#BookReview: How Does It Feel? (Infatuated Fae #1) by Jeneane O'Riley @Read_Bloom

ABOUT THIS BOOK:

BOOK ONE OF THE INFATUATED FAE SERIES

A forbidden obsession
Unyielding family allegiance
Three deadly challenges

THE HUMAN.
    When a trip into the forest to collect a rare mushroom goes horribly wrong, I find myself falling through a fairy portal and straight into the arms of the Unseelie Fae prince. The dangerously unhinged and handsome Unseelie Fae prince.
   What could be more horrible than that? He thinks I'm an assassin sent by the humans to kill him, not a biologist.
   Determined to kill me first, and rid himself of the human he has unwillingly grown obsessed with, yet also needing to entertain his people, the villain challenges me to three deadly trials.
          If I survive, I gain my freedom. But if not...
The Fae.
    I've never felt anything but hate and loathing until my eyes found hers--the vile human assassin's. She is a parasite that has mercilessly latched onto my mind and won't let me free.
    My hand itches to be ungloved and feel her smooth skin, even though I would never. The Unseelie Fae royals would rather burn than touch a repulsive human.
     I fear that if I do not destroy the girl soon, she may be the only thing that's capable of truly destroying me.

#BookReview: A Strange Hymn (The Bargainer #2) by Laura Thalassa

Synopsis: From bestselling indie author Laura Thalassa comes the newly revised and edited second book in her smash-hit dark fantasy romance between a siren and the "bargainer" she owes countless favors to.

She survived the mad king...but the nightmare isn't over.

Siren Callypso Lillis still wears the physical reminders of her time as Karnon's captive, even after reuniting with soulmate Desmond Flynn, the King of Night. Not only that, but mounting evidence suggests the Thief of Souls, the being responsible for the disappearance of countless fae warriors, is still out there. 

Invited to an annual Solstice celebration, Callie and Des journey to the Kingdom of Flora to continue their investigation. But under the bright lights and striking blooms of the realm, new complications arise, ones that no amount of bargaining can undo. Soldiers begin to go missing from the gathering, and some of the fae begin to suspect Des is the man behind it all. To Callie, one thing is no one is who they appear to be. Not even her soulmate.

Fairies play dangerous games. Some want love, some want vengeance, some want flesh, and some want horrors too unspeakable to name. Something is stirring in the Land of All that Grows, and if Callie isn't careful, it will claim everything she loves—and her along with it.

#BookReview: Gild (The Plated Prisoner #1) by Raven Kennedy

Synopsis: From internationally bestselling author and TikTok phenom Raven Kennedy comes the first book in a stunning new fantasy series inspired by the myth of King Midas, perfect for fans of Sarah J Maas and Jennifer L Armentrout.

The fae abandoned this world to us. And the ones with power rule.

Gold.

Gold floors, gold walls, gold furniture, gold clothes. In Highbell, in the castle built into the frozen mountains, everything is made of gold.

Even me.

King Midas rescued me. Dug me out of the slums and placed me on a pedestal. I’m called his precious. His favored. I’m the woman he Gold-Touched to show everyone that I belong to him. To show how powerful he is. He gave me protection, and I gave him my heart. And even though I don’t leave the confines of the palace, I’m safe.

Until war comes to the kingdom and a deal is struck.

Suddenly, my trust is broken. My love is challenged. And I realize that everything I thought I knew about Midas might be wrong.

Because these bars I’m kept in, no matter how gilded, are still just a cage. But the monsters on the other side might make me wish I’d never left.

Content warnings: Human trafficking, rape/sexual assault on page, sexual harassment, alcohol consumption, infertility, fantasy violence, kidnapping/captivity, emotional manipulation, psychological abuse.

#BookReview: Girl Abroad by @ElleKennedy

ABOUT THIS BOOK:

New York Times bestselling author Elle Kennedy brings her signature angst, drama, and humour to a new standalone romance.

