Publisher: Piatkus

Review: Burn by Suzanne Wright

Posted September 18, 2023 by Casee in Reviews | 0 Comments

Review: Burn by Suzanne WrightReviewer: Casee
Burn by Suzanne Wright
Narrator: Cat Doucette
Series: Dark in You #1
Publisher: Piatkus
Publication Date: November 26, 2015
Format: Audiobook, eBook
Source: Purchased
Point-of-View: Casee
Genres: Paranormal Romance
Pages: 301
Length: 13 hours and 32 minutes
Add It: Goodreads
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four-half-stars
Series Rating: five-stars

Part of a small demon lair in North Las Vegas, tattooist Harper Wallis lives a pretty simple life. That changes overnight when she discovers that her psychic mate, or ‘anchor’, is a guy who’s rumored to be the most powerful demon in existence. Compelling, full of secrets and armed with raw sexuality, Knox Thorne is determined to claim her as his anchor, creating a psychic bond that will prevent their inner demons from ever turning rogue. The billionaire also wants Harper in his bed. She’s not so sure she wants either of those things. No one seems to know what breed of demon Knox is, only that he’s more dangerous than anything she’s ever before encountered. But he refuses to walk away. And when an unknown danger starts closing in on Harper, it seems that Knox is the only one who can keep her safe.
As Prime of his Las Vegas lair and a successful businessman, Knox Thorne is used to being in control. He’s also used to people fearing and obeying him. Harper does neither, which unexpectedly amuses him. Unpredictable, elusive, and complex, she draws Knox and his inner demon like nothing ever has. Knox is used to getting what he wants, and he wants Harper. He’ll have her, and he’ll keep her safe from the threat that looms over her. Because Knox protects what’s his. He won’t allow anyone to take her from him. Even if it will mean letting the demon inside him rise and wreak the havoc it was created to make.

It’s been some time since I read this book, but I’m going to give this review my best shot. I LOVED THIS BOOK. I’ve read all the books in the series & I can honestly say that this series will be in my top five of the year. I just adored it.

In the demon world, all demons look for their anchor. An anchor is a psi-mate that prevents a demon from turning rogue. Rogue demons have no sense of right or wrong, they are just mindless killing machines. All rogues have to be put down by someone in their lair. Harper Wallis is a sphinx that grew up among imps, so she’s an imp at heart. When she accompanies her cousin, Khloe, to a demon fighting ring, the last thing she expects is to meet her anchor. Not only does she not expect to find her anchor, she never expected it would be the infamous Knox Thorne.

Knox is the Prime of his lair that is known for not putting up with bullshit from any of his demons. When he inadvertently reaches out to Harper psychically, they both know instantly that they are anchors. Anchors, well, they anchor each other. Knox never thought he needed an anchor because he has fierce control over his demon. When Harper bursts into his life, he realizes how wrong he is. Now all he has to do is convince Harper to bond with him. This is not the same thing as mating, but it is just as important.

They are soon embroiled in a passionate affair, but Harper knows that Knox’s demon won’t be interested in her for long. He’s known for not committing to any woman that he gets involved with and Harper doesn’t see why it would be any different for her. Fortunately (or unfortunately), Knox’s demon becomes fully attached to Harper. Now that Knox has convinced Harper to bond with him, he now has to convince her to mate with him. The only issue is that she doesn’t know what kind of demon he is. Knox is afraid as soon as he tells Harper, that she will immediately pull away from him.

It doesn’t take long for Harper to realize that Knox is the one for her. Even knowing that, she’s unsure of their relationship. Knox is the first demon she’s slept with and she knew it would change everything for her. Now that she’s in his life, she is being targeted by his enemies.

I loved this book from beginning to end. I loved how strong Harper was. I loved how mushy Knox could be when it came to Harper. I just loved everything about it. I’m kind of sad that it’s not a new read for me because I would love to experience it all again. I’ve read (and listened) to all the books in this series & it only gets better and better.

