spicy romance

Truth Or Beard

Happy Tuesday! It’s an exciting day excuse Truth Or Beard by Penny Reid re-releases today. Thank you to the publisher for the special bookmail!

This is such a great start to one of my favorite series! (Or you can take it back a step and read Beauty and the Mustache if you want to know more background!)

This is a story about mistaken identity and long term pining, about a man who knows what he wants and isn’t afraid to go after it, about a woman who knows what she wants and it’s not staying in her hometown, living a quiet little life. It’s also, and most importantly for me, a story about family. About coming together, about the importance of letting those you love help you carry you load when things are hard. 

In a world of You Up? texts, the Winston Brothers are old fashioned gentlemen who woo their ladies, who love hard and freely, who aren’t afraid to stand up and do the right thing. The series follows these remarkable bearded brothers as they grieve the loss of their mother, deal with the ramifications of their evil father, face off with a dangerous biker gang, and, of course, fall in love. 

The author’s writing is at once lyrical and sharp, full of prose but also whip smart language that will have you re-reading to take it all in. I have laughed with them, and cried with them, and cheered them on over the years. This is truly one of my favorite fictional worlds, and I’m so so excited to see these characters that have become friends out in the world for all to enjoy!

All The Missing Pieces

All The Missing Pieces is out now! Thank you to the publisher for the ARC and the author for the ALC. 

There’s not much I like more than small town romantic suspense from Catherine Cowles!

This brings us Ridley and Colt’s story, which is a complete standalone. Ridley travels the country in her van, making a true crime podcast when she rolls into town to investigate a cold case that’s very close to Colt’s heart. He doesn’t appreciate her stirring up trouble in his town and reopening old wounds.

They started off very antagonistically which I love. I also love when opposites attract, so the straightlaced sheriff MMC facing off with (and eventually living with) the free wheeling FMC was a lot of fun. 

The mystery kept me guessing and I did not figure out who the “bad guy(s)” is/were in advance, which is the best. 

I loved it! I read it twice – first with my eyeballs, second with my ears as I tried to pick up on any clues I missed the first time. The audiobook was well done, especially the FMC (the MMC sounded a little old for the character for me but still great!)

Wyatt

Wyatt is out today! Thank you to the author for the ARC

This one is for the mutual pining lovers! This is a childhood friends to fake dating to lovers romance between Sally and Wyatt, who we met in Cash. 

I loved this! I’m not always a fan of friends to lovers but I thought this was really really well done. It felt realistic why neither would have made a move before now, and I loved watching their relationship grow and change as they finally did admit feelings. 

I loved both characters separately and together. Sally is driven and ambitious but still has space for her family, friends, and community. She’s a good girl, following the dream her father set out for her, but I loved that she finally stood up for what she wanted and found her own path. 

Wyatt is, on the surface, a bit of a class clown, always flirting and trying to make people laugh. He’s faced some loss in his life that makes him scared to commit, that is until he finally gets a chance with his dream girl Sally. Oh, did I love the way Wyatt loved Sally. He loved her in big ways and small ways and it just filled my heart with so much joy. He’s a man who is not afraid to show emotion, not afraid to make a grand gesture, not afraid to ask for help to win over his girl.

Together their relationship just felt meant to be – these two opposites sure had common ground in each other and I just thought it was a beautiful romance. It’s a romance that actually feels romantic but also has some very dirty (complementary) scenes that had me sweating – it was sweet and spicy in the best way. 

Overall, I just really really loved this addition to the Lucky River Ranch series and can’t wait for Sawyer!

Bourbon & Secrets

Happy Friday! Bourbon and Secrets is out today, thank you to the author for the ARC.

There is something so sexy about this series! The writing is lush, the characters are smart and confident, and the steamy scenes are spicyyyy. It’s not noir but I get those same slinky, sensual, vibes.

This is book two in the series, which features Lincoln, the middle Foxx brother and widowed single dad. He shares a slightly complicated past with our FMC Faye (including a little blackmail over events which ran her out of town five years ago) but she’s back under suspicious circumstances and the two just can’t seem to stay away from each other. 

They start off very antagonistically with lots of banter and jabs but it quickly turns into more, despite them both hiding a lot of secrets. I loved how their relationship changed and evolved and it was a delight to watch them fall.

Aside from the romance, which I loved, I also loved Faye’s relationships with Lincoln’s daughters and also her newly found friends in Hadley and Laney, who we met in book one. I also all around love the Foxx family, the distillery setting is just stunning, and I just really really love this series! 

Forever The Highlands

Happy Thursday! Forever The Highlands is out today! Thank you to the author for the ARC. 

It’s always great to be back in Scotland with Samantha Young. This is the final book in The Highlands series, which is a spin off of the Adairs, so this is book number 11 set in this world.

This is Eilidh and Fyfe’s story, which is a brother’s best friend, single dad romance. We’ve known Eilidh since the beginning of the Adairs and watched her grow up over the course of the series so it was nice that she finally got a turn to shine.

I thought both characters were really interesting. Eilidh is struggling, she sacrificed everything for a career she hates. She doesn’t know who she is anymore or what she really wants, other than her brother’s best friend. Fyfe has had a troubled life and doesn’t think he has the capacity for love until the daughter he didn’t know existed is dropped on his porch unexpectedly.

I loved how these two broken people finally found each other after years of tension and pining. I’m sad to see this series end, but look forward to what the author will bring us in the future!

PS I Hate You

PS I Hate You is out now! Thank you to Berkley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was an emotional and heartfelt journey between Maddie and her brother’s best friend Dom to spread her brother’s ashes at eight specific locations across the US as designated by her brother in his will. Dom is her nemesis (in her head) so this is extra hard for her, but the two start to form a begrudging friendship which turns to more as they go about carrying out these tasks. 

