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Mini Reviews | Warts & Claws Inc. Series by Clio Evans

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Greetings Chapterlings! SURPRISE! If you noticed me talking about a secret project and thought it was related to this series, then you would be correct! At the end of 2022, I started working on this secret project (this post) and started reading this series. This shouldn’t be anything new for those who have been here for a while, but if you’re new, from time to time I like to do series reviews. I’m once again returning to my series review posts, with a twist, but this time I’m bringing you monster romance. It should be no surprise that I’m a lover of all things monster, cryptids, things that go bump in the night – whatever genre it may be, I’m shortly following behind.

I’m so excited to finally, FINALLY be talking about this series, sharing my thoughts with all of you, and officially announcing that this might just be my favorite series I’ve ever read, thus far, this year! Without further delays, I hope you enjoy this series post with all five reviews for each book in this series with their content/trigger warnings!

Quick note: Props to the author for providing some their own content/trigger warnings at the beginning of these books!

✨ Not So Kind Regards (Warts & Claws Inc. #1) by Clio Evans

Content/Trigger Warnings: BDSM, explicit sex scenes, slut shaming, violence, kidnapping, captivity, death, mentions/depictions of blood

Look, let me be the first one to tell you that this book, the first book in this series, will either make you love this series as a whole or you’re not going to vibe with it at all. I don’t see anyone going to the in-between when it comes to this series. For me, I absolutely loved it! I’m trash for some good polyam, monster wham bam thank you Sam (no idea who Sam is) fun times. And that’s what I got out of this book. Some fun, polyamorous, monster smexy times with some plot on the side. Yes PLEASE!

“Fuck, the way she set boundaries and rules was beyond sexy.”

Our story begins on a Monday and all hell is about to break loose when Inferna rolls into work only to find out her coffee pot has been stolen by the witches on the floor above. Only when she burst in to retrieve her coffee pot does she find the head witch, Art and a coworker, Calen, in some naughty affairs. That’s not the only spicy thing happening in the office, with a merger happening and forcing the two departments together, these three will find themselves in some heated encounters, but they’ll soon notice something is off in the office when strange things begin to happen and threatening everything these three have come to cherish.

“I had been alone for a very long time and it was uncomfortable to think of relying on others. But… It also felt good. It felt like magic, the kind that was used to heal.”

Can I just take a moment to emphasize the representation in this book? Not only do we have polyamory, but almost every character in this book has to be either bisexual or pansexual. I am living for every little bit of it! Even in side character mentions, Inferna has two fathers, there’s brief discussions of being attracted to various genders and different types of monsters. It’s so good and this is a continuous theme throughout the entire series. I really loved the fact the author went all out because we truly don’t see enough bi, pan, and polyam representation in books, truly. It just made my heart so full and have a lot of appreciation.

Character wise, I thought the way Inferna, Art, and Calen’s personalities came together was beautifully done. I love when opposite personalities balance each other out and we see that with these three. I also want to say that this is a common theme throughout the series as a whole. A lot of the characters you’ll be introduced to have various personality traits and when you see them with their mates, including in this book, they just have a good balance with one another. Almost like they ground each other in their own ways. I really loved it and loved seeing these characters get intimate with one another and I mean that in all aspects, not just spicy times.

Let’s be real though, I know why you’re here on this review, you want the juicy details of the steamy, smexy times. Oh there are a plenty of steamy, smexy times, but… I feel like I should warn you that Inferna’s vajayjay has teeth and if that’s something that throws you out of the experience, well, I’m sorry. Not to mention, there’s also a storyline plot that’s happening along with the smexy times. So if you’re someone who’s only here for the spicy, this could potentially pull you out of the steamy monster fun. Neither of these were an issue for me. When I went into this book and the series as a whole, I knew I just wanted to have a fun time whether that be with spicy times or story plot times, and that’s what I got. I had a lot of fun reading both aspects of this book.

Overall, I don’t want to spoil anything so this is a very short, vague review. As I mentioned before, this book is the stepping stone of whether or not you’re going to vibe with the rest of the series. For me, I truly loved this series as a whole. This book made me eager to read the rest of the series and I found it really hard to put it down. My only struggle was flying through them so fast and having to wait for the last two books in the series to release. It was a fun time though and I think if you love monster romances then you should give this book a chance.

✨ Not So Best Wishes (Warts & Claws Inc. #2) by Clio Evans

Content/Trigger Warnings: BDSM, explicit sex scenes, violence, kidnapping, captivity, mentions/depictions of blood, mentions of toxic/abusive relationship (in the past)

This is probably my favorite book out of the whole series! I fell in love with Lora, Mich, and Cinder so hard. I think I read this within twenty-four hours after picking it up, potentially a little less than that. There was just something about these three that really hit parts of my soul and even now I’m tempted to pick it up again just to reread it. I also want to point out that the cover hit the mark of what I envisioned all three of them looking like and it’s just everything!

“Damn it. It was too early to be in the elevator with someone this pretty.”

Like all the books in this series, it’s once again a Monday morning. Book one delivered us some chaos and now, book two is here to make things a lot more interesting. Starting with our goth fae/demon, Lora, who’s having a pretty rough morning, but ends up sharing an elevator with the tall and handsome manticore, Mich, and the new HR representative, Cinder. The chemistry between these three is thick like soup and that one moment in the elevator spurs a whirlwind of events into motion. Secrets, blackmail, and love are sure to ensue with this trio.

“Fuck, I had a thing for goth pixie girls.”

Whew, where do I even begin with this book. There’s so much I loved about it. Sure, the spicy times were great, but for this particular book, there was so much more. There was so much trust building between these three characters. Not just continuing the trend from book one of setting boundaries, asking for consent, setting safe words, etc… but these three characters really worked on trusting each other, being vulnerable with each other about their pasts and the things happening to them, and protecting one another. It was probably my most favorite thing of this entire book. Even more so in the regards of Lora because the pieces we get about her backstory, her past relationship, I felt so connected to her and I was rooting for her to get the happy ending that she truly deserved. Seeing everything play out the way they did, I cried a lot. I was really emotional, soft and squishy about it all.

Also, let me say that I love that we have a non-binary character getting the spotlight. Cinder is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns in this book. I loved how the author, right out of the gate, the first time these three characters are getting to know one another, have this conversation and just filled my chest with so much warmth to see it respected immediately. Of course, this happened while they were discussing boundaries and things for spicy times, but honestly, I think the timing for it was really good and natural. All things about this book considered, I can’t picture this conversation happening at any other time in this book, and that includes the beginning with the elevator scene.

“Being vulnerable was hard. Being honest was hard. But with the two of them, it was safe.”

Speaking of spicy times, again, the theme of the story plot continues throughout this whole series. So don’t be surprised about that happening with all the books. However, the tone in the smexy times in this book is different compared to most of the books in this series. For me, these scenes, despite how spicy and hot they were, felt very raw and almost have a vulnerable tone to them. Yes, there were moments where they were just wham bam, but there were moments that felt more soft and delicate. It was a good combination and balance especially for these three characters. It felt well written and just complimented these characters particularly well.

Overall, I could probably talk for hours about this book and jabber on about all the notes, the many quotes, all the foreshadowing and little details we get, but I’m going to restrain myself. I’m keeping my secrets and you’ll just have to read the series yourself. Again, this is probably my favorite out of the whole series and the one I felt very emotionally attached to.

✨ Not So Thanks in Advance (Warts & Claws Inc. #3) by Clio Evans

Content/Trigger Warnings: BDSM, explicit sex scenes, stalking, kidnapping, isolation, mc with low self-esteem, depictions of anxiety and panic attacks, trauma/PTSD, mentions of night terrors, home invasion recounted, captivity recounted

“It was a hellish environment to work in, but I liked hell. I was a demon, after all. A monster. A creature that craved a little chaos in the morning with my eggs and toast.”

Honestly, this book took me by surprise. There was a lot packed into this book and so much caught me off guard, in a good way. The story plot gets really thick in this book and the romance, the spice… Wow, wow, WOW. I had a lot of fun, but also I got really emotional. I thought I was soft and squishy with book two, but this one, it was a wild ride that made me feel all the things. I don’t know what else to say except buckle up and get ready for a wild ride.

“The possibility that I had stepped into an elevator with the two individuals in the world who were my mates, was impossible.”

Monday once again and we’re in the parking garage stalking our crush with Billy, a shadow demon. But that’s not all, in this office, the elevator is magic where our omega witch, Jaehan meets his mates, not only in Billy, but the invisible tentacle monster, who shows up to work shirtless every day, Charlie. One full of chaos and spice, the other soft and lonely, the perfect fit for a healing omega witch. This is their story of haunting pasts, vulnerability, love, and chaos.

“It was nice to be seen, I realized. My heart squeezed in my chest. The hole of loneliness I had lived with for so long felt like a stitch had just pulled it closed a little.”

If I thought book two made my heart soft and gooey… this book came out of nowhere and hit me in all my feels. With this being the third book in the series, there’s so much to unpack, not just story wise, but character wise. Holy French toast, there’s so much I want to talk about, but don’t want to spoil it for you, dear reader. Okay, let me gush about Jaehan for a minute. If I thought I was attached to Lora from book two, nothing prepared me for how much I would feel for Jaehan’s character. I would move mountains and destroy their enemies, Jaehan must be protected at all cost. We not only have healthy conversations surrounding Jaehan’s PTSD/trauma, but the nest, the freaking nest! As someone who has PTSD, seeing the whole conversation about the nest and Jaehan making it a center point of comfort, it was EVERYTHING! It was the most emotional, validating thing I’ve ever seen in a book when it comes to those who suffer from trauma/PTSD because I never see this mentioned in any book and it just made my heart so full. Also, I want to slide in here that Jaehan is Korean-American and we get some little bits and pieces about their family. It’s very sweet and wholesome when Jaehan talks about it.

