Green-Eyed Monster by Elsie Winters

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After reading Hot as Hades, I had one more read to fulfill the #banginthenight prompt for Bang in the Night Bingo. I looked through some options, and nothing sounded good enough or was short enough for me to get it in time. I remembered that Tamed by the Troll would count, so I just needed to find a new monster romance to replace it. I went through a couple different key words searches on my kindle and when I saw Green-Eyed Monster by Elsie Winters, I knew it was the one. This is her debut work and more of a short story. It is related to her first full length novel, Leviathan's Song, which was released about a month later and is connected. For Bang in the Night Bingo, this could also cover #squadgoals, I put a spell on you, and PSL vibes on top of #beastmode. I also used Green-Eyed Monster to cover the prompt under 300 pages for Fall in Love board 2. I also was able to cram it in during the Smutathon and it counts for monster, 2021 release, novella, new to you author and read in one sitting.

Hyrak is studying for an exam and suddenly there's crashing sounds and people are running around. He follows a friend and goes to help out. Hyrak ends up saving Solandis and carrying her and her little mushroom fae to safety.

Small summary, but this is really short and I don't want to give too much away. First off, this is such a cool premise. Hyrak is an Orc going to college to be an accountant. Solandis is doing something with botany. The idea of magical creatures having their own "normal" world and going to school is just so cool. I love it and was so intrigued to learn more about the world. This was such a sweet and fluffy romance. Hyrak and Solandis were so cute together and their mutual pining was so well done. It totally made sense why they both weren't pushing for more than friends.

Honestly, I just wanted more from this. I wanted it to be longer and a little more fleshed out. I still really enjoyed it and will definitely be picking up Leviathon's Song. I feel like this was a good primer into the world and a way for a reader to try a new author's writing style and world building without committing to a full size novel. Especially when you look at this as Elsie's debut, it just makes her more intriguing to me on how she's going to grow and evolve from here.

I don't quite know my plans for the rest of the year, but I'm thinking I'll be picking up Leviaton's Song for FaRoFeb at the the latest. I'm super intrigued and there was a note that we briefly met some of the characters that were going to be featured in it. Plus I think she said we'll see Hyrak and Solandis in the background. I can't wait to read more from this new author! I always love finding a new fantasy romance author.

Have you read Green-Eyed Monster?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Green-Eyed Monster, Elsie Winters, 4-stars, 0 days, eBook, 45 days, published in 2021

Hot as Hades by Alisha Rai

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With just two prompts left to get a blackout on the Bang in the Night Bingo Challenge, I was looking for a novella that would fit the own voices retelling prompt. I couldn't really find much on my own and started looking at what others were using on their boards. One of the more popular choices was Hot as Hades by Alisha Rai. It also covers the prompts published in October and a Hades and Persephone retelling. I also was able to use this for the Fall in Love board 2 prompt starts with an H. Hot as Hades also worked for the prompts dark, red or purple cover, novella, new to you author and read in one sitting for the Smutathon.

Persephone has suddenly landed in Hades lap while taking a bath. Having been adopted by Demeter and kept away from most of the Olympiad, she's only vaguely heard the stories of Hades. Once they both realize she didn't mean to end up in the Underworld, Hades tries to send her back. When he can't, they both learn that Zeus has sent Persephone to Hades for protection.

This was a retelling of the Hades and Persephone myth. I am a big fan of that myth and am a little more critical of my thoughts about how it is done. Now, Alisha Rai did have in her author's note that she took a little bit of liberties with things she was fond of (like the fact that technically Persephone is Hades's niece). This was okay and the steam was really well done. Where I wasn't the biggest fan is some of the liberties she took. Okay, making Persephone adopted, fine. I wasn't a big fan of Cerberus talking. I loved that the three heads had different personalities, but I didn't want him to talk. I wanted him more guard dog. But that's just my preference. I also wasn't too fond of the Zeus interfered and why Persephone was forced together with Hades.

My rating is definitely more of a 3.5-stars, but I will keep it rounded up to 4. I think if maybe I read the author's note first and was able to better temper my expectations before reading it would've been rated higher. While it hit the plots points that I like to see in a retelling, it just didn't quite meet everything I wanted. It was still a fun and quick read and I do recommend it if you're looking for some Hades and Persephone books.

