Married by Monday

 I received an e-arc of Married by Monday from the author (Cathryn Brown) in exchange for an honest review.

If you love books that have small towns, fake (real) marriages, wholesome characters, clean romances, a tight knit community, and discovering the beauty of chances then this is the book for you.

Married by Monday is too cute to put into words. The world building was gorgeous and the characters are perfection especially Micah and Bella. The two of them together are adorable and their relationship 😍 (why is there no emoji of clutching a hand to heart or swooning). This book made me swoon, laugh, cry, and shake my head. There were several “oh Bella, what are we going to do with you” moments. Yes, Bella I’m looking at you disappearing in the middle of the night instead of sitting down and talking to your husband. Goes to a sketchy motel instead *sighs*.

Micah’s grandfather who instigated the whole be married by Monday or become a law partner with him by Monday or else none of the children will see a cent of their inheritance. Oh, it gets worse but I’ll let you read the book and bask in how shred the grandfather really is.

And the picnic tables 😂 oh Bella only she would do something so out of the box even I didn’t think about that color. And the town’s reaction to it: priceless.

I could go on and on about this book’s praises from the how do we not sleep in the same bed to how can Bella save her business and the small town of Two Hearts.

It is such a delicious read and if you like your romances clean you will not regret this book. Highly recommend you snag a copy for yourself.

500 out of 5 stars.

Review for Brigand Children

 

I received an arc from the author in exchange for an honest review.

The Brigand Children by Lainey Delaroque is an interesting sequel. Honestly, I don’t feel like it should be labeled as a stand-alone because it relies heavily on things that happened in the first book to shape the characters. If you have not read the first book The Lavender Phantom you might struggle with this book a bit because it talks a lot about what happened in the first book but you need to have read the first book to understand why it affects them so much because I feel like it was downplayed in this sequel. That is the only negative thing I will say about the book.

Now onto the positives:

Sophie and Damien are so sweet and I love how they take care of each other. They will never do anything the other one is uncomfortable with, nor will they push for it. There are a couple kinky sex scenes, but it was okay reading then because of the love and respect that they have for each other. I love that because so many times authors feel the need to have the male be dominate and not respect the woman which makes those books not okay in my book. I’m glad Lainey did not feel the need to go down that route it made me love Damien even more. I was kind of hoping for more of Damien’s past* and feel like it could have been fleshed out more, but the little bits and pieces that we did get were beautiful. 

*I thought we’d get things like how he built the club in the first place, the meeting of Pen for the first time, their marriage etc. Those were the things that intrigued me, but I’m okay with learning a bit about his father and the birth of their son. I guess those things are important to Damien.

The world building was good. It didn’t really build much in this one and was mostly things we know in the first book.

There is just something about sequels that never seem to meet up to the expectations of the first book.

4 out of 5 stars.

Cover Reveal for Veritas by A L Woods

 I'm so excited to be part of the cover reveal for Veritas by A L Woods. All photos are not my own.

For your information, here is the information at Grey Productions was willing to provide.

Releasing October 6, 2021

Blurb

Maria

It was supposed to be a fling.
A one-night stand.
Then Jordan Kovacs asked for more.
A date. I don't date—I f*ck.
While he showered, I left.

The end.
Or so I thought. I have a problem.
My ex-f*ck buddy is getting married.
And I can't get out of going—long story.
I need an arrangement I can understand from a man who only had me for a night.
But Jordan has other plans for me.
Things that will tip the scales in his favor.

Jordan

A tryst was what she was looking for.
A date was what I wanted.
A chance.
I understand Maria Tavares.
She's a beautiful lie.
Now she needs something from me: a favor.
So I'll function in a way she can understand: an arrangement.
Three months.
All in. Strings attached. No interferences. Titles exchanged.
The plan is simple, with only one rule—veritas.
Let's see if Maria's ex-f*ck buddy understands that, too.

Cover Designer: Ana Beatriz Cabús Rangel

Preorder today on Amazon!

US: https://amzn.to/3yfNnG4

WW: http://mybook.to/veritas

Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3emkJuZ

If you want information on the author or would like to connect with her (whatever you need to do before deciding to buy a book).

