Debbie

This book was recommended to me because I loved a different equally as dark romance book. And dark this was. There is nothing soft, romantic or redeemable here so don't come looking for that. I read this book in about one sitting. I became invested in what was going to happen in Whitlock. It does end of a cliffhanger but it seems the series is complete so you don't have to wait at all.

24690 is Everleigh's slave name. She has been at Whitlock since she was a child. She will never leave. She had some semblance of peace. As much peace as one can have as an owned thing and not a human being but in the blink of an eye things are about to get much, MUCH worse.

This was a very cute and quick read for me. This is what I would call a palate cleanser for in between my heavier reads. If you're looking for a light read then this is perfect. It had funny and quirky moments and it definitely lightened my mood. Not a book for me personally to rave about, HOWEVER, it's worth a read especially if paranormal romcoms are your go to.

Shifter romance? Check. Fast paced? Check. Revenge? Check.

I read this in just about one sitting that's how fast paced it was. And I loved that because it made me not want to put it down.

Rune is the FMC and what a main character she is. Yes, that is her on that pretty cover (WHAT IS IS ABOUT THE WHITE HAIRED ONES?). She's the alpha's daughter and the next heir in line. Problem is that she doesn't want it. And she certainly doesn't want to marry the heir to the northern pack. But one night her entire world is flipped upside down because of betrayal. Rune finds out the hard way that what you WANT to do and what you HAVE to do are switches that can be easily flipped.

A second chance mafia romance inspired by the Deal with the Devil at the Crossroads legend....let's be real here...I was never going to let that pass me by. Especially written by Lilith Roman. An author I've recently found but so far I'm absolutely digging what she's giving me so far.

Morrigan wants out from under her family, their money, power, influences and the man they've set her up with. She's not just sitting around waiting for that moment. She's trapped but she's still fighting her way through it. But sometimes you have to make a deal with the devil to make things happen..and speaking of devils..Let's talk about Vincent. He's big, broody and the head of the Sanctum. He's as scary as they come...but he loves him some Morrigan and not afraid to let her shine. AND WE LOVE THAT AROUND HERE.

Side note...I wouldn't mind if Morrigan's best friend Lulu got her own story. I'm not saying, I'm just saying..I would read it.

When a retired homicide detective tell you that he has six cases he can't ever forget, you can imagine those cases are heavy to hear about. So one can imagine how hard it is to be the one in charge to solve these horrific crimes. It's easy to see why these cases haunt him to this day. With that being said, I think that Detective/author Steve did a great job in writing this out without sensationalizing the murderer(s). You can feel the empathy and respect for the victims and families as he recounts every case. If you've never read a true crime memoir, I think this one would be a great one to start with. And if you've read many then this one is one to be added to the shelves.

You know what I didn't realized I needed? A small town age gap romance. And she's the older one. YES.
Beatrice is over all of it. The rat race life of her career, especially when she's passed over for a promotion that should've been hers. So in comes the EFF IT moment...which involves throwing a dart at a map and going from there. Off she goes to live life to the fullest. And while that seems all good and fun...she really was having an existential crisis. BUT in comes the hot younger cop to help sort all of that out. LOL.

DNF at 35 percent. I wanted to love this so much. The genre, the cover, the synopsis. It all points to something for me but I can't keep going. It's dragging at this point, and it's become a chore read. I see I'm in the minority in this..but meh. It happens.

3.5 stars

I normally don't gravitate much towards contemporary fiction. Not that I won't read it. I simply don't go looking for it first. However, they synopsis for this grabbed my attention and I decided to give it a go.

We have a story of two sisters with family secrets and they couldn't have grown up to be more different. And when Ruby comes down to help her sister, Pearl, with her weight loss surgery, we see a journey about growth, hope and redemption.

This may not have been a story I loved, but it was a good one nonetheless. I also love how the author drew on her own sister's life experiences with being morbidly obese which added to the authenticity of the story. Truly worth a read.

This was a good read that I wanted to love more but it missed the mark for me personally. The stories in and of themselves are by no means bad. But they are way less paranormal-y then you'd think. Even with the foreword stating something about metaphorical ghosts it should still have a haunting vibe. Besides the title, in the blurb it says “modern feminist ghost stories”. So I don't think it's out of pocket to expect something haunting or haunting like. The first story gives me high hopes but as I kept reading I stopped being as into it.

3.5 stars

As much as I love reading (or watching) true crime, I am by no means an expert on the subject. So when I saw that I had never heard of Edward Ruloff, I knew I was going to give this a go. This is the story of a man who was very good at faking it until he made it...and had no issue murdering people for whatever reason he saw fit...and even after he was caught he seemed to be find a sort of rock star status as he was researched to find out how someone so brilliant could commit such heinous acts.
For a book set in a different time, the 1800s, the research and detail is certainly there. The author certainly set the stage and you can tell this was well researched. With that being said I did find some parts a bit dry. I found myself, more than once, kind of having to push past some paragraphs. It's still worth the read and by no means did it stop me from reading the book.

