Review: Rush The Edge by SJ Sylvis

June 4, 2025 by · Leave a Comment

RUSH THE EDGE
Series: Blue Devils Hockey #2
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Author: S.J. Sylvis
Release Date: May 22, 2025

A brother’s best friend, enemies-to-lovers, hockey romance by Amazon Top 50 and USA Today bestselling author, S.J. Sylvis.

I never would have moved to Chicago, if I had known he would be there.

Moving to a brand new city to share an apartment with my older brother was bad enough.

Becoming neighbors with Kane Barlow, my brother’s arrogant pro-hockey-playing best friend, was just the cherry on top of the dumpster fire my life has become.

Did I mention that Kane is also the guy I had a secret fling with years ago?

I haven’t seen him since and let’s just say his icy glares and frigid demeanor are reason enough for me to get my own place.

Little does he know, I’m in Chicago for a reason that has nothing to do with him. So what if his snide remarks and attempts to get under my skin are wildly entertaining? I came here for stability – not distractions, and definitely not the kind with infuriating smirks.

But the more we clash, the more the tension between us shifts. His icy glares turn into heated glances, and our aversion to being around each other quickly morphs into secret trysts and spicy moments we swore we didn’t want.

The line between love and hate is razor-thin – and this time, we’re both rushing towards the edge.

AMAZON 

She was the girl I was never supposed to look at, let alone touch. Except, I did, and I haven’t been the same since.

Know what I love more than a second chance romance? A second chance romance written by SJ Sylvis. I knew I would fall for Kane the second he made an appearance as the hothead secondary character in Play the Game. Then we got a peak into layers in Skate the Line but nothing compares to being in his head and finally understanding what makes him tick.

Kane fell fast and hard for his best friend’s sister, Daisy, back when they were teenagers. But then she broke his heart and he’s spent years trying to erase his feelings. When suddenly the blast from his past is not only back in his life but living with her brother who just so happens to be Kane’s neighbor, he quickly finds out that feelings, though tainted by anger and resentment, are still there.

God, I’ve missed you.” Such a bitter truth.
“No you haven’t,” she says quietly.
“I have,” I argue. “But I hate myself for it.”

The push and pull between these two almost drove me to the brink. I loved it as much as I wanted to shake them both in parts. Kane and Daisy are equally stubborn so obviously each gives as good as they get. The chemistry was sizzling and the slow burn definitely notched it up a point. But when they finally give in? INCENDIARY! I also loved the way he would take care of Daisy, especially after he learns about her condition.

Addiction comes in all forms, and mine is her.

My only quibble is that I wish Kane got a bit more closure with his mom but it was still satisfying so I can’t complain much.

If you’re looking for a deliciously dirty hockey player who still pines the girl he never got over, a friends to lovers to enemies back to lovers, and lots of sizzle in between, definitely check this one out.

S.J. Sylvis is an Amazon top 50 and USA Today bestselling author who is best known for her new adult romances. She currently resides in Arizona with her husband, two small kiddos, and pets! She is obsessed with coffee, becomes easily attached to fictional characters, and spends most of her evenings buried in a book! 

Connect with S.J. Sylvis

Website | https://www.sjsylvis.com/

Goodreads | https://bit.ly/40mP8yW

Amazon | https://amzn.to/40riM5R

Facebook | https://bit.ly/3JT0SUh

Facebook Group | https://bit.ly/42pdvhj

Instagram | https://bit.ly/3lvTcOt

TikTok | https://bit.ly/42se4Xv

Bookbub | https://bit.ly/3lwbyiq

Pinterest | https://bit.ly/402AVaH

Newsletter | https://subscribepage.io/cRYT3U

Leave a Comment · Filed Under: All Reviews, Contemporary Romance · Tagged With: , , ,

DGRFave & Review: Be With Me by Gabrielle Sands

May 14, 2025 by · Leave a Comment

BE WITH ME
Series: House of Ferraro #1
Author: Gabrielle Sands
Genre: Mafia Romance
Release Date: May 14, 2025

She’s the mayor-to-be’s perfect daughter. He’s the ruthless villain set to ruin her.I’ve spent my life putting others first. So when my father runs for New York City mayor—on a promise to take down the city’s most notorious crime family—I do what I always push my own dreams aside to help him win.

