Sarah's bookshelf: all en-US Sun, 13 Apr 2025 16:14:12 -0700 60 Sarah's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg All the Lies (Mindf*ck, #4) 33361546
But that's never happened to me...

I've never felt conflicted on any case. Right is right and wrong is wrong. It's simple. Black and white. There's no such thing as a gray area.

But fuck this case. I don't even know what side I'm on anymore. I don't understand how this town can continue to function without breaking under the weight of all the lies they've spun and lived.

Every time I find a shard of truth, my gut twists, my heart beats faster, and I hate this place a little more. Every time I think I've heard the worst, another truth is dug up from the ashes of more burning lies.

Worst of all, I don't even know who to trust anymore. My head is all messed up.

I pride myself on being impossible to fool.
I'm an expert at knowing when someone is lying to me.
I never believed in being blinded by love...until Lana.

**BE WARNED: Some flashbacks can get intense to readers with a sensitive trigger. Skip the blocks in italics if that's the case.]]> 141 S.T. Abby Sarah 0 currently-reading 4.52 2016 All the Lies (Mindf*ck, #4)
author: S.T. Abby
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/13
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Scarlet Angel (Mindf*ck, #3) 33304878
Logan Bennett makes me want to have a future not tainted by the constant hunger for revenge. Doesn't mean I can stop. Doesn't mean I want to stop. It just means I want more...one day.

But how do you make a good man love the monster inside you without stripping his soul away as well? He is all the best parts of me right now, resurrecting bits of my heart I forgot could even exist.

He makes me feel something other than cold.

He also thinks I'm weak and fragile. Something I laugh about to myself, while secretly soaking in all his protectiveness and concern.

If anyone touches him, harms him, or even threatens him, then they should probably run. Because his girlfriend is a little bit crazy. They just don't know it yet.]]> 139 S.T. Abby Sarah 4 4.40 2016 Scarlet Angel (Mindf*ck, #3)
author: S.T. Abby
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/13
date added: 2025/04/13
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review:

]]> Sidetracked (Mindf*ck, #2) 33271162 Or at least I was...until her.

****
LOGAN

I've had tunnel vision for one main goal for so long, that I forgot there was a whole other world just outside. Until Lana.

She's everything I never expected, and I love the fact I can never guess her every move or reaction. It's part of the reason I keep falling. But I also know she shuts me out, hides things from me she feels she can't share.

One day, I hope she trusts me enough to share.

It isn't until my job puts her at risk that I realize just how fierce she is, but it doesn't stop me from doing all I can to protect her. I should walk away to protect her better, but I can't. Instead, I'm forced to find other ways to keep her safe.

I just hope it's enough.

Though she is fierce, she's still fragile...

Right?]]> 115 S.T. Abby Sarah 5 4.37 2016 Sidetracked (Mindf*ck, #2)
author: S.T. Abby
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/04
date added: 2025/04/04
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Finding Home (Bluestone Lakes #1)]]> 222471688
Until it all comes crashing down around her.

After hiding out in her sister’s spare bedroom for months to avoid pitying looks on the streets, she decides it’s time to escape city life and learn to stand on her own.

On a whim, Blair buys a tiny home in a small Wyoming town where she is certain her new neighbor, Griffin Barlow, ’t stand her. He owns the local bar, is constantly covered in dirt from working on his family's ranch, and never smiles.

Is he grumpy because she infiltrated his privacy when she moved onto the once quiet street? Or is there more to it than that?

Blair has sworn off relationships, leaving the city behind to start fresh and find her independence.

But in Bluestone Lakes, Wyoming, she’s finding more than that.
Maybe…she’s 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙚.]]> 338 Jenn McMahon Sarah 0 to-read 4.13 Finding Home (Bluestone Lakes #1)
author: Jenn McMahon
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.13
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Risk (Mindf*ck, #1) 33155479 Left too little.
I had nothing to lose...until him.
**
~Lana~
I didn't expect him.
I didn't want to fall in love.
But I can't let him go.
Logan Bennett makes the world a safer place.
He's brilliant.
He's a hero.
He locks away the sick and depraved.
But while he's saving lives, I'm taking them. Collecting the debts that are owed to me.
Ten years ago, they took from me. They left me for dead.
They should have made sure I stayed dead.
Now I'm taking from them.
One name at a time.
I've trained for too long.
I've been patient.
I can't stop now.
Revenge is best served cold...
They never see me coming, until I paint their walls red.
Logan doesn't know how they hurt me. He doesn't know about the screams they ignored. He doesn't know how twisted that town really is.
He just knows people are dying.
He doesn't know he's in love with their killer.
No one suspects a dead girl.
And Logan doesn't suspect the girl in his bed.
They're looking for a monster.
Not a girl who loves red.
Not a girl in love.
I'm a faceless nightmare.
At least until I tell them the story they've pretended never happened.
But in the end, will Logan choose them? Or will we watch them burn together?
**Graphic
**Adult language
**Some triggers could be too much for the easily disturbed reader
**Sexual content
**Fucked up moral compass; read at your own risk.]]> 132 S.T. Abby Sarah 5 4.36 2016 The Risk (Mindf*ck, #1)
author: S.T. Abby
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/03
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Hopeless (Chestnut Springs, #5)]]> 174753697
I’m the outcast bartender, a shy girl from the wrong side of the tracks.

He’s thirty-five and all man, and I’m twenty-two and all� virgin.

He’s also my fiancé. Correction: my fake fiancé.

We start out as a bet. He doesn’t believe that anyone holds my last name against me. So he offers me his to prove a point.

It’s win-win. He gets a break from his concerned family’s prying, and I get a chance to shed my family’s reputation while I save up to ditch this small town.

He says all I have to do is wear his ring, follow his lead, and pretend I ’t keep my hands off of him in public.

But it’s what happens between us in private that blurs all those carefully drawn lines.

It’s what transpires behind closed doors that doesn’t feel like pretending at all.

This engagement was supposed to be for show. This agreement? It has an end date.

He once told me he’d never fall in love.

And yet here I am, head over heels for my fake fiancé.]]> 486 Elsie Silver Sarah 5 4.12 2023 Hopeless (Chestnut Springs, #5)
author: Elsie Silver
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/26
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves:
review:
Everyone tripping over Theo and Daddy Cade and I'm here screaming and kicking my feet for Beau mf Eaton. Yes, please. A scarred, broody, hero who actually plays hero to Bailey, the town pariah. Sigh me the f*ck up!
]]> Phantom 217987129 The married woman of the manor. The stranger outside. An intoxicating novel of dark temptation and dangerous desire by the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Cat and Mouse Duet.

November 12, 1944. This house holds on to souls for a lifetime. I thought I had given it to my husband when I vowed to love him until the end of time. I lied. Nothing could have prepared me for the day my phantom appeared outside my window. He was terrifying, yet hypnotizing, and I couldn’t deny my intrigue. I never intended to fall into a whirlwind romance with my stalker. Especially because he’s so much more than that. A criminal. A mobster. The man who offers me solace from the monster in Parsons Manor. There are many that haunt these halls, yet it’s only my husband I fear.]]> 367 H.D. Carlton Sarah 4 3.98 2025 Phantom
author: H.D. Carlton
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/17
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves:
review:
Do not go into this expecting a story on the same level as HA. Yes, this is Adeline's grandmother (greatgm?), GiGi's story. The woman whose journal entries we get in HA. So we know how it ends. However, I will say this does end with a HFN, so don't fret about reading a tragedy. It is, however, not quite the story I expected. GiGi falls in love with a mafioso named Ronaldo. Honestly, I wanted to see more of the '40s mafia. It is essentially the story of a bored, unsatisfied housewife who finds excitement, adventure, and love in a dangerous man. So much of it takes place in the house itself and is very much a character heavy story. There are creepy moments of the manor ghosts, which I loved to see. It was still a highly enjoyable read, just a bit slower than I had anticipated.
]]> Irreversible 222432376 I know that better than anybody�
Because I’m one of them.

I spend my days locked in a black-market nightmare, held captive by a twisted mastermind who considers me his prized possession. My only form of human contact are the victims in the next room, each of whom disappears faster than the last.

Everyone leaves…except me.

Then I hear him—Isaac. Brash, elusive, and haunted, he isn’t anyone’s idea of a hero. Separated by a wall, our faces hidden, his voice cuts through the darkness, becoming my only hope. He’s driven by vengeance, bearing scars as dark as my own. Despite his rough edges, a fragile bond forms between us—a lifeline.

Isaac might be my best chance of escape, but time is slipping away. Breaking free will mean outrunning both our pasts, and in this twisted game, the cost of freedom may be more than we can afford to pay.

Appearances deceive. Choices have consequences.

And some consequences?
They are irreversible.]]> 582 Jennifer Hartmann Sarah 4 4.16 2025 Irreversible
author: Jennifer Hartmann
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/06
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves:
review:
I seem to have a similar consensus as many others in that the first half of this was completely unputdownable. I devoured a good 30% while ignoring all work responsibilities. Part 2 is what dragged on a bit too long for me. It was still an incredible story, marvelously written, I just think there were parts near the end that could have been cut or condensed somewhat. Still absolutely worth the two-year wait.
]]> The Book of Accidents 55782435
Long ago, Maddie was a little girl making dolls in her bedroom when she saw something she dzܱ’t have—and is trying to remember that lost trauma by making haunting sculptures.

Long ago, something sinister, something hungry, walked in the tunnels and the mountains and the coal mines of their hometown in rural Pennsylvania.

Now, Nate and Maddie Graves are married, and they have moved back to their hometown with their son, Oliver.

And now what happened long ago is happening again . . . and it is happening to Oliver. He meets a strange boy who becomes his best friend, a boy with secrets of his own and a taste for dark magic.

This dark magic puts them at the heart of a battle of good versus evil and a fight for the soul of the family—and perhaps for all of the world. But the Graves family has a secret weapon in this battle: their love for one another.]]> 530 Chuck Wendig 0399182136 Sarah 0 to-read 3.70 2021 The Book of Accidents
author: Chuck Wendig
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Butcher & Blackbird (The Ruinous Love Trilogy, #1)]]> 196864520

The viral TikTok friends-to-lovers dark romantic comedy full of murder, chaos, and spice—unlike anything you’ve read before—now available in all bookstores.


When a chance encounter sparks an unlikely bond between rival murderers Sloane and Rowan, the two find something elusive—the friendship of like-minded, pitch-black souls. From small town West Virginia to upscale California, from downtown Boston to rural Texas, the two hunters collide in an annual game of blood and suffering, one that pits them against the most dangerous monsters in the country.


But as their friendship develops into something more, the restless ghosts left in their wake are only a few steps behind, ready to claim more than just their newfound love. Can Rowan and Sloane dig themselves out of a game of graves? Or have they finally met their match?

]]> 360 Brynne Weaver Sarah 4 4.00 2023 Butcher & Blackbird (The Ruinous Love Trilogy, #1)
author: Brynne Weaver
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/09
date added: 2025/03/09
shelves:
review:

]]> Wild Card (Rose Hill, #4) 227948548 Sebastian Rousseau is a grumpy, hot as hell fire pilot who is too damn good with his hands.

It’s the perfect combination. But unfortunately for me, he’s also my ex-boyfriend’s dad.

A chance meeting brought us together and a missed connection has kept us apart.

One year later, a stroke of fate has us living under the same roof—which makes everything between us downright messy.

Because even after all this time, he’s still the man I think about when I fall asleep. The one I ’t get over no matter how hard I try.

He’s working on mending a fragile relationship with his son and we both know acting on these urges would be the ultimate betrayal.

But I see the heat in his eyes. That look of need that never fails to send a shiver down my spine.

The mutual longing is borderline unbearable and the simmering heat between us is downright palpable.

We both know there are rules when it comes to situations like this.

But then again…following the rules never has been my strong suit.]]> Elsie Silver 1464247862 Sarah 0 to-read 4.32 2025 Wild Card (Rose Hill, #4)
author: Elsie Silver
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Wild Side (Rose Hill, #3) 217465190
But when my nephew’s guardianship is contested, I decide I’ll do whatever it takes to keep him in Rose Hill. Even if it means marrying the enemy.

Rhys Dupris.

A man who is secretive, broody, and completely infuriating. A man whose work takes him away for weeks on end and brings him back covered in mysterious bruises—ones he won’t talk about. In fact, we barely talk at all.

Which would be fine, except when he’s not talking, he’s staring. And the way he looks at me is borderline indecent.

The tension between us has always been palpable. But living under the same roof is a dangerous temptation.

I swore I would never forgive him. But that was before I knew the man behind the mask. The one who’s fierce and protective. The one who’s gentle and patient. The one who shows up for us when we need him most.

He’s not at all who I thought he was.

And that makes hating my husband so much harder� and loving him just a little too easy.]]> 466 Elsie Silver Sarah 5 4.28 2025 Wild Side (Rose Hill, #3)
author: Elsie Silver
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/06
date added: 2025/03/06
shelves:
review:

]]> Wild Eyes (Rose Hill, #2) 210364592
As a chart-topping country singer with a recent streak of bad press it’s hard to find any peace. But I find it in Rose Hill. With a little boy and a little girl who steal my heart just as thoroughly as their dad.

Weston Belmont.

The man is a shameless flirt. He oozes confidence and masculinity in a way that’s downright distracting. And in bed? He’s addictive.

Everything with him is wild and impulsive and I’m desperate to regain some control.

But no one has supported me like West does. And no one has ever made me feel as loved as he does either.

So, while my brain says settling down with a small-town horse trainer is impossible� my heart says I’m right where I belong.

Still, my life as a celebrity haunts me. It has the power to pull us apart.

I can see in his eyes that wants me to stay. And I want that too.

But I know better than anyone that we don’t always get what we want.]]> 407 Elsie Silver 1738125548 Sarah 5 4.38 2024 Wild Eyes (Rose Hill, #2)
author: Elsie Silver
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/04
date added: 2025/03/04
shelves:
review:

]]> Wild Love (Rose Hill, #1) 199821855 Rosie Belmont has been driving me wild for years. The good kind of wild. The bad kind of wild. But mostly the kind of wild that comes with wanting your best friend’s little sister and knowing you ’t have her.

After living in the city, she comes blasting back into Rose Hill like a storm. Beautiful, messy, and chaotic.

And one wide-eyed desperate plea for a job is all it takes for me to hire her.

Forbes may have labelled me the World’s Hottest Billionaire but all I care about is opening my new recording studio. Something that comes to a screeching halt when I end up face-to-face with a young girl who claims I’m her biological father.

Now I spend my days balancing business with parenting a sullen twelve-year-old all while trying desperately to keep my hands the hell off my best friend’s little sister.

I vow to keep Rosie at arm’s length. I try to stick to scowls and grumpy one-liners. But with her verbal sparring is merely foreplay—friction that turns to blistering heat.

I know damn well I dzܱ’t cross that line.

But dzܱ’t and ’t are two very different things.

And the only thing I truly ’t do is resist her.]]> 466 Elsie Silver 173812553X Sarah 5 4.21 2024 Wild Love (Rose Hill, #1)
author: Elsie Silver
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/01
date added: 2025/03/01
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Reckless (Chestnut Springs, #4)]]> 108518990 Theo Silva. Rowdy bull rider. Notorious ladies� man. Scorching hot trouble wrapped up in a drool-worthy package.

And he’s looking at me like I might be his next meal.

But I’m almost free of my toxic marriage and have sworn off men entirely. So all I see when I look back is temptation served up with a heaping side of heartbreak.

The man is hard to trust—and even harder to resist.

Make that impossible. Because Theo is persistent. And no matter how hard I try to freeze him out, he melts my icy exterior and pulls apart all my defenses.

Over a drink in a small town bar, I blurt out my deepest, darkest secrets. Then I spend the singular hottest night of my life with him.

He worships my body. He makes me blush. I come alive beneath his hands.

Then I tell him to forget it ever happened. I want simple, and with him it all feels complicated.

It was supposed to be a one-time thing.

A secret.

But that little plus sign is going to make this secret impossible to keep.]]> 466 Elsie Silver Sarah 5 4.38 2023 Reckless (Chestnut Springs, #4)
author: Elsie Silver
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/17
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Powerless (Chestnut Springs, #3)]]> 63031640
But hockey heartthrob Jasper Gervais isn’t looking at me like a friend anymore. And he isn’t touching me like one either.

To his fans, he’s the handsome, talented athlete on TV. But to me he’s still the lost boy with sad eyes and a heart of gold.

The man I’ve loved in secret for years.

So when my life falls apart on my wedding day, it only makes sense that he’s the one to swoop in and save me. And when his world comes crashing down around him, I’m there to return the favor.

But the more time we spend alone, the more Jasper doesn’t feel like a friend at all. He feels like everything I’ve ever wanted and thought I could never have.

Our feelings aren’t straight forward though. They twist and turn around the pain of his past and the reality of my present.

Jasper Gervais acts like he wants me.

But after years of turning me away, he’s going to need to prove it.]]> 504 Elsie Silver Sarah 4 physical-tbr 4.08 2023 Powerless (Chestnut Springs, #3)
author: Elsie Silver
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/15
date added: 2025/02/15
shelves: physical-tbr
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Wife Number One (Saint View Slayers vs. Sinners, #1)]]> 199470293
The other women watch me with envy, but they know nothing of the beatings and punishments I endure. He hides them with a veil. One I must wear until I give him a son.

But when I fail, he threatens the only good things in my life. My sister, Alice, and the daughter he ripped from my arms for another family to raise.

I thought running back to Saint View would save us. I thought wrong.

Now my sister is dead, left strangled in an alleyway, and my ex-husband isn’t the only suspect.

To catch a killer, I move in with the local biker gang that promises to keep us safe. But my new life as a single mom delivers more than I ever could have bargained for, and three men I never saw coming.

Hawk, the club VP who doesn’t want me there. Except his green eyes flicker with desire at every curve of my plus size body.

Chaos, ex-gang leader and part owner of an after-hours nightclub. The connection between us is undeniable, except for one small problem. He’s Hawk’s sworn enemy, so completely off-limits.

And Grayson, the doctor who couldn’t save his wife from a brutal attack. He’s funny and sweet but has his own desperate reasons for wanting the killer found.

With every lie we uncover, every secret we expose, the danger mounts. Until there’s only one thing we know for sure.

The killer is still out there. And we’re his next targets.

Wife Number One is a why choose romance, meaning the main character has more than one love interest. This book contains romantic suspense / dark themes that may trigger some readers. It is the first book in a trilogy.]]> 450 Elle Thorpe 1922760501 Sarah 0 currently-reading 4.38 2024 Wife Number One (Saint View Slayers vs. Sinners, #1)
author: Elle Thorpe
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Heartless (Chestnut Springs, #2)]]> 61373532 Working as a nanny for the world’s grumpiest single dad should have been simple. Except I ’t keep my eyes off him. And he ’t keep his hands off of me.

Cade Eaton is thirteen years older than I am and barely looks my way. Until I get him into the hot tub one night for a game of truth or dare. Then all bets are off—and so are our clothes.

He’s gruff, a little rough around the edges. But broad-shouldered ranchers with calloused hands and filthy mouths are this city girl’s kryptonite. So who am I to resist?

But it’s in our quiet moments together that he softens. It’s when he takes care of me that I realize his hardened exterior is just a façade. It’s when I watch him go all sweet with his little boy that I really fall for him.

Someone convinced him once that his best wasn’t good enough. But I’ve never felt more cherished than I do in his arms.

My contract may say this arrangement is only for two months.

But my heart says this is forever.
]]> 476 Elsie Silver Sarah 4 physical-tbr 4.39 2022 Heartless (Chestnut Springs, #2)
author: Elsie Silver
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/09
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves: physical-tbr
review:

]]> Death Valley 223006247
Three years ago Aubrey Wells� sister disappeared in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Since then, Aubrey’s life has crumbled around her. Desperate for answers, she hires rancher and wilderness guide Jensen McGraw to help discover what happened to her sister.

Jensen doesn’t frighten easily. Hell, the finances of his family’s ranch are mixed up with one of the world’s most dangerous crime bosses, but he knows exactly what kind of unnatural creatures wait up in those mountains. He tries to convince Aubrey to give up, but he needs the money she offers if he wants to retake control of his ranch.

Business isn’t the only thing brewing between Aubrey and Jensen—secrets, lies, and an intense attraction threaten to derail their journey up the mountain. When a fierce snowstorm hits, and members of the crew start disappearing, Aubrey and Jensen will have to use all their wits to survive.

Because what dies in this wilderness doesn’t stay dead� it devours.]]> 413 Karina Halle Sarah 0 to-read 4.23 Death Valley
author: Karina Halle
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.23
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Stealing Hearts (Wild at Heart #1)]]> 218698978 A marriage of convenience might save his ranch, but will it break her heart?

I don’t remember a time when I didn’t love Rhett Walker, which is complicated since he’s ten years older and my brother’s best friend. After a falling out, we didn’t speak for years—until today, when he found me sleeping in my car, threw me over his shoulder, and dragged me “to safety.�

He’s grumpy and overprotective and even more handsome than I remembered. I’m shocked to learn he’s in trouble. Someone is sabotaging his ranch, which is thirty days from foreclosure. He needs a loan from a friend who won’t extend the funds unless he’s married. Only Rhett’s now a single dad with no plans to fall in love again.

When his brother suggests I marry Rhett for health insurance so I can rehab an injury, my first reaction is hell no. I ’t afford to catch feelings for someone who won’t see me that way.

But spending time at the ranch reminds me how much is at stake—the family business, the welfare of Rhett’s children, and the happiness of a man I’ve always longed for.

Rhett says we’ll keep things platonic in private, even though I’ll be sleeping in his bed. He refuses to mix business with pleasure.

Except when the lights go out in his bedroom, our chemistry is too explosive to contain.

Would it be so bad to fall for Rhett? Or will he steal my heart all over again?

One thing’s for sure—the clock is ticking on our divorce.

Stealing Hearts is an age gap, marriage of convenience, single dad romance. If you enjoy grumpy cowboys, sweet but sassy heroines, a family of rowdy brothers, and secretive small towns, this book is for you!]]> 356 Lex Martin 1950554244 Sarah 4
**Thank you to the author for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.**]]> 4.07 Stealing Hearts (Wild at Heart #1)
author: Lex Martin
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.07
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/06
date added: 2025/02/06
shelves:
review:
This was my first Lex Martin even though she has been on my radar for quite some time and I can now say that I am sorely disappointed I didn't pick her up sooner. I guess it's the small town cowboy setting that grabbed me with this one and I seriously loved it. It has so many of my favorite tropes including age gap, marriage of convenience, dead brother's best friend, and a slew of meddling brothers who have lovely set ups for future books (amirite?). There is also an element of romantic suspense that always has me hooked and wanting to know whodunit. The steam in this one was *chef's kiss.* I'm totally invested in this universe and cannot wait to see what the Walker brothers get up to in the rest of this series.

**Thank you to the author for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.**
]]> Texting Dr. Stalker 223409923 From New York Times Bestseller, Pepper Winters, comes a green-flag stalker standalone romance

Now a #1 bestseller in Medical Romance!

I have a stalker.
A masked man who watches me from the shadows. A guardian who says he’s there to protect me—to help me heal from almost dying at the hands of another man.
He says he’s willing to do anything to help me move on. That I needn’t be afraid of him.
I agree to keep him my secret and share how much I’m truly struggling.
In return, he guards me. Even if it means guarding me from himself.


I’ve known her my entire life.
She’s the girl next door who I share a childhood betrothal with thanks to our two grandmothers wishing to turn their lifelong friendship into family.
I’m also the doctor who tended to her in the ER after her ex tried to kill her. I want to help her in any way I can, but I also know she’ll never accept my help because I’m the reason he tried to kill her in the first place.
But I ’t stand by and see her suffer, so…I come up with a plan.
A highly illegal plan that ends with me breaking laws, rules, and my own heart...

Doctor/girl next door, childhood friends to lovers, green-flag stalker, hidden identity, lots of texts, masked protector, would do anything to keep her safe, standalone, he has a motorcycle, he does things to her in the dark...]]> 420 Pepper Winters Sarah 0 to-read 4.08 Texting Dr. Stalker
author: Pepper Winters
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.08
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Affair (The Evolution of Sin Trilogy, #1)]]> 28674135
Italian born Giselle Moore is reinventing herself for the second time in her short twenty-four years of life, trading in her bohemian artist’s life in Paris for the grit and glamour of New York City where the family she hasn’t seen in years awaits her. But before beginning her new life, she travels to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico searching for a week of relaxation and reprieve before barreling into her turbulent future.

She never expected to meet the handsome and enigmatic Frenchman Sinclair on the plane and she certainly never would have imagined herself accepting his proposal for a week long, no-strings-attached affair. Giselle has never experienced anything as heady as Sinclair’s controlled seduction and cool yet devastatingly erotic commands and she finds herself powerless to stop the ferocity of their passions, even when she discovers he has a partner back home. The last thing she needs in her life is another complication, yet as the week wears on, she finds it surprisingly easy to relinquish control to Sinclair, a man she knows nearly nothing about. And to her horror, the one thing she promised never to submit, her battered heart, is just as easily captured in the business mogul’s unyielding hands.]]> 246 Giana Darling 0995065004 Sarah 3 physical-tbr 3.78 2016 The Affair (The Evolution of Sin Trilogy, #1)
author: Giana Darling
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/19
date added: 2025/01/19
shelves: physical-tbr
review:

]]> All the Missing Pieces 216386511 Sometimes the last thing you expect is exactly what you need, the final missing piece. And sometimes it comes in the form of a towering, broody sheriff, determined to get in your way at every step.

Ridley Sawyer knows what it’s like to miss someone, to feel like a piece of her vanished—because it happened to her the night her twin sister disappeared.

Now, Ridley channels that loss into hope, traveling the country covering cold cases for her true crime podcast. She might not have found justice for her sister but that doesn’t stop her from finding it for others.

Until Sheriff Colter Brooks gets in her way.

Colt knows what it’s like to have reporters descend on his town in the wake of a tragedy, and he’s not about to let a fiery podcaster stir up trouble. It doesn’t matter that her haunting blue eyes tell him there’s more to Ridley’s story or that he ’t stop imagining what it would be like to touch her.

But when Ridley’s cold case turns hot and she’s thrust into the crosshairs, Colt has no choice but to step in. Suddenly, Ridley’s living at his house, drinking his whiskey, and stealing his dog’s affections. But she’s also proving that she’s so much more than his first impression.

And as they get closer to the truth, the game they’ve been playing might just turn deadly…]]> 402 Catherine Cowles 1464224307 Sarah 5 4.48 2025 All the Missing Pieces
author: Catherine Cowles
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/13
date added: 2025/01/13
shelves:
review:
I am still working my way chronologically through Catherine's backlist, but I figured this is a new standalone, so I'll deviate and pick it up early. Guyss. This is everything I love about Catherine. The suspense, the romance, the who-dun-it twist I can never seem to guess. It's a unique story about a true crime pocaster and the surly sheriff in the town she's investigating for an episode. The connections between the people are just *chef's kiss*. And I swear I thought I picked someone not obvious as the perp because she definitely likes to set us up to think the worst of people and I was so wrong. So wrong! The way my jaw unhinged. Picking this up only renewed my motivation to dig into more of her backlist. , one of my bookish goals for this year 2025.
]]> <![CDATA[There Are No Saints (Sinners #1)]]> 59416611
The city of San Francisco thinks we’re rival artists.

In truth, we’re predators battling for hunting ground.

We never chased the same prey. Until the night we both laid eyes on Mara Eldritch.

Shaw wants to use her as a pawn in his twisted game.

I’m fixated on her for a different reason�

She makes me feel things I never thought I could feel. Want things I never wanted.

Only she can make me lose control.

I don’t know if I should protect her at all costs� or destroy her before she ruins me.

Mara knows I’m no saint. But she has no idea she’s dancing with the devil�


The Lark Notes :
I have always been fascinated by true crime, as well as by villains and anti-heroes. A serial killer is, of course, the ultimate anti-hero � the baddest of the bad boys. Redeeming a character who starts so evil was a challenge that inspired me to entirely new heights and entirely new depths. Come on this darkly sensual and utterly brain-bending ride with me! � Sophie

"There Are No Saints� is the first book in the Sinners Duet. Reader be this book contains extremely dark themes that might be triggering to some. This is a steamy serial killer romance that will take you on a journey through the twisted mind of an artist on the brink of madness.]]> 360 Sophie Lark Sarah 0 to-read 4.01 2021 There Are No Saints (Sinners #1)
author: Sophie Lark
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Stars Above Us 218147854 “Then what am I?�
How did she not see it? She didn’t walk through fire; she was fire. I cracked a smile, “You’re the dragon.�
_____________________
What happened to Troy Davis?

That’s what Becks is determined to figure out. When life takes an unexpected turn and plops her in the middle of the Afghan desert, the hotshot journalist finds herself surrounded by bullets, grenades, and a grumpy Army captain with a chip the size of Texas on his very broad shoulders. The captain is determined to get under her skin just as much as she gets under his.

