a special boy was a clear nod to Jason as well as another aspect of the story which I won't go into as it would be a spoiler. But all of it didn't sit well with me. It just didn't sit well with me and I feel it could have used a sensitivity reader or it would have been better to have a cliched neuro-typical killer.

Overall it was an okay read. It was engaging enough. While I feel the set up was a bit too much and too drawn out, when the action (meaning killing spree) started it kept at a fairly steady pace. However, it is a slasher book which means that there are not going to be a lot of survivors and it may not be who you expect. If you like horror novels and movies, then it will be right up your alley but be mindful with all the warnings given here before you do.

This was such a sweet wonderful read. I loved everything about it. From the misunderstanding, which happened in the prologue and was a nice change, to the flirting, to the meddling aunties and well-meaning protective cousins, sibling rivalries that ended up being easily dismissed when it actually mattered...oh my goodness this book had it all.

Family played a huge part in this and I loved that. I loved how well knit together Daisy's family was. I loved how crazy Liam's family was. I loved that everyone had a growing moment, or more, in the book that lead to understanding with their respective families. The love story was great too but I really felt that the touch of the familial drama added an extra layer to this book.

And there were more than a few moments where I teared up at the utter emotion on the pages. It was, simply put, beautiful. I feel like I need to go back and read Layla's story so I can read some of these characters again.

I really enjoyed this book and found it very amusing and engaging. I resonated with a lot of the experiences that Lindy did and laughed out loud multiple times. Sometimes the chapters seemed to have too much of a story in them and they didn't all relate. But it was still a good read and West is hilarious. I appreciated her gallows humor, since it's something I have as well. I will definitely pick up others by this author.

Oh. Em. Gee. This book was everything I wanted and more for the conclusion to the Brown sisters and their respective stories.

I loved the sweet and also steamy (because it's Talia come on) build up between Jacob and Eve. This was one of the more balanced grumpy/sunshine romances I've read and I loved how, even before they started to acknowledge that they liked each other, the way they recognized and adjusted to each others quirks. From Eve realizing how to speak to Jacob and Jacob filling in the words Eve was trying to find when she spoke. Just...everything about this was as sweet as one of Eve's cakes.

Highly recommend this entire series since it's fantastic. I loved every one of the characters, even their parents because I could see how they were trying to be the best parent to their respective children. Everything ended as I wanted it to.

This was a super sweet romance. I loved the gruff exterior of Phil and Tyson's optimistic nature. They balanced each other out for a May/December and grump/sunshine combo story. I found that their relationship online developed online in a believable manner and when it blossomed into a fill romance.

I also like how the third act miscommunication wasn't drawn out and was resolved believably. It was nice to have background characters cheering on the romance as well. Highly recommend this and will be reading the next one shortly.

Another winner from Talia! This was a sweet story with surprisingly steamy scenes interjected. It was a bit more fast paced than I am use to from her, but I also want to say this was one of her first novels so that makes sense. All of her trademarks were still apparent including flawed characters, a strong loving understanding and relationship between the two, and multiple levels of representation.

This was an enjoyable story that I flew through fairly quick. I enjoyed the back and forth between the past and the present as the story unfolded. The twist to the betrayal was fairly obvious even if the specifics were not but that didn't mean I didn't enjoy the ride.

I feel the author did a good job of differentiating the women's voices when we were in their perspective. Very rarely did I forget whose chapter we were on. Each one had their own journey of realizing that what they thought they wanted when they were younger may not be true now and that's really never to late to change course or try again.

That said, it was really hard for me to read Regina's chapters and I didn't like how we opened and closed with her. I understand the reason for her anger even if I feel it is not justified. To go into it too much would be spoiler territory but she was honestly mad at the wrong person for 10 years for the wrong reasons. She read as a spiteful person and I feel that she didn't get near enough of the clapback that she deserved.

My favorite character was Sophie. I appreciated how strong she was and how unique she was in that she was never an official Army wife. That didn't make her any less important but it showed that she had a different brand of independence then the other two. I resonated more with her journey than anything else since I see myself wanting to be like her once my kiddo is off in the real world on his own.

I didn't agree with Adelaide's reasoning for a lot of her choices but I did sympathize with her on a lot of things. She di the best with what she could and her brand of controlling was her way of coping. She's my second favorite character, topping Regina who, again, I very rarely connected with during the entire book and it was more on how she treated her friends after "The Fight".

This is a good beach read or enjoyable way to pass the weekend. I would recommend and re-read this even knowing everything and even Regina's chapters. Who knows maybe next read I'll have more sympathy for her.