The Pirate Lord By Sabrina Jeffries

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The August theme for the Smart Women Read Romance exclusive Patreon review was pirate historical romance. The Pirate Lord, the first book in Sabrina Jeffries Lord Trilogy, was the winner of the poll. I was able to use this to cover the prompt favorite trope or subgenre for the 2nd board of Summer of Swoon.

Sara, the step-sister to an earl, has decided to join a ship headed to Australia. There is a lot of women that were prosecuted for various crimes that are being sent there for their sentence. Sara, as a representative for her charity group, is hoping to do an expose on the conditions that the women face not only on the trip there, but once they arrive. While traveling, they come across Captain Gideon and his rag tag pirate crew. They are planning on setting up a home base and one of the only things missing is women. They decide to take the women to make them their wives. Sara barters with Gideon to allow the women to be properly courted. As Gideon's men work to woo a wife, Gideon woos Sarah. When Sara's relation to the aristocracy is exposed, Gideon is forced to put aside his hate for the upper-class if he wants to keep the relationship.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. For being published in the late 1990s, it was excellent. I also loved the Seven Brides for Seven Brothers vibes. It was really fun to watch not only Gideon and Sara fall in love, but the crew members and women as well. I feel like with so many secondary romances, each reader can have one that is their personal ship (yes I made the pun). It was just so much fun. I really loved how Sara really pushed for the women to have more choice in the situation and how her and Gideon would "barter" between them.

The biggest detractions for me were two big things. I was a little put out and annoyed with the "other woman" situation. I get that the other woman was trying to get the best situation and partner with the captain, but I felt that all three of them could've been more open and cognizant of the situation. The other minor thing that bothered me was Gideon's backstory it handled his hate for the aristocracy. I just wanted more from it overall since it felt kind of addressed at the last minute and not fully fleshed out.

I'm excited to have finally read a Sabrina Jeffries novel and it won't be my last. I am intrigued enough to finish the trilogy, but I've been really wanting to read her Hellions of Halstead Hall series as well. I'm not sure which one I'll pick up first though since I have a habit of not finishing series. We'll see what happens, but either way I can't wait to read more of Sabrina's work!

Have you read The Pirate Lord?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: The Pirate Lord, Sabrina Jeffries, 4-stars, 2 days, eBook, 384 pages, published in 1998, traditionally published

Raze by Tillie Cole

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This month the theme for the Smart Women Read Romance exclusive patreon review was contemporary dark romance. Raze won the poll. This is the first book in Tillie Cole's Scarred Souls series. I was able to use this for the Summer of Swoon prompt new to you author and the Ripped Bodice Summer Bingo prompt mafia.

Raze was taken as a young boy to live and fight in the Gulog, a Georgian prison with underground fights. It's been years since he was brought here and is known as 818, his prisoner number. When there's a prison break, all Raze knows is that he needs to return to New York City to get revenge against Alik. He can't remember much of his life after being drugged and completely isolated, but he carved into his cell Alik's name and address in case he ever got out. He comes across Kisa and instantly feels a protective instinct towards her. Kisa is the daughter to the head of the local Bratva and engaged to Alik. She is still mourning the death of her soulmate years after her is charged with killing her twin brother (and heir to the Bratva) and ends up dying in a bus crash. Kisa runs The Dungeon, the local underground fighting ring and when Raze joins to take out Alik, they find themselves thrown together more and more. Kisa struggles against the instant connection to Raze and starts to see pieces of her dead soulmate in him.

Alright, first off, let's just get this out of the way. I thought that Kisa was not a good heroine. There were times where she was okay and then she would turn around and make the silliest decision. It just didn't feel like she was actually aware of the peril her life could be in despite her saying it was. There were also a couple other people that made just as silly... alright, let's just say it... stupid decisions that I did not understand at all. Despite my frustrations, Raze and his storyline really made this book for me. I was so intrigued to learning more about him and to really see him work through what he experienced. Although, I do have to say that I feel like we spent a lot more time experiencing Kisa's trauma at the hands of Alik versus dealing with the trauma Raze went through. I also really wish that Alik was dealt with earlier in the book. Most of the plot dragged out getting to the fight between Alik and Raze. While it was nice to see him finally get his revenge, it also didn't feel as vindicating as I wanted it to be. I don't know, it just felt kind of like "that's it?" when he finally kills him.

Another thing I really didn't like was the set-up for Raze's one friend, 392. I was really hoping that we would get to see his book 2nd (and at that point intrigued enough to read his book). Now spoiler alert, but 392 is caught again and forced to fight Raze. For Raze to get revenge against Alik, he has to kill his only friend! I did not like that and honestly, that was the most upsetting part of the book to me. I also didn't like how many times we saw our heroine assaulted. I mean it continues throughout the book and even gets badly assaulted right before the big fight, which is the climax of the book. Also it was very wordy and went into a lot more detail than I'm comfortable with. It's not triggering to me, but it just feels very yucky. That paired with her stupid choices that leads to things escalating was just so exasperating for me.

So, at this point I'm not sure if I will be picking up more in this series. I'm not saying never, but I think with the almost glorified rape scenes it's not something I'm going to gravitate too. From the live show it seems that Tillie Cole can be pretty polarizing, so we'll see what happens. There's just too many other mafia romances out there I want to try. Like I said though, I'm not writing her or this series off.

Have you read Raze?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Raze, Tillie Cole, 3.5 stars, 0 days, eBook, 256 pages, published in 2014, indie published

Hard Hitter by Sarina Bowen

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As we approached the end of April, it was time to pick up the Smart Women Read Romance pick of the month! April's theme was hockey romance and the book that won was Hard Hitter by Sarina Bowen. This is the second book in her Brooklyn Bruisers series. I did want to read the first book in the series before this one, but I ran out of time. I was able to use this for the prompts couple on the cover (the other cover has it) for Love Has Sprung and Welcome to New York (set in New York) for the Taylor Swift Quarterly Challenge.

