After re-reading this so many times, I am upgrading it. I just love these two. And the fact that I have re-read this book probably Upgraded to 5 Stars
After re-reading this so many times, I am upgrading it. I just love these two. And the fact that I have re-read this book probably 5 times now demands said upgrade.
3.5 Stars
Dammit. After finally reaching that elusive 4-star level with this author in the book I read right before this one (Bound by Love), I once again fell just a bit short with this one. Which is kinda frustrating.
The elements in every book will all be there, but for some reason, they just don't click all the way for me. I can't explain it. Maybe it's because mafia romance is one of my favorite sub-genres and thus I'm pickier, who knows. And one might ask, why do I keep reading this author if I feel this way?
Well, cause I consider 3 stars to be a decent rating. It means I liked it and had fun reading it. Also, I think Reilly is a great writer. Definitely a professional with an actual editor. So yay. Also, her books are just plain readable and - let's be honest - I am also just running out of good mafia fodder and these are available to me via Kindle Unlimited.
Long story, short: I enjoyed this one, but thought Remo could have been a little darker and the ending a little more polished....more
Finally, a 4-star read for me and Cora Reilly! I’m excited. I’ve read several of her books over the last year and they were always just sh4 Smut Stars
Finally, a 4-star read for me and Cora Reilly! I’m excited. I’ve read several of her books over the last year and they were always just short of being a 4-star read for me; but I kept trying because I just felt like it was always thisclose. Happy it finally clicked for me. Off to read Remo's story now...and yes, I know I'm totally going out of order now. But what can I say. #sucharebel...more
You all know by now that I am complete trash for anything this woman writes and this story was no different. Re-read: 9/10/21
4 Smut Scale Stars
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You all know by now that I am complete trash for anything this woman writes and this story was no different.
Alex was a wonderful Alpha lead and his wolverine was a lot of fun. I also really liked Bree. She was the first omega character we have had and that was a new twist also. I also really liked that Wright changed up the steamy scenes a bit and made them a little less...confrontational. Don't get me wrong, I have loved all of that in her previous books, it's just doubtful that characters have the SAME exact dialogue and push/pull during their sexy times. So, it was nice to have that changed up a bit.
Also, fair warning: this is a little slower in some areas than some of her other books, but nothing alarming. In short, I really enjoyed it and think fans of the series will be happy....more
This review can act as the review for the whole shebang...
While this trilogy didn't blow me away, I did enjoy it and I feel grateful to have re3 Stars
This review can act as the review for the whole shebang...
While this trilogy didn't blow me away, I did enjoy it and I feel grateful to have received all the ARCs for it through Whitney's newsletter. The plot was engaging and fast-paced and I liked the characters well enough too.
But mostly, I just really appreciate what Whitney G. was trying to do here. She included acknowledgements at the beginning and ending of each book in this series in which she blatantly states that this was a passion project. That she wrote it for herself. That she was trying to branch out more in her writing. And that she wasn't even sure this trilogy would ever see the light of day.
And so I don't want any less than stellar reviews to discourage her from having pulled the trigger on publishing this (not that she will ever even read this lowly review anyway, but whatever). As I was saying...You can see that WG is definitely trying to exercise her darker side and spread her writing wings a bit. And while I can't honestly say this first foray blew me away, I can say that I definitely saw the potential in it and am supportive of her efforts.
I do wish that she had condensed it down into one single book and focused more on the relationship building between the main couple. Relationship building is more than just sex scenes and mushy conversations (which the H would meta-textually remind us wouldn't be happening at the beginning of each book). The best kind is sometimes just time spent together and conversations about nothing.
- Mafia romance? Check. - Age gap? Check. - Marriage of convenience? Check. - Forgettin4 - 4.5 Smut Scale Stars
This is exactly what I needed right now.
- Mafia romance? Check. - Age gap? Check. - Marriage of convenience? Check. - Forgetting about everything going on in the world for at least a solid two hours? Check....more
I know it's not "cool" to like SJM books anymore...all the cool kids say she's tired, she doesn't have enough "rep" in her books, she's too t4.5 Stars
I know it's not "cool" to like SJM books anymore...all the cool kids say she's tired, she doesn't have enough "rep" in her books, she's too trope-y, her males are too "masculine," angels and fae have been done too many times before, blah, blah, fucking blah...
I'm not here to rate the literary elements here, people. I'm not here to ferret out any imagined or un-imagined social warrior stances in a barely adult Urban Fantasy book meant for entertainment.
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And this was scrumptious.
Was the beginning somewhat clunky and hard to get into? Yes. But I was prepared. And that should be expected in almost any first in a new fantasy series.
Was it too long? Yeah, probably. But I also wouldn't trade in any of the length and, in turn, lose any of the world/character-building.
Did a lot of the characters remind me of characters from her other books? Sure.
But again, I don't care. At the end of any given day, I am just a basic bitch who reads for ENTERTAINMENT. And I found this book to be 800 pages of a good time.
I grabbed this because I get Whitney G.'s newsletter and it sounded interesting. And I guess because part of me will always be hoping for anoth4 Stars
I grabbed this because I get Whitney G.'s newsletter and it sounded interesting. And I guess because part of me will always be hoping for another golden egg of wonder.
That said, I really enjoyed this. The H here is delicious and I am enjoying the twists and turns here...something kind of new for WG - which I applaud.
However, I wish I had waited for all installments of the serial to be out before jumping into this - in my defense, I erroneously thought book two was out already.
That said, I will DEFINITELY be picking this back up and reading the entire serial once it's all released....more
I am definitely in the minority by not loving this book more, but I think it's my own damned fault on some level too...
I was so excited when I 3 Stars
I am definitely in the minority by not loving this book more, but I think it's my own damned fault on some level too...
I was so excited when I saw this (because I LOVE Maddie and Flame and their path throughout the series), but as I read I couldn't help but feel like I was missing something. Then I realized that, in my haste to get to this, I had forgotten that I have not caught up with this series - meaning, I still have to read book 7...
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Thus, I felt lost with Smiler and whatever was happening with him and Ash...and the fact that Lilah was (view spoiler)[pregnant with twins (hide spoiler)]?
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Good. To. Know.
Then..not gonna lie...I just don't think I was in the mood for TC's brand of psychoanalysis right now; thus, I found myself skimming through a lot of Flame's flashbacks and breakthroughs - which, again, is somewhat on me. I KNEW what to expect, and it's 100% my fault for jumping into it when I knew I wasn't in the mood.
That said, I do feel like the constant flashbacks of Flame's abuse and the scenes with him...re-enacting the scenes with his baby brother...were a little too frequent. We get it. He was abused. Don't lessen the impact of that by over-saturating us with scenes depicting it.
There were also editing issues with this book (their vs there, etc., type stuff), which was kind of annoying. I hold Cole to a pretty high standard and her books are usually pretty flawless in this regard. So I found it slightly distracting.
So, for now, I will leave this as a solid 3 stars...which is a good rating...but I reserve the right to come back and reassess after I catch up on the series and re-read this one after....more
I decided to upgrade this to straight 4 stars because (even though I had it tagged at 4 technical stars anyway) and only written in as 3.75, p4 Stars
I decided to upgrade this to straight 4 stars because (even though I had it tagged at 4 technical stars anyway) and only written in as 3.75, people seemed to think that meant there was something wrong with this book. I assure you, I enjoyed this book. And according to the GR rating system, 3 means “liked” and anything above that is just gravy.
The ONLY reason I didn’t rate this higher is because I compare like to like. Meaning I am rating this in comparison to MY enjoyment of other 5-star works by this author. And knowing me, I’m sure I will love this more after re-reading the series again. But for now, 3.75 - 4 stars — which means I “really liked it” guys! Lol
The ACTUAL review:
Anna Zaires is an auto-buy author for me and I will read anything this woman writes. After reading book one of this series, I have been DYING for book two ever since. When this thing it my kindle...all other books went by the wayside and I dove right in.
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Marcus is just as delightfully possessive and over the top as he was in book one and I really loved the chemistry between him and Emma. And I LOVED Emma's grandparents and her cats.
All in all, another solid read by Miss Zaires. I will take a 3-star or above book from her over many "5 star" reads by other authors any day of the week.
Also, for those wondering, this was the final book in this series.
*ARC provided by author in exchange for an honest review*...more
I enjoyed this...the writing was really solid and I thought Dresden built a good world slice without resorting to non-stop info dumping, which 3 Stars
I enjoyed this...the writing was really solid and I thought Dresden built a good world slice without resorting to non-stop info dumping, which is always nice.
I could have done with a little more chemistry and bond-building between Tobias and Quinn (love that name, by the way), and a little less of the (view spoiler)[rape scenes (hide spoiler)] which dominated almost the entirety of the middle to end of the book with nothing to offset them (I know that's a mainstay in this genre and I've read scenes that like many times, but sometimes it just goes on and on and on). Also, we were left to wonder about the backstory and whereabouts of Grace, which I hope gets addressed in later books...but other than that, a solid start.
I will be moving forward with the series once I feel prepared to read what I'm sure will contain more of the above mentioned scenes. ...more
I've been an avid reader of romance and paranormal romance since I was 12 years old (my poor Dad definitely didn't realize what I was reading3.5 Stars
I've been an avid reader of romance and paranormal romance since I was 12 years old (my poor Dad definitely didn't realize what I was reading)...meaning I've saturated myself with all genres of PNR for 25+ years now.
Thus, I have exhausted so many of my favorite PNR authors series, back lists, and sub-genres, e.g., Lora Leigh's Breed series, Lucy Monroe, Katie Reus/Suzanne Wright's various shifter series, Laurann Dohner's New Species and Mating Heat series, Nalini Singh's Psy-Changeling series, Thea Harrison's Elder Races series, Christine Feehan's Leopard People series, Aline Hunter's Alpha and Omega series, and so many others - literally hundreds of books.
A lot of these books deal with Omegas and Alphas - a theme that's been around forever.
The reason I mention this (because, yes, I realize this all has nothing to do with this book), is because I was accused on a separate Omegaverse books series review of being uninformed and not knowing what I was talking about when I expressed my opinion that that other series felt like a copy of another one.
And to that I say...
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Cause, oddly enough, THIS Omegaverse book (while sharing the typical Omegaverse themes and terms) was it's OWN book. It had it's own story and own path and I enjoyed reading it.
Because I can tell the difference, thank you very much.
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But I digress. Moving on.
I really enjoyed the mixture of Omegaverse and mafia (another favorite trope of mine of which I have also read extensively) here and I thought it was very well done. I also loved a lot of the psychological elements here - as with a lot of Omegaverse books and books dealing with other animalistic/PNR based characters - and I thought the author wrote a really solid story here.
I look forward to reading more of her stuff. ...more
I don't really know how exactly to go about discussing this book as it doesn't really fit in any of the prescribed boxes (or tropes) in which4.5 Stars
I don't really know how exactly to go about discussing this book as it doesn't really fit in any of the prescribed boxes (or tropes) in which we romance readers like to shove things.
It's just not that simplistic.
There are a lot of layers here...and to say it's a "step-brother/sister" or "reverse harem" romance - or any of the possible labels one might slap on this thing - and it kind of is some of those things - it's also not really any of those things either.
And yes, I realize how confusing that sounds.
This book definitely won't be for everyone, even previous fans of Penelope Douglas (even PD will tell you that herself in the author notes at the end of this thing - which are SO worth reading, by the way). There are elements in here that are just hard limits for some people - which I understand and respect.
And while I definitely respect and understand those limits, I also encourage anyone on the fence to give this a try if they feel so inclined.
I really enjoyed this. The dynamics between all the characters is so magnetic and tangible. And PD is a master at setting the scene and the characters...and then holding back just the right amount of information and detail for our minds to fill in the gaps in a way that makes it more powerful than if she had just laid things out for us.
Not everyone who gives this book a shot is going to like it, it's just not possible. As with any book, really. But I'm so glad I am one of the ones who did and I commend Douglas for following her writing arrow and taking risks....more
I really enjoyed this, as I knew (and hoped!) I would. I can always count on Anna Zaires to bring it and she definitely did here. I have read A4 Stars
I really enjoyed this, as I knew (and hoped!) I would. I can always count on Anna Zaires to bring it and she definitely did here. I have read ALL her books and was dying for this one to hit my kindle. The chemistry between Yan and Mina was delicious and I read this is one sitting - aka was hooked from beginning to end. I did find myself wishing this had been a trilogy like the previous series set in this world, though - even if that would mean we had to wait.
I've complained a lot in the past about authors constantly putting out duets and trilogies (*cough* looking at you Meghan March *cough*) when it feels unnecessary...but Anna Zaires is an exception to that for me. Her trilogies and series always feel like they need to be that long...like her stories and characters are so fleshed out that a single standalone wouldn't have done them justice.
That said, maybe Zaires felt like these two characters didn't need an entire series...and in that case, I am happy with just this standalone, although it did at times feel a little more...rushed than her usual fare. But what can I say, I guess I am just greedy.
Long story short, I was overjoyed when this hit my kindle and I enjoyed every second of it.
*arc provided by author in exchange for honest review*...more
I really liked this overall as I'm a sucker for this shit, but had a hard time taking Crow seriously as a badass.
(view spoiler)[The fact that he didn't immediately hunt down and kill Bones for what Bones did to Crow's sister made Crow/Cane seem weak to me. I also thought the whole premise of stealing Pearl to get to Bones as silly. If you can get to Pearl, why can't you just get to Bones and kill him? (hide spoiler)]
Also, this is billed as "dark," but I have a pretty high tolerance so this feel middle-road to me.
But anyway. Already read book two and halfway through book three. Might just so overall series review at the end.
I've said it before, but I will say it again here: Anna Zaires is one of my all-time favorite authors. She is on my auto-buy listDelicious Zaires-Lite
I've said it before, but I will say it again here: Anna Zaires is one of my all-time favorite authors. She is on my auto-buy list and and I will read anything she puts out. So of course I was beyond excited when I saw that she was coming out with something new.
And I don't just mean a new book, I mean "new" in the sense that this is a definite departure from her normal fare. Meaning: NOT DARK. In fact, if you go into this expecting the typical AZ characters and storyline, you might be disappointed. Luckily, however, I had read the review of a trusted friend AND read and taken Ms. Zaires' "this is lighter than my usual" warning to heart...so I was ready for it.
And even though the story and scene here might be lighter, Zaires still brought her ace possessive Alpha male game like the boss she is...and I was SO here for it.
Marcus was delicious and I really liked Emma as well. I do have to say that I wasn't too thrilled about the cliffhanger ending - for some reason I erroneously thought this was a standalone - but, not gonna lie, I am excited at the prospect of getting more of these characters.
I just hope the wait isn't too long...
Also really looking forward to Yan's story...it was blurbed at the end of this book and, being that it takes place in the world of Julian/Lucas/Peter... I am hoping that means it promises to be deliciously dark.
***ARC provided by author in exchange for an honest review***...more
JMD writes good mafia, that’s indisputable; however something kept me from loving this...or just full on “really l3 Stars
This was a super solid read.
JMD writes good mafia, that’s indisputable; however something kept me from loving this...or just full on “really liking this” per the classic 4-star GR definition. And I have no idea what that something is. Cause it was solid. And I loved Lorenzo. So much.