Charlie was a big surprise, as well. I didn’t expect to come to love him as much as I did. I knew I would like his character, but again, another character that must be protected at all cost. Let me start by saying Charlie is a virgin and I can’t begin to express how lovely it was to watch Charlie express this part to Billy and Jaehan, but also watch them give Charlie the space to explore what it means to be sexual and intimate with your partners. I thought it was very well written and handled very well. Sometimes the way a virgin character is handled can be a flop for me sometimes, but Charlie’s character really stood up to my expectations. Not only this, but Charlie is a character who has very much experienced great deals of time being isolated and feeling unseen. There are a few conversations around the very complex feelings of being alone all your life to suddenly having people care about you, wanting to support you, and just overall love you. And it made my heart so mushy and I cried a few times because it was so well written and handled with care.

“This is where the loneliness ended. This was where my new life would begin. One where I wasn’t an invisible monster lurking in the shadows. One where I had two people who could see me, who cared.”

As I mentioned, there’s a lot to unpack with this book because it’s the center point of this series. We get an escalation in the story plot and whew, there were a lot of twists and turns. If you’re in this series for the storyline then buckle up because this one was wild. So much happens from secrets to fighting scenes, to some messed up mind game stuff. It’s coco bananas, friends! If I wasn’t invested in the story before, this book made me even more invested. Not to mention, we get to see more of Anne and she easily became one of my favorite characters from this whole series. Seriously, I was keeping my toes and fingers crossed we’d see more of her. With this book being a bit of a turning point or climax of this series, the ending was chef’s kiss! We get more details about Alex, we learn more about Alfred, the enemy who’s been causing so much mayhem, and we get to see more of Ember, who’s Cinder’s sister, and get some details about her, as well!

Overall, this book was packed with all the goodies! There’s action, there’s romance, emotional conversations, and escalation in the storyline! Just so many good things packed into one! I think my only issue with this book was the fact that the smexy times felt shadowed by the things happening with the story. Which is kind of sad because some of the spicy scenes were scrumptious! Despite this, I had a fun time and it kept me invested enough in the series that waiting for the fourth book was devastating.

✨ Not So Truly Yours (Warts & Claws Inc. #4) by Clio Evans

Content/Trigger Warnings: BDSM, mentions of knife play, explicit sex scenes, depictions of blood & blood consumption, vague depictions of trauma, imprisonment recounted, stalking, graphic violence, captivity, depictions of experimentation

“Monsters who were simps for their mates were adorable.”

Out of all the books in this series, I expected this one to absolutely wreck me and turn me into gravel. I was hoping that after book two and book three of this series, by some miracle, the fourth book would be about Cinder’s sister, Ember. I wanted to know so much more about her and with all the little bread crumbs we were getting, I just wanted more. And look, we got the girl! The cover is everything because we get to see Ember and the two giant women; Minni the vampire, on the left, and Lea, the bodyguard orc, on the right. Oh, it’s everything!

As usual, it’s a Monday and the magic of this office is in full swing! Ember is finally free to live her life and has her eyes set on a new promotion, however, there’s just a few things that are getting in the way. A protective older sibling, who insists that she move in with them and their mates, and the cherry on the cake, getting saddled with a body guard, one whom she feels is absolutely unnecessary despite what her bosses say, and lastly, going into heat because the ever attractive vampire security guard and her orc body guard are her mates. Just a typical start to a Monday, right?

“I’d never seen an orc woman before, but she was gorgeous. A crush-you-like-a-watermelon-between-her-thighs type of gorgeous.”

Never in this whole series or my wildest dreams, did I expect to get the ‘two giant women smooshing a short, curvy woman’ dynamic. Look, am I simping really, really hard for all three of these characters? Yes, yes I am and I have zero regrets. ZERO REGRETS! I have waited so long to see this kind of dynamic and it just adds ten years onto my life. I also want to mention, because I see no one talking about this, Ember is plus-sized/curvy and it’s just so good, fills my heart with so much joy. Truly, all the joy for this character existing! Lea, the orc bodyguard, also cross-dresses. There’s a whole conversation about how Lea prefers to present more masculine and wearing more masculine clothes, but doesn’t mind wearing dresses and presenting more feminine from time to time. It was such a great little detail to add in and then to see the reaction of Minni and Ember after that dialogue was chef’s kiss. Again, I mentioned this in some of the other reviews for the books in this series, but lots of diversity.

“There were so many desks in the place, and all I could think about was hoisting her up onto one, making her lie back, and helping her forget all her troubles for a while.”

One thing I will say is this relationship between these three is far from perfect and very, very different from all the other relationships you see in this series. It’s super messy and flawed, a lot of trust has been/is broken, there’s anger and frustration, there’s the whole thing with Minni and Lea being exes, this isn’t like the other books where you see the main three characters building up their bonds. The relationship between Ember, Minni, and Lea is supposed to be one of healing, but also pain, frustration, and a little bit of heartbreak. Actually, one of my biggest issues with this book was how we don’t really see these three mending from key moments of trust being broken or really seeing any of them being vulnerable with each other. A lot of the vulnerability either happens internally or in some situations when we’re in one of the characters’ pov, it’ll happen off-page. And that was really frustrating because I think if the time and effort would have been put into the mending of trust and the vulnerability with the characters, it would have solidified that these three characters are mates. But with those details lacking, it was hard for me to believe that these three were fated to be mates and actually have a healthy relationship with each other.

I do have to point out, that even though this isn’t a perfect relationship between these three characters, there is a lot of good. Like all the other books, there’s a lot of discussion around boundaries, safe words, and giving Ember control to set the pace how she’d like it. Minni and Lea really cater to the fact that Ember needs to have some control in the relationship. Even though both Lea and Minni have dominant personalities and assume the dominant role often in the bedroom, they really take what Ember wants and needs into consideration.

Speaking of trust being broken, my other issue with this book was Ember’s character, which makes me so sad to say, as a whole. I have spent so much time eagerly hoping for Ember to get her own story, to see more for her, to hopefully watch her get her happy ending and by the end of this book, her character flopped for me. In the beginning, I thought Ember was a very strong character, very smart and independent, wanted to have her freedom and prove she can do things, that she’s more than the things she’s had to endured. That maybe we’d see character development of her being vulnerable and letting others see the cracks in her armor. However, that was not the case, at all. There’s a moment in this book where Ember faces a choice, she can either do the responsible, smart thing or she could be an absolute fool and do the worst choice. It’s the fact that Ember is built up to be a very intelligent, responsible character and then she breaks the trust of her mates, goes behinds everyone’s back, and makes a fool’s choice. It was the most frustrating thing I’ve read in this whole series and it shocked me that all of Ember’s characteristics were just thrown out the window for that one choice. Honestly, I think I would have preferred some sort of a kidnapping or mind/dream manipulation over this.

“This one was soft and lovely. Her skin started to glow a little brighter, casting a golden hue over Lea and me. It reminded me of the sun right before it set, washing over the world with its warmth.”

As for the spicy scenes, I think these were some of my favorite moments in this whole book. I don’t want to spoil too much with these, but they were good. I had a fun time reading them and I think out of all of them, the mating/bond scenes were the strongest and best ones. I really enjoyed them and still remember the details from those scenes. The spicy scenes definitely stood out more compared to the main story plot.

There’s some foreshadowing for the final book, as well. We’re introduced to a new character, Sylvia, who helps Ember out and later on become good friends. I was very interested in Sylvia and the few details we received weren’t enough, but I knew we’d probably be seeing her in the final book. One doesn’t simply introduce a new character so close to the closing of a series without having a bigger role in-store for them. There’s some glimpses into what Alfred has been up to and hints to what he plans for the finale, as well. Which to be honest, I didn’t really care too much about because at this point, if you made to this book in the series, we all know that Alfred is doing this out of some lovesick revenge.

“All of us were exhausted, traumatized, and surviving off the donuts and coffee Anne had ordered.”

Overall, this felt like the weakest book in the series and definitely feels like the shortest. This book could have been a bit longer to give extra details. And, as I’ve mentioned, I really would have loved seeing extra details of healing trust and seeing the main characters being vulnerable with one another instead of it feeling like those things were internalized. To me, it just painted an unhealthy relationship dynamic with these three characters even though I do love them individually. I still think this book is still worth reading especially if you’ve come this far in the series. And three stars isn’t a bad rating or review. I still had a lot of fun reading this book and still enjoyed the progression of the story. I mean, come on, giant women with a curvy, short cutie! How could I not still enjoy this book?!

✨ Not So Much Appreciated (Warts & Claws #5) by Clio Evans

Content/Trigger Warnings: BDSM, explicit sex scenes, knife play, vague depictions of trauma/PTSD, stalking, kidnapping, hostage situation, graphic violence, scene of giant spider form, mc with very low self-esteem, explosions

Friends, we have come to the end. It’s such a bittersweet thing when a series concludes and this one is no exception. And to be frank, this was the book I was most eager about. Waiting for this book was terrible because I couldn’t stop thinking about how this series would conclude. I also want to briefly mention this, as I don’t know if this is triggering for anyone, but one of the main characters, Sylvia, is an arachnid woman. If this is triggering or if spiders in general are triggering for you, you may want to heed caution with this book.

“Even with all the terrible events that had occurred, monsters and witches were still finding their happy endings.”

The final Monday and Alex rolls into the office feeling terrible than ever. Monsters and witches alike have been hurt by his actions. The guilt is slowly eating him alive on this Monday. What Alex isn’t expecting on this Monday is his gorgon secretary, Anne rolling into the office with the new employee, Sylvia for her interview, for a full blown omega heat to happen. Frazzled and horrified, everyone, but Anne scatters like leaves on the breeze. Determined to get her happy ending, Anne takes things into her own hands and fetches her mates, one way or another. Who would have thought Mondays could be so full of surprises?

“Anne looked angry. Her eyes were golden with diamond-shaped pupils, and they burned like hellfire.”

I had been hoping every since we were introduced to Anne that she would get her own story. Even though she plays a side character role throughout the entire series, the things she does stands out compared to a lot of side characters and she does so much for the main characters of the other books in the series. I wanted her to have her own book so badly because she’s just too good not to have her own book. And we got it. We got it and we get Alex, and Sylvia on top of it, too! Chef’s kiss! Their whole dynamic was like honey and I am the bee because it was sugar sweet, friends. There’s so much dominant and sub energy between these three characters, and it’s delicious. Also, just in case you’re not a fan, there is a daddy kink in this. Sylvia and Alex have daddy kink scenes, and I just wanted to throw that in here in case that’s not your vibe, but I had a blast! It was just great chemistry between all three.

Speaking of chemistry, the way Alex and Sylvia become vulnerable in the relationship, and the way Anne refuses to bend or shying away from anything, literally everything. They just compliment one another so well and I think the author did a good job at setting these three characters up to being in a relationship with one another. The moments where they have really deep conversations and they work through things, that really got me. I love when characters can sit down and work through the really difficult things, even if it hurts or it feels scary. Not to mention, the boundary setting and making sure one another is comfortable with plans for spicy times, we love to see it! However, like the fourth book, this relationship isn’t perfect. There are moments where Alex does emotionally hurt Sylvia and Anne, but they talk it out and express their feelings, and it’s a process of going from having to do everything by yourself to having people in your corner, who love and support you. It was really great to see such good communication between all three and I loved seeing those moments.

“I was in the mood to fuck around and find out. Being a brat was apparently my new full time job, and I was taking that seriously.”

There’s some really great themes in this book too. Out of all the themes, not just for this book, but the whole series, is the theme of going from feeling like you’re alone and have no one in your corner to suddenly having people who care about you there to support you, who care about you. While I mentioned that Anne and Sylvia are there for Alex and this is something new to learn, we see the entire office come together to rally behind Alex and support him. That’s right, all the characters we meet in all the previous books are here to support Alex and to help protect, not just their loved ones, but also Alex and his two mates. It made me so soft and mushy to watch everyone come together in this final book, to finally watch them all put an end to Alfred. It was such an sweet, emotional way to conclude this series.

“There has been a lot of goodness that has come from it,” Ember said. “Look around you, Alex. All of us have found our mates because we ended up working at the office. All of us were brought together because of the mistakes that were made. And Alfred was the one who went crazy, not you.”

Overall, I don’t want to say anymore on this book because it is the finale to this series. A very bittersweet ending, but a series I can see myself rereading when I need to be reminded of all the characters I fell in love with. My only complaint with this book was it ending too soon. Honestly, I think this is my second favorite book in the series and even though it’s the last book, it really went off with a bang.

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Mini Reviews | WITSEC Series by Ashley N. Rostek

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Salutations everyone! I have another series mini review post for you! If you didn’t know, I’ve been doing series reviews for a hot second here on my blog and today, I get to bring the WITSEC series to the table. Book two and three are going to be short, and vague. Due to this being a series review and the fact that each book, except book one, picks up where the previous book before it left off. This is a dark contemporary romance series that comes with a lot of content/trigger warnings. So before we dive into the reviews or you dive into the books themselves, please make sure you’re in a good head space when you pick this series up. All content/trigger warnings I found in these books will be listed at the top of each review.

➸ Find Me (WITSEC #1) by Ashley N. Rostek

Content/Trigger Warnings: Violence, depictions of blood, death/murder recounted, loss of loved ones, grief, PTSD/trauma, graphic night terrors and flashbacks, underage drinking/alcoholism, smoking, bullying, depictions of panic & anxiety attacks, scenes of emesis, stalking, slut shaming, sexual assault, rape, scene of drugging, scene with a spider

Let me be frank, this was a lot, but oh, I was hooked and I couldn’t set this book down. I was completely sucked in and I ended up reading the next two books in the series, immediately after! There’s so much to unpack with this book, but I just want to say that please, please look at content and trigger warnings for this book and series as a whole. This won’t be a series for everyone because of all the content/trigger warnings and I just want to emphasize being in a good head space when picking this book, and series, up!

Shiloh has just relocated to Arizona, where she’s about to start life all over again. Picking up the pieces from a dark past, Shiloh wants to start anew, to live a normal life and finally graduate high school, to do as much as possible with this second chance at life. However, this is easier said than done. When Shiloh’s night terrors begin to impact her neighbors, soon the four handsome brothers begin crawling their way into Shiloh’s life and little does she know that the loneliness that’s eating away at her will slowly start to edge away.

I absolutely loved Shiloh’s character. I can’t begin to express what it truly means to read about a character who has PTSD/trauma and it be so accurately done, to see the portrayal be handled so beautifully. To read about a character who has gone through so much, survived so much, and to watch that character keep fighting just fills my heart with so many emotions and makes my heart melt into a puddle. That aside, Shiloh felt like such a realistic character. Shiloh constantly internally battles herself and we really get to see the highs and lows of the good and bad moments. I just have a lot of appreciation for Shiloh and the author creating this character. It means so much, more than words can describe.

Being introduced to the brothers was a whole entire experience in itself. Even though this is the first book, less than three-hundred pages, you still get a good feeling for the brothers. We’re introduced to the Stone twins first, Colt and Creed. Colt has a very golden retriever personality about him while Creed is very aloof, both brothers go to the same high school as Shiloh. We then meet Keelan next who is the second oldest Stone brother. Keelan is covered in tattoos, charming and friendly, and personally my favorite brother. Then lastly we have Knox. Knox is the oldest Stone brother, the most reserved and closed off brother, who carries the weight of everything on his shoulders. And he just so happens to be my second favorite brother of the bunch. Each brother has their own personality, but we see more of the twins than anything in the first book.

“You’re an asshole and your sexy muscles can go to hell.”

Now, here’s where we get to the good stuff. The spicy, the steamy, the smexy… nonexistent. Yup, you read that right, nonexistent. This isn’t a bad thing, though! This is a quartet series and like with many series tend to do, the first book is setting things up for the books to follow. Providing the back story, giving us those juicy details to questions we have, all that jazz. That’s probably one of the reason I loved this so much. I’m a sucker for writing bringing in details and it helps paint a bigger picture so you have a better idea of characters, situations, etc… So if you’re planning on picking this book up for sexy times, just know there’s no spice, only kissing.

Overall, this was such a fun start to a reverse harem, dark romance book! I truly don’t want to go into too many details because I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone. However, I’m fully, with my whole dang chest, invested in this series, the romance, the stalker subplot, literally everything. I’m here for it. Again, if you’ve been thinking about picking this series up, please check out the content ad trigger warnings because there are a lot of detailed scenes of PTSD/trauma in this book. If you’re someone like me who does deal with PTSD, a lot of those scenes may be triggering and I just really want to emphasize being in the right headspace for this series.

➸ Save Me (WITSEC #2) by Ashley N. Rostek

✨ Find Me ★★★★★

Content/Trigger Warnings: PTSD/trauma, graphic night terrors and flashbacks, depictions of blood, death/murder recounted, loss of loved ones, grief, scenes of drugging, violence, scenes of assault, gun violence, police brutality, attempted abductions, sexual content

Honestly, this was a fun time! I absolutely flew through my time reading this book and couldn’t stop thinking about what was going to happen next. With the first book setting the bar pretty high, I can confidently say that I still had a good time despite a few issues. I do want to say, this review will be on the shorter side of things as this book picks up where book one ended.

As I mentioned, this book picks up where book one ended. If you haven’t read the first book then you need to do that. No worries, this is a spoiler free zone. Getting past that part, we watch as Shiloh continues to build her relationships with the Stone brothers. If you’re a lover of the Stone twins, this is the book for you. There’s a huge heavy focus on the Stone twins in this book and we get to see Shiloh building deeper bonds, and connections with them. We do get brief moments with Keelan and Know, but they’re not given as big of parts in this book.

If you were hoping for spicy, steamy times then yes, we get some juicy scenes in the book. Yes, it’s more than kissing though there’s still a lot of kissing involved. Consent is heavily emphasized in this book and the Stone brothers (mainly the twins) checking with Shiloh on what she wants. I have a huge appreciation when consent is done well and really emphasized throughout a book and I just wanted to highlight that. The spicy scenes were great, not my cup of tea just due to the fact that I’m not the biggest fan of the twins. They were still enjoyable though.

There’s also a lot more exploration of Shiloh’s PTSD and trauma in this book, the way she manages and copes with it. We still get moment where we’re thrown in Shiloh’s past and there’s a few discussions involving how Shiloh has been handling all of that trauma. I don’t want to spoil too much in this department as I think it can be a bit spoiler-ish, but I appreciated a lot of things that were surrounding this as a whole.

“I was terrified at the time. But there are different levels of terror. Ones that will leave scars on your soul forever and completely break your sanity. As you try to move on, you’ll find yourself in a constant state of hating the idea of tomorrow, yet hoping you’re strong enough to see it.”

While there were many things I enjoyed about this book, I had a really big issue with this book and it was all the unnecessary drama that was added. Usually, I don’t mind when there’s a few subplots, however, I don’t like when minor subplots start taking over the main storyline and pushing aside the already established one. The whole stalker subplot basically takes to the back burner as a whole new subplot begins to take place. It completely took the focus away from the whole Mr. X thing and it just felt so unnecessary to be added in.

Overall, I still enjoyed this book despite the things I wasn’t loving. I still found myself breezing through this book the way I did the first one. I’m still invested in the series and again, I picked up the next book immediately just to know what was going to happen next. I do emphasize looking at content/trigger warnings in advance before starting this series or this book, just so you know what you’re in for.

Content/Trigger Warnings: Attempted abductions, multiple scenes of assault, harassment, violence, depictions of panic and anxiety attacks, PTSD/trauma, trauma recounted, graphic night terrors and flashbacks, loss of loved ones recounted, grief, underage drinking, police brutality, manipulation, sexual content, potential scene of rape/sexual assault

✨ Find Me ★★★★★
✨ Save Me ★★★★

Oh boy, this… this was not it friends. Okay, I still enjoyed this book, but I had so many issues with this book. I’m definitely in the minority on this, so take my review with a grain of salt, but all I can really is say is wow. This is book three in this quartet and so far out of all the books, this feels like the weakest book. As with Save Me, this is going to be a short review just to avoid any spoilers as book three does pick up right where book two’s cliff hanger ended.

Honestly, I don’t know where to begin with this review. In this book, Ethan and Isabelle are such forces and shine so brightly. I’ve loved Ethan and Isabelle from the very beginning. I think they’re wonderful characters who really stand by their friends and don’t let anything sway them one way or another. Isabelle really shined the most for me and it was so nice to see Shiloh connect genuinely with another female character outside of all the drama plot that was happening. It just made my heart a little warm and fuzzy to see how close they had grown, and to be able to say it felt like a realistic, natural friendship build-up.

We also get a lot more steamy moments in this book. Whew, yes we do! There’s a fantastic scene with Keelan, Knox, and Shiloh during a Halloween party. Oh my glob, it was delicious! Not a fan of Shiloh’s costume, but it was a really good scene for me. Of course, there are plenty of spicy scenes with the twins and we even get a scene with Shiloh and Keelan together. If you’re here for the steamy, spicy goodness then you’re going to enjoy the daylights out of this book.

“His lips moved over mine in such a devouring and needy way that my resolve finally snapped. My hands slid over his shoulders and I pressed closer to him. I reciprocated his kiss with equal neediness and the eagerness to be devoured.”

Despite these few good things, it was really hard to look past all the things that negatively impacted my reading experience with this book. Again, I want to restate that this is the third book in this quartet. My biggest issue with this book is the fact that we’re supposed to believe our main character, Shiloh, is in a relationship with all four of the Stone brothers. However, I’m not convinced and nothing bothers me more than when authors decide to take on polyamorous relationships or reverse harem relationships and then can’t bring a balance to the whole thing. There’s a huge imbalance in the relationships between Shiloh and the Stone brothers. If you love the twins, guess what, it’s your lucky day because they are so heavily focused in almost every aspect, sexual or otherwise, that I ended up really coming to despise the twins. Before I was indifferent and appreciated the way the connections were building, was even starting to enjoy the twins, but now that we’re in book three and Keelan and Knox still haven’t gotten enough page time with Shiloh, I could careless about the twins. This book had the chance to really solidify Shiloh’s connection and desire with Knox and Keelan, and it just wasn’t believable despite the spicy scenes we’re given because the twins are just so heavily focused.

My other issue is a little spoilery, but I wanted to add this in here because I just don’t have enough details to know if this should be labeled as a content/trigger warning. I still wanted to mention this scene because it unnerved me not knowing one way or the other and I feel it’s important to address it. There’s a scene of a potential home invasion, where Shiloh is really exhausted and a tall figure enters her bedroom, and Shiloh is so disoriented that she genuinely doesn’t know if it’s Knox or an intruder. That’s a whole scene that didn’t sit well with me and I wasn’t a fan of it. I just wanted to throw that in here as a warning because it may be triggering for some readers.

And of course, my other issue is the fact that this is the third book and the author waited until the very end of the book to bring back the Mr. X subplot. So, for the second book and the majority of this book (a whole 85-90%), we spend time in an entirely different subplot than the Mr. X stalker subplot. I can’t speak for other readers, but personally, I’m not a fan of being pulled away from an already pre-established subplot for a new one filled with unnecessary drama that didn’t need to be added in. It just wasn’t my cup of tea, personally.

Overall, I had high hopes for this book and this book just didn’t deliver the way I hoped to. And honestly, I don’t know if I even want to finish the series because of how this book as a whole left me feeling. I mean, yes, I enjoyed some aspects of this book, but now I’m nervous on whether or not the final book is going to be worth the read. Again, I’m definitely in the minority on this one. So please take my review with a grain of salt, but as always, I do hope you look over my content/trigger warnings for this book if you need them and to be in a good headspace when reading this series as a whole.

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ARC Reviews

Twisted Love (Twisted, 1) by Ana Huang

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ALC was given by Libro.fm & Tantor Audio in exchange for an honest review.

Content/Trigger Warnings: Aquaphobia, drowning, trauma, PTSD/flashbacks/night terrors, anxiety/panic attacks, child abuse, loss of loved ones, mentions of divorce, murder, mention of suicide, mentions of drug addiction, mention of overdose, stalking, harassment, assault, physical violence, alcoholism, scene of emesis, scenes of gaslighting & manipulation, mentions of cheating & adultery, kidnapping, scene of hostage situation, implications of torture, coitus (sex), swearing

“You are the light to my dark, Sunshine,” he said in a raw voice. His lips brushed against mine as he spoke. “Without you, I’m lost.”

*takes a big sip of beverage* Well this was an unexpected read and even more unexpected of how much I enjoyed this book, altogether. While I did have a ebook copy, I decided to take a chance on the audiobook and I’m so glad I did. The voice narrators were perfect for this book. While I don’t think I could choose what I loved most about this read, I hope this review will speak for itself on how I feel about this read. BUT – Before we begin, reader, know that the title of this book is a little deceptive and I put emphasis on this book being very true to the dark romance genre.

We follow Alex Volkov and Ava Chen, two polar opposites of each other. Ava Chen chooses to approach life with smiles and love despite the cruel, dark past that haunts her dreams. While Alex Volkov might as well be an ice king. Barely anything seems to provoke emotion from him. When one day Ava is stranded in the the rain, her brother, Josh sends his best friend to help his little sister out. Only… Ava wasn’t expecting tall, mysterious, and stoic Alex to pick her up. Things only escalate from there as Josh leaves for his internship and forces Alex to look after Ava while he’s away. But many shadows from both their past are lingering, creeping closer in the present, and will put these two to the test, in more ways than one.

Okay, I’m just going to jump right into the good bits. That’s right, I’m talking about the steamy, goodie goods of intercourse! Look, if you went into this book expecting constant, wall banging, steamy hotness almost every other chapter or perhaps you were expecting more from of those steamy moments… Well, I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but this is mostly vanilla steaminess despite the constant implied kinky-ness thrown around. This is probably the issue I had the most with this book. It’s not the fact the steamy scenes played more to the vanilla scene, but it was the fact that it was implied Alex really liked to “go there” in the bedroom, but we never really see that, at all. Also, I want to point out that Alex’s choice for calling women bad names during sex wasn’t my cup of tea. I think if that’s your kink then you’ll enjoy it, but for me personally, my blood boiled and it didn’t do it for me. However, the steamy scenes are still good despite these two issues. If I had to give it a steamy rating out of ten, it’s probably sitting at a five or a six for me. It’s not the best, but it’s not terrible. Just a fun, steamy time and nothing too wow worthy.

“She felt like heaven to my hell, the closest I’d ever get to salvation, and yet I still wanted to drag her into the depths of Hades with me.”

However, despite my issues with the steamy scenes, the chemistry and sexual tension between was absolutely delicious. Throw in the banter that constantly played between them, oh, it’s a fantastic time! I think the author did a really fantastic job at creating a slow build between Ava and Alex, and the way they both slowly unraveled, descending into lust for one another was so good to watch unfold. Typically, slow burns can be hit or miss for me, but I think the way the author did the slow burning between these two characters really played to the book’s advantage, for my personal reading taste.

As always, whenever I find this representation, I always want to vocalize and address it. Trauma and PTSD representation is always, always something I point out whenever it’s present in a book. Beautifully done, absolutely beautifully done. Whether the author has personally experienced trauma/PTSD or knows someone who has, the way it’s portrayed in this book not only feels so real, so vivid, but a lot of scenes Ava would have with her night terrors felt very similar to the experience I have with myself with my own PTSD. So I just really wanted to put this in here as a little appreciation for the author and how well written, and respectfully done this representation was handled.

“You want the world to think you have no heart when in reality, you have a multilayered one: a heart of gold encased in a heart of ice. And the one thing all hearts of gold have in common? They crave love.”

While there were many things I loved, there were other things that bothered me aside from the more intimate parts. One of the issues being able to call two of the twists early. While I won’t go into which twists these were, it was a bit of a disappointment being able to pin-point these twists early. However, I also chalk this up to my own personal life experiences that allow me to see these things coming from a mile away.

My other biggest issue was the way a lot of the ending was handled. After the big conflict, I had a lot of issues with the lack of communication between Ava and Alex, and a lot of the repetitive stalker themes that were being thrown in at the end. All of it rubbed me the wrong for so many reasons and it almost felt like a double-standard. In the beginning Ava is dealing with stalking and harassment from an ex (which are bad, they escalate to physical conflict), but yet the stalker themes in the last 25% of the book are okay and fine due to it being in the name of love. It just left really weird feelings with me especially as someone who dealt with stalking in the past.

Overall, I really did enjoy my time reading this book especially the grumpy/sunshine pairing. Three stars is not a bad rating and this feels like a true three star read for me. There were a lot of things that I loved, but there was also a lot of things that rubbed me the wrong way, and some dark things from Ava’s side of things that hit very close to home for me that have me feeling a little rough. But this is a still good read and I think if you’re a lover of dark romances then definitely give this book a chance. I just want to encourage readers to look at content/trigger warnings before you decide to dive in.

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ARC Reviews

A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland

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ARC was given by NetGalley & Tordotcom in exchange for an honest review.

This review is being published before the release date (August 30th, 2022)

Content/Trigger Warnings: On page depictions of anxiety & panic attacks, depression, loss of loved ones, scene of physical & verbal abuse, graphic violence, depictions of blood, graphic injuries, attempted drugging, scene of kidnapping/abduction, on page racial slur (often used towards Muslims)

Oh boy, where do I even begin with this book, this review, and just… everything. This was not it, friends. I feel like the only person in the room who dislikes this book because every review I see is four or five stars, everyone raving of how amazing this book is. I feel like I’ve read an entirely different book and usually with my romance reads, I devour them in a day or so. Nope, nope, nope, big ole’ NOPE! That was not the case and at the end of reading this book, I feel disappointed and frustrated. So much happens and yet absolutely nothing happens! This book could have been everything, but it fell short for me, greatly.

After a hunting trip gone horribly wrong, Kadou, the prince of Arasht, finds himself feeling lower than he’s ever felt in a long time. Feeling distant from his sister and in a sense, banished from court after this incident, Kadou takes on proving his loyalty to his sister by investigating a break-in at one of their guilds. What Kadou uncovers is much more than just a simple break-in. With his newly appointed body guard, Evemer, they’ll dig deeper into a thickening scheme and maybe even find themselves more drawn to each other than they originally thought.

I really loved a lot of the side characters. The side characters were fantastically done. A lot of these side characters stood out more than our mc and love interest. Kadou’s sister and sultan, Zeliha was a force that commanded attention every time she was in a scene and you could constantly feel the tug-o-war she was having with making certain decisions. Eozena was a really great character that stood out a lot, as well. Captain of the core guard and a close family friend to Kadou and Zeliha, Eozena was delightful to have in scenes. And the banter that would often take place was so good. And probably my favorite, Tenzin, who’s introduced way later in the book was a freaking riot. Tenzin is a truth telling witch and the funny moments she brings to the table was absolute bliss. I adored her so much especially when we get the scene with her and everyone walking back to the palace, pure gold moment! I wish we had been introduced to her far sooner than just getting a few pages with her around. And don’t even get me started on how wonderfully delightful Evemer’s mother was. She was a treat of a side character and definitely underrated!

“I’m getting paid as we speak,” she said with a grin, slouching down into her chair and crossing her arms. “I’m getting paid in chaos.”

The other thing I really loved about this book was the accurate portrayal of anxiety and panic attacks. We see these attacks from both Kadou’s perspective and we can see a lot of the outside perspective from Evemer. I really loved the duel perspectives in this case because you could see how things would begin to unfold within Kadou, but then in Evemer’s perspective we would see how those who are closest to Kadou would feel and see them go from not understanding the situation to doing whatever they can to help. It was really well done and the detail of these scenes was really set the tone so the reader could feel what these characters were experiencing.

However, these were the only redeemable qualities of this book I took notes on. And the more I sat on these notes and processed how this book left me feeling, there were so many problems. The issues from itty-bitty to big were stacked high and I couldn’t just overlook them. So I want to address them and hopefully prepare anyone who’s considering picking this book up.

The first thing I want to point out is something minor, but also a huge issue that had no place being used in this book. About 21% into this book, a racial slur is used that is very often used and offensive to Muslims. I really don’t care if the excuse is, “Oh, the MC was drunk, was trying to start a fight, and so they’re going to say these kind of things.” I really don’t care what excuse someone tries to use to justify this because it doesn’t take away the fact that this word is completely unnecessary and hurtful/harmful, but also the fact the author specifically chose this word despite there being plenty of other options instead. It was a lot cringe for me and it soured my reading mood pretty early on in the book.

“The knowledge that one wrong word spoken in fear to someone offering comfort could send shock waves through the whole, like ocean waves after an earthquake.”

My biggest issue with this book has to do with the writing and the duel perspectives. I’m really hoping in the final version of this book, these issues will be done a bit better or even more fleshed out. Usually, I don’t mind books that have two or more perspectives, but it bothers me immensely when the two perspectives blur together and it takes two to three pages before you realize you’re in a different perspective. Typically, perspectives are broken up into their own chapters, sometimes even labelled from who’s perspective you’re in. This is also done very often with books that flash between past and present. However, this is not the case in this book. One chapter holds both duel perspectives and are only broken up by dotted breaks. Sometimes it can take a couple of paragraphs to even a few pages before any distinction is made of who’s perspective you’re reading from. This at times ruined the reading experience for me because it was so hard to tell who’s point of view I was in. A lot of the time the perspective of Kadou and Evemer blended together because some of the time this blending of perspectives would happen in the same space and time as certain events were unfolding. It was really frustrating and it made it hard to enjoy the reading process.

Speaking of characters, this was another issue for me. If you noticed, I never mentioned anything I liked about our MC or the love interest. That’s due to not liking either of them, at all. I found no redeemable qualities for either of them. While I love the accurate portrayal of anxiety and panic attacks in Kadou, that doesn’t make up for everything else about him. Kadou was like watching a train wreck happen. With how much he boasts about all the education he received and how he was trained into being a weapon if necessary, we see those skills one time. Otherwise, we spend countless of moments of him scrambling, not thinking things through, and even causing scenes where he literally causes dangerous situations to unfold because he refuses to actually think and plan. Evemer, on the other hand, felt like a brick wall and it didn’t help that he spent 75%-80% of the book constantly trying to shut down his feelings, his emotions, kept his speech more on the professional side of things, and also spent probably 50%-60% of the book judging everyone except Zeliha. This made it really hard to connect with him or even feel any empathy towards. I did like he was a hard worker and dedicated to his job, but that’s all I really liked about him.

While I really don’t like ranting or complaining about books, since we’re already here, I might as well mention that the people behind everything is revealed pretty early on. Actually, they were revealed just slightly before the 50% mark and kind of killed the entire mystery that was behind the guild break-in. We also have an entire magic system that is never flushed out, we get glimpses of people who have special abilities, and that’s about it. We never see these abilities come into play in big scenes and if they do, the scenes are always very brief and we never really see the full extent of that kind of magic/abilities. Which the world building was even more hard to get behind because it often times felt like it was trying to do too much at once and felt confusing. With that being said, I think that played a huge part it why this book was such a slow read and why I skimmed sections because things felt very dragged out or even at times, an information dump zone.

“I don’t expect I’m going to stop wanting you.”

I also want to take a moment to address the romance in this book. I know a lot of readers say it’s a slow burn and yes, it’s a slow burn alright. The romance is so slow that nothing exciting or even romantical actually happens with Kadou and Evemer until the 70%-75% mark. Although, I wouldn’t even really classify this book as a slow burn romance or even a romance in general. You can’t take the last 30% of a book and call it a romance. For the majority of this book, there was no chemistry with either of these characters. And as I already mentioned with the characters, love and attraction was the furthest thing from both Evemer and Kadou’s minds until the 70-75 percentage way I just mentioned. It just wasn’t what I expected for a romance and for me personally, it was very lacking and at times the romance felt more lust driven than love driven.

Overall, as I mentioned in the beginning, so much happened yet nothing happened all at the same time. Honestly, I wish I could go back in time when I hit the 50% mark, convince myself to ‘dnf’ this book to save myself the trouble of reading this book like I was originally going to. This just wasn’t the book for me, but it really could have been everything and it just missed the mark horrendously. But hey, I read this book so you don’t have to! And if I’m being fully honest, I don’t recommend this book. I think there are other fantasy and romance books that are out there that have better established magic systems, have better slow burn romances than this one does, and don’t leave you with more questions than when you started.

Buddy Read with Destiny ♥

The quotes above were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

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Her Soul for Revenge (Souls Trilogy #2) by Harley Laroux

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➸ Her Soul to Take (Souls Trilogy #1) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Content/Trigger Warnings: Sexual content, kink/fetish content (see author’s summary or cw/tw page for details), talk of drugs & drug dealing, mentions of adultry, occult themes, alcoholism, death, stalking, talk of hospitalization/institutionalization, loss of a loved one, grief, trauma/PTSD, depictions of blood, knife play, needles, gun play, talk of torture, violence, sex, anxiety, predator behavior (drugging drink), scene of emesis, scene of snuff (sexual arousal/climax by killing/murdering someone)

“Revenge had been a long time coming.”

Friends, I had been looking forward to this book so, so much. I read the first book and absolutely fell in love with it and was eager to continue this series. Plus, any bread crumbs about the third and final book had my motivation spinning into overdrive. However, this book was definitely not what I had expected and I definitely wasn’t expecting to feel the way I did after reading this. There were a lot of surprises, many tears shed, and maybe a few times where I almost threw my tablet across the room (I didn’t, but oh, there’s just some lines you shouldn’t cross). It was all around a rollercoaster of a time.

The Deep One demands it’s sacrifice… The one who got away… Juniper Kynes has other plans than to have her piece of light blown out all because the majority of the people she thought she knew, all seem to want her dead. Ever since that night, Juniper has been fighting for survival, but her fight isn’t lost on watching eyes. Zane is demon who loves things that are fierce, scarred, and have a history to them. So the story of Juniper has caught his interest not only as demon, but as a soul hunter. And oh, he will have Juniper’s soul and he’s willing to wait for as long as it takes until she’s his. Only problem is, every thing comes with a price and sometimes that means putting your life on the line to take on a god and cult out of control.

I absolutely loved Zane and Juniper together. I love them so much more than Leon and Rae. The way Zane feels about her, how he sees her despite everything she’s been through… it was just wow. It truly was everything. It really brings forth that whole theme of ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’ and there’s so much emphasis from Zane (through Juniper’s perspective and Zane’s own perspective) of how beautiful he thinks people who have been through trauma and how they move on from that is. And it just hit like a ton of bricks. I don’t think there’s enough words to convey how that all made me feel. Not to mention, that these two together flip roles constantly of who’s the dom and sub. Like, how often do you get to see that in steamy time books? Not that often or at least in my case not that often. So that was a really fun time and the chemistry is so dang good.

One of the things I really appreciated about this whole book, even in the first book, was the trauma/PTSD representation. As someone who has permanent PTSD, seeing that in Juniper (also in Leon from the first book) and how she handles a lot of things, how she views herself and her body, it hit really close to home. I saw a lot of myself in Juniper especially with trying to bury the scars under layers of clothes or tattoo work, even building that hard exterior of showing no weakness. It hit like a ton of bricks. Every time I read a book with good PTSD or trauma rep, I get so emotional because there’s still so much stigma around PTSD and trauma, and trying to have conversations about is never easy. So seeing the author include that in these books and handling it so well just makes my heart feel really warm and full.

“Don’t be ashamed of what you want to say. I’m not going anywhere.” And that was the thing, wasn’t it? That was the spark that lit up my dark, dead, broken soul — he’d seen all its sharp edges and hadn’t left. He’d seen me as broken as I was and wanted me, regardless.”

Despite the many good things in the book like the quotes for days, I had two major issues with this book. The biggest issue of this book is that it reads like the first book of the series and it should have been the first book in the series. Having read the first book in this series and comparing it to this one, it would have been so much better for this book to be first. Even more so timeline wise with events and who’s the last to see whom within the book. And in my opinion, the first book sets things up better for the third and final book in this series. That’s the real kick that kind of gets me and has me feeling a little salty. It was a bit disappointing for me especially as someone who like the timeline of things and can really get sucked into the storyline very easy.

My final issue with a particular scene that’s an intimate scene. Typically, I love a lot of stuff that goes down in sexy time books, but not this, this crosses an uncomfortable line for me. The first scene that bothered me I’ve kind of let slide because looking back and reflecting, it’s not too big of a deal. However, this scene I’m about to talk about is and honestly, I think the author should have outright stated that there was a scene like this instead of not mentioning it at all in their own content warnings. At the 70-75% mark there’s a scene of snuff. Now some of you may be going, “What the hell is ‘snuff’?” Snuff is an extreme sexual act of getting a sexual arousal/climax from murdering someone. Now, I originally thought this was bordering into nercophilia territory and had to do some research because this whole scene didn’t feel right and kind of shocked my system. I also had someone else fact check me before I even made notes about it. Even more so, no one has talked or mentioned this scene, at all. So I’m talking and addressing it so others don’t have to. This is not a good scene, at all. It’s a really messed up scene and the author should have done better to actually make it known that this was in the book. And I really wish I could wipe this scene from my mind, but I can’t and now it lives in my memory with the other things I wish I could forget.

“Survival is messy. Survival has no morals or kindness. Survival isn’t black and white, good versus evil. Survival is shades of red; it’s blood taken and blood lost.”

Overall, what a freaking roller coaster of a book. I cried a lot, I cringed a lot, and I’m still trying to figure out what the hell I just read. There really was a lot of stuff I loved about this book and I think those who like dark romance erotica will also love it. But also, there’s a lot of things that just live in my brain rent free now. Some of them good, others regrets… yeah, lots of regrets. It was still a good read and as I mentioned with the first book, this series would be the perfect read for the fall/spooky season if you’re in need of books to chill your soul.

Buddy Read with Destiny ♥

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Pisces Hooks Taurus (Signs of Love #4) by Anyta Sunday

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✨ Leo Loves Aries (Signs of Love #1) ★★★★★
✨  Leo Tops Aries (Signs of Love #1.5) ★★★★★
✨ Scorpio Hates Virgo (Signs of Love #2) ★★★★★
✨ Gemini Keeps Capricorn (Signs of Love #3) ★★★★

Content/Trigger Warnings: Brief scene of aracnophobia (fear of spiders), mentions of bullying (in the past), mentioned horseback riding accident (in the past), brief discussions of death, talk of divorce, talk of adultry (cheating), sexual content

“You hooked me at Toy Story.”

We’re finally back with the fourth book in this series! This was an absolutely adorable slow burn romance! There were so many details that had me smiling and geeking out over what was about to happen next. We get to see cameos of previous characters from the past books which is always such a joy to see. It was just a really great to return to this series and meet some new characters while seeing the ones we’ve met along the way.

“People can be complicated. We can also be ridiculously simple.”

We follow Zane Penn, who’s a little in over his head. Not only is he in a bind of trying to find a new place to move into, but at the end of the month his green card is about to run out and he’ll have to return to New Zealand. Unless he can get married, that is. Enter Beckett who graciously opens his home and offers Zane a place to take harbor. Beckett is a professor at the local collage and is still healing from a divorce, but Zane is determined to help Beckett heal and believe in love again. Even if it means he loses his heart and falls head over heels for Beckett in the process.

I really enjoyed Zane and Beckett as our main characters. They might just be my favorite out of this whole series. They have amazing banter and the chemistry between them is so thick you could cut it with a knife. There were so many memorable moments between that really stuck out with me. I think my favorite would have to be the cinnamon standoff. That was such a fantastic scene that I don’t think I’ll ever get over. I truly believe these two characters were meant for each other. And can I just say how rare it is that we get romance stories where one of the characters is a divorcee. It’s so rare to have story like that and I’m really glad the author decided to take that and make it a part of this story.

Some of the themes in this book were fantastic like Zane discovering his self-worth and leaving an employer who constantly put Zane down about his work. Zane did a lot of work to figure out his own worth and chase after what he really wanted. Even by the end of the book he was still working on himself. I think my favorite theme has to be the one centered around Beckett. There’s a whole theme of of healing after you’ve been devastatingly hurt by someone you once loved. Beckett’s theme constantly sucked the air out of my lungs because watching everything unfold, watching Beckett rediscover love, and watching him a safe harbor with Zane was absolutely everything. And seeing Zane be patient, never giving up on Beckett was literally everything. The soft, healing moments Zane and Beckett have with one another was so wholesome, and everything.

“I was supposed to be charming your pants off. Yet you’re literally charming off mine.”

I did have some issues with this book though. I think the biggest thing was this book really being a slow burn and it was even emphasized throughout the book that it was a slow burn. Most of the steamy, spicy scenes didn’t happen probably till the 75% mark within this book. That’s how much of a slow burn this is. I think that was my most frustrating thing about this book because it just gave a feel of running circles around the actual romance and chemistry. The other thing I struggled with, that I actually had to research and ask a few people about, was the constant reference of ‘Kiwi’ throughout this book. I was so confused and I’m glad I actually researched and talked to a few people because I probably would have been very clueless if I hadn’t. For those who don’t know, like myself, Kiwi is in reference to those who are from New Zealand. I had no idea about this and now I do, but oh, I was so lost and confused for a hot minute with that being constantly repeated throughout the book.

Overall, I really enjoyed my time reading this book. As always, I have a wonderful time reading about this characters, reading their independent stories and seeing the cameos, and of course, I’m eager to finish this series. I think we have one last book in the series to read (excluding the novellas in between each book). If you haven’t checked out this series, I strongly recommend doing so. There’s so much lgbtqiap+ representation throughout this series and I just love this series with my whole chest.

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Her Soul to Take (Souls Trilogy, #1) by Harley Laroux

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Content/Trigger Warnings: Sexual content, kink/fetish content (see author’s summary or cw/tw page for details), anxiety, captivity/enslavement (demon mc), talk of torture, indications of trauma/PTSD, cult themes, brief mentions of underage drinking, death, murder, talk of suicide, graphic gore & violence, depictions of blood, scene of decapitation, brief mentions of drug use (in the past), attempted drugging (drugged drink), scene of emesis, scene of needles

Side Note: Please check out the author’s personal content warnings for the kink/fetish play within this book for more details before reading!

“… but within those pages, in the dark, those golden eyes still shone.”

Look, are you really surprised I found myself in this rabbit hole? Are you really surprised? It was bound to happen eventually! It has demons, Lovecraftian themes, the female lead is a paranormal investigator for Pete’s sake! The banshee screeches that have erupted from me from having this literature at my finger tips has been nothing short of an experience, to say the least. Truly, it’s been a while since I’ve had a piece of literature that felt very on brand to my soul. I loved this, I loved this so much. I had to sit a think about my rating because I was very torn and I just have to be honest, I really freaking loved this book and this might be my favorite series to have demons in it thus far.

We follow the perspective of Leon, a demon who’s summoned and held captive by the local cult of Abelaum, Libiri, run by Kent Hadleigh, the head of one of the founding families in this small town. With the grimoire, the last known book with a physical record of Leon’s name, in Kent’s hands, Leon is forced to do the cult’s bidding. That’s until the grimoire goes missing. Enter our second perspective of paranormal investigator, Rae. A college student moving back to her hometown after being gone for seven years. With the promising potential of paranormal activity and whispers of strange creatures being seen in the local woods, Rae is determined to catch real paranormal activity on camera to help boost her blog and of course, finish her last year at university. So when her best friend, Inaya hands her a grimoire, suddenly Rae may be having second thoughts of being thrown into the world of the paranormal… or she just might be falling pretty damn hard in love with it.

These characters were absolutely fantastic read about! The duo perspective in this book definitely added to my enjoyment of these characters. Between our two main characters, Leon stood on the most to me. Not only is his personality very attention catching, but there were so many passages in this book that just hit home for me. When Leon would talk about wanting to find the grimoire and how much he values his freedom, it instantly, made me think of Genie from Aladdin. In the movie, there’s a conversation between Aladdin and Genie about the wishes and Aladdin asks Genie what they would wish for to which Genie responds with, “Freedom. But, oh, to be free! To be my own master. Such a thing would be greater than all the magic and all the treasures in all the world.” It made me really connect with Leon’s character, really love and appreciate his character build, and I don’t think that was the author’s intention when writing Leon’s character, but oh I couldn’t help myself from seeing the resemblance. On the other hand, Rae was an okay character for me. Honestly, I thought I would enjoy her character more, but there were parts in this book where I was just like, “I can’t deal with you.” I do like that she’s a paranormal investigator and how passionate she is about that, and I adore her cat, Cheesecake.

“I’ll rip Heaven and Hell and this goddamn Earth apart before I let them steal you from me.”

Speaking of characters, there’s some really amazing side characters we get to witness in this book. I freaking adore Zane. Zane is like a calmer, more level headed demon compared to Leon. However, Zane’s relationship with Leon was perfection. I’m very hungry for a novella talking about their past and their relationship to one another because they’re such a dynamic duo in their own way. There’s also Inaya, she’s not only best friends to Rae, but she runs her own bookstore, Golden Hour Books. Her character was absolutely wonderful and I would have loved to see more of her in this book. Plus, the few times we do meet her, you can tell how much she cares about all of her friends and just how far she’d go for them. And of course, I have to mention Everly because I just want to know so much more about her. I mean, she’s a witch and she’s here to rock this world! Before I forgot, I need to talk about Kent. Kent is a terrible character and he reminds me so, so much of Joseph from Dream Daddy. If you know, you know. Kent just gives me all the bad vibes and honestly, he made for a good villain in this book.

I want to circle back to Leon and his constant focus on his freedom. Not only is there such a heavy emphasis on demons valuing their freedom, but with Leon there’s an underlying theme of trauma/PTSD. Not just that trauma, but how after all of that you can still find love, happiness, or contentment. We see this theme unfold from both perspectives. We have Leon who has spent centuries being tortured and used only to find sanctuary with Rae. Rae’s side of things is different because she’s just dealing with a break up, but we see this escalate with how everything unfolds for Rae throughout this book. We see how this very snarky demon becomes a sanctuary for her in the chaos of all of this. I think the trauma/PTSD representation is done very well even though it’s subtle and not many readers have picked up on it. And I want to say that this is one of those relationships where two broken individuals can heal one another and have a good relationship with one another.

There’s also an entire theme of consent throughout this book. I don’t know who needs to hear this, but consent is super attractive. From the very beginning, Leon constantly asks if Rae is okay with the things they do intimately and constantly makes sure she knows the safe word before anything even happens. I don’t know about anyone else, but I love characters who check to make sure they’re comfortable or they’re okay with proceeding into more spicy things. It’s super attractive and often times in a lot of romance or erotica they’re just instantly jumping into the sheets. I really enjoyed how the author gave us spice, but also made sure to sprinkle the consent in throughout this book.

“You’re a light in the dark, and I’ve been in the dark a vert long time.”

Speaking of spicy scenes, this book has a lot of spicy scenes, If you thought there were only going to be a few scenes sprinkled in then guess what, that’s not the case here! It was a fun time for me and the entire time I was just hyped. However, I will say the scene where Leon was giving Rae her piercings was not my thing. For me, that was very triggering just due to my own bad experience, but I do like how the author tried to give this scene balance of it not only being about the that whole commitment, but Leon and Rae becoming closer to one another. So I think this will be one of those hit or miss things for many readers.

If I had to fault this book on anything, it would have to be Rae’s character. Look, it has to be said, Rae made some really questionable choices and acted really reckless a lot of the time. Actually, I liked Rae’s character up until the last handful of chapters. It was like the closer it got to the end of the book, Rae just got more naive and was making really poor choices. It was frustrating a lot of the time and as I mentioned earlier, it made it really hard to like her character. Also, it almost painted Rae in a light of hypocrisy because she’s not only a paranormal investigator, but she’s also a horror lover and the way she acts is entirely different to most horror and paranormal lovers I know. I think a lot of readers are going to feel frustrated with her character and wish that she had been structured different especially near the end of this book.

“But with your soul, death can’t touch you. The God can’t touch you. Nothing, nothing will take you from me.”

Overall, I had a really fun time buddy reading this with my friend. It was such a captivating read and I love the pre-setup we get to see for the second book in this series. I’m just hyped about this whole series, okay! I usually don’t read a lot of dark romances, but if and when I do, I always want them to have snarky demons in it. I think many lovers of dark romance are going to enjoy this book and this whole series. I hear book two has to do with Zane and I can’t begin to express how excited I am about this!

Buddy Read with Destiny ♥

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ARC Reviews

Eternally Hers: The Prequel to Shallow Cove™ Dimensions by January Rayne

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ARC was given by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Content/Trigger Warnings: Death, loss of loved ones, grief, violence, sexual content, mentions of suicide, depictions of blood, scene of complicated child birth, brief mentions of witch trials

“I am lost and locked out of the world. But my love will remain eternally hers.”

Look, if you told me I would be picking up a vampire romance book in 2022… I probably would have cackled and went off to buy a coffee because surely I was lacking caffeine in my system, and needed a wake me up. Yet here we are, in 2022 and I probably just read the the best vampire prequel thus far in my time of reading. And no, I’m no exaggerating. I’ve read a lot of vampire books over my years of reading and honestly, I’m really glad the author reached out to have me read this because I had just about given up on vampires, and vampire books.

Our story follows Severide Monreaux, who’s just been thrust in to a world of sadness and grief. With the death of his mother, his father thrusts the position of clan leader upon, the very position that he never wanted to earn in at the expense of his father. Severide must find a mate to make his clan strong again and with his mother and father’s dying wish hang over his head, he finds himself attending a party that makes him wish he was anywhere, but there. Will Severide find a mate? Who’s to say. With no witch to the clan, the werewolves threaten too tear the his clan apart, and now a warlock from the past has returning to claim a debt that’s owed… What else can a new clan leader do?

“Once our hands lock, my breath is taken from me as warmth now replaces the frozen tundra that has recently blocked my heart off from the world around me.”

Let me start by saying this is a prequel novella to the Shadow Cove Dimensions ™ where we follow the trials of love, loss, and hardships surrounding the Monreaux family, a vampire clan of Salem. This isn’t a full novel, so don’t expect this to be a very long read. This novella is very fast paced and even has time skips to show the change of time moving or passing. Personally, I’m usually not a fan of any kind of book that has time skips, but I found that it worked quite well for this novella. And the way this novella sets things up for the books to come, the plots to come, the possible potential feels endless. I haven’t been this excited about a series and the future books in a hot minute. I feel like a child let loose in a candy store. And the conclusion to this novella ends on a cliffhanger that leaves you craving more.

Speaking of the Monreaux family, this character cast was fantastic. Though we have quite a few faces to keep track of and keep our eyes on, each one has their own personality including the antagonists of the story. They all stand out in their own unique. With the mention of following a vampire clan, in this world we also have witches, warlocks, and werewolves. How all these paranormal beings interact with one another is truly intriguing. Vampire clans have a duel reliance with witches to incorporate their magic together to make a vampire clan strong, and protected. There also seems to be a mirrored relationship between warlocks and werewolves, as well. But don’t quote me on that. There might be more to this that meets the eye. As I said, it’s very intriguing. And Severide as our main character was perfection. Devoted, protective, but also flawed. Chef’s kiss, all the chef kisses!

