Overall: 4.5 rounded to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Plot/Storyline: 📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Humor: A bit
Perspective: First person from alternating hero and heroine focused chapters
Cliffhanger: Yes

The hero and heroine have a fight and the heroine is kidnapped 

Epilogue: No
Format: voluntarily read an advanced review copy in e-book form

Should I read in order?
The series should be read in order as this does end on a cliffhanger, but this is the first book in Harlow’s Shadowing Jane series.

Basic plot:
Samuel is back in the city and has the most tempting neighbor. She has no idea he’s a vampire, of course, and that’s how it needs to stay...until she needs help and his unnatural powers are seen.

Give this a try if you want:
- Paranormal romance in contemporary time period (vampires and humans)
- New York city setting until they are in hiding
- vampire hero/human heroine
- full figured heroine
- on the run
- protective, dirty talking hero
- 

celibate hero 

  It’s been 30 years! It’s also been 6 months for the heroine 

 
- higher steam – 5 full scenes with some good tension building in the beginning

Ages:
- Hero is 194 years, heroine 22

First lines:
”You’re obligated to be here, Samuel.”
Rune watches me from his seat across the room, a brandy in one hand a girl’s wrist in the other. He smiles, teeth gleaming red beneath the blue light.

My thoughts:
I haven’t read a vampire hero in forever and I found this one really fun!

This is on me because I don’t really look at a book synopsis before diving in but I didn’t realize this was going to be a multi-book story. So parts of the story did feel a bit slow to me and I wasn’t sure how things would be resolved in the amount of pages. But once I saw it was continuing (not sure how many books the series will be) then I was able to settle into it more.

I love protective heroes that are all in from pretty much the get-go and I found that here with Samuel. Being neighbors gave them lots of opportunities to be near each other, and once he decides to take her on the run to keep her save, there was tons of delicious forced proximity that I adored.

We don’t get a ton of background yet for Samuel (I’m sure more is coming in later books) but just enough to have you fall in love with him and be curious about more of his past. I loved how romantic he was, from requesting wine and two glasses before he even knew Jane to all the things he does throughout the story.

Jane works the overnight shift at a coffee place and is trying to recover from a stalker/harassing customer. I really loved Jane’s character, adored the plus sized rep! I do think she’s being a bit naive about some of the vampire related things going on, but I’m hopeful for more from her character in the next book.

The steam to me was great. I loved the build up of tension in the beginning of the book and some really sweet and steamy scenes happened. Samuel is a romantic at heart and he’s so in love with Jane I couldn’t help but swoon!

Brenna Harlow is officially on my watch list for PNR authors 😉

Cock/Hero Stats:

- Samual is a vampire
- He has strong hearing and can hear the heroine masturbating repeatedly in the apartment next door and hear heartbeats inside buildings
- Their bites have venom and seem to give victims a sense of euphoria and confusion
- Fangs can retract
- They don’t burn in the sun but extremely sleepy and lethargic
- Super strength like being able to jump off buildings without injury and crash through walls easily
- Eyes flash/change to red
- Alcohol doesn’t affect them
- Cock is girthy! :)

Quotes/thoughts:

“If I leave you here, alive and aware of who I am, you’ll be hunted and killed. They’ll show neither of us mercy.” His voice doesn’t rise above normal, but even so, I flinch.
He stands, not hesitating to close the space between us. His lean, muscular body hovers over the bed, face dropping until it’s inches away from mine.
“So, you’re leaving with me, Jane. Understand?”
---
His hand moves up my inner thigh, leaving goosebumps in its wake. He rubs his finger through my slickness, wetting them. “Is this better than the vibrator? You think I can make you come just as hard?”
---
“All I ask is that you keep being this tender with me, and I’ll be yours.” I close my eyes, breathing in his scent.
“Oh, my sweetness.” Sam presses his lips against mine, kissing me softly.
“You already are.”
 

Nicknames/Terms of Endearment:
 

Heroine: Sweet Jane, sweet girl, baby girl, princess 

Content warnings:

Sexual harassment of heroine by a side character and stalker behavior
Remembered death/death scenes and gore on page
Threatening with a gun

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:

 
Safe sex?

