Audiobook Review: Witch You Well by Colleen Cross

Author: Colleen Cross
Narrator: Petrea Burchard
Series: Westwick Witches #1
Audience: +18
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Publisher: Self published
Length: 5 hours and 48 minutes
Release Date: August 21, 2017
My Rating: 4.5 Cups
Source: Audiobooks Unleashed
Blurb (from Goodreads):

A Westwick Witches Cozy Mystery Novel Cendrine “Cen” West has an intriguing secret. . .
Cen is a journalist descended from a long line of powerful witches who have inhabited the small town of Westwick Corners for generations. Except, Cen is a witch who craves an ordinary life, and as the family black sheep, she doesn’t even want to dabble in the craft. . . much to her troublemaking Aunt Pearl’s dismay.

Then days before Cen’s wedding to a “normal” guy, a visiting billionaire is murdered at her family’s cozy inn–and now all evidence points to her eccentric Aunt Pearl. If Cen hopes to prove her aunt’s innocence, she will have to embrace her own magic and do a little sleuthing. Yet her investigation only uncovers more questions than answers after she discovers a supernatural connection to the murder, a strange vortex beneath the town, and a disturbing secret about her gorgeous fiancée.

For help she turns to the town’s sexy new sheriff, Tyler Gates. But working with him only adds more complications to her already harried life once Cen starts feeling an overwhelming attraction to the no-nonsense man.

But are her feelings for Tyler real, or just the result of pre-wedding jitters? Cen will have to find out! And will the two of them be able to get past their personal baggage to solve the case in time to save her aunt?

*Disclaimer: I received a review copy from Audiobooks Unleashed in exchange for an honest review. This does not influence my rating or the content of my review

Cozy mystery with witches? Yes, please and thank you. My love of cozy mysteries is growing with every book I read, and I am always looking to read more and more books in this genre. Witch You Well is actually a reread for me, and I may have enjoyed it more on the second read, not only because I knew what was happening, but also because I could focus on other aspects of the story, and boy oh boy there’s a lot going on in this book.

Blog Tour Book Review: The Dom Identity by Lexi Blake

Author: Lexi Blake
Series: Masters & Mercenaries: Reloaded #2, Masters and Mercenaries #23
Audience: +18
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Erotic Romance
Publisher: DLZ Entertainment, LLC
Release Date: September 14th 2021
My Rating: 5 Cups
Source: Social Butterfly PR
Blurb (from Goodreads):

A man with everything

Michael Malone seems to have it all. A wealthy, loving family. A job that fulfills him. Friends he can count on. But something is missing. He’s spent years watching his brother and close friends get married and start families, but it hasn’t happened for him. When an assignment comes up to investigate fallen Hollywood star Vanessa Hale, he jumps at the chance. She’s gorgeous and potentially deadly. Playing the spy game with her might be just the thing to take his mind off his troubles.

A woman with nothing left to lose

Vanessa Hale had big dreams that ended in scandal. She returned home with nothing but heartache and the desire to find her mother’s killer. The trail points to someone at Lodge Corp, so taking a job with Julian Lodge’s mysterious company is her best option for finding the truth. While she hunts for a killer during the day, she hopes to find some solace at night in The Club. Meeting the gorgeous, sexy and seemingly kind Michael Malone, their chemistry sparks in a way she’s never felt before, and Vanessa thinks maybe her luck has finally changed.

A love that might save them both

When Michael’s true motives are revealed, she will have to find a way to forgive his betrayal. The killer has made Vanessa their next target. Working together and stopping this monster is the only chance for them to have the real love they both deserve.

*Disclaimer: I received an e-ARC of this book from Social Butterfly PR in exchange for an honest review. This does not influence my rating or the content of my review in any way.

**Disclaimer: This book contains mature content. As a result, my review may contain references to content intended for mature audiences only.