Leave it to Lana P to make me love two characters that I barely paid mind to before. But here I am loving both of these cinnamon roll babies. Aeron and Trix.

Not having someone understand what you need when you can't voice it or when you've been told that you're too much or not enough can leave indelible marks. And these two did it so effortlessly and I love that for them.

I have 2 theories about Aeron but I can't tell if it's so obvious that it's a red herring or a missed something along the way

I received this book for free in exchange for my honest opinion ( And no, that doesn't shape my opinion. I've hated plenty of free books)

Another solid read from VMP. Derek Reed is an FBI profiler who got put on medical leave after witnessing some horrific shit while chasing a serial killer. He pretty much forced to do so because the guilt is causing him to hallucinate...OR IS IT JUST A HALLUCINATION?? ( i made myself laugh. Now back to the task at hand). He legit stumbles across a case and cue shit that wouldn't have happened if he had just well enough alone. I loved it. There was something about Derek and the serial killer that I found absolutely fascinating. And with the way it ended I'm extra thirsty for the next book.

I make zero secret of being a VMP fan...and this is why. Several things happened in this book that didn't go the way I thought they would. From the killer to the reason of the killings, Derek's personal life, the way the paranormal element is shifting in the book. Is Derek's stubbornness frustrating me? Yes. I absolutely want to throttle him LOL. But his reaction to what is happening to him is quite normal.

Up to this point the paranormal part of this story has been slight. But in this one it gets kicked up a lot. We also get to see Derek grow more with his team. I've said it before , Victoria is crazy good at writing a team. Which means the side characters aren't a waste of space. They add to the story instead of just being there for the sake of being there. And in this case one may question what is going on with Derek and the investigation.

I can't lie...once a saw The Demon Detective, I was pretty much all in. A half demon/half angel private detective who has to hide half of what they are because it's considered an abomination? Yes I'm definitely all in.

Gray was fine living her life under the radar, not that she had much choice in the matter. Then in comes an archangel to hire her for a job she doesn't want and never takes. She finds things. Not people and certainly not a serial killer. She shouldn't take the job. It would be the opposite of under the radar. She should not. The archangel is annoying anyways. Hot...but annoying. You're allowed one educated guess as to whether she took the job or not LOL.

It's not often that a book with only a little over 100 pages grabs me the way this one did. There are even a couple of twists thrown in. Honestly it doesn't even feel like a novella with how full the story is.

Alex made a Faustian bargain as a child. A bargain she didn't even realize she made to begin with. And someone is coming to collect their due.

Such a good debut novel! This is the kind of book that I would love to see come to life in a tv show. I think that the visuals would be amazing.

I went in almost blind for this book and I'm glad I did. It spoiled nothing of the story to come and that made it even better.

If you eat up true crime anything as much as I do then you know who M. William Phelps is. Either from TV, books or podcasts. For me it's from tv ( and the podcast Paper Ghosts which you MUST listen to) as some years ago I switched from reading true crime to watching it. So this is actually my first Phelps book and I went in super excited. I know that sounds horrible because this book means someone got murdered but if you love true crime you know what I mean...BUT I DIGRESS.

I didn't know about this particular case so it was good going in with zero details. Mary Yoder was a very healthy and vibrant woman who died painfully from something that should have never been in her system. Now comes the who and the why. Who could possibly harbor any ill will for a woman that everybody seemingly likes/love?

Not really surprising to me but Phelps can write true crime just as well as he can talk about it on tv. As it goes with these kinds of books, the less said the better. Just know that I found it to be well written and well researched. The details are there without it reading as boring or confusing but he also knows how to write about the people well. The victim, the killer, everyone else around them. It's not just about the crime. He does the footwork and gets to know everyone involved. I have zero regrets using my Bookish First points to claim this book.

Was I wowed by this book? No. Was it a good book? Yes. Absolutely. Was it a waste of my time? Not at all. Would I read another book by this author? Yes.

I'm not the type of person to think that books are either 5 stars or 1. As if though good, decent books don't exist. This is that. Now, as per usual, with a thriller the less said the better...but the story line was good. It never ramped up for me but it didn't drag either. I also wasn't too invested in any characters, so this is a good book for me in between more intense books. Not because thrillers are easy reads but I know my heart won't be broken or I won't be sad about losing a character. Yes I know that sounds mean...but it is what it is.

3.75-4 stars.