  No – but he’s a vampire??

 
10% - implied heroine masturbation (fades) Jane’s POV
11% - implied hero masturbation (fades) Samual’s POV
20% - heroine masturbation (fades) Janes POV
49% - kiss
65% - 🔥 oral for her, blow job that he stops before completion so he doesn’t lose control and bite her - Janes POV
73% - 🔥 fingering/oral for her, missionary with a bite – Sam’s POV
78% - 🔥 missionary – Janes POV
83% - 🔥 kisses, her on top on the couch, Sam drinks from her, and brings her to the porch where he fucks her against the railing – Janes POV
91% - 🔥 oral/fingering for her in front of the fire, then pillow under her hips – Jane’s POV 

 

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Plot/Storyline: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥🔥 (This is generous. The scenes are not overly long or super explicit)
Humor: A touch but overall I found this book has a somber feel
Perspective: Third person from both the hero and the heroine (lots from the hero!)
Cliffhanger: No
Epilogue: Yes, 6 months later
Reading Format: voluntarily read an advanced reader copy in e-book format

Should I read in order?
You could, but it’s not necessary. Cameron is our hero in this book and his sister, Jane, was the heroine in book 1. The romance and story do stand well alone though as there is not a lot of character overlap for either story.

Basic plot:
Cameron Dunn washes up on the shore in the Yucatan Peninsula and is begrudgingly rescued by Letty, who has greater priorities.

Give this a try if you want:
- Late Georgian time period (1824), but as this is the Yucatan Peninsula, I think it was the First Mexican Republic? (feel free to educate me, I know hardly anything about this area!)
- Yucatan Peninsula/London/Scotland settings (about half in Yucatan and the rest split)
- Scottish, red haired, Earl hero
- Maya, smuggler heroine
- Heroine nurses hero back to health AND hero nurses heroine back to health
- Skinny dipping
- LGBT positive

gay couples as side characters 

- bit of instalust – 

they don’t dive into it right away, the heroine holds him at arms length, but they don’t spend much time together before being intimate 

- asthma rep (hero)
- both virgins!
- touch of reverse grump/sunshine
- Medium to high steam – there are 4 full scenes. Mayberry’s prose leans towards the poetic and emotional versus explicit in some scenes.

First lines:
”SENORS! Ojo!” The pilot’s black hair whipped in the wind. His hand shook as he pointed at something beyond Cameron. Something out to sea.

My thoughts:
Ohh this book! It put me through the wringer. I am really enjoying the unique voice of Mayberry. Her characters, settings, and situations never go quite where I expect them to, and the emotional aspect is everything I crave in a romance.

This book has a bit of a reverse sunshine and grump feel, though fitting the dynamic relationship and characters in this book into that trope doesn’t explain it at all. Both were so unique and unlike any characters I have ever read before.

Cameron is just the sweetest man. He’s an Earl in Scotland that has ended up on the Yucatan. He knows he’s a good person and believes he is doing the best he can for everyone in his life. He’s positive, sweet, caring and protective but doesn’t realize protecting someone from everything can be suffocating and restrictive. His relationship with Letty opens his eyes to so much and his growth was really touching throughout the novel.

Letty is a hard character to love. She bucks every stereotypical romance heroine description. She is very closed off and protects her heart, even from her family. She really tore my (and Cameron’s!) heart out a few times and I’m still not sure I fully love her, but the epilogue placated me quite a bit. But even with those feelings, I have such respect for her. Bravo, Louise, for telling Letty’s story. Letty has one of those personalities that thinks they have to do everything themselves and the weight they carry on their shoulders is heavy. I think Cameron is the perfect match to her and together they are so much stronger.

I struggled a touch with the bit of instalust feels in this one. Letty was very closed off and a bit cold to Cameron. They also didn’t spend a lot of time actually communicating in the first half of the book so when they fell into bed together, for me, it didn’t quite hold the build up I personally love in romance. I also wanted Letty to come to her feelings a bit more solidly, I wasn’t convinced of her love at the end of the story (but again, the epilogue soothed me :) )

I did enjoy the ending resolution. I thought it it was well done!

Content warnings:

- Serious illnesses and fevers on page
- Mentions of slavery and colonization
- Death of and grief over parent’s passing
- Racism

Author given content warnings: [

themes of chattel slavery, oppression of Native Americans, and racially motivated violence. It also explores someone from a dominant culture coming to terms with this unconscious biases and narrow worldview.

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes: all these scenes are a touch light on the details and not overly long

 
Safe sex: 

They are both virgins and are wary of getting pregnant so the first few scenes don’t include penetration. When they commit to each other, there is no protection used but they are betrothed 

 
43% - kiss
46% - 🔥 breast play, fingering for her, hand job for him (the scenes are on the short side) in a hammock
49% - 🔥 a very brief mention of a scene together (implied oral for her) followed by a blow job for him in a cenote
69% - 🔥 missionary at the cottage, followed soon after by another missionary scene
96% - 🔥 missionary at the hotel
98% - brief mention of oral for her and sex 

 

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Plot/Storyline: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥
Humor: Yes
Perspective: First person from both hero and heroine in alternating chapters
Cliffhanger: No
Epilogue: Yes, 8 months later
Format: borrowed on Kindle Unlimited

Should I read in order?
I believe this is Catrina Bell’s debut!

Basic plot:
Blanca is a lawyer by day and a roller derby witch by night with a crush on the local cafe’s werewolf shifter.

Give this a try if you want:
- Monster/paranormal feel – This is Earth with various beings – shifters, witches, humans, orcs, demons, fae
- Texas setting
- Werewolf shifter/cafe working/tattooed hero
- Lawyer/derby witch heroine that has telekinesis powers
- Medium steam – 2 full scenes in a shorter novel
- Praise kink and dirty talking hero
- Skinny dipping

Ages:
- Heroine is 30, I’d guess hero is similar? There’s a mention of him being in his early twenties years earlier.

My thoughts:
I was so excited to read this one! Something about the cover really grabbed me (purple and orange are my favorite cover colors and a tattooed hero?? Yes please!) And I had so much fun with it.

This novel does a great job of building tension and giving some character depth in a shorter amount of pages. I think it’s hard to establish a strong relationship in shorter books but I loved it here. Our characters know each other when the book starts but they haven’t initiated anything further than friendship and I loved going through this journey with them.

Blanca has showed me I 100% need more witches in my romance life. I just loved her finding herself and her confidence in uniting both aspects of her life – her day job and who she is after hours. Her priorities are worth fighting for and I think Thorin was just the perfect match for her. Supportive and uplifting they are strong together.

Thorin was a joy as a hero. He’s protective and gentle and kind and funny and sweet and just SO DAMN ADORABLE. I will admit I love my dark, aggressive heroes that can be super dominating and maybe a bit too pushy but Thorin was just such a breath of fresh air to me – he fights against the toxic masculinity of being a shifter and doesn’t let the aggression take over. He’s hotter because of it, controlling himself to make sure his woman is comfortable and satisfied. His bedroom talk made me swoon and I am so in love with him. He’s such perfection!

Overall I adored this novel by Bell and am definitely eager to read more!

Cock/Hero Stats:

- Hero is a werewolf shifter
- To become a shifter, they consume a poisonous elixir and either live or die. If you survive you are not only human or orc or fae but a shifter too.
- Dark, clawed fingers
- Blackened veins show through your skin
- The toxin never leaves the system and in situations of anger or dominance it can flare up and cause rage and physical changes they have a hard time controlling
- Hair and muscles will begin to grow and veins turn darker.
- EVERYTHING gets bigger when he begins shifting *wink wink

Quotes/thoughts:

I adored how he was always counting her buttons! And the reference on the cover?? Swoon!

I have a little game I play every time I see her. It’s called Count the Buttons, where I imagine how many buttons it would take to undress her. Come on, it’s a fantasy, and I’m only a man. Sometimes she wears these fancy boots with nine little clasps on each foot. Those would be fun to work off. She also has this dress that goes up to her neck but the back is lined with twenty fabric-covered buttons down the spine. Delicious.
---
He’s an exotic dancer? And he’s got to be wearing padding in those briefs because...Virgen Santa! My mouth feels dry. Oh, it’s open. I snap it shut.
 

Content warnings:

- Mention of discrimination/racism
- Strong themes of pro-choice and pro-life politics throughout including laws restricting body autonomy
- Allergic reaction requiring a hospital visit
- Police/protest violence 

Author given content warnings: 

pro-choice themes, microaggressions, parental pressure, allergic skin reaction, police violence, explicit sexual content, vulgar language/swearing, pregnancy 

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:

 
Safe sex? [Condoms used but it does result in pregnancy even with use (hide spoiler)]
49% - kisses
59% - 🔥kisses, blow job (complete), oral for her, sex on the office table (him standing/her sitting)
87% - 🔥oral for her, doggy style with anal fingering 

 

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 the hero and heroine (lots from the hero!)
Cliffhanger: No
Epilogue: Yes, 2 weeks later

Should I read in order?
Sure! There’s some page time with previous characters and the series is really fun. You can start the series with a newsletter freebie with Roslynn’s story.

Basic plot:
Althea is looking for investors to further her apothecary business and meets Evan, who is interested in more than a business arrangement.

Give this a try if you want:
- Regency (1817)
- apothecary owner heroine
- naughty house party
- truth or dare
- hero pursues
- LGBT positive

pansexual (or bisexual?) hero 

- bargain 

If the Evan can’t bring Althea to orgasm, he’ll give her business advice and an interest free loan – she declines the bet but it does come into play again through the story, altered a bit 

- masquerade
- high steam with some light kink elements – 8 full scenes along with 3 shorter ones I didn’t count and a hot partial scene. Kink includes 

voyuerism, exhibitionism, light spanking, light bondage 

Ages:
- Hero is 28, I couldn’t figure out the heroine but I think she’s a similar age

First line:
Lady Althea Egerton fidgeted her hands in her garnet-hued skirts as she hovered near the veranda doors of the crowded ballroom.

My thoughts:
Another amazingly fun and sexy romp from Sims! I think each book in the series has gotten better and I’m so excited to see what else Sim’s comes out with.

I really enjoy ‘sexual awakening’ themes and I appreciated Althea’s exploration and finding what she likes and bedroom confidence. I think Sim’s really stepped up the emotional pull for me in this one – her sexy scenes had my heart aching and I felt the angst and tension more in this one than the previous books.

There was a lot of fun scenes in this book – naughty house parties, masquerades, strip whist...and an adorable truth or dare aspect that came into play throughout the book and always made me smile. When the whispered “I dare you” came out, my heart pitter-pattered faster.

But we also get some great depth with these two. Althea owns an apothecary and Evan is a businessman at heart who enjoys helping women-owned businesses reach their dream potential. I enjoyed Evan’s vulnerability and worry for just being used for his business savvy and his longing to be seen as a person. This does lead to some scenes of him feeling a bit sorry himself that had me giving him the side eye in some aspects, though. I think he could have been a touch more understanding of Althea’s hesitation in regards to sex and a relationship, but in his defense Althea also never really opened up to him in detail about. I think that was one thing I had wished – I was expecting a heart to heart where Althea is open about her fears due to her past relationship and her inexperience of embracing openly enjoying sex and then Evan using all his wiles to take down her defenses. We as a reader know Althea’s fears though, and their relationship does progress to give her more confidence and fun in the bedroom :)

Quotes/spoiler-y thoughts:

“I loved my husband.”
“And I love my friends. I’m talking about orgasms, not feelings.”

---
Their first meeting after he goes down on her at her apothecary

Turning to Althea, he ignored Beth’s intrusive stare and leaned in to whisper in the hope that Beth would not catch his words, “Althea. I did not wash my hand or face for a full day. I look forward to our next visit.”
Althea flushed but licked her lips and left them parted.
His brushed hers, the barest of rubs. Once, twice. A touch of his tongue to her lower lip, and then he pulled back.
“I dare you to think of me.”