All Captain Nathan Griffith wanted was to shake off the hell he’d faced over the last few years during a quiet deployment in the middle of nowhere. Lucky for him and the rest of the boys of Company B, Forward Operating Base Blessing fit the bill. When word comes down that a war correspondent is going to be embedded with them during their deployment, SHE is the last person he thought would ever show up.

After the unthinkable happens, Becks and Griff are torn between duty and desire. He never expected to find his fresh start in the middle of hell, but what will happen when Becks finally gets the answers she’s been looking for?
_______________
The Stars Above Us includes a sassy redhead, a grumpy Army captain, pranks, shenanigans, and a guaranteed happily ever after. Fall in love with Becks, Griff, and the boys of Company B in this steamy contemporary military romance.]]> 366 Maggie C. Gates Sarah 5 4.33 2021 The Stars Above Us
author: Maggie C. Gates
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/05
date added: 2025/01/05
shelves:
review:
I came to this after reading Dust Storm, the first book of the Griffith Brothers series, wondering why there are 4 brothers but only 3 books. Turns out this was the book that introduced the Griffith family with the oldest brother, Nathan, who is deployed in Afghanistan. The majority of the book takes place on a military base during the Iraq war. Our heroine is Rebecca (Becks) Davis, a war correspondent whose brother was KIA a couple of years prior. Becks and Nathan butt heads at first, complete with some fun pranks to break up the terrifying experience of being in an active war zone. Naturally, feelings start to develop between them but Nathan is holding onto a secret that he knows will devastate Becks. This book is so incredibly researched and written. The detail about living on a military base and experiences of traveling outside the wire feel so real. There is tragedy, angst, romance, and some excellent banter I've come to really enjoy from this author.
]]> Frisky the Snowman 203755058 light Lauren Biel romance, but still weird!In winter's embrace, I revel in the snow, sculpting whimsical snowmen that bring joy to my chilly solitude. But beneath the frosty gaze of winter, an unexpected admirer emerges with an obsession that ignites the season's spice. As Frisky the Snowman takes on a life of his own, a frosty liaison unfolds, turning a wintry fantasy into a sizzling Christmas affair.Frisky the snowman is a spicy snowmance novelette! Check out the content warnings on Laurenbiel.com!]]> 52 Lauren Biel 1959618121 Sarah 4
Also, did not have a snowman murdering a dude on my bingo card for this book. Out of everything that was the most, wtf??? moment. And then they just never address it? Like is the guy still out there rotting in the forest? What happened? ]]> 3.39 2023 Frisky the Snowman
author: Lauren Biel
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.39
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/22
date added: 2024/12/23
shelves:
review:
Okay, I haven't seen the Netflix film Hot Frosty, but this is what I imagine it would be like if it were X-rated. This is my foray into books of this ~genre and I'm not disappointed? Lol. I don't know if I'll be purposely searching for more like it, but this was entertaining for the season and provided me with a good laugh and some decent cringe-worthy moments.

Also, did not have a snowman murdering a dude on my bingo card for this book. Out of everything that was the most, wtf??? moment. And then they just never address it? Like is the guy still out there rotting in the forest? What happened?
]]> Sugar's Cookies 221609278
Enter Willie, the local electrician and proud owner of a more down-to-earth . . . perspective. When he gets called in to set up her Wi-Fi, he’s not thrilled about yet another “city slicker� moving into his town. But her love of little things starts to win him over, and together they discover that the best things truly come in smaller packages.

And what goes best with cookies? Milk.

This cringey, cheeky, and downright hilarious novella is best enjoyed with zero seriousness and an appetite for laughs!]]> 83 Vee Taylor Sarah 4
**Thank you to the author for an advanced copy for review. All opinions are my own.**]]> 4.19 Sugar's Cookies
author: Vee Taylor
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.19
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/21
date added: 2024/12/21
shelves:
review:
This was a spicy, Hallmark-y novella about a woman named Sugar who is tired of the big city life (including the dicks that go with it) and moves to a small town to open a bakery with, wait for it, zero baking experience. Here she meets Willie and his Weedle, (yep. She said it.) the local electrician who has a tough time because of his "unfortunate" anatomy that is just what Sugar has been searching for. Cringe? Haha, oh yeah. Spicy? Yep. Did it make me laugh? Sure did. I will never look at baked goods the same way again. I've also gained a few dozen more puns for the male and female sex organs. Lol.

**Thank you to the author for an advanced copy for review. All opinions are my own.**
]]> <![CDATA[The Moon & His Tides (Impossible Universe Trilogy #1)]]> 220665025 Everyone in Naples told me I was tall, dark, and handsome. An Italian with golden eyes made for fame on the silver screen, even when I was just the young patriarch of my broken, scattered family.

I may have beauty and talent, but opportunities are scarce in the theatre and film industry.

That is, until I become chauffeur to the lovely and glamorous Savannah Meyers, wife to one of the most revered actors in England.

She notices me…in more ways than one.

Before I can check my impulses, I find myself falling for Savannah and her promises.

Only, instead of enraging her husband, Adam Meyers, they approach me to make a very scandalous proposition.

Live with them as their lover, and they will make all of my wildest dreams come true.]]> 391 Giana Darling Sarah 0 to-read 4.01 2025 The Moon & His Tides (Impossible Universe Trilogy #1)
author: Giana Darling
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Forever the Highlands (The Highlands, #6)]]> 220204634
Fyfe Moray raised himself. His only real family is his best friend, Lewis Adair. For that reason, Lewis’s sister Eilidh is totally off-limits. Fyfe is in deep denial about their intense attraction. Thankfully, Eilidh is a famous actor living in London while he runs his cyber security company from the Highlands. They’re worlds apart. Until one day, Eilidh reaches out asking for a lifeline and Fyfe ’t bring himself to turn her away.

Acting isn’t what Eilidh Adair expected. As a kid, she wanted to be just like her famous uncles. But the double-edged sword of fame cuts deeper than expected. Afraid to admit she’s made a mistake, Eilidh is spiraling. The only person who knows the truth is Fyfe, but her childhood crush has developed into a love he won’t return. Yet when she comes home intent on starting over, Fyfe ’t seem to stay away. His confused feelings might just be the end of them. Until a woman from Fyfe’s past abandons the baby daughter he never knew he had.

Now a single father, Fyfe needs support. He just never expected Eilidh to be the one he needed most. Fyfe ’t believe how quickly he falls for his child and how rapidly his world view changes. He’s ready to admit the truth: he’s madly in love with his best friend’s sister. And Fyfe’s done wasting time.

But someone else believes Eilidh belongs to them. Someone who has been watching her far longer than she realizes. Just when she thinks she might have everything she wants, Eilidh finds herself caught in the crosshairs of a person intent on destroying everything she holds dear.]]> 382 Samantha Young 1915243327 Sarah 0 to-read 4.19 2024 Forever the Highlands (The Highlands, #6)
author: Samantha Young
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[See It Through (Kelly Ranch #1)]]> 220232050 This house isn't big enough for the both of us...

As my older brother’s best friend, Remington Town used to be like a member of my family. But the minute he turned eighteen, he left our small town of Sugar Brush, Wyoming and never looked back.

Thirteen years later, Remi shows up to settle his father’s estate, but as far as I’m concerned, he should’ve stayed gone. Besides, he’s in for a big surprise when he finds out the old farmhouse he intends to sell is now half mine.

I expect Remi to hit the road just like he did all those years ago, but infuriatingly, he settles in like he plans on staying for a while. It’s impossible to avoid him since I run my farrier business out of the house he’s now haunting. Everywhere I turn, I seem to find him, with his easy smiles and endless patience, no matter what I throw at him—literally.

When push comes to shove and I’m in danger, Remi stands by me without question. His steady, surprisingly gentle presence softens me to him. Soon, a tentative friendship leads to a fiery passion neither of us saw coming.

Remi and I find solace and beauty in each other, but behind the picturesque facade of our small town lurks an ugliness. Someone doesn’t like me having all that I do, and if they have their way, I’ll be left with nothing at all.

See It Through is a small town, western romance featuring the Kelly family. It can be read as a complete standalone, however this series is second generation. The Kelly kids' parents are Lock and Elena, and their story starts in Sweet Like Poison. This is Hannah Kelly's story.

]]> 344 Julia Wolf Sarah 0 to-read 4.15 2024 See It Through (Kelly Ranch #1)
author: Julia Wolf
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Fault in Forever 221433389 USA Today bestselling author Claudia Burgoa brings you an angst-filled, emotional second-chance romance packed with heartache, longing, and an impossible love triangle.

I fell in love with a boy who became my everything.

Justin Stone was my first love. I thought I’d grow old with him.

We had a future filled with promises, until one fateful night.

One tragic accident, and just like that, he slipped into a coma.

For years, I clung to hope; holding on to every 'what if.'

But life doesn’t stand still. Eventually, I had to learn how to live again.

Grief clung to me like a second skin when Haydn Wesford came into my life.

He’s a professional hockey goalie with a natural instinct to protect.

He showed up just when I needed someone the most.

Loving Haydn was like taking my first real breath in years.

He made me laugh when I thought I’d forgotten how and made me believe in second chances.

Just as Haydn and I were about to build a life of our own, everything came crashing down. Justin woke up.

I ’t abandon him.

Haydn, being the man he is, agrees to help bring Justin home and get him back on his feet.

But as days turn into weeks, feelings I thought were buried begin to stir.

I remember the promises Justin and I made, the future we dreamed up together.

Now I’m standing at a crossroads—caught between the man who is my past and the one who would be my future. I’m torn in two.

Two hearts. Two futures. And only one choice.

How do you let go of your first love when he’s standing right in front of you? How do you choose the man you need� without breaking the heart of the one you ’t seem to let go of?

The fault in forever is that sometimes love isn’t enough. And now, I have to decide who I am—and who I ’t live without—before I lose them both.]]> 349 Claudia Y. Burgoa Sarah 0 to-read 4.36 2024 The Fault in Forever
author: Claudia Y. Burgoa
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dust Storm (The Griffith Brothers, #1)]]> 205963941 Rule Number 1: You ride in my truck; you let me open the door.

Another problem was the last thing I needed. Unfortunately, Cassandra Parker was mine.
But the biggest problem of all?
It wasn’t the beautiful stranger sticking her nose in my operations.
It wasn’t the bulldozer she was driving over my way of life.
And it definitely wasn’t the fact that she was living in my house.
My biggest problem? The engagement ring on her finger.

—CԻ�
Rule Number 1: If you’re going to kill someone, make it look like an accident, cry at the funeral, admit to nothing, and deny everything.

To be clear, I didn’t want to be Christian Griffith’s problem. But there I was: exiled from New York, stranded on a cattle ranch, and desperate to salvage what was left of my career.
Living with a single dad and his children was a downgrade from my high-rise office and city comforts, but I agreed to it for one simple reason: to save my job.
A hot cowboy wasn’t going to lasso me into staying a second longer than necessary.]]> 410 Maggie C. Gates Sarah 5 3.88 2024 Dust Storm (The Griffith Brothers, #1)
author: Maggie C. Gates
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/24
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Spurs: A Black Gulch Cowboy Romance (Black Gulch Ranch)]]> 217152562 After my wife died, I tried to raise my kids right while running one of the biggest cattle ranches in Montana.
But, when my daughter broke her leg in the rodeo, and I hired her best friend from college to help her, I didn't know it'd be my undoing.
Lorilei is in my home. My thoughts. And, my heart.
I know I need to push her away, that our differences would be too hard to overcome.
But, when my ranch is threatened, and she's put in the crosshairs, will I risk everything to protect her?

*Please note this portrays dark themes

- for a complete list of potential triggers, please visit the author's web page]]> 445 M.A. Cobb Sarah 0 to-read 3.65 2024 Spurs: A Black Gulch Cowboy Romance (Black Gulch Ranch)
author: M.A. Cobb
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Bishop 183805642 A standalone novel in the bestselling, seductively thrilling Hunting Her series.

In a moment of weakness I sent out a cry for help—one that was answered by my estranged brother’s right-hand man.
A murderer.
A butcher.

He storms into my life with his expensive suit pockets full of sedatives and cable ties in case I don’t approve of his form of protection.
Let me assure you, I don’t.

But when my world falls apart and I have nowhere else to go, I’m forced to escape with him.
To an isolated house.
Just me and him.
Alone.

And it quickly becomes clear that the monstrous people I’ve been afraid of are nothing in comparison to the man in the room next door to mine.]]> Eden Summers Sarah 0 to-read 3.98 Bishop
author: Eden Summers
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.98
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Glimmers of You (Lost & Found, #3)]]> 63116532
Now, Caden’s back. With his cocky smirk and infuriating nicknames. And I’m struggling to ignore his presence.

When my ex refuses to leave me alone, Caden steps in, suggesting that it will get my ex and Caden’s calculating father off both our backs if we just pretend to be madly in love.

There’s just one problem� Nothing I feel for Caden Shaw is fake—even when I thought I hated him. And there’s no denying how the touch of his lips sparks a flame I’ll never be able to extinguish.

As those pretend moments start to turn oh so real, someone’s watching. They’re not happy about Caden’s new role in my life. And they’ll do anything to rip me away from him—even burn us all to the ground…]]> 342 Catherine Cowles 1951936418 Sarah 0 to-read 4.21 2023 Glimmers of You (Lost & Found, #3)
author: Catherine Cowles
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Shadows of You (Lost & Found, #4)]]> 63884111
The last thing I expected was him.

A surly, broody mountain of a man who helps me save an injured deer in a snowstorm.

Now, Roan Hartley keeps showing up with his glowers and grimaces. But they only make his rare smiles and the gentle way he talks to my daughter mean that much more.

When forces from my past find us, Roan is determined to keep us safe—even if that means sleeping on my ancient couch every night.

As days turn to weeks, his touch has my walls crashing down. But someone out there doesn’t want me to find happiness. He doesn’t want me left breathing at all…]]> 348 Catherine Cowles 1951936450 Sarah 0 to-read 4.36 2023 Shadows of You (Lost & Found, #4)
author: Catherine Cowles
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Echoes of You (Lost & Found, #2)]]> 63123221
But my heart wanted so much more. So, when I knew for certain Nash didn’t feel the same about me, I tried to move on. What a mistake that turned out to be.

Now, I’m back in our small town, desperate to escape my living nightmare, and the only person I want to see is him.

As secrets are revealed, and Nash finds out what happened to me, he’ll do anything to keep me safe.