The second book in the Masters & Mercenaries: Reloaded just came out and it shouldn’t surprise anyone at this point that I loved it. It’s fresh, it’s new, and it feels a little bit different and I loved every single moment of reading this book.

Blog Tour Book Review: Saint by Sierra Simone

Author: Sierra Simone
Series: Priest #3
Audience: +18
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Erotic Romance, M/M Romance,
Publisher: Self-published
Release Date: September 7th 2021
My Rating: 5 Cups
Source: Candi Kane PR
Blurb (from Goodreads):

I can’t have Elijah Iverson.

I can’t have him because he’s my older brother’s best friend. I can’t have him because I broke his heart five years ago; because he’s now engaged to someone else—someone kind and dependable who deserves his whiskey eyes, his soft mouth, his fierce intellect.

I can’t have Elijah because I’ve chosen God instead.

The Bell brothers, though . . . well, we don’t exactly have the greatest track record with vows. But I’m determined to do this monk thing right—to pledge myself to a cloistered life and spend the rest of my years in chastity and prayer. But now Elijah’s here. He’s here and he’s coming with me on my European monastery road trip, and between the whispered confessions and the stolen kisses and the moments bent over an ancient altar, my vows are feeling flimsier by the day.

And vows or not, I know in my heart that it would take more than a good and holy monk to resist Elijah Iverson right now. It would take a saint.

And we all know that I’m no saint.

This is the third full-length M/M standalone in the Priest Collection, featuring Father Bell’s brother, Aiden Bell. You do not have to read Priest or Sinner to read Saint.

*Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this book from Candi Kane PR in exchange for an honest review. This does not influence my rating or the content of my review in any way.

**Disclaimer: This book contains mature content. As a result, my review may contain references to content intended for mature audiences only.

I’ve been waiting for this book for a long while and ever since I heard that it was going to be released, I knew that Saint would break me. I was expecting to love it, but I didn’t expect the roller coaster of emotions it put me through. If you love second chance romances, best friend’s younger sibling, road trip romances, this is the book for you.

Audiobook Review: Neon Gods by Katee Robert

Author: Katee Robert
Narrator: Zara Hampton-Brown, Alex Moorcock
Series: Dark Olympus #1
Audience: +18
Genre: Fantasy Romance, Erotic Romance
Publisher: Dreamscape Media, LLC
Length: 10 hours
Release Date: June 03, 2021
My Rating: 4 Cups
Source: Spotify
Blurb (from Goodreads):

He was supposed to be a myth.
But from the moment I crossed the River Styx and fell under his dark spell…
…he was, quite simply, mine.

Society darling Persephone Dimitriou plans to flee the ultra-modern city of Olympus and start over far from the backstabbing politics of the Thirteen Houses. But all that’s ripped away when her mother ambushes her with an engagement to Zeus, the dangerous power behind their glittering city’s dark facade.

With no options left, Persephone flees to the forbidden undercity and makes a devil’s bargain with a man she once believed a myth…a man who awakens her to a world she never knew existed.

Hades has spent his life in the shadows, and he has no intention of stepping into the light. But when he finds that Persephone can offer a little slice of the revenge he’s spent years craving, it’s all the excuse he needs to help her—for a price. Yet every breathless night spent tangled together has given Hades a taste for Persephone, and he’ll go to war with Olympus itself to keep her close…

A modern retelling of Hades and Persephone that’s as sinful as it is sweet.

If there’s one author I trust to write a good Hades and Persephone retelling, that is Katee Robert. I first heard of this project around winter 2020 and I’ve been excited for it ever since. Then surprise surprise, but the book was put up by Sourcebooks Casablanca on Spotify. So you know… summer made! I also have to say that I read this book during what I like to call my Katee Robert month, because it was mostly made up of reads from her backlist. Anyway.  I am very happy to say that Neon Gods lived up to my expectations.

Summer 2021 Wrap-Up

Hi everyone! It’s so good to see you here! I know in my last wrap-up post I said I was going to be more active, and I swear I tried. But life reasons kept me from being more active, and more productive. Which you know… sucks, because I had really planned to post more than a few reviews here and there. But I’m here now, with a great deal of inspiration to write. So I’m going to use all of that energy while it lasts.

I have a lot of stuff to catch you guys up on, so let’s get started!

Book Review: Uncharted by Adriana Anders

Author: Adriana Anders
Series: Survival Instincts #2
Audience: +18
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Romantic Suspense
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Release Date: August 24th 2021
My Rating: 5 Cups
Source: Netgalley
Blurb (from Goodreads):

Hotshot pilot Leo Eddowes is afraid of nothing and no one. So when she’s asked to evacuate a man from the wilds of Alaska, she doesn’t hesitate. But with enemies in close pursuit and the weather turning sour, what should have been a simple mission quickly shifts to disaster.

And there’s only one way out.

When Elias Thorne disappeared, he was America’s most wanted. Now he’s spent more than a decade in one of the most remote places on earth, guarding a dangerous secret. Leo’s arrival, quickly followed by a team of expert hunters, leaves him no choice but to join forces with her—and run. Neither is prepared for their reluctant partnership to flare into something as wild and untamed as the frozen world around them…but as desperately cold days melt into scorchingly hot nights, Leo and Elias must learn to dig deep, trust in each other, and forge a bond as strong as the forces of nature.

Stranded together in a frozen wilderness,
There’s nowhere left to run…

*Disclaimer: I received an eARC of his book from NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca in exchange for an honest review. This does not influence my rating or the content of my review in any way.

**Disclaimer: This book contains mature content. As a result, my review may contain references to content intended for mature audiences only.

The day has finally come, guys. The wait for the second installment in the Survival Instincts series, Uncharted by Adriana Anders, is finally out. If you thought the first book in the series was good, then this one is off the charts. Uncharted has everything I could have hoped for and more: suspense, adrenaline, scorching chemistry, romance for days, competence porn, amazing side characters, mystery, and a lot gasp-inducing moments. Basically this is the recipe for awesomeness and Uncharted delivers on each and every one of them.

Blog Tour Book Review: Bond Of Destiny by Larissa Ione

Author: Larissa Ione
Series: Demonica #20
Audience: +18
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: 1001 Dark Nights Press
Release Date: August 24th 2021
My Rating: 5 Cups
Source: Social Butterfly 
Blurb (from Goodreads):

Sold into slavery mere hours after his birth to werewolf parents, Tracker spent decades in service to cruel underworlders. Then the fallen angel Harvester transferred his ownership to a human woman who gave him as much freedom as the unbreakable bond would allow. Still, thanks to his traumatic past, he’s afraid to trust, let alone feel love. But when an acquaintance shows up at his door, injured and in need of help, he finds himself longing for a connection. For someone to touch. For someone to care.

Stacey Orr has had it bad for Tracker since the day her best friend, Jillian, was forced to hold his unbreakable slave bond. At first, the fact that he’s a werewolf seemed weird to Stacey, but hey, her best friend was married to one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, so weird is definitely a matter of perspective. Stacey knows the depths of Tracker’s trauma, and she longs to help him even as he helps her, but breaking through his walls isn’t easy.

And it only gets harder when the only blood family he has, the pack that gave him away, lays claim to him… and everything he loves.

*Disclaimer: I received an eARC from Social Butterfly PR in exchange for an honest review. This does not influence my rating or the content of my review in any way.

 **Disclaimer: This book contains mature content. As a result, my review may contain references to content intended for mature audiences only.

I know at this point I sound like a broken record, but every time I see a new Demonica story come out I get super happy and excited. I know that this is one of those rare times where I get to truly sit back and enjoy the ride. I just know that no matter how long or short the story is, it will make the overall world Larissa Ione has created richer, while making sure I crave more and more. And Bond Of Destiny is no different. And I know I say this all the time, but I really, really loved this installment in the Demonica series.