DGRFave & Review: For The Fans by Nyla K

FOR THE FANS
Genre: MM Romance
Author: Nyla K
Release Date:
February 23, 2023

Kyran Harbor is everything I’m not.

Rich. Popular. A superstar football player who’s awfully broody for someone who has it all. Basically, he’s a preppy jock who hates me. Oh, and he’s also my stepbrother.

That’s right. We’re stuck together, sharing a school, a house… A bathroom. Honestly, I wouldn’t care… If he wasn’t such an uptight control-freak who messes with me just because we’re different.

I had every intention of avoiding him when we got to college… Until abrupt misfortune forces us both into a compromising position.

Now the grouchy jerk I was hoping to evade might be the only person who can help me out of it.

Avi Vega is everything I despise.

A dreamer. A flake. An artist who smokes too much weed and thinks aliens exist. And by some sick cosmic joke, he’s now my stepbrother, following me on what should’ve been my escape plan.

It was already a disaster. Add a sudden financial disruption to the mix, and let’s just say my options are heavily limited.

If I want to stay an all-star quarterback on the way to the NFL, I’ll need to do something drastic. Unfortunately for me, and my desperate desire for control, the perpetually smiling stoner has a plan.

Maybe we can stop hating each other just enough to pull this off. As long as we remember we’re only doing it… for the fans.

** For The Fans is a full-length standalone MM forbidden romance with an HEA. This book contains sensitive subject matter that could make some readers uncomfortable. Please heed foreword warnings and proceed with caution.

AMAZON

This is for the fans, right?”
He nods again. “For the fans.”
Moaning softly, he whispers, “Suck on my ear.”
A slightly triumphant smirk tugs at my lips while I move them up to his ear. “Say please.”

I am shooketh! SHOOKETH! This was, hands down, my favorite Nyla K book to date. But it was so much more than that, too. It was emotionally charged, packed with feels, banter, and romance so sizzling it was incendiary. And easily one of my favorite enemies to lovers romances I’ve read. It was everything.

This always seems to happen to us. It’s like something about our molecules in close proximity melts hate into desire, and I just don’t get it. It makes no sense, but it feels good. And I hate that it does, because he’s such a raving jerk.

Kyran and Avi are as polar opposite as they get. Avi is the easy going stoner, who loves art and has no interest in most things school related. After losing his father at a young age, his mom became his best friend, and the relationship Avi had with his mom was easily one of my favorite things. Then Avi’s word gets turned upside down when he learns his mom is engaged and he’s going to have a stepbrother. Except the second they lay eyes on each other, the hate and animosity between them is instant.

Kyran is a typical jock. The popular kid, the people pleaser, the one with daddy issues that hide a dark pain. He’s a football star who is well on his way to his NFL dreams and his new stoner stepbrother is the last thing he needs, with his stupid backwards cap, ever present smirk, and irreverence.

They meet in high school but then fate puts them in the same college, still hating on each other. Until a family revelation leaves them reeling and desperate to make ends meet. And Avi decides to put his good looks and chemistry with his stepbrother to use on his OnlyFans.

Fuck, I don’t know what it is about his dominant side that destroys me so damn good. Maybe it’s because he’s not like that in regular life… So it’s like there’s a side of him that only I get to see. His regular cockiness is turned up to the max when we’re alone, and he becomes this demanding, growly, filthy-talking beast with a huge dick who orders me around. And something about it calls to my submissive side I never let out… For anyone but him.

I loved watching these two guys discovered themselves in their on way. Avi who embraces his bisexuality with the easy nature that he has, and Kyran who has a more troubled road to his own sexuality.

While Nyla knows how to write one heck of a sizzling love scene didn’t hold back on the emotion and boy did this story pack it. Kyran may be the football college superstar, but his wounds run deep. And the more you learn, the more your heart hurts for him. The more his animosity and hate to his stepbrother makes sense too.

Maybe the reason I’ve been fighting this so hard is because I knew it was inevitable… The chemistry of hate was never strong enough to overpower the hunger of want.

Yes this book is long. Like super long. Like crazy long. But there’s not one wasted page. I devoured this book and dreaded finishing it because I didn’t want to leave these two.

I fell so hard and fast for Kyran and Avi. There was something so vulnerable about Kyran beneath his typical jock persona. And the way Avi loves him and helps him melted my cold black heart. I swooned, I sweated, and I cried. I loved absolutely every single page of this book and cannot recommend it enough. And if Nyla doesn’t give us a book for Theo and the coach next, I will riot. That is all.

DGRFave & Review: Powerless by Elsie Silver

POWERLESS
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Chestnut Springs #3
Author: Elsie Silver
Release Date: February 10, 2023

Two childhood friends. Two broken hearts. One impromptu road trip to get away from everything. That’s all this was supposed to be. Afterall, I’ve been living in the friend zone for years now.

But hockey heartthrob Jasper Gervais isn’t looking at me like a friend anymore. And he isn’t touching me like one either.

To his fans, he’s the handsome, talented athlete on TV. But to me he’s still the lost boy with sad eyes and a heart of gold.

The man I’ve loved in secret for years.

So when my life falls apart on my wedding day, it only makes sense that he’s the one to swoop in and save me. And when his world comes crashing down around him, I’m there to return the favor.

But the more time we spend alone, the more Jasper doesn’t feel like a friend at all. He feels like everything I’ve ever wanted and thought I could never have.

Our feelings aren’t straight forward though. They twist and turn around the pain of his past and the reality of my present.

Jasper Gervais acts like he wants me.

But after years of turning me away, he’s going to need to prove it.

AMAZON

I can’t ever lose you,” he growls.
“You won’t,” I reply quietly, right as the tip of his nose traces the shell of my ear.
“I might.”
“Nev—” Before I can say never, he cuts me off with, “Because I think I’m about to fuck everything up between us.” And then he kisses me.

OHMYGAWD! The level of obsession I now have with this series known no bounds. NONE. Obsessed is an understatement.

Let me start off by saying I’m not really a friends to lovers girly. This trope has always been meh to me. Like I don’t gravitate to it but I will read it from select authors. But after Heartless, I knew that Elsie can write a grocery list and I’ll read it. And you know what? I think I’ve changed my mind on the friends to lovers trope. Because this book? It was EVERYTHING.

Jasper Gervais and I are friends. Good friends. He’s made that clear a couple times over now. And I’m not enough of a masochist to go for the hat trick.

I was already obsessed with Jasper before reading this book. But now? I bow down at his alter, because the man is a god. He’s everything I didn’t know I needed and I will never have enough. Jasper and Sloane (Sunny) have been friends since childhood. Jasper is the epitome of tortured, with his brooding and his troubled childhood. Sunny has always been his happy place (with his found family of course) but he never looked at her as more than a friend, while Sunny has been in love with him for most of her life. When Sunny finally has a wake up call about her douchebag of a fiancé and leaves him shortly before their wedding, Jasper is right there to help her escape. The escape leads to a journey neither of them expected.

Times have changed, Sloane. I’m not scared anymore. You’re not my fucking friend. You’re just mine.”

Sloane soon learns that she hasn’t been beyond his notice, he just hadn’t dared to really look. Never feeling good enough and he hides a secret of what made him back down. But when I tell you that this man is obsessed with Sunny, I mean you can see that the sun rises and sets with her for him.

But what I really loved about this is that Sunny doesn’t immediately jump for joy to have Jasper’s affections. She makes him work for it. And even though she accepted her douchebag ex’s treatment, she’s no pushover when it comes down to it.

They’ve always felt this way for me!” she explodes, arms flung wide, eyes shining with emotion. “And you’ve never noticed. But now you do? What am I supposed to do? Jump for joy and say thank you for blessing me with your interest?”

And when I tell you that still waters run deep with Jasper, I mean the man caught me completely by surprise. The mouth on him. And did I mention the intensity? Good lord!

I point at the floor beneath my feet and say, “Lose that fucking ring and crawl.”

Yeah. Uh huh. Exactly.

This book was everything. It was swoony, heartfelt, heart breaking, heart warming, and with enough steam to set your kindle on fire. These two were incendiary together and I couldn’t get enough. Their friendship, their bond, their love for each other was almost as amazing as their chemistry.

Jasper may have a dirty mouth but the man has a heart of gold. He loves and he loves hard and he would move mountains for Sloane. God but I melted for him. Goo. Pure goo I tell you.

And if you haven’t yet read this series, I simply cannot recommend it enough. Trust me. Do yourself a favor and read it!

Elsie Silver is a Canadian author of sassy, sexy, small town romance who loves a good book boyfriend and the strong heroines who bring them to their knees. She lives just outside of Vancouver, British Columbia with her husband, son, and three dogs and has been voraciously reading romance books since before she was probably supposed to.

She loves cooking and trying new foods, traveling, and spending time with her boys-especially outdoors. Elsie has also become a big fan of her quiet five am mornings, which is when most of her writing happens. It’s during this time that she can sip a cup of hot coffee and dream up a fictional world full of romantic stories to share with her readers.


Connect with Elsie

Website | www.elsiesilver.com
Goodreads | https://bit.ly/3WSjFlR
Amazon | https://amzn.to/3BR6HwY
Facebook | https://bit.ly/3YIJwia
Facebook Group | https://bit.ly/3YJuOYk
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TikTok | https://bit.ly/3VifDCH
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Bookbub | https://bit.ly/3jnBTh9
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Newsletter | https://bit.ly/3BU0sbN

 

#DGRFave & Review: Happenstance by Tessa Bailey

HAPPENSTANCE
Genre: Contemporary, Why Choose Romance
Author: Tessa Bailey
Release Date:
November 7, 2022

From #1 New York Times bestselling author of It Happened One Summer comes a romantic comedy about an accidental relationship between three smitten men…and one commitment phobic woman.

Elise Brandeis has never won a Pulitzer—and she never will. At least not while she’s delivering sandwiches at the Gotham Times, instead of working there as an actual reporter. Her only shot at seeing her byline in print is to prove to the no nonsense managing editor that she has a nose for news. And she’s got just the story to grab her elusive attention.

Right after she delivers this turkey on ciabatta.

Chasing down leads brings Elise to Roosevelt Island, but just when the trail of clues begins to take shape, she gets stuck. Literally. On a cable car with three strangers who couldn’t be more different. An uptight rugby coach, a construction worker and a former adult film star she pretends not to recognize a little too well.

At first, Elise wants nothing more than to be rescued ASAP.

An hour later, everything has changed. By pure happenstance, four separate journeys have collided in an intense, meaningful way. Suddenly, disentangling their lives feels more impossible than winning that Pulitzer. Good thing Elise is too busy proving herself at work to consider three boyfriends. Nobody has time for that—even if they make giving in feel oh so right. But three heads are better than one and these loners will teach themselves to work together to win Elise over forever…

And more importantly, keep their dirty socks off her floor.

AMAZON | KOBO | IBOOKS | B&N 

“Just a brief rundown. You’ve come here to ask for a foursome.” I look each of them in the eye. “In broad daylight. Stone cold sober.” They trade glances and nod.

This cover is the Trojan horse of smut. You look at it and think, oh look, a cute little rom com. Or you would, if Tessa Bailey didn’t write it. But she did. And the woman is the queen of dirty talk for a reason. But this book? Oh this one may be her hottest yet. And having read her entire backlist, that’s saying something.

“You’re staring, love,” taunts the British man.

He’s right. I’ve been staring at him in the glass reflection. Because there is something familiar about him. Something I can’t quite put my finger on. Did he bartend at that hotel where I trained as a concierge three years ago before getting bored and throwing myself into the natural deodorant space? No, that’s not it. Where do I know him from?

“Porn,” he says from his elegant lean against the interior wall of the tram. “You know me from pornography, darling,” he drawls, his mouth spreading into a grin. “The good shit.”

Happenstance was the most fun I’ve had reading in book, like ever. It had everything you could possibly want; laugh till you cry humor, amazing characters, romance hot enough to singe your fingers when you turn each page, and a story fun and gripping enough to keep you glued to the pages from beginning to finish.

“My God,” Tobias says on an exhale, his hair in disarray. “I’ve seen it all, but I’ve never seen anything like you.”

We have Elise, a commitment phobic heroine who becomes the sheer obsession of not one, not two, but three men. And each of them was EVERYTHING.

We have Tobias, the British porn star who hides his pain be behind smarmy sexual jokes. Gabe, the sweet cinnamon roll construction worker who is obsessed with Elise from first sight and with debilitating confidence issues from his previous marriage. And Banks, the quiet and intense rugby star turned locally famous rugby coach with mommy issues.

“Gabe makes me wish for lazy Sunday mornings in bed with coffee and the smell of cinnamon in the kitchen. Sweet. Tobias is Saturday night. Strobe lights and moaning and…that tipsy feeling, like if you have one more drink, you’ll be sorry.” “And me?” “You are…” I swallow. Being open and honest to someone about how I feel on the inside is harder than I remember. I’ve been out of practice so long. “You’re real life. The place where I’m in my pattern and feel safe. You’re not a detour, you’re a path forward.”

I went through a ringer of emotion reading this star of a book; I laughed, I swooned, I squirmed uncomfortably, I simply devoured it.

The pacing, the humor, the romance, the character development, all of it was utter perfection. It was one of those reads where you can just shut your brain off and enjoy something that just absorbs you completely. And no one delivers that better than Tessa Bailey.

If you’re looking for sizzling hot romance with three men and one woman who they are utterly obsessed with but still packs humor and even a splash of suspense, you need this book in your life.

These men are desperate to praise me. And I let them, because my heart demands it.

#DGRFave & Review: The Mindf*ck Series by S.T. Abby

THE MINDF*CK SERIES
Series:
The Minds*ck Series (entire collection)
Genre: Dark, Romantic Suspense
Author: S.T. Abby
Release Date: November 29, 2016

They took too much.
Left too little.
I had nothing to lose…until him.
*****************
~Lana~
I didn’t expect him.
I didn’t want to fall in love.
But I can’t let him go.
Logan Bennett makes the world a safer place.
He’s brilliant.
He’s a hero.
He locks away the sick and depraved.
But while he’s saving lives, I’m taking them. Collecting the debts that are owed to me.
Ten years ago, they took from me. They left me for dead.
They should have made sure I stayed dead.
Now I’m taking from them.
One name at a time.
I’ve trained for too long.
I’ve been patient.
I can’t stop now.
Revenge is best served cold…
They never see me coming, until I paint their walls red.
Logan doesn’t know how they hurt me. He doesn’t know about the screams they ignored. He doesn’t know how twisted that town really is.
He just knows people are dying.
He doesn’t know he’s in love with their killer.
No one suspects a dead girl.
And Logan doesn’t suspect the girl in his bed.
They’re looking for a monster.
Not a girl who loves red.
Not a girl in love.
I’m a faceless nightmare.
At least until I tell them the story they’ve pretended never happened.
But in the end, will Logan choose them? Or will we watch them burn together?
**Graphic
**Adult language
**Some triggers could be too much for the easily disturbed reader
**Sexual content
**Fucked up moral compass; read at your own risk.

AMAZON

It’s all cloak and dagger right now. That’s what happens when you’re a serial killer dating a FBI profiler who hunts serial killers.

Have you ever had someone recommend a book to you and think, there’s no way this is as good as they say it is? No? Just me, then? Because I wear the cone of shame for letting the covers to these books sway me for entirely too long. Considering how much hype this story gets, you’d think that may sway me? But nope. I’m leery of surer popular books because I’m so tired of them not living up to their promise for me. But after losing the entirety of my day to binge reading this entire series in a day, I will tell you that I’m not seriously kicking my own ass for not believing what everyone was trying to beat me over the head with. This book doesn’t just live up to the hype, it blows it out of the water.

There’s a certain high you get from fooling the world into thinking you’re the lamb instead of the rabid wolf.

First of all, if you look at my shelf, you’ll see I’ve read a lot of romance, and dark is where it’s at for me. So please take that into consideration when I tell you that Lana Myers is easily my favorite FMC I have read. Ever. Period. No competition.

I’m a 5’4 package of vengeance that no one sees coming.

I was completely sucked into this story from the very first chapter. And after I finished the first book?

Oh.
My
GOD
Are you kidding me?

A female serial killer with a vendetta she’s plotted for years falls for an FBI profiler who hunts serial killers and is actively investigating her victims? Yes, please, and thank you. This is like the sexy love child of Criminal Minds and Dexter and I was so here for it, it physically hurt to put the book down for anything. Like I will now refer to things as life before Minfuck and Life After Mindfuck, because this story changed me. I don’t think I’ll stop thinking about it for years to come.

It’s one thing for the burn the world down if you hurt her trope, but when it’s reversed and she’ll burn the world down for him? GAH. And don’t get me wrong, Logan is no beta. This is a man who crackles with intense energy himself. But what made this book for me is not even the romance, which was absolutely epic. No. It was the actual plot. The mystery of Lana’s past that slowly gets unraveled with each book. The flashbacks of a night ten years ago that unequivocally changed the entire course of her life. And with every new kill she makes, more of those details become unraveled to paint a grizzly tale that’s full of corruption, evil, and revenge.

This is not your typical morally gray character. Lana is not an anti-heroine in my opinion. This is a woman who takes justice into her own hands knowing that the legal system won’t. And she’s who I want to be when I grow up. *dreamy sigh*

But I digress. I can talk about the brilliance of the plotting, the story telling, the clues hidden in plain sight, and the clues that get unveiled in time. I can talk about the incredible romance. I can talk about the friendship between Lana and Jake and all the amazing secondary characters like Hadley and Leonard, but I won’t. You need to discover it for yourself.

So if you’re an idiot who like me left this book skate right under your radar, get your life together immediately and read it. You can thank me after.

Review: Misfit by Elle Kennedy

MISFIT
Series: Prep #1
Genre: New Adult Romance
Author: Elle Kennedy
Release Date:
July 26, 2022

Welcome to Sandover Prep, where the delinquents roam…and you can’t trust a soul.

Finding out your mom is marrying some rich dude you’ve never met is enough to make any eighteen-year-old guy’s head spin. But for RJ SHAW, it only gets worse: he’s being sent to Sandover Prep for senior year. If there’s one place a misfit hacker like RJ doesn’t belong, it’s an ivy-covered all-boys boarding school for rich delinquents.

RJ knows his stay at Sandover will be temporary. Which means there’s no point making friends or trying to fit in. But the plan to remain antisocial goes awry when he meets a gorgeous girl in the woods on campus. SLOANE TRESSCOTT is pure temptation, with a sharp tongue and an ice princess attitude RJ’s determined to crack. Except there’s a catch. Sloane is the one girl he is forbidden from touching.

The headmaster’s daughter.

Good thing RJ doesn’t believe in rules. Sure, Sloane insists she’s swearing off guys this year, but their connection is impossible to deny. He wants her bad, and he’s going to win her over if it kills him.

Unless her ex-boyfriend kills him first.

The ruling king of Sandover will stop at nothing to get rid of his competition. Luckily, RJ’s unwittingly made some friends—his new stepbrother FENN, a pretty boy with a self-destructive streak; LAWSON, self-proclaimed agent of chaos; and SILAS, the All-American Good Guy who can’t actually be as nice as he seems.

If RJ wants to survive prep school and win Sloane’s heart, he’ll need to adapt—and fast.

AMAZON

What,” I say innocently, “you’re not confident about your dick game? Pity”
RJ’s gaze transforms from hot to molten. “Sweetheart, my dick is always the most confident motherfucker in the room.”

Having read and obsessed over Paper Princess, when I tell you I may have peed a little in excitement when Elle Kennedy announced this new series may be an understatement. There’s just something about rich kid drama that takes me back to my obsession roots of Cruel Intentions, Gossip Girl, and 90210. This book was like a mashup of all of them and I was HOOKED.

It’s been a long time since I read a book that hooked me so thoroughly within the first few pages. But not only did this book hook me, it kept me glued to the pages until the very end.

Now usually I’m not a fan of the multiple POVs in romance books. And most books I’ve read that had this lost the romance along the way. The multiple character POVs got confusing and watered down the plot. This was definitely not the case here. If anything, the additional character POVs enriched and added to the plot to make it all the more delicious. Particularly the hedonistic Lawson with his evil intentions. God, I can’t wait until his book. But I digress.

While it sounds cliche, outcast loner meets the headmaster’s daughter, forbidden romance thing. This book was anything but. RJ and Sloane were such charismatic personalities that I couldn’t get enough. I love reading about females in NA romance that own who they are and they’re also not shy virgins. I seriously loved how confident Sloane is with her sexuality and appeal to men. She knows she’s attractive and she makes RJ work for it. And god did I love how he chased her.

RJ’s flighty mother marries a rich guy and suddenly he’s immersed in an entirely different world of prep school, private schools, and a new step brother. A loner by his own admission, RJ doesn’t like to form ties because he knows it won’t last. After all, the guy has switched schools 5 times in the last 3 years due to his mother’s moving around. He’s a rebel without a cause and I fell head over heels for him immediately.

We get introduce to the cast of enigmatic characters like his step brother Fenn, his friends Lawson and Silas. As well as Sloane and her sister Casey. Did I also get intrigued by Sloane’s douchey ex, Duke? Yes, yes I did. But that’s a discussion for another day.

Misfit was a finger licking mix of drama and romance and man was I here for all of it. If this book is any indication we’re in for a heck of a ride with this series, and I can’t wait for more. We get Fenn’s story next and after the jaw dropper of an ending to hook his book, I’m absolutely dying for it. This is a full standalone romance with what shows to be a continuing story arc that will go into the next book. I’m totally and completely hooked!

#DGRFave & Review: Brutal Vows by J.T. Geissinger

BRUTAL VOWS
Series: Queens & Monsters #4
Genre: Mafia Romance
Author: J.T. Geissinger
Release Date: April 28, 2022

An Irish mobster with a brutal grudge.
An Italian mafia princess with a dark secret.
Two enemy empires joined in sacred marriage vows.
Let the hating games begin.


Reyna

If this arrogant Irish mobster my brother sold my niece to thinks I’m going to play nice over this arranged marriage BS, he should think again.
I don’t care if this match with the Mob will make my brother capo of the Five Families.
I don’t care how much money, territory, or power it will gain us.
I especially don’t care that the Irishman is the sexiest man I’ve ever seen.
I won’t allow my innocent niece to suffer the same way I did.
Even if I have to kill him.

Spider

I’m supposed to marry sweet, beautiful Lili. So why can’t I stop thinking about her swamp witch of an aunt?
Reyna who hates me. Reyna who challenges me. Reyna with the guts of a Viking, the body of a fertility goddess, and the attitude of a feral cat.
Nothing good can come of what I’m feeling for a woman who’s not the one in the wedding contract I signed.
A woman I want so much, I’ll have to burn the whole world down to get.
If she doesn’t kill me first.

AMAZON

He’s a riptide and I’m swimming far out in dangerous waters, getting pulled under fast no matter how hard I fight to stay afloat.

This book was hands down. MY. TOP. FAVORITE. IN. THIS. SERIES. And quite frankly one of my top reads of the year. OMG. This banter. It was finger licking good! UTTERLY DELICIOUS!

She glares at me. “Your charm could sweep a girl right off her feet, you know that?”
“Wait till you see my cock. Then you’ll really be swooning.”

Did I mention the banter?

Careful. You’re dangerously close to breaking your promise about your temper already.”
“That’s because you could turn Father Christmas into the Grinch, woman.”
“What did I tell you about using the word ‘woman’ as a pejorative?”
“Something I couldn’t hear over how loud your resting bitch face was screaming.”

Because oh my GAWD the banter!

His voice low, he says, “I’ve been thinking.” “Really? Did you borrow someone else’s brain?” “Very funny, viper.”

Who would have thought that a man who was mostly unassuming until Savage Hearts would come in to steel the show like this? And here I thought no one could top Declan for me!

But you know what I love the most about this series? The sassy, spitfire heroines. And Reyna? How could one possibly top the sassy that was Sloane? With the black freaking widow! MY GOD. This woman was everything. A cosa nostra widow, who holds down the family while making her brother think she does. The woman who lived through hell and rose out of the ashes a fierce warrior who has no desire to rely on a man, god forbid ever marry one. So when her beloved niece gets arranged to wed a Irishman, she has some opinions about it. And the immediate chemistry between her and the man her niece is betrothed to? Highly inconvenient.

You bring out the bastard in me. Now let’s see if I can get you to do something with that mouth other than slice me to ribbons.”

I had no idea how the author would bring these two together, but it was the most satisfying thing I’ve ever read. Their chemistry, their banter, their BANTER. MY GOD THEIR BANTER. I lived for it.

THIS is the kind of heroine I love to read about. A woman with a set of brass ones that gives men a run for their money. And a hero who would burn down the world for her. I. AM. OBSESSED.

If you haven’t read this series, you haven’t lived. And if you haven’t read this book, I don’t even want to talk to you. I question your life choices.

DGRFave & Review: Hunting Adeline by HD Carlton

HUNTING ADELINE
Series:
Cat and Mouse Duet #2
Genre: Dark Romance
Author: H.D. Carlton
Release Date:
January 28, 2022

The final installment to the Cat and Mouse Duet…

The Diamond

Death walks alongside me,
But the reaper is no match for me.
I’m trapped in a world full of monsters dressed as men, and those who aren’t as they seem.
They won’t keep me forever.
I no longer recognize the person I’ve become,
And I’m fighting to find my way back to the beast who hunts me in the night.
They call me a diamond,
But they’ve only created an angel of death.

The Hunter

I was born a predator,
With ruthlessness ingrained in my bones.
When what’s mine is stolen from me in the night,
Like a diamond hidden within a fortress,
I find that I can no longer contain the beast.
Blood will paint the ground as I tear apart this world to find her.
And bring her back to where she belongs.
No one will escape my wrath,
Especially not those who have betrayed me.

Warning: This is the second and final installment to the Duet. You must read Haunting Adeline first.

AMAZON  

I may own every breath in your body, but make no mistake, Adeline, you own mine, too. I am yours to command. To bend and break. To mold and manipulate. Do you think that makes me weak? Or do you think I’m strong enough to admit that even though my body can physically live on without you, I would never get my fucking soul back?”

It’s a rare occasion that I get to say this, but I loved this book even more than the first. And considering I 5 star loved the first book, that’s really saying something. For the hours that it took me to devour this book, it owned me. Fully and completely. And when I finished, I simply didn’t know what to do with myself. How do you even move on from this? How, I ask you?!

You’ve never been a good man,” I whisper, reiterating the exact words he’s told me so many times before. “No,” he agrees. “But I have always been yours.”

While I found Haunting Adeline to be more gray than dark, this book made me eat my words. This was dark. Like the very pits of hell dark. Like sick to my stomach, goose bumps, fist in my throat sort of dark. It was pitch fucking black, okay? And holy shit, did I love it!

We’re all fucking damned anyway, forced to live outside of heaven’s gates. I find I like it better living in the darkness next to my shadow.

Am I going to tell you anything about this book that you can’t get from the blurb? Absolutely not. You want to go into this blind. Trust me. But be prepared for one rollercoaster of emotion, because this story puts you through the ringer and then some.

This story was truly the evolution of Adeline. It’s one thing to deal with her obsessed stalker. But when she gets thrown into the pits of hell with true monsters, it’s the true test of her sanity and strength. And this woman has strength. One thing I’ll say is that I loved that Carlton didn’t shy away from the details. She didn’t graze over the difficult things, and go from one extreme to the other. You get to see and experience it all. But what I loved the most, is the aftermath. This isn’t glazed over as it can be in some dark romance. You get to experience all of it with Adeline, the ups and the downs, the painful and gut wrenching. All of it.

Heaven isn’t a place you go to when you die, it’s inside the person that’s worth dying for.

Zade is just as captivating and intense as ever. I fell even harder for this man here. This is the man that will happily walk into hell for his woman, and take on the devil himself. Some may even argue that Zade is the devil, and I loved that about him. This is a man with many layers. He’s firmly rooted in the gray, because while he has a good cause, he’s not a good man by any means. This is a man that does bad things for a good reason, but never loses any of his intensity.

Jesus,” I breathe.
He smirks…“He’s not the one you should be praying to,” he murmurs darkly, sending shivers rolling down my spine. “Only I will be your salvation.”

Now let’s also talk about the secondary characters because OH MY GOD. I’ve always been intrigued by Sibby, and I think that’s now turned into a full obsession. But we get additional secondary characters like a particularly bad man, and some brothers, that I’m desperate for a story for. I won’t tell you the names, because I don’t want to spoiler anything, but GOD. I’m desperate for a certain someone’s book. Talk about your broken men that do bad things for a good reason. I will sell my soul for his story. *desperate sob*

If you’ve been as eagerly anticipating this conclusion as I have, it is worth every painful second of the wait. HD Carlton knocked it out of the park with this book, and I am fully obsessed!


#DGRFave & Review: The Savage And The Swan by Ella Fields

THE SAVAGE AND THE SWAN
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Author: Ella Fields
Release Date: July 14, 2021

The king of wolves was more beast than man, more tyrant than king, and so much more than he seemed.
Raised to avenge his murdered parents, he’d been trained and conditioned until nothing but violence and hatred lined the walls of his dead heart.

For nearly four years, I’d done all I could to help my kingdom as we faced the wolf king’s unconquerable evil—hardly anything at all.
As the only heir to the Gracewood line, I’d been relegated to menial tasks that would keep me and my secrets safe.

A chance to do more than fret behind our castle walls arrived when I breached them after overhearing my parents’ plans for my future. Fleeing, I unknowingly raced into a fate we’d all desperately hoped to avoid.

By the time I saw him coming, it was far too late. For my family. For my kingdom.
For my heart.
Before I could staunch the bleeding, the king had me under his giant paw, and one wrong move after another caused those razor-sharp claws to sink deeper and deeper beneath my bruised skin.

I might have been trapped, naïve, and furious, but I still had a kingdom to save—and a plan.
 Yet when we collided, the bloodshed, the fear, his atrocities… all of it dissolved like stardust upon the night sea.

The stars had mapped out our destiny, but it didn’t matter what they or my heart wanted.
 I refused to see the enigmatic male, the heartless lost boy with a soul beneath the flesh of a monster.
The savage king who’d destroyed everything I loved would fall—even if my heart fell with him.

Inspired by Hades and Persephone, Rumpelstiltskin, and The Swan Princess, The Savage and the Swan is not connected to any other Ella Fields novel. It’s a full-length standalone romantic fantasy containing mature content.

AMAZON

I loathed her and all she stood for. I loathed her nearly as much as I wanted her. I’d been cursed. I was sure of it. The bird was both my remedy and my affliction.

*deep breaths*

Ok, ok, give me a second to gather my wits here.
*hyperventilates*

So I… no that’s not it.
This book was… no that’s not right.

*takes calming breath*

ILOVEDTHISFREAKINGBOOKSOMUCHICANTEVENDEALRIGHTNOW

Ah. I feel better now. So where were we?

It’s been a hot minute since I read a fantasy romance, and I’m not even sure why. I love PNR so of course I’d love fantasy, but I just haven’t come across anything that piqued my interest lately in the genre. Until I read the blurb for this book….

And then I may have begged, pleaded, and offered an ovary in exchange for an ARC. What? Don’t you judge me. Have you read that blurb? I mean C’MON!

Don’t you have innocent people to slaughter?” My cheeks burned, and I refused to meet his eyes, choosing instead to stare at his throat. The fine hairs that dusted it, crawling up and over that fiercely hewn chin.
“I’ve already crossed that off my to-do list,” he stated with such irritating indifference that I wished I had hit him with the poor books.

There is only one word to describe the experience that was this book. EPIC. The story developed behind my eyes like a movie reel and the majestic and rich world building sucked me right into an obsession.

The second I read that it was inspired by Hades and Persephone, Rumpelstiltskin, and The Swan Princess, I had to read it. Because I love all things Hades and Persephone, The Swan Princess is one of my favorite cartoons, and rumpelstistskin? Well I was simply rabid with curiosity on how that even fit in here.

Now imagine a world where two kingdoms are engaged in a bloody battle for years. A fae land where the beautiful princess has to marry a human prince in order to gain protection from the savage king of wolves, only to fall right into his clutches. Sound delicious? Well, that’s because it is.

If there’s one thing that I love, it’s a fierce heroine. And Opal? She was all of the things. She was fierce, brave, and one of my favorite heroines I’ve read in a while. And our wolfish king? OH MY OVARIES. The man was to die for. Pun intended. He’s a man who’s been honed into a finely tuned weapon for revenge. He’s vicious, cold hearted, and feared by all. The enemies to lovers vibe in this story was ON POINT. I couldn’t get enough of the tension between the two of them. And if there’s one thing that Ella does is deliver on that delicious angst with the feels thrown in and I was so here for it.

This is seriously going right up there in my top reads of 2021. I simply loved everything about this story. I devoured it. I was obsessed. I was riveted. Captivated. Hypnotized. I never wanted it to end. Ella seriously hit it right out of the ballpark with this book and I simply cannot recommend it enough. It was magical. It was deliciously, finger licking good. IT WAS EPIC.

#DGRFave Review & Excerpt: It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey

IT HAPPENED ONE SUMMER
Series: It Happened One Summer #1
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Author: Tessa Bailey
Release Date: July 13, 2021

Tessa Bailey is back with a Schitt’s Creek-inspired rom-com about a Hollywood “It Girl” who is cut off from her wealthy family and exiled to a small Pacific Northwest beach town… where she butts heads with a surly, sexy local who thinks she doesn’t belong. 

Piper Bellinger is fashionable, influential, and her reputation as a wild child means the paparazzi are constantly on her heels. When too much champagne and an out-of-control rooftop party lands Piper in the slammer, her stepfather decides enough is enough. So he cuts her off, and sends Piper and her sister to learn some responsibility running their late father’s dive bar… in Washington.

Piper hasn’t even been in Westport for five minutes when she meets big, bearded sea captain Brendan, who thinks she won’t last a week outside of Beverly Hills. So what if Piper can’t do math, and the idea of sleeping in a shabby apartment with bunk beds gives her hives. How bad could it really be? She’s determined to show her stepfather—and the hot, grumpy local—that she’s more than a pretty face.

Except it’s a small town and everywhere she turns, she bumps into Brendan. The fun-loving socialite and the gruff fisherman are polar opposites, but there’s an undeniable attraction simmering between them. Piper doesn’t want any distractions, especially feelings for a man who sails off into the sunset for weeks at a time. Yet as she reconnects with her past and begins to feel at home in Westport, Piper starts to wonder if the cold, glamorous life she knew is what she truly wants. LA is calling her name, but Brendan—and this town full of memories—may have already caught her heart.

AMAZON

Brendan Taggart was the first Westport resident to spot the women.He heard a car door slam out by the curb and slowly turned on the barrel that passed as a seat in No Name. His bottle of beer paused halfway to his mouth, the loud storytelling and music filling the bar fading away.

Through the grubby window, Brendan watched the pair exit on opposite sides of a taxi and immediately wrote them off as clueless tourists who obviously had the wrong address.

That is, until they started hauling suitcases out of the trunk. Seven, to be exact.

He grunted. Sipped his beer.

They were a ways off the beaten path. There wasn’t an inn for several blocks. On top of misjudging their destination, they were dressed for the beach at night, during a late-summer rain, no umbrella to speak of—and visibly confounded by their surroundings.