But there are those who will do anything to stop him, and this time neither of us may make out alive…]]> 330 Catherine Cowles 1951936388 Sarah 0 to-read 4.16 2023 Echoes of You (Lost & Found, #2)
author: Catherine Cowles
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Fragile Sanctuary (Sparrow Falls, #1)]]> 209773181
He’s everything I’m not: grumpy, rude, and more than a little attached to his solitude. It doesn’t matter how many times I try to kill him with kindness; the man simply won’t crack.

Until he sees me shatter.

Because when my world comes crashing down around me, Anson is the one catching me as I fall. And as so-called accidents start plaguing every part of my life, it’s Anson who steps in to keep me safe.

As he does, I ’t help but feel a flicker of heat. And it only takes a single moment for that spark to ignite into flames, engulfing us both.

But Anson’s a man with secrets, and they have a price. When they’re revealed, neither of us will make it out unscathed…]]> 366 Catherine Cowles 1951936574 Sarah 0 to-read 4.10 2024 Fragile Sanctuary (Sparrow Falls, #1)
author: Catherine Cowles
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Serpentine Valentine 204124683
I was born a woman.
Raised by women.
In love with women.
Until I enrolled at Acheron University, I'd never known much of men. I certainly didn't know enough to fear them.
Then one stormy autumnal night, Professor Morgan tried to destroy me.
And when we were discovered by the university President, it was me who was punished for the unwanted seduction.
But they left me with two valuable lessons.
I would never let another woman be hurt by men again if I could help it.
And when someone hurts you, betrays you, and tries to rip out your soul, there is only one remedy for the pain.
Revenge.
And mine takes the form of the President's very beautiful, very virginal, very straight daughter, Luna Pallas.
Before the end of term, I'll destroy her innocence just as her mother and Professor Morgan destroyed mine.]]> 367 Giana Darling 1774440458 Sarah 0 to-read 4.07 2024 Serpentine Valentine
author: Giana Darling
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> When Heroes Fall 58322557 I am the villain of my own story...

Jilted by my fiance.
A disappointment to my family.
Haunted by my childhood traumas.
I felt so much all my life that I resolved to feeling nothing at all.

Until I met my match.

As the most infamous mafioso of the 21st century, Dante Salvatore was madly passionate, unequivocally bad, and entirely too dangerous to know. He was everything I abhorred, yet I found myself representing him in the biggest criminal trial of the decade.

I was so focused on winning and achieving the success I deserved that I didn't notice the gorgeous black-eyed man's effect on me until it was too late. My icy heart had been held too close to his flame and now I wouldn't let Dante go down without fighting with everything I had in me.

Even if the cost of a new life with him meant the loss of my old life and everything I thought I held dear.]]> 459 Giana Darling 1774440180 Sarah 4
Tropes
-hate to love
-hero falls first
-mafia
-lawyer heroine]]> 4.26 2021 When Heroes Fall
author: Giana Darling
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2023/02/14
date added: 2024/11/13
shelves:
review:
Dante F*cking Salvatore. That is all.

Tropes
-hate to love
-hero falls first
-mafia
-lawyer heroine
]]> <![CDATA[World After (Penryn & the End of Days, #2)]]> 17849112 Angelfall, the survivors of the angel apocalypse begin to scrape back together what's left of the modern world. When a group of people capture Penryn's sister Paige, thinking she's a monster, the situation ends in a massacre. Paige disappears. Humans are terrified. Mom is heartbroken.

Penryn drives through the streets of San Francisco looking for Paige. Why are the streets so empty? Where is everybody? Her search leads her into the heart of the angels' secret plans, where she catches a glimpse of their motivations, and learns the horrifying extent to which the angels are willing to go.

Meanwhile, Raffe hunts for his wings. Without them, he can't rejoin the angels, can't take his rightful place as one of their leaders. When faced with recapturing his wings or helping Penryn survive, which will he choose?

]]> 320 Susan Ee 1477867287 Sarah 0 to-read, physical-tbr 4.09 2013 World After (Penryn & the End of Days, #2)
author: Susan Ee
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/07
shelves: to-read, physical-tbr
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Flawless (Chestnut Springs, #1)]]> 60755618 The rules were simple . . .
Keep my hands off his daughter and stay out of trouble.

But now I’m stuck with her . . . And there’s only one bed . . .
Oh well, rules are made -- to be broken . . . aren't they?

I’m the face of professional bull riding -- the golden boy.
Or at least I was, until it all blew up in my face.
Now my agent says I have to clean up my image, so I’m stuck with his ball-busting daughter for the rest of the season as my “full-time supervision.�

But I don’t need a goddamn babysitter --
especially one with skin-tight jeans, a sexy smirk,
and a mouth she ’t stop running.

A mouth I just ’t stop thinking about . . .

Because Summer isn’t just another conquest.
She sees the man behind the mask, and she doesn’t run --
she pulls me closer, even when she dzܱ’t.

She says this means nothing -- but I say this means everything.

She says there are boundaries we dzܱ’t cross.
That my reputation ’t take any more hits -- and neither can her damaged heart.

I say I’m going to steal it anyway.
]]> 424 Elsie Silver Sarah 4 4.06 2022 Flawless (Chestnut Springs, #1)
author: Elsie Silver
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/01
date added: 2024/11/01
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Cinder & Ash: A Dark Cinderella Retelling (Once Upon A Darkness Collection)]]> 216527296 This is a DARK fairytale retelling of Cinderella and contains HEAVY triggers.

Reader’s discretion is HIGHLY advised.

This is NOT the fairytale you know.]]> 201 Emily Klepp Sarah 0 dnf 4.60 Cinder & Ash: A Dark Cinderella Retelling (Once Upon A Darkness Collection)
author: Emily Klepp
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.60
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/18
shelves: dnf
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Holding the Reins (Silver Pines Ranch, #1)]]> 214490423 In this steamy cowboy romance, a woman returns to her family's ranch after a broken engagement and finds herself falling for her brother's best friend—the first novel in the Silver Pines Ranch series.

Take a deep breath and let go of the reins.

Cecilia “CeCe� Ashby is finally escaping the toxic relationship that has consumed her entire adult life. She's returning to her hometown of Laurel Creek, Kentucky, and to her family’s equestrian ranch, unsure of what the future holds.

Nash Carter, the newly retired superstar of the Dallas Stars, is Laurel Creek's hometown hero, local business owner, and notorious bachelor. He’s also the unofficial fourth sibling in the Ashby clan. It’s been years since his days of tormenting CeCe with her older brothers Wade and Cole. So, when CeCe needs a job, he feels drawn to help her.

Nash ’t seem to take his eyes off of his best friend's sister, and it seems she’s been staring right back, not without animosity left over from his childish teasing back in the day. Despite their initial reluctance, the fire between them ignites and it isn't long before they jump into the flames.]]> 400 Paisley Hope 0593977114 Sarah 0 to-read 3.90 2024 Holding the Reins (Silver Pines Ranch, #1)
author: Paisley Hope
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Burn the Wild (Runaway Ranch #3)]]> 210403350
Only I don’t get far. My first day in town, I’m assigned a babysitter.

Ford Montgomery.

A man who drives me crazy with his rude, broody attitude and his backward baseball caps. A man who’s my new boss for the summer. A wild, rugged cowboy straight out of one of my songs. Hard body and gorgeous face included.

But beneath the dirty mouth and the sexy smirk, there’s a pain in his eyes that matches my own.

As the summer heats up, passion sparks and we connect—on the ranch and in the bedroom. Ford shows me friendship, makes me laugh, but most importantly, we see each other’s scars and want one another anyway.

For the first time in my life, I know where I belong. In his arms.

The stage might be calling me, but my heart says it’s with Ford.

But there’s a price to pay for wanting this new life of mine. My past is watching. Ready and waiting to take my newfound freedom and love and snuff it out…for good.]]> 506 Ava Hunter Sarah 0 to-read 4.23 2025 Burn the Wild (Runaway Ranch #3)
author: Ava Hunter
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Rope the Moon (Runaway Ranch #2)]]> 201737231
I was a good girl who played by the rules. Except when it came to Davis Montgomery.

A handsome former Marine with a rough touch and a filthy mouth. A man I loved.

But when he didn’t ask me to stay, I took it as a sign to leave my small town and chase my dream. What a mistake that turned out to be.

Now, I’m back, running from the flames of my past to find a fresh start.

But fresh doesn’t always mean easy. Not when I’m now the town outcast. Not when I ’t hide my bruises or the baby I’m carrying.

When Davis finds out what happened to me, his protective nature comes out and he does the unthinkable. He moves me onto Runaway Ranch, determined to keep me safe. He says he’ll do everything he can to get me back on my feet. But I never expected the deep feelings and scorching attraction between us to come back even stronger.

One night, the embers of our past are rekindled and I remember all the reasons why I’ve loved him for so long.

That one spark gives us back our second chance. But second chances don’t come easy, especially when the shadow from my past is lurking. And ready to take back what’s his. . .]]> 462 Ava Hunter Sarah 0 to-read 4.09 2024 Rope the Moon (Runaway Ranch #2)
author: Ava Hunter
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Tame the Heart (Runaway Ranch #1)]]> 197375272
Charlie Montgomery is one grumpy rancher. Calloused hands, stubborn heart, the definition of a true cowboy.

He dislikes me from the second we meet. Warns me away from his tiny town of Resurrection, Montana. Well, what he doesn’t know is I’m armed with a bucket list and a secret. There’s no way I’m leaving. I’ll just keep my distance.

Only in a small town that distance doesn’t last for long. Because I owe him a Work for him for three months and help him save his home. Runaway Ranch.

But our close confines mean I see what’s under all that strong. I see the real Charlie Montgomery. The man behind the rugged rancher who yells. Beneath his dark beard hides a rare smile. Beneath his mile-wide chest beats a tender heart. One that slowly starts to beat for me.

And instead of running back onto that open road, I run towards Charlie instead.

But a hidden danger is lurking. Someone who doesn't want Charlie to save his ranch. Someone who is out to get us both. And I could lose more than my heart this summer—I could lose my life…]]> 476 Ava Hunter Sarah 0 to-read 4.05 2023 Tame the Heart (Runaway Ranch #1)
author: Ava Hunter
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Take Me 213183544 “I am going to hurt you, but I’m always gonna put you back together."
When my train stops in the middle of nowhere, I'm suddenly caught in a nightmare.

Instead of going hiking in the mountains, I end up with a hood over my head, bound on hands and feet, and thrust into the trunk of a car.

A barren grey cell becomes my new home as I learn that I am to be trained by a terrifyingly competent man named Mikhail, who tells me he has two months to prepare me for my new master.

Slowly and inevitably, Mikhail breaks me into submission. But my hope never dies—the hope that the man he took me from will come find me. The man who awakened a dark desire within me that now blends with the depravities of my new reality. As my desires blur together, I come to doubt everything, even my sanity.

This is a pitch black short novel that can be read as a standalone. It has a lot of dark, extreme, and explicit content, so please see the trigger warnings on the author website before reading.]]> 220 Ella Jacobs 8797551716 Sarah 0 to-read 3.69 Take Me
author: Ella Jacobs
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.69
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Highland Escape 202996154
Just when life was looking up, things went from bad to worse. Promotion? Forget it.

I’m lucky I’m not arrested. But when fate tossed me the keys to an old Scottish Inn—courtesy of a grandmother I never met—I couldn't pass up the opportunity. What have I got to lose? Everything, apparently.

With no clue how to run an inn, let alone fix it up, I turned to the one person that doesn’t want to help me. A neighbor with an ax to grind.

It doesn’t matter how sexy he is—I wasn’t going to fall for his charms. That is, until he came to my rescue in a moment of need.

There were worse places to wait out my fate than in the arms of the one person I didn’t know I needed, but found myself falling for no matter what I did.

When the real world comes calling, I have a choice to make—go back to the comforts of my old life or dive headfirst into the chaos of the highlands.

With a hairy coo named Angus and a rooster that loves cooking shows, get ready to fall head over kilt for The Highland Escape.]]> 252 Emily Silver Sarah 0 to-read 3.94 The Highland Escape
author: Emily Silver
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.94
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Promise Me Not (Boys of Avix, #2)]]> 191411135 I'd give it all to be her second...

For as long as I can remember, I’ve had one dream.

Go to college with my best friends, earn a starting position on a division one team, and hear my name announced to the world come draft day.

The path was clear, and things were falling in place perfectly.

Until she showed up.

I never meant to fall for my friend’s little sister and by the time I realized I had, it was too late.

I am a man in love with a girl � who is in love with someone else.

But I ’t compete with a ghost, and her heart was buried along side the boy she gave it to. The father of her unborn son.

Instead of fighting for something she’s unable to give, I do my best to be her friend. But then her little man comes along and changes everything.

She says I should walk away, focus on my love for football, but I ’t because what she doesn’t understand is I have a new dream now.

One that begins and ends with them.

___
Promise Me Not is the second interconnected standalone in the universe of Say You Swear.]]> 451 Meagan Brandy Sarah 0 to-read 3.48 2024 Promise Me Not (Boys of Avix, #2)
author: Meagan Brandy
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.48
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Chasing the Wild (Crimson Ridge, #1)]]> 212002545
What happens when you’re snowed in on a mountain ranch, with the one man you definitely should not be fantasizing about?
I’ve always done what was expected of me. Layla Birch, the good girl.
Forced to grow up too fast. To take care of everything myself. I had a plan.
Only, I didn’t count on him. Colton Wilder. The cowboy nearly twice my age.
He’s my dream man. One who takes care of me, gives me a job, and makes my pulse thud harder every time he comes near.
My ex-boyfriend’s father.
The nights are long and cold on top of this mountain. As the snow grows thicker and the tension builds between us, we’re both inching closer to a line we dzܱ’t cross.
Each day, it grows harder to resist the man who looks at me with longing in his eyes.
It’s tempting to forget about being the good girl for once.
No one would find out. Would they?


Chasing The Wild is an interconnected stand-alone, book 1 in the all-new Crimson Ridge series, and can be read separately. Intended for ages 18 and over.]]> 444 Elliott Rose Sarah 0 to-read 3.98 Chasing the Wild (Crimson Ridge, #1)
author: Elliott Rose
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.98
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Bull Rush (The Quiet Horsemen, #1)]]> 218454362 Those words change everything.

Now my should-be ex-husband, Ramsey Stockton, the former pro football star turned felon and hero who left this town—and me—behind years ago, is at my door offering me a deal with the devil.

If I let him stay and play his wife again for ninety days, he’ll give me a quiet divorce and his family ranch—the one my inn is on.

When I scoff at the idea, he offers a million-dollar bonus to help my business float through this rough patch, but only if I’m his.

Then he’ll walk away, and I can walk down the aisle with my fiancé. Or I can say no and watch everything I’ve worked so hard for fall apart.

