Tag: 2.0 Reviews

Review: Loverboy by Sarina Bowen

Posted July 24, 2023 by Holly in Reviews | 3 Comments

Review: Loverboy by Sarina BowenReviewer: Holly
Loverboy by Sarina Bowen
Narrator: Joe Arden, Emma Wilder, Vanessa Edwin
Series: The Company #2
Also in this series: Moonlighter, Moonlighter
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: December 1, 2020
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 278
Length: 9 hours and 11 minutes
Add It: Goodreads
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two-stars
Series Rating: three-stars

Secrets, desires, and exquisite pie. It’s all in a day’s work at The Company.
Growing up, I was the rough guy from the wrong neighborhood who couldn’t catch a break. Posy was the pampered girl I tried to impress. But all she gave me was a single kiss before I had to skip town.Now I’m back, and the tables are turned. Posy runs a struggling pie shop. I’m the VP of a secretive billion-dollar security company. Not that I can tell her.There’s a murderer on the loose in New York, and he seems to spend a lot of time at Posy’s shop. It’s my job to identify him before he can harm a hair on her pretty head.Going undercover as Posy’s new barista wasn’t my idea. I don’t even drink coffee. But now I have to call her “boss,” and do everything the curvy perfectionist asks of me. I’d forgotten how much we infuriate each other, and that she somehow fills me with both irritation and desire in the same breath.There’s nobody more skilled at stealth ops than me. I can bring this killer down. Right after I take a cold shower. And just as soon I figure out how to make a skinny peppermint latte with milk poured in the shape of a kitten...

I really enjoy Sarina Bowen’s books as a whole. She does romance really well and I love falling into her stories. Having said that, I am not a fan of her writing romantic suspense.

Posy runs a pie shop and is doing her best to make ends meet. Unfortunately, she can’t find a good barista and she’s killing herself trying to do it all. When Gunnar turns up and seems like the answer to her prayers, she wants to turn him away on principle since he burned her once already when she was just out of college, but she can’t since she’s desperately in need of help and he seems kind of down on his luck. If only she wasn’t still attracted to him…

Gunnar is a security specialist. When a murderer seems to be taunting their firm and the police from Posy’s pie shop, he agrees to go undercover to figure out what he can. He doesn’t expect to still be attracted to Posy, or to what to help her in all the ways. He can’t tell her what he’s up to, but he vows to keep her safe.

There were so many cringe-worthy moments for me in this book. All of the “Security Specialists” seemed so incompetent, plus the whole “lying to her for her own good” trope was really frustrating. I enjoyed some parts of the novel, and I was curious how things would play out with her ex, which is why I kept reading. But the rest was a complete let-down. I do not plan to continue the series.

Rating: 2 out of 5

The Company

two-stars


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Review: All is Faerie in Love and War by Isla Frost

Posted August 15, 2022 by Holly in Features | 0 Comments

Review: All is Faerie in Love and War by Isla FrostReviewer: Holly
All Is Faerie in Love and War by Isla Frost
Series: Fangs and Feathers #2
Also in this series: Dragons Are a Girl’s Best Friend , Vampires Will Be Vampires
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: November 12, 2021
Format: Audiobook, eBook
Source: Kindle Unlimited, Purchased
Point-of-View: First
Cliffhanger: View Spoiler »
Content Warning: View Spoiler »
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 248
Add It: Goodreads
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two-stars
Series Rating: one-star

If the devil is knocking at your door, don't open it.A simple enough rule to follow... or so you'd think.

When a criminal has magic too dangerous to merely lock up, we send them to a blackout prison.

Hell would've been a better destination for this guy.

As a lowly cop in the LVMPD's Rapid Response unit, I'm used to dealing with all kinds of dumpster-fire scenarios. From drunk salamanders on a building-melting bender and angry manticore landlords threatening to eat tenants' gallbladders in lieu of payment, to human summoners calling up monsters from the deep to impress their girlfriends—to name a few.

But learning about the magic I shouldn't have while facing off against a psychopath who's worked me into his infernal plans for worldwide torment? That's decidedly outside my wheelhouse.

Oh, and my one and only fae friend is acting really strange.

I have to stop this devil from bringing hell to earth.

But I'm petrified I'm going to help him pull it off instead.

Warning: This urban fantasy series contains danger, mayhem, humor, and heart, with characters you'll fall for—including a vampire with an unbeating heart of gold, a book-hoarding dragon who eats criminals for breakfast, a mysterious faerie who's as hot as the desert he slunk out of, and a human heroine who'll fight to save them all.
Fans of Kim Harrison, Annette Marie, Ilona Andrews, K.F. Breene, Hailey Edwards, or Patricia Briggs, dive into this thrilling new world for a feel-good, action-packed adventure with a dash of slow burn romance.

All is Faerie in Love and War is the second book in Isla Frost’s Fangs and Feathers series. I got the ebook from Kindle Unlimited and purchased the audio add-on so I could read and listen. These books are well written, but I did not the plot of this book. I almost DNF’d it several times. I pushed through because I was curious to see how things would end.

Lyra is a cop with the Las Vegas Magical Police Department. She’s just come back from a two week suspension and she finds out an escaped psychopathic criminal with mind control magic is targeting her. She sends her family away and tries to get back to her life, until the worst happens.

The issue I had with this book comes down to the mind control. View Spoiler »

I am curious enough about what happens in the future to try the next book, but I hope the theme is different.

Rating: 2 out of 5

Fangs and Feathers

two-stars


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Review: A Farewell to Charms by Molly Harper

Posted May 25, 2022 by Holly in Reviews | 1 Comment

Review: A Farewell to Charms by Molly HarperReviewer: Holly
A Farewell to Charms by Molly Harper
Narrator: Jonathan Davis, Amanda Ronconi
Series: Mystic Bayou #6
Also in this series: How to Date Your Dragon (Mystic Bayou, #1), Even Tree Nymphs Get the Blues, How to Date Your Dragon, How to Date Your Dragon, Selkies are a Girl's Best Friend, One Fine Fae, Shifters in the Night
Publisher: Audible Original, Audible Originals
Publication Date: January 13, 2022
Format: Audiobook
Source: Audible Plus
Point-of-View: Alternating Third
Genres: Paranormal Romance
Length: 7 hours and 26 minutes
Add It: Goodreads
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two-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

Queen of paranormal romantic comedy Molly Harper delivers love and laughter in this magnificent series finale—available in audio first!
Eva Boudreaux keeps the truth about her life before arriving in Mystic Bayou a carefully guarded secret, flying under the radar as a talented boat mechanic. In the swampy little town filled with powerful supernatural beings, Eva never expected to strike up a charged flirtation with one of the Bayou’s human residents.
Alex Lancaster is far too polished for Eva’s taste—not to mention the danger that comes with his high-ranking position in the League, which could expose her secrets. Trouble is, she can’t resist his disarming sense of humor or the chemistry that crackles to life whenever he’s near. Will Alex be able to handle a woman like her? Or will her difficult past keep them apart?
Either way, they’ll need to join forces to solve one final mystery in Mystic Bayou. The fate of the town—and their hearts—depends upon it.
©2021 Molly Harper, LLC (P)2021 Audible Originals, LLC

A Farewell to Charms by Molly Harper is the 6th book in the Mystic Bayou series. These are Audible First releases (meaning they are released only in audio first) and I really enjoy the narrator. The series is fairly light with a lot of humor. I really enjoyed Eva in the previous books and I was anxious for her story. Sadly, this was my least favorite Mystic Bayou novel to date.

Alex is the League Director in Mystic Bayou. As a result, he has a hard time making connections with the others in Mystic Bayou. While they include him in their activities, he’s kind of socially awkward and knows he has to maintain some distance since he’s their boss. When he meets Eva, he has a hard time staying away. She’s so wonderful he just wants to be with her all the time. Which is why, when he looks into her past and and inadvertently finds out some of her secrets, he makes a mess of things for Eva with the others in Mystic Bayou.

Eva has always been attracted to Alex and she thought he felt the same, but she should have known better. She’s never had great luck with men, and Alex is out of her league. He proves that when he looks into her past and she realizes he was only interested in her to find out her secrets.

I wanted to like this book, but Alex’s actions in the beginning really squicked me out, and then Eva acted like an idiot toward the end of the novel. I enjoyed seeing some of my favorite people from previous books and I liked that gender reversal (Eva is stronger than Alex, who is a mundane human), which is why I gave it 2 stars, but there wasn’t a whole lot else to recommend it.

This felt like the end of the series. I’m not sure if Molly Harper plans to continue it or not, but if this is the end, I am sad it ended like this.

Rating: 2 out of 5

Mystic Bayou

two-stars


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Lightning Review: Seduction on a Snowy Night by Madeline Hunter, Sabrina Jeffries

Posted February 26, 2021 by Holly in Reviews | 0 Comments

Lightning Review: Seduction on a Snowy Night by Madeline Hunter, Sabrina JeffriesReviewer: Holly
Seduction on a Snowy Night by Madeline Hunter, Sabrina Jeffries
Series: Duke Dynasty #1.5
Publisher: Kensington
Publication Date: September 24, 2019
Format: eBook
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Point-of-View: Alternating Third
Cliffhanger: View Spoiler »
Genres: Historical Romance
Pages: 320
Add It: Goodreads
Reading Challenges: Holly's 2020 Historical Challenge
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one-half-stars
Series Rating: two-stars

This winter, steal away with the reigning queens of Regency Romance... plus one or two dukes, one heiress, and one headstrong beauty—to a surprise snow storm, the comfort of a blazing fire, and the heat of a lover's kisses...

A CHRISTMAS ABDUCTION by Madeline Hunter

Caroline Dunham has a bone to pick with notorious rake Baron Thornhill—and a creative plan to insure his undivided attention. Yet once in close quarters, she finds herself beholden to their smoldering connection.

A PERFECT MATCH by Sabrina Jeffries

Whisked away from a wintry ball by a commanding colonel, Cassandra Isles struggles with her feelings for Lord Heywood. For he is a man sworn to marry only for money—and Cass is an heiress who will accept nothing less than love.

I only read the first two stories in this novella.

A CHRISTMAS ABDUCTION by Madeline Hunter

Adam, Baron Thornhill gets abducted by a woman. He thinks he’s been abducted as revenge because his cousin put their family’s breeding horses down after illness swept through them. Only, no. It’s actually because he supposedly seduced her sister and got her with child. She plans to force them to marry. Adam is pretty sure he’s never met her sister, but he can’t be sure because he is something of a rake.

The premise of this story was interesting. It started out well but then went downhill when the MC’s started lusting after each other. They’re attracted to each other. Okay, I can buy that. So they keep kissing. How is this a thing? You think he’s a rake who seduced and abandoned your sister. You are literally holding him hostage to marry her, but you let him kiss and fondle you anyway? Gross.

View Spoiler »
 
Rating: 1.5 out of 5 (the .5 for the first few chapters)

A PERFECT MATCH by Sabrina Jeffries

Cass is an heiress who is determined to keep her fortune a secret so she can marry for love. Lord Heywood needs a fortune to restore the property he inherited. He intends to court her cousin, Kitty (also an heiress), but after they spend time together, it’s Cass he wants.

I really disliked the fact that Cass hid her fortune for as long as she did, but more importantly, I disliked how Heywood reacted when he found out about it. I wasn’t loving the story up to that point, and his giant man-tantrum didn’t help matters.