---
the way he steals her underwear…

“Right then, let’s make sure you are warm for the walk back to the guesthouse, as you’ll not be wearing drawers.” He folded her undergarment as small as possible and stuffed them into his breast pocket, pouffing them out to look like a dandy’s handkerchief and smiling in anticipation.
 

Content warnings:

- Heroine grew up controlled by religion due to her father and her husband had a similar vibe so openly enjoying sex for pleasure was frowned upon in her marriage
- Hero’s mother is experiencing dementia/Alzheimer’s symptoms

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:

 
My pages might be off because sometimes I was looking at the actual page number of the book and sometimes I was checking the page number of the document, which was longer (oops – should still give you an idea of what to expect!)
Safe sex? (view spoiler)
Pg 60 – Hero masturbation (fairly short)
PG 83 – 🔥 a naughty truth or dare game leads to kisses, breast play, oral for her
Pg 91 – heroine masturbation (fairly short)
Pg 114 – kiss
Pg 122 – 🔥 voyeurism – Evan and Althea look through peephole rooms and watch a man standing, taking a woman on the bed, fingering for heroine
Pg 128 – hero masturbation (short)
Pg 134 – 🔥 Evan puts Althea on her work table in the back room, breast play, oral/fingering for her then hero masturbates for the heroine
Pg 169 – kisses, hero dips his fingers in whisky and plays orally with her (no o)
Pg 176 – 🔥touches and exploration, blow job (incomplete), her on top (with a condom)
Pg 181 - some brief mentions of nights spent together
Pg 185 – 🔥 spanking (testing it out for pleasure), doggy style (with a condom)
Pg 193 – 🔥 kisses, blow job (complete), followed by fingering for her
Pg 239 - 🔥 in a theater box while they watch others fondle each other, fingering for her – slight pressure of being caught by theater server, then during the next act she gives him a blow job (complete)
Pg 244 – remembrances of time spent together, experimenting with flogging/spanking
Pg 253 - 🔥 Althea and Evan are at another house party and this time watch a bondage experience – they go to a room, light spanking, mirror play,
Total pages 320 

 

Overall: 4.5 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 both the hero and the heroine
Cliffhanger: No
Epilogue: Yes, 1 day later

Should I read in order?
This is Fleur’s first full length novel and the first in a new series titled Tales from Honeysuckle Street.

Basic plot:
Hamish and Iris are ripped apart as young adults after a horrible accident. They are reunited when Hamish returns to town to find a wife.

Give this a try if you want:
- Victorian time period (1875)
- second chance
- childhood friends to lovers
- bit of class difference – hero is an Earl, heroine is the adopted daughter of a businessman
- LGBT positive
- working heroine – she manages her father’s company and hopes to revitalize and grow it with a new idea
- masked event –

the hero brings the heroine to a club and gives her a mask to protect her identity 

- medium steam – I have it as 2 full scenes but they are pretty close together in the book

Ages:
- Heroine is 29, didn’t see hero but think he’s similar age, maybe slightly older

First line:
Iris knew where Hamish would be.

My thoughts:
I have been looking forward to Fleur’s first full length novel since I tried Hide and Seek. She has a writing style I really adore and her characters are rich and vibrant and tug on my heart.

I loved a lot about this one even though it’s second chance, my least favorite trope 😆 I think it’s a testament to Fleur’s writing that she made feel the tension and longing between Hamish and Iris, the uncertainty of that blossoming relationship. And I loved that there wasn’t a ton of animosity built up between them like I find in many second chance novels.

The side characters in this novel were delightful. I had such a love for the life Iris was given and my heart broke for her father. I adored seeing this unique family structure I don’t usually find in historical romance. Hamish’s Aunt Tilly was just the best. I am so in love with her sass and personality and independence. Please give her a story someday! I love her so much!

I did want a touch more from Hamish, especially towards the end – but I also liked that he was flawed and made mistakes and didn’t always make the best choices. I would have loved to have known a bit more about Iris’s business and maybe an epilogue a bit further into the future. (But as this is the first in a series, I’m hoping these characters will make future appearances.) I was really excited for the ‘make me a rake’ plot point with Hamish and wish that was a touch more developed, just because it was so much fun!

