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Fast Five: Speechless

Jun3

Speechless for Devyn Sinclair was yet another 5 star read for me. It is an Omegaverse RH romance and is the  third (and final?) book in the Clarity Coast series.

And I just caught that her name is Trinity, it’s a group of three female friends, and three books. It takes me a while but I get there lol

Here’s how my rating system works:

5 star: stays with me. Might reread right away, definitely no books for a while

4 star: Really good, will reread at some point

3 star: Good book, may or may not reread

I don’t do 2 or 1 star reviews because I don’t finish the book.

Ok– here’s the fast five on why Speechless left me Speechless!

  1. The romance was chefs kiss good– while they obviously will be together, there’s still family drama, navigating pack relations, learning to trust the other person/people.
  2. The angst! Poor Trinity has some trauma from childhood, and it just rips your heart open.
  3. Diabetes representation. Trinity has diabetes, and it has been shown throughout the series
  4. There’s also action in the article she’s researching.
  5. The friendship. While the romance is front and center, Isolde and Ocean (her besties and heroines of books 1 & 2) are interwoven in a realistic way. They show up and show out. And while their men are in the picture, they are in the back ground– their story has already been told.

The storytelling is so layered, and I both laughed and cried. Do yourself a favor and read the book!

Fast Five for  the 42nd

Feb11

Today is the 42nd day of 2026. I also completed reading my 42nd book of the year, Maya Alden’s new release, Love is in the Air. Here’s my fast Five take on it:

  1. I really appreciate that while Alden writes a grovel novel, they aren’t all the same formula. There are some authors that you know when you hix X percentage, Y will happen. Sometimes the betrayal is early, sometimes late.
  2. A perfect Valentine snack of a book. Even opens on Valentine’s Day in Paris!  Although I’m single, this fit the romance of the holiday perfectly. (I’ll be off to a Gal-entines day with my sister on the day)
  3. OW drama without cheating! Not even the hint of it in this one. The OW drama all came from his ex wife.
  4. I didn’t like how the translations of French and Spanish terms was handled. There was a little list at the end of the chapter. In a previous book, with the Italian language, it was easier to tell what was being said through context clues. I ended up using the Kindle to translate what I needed to.
  5. Even though her books are available on KU, I started pre-ordering them. Why? Because I get them much quicker. Release day was today, but it was in my Kindle at 11pm last night (oh the struggle was real!). The last one I waited for KU on, I didn’t see available until 2 or 3 am (I was awake because of something else).

I really wish there was a way to get on a list to beta read for an author. In Truth and Tinsel there were two inconsistencies, and in this one there was one.l regarding where the heroine, Tara lived. I’d have to reread it to pinpoint why, but at first I thought she was from and lived in Los Angeles. Them it comes to light that she was living in Philadelphia. That kind of threw me… And then even more when she went home to LA and her family, got fired from her job in Philly and NEVER WENT TO GET HER STUFF. Where did it go? She thought she was going back. Was it in storage? Subletting her place? Where’d her stuff go? Tiny detail, but with the confusion before, it starts that thread that I keep pulling at. I’m done with ARC reading, they just want sound bites for promotion on platforms I won’t use. But Beta reading? For Maya Alden? Oh my gosh, I’d love that. But I am not going to win any points by bringing up the little things that bug me with an author. Sigh

What have you been reading? Have any favorite new authors?

Fast Five: SJ Tilly’s 1st POV

Nov23

Hello my lovelies! How are you today? I’m reading the third book in S.J. Tilly’s Mountain Man series and I have to share some thoughts about Tilly’s use of Alternating 1st Person POV. These books are Romance, so some of these comments are going to tie specifically into that specific genre.

  1. Remember how the old romance novels used to slip between perspectives, especially in the spicy scenes? Making the scene well rounded on both sides of the relationship and keeping the pacing? She is able to do this…. How? Well…..
  2. Chapters vary in length, some only a few paragraphs (I want to say one was only a sentence, but I could be wrong.)This tightens suspense, especially in a predator / prey or romantic chase  type of way.
  3. In the shorter chapters, the sentence length changes as well, leaving the reader slightly breathless. It makes the pacing completely on point for spicy scenes.
  4. In the longer chapters we get more depth– varied sentence length as well as the gamut of emotions– heart break to hilarity. These books have both made me laugh so hard I cried, and just ugly cry for the character.
  5. I don’t really have a 5. I feel in love with the way she uses the structures of writing to help tell the story, both in chapter and sentence lengths.

Have you read anyone lately who makes you think about writing a little differently? I have a few more books to review through the lens of how’d they do that writing edition LOL. So I’ll see you very soon!

Fast 5 plus 1: Bound to the Beasts

Oct12

Bookish Thoughts on Bound to the Beasts
by Ari Wright

First of all, I was blessed with an ARC of Bound to the Beasts by Ari Wright for an honest review.

Rating 4 Starz.
I really enjoyed Bound to the Beasts and it was almost a Five Star read. 

Bound to the Beasts is a Reverse Harem Omegaverse retelling of Beauty and the Beast

Fast Five PLUS 1!!!
1. Retelling of Beauty and the Beast, one of this reader girls favorites—and comes with ALL THE BOOKS LOL
2. Dane, the Masked Man, is just honestly the best of the male characters. Cillian, the Pack Lead was fun to read, his whole Dominance thing playing well off of the Beasts softness.
3. I’m not sure what a “Black Cat” female character in a romance is—she’s feisty and stands up for herself? I liked Briar, though!
4. Rhys, another male lead, was damn near irredeemable. More on him in below
5. This is not just darker than Ari’s  other books, it is much twistier. And let me tell you, I can normally sniff a twist out a mile away. My son and I will watch a show and I’ll say “he did it” and the Princeling is annoyed bc I’m right. I did not see this type of  twisty coming. I AM HERE FOR IT!!
6. I know- I can’t count!!! But the reason for the downgrade in stars is because Rhys (see above) reminded me too much of one of the MMCs in Knot her Catch (MVP Book 5). Also one of their nicknames for the FMC (“Pretty Baby”) felt like one from the same MVP book. Note—it is not. But Briar’s story felt similar in the dynamics, which resulted in the loss of 1 star. The twist and her feistiness brought it up from a 3.

Overall, I’d recommend this book in a heartbeat. I’ll probably reread it, too.

Fast Five Goal Catch Up

Sep29

Oh my goodness! It’s been a minute!  But summer is well and truly over, and it’s time to knuckle under again 😳 Heres a really quick update on the goals I had for this year:

  1. Reading goal has been crushed three months early according to Good Reads. I don’t know why this irritates me– but it does. I have days of re-reading old favorites, but I don’t count them. So I think the goal was appropriate, just… I feel let down that the goal was accomplished early instead of closer to the end time.
  2. ARCs are still a thing I love. I’m happy to report that I’ll have 2 upcoming for you. One, I’ve already read and am just collecting my thoughts. The other I’m awaiting with bated breath.
  3. Writing has been different (see below). I haven’t been writing as much, as my writing buddy and I seem to have taken the summer off. The poem a day is so far behind and I’m not sure if I want to resume it or not.
  4. I still doodle around with my fiction. I say I have several stories that I keep hopping around in, but they are all built in the same world so I’m not sure how good or bad that is. I’m having fun and that counts..
  5. I have been keeping up with writing for the Ladies of Horror Picture Prompt. You should go and read some of these amazing stories and poems! If you’re more of an audio type person, there are reading in YouTube done by the lovely Elaine Pascale, The Godmother of Horror here

Ta for now, my lovelies! Let me know if I got the links wrong and I’ll get them long form lol

Fast 4 Plus 1: All Superheros need….

Jun3

I just finished the novel All Superheros Need PR by Elizabeth Stephens and it was wild. It’s definitely a romance, but I’m not sure if I would categorize it as Monster Romance or Superhero Romance or SciFi Romance.

But it was a great ride! Here’s a fast 4 of things she did absolutely FABULOUS and 1 I’d change.

Fast Four

  1. While Roland and Vanessa have their short comings, they push each other to both do better and be better. Those chemistry is off the charts.
  2. The representation of both POC and LGBTQ+ was effortless. They were fully formed characters and they were brilliant.
  3. As an Omegaverse/Shifter romance girlie, I loved the little nods to that subgenre. It does not fit in either of those boxes, but having something happen and none of the characters know why but I did…. Yah. It was priceless. (He purrs/growls for her and no one knows why)
  4. I am neither a DC nor a Marvel fan, and yet I understood this book. I think most people would get the Lois Lane reference. While I don’t appreciate Superheroes I loved this book. A big part was the characters, but it was also concentrated mostly on the couple aspect not the big superhero.

Which brings me to my other point. Although most of it does revolve around Vanessa and Rolland, there is an outside good vs evil thing going on. For the most part it was on point except for …

  1. The “final boss battle” or climax of the book. I got lost. Too many new characters introduced in too short of a time to keep track of and not all of them were villains. This scene took it from a 5 star down to a 4 star in my Goodreads rating.

So there you have it. I just read and loved a Superhero Romance I didn’t know I needed. What book surprised you?

Bookish Thoughts: Publishing Calendars

May8

I’m coming at this from the reader’s Point of View.

As a reader, you pick up on things. More traditionally published authors have a fairly regular yearly schedule. For years, I’ve known that one of my fav fantasy authors would publish a book right before my birthday. Once a year, like clock work. Except this year, the clock stuttered. The book isn’t coming out until fall. There are some who miss their deadlines, but many of them follow this formula.

Then there are the indie authors. Some publish once a quarter. Some publish more. And I know I’ve talked about how some of the books have been… Below par. But I’ve also told you about the ones that have exceeded all expectations.

Devyn Sinclair. Ari Wright. Jillian West. Jenn Bullard.

I’m reading just about everything they publish. Ari Wright, there was one I couldn’t read because I don’t do well with time jumps. My brain doesn’t function great with the back and forth on timelines. I have 1 series to start with Devyn, and I’m choosing to wait for when there’s a desert of things to read.

I don’t know how these four ladies do it. If they waited  until they had a book in the bag with the next ready to go. Maybe they write that quick. It can be done– has been done for ages. Some authors use pen names. Some just do it

And while there may be little mistakes– let’s face it, mistakes happen with traditionally published work as well. But there aren’t huge mistakes. Like changing from 1st person to third or vice versa.

I still have authors that I love that publish once a year, or sometimes less (life happens). But for me– I appreciate the hard work and dedication it takes to get that volume of work out in a year and to have it stick the landing.

For some the dream will always be traditional publishing, and that’s great. But there are those whose dream is to get stories out and get them read.

I’m so happy to be reading them.

Onto the next book!

Just Write It: 5 on Just Drive

Apr4

I think I read somewhere that Devyn Sinclair wrote “Just Drive”” as a side story. A passion project, at least at first. A story she loved but wasn’t sure would sell. Was not sure it would resonate with readers.

I have reviewed maybe 2 books on Good Reads and Amazon. Possibly three. I leave a star rating but never a review. It has to hit me hard for me to leave a 5 stars and it has to hit even harder for an actual review. She got both.

Which makes a darn good argument to write what you are passionate about. The story you want. Because trends come and go, but staying true to you will bring the right readers to you.

Note: Just Drive is. RH Omegaverse Romance.

Here’s 5 things I loved about Just Drive:

5. The Formula. one racing. Do I watch racing? Nope. I’ve been known to watch it though, and it’s the only sport other than ice skating and gymnastics that I will watch. Fun fact: when I was a wee girl I wanted to race fast cars. Didn’t go further than checking out TONS of books at the wee little local library when I was younger and a little drag racing when a bit older… But. And there are specific racing details that made me SQUEEE.

4. Relationships & friendships outside the romance. A whole world was built, including both personal and professional relationships. And instead of having EVERYONE hate the new female driver, she did have professional friendships with other drivers.

3. World Building. This is set in an alternate universe. If she played with the rules Formula One racing in the story, it didn’t hit for this casual reader.  Which means short cuts were not taken. Sinclair obviously loves this subject and it shows.

2. Competition & Professionalism within the pack. Vanessa, our heroine is racing on a team with part of her pack and actively racing against another member. And while they are competitive– it’s in the right way. A way that doesn’t make it easy for either of them. They go balls to the wall racing each other, can be grumpy about losing and still celebrate a momentous win.

  1. Grandpa. I cried so hard. And we know, don’t we… That the good books, the great books, they help us. They entertain us. They teach us new things. And they give us a safe space to feel our feelings. I’m tearing up again (it would have been Pop’s 99th today) and we’ll, I’m probably gonna go back and reread so I have that safe space tonight.

That number one though, that’s why I write. While I generally work through stuff in my writing, that connection cannot be beat. It’s magic.

So what magical story have you been dying to tell? Don’t worry about markets right now– just grow your magic.

Ta, my Lovelies

Ari Writes Again : Top 5

Mar17

We all know by now that I love Ari Wright. She’s one of my favorite romance authors and I have been blessed to be on her ARC team. I only give honest reviews (i.e. the one for Her Knotty List).

Here are the Top 5 Things I Loved about her new book, Once Upon a Pack–

  1. Cinderella retelling. I love me a fairytale, but I love that most of the angst, or the conflict, in the relationship, comes from within the relationship. While there is family drama, it is not the engine driving this book.
  2. Female friendships. It would have been easy to paint Jasmine as “The Other Woman”. Cliched but easy. I hate OW drama. This one… Nope. Her and Ivy (our Cinders character) form a strong friendship and …
  3. The text threads! The ones between Ivy and Jasmine made me howl! I laughed so hard I cried. The ones between the heros are good too (Ari Wright does them so well), but those girl talk ones were hysterical.
  4. Heavy topics are dealt with naturally within the story. In the case of Once Upon a Pack, it has to do with medical debt. No one gets on a soap box and preaches about it. The topic is brought up, and then the characters start dealing with it. It is not a holier than thou or a bashing the rich (princes) type thing.
  5. Characters. Ivy and her pack are all fleshed out. They each have a personal arc that goes into the relationship arc. They are loveable (even if it takes a few minutes to get there– looking at your Dair) and when a guy screws up Ari does grovel right. It’s not a “Let’s go to the bookstore and all is forgiven” grovel. This is, once again, grovel done right. He puts in the work. He doesn’t call attention to it. He doesn’t wait for her to tell him what to do to make it up to her.

So many other wonderful things to say about this book. It is definitely a five star read for me– which means I’m plotting when I’m going to re-read it.

TA my Lovelies! What books and authors do you love?

Book Review: For Ever by Ari Wright

Jan27

For Ever by Ari Wright is the first book in a long time that made me want to throw my book. I had it gripped, my arm cocked and ready to toss when, thankfully, I remembered I was reading on a Kindle.

Some authors stick to the same formula no matter what type of romance they write. There is one author that I know, without a doubt, at precisely 75%, there is a breakup and I will briefly hate the hero(s).

For Ever is not an Omegaverse romance, which is how I know Wright’s writing. It is a contemporary romance. Still. I thought I was in the clear when I hit 75%.

It was at 80% that I tried to kill my Kindle. What happened is completely in character for Juliette. What happens to her after is also in character.

Still made me want to chuck it. Then devour it to see what happens next.

There is a lesson in here somewhere. Maybe:


1. It’s ok to change it up sometimes.
2. A reader will follow a favorite author almost anywhere.


PS—just to be above board I did receive an ARC for this book for my honest review.