Melanie

Look, this wasn't an easy sell. At times, it's hard to root for Kade. But then again, it's the pure beauty of Kayla Grosse's writing. Her heroes aren't those imperfect-but-deep-down-they're-perfect heroes. They're raw and real, and sometimes really annoying, and sometimes you just want to bitch slap them. But you don't bitch slap someone with depression and you've got to hang on while Kade works through some stuff, while Presley works through some stuff and as they work through some of their stuff together, it just becomes BEAUTIFUL. I am now putting Mrs Grosse on my to read list and am looking forward to getting my hands on some of her other works.

I almost DNF this and I'm glad I didn't. Those are short books so a lot is crammed into very little time. I always have a feeling of going too fast but then it also works in A. Joseph's stories so why not... I'm glad I gave this time to grow. It's amazing how in such short pages, she manages to create such layered characters, and managing to move the story along without compromising the integrity of her characters. 

20% in and I almost DNF this. The slang, the writing, it was almost all too much. In the end, I'm glad I didn't. The thing with J.T. Geissinger is that I enjoy her but in small doses. I can never decide if I love or hate her writing style. For sure, I haven't found another writer like her so far. Her characters are always interesting and colourful though sometimes it's hard to understand what they see in each other. I know she's often reccomanded for the spicy/hot vibes but it's honestly the layered characters that I really value in her stories. I really adored Bianca. She was fire and was 100% the driving force in that particular story. 

This is in the same veins as all the others Alison Aimes books I've read. It's filthy, a little misogynistic on the sides, but it's kinda hot and it's literature so I'm always willing to pretend and think that red flags aren't a thing. 

Few things : I genuinely believe Tessa Bailey is one of the best in her lane (the sexy yet funny yet dramatic short romance category). She balances heartfelt characters with dramatic backgrounds without turning it into a sap fest, she instills comedic elements through witty banter. And she writes UST like it's no one's business.

Case in point : this short romance. 
Drawbacks : it's freaking short so it's insta lust (but that is seriously fine), insta love (not a fan) and insta everything. And T. Bailey does it well considering.... but I can't help but think of how much better it would all ne with just one more hundred pages to give the characters some breathing room. Derek, despite all I want to climb him like a tree, wouldn't feel like such a walking red flag (an amazing dirty filthy walking red flag, but still...). Ginger would have time to find herself.... these are very few things but considering the author's talent for selling this short novel's romance, I can't help but wonder how much more it could all be. 

Anyway, this is a fantastic read if you're into super hot UST. It's not unresolved for long but the ST keeps on giving long after the U is over !

 There's a reason this is often mentioned as a good omegaverse story. That said, it's not the best out there and I think people need to stop fawning over it like they do. It's good, it's great even, but let's not pretend that some stuff there isn't completely unhinged and not in the greatest way. This is very “let's see how much I can torture my FMC and then how long I can make my MMC suffer for what they did to her before allowing just a little bit of happiness”. It's all very martyr-like and blah, I like a good dose of it but this is a lot of it.

I also don't like how stupidly stubborn the men are, I'm not sure I particularly like how unhinged two of these are and the whole “crazy for her” thing they have going. It all works in the grand schemes of things and that's the strength of this duet but if you take each character individually, it's hard to understand how they remotely work together. 

That said, there are a lot of great things, narratively speaking that are great. The pacing's fine, the balance between monologue and dialogue, the overall arch.... it's excellent distraction and good writing. Also, Hunter's my babe and I'm sticking by it.  

There's a reason this is often mentioned as a good omegaverse story. That said, it's not the best out there and I think people need to stop fawning over it like they do. It's good, it's great even, but let's not pretend that some stuff there isn't completely unhinged and not in the greatest way. This is very “let's see how much I can torture my FMC and then how long I can make my MMC suffer for what they did to her before allowing just a little bit of happiness”. It's all very martyr-like and blah, I like a good dose of it but this is a lot of it.

I also don't like how stupidly stubborn the men are, I'm not sure I particularly like how unhinged two of these are and the whole “crazy for her” thing they have going. It all works in the grand schemes of things and that's the strength of this duet but if you take each character individually, it's hard to understand how they remotely work together.

That said, there are a lot of great things, narratively speaking that are great. The pacing's fine, the balance between monologue and dialogue, the overall arch.... it's excellent distraction and good writing. Also, Hunter's my babe and I'm sticking by it. 

Look I'm a little mad at the pacing. I enjoy the characters, I appreciate that every relationship in this quintet evolves at a different rhythm because that's actually believable, but it's like nothing happens in 200 pages and things get crammed in like fifty pages just to get you reading the next book. It is SMART, Ms Eve, but right now it's pissing me off a little. So you know, there's nothing with your writing, nothing wrong with your characters but your pacing is kinda s*** and that needs to be dealt with. 

That said, the characters are cute, they're hot, this has great comedic banter as well as heartfelt moments so you know, it's really kind of good. 