It was the one in the floppy hat who caught his eye right away, purely because she looked the most ridiculous, a lipstick-shaped purse dangling from her forearm, wrists limp and drawn up to her shoulders, as if she was afraid to touch something. She tilted her head back and gazed up at the building and laughed. And that laugh turned into what looked like a sob, though he couldn’t hear it through the music and pane of glass.

As soon as Brendan noticed the way the rain was molding the dress to Floppy Hat’s tits, he glanced away quickly, going back to what he’d been doing before. Pretending to be interested in Randy’s overboard story, even though he’d heard it eighty goddamn times.

“The sea was boiling that day,” Randy said, in a voice equivalent to scrap metal being crushed. “We’d already hit our quota and then some, thanks to the captain over here.” He saluted Brendan with his frothy pint. “And there I was, on a deck slipperier than a duck’s ass, picturing the bathtub full of cash I’d be swimming in when we got home. We’re hauling in the final pot, and there it was, the biggest crab in the damn sea, the motherfucking grandpappy of all crabs, and he tells me with his beady little eyes that he ain’t going down without a fight. Noooo, sir.”

Randy propped a leg up on the stool he’d been sitting on earlier, his craggy features arranged for maximum drama. He’d been working on Brendan’s boat longer than Brendan had been captaining it. Had seen more seasons than most of the crew combined. At the end of each one, he threw himself a retirement party. And then he showed up for the next season like clockwork, having spent every last dime of last year’s take.

“When I tell you that sucker wrapped a leg around the arm of my slicker, right through the pot, the mesh, all of it, I’m not lying. He was hell-bent for leather. Time froze, ladies and gentlemen. The captain is yelling at me to haul in the pot, but hear me now, I was bamboozled. That crab put a spell on me—I’m telling you. And that’s when the wave hit, conjured by the crab himself. Nobody saw it coming, and just like that, I was tossed into the drink.”

The man who was like a grandfather to Brendan took a pause to drain half his beer.

“When they pulled me in . . .” He exhaled. “That crab was nowhere to be found.”

The two people in the crowded bar who hadn’t already heard the legend laughed and applauded—and that was the moment Floppy Hat and the other one decided to make their entrance. Within seconds, it was quiet enough to hear a pin drop, and that didn’t surprise Brendan one bit. Westport was a tourist stop to be sure, but they didn’t get a lot of outsiders stumbling into No Name. It was an establishment that couldn’t be found on Yelp.

Mainly because it was illegal.

But it wasn’t only the shock of non-locals walking in and disrupting their Sunday-night bullshit session. No, it was the way they looked. Especially Floppy Hat, who walked in first, hitting the easy energy of the room with shock paddles. In her short, loose dress and sandals that wrapped around her calves, she could have stepped out of the pages of a fashion magazine for all those . . . tight lines and smooth curves.

Brendan could be objective about that.

His brain could point out an attractive woman without him caring one way or the other.

He set his beer down on the windowsill and crossed his arms, feeling a flash of annoyance at everyone’s stupefied expressions. Randy had rolled out the red carpet in the form of his tongue lolling out of his mouth, and the rest of the men were mentally preparing marriage proposals, by the look of it.

“Little help with the luggage, Pipes?” called the second girl from the entrance, where she’d propped open the door with a hip, struggling under the weight of a suitcase.

“Oh!” Floppy Hat whirled around, pink climbing the sides of her face—and hell, that was some face. No denying it, now that there wasn’t a dirty windowpane distorting it. Those were the kind of baby blues that made men sign their life away, to say nothing of that wide, stubborn upper lip. The combination rendered her guileless and seductive at the same time, and that was trouble Brendan wanted no part of. “Sorry, Hanns.” She winced. “I’ll go get the rest—”

“I’ll get them,” at least nine men said at once, tripping over themselves to reach the door. One of them took the suitcase from Floppy Hat’s companion, while several others lunged into the rain, getting stuck side by side in the doorway. Half of those jackasses were on Brendan’s crew, and he almost disowned them right then and there. 

Within seconds—although not without some familiar bickering—all seven suitcases were piled in the middle of the bar, everyone standing around them expectantly. “What gentlemen! So polite and welcoming,” Floppy Hat crooned, hugging her bizarre handbag to her chest. “Thank you!”

“Yes, thanks,” said the second girl quietly, drying the rain off her face with the sleeve of a UCLA sweatshirt. Los Angeles. Of course. “Uh, Pipes?” She turned in a circle, taking in their surroundings. “Are you sure this is the right place?”

In response to her friend’s question, she seemed to notice where she was standing for the first time. Those eyes grew even bigger as she catalogued the interior of No Name and the people occupying it. Brendan knew what she was seeing, and already he resented the way she recoiled at the dust on the mismatched seats, the broken floorboards, the ancient fishing nets hanging from the rafters. The disappointment in the downturned corners of her mouth spoke volumes. Not good enough for you, baby? There’s the door.

With prim movements, Pipes—keeper of ridiculous names and purses—snapped the handbag open and drew out a jewel-crusted phone, tapping the screen with a square red nail. “Is this . . . sixty-two North Forrest Street?”

A chorus of yeses greeted the strangled question.

“Then . . .” She turned to her friend, chest expanding on quick breaths. “Yes.”

“Oh,” responded UCLA, before she cleared her throat, pasting a tense smile on a face that was pretty in a much subtler way than Pipes’s. “Um . . . sorry about the awkward entrance. We didn’t know anyone was going to be here.” She shifted her weight in boots that wouldn’t be good for anything but sitting down. “I’m Hannah Bellinger. This is my sister, Piper.”

Piper. Not Pipes.

Not that it was much of an improvement.

The floppy hat came off, and Piper shook out her hair, as if they were in the middle of a photo shoot. She gave everyone a sheepish smile. “We own this place. Isn’t that crazy?”

If Brendan thought their entrance had produced silence, it was nothing compared to this.

Owned this place?

From IT HAPPENED ONE SUMMER by Tessa Bailey, published by Avon Books. Copyright © 2021 by Tessa Bailey. Reprinted courtesy of HarperCollinsPublishers.

He was a set-in-his-ways fisherman. She was a rich, adventurous socialite.

Y’all. I’m going to make a pretty extreme statement here and you may want to sit down for it. But this? This was, hands down, my favorite Tessa Bailey book to date. I’m on bookish cloud nine. I felt like I was floating just reading it. And the goofy grin on my face for the entire book? Couldn’t help it! I’m in love and his name is Brendan Taggart.
This book had everything; humor, steam, a slow burn, a small town setting, a quirky socialite, and a grumpy bear…err…fisherman.

It won’t let me just use my own name as my username.”
“Yeah, probably because about nine hundred Brendan Taggarts joined before you.”
“So what should I use?”
“CaptainCutie69,” Fox spat out.
“IGotCrabs4U,” Deke supplied.
“SlipperyWhenWet.” Brendan stared.
“You’re all fired. Go home.”

This story reminded me a little of It Had to Be You but in a totally unique way. Maybe it was just the feels that it brought out, but man, I just died.

Piper is a type of heroine that could easily be seen as a fluff, unless Tessa writes her. She’s a spoiled socialite who has never known hard work or trouble beyond no good parties around on the weekend. So when her stepfather finally has enough of her antics and inability to take anything serious, her and her sister find themselves in a small town running their late fathers dive bar in the middle of a fishing town. Suffice it to say they’re ill equipped for the task, but in the most hilarious of ways.

Piper followed, looking down at him from the top of the stairs. “Are we friends, Brendan?”
“No,” he called back, without missing a beat.
Her mouth hung open, a laugh huffing out of her as she closed the door. Hannah sat up and asked, “What the hell is going on there?”
Slowly, she shook her head. “I have no freaking idea.”

No one has ran the bar for years since the passing of their father. And the town just kind of took it as their own. So when Brendan meets who he assumes is an air headed socialite, suffice it to say they get off on the right foot. Add into the fact that no one knew of the long lost daughters and they do anything but fit in with the locals and well, it’s a catastrophe waiting to happen. But god was it good!

The slow burn of this romance was EVERYTHING. And I really mean everything. I loved watching Piper grow into her own and I loved watching Brendan fall for her. She was such a sweet, quirky, and endearing character. And the grumpy and broody fisherman captain? I LIVED FOR HIM.

Going to fuck the word ‘friend’ right out of your beautiful mouth. You’ll forget how to say anything but my name. Real quick, honey.”

I loved this book beyond words and beyond reason. It was funny, swoony, and with a sizzle of Tessa’s signature dirty talk and I was so here for it. If there’s one book you add to your TBR this summer, make it this one. The perfect beach read is here and I can’t recommend it enough. Now if Tessa can just write Hannah and Fox’s book faster because the level of need that I have for that one is UNREASONABLE.

 

Review: Lessons In Sin by Pam Godwin

LESSONS IN SIN
Genre: Taboo, Forbidden Romance
Author: Pam Godwin
Release Date: June 29, 2021

There’s no absolution for the things I’ve done.

But I found a way to control my impulses.

I became a priest.

As Father Magnus Falke, I suppress my cravings. As the headteacher of a Catholic boarding school, I’m never tempted by a student.

Until Tinsley Constantine.

The bratty princess challenges my rules and awakens my dark nature.

With each punishment I lash upon her, I want more. In my classroom, private rectory, and bent over my altar, I want all of her.

One touch risks everything I stand for.
My faith.
My redemption.
And even my life.

As if that could stop me. I need her pain, and her heart, and she needs my lessons in sin.

AMAZON | iBOOKS | NOOK | KOBO | GOOGLE PLAY 

Iron sheathed in suede, that voice belonged to a man who bent for no one. His sculpted lips lured victims to the altar with the promise of heavenly salvation before condemning them to eternal hell.

Age gap. Forbidden romance. Student/Teacher. Dirty Priest. I am in book heaven right now floating on endorphins so high, I don’t know if there’s moving on from this story.

Pam Godwin never ceases to amaze me with her talent of creating raw, riveting, and broken characters that I simply cannot get enough of. And a priest with a tortured past, seeking salvation of the collar within the walls of a school for the rich and broken…well it just doesn’t get much more delicious than that. Father Magnus was pure, sizzling energy. The second the man appears on the page, it crackles with electricity. I can’t even describe it to you, but this was one of the most enigmatic characters I’ve read from Pam. And having read her entire backlist, that’s saying something.

Now while there’s no doubt Pam can write the hell out of an alpha hero, what I’ve come to love most about her stories are her heroines. These are tough as nails women who are no simpering ingenues. And it’s not small feat to write an 18 year old virgin heroine but make her an old soul in an entirely believable way. Tinsley Constantine is the youngest daughter in the extravagantly rich Constantine family. She’s also the f*ck up. Turning her nose at tradition, she yearns for freedom to discover herself, but one act out too many lands her in the strict Catholic boarding school. What first starts as bratty behavior to get herself expelled, soon turns into something more when she lands in the crosshairs of Magnus.

For the next hour, I showed her how a sadist made a woman beg. I taught her my lessons in sin.

This is a slow burn. A deliciously painful slow burn full of chemistry and sexual tension. I fell instantly for Tinsley’s character. She’s wild, willful, but also incredibly smart and caring. She has no problem standing her ground and challenges Magnus as every turn. I also loved her loving nature.

The romance here is GAH. It was EVERYTHING. When I tell you that I devoured this from cover to cover in one sitting, I mean I couldn’t set it down for even a second. I though Pam created my favorite student teacher romance in Dark Notes, but man, this book owned me. I don’t know anyone else who can pull off a 20 year age gap with an 18 year old heroine like this.

Lessons in Sin was deliciously taboo, darkly erotic, sinful, and oh so addictive! This may be my favorite Godwin book to date.

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author, Pam Godwin, lives in the Midwest with her husband, their two children, and a foulmouthed parrot. When she ran away, she traveled fourteen countries across five continents, attended three universities, and married the vocalist of her favorite rock band.
Java, tobacco, and dark romance novels are her favorite indulgences, and might be considered more unhealthy than her aversion to sleeping, eating meat, and dolls with blinking eyes.
Facebook Reader Group: here

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