I am a huge fan of Thea Harrison's Elder Races series and so far I've gobbled up all the books like candy (except the last full length one, which I'll remedy very soon). She is a master of world building and making a landscape appear in your mind. Add to that her sassy way of writing and I'm a goner.
Sophie, who is a witch consultant for the LAPD, is still recovering from gunshot wounds she received when a police operation went awry. When a stranger contacts her with an offer nobody could refuse she jumps at the chance: An inaccessible house in the UK plus the entailed land and a significant annuity will belong to her if she can gain access to said house.
Nikolas Sevigny's loyalty to his men is unshakable. Of the hundred he had only nine are left, the stranded Daoine Sidhe knights of the Dark Court. Cut off from his homeland he fights with every fiber to help bringing down the Queen of the Light Court and her trusted man Morgan.
Sophie and Nik meet under less than ideal circumstances. Two weeks prior while doing a reading she saw a vision of Nik attacking her. Only it didn't seem like a vision. It's only natural that now, being in the UK, her defenses are up and her distrust for this beautiful man is firmly in place. She is drawn into a war that isn't hers. With the house. that is almost like a fortress, she has a lot to offer to Nik and his men and he is ruthless enough to take it if helps his mission.
At the sight, Nikolas’s mouth tightened. The ghost of the man he used to be turned uneasily in its grave. He had no illusions about himself. Once he would have been filled with remorse at bruising a female, but long ago he had turned cold and hard.
You know those heroes, the ones that are hard to love in the beginning...but when you start loving them, you go all in? Yep, Nikolas is one of those. He was such an asshat in the beginning, I wanted to slap him into next week. The enlightenment came quickly though. He is a couple of hundred years old and in the last decades his sole focus was on getting himself and his men home. There was no room for niceties. Of course he bristles and gets his boxers in a twist when he meets this beautiful witch who keeps mouthing off at him.
“You’re a damn mouthy broad,” he said and kissed her.
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Nik is everything you expect in an alpha male: overbearing, sometimes rude, commandeering, controlling, rough. But also loyal and gentle and caring.
"I’ve lost so many people. So many… I thought I didn’t have it in me to care about anyone else again. But now I do, and yes, I’m struggling, because I don’t think I could take losing you too."
Sophie is a woman with her own mind and she has no compunctions letting Nik know that he can shove his orders where the sun doesn't shine. She has a temper but once she and Nik get close you find her more often reigning it in and picking her battles. She has a protective side to her that makes Nik go batty because, dammit, he is the one giving orders! Sophie is also a crafty and creative witch, she's brave and kind and I loved how she took care of Robin, the puck.
Their bickering is hilarious and you get the feeling that they only argue to make up again with mind-blowing sex. Speaking of, Thea Harrison is known for some steamy scenes (I'll never forget Dragos' mating heat) so you can definitely expect major sexual tension throughout the book.
“The gods only know why,” he whispered. “But I find you sexy as hell. So far, you’ve been nothing but trouble.” “Ugh, stop talking,” she told him, putting the fingers of both hands over his mouth. “You ruin it when you talk. I find you sexy as hell too, as long as you stay silent.”
One thing I need to mention are the several inaccuracies I've encountered. I was surprised there were so many because a good editor and proofreader should have caught on and gotten rid of them. Only to name a few:
"Silver was a hard metal, and besides, solid silver bullets would be much more expensive."
- Silver is not a hard metal - in fact it is extremely soft
“An earl— an English earl?” “Yes.” “Does that make you titled as well?” Her knowledge of English titles was almost nonexistent. Kathryn shrugged. “It does. I’m a countess, but I’ve lived in the States for so long I never use it.
- the daughter of an Earl is never a countess, only the wife is.
- there were several mix ups with English and American terms. The heroine being American kept saying supper and crisps, the hero said ass although he had spent a long time in the UK.
With that being said, it didn't take away from my enjoyment of the story which was tremendous and I can't wait to continue this series. This was an extremely well done introduction to this new story arc in the world of the Elder Races and I am really giddily awaiting Gawain's story.
“Then,” he said, even more quietly, “there are truths that change. Before I met you, I was adamant about not investing in a relationship. I was constantly on the run, my life in danger, and that is a terrible thing to take to a woman’s bed. And I met you. You’re stubborn, infuriating, courageous, inventive, generous, and kind. You make me laugh. You make me crazy. You make me rediscover things inside myself that I thought were dead forever. You make me hard as a rock until all I can think about is tearing off your clothes.
Confession: I haven't read the previous books in this series. Yet. I have been reading out of order a lot lately and I don't regret it. I might even have a little advantage now, knowing how awesome Ace will be.
He likes to take control— on and off the field. He plays hard, loves hard. I should’ve been prepared for him, but I wasn’t.
When Bryant Johnson steamrolls his life, JR "Ace" Anderson doesn't know what hit him. This girl with the sunshine smile tells him she is his girlfriend. Only, Ace doesn't do girlfriends. His reputation being a major asshole doesn't seem to faze Bryant. And after something he thought to be a one-night-stand he can't say no to her for some reason. Her sanguine disposition makes it impossible to let his own rude and prickly self surface.
Her feminine scent wafts into my nostrils and I inhale deeply, wondering why in the hell I’m so drawn to this woman. She’s not my type. She’s soft and compassionate and far too patient.
Bryant is on a mission and she doesn't take prisoners. She wants to reform the biggest douchebags into boyfriend material. She is convinced most men are redeemable so her new project has to be, without a doubt, the angry new quarterback of her daddy's football team, who was kicked out of his old team because he slept with the trainer's daughter. Woops. Trying not to quote Britney Spears here...
Ace is a decent man. I know he is. He just needs a little more confidence in himself so he doesn’t have to find it in women.
Bryant is a beautiful heroine with some quirks that will endear her to you fast. She is a typical Southern girl with impeccable manners and her way of taming the big bad boy is crazy but crazy good. She charms her unknowing victim into obedience. She wraps Ace around her finger and this usually short tempered guy turns into a lamb when he is with her.
Except when I open my mouth to tell her she’s right and that I don’t need her, I find myself saying something else entirely. “I only gave you the one orgasm. There's more where that came from.”
Outside of the bedroom anyway. When these two get it on there is lots of steam and dirty talk and that makes for some good laughs too because Bryant being the well mannered girl "makes love" and doesn't "f*ck." You can take a wild guess how many times Ace slips.
Bryant isn't the bubbly girl she shows the world though. There is a part of her that is deeply sad that makes her keep men at a distance. With her help Ace gets over his issues and in return he heals her. When you leave these two you will see a gorgeous couple. Ace will still have his rough edges but he will also have unearthed his beautiful character traits. And he will have found camaraderie where he didn't expect it.
"Making you happy appears to make me happy.”
I also want to mention that the side cast was fabulous and I am looking forward to reading more about Ty in particular. He is full of mischief but also depth which I would like to see explored.
I am really looking forward to reading the books before Ace's story. I think it'll make it a bit easier to deal with his douchebaggery I've only heard about so far. I am also in love with the way this author writes. There is an ease to the flow of her prose that resonates with me. Overall this was a total winner with me.
“Ace, we're in public.” I tip my head back against the tall wrought iron fence. “I know.” “You need to relax,” she scolds. “I can't. All the blood in my body is currently under your ass at this point. It's a fucking miracle I can even form a sentence.”
A hot tortured farmer? A city girl teaching him how to love again? Sign me up!
Margot has a late visitor. Her ex wants to get back together and proposes to her. If that doesn't smell fishy...yet she considers it. The next day at a fundraiser he presents his "new fiancé". Only...it isn't her. She's had enough, something's gotta give. After throwing a tray of scones at her ex-jerk she decides to go out of town to get away from the gossip. She takes on a new client on behalf of her and her best friend's PR agency, a small family farm whose owners focus on sustainable agriculture.
Jack's and his brothers' farm is struggling a little bit. They need to grow brand awareness, stand out from the multitude of farms but Jack doesn't like change. And the barbie doll who is supposed to show him his own business? No way is he on board with the plans she has for the Valentini Brothers Farm. Add to that the feelings this woman awakes in him, feelings he doesn't want and deserve...he needs to get rid of her and fast.
Jack and Margot couldn't be any more different. He is an ex soldier now farmer with a traumatic past who lost his anchor when his wife died. Grouchy, ill-mannered, downright rude. Margot is a city girl, used to luxury and abundance. Yet something ties them together. They have an insane chemistry and although Jack is volatile and puts up walls within seconds, her big heart and easy smiles make them weaker and wear him down, little by little. She knows how to treat him, to push and prod when he needs it and to leave him be when he doesn't.
Careful, city girl. I'll want to keep you." She laughed as I let her go. But the scary thing was, I was only half joking.
Soon he finds himself seeing more in her than the spoiled city girl he thought her to be. She is strong-willed and doesn't let him roll over her like a bulldozer which I loved. Jack needed somebody who stood up for herself. But she is also incredibly forgiving, because she knows that behind all those walls is a good man and while she didn't leave him hanging for too long his grovelling was delicious and sweet.
Jack's heart is so broken and shattered that it feels like it will never heal. The way he holds on to the past and thinks that he doesn't deserve anything good in his life is painful and so misguided. He lashes out when he feels cornered and hurts Margot almost to a point where you can't fix what's broken. But there is also a sweet side to him and one that can see what he is doing despite his inability to actually DO something about it. Both of them reflect a lot about themselves, Margot probably even more so than Jack.
How could I compare my situation, which was probably just boredom, to his tragic loss? What a spoiled brat I was, complaining about "something missing" from my life. I'd never wanted for anything.
Their whirlwind romance develops fast but even though they give in to their building desire for one another quickly it doesn't feel insta because Jack keeps pushing her away. And anyway was the push and pull in this story an emotional roller coaster.
But forgiving myself would mean giving myself permission to move on, to be happy when I didn't deserve it. I'd never make that mistake again.
My heart broke for these two a thousand times over and when the story came to a conclusion the epilogue was well deserved and beautiful. I left them in a place I felt comfortable with and confident that their future would be bright. It's a story about healing and filling a void they both feel with love.
One more thing I want to mention is their chemistry. God were they hot together. Jack was quite the dirty talker and if he doesn't make your girly parts tingle then I don't know what will!
She wrapped her fingers around my shaft again and looked up at me expectantly.
"Good Girl. Now listen to me. I want you to stop being so fucking polite. Use your hands. Get messy. Make noise. Forget about being queen of the prom and suck me off like the greedy little slut under the bleachers. Got it?"
I have had a lot of firsts this year. This is another new to me author and I know it won't be my last book by her. Melanie Harlow's combination of humor and heartbreak has made me an instant fan. I can't wait to read more of her!
I'd never been so aware of my body or felt so driven by its need. Never experienced hunger or thirst or exhaustion to the point where my body craved food, water or sleep the way it craved to be filled by this man. Connected to him. Anchored to him.
Jay McLean is a new to me author although I've had her previous stories on my TBR for a long time. When I saw that she was starting a new series I thought this would be a good starting point. And let me tell you - I couldn't be happier.
SIXTEEN CLICKS. Eight seconds. That's how long it took me to realize I'd been in love with her for four years. Eight, life-changing seconds. It's also the exact length of time it took to lose her.
The Preston family consists of seven siblings, one sister, six brothers. Lucas is the oldest son and ever since his mom passed away he has taken over caring for his family, relieving his father a little bit from his duties. His best friend Lois/Laney has become a sort of surrogate mom to this bunch of frisky boys. Lane and Lucas have been friends for years. And it's the same amount of years they have been in love, even when they were still too young to put a name to their feelings.
And so without meaning to, without wanting to, I started to fall in like with a girl who would later become my best friend.
Lane is the glue who holds everything and everyone together, especially Lucas. One night changes everything. The dynamic of their relationship and friendship and their lives. Along the way lie heartbreak, hurt and devastation.
I don't want to give away too much of the plot - I went in blind and I'm happy I did. However please be aware that there are triggers which I will post at the end of my review in spoiler tags.
These two walk through fire for each other, even when they are at odds with one another. Their relationship is deep and has its roots in an all encompassing love. And Laney craves love. So bad that one decision will change the course of her life. What I admire about her is her strength, loyalty, strong will and backbone. She owns her decisions and always tries to keep her loved ones from the hurt that comes as a consequence to her poor choice. She protects them fiercely.
Lucas is flawed. He has hurt Laney in the past, often without him realizing it because he is so tangled up in caring for his family and living the life of a teenager. He also makes one poor decision, although I don't think his brain was involved. You can look past it though because he is young and young people make stupid mistakes. The important part is how you deal with it, what you do to fix it and if you learn from it for the future. And Lucas does all that. You can see huge growth along the way.
"And I think, ultimately, that’s what true love is, you know? To want to be someone’s hero when they’re faced with villains. To want to be to be the one that saves them. To be their Wonderwall.”
I adored all the Preston brothers but one stood out in particular and that was little Lachlan. He made me laugh so hard. He is all of six years old when we first meet him and he repeats everything his older brothers teach him. He yells "SEXING" during a Shakespeare play or laughs about his brothers saying "F*ck". I think every mother would be horrified yet laughing on the inside. And generally Jay McLean inserts a lot of humor throughout the story so that you are never overwhelmed with the angst that certainly comes with the main themes of this book.
"We've had several parents complain that Lachlan's the one teaching their kids swear words." Lachlan stands, shoves his finger in this teacher's face. "That's bullshit, lady!"
I am in love with this family. This author has a way of writing that made me feel all the things these characters were going through, from the main cast to the secondary, that's how well fleshed out they were. Lucas and Lane were relatable and lovable.
“I need you. I need to love you. And I need to love you right.”
I am so looking forward to meeting the love matches of the other Preston boys, they will definitely need someone special in their lives.
...as much as I'd like to make my opinion known on how silly I think it is when parents give their kids matching names, I can't. Because: Lucy Lucas Leo Logan Lincoln Liam Lachlan
The safety gang will have a field day with this one. (view spoiler)[ Abuse, domestic violence, cheating (hide spoiler)]
Sarina Bowen, I bow to you. Who would have thought that I would fall under the spell of a gruff and grouchy farmer?
Audrey didn't have a happy childhood. Her mother is cold at best and has always been giving her the impression that she is a constant failure. She dropped out of college, never really finished anything until she found her calling in cooking, the only thing she thinks she's good at. Audrey works for a chain of restaurants hoping that one day she will be a chef at her own. She puts up with the most absurd projects in order to keep her job because she wants to show her mother that she can take care of herself. One of these projects is the farm-to-table project of the company she works for. Her boss sends her to Vermont to convince local farmers to sell their produce.
Griffin used to be a football player in college. He had a career ahead and had been drafted to play professionally when he had to take over his family's farm after his father passed away unexpectedly. Sacrificing his dream and taking up the responsibility of becoming the head of his family wasn't easy but Griff finds solace in his passion for making cider and takes pride in the high quality he produces. One day a woman he knows intimately from college visits him with a proposition to sell his cider for an offendingly low price. Despite his irritation for this offer the attraction they felt when they hooked up in college surfaces again with a force. But Griff doesn't have time for a relationship and Audrey lives in Boston. Additionally she works for she Dark Side so there is no way this can work. Or can it?
I flipped her over and kissed her. She wrapped her arrms around me immediatel. This right there was my five-year plan. I didn't know how it was going to work out yet. But I wasn't giving up.
Griff is the kind of guy who makes it impossible for real men to live up to a book boyfriend. Not gonna lie, he is EXACTLY the guy I would fall for. He is this grouchy and gruff, bearded, handsome guy who didn't just settle for taking over the farm and the responsibilities that come with it. He has made the best out of the hand life has dealt him. He is a sexy, endearing, deeply caring and responsible man with a sense of humor to boot (watch out for the scene in which he tells everybody that he likes Audrey, good times!). And the best thing...the BEST THING...he is a Star Wars fan - on page 3 I came across the first SW reference and I knew that this was going to be good.
“He turned toward me wearing a typical, piercing Griff frown. It was so potent it should probably be its own word. Griffrown.”
Audrey is this slightly quirky, funny and adorable girl who seems flighty at times. Her mother never went easy on her, criticizing eveything she did in the past. I think that's why I went easy on her. I found a lot of myself in her, how I was when I was young. (I wasn't irresponsible by any means but being a jack of all trades means having a widely spread field of interests. This paired with an easily sparked enthusiasm made it hard for me to focus on just one thing. But I disgress). Audrey's sense of humor is clever and she successfully riles up her former college hook-up.
“Holy Cannoli. I was cuddling the world's grumpiest farmer.”
Audrey and Griffin have an undeniable chemistry that jumps at you the minute they meet again. Their sexual encounters start early on, some might have a problem with that since it seems a bit insta. I can explain it to myself with them drawing a lot from their memory.
Every hour she spent in Vermont served to remind me of exactly how hot for her I'd been in college, too
.
The secondary characters are brilliant. Griff's mother is the role model of a mom you want your boyfriend to have. Sarina Bowen gives us a nice impression of the personalities of Griff's siblings, his cousin and his employees Zach and Jude. The latter two will be heroes in the next two books and I can already tell that Jude's will make my heart ache.
HIM was the first book I read written by this author in collaboration with a favorite of mine, Elle Kennedy. Their blend of writing was compelling and captivating so I was excited to see if Sarina Bowen's solo-writing would be just as enthralling. I couldn't be happier. This author's humorous writing style draws you in and doesn't let you go, it's irresistable and exactly what I need to escape life for a bit. Thank you for a fabulous time on a farm in Vermont, Ms. Bowen. The core message of the story I take away is that plans change and it's ok to change your mind.
I usually have an intro ready when I finish a book. This one has my thoughts in a jumble and I don't know where to start. So many things happen in this story and I don't want to give away too much so I'll try to break it down to the necessary.
"Loving you is like finding the light. I can't ever lose that again, baby. I won't."
We were introduced to the secret organization called Vault in Perfect Chaos. We also met Kai whose story I was so looking forward to reading. I loved Deck but Kai is a whole new level of awesome. He grew up in an institution called the farm, a facility belonging to Vault where kids are raised to become what Kai is today. He is a killer who was steeled and trained to be one of the best, ice-cold, emotionless and focused. His mother is a manipulating, power hungry bitch who killed his father and has his sister imprisoned in one of Vault's locations for helping a fellow kid escape. His current objective is to convince a brilliant scientist to hurry up developing a drug for Vault. He gives Dr. Westbrook a week to come up with a solution.
When London watches a man threatening her father from her hiding place in a closet she feels a chill down her back but also an inexplicable fascination. When he approaches her to press the issue of her father to speed up the drug research she negotiates a deal: Seven days of sex in exchange for more time for her dad. Kai is totally on board with this. London is fascinated with the contradiction that is Kai.
But it was his eyes that captivated me, and wouldn't let me go. A deep jade that held amusement mixed with a dangerous glint which completely contradicted one another.
He is cocky, arrogant even, charming but also callous at times. And there are times when he shows an unexpected care for her. There is also a familiarity about him she can't shake. Soon Kai and London realize that they got more than they bargained for and feelings begin to arise they neither want nor can afford.
I think I've read enough dark books to say I can handle most fictional situations. Nothing prepared me for what London had to go through and there were times when I just wanted to curl into a fetal position and rock back and forth. The situations this heroine is pushed into are nothing short of heartbreaking, traumatizing and not for the faint of heart. Yet she shows resilience and extraordinary strength.
London is a compassionate, gentle and quiet girl who wants to become a scientist like her father when we meet her. There is also a stubbornness that helps her overcome a lot of the tragic events she experiences. There are layers added to her over the course of the story but her inherent compassion and sweetness remain in spite of it all. That she doesn't lose her mind is a miracle. With Kai's help she is also able to bounce back from the trauma. Is her recovery realistic? Nope. But it was still damn good to see her getting better. She is the kind of heroine I have come to love.
She had an innocence about her, a quietness that played across her face, but there was also a stubborn quirk that lay beneath the natural beauty.
Kai is delicious in every way. He is beautiful, hilarious and often commanding. There is nothing soft about him except when it comes to London. And why should he be, he went through hell as well to become the way he is and he didn't do so voluntarily. Kai doesn't waste words if there is nothing to say and I have to say I loved this character trait about him. He treats London with sweetness and adoration and it is his care about this girl that starts to chip away at the ice that surrounds his heart and soon he finds himself caring for other people too. I loved that he never broke his promise to come for her if she needed him. Their sexual chemistry was combustible.
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(view spoiler)[I also had tears in my eyes when he had to blow up the house he and London found happiness in. (hide spoiler)]
I’d never cared before. In order to care, you had to give a shit. I didn’t. Now I did and it was worse than any physical pain. It was acid eating away at my insides and feeling like there was no way back from the hell I lived in.
This isn't a fairy tale. No butterflies, no rainbow farting unicorns. It is a gritty tale with a high angst factor that gives you light when you almost lose yourself in the darkness of it. It's the main characters' love for each other that makes it shine and takes away the weight. The cruelty and severity of human trafficking addressed in this story is a punch to the gut and I think it only scratches the surface of what is really going on in this world. It makes me happy that, again, there is no question whether Kai loves London. His feelings are palpable.
I stared at her for several seconds, this remarkable woman who I'd go to the end of the earth for, who I'd kill for if anyone tried to hurt her.
We are allowed to slip into Connor's tortured mind and get a little bit of Georgie's POV. We also get to see all the characters from book 1 and an off-the-pages romance between the mysterious Tristan and Kai's sister Francesca. I would love to read their story.
I can only repeat my sentiment from my review of Perfect Chaos. Nashoda Rose has some serious talent and I will definitely read her backlist in the future.
Astrid - The Bookish Sweet Tooth
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