Book Review: Romancing the Rake (Brotherhood of the Black Tartan #2) by Nichole Van

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Historical Romance
Length: 375 pages
Author: Nichole Van
Publisher: Fiorenza Publishing
Release Date: February 18th, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Lady Sophronia Sorrow considers herself an unlikely heroine. Why, just her name alone proves this. Sophronia Sorrow sounds like a girl from a gothic penny novel—the foolish miss who falls prey to a rake and becomes an object lesson for the true heroine to avoid. No, despite her mawkish name, Sophie refuses to spend her life invisible and unwanted, relegated to the margin of the text. Despite her eccentric, bluestocking ways, there must be a place where she is wanted. If only she could uncover the identity of her natural father, perhaps she would belong there?

But one thing Sophie knows for sure—unlike that foolhardy miss in a novel, she will not succumb to a rake. No matter how thoroughly the rakish Lord Rafe Gilbert may tempt her.

Lord Rafe Gilbert longs for freedom—freedom from his controlling father, freedom to live his life as he chooses. He knows playing the rake keeps his autocratic father in check, but Rafe longs to determine his own destiny. Case in point, he fell in love with Lady Sophie years ago, but his father’s threats and his mother’s health prevent him from pursuing Lady Sophie in earnest. So when Fate thrusts Sophie into his path, Rafe knows he must turn her away and distance himself. But doing the right thing has never been so impossibly difficult.

Sophie and Rafe soon find themselves on a journey together from London to a castle in the Scottish Highlands. Along the way, can two kindred souls heal from past hurts and seize a second chance to write a love story of their own?

NEW HISTORICAL FAV.

Wowwww goodness me, I LOVED THIS. This had all the tropes I love y’all. All the romance I love and more.

This was a combination of a bit of second chance, IT WAS ALWAYS YOU, major forced proximity and more. I loved the vibes between a supposed rake and an incredibly intelligent bluestocking. Their chemistry was heated from the moment the banter began and I was here for every dang moment between them. I loved forced proximity because it allows so much more conversation and interactions that give me all the feels.

Not to mention what had me up in my feels was the passionate arguments leading to my favorite kind of confessions. It was just all so good. SO GOOD. Rafe is a wonderful love interest and I loooooove that this series is dual POV. A treasured must have for romances.

The plot was thickening between the Brotherhood and I like that this subtle mystery plays out in the background of the larger story between the two main characters. I liked the reveals and how the conflict and closing scenes were accomplished. The writing is amazing and I will without a doubt be continuing this series.

Overall audience notes:

  • Historical romance
  • Language: very little
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: mild
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: gaslighting, extortion, a mother with depression (and on page depictions), emotional abuse

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Book Review: What Are Friends For? (Love in Fenton County #1) by Sarah Sutton

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Rating: ☆☆
Audience: YA Contemporary Romance
Length: 308 pages
Author: Sarah Sutton
Publisher: Golden Crown Publishing
Release Date: January 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

FALLING IN LOVE ISN’T COMPLICATED…UNLESS IT’S WITH YOUR BEST FRIEND.

A close, easygoing friendship can all change with just one kiss. Seventeen-year-old Remi Beaufort learns this the hard way when she plays a blindfolded kissing game at a party.

She thinks she’s kissing Jeremy, the totally hot basketball player she’s been crushing on. And the kiss…it’s amazing. Heart-stopping, world-changing, toe-curling. The kiss makes her forget about her overbearing mother, the next-door neighbor’s drama, and the probability that she’ll fail her senior year. The best kiss of her life makes all that fall away.

Until her blindfold falls off, and she realizes that instead of kissing her crush, she’s kissing Elijah, her best friend since third grade.

Though she manages to convince Elijah that he was kissing his girlfriend, Remi can’t get the thought of his lips on hers out of her head. As things between them grow more and more complicated–because it turns out her fantasizing about his mouth is more of a problem than it sounds–Remi has to make a choice: does she live the rest of her life loving her best friend in secret? Or does she tell the truth and risk ruining their friendship forever?

THAT’S GOING TO BE A NO FOR ME.

This was a whole big YIKES book for me. Kept hoping things would change and I’m glad it was a quick read so I can write this review and move on.

Emotional cheating is a thing. And this entire read was exactly that. The main love interest Elijah has a girlfriend the ENTIRE book but spends his time pining for Remi (as Remi pines for him). They do have a kiss where, fine, I can let that go based off of some surrounding circumstances, but past that point, why did his relationship have to go on that long? It was unnecessary and ruined this for me.

It’s fast paced. That’s a positive. Uhm, and the few little moments between Elijah and Remi at the end were good too. But that’s all I can really pull out because I’m too upset over the plot. Anywho, that’s it.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Contemporary Romance
  • Language: little
  • Romance: kisses
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: emotional cheating, a brother in jail for armed robbery

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Book Review: Belladonna (Belladonna #1) by Adalyn Grace

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Upper YA Fantasy Romance
Length: 416 pages
Author: Adalyn Grace
Publisher: Little, Brown for Young Readers
Release Date: August 30th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

New York Times bestselling author Adalyn Grace brings to life a highly romantic, Gothic-infused world of wealth, desire, and betrayal.

Orphaned as a baby, nineteen-year-old Signa has been raised by a string of guardians, each more interested in her wealth than her well-being—and each has met an untimely end. Her remaining relatives are the elusive Hawthornes, an eccentric family living at Thorn Grove, an estate both glittering and gloomy. Its patriarch mourns his late wife through wild parties, while his son grapples for control of the family’s waning reputation and his daughter suffers from a mysterious illness. But when their mother’s restless spirit appears claiming she was poisoned, Signa realizes that the family she depends on could be in grave danger and enlists the help of a surly stable boy to hunt down the killer.

However, Signa’s best chance of uncovering the murderer is an alliance with Death himself, a fascinating, dangerous shadow who has never been far from her side. Though he’s made her life a living hell, Death shows Signa that their growing connection may be more powerful—and more irresistible—than she ever dared imagine.

ABSOLUTELY LOVED.

Yess. This was everything I wash hoping it would be!! I loved the way the story was written. I CAN NOT WAIT FOR THE NEXT BOOK.

We’ve got to talk about the romance first. Because it was glorious. I looooved Signa and Death’s push and pull. They had chemistry from the get go and perfectly placed banter. Every time he said little bird I MELTED. Give me all of them. I of course would have loved even more romance but I imagine that’s coming and I will impatiently wait for more.

The murder mystery was well crafted too. I tried not to make to many theories because I love being in the dark when I’m loving a read. It made it all the more fun when the answers started coming out and the darkness of others was brought to light. The plot had great pacing and I really couldn’t have asked for more.

It totally lived up to my expectations.

Overall audience notes:

  • Upper YA Fantasy Romance
  • Language: a little
  • Romance: one vague open door
  • Violence: med-high
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: murder, poisoning, near death situations

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Monthly Reading Wrap-Up: September 2022

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Here’s to another month of reads!

Favorites:

  • The Serpent and the Wings of Night
  • Adjacent But Only Just
  • Kingdom of Ash
  • Darkwind
  • The American Roommate Experiment
  • Do I Know You?
  • Dawnstar
  • Belladonna
  • Golden Son
  • Girls of Salt and Sea
  • Kit McBride Gets a Wife
  • [ARC] The Last Encore (It’s Always Been You #1) by Elodie Colliard
  • Advanced Physical Chemistry (Chemistry Lessons #3) by Susannah Nix
  • The Drowned Woods by Emily Lloyd-Jones
  • The Serpent and the Wings of Night (Crowns of Nyaxia #1) by Carissa Broadbent
  • [ARC] Adjacent but Only Just (The Penn-Leiths of Thistle Muir #2) by Nichole Van
  • The Luck of Finding You (The Nelson Sisters #1) by Taylor Epperson
  • [Reread] Kingdom of Ash (Throne of Glass #7) by Sarah J. Maas
  • The Dragon’s Promise (Six Crimson Cranes #2) by Elizabeth Lim
  • A Broken Blade (The Halfling Saga #1) by Melissa Blair
  • Darkwind (The Starchaser Saga #1) by Renee Dugan
  • Do You Take This Man? by Denise Williams
  • The Final Gambit (The Inheritance Games #3) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
  • The American Roommate Experiment by Elena Armas
  • Angelika Frankenstein Makes Her Match by Sally Thorne
  • [ARC] Exes and O’s by Amy Lea
  • Rhythm, Chord & Malykhin by Mariana Zapata
  • [ARC] Do I Know You? by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka
  • Single All the Way by Portia MacIntosh
  • Bow Before the Elf Queen (The Elf Queen #1) by J.M. Kearl
  • Dawnstar (The Starchaser Saga #2) by Renee Dugan
  • My Imaginary Mary (Mary #2) by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows
  • When Gracie Met the Grump by Mariana Zapata
  • Accidentally Amy by Lynn Painter
  • Belladonna (Belladonna #1) by Adalyn Grace
  • How to Fake It in Hollywood by Ava Wilder
  • Flashback (Keeper of the Lost Cities #7) by Shannon Messenger
  • The Catch (Summer Nights #1) by Lauren H. Mae
  • [ARC] Married by Treachery (Arranged Marriages of the Fae #5) by Barbara Kloss
  • Funny Feelings by Tarah Dewitt
  • [ARC] A Soldier’s Vow (Aster Ridge Ranch #7) by Kate Condie
  • Landin’ in Trouble (Creekville Kisses Too) by Brittany Larsen
  • [Reread] Golden Son (Red Rising Saga #2) by Pierce Brown
  • Girls of Salt and Sea by Natalia Macia Lucia
  • [Gifted] Kit McBride Gets a Wife (The McBrides of Montana #1) by Amy Barry
  • Mistle Text (An Accidentally in Love Story #5) by Whitney Dineen and Melanie Summers
  • Bewitched by You by Kendra Mase
  • Seoulmates by Susan Lee

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