ARC Book Review: Bride by Ali Hazelwood

February 6, 2024December 20, 2023 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Paranormal Romance
Length: 416 pages
Author: Ali Hazelwood
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: February 6th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A dangerous alliance between a Vampyre bride and an Alpha Werewolf becomes a love deep enough to sink your teeth into in this new paranormal romance from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Love, Theoretically and The Love Hypothesis.

Misery Lark, the only daughter of the most powerful Vampyre councilman of the Southwest, is an outcast—again. Her days of living in anonymity among the Humans are over: she has been called upon to uphold a historic peacekeeping alliance between the Vampyres and their mortal enemies, the Weres, and she sees little choice but to surrender herself in the exchange—again…

Weres are ruthless and unpredictable, and their Alpha, Lowe Moreland, is no exception. He rules his pack with absolute authority, but not without justice. And, unlike the Vampyre Council, not without feeling. It’s clear from the way he tracks Misery’s every movement that he doesn’t trust her. If only he knew how right he was….

Because Misery has her own reasons to agree to this marriage of convenience, reasons that have nothing to do with politics or alliances, and everything to do with the only thing she’s ever cared about. And she is willing to do whatever it takes to get back what’s hers, even if it means a life alone in Were territory…alone with the wolf.

Thank you to Berkley for the eARC.

DEVOURED.

Good heavens. This was enthralling. I love Ali Hazelwood’s writing style and moving into urban/paranormal fantasy was an absolute hit for me. The well placed banter and jokes had me laughing out loud and the romance had be utterly swooning.

I loved the slow burn. It dragged out just as it should and kept me itching for more more more (don’t worry, there’s plenty of payoff). I adored Misery and Lowe. Misery was a great heroine who I loved seeing find her home. Lowe was the best grumpy Alpha that held me attention the moment he stepped on page. I LOVED this entire cast. Even the antagonists were fantastic. A truly well written group of characters who all brought this book to five stars.

The plot was engaging and I liked the world building. It’s very light, but just enough that you get a grasp of the different dynamics and politics between Were vs. Vampyre vs. Human. I love that it feels like there’s still plenty of places to explore (hello second book with a couple I can’t wait to read). There’s a nice level of suspense and that driven need to keep those pages flying.

I loved it so much. READ IT.

Overall audience notes:

Paranormal Romance
Language: some strong
Romance 4+ open door
Violence: moderate
Trigger/Content Warnings: kidnapping, murder, mentions of loss of parents, parental abandonment

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph

Book Review: Properly Kissed (Bradwell Brothers #0.5) by Kasey Stockton

February 6, 2024May 15, 2023 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Regency Romance Novella
Length: 128 pages
Author: Kasey Stockton
Publisher: Golden Owl Press
Release Date: April 1st, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Freshly out of mourning, Jane Palmer’s final act of love for her father will be to fulfill the marriage contract he signed before his death and become engaged to Lord Hammel. With her family’s annual house party on the horizon, her course is set. The only complication: the man she has secretly loved her whole life, Ewan Lennox, will also be in attendance.

Ewan’s never shown any indication he reciprocates Jane’s feelings—until this visit. When Ewan declares his intention to fight for her hand in marriage, it seems she has no choice but to keep him at arms length in order to fulfill her father’s dying wishes. As Jane’s resolve crumbles, she must determine if following her heart is worth the risk of losing her home, her fortune, and everything her family holds dear.

LOOOOOVED.

This is how you do it folks. This is how you write a beautiful and swoony novella. I’m so happy I circled back to reading this because it did not disappoint in the slightest.

The connection between Jane and Ewan was amazing. I felt like I had known them already. Ewan is full of absolute SWOON and had many quotable lines that left me in a puddle. I enjoyed the story and pacing worked perfectly.

There’s great characters, romance, family moments and more. I thought it set the stage really well for the rest of the series (I’ve read all but the last). Don’t skip out on this one!!

