Since I first picked up a Maggie Rawdon novel I've been obsessed. Unfortunately for me and my absolute lack of patience I stumbled on her early, but each book has just further increased my stalkerness. So, when I saw the sign up for this I jumped on, blindly. Then I received a few teasers and saw it was Ramsay's book. Yay. And it was going to be dark. Double yay.

What I missed somehow or probably ignored because I was so focused on the two previous things and a few others was that this was a second chance romance.  I HATE second chance. And even more so when one or both characters have moved on. First what went wrong the first time that you called it quits? How can you get over it now if you couldn't work through it then? Also, now there's this whole other person that you claim to love? 

So, as I'm reading this I'm just hating everyone. And I really didn't want to. I wanted to be lost in it, I wanted to love Ramsey and Hazel. But I just couldn't. I got too caught up in all the water under their bridge and I drowned in it.

That said the actual story outside of them I was caught in. The secondary characters and the town, I am there for. The next book in the series I am blindly jumping on because every single one of my issues with this book was a me issue and I still had to read it to the very last page. So, if you're like me and can't stand second chance, maybe give this one a miss. But if you don't mind second chance then jump right in and discover what an amazing storyteller this author is.

https://amzn.to/3BGVlyB

I stumbled across this author by fluke one night when I was looking for a read before bed but didn’t want to start a long novel. And now I am a little obsessed. These reads are the perfect before bed read that make me close my eyes with a smile on my face.

No angst, insta love, with just the right amount of smut mixed in that we still get a story but it’s also pretty hot. And the perfect amount of pages to not keep me up all night but to make me connect with the characters and story.

This has been on my kindle for ever and on my TBR even longer, but I just never got the urge to read it. Then book slump hit and I was craving some old school KA, so I started. And now I have strongly mixed feelings about it.

First, I love KA and her alpha grunting manly men and their over the top crazy everyone loves them heroines. And normally I can skim over the overly wordy descriptions of everything. But this book just felt like too much of all of that. Why do they all have fantastic hair? And I have honestly never heard anyone talk like all these characters do.

The basis of the story was great. I connected with and cried with all the characters, and I couldn't put the book down. I just also rolled my eyes a lot and remembered that exactly line about her hair from the golden dynasty (best book ever) and wondered how many times she described his eyelashes or her outfits.

So yeah, mixed feelings.

I feel a little bad for saying this but I kind of wish I had stopped after I read the first two books. Not that I didn't like the last three but I adored Wyatt and Rylan and their books were great. Then I didn't really like Beau's and I was looking forward to Ford's and it just kind of missed the mark for me.

I had a feeling that Ford's heroine was going to be Stephanie. We had gotten a bit of their history through all of the books, but I didn't really know the details. And everything I knew of Ford throughout those books I wanted him to have epic. Then we got to his book and I loved him even more and I was even more sure he deserved epic.

Stephanie just wasn't epic enough for Ford for me. Her actions from their initial relationship were selfish and I probably could have forgiven her that because of her age. But then she was so hot and cold, and I just found her so annoying. I wanted her to fight for Ford and be all in, but I didn't get that from her.

The epilogue with all of the crew and their kids was cute and a nice ending. And I was glad to see how happy Stephanie and Ford were. The drama was good, and the book was well written, and I might read more of the author's books in the future if I find my big girl panties again.

The girl in the mist has been one I've wanted to read since it was first announced but I just never got there. I love Kristen Ashley and her writing but I'm at this weird point where I don't want to read new ones, but I also don't want to reread the older ones. I just want to read the old ones for the first time again. And I was hoping that this might be like that. However, it didn't work out that way for me.

I am not even sure why. Partially I think I was expecting something different, but Delphine's "voice" sounded very much like most of KA's heroines. And Cade was almost cookie cutter KA hero. And although I have absolutely no problem with BDSM it's not really my kink, but it does seem to be KA's.

I read a heap of reviews before I read this, and a lot raved about it and a few complained and I just feel like I've come down in the middle. I liked the mystery; I don't feel like we quite got enough of the actual mystery for this to be anything but a romance with a little suspense. And I was expecting the romance to be secondary. But since romance is my preferred genre, I didn't mind.

In typical KA style there were a lot of secondary characters, most of whom were irrelevant and just confused me as to who the main players were. But that's probably my goldfish memory and inability to remember names. There was an overabundance of design details about furniture and accessories.

I didn't hate it, I just didn't love it. And I wanted to get that book hangover and feel the inability to adult like the first time I read Kristen Ashley. Oh well maybe I just need to reread them and see.

I really don't know how to review this book. I know it was a good story that was well written, I also know that this week has been so stressful. So I didn't love the book, and I took a lot longer to read it than anticipated and I didn't really connect to the characters. But was that because my heads just everywhere or is it just because Maybe this book just wasn't for me?

I had moments where i was able to get wrapped up in the story and I really loved the plot. I thought Holden was an amazing boyfriend until he was a huge bit of a knob. And the first time I got it and felt terrible for him and completely sympathized. The second time not so much. I liked that he loved his first wife so much and I thought that might be an issue for me through the story, but I never felt like Gigi was any less than or compared to. He loved his first wife but he also loved Gigi and he was all in, no guilt, no reservations.

Gigi I liked. But that's it. I liked her, next subject. I don't really have anything else to say about her. So yeah that's where I'm at. I liked the few nods to previous characters from the series and the True North world. I liked the secondary characters and I'm looking forward to more of the True North world.

aftermath

by l.a. witt

Blurb

Brent Weyland was the life of the party until an injury ended his hockey career. Now he’s retreated alone to a lakefront house, trying to make sense of a life and body that don’t feel like his anymore. 

Jon Norquist was happily married right up until he wasn’t. Now a single father in his forties, he’s trying to figure out what comes next. In the meantime, he pours his heartache and regret into the lyrics he sings for the wine bar crowd a couple of nights a week.

When a friend coaxes Brent out for a night of wine and music, he puts Brent and Jon on a collision course. Their chemistry is instantaneous. Jon gives Brent’s battered body a much-needed remedial lesson in pleasure. And Brent gives Jon a reason to smile again. 

Multiple reasons, actually. Neither man wants anything serious, but love has a habit of showing up whether it’s welcome or not. No matter how hard they try, the two can’t help having feelings for each other, even as life continues to throw them curveballs.

But they’ve both got baggage to unpack and hurt to move past, and if they can’t leave their pasts in the past, they might just miss out on an amazing future.

My Review

Amazon | Goodreads

EXCERPT

If there was one thing I was good at when I performed onstage, it was engaging my audience without being distracted by them. The lighting here at Vino and Veritas didn’t mask the crowd in shadows like bigger venues did—no blinding stage lights in my eyes obscuring the people beyond them—which meant I could make out a lot of faces. And there was usually a fair amount of activity, too. People came and went. Waiters brought out drinks and food. Bartenders poured drinks. Quiet conversations went on. Some loud ones, especially as more alcohol flowed.

I was used to it, and I was never distracted by it. The sea of motion and faces was easy to ignore.

Except for that guy’s face.

One glance at him, and thank God I’d been between songs, or I’d have forgotten what I was doing.

And it didn’t help at all that he’d been looking right back at me as if I’d caught his eye the way he’d caught mine. Not just like people casually watched a performer onstage, but like something I’d done had made him stop dead and stare. He was still, his eyes wide and his lips parted as he stared at me. I couldn’t tell if it was a trick of the lights, but I swore he blushed too.

As I played on, I kept my gaze down, or at least tried to only let it drift toward the side of the room where he wasn’t sitting. Otherwise I was going to go blank on every note and every lyric.

But then I was far enough into the music that I forgot, and I glanced in that direction again, and there he was, still looking right at me, and—

What song is this?

I only missed a beat or two, fortunately, and I recovered quickly. I doubted many people noticed, if any of them did. In a venue like this, a lot of people were only half-listening, as opposed to during an actual concert when they were all focused on me. I was background noise for most, even those who applauded between songs. Just as well when I was this distracted.

By some miracle, I made it through my set, and people didn’t mutter things like, “Oh my God, finally,” or “One more and I was going to stab my own eardrums” as I left the stage. Given that this hadn’t been my best or most focused performance, I’d take it.

In the back room where overflow books and promo items from the bookstore were kept, I put my guitar in its case and downed the rest of my water bottle. That had been, hands down, the hardest set I’d done since I’d started

 singing here. The first few had been tough because the emotions had been a lot more raw—because I’d been real smart, singing what I’d just written about my painful divorce-in-progress—so it had been rough for a while. But even during that period, I’d never actually struggled like I had tonight to remember lyrics and chords, or to keep my fingers from slipping or my tongue from getting tied.

And now I needed a drink. Not just water this time, either.

So, I left my guitar and jacket in the back where they were safe, and then headed up to the bar for a glass of wine. Only one, since I was driving. I’d probably have a couple more when I got home. Maybe not the healthiest thing in the world, but I’d been in a shitty place all day, and singing about my divorce poured some salt in wounds that hadn’t closed yet. I wasn’t apologizing for numbing that with a little alcohol once in a while.

“The usual?” Rainn asked over the bar.

I shook my head. “Glass of pinot blanc.”

Our eyes met. Then Rainn nodded and stepped away to get the wine. He knew me and what I’d been through the last several months, so he didn’t question me. He just didn’t need to know that my ex-wife wasn’t the one screwing with my concentration tonight.

He handed me the glass, and I thanked him before taking a sip. I wasn’t much of a drinker, but I had to say, I loved the wine they poured in this place. One of these days, I’d buy a bottle or two to keep at home. Maybe after I finished redoing the kitchen and had a place to put a wine rack.

That was another depressing thought that didn’t need to take hold tonight, so I focused on enjoying the amazing wine while I wound down after my set. My son was at his mom’s tonight, so I didn’t need to rush out of here to pick him up from the babysitter. I preferred the evenings where he was with me, but when he wasn’t, I couldn’t complain about relaxing here for a little while.

Someone stepped up to the bar beside me, and as I moved aside to give them some room, I glanced up and—

Oh. God.

Him.

So, I've been a little hooked on the Vino and Veritas books and a lot hooked on the True North world. Even though I'm not a huge MM reader I had to dive into a couple after either meeting them in the other series or just being sucked into the blurb.

Funnily enough I remember Jon from one of the previous books, but I had no idea who he was when I first picked this up. But I soon realised that really didn't matter because he was so much more than the bars musician. And I enjoyed getting to know him and his son.

Brent was a really likable, sweet character who I felt immense empathy for. He was so long in the middle of this hurricane that had previously been his life and he couldn't see out of it. And God did my heart break for him. He just kept getting hit from every corner every time he thought he had his feet under him he took another hit.

I loved both characters and the story was good. I was dying to see all the walls drop and these two guys to get their happily ever after. And for things to be better for both of them but the story felt a little repetitive about some things. And for me personally, and I want to emphasize that most people probably won't have this issue, it was too descriptive. I kept getting distracted when it felt like it was just filler. Just because I don't care about the tile choices based on the lighting, I want to know what is going to happen with the last plot twist.

And that's a me problem. I have so little quiet reading time, I no longer want the long novels I can get lost in because two 3 year old girls are not letting that happen. So, I feel like I didn't appreciate the authors writing style enough. And I really am struggling with how to rate it. I think I'll hit in the middle and go 3.5.

This one is a little hard for me to review. I used to read a lot of Jenika Snow's short over the top alpha books as breaks from angsty, serious reads. And I love them. So, when I saw this one pop up I was excited. I didn't really know what to expect since this was my first peek into Black Mountain Academy.

I kind of got exactly what I wanted from this but it was a little bit less than I was hoping for. However, I'm pretty sure that is just from my expectations and not from the actual story. I kind of forgot that these were high school students. And i just wanted Reese to go all caveman alpha.

Reese did kind of do the alpha growling, mine thing that I love from Jenika it just wasn't completely over the top and that’s what I was craving when I picked this book up. Other than that, it had everything I would expect from a new adult, high school romance.

Keira was the typical sweet and understanding virgin, good girl. But I still liked her and enjoyed getting to know her. I am going to have to grab a few of the other books in this series after the little teasers I got in here and hopefully I'll get a few more new authors to explore. 

I don't know what it was about this story that grabbed my attention. I haven't read the Salvation series and this author is new to me. And the story isn't something that I would normally gravitate to. But for some reason this one had me wanting to read it.

Dead spouses are one of those hit and miss subjects and I always get nervous reading them, especially when there are children involved. So I am really stunned that I signed up to review this except that the blurb was so well written, I just had to know how it was going to play out.

I had a few moments where I wasn't sure if the time line worked for me between his wife’s death and him moving on. I didn't really have an issue with the fact it was with her estranged sister, just that it all felt like it happened so quickly and honestly I would have had some major trust issues after just finding out my wife of ten years had been having an affair. But this stranger turns up saying things in direct contradiction to everything you have been told about her and you take it on faith, just didn't work for me.

Kate and Shane together worked for me and I liked them together. I felt their connection and I liked that they were sensitive to the kids feelings in their interactions and relationship. And if the timeline had been a little longer I probably would have been happier with everything. Overall this was a good read and I liked the story I just didn't love it but that was probably me and the fact I couldnt take my focus off how I thought he should have been feeling given the short amount of time.