There’s only one answer I can afford to give him. But he knows everything about me—every hurt, every secret, and every single weakness I have, including him.

And while Ramsey might want me, his brothers want him back in the family business.

If there's one universal truth in this town, it's that Stockton men stop at nothing to get what they want.]]> 402 Maggie Rawdon 1959523317 Sarah 0 to-read 3.75 Bull Rush (The Quiet Horsemen, #1)
author: Maggie Rawdon
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.75
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Slay (Georgia Smoke #1) 209193189 Rumor

There are moments in life when you make a decision. Accept who you are. What you have become. This was one of those times…The fairytale I thought I’d found had become a nightmare so quickly after I said, “I do.� Which was the reason I ran when I had the chance. Not thinking about the consequences. Just knowing I had to get free before it was my life that was taken.

I never expected to end up finding a haven. A place where people were willing to help me hide. It was as if I had walked into my own perfect daydream.

King

“Don’t believe every pretty face you meet, sweets. You should know by now that’s a terrible f----g idea.�

She was my job. I was to make her feel safe and do whatever I had to in order to make sure she didn’t run. Underneath the abused and broken exterior, there was a fighter. It was in her eyes. I lived for the moments when she let me see that spark.

I had been headed straight to Hell years before I met Rumor, but letting her fall in love with me was going to reserve me a room in the darkest pit available. One day soon, she was going to find out I was the monster she was running from and the family she had come to trust was the mafia that had killed her husband.

*Please be advised that this is book one in a duet and is a standalone in the Georgia Smoke Series.]]> 283 Abbi Glines Sarah 0 to-read 4.22 Slay (Georgia Smoke #1)
author: Abbi Glines
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.22
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Sovereign (The Sovereign Mountain, #1)]]> 197945891
I’ve been alone for so long. I never thought I would want to change that.

But when I saw her, I knew she was meant to be mine. And now that her husband is…gone, it’s time to make my move.

I’ve never felt like this about anyone. I want her everything, her body, her mind, her soul.

And I’ll do what it takes to make her my submissive. I’ll keep her safe, forgive her debts, and make everyone who’s ever hurt her pay.

All I need is her name on that dotted line.

“All roads lead to Sovereign Mountain.�

Set against the sweeping backdrop of northern Montana in winter, Sovereign is the perfect spicy love story for dark romance readers.

Keira Garrison has never known affection from her husband. After being tricked into giving up her family ranch, she finds herself lost and miserable in an unhappy marriage.

But one night, she meets the arresting Gerard Sovereign, her husband’s rival and the owner of the biggest cattle ranch in Montana.

Sparks fly. Their chemistry is undeniable.

But then tragedy strikes and Keira finds herself widowed and alone, unprotected from her late husband’s brothers who will stop at nothing to take the land she inherited.

With nowhere to go and no one to turn to, Keira finds herself at the mercy of Gerard Sovereign. He’s handsome, mysterious, dangerous, and hiding secrets that will turn her world upside down.

But he’s also her last hope.

Sovereign is a dual POV, age gap, dark, high heat cowboy romance with an anti-hero MMC. It can be read as a standalone. Please check content warnings before reading.]]> 353 Raya Morris Edwards Sarah 0 to-read 3.89 2024 Sovereign (The Sovereign Mountain, #1)
author: Raya Morris Edwards
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Phantasma (Wicked Games, #1) 204593914 Caraval meets Throne of the Fallen in this spicy dark romantasy where a necromancer needs help from a dangerous phantom to win a deadly competition, only to find their partnership puts her at risk of breaking the game’s most vital rule: don't fall in love.

When Ophelia and her sister discovers their mother brutally murdered, there is no time to grieve: Ophelia has inherited both her powerful death-driven magic and enormous debt on their home. Circumstances go from dire to deadly, however, when Ophelia’s sister decides to pay off the loan by entering Phantasma—a competition where most contestants don’t make it out alive and the winner is granted a single wish.

The only way to save her sister is to compete. But Phantasma is a cursed manor, with twisting corridors and lavish ballrooms, and filled with enticing demons and fatal temptations. Ophelia will need to face nine floors of challenges to win... if her fears don’t overtake her first.

When a charming, arrogant stranger claims he can protect and guide Ophelia, she knows she dzܱ’t trust him. While Blackwell may not seem dangerous, appearances can be deceptive. But with her sister’s life on the line, Ophelia ’t afford to turn him away. She just needs to ignore the overwhelming, dark attraction drawing them closer and closer together.

Because in Phantasma, the only thing deadlier than losing the game is losing your heart.]]> 497 Kaylie Smith 1538769255 Sarah 0 to-read 4.06 2024 Phantasma (Wicked Games, #1)
author: Kaylie Smith
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Tender Temptation (Charming Irish #1)]]> 214067943 But nothing prepared me for the wreckage Ivy Bright left behind.

She was a firecracker.
Untamed.
Irresistible.
A temptation I never saw coming.

By the time I learned the truth—who she really was, how young she was—it was too late. I’d already fallen. And when she walked away, she took more than just her secrets. She took me.

Losing her nearly destroyed me.

Years later, she’s back.
Stronger. Bolder.
Still just as tempting.

But the past doesn’t stay buried.

And when the truth finally comes to light, we’ll have to decide—was what we had just a reckless mistake, or was it always meant to be forever?]]> 412 Kaylene Winter 1963545125 Sarah 0 to-read 4.37 Tender Temptation (Charming Irish #1)
author: Kaylene Winter
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.37
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Hitched (Ride or Die Romances)]]> 64411241
Lex
The moment I open the car door and see her sweet face, I know I'm making a mistake. By offering to give me a ride, so is she. I spot the rabbit’s foot hanging from the rear-view mirror. It's not her lucky day.

I take her with me as I run from the law. Despite being a felon and a documented sociopath, I only mean for Selena to be a ride to the border. But somewhere along the way she stirs up feelings I've long thought myself incapable of.

She's my rabbit, my sweet little bunny, and I need to teach her how to run from me so I can catch her and show her what it's like to be devoured by the predator she should be afraid of.

Danger lurks in every corner, and the risk of getting caught grows by the day. What will I do once she takes me to my destination? Will I let her go or do something much worse? Can we find some way to stay together when the world wants to pull us apart?


Trigger Warnings: Infidelity (not between mcs), domestic violence (not between mcs), detailed abuse in the past for both mcs, murder, violence, abduction, suicidal ideations, dubious/non consent, attempted non con (not between mcs), sociopathic behavior, somnophilia scene, c*ck stuffing scene, degradation kink, praise, spitting, outdoor/car scenes, primal play, c*m play, b*tt stuff (including anal and oral), voyeurism, exhibitionism, jealous/possessive behavior, sado-masochism

Hitched is a dual POV dark hitchhiker standalone novel with an HEA]]> 258 Lauren Biel 1959618989 Sarah 3 3.56 Hitched (Ride or Die Romances)
author: Lauren Biel
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.56
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/24
date added: 2024/09/24
shelves:
review:
This had me enthralled until about halfway, then it felt rather repetitive. I found myself skimming through all the death and sex and really didn't feel like I missed much. The concept and plot overall was different and engaging but I think this might have been better suited as a novella. It was at least a 4 star until the 50% mark. I will continue with the series.
]]> <![CDATA[Love in the Wild: A Tarzan Retelling]]> 53204232
Eden Matthews stumbled upon the discovery of a lifetime while photographing wildlife deep in the heart of Africa�

A gorgeous god of a man living in the wilds of the African jungle among a family of gorillas�

When he saves her life she’s compelled to uncover the man’s tragic past and the fate which led him to grow up in the wild.

But Eden soon learns she can take man from the wild, but she ’t take the wild out of the man�

When her savage savior soon shows her just want he wants of her…her sensual surrender, she finds she ’t resist him teaching her how to love…in the wild.]]> 380 Emma Castle 1952063167 Sarah 3
Merged review:

This was another audiobook I decided to give a try because I was a fan of the narrators. It is a modernized Tarzan retelling and a step outside the comfort zone for me. I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed in it. I was bored most of the time and the villain felt very mustache-twirling, evil cackling, Disney-esque, cliche. You get me? I've writing this review weeks after I actually finished it and can't say I remember a whole lot about it beyond the usual plot points of the Tarzan story. It wasn't anything special, but it wasn't overtly terrible either.]]> 3.80 2020 Love in the Wild: A Tarzan Retelling
author: Emma Castle
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2022/05/04
date added: 2024/09/24
shelves:
review:
This was another audiobook I decided to give a try because I was a fan of the narrators. It is a modernized Tarzan retelling and a step outside the comfort zone for me. I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed in it. I was bored most of the time and the villain felt very mustache-twirling, evil cackling, Disney-esque, cliche. You get me? I've writing this review weeks after I actually finished it and can't say I remember a whole lot about it beyond the usual plot points of the Tarzan story. It wasn't anything special, but it wasn't overtly terrible either.

Merged review:

This was another audiobook I decided to give a try because I was a fan of the narrators. It is a modernized Tarzan retelling and a step outside the comfort zone for me. I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed in it. I was bored most of the time and the villain felt very mustache-twirling, evil cackling, Disney-esque, cliche. You get me? I've writing this review weeks after I actually finished it and can't say I remember a whole lot about it beyond the usual plot points of the Tarzan story. It wasn't anything special, but it wasn't overtly terrible either.
]]> <![CDATA[Make Me Love You (Hart's Ridge, #1)]]> 58012071 This town might not be big enough for both of them�

Emma Andrews despises Eli Carter. The way he betrayed her trust and arrested her father was unforgiveable. But that was eight years ago. Now, with her dad about to be released, she will make Hart’s Ridge a real home for him—even if she must become mayor to do it. The only thing standing in her way? Her annoyingly sexy, best-friend-turned-enemy, Eli.

There’s nothing Eli loves more than his small town…except maybe Emma. He knows he’ll incur her wrath when he decides to run for mayor, but he’ll take anger over indifference any day. So, he’ll give her the fight of her life, and if he’s lucky, he’ll win a lot more than an election—he’ll win back the woman he’s loved since kindergarten.

The battle for Hart’s Ridge is about to heat up in a big way. When the dust settles, are Eli and Emma headed to happily ever after, or heartbreak?]]> 218 Elizabeth Bright 1737070200 Sarah 0 to-read, kindle-tbr 3.78 Make Me Love You (Hart's Ridge, #1)
author: Elizabeth Bright
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.78
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/23
shelves: to-read, kindle-tbr
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Morbidly Yours (Love in Galway, #1)]]> 123853225
Lark Thompson would rather get crushed by a falling anvil than stay next to a funeral home during her stay in Galway, Ireland. The vivacious American cartoon creator and animator came here to embrace life, not be reminded of losing her husband.

When Lark learns of Callum’s dilemma and aversion to marrying out of necessity rather than love, she agrees to help the introverted mortician. Although sworn off love herself, she is optimistic that Callum can find The One and secure his inheritance.

But as the dating project progresses and their friendship grows, so does a mutual attraction. The more time she spends with serious, sarcastic Callum, the more she dreads finding him a match. And the more disastrous dates he endures, the more he dreads Lark’s imminent return to the states.

If they think it’s possible to ignore their connection, they’re dead wrong.]]> 328 Ivy Fairbanks Sarah 0 to-read 3.86 2023 Morbidly Yours (Love in Galway, #1)
author: Ivy Fairbanks
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Truth or Dare 213973481 Some secrets should stay buried...

Hazel
My phone buzzes with an incoming text. Frowning, I glare at the unknown number flashing across my screen.
The message reads,

"Let's play a little game, Hazel. Truth or Dare..."

A crudely cut Missing Person's picture has been attached to the message. I zoom in on the grainy details. Her distorted blue eyes stare back at me. Her crooked smile forever slashed across her face. A moment of happiness frozen in time, forever asking to be seen. To be found.

But only I know where to find her.

Ace
Taunting her.
Watching her.
Being close to her.
It all brings me such a rush. Knowing that I have her at my mercy because, I know her secret. And I'll hang it over her head, making her play my little game of Truth or Dare, until I make her mine.

Truth or Dare is a dark stalker romance, stand alone book, intended for a mature audience of 18 plus.
Please check the author's list of content before reading.Stand AloneStalkerMurder MysteryDark RomanceTopics of mental health18+]]> 318 Dakota Wilde Sarah 4
CW:
agoraphobia
panic attacks
stalking
murder]]> 3.84 Truth or Dare
author: Dakota Wilde
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.84
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/21
date added: 2024/09/21
shelves:
review:
I thoroughly enjoyed this as my first Dakota Wilde. Typically, I am pickier about "new adult" type books with a boarding school setting, but since that part of this was set in the past and not overwhelming, I didn't mind it and actually really enjoyed the flashback scenes. They were woven seamlessly throughout the present story and offering the needed bits of information at just the right moment. This was fun, spicy, and had me flipping pages wildly at the end. I cannot wait to dive into more Dakota Wilde.

CW:
agoraphobia
panic attacks
stalking
murder
]]> Cash (Lucky River Ranch, #1) 210836772 Butting heads leads to knocking boots in this wildly sexy enemies-to-lovers, grumpy/sunshine, small town cowboy romance by Jessica Peterson.

My dad and I have been estranged for years. But as his only living relative, it’s no surprise I inherit his massive cattle ranch when he dies. Something that is a surprise? The stipulation in his will, which requires me to live on the ranch and actively manage it for a year before I can access my inheritance money.

I haven’t stepped foot in Hartsville, Texas, population one thousand, since my parents split when I was six. Now a city girl through and through, I never imagined having to move back to cowboy country. But I need the money to invest in my company, and a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.

There’s just one giant roadblock to my plan: the ranch’s foreman, grumpy cowboy Cash Rivers. I don’t care how good he looks in his Wranglers and chaps. He’s rude, he’s growly, and he wants me gone. I’d fire him in a heartbeat, but I need this cowboy to teach me the ropes of running a ranch.

We’re enemies from the get-go. But turns out, Cash is really good at this ranch thing. He’s got strong hands, an intelligent mind, and let’s just say everything really is bigger in Texas. Working alongside him leads to conversations beneath the stars. Throw in some cheek-to-cheek dancing at the local dive bar, and it all feels so right that I start to fall in love with life on the ranch. And maybe with him, too.

