stephanie_inman's Reviews (228)

I want to say something about this book, but nothing stood out to me. I had to look at the book to even remember the character's names (Kadence and Tyler).

I did like the fact that this is apparently a tie-in to another of the author's series, connecting them through Kadence's dad (who was, along with Tyler's brother, Clyde, the more memorable characters of the series)

I did enjoy the interaction with Clyde enough that I immediately dove into the second book, upon finishing this one.

Very cute, insta love novella. Colt is a rodeo cowboy performing at a convention for romance writers. Sonya’s best friend, wanting to cheer Sonya up from a really awful day, manages to sneak them into the convention. Low on angst. First in a series. It kept me entertained and I liked it enough that I immediately read the next one in the series.

This was the second novella in this series. This time we have Hudson (the brother of our previous H, Colt) and Jillian (best friend of our previous h, Sonya)

First off, I’m always a sucker for interconnected stories that feature TWO characters from previous books. I’m not a fan a meeting new people. (A HUGE pet peeve of mine is when we have lots of characters in a series and yet we keep getting new love interests introduced. Yes, in my head, I get that the author needs to go where the story takes them, in my heart I hate it and will actually avoid some series for this reason. Hey, the heart wants what the heart wants). And, even though we barely met Hudson, he’s still in the first book. Jillian was more of a part of the first one. Although with the length of the books, the MCs have to be the focus, so the side characters are definitely just that. Yet I was still looking forward to this story. Because in the little we did see Jillian, I just really liked her.

That leads me to my second point. I really liked the characters here. Jillian was funny, feisty, confident. Hudson was also confident, but had a sweetness to him that you don’t often see with the romance genre heroes.

This story, because it’s so short definitely has insta love and wraps up that HEA quickly, but it’s fun and I think it’s so cute that after reading it on KU, I purchased it. I ended up reading the entire series. Hudson is by far my favorite of the four. It’s the only one I had to go back and purchase because I knew it would be a good re read for when I want a cute, short read with no angst and that HEA.

Tex is the fourth and final book in the Wilder Brothers Rodeo series. While Hudson is still my favorite, I enjoyed this one a lot.

We met Gemma in the previous book. She is Liz’s sister. Gemma’s crush on Tex even predated Liz and Austin getting together. Tex and Gemma live in the same town, and Gemma witnessed Tex in a kind moment at a coffee shop. Since then, the cowboy with a big heart has been on her mind.

Tex feels that his heart has been hardened by his last relationship. Maxine, his ex, wanted him more for the fame he could bring her than for who he is.

Unlike the last book, I felt the connection between these characters. They had great chemistry. I genuinely liked them, both separate and together.

I finished all four books in the span of maybe an hour or so. While these are incredibly short reads, they did keep me engaged. I definitely recommend this series if you like short, insta love with zero angst (no OM/OW drama!) and a HEA.

I really enjoyed the first few books in the Outlaw Souls series, but as we get into the series, I find myself liking them less and less.

Colt was a much better book than it’s predecessor, Diego. However, I didn’t come close to liking it as much as I did Ryder, Pin or, my favorite so far, Trainer.

This is a total me thing, so I will start with this: I don’t particularly like interconnected series that stray into the territory of having books with MCs we haven’t already met. Both Colt and Amber are new characters. I don’t see the point of using new characters in a series. This is book 6. We met characters in book one, Ryder, who still don’t have a story. And this isn’t the first book in this series to do this. I want to read about some of the Outlaw Souls we already know.

My second issue is that this book was all over the place. Colt is an ex-con, a biker, has mob connections and runs a ranch. That’s a bit much. And, for an MC romance, there really isn’t any MC in the book. Most of the story takes place at Colt’s ranch. Horses are a much bigger part of this than motorcycles.

I also didn’t particularly care for either Colt or Amber. This was an insta-love story where I didn’t feel the chemistry between the characters at all.

The story seemed to drag on, for no reason. I would have enjoyed a little more falling in love for the characters, to see if maybe that spark would be there. I felt it was rushed. Colt has a daughter and Amber is his daughter’s social worker. Both of these details should have meant that, at least one of them, think about whether or not it was a good idea to get involved with the other one.

All in all, some of this series has been really good. I just keep hoping for that magic to return. (And I hope to get back to the bikers we already love)

I received an advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

My three star review of this book is the compromise I'm giving because of the characters. Blake would have gotten five stars, easily. Caroline is two stars, at best.