“Happiness and lust are born from this woman.”

I love a little bit of spice with my paranormal and this book delivers so deliciously. I absolutely adored the spicey scenes within this novella. It was such a treat to see Severide and his mate not only equals in their positions, but also in their private moments, was such a refresher. The balance between them was probably one of my favorite things about this novella especially with how often in adult romances there’s usually a more dominant character while the other is more passive/subtle. And we don’t get that here. They both give and take, constantly changing between them and it was very attractive to say the least.

My only real complaint about this novella would be how short it is and it’s not so much the case of not getting enough of these characters, but more so having a lot of questions and not enough answers. There were a few things I wished were flushed out more such as more details on the feud between vampires and werewolves or even Brenden Hall, a warlock Severide knows from his past. I would have liked more details in this area and even more details about Sarah Wildes would have provided better understanding of her importance. There’s characters I wish we would have seen more of and had more details of, Luca and Greyson, who play major roles in the story yet it felt like we hardly see them or know them. I’m holding out hope they’ll have their own books in this series especially with some of the moments we see with Greyson that were a bit mysterious. Truly, this novella probably could have benefitted even more with more pages or chapters added to it. And I think that due to how fast paced and short this is, I think many readers will see these same issues and hoping for more details on characters and events in the future.

Overall, I had a fantastic time reading this novella. I went in with low expectations because most vampire books haven’t really been tickling my fancy including the steamy adult romance ones, but this was a pleasant surprise. The world was fascinating, the characters were captivating, and I’m eager to see what the first book in this series has in store for us. As I mentioned, I think there will be readers who will have issues with this novella because it’s short, fast paced, and it feels like certain characters or events aren’t given enough details. Again, more questions than answers, but it was still an overall fun time reading. If you’re like me, struggling to get back into reading books with vampires, I definitely recommend giving this novella a chance. Truly, a captivating time!

The quotes above were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

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Theirs for the Night (Twisted Hearts #1) by Katee Robert

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Content/Trigger Warnings: Sexual content, talk of poverty/financial struggles, child neglect (in the past)

“You can’t fall in love with a person – let alone two people – in a single night.”

Oh what a fun, steamy time this was! Every time I pick up Robert’s books, I always have a fun time and honestly, that’s why I read them, for a fun time. Plus, to be more transparent and honest, I love reading books with polyamorous relationships and that’s a side of me I don’t often share or discuss, and I’d like to. And it was just a good book to unwind with.

Meg Sanders is too busy and has far too many worries on her plate to even think of partying, let alone celebrating her very own birthday. Until her co-worker and friend, Cara convinces here that she needs a night to forget her troubles and just unwind. Little did Meg expect, two sets of eyes watching her from afar, wanting to take her home for a night of pleasure. Theo and Galen are keeping a low profile, that is until they both set their eyes on Meg. Afterall, who could resist a gorgeous woman in a red dress? If they only have one night, the three of them are going to make it one hell of a night to remember!

I loved, LOVED Galen and Theo as love interests, potential partners to Meg. I’ll be honest, I do have a bar that’s set kind of high when it comes to poly-relationships and all three of them hit pretty close. The fact that Galen and Theo already have a preexisting relationship with one another was the icing on the cake for me. You can see flickers of the history between the two. Not just in the sense how tight their friendship is with one another, but also the bond and pull, that attraction that crackles and sizzles underneath the surface. Also, I want to take a moment to point out that Galen has visual scarring and for me, that’s not only something that attracts my attention, but characters who have scars and it just is what it is, that’s a huge thing for me. I always want to appreciate those details when an author does that. Meg, on the other hand, felt like a wild card to me. While Meg does come off as lacking confidence and being unsure of her own desires, she has no problem flipping a switch and just diving head first into savoring both of these men. I really enjoy when characters have a switch they just flip. Seeing Meg do that I was like, “Okay boo, I see you! Go get your men!”

“They always seemed to know where the other was, and both kept a careful distance between them and her, touching only on her hips and nowhere else.”

I want to take a moment to show a little appreciation to Meg’s coworker and friend, Cara. I find that not many authors write supportive, but also encouraging side characters for main characters when it comes to romance. There’s a particular scene that really stuck out to me where Cara pulls Meg away from Theo and Galen, pulls her to the bathroom and is ready to fight people if they hurt Meg. Yet, supports Meg and encourages her to go gets these men after Meg expresses this is what she wants, but it still willing to drive the getaway car if Meg needs it. I absolutely adore side characters like this and I wish they got more appreciation because they deserve it.

It’s steamy, very warm and steamy! Fogging up every glass window from heavy breathing. Is it the greatest sex scenes of all time? Maybe not because everyone has their own preferences for spice and steam, but if you’re looking for a fun time then this can definitely be thrown into the mix. I might be a bit bias and may have been referencing my own experiences with poly-relations, but I had a really wonderful time with this. From the moment these three characters meet, everything is a steady, slow build and almost everything they do has chemistry and sexual desire crackling between them. Whether this is from the way they dance with one another or how they all play with each other behind closed doors. It’s just a fun time and really easy to get caught up in the scenes.

“He really was beautiful in the way of fallen angels. But a fallen angel was just a prettier name for a demon.”

Overall, this was a delightful, fast read for me! I had such a wonderful time diving into the story, savoring how everything was playing out, seeing the little secrets being hinted at, just a fun time. Again, this series isn’t going to be for everyone. I still recommend picking the first book (this book) up if you’re looking for books for Smutathon, reading sprints, or you’re just looking for a steamy good time. I enjoy Katee’s writing and the characters she writes. It’s always a good time for me and I love recommending her books to others.

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Demon Lover by Heather Guerre

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Content/Trigger Warnings: Death of a parent, child abandonment, negligent/absent parent, infidelity (of a side character), references to historical enslavement and violence against enslaved people, sex/sexual scenes, sexual predator behavior (from a coworker), toxic work environment, mentions loss of a parent, scenes talking about self-harm/suicide

“Demons aren’t real. Awkward, generous sex demons are definitely not real. And yet…”

*sips tea* This was a read that was bound to happen, friends. If you’ve been here a hot second then you know how much I adore books with demons or anything pertaining to creatures of the Underworld. And who could have predicted that for the romantic, lovey season I’d be sitting here recommending a sexy incubus novella to all of you lovely souls? I really loved this novella and probably one of the fastest novella reads I’ve done in a while. So many things to love packed into this book and we’re going to talk about it!

Autumn is down on her luck. She recently broke up with her ex-boyfriend for cheating on her, has lost most of her friends who chose her cheating ex over her, and now she’s stuck in a run down apartment, and dealing with a non-profit that provides a very unfriendly work environment for her. The only thing Autumn has to look forward to is going home every night to fall asleep to spicy, sexy dreams that leave her waking up feeling refreshed, in more ways than one. Until she realizes that an incubus is the reason behind her sexy dreams and manages to pull him out of the dream world. Now, Autumn finds herself with more questions than answers and on top of that, falling in love with the very Incubus she summoned.

“It was through dreams that she had met Irdu. And it was through dreams that she would find him again.”

These characters were so good to follow and watch unfold in various ways. Though Autumn is hurting from the bad breakup, she’s a really talented artist and we get to see her talk about that. She also talks about her personal life with her family, how she miss her father and her grandparents’ home, and how her family used to celebrate the holidays. Learning more about the main character through the natural progression of the book and her building her relationship with Irdu was really wholesome and hit a soft spot for me. Then we have a our illustrious incubus, Irdu. Irdu was just chef’s kiss! Irdu is a character who gets a wonderful character development and he always asks consent when it comes to doing anything with our main character. Also, he has such a captivating, but also heartbreaking backstory that ties in with the mythology that was used within this book.

Speaking of consent, it made the intimate scenes ten times better. I’m a big lover of scenes of consent in literature and seeing a main character, who’s also the love interest, be so adamant about consent really made those scenes even better for me. Now, the sex scenes in this novella are just the right amount of spicy, sexy, but also key to the main character and love interest building their relationship, and their closeness to one another. Also, these scenes aren’t that overwhelming which is really nice for readers who aren’t big fans of sexy, intimate scenes in book.

I think my only issue I had with this read, like with all novellas, is how much I wished it was longer. Due to reading this so fast, I was left wanting more and craving that extra 30-50 pages to be able to consume these characters just a little longer. Also, I feel like the timing of bringing Autumn’s ex-boyfriend in the pictures was too close to the ending of the story. I think I would have liked him to come around more-so around the middle of the book compared to closer near the end, and around the more holiday scenes of this book. This would have given us the chance to see more of his character and the potential of what could have happened after his exit. So it felt like there was some wasted possibilities with his character.

Overall, wow, this was such a good read! I was so pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it and even more surprised there aren’t more readers talking about this novella. The mythology of the story as whole was so fascinating and has me intrigued to learn more about it. The relationship and intimate scenes were just chef’s kiss. There’s just so, so much to fall in love with this novella and I truly believe this author could have turned this into a full blown novel if they wanted to. If you love books surrounding incubi/demons and you’re a fan of paranormal romances then I can’t recommend this novella enough. Such a delicious read!

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