I have heard mixed things about Alisha Rai's books and am definitely more intrigued. The writing style was so easy to read and I enjoyed it. My issues were more with the choices made and plot. I will probably pick up another Alisha Rai in the future, but I know she mainly writes contemporary so we'll see how long it takes for me to pick any others up.

Have you read Hot as Hades?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Hot as Hades, Alisha Rai, 4-stars, 0 days, eBook, 99 pages, published in 2011

Bite Me, Your Grace by Brooklyn Ann

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Time for another book I found looking specifically for books that would fill open spaces on my Bang in the Night Bingo. Bite Me, Your Grace by Brooklyn Ann is the first book in her Scandals with Bite series. It's a paranormal historical romance series! What's funny is I found this on a list with characters that have pet cats. This not only covers that prompt, but also a shocking twist, bite me and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation for Bang in the Night. I also used this to cover the Fall in Love board 2 prompt published before 2021. I also read this during the Smutathon and it covered the prompts paranormal, vampire, new to you author and supernatural main character.

Angelica is being pushed by her mother to land a titled gentleman for a husband to receive support from her grandfather. All Angelica wants to do is become the next gothic author. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein has recently come out and Angelica is a huge fan of her and her mother's writing. Her neighbor Ian, the Duke of Burnrath, lives in the perfect house to fuel Angelica's haunted mansion story. When see sneaks in one day to take a look at the place, she ends up hurting herself. Ian comes to her rescue and Angelica quickly finds that the rumors about Ian being a vampire are in fact, not rumors.

I was pretty excited for this book. I've read quite a few paranormal historical romances and a lot of them tend to be more heavy on the historical than paranormal. This was the complete opposite and I did enjoy that aspect. This was definitely more of a paranormal romance that had a historical setting. This book was touch for me to come to a decision on rating. I was thinking 4-stars, but after finishing and thinking on it for the night I decided to drop it down to 3-stars, maybe 3.5. There was just so much that left me wanting more.

While I can and do enjoy the more bluestocking debutantes, Angelica really bothered me at times. I feel like the information about Mary Shelley and Lord Byron was too much for my liking. A reason why I love historical and paranormal is for the fantastical feelings that evoke. Here it was almost based too much in real history that it kept taking me out of the more paranormal elements. It's kind of hard for me to put into words, but I just felt like a lot of different things fell short. The steamy scenes were okay words wise, but they didn't feel very steamy. I wasn't a fan of so many conflicts between them. Sometimes Angelica made decisions that didn't make sense to me. Yes she's fighting back and wanting to do what she wants, but I feel like in the beginning she at least had some common sense on what was too much. She did the actions anyways, but she at least had moments of guilt for how her actions were going to effect her parents and had second thoughts. Once her and Ian got married, it all went out the window.

Also, I really wanted Ian to confront her grandfather. He was a horrible person and I wish that more was done with him. Angelica's mother was odd. I liked her as an overbearing mama, as much as you can like one of those, but I felt like her opening up to her daughter was too quick and not in the right part of the story. Things like that just felt almost like the author had a checklist of things they wanted to include. There was too much going on and added in. Another thing that we didn't need, the backstory of the vampire hunter. Okay, give us his POV a couple of times to amp up the suspense, but I don't need him reminiscing about how he became a vampire hunter. If he's one of the villains that's just going to be killed (sorry, spoiler), I don't need to really get deep into why he's a vampire hunter. And even then, it seemed like he was just someone pious that had anger issues. There was nothing like a vampire killed his family.

There was some lead up to the next book in the series, and I'm intrigued by some of the other vampires we met, but I don't know if I'm going to continue the series. I like to give authors more than one chance, but if I do pick up more it probably won't be for a bit. I just was let down by the way that things developed. The bones were good and there were some good parts, it just kept falling short in different areas. I know that authors evolve though, so I'm not putting her on my no interest list. We'll see if and when I pick up another one.

Have you read Bite Me, Your Grace?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Bite Me, Your Grace, Brooklyn Ann, 3-stars, 3 days, eBook, 352 pages, published in 2013

Wicked Captor by Zoey Draven

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Going through my Bang in the Night Bingo prompts, I needed to find a book with Wicked in the title. I searched what was on my kindle and surprising only had a few options. One was Wicked Captor by Zoey Draven. Since the Smutathon was also going on at the same time and had an alien prompt, this was a perfect choice. Wicked Captor is the first in Zoey's Warrior of Rozun duology. This is actually a spin-off of her Warriors of Luxiria series (of which I read a couple years ago, but now see there was one more book published last year I have to get to). This also cover the red or purple on cover prompt for the Smutathon. For Bang in the Night Bingo it can also cover the prompt into the woods. Lastly, I used this for the prompt chef or baker main character for the second board of Fall in Love.

Devix is one of the warriors that we learned about in the original series that has been exiled. Now he works as a mercenary in the Quadrants. He has one last job before he's able to get out of the business and settle on Rozun. His last job is transporting his boss's newest slave, Cara. Cara is human that's been abducted and was originally at the Pit (where most of the heroines were found in the previous series). When Devix picks Cara up from her current owner, they are both surprised to find out they are fated mates.

Before we get too into the book, it's weird what I remembered about the previous series while reading this. I ran through the blurbs of the books from the previous series, but they didn't really help jog my memory. The first time Devix spoke, he said "tev" which is yes in his language. I remembered that very specifically, which was odd. I also picked up other parts of the first book, specifically when they do the fated mate ceremonies in the holy places on Luxiria. I also remembered his brother, which is the best friend and right-hand man to the ruler of the Luxirians. I couldn't remember if we saw him get exiled in the previous series or if it was just discussed.

But back to this book. It was so fun getting back into Zoey Draven. I've been working on compiling a list of authors to get caught up on and she's one of the top of my sci-fi list. I really enjoyed how things escalated between Devix and Cara. Even though they both felt the pull of the mating, they both just pushed it away and tried to fight the attraction. Once they both stopped fighting it, woo boy can Devix get it. I forgot how steamy Zoey Draven is and I loved it! I feel like you don't have to read Warriors of Luxiria to read this, but it did give some extra world building. Also, even though this is a duology it didn't end on a cliffhanger. I was slightly nervous about it going in, but I love that it didn't end on a cliffhanger. Devix and Cara were so perfect for each other, I know fated mates, but I loved how they both were able to deal with each other's traumas and really help each other heal.

I really enjoyed this and will definitely pick up the 2nd book. I did see that Cara ends up pregnant and they return to Luxiria for help. I also want to mention that this seems to have ran concurrent to some of the original series. Yes Devrix is exiled, but nobody really knows about the compatibility between humans and Luxirians at this point. I can't wait to pick up more Zoey Draven. If you enjoy sci-fi and alien romances, certainly give her a try. She's one of my favorites!

Have you read Wicked Captor?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Wicked Captor, Zoey Draven, 4-stars, 0 days, eBook, 194 pages, published in 2018

Jack by Layla Fae

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Checking my goodreads for new releases a few Mondays ago, I saw a friend had recently read and loved Jack by Layla Fae. With a little inspiration from Nightmare Before Christmas, I knew I had to pick it up. I was able to use this to cover the Fall in Love prompt published in October. Jack also covers the prompts a dark, dark and stormy night, pumpkin on cover, I put a spell on you, published in October, it's a sign, deal with the devil and #beastmode for Bang in the Night Bingo. Also, I read this during the Smutathon and used it to cover paranormal, takes place on Halloween, monster, 2021 released, novella, new to you author, read in one sitting and supernatural main character.

Suzy is complete another tarot reading about love with good results for her client. Feeling single and alone, she yearns for a love of her own. Or even a good bed partner. After being led by the cards, she summons her destined lover. What shows up is a monstrous jack-o-lantern, there to give her all the pumpkin loving she could want.

This is exactly what it sounds like. A quick smutty read about a weird jack-o-lantern monster man and a lonely, horny older woman. This was just enough ridiculous to be fun. 4-stars is fine for what it is. As I've mentioned before, I rate things differently based on what they are and my emotions. What made it not a 5-star for me was the push for them to get married and have and firm HEA. I feel like this could've worked fine as a HFN or even a straight erotica with no romance. Although, I did really enjoy that his "cream" was pumpkin spice flavored. As a basic person that loves pumpkin and pumpkin spice flavorings, I couldn't not love it!