Rating: 4.25 out of 5.

Dark in You

four-half-stars

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Throwback Thursday Review: Chasing Fire by Nora Roberts

Posted March 18, 2021 by Rowena in Reviews | 7 Comments

Throwback Thursday Review: Chasing Fire by Nora RobertsReviewer: Rowena
Chasing Fire by Nora Roberts
Publisher: Piatkus
Publication Date: April 14, 2011
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
Point-of-View: No
Genres: Romantic Suspense
Pages: 477
Add It: Goodreads
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three-stars

Little else in life is as dangerous as fire jumping. Flying past towering pillars of smoke, parachuting down to the edge of an all-consuming blaze, shoveling and sawing for hours upon hours, days at a time, all to hold the line and push back against the raw power of Mother Nature.

But there's also little else as thrilling - at least to Rowan Tripp. The Missoula smoke jumpers are one of the most exclusive fire-fighting squads in the nation, and the job is in Rowan's blood: her father is a legend in the field. She's been fighting fires since her eighteenth birthday. At this point, returning to the wilds of Montana for the season feels like coming home - even with reminders of the partner she lost last season still lingering in the air.

Fortunately, this year's rookie crop is among the strongest ever - and Gulliver Curry's one of the best. He's also a walking contradiction, a hotshot firefighter with a big vocabulary, and a winter job at a kid's arcade. He came to Missoula to follow in the footsteps of Lucas "Iron Man" Tripp, yet he's instantly more fascinated by his hero's daughter. Rowan, as a rule, doesn't hook up with other smoke jumpers, but Gull is convinced he can change her mind. And damn if he doesn't make a good case to be an exception to the rule.

Everything is thrown off balance, though, when a dark presence lashes out against Rowan, looking to blame someone for last year's tragedy. Rowan knows she can't complicate things with Gull - any distractions in the air or on the ground could be lethal. But if she doesn't find someone she can lean on when the heat gets intense, her life may go down in flames.

This review was originally posted on May 31, 2011.

It took me a while to read this book. It started off pretty great but as the book wore on, I found myself wanting to move on to the next book already. That bummed me out because I love Nora Roberts. She always has the ability to make any occupation under the sun seem so hot dang interesting. I’ve never thought about fire jumpers but holy goodness, are they intense or what? I couldn’t imagine myself jumping out of planes into the thick of roaring fires to try to contain them. I couldn’t imagine having a loved one be part of this occupation either, those long nights when they’re out on a fire and waiting to hear back from them to make sure they’re alright.

This book tells the story of how Rowan Tripp and Gulliver Curry fell in love. Rowan is a seasoned fire jumper and Gulliver is a rookie fire jumper. Gulliver likes what he sees whenever Rowan is around and his flirty attitude and general hotness are totally wearing Ro down. There’s a crazy person out to get the fire jumpers and all fingers seem to be pointed at Dolly, the ex-girlfriend of a fire jumper that died a year or so ago. She blames the fire jumper crew, especially Ro (who was Jimmy’s partner) and she’s done a bang-up job of telling them (Ro) exactly how she feels about them (her).

Nora Roberts writes a lot of fantabulous books and while I did start off enjoying the heck out of this book, overall this story dragged for me. There’s a lot of unnecessary information going on in this book. Lots of things going on as well and while it usually works for me, the secondary romance between Ro’s father and one of his customers didn’t really get me excited to continue reading the story.

The romance between Ro and Gully showed such promise in the beginning but teetered off somewhere in the middle. Ro’s trust issues and all the craziness that comes with all of the drama at work (Dolly destroying Ro’s room, the destruction of the room, etc…) should have made this book more interesting but for some reason, it just wasn’t. The book isn’t bad, it’s just not in your face exciting either. The characters, the story, the setting, it’s all painted with such pretty words but that’s about it. The book has great imagery when it comes to the actual fires and what goes down at the firehouse but other than that, things were just okay.

I enjoyed getting to know everyone in the story but I can’t honestly say that these characters will stay with me the way that other books by Nora Roberts have.

3 out of 5

three-stars

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Sunday Spotlight: Sweethand by N.G. Peltier

Posted March 14, 2021 by Rowena in Features, Giveaways | 2 Comments

Sunday Spotlight is a feature we began in 2016. This year we’re spotlighting our favorite books, old and new. We’ll be raving about the books we love and being total fangirls. You’ve been warned. 🙂

I came across this book first on Twitter and then on Goodreads. I noticed the cover first because how cute is it? I love the colors and the dress that the heroine on the cover is wearing. I’m a sucker for baker heroine romances and this one provides that as well as a hate to love romance with a wedding backdrop. I’m SO in for this!! I’m super thrilled that N.G. Peltier was kind enough to provide an excerpt for us to share on the blog today so without further adieu…check it out!

Sunday Spotlight: Sweethand by N.G. PeltierSweethand by N.G. Peltier
Series: Island Bites #1
Publisher: Piatkus
Publication Date: March 30, 2021
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 275
Add It: Goodreads
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After a public meltdown over her breakup from her cheating musician boyfriend, Cherisse swore off guys in the music industry, and dating in general for a while, preferring to focus on growing her pastry chef business.

When Cherisse’s younger sister reveals she’s getting married in a few months, Cherisse hopes that will distract her mother enough to quit harassing her about finding a guy, settling down and having kids. But her mother’s matchmaking keeps intensifying.

Cherisse tries to humour her mother, hoping if she feigns interest in the eligible bachelors she keeps tossing her way, she’ll be off the hook, but things don’t quite go as planned. Turns out for the first time in ages, she and Keiran King, the most annoying man ever, are on the island at the same time. Avoiding him is impossible, especially when Keiran’s close friend is the one marrying her sister, and he’s the best man to her maid of honour.

Keiran doesn’t know what to make of Cherisse now. They’ve always butted heads. To him she’s always been a stuck-up brat who seeks attention, even while he secretly harbored a crush on her. Now with Cherisse’s sister marrying one of his good friends he can’t escape her as the wedding activities keep throwing them together.

When things turn heated after a rainy night of bedroom fun, they both have to figure out if they can survive the countdown to wedding day, without this turning into a recipe for disaster.

Excerpt

Cherisse refused to look. But even with her back turned, she knew Keiran had come up behind her. He just exuded this ‘I’m here to ruin your day’ vibe. She refused to allow him to do just that, especially already being on edge at possibly seeing Sean.

“Keiran.” Remi’s voice lost all its warmth. She’d joked about him earlier, but right now, her tone could freeze the entire room and its guests. Cherisse could always count on her to go into protective bestie mode.

“Wow.” Reba’s was filled with awe and amusement.

Cherisse considered keeping her back to him forever. Almost said fuck it, but she had to be the effervescent Sugar Queen they all knew her to be. The pressure to keep up appearances was real and fucking exhausting. Always needing to be “on” because of those damn bills. Adulting was the ultimate scam. She wouldn’t let Keiran make her act a fool. She pasted on her best smile and turned to face one of the two men she would trip down the stairs and feel no regrets.

Reba’s “Wow” had been an understatement.

He was wearing a suit. She’d never seen Keiran in a suit. Ever. Had known she would see him in one for the wedding but hadn’t even lingered on the thought. Why would she? She didn’t care what he wore, only that his presence would annoy her. But now, he was in this suit, and Cherisse stared, blatantly drinking in the fit of his blue suit jacket on those broad shoulders, the cut of his pants on his trim waist. He had his jacket unbuttoned, and there were a few buttons undone on his white shirt as well, assaulting her eyes with a sliver of brown chest. Cherisse was attacked by a too-vivid image of her pressing her hand to his shirt, right above the waistband of his pants to test what lay beneath all that fabric. She’d been drinking him in, eyes taking it all in, from his shiny brown shoes right up to that bit of exposed skin, and when she finally got to his face, he was smirking, as if he knew just what wayward thoughts floated through her head.

Holy. Shit. This was the moment she hated Keiran King more than ever. Because he was too much in that suit. His goatee was perfectly trimmed. It framed those quirked lips perfectly. His smile was dangerous. She moved past it to the rest of his face. Those deep-brown eyes never left her face and brimmed with amusement. His hair was low, brushed down into black waves, the edges marked to precision.

She wanted to topple one of the dessert towers on him. Mess up that damn suit. Anything to ruin the picture of contained sexiness he gave off as he stood there.
“We match,” he said, annoying smile growing wider.

Cherisse said nothing, refusing to acknowledge that they did indeed have on the same shade of blue. What were the fucking odds? And who gave him the right to walk around an event like this with that much chest exposed?

Sweethand is the first book in the Island Bites series and it comes out on March 30, 2021. Make sure to add it to your to-be-bought lists or enter our giveaway below and we’ll buy you a copy. Either way, this book looks too cute to miss out on and that excerpt is fantastic! I can’t wait to meet Cherisse and Keiran.

Island Bites

Giveaway Alert

We’re giving one lucky winner their choice of one of our Sunday Spotlight books. Use the widget below to enter for one of this month’s features.

Sunday Spotlight: March 2021

Are you as excited for this release as we are? Let us know how excited you are and what other books you’re looking forward to this year!

About N.G. Peltier

N.G. Peltier is an anime watching, book reading, video-game playing, story writing kinda girl.

A devourer of words and books from a young age, she enjoys writing romance and creeping people out with the Caribbean folklore stories she grew up hearing.

A Trinidadian born and raised, she currently lives in Trinidad with her mountain of ideas and characters battling each other for whose story get told next.

She is represented by Lauren Abramo of Dystel, Goderich & Bourret LLC

Website | Blog | Twitter | Goodreads

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Review: Death Knell by Hailey Edwards

Posted November 8, 2019 by Holly in Reviews | 0 Comments

Review: Death Knell by Hailey EdwardsReviewer: Holly
Death Knell by Hailey Edwards
Narrator: Laurence Bouvard
Series: Foundling #3
Also in this series: Bayou Born
Publisher: Piatkus
Publication Date: December 4, 2018
Format: Audiobook, eBook
Source: Purchased
Point-of-View: First
Cliffhanger: View Spoiler »
Content Warning: View Spoiler »
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 320
Length: 10 hours and 41 minutes
Add It: Goodreads
Reading Challenges: Holly's 2019 GoodReads Challenge
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

War burned her. Famine nearly killed her. Now Death is at her heels.

After her two worlds clashed apocalyptically, Luce Boudreau needed some time out. But Destiny had other ideas. When bodies begin washing ashore down the Mississippi River, Luce discovers they are part of a gruesome, lethal message. Her final sister, Death, is trying to break through.

Every sign is clear: the end is coming, but earth will be destroyed - quite literally - over Luce's dead body, even if that means she'll be battling her own nature. And her coterie will stand with her, though Cole keeps standing one step too goddamn far away. Her mysterious new partner, Adam Wu, on the other hand, seems determined to keep her close at all times. And the more Luce learns about the new world she's part of, the deeper the secrets go. Who - if anyone - can she really trust?

As the final pieces of an ancient war come together, Luce's chance to fight back comes sooner than she expected. Death can come at her . . . she's eager to return the favour.

Death Knell is the third book in the Foundling series by Hailey EdwardsIt’s difficult to review this series without spoilers, but I hate to include them because much of what happens is a surprise. I’m going to try to avoid them completely, which means a shorter review. I expected a sort of light paranormal, filled with voodoo and witchcraft, but this series is filled with so much more than that. For the first time in a very long time, I haven’t been able to figure out where things are heading.