Rating: 2 out of 5

Duke Dynasty

After I read those two stories I was done with this anthology and skipped the Mary Jo Putney. I may go back and read it at some point.

one-half-stars


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Throwback Thursday Review: Losing Control by Jen Frederick

Posted December 17, 2020 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

Throwback Thursday Review: Losing Control by Jen FrederickReviewer: Rowena
Losing Control by Jen Frederick
Series: Kerr Chronicles #1
Also in this series: Losing Control, Taking Control
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: June 16, 2014
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 280
Add It: Goodreads
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two-stars
Series Rating: three-stars

I’d do anything to keep my mother alive.

Anything, including ask Ian Kerr for help. I don’t know much about him, except that he has more money than some small countries. And he’s willing to spend it on me. Just one catch: there’s a string attached, and not just the one I feel pulling me into his arms and his bed. There’s also the plan for revenge he wants my help with.

Every time he says my name, it makes my body shiver and my heart stutter. I know he’s going to wreck me, know there won’t be anything left of me but lust and sensation by the time he’s done with me, but even though I can see the heartbreak coming towards me like a train, ready to crash into me, I can’t get out of the way. I want what he makes me feel. Want what he’s offering.

This may have started out as something to save my mother, but now…now it’s about what he makes me feel. I’m in danger of losing everything that’s important. Worse? Ian's whispered words and hot caresses are making me believe that's okay.

This review was originally posted on December 23, 2014.

I read this book for my book club meeting last month. Jen Frederick is an author that I enjoy so it wasn’t hard for me to jump right in. It didn’t take me long to read the book but when I was finished, I was a bit underwhelmed and I can’t blame that on the cliff-hanger at the end. I knew there was a second book so the cliff-hanger didn’t bother me one bit.

I just didn’t connect with Victoria, the heroine. And while I enjoyed Ian (the hero), I thought his high-handedness where Victoria was concerned was kind of offensive and reminded me of Christian Grey (even though I’ve never read those books). Yeah, we all wish that a billionaire would come into our lives, become so enchanted with us and then take us away from our poor lives. The fantasy is great but for some reason, it didn’t work for me here.

Victoria is a bike messenger trying to make ends meet. She’s taking care of her sick Mom and doing whatever needs to be done in order to make sure they have a roof over their heads, food on the table and their bills paid. Even if it means working for her douche-hole of a criminal step-brother, Malcolm. She does some shady delivery services for him, asks no questions and makes more money than she would at her normal every day bike messenger job. There are plenty of risks but to keep her Mom healthy and comfortable, Victoria will gladly take those risks.

When we first meet Victoria, I really liked her. She was a bad-ass with enough stress to drown a sumo wrestler but she kept right on going, taking care of business. So when Ian bulldozes into her life, I felt like a lot of the bad-ass I admired kind of went out the window. She turned from this determined young woman who was fighting the good fight against poverty to this new person who was trying to stay strong and independent by coming off bratty and whiny and who still rolled over whenever Ian was around. And then in the end when her life is drastically changed forever, I felt like she dropped the ball. The strong and independent girl that I liked in the beginning was completely gone. She spent so much time worried about her Mom in the book and then when everything goes to shit, she kind of just fell apart. Maybe it’s the way that I was brought up but when shit gets hard, you handle your shit. You don’t fall into a pit of depression and let other people handle shit that you should handle yourself and Victoria (I didn’t like her nickname, Tiny so I refuse to call her that) let me down. She wanted to put distance between her and Ian after all of that stuff with her Mom but who the hell was taking care of YOUR business while you were thinking of leaving him? NOT YOU.

Ugh.

My friend Tasha and I had completely different reactions to this book. She was hooked and though it wasn’t her favorite read, she still really enjoyed it but not me. Even Holly liked this book more than I did but sometimes it happens that way. I didn’t completely hate it. There were moments between Ian and Victoria that I thought were cute and the beginning showed such promise so that was good but those moments didn’t stand out to me in the end because I didn’t rush to start the next book and I have it to read.

Rating: 2 out of 5

Kerr Chronicles

two-stars


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