Until I wind up at the wrong party. Trapped in a bedroom with Romolo Ferraro—the dangerous, merciless youngest son of the man my father has sworn to destroy.

He terrifies me. He fascinates me. Six foot four and covered in tattoos, he’s everything I should avoid.

When he starts pursuing me, I know I’m just a pawn in his game. A means to an end. And yet… part of me wants to play along.

I tell myself it’s to protect my father’s campaign. But I’m not thinking about politics when Romolo’s rough hands slide over my skin, teaching me how good it feels to burn.

They say good girls don’t fall for the villain.

But maybe, I’m tired of being good.

~

Be With Me is book 1 in House of Ferraro, a series of interconnected standalones following the Ferraro brothers, where dark and sensual romance plays out against a backdrop of family secrets and mafia intrigue.

AMAZON

Mia Morales had infected my black heart with a virus that compelled me to do right by her. Fuck knows if I’d ever recover./i>

First of all, how is this my first Gabrielle Sands book and what rock have I been living under? An immediate binge on her backlist is incoming because I have been sleeping on this author and now kicking myself. My fellow mafia romance lovers, if you haven’t yet discovered Gabrielle Sands, you need to crawl out from under that rock right along with me. When I tell you that I binge read this book in one sitting, I mean I was GLUED to the pages from cover to cover.

I excelled at many things, but there was one thing I discovered a long time ago I was particularly good at—destroying people’s lives. Sometimes, I barely even had to try./i>

If you love a Romeo and Juliet vibe with a good girl/bad boy trope thrown in, prepare yourself because OH MY GOD. And if you love a good tortured antihero, then really prepare yourself because Romolo was IT.

Romolo is the Ferraro brother who gets sent in to get information no matter the cost; whether it be his fists, his manipulation, or something else entirely. And he’s damn good at it. Mia’s father poses a threat to his family because his entire campaign trail is on the platform of bringing organized crime down with a focus specifically on the Ferraro. And what better in than his daughter? But what he doesn’t anticipate is the sizzling connection between the two of them.

What exactly are you proposing?”
“Simple. You. Me. A sturdy bed with a headboard, and a box of condoms. Remember how you said I hadn’t earned you moaning my name? Let me fucking earn it.”/i>

Mia is the epitome of good girl with her savior complex when it comes to her friends and her agreeable nature at any cost when it comes to her father. While at first I thought these qualities would annoy me (because usually they would), they were somehow endearing with her. She just wanted love and a part of me really connected with that.

But what I loved even more is her unwilling attraction to Rom, no matter how hard she tried to fight it. Their chemistry was absolutely incendiary and I couldn’t get enough of them.

It’s eleven. If we leave now, you’ll be screaming it by midnight,” he said roughly./i>

As a huge mafia romance fan, I am so excited to find a new to me author to obsess over.

I read it obsessively and still find myself thinking about it days after finishing. It was everything I love in a mafia romance; gritty, action packed, and with just the right amount of steam. The story was addictive and the romance was sizzling. I’m completely obsessed and can’t recommend it enough for all my fellow mafia romance lovers out there!

Leave a Comment · Filed Under: All Reviews, Contemporary Romance · Tagged With: , , , ,

Review: Finding Forever by Natasha Anders

April 1, 2025 by · Leave a Comment

FINDING FOREVER
Author: Natasha Anders
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: April 1, 2025

Niall Caden Hawthorne—Cade—lives an exacting, uncompromising life. His only priorities are, and always will be, his family and his business. He’d do anything for them. This includes marrying a colorless, drab moth of a woman who leaves him physically and emotionally cold.

