Book review: TAKING WHAT’S MINE, by Siobhan Davis

Thrilling, exciting, emotional, like all Siobhan Davis’ books.  I love diving into her world, especially since I know most of the characters and their back stories.  I loved seeing Bennett, Sierra, Serena, Alesso, older and wiser but no less lethal or beautiful as the case may be.  The Accardi twins are about to be parents!  I loved meeting Valentina and seeing how spunky she is.  For someone so young and who has gone through so much, she’s a heroine all right. And super intelligent, too!

I got a kick out of seeing Fiero Maltese, the supposedly forever bachelor, completely decided against marriage, fall like a bucket of bricks for this young woman who is as beautiful inside as outside.  And at first sight! Talk about finding your destiny when you least expect it, and having to force that destiny to fit into your schemes.

Nobody writes Mafia like Siobhan Davis and we get a glimpse into that world, with all the schemes, politics, threats, danger and internal betrayals.  It’s suspenseful because of the threats, dangerous for Valentina because of what she’s going against, and totally delicious because of the steamy sexy times these two have.  

From a hard a$$ to a cheesy lover, Fiero did make a total turnabout and I loved seeing how romantic he could get.  I was very happy for Valentina in finding her one true love and happiness, nobody deserved it better than she.

And let’s not forget the plot twists that this author delights us with!  There are always wonderful surprises along the story, some made me cry because it was just so sad.  This author never fails to make me laugh and cry and rejoice because within this world of criminals, there’s a code of honor, women are revered, family is a priority, children are protected.  It’s full of good men even if they’re mafiosos!

Purchase links

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

UK: https://amzn.to/3wwzpE5

CA: https://amzn.to/3WKdZOi

AU: https://amzn.to/3yoAePI

Universal: https://bit.ly/TWMEbook

Add to Goodreads: https://bit.ly/TWMGR

About the author

Siobhan Davis™ is a USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Amazon Top 5 bestselling romance author. Siobhan writes emotionally intense stories with swoon-worthy romance, complex characters, and tons of unexpected plot twists and turns that will have you flipping the pages beyond bedtime! She has sold over 2 million books, and her titles are translated into several languages.

https://siobhandavis.com/

Book review: IN THE DETAILS, by Julia Wolf

Mile High Billionaires #1

Clara & Jake

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

We met Clara Rossi in Luca Rossi’s story Sincerely, Your Inconvenient Wife, and I perceived her as a very stuck-up woman until she started having problems with her husband and she turned into a very vulnerable woman.  This book happens three years after disaster struck when her husband was arrested for going psycho and stealing from Rossi Motors.  Two days after that tragic day she gave birth to their daughter …

In this book she starts pretty much the same, seems stuck-up, but this time, she’s a woman with high protection walls around her heart, trust issues, a heart closed to love except for her daughter, brother, sister-in-law and two besties.  The only exceptions to her stern façade is when she hops on her Rossi motorcycle and goes out of the city, visits a biker bar, and gets it on with biker dude Jake.  It’s her monthly escapade and it’s what keeps her sane in her very structured existence.

When both of her worlds collide, Jake is in a black suit, visiting her company, proposing a collaboration between his brother’s company, Motor Zone, and Rossi Motors, it’s like a tsunami hit.  

We get to watch as Clara falls in love, opens her heart and trusts another man, one painful step after another, with a lot of precaution and fear.  Her little girl, who is precocious and very social, latches on to Jake and makes him fall in love with her preciousness.  He also has a teenage daughter, so he knows little girls and has a very rare talent for making dutch braids….

I loved that this book moves slowly and cautiously.  Both Jake and Clara have protection walls around their hearts, so there’s a lot of reluctance.  Both girls help a lot in getting their parents together.  I loved seeing Clara come out of the fog around her, she was clearly traumatized by her husband’s crimes and the utter betrayal she felt.  She had a very closed bubble and no intentions of getting outside that bubble. 

It’s a battle on the business front and the heart front and I enjoyed every moment.  I loved Jake and Nellie and Sage and grew to like Clara in all her defensiveness.  The story is brilliantly written, has the perfect pace, and the character development it spot on.  I felt like I knew Jake and Clara, even brother Jeremy who is a nervous wreck most of the time.  The relation between brothers is very interesting, not a perfect one, as all siblings relations are.

