Hannah Grace's Icebreaker

Drama, drama, drama! At least in Icebreaker it's the good and juicy kind. *winks* I enjoyed this book wat more than I expected to. It made me reminisce my college dats, dating, campus fun, going to events, and feel blessed at how much happier my liver is without ALL the college drinking. LOL! 

Icebreaker's plot went deeper than I expected. At first, I was figuring it would be like the movie Cutting Edge or the book Pucked, but it really held its own! I loved the competitive ice skater vs competitive hockey player. There was an inherent understanding of what they need to get done to succeed and also how enjoy life and blow off steam. It has a good intro and story, we meet the players, there is a natural arc, realistic twists and issues to try and tear Anastasia and Nate apart, followed with understanding and the reiteration that positive communication is key, and finally, we get our beloved happily ever after. As Susan Elizabeth Phillips would tell us, that's what you need for a successful romantic comedy novel. Anything less is a tragedy. Also, these aren't really spoilers since you know this is marked as an "enemy to lovers" book.

Also, wowza! Ms. Grace gives us steamy, spicy, drippy, sexy scenes throughout the whole book! You will not be disappointed and...this is your warning if you are listening to an audiobook. I had no idea my 30 minute jog through the park was going to be 25 minutes of lusty bedroom antics. I can't even remember if I was jogging, or stutter step jogging, or going between jogging and racing. LOL!

If you want some great romance, Icebreakers is your friend.

Becky Banks' Flux

Vega and Hoyt are the enemies to lovers you didn't know you needed. They are the hacker-world book version of Yellowstone, the drama you can't help but get sucked into as you read along with their adventures and antics. Who knows where you might end up: jail, a penthouse suite, a gala or on the run. Flux is a layered story with a great arc, time doesn't stall anywhere and the characters are always developing and evolving as the mystery and thrills are unraveling around us. Plus, lots of luscious spice with Vega and Hoyt... lots.

Author Becky Banks has a talent for writing characters with quirks, charisma, sometimes broken and in need of healing, as well as humor. She has a talented way with words to paint you into the scene; smelling, tasting, feeling everything, electrifying the air around the characters. I have read everything this author has written and Flux is my new favorite book of the authors.

Vega comes from an abusive past that continues to haunt her and her family. She is passionately dedicated to protecting those she loves, herself, and other women who reach out in desperate need of the Valkyrie, to swoop in and save them from abusive men. While I had a love/hate relationship with Vega, we encounter time and again, a positive balance of strength in her because Vega tries to see both sides of the issues and situations, even if she has rules placing her more on the dark side (usually the lawbreaking side) than the light, that your scales tip in favor to love her. It is this willingness to see, absorb, and react that builds Vega's character throughout the book and strengthens her nature into someone likeable and loveable. You want to cheer her on as she evolves with the story.

Hoyt is a beautiful, intelligent, ruthless, billionaire, ex-NFL player, who will give you all the hot and bothered feelings we want to escape into. He has a head for tech, protecting people and placing securities in companies with an unbreachable tech system. I found myself falling more in love with Hoyt when I noticed his penitent towards patience, over and over, teaching Vega kindness is something you can give without cost to your confidence or value. Hoyt is a spot on character for this story. He was raised in a loving home but has battled his own demons and come out the other side stronger on every front.

Vega and Hoyt are uniquely capable of loving, challenging, and understanding each other as no one else has been able to. It is this new twist in reality, this glimpse into a stable shelter, supportive partner in life, and unconditional love, that Vega has secretly always sought. Through a chain of events that quickly spins out of control, Hoyt and Vega have to decide if their new found love is worth fighting for, in a world that seems to want to tear them apart, or, to be corny, will the breach to their hearts be repaired as the language is rewritten to incorporate the new variables they desperately dream of? 

Rachel Gillig's Two Twisted Crowns

“The girl, the King, and the monster they became.”

Rachel Gillig's Two Twisted Crowns is such a beautiful sequel book and masterful, gothic, ending of this duology! I love that it wasn’t strung out into a trilogy. While we might have wanted more, we didn’t need more and it’s just perfect as it is. Rachel Gillig crafted her author providence card masterfully.

It is with joy and sorrow I finished this book, but I know I will reread it many times in the future. The story, the characters, the rhyming history/story throughout…This is one of those remarkable books/series, I got to the end of and was just… complete. I also know more read throughs will show me little things I missed. I admit, as I read these, I was so focused in on learning what was going to happen or how they would unravel the situations the characters were in, I did so without looking up, barely at all, to the world around me. Next time, less rush and more savoring.

One Dark Window and Two Twisted Crowns are on my forever favorites shelf, lovely and waiting until I reread them again and again. If it helps, a few times a year I even dust my book shelves. That's some true love, right? They don't just sit up there and disappear into a blanket of dust. LOL! So, until then: Be wary. Be clever. Be good.

 

 

Rachel Gillig's One Dark Window

"The girl, the king...
and the monster they became" 

Have you ever found yourself reading a book and you are so totally involved in it, you have to force yourself to put it aside to sleep or do chores? Only, when you try to finally sleep, an hour or more later than it should be, your mind is still in the book and won’t turn off?! It’s intoxicating. I am in love with One Dark Window and Rachel Gillig’s writing. I was totally taken by surprise with the depths of want and need this book pulled me into. I’m totally charmed and addicted.

This book has magic woven into its very core that is unique (and I say this having read ALOT of fantasy and paranormal novels) and portrayed in a new way that wraps you up in its clutches. We follow Elspeth and her Nightmare on a path she never saw coming in this beautifully thrilling, dark, gothic, magical fantasy.

The story is centered around breaking the magical curse from centuries ago, to bring balance back to a land overthrown in superstitions, righting wrongs, and power struggles. Providence Cards are highly sought after, and the main magical tools we are shown, but also, through them we learn the history, gathering clues for the mystery. The author has steeped everything into a delicious history and surrounded us with a haunted misty wood. As everyone also craves romance with gothic, it’s there, a love that is slow burning and dangerous. “Be wary. Be clever. Be good.”


I can't gush enough about this book and wanting you to read it. Please do! Let me know if you do. I need others to talk to about it. LOL! Happy reading!

Nora Roberts' Inheritance, an ARC Review

 

Hello dear readers, 

I won Inheritance, the first book in Nora Roberts' new series The Lost Bride Trilogy, as an ARC through Goodreads Giveaways, WAHOO! I was surprised it was a ghost story; a juicy gothic love story. I don't come across ghost stories often but Roberts 100% nailed her goal she laid out in the novel's book blurb and author note of honoring her love and ghostly adventures from her youth. 

This was true to Nora Roberts writing style, with the depth and clarity she

is back to gifting us with. We are taken on a ride of friendship, fun dogs, sweet and scary ghost hauntings, curses and romance all in a haunted mansion, on the cliffs, overlooking a cute coastal town. Can it get any better than those elements combined?! Sonya, Cleo, Trey and Owen will never be the same again as the ghostly inhabitants weave tighter into Sonya's life and their relationships evolve, also weaving tighter together.  The Lost Bride's want their wedding rings found and the witch who cursed them, through the generations of Poole history, banished. 

I have read most all of Nora Roberts' books and this one... she has given us the drama, romance, and magic to keep your heart pounding and making going to sleep at night a little harder with Inheritance. Publication shows November 2023, but October, the spooky month, would have been so much more appropriate. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did when it comes out to read! 

J.R. Ward's The Bourbon Kings Trilogy

J.R. Ward, known for her ass kicking vampires, takes a turn into contemporary fiction with this romantic suspense trilogy. The Bourbon Kings follows the Bradford family, in Tennessee, as their legacy of bourbon, horses, fast women, tradition and dripping with money world is pulled apart. Ward gives us juicy and addictive drama. It’s on par with Dynasty with all the layers and levels of deceit and betrayal. It’s also steeped in tradition, hosed down with expectations, all while the reader gets to gleefully follow the machinations of family and their reactions that are riddled with love, sex, and death. This trilogy has it all (well, no paranormal friends come to visit) and will leave you thrilled you aren’t actually there but get to know all the things. LOL! I was a huge fan of this family saga. A few people have asked about the spice level and I would say it’s spicy enough. There are sexual exploitations, sex as a weapon and sex with love to enhance the story. Ward puts us in the location and the actions of what you might see if you came upon the characters, without pushing in and out with explicit descriptions and details.

Also, I loved the bourbon fun facts shared with us and the naming of each book. The angel’s share and the devil’s cut are actual things!

Leigh Bardugo's Ninth House

I started this book over a year ago, in the paperback format. I just couldn't get into the story but really wanted to read a Leigh Bardugo novel. Recently, I was able to get the audiobook version and was able to dive in and finally finish! Thanks for haunting me Goodreads "Currently Reading" shelf!

 I love the idea of magic, history, and secret societies within the university setting. There has always been so much speculation and myth attached to universities like Yale and the Bones societies. I did struggle and not love the characters. Galaxy (Alex) was hard to like purposely, I think. I also felt like the book was written in blocks, so while the reader is getting to know what Galaxy's job as Dante and responsibilities are, the implied mysteries seemed forced on me for much of the book. However, when the story started moving, it cozied in and away we went. Solving the mysteries was finally part of the story, propelling everything forward, and not a separate thing from Alex, Darlington and the societies.

 I wanted more Darlington info. They slept together?! When?! How?! 

 As I wished for, the writing was fantastic. It's detailed, descriptive and successfully puts you in the scene with smells, substances, temperatures, etc. For me, this is key to a talented author- the 5 senses need to be evoked to draw the reader in on their adventure. Bardugo is a gifted writer. I'm glad I finished Ninth House, but will probably read other people's reviews for book 2 information to see if Alex can rescue Darlington.

Nora Robert's Identity

 Hello Dear Readers! 

I just finished reading Nora Roberts new standalone, Identity. This book took me on a wild adventure running away from and tracking a serial killer. It was so plausible for real life, it made everything that much more real and sucked me into the storyline following Morgan trying to cling on to her life after tragedy and then going with Morgan as she rebuilds her life. The reader gets to have glimpses of the serial killer's journey and nefarious actions. You just hate him more and more! 

I wanted to be with Morgan and her family (both work and personal), tasting her testing drinks for the bar, learning self defense, going on hikes, attending family dinners, shopping for art, and just supporting everyone. I also found myself making mental notes of things to be aware of in my person life, to think of things to help keep my identity and person safe. YIKES! 

This is a great new addition to my Nora Roberts library. I will divulge, if she has a new book out, I am going to have to read it. I have no will power. Good thing she is a long time reigning queen of the romantic suspense industry. 

The Berenstain Bears

 Hello Dear Readers! 

Today I am feeling a bit nostalgic and blessed. My work has been doing a 30 day emotional health challenge and one of todays prompts is to write down something I am grateful for. Today, I am grateful for my parents, for storage space and for the blessing of my kids actually both loving something I also loved. What am I talking about? Let me tell you. Growing up, we moved often with my dad's job. One of the constants I always had was my parents reading Berenstain Bear books to me at night, before tucking me in for adventures in the land of dream. We had quite the collection of Berenstain Bear books too! 

As I grew and switched to R.L. Stine and The Baby Sitters Club, all books that ended up in other peoples libraries, I had no idea that my mom had saved all our Berenstain Bear books for the future potential of grandchildren. When my first child was born, my parents brought the collection over to our house. I was so shocked and so excited! I couldn't believe with all our moves, this was one of the collections she had kept safe. When my daughter was old enough to enjoy and not destroy the books, I pulled out our first adventure down the sunny dirt road. My daughter loved it. A few years later, my son was born and unbelievably, he also loves them. 

We have continued to grow our collection of Berenstain Bear books and what's delightful is both kiddos can tell me when we find the books in the store, if we have that one already or not. I also love that we will go to a party or shopping or wherever, one of them might reference a book or moral or behavior correction from reading the books... especially when one of them gets the gimmies while shopping. 

Is there any books or series that you grew up loving you have been able to share and love all over again with your kids, cousins, nieces, nephews, whomever?