Fern Lambert is everything Cade has never wanted in a woman—timid, sheltered, shockingly inexperienced, and—after a night of uncharacteristically bad choices—pregnant with his baby.
She is also the key to securing an elusive business contract that Cade has been after for nearly a year. Marrying her means giving up three years of his life, it means acknowledging a child that he never planned on having… it means complications and disruptions to his well-ordered life.
But Cade knows it’s the right thing to do. It’s the only thing to do. That doesn’t mean he has to like it.

And—inexplicable fascination with her lush upper lip notwithstanding—it certainly doesn’t mean he has to like her.

AMAZON

I refuse to be your crutch. I don’t want to be your friend. Or your confidante. I don’t want to hear about your past, or your future aspirations. I don’t care about any of that. All I care about is getting through this marriage with as little emotional investment—from the both of us—as possible.”

When you want a true a-hole MMC, you look no further than Natasha Anders. As a long time fan and reader, she just has this skill of giving you heroes that you love to hate and then hate to love before you just love them. And boy did I love to hate Cade.

Now if you love a modern day cinderella retelling with a twist, this will be your new book crack. Take a wallflower FMC but instead of an evil stepmother, make it an evil stepfather and his two wretched daughters. But while the FMC is a wallflower and hasn’t experienced much of life because of her stepfather’s cruel bid to keep her rightful inheritance from her, she is no pushover. And if there’s one thing I love, is an FMC who is vulnerable, shy, but nowhere close to a doormat.

When Cade spots Fern at an event, effortlessly blending into the wall, there’s really nothing about her that should call to him. Yet he finds himself talking to the timid woman. And one catastrophically unmemorable encounter later, she finds herself pregnant with his baby. Fern, while inexperienced and with the odds stacked against her, is determined to get herself from under her stepfather’s thumb. So she makes Cade an offer he can’t refuse; marry her (in name only) and she will give him the company that he and his father have been trying to negotiate with her stepfather.

Now the one thing that I absolutely love about Natasha’s book, is her ability to take an MMC who seemingly has no interest in the FMC to the point you question how they’ll be together, and make him fall so hard that the MMC is as shocked by it as you are. And boy oh boy did I love Cade falling deeper and deeper. As much as he fought it, the woman was simply not at all who he underestimated her to be.

He’s cruel, and hot and cold, and some of the things that he said to Fern had me wanting to c*ck punch him. But I love and I mean LOVE the way that Fern makes him work for it in the end. She doesn’t just turn around and forgive him at the first sign of feelings. As a matter of fact, she makes him prove them at every turn. And I loved that for her.

We can be happy together,” he maintained. “I don’t think so. I think we can be content. But I don’t think we’d ever be truly happy together.”

This was a delicious slow burn full of tension and heartache, emotion and grit. I loved watching Fern come into her own almost as much as I loved Cade helplessness in falling for her.

I love Natasha’s brand of angst, and this book brought together everything I love about her writing. It hurt so good and I loved every emotional page of it.

Leave a Comment · Filed Under: All Reviews, Contemporary Romance, Uncategorized · Tagged With: , , , ,

Review: Dark Horse by Maggie Rawdon

March 28, 2025 by · Leave a Comment

DARK HORSE
Series: The Quiet Horsemen #2
Genre: Dark Western, Small Town Romance
Author: Maggie Rawdon
Release Date: March 28, 2025

Grant Stockton is the devil incarnate. The cowboy turned casino-owning crime boss has been the bane of my existence for as long as I can remember—first as my older brother’s best friend, then as my guardian when my brother died at his side, and now as the rival bar owner and landlord running me into the red.

He might be the head of The Quiet Horsemen, the man everyone else in this town fears, but I’m not about to cede a single inch of ground to him.

If I have to lie, cheat, and steal to keep him from finding out my bar’s underwater—well, that’s exactly what I’ll do.

At least until he breaks into my apartment and discovers my secret. One that gives him all the leverage he needs to control my fate.

My only reprieve is that The Horsemen are in the middle of a war, one that’s been spilling blood for the better part of a decade, and his enemies are closing in on our small mountain town.

Which is why I’m taken off guard by the demand he makes in exchange for keeping my secret.

