Tag Archive | romance

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 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!

Suspension of (dis)Belief

Aug23

I wrote a whole romance story in my little Mead spiral notebook when I was in 4th grade. I don’t remember the particulars, but I do remember the female main character having a broken arm and leg, hopping on a motorcycle and riding it down the face of a mountain. Not very believable. It tracks, tho, for my age at the time.

You all know I don’t name and shame when I find something I so passionately disagree with in a book that I’m willing to write about it here. I spoke, at length, to my BFF last night (who is NOT a reader) about the problem I had with the book & problem we are going to discuss. I basically gave a TED talk.

When I went back to see the reviews I kept coming across the acronym TSTL in reference to the female main character (FMC). I’m a little old, and oblivious, and my first thought was “What’s a T St Louis?” No, Dear Reader, it does not have anything to do with the city. It apparently means TOO STUPID TO LIVE

Roughly 4 months pregnant, she hops fences, gets drugged 3 or 4 times within a couple of chapters, mounts a rescue with a teen girl, oh … The same teen girl who tried to help her escape the hero. And The “hero” choked her out and left bruising and chafing around her neck. This wasn’t sexual. It was abuse. And all the heroine would say was “It’s complicated.”

This FMC is the one in a horror story who would say “Hey, what’s that noise in the basement? Oh, look, it’s a werewolf should I pet it?”

I can’t tell you how it ends because I gave up on the series somewhere in the middle of book 2. I couldn’t suspend my disbelief. Now, I’m not trying to yuck someone else’s yum. If you like books that veer more towards bruises that’s ok. Your reading taste does not have to be the same as mine. 

But what I really can’t abide is how stupid the FMC was.  And how cavalier she was with the lives of not only her unborn babies but the teen girl and her brother. She was “so good with them”, and yet she kept making choices that any dumbass would know were going to have high consequences. For her and them.

And she kept making the same mistakes.

It’s ok to write a character who is TSTL. But as authors we need to write some kind of growth (unless it’s a horror book). Or at least new ways to be stupid.  The FMC was not exhibiting any signs of growing the F up, and the hero was devolving. As a reader I was skipping whole parts and as a writer I knew…. When that starts happening, it’s time to skip the book altogether.

What’s your reading TED Talk about, Dear Reader?

Musing on Genre

Mar19

So no surprises here: I like the genres I like. Everyone has a personal favorite. Or favoriteS. I have several that I love– Fantasy, Romance, Sci-Fi, and a dash of Literary. Every once in a while throw in a dash of Cozy Mystery.

Most of those genres have sub-genres from within. Some stories smash things together, some subsets are directly related to tone. You wouldn’t want to confuse a Dark Romance with a Rom-Com for instance. Two VERY different types of stories.

I’ve talked about being on a reading tear. It has almost all been romance. Personally, for me as a writer, I normally read in a different genre than I am currently writing. Or trying to write. 

Right now I’m writing dark and twisty fantasy right now and that’s ok.

I’m reading romance. A lot of romance

And I just found an author (Pippa Grant if you’re curious) who has nailed the Rom-Com. We are talking howling. Laughing so hard I had to put the phone down because I was crying. We had 2 painful crotch shots, a scene that made me think the hero had eaten some special brownies, him getting puked on, falling in deer poop… And reminding me that Rom-Com is specifically supposed to be funny.

That’s not always the case. Some Romances are light, but not necessarily funny yet they are called Rom-Com for want of a better name. Chick-Lit sounds bad, like an insult. That’s a te.fr way back yonder, and I probably used it too.

It’s not that the books are bad at the comedy aspect, it’s that the comedy isn’t part of the DNA of the book.

It’s probably just me. But I really wish there was a team to come up with names for these sub-genres that were a little bit better at hitting what it really is.

Because if it says Rom-Com I should at least giggle

Right?

Ta, my Lovelies. I’m off to write something dark and twisty before I go back to reading the real funny shit

Bookish Thoughts: 3rd Act Breakup

Feb7

I read a lot of romance, and something that comes up often in the genre is the 3rd Act Breakup. It’s generally right at the 75% mark, that last push , the last obstacle, a bit of a hurdle to overcome before the Happily Ever After can be earned.

Too often, we (the reader) get the miscommunication  trope. The one where if someone had picked up the phone, it would all be resolved. Well, in Tessa Bailey’s Secretly Yours, the heroine does, in fact, pick up the phone. He just doesn’t answer. Why? Because of a monster of a panic attack, one the lasts weeks. But it is something the reader is prepared for because it has happened to him before. It’s part of his OCD, part of what makes him.. well, him. Just like her chaos makes her, her.  (Loved this book, how Hallie was working through both grief and self doubt. Came close to bawling a few times. Gave it 4 stars)

Then we have Mariana Zapata’s The Winnipeg Wall and Me, which I don’t think has a third act breakup. Vanessa knows she loves Aiden, and while married (convenience) they aren’t quite there yet. It has lots of tension and spunk and fights, but no breakup towards the end. Zapata makes us work for our HEA, but she does not dangler in front of our eyes and then snatch it back away from us. They are apart only because has to leave the state for training, and she’s got a marathon to run. (This book made me stay up til 1am, had me bawling and was not the book I was expecting. 5 stars all the way)

I love when books surprise me, and these two certainly did that. It wasn’t just about the 3rd Act Breakup, or lack thereof. It also had to do with the way the character’s mental health, past trauma and all, were handled through the stories. The fact that these felt like real people, with real wounds.. well, that’s what had me grabbing my Kleenex.

So, my lovelies, what have you been reading?

Bookish Thoughts

Dec2

Hello my lovelies,

Today, we’re going to discuss Meghan Quinn’s “He’s Not My Type,” a spicy hockey romance. A good romance, to boot. I was bawling at the end (don’t judge me, it’s been a rough day), in all the best ways.

But what I want to talk to you guys about is when an author goes meta. And it made me howl, it was so funny.

Ok, to get the scene a bunch of hockey teammates are sitting around, talking Bout 1 of them (our hero)wanting to get with the girl (heroine). But there’s a new player in the team, so they go through the other relationships really quickly (previous books in the series– I hadn’t read them so it was welcome!).

And then the following paragraph happens:

“”And he got her pregnant,” Posey says with gusto, the f***ing storyteller of the group. “It was a long road for them. Jesus the amount of time it took Eli to realize he could give in to loving her. Some might say the author of his story could have cut out the last 15% and everyone would have still been pleased with the outcome.”

— He’s Not My Type by Meghan Quinn, page 22 Kindle Edition

I howled. Omg it hit me so hard my kid thought I’d gone around the bend. She called out herself and her critics in the same breath and I was there for it.

That’s not to say it doesn’t pack an emotional punch as well. Grief is handled, as well as emotional trauma sustained from family (especially after the death). It really hit home and it was handled well.

Ms. Quinn, thank you so much for this book. I got it when I needed it.