When nineteen-year-old Abbey Bly gets the opportunity to study abroad for a year in London, it's the perfect chance to finally slip out from under the thumb of her beloved but overbearing retired rock star father. She's ready to be free, to discover herself - but first off, to meet the girls she's rooming with. That is, until she arrives at her gorgeous new flat to discover those roommates are actually all boys. Charming, funny, insufferably attractive boys. And off-limits, with a rule against fraternizing between housemates after unwanted drama with the previous girl.

Abbey has never considered herself a rulebreaker. But soon, she's lying to her father about her living situation and falling for not one, but two men she can't have: her rugby-player roommate and a broody musician with a girlfriend. Not to mention, her research for school has gotten her tangled in a deeply hidden scandal of a high nobility family, surrounding her in secrets on all sides.

If there's any hope of Abbey finding love, answers, or a future in London, she'll have to decide which rules - and hearts - might be worth breaking . . .

#BookReview: This Wicked Fate (This Poison Heart #2 ) by Kalynn Bayron

Synopsis: How much would you risk to save the ones you love? Would you tempt even the most dangerous fate?

Briseis has one chance to save her mother, but she'll need to do the impossible: find the last fragment of the deadly Absyrtus Heart. If she is to locate the missing piece, she must turn to the blood relatives she's never known, learn about their secret powers, and take her place in their ancient lineage. Briseis is not the only one who wants the Heart, and her enemies will stop at nothing to fulfill their own ruthless plans. The fates tell of a truly dangerous journey, one that could end in more heartache, more death. Bolstered by the sisterhood of ancient magic, can Briseis harness her power to save the people she loves most?

#BookReview: A Not So Meet Cute (Cane Brothers #1) by @AuthorMegQuinn @Read_Bloom

Synopsis: "How did you two meet?" It's the quintessential question asked to every couple, and the answer is usually some bubbly, lovey-dovey tale of being struck in the bum by Cupid's arrow. But Lottie Gardner's meet-cute was a little different. She was trolling a wealthy neighborhood in Beverly Hills, searching for someone to take her as his bride―you know, to make the arch nemesis who just fired her jealous. And billionaire Huxley Cane was conveniently stomping around the block like some sort of gorgeous ogre, mumbling about a business deal gone wrong. That's when they bump into each other. No sparks. No fireworks. Not even the first seed of blossoming love. But the next thing Lottie knows, she's scarfing down chips and guac, listening to Huxley lay out his problems, and then he tells He lied to a crucial client, and he needs a huge favor. A fake fiancée. He's talking living in his mansion together, going on intimate double-dates, and pretending they're head-over-heels in love…and engaged. It's ridiculous, but people do ridiculous things when they're desperate. And Lottie and Huxley both reek of desperation. So, she strikes up the deal. Except her one mistake might be accidentally falling for the incomparable, insufferable Huxley Cane.

#BookReview: 7th Circle (Hades #1) by @TateJamesAuthor @Read_Bloom @lexilikestoread

Synopsis: Five years ago, I masterminded the infamous massacre of the Tri-state Timberwolves. 

The streets outside the Wolves HQ ran red with the blood of the old guard, and not one of those members loyal to my father were spared mercy. Not a single one. 

I let the media twist and distort the story. My new recruits eagerly proved themselves in spreading false news, in covering our tracks. To the general public, the Tri-State Timberwolves were extinct. 

But that couldn’t have been further from the truth. We changed, we grew, we evolved and came out stronger than ever. Now, I live, eat, sleep and breathe Timberwolves. I’ll do anything to keep my empire safe and thriving. To keep the people depending on me safe. 

So, what do I do, when it’s my own weakness that places us all in danger? When I let sex cloud my judgment, and my people pay the price? 

Simple. Kill the distractions. 

I’m called Hades for a reason, after all.

#BookReview: King of Wrath (Kings of Sin #1) by @authoranahuang @Read_Bloom

Synopsis: She’s the wife he never wanted…and the weakness he never saw coming. 

Ruthless. Meticulous. Arrogant. 

Dante Russo thrives on control, both personally and professionally. 

The billionaire CEO never planned to marry—
until the threat of blackmail forces him into an engagement with a woman he barely knows. 

Vivian Lau, jewelry heiress and daughter of his newest enemy.

It doesn’t matter how beautiful or charming she is. He'll do everything in his power to destroy the evidence and their betrothal.  

There’s only one problem: now that he has her...he can't bring himself to let her go.

***
Elegant. Ambitious. Well-mannered.

Vivian Lau is the perfect daughter and her family’s ticket into the highest echelons of high society.

Marrying a blue-blooded Russo means opening doors that would otherwise remain closed to her new-money family.

While the rude, elusive Dante isn't her idea of a dream partner, she agrees to their arranged marriage out of duty. 

Craving his touch was never part of the plan. 

Neither was the worst thing she could possibly do: fall in love with her future husband.

King of Wrath is a steamy billionaire/arranged marriage romance. It contains explicit sexual content, profanity, and mild violence. Recommended for mature readers only.

#BookReview: Hate (Madison Kate #1) by @TateJamesAuthor @Read_Bloom @lexilikestoread

Synopsis: "Madison Kate Danvers was murdered tonight." Those words changed my life, and not for the better. They were wrong, of course. I wasn't dead. But I was set up. After being framed for a deadly riot, charged with a string of offences, and being made into an example by my politically minded father, I'm eventually released back into Shadow Grove. I could keep my head down, but I only have one thing on my mind. Hate. The boys who framed me are going to pay for derailing my carefully laid-out future. They're going to catch the full force of my revenge. Except when I arrive back in town, thanks to my father's shiny new girlfriend, I find all three of them living in my house, right down the hall. Archer, Kodiak, and Steele are secretive. Untrustworthy. Dangerous―and dangerously magnetic, too. But I'm not falling for their games. Not after what they did to me. Archer D'Ath and his boys messed with the wrong chick, and they're about to learn just how cold Madison Kate's hatred can run.

#BookReview: The Worst Best Man by @Only_LucyScore @Read_Bloom

Synopsis: From the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Things We Never Got Over "Newsflash. You don't buy me, a$#%^*e. You earn me." The bride is a doll. The groom is the perfect gentleman.  But the rest of the wedding party? They're the stuff of nightmares. Rich? Check. Vapid? Double Check. Entitled? Not enough checks in the world. And the Best Man? More like the Worst Man. But Maid of Honor Franchesca takes her duties seriously. Kidnapped groom? She's got this. Rude attendees? You just watch her handle them. So a Best Man with a big attitude and an even bigger...checkbook? Yeah, there's  no way she's going to let that pretentious, judgmental jackhole ruin her best friend's wedding.  No matter how sexy he is. (Well, that's the plan anyway...) Aiden Kilbourn doesn't do long-term relationships.  He's busy ruling the business world, and has yet to find a woman he can tolerate for longer than a month, two at the outside, anyway.  Conquering the unconquerable is basically his bread and butter.  And he hasn't met a challenge that he can't win. But Franchesca Baranski? This smart-mouthed girl from Brooklyn may just be his downfall.

#BookReview: Fake (Madison Kate, #3) by @TateJamesAuthor @Read_Bloom @lexilikestoread

Synopsis: "You'll always be mine."

The latest taunt from my stalker reminded me I was nothing more than a possession to my father, to the Reapers, to Archer D'Ath. Even to Kody and Steele. Princess Danvers―the prize.

His wife.

Archer D'Ath's wife.

I hate them. They lied to me. Over and over again. I knew they were lying, too, and I hate myself for letting it get this far. For falling for them despite what they did to me. For believing in the relationships I wanted so desperately to be real.

Fake.

It's all fake. And none of them will let me go. Archer and his boys think they control me. My stalker wants to possess me. I'm not an idiot―I know my newest allies are using me, too.

That's fine.

I'll use all of them. I'll use them to take back what's mine.

My life. My freedom. My name.

No one owns Madison Kate Danvers.

#BookReview: Rhapsodic (The Bargainer #1) by Laura Thalassa

Synopsis: From bestselling indie author Laura Thalassa comes the newly revised and edited first book in her smash-hit dark fantasy romance between a siren and the “bargainer” she owes countless favors to.

Callypso Lillis is a siren with a very big problem, one that stretches up her arm and far into her past.

For the last seven years Callie has been wearing a bracelet of black beads up her wrist, magical IOUs for favors she once received. Only death or repayment will fulfill her obligations.

Everyone knows that if you need a favor, you go to the Bargainer to make it happen. He’s a man who can get you anything you want … at a price. And everyone knows that sooner or later he always collects. But for Callie, he’s never asked for repayment. Not until now.

When Callie finds the Bargainer in her room, a grin on his lips and a twinkle in his eye, she knows things are about to change. At first it’s admitting a truth—a single bead’s worth—acknowledging the attraction between them. But the Bargainer is after more than just rekindling their connection. Something is happening in the Otherworld. Fae warriors are going missing one by one, and only the women are returned, each in a glass casket, a child clutched to her breast.

For the Bargainer to save his people, he’ll need the help of the siren he spurned long ago. If she can forgive him.

#BookReview: King of Wrath (Kings of Sin #1) by Ana Huang

Synopsis: She’s the wife he never wanted…and the weakness he never saw coming. 

Ruthless. Meticulous. Arrogant. 

Dante Russo thrives on control, both personally and professionally. 

The billionaire CEO never planned to marry—
until the threat of blackmail forces him into an engagement with a woman he barely knows. 

Vivian Lau, jewelry heiress and daughter of his newest enemy.

It doesn’t matter how beautiful or charming she is. He'll do everything in his power to destroy the evidence and their betrothal.  

There’s only one problem: now that he has her...he can't bring himself to let her go.

***
Elegant. Ambitious. Well-mannered.

Vivian Lau is the perfect daughter and her family’s ticket into the highest echelons of high society.

Marrying a blue-blooded Russo means opening doors that would otherwise remain closed to her new-money family.

While the rude, elusive Dante isn't her idea of a dream partner, she agrees to their arranged marriage out of duty. 

Craving his touch was never part of the plan. 

Neither was the worst thing she could possibly do: fall in love with her future husband.

King of Wrath is a steamy billionaire/arranged marriage romance. It contains explicit sexual content, profanity, and mild violence. Recommended for mature readers only.

#BookReview: Liar (Madison Kate, #2) by by @TateJamesAuthor @Read_Bloom @lexilikestoread

Synopsis: "Liar, liar, pants on fire."

The words scrawled on the back of my newest stalker mail make my blood run cold. I have no idea if the lie is one I know I'm telling…or one that I don't.

Since arriving back to Shadow Grove, I've been stalked, tormented, chased, and almost killed. I've been lied to, repeatedly, by the boys I was finally growing to trust―and more.

Liar.

That word haunts all four of us, but it haunts me the most. Someone knows more about my life than I do. Someone is taunting me with answers and teasing me with secrets. Am I desperate enough to fall for more deception? To fall deeper into this tangle of danger and heat?

One thing is for sure: Archer and his boys made a huge mistake when they decided to keep me from the truth. They thought they could play me, but they're about to learn that they've met their match.

#BookReview: Wretched (Never After #3) by Emily McIntire

Synopsis: From BookTok sensation Emily McIntire comes a dark and delicious fractured fairy tale reimagining of The Wizard of Oz . A woman can be great, and terrible too. Evelina Westerly has always been the bad guy. As the brains, brawn, and botanist behind her family's drug empire, she's her father's ruthless secret weapon. With her days divided between perfecting her greenhouse, seeking revenge for her sister's murder, and putting a gun to the head of anyone in her way, Evelina doesn't have time for anything else. Especially not for love. After a one-night stand with a gorgeous man at a nightclub, she's sated her urges and is back to her criminal ways. That is, until that same man shows up as the new Westerly lackey...under a totally different name. But Nicholas Woodsworth's real secret is much more dangerous than an alias. He's an undercover DEA agent, and he's hell-bent on destroying the drug trade that devastated his family. When he realizes the youngest daughter of the Westerly empire is the same woman he's been fantasizing about since that night at the club, attraction wars violently with disgust. Evelina embodies everything he's against, and he's been sent here to be her downfall. Yet the more they learn about the darkness in each other's hearts, the more alike they seem, and when hatred turns to something more, Nicholas will have to decide whether he can love a wretched woman, even if it means bringing both of their lives to ruin.