Apparently there are benefits to being at the mercy of the devil…

AMAZON 



Leave a Comment · Filed Under: All Reviews, Contemporary Romance, Erotic Rom · Tagged With: , ,

Review: Beautiful Exile by Catherine Cowles

March 18, 2025 by · Leave a Comment

BEAUTIFUL EXILE
Series: Sparrow Falls #4
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Author: Catherine Cowles
Release Date: March 18, 2025

I should’ve known Lincoln Pierce was trouble from the moment I held my knife to his throat.

I’ve been running for most of my life, hiding away in a small town and hoping no one discovers who I truly am. The only problem is that I can never let anyone know the real me. Or at least that was true until my brother moved his best friend onto our shared property.

Now, I’m stuck trying to avoid the nosy billionaire’s probing questions and piercing stares. And it doesn’t help that I almost killed him the first time we met.

Oops.

But when all my carefully crafted lies come crashing down around me, it’s Linc stepping in to shield me. And when it looks like the person hunting me for all those years is back, Linc will do anything to keep me safe.

Only it’s not just my safety at risk. It’s my heart. Because when Linc touches me, I lose all sense. And when I truly get to know the broken billionaire, he’s so much more than a ruthless business tycoon. He’s the man showing me that it’s time to really live.

But I’m not the only one with secrets. Linc has them, too. And when the forces from our pasts emerge from the shadows, it’s with only one goal: to end the new life we’re building together. For good.

AMAZON 

Lincoln Pierce was a good man. The best kind. And it scared the hell out of me.

It’s official; Catherine Cowles books are my happy place. Full stop.

Now first I have to tell you that she calls him “Cowboy” and he calls her “Vicious” and I was kicking my feet and giggling like a school girl each time I read it. But on to the review, shall we?

I hope you don’t mind a clingy boyfriend.”
My mouth quirked. “Boyfriend, huh?”
Linc chuckled, the sound skating over me. “Ridiculous term. But it’ll have to do until you let me have husband.”

I swear, there is just something about a Catherine MMC that just hits in all the best ways. She writes some of the most amazing, fiercely protective, and make you swoon until you’re a puddle on the floor sort of men. And man oh man did I fall hard and fast for Lincoln. The man was perfection and I could’t get enough of him.

Arden was a survivor through and through and I loved her fierceness wrapped in vulnerability. This is a woman who took charge of her safety and I love the way she was. As a cane corso owner, I love seeing this breed featured in books and I absolutely loved the bond between her and her pup.

Can I pet him, or will he rip off my hand?”
I looked down at my dog. “He’ll only do that if I tell him to.”
Linc’s dark brows lifted at that. “And are you going to tell him to, Vicious?”

For those of you who loved it when the man falls first and HARD, like me, then you’re definitely going to love Linc. He didn’t fight his connection to Arden for even a second. Even while she fought it at first and even with him being her brother’s best friend, he didn’t let it distract him from his path. I absolutely loved the way he fought for her in the same way he fought WITH her. And man oh man but did I love them together. Their chemistry was absolute perfection.

The suspense had me turning the pages well into the night and I finished this book in one riveting, pulse pounding, edge of my seat, reading. Catherine has quickly become an auto buy author for me and this book is a perfect example why. I can’t recommend it enough for all my fellow spicy romantic suspense loving readers out there!

Leave a Comment · Filed Under: All Reviews, Contemporary Romance · Tagged With: , , ,

Review: For Wrath And Redemption by Brit Benson

March 14, 2025 by · Leave a Comment

FOR WRATH AND REDEMPTION
Series: The Hometown Heartless #3
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Author: Brit Benson
Release Date: March 14, 2025

 

This temptation is my punishment.
His redemption is my penance.

Jonah Hendrix is the bad boy of the music industry.
As lead guitarist of The Hometown Heartless, negative press follows him like a scorned lover,
And even his fans fuel the flames of his torched reputation.

Despite his permanent residence in the media,
He’s never been on my radar.
Not until my boss comes to me with a
Join The Hometown Heartless on tour to redeem Jonah in the public eye,
and finally get the promotion I’ve been working toward.

I’m not a PR specialist, and it’s not my career ambition,
but I’m determined to see this job through.
As long as I treat the surly rock star like a brand,
I’ll succeed in rehabbing his reputation and survive the tour with my sanity intact.

The problem?
Jonah and I have more in common than either of us realized.
And that desire for connection?
It’s proving to be irresistible.

***

For Wrath and Redemption is the third book in The Hometown Heartless series and contains a crossover character from The Next Life series.

For Wrath and Redemption DOES contain spoilers for The Next Life duet and The Hometown Heartless series.

Reading the The Next Life duet and The Hometown Heartless series prior to For Wrath and Redemption will enhance your appreciation of this story as well as provide a better understanding of the depth of the character dynamics, personalities, and backstories.

For clarification, For Wrath and Redemption takes place chronologically as the next story in both The Hometown Heartless series and The Next Life series.

AMAZON

Claire Davis could be my penance, but I’ll be damned if I admit my sins out loud. They’re mine and mine alone to contend with. No atonement, then. Just pain.

No one and I mean NO ONE can tug at their readers’ heart strings quite like Brit Benson. She gives angst and emotion like no one else and the way I physically experienced this book is a testament of that. Because I didn’t just read this story, I experience it, I felt it. It broke me, shattered me, and then put me back together in the best kind of way.

Now if you’ve read Next Life duet, then you’ve already met Claire. And if you’re like me, you already hated Claire. The dichotomy of her character in the two books was not lost on me. You want to hate her, and yet you also want to forgive her. The Claire in book one is not quite the Claire in book two. But I still left that duet feeling a certain sort of way for Claire. And if there’s one thing I can tell you, Brit writes a redemption arc like nobody’s business. Because the Claire of this book? Never have I loved a character’s growth as much as I did here.

If you haven’t read that duet yet, I highly recommend it. I also highly recommend read this series in order to truly appreciate everything that is Jonah Hendrix.

Every surface. Every position. Every country. I’m going to own every fucking orgasm from now on, Trouble.

I love the care that Brit took with his character. Jonah is the epitome of tortured rockstar. But nothing can prepare you for the true depth of who he is and what he has been through. When the layers of his past and his present begin to peel back, you get a live wire of a character that you can’t help but fall for. The story doesn’t shy away from the dark themes of addiction and a few other topics that I don’t want to spoil by mentioning. But Claire is far from perfect herself, and I loved the way she’s written so much.

But let’s get back to Jonah for a second.

That’s right, baby. Even with my hands tied, I can make you scream.”

The last thing he wants is a babysitter, but that’s what he gets when Claire is sent in to help clean up his image after a particularly disastrous visit he takes back home that almost lands him on the wrong end of a jail cell. To say that these two butt heads is an understatement. Jonah is determined to get rid of Claire at any cost. He’ll undermine her at every turn and he’ll make her job a living hell. And Claire, well she doesn’t take anything lying down. This woman has her own share of demons and I loved the way she fought with him.

Jonah Hendrix is my penance. I meant it when I said he would regret it if I left. What I didn’t admit was that I would regret it, too.

Theirs is not a perfect romance. It had its ugly and dark side and I loved the way they both fought for each other and themselves. It was a story of redemption and forgiveness and full of so much emotion that I felt every chapter to my very core.

If you love angsty rockstar romance with incredible multilayered characters and a story that will stay with you, then you need this book in your life!

Leave a Comment · Filed Under: All Reviews, Contemporary Romance · Tagged With: , , ,

Review: Call me Teach by S.J. Sylvis

March 11, 2025 by · Leave a Comment

CALL ME TEACH
Series: Wilder U
Genre: Contemporary, New Adult Romance
Author: S.J. Sylvis
Release Date: March 5, 2025

The deal is simple: my brother’s best friend–who just so happens to be my new roommate–shows me the ropes in the bedroom, and I owe him a favor when the time comes.

No big deal, right?

Except that the favor he asks for is something I never saw coming.

Call Me Teach is a spicy lessons hockey novella that takes place in SJ Sylvis’s upcoming series: Wilder U (coming 2026).

 

 

This title was previously in an anthology but it has a couple of added scenes and a glimpse of upcoming characters!

AMAZON

I no longer want to be called Teach. Instead, I want to be called hers.

Sometimes all you need is a spicy hockey romance novella from one of your favorite authors to make you happy. The only thing better is when said novella also introduces a brand new series from said favorite author. And Call Me Teach checked all the boxes for me!

It’s short, spicy and oh so satisfying.

After breaking up with her boyfriend who was less than satisfying in bedroom, Hannah moves in with her brother and his hot hockey teammates. And let me tell you, I am an absolute wh*re for a brother’s best friend trope! But I digress.

When one is said teammates overhears Hannah tell her friend on the phone that she’s never reached the finish line with any of her boyfriends, he’s determined to teach her. So what’s a little sneaking around among friends with some extreme benefits? Nolan will be happy to have Hannah call him teach, until he realizes he wants more.

This was such a fun read, and while it was short, it was no less satisfying. It packed a deliciously sexy punch and whetted my appetites for the Wilder U series like nothing else! I can’t wait for more with this new series!

Leave a Comment · Filed Under: All Reviews, Contemporary Romance · Tagged With: , , ,

Review: The Charlie Method by Elle Kennedy

March 10, 2025 by · Leave a Comment

THE CHARLIE METHOD
Series: Campus Diaries #3
Genre: Contemporary, New Adult Romance
Author: Elle Kennedy
Release Date: February 25, 2025

The third in the steamy, hilarious Campus Diaries series by New York Times bestselling author Elle Kennedy, set in the same world as Off Campus and Briar U.

College senior Charlotte Kingston is living two lives―and she’s nailing both of them. By day, she’s the perfect sorority girl, a STEM student in biomedical engineering, and the adopted daughter of an overachiever family. At night, she’s Charlie: a risk-taking daredevil looking for fun who finds herself chatting on a dating app with two anonymous hotties.

Will Larsen may seem like the breezy boy next door, but his congressman father is a constant thorn in his side. After a scandal hits another Division 1 hockey program, Will’s dad is determined to distance his son from it, hiring a journalist to prove how squeaky-clean Will and his team are. Which means the last thing Will wants is for anyone to find out he and his best friend Beckett Dunne―a laidback Aussie shielding secret heartache―sometimes share girls in the bedroom.

When Charlie finally meets them in person and realizes she’s been chatting with two gorgeous Briar U hockey players, things get steamy―fast. But all their messy secrets are piling up, and real life soon threatens to shatter the fantasy. With Charlie, Will, and Beckett all coming to terms with what they want and what others want for them, difficult decisions will need to be made.

Especially when lust starts to look a lot like love.

AMAZON

Because… falling for one guy? Fine. But two? That’s a mess I’m not ready for.

Ummm…I beg your finest pardon? We have a hockey romance from one of my favorite authors with not one but TWO hot hockey boys? Yes, please and thank you! This reader loves a good MFM and this one hit the spot like nothing else!

I am and will forever be an obsessive nerd. Yet I also hook up with football players in parking lots.

Now if there’s something I love more than two hot hockey men, it’s a sex positive FMC. It’s just always such a refreshing change of pace when you get a heroine who not only enjoys sex, she’s not ashamed of it. Petition for more heroines like Charlie. But I digress.

Charlie is the perfect student, the perfect daughter, and the perfect sorority sister. She also likes to hook up with hot jocks. Nothing wrong with that. Girl likes to release her tension in the best of ways. While swiping on the campus hookup app, she stumbles on a profile that instantly catches her attention because of the two hot and faceless bodies and the joint profile is simply too intriguing to pass up. And when she matches them? Game. On.

The fun part is that Charlie has no idea who the two men are or their close proximity to her. Because one is the hockey jock she loves to hate in one of her classes, and the other is her hot new project partner. And the boys have no idea either. So when they finally figure it out, fireworks!

I loved the banter and the dynamic between the three of them. Will is a politician’s son who bears the weight of his father’s high expectations. Beckett is the fun loving one who’s quick with a joke. And Charlie is their perfect fit. I simply loved the three of them together.

Considering that this is Elle’s first MFM, I was wondering how she’d pull it off and she did so seamlessly. The three of them just fit. While I do love me some Elle Kennedy steam, it did seem quite a bit here for the story and while I can’t say that it overpowered it, it did come close to being that at times. I really enjoyed the story but I did want a bit more from the end. I wanted to see more with Charlie and her family and a few other things that I found myself wishing were a a bit more fleshed out. However, it was still a fun and super steamy read that I enjoyed thoroughly and highly recommend for any hockey romance lovers.

Leave a Comment · Filed Under: All Reviews, Contemporary Romance, New Adult · Tagged With: , , , ,

Review: Save Your Breath by Kandi Steiner

March 7, 2025 by · Leave a Comment

SAVE YOUR BREATH
Series: Kings of the Ice #4
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Author: Kandi Steiner
Release Date: March 7, 2025

THIS JUST IN: HOCKEY BAD BOY AND POP STAR EXTRAORDINAIRE ENGAGED!
That was the headline we’d wanted. If only I’d known the cost to get it.

Aleksander Suter has been my best friend since high school—and the only man who’s ever been able to truly get under my skin. With his reputation for trouble and a smirk that could melt ice, he’s also the NHL’s favorite bad boy.

When my publicist’s plan to fix my image collides with his need to clean up his own, we find ourselves in a fake engagement that feels too real from the start.

Now, I’m releasing my new album, putting on a show for the paparazzi I usually try to dodge, and falling too fast for a man who never falls for anyone. Every stolen glance, every heated touch blurs the lines between us until I’m wondering where the lies end and the truth begins.

And when a hurricane traps us together in his high-rise condo, all my carefully built walls collapse, and resisting the pull between us becomes a losing game.

Suddenly, the stakes are higher than just headlines, and the risks feel more personal than ever.

But as our past resurfaces and old feelings reignite, I realize the biggest risk isn’t losing my career—it’s losing my heart to the one person I thought would never be mine.

AMAZON 

Because my best friend, the woman I’d been sick over since I was sixteen, the one woman I knew I could never truly have… She’d just proposed that we pretend to date each other. No, that we pretend to be engaged. And just the thought of her being mine, even if only for a publicity stunt, had my insides twisted into an unholy knot of anticipation.

This series just gets better and better, I swear! Because the level of obsession that I now have with Aleks is simply unrivaled. I mean, I knew I would love him already when he was a secondary character in Learn Your Lesson when he finally let Will see beneath that bad boy mask of his. But actually being inside his head? OHMYGOD.

I wanted her so badly, I’d risk being her mistake.

Aleks is the resident bad boy of NHL with a reputation that precedes him. But after one fight too many, he’s at a risk of losing it all.

Mia has been crushing on Aleks since they were in high school but never recovered from his rejection those years ago. She’s moved on, or at least she tried to. But when her ex from over a year ago is still determined to smear her in the media, she needs a PR plan. And who better to make the world think she moved on than the bad boy of NHL and her high school best friend? But when the chemistry between them is this incendiary, they can only “fake it” for so long.

It was surrender and assassination in tandem.
He wanted to ruin me. I was desperate to be ruined.

The way I loved these two, I can’t even tell you. I loved the raw vulnerability that both of them had with each other. Even if their lack of adult communication made me want to shake them at times, I also understood why they were they way they were. Aleks feelings like he’s not good enough for Mia and Mia still stinging from his rejection when she laid herself bare for him all those years ago. But when Aleks decides that he’s going to risk it all, he really goes all in, and oh my god I was so here for it.

You’re so full of yourself,” I said breathlessly, the bite of my rebuttal weak. “You’ll be full of me soon, too.”

It was a slow burn with sizzling chemistry and the type of friends to lovers that I will always devour. I loved everything about their story; their history, their connection, their emotion, and their chemistry.

If you love a hockey romance with a bad boy/good girl vibe, friends to lovers, and plenty go angst and feels, then you need this book on your TBR!

Leave a Comment · Filed Under: All Reviews, Contemporary Romance · Tagged With: , , ,

Review: Wild Side by Elsie Silver

March 4, 2025 by · Leave a Comment

WILD SIDE
Series: Rose Hill #3
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Author: Elsie Silver
Release Date: March 4, 2025

I’d always dreamed of my wedding day. But not like this. Not looking into the eyes of the man who betrayed me.

But when my nephew’s guardianship is contested, I decide I’ll do whatever it takes to keep him in Rose Hill. Even if it means marrying the enemy.  

Rhys Dupris.  

A man who is secretive, broody, and completely infuriating. A man whose work takes him away for weeks on end and brings him back covered in mysterious bruises—ones he won’t talk about. In fact, we barely talk at all. 

Which would be fine, except when he’s not talking, he’s staring. And the way he looks at me is borderline indecent. 

The tension between us has always been palpable. But living under the same roof is a dangerous temptation. 

I swore I would never forgive him. But that was before I knew the man behind the mask. The one who’s fierce and protective. The one who’s gentle and patient. The one who shows up for us when we need him most. 

He’s not at all who I thought he was.

And that makes hating my husband so much harder… and loving him just a little too easy.

AMAZON 

How fucked up do I have to be to get all horny over a man who is here to make my life miserable and looks at me like he wants to kill me?

I don’t know what sort of crack Elsie sprinkles into her books but I hope she never stops. Because I liked Wild Love, I loved Wild Eyes, but I fell head over heels for Wild Side.

I was already intrigued by Rhys as a secondary character in the previous books. The quiet and mysterious stranger who just has an electric presence. We know next to nothing about him and I for one was rabid for every morsel. And after the tease in Wild Eyes? I was feral for this book. FERAL.

Tabitha is an FMC that I was immediately connected with. There’s just something so raw and so real about her. After the tragic loss of her sister, he beloved nephew is all she has left of her memory. She loves the boy beyond reason and would do anything for him. And when she finds out that her sister left the guardianship of her nephew to her grumpy neighbor, she realizes that anything would also be a marriage in name only to ensure her nephew gets everything he needs. She knows next to nothing about Rhys, except that he broke his promise to her, he’s grumpy, and he has a mysterious job that no one knows about.

And Rhys? The level of obsession that I have with this man knows no bounds. The more you find out about him, the harder you fall. And when you realize the lengths he goes to in order to protect Tabby’s memory of her sister, I fell that much harder. He’s selfless and beneath that grumpy exterior is the mushy sweet center that you can’t get enough of.

I lived for their banter. Tabitha was such a ballbuster with Rhys, but he didn’t take any of it lying down. Their banter was full of tension and so much chemistry that I thought my kindly would combust.

I don’t know why you’re so obsessed with me being a porn star. If you want to see me fuck someone, the bathroom is right there. Drag me in there right now, and you can watch in the mirror while I bend you over.”

And did I mention their chemistry? Because OHMYGAWD

Rhys has always given off big dick energy. But I know now it’s not so much energy as big dick knowledge. Big dick surety? Big dick guarantee.

There was a delicious slow burn romance that was full of tension and so much emotion. When I tell you that I loved Rhys and Tabitha together, I mean I never wanted this book to end.

And when you find out what it is that Rhys does for a living? PERFECTION.

If you’re looking for an MMC that you will fall head over heels for, look no further. Because Rhys was everything and I mean EVERYTHING.

I wish you weren’t seeing me like this.”
My brow furrows. “Like what?”
“At my worst.”
I tip my head toward her. “Then it’s all uphill from here, baby. It’s going to make seeing you at your best so damn special.”

This series just continues to get better with each book and I absolutely cannot wait for the next installment.

If you’re looking for a small town romance with all the feels, plenty of spice, and characters that you simply won’t stop thinking about then look no further. This book was simply perfection.

Leave a Comment · Filed Under: All Reviews, Contemporary Romance · Tagged With: , , ,
Copyright © 2015 · Dirty Girl Romance

%d bloggers like this: