Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Readability: 📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Humor: A touch
Perspective: Third person perspective from both the hero and heroine (and there’s some time from Harrison and Jane’s POV – they are the mains from book 2, and also Victoria and Lucien who are from book 1)
Cliffhanger: No
Format: borrowed audiobook on Hoopla

Should I read in order?
Yes, you’ll want to read this series in order, especially to get Colin’s full story which starts in book 1 (The Madness of Viscount Atherbourne)

Basic plot:
Sarah needs a fake betrothed for just long enough to get her by – and when she comes across wounded Colin, it’s the perfect opportunity.

Give this a try if you want:
- Regency (1817)
- countryside setting for a lot of the story
- brother of a duke/musician hero
- teacher heroine
- heroine nurses hero back to health
- fake relationship
- marriage of convenience
- escaping a villain
- medium to higher steam – 4 full scenes

My thoughts:
Overall, I didn’t love this one and it’s my least favorite of the series so far.

I knew Colin would be hard to redeem because each book we read in the series seems to bring him to new lows of humanity. You want to believe he really has learned from the past and is going to be a better man but this story just didn’t do his character redemption arc justice in my opinion. I wanted more from his story.

As this one opened, I was thinking it would really be my jam. It had some nursing back to health and proposed fake betrothal. But then it kind of went in a direction I wasn’t expecting and took me away from those themes I love. There was quite a bit of danger/intrigue in this one and I felt like I wanted their relationship to be more of the focus. I felt like we got more relationship focus in the prior ones and in this one I needed even more to get to know and forgive Colin.

I also really disliked that we got time in other character’s heads. I felt like if anyone needed all the page time for redemption, it’s Colin so I didn’t want to be taken from that. I never really understood after the separation why Colin ‘needed’ another fake betrothal from Sarah.


Content warnings:

- harassment/stalker behavior that the heroine suffers while a side character
- torture/violence
- almost carriage accident
- mention of sexual assault of a child (the heroine remembers one of her students being assaulted)
- attempted sexual assault on page

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes: (I might have missed some!)

Safe sex: 

No, but they are married and monogamous 

27% - kiss
67% - 🔥 kisses, fingering for her
82% - 🔥 kisses, fingering for her, missionary
85% - 🔥 pearl necklace play, missionary
98% - 🔥 missionary

Full break down on what my ratings above mean here: 

Overall: How I felt about it everything considered!
Readability: How ‘readable’ was the book? Did I fly through it? Did I have to tell myself to pick it back up repeatedly? Were any passages confusing?
Feels: Totally subjective to each person but did the book give me any tingles? Any butterflies? Did it rip my heart out (in a good way?)
Emotional depth: How well do I feel I know the characters at the end? How much did I feel their emotions throughout the story?
Sexual tension: Again, subjective, but how strong was the wanting and longing to me between the characters? A book might have strong sexual tension without a single touch.
Romance: Was there romance? Did romantic things happen? This can be actions/words/thoughts of the characters and again is subjective.
Sensuality: This is how the intimate scenes are written. Kisses and sexual scenes – how sensual were they? Were they on the mechanical side? Was there emotional pull tied in? Were the details explicit or flowery? These are subjective but generally (1) too short to get a good judgement (2) not all what I'm looking for - very vague or flowery prose (3) either not explicit enough or not enough emotional pull (too mechanical/physically descriptive without the emotions) (4) what I love in a scene (5) absolute perfection - perfect balance of emotional longing and explicit descriptions
Sex Scene Length: How long the bedroom scenes are (generally (1) is 1-3 sentences (2) is a few paragraphs to a page-ish (3) is about average, a few pages (4) more well developed scenes, quite a few pages with descriptions (4) the majority of the book takes place in the bedroom. This is always hard to tell for me on audio!
Steam Scale: Generally, each flame is a scene. If scenes are super close together I sometimes combine them. If a scene is super short or so vague I don’t know what’s happening, I don’t count it. There’s some levels of grey but generally the number of flames is how many sex scenes there are (I max out at 5 so I’ll put a + after if there’s more than that) 

 

Overall: 3.5 rounded to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Plot/Storyline: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋💋
Intimate Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Humor: Yes
Perspective: Third person from both heroes
Cliffhanger: No
Format: audiobook checked out on Hoopla

Should I read in order?
This is the first of The Doomsday Books series.

Basic plot:
Sir Gareth finds a new home when he claims the family title upon his father’s death. He is rather shocked when the local smuggler is the same man he had met in London for a brief affair.

Give this a try if you want:
- Regency (1810)
- Country setting
- mystery to solve
- class difference – Gareth is a baronet and Joss is a smuggler
- found family
- refreshing communication between the mains including apologies
- M/M pairing
- touch of enemies to lovers
- medium to high steam – 4 full scenes (I didn’t count the beginning one because it felt a bit short to me)

Ages:
- Joss is 26, didn’t catch Gareth

My thoughts:
This is my first KJ Charles and I’ll definitely be back for more.

I enjoyed the characters so much. Both Gareth and Joss wove their way into my heart. I adored their relationship. So, so many unexpected sweet scenes between them.

The narrator...I was not in love with. He sounded a bit stilted to me in some parts with unnecessary pauses that I focused on and couldn’t stop. But, his dialogue and voices were fantastic. And I adored the sexy scenes, I thought he did a really great job with the emotions there. It was more the general description scenes I struggled with his speech.

The plot did get a little too much for me about halfway. I felt like I lost the two of them in the immense amount of danger and drama between the two families. But I’m excited to try more.

Overall: ⭐️⭐️
Plot/Storyline: 📖📖
Feels: 🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Humor: Ummm it’s hilariously horrifying
Perspective: Third person perspective from the heroine
Cliffhanger: No
Epilogue: Yes 3 years
Format: voluntarily read an advanced reader copy through NetGalley

Should I read in order?
This is a stand alone novel.

Basic plot:
Tanis loves dinosaurs and can’t wait to escape the farm and her abusive father. Big Al can bring all her dreams to reality...

Give this a try if you want:
- a contemporary-ish/fantasy world where humans and dinos coexist
- dinosaur/human pairing
- shorter novel
- you’re okay with every content warning
- you can’t wait to read phrases like “Big Al’s cylinder of love” and “meaty sauna of his breath”
- medium to high steam – there’s plenty of scenes in a short novel but they are short, not developed and not as explicit as I thought they’d be

Ages:
- Heroine is 17/18

First line:
Tanis climbed onto the biggest barn to watch the dinosaurs.

My thoughts:
I had to try it. This one I regret.

I read it a week or so ago and just went back through to put my notes into review form and realized my brain desperately tried to protect itself and forgot so many details.

I am all for weird stuff but this one was too much for me. The amount of blood making and licking wasn’t sexy like it has been for me in other novels. The plot is like a run on story without closure on so many aspects. There was a ton of sex but none of it actually good. I didn’t care about either character. The writing just didn’t grab me.

BUT I can say I did it. And that deserves some kind of award. I have read 3 of her books now and I actually liked Dino Stud. Triceratops and Bottoms was worse than this one in some ways.

Cock/Hero Stats:

- Our hero is an allosaurus
- 8 feet tall with iridescent feathers
- eyes of a deep green ocean
- cheekbones carved from prehistorical cliffs
- feathers on his head coiffed in a sexy and hip honky-tonk curl
- all dinosaurs have a communication device that allows them to speak telepathically with their humans

Quotes/thoughts:

You know the stories about male writers writing heroines bouncing boobily down the stairs? This screams that to me...

Tanis’ body was tight and lean from seventeen years of working alongside her father and brothers on their farm. Had she grown up in the city around men who were not her family, she might’ve known she was beautiful. She’d inherited her mother’s generous breasts and backside, but hard labour had crystallized her curves, made them more severe and striking.

---
She repeated the name out lout and telepathically. Big Al. It was so beautiful to her. So simple.
 

Content warnings:

- physically abusive family/father
- gunshot wound (heroine’s father tries to shoot Big Al but misses and hits her shoulder)
- amputation – after her father shoots her arm, she lets the dinosaur eat it
- possible feelings of infidelity – Big Al takes Tanis to his dino pod with his other women and goes and humps one in the bushes and then Tanis also has fun with a female there
- harassment/abusive coworkers/attempted sexual assault
- dino boyfriend eating period blood
- slaughterhouse and taking remnants for your dino boyfriend to eat
- murder/death

THESE ARE WORTH READING
Author given content warnings: 

  Dinosaurs, sex, dinosaur sex, ornithoscelidaphobia, fisting, vore, gore, pain, blood, sadism, masochism, captivity, camping, cults, candy, insects, arm trauma, shoulder trauma, amputation, interspecies sex, menstruation, brains, carnivorism, sexism, misogyny, speciesism, classism, ableism, abusive parent, abusive coworker, infidelity, pornography, fire, water, forests, farms, unorthadox use of personal lubricant, implicit and explicit threat of sexual assault, inaccurate dinosaur anatomy, accurate dinosaur anatomy, feathers, Canada, South Dakota, Wal-Mart, cornfields, cow-tipping, barns, pickup trucks, threat of police violence, guns, gunshot wounds, immigration paperwork, portable toilets, decapitation, taffy-pulling, animal slaughter, religion, PTSD, venture capital, vegetables.

