Book review: A HATEFUL NEGOTIATION, by Tijan

Some love stories start with sparks. Creighton and Blake’s starts with bruises. Both products of the foster system, they carry that bone‑deep sense of being unwanted—the kind that stains every instinct, every reaction, every belief about themselves. And in Creighton’s case, that ache is amplified by his own self‑diagnosed “psychopath tendencies.” By fourteen he’s already a young criminal, numb to right and wrong, convinced he has no soul. And then an eight‑year‑old girl with a bruised face steps out of a car and jump‑starts the dead organ in his chest.

From that moment on, Blake becomes his axis.

His purpose.

His line in the sand.

Creighton protects her with a ferocity that terrifies everyone else. If someone hurts her feelings, he reacts. If someone threatens her, he eliminates the threat. The world calls it obsession. I call it devotion—because Blake is also his conscience. She sets one rule: “No one good and no one innocent.” And he follows it for years, not because he believes in morality, but because she does.

Blake’s dream has always been painfully simple: a normal life. Normal people. No foster‑kid stigma. No shadow of Creighton’s world. So they strike a deal—she can leave, study in New York, live her life, as long as she accepts a disguised bodyguard and the occasional financial help she pretends she doesn’t need. Creighton stays in Cincinnati… until he doesn’t. Because where Blake goes, he follows, even from a distance.

And then come the territorial clashes with the Kings of New York—Tristian West and Ashton Walden—and suddenly Blake’s quiet brownstone life with her four housemates collides with Creighton’s underworld. Parties turn into danger. Coincidences turn into chaos. And the mayhem is delicious.

What unfolds is a roller coaster of mafia politics, kidnappings, torture, threats, and turf wars. Through it all, Blake proves she’s no fragile flower—she can handle herself. But with Creighton? She melts. And that contrast is everything.

Her resistance to him finally makes sense: she wanted him to change. To be better. To be normal. But Creighton only has a heart where she’s concerned, and once she accepts that, she adapts. She grows. She realizes the power she holds over him and uses it—not manipulatively, but lovingly—to shape the life they can actually have.

Creighton’s devotion is absolute. He would burn the world for her.

Blake’s love is quieter, slower to bloom, but just as fierce.

And for a man who claims he has no soul, he shows more integrity than half the “good” people in his world. No sex trafficking. Children protected. Employees’ families cared for even after death. He says it’s about loyalty. I say it’s the soul he swears he doesn’t have.

The action never stops.

The romance is slow burn but emotionally loaded.

And watching Blake come into her own—accepting what she can’t change him and bending the rest to her terms—was incredibly satisfying. Watching Creighton be tamed by a girl who is beautiful inside and out? Even better.

My only gripe: seeing West and Walden at war with Creighton hurt my heart, because I loved them in their own books. Walden especially got a little too intense at times. But peace eventually comes, so I forgave it.

Tijan always delivers: riveting characters, twisty plots, humor, emotion, and flawed people trying to be good enough for the one person who matters. Creighton embodies that perfectly. He knows he’s not good—but he loves Blake too much to ever let her go.

Sigh.

Purchase links

FREE with #kindleunlimited! 

Amazon: https://bit.ly/4forSch

Amazon Worldwide: https://mybook.to/B2HZ

Goodreads: https://bit.ly/46K8Z1w 

Listen to the audiobook!

Narrated by: Benjamin Sands & Mia Madison

Audible: https://bit.ly/3MUJSkB

About the author

Tijan is a New York Times Bestselling author that writes suspenseful and unpredictable

novels. Her characters are strong, intense, and gut-wrenchingly real with a little bit of

sass on the side. Tijan began writing after college and once she started, she was hooked.

She's written multi-bestsellers including the Fallen Crest series, Ryan's Bed, Enemies

and others.

She is currently writing many new books and series with an English Cocker she

adores.

Connect with Tijan

Website: http://www.tijansbooks.com/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4851199.Tijan

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Tijan/e/B00DJG52QE

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Tijansbooks/

Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/tijansreadergroup

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tijansbooks/

X/Twitter: www.twitter.com/tijansbooks

TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@tijan_author

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/tijan

Book review: ATLAS, by Sawyer Bennett

Pittsburg Titans # 19

Atlas & Maddie

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This author is usually my go‑to for comfort reads—the kind of stories that wrap around you like a soft blanket and leave you smiling. But this time? She shattered me. I cried more than once, and not the cute, misty‑eyed kind of crying. Full‑body, heart‑in‑my-throat crying. And somehow, I loved every second of it.

At the center of this story is Gray—Atlas’s best friend, a devoted single father, and the kind of man who deserved a lifetime he didn’t get. Stage‑four lung cancer, despite never smoking a day in his life. Aggressive. Unfair. Cruel. And from the moment the diagnosis hits, you feel the countdown ticking. Gray’s love for his baby girl, Grayce, is so pure it hurts. He stepped into fatherhood without hesitation, rearranged his entire life, and became the kind of dad who changes diapers like a champ and sings lullabies at 3 a.m. Atlas admires him deeply, and honestly, so did I.

Atlas visits whenever he can, but as a Titans player, his time isn’t his own. Maddie—Gray’s other best friend—drops everything to care for Gray and Grayce. She’s prickly, defensive, and armored in ways that make perfect sense once you learn her history. She and Atlas clash instantly. Oil and vinegar. Sparks, but the sharp kind.

And then Gray dies.

Even though you know it’s coming, it still guts you. The simplicity of his arrangements, the quiet dignity of it, the letter he leaves behind… it all lands like a punch. Maddie thinks she’ll be Grayce’s sole parent, but Gray had other plans: he wants Atlas to be Grayce’s dad, with Maddie as her mom. Legal papers already drawn. His last wish.

Atlas takes a day to think, but let’s be honest—there was never really a choice. His heart already knew.

What follows is messy, uncomfortable, and so painfully human. Maddie and Grayce move to Pittsburgh. Maddie hates it. Atlas tries so hard to make her feel at home—emptying rooms, hiring movers, coordinating everything so she and Grayce walk into a fully set‑up space. And still, Maddie bristles. Snaps. Retreats behind her titanium walls.

But slowly—slowly—she softens. She sees Atlas’s sincerity, his respect for her role as Grayce’s mom, his desire to be included rather than take over. She watches him fall in love with fatherhood, with Grayce, with the life they’re building. And she lets herself laugh. Accept help. Trust. It’s a transformation that feels earned, tender, and so deeply moving.

And then there’s the romance. Yes, it’s sexy and sweet and full of chemistry, but for me, the heart of the book is the grief and the healing. Two people broken open by loss, choosing to build something beautiful for a little girl who deserved the world. Gray’s presence lingers through the videos he left—birthday messages, songs, advice, love poured into every pixel. Those scenes destroyed me in the best way.

And Maddie’s journey? From isolated, feral, and fiercely self‑reliant to someone who lets herself be loved—not just by Atlas, but by the Titans family, the WAGS, the girlfriends who drag her to brunch and refuse to let her hide? I loved it! She becomes brighter, softer, still herself but finally supported.

This book is heartbreaking and uplifting all at once. It made me laugh, cry, ache, and swoon. It’s about grief, found family, unexpected parenthood, and the kind of love that grows in the cracks left behind by loss. And yes, the sexy times were delicious, but it was Grayce—their precious little girl—and the legacy Gray left behind that made this story unforgettable for me.

A comfort read? Not this time. But a beautiful one? Absolutely.

Purchase links

https://geni.us/SB_Atlas

About the author

New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal Bestselling author Sawyer Bennett uses real life experience to create relatable stories that appeal to a wide array of readers. From contemporary romance, fantasy romance, and both women’s and general fiction, Sawyer writes something for just about everyone.