Overall audience notes:

Regency Romance Novella
Language: none
Romance: kisses

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph

Book Review: Lord of Chaos (The Wheel of Time #6) by Robert Jordan

February 5, 2024February 10, 2023 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Fantasy
Length: 1004 pages
Author: Robert Jordan
Publisher: Tor Books
Release Date: October 15th, 1994
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

In Lord of Chaos, the sixth novel in Robert Jordan’s #1 New York Times bestselling epic fantasy series, The Wheel of Time(R), Rand al’Thor, the Dragon Reborn, builds his army of Light even as sworn enemies–and supposed allies–move against him.

Now ruling Tear, Andor, and Caemlyn, among other nations, Rand is recruiting all men capable of channeling to be trained as his Asha’man soldiers. The warrior Aiel clans have pledged loyalty to Rand, acknowledging him as their chief of chiefs, even though the Shaido Aiel remain a threat.

Split into two factions, the Aes Sedai of the White Tower and their rebel counterparts both seek to ally themselves with the Dragon Reborn. Rand knows all too well the manipulative nature of the Aes Sedai, no matter which side of their internal war they stand upon. But even he cannot predict just how desperate, cruel, and treacherous they can be.

And in the shadows, the Forsaken and the Dark One are conjuring even more chaos…

INVESTED AGAIN.

I finally feel after finishing this that I am back to being invested (and understanding) of everything happening. Though the book is THICK the review won’t be because these type of epic fantasy books are too hard not to spoil.

Character progression wise I like that there was a difference in general. Some positive and some I’m just curious about. And yay for Perrin being back too! Now that I can better remember everyone I like how things are currently going.

I do not love some of the quirks of Jordan’s writing. Especially about the women. I don’t know, there’s some things that make my head tilt.

Highly recommend listening to these books. The audio is amazing and makes moving through these books a much smoother process.

Overall audience notes:

Fantasy
Language: a little
Romance: closed door
Violence: high
Trigger/Content Warnings: large scale battle themes, physical and magical altercations, loss of life, kidnapping, near death experiences

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph

Book Review: Date the Alphabet (Love Tucson #2) by Laura Langa

February 4, 2024November 11, 2023 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 315 pages
Author: Laura Langa
Publisher: West East Publishing
Release Date: July 24th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Fake date to win four thousand dollars for charity? You bet.

Going on twenty-six first dates—one for each letter of the alphabet—is a ludicrous proposition. Especially since Ann Powell doesn’t date. AT ALL. But if Ann takes her sister’s bet, she’ll win four thousand dollars to donate to a cause close to her heart—underfunded classrooms.

Audiobook narrator Zane West has been struggling to hide his crush on his daughter’s third grade teacher for months. So when Ann asks him—in a moment of dating-app misery—to be her fake date to her sister’s wedding, the only answer is yes.

Pretending to be the cheerful, handsome, single father’s girlfriend isn’t only fun, it’s feeling dangerously real. And as much as they need to sell their fake relationship to her family, no one else can know. Dating the parent of one of your students is definitely off-limits.

Zane only falls harder for Ann through each piano karaoke session, sabotaged hike, and unexpected javelina encounter. Just as she begins to let him in, reality pulverizes their blissful bubble. An honest relationship with Ann is all Zane wants, but now he might be forced to let her go.

OH SO SWEET.

This book owned me for an evening and I adored it so much. I love how much Zane was gone for Ann from the moment he saw her. And that it didn’t feel like instant love either!! Langa wrote a beautiful soul mate vibe that I was here for.

I loved the subtle side pieces like Zane being on good terms with his ex-wife and co-parenting. I feel we often see the bad sides in books and I loved getting a positive take on a relationship that was no longer beneficial to either party but were both still their to take care of their child.

Ann and Zane had all the chemistry and the closed door steam? YES PLEASE. This is my favorite zone to be in and I really appreciated how well written this was. It’s a quick audiobook and this is a closed door author you shouldn’t be sleeping on!

Overall audience notes: