HEA

Heart and Soul of the Wolf by Arizona Tape

Posted on by DragonSusie

Does Love Conquer All?

This is a cutesy short second-chance love story based as a prequel to the Guardian of the Winter Stone series. It wasn’t around when I first read the series, but I love the extra little titbits it gives, as well as the story itself.

These are two people, best friends, with a hundred-and-one excuses for why they mustn’t say anything to the other about their feelings. As soon as they leave on the quest, they fall into a steady rhythm with each other, each complimenting the other. Yet it may take the fear of losing it all to break the silence.

A few squees, a few breath-holding moments, a little bit of steam, and these two young women are ready to face the world.

Final rating: ★★★★☆ – Really liked

*I received a free digital ARC via the author and am voluntarily leaving a review.*

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Alpha’s Blood by Renee Rose and Lee Savino

Posted on by DragonSusie

Fun yet predictable read

I haven’t read any other books in the Bad Boy Alphas series, Midnight Doms neither, yet it’s not necessary – this book certainly works as a standalone and, as far as I’m aware, all the other books in the two intertwined series do, too.

We start off with a slave auction, where wolf shifters are set to be auctioned off to a vampire master. They’re known as “sweetbloods”, generally for the fact that adrenaline makes their blood taste sweeter, and with shifters, it’s apparently more potent. These slaves are either forced, or are sold off by their families. They receive training, to make sure that they can please their new masters, but this one female wolf is neither a slave, nor truly willing.

Selene has been trained in warfare since the massacre of her family, and trained in submission since she turned twenty-one, by a vampire who apparently wants to help her get back at the vampire who conducted the slaughter: the Vampire King. Her goal – to be bought by the King, so she may have a chance to end his life in turn. Although things don’t quite go as planned, and her attraction to this vampire means that she’s going to have a hard time fulfilling her half of the bargain.

So then, enter Lucius, the infamous Vampire King. He knows something is up when he’s not only enticed towards the auction, which he isn’t particularly a fan of, but is shown a werewolf that is just to his tastes. She reminds him of someone, so of course he presumes it’s a trap. Yet how can he possibly resist? And how can he tame this defiant she wolf, so unafraid of him?

There’s plenty of fun back and forth. Indeed, the training sessions are as steamy as they are fun. Selene is so stubborn, yet can’t resist the lure, each new scene bringing something unexpected to her, despite her previous training.

Yet, somehow, once they appear to “fall in love”, things start to fizzle out, as they both start to settle and become “domesticated”. There’s a twist, which can be seen coming a mile off, and the ending is pretty unsurprising. Once you get into the final third, apart from a couple of little pieces, it becomes quite predictable.

Although, despite the ending, it was still a thoroughly enjoyable read. Maybe I will pick my way through the rest of the two series…

Final rating: ★★★★☆ – Really liked

*I received a free digital ARC via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.*

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Before. After. Always. by Morgan Lee Miller

Posted on by DragonSusie

Potential not seen through

I picked this book up as I absolutely loved the previous book I read by this author. And this book had so much potential! The beginning of this book had me hooked yet, somehow along the way, I started to be less engaged. By the end, instead of feeling elated at the immense HEA, I just felt disappointed.

I’m unsure what went wrong. I mean, long-term effects of PTSD is a thing and therapy doesn’t always help with completely taking away the anxiety and panic attacks, although it should help in easing them. Especially after a certain amount of time has passed. Eliza most definitely doesn’t have CPTSD (Complex PTSD), as that, as its name suggest, is a far more severe form of PTSD, caused by years of repeated trauma in childhood. Yet Eliza has never moved on from a severely traumatic event when she was eighteen (now being thirty-one). She’s achieved so much, is accomplished in so many ways, yet part of her is still stuck in the past. It is certainly possible, but for someone who is so strong in other ways, it’s not necessarily a hundred-percent believable. It’s not to say that otherwise strong and accomplished people do not have panic attacks and suffer from anxiety, but long-term PTSD is usually so debilitating that it prevents you from pushing yourself as much as you otherwise would, strong or not.

Then there’s Blake, broken in her own ways, still sore after losing her brother. She just gets on with things, only breaking down at the anniversary of his death. Yet she is still hung up about a bad breakup with a long-term girlfriend, from about the same time ago as Eliza. Blake has had a few short-term flings, but nothing serious in recent years, happy with that even if she does eventually want more. Eliza has barely dated at all since the accident, just going through the motions a few times hoping to find a spark.

How these two come together, through the understanding of loss, is cute. And when they eventually decide to call each other their “girlfriend”, that’s cute too. Yet their strange bout of miscommunication, not understanding each other, that wasn’t. Every relationship goes through it at some point, yet it was the lack of communication between the two that left me banging my head. They’re both stuck in their own world with their own fears, and neither wants to tell the painful truth of why they’re hurt. It takes yet another traumatic event to bring the two back together again.

I guess that parts of the story felt slow. Other parts felt predictable. Then there were little bits of repetition. Tension is good, but even the tense parts didn’t feel tense enough. I still had moments of rooting for both of them, with their slow progress towards going further in their relationship, yet something was still missing. I wish I could be less vague, but sometimes a book just doesn’t click.

All in all, not a bad read, but not as great as I was hoping.

Final rating: ★★★☆☆ – Sort of liked/OK

*I received a free digital ARC via NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

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Back to September by Melissa Brayden

Posted on by DragonSusie

Romance not necessarily at its best

There were many brilliant moments inside this, but just as many terrible ones. To start with, a book about books should be exciting, especially with people who absolutely love books and reading, and share that as much as possible. All the geeky stuff, the shared knowledge to help people find their “perfect book match”. That was wonderful. It was the romance aspect that let this all down.

One thing I found difficult to handle was that there was more than one “high” point. We have everything going brilliantly, switching to things fading out, switching to things going fantastically brilliantly again (eked out so far that it became boring), up to things going dramatically badly, but ending with an HEA. I’m sure huge chunks of this could have been cut out, as it’s not the idea that the reader gets bored in the middle. So the dramatic part (which didn’t feel so dramatic), which is supposed to hit at two thirds, actually felt like it came late.

The HEA, once it finally did come (after we had a fake HEA before that) was a great ending. It’s just the journey to there that was far too messy for my tastes.

Final rating: ★★★☆☆ – Sort of liked/OK

*I received a free digital ARC via NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

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Ghosted by Chera Zade and Fanny Mills

Posted on by DragonSusie

Yes and no

Cover

OK, I will start by saying that understand some people’s POVs that there is “slut shaming” going on, but it is hardly done in a way that’s completely derogatory. The girls say it of themselves, to further excite themselves. In this context, I have no problem with it.

My actual issues with this was that it, for me, wasn’t concrete enough. The storyline itself was quite flimsy, with the sex scenes not quite as hot as I’ve come to expect from a Zade-Mills combo. This incredibly short story was fun in its way, but could have been so much more.

Final rating: ★★★☆☆ – Sort of liked/OK

*I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.*

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Hammers, Strings, and Beautiful Things by Morgan Lee Miller

Posted on by DragonSusie

Hard hitting

I was drawn to this book first by a GR friend’s review, then by the beautiful cover and finally the description. I expected much from it, yet it has to come with some warnings – the alcohol and drug abuse is written so well, that you can feel the pain coming from all sides.

I guess, even with knowing that, I hadn’t expected it to be so hard hitting. Blair might seem to come off as quite selfish, as she sinks into despair, but the truth is she’s been trying to handle anxiety and depression in an extreme way. None of her friends have any real understanding of what she’s going through, placing the blame firmly on her side, which in the beginning just makes things worse. It takes her hitting rock bottom to truly be able to find a way out, whilst completely leaving her on her own once more.

This book shows the price of fame, whilst also showing humanity at its best and worst. Whilst I can be disappointed at the reaction of the side characters to Blair’s condition, it wasn’t at all surprising considering general opinions of addiction. The only way out is with support and help, which she was forced to find herself.

Running along behind all this is the romance element. Blair opens herself up to someone new, but neither is truly able to handle all of it until she’s clean. Luckily there is a HEA to be found behind all the drama and destruction, as things pull good in the end. But considering how hard won it is, I am surprised that Blair doesn’t have any bitterness towards those that let her down whilst she was letting herself down.

For me, I did find it well written, as well as enjoyable and relatable. The only thing I personally didn’t like was the awkwardness of some of the sex scenes. They didn’t always flow as well as the rest of the book did.

Final rating: ★★★★☆ – Really liked

*I received a free digital ARC via NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

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Secrets and Suitors by Joanna Barker

Posted on by DragonSusie

Beautiful

Typical me, I’m behind on my reviewing again! Yet this one sticks in the mind plenty enough for me to still be able to give my thoughts and opinions on it.

I will start by saying that I usually avoid Regency romances as, quite like contemporary billionaire romances, they can be unrelatable, reading more like a fantasy world. The description and the cover sucked me in on this one and, I am relieved to say, that the writing made the story relatable. The characters felt real, fragile yet headstrong, each with their own unique characteristics.

It is hard to understand from a modern perspective a time period where men, particularly the heads of the family, very much had a final say in anything that women did. Despite having read so much, I’d hate to live without my modern freedoms. Yet here we have a young lady who is willing to test her father’s resolve so she can marry the man she loves, rather than the one that may give her the greatest comforts.

We have a great main character, accompanied by a slew of side characters who make the story even more colourful. I especially like the Countess – quiet and calculating, with a great sense of duty, but with an even greater sense of humour.

All in all, I have to say that I’m very glad that I picked this up!

Final rating: ★★★★★ – Loved it/couldn’t put it down

*I received a free ARC via NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

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