#BookReview: Bewitched (Bewitched #1) by Laura Thalassa

Synopsis: Come to me, Empress …

At age twenty, Selene Bowers desperately hopes to be accepted into Henbane Coven, an academy for young witches. Since one of the requirements for entry is to connect with her powers via a quest through the wilderness, Selene books a trip to South America. When a nefarious supernatural force tries to drag her plane from the sky, Selene's magic awakens to save her life―at a cost. Using her powers devours her memories, one by one.

Worse, when Selene braves the jungle and discovers the source of the attack, she finds herself awakening an ancient evil, Memnon the Cursed, who mistakes Selene for his long-dead wife. The wife who betrayed him. Selene manages to escape and begin her studies at Henbane, but when Memnon turns up at the coven and witches are found dead across campus, Selene becomes entangled in a dangerous plot. Accused of the murders on the basis of her memory loss, Selene must rely on Memnon's help for answers―and his plans for her will change everything.

This title will be released on April 18, 2023.

#BookReview: Travis (Pelion Lake, #2) by @MSheridanAuthor @Read_Bloom

Synopsis: Travis Hale has it all. An important role as the chief of police in the idyllic town of Pelion, Maine. Looks that regularly and consistently make women fall at his feet. Two nephews and a niece he adores, and a family who’s mostly forgiven him after a series of unfortunate decisions years before. Perhaps his past is riddled with regrets and misguided choices, but his future looks bright and limitless.

Until the new guy in town crosses him in a way both shocking and indefensible.

A guy who, as it turns out, has a sister who may be equally as disastrous to Travis’s well-ordered plans, though in an altogether different manner. Not that there’s any real risk of him falling for the smoothie-making, birdseed-eating wild woman. She’s not even his type. A plant lady from California with a head of unruly curls and an equally messy past. More than that, she’s only in town for the summer, busy mooning over perfect-in-every-way Gage Buchanan.

And if Travis knows anything, it’s that he refuses to be second best. Ever again.

Haven Torres’s life fell apart. Or more to the point, it burned to the ground. At the time, it seemed like a solid idea to jump in her car, her brother a mostly-willing co-pilot, and embark on a cross-country adventure.

When they land jobs at an exclusive tennis and golf club in a picturesque lake town in Maine, Haven’s hopeful it might prove a summer to remember. Especially if she can catch the attention of the most eligible bachelor in town and her current crush. Even the kindest, most upstanding, perfect of men aren’t opposed to summer flings, right?

But when she meets the local police chief—all swagger and arrogance—and learns of her brother’s scandalous misdeed, she knows that Pelion is just another town where their stay is best . . . short-lived. Still, she and Travis strike up an unlikely friendship and Haven sees that the gorgeous lawman isn’t only easy on the eyes, but he has . . . layers. Not that she’s going to peel any of them. He’s only her friend. A friend willing to scratch her back, if she scratches his.

It seems simple enough. She’ll help him make her brother sweat a little. And he’ll help her win over Gage. But before either Travis or Haven knows it, simple turns complicated, friendship gets flipped on its ear, passion faces down perfection, and they both discover that sometimes you have to lose it all to find exactly what you need.

#BookReview: Rogue (The Prep Series, #2) by @ellekennedy

Synopsis: It's been a long time since Casey Tresscott has felt like her life was her own. After the car accident that nearly cost her everything, she's used to her family's coddling and the relentless whispers at school, no matter how much they sting. After all, she's found a safe harbor in her budding relationship with Sandover's golden boy, Fenn Bishop…or so she thinks. 

Beneath Fenn's pretty, party-boy surface is a dangerous truth about the night Casey almost died. He thought lying to her was the right thing to do, but when the secret shakes loose, he just might lose her for good. 

Because Casey is done being taken advantage of. 

Grasping for the control she's been missing, Casey finally snaps―telling off her bullies, gallivanting with rebels and playboys, and shirking her headmaster father's strict curfews, despite the consequences. A desperate Fenn must ally with his stepbrother RJ and the other Sandover delinquents to uncover the full story of Casey's accident and the ones responsible if he hopes to win her back. 

But what happens if Casey is no longer the same girl he first fell for? Is there any hope for their future if she's gone rogue for good?

#BookReview: Misfit (The Prep Series, #1) by Elle Kennedy

Synopsis: Finding out your mom is marrying some rich guy you've never met is enough to make any eighteen-year-old's head spin. And for RJ Shaw, it gets worse: he's being sent to Sandover Prep for senior year. If there's one place a misfit hacker like RJ doesn't belong, it's an ivy-covered all-boys boarding school for rich delinquents. There's no point trying to get along with anyone. That is, until he meets Sloane Tresscott in the woods on the outskirts of campus. Gorgeous and sharp-tongued, Sloane is pure temptation. Except Sloane is the one girl he's forbidden from touching. The headmaster's daughter. Good thing RJ doesn't believe in rules. Sure, Sloane insists she's swearing off boys this year, but he wants her bad, and he's going to win her over if it kills him―unless her ex-boyfriend, the ruling king of Sandover, kills him first. Luckily, RJ's unwittingly made some friends. His new stepbrother Fenn, a pretty boy with a self-destructive streak. Lawson, self-proclaimed agent of chaos. And Silas, the All-American good guy who can't actually be as nice as he seems. If RJ wants to survive prep school and win Sloane's heart, he'll need to figure out a way to use all the secrets hidden in the walls of Sandover.

#BookReview: Underneath the Sycamore Tree by B. Celeste

Synopsis: Time is a luxury we don't all have...

Emery Matterson's life has been broken for a while. First, she lost her twin sister to an incurable autoimmune disease, then her father left, then her mother fell apart when Emery herself was diagnosed with the same disease that killed her sister. The only option for Emery seems to be to move in with the father she hasn’t seen in ten years, and start over.

Enter Kaiden Monroe, the brooding athlete who has baggage of his own. Kaiden makes Emery feel normal. Hated. Cared for. Loathed. And...loved. Somewhere along the way, Emery finds solace in the guy with the sad eyes.

But everything happens in stages. And nothing good ever lasts.

From fan-favorite author B. Celeste comes an raw, real, and unforgettable story of love and loss between two young people grappling with the harsh reality of invisible disease.

#BookReview: When Stars Come Out (When Stars Come Out #1) by @ScarlettStClai1 @Read_Bloom

Synopsis: Anora Silby can see the dead and turn spirits into gold coins, two things she would prefer to keep secret as she tries to lead a normal life at her new school. After all, she didn't change her identity for nothing.

Hiding her weirdness is just one of many challenges. By the end of her first day, she's claimed the soul of a dead girl on campus and lost the coin. Turns out, the coin gives others the ability to steal souls, and when a classmate ends up dead, there's no mistaking the murder weapon.

Navigating the loss of her Poppa, the mistrust of her mother, and Roundtable, an anonymous student gossip app threatening to expose her, are hard enough. Now she must find the person who stole her coin before more lives are lost, but that means making herself a target for the Order, an organization that governs the dead on Earth - and they want Anora and her powers for themselves.

From the brilliant mind of A Touch of Darkness's bestselling author Scarlett St. Clair comes a crossover reimagining of Orpheus and Eurydice, in a darkly unique fantasy world.

#BookReview: Twisted Love (Twisted #1) by Ana Huang

Synopsis: He has a heart of ice...but for her, he'd burn the world.

Alex Volkov is a devil blessed with the face of an angel and cursed with a past he can't escape.

Driven by a tragedy that has haunted him for most of his life, his ruthless pursuits for success and vengeance leave little room for matters of the heart.

But when he's forced to look after his best friend's sister, he starts to feel something in his chest:

A crack.
A melt.
A fire that could end his world as he knew it.

***

Ava Chen is a free spirit trapped by nightmares of a childhood she can't remember.

But despite her broken past, she's never stopped seeing the beauty in the world...including the heart beneath the icy exterior of a man she shouldn't want.

Her brother's best friend.
Her neighbor.
Her savior and her downfall.

Theirs is a love that was never supposed to happen-but when it does, it unleashes secrets that could destroy them both...and everything they hold dear. 

#BookReview: Queen of Myth and Monsters (Adrian X Isolde #2) by Scarlett St. Clair

Synopsis: The next book in the epic fantasy series by USA Todaybestselling author Scarlett St. Clair.

Isolde, newly coronated queen, has finally found a king worthy of her in the vampire Adrian. But their love for each other has cost Isolde her father and her homeland. With two opposing goddesses playing mortals and vampires like chess pieces against one another, Isolde is uncertain who her allies are in the vampire stronghold of Revekka.

Now, as politics in the Red Palace grow more underhanded and a deadly blood mist threatens all of Cordova, Isolde must trust in the bond she's formed with Adrian, even as she learns troubling information about his complicated past.

This title will be released on December 20, 2022.

#BookClub: King of Battle and Blood (Adrian X Isolde #1) by @ScarlettStClai1

Synopsis: Their Union Is His Revenge.

Isolde de Lara considers her wedding day her death day. To end a years-long war, she is to marry vampire king, Adrian Aleksandr Vasiliev, and kill him. 

But her assassination attempt is thwarted and Adrian threatens that if Isolde tries to kill him again, he will raise her as the undead. Faced with the possibility of becoming the thing she hates most, Isolde seeks other ways to defy him and survive the brutal vampire court. 

Except it isn’t the court she fears most — it’s Adrian. Despite their undeniable chemistry, she wonders why the king — fierce, savage, merciless — chose her as consort. 

The answer will shatter her world.

#BookReview: The Legacy (Off-Campus #5) by @ellekennedy @BloomBooks

Synopsis: Four stories. Four couples. Three years of real life after graduation…

A wedding.
A proposal.
An elopement.
And a surprise pregnancy.

Life after college for Garrett and Hannah, Logan and Grace, Dean and Allie, and Tucker and Sabrina, isn’t quite what they imagined it would be. Sure, they have each other, but they also have real-life problems that four years at Briar U didn’t exactly prepare them for. As it turns out, for these four couples, love is the easy part. Growing up is a whole lot harder.

Come for the drama, stay for the laughs! Catch up with your favorite Off-Campus characters as they navigate the changes that come with growing up and discover that big decisions can have big consequences…and big rewards.