I had a phase when I really wanted a prisoner/worker romance. I tried a few but didn't find many stories out there. This worked. I think it had the balance between what I require in a romance book (total dreaminess) and the reality of that situation. Overall, this worked. The writing is  a bit stilted but the characters are endearing which wasn't so easy to convey in that setting.

Well, I wasn't too sure of that one at first, but this lasted like 30 pages and then I fell right into it. It was GRAND. Again, for someone that isn't into the daddy kink, Layla Frost makes it work really well. She also layers the polyamourous aspect in a way that feels organic and laid out in the book. Things just progress naturally, the drama isn't exaggerated for the sale of exagration. 

She's just a great writer in my opinion (and now I'll totally get started on her other books now).

I did not expect this addition. I was a little scared honestly because I loved the duet so much. I'm generally of short stories when characters have already gone through because you don't want them to go through more but at the same time, you don't want to be bored. You know what, this was perfect. It didn't add more but expanded on what happens after you've gone through so many trials. I loved reading about their slice of life together trying to put themselves back together.

My one gripe : I JUST WANT AN ENTIRE STORY WITH THESE TWO. That's what I said. This was too short, too much of everything and I just want more of this couple. Give it to me please!!

This is my first forray into Mariana Zapata. I can't say I'm disappointed. The writing is crisp and clear, straight to the point while having some personality. Characters have depth and their relationship feels believable. I am intrigued and pondering on which book of hers I shall tackled next. 

This wasn't terrible by any means, but it wasn't great either. It was hard to connect with the characters and their motives, mostly because of the story and the way it was set up. 

I'm sad at what a broken record I am but I am loving Liz Tomforde more and more with each passing book. And it's a lot to say because I pretty much adored her before. This did not change my mindset one bit. If you want some solid romantic stories with actual layered characters and great pacing, go for Liz Tomforde (Olivia Hayle is also really great). I know now that I can just trust blindly in whatever she puts out. 

A cute-ish story but I definitely prefer Amy Andrews' longer novels. 

Welp, I think this cements it. I'm just in love with Liz Tomforde's style. It's incredible, it's a perfect blend of cute, sexy, believable and dreamworthy with characters that have so many layers they're incredible to peel. 

I really enjoyed this story and these characters. Things were a little slow but at the same time, I can appreciate the time it takes to build up trust and intimacy. I find it refreshing that despite my impatient nature, I can appreciate the care that went into letting these relationships follow their course. That's smart writing. 

I KNOW I was warned when I picked up these books. It's all smut, they said. I don't care, I said. Well turns out I do care a little because this was really smutty and not so interesting. Some books actually work with a ton of smut but it takes some real special talent to layer a story around so much sex. This doesn't quite cover it. It's all sex sex sex. But considering it's like +400 pages, that's a lot of sex to go through. (I honestly did not expect to complain about that...)

I don't know if I've grown into the daddy kink but this actually worked for me. At first, I was a bit iffy about where this was going because the age gap, daddy kink and relationship seemed very sexual for Ash but not so much for Camila. This is also normal considering what was going on for her at the start of the book but it left me a bit weirded out at one point as it created a very unbalanced relationship. However, when they got on the same page, things aligned and these two precious cinnamon rolls just went on rolling. 

The writing and story could have been a bit tighter but the adorable characters made the entire book worth it. It's a nice easy read that's not taxing. 

I thought I liked the second book but I really adored the first one which is a lot for me to say considering the daddy kink is definitely not one of mine. 
There are so many things that could have gone wrong with this series but the author puts so much care in the relationships between the charaters that it just works beautifully despite the daddy kink, despite the age awkwardness. It just works. 

This series is the gift that keeps on giving. I am loving every book so far. The heat level remains up there, the banter is still A+ and characters have depth. It's balanced and written well. Why would I expect more?

 Copy/paste from my book 1 review : I was so pleasantly surprised by this find. I often think that most sci fi erotica novels have to be somewhat lame but this universe was interesting, detailed, the characters were endearing. This has some serious macho vibes but you know what, it kinda worked. So yes, be warned, the way this universe treats its female characters is appaling, the way the heroes often treat the heroine is somewhat appaling, this has dubious consent all over and the dirty mouth is almost too much at time BUT it still works.  

Edit : Loved this a tiny bit more because both characters had issues that didn't get skipped too quickly and I liked that the author took her time to deal with those issues. 

The heat in these books is out of this world. The stories go into slightly cray cray mode everytime and there are aspects that make me roll my eyes but I swear the heat and subsequent spice is just pure FIRE. She reminds me of a Tessa Bailey on her great days. The banter is +++ and the writing is actually solid. 

Copy/paste from book 1 :  This made me think of a few other things I read this year that I loved (Lucinda Dark, MJ Lawrie). This is just overall not as good as those two mentioned above : there are some issues with the pacing for once but it has the same elements that I enjoyed in those two previous stories : strong competent female lead, enigmatic dark male heroes, sort of almost medieval-like setting.