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Review: Dark Orchid Trilogy by Auryn Hadley
Power of Lies (Book 1) The easiest way to include a lot of erotica in a fantasy novel is to toss in some lust magic. But Hadley doesn’t keep things quite so simple, by layering in other elements of magic to her excellent world-building. The erotica always makes sense, based on the rules of the…
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Review: Unholy Trifecta Series by A.J. Sherwood
How to Shield an Assassin (Book 1) If you love heist stories, you should read this book. If you love the television show Leverage, you should read this book. If you adore found family stories, you should read this book. If precocious children in fiction don’t annoy you too much, you should read this book.…
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Review: Slices of Pi Series by Elia Winters
Even Odds (Book 1) As a gamer girl myself, I’ll always have a soft spot for those characters in romance novels. But it’s so hard to find stories that portray gamers of either gender realistically, much less those who work in the industry. Winters, on the other hand, described the world so well that reading…
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Review: Two Rogues Make a Right (Seducing the Sedgwicks #3) by Cat Sebastian
Read my review of Seducing the Sedgwicks book 1, It Takes Two to Tumble. Read my review of Seducing the Sedgwicks book 2, A Gentleman Never Keeps Score. Some romance is full of angst and pain and hardship before a happily ever after. And some romance is full of all of those things in the…
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Review: Secrets of Charlotte Street Series by Scarlett Peckham
The Duke I Tempted (Book 1) The time period of this book was a bit earlier than the historical romance I’ve been reading, but I’m so pleased I took a chance on it anyway. Westmead and Poppy stole my heart, separately and then together. The arc of their relationship surprised me at every turn, but…
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Review: Demons’ Muse Series by Auryn Hadley
The Kiss of Death (Book 1) The “angels are bad, demons are good” trope is not unfamiliar in paranormal romance, but this series puts a different spin on things by including a unique magic system, multiple dimensions, and a new way to look at how angels and demons affected religion on Earth. The heroine’s power…
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Review: It’s Complicated Series by Brill Harper
All Together (Book 1) When I snagged this book, I figured I was taking a risk because the combination of college students and romance usually means plenty of angst and immaturity. But when I started reading, I was immediately sucked into the story through the sheer force of personality of the three characters, even before…
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Review: Comes in Threes Series by Elia Winters
Read my review of book 1, Three-Way Split. Just Past Two (Book 2) Even though I enjoyed the story, relationship, and writing in the previous book in this shared-world series, I didn’t rush right into book two. Based on the premise, I figured the “dark moment” would be fraught with a married couple experiencing jealousy…
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Review: The Threefold Tie by Aster Glenn Gray
This short novel is perfect for anyone looking for a historical romance with lovely character development and interaction. I thoroughly enjoyed each of these characters, individually and together. The point-of-view switches and overlapping timelines show the perspective of each lead and their developing arcs to excellent effect. This book is a quick read that doesn’t…
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Review: Behind These Doors (Radical Proposals #1) by Jude Lucens
Though it focuses on a single relationship between two characters, this book made me fall in love with multiple characters across multiple relationships, all of whom had their own detailed lives and agency. Lucens balances an intricate drama of love, friendship, polyamory, and heartbreak in one of the best historical romances I’ve read to date.…
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Review: Thalanian Dynasty Series by Katee Robert
Theirs For the Night (Book 1) This short novella is intended to introduce the reader to the characters of the Thalanian Dynasty, a freebie so that readers are hooked enough to buy the full-length follow-up novel. (Full disclosure: It worked on me.) The events within are sexy and steamy, and I enjoyed Meg as a…
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Review: “American Squire” (New Camelot #5) by Sierra Simone
This short story ties together the worlds of New Camelot and Thornchapel by following a former White House assistant on a mysterious errand to England. The actual interactions portrayed between Ryan and Sidney are both sexy and sweet, as appropriate, and I’d happily read more about their burgeoning relationship. What elevates this story from sexy…
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Review: Hexworld Stories by Jordan L. Hawk
“A Christmas Hex” (Book 2.5) This is one of those stories that could have worked any time of year — but the fact that it occurred around Christmas made it all the sweeter. After reading the full-length novels in this series, it was easy to forget that witches and familiars in New York City did…
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Review: Cards of Love: The Moon (New Camelot #4) by Sierra Simone
This short and sexy follow-up to the New Camelot trilogy does much to explain Merlin’s role in the whole situation. It portrays two very different relationships across time in a way that also shows off how Simone uses point-of-view to amplify her storytelling. I do have some questions about the off-screen events that bring Merlin…
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Review: American King (New Camelot #3) by Sierra Simone
I honestly did not expect this book to affect me as much as it did. I tore through it in a single afternoon, enjoying the spring air on my front porch, and had to go inside for fresh tissues twice. At about the 90% mark, I texted a friend to rage about what I assumed…
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Review: Harvest of Sighs (Thornchapel #3) by Sierra Simone
All books have a dark moment, right before things get better. This book, the third in the Thornchapel series, ends in the ultimate dark moment. Relationships were not great during this book. They were intense and hopeful and painful and tragic, making me fall in love with each of the characters. And now so many…
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Review: American Prince (New Camelot #2) by Sierra Simone
I like Greer Galloway. She’s an okay character. She’ll do well as the First Lady (once she ever gets to fulfill the role). Her history(ies) with Ash and Embry were intriguing and their future will, I’m sure, be equally so. But she’s got absolutely nothing on Embry Moore. The history between Embry and Ash is…
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Review: Feast of Sparks (Thornchapel #2) by Sierra Simone
I devoured books 2 and 3 in this series in a single day (plus a few hours because it was VERY late when I finally went to bed). On the one hand, tangling apart my thoughts of each book might be difficult. But this book ends in a stunning revelation, a different sort of pain…
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Review: American Queen (New Camelot #1) by Sierra Simone
I adore Arthurian literature, but not all of it. Lancelot has especially never been a particular favorite, for much the same reason Simone explains in this book: He’s a fanfic self-insert by the French so they could play with chivalry in a set of tales too old for such a relatively modern social construct. I…
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Review: A Lesson in Thorns (Thornchapel #1) by Sierra Simone
I bought this ebook months ago, and for the life of me, I couldn’t remember why. The cover description was intriguing, but not my typical fare. It seemed a bit too throw-back Gothic for me. So, I glanced at a few online reviews, and one of them complained about bisexual characters. Who cares why I…
