Book review: BEATING HEART, by Laura Pavlov

Magnolia Falls #4

Nash & Emerson

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was such a beautiful love story; not just the romantic love story between Nash and Emerson, but the love between a father and his son.  Cutler a.k.a. Beefcake, is a precious and precocious little boy who has won the hearts of everyone surrounding him, his father’s band of ‘ride or die’ brothers, and the women who love them. It’s beautiful to see a little boy surrounded by so much love and see how well he returns it.  Beefcake has more game than his father, and he secures all the girls he likes within his circle of loved ones.  He certainly can give his Pops some lessons in love!

I love the source for the title of this book; it means that Nash’s heart beats only for his little boy.  Of course, by the book’s end, his heart also beats for Emerson, but the story is a little bumpy because Nash believes he has only one purpose: raise Cutler and make sure his boy grows up healthy. He assures everyone constantly he has no other space in his beating heart but only for Cutler.  Is he in for a reconning!

I loved Emerson, who broke up with her fiancee  just before her wedding and came to hide in this small town only to find love of all kinds, friends, little patients, clinic coworkers, Nash and his band of brothers and their women.  She has lots of gumption, coming from a family of rambunctious three brothers and two male cousins.  She could take Nash on very easily, and melted for Cutler.  And to double the cuteness, there’s Winnie, Emerson’s Bernedoodle, who is huge but behaves like a toy poodle.  

It’s fun to see a reluctant single dad fall in love with his son’s pediatrician, fully aided by his son, who claimed her first. It was a joyous read!

Purchase links

FREE with #kindleunlimited 

 https://mybook.to/BeatingHeart

Audible: https://adbl.co/4cjQkbR

Narrated by: Savannah Peachwood & Teddy Hamilton

Add to Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3Xn9ucO

About the author

Laura Pavlov writes sweet and sexy contemporary romance that will make you both laugh and cry. She is happily married to her college sweetheart, mom to two awesome almost-grown kids, and dog-whisperer to one temperamental yorkie and one wild bernedoodle. Laura resides in Las Vegas where she is living her own happily ever after. Be sure to sign up for updates on new releases. Laura loves to hear from readers!

 

Connect with Laura

Website: https://www.laurapavlov.com/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6569734.Laura_Pavlov

Amazon: http://amzn.to/3c1xKZX

Facebook: http://bit.ly/3eSvEdp

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X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurapavlov2

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@laurapavlovauthor

Bookbub: http://bit.ly/3ii8Vdp

Book review: THE DARK BEFORE LIGHT, by L.M. Halloran

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
And to think that I almost didn’t get the book!  The BDSM trope didn’t appeal, but the blurb of the book was so intriguing that I decided to go for it, and it turned out to be one of my 2024 favorites!

Kieran and Talia met when she was 14 and he was 18 years old.  They met in a Dublin cemetery, she was drunk, he was smoking a joint.  Talia was touring with her family, her sister took her to a pub, gave her two shots, left her, the owners threw her out and she ended up drunk in the cemetery.  Kieran found her, talked to her, and took her back to her hotel.  Not without first telling her she needed to be the queen of lions, and he would be the king. She would be ok and people would kneel at her.  She’s now 31, a psychiatrist, and an old college roommate asked her to take in a new patient.  When she finds out it’s Kieran, she makes room for him.

And this is how this fantastic story begins and took me on a journey of nanotechnology, assassination attempts, a psychiatrist who is also a sex therapist, she used to work as a dominatrix, and he used to feel guilty over losing his wife and turning into a player.  The author’s writing is sophisticated and witty, the characters are complicated and so interesting.  I loved all the psychology involved in their interactions and psyches, loved the slow burn of their attraction and the ethics involved as their attraction evolves and Talia can’t manage to separate feelings and professional actions.  

This story felt like a psychological thriller, not so much from the plot against Kieran for his nanorobotics research, but from the thrills I felt at all the psychological interactions between Kieran and Talia, and Talia’s consulting with her fellow therapist Leo Chastain.  I love anything psychological, and paired with love, sex, and the bit of BDSM involved, it felt like a dream love story. There’s also real suspense, industrial espionage, bodyguards who protect with their lives on the line, attempts at their safety, nail biting, and girl gossip.  I loved that the author inserted several humorous scenes because otherwise it would have been hugely intense, I needed the relief of some laughs!

This book needs to be enjoyed page by page, every dialogue, every interaction, all their thoughts and all their feelings.  It was an intense ride and so very enjoyable, I totally recommend it! 

Purchase links

https://a.co/d/iqBtBo7

Why you need to #ONECLICK this book…

🔥Doctor/Patient

🔥Second Chance

🔥Dislike to Obsession to Love

🔥Billionaire Romance

🔥He Falls First

🔥Suspense

🔥BDSM/kink (light)

🔥Irish Hero

🔥Spicy Contemporary Romance

🔥Characters in their 30s

🔥Female Domme

🔥Alpha Hero

🔥Possessive Hero

 

About the author

When not writing or reading, the author can be found gardening barefoot or chasing her spirited daughter. Some of her favorite things are puzzles, podcasts, and small dogs that resemble Ewoks. Home is Portland, Oregon.

Connect with L.M. Halloran:

https://www.lmhalloran.com/links/