Luce Boudreau has come a long way in a very short time. From a small child found wandering the bayou to a woman with strong family ties and a deep sense of right and wrong, to someone she barely recognizes. She’s determined to overcome the revelations of her past and rise above her previous actions, but holding onto herself is difficult as she gains more power and more of her memories. Cole, the chief of White Horse Security, and his team have become strong allies and anchor her to the here and now, but every step she takes seems to lead to a cold, dark place within her.

The world is very interesting and I love how things are progressing with Luce as her past is slowly revealed and she learns more about herself, her coterie and her family. I am struggling quite a bit with how slowly information is parsed out. Luce isn’t in a big hurry to learn everything there is to know about herself and her past, but I am. I decided to take a break after this book and wait until book 5 is available before continuing, because the slow drip of info is driving me mad.

Still, it’s a lovely series and I like how things are shaping up. There are unexpected twists and turns, a whole cast of intriguing characters and enough emotion and depth to keep me glued to the pages, despite some annoyances. If you’re looking for something fresh, this is the series for you.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Foundling

four-stars

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Review: Bone Driven by Hailey Edwards

Posted November 7, 2019 by Holly in Reviews | 0 Comments

Review: Bone Driven by Hailey EdwardsReviewer: Holly
Bone Driven by Hailey Edwards
Narrator: Laurence Bouvard
Series: Foundling #2
Also in this series: Bayou Born , Death Knell
Publisher: Piatkus
Publication Date: May 31, 2018
Format: Audiobook
Source: Purchased
Point-of-View: First
Cliffhanger: View Spoiler »
Content Warning: View Spoiler »
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 352
Length: 11 hours and 15 minutes
Add It: Goodreads
Reading Challenges: Holly's 2019 GoodReads Challenge
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
three-half-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

The bayou is burning, the battle is just beginning - and Luce Boudreau is smack in the middle of no-man's land . . .

Life as a cop in Canton Town, Mississippi, is never dull - particularly when hiding deep within you is a demon bent on the apocalypse. Luce is doing her best to pretend her two worlds aren't crashing into each other, but what should be a routine arson investigation takes a shocking turn when Luce discovers a link between the suspects and her own dark secrets. There's no turning back, even though her search for the truth threatens to burn her old life down around her.

Lines are being drawn in a war Luce barely understands, and she just might be on the wrong side of them. Now she must embrace her powerful destiny, or the ones she loves most will pay the ultimate price.

Bone Driven is the second book in the Foundling series by Hailey Edwards. I started it as soon as I finished the first because I wasn’t ready to let the story go, and because there were a lot of unanswered questions left at the end of Bayou Born. It picks up just where Bayou Born left off. I believe these need to be read in order.

Luce was found in the bayou as a child with strange markings on her arms and no memory of her past. She’s just discovered who she is and where she comes from, and who the men of White Horse Security are to her. Trying to deal with all the changes in her life and adjust to the reality of her past is very difficult, but she’s determined to hold on to her current self, and not let her inner demon take over.

I really enjoy Edwards’ writing style, and I like the way the story is shaping up. Luce is an interesting character and I really like her interactions with those she cares about. I can’t imagine dealing with the guilt and trauma her past brings, and I think in this regard Luce handles things extremely well. Luce’s relationship with Cole, the head of White Horse Security, and the other members of his team, is really intriguing. I love how things are shaping up and how we’re learning more about her – and them – as things progress. I can’t say a lot without including a lot of spoilers, but suffice it to say, I was anxious to see where things would go.

I did get frustrated with Luce as the story wore on, however, because she ignored so many things. She had a head in the sand mentality that really grated on me after awhile. Plus, these books are lengthy and move pretty slow in between all the action.

This moved slower than the first book, but I’m told it picks up steam in books 3 and 4, so I’m going to immediately start the next book, Death Knell. While parts of it frustrated me, I can’t deny I’m hooked on what’s going to happen next.

Rating: 3.75 out of 5

Foundling

three-half-stars

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