Kyland

Kyland by Mia Sheridan re-released yesterday through Bloom! This was a beautifully written, at times bleak, new adult romance set in an Appalachian coal mining town. It’s a story of sacrifice, hope, and true love overcoming all.

Tenleigh and Kyland are both in the running for a college scholarship that could help one of them leave their small town behind. Both have been raised in abject poverty, with food insecurity, housing insecurity, and no real support from their families. They are both desperate to leave, so neither of them needs an entanglement with the competition, but they are drawn to each other nonetheless.

I think the book does a really good job of exploring a desperate situation while still maintaining a feeling of hope. The romance was so sweet and I was really rooting for them.

Their situation made my tummy hurt and I can’t say I didn’t see the majority of the plot coming from a mile away, but I was still interested to see how it would all unfold! Overall a great read.

Bad Mother

Happy Tuesday! Bad Mother by Mia Sheridan releases today. I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

First thing I need to say- Mia Sheridan has written a lot of romances and romantic thrillers in the past & Montlake had this categorized as romance on NetGalley – it’s not. At least, while there is a romance, it’s a subplot to the thriller plot, not the main event. That’s totally okay,  but was not what I was expecting based on the categorization on NetGalley. 

What it actually is though is a suspenseful thriller, a cat and mouse game from a possible serial killer who enjoys toying with Detective Sienna Walker as she and her partner race to discover what’s going on before more people die. It genuinely kept me guessing who the bad guy was. While I did have some suspicions around certain characters, I had no idea how it was going to play out and certainly couldn’t have guessed how it was going to end. 

Sienna is the new cop in town after getting in some trouble as a NYC detective. She’s sent back home to Reno where she has to readjust to life in the city with a lot of bad memories for her, including those around her ex-fiance Gavin. Gavin broke her heart years before so it’s difficult for her when the clues on the case force her to work side by side with him (this is where the romance comes in). 

Overall a compelling and compulsive read! Just don’t expect it to be a romance