Though it is emotional and grief heavy at times on this journey, there was also a lot of laughter amongst the tears.

Maddie was a bit immature, but to be fair, she had no good role models growing up and she is actually quite young still. So, it was reasonable she would be a bit bratty at times but it did get a bit tiring. This didn’t make me dislike the book at all, but I do think it stopped it from being as emotional of an experience for me because I just wasn’t feeling sympathetic. 

However, I loved taciturn Dom, the caretaker, the big brother, the serious accountant who carries the weight of the world on his shoulders. He was so worried about Maddie’s health and safety, even when she was rebuking him at every step.  

This is a single POV, so we only see what Maddie thinks of things but I thought the author did a good job letting us know what Dom was thinking, even Maddie couldn’t understand it. The single POV also made it Maddie’s journey rather than Maddie & Dominic’s, so it felt more like women’s fiction than a romance to me. 

Overall though I thought it was a well written exploration of grief, one I definitely recommend to those who like emotional stories that border on women’s fiction!

Under Loch and Key

Happy Tuesday! Under Loch and Key is out today, thank you to Berkley Romance for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.⁣
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This was so fun! I’m a sucker for monster romance and I simply could not pass up the opportunity to read a Loch Ness Monster romance.⁣
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It was an opposites attract romance set in Scotland, about a sunshiney woman who is trying to connect with her recently deceased father’s family, and the grumpy farmhand with a secret who thinks she is part of his family’s curse.⁣
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There’s magic and mystery as their secrets start to come out, and they have to learn to work together to try to save Lachlan and his family before it’s too late. ⁣
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I enjoyed the uniqueness of the story, there’s a good amount of steam, and the setting was fun! Definitely recommend this one to all my fellow monster romance lovers, or those that aren’t too sure about the monster romance thing but want an easy peek into the trope. ⁣

BLURB:

Keyanna “Key” MacKay is used to secrets. Raised by a single father who never divulged his past, it’s only after his death that she finds herself thrust into the world he’d always refused to speak of. With just a childhood bedtime story about a monster that saved her father’s life and the name of her estranged grandmother to go off of, Key has no idea what she’ll find in Scotland. But repeating her father’s mistakes and being rescued by a gorgeous, angry Scotsman—who thinks she’s an idiot—is definitely the last thing she expects.

Lachlan Greer has his own secrets to keep, especially from the bonnie lass he pulls to safety from the slippery shore—a lass with captivating eyes and the last name he’s been taught not to trust. He’s looking for answers as well, and Key’s presence on the grounds they both now occupy presents a real problem. It’s even more troublesome when he gets a front row seat to the lukewarm welcome Key receives from her family; the strange powers she begins to develop; and the fierce determination she brings to every obstacle in her path. Things he shouldn’t care about, and someone he definitely doesn’t find wildly attractive.

When their secrets collide, it becomes clear that Lachlan could hold the answers Keyanna is after—and that she might also be the key to uncovering his. Up against time, mystery, and a centuries old curse, they’ll quickly discover that magic might not only be in fairy tales, and that love can be a real loch-mess.

Broken Harbor

Broken Harbor is out now, thank you to the author for the ARC. 

I’m so happy to be back in Sparrow Falls! This is Sutton and Cope’s story, both of whom we’ve met previously.

Sutton is a single mother bakery owner with a young son and a past she’s hiding from. Cope is a NHL star, in town to coach a kid’s camp and rehab his image a bit. When Sutton loses her place to live, Cope invites her and her son to stay with him.

There’s forced proximity goodness, suspense that keeps you guessing, and a swoony romance. The relationship between Cope and Sutton’s son is also very cute. 

I really enjoyed this! I also listened to the audio and thought it was well done, especially Connor Crais as Cope. 

Lost and Lassoed

I love this world so much! It’s always lovely to return to Rebel Blue, and I was especially excited to get Gus and Teddy’s story after seeing the animosity and banter between them during the first two books of the series.

This is a single dad/nanny, enemies to lovers, forced proximity romance that I absolutely loved. I’m a sucker for those tropes, but it also could have been really easy for this to feel trite and overdone. Instead, it felt fresh and exciting due to the author’s easy-reading writing and excellent world building.

I really loved Gus and Teddy, separately and together. Gus is the oldest Ryder, a single dad with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Teddy is his younger sister’s feisty best friend and her chaotic vibes don’t mesh well with Gus’s more structured life. 

The two start out with true dislike between them, but the forced proximity of Teddy living with him works its magic and they start to see each other in a different light. I thought the pacing of enemies to lovers felt believable and I really enjoyed watching them fall.

Overall, it was an excellent addition to the Rebel Blue Ranch series and i’m very excited for the fourth book!

He Sees You When You’re Sleeping

He Sees You When You’re Sleeping is out today! Thank you to Valentine PR for the ARC. 

This was a surprisingly cute romance! I saw ‘stalker’ and was expecting it to be darker but the romance was actually quite adorable, other than the whole stalking thing. It was more of a darkish romcom than a dark romance.

Jack is a fireman obsessed with Chloe, a woman he rescued years before. He’s obsessed with her safety and will go to any length to protect her. I loved that he’s really conflicted about his behavior, he knows stalking isn’t okay but he just can’t quite bring himself to stop and things start to escalate the more he gets to know her in person.

Chloe was a bit of a scrooge and I loved that about her. She’s torn between two men – the sweet fireman who keeps showing up and the masked man she’s talking to online. She has some darker fantasies and they were explored in a way that prioritized consent. It was high heat by my standards!

I also really enjoyed how their relationship progressed, Jack was so obsessed with her and I love when he falls first. It did start to get pretty repetitive, which made me lose interest by the end.

Overall though it was a cute romance, especially if you are looking for a pretty lightly dark spicy holiday romcom!