A former trial lawyer from North Carolina, when she is not bringing fiction to life, Sawyer is a chauffeur, stylist, chef, maid, and personal assistant to her very adorable daughter, as well as full-time servant to her wonderfully naughty dogs.

If you’d like to receive a notification when Sawyer releases a new book, sign up for her newsletter (sawyerbennett.com/signup).

Connect with Sawyer Bennett:

https://geni.us/SawyerBennett

Book review: A CAPTIVE SITUATION, by Tijan

Kings of New York #3

Jake & Sawyer

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I was so surprised to start this book and not get sucked into the story, as is usual when I read a Tijan book.  The heroine, Sawyer, is so distracted and clueless, like she’s not all in her head, as she visits New York, does some touristy stuff, and starts loitering outside the building where her cousin Graham works.  Her behavior is so bizarre, no wonder she’s picked up by the police and taken to a precinct. 

Incredibly, Sawyer had wasted eighteen years of her life on a loser who used her to help him further his career goals, then when he got her best friend pregnant, he dumped her and cancelled their wedding.  I was asking myself: how can you have not seen any red flags along the way? Usually Tijan’s heroines are plucky and smart, but this one felt like a mental case.  Those wasted eighteen years really hurt me! So Sawyer traveled to New York City on the week her wedding would have been, to distract herself and find her cousin Graham, son of an estranged aunt, whom she’s never met.  She’s found loitering in front of the building where he works, is taken to a police precinct and left there, again aimless and clueless.

Jake Worthing, whom we’ve met before on the previous books of this series, had met Sawyer on the subway, saw her having a moment, asked if she needed an ambulance, then left her there.  Later on, he arrives at the precinct looking for his addict cousin who has been arrested again, finds Sawyer there, and brings her with him and Val.  And then we’re taken on a crazy rollercoaster ride of Mafia shenanigans, a war for turfs among Mafia lords, old friends Trace and Ashton, Sawyer’s crazy aunts who think they are cyber sleuths, and all kinds of fun stuff.  And here is when I got really engaged with the book, now in familiar Tijan territory.

The story is convoluted, fantastic, with so many twists and turns I got whiplash, super entertaining and riveting. The story started with the insta-lust that is so frequent with Tijan’s characters, and ended with a love story where both characters tried to sacrifice their lives to defend their loved one. In the end, I finally got clarity on Sawyer’s haziness at the start of the story, and it made total sense. As she got involved on the action with Jake, she came to life, all the sass and smarts I expect from Tijan’s heroines came forth, and I enjoyed a hell of a ride. And the end was all I expected and needed, although I wouldn’t mind an extra epilogue (hint, hint). Another Tijan hit!

Purchase links

FREE with Kindle Unlimited

Amazon: https://bit.ly/4kjjE7G

Amazon Worldwide: https://mybook.to/ACaptiveSituation

Audible: https://bit.ly/43k7F3A

Narrated by: Amelia Hugh & Jeffrey Kafer

Add to Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3EZKUb1

A Captive Situation is book three in the Kings of New York series. It can be read as a

standalone but does mention events from books 1 & 2.

Check out the series here! https://bit.ly/41KRvyY

About the author

Tijan is a New York Times Bestselling author that writes suspenseful and unpredictable

novels. Her characters are strong, intense, and gut-wrenchingly real with a little bit of

sass on the side. Tijan began writing after college and once she started, she was hooked.

She's written multi-bestsellers including the Fallen Crest series, Ryan's Bed, Enemies

and others.

She is currently writing many new books and series with an English Cocker she

adores.

Connect with Tijan

Website: http://www.tijansbooks.com/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4851199.Tijan

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Tijan/e/B00DJG52QE

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Tijansbooks/

Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/tijansreadergroup

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tijansbooks/

X/Twitter: www.twitter.com/tijansbooks

TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@tijan_author

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/tijan