#BookReview: Off to the Races (Gold Rush Ranch #1) by Elsie Silver

Synopsis: He can’t decide if he hates me or wants me.Vaughn Harding is my new boss. Getting close to him would be career suicide for a female racehorse trainer, and plain old gossip fuel in this small town. I get a kick out of our verbal sparring, but I swore off his type years ago.And I’ve got plans.I’m the new trainer at Gold Rush Ranch and I’ve just been handed a problem horse that I promised to make a winner. I want to put down roots, and I’m not about to let a man distract me. No matter how electric it feels when we lock eyes, or how my body ignites when we touch.Vaughn’s a vivid reminder of every guy I grew up around. Handsome, rich, entitled--a total media darling. But there’s a sadness in him that I can’t seem to turn my back on. A sensitive side hidden beneath brooding good looks.The last thing I need is a broken man to put back together, and the last thing he needs is more scandal.Teasing him for kicks is one thing, but handing over my heart?I should have known better.

#BookReview: The Deer and the Dragon (No Other Gods #1) by Piper C.J.

Synopsis: The deities you call aren't always the ones who answer. Marlow needs to believe she's crazy. The alternative would mean embracing the gift―or curse―shared by her mother and she can see angels and demons, including a dark and haunting entity who's been with Marlow her entire life. At least, she believes that's all he is until a fae from the Nordic pantheon strolls into her life and informs her that she's been sharing a bed with the Prince of Hell. A Prince who's now gone missing. Before she knows it, Marlow is deeply entangled in a centuries-old war, stumbling straight into a battleground between mighty beings of myth and legend from powerful pantheons around the world. And who will come out on top may just depend on her and the love she never dared to believe in.

#BookReview: Wild Love (Rose Hill #1) by @AuthorElsie @Read_Bloom

Synopsis: She's been driving him wild for years . . . the good kind of wild.

The kind of wild that comes with wanting your best friend's little sister and knowing you can't have her. 

Forbes may have labeled Ford Grant the World's Hottest Billionaire, but all he cares about is escaping the press and opening a recording studio in gorgeous small town Rose Hill. Something that comes to a screeching halt when he ends up face-to-face with a young girl who claims he's her biological father. Now, he spends his days balancing business with parenting a sullen twelve-year-old, all while trying desperately to keep his hands the hell off his best friend's sister, Rosie Belmont. 

After living in the city, Rosie came blasting back into town like a storm. Beautiful, messy, and chaotic. And one wide-eyed, desperate plea for a job is all it takes for Ford to hire her. He vows to keep her at arm's length. Tries to stick to scowls and grumpy one-liners. But with her, verbal sparring is a type of foreplay―friction that soon turns to blistering heat. 

Ford knows damn well he shouldn't cross this line. But shouldn't and can't are two very different things. 

And the only thing he truly can't do is resist her.

#BookReview: A Long Time Coming (Cane Brothers, #3) by @AuthorMegQuinn @Read_Bloom

Synopsis: "Have you ever heard of a man-in-waiting?" Yeah, not many have, Breaker Cane included. But his best friend, Lia Fairweather-Fern, can't get married without some extra help. That's why she's recruited him to take on the snarling beast that's her soon-to-be monster-in-law, Mrs. Beaver. For some reason, the groom's mother seems to have never heard the phrase, "What the bride wants, the bride gets." Lucky for Lia, Breaker has, and he accepts the challenge. After all, how much trouble can one woman cause? The problem is, it isn't Mrs. Beaver giving Breaker the most grief―it's actually Lia. Because with every second her wedding draws closer, he's starting to see her in a different light. She's always been beautiful, but now, he finds himself staring a touch too long, his hand lingering for one more minute, and when she's upset? Allowing her to sleep in his bed. Before he knows it, it hits him like a ton of he's fallen in love with his best friend. Nothing is snapping him out of it. Not the girl he tries to date during the wedding planning. Not Lia's increasingly suspicious fiancé. Not even the looming deadline of her upcoming nuptials. Which means there's only one thing left to prove to Lia he's the one she should be with instead. And it's going to be a lot harder than he thinks.