JJ

Unique world building with the whole method of transporting materials and people with navigators and their vocal abilities. Betrayal with a redemption arc is one of my favorite tropes, and this one is no exception, though there should've been far more remorse and groveling on Cruz's part. I wouldn't have forgiven him so easily!

Kudos to the author for the anti-colonial and anti-capitalist messaging, and the acknowledgement that terrorists/resistance groups don't spring up from nowhere. I see a lot of parallels to current events despite this book being written 10 years ago. Just goes to show that those in positions of power oppressing, dehumanizing, and genociding vulnerable populations is a tale as old as time.

Spooky Halloween novella that hit the spot but left me needing more of these guys. The next book is a Christmas one so I'll be waiting a couple months to read it.

Very long with excessive italicized words, but kept me interested. These men are oblivious to the other's feelings for them for so long, it becomes ridiculous. I loved the hurt/comfort aspect and their D/s dynamic. What little plot there is was pretty predictable but still good.

Strange choice of cover, since it seems to be completely unrelated to the book IMO.

Ezra was so sweet, and I loved the hurt/comfort feels. The storyline was great, but I would've liked it to be longer with more relationship building between Rourke and Ezra.

Bit of a slog because of all the politics, and because Chang Geng is a young teen the whole book. I look forward to him being older.

DNF @ 60%

The story had the potential to be good, but the poor writing got in the way. The dialogue and the characters' actions were often unnatural and illogical. At this point, I simply don't believe the love story and can't muster the care to find out what happens with the plot.

This one felt rushed and left me wishing there was more relationship and character development.

This was a mindfuck; I loved it. At first I didn't think I'd like it because of where I thought the plot was going, but fortunately it went somewhere else completely. It had me whisper screaming at some parts and crying from others.

I think it's best to go into this book blind and enjoy the wild ride. It's very long, but it allows you to really sink into the story and get to know the characters. A few little details were unrealistic in the sense that things just don't work that way IRL but they were small enough that I could let it go and enjoy the story.

Well done debut with a gorgeous cover and characters who have sunk their claws into me. I'm such a sucker for enemies to lovers, especially when it's a rough journey with a hard-fought redemption arc. Looking forward to book 2!

Ultimately underwhelmed by this one. Too close to insta-love. I almost gave up in the middle, but it got interesting again near the end. Even so, I felt emotionally disconnected from them; I was being told they were crying but their actions and words didn't really match up with that. It also made their reactions to certain events feel unnatural.

The fact I still really enjoyed this book despite it being a lot more fantastical than I prefer says a lot about how good it is! Great world building, plenty of plot and harrowing scenes (but not at the expense of smut), and best of all in my opinion is the humor that is liberally sprinkled throughout. If fantasy is your thing and you like monster romance, this is a must read.

Oh and the cover art (also by Moss) is absolutely gorgeous!

"MY DRURY, HEAR ME WHEN I TELL YOU THAT I WILL UPROOT ANCIENT TREES AND MOVE ENTIRE FORESTS FOR YOU. AND WHEN YOU DIE, I WILL LIE DOWN AND BECOME PART OF THE EARTH ALONGSIDE YOU."

😭😭😭

What a lovely book! Very much enjoyed sinking my teeth into this one. I will have to check out the author's other works.

This one's tough to rate. I really liked parts of it, but the barriers to their relationship seemed too flimsy to me, so it was a bit of a silly conflict.

Decent writing that could've been better, but the story was enjoyable enough. I found the university and coach's reactions to the event near the end to be completely unbelievable though. It made no sense.

This book kept me guessing and put a unique spin on the paranormal world, but the resolution felt rushed. There was also this weird combination of really emotional reactions followed by emotionally dead dialogue, so the result was that I didn't feel like any of these characters had any real emotional connection to one another.

Enjoying the plot, and looking forward to finding out what happens. Still needs a round of edits though, and this one had a real WTF moment where Julian and Daemon told a human he was worse than his rapist buddies for being "too weak to rape a woman." Probably one of the dumbest statements I've ever read. I had to pretend I didn't read that so I could continue liking the characters.

Needs a round of editing, but the story has me hooked.

Good writing and plot, though the relationship was too conflict-free for me (and almost insta-love), which is why I think I'll like book 3 the best.

This was fun! I don't want to spoil anything so I'll just say it's a great combination of funny, sweet, suspenseful, and smutty. Good stuff.

I enjoyed parts of this story, but lost interest in the second half with the excessive smut and OTT emotional/sappy content. I love a good redemption arc; just wish this one had more plot and less infantilization of Gavin.

I signed up for emotional damage and this book delivered! It broke my heart then pieced it back together.

It kinda kills me that we never find out what Abel's wish was the night of his first date with Landon 😭 He was so sad he never got to tell him and now I'm sad I'll never know either!

One weird thing that kept throwing me off was that Nicky James never wanted to use a contraction with the verb "are" so whenever they said "you are" or "they are" instead of "you're" or "they're" it felt unnatural and awkward.

Mainly read this one to make myself really sad in order to adequately feel the hurt in the hurt/comfort sequel.

Years of angst and toxicity, tortured souls, complex, deeply flawed characters, enduring love tempered by hate? Yes, please!

I'm left with a burning question though:

What the hell was the deal with Gideon implying Cas looked just like the man who broke his heart? I was convinced Caspien's father cheated on his mom with Gideon and stole their money, but then we find out his dad is some used car salesman? I'm so confused.

These guys survive by pure dumb luck. I refuse to believe an assassin and an emperor who has had to be clever to make it this far are both so bad at planning. I suspended my disbelief enough to enjoy the book, but I do wish the plot were more complex.

A promising start, though I'm not super impressed by Airón's strategy and subterfuge skills, but maybe that's intentional since his sister was trained for that aspect, not him. I'm withholding judgement on Tallu until I know more.