Patrick O'Doul, captain of the Brooklyn Bruisers is suffering through some hip flexor strain. The team has a resident massage therapist and yogi named Ari and he continuously cancels his appointments. Patrick doesn't liked to be touched, but is forced by owners and coaches to stop cancelling and heal up. Ari works with O'Doul to get him to properly flex out and treat his muscles. As they find themselves around each other more and more, a connection quickly sparks between them. When Ari's horrible ex enters the picture things get a little more dangerous for Ari. Thankfully O'Doul is there to help her out where needed and give her a safe place to stay.

First off, this was my first Sarina Bowen and I was pleasantly surprised. I'm pretty picky and critical of my hockey romances and it's hard for me to really enjoy one. Now here I thought the hockey aspect was pretty well done, but while 90% was good, the last 10% really bothered me. The biggest thing that bothered me was the push and pressure on the players to make the playoffs. They're constantly bouncing between being third and fourth in their division. If they are close enough to be constantly switching places, being in fourth pretty much guarantees a spot in the playoffs via the wildcard. I just didn't like that the wild card wasn't even mentioned and they kept acting like if they got fourth they were immediately out. There is a miniscule chance that they would miss the playoffs in that scenario, and that's only if the top 5 teams in the other division of their conference have more points in the season. Highly unlikely, but there is a chance. There were a couple other hockey things that bothered me, but that was the biggest. I think had the hockey aspects been off or wrong for most of it I could excuse it easier, but since it was so well done in other aspects that really stood out to me.

As for O'Doul and Ari, I really enjoyed their relationship. Sarina writes steam really well and I loved Patrick. I liked the progression of their relationship for the most part, but I do have to say that Ari was frustrating at parts. One, she wouldn't really accept that her ex was dangerous and she was putting herself (and those around her) in danger by denying how bad it was. I also didn't like the weird conclusion she arrived at when it came to the "third act breakup." It just wasn't very logical and didn't make sense to me at all why her brain jumped there. I also do want to say that her ex is very stereotypical and his whole plot line felt unnecessary. 

Despite all these little pieces, I still enjoyed this book. It just wasn't quite a full 5-stars for me. I'm definitely intrigued to read more both in this series and by Sarina Bowen in general. I was urged during the live show to read book 4 Brooklynaire by Jessen, Juliette and Jenn. I'll try to get to it soon, but I kind of want to go back to reading in order. We'll see what happens, but I have some readalong and book club books to get through first. I definitely will be picking up more Sarina Bowen.

Have you read Hard Hitter?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Hard Hitter, Sarina Bowen, 4.5-stars, 0 days, eBook, 336 pages, published in 2017, traditionally published

Burn by Suzanne Wright

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With the end of March approaching, it was time for me to pick up the book for the Smart Women Read Romance patreon exclusive review. The theme for March was Urban Fantasy and Burn by Suzanne Wright won the poll. This is the first book in her Dark in You series. For Love Has Sprung I used this to cover the prompt updated or redone cover prompt and the Mean (book with a mean character) prompt for the Taylor Swift Quarterly Challenge.

When Harper stands in for her cousin Khloe during an underground demon fight, she draws the attraction of the local Prime Knox. When they meet, they come to find out their demons are anchors for each other. This means that they have a psychic link that helps strengthen their demon and also keep it grounded and from going rogue. Knox wants more from Harper though and also pushes for a physical relationship. As they come to terms with becoming mates as well as an anchor, a lot starts happening around them. Demon politics is starting to implode, Harper's birth mother is causing issues since she's apart of Knox's lair, black magic practitioners are targeting Knox (and now Harper), and Knox's childhood friend is deluded and thinks that she's his anchor.

While the blurb and set up of this book really intrigued me, there was just too much going on. I really struggled getting into the book and didn't really get past rereading paragraphs or going back to figure out what exactly happened until about 45% in. There was just something about the writing style that didn't click with me. To touch on the more positive before we get into what I didn't enjoy, I really liked Harper. She had some great growth and really came to adapt to the situation and fight past her previous experiences to get what she wanted. I loved how she was so powerful and sassy and really didn't let anyone take advantage of herself. She was just so confident that she could get out of any situation, but she also wasn't over-confident. I also was really intrigued by the demon setup and the mythos that Suzanne created.

Now, there were quite a lot of things that bothered me (like the bitter exes and way to many sub-plots), but the biggest thing that held back the rating for me was Knox. Yes he's an alpha-hole to the nth extreme, but we saw no softness. He was constantly pushing Harper, even when she asked him not too. There were a lot of sex scenes, but honestly, none of them felt steamy to me. I felt that the chemistry and emotional connection was completely missing. It just felt like banging all the time. I get he likes it rough and to be in control, but just once it would've been nice for Knox to give Harper what she wanted instead of "giving her what he knows she can take." Little things like that kept rubbing me wrong and there wasn't enough good moments in between to balance it out and I just kept feeling more and more offended on Harper's behalf. Never-mind he goes completely nuclear at the end even though Harper saved herself.

I will try other Suzanne Wright books, especially since I've had her Phoenix Pack series on my tbr for a while and have had good things about it. A lot of the people were around the same rating as me during the live show but enjoyed the first few books in her werewolf series. I will go into it though with tempered expectations, especially since I know that her writing style isn't as easy to read for me. I won't give up yet though!

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Burn, Suzanne Wright, 3 stars, 2 days, eBook, 344 pages, published in 2015, indie published

Falling Like Stars by Eve Kasey

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The first theme for the Smart Women Read Romance exclusive patreon review was whatever you wanted to recommend. Since I always feel nervous recommending a book or author I love, I wanted to find something new. Since I didn't really have a direction, I decided to go through my goodreads tbr and organize via ratings. I started at the highest and went through until I found something that sounded good at the time and that I saw Juliette and Jessen hadn't marked as read. I came across Falling Like Stars by Eve Kasey. This is the first book in her All In series and I added it to my tbr when I saw Shelby post about it on her instagram. This ended up being tied with another book and Jessen said she did a coin flip to decide. I was happy to see that the book I recommended won! I was also able to use this for the Winter's Kiss prompt published in 2021 and for the Heaving Bosom's 2022 Reading Embrace prompt Scientists in 2022.