I don’t know who’s next in this series but bring it because I love this author’s books!

Purchase links

FREE with Kindle Unlimited

Amazon: https://amzn.to/45TYPIS

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

Add to Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3Wd26A1

About the author

Julia Wolf writes sexy rockers, broken bad boys, snarky heroines, and bad ass women. She's a firm believer in happily ever afters, no matter how rocky the road is to get there.

Julia lives in Maryland with her husband and three crazy, beautiful children. When she's not writing romance, she's reading it. Some of her favorite things are, in no particular order: goats, books, coffee, and Target.

 

Connect with Julia

Website: http://juliawolfwrites.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17563191.Julia_Wolf

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Julia-Wolf/author/B078VDJ3Z1

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

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2086152844974595

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Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/julia-wolf

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Book review: TRULY MADLY DEEPLY, by L.J. Shen

Forbidden Love #1

Calla & Row

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I love being back in LJ Shen’s world, where the guys are jerks with a hidden vulnerability and the women seem vulnerable but have a hard core inside.  In this case, Ambrose Rhett Casablancas, is a famous chef, owner of six Michelin awards, childhood friend of Calla Litvin, who is beautiful, sunshiny, quirky, and best friends with his little sister Dylan.  Even though he’s such a grump, he’s always been there for Calla as a protector, dance teacher, ride to school, food provider.  

Cal has a dark past, she’s broken but that doesn’t stop her from always being uplifting and cheerful.  Her past trauma is the reason she has no love live.  

In this author’s love stories, characters enter into their love with a lot of reluctance or obstacles, but in this case, we get the male character has always been in love with Cal.  His unrequited love turns him into a jerk who is always grumpy with Cal, but nevertheless does his job as a friend.  I had such a love for him, because he defends himself, as he should, but he never reneges on being there for Cal.  

I found that Cal was very stubbornly broken, didn’t seek help for her situation, just kept it locked inside and festering.  I wanted to slap her silly because Row was perfect, he was there, he was devoted, but he was also leaving soon.

There’s no way to stay unemotional with an LJ Shen story.  She makes you laugh, snark, cry, sometimes you want to shake a stubborn fool, but always rejoice in the love that shines in all the ones around, like Cal’s Mamushka, Dylan’s snarkiness, Kieran’s kindness disguised in douchy-ness.

I liked the author’s message that even if you’re broken and reject love, you’re still deserving of devotion and long-lasting love and such is the case of Cal and Row.  Utterly entertaining, delightful, a little angsty, and fun.  And most of all, 🔥 

Purchase links

Amazon: https://amzn.to/4cMvz9C

Add Truly, Madly, Deeply to Goodreads: http://tinyurl.com/28rdvrh9  

 

For more information about L.J. Shen and her books, visit her website:

https://www.authorljshen.com

About the author

L.J. Shen is a Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Washington Post, and #1 Amazon bestselling author of contemporary, new adult, and young adult romance. Her books have been sold in twenty different countries, and she hopes to visit all of them.

She lives in Florida with her husband, three rowdy sons, and rowdier pets and enjoys good wine, bad reality TV shows, and reading to her heart’s content. Connect with her on her website at www.authorljshen.com or on Instagram (@authorljshen), or join her Facebook group at http://goo.gl/QZJ0NC. Sign up for her newsletter at https://bit.ly/3LhsIrb, and text SHEN to 313131 to get new release alerts (United States only).

 

Book review: CARIBBEAN CRUSH, by R.S. Grey

I was completely enchanted with this book! The heroine initially appears to be a bit ditzy but as you read you realize she’s just had a few hard years and she’s just floating, waiting for her bad luck to change. She’s been toiling at a menial job in a travel magazine, waiting for a chance at a travel journalist position but my take is that they were using her with no intent to deliver.

When Casey mentions she knows reclusive Phillip Woodmont, she’s given the assignment to get an exclusive interview during the Aurelia maiden voyage. So she’s cruising along the Caribbean, with a fantastic new friend, influencer Sienna Thomas, and trying without success so get her interview. Her attempts are comical until they finally get it going.  She’s unaffected, beautiful but doesn’t realize it, intelligent and kind. I liked that her actions showed integrity even as she has no shame bargaining with Phillip for her interview.  At the moment, she’s aimless with no home, her future seems dim, but she’s not bitter, just oddly at peace.