This was a quick but enjoyable. At the halfway mark it dipped down to a 3.5 for me but then it really picked back up. The sexy tension was there. The sexy parts were there. It really was enjoyable though and I would've given it 5 stars if Cyrus was more villainy. The blurb says he's ruthless and rules the underworld with an iron fist. I wasn't really feeling all that from him. With that blurb I would be expecting a more hardcore alpha male...but meh. That's just my preference for the bad hot guy in these books though. Don't let that deter you. With it being a quick read it definitely bumps it up for me because nothing dragged out.

This is my third Morgan Shamy book and I will say that as of right now it's my favorite one. First of I love that the author incorporates dance somehow into all of her books. Since she's a former ballet dancer I love that she puts that piece of herself in her books.

We have a mystery, murder and a woman who doesn't want to just sit down and do as she's told. So all of my favorite things basically lol. It's the 1920s. Dawn just wants to be a doctor. She's on her way to that dream but not without major issues. Her dreams do not involve getting married and running a household....which doesn't help how the town already views her family. Not to mention that her own family is quite horrible to her, blame her for her brother's death and her mother is simply trying to marry her off to the highest bidder so that she can live off of that. And then a murderer comes to town.

Very much Jack the Ripper vibes....which I'm always all here for. I'm also here for the love story side plot that didn't take too much precedence because that wasn't the point of the book, so I'm happy that the story wasn't lost with that being pushed to the forefront.

This was a beautifully told story that gave me more than I bargained for. Yes it's a romance but you also see a love a bond between a mother and a daughter. That story in itself was beautiful and heartbreaking. I thought this was going to be a cute story. Instead I bawled my eyes out and you know what...I'm not mad about it.

I went into this book pretty blind. I read the synopsis but that's about it. It seemed like a quick and simple read. I was only right about the quick part. This book was wild and it really had my attention for all of it.

I couldn't tell who to trust, who was lying, who wasn't in their right minds. I couldn't even tell if a crime had been committed or not. This may seem like it's all over the place but honestly the author kept me enthralled. And for it being less than 200 pages she did a great job of giving a back story to all the characters that needed them.

If you are looking for a book where someone has a redeeming quality...this isn't for you. If you are looking for a book where the end may be a little preposterous...this isn't for you. But it was definitely for me.

I was quite happy when I won this on Bookish First. It had been so long that I read any cyberpunk/sci fi and this seemed like a good way to dive back in. This turned out to be an okay read for me. I would love to say what it was missing...but I don't know what that is. It didn't fully grab me but I didn't hate it. It was simply okay. And okay is okay. Not everything can be a 5 star read.

That's not to say that I didn't love anything in the book. I absolutely did. The queer rep in this was great. The MC is asexual and I don't think I've ever read a book with an ace MC. So that alone was great off the bat.

I will say that I wouldn't mind this as a movie. I can definitely see this being a really good sci fi movie. That's not an insult to the book at all. But sometimes.....SOMETIMES books translate better on film then they do in written form. Blasphemous, I know. But SOMETIMES...it's true. You know it.

A mafia romance has to have several things for me...betrayal, lies, violence (Yes, violence. The mafia is involved. Hello.), enemies to lovers, and someone getting kidnapped. Okay it doesn't HAVE to have it...but yea it does. And Dark Kingdom had all of those so yay for me.

Merged review:

A mafia romance has to have several things for me...betrayal, lies, violence (Yes, violence. The mafia is involved. Hello.), enemies to lovers, and someone getting kidnapped. Okay it doesn't HAVE to have it...but yea it does. And Dark Kingdom had all of those so yay for me.

I don't know what it says about me but I love two broken people finding each other and them going through madness together and then BOOM Happily Ever After. DOES THAT MAKE ME A ROMANTIC HEAUX? Nah that's not it lol.

Celeste James can't remember pieces of her childhood. All she remembers is her father telling her to run and who to run to. She then spent 10 years with the closest thing she had to another father and one of the last things he told her before he died was to not go back home. Celeste went back home.

Thierry Bergeron is known as the Black Wolf. A man who once had a bright future ahead of him until one night where all of that changed. Now he works for bad people doing bad people things. (Look..I don't like to give spoilers so you get what you get and you don't get upset.)

The middle was beginning to drag for me a tiny bit but then Keri slapped me and said HOW DARE YOU DOUBT ME? and it was nice ride after that. (Disclaimer-Keri Lake did not in fact literally slap me). One character hurt me a bit. I was dead set on their loyalty...and I was wrong. And the reason made me mad. So read this book so that I can vent about it.

Trigger warnings- Sexual assault, knife play, dub con ( okay this one I'm not really sure about but I'll add it JUST IN CASE), torture, drug use, murder.