Meet A.L. Woods

A.L. Woods is an author of rollercoaster romances, caffeine aficionado, and collector of Sailor Moon paraphernalia.

She lives 40 minutes west of Toronto, Ontario with her partner, Michael, and their 8lb larger-than-life miniature dachshund, Maia-whom they lovingly refer to as their 'doghter.'

Woods can be found holed away in her office writing her next novel with a bowl of Nibs within arm's reach. When she's not writing, she's likely belting out an ad-libbed song, emotionally investing in a fictional bad boy with a strong jawline and fluency in sarcasm or inventing fresh ways to procrastinate.

She believes that burritos should be in their own food group, loves the fall, winged liner, and listening to metalcore at an offensive level.

 

Connect with A.L.

Website | amandawrites.ca

Goodreads | https://bit.ly/3oC8U67

Amazon | https://amzn.to/2YCdaYG

Facebook | https://bit.ly/3tr5G9k

Facebook Group | https://bit.ly/3oFL0qp

Instagram | https://bit.ly/2YxC6R0

Twitter | https://bit.ly/3cq2gxs

Pinterest | https://bit.ly/3oKl7G8

BookBub | https://bit.ly/3CgDnP8

Newsletter | https://bit.ly/2YCitrf

I hope this is enough information and that you will decide to give this book a go. You never know when a book might be the one you needed in your life until it is in your life.

The Crow Rider by Kalyn Josephson

I did receive a copy of The Crow Rider by Kalyn Josephson via NetGalley and the publisher, but the only reason I got a copy was because of a bookclub that no longer exists because it did bad things. The copy I am reviewing is the newer paperback edition with the two bonus stories. I'm sorry, but I felt bad and could not in good conscience read the e-arc given to me.

Rating with the bonus stories: 5 out of 5 stars.

Rating without the bonus stories: 4 out of 5.

I loved the bonus stories and how they added to the world through characters you don't get to read about (Ericen and Kiva).

This is the one problem with sequels is that the author is assuming the readers remember things in the first book (I thought Cayus was ten with the way she was describing him, and the only character I remembered was Ericen although I thought the ending was them standing on the dock while she was on the boat, but that apparently was not the case. The crows did all get murdered though and later rediscovered in the castle, that was the only thing I remembered correctly). I guess one of the positives is that the author did not bombard us with all the info from the first book like most books are inclined to do, but it was gradually throughout the book. Good news: it wasn't information overload. Bad news: as clearly stated earlier I could not remember things from the first book, so I was lost for a vast majority of the story. There was a lot of who is this character to her again? Oh, that's who that person was. I couldn't even recall the villain, guys. 

I'm not trying to make it out like the book sucked or anything, it's just a sequel and comes with the usual bouts of not being as great as the first (does anyone know of a second book being better than the first? I cannot name one, although if you do feel free to recommend in the comments below.)

The world building was okay, but I wished the author had expanded on things a little more like the holidays and celebrations because I had no clue what any of them were for and why they needed to get there before the celebrations commenced. I did love the training of Res though and found that adorable as he got put through his paces. I do love the explanation as to why he can access all eight abilities (Sella? Seela? blood anyone).

I did love those creatures as they reminded me so much of proper fae where they are just as likely to cause mischief as they are to help you and even their help might not be so helpful. I loved how each one controlled an aspect that correlates to a crow. (oops I might have spoiled something sorry, its crossed out now y'all).

My favorite characters were Ericen and Res because both are absolute sweethearts and will do anything to protect those they care about.

I could have sworn the Sella doors were in the first book and maybe the character did not remember it because I remember reading those exact words before even though this is my first time reading this book. 

This could be a good thing or a bad thing you interpret how you wish: the battle scenes felt like something out of the LOTR movies like I was expecting Gandalf to come riding down a hill with a herd of horses and men. Thankfully, that did not happen, but I could not shake that image out of my head especially since there are a lot of parallels which I will not tell you. You will only have to read the book to see if you draw the same conclusions or if it is just me because we do a LOTR movie marathon every year (hence why I cannot spell anything).