I loved that this was character focused and by the end I felt I knew them both well. Honeysuckle Street was a delightful adventure and I am excited for more from the series.




Quotes/spoiler-y thoughts:

”Come be wild again,” He teased as he swung the mask between them. “Like old times.”
When explaining vingt-et-un

“So the best combination is an ace and a court card?” she asked, her eyes still on the game.
“That’s right. And hearts rank highest.”
“Hearts?” She tilted her head slightly, her earlobe close enough to nibble.
“What could be worth more than a heart?” His reply was a breath, and for a moment, the sparkling excitement in her eyes flecked with an awkward vulnerability, and like the evening in her study, the urge to claim her lips infused him.

I love it when they love it loud

When it became too overwhelming, she had to shut her eyes to keep everything inside, and as the intensity began to swallow her, she stuffed the back of her hand against her mouth to quell the grunts she could no longer contain.
Hamish knocked her hand aside. “Louder.” He inhaled her with a kiss, before breaking free with a breathy gulp. “Roar, my wild girl,” he said, his forehead pressed against her. “Roar for me.”

 

Content warnings:

- Carriage accident resulting in multiple deaths
- Heartbreaking scenes of Alzheimers/dementia in a parent
- Themes of misogyny in regards to women running business
Author given content warnings: 

Includes strong language and sexy times. This novel also contains themes of homophobia and parental death 

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:

 
3% - a vague and short sex scene
50% - kiss
60% - 🔥 kiss, fingering for her (leads to a bit of ‘dangerous feeling’ sex where there’s a police raid coming but they do it anyway), her on top (he pulls out)
69% - 🔥 oral/fingering for her leading to standing against a mantle, then her on top on the floor then him on top (he pulls out) followed shortly after by some brief mention of the rest of the night spent together 

 

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Plot/Storyline: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑 (judged by kiss length)
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): only kisses
Humor: Yes
Perspective: Third person perspective from both hero and heroine
Cliffhanger: No
Epilogue: Yes, 3 months later

Should I read in order?
This is book 5 in Wolf’s Happy Ever Regency series. There is time spent with prior main couples in this book and it might be better to know all the characters as you read the series? Overall the romance is okay as a stand alone though.

Basic plot:
Charlaine is ready for a new start in England and meets Nathaniel, a man bitter over the ending of his betrothal in America.

Give this a try if you want:
- Regency - 1813
- English hero/Jamaican heroine
- fairy tale retellings – the whole series is based on classics like Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, Rapunzel, Cinderella, etc. This one is The Frog Prince
- sunshine and grump feel
- the hero suffers from pain and depression from a prior relationship
- masquerade!
- big family/friends feel (lots of side characters)
- very light epistolary part
- friends to lovers though the friendship happens on page – they don’t know each other at the beginning of the story
- this had a big heroine nurses hero back to health feel for me –

though it’s purely emotional. The heroine really works to make the hero feel safe, laugh, and kind of come back to his old self. 

First line:
Nathanial Caswell, younger brother to the Earl of Pembroke by no more than a few minutes, stood in his study, hands linked behind his back and his eyes directed out the window.

My thoughts:
Sadly, I couldn’t get into this one. I have read a novella from Bree Wolf before and I really enjoyed it – it had humor and heart and some decent tension (I knew she was a low steam author with usually just kisses, so I was prepared). But this one lacked on that for me and I ended up not feeling much reading this one.

I do enjoy a tortured hero, and I like the idea behind the sunshine and grump vibes here. I generally liked both of the characters, though the hero took a bit too long to realize everything for me and come around.

What really got me about this one was the ending. The separation and then the scenes with his ex-fiance, I was not feeling that AT ALL, not that late in the book. I felt like the hero needed to come to terms with his feelings on his own instead of how he did and it just left too much to be desired from him for me to really be in love with their HEA.

