He's a Brute - Chloe Liese

He's a Brute by Chloe Liese
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

You shouldn't judge a book by its cover. Or, in this case, you shouldn't expect a certain kind of book based on the cover. But, I have to admit, that with this one, I did. I was wrong but pleasantly wrong. What I expected was a light-hearted, almost rom-com style of read, before I got into this. Now I have to admit that on the whole, I prefer something a little meatier to that, although I don't mind them from time to time. As it was, I got something a with a whole lot more going for it than I expected with He's a Brute.
This is a trilogy, so much of this book sets up what I assume will be the ongoing story for the next two books. Even so, I don't want to give too much away, there were a couple of things that were revealed, fairly early on, that I didn't really see coming, so I'll keep quiet on those.
Although Nairne is quite dominating and feisty herself, her relationship with Zed, on a sexual level at least is with him being the dominant partner. I'm not always into these dynamics, but I actually enjoyed this one. It didn't seem overdone or something that was introduced just because every flipping erotic romance seems to have the same kind of kink in it at the moment.
Nairne is supposed to be Scottish, I say supposed to be as there were a couple of glaring errors that stood out to me and threw me out of the story momentarily. Firstly that she is forever drinking Scotch whiskEy. This isn't a spelling difference, it's always whisky when from Scotland. Also, at one point Zed puts something in the bonnet of his car. This part is told from Narine's point of view and while I'm sure that she would use the UK terms rather than trunk and hood, the bonnet of the car is the front, while the bit at the back that you store things in is called the boot. Of course, these things don't really matter and there are probably 101 things that were right it's the little things that stand out. It didn't ruin the story at all though, just irritated me for a minute or two.
As I mentioned before, this book is number one in a trilogy. I'm not sure where it's going to go next, but I do have book two ready to go and find out. I'll be getting straight into that one. Either way, I'd recommend you get stuck into book one right away and follow Zed and Nairne's story.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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After Gardens - Katherine Coldiron

About the Book

Title: After Gardens Author: Katharine Coldiron Genre: Women’s Fiction Maya, a weekend at a hot springs with her boisterous friend Rhondey is just what she needs to move forward after her divorce. For Rhondey, it's an opportunity to help Maya cut loose a little, shed some of her inhibitions. Maya doesn't see the need to shed anything, and she's not looking for a teacher. But the more Maya clings to her privacy, the more difficult it is for her to recognize her true teachers...and the right moment to step free.  

Author Bio

Katharine Coldiron’s work has appeared in Ms., the Times Literary Supplement, the Rumpus, the Manifest-Station, horoscope.com, and many other places. Find Katharine at kcoldiron.com or on Twitter @ferrifrigida.  

Links

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My Review

This is really a short story, rather than a novella. It could quite easily be read in one sitting very easily. After Gardens tells the story of a visit to a spa, yoga and meditation retreat by two friends, Rhondey and Maya. I have to admit that I kept reading Rhondey as Rodney and when a character got introduced with that name too, it was rather confusing. Especially as there were only really half a dozen names mentioned in the course of the story, so having two so similar was a little odd.

Overall the story is easy to read and for its length fairly enjoyable. I did find both of the lead characters a little annoying. They seemed to have all kinds of hang-ups and really needed to get a grip. 

Through the Night - Tamsen Schultz

Through The Night by Tamsen Schultz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm always a little wary of starting a series midway through and this is book seven on the Windsor Series. Fortunately, with this book, it really didn't matter. There are characters that I assume have appeared in previous books, but as someone coming to this fresh, I wasn't lost or confused as to who was who or what was going on. I'm not sure if there is a running story through these books, the epilogue suggested that perhaps there were events that might be dealt with in a later book, but I don't know. In any case, most of the characters are involved in some way in FBI investigations and it seems to be this that holds the series together as a whole.
In many ways, this is a bit of an unusual story. On the one hand, it is a thriller/investigation type of book. As I previously mentioned, most of the characters are involved in the FBI in some ways. Our lead female is a computer genius who consults for them. There is, however, also a strong romantic part to the storyline. With our female lead, Naomi, meeting the male lead, Jay at a bar towards the beginning of the book. As the storyline plays out, their relationship develops too. That's not to say that it's full of sex scenes or the like that romance books tend to have, but it is a key element to the storyline. Overall, the investigation does take the lead role, so I would suggest that this is a thriller with a romantic element, rather than romantic suspense.
I don't want to give anything away about what happens, particularly with the mystery element to the storyline. I will say that I liked both of their lead characters and their relationship. I also enjoyed the investigation and thriller side of the story. It was quite a fast-paced read, which is always something that I enjoy. This was a good read.
I'd be quite keen to go back and read more in this series. I don't think that it will matter too much what order I read them in, but I am planning on reading a few more of the Windsor Series once I get chance. If you are looking for an exciting read that will keep you on the edge of your seat, with a little bit of romance thrown in, then I honestly don't think that you will go far wrong here.