Chen is an aerospace engineer (a.k.a. Astronaut) and is looking for a new job after being dismissed from the Chinese military's service after his last mission. When he's approached to be the pilot for Orbit All, a company set to provide commercial space flights, he jumps at the opportunity. Elle is an experiential planner and also gets poached to help plan and set up the entire experience for Orbit All patrons. Chen and Elle are from two different worlds but find themselves drawn together not only because they're neighbors, but Chen's input is integral in Elle planning the best space travel experience. Chen struggles with the expectations expected of him from both his family and culture back in China, on top of worrying about his disable sister.

Oh my gosh. I absolutely adored this book and there were so many great things. First off I loved the STEM representation and how there was a lot of the science of going to space, but it wasn't so overdone that those that don't know much about it couldn't catch on. There was a lot of great representation here, but what made it better was that it seemed so naturalized. Chen's younger sister had a heart defect and ended up dying for a small chunk of time. When she was resurrected she suffered from brain damage and hasn't the mind of a child. I loved how it was handled here and just a fact of his life. It didn't feel overdone or like it was pandering to there being disability representation. Like I said, it just felt so normal and how it would be in real life. There were a lot of instances like that throughout the book that just made it overall seem so real. Another representation here is that Chen is Chinese and Elle is Caucasian. Not only do we get an interracial relationship, but Elle's father and step-mother are in an interracial marriage as well. I love seeing mixed race couples represented more. I also felt like the way that Chen was portrayed was so well done. I had similar conversations with friends when I studied abroad (mostly from the female perspective) that really hit home for me. I did see in the author's note that she thanked her husband, so I think that her husband must be Asian or even Chinese.

I also loved how they weren't quite enemies, but more like Chen instantly started teasing Elle and she was annoyed and super attracted to him. I loved their banter and they way that their relationship progressed. I just can't say enough good things about this book and I will be picking up the rest of the series for sure. I also am intrigued by her Her Hands series as well. I am so happy to find another new contemporary author. I had a lot of fun gushing about this book with everyone during the live show and can't wait to see what we read next!

Have you read Falling Like Stars?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Falling Like Stars, Eve Kasey, 5-stars, 0 days, eBook, 264 pages, published in 2021, indie published

Loving the Mountain Man by Adriana Anders

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The December prompt for the Smart Women Read Romance's patreon exclusive review was Winter. The book that won the poll was Loving the Mountain Man by Adriana Anders. This is the 3rd book in her Love at Last series. I was able to apply this to the Winter Wonderland (white on the cover) prompt for Merry + Bright, facial hair prompt for Winter's Kiss and trapped in a snowstorm (only one bed) prompt for Banging Through the Snow.

Christa drives up to a holiday party at her boss's cabin in the mountains. When she arrives and finds out that she wasn't notified that the party was cancelled and he makes unwanted advances to her, she escapes. When driving back down the mountain quickly, she hits some black ice and ends up going over a cliff. Before her car can completely hit the bottom, she gets saved last minute by another cabin owner Micah. He takes her home and they call the police and her family. When a blizzard shows up overnight, she's stranded with the burly mountain man until the roads become passable. Micah is a recluse after serving in the army and losing one of his legs. He hasn't had much contact with women and feels a pull towards Christa that he hasn't felt in years.

As I mentioned before this is the third book in her series. I have not read the first two and didn't have time to squeeze them in with all the readathons and challenges I participated in. This read well as a standalone and I don't think that it connects too much to the other books outside of Micah maybe being friends with the heroes. Maybe? I'm still not sure. Anyways, this is also the first book I've read by Adriana Anders. Loving the Mountain Man was a quick instalust read. It was cute and there was a lot going on, but I wish that either it was longer or didn't take too much on. We have the sexual assault on Christa, Micah's a disabled veteran, Christa is plus size (or more normal size) and then we have the stress of her surviving death and being snowed in together. 

I think that Christa and Micah had good chemistry when they were getting intimate, but I did want more emotional development between them and more conversations. This is a hard one to rate for me. I'm thinking maybe a 3.5-star but rounded up to 4. I just was felt wanting in the end and don't know if I believe in the HEA. Yes the HFN, but not the HEA. There just some times when we were being told and not shown. I also wanted some recognition of the fact that she was so turned on as apart of the adrenaline/aftereffects of almost dying. She mentions that's partly why she's into him, but not in the way that I felt it should've been addresses. Or at least also factored in. But it was good.

I would definitely be interested in trying more of her works. It looks like the other two books in this series were novellas that were added to and rereleased, so I don't know how different I'd feel about those. I know she has a suspense series that some booktubers I follow liked, so maybe I'll try those. I'm always happy to try a new author and while this was set at Christmas, it wasn't super Christmas-y. If you're looking for a holiday set novella that isn't fully holiday based, certainly give this one a try. I had a lot of fun during the live review and can't wait to see what books get chosen next year!

Have you read Loving the Mountain Man?

Bookishly Yours, 

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Loving the Mountain Man, Adriana Anders, 4-stars, 1 day, eBook, 236 pages, published in 2019

The Wedding by Julie Garwood

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The November trope for the Smart Women Read Romance Patreon exclusive review was marriage of convenience. The book that won the poll was The Wedding by Julie Garwood. This is the 2nd book in her Lairds' Fiancées series. I also was able to use this book to cover the prompt book you're excited for for Fall in Love part two.

Brenna has been sent north to the Highlands to be wed to Laird McNare. On the way, Laird Connor MacAlister "kidnaps" her for himself. He is getting revenge against McNare and also needs a wife. However, Brenna and Connor met when they were younger and Brenna ended up proposing to Connor as young kid three times. After the gruesome death of his father Connor has grown up with vengeance as his main motivating factor, but they are waiting until they have proof of who the traitor is before moving against McNare and his supporters. As Connor and Brenna travel to his and his brother's lands, they really learn more about each other and start to connect.

This is the second book I've read by Julie Garwood, the first being The Secret. I loved it and I really loved this. First off, I wanted to read The Bride first since it's book one in the series, but ended up skipping it. It was the book club book in October for the Historical Hellions, but I ended up getting so sucked into paranormal and Halloween reads that I didn't pick it up then. Not reading it didn't really detract from the story that much, but I do feel like when we meet Jamie and Alec and their kids it would've been a lot more heartwarming to see them living their HEA. I definitely do want to pick it up in the future. One thing that I love that Julie does is how she incorporates humor. I found myself laughing quite a few times. I also teared up and really went through the ringer. One of my favorite things was how Brenna would not only randomly misplace and lose her things, but also pick up other's things. One of my favorite scenes dealt with this. So earlier on Connor has the guards put a chest in the great room for people to put Brenna's things that they find around the keep. When Connor comes back from a trip, there's a contingency of the clan that ask him if they can take their things back from the chest. The whole thing just cracked me up and I loved that it was consistent throughout.