I was looking incredibly forward to this book. I liked Blake in the first book, and wanted to meet Aric's sister, and learn more about her. The plot, while fairly basic (brother's best friend, accidental pregnancy) was good. Especially the added drama of the first book being where Blake had learned of an affair between his best friend, Aric and Blake's mom.

Unfortunately, the character of Caroline sort of killed the book for me. The only thing I did like about her was that she owned her sexuality. She had been on a quest to find "good sex" and I loved that we finally have a heroine who isn't a virginal waif. That's where my love for her ends. She was spoiled, bratty, used Blake, was hateful and just all around unpleasant for most of the story.

Blake had always had a crush on Caroline. And, when he was a freshman and she was a senior, he found her upset. She mentioned to him that she had sex and the guy she had sex with had dumped her. She told Blake to never settle. To wait and have sex with someone who mattered. So, Blake waited. I fucking love that BLAKE was the virgin in this story. He wasn't completely inexperienced, but he was waiting to have sex because he wanted it to be more than just a sex for the sake of losing his virginity.

Enter Caroline, on a break from college. She and Blake, through a series of circumstances, and even a manipulation (spoilers) find themselves alone, in his room, during his annual Halloween party. They end up having sex. They make the mistake of not using protection, and Caroline gets pregnant.

After this she is even more insufferable. Yes, she is going through a lot. And, when she considers adoption, her mom is very upset and not at all supportive of her. The only person who tries to support her through any of this is Blake, and she treats him terribly. She ignores him, then, when the pregnancy hormones kick in, she uses him for sex, but still doesn't want to be with him.

There's family drama on both sides. Honestly, it was all a bit out of nowhere. Especially with Aric's parents, as they were shown to be so loving in the first book. Now their daughter gets pregnant and they do a complete personality change?

Through everything, Blake just seems to want everything to be okay. By the end of the book, Caroline does become less awful, and she even is somewhat okay. But, by that time it was too little, too late. Blake deserved so much better.

I went back and forth between three and four stars on this one. There was a lot to like about it, but I couldn't really like the heroine, Maddie, therefore, I am calling this one three star. I get that I'm hella picky about certain issues, so I'm just going to list my main ones right off the bat.

Number one: Maddie is eating lunch, and she's devouring her food. The dialogue in her head is about how she's not one of those girls who doesn't eat. That those girls have never “known true hunger” (according to Maddie). This is supposed to be a commentary on how Maddie grew up so poor that she often went hungry, and we are supposed to feel sympathy for her. But then she goes on to say that some girls don't eat because they "are anorexic and are trying to lose like 4 pounds or whatever" But that they COULD eat, if they wanted to. Nope. This is ablest as fuck. I don't like that a serious illness, such as anorexia was made light of in this way. It's irresponsible.

Number two: Victim blaming - Maddie goes out on a date, and before she can even leave the driveway, her date tries to rape her. Aric, who is at her place babysitting (due to the plot, this does make sense) intervenes. When she's mad, and says that she was handling it (she's upset and being prideful) Aric pretty much asks her what she was thinking wearing such a short dress. As in, if she hadn't been wearing such a short dress, her date wouldn't have tried to rape her. Fuck that. I can totally get that it could be part of Aric's character to say that in anger. It just would have made sense, and been really great if Maddie had called him out on it. Like a big "Fuck you, Aric. My clothes don't give anyone the right to touch me without my consent."

So, now that I have the problematic issues out of the way, I will talk about the actual plot, which I did like. This is supposed to be a bully romance, but if it is, it's a super light one. I didn't really feel that Aric was much of a bully, in fact, I liked him quite a bit. Maddie is more of the bully in this story, which I liked.

I fucking LOVED that Aric isn't your typical manwhore. He doesn't sleep around. There are elements of abuse in this book, as Aric is being blackmailed by Maddie because he has been having an affair from the time he was sixteen with his best friends mom. I like the way that was handled. Aric absolutely thought the relationship was okay, at first, but then, once he steps away, he sees that he was too young and that the older woman took advantage of him. There was a power dynamic there, and the older woman abused it.

I wish I had liked Maddie more. I just think, compared to Aric, her character felt a little one dimensional.

Aric's parents were written fairly realistic. The side character of Hannah had me intrigued so much that I blew through the second book to get to her book, which is the third, and final one in the series.

While I definitely hated the very few problematic aspects of this book, and again, I understand that I am being super critical, I just believe that we can do better with issues such as rape culture and mental illness, all in all, I did enjoy this book.

If you are just beginning the bully genre of romance, or you like the lighter ones, this is a good one to start with. Nothing too angsty. I loved the hero. And I did immediately start on book two in the series, so that's always a good sign.