If you are looking for a quick and steamy Halloween read, look no further. I enjoyed the writing style. She has two other books that have been published and I'm particularly intrigued by The Orc's Bride. It's a longer novella at around 150 pages. We'll see what I end up reading next!

Have you read Jack?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Jack, Layla Fae, 4-stars, 0 days, eBook, 48 pages, published in 2021

Gothikana by RuNyx

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The Ravished by Romance book club choice for October is Gothikana by RuNyx! This was actually on my radar after Crystal from Crystal's Bookish Life read it a little bit ago. She mentioned it would be a good spooky season book. The Bang in the Night Bingo challenge has a gothic prompt and I thought this would be a good option for that as well. It also covers the prompts #banginthenight, full moon on cover/stepback, who you gonna call?, into the woods, black cover, it's a sign and CSI: crime scene investigation. I also applied this to the prompt over 300 pages for Fall in Love. I also read this during the Smutathon and it covered the prompts dark, paranormal, published in 2021, taboo and new to you author.

Corvina receives a letter of interest from a unique college. After dealing with her mother's schizophrenia being diagnosed and put into an institution, she's been living alone on the outside of her town. Having been homeschooled and rarely making contact with the normal society, she decides to accept and attend despite being older than the usual freshman. Once there, things are not what they seem. Students tend to go missing every 5 years as well as many students suddenly killing themselves. Corvina receives clues and starts figuring out the history and lore of the college. Along the way she connects with graduate student and part time teacher Vad.

This was such an atmospheric book and I was really drawn into what was happening at the school and with Corvina. I wasn't expecting it, but there was a lot of deep discussion about various topics. This was such an interesting read. It's hard to say exactly how it made me feel. I loved Vad and how RuNyx kept him mysterious to keep us in Corvina's POV better. Vad was another possessive hero and I was here for it. They were so steamy together and you could really feel the tension between them. There was also an interesting fated mates aspect woven between them.

Why the 4-stars? I just wanted more from the romance aspect. I just felt like there was a good connection between them, but a lot of the connection and discussions between them were just explained as having been happened and not witnessed by the reader. I also thought it was odd that Corvina was very open to tarot, guides, crystals and energies. At the same time she was very against the thought that she might be actually talking to ghosts and not suffering from the same disease as her mother. I just seemed a little off to me for her to be split like that. This was also pretty long, almost too long. It didn't quite feel overdone, but there could've been some things that could've been tightened up.

I still really enjoyed my time reading this and am definitely interested in her other works. She mentions in her author's note that this is different, but I enjoyed the writing style. Not sure when or how long it'll take for me to get to it, but I'm certainly intrigued. I think they are dark romances, so that's fun. It was also cool to see what others took from the story during the live show.

Have you read Gothikana?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Gothikana, RuNyx, 4-stars, 2 days, eBook, 456 pages, published in 2021

Smutathon Wrap Up

 Time for another wrap up! A last minute join for me at the end of October was the Smutathon hosted by Riley Marie and Laney Kress. In case you missed my tbr/announcement, below is the blank board.

I knew going in I wasn't going for a blackout. One of the prompts was reverse harem and that's not something that I enjoy. The group book was A Lady of Rooksgrave Manor by Kathryn Moon. I read it recently and didn't want to do a reread, but it's a monster reverse harem. Since it was last minute and I was more tailoring my reads to fit prompts to finish Bang in the Night, I just applied them where they fit. I'll go ahead and list them in order read with any prompts they fit!

🌙 Gothikana by RuNyx - dark, paranormal, 2021 release, new to you author and taboo

🌙 Jack by Layla Fae - paranormal, takes place on Halloween, monster, 2021 release, novella, new to you author, read in one sitting and supernatural main character

🌙 Wicked Captor by Zoey Draven - red or purple cover and aliens

🌙 Bite Me, Your Grace by Brooklyn Ann - paranormal, vampire, new to you author and supernatural main character

🌙 Hot as Hades by Alisha Rai - dark, red or purple cover, novella, new to you author and read in one sitting

🌙 Green-Eyed Monster by Elsie Winters - monster, 2021 release, novella, new to you author and read in one sitting

I surprisingly ended up reading 6 books for the Smutathon and did better than I expected. I'll post links to the reviews when they are up. I'm a little sad that I didn't end up covering shifter, but I just haven't been quite as into shifters this season. I had a lot of fun and know they've hosted this readathon before. Hopefully I can more focus on it the next time and look forward to one that's not as Halloween focused. If you missed the live show that was held on Saturday the 30th, it's still available to watch.

Did you participate in the Smutathon?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

Smutathon TBR

Happy Monday!

I interrupt my review schedule to bring an emergency tbr! I've shifted today's review to tomorrow, so look for that tomorrow morning. We have a  new readathon that starts today, October 25th and runs through this Sunday, October 31st! It's the Smutathon and hosted by friends Riley Marie and Laney Kress! There will be a live show, but they are hosting it on Riley's channel on Saturday at 12pm CST. There is a bingo board, which I'll pop below!

They are doing a group book, The Lady of Rooksgrave Manor by Kathryn Moon. I recently read it for a Smart Women Read Romance live patreon review. I don't think I want to do a reread of it, partly due to having read it so recently and also I'm just not a fan of reverse harem and don't really want to reread it. Probably ever. Also, I have the Bang in the Night Bingo Challenge that ends the same day. Currently I have only one more book to read to get three bingos. Hopefully it'll also work for any of the prompts here. I'm also hoping to triple dip into the prompts for the 2nd board of Fall in Love. I'm not going to push myself too hard here, but am hoping to get a bingo. I'm not going for a black-out, I do not want to read reverse harem. I'm also not the biggest enemies to lovers, but we'll see what happens there.

🌙 I might have mentioned this in my other tbrs, but Gothikana by RuNyx is the Ravished by Romance book pick for October. I actually just started this, so this will work for  a few prompts including dark, published in 2021, taboo and new to you author.

🌙 For alien, I was looking for something that would fit my other prompts. Originally I was thinking about getting caught up in Zoey Draven's Hoarde Kings of Dakkar. I've read the first couple books in the series a couple years ago. Smart Women Read Romance recently did an episode on the first book in the series and it made me want to pick it back up. I also saw that she has a spin-off of her Warriors of Luxiria series (that I've read) and the first book is Wicked Captor (which fits the wicked in title prompt for Bang in the Night Bingo).

🌙 I recently read Tamed by the Troll by Tracy Lauren (review is set to come out Friday). I wanted to save the second book, Enthralling the Orc for later, but I might add it on this week.

🌙 I also was thinking of a Historical Paranormal book. I recently found Brooklyn Ann's Scandals with Bite series. She's a new author for me and I'm intrigued since the paranormal elements seem like it'll be more heavy.

🌙 Something in a completely different vein is Claire Kingsley. I've mentioned it before, but the third book in her Bailey Brothers series is Unraveling Him and this month's Smart Women Read Romance patreon live review. I binged the first three books this past week and really had to stop myself to not pick up the next one last night. I don't know if I want to go back and read the Miles Family series (Bailey Brothers is a spin-off and related to it) first before jumping into book 4, but I definitely want to read more of Claire soon.

🌙 Also in the surprisingly contemporary vein is Molly O'Hare. I keep finding her books in #tropetuesday posts on instagram and have gotten quite a few on my kindle. I'm not sure which one I want to pick up first, but I'm debating between her standalone Teased by Fire and her Stumbling Through Life series.

We'll see what I end up reading. I'm not going to do too much here and mainly just focus on working on my other challenges. I also have been wanting to go a little more mood reader with the Claire Kingsley, so I might just go off the rails completely. At least with the Smutathon it really just needs to be a steamy book. The prompts just lead more towards Halloween related themes. I'm also really feeling the Christmas and winter books that have been coming out. I'm so ready for the holiday vibes that come with the end of the year and Hallmark just started their Countdown to Christmas movies. We'll see what happens!

Are you participating in the Smutathon?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