Bookish Posts and Books Read of Week of December 31st through January 6th
Happy New Year Everyone! Hope you were able to bring in the new year with your family and loved ones in a wonderful way. I love celebrating the new year. We don’t do anything crazy, but we watched some football and had a nice meal. So not too bad if I say so myself. I really love the New Year and it just has such a fresh feel for the new year. Not sure if any of you feel the same way but it can be so much fun and I have a good start with my reading too which is always a plus for sure! I mean 15 books is a great track record to kick off the new year with for sure!
Book Read-Claimed by the Horde King by Zoey Draven—Rating 4.5 Stars—I had so much fun with this one here. This is basically a barbarian style of epic fantasy romance. The romance was endearing, It has a forbidden feel to it at times and I enjoyed the focus on the relationship being outer conflict over inner. If you enjoyed Golden Dynasty by KA, then I recommend this series
Book Read-Cruel Paradise by Nicole Fox—Rating 4.5 Stars—What a book that packs the punch. The hero is such a alpha male and it was so endearing. Our heroine is a guardian over her nephew and two nieces and its a office romance. The hero is head over the mafia. So a dark romance that had some fun scenarios here.
Book Read-Cruel Promise by Nicole Fox—Rating 4 Stars–A solid finale to this duo series. The first half was a bit too angsty at times, but once we get to the second half it really improved greatly after that. Loved the bond the hero forms especially with the kids.
Book Read-Azagoth by Larissa Ione—Rating 5 Stars—What a BOOK! One of the best books I have read from this author and it was only a novella. This had everything you look for in a PNR. It had delicious angst, mythology and a intriguing dynamic between the pair.
Book Listened-Pack by Jeaniene Frost—Rating 4 Stars–I ran across this one on my libby app. It was super fun and intense. The plot was so well crafted and the narrator really handled the suspense elements super well. Definitely a novella to keep you on the edge of your seat.
Book Read-Hayes Family Christmas by Veronica West—Rating 5 Stars–This was a sweet spicy Christmas novella for this family. Loved returning to this family and can’t wait to see what she has planned for the family.
Book Read-Hans by S.J. Tilly—Rating 3 Stars—A bit of a disappointment. It wasn’t a bad story. The plot itself was really well done. Just the characters didn’t do it for me. The least well-written of the series.
Book Read-These Rough Waters by Ria Wilde—Rating 4.5 Stars—What a wonderful dark romance. This is basically a small town dark suspense romance. It had some good angst to it, single mother on the run from her abusive husband. The writing really swept me away so quickly.
Book Listened-Rowdy by Jay Crownover—Rating 4 Stars— I had a fun time with this one. I did have a hard time with the pacing of this one though. But everything else in the book was so wonderful.
Book Listened-Fury of Persuasion by Coreene Callahan—Rating 4 Stars—A fun thrilling ride! Even though it wasn’t my favorite, the plot was super solid. The romance was a bit lacking.
Book Read-A Gift for Kit by Nalini Singh—Rating 5 Stars—I have been wanting to do some shorts by Singh. They just lift my heart and this one packed the punch of what I was looking for.
Book Listened-Play With Me by Becka Mack—Rating 4.5 Stars— What a long audiobook haha I swear contemporaries these days are getting so long. This was 20 hours. That’s long for a contemporary romance. Its a hockey romance mixed with brother’s best friend and it was brilliant and sexy and packed with heart. The only thing that kept this from a five star read was the heroine being a bit unlikeable in the beginning but the author redeemed her well for me but she was such a brat in the beginning.
Book Combo Read-Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross—Rating 5 Stars—WOW! This book blew my mind. The most unique world-building I have ever read. Magical realism is NOT common in fantasy romance. I really enjoyed how this book was built and the swoony moments were so impactful. I can’t recommend this one enough! Bring on the conclusion.
Book Listened-The Dark King by Gina Maxwell—Rating 4.25 Stars—This is my first time with this author I am pretty sure. It was fun. Its a fantasy romance with the hero being a fae king. It was fascinating. The angst was a bit too much at times. The plot was much more complex than I expected though and I can’t wait to explore more of it.
Bookish Posts to Look Forward To
Why I Am No Longer Reading ARCS
Week 2 of January Releases of 2024
Fast Five
Recommend It: Fae Creatures
Current Reads
A Lady’s Lesson in Scandal by Meredith Duran is for my romanceopoly and very eager to get to a historical romance. This is one of her older books so I am eager for that. I have been wanting to explore more backlisted historicals. Dark Purity by Aja James I really want to get this series finished and I hear the finale is one of the best books. Everything I Left Unsaid is for the “Emergency Services” prompt in the Romanceopoly challenge. This will be my first Keefe. I am very eager for this. The Best Man by Sam Mariano this is a new release from this author. I am SO excited. The blurb alone has me beyond eager for it. Hades by Larissa Ione is part of the 1001 Dark Nights and this is next in the Ione series for the connecting series to her Demonica world. I loved Hades in Azagoth and really want to see more of his character.
Book Releases I am Excited For
Any Duke in a Storm by Amalie Howard
Toxic Love by Jagger Cole
The Night Island by Jayne Ann Krentz
A Sure Duke by Christi Caldwell
One Night by Lena Hendrix
My Weekly TBR
My weekly TBR consists of what I term a “Flexible TBR” basically means I try to read this TBR every week, but sometimes I will also pick up some random books that just sound good at the time. But I will endear to stick with my TBR as its carefully picked.
Favorite Book of the Week
I had such a good time with this one. Such a unique world and I do think its worthy of its hype. Its super unique and different.
New Additions to AR Library
None This Week
20 hours is a long contemporary. I’m in a phase where I would like all fiction to be around 300 pages, 400 max. I literally wrote down Divine Rivals so I remember to get it asap. It sounds like one I will enjoy. This past week I read Whisking It All by Cara Dion. It’s a high heat small town romance, age gap /forbidden father’s best friend book. Now I just started Between Mischief & Magic by Marissa Serrao
I am suspect of any contemporary over 400 pages. My experience it that they could have been trimmed.