Besides the general confusion and LoTR like battles, I liked the book overall. I will read it again preferably right after the first one to see if maybe my memory will be a little bit sharper.

4 out of 5 stars. Recommend if you don't mind sequels (honestly I feel like we cannot expect much from sequels because of how frequently there is a disconnection between the first and second).

Oh, and the second one kind of starts off where the first one ends, which was helpful (very helpful indeed in making sure I knew that I did not remember as much of the first book as I thought I did).

Cover Reveal of The Brigand Children by Lainey Delaroque

 Cover Reveal 📕

I'm excited to be a part of the cover reveal of the second book to the Lavender Phantom by Lainey Delaroque.

I'm also excited because this is the rare times my blog has let me upload a photo onto a blog post.

✨Cover Reveal and info from the author✨

The Brigand Children: Club Lavender Duet #2 

.

Book 1 Free on KU https://bit.ly/TLD1TLPzon

Preorder Book 2 https://bit.ly/TLD1TBCzon

Blog Tour for Book 1 https://bit.ly/TLD1TLPtour

His ex stole his dream and his people. Now this fallen gang leader will rally new allies 

against an old enemy.

The Brigand Children is a romantic thriller with:

A tortured hero

A fierce heroine

A gang war

Lavish kink parties

Romance and steamy scenes

***Blurb***

After being a prisoner in his own home, Damien Grey tastes freedom for the first time in six years. Yet his

criminal past, gangster ex-wife and an unfair police charge mean that he is far from free. When he learns

some of his underlings have gone missing, he grabs the chance to investigate, prove his innocence and

come out into the light.

But the case requires Damien to enlist the help of the father he put in prison and face his deepest

insecurities. Unable and unwilling, he finds solace in the company of Sophie Taylor, a former thief and a

newcomer in Damien Grey’s life.

They choose to explore their connection while the clock dangerously ticks away. Will high-octane action

and kinky play bring them together or pull them apart? When one of the missing women turns up dead,

Damien realizes the time of reckoning is nearing faster than expected.

How long can Damien ignore his past before it catches up with those he's sworn to protect?

I do not know about anybody else, but I'm excited to read more about Damien. He's broken, but that is okay. Go grab a copy while you can.

Warnings: there will most likely be rope play, violence, abuse.

I will let you all know more about the warnings after I've read it, so people know what they are getting themselves into. However, if you are one of those people where not much fazes you then definitely grab a copy of the first one or preordered the second if you have already read the first book.

An Unmarked Grave: Is this even English

 I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Let's start out with the positives, shall we? The cover to die for like it is gorgeous. The description of the book "oh good lord, it sounded like my kind of book". The title: had me hook, line and sinker.

I never made it past 2% of the book because I realized after the fifteenth mention of table that I would only  be wasting my time. The book did not do any of the positives justice and I am not convinced the book was proper English. For an author who has written several books, let's just say I was hoping for a better writing than whatever that was like most of the sentences were incomplete or had random ellipses (...) in them. Like what the heck? If I had to tell anybody about what the beginning was about I would not be able to do it. I wished the beginning did not exist because I could not even get past it to get to the knight protecting the High Priestess which sounded incredible. Alas, a book that I thought was my cup of tea got poured down the toilet and flushed.

1 out of 5 stars.

Fable by Adrienne Young

 I received a copy from NetGalley and Wednesday Books in exchange for an honest review.

Seeing as this is the first book I have read from Adrienne Young Fable is a great book, but nobody quiz me on anything about the book please 🙏 

It is a very detailed book and normally I am all for it, but I still have no answers to the world building. 