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Flash Point - Shelli Stevens

Flash Point by Shelli Stevens
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I haven't read the other books in this series, but fortunately, that didn't matter. This is quite a sweet little romance and I really enjoyed reading it. It is quite a quick read and was exactly what I was in the mood for.
The main characters, Todd and Kate are the kind of couple, or rather couple to be, that you often meet in this kind of romance books. Todd is a player, jumping from bed to bed while Kate, who has had a crush on him for years, has no sexual experience whatsoever. Although I enjoyed this story and the characters in it, I am beginning to struggle a bit with all of these virgins that need a man with heaps of experience to awaken them to the world of sex. It's not that that I mind so much, although I'd rather a few less innocent women in romance novels personally, it's the way people treat them. Lots of I'd have done things differently if I'd known. It might just be me, but I just find it quite patronising and annoying. I'd also like to see more couples with a similar level of experience, I know that this is probably down to society and the way that we view men and women, but do we always need the super experienced man and the pure as the driven snow woman?
This was an enjoyable read and I did like both of the main characters and was hoping that they would get their HEA. It was just the kind quick read that I was in the mood for right now.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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Death at Burwell Farm - Betty Rowlands

Death at Burwell Farm by Betty Rowlands
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I think that I may have mentioned on one of the previous Sukey Reynolds books, that they are a little different from Betty Rowlands' other series. Unlike her other female lead, Mel Craig, Sukey doesn't really set out to investigate the mysteries that she finds herself in the middle of. Unlike Mel, Sukey actually has a reason to get close to crimes, in her role of SOCO, which is possibly why the approach is slightly different here. Either way, it doesn't really matter as the story itself is very enjoyable.
Having said all of that, this time, Sukey is asked by more than one person to look into a potentially dodgy alternative therapy, meditation retreat type place. Although she does set out to find out what is going on there, once the murder takes place, events unfold around her, rather than her actively trying to get to the bottom of them.
This really is a very enjoyable series. There is the chance to try and work out who-done-it, but just reading the story is entertaining in itself. This is only book number four in the series and I'm looking forward to reading more about Sukey, her son Gus and boyfriend Jim Castle.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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The Irish Lottery - Sienna Blake

Keep reading for your chance to WIN!

 

Four hot Irish brothers

ready to play out your ultimate fantasy…

Noah

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Our ma is sick and this lottery is the only way to raise that much money quickly.

But when my best friend in the whole world, the girl I’ve secretly loved for years, turns up as the winner I cannot believe it.

When I read the secret fantasy she’s submitted I almost choke.

She just wants us to give her what she’s never had…

…an O.

This could be the very thing I need to convince her that we should be more than friends. I could give her what she wants—the sexiest night of her life…and more.

I just hope she’s happy when she finds out who’s behind the mask. 

The Irish Lottery is a full-length standalone friends-to-lovers contemporary romance.

Grab The Irish Lottery at this special Release price!

 

→ CLICK HERE TO GRAB YOUR COPY!

About the author

 Sienna Blake is a dirty girl, a wordspinner of smexy love stories and an Amazon Top 20 & USA Today Bestselling Author. 

She lives in Dublin, Ireland, where she enjoys reading, keeping fit and adding to her personal harem of Irish hotties ;)

Get her bestselling Bound duet as a 'Thank you' gift when you join her sexy subscribers: bit.ly/FreeBoundDuet

My Review

I've always had a bit of a thing for friends to lovers stories and that is what we get in Irish Lottery. While this is one of the Irish Kiss series, it also contains a reverse harem scene, which tend to appear in her quick and dirty reads. This is only one scene in this story and the whole book is one that leads to a happily ever after between the main couple. As with previous books, from both this series and Sienna Blakes other series, once I started, I didn't want to put it down and devoured it pretty quickly.
Both of the main characters, Noah and Aubrey are very likeable and while the idea behind the lottery that gives the book its title seemed a little far fetched, it didn't really matter as it just made for a fun read. I also liked Noah's three brothers and wonder (hope) that they are perhaps going to get their own stories soon.
This story also looks at the double standards that sometimes seem to exist between the way that men and women are treated when it comes to sexual desire and promiscuity.
Overall this is a bit of a feel good, makes you all warm inside romance, which sometimes, particularly when it's wet, cold and miserable outside, is just what you want.

The Rogue King - Abigail Owen

The Rogue King by Abigail Owen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love Abigail Owen's books and I particularly enjoy her Dragon Shifter romances. This one is slightly unusual as it is the start of the series, but it is linked to her other series Fire's Edge. These two series are linked although this one is set among the main clans that make up the dragon world, while the other series concentrates on a group of enforcers who live in the US.
In the other books, it has been explained that those who live outside of the rule and protection of their clans, usually because they have lost parents, are shunned and tend not to live long. Brand is one such rogue and despite the fact that the life of a rogue is a dangerous one, he has become something to be feared. He is sent by his friend and King of the blue dragons, to help to rescue and deliver to him a phoenix. It soon becomes clear that Brand and Kasia are destined to be much more to one another.
Brand is your usual silent and brooding type, who tries to keep people at a distance, while Kasia is a stubborn and determined woman, who tries to break through his defences and isn't at all convinced by his constant attempts to protect her. This is the type of paring that often comes up in books such as this, but it was done well and the characters were very likeable, I really enjoyed their pairing and story.
There is clearly much to come in both this series and the companion Fire's Edge series. I for one, can't wait to read more.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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What we do for love - Anne Pfeffer

What We Do For Love
Anne Pfeffer
Publication date: May 21st 2019
Genres: Adult, Contemporary

Thirty-eight year old Nicole Adams has given up on finding love. Instead, the single mother focuses on the things she cherishes most—her sixteen-year old son Justin, her friends, and her art.
When she convinces a prominent Los Angeles museum to feature a piece of her work, a large-scale installation, she thinks her life has finally turned a corner.
Then Justin brings a girl, Daniela, home to live with them. Daniela’s angry parents have thrown her out of the house, because she’s pregnant with Justin’s child. Shattered, Nicole takes Daniela in and, in so doing, is drawn into the inner circle of Daniela’s family—a frightening world of deceit and violence.
Nicole struggles to keep life going as normal. Forced to deal with people she doesn’t trust or like, fearful for the future of both her son and the grandchild they’re expecting, Nicole wonders if she can do what she tells Justin to do: always have faith in yourself and do the right thing.
—
What We Do for Love won the Chick Lit category of the 2019 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, and finalist for Best Cover Design/Fiction!

Goodreads / Amazon

Author Bio:
Hi! I grew up in the desert around Phoenix, Arizona, where I had a bay quarter horse named Dolly. If I wasn't riding, I was holed up somewhere reading Laura Ingalls Wilder or the Oz books or, later on, Jane Eyre and The Grapes of Wrath. Horses eventually faded as an interest, but I ended up with a lifelong love of books and reading.
After college and eight years of living in cold places like Chicago and New York, I escaped back to the land of sunshine. I now live in California, one mile from the Pacific Ocean, with my dachshund Taco. I have worked in banking and as a pro bono attorney, doing adoptions and guardianships for abandoned children.
As a writer, I'd always been interested in children's books, since they had meant so much to me as a kid. I've found I especially like writing books about teens and twenty-somethings, an age where you make so many decisions about who you are and how you want to spend your life.
I love hearing from readers, so please write to me any time at my website www.annepfeffer.com.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

My Review

I'm not really sure what genre of book I'd describe this as. There is some romance, although in many ways it's secondary to the other events that take place. The book deals with relationships of different types; there is the mother and child relationship in its various forms, there's friendship of different types and then there are romantic relationships. As our main character Nicole finds herself looking at the different relationships in her life, she questions them all and finds that things change.

I really enjoyed this read. It was interesting seeing the different way the mothers or potential mothers dealt with their relationship with their child and tried to protect them. I also liked the friendships between Nicole and the people that she had around her.

This was quite a light and easy read, although it dealt in some ways with some quite meaty topics. Overall it was an enjoyable and thought-provoking story, but one that didn't tax my little grey cells too much.

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Robby - Jen Davis

Robby by Jen Davis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read the first two books in the Cooper Construction series (Brick and Kane) some months ago and have been keeping an eye out for book number three. We met sweet Robby in those first two books and learnt about his crush on fellow construction worker Matt. I wasn't sure how their story, if it indeed would be their story, would play out. Obviously, when I saw the book available on NetGalley, I jumped at the chance to read it and find out.
In the first two books, Robby comes across as a young lad, quite naive, but with a heart of gold. It soon becomes clear that while that might be the face that he displays to the world, there is far more lurking beneath.
I really enjoyed this story, I liked Robby when we first met him, but as his character developed in this story, he was even more likeable. Matt has not had it easy either and while it's not nearly so dark as Robby's past, it still left plenty for him to deal with. I also really liked the way that this book dealt not only with a homosexual relationship and one of part of the couples' first foray into that but also with someone who had really found themselves sexually attracted to someone in the past. (In this age where we try and give everything labels, then I believe that Matt would be considered Demisexual) it added an interesting dimension to the storyline.
Overall this is really quite a sweet story and one that I really enjoyed.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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Torn in two - Vincent Morrone

Torn in Two by Vincent Morrone
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Torn in Two is the second in the Torn Series, I have to admit that I have read the first book. I don't know if that would have changed my opinion of this book if I had, but I have to admit that I struggled with it. There's an awful lot going on here, with four or five, inter-related threads that make up the plot of the story. Obviously, much of this has been introduced in the first book and I think that might be where I struggled a bit. I got lost in the beginning and then found later on that I was forgetting about some aspects of the plot entirely until they were mentioned again.
This book is a thriller/mystery with a romance subplot. The romance aspect was written in a similar way to what you would expect in a straight romance book, but it was almost an afterthought. I did enjoy that part of it, in fact, I enjoyed quite a bit, but the book was confusing and that detracted from the overall read.
I wish I could have enjoyed this one more, but it just wasn't for me. I think it may be better if you have read the first book, but as I haven't I can't be sure of that. In some ways, it was almost as though we were expected to already know the characters. I couldn't decide how old the young boy was, his age (almost 9) wasn't mentioned until nearly the end. Things like that, although perhaps not essential just made me more confused.
There are some very dark themes in this book, which might not be for everyone. I didn't hate the book, but I really didn't love it either.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.


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Tangled Threat - Heather Graham

Tangled Threat by Heather Graham
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I wanted to love this one, I really did. Usually a combination of two of my favourite genres, romance and mystery is something that I really enjoy, but for some reason, this one just fell a bit flat.
Firstly the mystery aspect. While there was an interesting storyline, with a parallel murder, or in fact two, in the past, for some reason it was all just a bit flat. I think that it might be, at least in part because it all seemed a bit rushed. The book was short and there wasn't really time to build the story and the mystery in quite the way that I would have liked. I had figured out who was behind it all and why quite early on, or at least half of it. When the big reveal came, in all honesty, it just didn't make much sense.
When it came to the romance side of things, again, I think this suffered because of the speed with which the story progressed. There was little chemistry between the two of them and they go from not having seen one another for 12 years, to nothing has changed.
This book was an easy read and I didn't hate it, but I had expected enjoy it so much more than I did, which means that ultimately it was really quite disappointing. I think that a longer book with a bit more development of both the mystery and the romance would have been much better.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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The Other Half of Augusta Hope - Joanna Glen

The Other Half of Augusta Hope by Joanna Glen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a bit of an unusual story. I have to admit from the blurb, I wasn't really sure what to expect and even as the story unfolded I really wasn't sure where it was going. This is a story about living life, love and loss. Or perhaps in many ways, it would be more accurate to simply say that this is a story about life. It follows Augusta and her twin Julia from their early days, while at the same time we see snippets of Parfait's life. Of course, these two stories are going to eventually collide and it becomes apparent that they are in more ways than one, two halves of the same story.
What's really odd about this story is that in many ways it's a very sad or melancholy tale, there is a lot that happens that is truly awful for all of the various characters that we meet. Even the good stuff is tempered by decisions or events of the past. The really odd part of this is that despite all of that, there is something that does leave you feeling good when you've read this book. Possibly it's the ending? But I would say that I had that feeling as I read it, there's something about the story overall that just gives you a bit of a contented feeling, or perhaps that's just me.
I went into this book not really knowing what to expect and in many ways, I've come out of it, not really able to fully describe what it is, but knowing that I really enjoyed it,
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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