Phillip is the kind of man who wants a completely ordered existence, total control all around. He had an ideal girlfriend who filled all the checkboxes but she dumped him. Now, he’s dealing with this rebel rouser who turned his world topsy turvy, irritates him but excites him to no end. 

This is the case of two opposites who have found the perfect partner to balance them. Casey woke Phillip up to life and made him embrace the chaos. Suddenly, he realizes what he was missing and wants more, but she finds she’s not enough. She has no life to speak of and she needs to find her future. There are some very deep moments while Casey grows and realizes she was in a rut. 

I loved casey’s and Sienna’s antics, the beautiful friendship they formed, the love that started forming out from a childhood brief friendship and that now grows from incredible chemistry and passion, the banter and the good times that are the hallmark for a cruise. The romance was wonderful, great development of their feelings, the pull and push of a cruise fling that goes more serious than expected.  I loved Casey, she’s so kind and quirky, there’s just no helping loving her.

This is one of the nicest books this author has written and I had a great time reading! I cringed, laughed, said “oh no she didn’t!” several times, got sad several times, loved seeing Phillip lose control, the dancing on top of the table, it was a great trip!

Purchase links

FREE with Kindle Unlimited!

Amazon: https://amzn.to/48roHf5 

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

Goodreads: https://bit.ly/42J9JzT

About the author

R.S. Grey is the USA Today bestselling author of over thirty novels, including seven #1 bestselling romantic comedies. She lives in Texas with her husband, two daughters, and dog.

 

Connect with R.S.

Website | www.rsgrey.com  

Goodreads | https://bit.ly/3waLWMU  

Amazon | https://amzn.to/3ST7bvq   

Facebook | https://bit.ly/3SSrhWX    

Facebook Group |  https://www.facebook.com/groups/1378399812435745    

Instagram |  https://www.instagram.com/authorrsgrey/        

Newsletter |  https://bit.ly/3SSaTFK  

Book review: TEMPEST, by Alison Rhymes

Seattle Blades #3

Gavin & Odette

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Whenever I’m going to start a book by this author I know I’m in for a wonderful emotional story.  Her female characters are strong women with vulnerabilities and the men they love are flawed but with the capacity to grow and evolve into the man they deserve.  Such is this story!

Odette and Gavin were together for only sixty-nine days, the summer after senior year, before leaving for college. Gavin had a girlfriend for three years but he loved her like a sister, he was with her obeying parental pressure. The girl he always crushed on was Odette, the odd, quirky and very talented girl, who has ambitious plans to make it big in the fashion industry.  Then his previous girlfriend turned out pregnant and he left Odette, married his old girlfriend and sent them all on decades of regret.

Eighteen years later, divorced Gavin is playing his last hockey season with the Seattle Blades and Odette came to Seattle to mentor in a fashion design program. And as fate would have it, Gavin’s daughter Tori is one of the mentees which brings them near once again. And a lovely, angsty and bittersweet story begins!

I loved, loved this book! I found their second chance was full of old hurts and regrets. I hurt for Odette because she’s the who lost the most. And Gavin had to fight hard for his second chance and convince Odette that she’s the one, not a placeholder. All of this happens in the midst of the hockey scene and the fashion world where Odette reigns supreme. I liked that Odette is as famous and rich as Gavin, if not more, so he has nothing to offer, just his heart and sincerity.

I loved all the rumination the characters did, as they analyze their feelings and try to understand what the other went through. Odette was very closed up, but she was also kind and generous, Gavin was determined and willing to give her whatever she needed to trust him again. The emotions involved, the insecurities and regrets were very present and I felt each conversation and all the tears that were shed. A truly beautiful romance!

Purchase links

Free in Kindle Unlimited

https://geni.us/ARTempest

About the author 

Alison lives somewhere in the shadow of a Pacific Northwest Mountain, bordered by the Puget Sound, and not too far from the country roads she grew up on. 

When not writing, she can be found avidly reading, traveling with youthful wanderlust, or slowly turning the inside of her house into her own personal houseplant jungle. 

Content Warnings for Alison's books can be found on her website alisonrhymes.com

You can join Alison's newsletter to receive early news and bonus scenes: https://tinyurl.com/ymrrdtfc

Alison can be contacted at alison@alisonrhymes.com