So it’s probably just me being a nit picky asshole unsure of exactly which nit to pick. So I’m just gonna say I read this wrong and call it a day. *baffled shrug*...more
I really enjoyed this...Lorenzo is a great character and I really enjoyed him. I thought his and Morgan's chemistry was awesome, even if I th3.5 Stars
I really enjoyed this...Lorenzo is a great character and I really enjoyed him. I thought his and Morgan's chemistry was awesome, even if I thought their emotional connection could have been a little bit stronger at times. But still, I'll take the chemistry. Always a win in my book.
I was unaware this was a duology...so I was unprepared - and fairly annoyed, I must admit - at the cliffhanger ending. But, oh well.
I'll maybe get to book two this week. Otherwise I have a feeling I might forget about it. Still, overall an enjoyable read....more
I read this right after reading what felt like a slew of mediocre books. I was starting to think it was me and 4.5 Stars
All I can say is....YESSSSSSS.
I read this right after reading what felt like a slew of mediocre books. I was starting to think it was me and that anything I picked up was going to miss the mark. Thankfully, this book proved me wrong. And, of course it did. It's Nicole-fucking-Jacquelyn, people. I have loved and adored NJ books since I cracked open the first Aces book years ago.
I love all the characters. I love NJ's version of the MC world. I love the way NJ writes.
And this book had everything I love about NJ books in spades.
The characters were well-fleshed out, the chemistry between the H and the h was off the charts, and the side plot(s) were solid. I even enjoyed the prologue-to-flashback beginning and was unruffled by the dead-ex dilemma that I usually loathe on a level reserved only for warm beer and waking up early.
NJ has a way of writing things so that they seem authentic and REAL. It's funny how the things that don't bother some of us in real life bother us in our romance books, i.e., ex-loves, ex-girlfriends, dead exes, the H or h being in love with someone prior to meeting the H or h, etc. After all, in real life, it would be unrealistic to meet an American single father in their 30's who hadn't either been in love or in a long term relationship. But we don't always want reality in romance - that's why we all read it, after all. But NJ has the ability to take that romance framework we love and place it around those realistic details in way that make it seem like the best of both worlds. In other words, she paints such a visceral, real picture, that she can make me accept and love details that are turn-offs when done by a lot of other authors. If any of that makes sense.
The only reason I didn't give this thing a truly full 5 stars (not that it really matters) is because the ending was a bit a abrupt (as in very) and, to add insult to injury, there was no epilogue - at ALL.
Other than that, my only other complaint is that it went by too fast and ended too soon. I enjoyed every single page and can't wait for the next book by Ms. Jacquelyn....more
I enjoyed this...but I didn’t love it as much as I have loved ALL of Wright's other books and as much as I had anticipated loving this. It's th3 Stars
I enjoyed this...but I didn’t love it as much as I have loved ALL of Wright's other books and as much as I had anticipated loving this. It's the final book in a series/spin-off series that I have ADORED and pimped out to everyone and anyone who would listen to me...but I can't help but think the fault is mine.
I have been in one of the biggest book/life funks of my life and I feel like my not loving this can be attributed 100% to that fact. It took me THREE days to finish this when I usually polish off a Wright book in one sitting.
I can't believe I am about to say this, but I think I need a break from the romance genre - I know, I seriously can't even believe I'm saying that even as I'm typing it...but the struggle is real.
Luckily, I have six floor to ceiling bookcases over-filled with a gazillion unread fantasy, science fiction, and historical fiction books which I can peruse - and which I have been trying to get myself to tackle all year. Don't judge me. I blame my initial discovery of bookTube and Book Outlet. I actually told myself I wasn't allowed to buy any more physical books until I made some headway through some of stacks of books I already own...but I keep using my kindle as a veritable loophole.
But I digress, enough about me.
Please disregard my rating of this book as I feel like it's not a true reflection of my typical tastes, etc. I think once I've cleansed my palate, so to speak, and get back on the romance train, a re-read of this will see me giving it five stars.
Until then... (edited to add: this "break" lasted for two non-romance books in two days and I am back on my romance train. Fear not). ...more
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