The heart was really present as well and I felt so bad for Brenna and her relationship with her family. We could see how as the seventh of eight children she was kind of forgotten a lot. When she was young it was heartbreaking, but I also liked that while she had her insecurities in the present time, they weren't debilitating. It was just done masterfully and I loved that Julie gave her a happy and pleasant life without letting whatever issues she had keep her down for long. I can see how others could find Connor rude and domineering in the beginning, but as far as older historicals go, Julie doesn't really have the usual problematic scenes that are more commonly found. At least from what I've read. I didn't mind Connor at all, but I do prefer the more gruff and broody alpha heroes.

If you haven't read Julie Garwood and like or want to get into older historical romances, please giver her a try. I really recommend this and The Secret. They are both so good with romance, humor, heart and everything I want from historical romance. I will definitely continue reading her and definitely plan on getting through all of her historical backlist at some point. I feel like she's a good author for me when I want a cozy historical that I can just get swept away with. I had a lot of fun last month talking with everyone about it during the live. If you haven't yet, certainly check out the Smart Women Read Romance Patreon. It's my favorite podcast. If you have the extra funds, consider joining their Patreon as well. Even when the books isn't quite my cup of tea I always love the smaller discussions.

Have you read The Wedding?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: The Wedding, Julie Garwood, 5-stars, 1 day, eBook, 388 pages, published in 1996

Unraveling Him by Claire Kingsley

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The October book for the Smart Women Read Romance exclusive Patreon review was Unraveling Him by Claire Kingsley. This is the third book in her Bailey Brothers series. Also, I should mention this was chosen for the prompt of small town romance. I was able to use this for the Fall in Love board 2 prompt new mc in town.

Evan is the reclusive and loner of the Bailey brothers. He owns a cabin outside of town and also has a shop where he rebuilds and makes custom cars. Fiona is the daughter of a repair shop and helps track down cars for purchase as well as hard to find parts. When she finds out her father is getting back with his former dealers that have criminal leadings and finds him sleeping with her friend, she has to get out of there. However, her clutch is going out on her car and she needs a place to fix it. In exchange for allowing her to use his shop and tools, Fiona offers to help find Evan a new car.

Oh my gosh, guys this book. It hit me on so many levels and is one of my favorite books of the year. First off, Evan is one of my top book boyfriends. He is the grump we all need in our lives. I absolutely love that he is all or nothing with Fiona. He's also very possessive and it hits all of my buttons. Fiona is such a sweet and relatable girl. I could connect with her in a lot more ways than I expected going in. She's an admin worker at a family run repair shop (same here, although it's not run by my dad and we do lawn equipment not cars). She struggles with being taken advantage of by her family and whom she considers her friends. She talks to her houseplants and is such a happy and optimistic person.

I'm just getting emotional thinking about how much Fiona and I have in common and these are the kinds of books that really show me why I read romance. I haven't been to open about it lately, but I've been struggling a lot emotionally since about mid-September and this book really helped me. I read romance because I love that it always has a happy ending. Whatever characters go through, they make it out the other side. Guaranteed. This book really gave me a lot of hope and really made me start to consider the relationships I have and how toxic they are, whether family or not. Now, the biggest difference is that I had a great relationship with my Mom. Since she passed away 6 years ago (I can't believe it's been 6 years), that's been a big piece missing in my life. In that way I can connect to her. It honestly just made me grateful that I had those good memories to look back on.

So, this book hit me differently than it probably would others and I don't want to get too emotional with my review. We're already here though and I'm an emotional reader. I love Claire Kingsley writing and I can't wait to read more. The way that the relationship evolved between Fiona and Evan was so well done and felt so natural. Plus I loved his dog Sasquatch and how he immediately took Fiona into their "pack." Even before Evan accepted his feelings. This did feel a little long as well, but I was so wrapped up in their story that while it felt a little long once we hit the 60% mark, there was still so much happening with the plot. None of it felt unnecessary to me.

If you like small town romances and/or the grumpy sunshine trope. I feel like you do get the best enjoyment if you read the Miles Family and this series in order, but enough is explained that you could read it by itself. Before I finish wrapping up, there's one scene I really want to mention. Fairly early on when Evan and Fiona are on the road trip to get his new car, they end up having to share a hotel room and bed. He starts out on the floor and when he hears her trying to settle in the bed he thinks it's odd that his instinct is to ask if she's okay and wants to hold her. That scene made me pause and if I was someone that did highlights and quotes, it would be number one from this book. Seriously, read this book. I already bought Unraveling Him in paperback!

Have you read Unraveling Him?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATSTICS: Unraveling Him, Claire Kingsley, 5-stars, 0 days, eBook, 460 pages, published in 2020

How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf by Molly Harper

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It's that time again for the Smart Women Read Romance patreon exclusive review. I am a patron of their amazing podcast, and the theme for October was werewolves/shifters. How to Flirt with a Werewolf by Molly Harper was the winner! This is the first book in her Naked Werewolf series. I applied this to the Fall in Love prompt trees on the cover. It also covers the Bang in the Night Bingo prompts howlin' for you, #squadgoals, full moon on the cover/stepback, into the woods and CSI: crime scene investigation.

Mo has just moved to Grundy, Alaska. She's trying to escape her overbearing parents and needed to get as far away as she could from both them and the life she was living. She rents a cabin for a year and hopes to re-evaluate her life. Mo ends up taking over as the cook at the local restaurant and starts finding acceptance in this little town. Of course the one person that pushes against accepting her into the community is Cooper, local hunting guide and werewolf.

I love Molly Harper, as I've mentioned before, and was super excited to reread this. I was nervous since I remembered not loving it as much as her Jane Jameson series. I previously rated it 4-stars and it is still the same. One thing that keeps Molly Harper as one of my favorite authors is the way she develops her communities and friendships between all the characters. I would love to live in one of her worlds. While this isn't as heavy on the romance as her other books and kind of leans on the fated mate trope a little, I still enjoyed the banter between Mo and Copper.

Mo is also a Molly Harper heroine through and through. She's snarky, had an odd upbringing and is dealing with issues. The snarkiness always has me chuckling. It's something that Molly is so good at writing and it always makes me wish I was able to come up with fun quips like that just as quick. It gives me the same kind of enjoyment that Gilmore Girls did with their banter. It's been a few years since I've read the series, but I do remember that this was my favorite of the three. This one is set in Grundy and the other two are with the pack that Cooper is related to. They're good and I might reread those as well with the readathons I have going on, but I enjoyed being in Grundy more than the little town the wolf pack created.

I've been wanting to read the Molly Harper books I haven't read yet, but it was nice to reread an older book of hers. It's just leading me to upping her on my tbr for the next month. I really recommend Molly Harper if you're looking for a more comedy, light-hearted paranormal. There are dark and gritty things addressed, but with a lighter touch. I can always count on Molly Harper to have me chuckling throughout her books. I can't wait to see what others thought tonight, but I'm also nervous. It's always hard for me to hear others rate a book poorly or not enjoy something that I really love. That's why I try to suggest books I haven't read for the monthly polls. We'll see how it goes!

Have you read How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf, Molly Harper, 4-stars, 0 days, paperback, 371 pages, published in 2011

The Wallflower Wager by Tessa Dare

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The August theme for the patreon exclusive review for the Smart Women Read Romance podcast was wallflowers. The winner of the poll was The Wallflower Wager by Tessa Dare. This is the third book in her Girl Meets Duke series. I applied this to the prompt feel good for the Summer of Swoon board 3.

Lady Penelope has taken in another animal, this time a parrot. She escapes into the neighbors house. It's been recently purchased and has been going through renovations. Penny sneaks over to catch the bird and ends up running into the new owner, Gabriel. He's a self-made man and known as the Duke of Ruin. He's hoping to flip the house and use Lady Penny's as a neighbor as a selling point. When her brother and aunt threaten to send her back to the country, Gabriel and Penny hatch a plan to help her stay.

Of the three books in this series, this was my favorite. I would probably give it 4.25-stars or 4.5 if pressed to differentiate, but I went ahead and rounded down. Penny was very sweet and loving and I really fell for character. I mentioned in The Governess Game that I was a little nervous going in since the blurb kind of made me think of Love in the Afternoon, my favorite Lisa Kleypas and one of my favorite historicals. Thankfully this had a completely different feel. I loved the connection between Penny and Gabriel. Also, I've come to a realization. Now when it comes to historicals, especially regency era, I'm not the biggest fan of class difference unless it's the man that's self-made. I just feel like a lot of the tropes that I dislike are commonly found more when the lower class is the woman. Although Lisa Kleypas almost single handedly is the exception to the rule. Gabriel here I really enjoyed and gave me the same kind of aura.

Where this feel short for me is once again I feel like we spent more time on one person's trauma than the other. I also felt like there was so much packed in the last 30 pages that I wish we would've dealt with some of it earlier. I just found myself wanting more before the epilogue. Although I did like the turn around of Aunt Caroline, but also wish we saw a little more of her. Also, I feel like this one got a little more pushy about women's rights and feminism. Usually Tessa Dare is an author I feel like doesn't beat you over the head, but this one was more obvious. It just kind of took me out of the fantasy.

I still really enjoyed the book overall and I do see the hype around the next book. I know it's been pushed back a couple times and people are still waiting for it. There is a placeholder for 2024, but I know that Tessa posted late last year that is a placeholder and she's hoping to get it out before then. I'm certainly intrigued, especially with the blurb. I was excited to chat about the book a couple days ago and am excited for the next pick, the theme is Werewolves!

Have you read The Wallflower Wager?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: The Wallflower Wager, Tessa Dare, 4-stars, 1 day, eBook, 353 pages, published in 2019

Blindsided by Amy Daws

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The July book for the Smart Women Read Romance Patreon Exclusive Live Review was Blindsided by Amy Daws. The genre this month was rom-com and this was the poll winner. While this is considered a stand-alone; there are connections (which I found out at the end of the book in the author notes) to her Harris Brothers and London Lovers series. I was able to apply this read to the Summer of Swoon board 2 prompt starts with the letter "b."

Our English heroine Freya is a seamstress and best friends with Scottish footballer (we're talking England here, so Soccer) Maclay. There are connections through marriage and friendship to the football players and the boutique shop she works at. They became friends over a year ago and have a lot of netflix and hangout. They like to watch Heartland together. Mac ends up dragging Freya to a party and she plays never have I ever the opposite way and ends up super drunk. Things happen and it eventually comes out that Freya is still a virgin and wants to lose it before she turns 30 in a couple months. Mac decides to help her out as a love coach and eventually sex coach.

I was really torn on this book. There were parts I really liked, but others I didn't. I'm still not quite sure if my 4-star rating is too high. I liked that Freya was plus size, but I wish that she wasn't quite as hard on herself throughout so much of the book. Even after sleeping with Mac for weeks and understanding how attracted he was to her, she still felt she wasn't the "type of girl" he would be with. There was some good conversations between them about if she's being pragmatic or derogatory to herself. Where I have issues is how much she pushed against going public with Mac. Not with the paparazzi and stuff, but just with their friend group. She felt different from everyone else and constantly was counter herself out. Another conversation I loved was when they were all together in Scotland and all the women were hanging out together. Freya came to realize that she wasn't the only one with a disparaging inner voice. It just emphasized the point that you really can't know what someone is dealing with internally based on how they look or act.

Mac was very sexy and I like how into Freya was. I did wish that they conversed more and were both patient with each other during their conversations. There were a couple moments though when I wanted him to be a little more introspective, especially since he was touted as being in touch with his emotions. Another thing I want to mention, I don't think I laughed at all during this book. It wasn't a rom-com to me. It was definitely more angsty than I expected and was tearing up a few different times in the latter half of the book. I wasn't able to participate in the show last night live since my Aunt is visitng from California, but hopefully I can get the chance to watch it this weekend and see everybody else's thoughts.

I have had Amy Daws on my tbr for awhile, specifically her Wait With Me series. I don't think it's connected to this book. Based on the list in the back of the ebook I think there's at least one more connected standalone to this and the London series I mentioned above. I'm intrigued to read her other series as well. We'll see when I get to them though. I was excited to finally try her out though. I feel like I would've felt more connected to this book if I had read the connected series first since there was a lot of what felt like fan-service for the side characters.

Have you read Blindsided?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Blindsided, Amy Daws, 4-stars, 1 day, eBook, 305 pages, published in 2019

A Lady of Rooksgrave Manor by Kathryn Moon

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The June patreon exclusive review theme for the Smart Women Read Romance was monster romance. A Lady of Rooksgrave Manor by Kathryn Moon was the winning book. This is book one in her Tempting Monsters series and a newer release. This is a reverse harem. Another fun thing to note, this is both a historical romance and a paranormal romance. I was able to apply this to the Summer of Swoon trope outside of comfort zone prompt and the Historical Romance Readathon class difference, indie published, part of a series and one person on the cover prompts.

Esther is a maid at a house that ends up suffering from debt. She is known for being more of a sexually active woman with a lot of desires. When the Dr. Underwood comes to take care of the lady of the house, Esther likes to eavesdrop. One time, Dr. Underwood catches her. When she doesn't have employment anymore, he suggests she try coming to the Rooksgrave Manor. A sort of personalized brothel for monsters. The witch Magdelena that runs this house reads auras and helps match a woman with the monster(s) that would fit with them. She also provides a sense of security for the ladies and works with the monsters and ladies to make sure they have everything they need.

Esther, as I mentioned before, has a very high sex drive and it feels like was made to be in this house. She ends up putting together a harem with a sphinx, vampire, Dr. Underwood (a kind of jekyll & hyde), marble golem and invisible man. This book is very steamy and honestly felt more like erotica to me than a romance. That could just be my struggle with multiple partner relationships. I've always struggled with ménages and poly relationships, so this is the first harem I've read. While I did like the emphasis placed on the equality of everyone in Esther's harem and how adamant she was that she only felt complete with everyone there, I still struggled believing she was in love with everyone. There a lot of sexy times and I found myself at about 40% just starting to skim it. While I enjoy steam, this definitely felt more erotica with almost constant sex on the page. If Esther wasn't participating in it herself, I felt like she was watching other people have it.

There are a lot of kinks in this book and I can see a lot of people enjoying this. The biggest one I had an issue with was all of the voyeurism. Esther really enjoyed being watched and I'm not into that. At all. I did like the reasoning behind why she enjoyed it though, that she was showing that monsters could find someone to accept them as they are and crave to be with them. I really like how Esther made it point throughout to show that monsters needed love (and loving) too. I did feel for some of the other monsters that were just there but not actively cared for in many ways by their women. That's were I'm struggling with rating this book. Objectively, this would be a 4 or 5-star. The writing is well done and if you're looking for monster smut, this hits it out of the park. My enjoyment though was a complete roller coaster and I feel like closer to a 3-star. Honestly, I kept wanting Amon, the sphinx, to steal Esther from the others and taker her for himself. I was really intrigued by the mythos. I think the world building and reasoning behind of the kink makes me lean towards a 3.5-star rating, but I'll round up to 4 on goodreads. I mainly rate on my enjoyment, so it's hard for me to knock it too much because I knew what I was getting into beforehand.

I will probably read more of the series when it's out and when I'm in the mood. I hope one of the books is a single couple. It's just what I prefer, possessive alphas. I think that there are a lot of different kinds of stories that could be told with the world that Kathryn Moon set up and I hope she goes that route instead of them being mostly the same trope. I'm certainly intrigued. It was interesting to see what everyone else thought about it on the live show last night. This kind of book always seems to get varied opinions, which makes for fun conversations.

Have you read A Lady of Rooksgrave Manor?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: A Lady of Rooksgrave Manor, Kathryn Moon, 4-stars, eBook, 379 pages, published in 2021

Fires of Winter by Johanna Lindsey

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As we reach the end of May, it's time for the Smart Women Read Romance Patreon live review! This month the theme was Vikings and the book that won the poll was Johanna Lindsey's Fires of Winter. This is the first in her Haardrad Family series. 

I am really torn on how to rate this book. If I were to be super specific, I think I would go with 3.5-stars. I'll get more into it, but this book was either super captivating and I was loving it or I was bored about the repetition or info dump and just wanted to move on. Such a rollercoaster read for me. I did want to round down instead of up on goodreads because it's overall not a 4-star. 

We meet our heroine Brenna, as she kind-of rescues a lady in her town. She has been raised as a boy and taught the things that boys usually learn. For example, how to fight and such and not as much about "women's work" and household chores. She's been betrothed to a Viking as per her father's wishes (and against hers). He's secured an alliance to protect them from the pillaging. However, it was a trick and Anselm (our hero's father) has come to pillage the town, steal their wealth and also steals 7 women as slaves. He decides to give Brenna to his son Garrick as a slave instead of his bride. I should also note, Garrick has been away on a trading voyage, so wasn't aware of anything.

Now, going in I knew that there would most likely be problematic scenes. Not only is this published in 1980, but it's about Vikings. I mean give me a Viking romance, even written recently, that doesn't address the ruthlessness. Do I condone rape, absolutely not. Is it still something that happened and despite it being wrong, accepted as normal especially for Vikings, Yes. So while I don't look for realism necessarily with historicals, it doesn't bother me (or trigger me) at all when reading these. Part of that is partially because I expect it going in. And while I don't like that it happens, I did like that the various rape events weren't as detailed as others. I don't like saying that they were written flippantly (it was), but it was nice that we didn't have to experience it ourselves as a reader. Even though that's not a trigger for me, when it's written like that it's still hard to read.

Anyway, back to my actual issues with the book. First off, Garrick and Brenna didn't meet until just after 20% into the book. There was so much info-dumping and unnecessary explanations and scenes that I could've done without. Not only did it take so long for them to meet, but their rollercoaster relationship really annoyed me. This was also later in the book, but there was too much unnecessary information. While I loved that Brenna was strong and bull-headed and wouldn't just roll over, I feel like she was almost too stubborn to live (despite her stubbornness keeping her alive later on in the book). A lot of the times she didn't realize when to back down or just hold her tongue, especially for her survival. Some of the times their arguing and banter was good and there was progress made in them understanding each other. These parts I didn't mind. The next argument however would just make them both angry and set them back. It was constantly one step forward then five steps back. 

I also felt this could've been a shorter book. There was too much happening to these two. I get that it was supposed to cover a large amount of time, but they couldn't get a rest. There was always some sort of outside conflict that just would make the internal conflict between them even worse. The few times they came to an accord and were starting to really enjoy their time together and not argue as much, something drastic would happen, like Brenna getting kidnapped.

I don't know, there were parts I enjoyed and it kept me reading and intrigued, but about 60% in I realized I started checking my percentage quite frequently. Like I said, just too much happened to them and almost all of it was necessary. I also didn't like the storyline with the Anselm. I feel like him showing his regret was an unexpected trait for a Viking chieftan, however it felt like he was just regretful about Brenna. What about the other women forced into slavery? What about all of the innocents killed when they were taken? What about everything that was destroyed by his unhonorable actions? I feel like Johanna tried to redeem Anselm more than Garrick. And I didn't really mention it above, but we do see Brenna get raped by Garrick multiple times. (FYI: She also has an attempt by her second kidnapper.) Garrick really needed to grovel or show regret more than his freaking father.

As far as older romances go, I really didn't mind this one. There were points where it was a 4 or 4.5-star read and others where it was at a 2-star. I do feel like as long as you are aware of what you are going into, the rape and problematic scenes aren't as graphic. You just need to be conscious of what you are choosing to read, especially with books published in the 1970s and 80s. I might at some point pick up the other books in the series, but it's not at the top of my list. I did see that they have pretty a pretty high average on goodreads. I'm can't wait for the live show tomorrow night to see what everyone else thought.

Have you read Fires of Winter?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Fires of Winter, Johanna Lindsey, 3-stars, 0 days, eBook, 362 pages, published in 1980

The Hook Up by Kristen Callihan

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If you've been with me for awhile, you probably know that I'm a big fan of the Smart Women Read Romance podcast and am a patreon member. Every month they have an exclusive patreon live review. April's theme was New Adult and the book that won the poll was The Hook Up by Kristen Callihan. This is the first book in her Game On Series.

I haven't read too much new adult, but looking through a lot of new adult lists I feel like most the new adult I read is also sports romance. I don't usually read New Adult, because even when I was in that time myself, I never really went through the normal issues that a typical New Adult goes through and I struggle connecting to the books. I was pleasantly surprised by this book and am definitely interested in reading more from the series. I think it helped a lot that they were both seniors in college.

Our heroine is Anna, a fiery red-head. At the start of a philosophy class, she meets one of her new classmates, Drew the star quarterback. They instantly feel a connection, but Anna fights it for a good chunk of the book. I really Drew and how into Anna he was. He was constantly getting shut down and rejected, but he stayed patient and persistent without turning into a stalker. I really enjoyed Kristen's writing and could feel the visceral connection between the two. 

I also really enjoyed the choices that Kristen made throughout the book. It took some turns that I wasn't expecting. I also really enjoyed that it was spread out over a longer time than previous books in this sub-genre that I read. It just felt more realistic. Drew was 100% all in on Anna from the first time their eyes met and I loved how sure he was that she was it. It was also a nice change of pace that it was Anna pushing that they were just "hooking up" and avoiding the relationship word. They were still so drawn to each other despite her reservations. 

I found it interesting as well that she wouldn't let him kiss her on the mouth. Anna knew it was too personal and that as soon as she let him, she would be completely lost. I found myself rooting for their first kiss (despite having slept together quite a bit before it happened) and really enjoyed the scene that led up to it as well as when it finally happened. It was so sweet and steamy and you could feel the connection growing that much stronger. It just was written so well and was definitely swoony. 

What brought this down to 4-stars for me was mostly Anna. I completely understood her reservations and insecurities, but I wish that she would've opened up to him more earlier and not let him misunderstand things so much. Like I said, I understood it and could see it coming a million miles away, but since I was get turns I didn't expect throughout the book I almost wish that she would've done the same when it came to those scenes. Another issue I had is just the stereotypical "hot girl." I loved Anna a lot, but it bothered me a little bit that she was very well endowed, had a tiny waist, but then a big butt. I don't know, but people aren't shaped like that naturally very often. It also didn't seem to fit with her being chubby in high school. I know that a lot of times there's some growing into your body, especially if you're a late bloomer, in the late teens and early twenties, but it just seemed unrealistic to me. I 'm glad that it was too focused on, but every time one of his teammates or other jocks mentioned it, it rubbed me wrong. At the same time though everyone was all confused on why he was with someone that looked like that. It just was too opposite ends of the spectrum.

I also enjoyed Anna's best friends and really want Iris to get her HEA. I glanced through the other books in the series just to see if Iris was in a pairing, but I didn't see her mentioned. Maybe Kristen has a connecting series or something? If you know please let me know, because Iris needs to be with someone that will support her love of Bieber. Even though I am not into Bieber at all, I am a boy-band fan and still absolutely adore K-pop and J-pop boy bands. We all need someone that will accept our fandoms. I connected to her on that aspect and need Iris to find her person. I will probably pick up other books in the series and had other Kristen Callihan books on my tbr already, so I'll definitely move them up my list since I enjoyed her writing so much. I can't wait for the live tonight! I also should mention this book definitely helped keep me from entering a slump after DNFing Shanna earlier that morning.

Have you read The Hook Up?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: The Hook Up, Kristen Callihan, 4-stars, eBook, 0 days, 362 pages, published in 2014

A Hunger Like No Other by Kresley Cole

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The first paranormal I've read this year was for the Smart Women Read Romance podcast's exclusive patreon review. The theme this month was vampires and the winning book was A Hunger Like No Other. This is book 1 in Kresley Cole's long running, highly popular Immortals After Dark series. I have read Kresley's historicals before, but hadn't quite jumped into IAD yet. Partially because it's such a long series. Also because I knew I would enjoy them and completely get sucked into reading this and nothing else. That would lead me to kind of disregard some of my book club and buddy reads I've been looking forward to. When I was mostly reading paranormal and fantasy a few years ago, I was already sucked into other long series (like Patricia Briggs') and wasn't quite ready to add another. But now, the time has come.

This romance is between the Lykae (think werewolves) king Lachlain and half-valkyrie half-vampire Emmaline. Lachlain is chained up in the catacombs and has been tortured (killed over and over by fire, but not quite completely so he constantly regenerates) and one day smells his fated mate. He finally finds the strength to escape since he's been looking for his mate like 1200 years. He ends up having to "cut" off (really maul) his lower leg on one side and crawl his way out. This scene completely made me cringe; I don't do well with gore. After a little bit of time he tracks her down and pretty much kidnaps her to get back to Scotland (they're in Paris).

I really enjoyed the feel of the world that Krelsey is creating. It feels paranormal, but yet different than the typical feel. Already I am enjoying the mix of Valkyries and werewolves and vampires and I know that there are other mythologies that Kresley weaves in through the series. While some might find Lachlain's alphaness too much, it really "floated my boat." I love the alphaness and I feel like with it being paranormal and a fated mate situation on top of Lachlain being tortured the last 150+ years it felt natural for their characters. Despite this being their romance, it also felt more focused on Emma finding herself. Emma did frustrate me a little towards the last 30% of the book, but I understood her decisions. I also really enjoyed how Kresley laid little hints of future books throughout.

I do have a little bit of a mention, if you have read or are starting to read Immortals After Dark as well, there is a great podcast called Fated Mates. Their first season was focused on IAD and goes in depth for each book. I actually started listening to the podcast over a year ago, so while I hadn't read this series yet, I know a good chunk about it going in. Fated Mates is hosted by historical romance author Sarah MacLean and romance critic Jen Prokop. They have great banter and I've really enjoyed listening to their podcast. Now that I've actually started reading IAD, I plan to go back after each book and listen to it's corresponding episode. 

I definitely plan on continuing the series, but want to try to space them out a little and not go on a complete binge. I also know that even though there's been 17 books released plus a novella, Kresley has switched to independent publishing and had some personal things happen. The last book released was in 2017 and the 18th book was supposed to come out in summer 2020, but has been postponed. I have a lot to get through, but if it seems like the next book will get a new release date, I might start getting through them quicker.

Have you read A Hunger Like No Other?

Bookishly Yours, 

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: A Hunger Like No Other, Kresley Cole, 5-stars, 2 days, paperback, 360 pages, published in 2006

Tempest by Beverly Jenkins

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As mentioned in previous posts, I absolutely adore the Smart Women Read Romance Podcast. I am a patron and participate in their monthly live reviews. For February, the book chosen under the historical prompt was Tempest by Beverly Jenkins. This is the third book in her Old West series, although it seems most of her series are in the same world and connect via various characters.

This was my first Beverly Jenkins, and I'm happy to finally get to one of them. If I wasn't knee deep in fantasy romance due to FaRoFeb, I would've read the whole series. Most of the time (95%) I prefer to read things in order, even if it's not necessary. Unfortunately I didn't relegate enough time to read the first two books before Tempest. This book focuses on Regan, a mail-order bride moving to Wyoming to marry the local Doctor Colton. He is looking for a wife mainly for his daughter Anna. The relationship between Regan and Anna is what made this a 4-star and not 3-star for me. The way that Regan takes shy Anna under her wing and naturally helps her grow confidence in herself and allows her to be a child. 

What I wasn't as fond of is the romance between the two. Yes there were some steamy moments, but I didn't like how sudden the attraction felt and how Colton kind of fought against it. It was written like he was fighting falling for Regan, however I didn't actually feel like he was falling for her. More intrigued since she was so different than any other woman he knows (outside of his awesome-sauce sister). I also didn't like how he kept saying that "good women" did do this or act like that. Oh, and that a good woman just lifted her skirts to lie with a man and that was it. Nobody getting naked and both finding pleasure. Like, you're a doctor dude! He should've been more knowledgeable and known better. Especially with how good of a relationship he supposedly had with his wife. I also though the main conflict was a little cliché, but it fit the western feel and I'm glad it was more external. 

Overall, I enjoyed the book and will definitely pick up more Beverly Jenkins. I'm super interested in his sister's book, but I guess it's actually in the Woman Who Dare series (from what I heard). Excited to finally get to a Beverly Jenkins and I definitely get the hype about her books. I just feel like this one didn't quite hit steaminess and "great love story" that I was expected.

Have your read Tempest?

Bookishly Yours, 

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Tempest, Beverly Jenkins, 4-stars, 1 day, eBook, 384 pages, published in 2018

Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn

 

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The first contemporary romance I read this year was Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn. It's a standalone romance. I've mentioned in previous posts that I'm a big fan of the Smart Women Read Romance Podcast. I am a patron and one the perks is an exclusive live review that's voted on. This month Jessen specifically chose contemporary romances, and this one won.

I have heard of Kate Clayborn before, her Chance of a Lifetime series has been on my tbr for a while now. I just don't gravitate to contemporary very often. Love Lettering has also been on my tbr since several booktubers and bookstagrammers were talking about it in early 2020. 

This was such a cute read. I loved the way Kate writes and really enjoyed the way that our main Heroine Meg though, especially about letters. I loved her and Reid's relationship, however I did wish we got some chapters in Reid's perspective. I guess then we might not have gotten the "big event" at the end, but it wouldn't been nice to see how into Meg he was before the love letter at the end. And the "big event" felt a little unnecessary. Like, I understand why it was important for Reid's character, but I felt like there could've been a better third act conflict that didn't put them through the ringer as much. it wasn't the whistleblowing as much as all the media attention and defamation that happened to both of them that turned me off. It would've been nice to see more of the hea outside of the epilogue. Although it also gave us the love letter. Overall it was still cute and I really  enjoyed it. I definitely will be moving the Chance of a Lifetime series up on my contemporary tbr.

Have you read Love Lettering?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Love Lettering, Kate Clayborn, 4-stars, 1 day, eBook, 307 pages, Published 2019