Content warnings:

- Remembrance of sickness decimating a village
- Possible feelings of infidelity

the hero kisses his ex fiance towards the end of the book

 

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:

 
Safe sex:
21% - kiss
59% - kiss
66% - kiss
83% - hero kisses his ex-fiance and realizes he loves the heroine
91% - kiss 

 

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: No

Should I read in order?
There are a couple books prior to this, Scoundrel’s Vengeance being book 1 and Ringing in Yule being 1.5. I don’t think it’s totally necessary to read in order but I believe there’s some character cross over.

Basic plot:
When Malcolm and Isabella reconnect, he finds himself involved in a marriage of convenience. He gives them until Hogmanay to decide if they want to make the marriage a real thing

Give this a try if you want:
- 1346 time period
- Scotland setting
- beautiful heroine
- Scottish hero/French heroine
- bit of second chance feel
- touch of road trip romance
- shorter novel (goodreads has it at 187 pages)
- lower steam – I believe there’s just 1 scene (it’s a touch on the lighter side, not super explicit)

First line:
”Brothers!” Malcolm grinned, gestured at their surroundings, and inhaled the crisp, lilac-scented morning air.

My thoughts:
I didn’t much get into this one. I think if you want an adventurous, second chance road trip-ish feel and are okay with a touch lower steam, you might really enjoy this one though.

Second chance/flashbacks are one of my least favorite things in romance. I found the beginning of this one a bit confusing and I struggled to keep the timing straight and understand what was happening. The flash backs continued throughout the story, but I felt like they didn’t really have a strong enough background and history for it to be worth it to the story line.

Content warnings:

- Some dubious consent? Heroine kisses the hero but it’s to set him up and not out of misplaced passion
- Death of heroine’s former fiance
- The hero is very open about sleeping around with everyone to basically handle the stress of war
- Some scenes of violence/danger

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:

 
Safe sex:
Prior to 40% there were two very brief kisses
59% - kiss
98% - 🔥 kisses, oral for her, missionary 

 

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, a bit
Perspective: First person from hero and heroine
Cliffhanger: No
Epilogue: Yes, 4 years later

Should I read in order?
This is the first in Lauren’s series The Hunting.

Basic plot:
Faith is on the run after escaping her jailer. She meets Rylan and uses the opportunity to take his ship thinking she’ll never see him again.

Give this a try if you want:
- Science fiction romance
- Alien setting
- The hero’s people are said to live primitively, but the setting is higher tech than Earth
- human heroine/alien hero pairing
- survival themes
- one night stand/instalust
- medium steam – 2 full scenes in a short page count
- shorter novel (goodreads has it as 156 pages)

First line:
I casually eye the guard passing my cell as I recline on a hard bunk.

My thoughts:
I listened to this audiobook while doing some housework over the weekend and thought it was pretty pleasant! I have read a few of Tracy Lauren’s books and really appreciate her emotional pull I get from her steamy scenes and the level of angsty she can drive up in her relationship. This one felt a bit lighter in those aspects to me though.

There’s some instalust factors at play here and that’s not usually my thing (I live for that sexual tension!). They jump into things kind of fast. I also could have used a bit more character depth and world building but the book was shorter so I understand that’s difficult. Overall I appreciated both these main characters – I loved the strength of the heroine and the protectiveness of the hero.

I’ll probably read the next book in the series as well at some point!

Cock/Hero Stats:

- The hero’s skin is pearly white that changes to avocado green to almost black in some places.
- Hero has a shaved head on the sides but hair is almost as long as the heroine’s and he ties it back
- Different shaped feet, 4 fingers with onyx claws
- Green tongue and electric green eyes
- He’s described as giant with notable lips ;)

- mostly humanoid cock, but it’s inky green and much ‘fatter’ (and not circumcised)

Content warnings:

- Themes of slavery, rape, and death, violence

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes: ( do get lazy on note taking for audio so I could be missing something

 
Chapter 6 – 🔥 kisses, oral for her, blow job, missionary, doggy style in a hotel
Chapter 21 – 🔥 kisses, oral for her, doggy style in a cave
Chapter 24 – brief kiss
Chapter 25 - kiss 

 

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Plot/Storyline: 📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑 (None of the scenes were super long)
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Humor: Yes
Perspective: Third person from hero and heroine
Cliffhanger: No
Epilogue: No

Should I read in order?
This is the first book in Fay’s Dragon Lords series, but ideally you should go and read the prior series - this one is a spin off from. I felt a bit thrown into the story here and was also wondering about a few things that were probably answered in previous books of the other series.