Why is it the way that it is? Why is it a world built for men? Who are the guilds and who decides who gets to be in charged of what? Why is it called the Narrows? Was the misnomer for the Unnamed Sea intentional? Why does Ceros have bridges leading up to the roofs, but no other port does? Why are storms so frequent in this world? What are gem sages and how does one become one? Is it a type of magic? (It's a cool magic if it is, but I was not clear). Why are there only coppers for monetary? How much would a copper be worth? Why is everyone so ruthless? Why can you not trust anyone with your relations or love or literally anything? Why is everyone trying to kill everyone? What is the main goal of this world? Was it always like this or did something happen to make it change? What came first the Narrows or the Unnamed Sea? Were there any people who were on the islands first? Why is Jeval considered the island of thieves when there are thieves on all of the islands? Is the Tempest Snare coral reefs or is it a carving of rocks/ice? Is the Tempest Snare supposed to be a deterrent to the people in the Narrows to stop them? Why is it so hard to navigate? How have people made it through it in the past if that is the way to the Unnamed Sea and many people have made it through there before? Is Ceros supposed to be a poor port or a middle class port because it talks about people being on the streets, but a vast majority of them were on the bridges? Is it something they do because they know the more wealthier people take the bridge? What would people do if they had no copper and had things to trade, but nobody else had any copper? Why is everybody stealing everything from everyone? Is this supposed to be like a Hunger Games but in the sea? What is the deal between Saint and Zelo (I probably totally butchered his name. This is how memorable he was to me apparently) and why are people starting wars with each other? What is so special about the city in the Unnamed Sea that has made people so cutthroat? Do they think that it will grant them favour with the guilds? And what is the deal with Holland? She gets mentioned a few times, but there is no clear explanation and you do not meet her in the book at all. I kind of wished we did just to get a better understanding of why people seem to fear her. (I don't know why they do.)

Also Auster's skin is mentioned as ivory and then a couple of pages later it is the color of wheat. What color is his skin? Because ivory is white and fair and you burn easily so technically if he was in the sun a lot it would not be ivory more of a reddish brown and wheat is more of a golden brown. It made it hard to picture him. Actually it was hard to picture any of them because sometimes it feels like the author got bogged down in the details only to throw most of it to the raging sea. This is why I am hoping nobody quizzes me on the book because it was too much detail but not enough to be like "ask me anything I can tell you anything even things that are not in the book". Honestly, I got confused quite a few times muddling through all of the details like it could give Victoria Aveyard a run for her money on the amount of detail in this book.

As someone who is directionally challenged I really wished there was more description on what was starboard and all the other sides of the boat. It was getting tiresome having to look things up because it's a great book and I finished it in a day and a half, but again those pesky details that never gave the right details. I had to look up poisons in corals and of course those pesky details, it was all forgotten about after a page. Fable mentions she will be sick and have fever and all this stuff, but she never actually gets sick or has any problems after she eats the stew. Also, after reading that the poison in the coral is enough to kill 80 people it is kind of hard believing that she was okay. She got more sick from drinking three glasses of rye than anything else in the book.

The only twist I did not see coming was at the very end and it ended on that twist (now I'm debating if I should read Namesake or not. What do you guys think for those who have read it; is it worth it?). All the other twists are so predictable and I could see them coming a mile away.

I know it sounds like I am hating on this book, but I am not trust me I became invested at around the 85% mark of the book because at that point I could not put the book down. I needed to know what Saint would do. I wanted to know if she could avoid the bad guy, Zelo/Zalo/Zaro (clearly he is so memorable to me guys that I can't remember his name after I just finished reading the book and it was the second to last name in the book:P)

West and Fable are so cute together and I will not spoil anything because the moments between them are *chef's kiss*. Willa I want to hug her and tell her she is brave. I want to smirk over Paj's and Auster's antics. I want to shake my head while hiding a smile from Hamish because secretly he is a teddy bear.

I loved all of the characters I just wished there was more because if the bad guy is any indication they didn't quite stand out from my mind. If to save my life I had to point out something unique about each character my chances of survival will be nil.

With all of that being said it is definitely a book I would consider rereading (preferably the corrected copy of it because some of the grammar made no sense "I words made me still" being an example. On it's own it could make sense but reading it in the book it was like West was talking and now you're saying I words... what do I know 🤷). Lord knows it made the inner English student in me very happy if the questions are anything to go by. English classes make me rip things apart I have no control over it anymore. It has been engrained into my brain and makes reading interesting.

4 out of 5 stars.