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes: I might have missed some but this should give you an idea

 
Safe sex? NOTHING ABOUT THIS BOOK IS SAFE. NOTHING!!! 
9% - Big Al licks her
13% - her on top sex
18% - dinosaur style sex
23% - fingering for Tanis from a woman at the dino pod, oral for Tanis, fisting that leads into a strange 3 some with a female allosaurus that gives Tanis oral while Tanis gives oral to another woman
37% - sex
54% - period oral for her
74% - sex 

 

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Plot/Storyline: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥+
Humor: A bit
Perspective: Third person from both the hero and heroine
Cliffhanger: No
Epilogue: Yes
Format: voluntarily read an advanced reader copy in e-book format

Should I read in order?
Its not necessary to read in order – there’s some character overlap but nothing major. That said I think you’ll get most enjoyment in order as Cara’s character might grow over the series (I have only read books 3 and 4 so far)

Basic plot:
Caraway watches as her whole family is married before her. She has her plans for her childhood crush, but her brother in laws business partner is the one distracting her.

Give this a try if you want:
- Victorian (1874)
- Manchester setting
- avoid the aristocracy – heroine is the daughter of a professor and a botanist and the hero is working class (mill owner)
- full figured heroine
- emotionally damaged hero handles feelings through boxing and bedsport (or the good ‘ole fight or fuck)
- silver fox hero
- age gap (older hero) – hero is 15 years older than the heroine
- compromised heroine
- hero feeds the heroine
- heroine teaches the hero to ice skate
- masquerade
- light touch of love triangle
- higher steam – 7 full scenes

Ages:
- Heroine is 30, hero is 45

First line:
Screams of laughter drifted over the meadow as Caraway Taylor fought her way through the tall grass.

My thoughts:
I dove into the Garden Girls in book 3 so I didn’t read the whole series – but I plan to! I have really been adoring Frost’s characters, especially her super protective and possessive heroes. I love her steamy scenes – they are so emotional and always a mix that I appreciate.

I did struggle just a touch with the pace of this one. Maybe it lost steam a bit for me because of the early-ish marriage and the n they were separated a few times. I’m not sure but parts of this one were a touch slow for me compared with the others I read. Or perhaps it was the love triangle I found tiring. Or the toxic family as I do have a history of that and sometimes find it hard to read.

BUT I still loved so much of this book. Silas was such a great hero – he’s a bit emotionally constipated but I rather loved how he expressed his emotions in the bedroom. Cara was lovely, though a bit naive about Miles – she held onto it a touch too long for me but loved how she confronted him towards the end. Overall Jemma Frost has become an author that I look forward to every release – I definitely plan on going back and reading the ones I missed as well.


Endearments

Hero calls the heroine ‘little Venus’ and ‘sweet girl’ 

Quotes/spoiler-y thoughts:

“He doesn’t deserve your tears.” His large hands circled her upper arms, stroking over the exposed skin. “You’re worth a thousand Miss Bradshaws.”
---
Sweat dripped down his temples at the deliberate effort he made to ensure he didn’t hurt her.
Unable to resist, she brought her hand up to the salty drops and wiped them away, letting her hand wander down his cheek, neck, and torso. The wiry curls intrigued her. They mapped a path down to his groin – a path she wanted to follow.
But Silas grabbed her hand and slammed it against the bedding by her head.
“Don’t do that. I’m already near my breaking point.”
---
“What…” She jerked at the action before turning her head to see him. “Oh, Silas, it’s just you.” Relaxing, her attention refocused on the dance floor, causing his eyes to narrow at the clear dismissal.
“Something, or should I say someone, catch your interest?” He tugged the pearls back further until they reached their limit and gently pushed into Caraway’s neck, eliciting a stuttering breath at the slight pressure.
“Nothing in particular,” she denied unsteadily.
Knowing otherwise, he growled, “Let me remind you, wife, that you’re married to me not Miles Brandon.” She shuddered in front of him as his hand reflexively squeezed the delicate necklace in his hand, urging her deeper into his body.
---
“There’s more to a marriage than physical satisfaction, but I wouldn’t expect you to understand. You think you can force me into affection by demanding it.”
“I shouldn’t have to demand it, dammit. You’re my fucking wife! Mine.”

Content warnings:

- forceful and unwanted kisses from side character
- fire/arson
- toxic family members/remembrance of growing up in an abusive home

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:

 
Safe sex: 

They are married and he agrees to be monogamous with her so no protection used 

 
19% - kiss
25% - kiss
29% - 🔥 fingering for her, missionary (V loss for her) in the bedroom
38% - 🔥 Silas rips her skirt up the bad and makes her hold onto the shelves, fingers her, and fucks her against the bookshelves
46% - Silas puts the pearl necklace inside her and tells her to hold it during the party
47% - 🔥 Sex on a couch
60% - 🔥 her on top at the place where he boxes, then he fucks her against the wooden bench
73% - 🔥 kisses, oral for her, missionary
81% - 🔥 in the bath she washes him then blow job (complete)
96% - 🔥 missionary 

 

Overall: ⭐️⭐️
Plot/Storyline: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥 (if you're generous)
Humor: A bit
Perspective: Third person from both the hero and heroine
Cliffhanger: No
Epilogue: Yes, 7 years in the future
Format: audiobook borrowed from Hoopla

Should I read in order?
Ideally, yes. The family is intertwined in the series and their siblings books. Though I do feel this one stands very well alone. Much of their time is focused together away from the family, and what is with the family is mostly the younger siblings that haven’t had their HEAs yet.

Basic plot:
Sophie has the chance of a lifetime to attend a ball at Bridgerton house and meets her Prince Charming – though they are separated at midnight.

Give this a try if you want:
- Regency (1815/1818)
- London and country setting
- Cinderella retelling
- Class difference – hero is the second son of a Viscount, heroine the bastard daughter of an earl
- Dancing lessons in the moonlight
- Masquerade
- Secret identity
- Heroine nurses hero back to health
- Artist hero
- Emotionally strong hero (hero cries)
- low steam – I count 1 full scene but those generous might count the second too (it fades and isn’t very detailed.)

Ages:
- Hero is 27/30-ish in the various parts, not sure about the heroine but would guess just a bit younger

My thoughts:
Ugh. Ugh. Benedict ruined this book for me. I loved Sophie. I hated Benedict.

The beginning of the book I did like. I enjoyed the whole Cinderella vibe and the sweetness of their meeting. I loved the dancing in the moonlight and all the sweetness. But then, we got to Part II and the rest of the book and we got to know Benedict. And I just couldn’t forgive how annoying he was.

I’m going to get into specifics so marking with a spoiler warning. Please don’t read this if you love Benedict because it will make you hate me 😂

Part II starts with a few years passing and the heroine being harassed and 3 men attempted to sexually assault her.


Benedict groaned. He was too far away to determine if the housemaid was enjoying their attentions. And if she was not, then he was going to have to save her. Which was not how he’d planned to spend his evening. He’d never been particularly enamored with playing the hero.


Wow, Benedict. Glad you care at all about someone being raped by 3 of your acquaintances. Sorry it’s such an inconvenience to you.

The way he basically disregarded what happened to her after the almost assault was gross too. It kind of became a big joke almost to him and the way he nonchalantly mentioned repeated that she was almost raped was just gross. He wasn’t empathetic in away way.

Benedict is obsessed with being seen as ‘more than a Bridgerton’. He mopes around about it, acts super spoiled and whiny and I was disgusted with how much Sophie had to comfort him. Sophie, who actually had gone through trials in life that would make Benedict just die because he’d never be able to hand it. He can’t handle not getting enough attention in a big family so imagine if he actually had to suffer. It was tiring and I was not filled with sympathy.

Benedict also is a jerk about making Sophie his mistress. He wouldn’t take no for an answer. Wouldn’t respect her decision. Wouldn’t marry her because he’s too high and mighty as a Bridgerton to marry Sophie the working class woman. Gross.

When they finally have sex, I was just so icked out the entire experience. The fact that he has to remind himself repeatedly that ‘this is for her’ and not just himself. The fact that he tells her there’s NO WAY for it not to hurt. How about you spend some fucking time getting her turned on? How about you think about her? How about you take your time? How about you respect her? I am SHOCKED she had an orgasm from this experience. I’m convinced she faked it because Benedict was so pathetic she felt bad for him and his ego couldn’t handle that he was bad in bed too. ”You need to tell me to stop now. Not in ten minutes, not in one.” I get it….he is so in love with her he just can’t control himself. And I LOVE lack of control like in the hero. I love when they want the heroine so damn bad. But here it was just more disappointing Benedict behavior. She was touched he would even ask. SHE WAS TOUCHED HE WOULD EVEN ASK!!!! Poor Sophie, who has been pooed on by everyone her whole life is touched Benedict isn’t raping her because he expectations are so low. She deserves a true prince charming. This is not it, Sophie!!!

And the entire ending how he was SO MAD at Sophie that she was the girl from the ball. Excuse me??? I’m fucking mad at you that you didn’t recognize her when you saw her again. That’s on YOU. I just feel like Benedict comes off as fragile, selfish and whiny and I hate him. I will love his tv version so much more than this book. It’s not possible for me to dislike book Benedict more.

Content warnings:

- abusive family/physical abuse of the heroine by her step mother
- attempted sexual assault
- heroine faces hanging for theft

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:

 
15% - kiss
32% - kiss while he’s deliriously sick
44% - kiss
58% - kiss
63% - kisses, fingering for her, missionary
92% - missionary? It kind of fades and doesn’t have a lot of details 

 

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Plot/Storyline: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥 (I think there’s some implied bedroom action?)
Humor: Yes
Perspective: third person from the hero mostly, email perspective from the heroine with her emails back and forth with her friend, (maybe a bit more from her at the end?)
Cliffhanger: No
Epilogue: I don’t recall one but I listened to audio and already returned it!
Format: audiobook checked out through my library’s Libby app

Should I read in order?
I believe this is a stand alone?

Basic plot:
Lincoln is an internet security officer and ends up reading way too many emails from Beth. So many, he gets feelings, but how can he act on them?

Give this a try if you want:
- contemporary romance-ish (much of the book reads more like fiction with plenty of focus on the character’s pasts)
- I put contemporary but is 24 years ago considered historical yet??? lol this takes place during the Y2K scare of 1999/2000
- low to no steam – there’s some mention towards the end but nothing I’d count or remember
- work place romance-ish
- lots of shorter chapters (80-90 chapters!)
- midwest setting


Ages:
- I believe both mains are in their late 20s


My thoughts:
I picked up this book as a read along I saw on instagram (from Becky Banks!) - I was eager to try something I might not usually pick up.

This book did have some cute parts in it. I didn’t hate it. But I didn’t love it either. I chose the audio and the voices for Beth and Jennifer were very similar and I’ll be honest I kept getting mixed up on who was who and who had a boyfriend and who was pregnant lol. So that made it harder at first to really get to know the heroine. I think this wouldn’t have been a problem reading it – the email form the way it flowed back and forth just made it hard to tell on audio who was who.

I was REALLY disappointed in the fact that anything between the hero and heroine was crammed at the very end. I think we were at 80% and they still haven’t even MET? Or talked? Or really seen each other??? So strange for me and why I hesitate to even call this a romance.

I can see why this book rubs some people the wrong way. The hero is a bit stalker-y. But I am able to forgive that stuff because (1) I love toxic behavior in fiction (2) the hero confessed his behavior and completely left it up to the heroine to decide what to do. I can forgive that – I think if we know what the person is thinking and feeling we should be okay to support their choices.

I could have definitely used more interaction between the two main people (this was really a story about Lincoln’s life), more steam, more time with them together at the end...I’m not sure if I would read another Rainbow Rowell because she might not be for me but I’m happy to have tried this book and gotten out of my comfort zone of normal reads.

Content warnings:

- feelings of infidelity – Beth has a boyfriend but still is attracted to and follows another man, hero remembers his high school girl friend cheating on him
- talk of unwanted pregnancy
- some cringey language/insults used and some outdated lingo – jokes about fetal alcohol syndrome, gypsy used, indian style used, retarded used as an insult
- miscarriage
- bad break up on page
- stalker-ish behavior

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:

 
Some mention of being together at the end. I didn’t note it, it was vague. 

 

Overall: 3.5 rounded to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Plot/Storyline: 📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋 (she’s explicit but also a touch flowery in her prose in this one)
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥
Humor: A bit
Perspective: Third person from both the hero and heroine
Cliffhanger: No
Epilogue: Yes, it’s not labeled but the last chapter is 2 weeks later.
Format: voluntarily read an advanced reader copy through NetGalley in e-book form that I’ve let languish on unread on my kindle for years...

Should I read in order?
This is book 4 of Midnight Secrets series, but I found it decent as a stand alone. Perhaps there’s some character depth added for these characters in the prior books of the series – let me know if that’s so :)

Basic plot:
Jonathan is attempting to jump through all the hoops of his father’s will to get his inheritance when he meets Lady Caroline Nicholson...

Give this a try if you want:
- London and country setting
- light touch of age gap (older hero) – it’s not drastic for HR (10 years) but it’s commented on
- house party!
- slowish burn
- bit of a mystery
- masquerade
- low to medium steam – 2 full scenes

Ages:
- Hero is 32, heroine is 22

First line:
William Cromford, Earl of Lindsey, was laughing in his grave.

My thoughts:
There was so, so much I really loved about this book. So many of my favorite plot devices, tropes, and feels. But, ultimately this book didn’t go quite as far with as I wanted and I just wanted a bit more from it. It just didn’t feel totally complete by the ending for me.

Jonathan is still under his cold father’s thumb from the grave as he tries to fulfill the requirements of his inheritance. He has not thoughts of marriage or commitment until he meets Caroline – I really loved being in his head so much and watching him fall for her. Caroline I really enjoyed too. She’s cautious of Jonathan because she knows he’s a rake and shes interested in marriage.

The thing I loved most about this book was the sweetness of it. It had a lot of scenes that melted my heart with little things I love – dancing together, little touches, clandestine meetings, all wrapped in the uncertainty of a blossoming attraction. Even though there were some mystery elements going on, I felt like they still spent a decent amount of time together (though, I wanted longer discussions between them. It seemed they would meet for short bursts of time for most of the book). There is a strong theme of the hero just finding the heroine utterly precious – he thinks it all the time and treats her as though she’s precious (though that includes the classic ‘shes too good for me’ distancing himself). And I just ADORED that.

I think in the latter half I started feeling like we were having the same interactions with Jonathan and Caroline and I wanted things to progress either faster, or something different to happen between them. This book had some great potential to me and I’m definitely eager to try more from Bryant because I think I will find one that I really love.

Quotes/spoiler-y thoughts:

She hadn’t look up yet, seemingly focused on the ruby pinned through his cravat, though her chin angled at a taunting slant he found tempting. He’d like to take a bite of that chin.
---
Her cheeks bloomed with a soft rose color that somehow caused him to feel overheated. She was far too tempting to be flittering about a social event without a gentleman on her arm. Where was her father or brother? Precious treasures need always be protected, or they could be stolen without thought.
---
More.
It was a litany in his brain demanding attention, but Lindsey forced himself to ignore it, the lady in his arms too innocent, far too precious. Unfortunately, it was replaced by a word much more lethal.
Mine.
---
He knew it was wrong.
She was a young idealistic debutante in want of a staid husband and secure future, and he had nothing to offer on either account.
But it was only a kiss.
One kiss in the dark.
One kiss.
Just one.
---
“Caroline,” he murmured against her mouth, and deepened the kiss with matched sensual pressure as he cupped her breast. He held her that way, his palm against her heartbeat, and she trembled beneath his caress. “You’re so very precious.”
---
He shifted, lowering her gently so she aligned with the purfled pillows at her back, and then leaned in without breaking the hold of her eyes, sharp with curiosity and wondrous just the same.
He was done for.
Rubbish.
A besotted fool.
---
“What are we?”
Silence answered her question, the definition of their relationship still mutable. He wanted her. That much he knew. Despite their age difference. Despite his impending financial crisis and conditions of inheritance. Or her health concerns. Despite it all, he knew one thing with certainty.
“We are...inevitable.”
---
“I can’t marry you, but I have no regrets. I will always remember you. You are my first -”
“I am your last.” He pulled forward, his words vehement as his mouth claimed hers. “I am your only.”
 

Content warnings:

- Heroine was hurt from a horse accident and may not be able to have children.
- Some brief scenes of fox hunting
- Remembrances of an abusive father
- Mention of blackmail, art forgery

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:

 
Safe sex: 

No but they are committed (not married)

 
4% - hero kisses and touches another woman (he’s doing purposefully to get something he wants, he doesn’t have feelings for her) while the heroine watches
24% - kiss
38% - kiss
56% - kiss
68% - kiss
71% - kisses, fingering for her
86% - kisses, her on top
100% - implied scene 

 

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Plot/Storyline: 📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥
Humor: Come on, the whole thing is funny
Perspective: Third person perspective from the heroine
Cliffhanger: No
Epilogue: No
Format: voluntarily read an advanced reader copy through NetGalley

Should I read in order?
This stands alone fine.

Basic plot:
Tallulah is overjoyed when she gets a summer job at Dino Ranch

Give this a try if you want:
- Futuristic dinosaur Earth setting in Missouri
- paleontology student heroine
- LGBT positive
- shorter novel
- Average steam – 1 full scene in a shorter page count
- presumed dead


Ages:
- Heroine is 25, didn’t see hero’s age

First line:
Tallulah finally found the Ranch on her fifth day in Independence, Missouri, after four days of odd glances and raised eyebrows when she asked where it was.

My thoughts:
So, on goodreads there’s a note “The newest novel in Lola Faust’s Dinosaur Erotica line” but this one I would not say is erotica at all. There’s 1 sex scene and it’s pretty vague and it reads as a standard romance – there’s not much focus on the sex at all and it’s definitely not about the sex journey. Perhaps her novel Triceratops and Bottoms would count in that category but I wouldn’t count this one!

Okay! I know this book is absurd and the whole plot is barely held together. But I have to admit I kind of liked this one! I think reading Triceratops and Bottoms first REALLY lowered my expectations for her (I found that one almost unreadable). I just felt like this one flowed way better. I just liked it okay?!?!?! Don’t judge me!!!

It’s a short novel but I found it a ridiculous, fun read that broke up some of my heavier novels. 

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Plot/Storyline: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥
Humor: A touch
Perspective: Third person from both the hero and heroine
Cliffhanger: No (though the overlying story continues through the whole series – characters stories are established and grown in each book)
Epilogue: Yes, but it focuses on Harrison, the hero from the next book (Book 2 - The Truth about Cads and Dukes)
Format: audiobook checked out on Hoopla

Should I read in order?
You can read the prequel novella (Ever Yours, Annabelle) and you SHOULD because it’s one of my FAVORITE BOOKS….but not totally necessary.

Basic plot:
Lucien is determined to see revenge against Blackmore and sees the perfect opportunity in his sister, the Flower of Blackmore.

Give this a try if you want:
- Regency time period (1816)
- London setting
- ruined heroine
- revenge – hero wants revenge against the heroine’s brother
- plenty of angst
- bit of an antihero
- instalust
- you’re okay with a hero that can be a bit of a controlling jerk
- possessive, jealous hero
- medium steam – I have this at 3 full scenes and concentrated in the first half of the book. I could have missed something in the latter half of the book (I don’t do as well taking notes on audio)

First line
As the heat of her bath soaked into Marissa Wyatt's Skin, a single thought drifted through her mind, the words like acid dripping a constant stream.

My thoughts:
I enjoyed a lot about this one but I read it directly after Ever Yours, Annabelle, which I really REALLY loved. Like, one of my favorite books ever probably, I adored it so much. So this one had a lot to live up to and there were a few things I wasn’t a huge fan of so it didn’t get quite to 5 stars for me.

Overall this has a lot I love in romance. Compromised heroine is my jam. Revenge plot between the hero and the heroine’s family? Yes, please. I loved the characters and ate up the angst.

I struggled a touch with how Lucien and Victoria feel into lust so quickly. I like a tension buildup and just felt in minimally here. But what really made me struggle with this one compared to the prequel novel, is how they continued to have sex without the emotional aspect. Victoria would be hurt by him, angry with him and still submit to him and it just felt missing a little something for me.

I also got a little annoyed at the end how Lucien totally shut down and Victoria had to put in most of the effort to salvaging the relationship. I think it fit with the plot and Lucien’s prior problems, but I think it just drug on a touch too long for me, personally.

Still, I adored a lot about this one and loved how angsty their ending was. Lots of emotional focus. Also now I am starting to see why everyone complained that Colin couldn’t really recover as a hero from his previous actions...

Quotes/spoiler-y thoughts: Taken from audio, any mistakes are my own

When he spoke again, his voice was dark and faintly raspy.
“You are my wife. We will share one bed so I may have you whenever I desire.”
“But Lucien, I -”
“Victoria.”
“Yes?”
“Be quite, so I may kiss you.”
---
“I would do anything for you, Victoria,” he rasped. “For your happiness. Anything. I would swim until I drowned. Walk until no ground remained. You asked once if you matter to me at all? The answer is this. You are the only thing that matters.”

 

Content warnings:

- Grief over family multiple family member’s death
- Duel fought resulting in death
- Suicide of a pregnant side character due to ruination
- possible feelings of infidelity – heroine kisses the hero while shes engaged to someone else. He pushes her to do so and she’s not happy in the engagement

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes: I felt like there was more than this? I could have missed some.

 
Safe sex: 

I don’t believe so but they are married a monogamous 

 
7% - kisses, breast play
33% - 🔥 fingering/oral for her
42% - kiss
44% - 🔥 her on top
58% - 🔥 kisses and fingering at the theater, then blow job (incomplete) and missionary-ish in the carriage 

 

Overall: 3.5 rounded to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Plot/Storyline: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥
Humor: Yes
Perspective: Third person from the hero and heroine
Cliffhanger: No
Epilogue: Yes, 3 weeks later
Format: voluntarily read an advanced reader copy through Netgalley

Should I read in order?
I picked his one up alone and thought it was fine, BUT the first book (The Boxing Baroness) does establish the girls friendships and the circus (I have heard)

Basic plot:
Cecile runs a successful circus, and when Guy loses everything, he tries to make amends with his lost love, even if that means working for her.

Give this a try if you want:
- Regency time period (1816)
- London setting
- second chance romance
- circus performer and sharp shooter heroine
- found family
- child in the story
- LGBT positive
- Duke turned commoner hero
- You don’t mind some time jumps to get the full story (it’s not overwhelmingly back and forth – more of a prologue, present day, past, then present day again)
- work place romance- ish??
- touch of other man jealousy
- experienced heroine – she’s had affairs and knows what she likes
- mains in their 30s
- medium steam – 3 full scenes (I might be off?) with some very light praise kink

Ages:
- Heroine is around 36, hero is 32

First line:
”Manon Cecile Tremblay Blanchet!” Michael Blanchet hissed.

My thoughts:
So I thought this book was really unique! I liked a lot of the plot line and the characters.

Cecile is very independent, spunky, strong and brave and I enjoyed her quite a bit. She runs an all female circus which I thought was a different career for a Regency woman. She does have a bit of emotional constipation when it comes to Guy but I liked the way they worked it out by the end.

Guy is a duke but finds out who likes him and who likes his title when he loses and becomes a plain mister. He can’t get Cecile out of his mind and when he returns to her, they have some explosive interactions.

I do struggle with second chance. Many times the tension is all fizzled by the time the reader arrives and I’m left with the relationship turmoil that I didn’t get the build up to it. I did like how this one played out in that we were given the past towards the beginning of the story and I wasn’t left wondering. But still….I felt like I was missing all my favorite parts of romance.

There is quite a bit of enemies to lovers feel from Cecile towards Guy. Guy ended the affair badly and Cecile makes him pay for it by being the butt of her jokes in the circus and cleaning all the poop. I haven’t been in love with enemies to lovers lately either because the animosity doesn’t give me feels like it does for some others.

There are also a ton of side characters in this one, which did enhance the story – they really were delightful – but combined with the other things, I just wanted more for their relationship on page. All that is just what I prefer in romance and I don’t think it will bother most others.

Quotes/spoiler-y thoughts:

Cecile whimpered at the loss of him.
“Don’t be greedy,” he murmured. “I need my other hand, but you’ve got two that are doing nothing. Play with yourself for me, darling.”
---
She gloried in the sensation of being filled and stretched, grinding hard against his hand as she gorged on his muscular torso and the way his biceps bulged as he pleasured her.
“Yes, that’s my good girl,” he said, meeting her thrust for thrust. “Use me hard and make yourself com.”
 

Content warnings:

   
- Mention of affairs – the heroine had an affair with her married cousin when she was young (17/18)
- Abusive, toxic family members
- Reign of Terror as a child
- Death of a parent on page
- Marriage of a child (without consummation) heroine is 14
- Scenes of death and terror in a storm in a small boat
- Attempted sexual assault on page
- Gunshot wound on page
- Mention of plantation owners on an island off the coast of africa

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:

Safe sex: 

No but after sex where he blew it in her, she said she would take care that there were no reminders (children)

 
28% - 🔥blowjob (incomplete), her on top
78% - kisses
82% - 🔥kisses, breast play, fingering for her, her on top
85% - 🔥oral for her, missionary