Basic plot:
Juniper goes for a hike in wooded upstate New York and comes across what, as she she finds out as it hurtles her across the galaxy, is a space ship.

Give this a try if you want:
- Science fiction romance
- Alien setting
- human heroine/alien hero
- some light other woman situations
- a bit of higher tech than Earth
- bit of a class difference feel
- hero washes the heroines hair
- higher steam – 5 scenes but they aren’t super long (but neither is the book’s page count)

Ages:
- Hero is about 50, didn’t see heroine’s mentioned

First line:
Fire rained down over the lush canopy of an ancient forest.

My thoughts:
I do recommend reading the prior series as this is a spin off series. I didn’t realize this when I started it and definitely felt like I was missing a few things and people were discussed/remembered from prior books. Overall the romance itself stands alone though so if you don’t mind missing a bit of the side character knowledge and world building then it’s fine to pick this up alone.

I didn’t love all the Earth references in the beginning...Star Trek, Sonic the Hedgehog, etc and some things about the writing. There was quite a bit of snark and banter that I wasn’t into, and some other woman situations that came off to me as a bit immature..but that’s just personal preference for me.

I did appreciate the steam in the book and thought the knife grappling scene in the beginning was a good tension builder. But by the end of the book I found myself just wanting something more from the world building and characters. I’d try this author again in another series and see how I felt.

Cock/Hero Stats:

-Hero is a dragon shifter and can transform at will
- I think the cock is normal, just big

Quotes/thoughts:

Without thinking, he supported her by cupping her backside...gripping warm flesh. Her body jerked at his touch and they faced each other in tense silence.
Then her eyes flashed dangerously. “Get your hands off my ass.”
“Get your legs off my waist,” he countered roughly.
---
“Different? No. I’m the worst of them all because I’ve seen more of you than any of them. I’ve had you on top of me.” When her mouth parted, he leaned down to mutter in her ear, “And I want more.”
 

Content warnings:

- Death of father for hero
- Mention of abusive father for heroine
- Child abuse

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:

 
Safe sex? No I don’t believe anything is mentioned
30% - 🔥 kisses, fingering for her in a hallway then they move to the bedroom for oral for her and missionary
47% - 🔥 kisses, blow job which he blows on her boobs in a meadow
63% - 🔥 hero ties her to the bed, oral and fingering for her
68% - 🔥 shower sex
84% - 🔥 kisses, thank god you’re alive missionary sex 

 

Overall: 2.5 rounded to ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Plot/Storyline: 📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥
Humor: Yes, a bit
Perspective: Third person from heroine and heroine
Cliffhanger: No
Epilogue: No

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

Basic plot:
Daisy meets a marquess during her first season

Give this a try if you want:
- Late Regency (1821)
- compromised heroine
- shorter novel (goodreads has it as 131 pages)
- character focused romance (no villain or mystery to solve)
- you’re okay with a bit of miscommunication as a problem point
- lower steam – a few on page scenes but all are quite short and vague

Ages:
- hero is 32, not sure about heroine but would guess early 20s

First line:
The Marquess of Ashton tried to hide the yawn behind his hand, but knew he wasn’t going to fool any of his friends he ran into.

My thoughts:
Unfortunately this one didn’t work for me at all. I found the writing really unpalatable and dry. I was told somethings about the couple but found myself not caring for much. The sex is really light, but everything else was too. The plot holds itself together with a miscommunication trope. The beginning had a promising start but ultimately this one wasn’t one I was interested in.

Content warnings:

Stroke? And death of grandparent

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:

 
Safe sex: No but they are married and trying to conceive. I didn’t log all the scenes because most were extremely light and vague with only a sentence or two to mention it.
69% - food play oral for her, missionary followed by more brief and vague scenes