Wow, just wow! Elizabeth Lim proves once again that she can write one hell of a story. I haven’t finished her Spin the Dawn duology, which is my bad, but I loved the first book, I even cried while reading it. So, I didn’t doubt that this book was going to be amazing. And let me tell you–it was great. She has an incredible writing style and I’ll jump into all the details later. Let’s jump into the review for now.
In this book, we follow the story of Shiori, the princess of the kingdom of Kiori. One day she finds her stepmother making a spell of sorts when Shiori wasn’t supposed to be snooping. Her stepmother to keep her secret curses Shiori and her six brothers into a life of exile. Shiori’s curse means she can’t speak and has to carry a wooden bowl in her head as a hat that obscures her face to prevent her from being noticed. Her brothers, on the other hand, her stepmother turned them into cranes. Shiori needs to keep quiet without being able to tell anyone of her curse or who she is–which means she must keep quiet because every sound she makes means one of her brothers will die. Now, she has to travel across her kingdom finding the elements to break her curse with the help of her crane brothers. But as she travels through her land, the turmoils and the torments that she goes through turn out to be harder than what she thought they would be. And yet–she’s the only hope she and her brothers have at being normal again.
I honestly don’t know how else to explain this story without spoiling it too much for you. One of the reasons I loved this story so much was because of how blind I went into it. The little blurb of explanation I provided doesn’t even begin to encompass the intricate detail of this story and I honestly don’t think I provided I great explanation of the story either. But I promise you the less you know of the story the more you’ll enjoy it.
As I mentioned above, going completely blind to this story was the best decision I could make because I didn’t know what to expect from the story. The twists and turns were not what I expected and the flow of the story was also so submerging. I read this book in a day and a half and I have zero regrets. The world-building was great–there was even a map to guide you through the characters’ travels, (which I always appreciate). The character arc was amazing too. We see our MC, Shiori, grow so much throughout the story and become a completely different person almost by the end of it. No wonder people on tik tok are raving about this book. It is a really good book.
It was written for younger for sure–the target audience being people ages twelve and up. Although the target audience was mostly young people, it doesn’t take away from this story being incredibly written. This may deter some older forks from reading this story–but I cannot recommend this high-fantasy story enough. I think this is also a great literature book. I think students would love diving into this story as it was written so well.
Okay, I’ll stop gushing about this story once and for all. Read this story if you enjoyed her other books. If you like authors like Renee Ahdieh, Roshani Chokshi, S. J. Jones, Alwyn Hamilton, Colleen Houck, Hafsah Faizal, Sabaa Tahir, etc. And as always, thank you for reading my post. I truly appreciate it.
Wow, I never wanted to punch as many people as I did reading this book. I don’t consider myself an irrationally angry person but this book made me scream the entire time. Ugh, I’m so angry. Why are people so awful? You can say what you want to say about this book being fiction, but what’s represented in this book is a reality, not a lie.
In this book, we follow the story of Chiamaka and Devon as they are the only black students in this prestigious school that only rich white people attend. Chiamaka is the most popular girl in the school—has been since she started in the private academy of Niveous. Her parents come from money and she’s always had everything she needed. Devon, on the other hand, is the scholarship kid. He comes from the “bad side of town”, he walks every day to school and can’t afford a new uniform. He’s over the school and all he wants to do is graduate and go to Juilliard. But things start happening their senior year: both Chiamaka and Devon start getting blamed for petty things that are happening around the high school. There’s an anonymous person that starts leaking personal information about them to the entire school, ruining the chances of them getting good recommendations for their colleges seeing as both of them are straight-A students. Both of them get together to see who’s behind the messages and why are they trying to sabotage their lives. And even though they can’t stand each other, they can only rely on one another to put a stop to whoever is trying to bring them down.
The author described what was happening in the school as social eugenics, an experiment of sorts where the white people in the school caused as much torment as they could to the two black students to get them to drop out and give up on their life. I don’t want to say more because I risk spoiling it to you but, OMG, I never wanted to punch yt people as much as I wanted to while reading this book.
The situations that both Chiamaka and Devon were put through had them doubting the entire system. They didn’t know who they could trust. They didn’t know who was behind the mask, and they were desperately trying to figure out what was happening. They were blamed for “crimes” that yes they committed, but those were already carefully planned out by the people in power.
I kept reading the book because I was angry. I just wanted it to be over but at the same time, I wanted justice for these black kids. This book is one of games and deceit. It’s a book about white people hating Black people and getting away with it. It’s very discriminating but also very realistic. I’m sure that this isn’t only fiction. I can guarantee you that there are many white teachers out there that make life miserable for their black students. I do believe that this book is important to read if only so you can get angry with me and we can start punching things together.
This book calls forward to action. As allies, we need to get together and bring justice to those who can’t. This story is a wake-up call and I recommend you read it if you like The Hate U Give, Children of Blood and Bone, Nicola Yoon, Tiffany Jackson, etc. Thank you all for reading my post, I truly appreciate it. NOT JUSTICE – NO PEACE.
I was surprised by this story–in a good way. People said it reminded them of The Cruel Prince and A Court of Thorns and Roses which I agree on the latter but TCP. There are some similarities to ACOTAR in mostly that there is two love interest–but I’ll get into that later.
In this book, we follow the story of Abrielle, as she struggles to survive and pay her debt to her aunt. Brie and her sister Jes have suffered by staying with her aunt, after their mom left them and their uncle died, they have been working for her aunt and paying the money they owe her. One night, her aunt sells Jes to the Unseelie court and Brie is going to try everything to get her back. In this world, we also follow the fae, Unseelie and Seelie alike. This is a world full of lies and treachery. Brie has to keep both eyes on the front but four on her back. Everyone is keeping secrets from her, and she doesn’t know who to trust. Sebastian, her best friend who turns out to be someone completely different than who she thought he was–or Finn: the dark prince of the Unseelie.
I can see how people can see a little of ACOTAR in this story. There’s the sweet white-haired boy, the one who stole her heart from the beginning. And then there’s also the dark and mysterious boy–the bad one. We have been conditioned by years of reading fantasy books that the girl always ends up with the dark-haired boy– no matter how morally grey the character is. Moreover, the way the plot dissolves, in the end, reminds me a little of ACOTAR as well. But I don’t see the Cruel Prince here. The one book that no one mentioned though was the Fever Series by Karen Marie Moning. The terms Seelie and Unseelie are familiar to me because of that series. If anything, THV reminded me more of the Fever series than the other two mentioned above. This world of Fae creatures is not new to me because of the Fever series. If you want a more mature version of These Hollow Vows, I highly recommend you read the Fever Series.
Brie had so much going on–the poor girl was being lied to up and down, she didn’t know who to trust. She didn’t know where her sister was and she didn’t know what to do. However, above all that, she was always looking for a way to save her sister from the fake Unseelie king. I understand that because of the magnitude of the curse placed upon the fae, there was only so much they could reveal to Brie but, it was deceit upon deceit. It was very annoying honestly.
However, the story was incredibly written if I do say so myself. I was completely submerged from when I started to when it ended. I finished this book in a day in a half. The story was fast-paced. The world-building wasn’t overly complicated and super easy to follow. I can’t wait for the second book honestly.
I highly recommend it if you like stories like ACOTAR, The Cruel Prince, The Fever Series, Furyborn, etc. I was also surprised to find spice in this book. More than your regular “teen spice”. I would certainly say that this book is seventeen plus. Thank you for reading my post, I truly appreciate it.
I’m so happy I got to read this book, wow, what a great read. This book was so good. Ugh, I fell in love with all the characters immediately. The story was adorable–I’m not necessarily a fake-dating trope fan, but this story was super cute. Moreover, it also has a slow-burn romance and a grumpy-sunshine trope. Ugh! What more is there to love?!
In this book, we follow the story of Olive, a Ph.D. student at Stanford studying pancreatic cancer. She’s been going to school for two years trying to perfect her research. She went out with Jeremy once and didn’t hit off, and her best friend Anh has a crush on him and Olive wants her to go out with him but Anh doesn’t think Olive is over him. The issue is, Olive was never into him, to begin with, but Anh doesn’t want to break the girl code. One night, Olive told Anh that she was going on a date so that Anh would go on a date with Jeremy guilt-free. But instead of going on said date, she went to her lab to work on her research thinking she could avoid Anh there. However, as she was working late that night, she saw Anh out of the corner of her eye walking through the hall of the building she was in and Olive panicked and kiss the random stranger that was next to her so her friend wouldn’t suspect a thing. The issue was, the person she kissed, without even realizing it was Adam Carlsen. A university professor that was a legend around Stanford. He was a superstar because of how smart he was and even though he was respected, he was also feared because he had a scary persona. Next thing you know, since Anh saw them kiss, Olive has to continue the lie so she asks Adam to continue the lie for a little bit at least until her friend gets comfortable around Jeremy. So, the lie that Adam and she are dating spreads around campus and there’s nothing she can do to stop it. But what she never thought would happen was her having actual feelings for Adam. Now she has to fight her growing attraction towards Adam while trying to complete her research which proves to be more challenging than she anticipated. However, the question remains, will she be strong enough to not fall in love with Adam, or would she submit her heart to him?
One of the first things I’d like to mention about this story is how academically correct it was, in terms of the schooling system and the masters and Ph.D. programs. Now that I think about it, I don’t really remember if Olive was a Ph.D. student or a master’s student, but the author did her research and I wouldn’t be surprised if I found out she was a woman of Academia herself. This book also talks about the sexism that exists for the majority of women in STEM. I cannot imagine the amount of hardships women go through when it comes to getting a career in one of the sciences when they’re so oversaturated by men. It can be very intimidating for women to want to join those types of careers because simply put, they’re run by men. However, this book is a great guide into the STEM world for women and I do think that if you’re planning on becoming or pursuing a career in the sciences, then you should most definitely read this one.
Moving on, the relationship between Adam and Olive was amazing. I love their dynamic and Olive was hilarious, I couldn’t stop laughing with her. I’m not great at diagnosing people when it comes to their personality types, but I’m sure she had some type of ADHD or even Austim honestly–however, don’t take my word for it. I don’t mean anything wrong with that, I just mean that there were moments where her thoughts derailed and probably not in the right direction. For example, at the end when she was trying to explain the lie that she told Adam, she never officially said it, she danced around the topic and moved on from–assuming Adam would know what she was talking about. And you’ll see what I mean once you read the book because her thoughts were all over the place. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but there are more important topics/things to focus on so why not try thinking about that.
With that being said though, I loved this story. That had to be the only thing that got me annoyed every once in a while. There wasn’t that much spice. There was one spicy scene in this entire story but you almost don’t notice it because the romance was so cute. It was a nice slow-burn and the back and forth between the two characters was to die for. I would read this book if you enjoy stories like Beach Read, People We Met on Vacation, The Brown Sisters Trilogy, The Hating Game, etc. For 18+ readers only but you can read at your own discretion honestly. And as always, I want to thank you for reading my post. I truly appreciate it.
What an interesting book—I wasn’t expecting it to be as emotional as it was honestly. Wow. I thought this book was pure spice, but no—the author gave us tears for the eyes and for the kitty, she gave us butterflies, LOL.
In this book, we follow the POV of Katie and Carl as they navigate through their trouple. Carl and Rick have been a couple for three years and they’ve been looking for the perfect partner that can satisfy all their needs—their very specific needs. So much so that they’re willing to pay to find the perfect partner. Katie, needing the money, accepts their offer to be in this weird but exciting new relationship. But, what started as a game for her, ended up being so much more than that. She never thought she was going to end up loving two men and moreover, she never thought about the implications that came with loving two men at the same time. All she wanted was a little money to be able to pursue her dreams, but instead, she gained the love of two men she never planned on loving. Now, all there is to question is, are her dreams big enough to make her leave, or are their dreams big enough to make her stay?
Let me get one thing out of the way, I hate, and I do mean HATE, the name Carl. Lol. The author couldn’t come up with any other name? I almost dropped the book when I began reading it because I couldn’t get over the name. It’s clear that Carl and Rick love each other and have for many years. Being in a bi relationship, they were able to explore with different women but none of them stayed—some of them found it too much or their dreams didn’t align with theirs. Whatever the case may be they never found a woman willing to stay. That’s until Katie showed up, and I didn’t think they could show more love in general. But both men were so loving and understanding of Katie’s doubts.
This book is so much more than sex though—although the spice scenes are SPICY—this book also talks about daddy issues and abandonment issues. And it gets unexpectedly emotional, I was crying too much for it to be a smut book. Just know that you may come here for the spice but you’re leaving with a story of love, of rediscovering your family and acceptance. I really enjoyed the story. I know you will too. The 3.5 stars review is not a bad review, it’s a good one. And I know you’ll love the story.
I recommend you read it if you like Colleen Hoover, Penelope Douglas, and any other emotional author that mixes sex with sad stories. 18+ plus to read this book. Also, check trigger warnings because you never know. And as always, thank you for reading my post. I truly appreciate it.
This entire series for me was a 3 out 5 stars. It was different than the regular spicy books I normally read. It was still an entertaining story–don’t get me wrong–however, it was very different and I’ll explain what I mean in a minute.
In this series, we follow the story of Kira, Jasin, Auric, Slade, and Reven–there are officially four books in the series with other annexations to it. Each book follows her journey as she travels across each land Fire, Air, Earth, and Water to mate with her chosen ones. Yep, you heard that right. Kira was chosen by the spirit goddess to become the next batch of dragons to protect their land. Right now, the dragons in power have become corrupt and the gods want the five of them to put a stop to their reign. But for them to become dragons, Kira has to mate with each of her men in the land of the god that blessed them. Together, they would form a bond stronger than anything in the world and defeat the dragons’ that have been reigning for the last few centuries.
With all that being said, this is a reverse harem book, and while I was expecting the spice, I wasn’t expecting them to be as intriguing. The world-building and the actual plotline weren’t too bad. When you read a spicy fantasy book, usually one aspect of the book overpowers the other–it’s either spice of fantasy–but I’m glad to say that this was a pleasant mix of both. She didn’t give us too much of either or, I would say it’s a healthy balance. Although, if I had to choose which aspect of those two there are more in the book, I would say this book is more fantasy than spice. It took until book two for us to see her with more than one partner at a time.
Moreover, these characters were deep and personal despite this series being super short. I finished three of these books the same day–that’s how short they were. Yet, the author gave us enough time to meet each character and get to know them on more than a surface-level treatment. The spice was there, I would say 3 out 5 in the spiciness department. When I read a RH, especially one with four men, I’m expecting certain scenes to happen. I don’t care much for the one-on-one contact because that’s what regular romance books are for. I want all of the orifices of our female lead to be filled. Not one empty and I want her hands busy as well, but unfortunately, I didn’t get that here. Don’t get me wrong, there are scenes where the five of them are together, just not the way I was expecting them to be. It also took until the last book in the series for us to see that kind of relationship between all of them, just FYI.
I recommend you read this book if you like Sarah J. Maas, Claire LeGrand. Jennifer Armentrout, Kerri Maniscalco, K. A. Knight, etc. 18+ only. I don’t think that there are many triggers here but check just in case. Also no, there isn’t dragon play in this series just in case you were wondering. I know I was wondering when I started reading this book too. LOL. And as always, thank you for reading my post, I truly appreciate it.
Needless to say, I heard about the challenge on Tik Tok: a bunch of readers are gathering together to read smut for the majority of Septmeber and since I do love a good spicy smut book, I decided to join. But in all honesty, it’s just a regular month for me. With that being said, most–if not all of these books–are recommeded by people on Booktok. Now, please feel free to add more spicy books I should read during this month, I’m always open to spicy recs! P.S. no need to worry, all of these reviews are non-spoiler, as always! Uh, also, check Trigger Warnings before reading any of these books. K, now to the reviews!
Her Soul To Take by Harley Laroux – 3/5 stars
I’m sorry to say that this is my first Harley Laroux book. I can’t believe I haven’t heard of this author before. I’m not sure what to say about this book. I mean, it was just demons and sex. I can’t explain it any other way, but I’ll try.
In this book, we follow the story of Rae and Leon. Rae is coming back to her hometown after years of not being there. Later she finds out that there are killings happening in the town, and the town itself was always plagued with something sinister—giving the town an air of a ghost town. Rae, a fan of everything paranormal, gets involved in trying to figure out what haunts the town only to find out that there are demons living among them. This is where Leon comes in. He’s been in servitude to a family in his town for over a century and he’s desperate to be free. That’s when he meets Rae, a careless woman with no sense of self-preservation. They are an odd pair, but Rae needs protection from the monsters in her town and Leon is willing to provide it to her—for a price, of course—her soul.
Rae finds the option appalling. Her soul is hers to take, not his but at the same time, Leon is not what she thought demons would be like. And let me tell you, a part of me wasn’t expecting Leon to be like that either. I don’t make a habit of reading books with demons in them because I do find the topic to be taboo; however, this one was a surprise.
What I said at the introduction of this book is true, this book is about demons and sex and rituals and shit. It has a decent plot line but to be honest, I don’t remember much from it. I was only here for the spice and I’m not ashamed to admit that. There was a spicy scene in the cemetery where I had to pause and get some help, if you know what I mean, LOL. Like holding the book with one hand and having one hand free.
There’s really not much more to say. If you lie sexy stories about demons and lots of sex, then this would be the story for you. It’s a short and easy read that I’m sure anyone will enjoy—as long as you enjoy morbid stories with sex in them. Anyone 18+ can read this story. And as always, I want to thank you for reading my post. I truly appreciate it
Throttled by Lauren Asher – 3/5 stars
This was my second book by Lauren Asher and I’m sorry to say it’ll probably be my last. I read her book The Fine Print and I can’t say I enjoyed that one either. I just can’t vibe with her writing style. She writes good slow-burn romance books, but the way she writes them is what I can’t seem to get over.
In this book, we follow the story of Noah Slade and Maya Alatorre. Noah Slade is a famous F1 racer and Maya’s brother just joined his racing team. Because of an altercation in the past, Noah can’t stand Maya’s brother Santiago, which makes Maya off-limits. But the more they banter together, the more the attraction for each other grows. Maya knows she should stay away from the womanizer and fuck-man Noah Slade. She’s seen his track record and the trail of broken hearts he leaves behind, but can’t she stay away from him? Both of them know that they’re not meant to be together and yet, they fight all the odds for a chance to at least try. But, will it be enough?
As I mentioned in the intro, the book is a slow-burn romance, a little too slow burn for my taste but cute nonetheless. I love the fact that the author puts emphasis on men going to therapy for their traumas. I do believe we should see more of that in romance books. It’s time to start normalizing that behavior. On the other hand, I do think that the book spends lots of time trying to keep them apart when we all know that they’re going to be together regardless. So why delay the inevitable, especially for as long as she did? But I guess that’s the point of a slow burn.
I have nothing else to say about the book. It was cute, the was a level 2 out 5 of spice, but it wasn’t all that bad. I’m sure you guys would enjoy it. This is more a romance story than a spicy one, but still good. Read it if you like cars, races, Fast and Furious, Nascar races, etc.
The Dare by Harley Laroux – 3/5 stars
Booktok was saying that this book was super intense and I’m not sure if it is because of all the smut I already read, but this book wasn’t half as bad as it’s made out to be. Sure, if this is your first spicy book, then proceed with caution but, for us smut readers–this book was a piece of cake.
This book is super short, with only 95 pages, it felt more like reading a long paper rather than an actual book. We follow the story of Jessica Martin, she used to be popular in High School and because of that, she used to bully many people. Now, she’s invited to a party and she finds one of the kids she used to bully and he wants to make her pay. The question is, is she willing to accept the punishment? You have to look for all the trigger warnings because many things do happen in this book and you should read at your own discretion but it wasn’t that bad.
Yes, it was very spicy but in a different way. There’s a lot of humiliation happening which I never cared for–which is one of the reasons I didn’t rate this book higher. The book is also super short, and I understand that the author purposefully wrote the book that way, but maybe it was too short. I would’ve love to see more from them seeing as though we only had 32k words in length. When I saw the cover of the book, I was very intrigued as to why it looked like that but that question wasn’t answered once I read the book so maybe it’ll leave you wondering as well.
There’s a lot of pleasure, pain, fear, and desire happening in this book, so read at your own discretion. 18+ ONLY. If you liked Den of Vipers, then you should probably read this book.
Diver’s Heart by K.A. Knight – 3.7/5 stars
My second book by this author and I’m not disappointed, to say the least–well, maybe a little bit, but not that much. She was the first author that introduced me to RH and I haven’t been able to come back ever since.
In this book, we follow the story of Peyton Andrews, a diver trained by her dad to be the best. Together, she and Tyler Lucas become one of the best divers in history. They become best friends and go on numerous adventures together. When her father dies, Tyles takes her in along with his brother and two best friends. One day, Tyler proposes to Peyton, but she can’t accept because she doesn’t love only him, she loves them all. This story is one about forgiveness, getting through the hatred and longing, and acceptance. One filled with dangerous adventures and the possibility of multiple broken hearts, but the question remains, who is willing to jump first?
This book is very different from her Den of Vipers book. This one is heavily plot-based, although romance is the point of the story, the story doesn’t revolve around it. There are many things happening in this book. The main thing is that this is a group of divers exploring a cave that has never been explored. It gets even fantastical at a point because there are some monsters-like creatures deep within these caves. There is a lot of suspense and thriller-y type situations. Very gory and gruesome at a point, with many deaths happening which take away from the romance aspect of the story–but it still keeps you on the edge of your seat at all times. And at the same time, it has you turned on. I’m not sure how this author comes up with these stories but, wow, does she make them work. I cannot even begin to imagine the amount of research she had to go through to write this one, but I’m glad she did.
With that being said, however, I didn’t care much about the plot. When I read a RH book, I’m reading it for the sole purpose of seeing the MC having all of her orifices filled up. Every single one of her holes needs to be filled at the same time. I don’t come to read a RH book for her to only have individual sexy time with each separate character–although that’s always okay–I can read about that in every other romance book out there. With this one, however, it wasn’t until the end when we finally got our group scene and it wasn’t satisfying enough. Moreover, all the gruesomeness and gore took away from the romance aspect of the book. I understand that with everything happening to them in these caves, it was hard to get sexy time, but then, why make their expedition a horror story? I believe the book would’ve been better if it either eas a diver’s horror book only and you took the romance out of it, or a romance book about diving adventures without the horror because it honestly took away from the essence of the story. It should’ve been one or the other, not both at the same time.
Other than that, read this book if you like horror, if you like Reverse Harem books, if you like smut and spicy books, etc. 18+ Only. And as always I would love to thank you for reading my post. I truly appreciate it.
Y’all already know Tik Tok made me read this book and I can’t say I’m mad about it. It was an interesting spin on the Hades and Persephone story—it was one of the best versions of this story I’ve read; however, it wasn’t the best story ever.
In this book, we follow the story of the gods of Olympus living in the real modern world. Persephone’s mother promises her to Zeus, a man that has been rumored to kill his three past wives. Persephone rather die than marry the most powerful man out of the thirteen gods of Olympus. Hades has been banned from the Upper City, where the rest of the thirteen live. People believe Hades is a myth—that the god died a long time ago, his legacy long gone—Persephone being one of the ones that believed the god underworld long gone. That is until the night she was promised to Zeus, she had nowhere to go and while she escaped that night, she stumbled into the arms of Hades, and the rest is history.
This version of Hades is actually a complete 180 from the Disney Hercules. This Hades is kind and compassionate. He feels for his people and takes care of them. When Persephone first meets the man, she doesn’t know what to make of the man. He is nothing like she’s been told and every day she’s under his protection, barriers get crossed and feelings get tangled.
Persephone really had no other option than to let her defenses down and surrender to the protection of this man because the alternative was too great of a risk. Both of them had to let their guard down so they can learn to trust each other, but neither of them planned on falling in love.
I realize there’s not much to say about this book, other than, the book was 10% plot and the rest was pornography. LOL. When I tell you everything about this book was sexual, I’m not lying! From probably chapter 4 to the rest of the book, it was all spiciness. The premise of the book also dissolved too quickly—I didn’t expect the outcome of the story to end that way.
Other than that, the story was okay. I would recommend if you like to read spicy books if you like Greek mythology and if you like the stories of Hades and Persephone. 18+ can read this book. Thank you for reading my post. I truly appreciate it.
This book had an interesting storyline, I can’t say I’ve read a story quite like this before. I enjoyed it but not as much as I thought I would. Nevertheless, I loved the representation and I love that we have an Asian author writing spicy romance. I’m sorry to say that this is the first Asian NA that I’ve read, but hopefully not the last.
We follow a dual POV in this series (which I loved), the story of Ava and Alex. Ava is struggling with her phobia of water having survived a drowning accident when she was younger. Which left her older brother, Josh, to be overprotective of her. She lives with her brother under his protection but he has to leave to Costa Rica for a year for a medical residency and he leaves his best friend Alex in charge of protecting her. Alex, on the other hand, has a dark past. A need for revenge to kill his parents murderer—and he won’t stop until he gets the job done. However, having to take care of his best friend’s little sister puts his plans on hold. Being the overbearing protective person that he is, he can’t take his eyes off Ava, and won’t let Ava go anywhere without him trailing behind her. They both can’t stand each other and yet Ava decides to call it a truce. However, she doesn’t know how far to trust him, and if she does, at what cost?
First, I’d like to talk about the series overall. Ava has three best friends and it was clear from the get-go that they were the main protagonists of this series. Meaning, each one of them will get a book. Now, normally I don’t mind that, as a matter of fact, I loved that in books. However, this book develops throughout multiple timelines. Like, the relationship that Alex and Ava had happened in a span of two years. Although more realistic, in a book, it makes it hard for readers to follow the timeline of each relationship—especially if these relationships happen all on top of each other.
But anyways, Ava is a very trusting person, which I liked. She had been through so many hardships in her life, and yet it didn’t dim the light she had inside her. She was insanely close with her brother and he was fiercely loyal, which I adored, because, man, Josh could throw some punches, lol. Alex is an overbearing asshole that wants everything to go his way and his way only. The good thing is that he has the money to make it happen. At twenty-six he’s one of the country’s most successful bachelor’s, running his company along with his uncle. He’s ambitious and a fighter, which makes him fight for what he wants and won’t accept no for an answer.
This book deals with PTSD, HSMA, trauma, murder, attempt to murder a child, etc., so I would check trigger warnings before reading it. But overall, it was a quick-paced read. I think the author spent too much time developing scenes that had nothing to do with the overall plot of the book, but it still pulled together nicely. If you can get over the severe jump in times and how time seemed to be a construct in this book, then I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. I didn’t rate it higher mostly because I found myself getting bored with the storyline and stopping at random times, instead of stopping because I had to.
Read this story if you like the Game On series; if you like authors like Vi Keeland, Colleen Hoover, JLA, Penelope Douglas, etc. Anyone 18+ can read this one. And as always, I would like to thank you for taking the time to read my post. I truly appreciate it.
Twisted Game // 4 out 5 stars
Wow, so much better than the first one. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked this book. This one was all over the place like the second one, but the storyline was more interesting. I think you’ll enjoy this story more as well because it was even spicier than the first one.
In this book, we follow the story of Bridget and Rhys. Bridget is the princess of Eldorra, she’s studying in the US to better improve her career. She wants nothing to do with the crown, but unfortunately, her brother abdicated his title to the throne to marry a commoner and now she has no other option but to submit to the role. Rhys is an overbearing asshole hired to be the security guard for Bridget while she studies in the US and manages her affairs in that country. With that being said, he can’t help but want to strangle the insufferable princess because she’s so hardheaded and stubborn. Over the years, both develop a bit of camaraderie, if anything, to keep from going at each other’s throat, but with each passing day, the tension grows thicker and stronger. It’s not long until they either kill each other or…
I liked this book better than the first one mostly because the storyline was better. I love a good princess-bodyguard romance, it’s one of my favorite tropes and this one didn’t disappoint. However, this one isn’t your typical bodyguard-princess story. In this one, she’s to become queen and she can’t marry anyone that isn’t of noble blood, but as the tension within them grew, so did many other feelings that neither of them could stop from growing.
Bridget is smart and quick on her feet, she has to be, as the princess of Eldorra. All her life she didn’t care to be queen but she didn’t have any other choice, so she rose to the challenge and accepted it chin held high. Rhys, (loved the fact that his name is also the name of one of my other favorite fictional boyfriends’ of mine), suffered from Severe PTSD from his time in the army, and because of that, he was even more precautious than her previous guards have been. His overprotectiveness got out of control though when he knew he just wasn’t protecting the princess, he was also protecting someone that belonged to him.
When I tell you this series is the ultimate “you-re mine” series I’ve ever read, I’m not lying. I mean, so far there are only two books out but each man, Alex, and Rhys have uttered the phrase “you’re mine” in a very overprotective alpha-male kind of way. They both have said, in one way or another “if another man ever touches you, I’ll kill him”. These books are the epitome of “If I can’t have her, no one can” or “Touch her and I’ll kill you”. It was very entertaining to see these men suffer, honestly. I love a good jealousy trope.
The storyline jumped multiple times throughout this book making it annoying to follow along, mostly because as all of this is happening, so are things happening for the other best friends, Jules and Stella. And I’m assuming that we’ll keep jumping timelines to get their full story —but it is what it is at this point. Read this book if you like JLA, Penelope Douglas, Vi Keeland, Colleen Hoover, etc. Also, please check trigger warnings before reading. 18+. Thank you for reading my post. I truly appreciate it.
Well, well, well… I don’t even know what to say. This is not so different from many other books I’ve read and yet it was. I’ll explain later, but I’m not 100% sure of how to feel about this one. I can’t say I loved it though. It was okay.
In this book, we follow the story of Zahra and Rowan, as they struggle to overcome their insecurities and trust issues. This love story revolves around a theme park called “Dreamland”, which in our world it would be considered Disney World. Rowan is a creative director because his grandfather before he died wanted Rowan to create something else before he left him his part of his inheritance. Zahra works as part of the park’s beauty salons, helping kids get the makeover to look like one of their famous characters. She’s always dreamed of joining the team of creators for the park because she loves to make people’s dreams come true. And one day she gets the opportunity. Working closely with the insufferable Rowan, they work closely together to make a new ride for the park that depicts the joy that people love to get at the park. But as they bicker and fight, lines get blurred and feelings get tangled until neither of them knows if they’re supposed to be just working together or falling in love.
Tik Tok made me read this book, it’s blowing up a little on the platform and I can see why. This book sells you the Disney dream. This “office-romance” brings everything people love about the amusement park and combines love into it. This book also talks about diversity and has a diverse cast of characters. There’s disability representation as well, and on that note, Ani was my favorite character too. She was so sassy and full of life—despite the fact that she had Down syndrome didn’t stop her from being super confident and getting away with anything she wanted. Loved her.
Zahra, on the other hand, was a tough cookie. She was never intimidated by the world that she stepped into. She was able to get the position by pure coincidence in a way, to work with the executives and be part of the creative team, but she didn’t let any of that stop her from proving her point and wanting to make a change. If she walked into another room with her chin or head held high, I thought she was going to snap her neck, lol. The author felt the need to include that phrase four times I believe throughout the book. I was like, we get it, she’s super confident. Whenever she mingled with Rowan though, she couldn’t seem to control herself. Zahra was always a positive person—always searching for the best in people. That’s until she met Rowan. He was so infuriating and they always lost control in front of each other.
I don’t have much to say about Rowan, other than the fact that he was very arrogant with a bunch of trust issues (with reason, of course). Since he’s always been part of the dreamland family, he was always sought after because of his money. But now that he’s met Zahra, he can’t believe that she’s a genuine person that’s not after him for the money. It’s hard for him to trust someone, and even though Zahra gives him no reason not to trust her, he finds it hard to let go.
I don’t have much to say about the overall storyline of the book. I finished this book a day ago and I can’t remember most of it. Which is why I didn’t like it as much. I didn’t get the hype. It was hard to get through those first few chapters—hard enough that I almost DNF’d the book by chapter seven. It was a cute story but I didn’t understand why is it so hyped. I would read this story if you like authors like Ana Huang, J. Daniels, Belle Aurora, Sarah Castille, Kate Robert, etc. This is an adult romance with sexy/spicy scenes, so read at your own discretion. Thank you for reading my post! I truly appreciate it!