But my stay in Hartsville is only temporary. And you know what they say about cowboys: they may break horses, but they also break hearts. If only Cash hadn’t already lassoed mine�

CASH is the first standalone book in the brand new steamy, interconnected Lucky River Ranch Series.]]> 366 Jessica Peterson Sarah 3 4.18 2024 Cash (Lucky River Ranch, #1)
author: Jessica Peterson
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/24
date added: 2024/09/20
shelves:
review:
This fell a little flat for me. The plot was pretty slow and boring for the most part. What held me was the overall vibe and actual attention to detail when it came to ranch life. We actually get to see the cowboys cowboy, which I always appreciate. Also loved the country music references and that Cash seems to be (?) modeled after country singer Riley Green (go give him a Google and you'll get it.) I was hoping for a bit more conflict but I'm just used to reading dark romance that straight romances don't quite hit that bar anymore. However, I am thoroughly interested in hearing more about the other Rivers brothers and will continue with the series. Long live cowboys.
]]> Unsteady (The Undone, #1) 198853583
During last year’s Frozen Four, the Waterfell University hockey captain, and NHL legacy, took a brutal hit that left him with a concussion and a new discomfort on the ice. Plagued by nightmares and panic attacks every time he attempt to skate, Rhys wonders if he’ll ever play again � if he’ll ever want to.

Sadie Brown is staying focused this semester � no matter what.

Currently drowning in debt, custody hearings for her younger brothers and skating practices, she's just trying to make it to the next day. A spitfire figure skater known for her bad attitude and frequent disappearing acts, she has a reputation on campus. And it’s not a pretty one.

When she accidentally witnesses one of the golden boy hockey captain’s panic attacks and attempts to help him, a strange sort of understanding strikes up between them.

No questions asked. Just comfort.

But Rhys finds himself drawn to Sadie. Where he feels empty, a shell of the man and player he was before, Sadie is so full of everything it bursts from her; every emotion she feels seems like it’s blasted at max. Rhys is desperate to feel anything, Sadie wants to stop feeling so much.

But healing doesn’t mix with secrets, and they’re both skating a thin line, unsteady .]]> 384 Peyton Corinne Sarah 0 to-read 3.82 2023 Unsteady (The Undone, #1)
author: Peyton Corinne
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Caged Reflections (Reflections #2)]]> 213041784 In more ways than one Ivy has lived her entire life caged. She may have been rescued from her prison, but the monsters still haunt her dreams never being truly freed. Her body bares the marks left by her past; her mind is tormented with the echo of those never rescued. Ivy is on a mission to free those souls that were taken by destroying the ones who claimed them, but The Masks organization is not the only foe she faces. Her knight in shining armor and the undeniable allure she feels for him will be the biggest challenge. He too is looking for a monster to slay. He just doesn't realize that monster is her.


Tormented by a past that has always led his future, Micah is always the diligent soldier, the perfect man for his job as a Detective. He has uncovered so many secrets and every day he gets closer to finding the target he's been tracking, closer to finally slaying the monster who has been ripping the city apart. Micah has found himself conflicted for the first time with his position. He wants to protect his little ghost from the past that haunts her. Ivy has a secret that Micah can't quite figure out. His allure and passion for her is blinding, and all he wants is to see her demons slayed. How can he protect someone that never stays in one place? How can he truly save a ghost?

His job is to bring justice, her mission is to bring pain. What will happen when the reflections of the past and future collide? Will the love of the tortured souls be enough to free them both of their pain? Or will they both forever remain caged?]]> 329 S.K. Pryntz Sarah 0 RTC 4.61 Caged Reflections (Reflections #2)
author: S.K. Pryntz
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.61
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2024/09/19
date added: 2024/09/19
shelves:
review:
RTC
]]> From Here to Eternity 217533165 I should have known everything was going to change when she walked into my tattoo shop...
Timid as hell and gorgeous to the extreme. I knew better than even thinking about touching a woman like that.
My life is dangerous.
My calling wicked.
Willing to cross any line to protect the innocent.
I thought I’d never see her again until my little boy tumbled and busted his lip, and I found her working at the doctor’s office.
The woman who’d taken possession of my thoughts.
When it becomes clear she’s in trouble, I offer up a deal.
Twenty questions to earn her trust.
Too bad trusting me is the last thing she should do.
With one kiss, I’m addicted. With one night, we’re falling into a passion greater than either of us has ever known.
The voices in my head warn I can never keep her. She ’t know the secret life I lead.
Only she’s keeping a secret, too.
And I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her safe, even if it means losing everything…]]> 412 A.L. Jackson 196073038X Sarah 0 to-read 4.10 From Here to Eternity
author: A.L. Jackson
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.10
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Slay Less (Final Girls) 195920945 Stopping home for a night, Delaney sees Priest, her stepbrother, for the first time since a suspicious and horrific murder occurred five years ago. He’s sinfully handsome, and ink covers his tight muscles, tempting Delaney to touch something she’s always been told was wrong; and yet, she invites him to join her at the Vincent hotel, where they soon find themselves trapped by the weather, their own forbidden feelings, and a murderer on the loose. Memories are resurfaced, ghosts are everywhere, and deaths are aplenty when your psycho, hot, inked, stepbrother is afoot. Slay Less is a forbidden stepbrother m/f horror erotic romance.]]> 336 Tylor Paige Sarah 0 to-read 3.94 Slay Less (Final Girls)
author: Tylor Paige
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.94
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Darkness Beyond the Daisies]]> 135171581 My life was normal.
My life was stolen away in the blink of an eye.
At eighteen-years-old, I was kidnapped and sold. Purchased by a couple who'd put their life savings into rescuing a stranger, with only one request... I'd befriend their mentally-unwell son.
So, I did.
And he made it easy, being everything I needed to escape the darkness in my own head.
But it was all lies.
I was never meant to be a friend. I was here for a purpose, a means of controlling someone they couldn't. Someone volatile and unpredictable. Someone who could switch from my dream guy to my worst nightmare without a warning.
And I'd made the mistake of getting close to him before seeing all sides of him.
And that left me defenseless.

This book deals with some heavy topics. CW can be found on my webpage and socials.]]> 546 Cori Zahara Sarah 0 to-read 4.07 The Darkness Beyond the Daisies
author: Cori Zahara
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.07
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> For the Win (Wynn Hockey, #4) 52235304 Can a hockey hunk teach a yoga instructor to be more flexible? “Kelly Jamieson is an auto-buy for me.”�New York Timesbestselling author Carly Phillips

Harrison Wynn
Even though I’m the oldest player on the farm team, I’m playing my heart out this year to prove that I have what it takes to play in the NHL.
Everyone expects me to live up to my dying hockey hero dad’s legacy, but my chances are receding every season.
What I need is to focus, but the team’s new yoga instructor is a major distraction; I’ve had my eye on her from the first time we met.
Except she’s not interested—okay, maybe actively disinterested—since I accidentally dumped her into the ocean during our paddleboard yoga class.
How can I prove to her—and to the NHL—that I’m worth taking a chance on?

Arya Ross
Men are the last thing I need in my life.
Yoga is my priority; it helps me center myself and heal my soul.
But I ’t turn down the once-in-a-lifetime offer to be the personal yoga instructor for the local hockey team.
Sure, there are some cute players—including Harrison Wynn, who seemingly won’t take no for an answer, and whose boyish smile and sexy charm are hard to resist.
He seems genuine, and I wonder . . .
Can I put my past behind me to start a future with him?

USA Todaybestselling author Kelly Jamieson’s epic Wynn Hockey series can be read together or
PLAY TO WIN
IN IT TO WIN IT
WIN BIG
FOR THE WIN

Don’t miss any of Kelly’s captivating
The Aces Hockey MAJOR MISCONDUCT � OFF LIMITS � ICING � TOP SHELF � BACK CHECK � SLAP SHOT � PLAYING HURT � BIG STICK � GAME ON
The Bayard Hockey SHUT OUT � CROSS CHECK
The Last Shot BODY SHOT � HOT SHOT � LONG SHOT
The standalone DANCING IN THE RAIN

This ebook includes an excerpt from another Loveswept title.]]> 245 Kelly Jamieson 1984800191 Sarah 2
I also didn't find the conversation to be very... organic, I guess is the term I'm looking for? It felt really choppy and awkward a lot of the time.

I realize this is the 4th(?) book of a series and the first I've read, so there are a whole cabinet of characters that have already had their stories and who I am just meeting for the first time. So the very beginning of this was hella confusing for me when everyone was being introduced. To be fair, there /are/ a lot of characters with very complicated relations to one another. That was more of a me problem, but it did hinder me through a fair portion of the book. Thankfully, Arya is also a newcomer to the scene and there are several opportunities for clarification and reiteration.

I was very curious and interested in learning about Arya's past. Though one of my biggest annoyances with stories like this is the lack of communication that leads to gross misunderstanding that results in the main couple being needlessly torn apart. I really think Harrison learning early on the reason behind Arya's triggers (or at least by the halfway point) could have opened it up for a bit more action in the second half with her ex maybe coming back to shake things up. Honestly, I was bored through the latter half which was probably why I skimmed as much as I did. I even considered just putting it down at one point and marking it as a DNF. But I owed it to the publisher and author to finish it for an honest review.

I don't want to end on a slew of negative comments so I have to say that two of my favorite moments were when Arya gets trapped in the bathroom and crawls out the window. Been there. Also, when she mistakes Harrison's twin for him. Honestly, I was glad that misunderstanding was not dragged out for any length of time and cleared up quickly. It turned it into a humorous moment rather than a plot device to cause more drama.

Overall, I thank the publisher for granting me early access to give this series a shot, but I don't think it's one for me.

Merged review:

On the positive, I appreciated the author having knowledge of hockey and yoga and being able to incorporate that in many scenes. Sports romances (specifically hockey and football) are some of my favorites to read. That being said, I did find myself skimming through a lot of the technical hockey stuff, especially toward the end. It felt a little /too/ much by that point.

I also didn't find the conversation to be very... organic, I guess is the term I'm looking for? It felt really choppy and awkward a lot of the time.

I realize this is the 4th(?) book of a series and the first I've read, so there are a whole cabinet of characters that have already had their stories and who I am just meeting for the first time. So the very beginning of this was hella confusing for me when everyone was being introduced. To be fair, there /are/ a lot of characters with very complicated relations to one another. That was more of a me problem, but it did hinder me through a fair portion of the book. Thankfully, Arya is also a newcomer to the scene and there are several opportunities for clarification and reiteration.

I was very curious and interested in learning about Arya's past. Though one of my biggest annoyances with stories like this is the lack of communication that leads to gross misunderstanding that results in the main couple being needlessly torn apart. I really think Harrison learning early on the reason behind Arya's triggers (or at least by the halfway point) could have opened it up for a bit more action in the second half with her ex maybe coming back to shake things up. Honestly, I was bored through the latter half which was probably why I skimmed as much as I did. I even considered just putting it down at one point and marking it as a DNF. But I owed it to the publisher and author to finish it for an honest review.

I don't want to end on a slew of negative comments so I have to say that two of my favorite moments were when Arya gets trapped in the bathroom and crawls out the window. Been there. Also, when she mistakes Harrison's twin for him. Honestly, I was glad that misunderstanding was not dragged out for any length of time and cleared up quickly. It turned it into a humorous moment rather than a plot device to cause more drama.

Overall, I thank the publisher for granting me early access to give this series a shot, but I don't think it's one for me.

Merged review:

On the positive, I appreciated the author having knowledge of hockey and yoga and being able to incorporate that in many scenes. Sports romances (specifically hockey and football) are some of my favorites to read. That being said, I did find myself skimming through a lot of the technical hockey stuff, especially toward the end. It felt a little /too/ much by that point.

I also didn't find the conversation to be very... organic, I guess is the term I'm looking for? It felt really choppy and awkward a lot of the time.

I realize this is the 4th(?) book of a series and the first I've read, so there are a whole cabinet of characters that have already had their stories and who I am just meeting for the first time. So the very beginning of this was hella confusing for me when everyone was being introduced. To be fair, there /are/ a lot of characters with very complicated relations to one another. That was more of a me problem, but it did hinder me through a fair portion of the book. Thankfully, Arya is also a newcomer to the scene and there are several opportunities for clarification and reiteration.

I was very curious and interested in learning about Arya's past. Though one of my biggest annoyances with stories like this is the lack of communication that leads to gross misunderstanding that results in the main couple being needlessly torn apart. I really think Harrison learning early on the reason behind Arya's triggers (or at least by the halfway point) could have opened it up for a bit more action in the second half with her ex maybe coming back to shake things up. Honestly, I was bored through the latter half which was probably why I skimmed as much as I did. I even considered just putting it down at one point and marking it as a DNF. But I owed it to the publisher and author to finish it for an honest review.

I don't want to end on a slew of negative comments so I have to say that two of my favorite moments were when Arya gets trapped in the bathroom and crawls out the window. Been there. Also, when she mistakes Harrison's twin for him. Honestly, I was glad that misunderstanding was not dragged out for any length of time and cleared up quickly. It turned it into a humorous moment rather than a plot device to cause more drama.

Overall, I thank the publisher for granting me early access to give this series a shot, but I don't think it's one for me.]]> 4.04 2020 For the Win (Wynn Hockey, #4)
author: Kelly Jamieson
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2020
rating: 2
read at: 2020/02/25
date added: 2024/09/12
shelves:
review:
On the positive, I appreciated the author having knowledge of hockey and yoga and being able to incorporate that in many scenes. Sports romances (specifically hockey and football) are some of my favorites to read. That being said, I did find myself skimming through a lot of the technical hockey stuff, especially toward the end. It felt a little /too/ much by that point.

I also didn't find the conversation to be very... organic, I guess is the term I'm looking for? It felt really choppy and awkward a lot of the time.

I realize this is the 4th(?) book of a series and the first I've read, so there are a whole cabinet of characters that have already had their stories and who I am just meeting for the first time. So the very beginning of this was hella confusing for me when everyone was being introduced. To be fair, there /are/ a lot of characters with very complicated relations to one another. That was more of a me problem, but it did hinder me through a fair portion of the book. Thankfully, Arya is also a newcomer to the scene and there are several opportunities for clarification and reiteration.

I was very curious and interested in learning about Arya's past. Though one of my biggest annoyances with stories like this is the lack of communication that leads to gross misunderstanding that results in the main couple being needlessly torn apart. I really think Harrison learning early on the reason behind Arya's triggers (or at least by the halfway point) could have opened it up for a bit more action in the second half with her ex maybe coming back to shake things up. Honestly, I was bored through the latter half which was probably why I skimmed as much as I did. I even considered just putting it down at one point and marking it as a DNF. But I owed it to the publisher and author to finish it for an honest review.

I don't want to end on a slew of negative comments so I have to say that two of my favorite moments were when Arya gets trapped in the bathroom and crawls out the window. Been there. Also, when she mistakes Harrison's twin for him. Honestly, I was glad that misunderstanding was not dragged out for any length of time and cleared up quickly. It turned it into a humorous moment rather than a plot device to cause more drama.

Overall, I thank the publisher for granting me early access to give this series a shot, but I don't think it's one for me.

Merged review:

On the positive, I appreciated the author having knowledge of hockey and yoga and being able to incorporate that in many scenes. Sports romances (specifically hockey and football) are some of my favorites to read. That being said, I did find myself skimming through a lot of the technical hockey stuff, especially toward the end. It felt a little /too/ much by that point.

I also didn't find the conversation to be very... organic, I guess is the term I'm looking for? It felt really choppy and awkward a lot of the time.

I realize this is the 4th(?) book of a series and the first I've read, so there are a whole cabinet of characters that have already had their stories and who I am just meeting for the first time. So the very beginning of this was hella confusing for me when everyone was being introduced. To be fair, there /are/ a lot of characters with very complicated relations to one another. That was more of a me problem, but it did hinder me through a fair portion of the book. Thankfully, Arya is also a newcomer to the scene and there are several opportunities for clarification and reiteration.

I was very curious and interested in learning about Arya's past. Though one of my biggest annoyances with stories like this is the lack of communication that leads to gross misunderstanding that results in the main couple being needlessly torn apart. I really think Harrison learning early on the reason behind Arya's triggers (or at least by the halfway point) could have opened it up for a bit more action in the second half with her ex maybe coming back to shake things up. Honestly, I was bored through the latter half which was probably why I skimmed as much as I did. I even considered just putting it down at one point and marking it as a DNF. But I owed it to the publisher and author to finish it for an honest review.

I don't want to end on a slew of negative comments so I have to say that two of my favorite moments were when Arya gets trapped in the bathroom and crawls out the window. Been there. Also, when she mistakes Harrison's twin for him. Honestly, I was glad that misunderstanding was not dragged out for any length of time and cleared up quickly. It turned it into a humorous moment rather than a plot device to cause more drama.

Overall, I thank the publisher for granting me early access to give this series a shot, but I don't think it's one for me.

Merged review:

On the positive, I appreciated the author having knowledge of hockey and yoga and being able to incorporate that in many scenes. Sports romances (specifically hockey and football) are some of my favorites to read. That being said, I did find myself skimming through a lot of the technical hockey stuff, especially toward the end. It felt a little /too/ much by that point.

I also didn't find the conversation to be very... organic, I guess is the term I'm looking for? It felt really choppy and awkward a lot of the time.

I realize this is the 4th(?) book of a series and the first I've read, so there are a whole cabinet of characters that have already had their stories and who I am just meeting for the first time. So the very beginning of this was hella confusing for me when everyone was being introduced. To be fair, there /are/ a lot of characters with very complicated relations to one another. That was more of a me problem, but it did hinder me through a fair portion of the book. Thankfully, Arya is also a newcomer to the scene and there are several opportunities for clarification and reiteration.

I was very curious and interested in learning about Arya's past. Though one of my biggest annoyances with stories like this is the lack of communication that leads to gross misunderstanding that results in the main couple being needlessly torn apart. I really think Harrison learning early on the reason behind Arya's triggers (or at least by the halfway point) could have opened it up for a bit more action in the second half with her ex maybe coming back to shake things up. Honestly, I was bored through the latter half which was probably why I skimmed as much as I did. I even considered just putting it down at one point and marking it as a DNF. But I owed it to the publisher and author to finish it for an honest review.

I don't want to end on a slew of negative comments so I have to say that two of my favorite moments were when Arya gets trapped in the bathroom and crawls out the window. Been there. Also, when she mistakes Harrison's twin for him. Honestly, I was glad that misunderstanding was not dragged out for any length of time and cleared up quickly. It turned it into a humorous moment rather than a plot device to cause more drama.

Overall, I thank the publisher for granting me early access to give this series a shot, but I don't think it's one for me.
]]> <![CDATA[Vicious Union (Flor de Muertos, #1)]]> 57177087 The son of the most dangerous Kingpin in Mexico.

The heir to the throne.

The man that individuals fear the most, next to my father.

According to my father those are things that I should be proud of. I should be proud of my heritage and wear it on my back with honor.

I’ll honor my heritage but I will not honor the path that is set out for me. The life that my father lives is not for me. I will do anything in my power to walk away from that life, and that apparently includes getting married in Vegas after a night of drinking.

She’s beautiful, everything that I have ever wanted, but I ’t have her. Not with the life that I live.

Not with the blood I have on my hands.]]> 346 Jocelyne Soto 1956430008 Sarah 0 to-read 3.81 2021 Vicious Union (Flor de Muertos, #1)
author: Jocelyne Soto
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Violent Attraction (Flor de Muertos, #2)]]> 57177113 I was a soldier. A helping hand. A life that didn’t matter.
None of that stopped me from falling in love with her the first time I laid eyes on her.
This Cartel Princess was everything to me.
And I was able to show her, but only in secret.
After years of hiding I had finally found the courage to tell her father, but he announced he’d arranged a marriage for her. One that will bound families.
One that is all about power and money.
The man that she is set to marry is a dangerous man. He doesn’t love her. He only wants her for the money and power that she comes with.
I need to try my hardest to stop this arrangement.
No matter how much blood I shed.
Isabella Morales is mine.]]> 376 Jocelyne Soto Sarah 0 to-read 4.09 2021 Violent Attraction (Flor de Muertos, #2)
author: Jocelyne Soto
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> When It's Us 202402799 Except this —Katori

The first time Lamont Day ever felt love was hen he saw her.
Katori Nichols has loved him since before either of them understood what love truly was.

With a love so perfect and all consuming, Lamont and Katori never expected things to fall apart, however they learned the harsh lesson that sometimes love is not enough.

Five years later, fate provides a second time for them to get it right. Their lives have progressed but their hearts have been in limbo, but buried secrets may threaten to ruin their last chance at getting it right.

This time around, Lamont and Katori will have to work hard to prove that when it is them, not even secrets can get in the way of the love they both deserve.]]> 222 Charity Shane Sarah 0 to-read 4.56 When It's Us
author: Charity Shane
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.56
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Shattered Reflections (Reflections #1)]]> 199292444
Ember:
As she struggles with a dark past, she has become the most vigilant serial killer Rochester New York has ever seen. Her determination to create her own justice in the world has made her blind to the other shadows who are stalking the night. Her biggest rival of all has now set his targeted focus on her.

Lucius:
His father is breathing down his neck to end the evasive little shadow known as Snow White. He has been studying her to find her weaknesses, but while he’s been trying to unveil the cracks in her foundations, he’s uncovered some of his own. Lucius has to make a decision to end the only rival who’s ever been a challenge for him or give in to his all consuming desire.

With a particularly clever criminal analyst, and their enemies only a breaths distance away, can Ember and Lucius resist the game of dangerous temptations, or will the cracks they find in their own reflections cause them both to shatter?]]> 312 S.K. Pryntz Sarah 4 4.00 Shattered Reflections (Reflections #1)
author: S.K. Pryntz
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/01
date added: 2024/09/01
shelves:
review:
I'll be honest, there was a very large chunk of this book where I was hella confused and questioning whether I was enjoying it or just reading to figure out what on earth was going on. Let me say I'm very glad I kept with it because the twist near the end got me. I was worried it was a certain trope thrillers often use that I am not a fan of, but was pleasantly surprised to discover it turned out to be something quite different. This was dark, brutal, and a damn good time chasing a couple serial K8llers around a city while they were going after each other. What a ride.
]]> <![CDATA[Obsession Falls (The Haven Brothers, #1)]]> 199238869
Someone is stalking Audrey Young. And she has no idea why.

It’s bad enough that she’s back in Tilikum. But Audrey’s good at making the best of things and her new job at the small-town newspaper is just a way to get back on her feet.

Complicating matters is her landlord and new neighbor, Josiah Haven.

She doesn’t usually go for the big, surly lumberjack type. But there’s something about that broody man. He intimidates her a little, but she kind of likes it.

She could totally handle the mess that is her life, except the strange feeling of being watched is just the beginning. Next thing Audrey knows, she’s a target, and she doesn’t know who’s behind it, or why.

For Josiah Haven, none of that makes her his problem.

She’s just the girl next door. Fine, the frustratingly hot girl next door. But Audrey is all sunshine and her goofy dog isn’t any better. Josiah is too stoic. Too solitary. Too guarded. He doesn’t need a woman in his life, especially one who threatens to crack his heart wide open.

But Josiah is a protector and he ’t let Audrey’s troubles go unanswered, even if he has to risk everything—his life and his heart—to keep her safe.

Author’s Note : a grumpy loner meets his match in a sunshiney dog lover who’s a little down on her luck. And once he falls, he falls HARD. It’s small-town romantic suspense with CK’s signature humor, endearing characters, and heartwarming happily ever after.

Obsession Falls can be read as a stand-alone.]]> 432 Claire Kingsley Sarah 0 to-read 4.07 2023 Obsession Falls (The Haven Brothers, #1)
author: Claire Kingsley
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Obsession 206995959 Savannah
Imagine my surprise when the chance to interview the country’s most notorious man on death row lands on my table. His final confession. It’s too good of an opportunity to turn down.
Robbie Hammond is old enough to be my father, a man condemned for the murder of at least fourteen women. He is dangerous, deadly. Intense in ways I ’t explain. Yet, despite the red flags, his magnetism draws me to him. I’m powerless to fight it.

Robbie
Not everything is as it appears. The moment Savannah set foot in here, she shivered like a leaf in the wind, barely able to hold eye contact without a blush creeping up her neck.
I ’t take my eyes off her. It’s no mistake she’s here, watching me from across the table.
There's a reason I only agreed to talk to Savannah Campbell before they put me down—why it has to be her.
Beneath the quivering smile hides a darkness I recognize.
A darkness that sparks my interest.
But the question is: how deep does it run?

Authors note: Obsession is a very dark thriller romance. It contains graphic sexual scenes and graphic violence that may be disturbing to some readers.]]> 444 Harleigh Beck Sarah 0 to-read 4.09 Obsession
author: Harleigh Beck
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.09
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Scream For Us (Order of the Unseen, #0.5)]]> 59117392
Or death.

This is a Dark Romance/Suspense, Reverse Harem Novella.]]> 81 Molly Doyle Sarah 0 3.67 2021 Scream For Us (Order of the Unseen, #0.5)
author: Molly Doyle
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2024/08/29
date added: 2024/08/29
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Puck Secret (Fairfield U, #1)]]> 150155273
Starting the year as the Captain of FU should have made that easy, but now my attention is torn between the ice and taunting my rival's little sister, Madeline Peters.

My only real solace is the mystery girl inside my phone who refuses to tell me her name.

Then one drunken knock on the wrong door brings Madeline into my bedroom. It doesn’t matter that I hate her, that I’ve been warned to stay away from her, now that I know what she tastes like, the Mayor’s daughter is just too hard to resist.

I know I ’t afford any distractions, especially not with her brother’s warnings in my ear, but I’ve never been good at following the rules and denying what I want, and what I want is her.

But what do I do when it turns out the same girl I ’t let go of is also the temptress who’s been sending me all of her secrets?]]> 372 G.N. Wright Sarah 0 to-read 4.01 The Puck Secret (Fairfield U, #1)
author: G.N. Wright
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.01
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[No Place to Hide (Havoc's Playground, #1)]]> 198808310 All I wanted was one night .
A simple night of fun with my friends at the carnival.
I didn’t know I’d spend it learning things I never knew about myself.
Every twist and turn of our game brings us deeper into our desires.
But what’s a little pain if it’s mixed with unimaginable pleasure?

Jackson
All I wanted was one night .
A simple night of peace doing my job.
I didn’t know I’d spend it pushing the boundaries with a girl I just met.
The stakes get higher the longer the game goes on.
For the first time in my life, will only one night be enough?

No Place To Hide contains mature and graphic content that is not suitable for all audiences. Please check the content warnings at the front of the book before proceeding.]]> 99 Harper Ashley Sarah 4 3.76 No Place to Hide (Havoc's Playground, #1)
author: Harper Ashley
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.76
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/28
date added: 2024/08/28
shelves:
review:
I never know how to rate novella's because I always finish them wanting there to have been more while knowing the point of a novella is to be short, sweet and to the point. I think this is the first one I read where I finished thinking "well that was fun." It's one night that gives the whole thing a tangible time frame. One night of the fmc being stalked and chased by the mmc through the carnival he works with. There are like 30 triggers listed for this book but, honestly? I barely felt any of them (minus one star).
]]> Knotted (Trails of Sin, #1) 38612964 It’s impossible.

Growing up together, Conor and I shared all our firsts.
First love, first kiss, first�
Not all our firsts.

We were sixteen the night she was violently assaulted while I helplessly watched.
I’ll never forget the sounds of her suffering.
Or my inconsolable agony when she left Oklahoma.

Years later, she returns to honor our teenage pact.
Except the boy she loved is gone, replaced by a ruthless cattle rancher knotted with secrets.
She doesn’t know my dark cravings or the trails of sin that lead to her.

I don’t deserve her, but one truth remains.
She’s mine.

TRAILS OF SIN series (HEAs with no cliffhangers - must be read in order):
Knotted #1
Buckled #2
Booted #3]]> 309 Pam Godwin Sarah 4 physical-tbr 3.85 2018 Knotted (Trails of Sin, #1)
author: Pam Godwin
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/18
date added: 2024/08/28
shelves: physical-tbr
review:
I read the 1 and 2 star reviews of this to see what makes me so fucked in the head that I loved this and was giddy over Jake?? It's very clearly my penchant for dark, triggering romances. This barely scrapes the surface of that compared to other things I've read. I was sucked in from the very beginning and actually felt my heart ache for Conor when she's ostracized and taken away from her home and the people she loves most after she is brutally raped in front of them as a teenager. What I wanted was Jake's POV during his time apart from Conor as he is unaliving people and discovering all the secrets their parents kept. I'm hoping we get more of a deep dive into that in the subsequent books.
]]> Alone with You 214190642
Death had been chasing me my entire life. I survived the horrors of war, but it was the aftermath that truly destroyed me.

People called me a recluse, but the only time I didn’t feel like I was suffocating was inside that house.

For my daughter, I kept some semblance of normalcy by implementing a rigid routine. Once a week, I forced myself to walk to the diner at the end of the block—a ritual I despised but relied on as my last anchor to the real world.

Until the day a “Closed� sign on the door shattered my fragile existence. Worse, the new owner was the most haunting ghost from my past.

It had been years since I’d laid eyes on Gwendolyn Pierce. She hated me—and rightly so. But when a film crew arrived in town to dig into my past, she became my only ally.

With my secrets threatened, I leaned on Gwen, forging a connection neither of us could deny. But with a past as dark as ours, I feared it would eclipse any hope for a future.

I always said that when Death finally came for me, I would be ready, eager, and alone.
Always alone.

But for Gwen, maybe I could face the world again as long as it meant I could be alone—with her.]]> 379 Aly Martinez Sarah 5 Please check triggers before going into this one, but I highly highly recommend it.]]> 4.31 Alone with You
author: Aly Martinez
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.31
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/25
date added: 2024/08/28
shelves:
review:
This book was a stark reminder that I need to read more of Aly Martinez. I read the truth duet some years ago and loved it but this is the first Aly I've read since and it wrecked me. The emotional journey these characters go through is rough, especially with Truett and the chapters set in the past from his POV. thought this was beautifully written and, in my humble opinion, handled the subject matter with grace and empathy. I cried multiple times. Not quite the ugly snot bubbles Jennifer Hartmann has managed to pull from me, but bad enough.
Please check triggers before going into this one, but I highly highly recommend it.
]]> The Heart of Midnight 210438725 Avery
Only light can defeat darkness. It’s something I’ve lived by whether I was walking into a dark room or staring into the eyes of a monster. What I didn’t expect was to move next door to a man who would put that to the test. A man who would protect me from the world, even if the darkest thing in my life was him.
He has secrets, and I won’t give up until I discover every single one of them. Because underneath his mask is someone worthy of love. I refuse to believe otherwise� even if my curiosity will eventually be my undoing.

Scar
Every predator has a weakness. For me, mine came in the form of a bratty little neighbor with submission in her blood and a heart too big for her chest. She stared directly into the void inside of me and didn’t flinch, and I knew then I was finished.
There are only two ways to deal with weakness. Give into it, or snuff it out forever.
I know which one I have to do if I want to keep playing my twisted little games, but am I capable of following through?]]> 137 Kady Ash Sarah 0 to-read 3.89 The Heart of Midnight
author: Kady Ash
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.89
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Scorpion (The Exodus) 215273966
The fall from grace hurt.

I was one of the few specialist snipers in the military who is a woman. I made a name for myself. Set records.

But death has a way of changing everyone.

The descent from Special Forces, to dirty fighting pits, to becoming a bodyguard for the man whose heart I broke, I never thought I’d stop drowning.

One night is all it took for everything to change.

One shot is all I need.

My name is Zalak Bhatia. They call me Scorpion.


*This book is set in a shared world with authors Lauren Biel, Dana LeeAnn, Harleigh Beck, Amber Nicole, Willow McQuerry, Jenn Bullard, Kinsley Kincaid, and Ann-Marie Davis.*]]> 246 Avina St. Graves 0473718324 Sarah 0 to-read 3.63 Scorpion (The Exodus)
author: Avina St. Graves
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.63
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[I Will Break You (Pen Pals Duet, #1)]]> 210081071 My prison pen pal got the electric chair.
So how can he sext me from the grave?

Prey

I see dead people, and not just the men I murdered.

I'm in danger of being committed because I ’t tell what’s real from my hallucinations.

Everyone thinks I’m crazy when the serial killer I jilted starts haunting my house.

He assassinates any man who shows me interest, leaving their body parts under my pillow.

During the day, his gaslighting destroys my peace of mind.

But at night, he invades my nightmares and makes me crave the depravity.

Predator

She ghosted me at the altar. Now, I’m aching for revenge.

I want to break her, piece by delicious piece. Revel in her terror. Bathe in her screams. Make her moan my name.

Someone from her past wants her captured or dead, so it’s up to me to protect her from the shadows.

She belongs to me and no one else—body, mind, and soul.

If I don’t take out her enemies, I’ll lose more than just my beautiful obsession.

I Will Break You is a dark psychological thriller romance with unreliable narrators, and disturbing themes. It ends on a cliffhanger. Please check the two pages of trigger warnings.]]> 584 Gigi Styx Sarah 0 to-read 4.11 I Will Break You (Pen Pals Duet, #1)
author: Gigi Styx
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.11
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Smokeshow (Smoke #1) 128282344 Set in a world where southern wealth and power comes from one source. The Family is ruled by one boss and it's time for the newer generation to step into place.

It’s a fragile thing- the whispers of truth that you hope are lies.

Hughes Farm was the largest racing horse establishment in the south. The family that owned it were known to be wealthy, powerful, arrogant, and terrifying. My first encounter with them didn’t prepare me for all that was to come. I don’t think anything truly could have.

Growing up with only my father and brother hadn’t been easy but we’d had each other. Losing them was the hardest thing I’d ever faced. It had made the times we went without food, electricity, or even shelter seem insignificant in comparison.

It is when a woman, claiming to have been my mother’s best friend, arrives to take me home with her that questions begin to surface. My father had rarely spoken of my mother. She’d died when I was a toddler. Having no other option, I trust this stranger and am thrown into a world of mansions, racing horses, extravagance, and him .

It’s true that there is a thin line between love and hate. But there is an even thinner line between truth and lies.]]> 258 Abbi Glines 0998057045 Sarah 0 to-read 4.13 2023 Smokeshow (Smoke #1)
author: Abbi Glines
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Written with Regret (Regret #1)]]> 45890020
By that definition, my life should have been a fairytale too.

When I was eight years old, Caven Hunt saved me from the worst kind of evil to walk the Earth. It didn’t matter that I was a kid. I fell in love with him all the same.

But that was where my fairytale ended.

Years later, a one-night stand during the darkest time imaginable gave us a little girl. It was nothing compared to the pitch black that consumed me when I was forced to leave her with Caven for good.

At the end of every fairytale, the happily-ever-after is the one thing that remains consistent. It wasn’t going to be mine, but there hadn’t been a night that passed where I hadn’t prayed that it would be hers.

I owed Caven my life.
However, I owed that innocent child more.
And that included ripping the heart from my chest and facing her father again.]]> 276 Aly Martinez Sarah 0 to-read 4.34 2019 Written with Regret (Regret #1)
author: Aly Martinez
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Perfect Wreckage (Wrecked #2) 53981691 To stay far away from handsome men who promised it all.
My life was good without them. Stable, secure, predictable.

But one kiss showed me that I’d been playing it safe for far too long.
One night, and all I wanted was more of his wildfire.
One challenge and my carefully constructed walls tumbled down.

Amidst the rubble, I realized there was more to this man than I ever dreamed.
When everything fell apart, he showed me what it meant to stay.
How to truly live.

But when my demons return, that life might end up shorter than either of us expected…]]> 336 Catherine Cowles Sarah 4 physical-tbr 4.28 2020 Perfect Wreckage (Wrecked #2)
author: Catherine Cowles
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/23
date added: 2024/08/23
shelves: physical-tbr
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Bloody Quarter (Bourbon Boys Duet, #1)]]> 209194728 Don’t worry, Doll. You’ll taste heaven before you walk with the dead.

Was I dead? I had wanted to die. I remembered deciding that I was done with this life and done with the memories and ghosts that haunted me. I’d looked at the darkness below and prayed for it to swallow me whole. Spreading my arms wide, I stepped off the ledge and woke up in hell. At least, I thought it was hell. It was hard to tell anymore. My soul was ripped from my chest long before now, and my heart had stopped beating when the gavel banged, sentencing me to ten years in prison. So what was this place?

The man who had me must be the devil, and I was his doll. Solely there for his entertainment. I never expected the devil to be as sexy as sin and just as tempting as an addiction. Even in death, tortured, and used, I couldn’t be helped. I wanted him, and every depraved thing he did only hammered home that my soul couldn’t be saved. I always knew I was destined for hell.]]> 321 Brooklyn Cross 1998015467 Sarah 0 to-read 4.43 Bloody Quarter (Bourbon Boys Duet, #1)
author: Brooklyn Cross
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.43
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Pick Six (Seattle Phantom Football #1)]]> 212950703 When the same infamous playboy is my ex-husband’s best friend.
I’m normally great at keeping my distance from him—pretending like he doesn’t get under my skin.
But after he punches a teammate over me, we’re stuck faking a relationship to save his career and mine.
If we play the game well, we could both get out ahead.
I just have to remember everything about this is for show, including the reformed player act.
A few blurred lines and crossed boundaries won’t change things.
Because falling for your ex’s best friend is wrong, right?]]> 354 Maggie Rawdon 1959523104 Sarah 0 to-read 3.91 2023 Pick Six (Seattle Phantom Football #1)
author: Maggie Rawdon
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Into The Darkness (University of Isles #1)]]> 202383275 Into the Darkness I'll go


Ember Solis is a sweet girl from a not-so-innocent world.

When it comes time for her to venture out to the real world -- to the college of her dreams -- Ember is released from the shelter of her home, straight into bad boy and sworn enemy, Ash Ortiz’s addictive spell.

Ash teaches Ember everything he knows but soon, the student becomes the master.

Ember emerges from the depths of her inexperience to discover she is stronger than she seems.

But there is a bigger price to pay for loving Ash, and the way that Ember views her past, her present and her future will never be the same.

She realizes the entire world she once called home is there to drive her and Ash farther apart.

What was once shrouded in light is now rooted in the dark.

Confronted with the most critical decision of her life, Ember must choose between her family and Ash.


But what price will their lives bear as a consequence of her choice?


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Into the Darkness is

-Dark College Romance
-Romeo & Juliet Inspired
-Forbidden Love
-Dueling Families
-Mafia/Cartel
-Hispanic MMC Rep
-Plus Size FMC Rep
-Initiation Scene]]> 360 Vee Taylor Sarah 0 to-read 3.98 Into The Darkness (University of Isles #1)
author: Vee Taylor
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.98
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[One Chance (The Marchetti Men #1)]]> 157471711 I wanted to live.
Paint outside of the lines.
Get my ‘glow� back.

After years of suffering from trauma, I wanted one chance to feel free.
So I had to run away. But does someone actually leave the underworld?
Running from the scariest monster, I ran right into HIM, a broken Made Man painted in lust and part of the same world I was bound to.

I was the object of his desire, his rule breaker, his obsession.

He taught me what protection felt like, what a healthy addiction tasted like.

When he took his barriers down and everything he stood for, it was too late, my past came running back.
But his Little Bear wouldn’t go down without a fight. And my protector would never give up.

I bet my life on that.

*18+ Please check book triggers before continuing as this is a dark billionaire romance with mafia ties*]]> 416 Vee Taylor Sarah 0 to-read 3.92 One Chance (The Marchetti Men #1)
author: Vee Taylor
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.92
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[From the Wreckage (From the Wreckage, #1)]]> 51472102 Alternate cover edition for ASIN: B00KXIJ4H4]

She's the town sweetheart, and he's a loner. When disaster strikes, their labels become irrelevant.

“In a matter of minutes on a Friday night, I lost my school, my identity, the security of my first love, the personality of my sweet fearless brother, my best friend, my town, everything as I knew it. Everything changed.�

"Minutes—that’s all it takes to change your entire life. How do you deal with that?�

For high school senior Jules Blacklin surviving the storm is only the beginning. Faced with her life's new reality, she must find a way to rise from the wreckage and answer the question—how do you get back to normal when everything normal is gone?

The From The Wreckage series is a Young Adult to New Adult series with one trilogy and multiple character spin-offs. Please see the reading order below:
Jules and West's trilogy
1. From the Wreckage
2. Out of Ruins
3. All that Remains

Spin-offs best read in order but CAN be read alone
4. West: A male POV novel of From The Wreckage
5. Into the Fire: Dani's story
6. After the Fall: Austin's story
7. Until We Crash: Jess and Carter's story

]]> 228 Michele G. Miller Sarah 0 to-read 4.11 2014 From the Wreckage (From the Wreckage, #1)
author: Michele G. Miller
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> I'll Be Waiting 203578924 From New York Times Bestselling author Kelley Armstrong comes a spellbinding new tale of supernatural horror involving a haunted-house, seances, lost loved ones, and a sinister spirit out for blood...

Nicola Laughton never expected to see adulthood, being diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis as a child. Then medical advances let her live into her thirties and she met Anton, who taught her to dream of a future� together. Months after they married, Anton died in a horrible car, but lived long enough to utter five words to her, “I’ll be waiting for you.�

That final private moment became public when someone from the crash scene took it to the press—the terminally ill woman holding her dying husband as he promised to wait for her on the other side. Worse, that person claimed it wasn’t Anton who said the words but his ghost, hovering over his body.

Since their story went public, Nicola has been hounded by spiritualists promising closure. In the hopes of stopping her downward spiral, friends and family find a reputable medium—a professor of parapsychology. For the séance, they rent the Lake Erie beach house that Anton’s family once owned.

The medium barely has time to begin his work before things start happening. Locked doors mysteriously open. Clouds of insects engulf the house. Nicola hears footsteps and voices and the creak of an old dumbwaiter…in an empty shaft. Throughout it all she’s haunted by nightmares of her past. Because, unbeknownst to the others, this isn’t her first time contacting the dead. And Nicola isn’t her real name.

That’s when she finds the first body....

In this atmospheric, thrilling new ghost story, Kelley Armstrong's full talents are on display to thrill, chill and leave the reader guessing how Nicola escapes with her life--if she can.]]> 325 Kelley Armstrong 125028421X Sarah 0 to-read 3.69 2024 I'll Be Waiting
author: Kelley Armstrong
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Lost and Lassoed (Rebel Blue Ranch, #3)]]> 207611511 She thrives in chaos. He prefers routine. The only thing they have in common? How much they hate each other.

From the author of Done and Dusted and Swift and Saddled, the highly anticipated next book in the Rebel Blue Ranch series, a small town romance in which enemies turn to lovers when they're forced to work together during one hot summer.

Teddy Andersen doesn’t have a plan. She’s never needed one before. She’s always been more of a go with the flow type of girl, but for some reason, the flow doesn’t seem to be going her way this time.

Her favorite vintage suede jacket has a hole in it, her sewing machine is broken, and her best friend just got engaged. Suddenly, everything feels like it’s starting to change. Teddy’s used to being a leader, but now she feels like she’s getting left behind, wondering if life in the small town she loves is enough for her anymore.

Gus Ryder has a lot on his plate. He doesn’t know what’s taking care of his family’s 8,000 acre ranch, or parenting his spunky six-year-old daughter, who is staying with him for the summer. Gus has always been the dependable one, but when his workload starts to overwhelm him, he has to admit that he ’t manage everything on his own. He needs help.

His little sister’s best friend, the woman he ’t stand, is not who he had in mind. But when no one else can step in, Teddy's the only option he’s got. Teddy decides to use the summer to try and figure out what she wants out of life. Gus, on the other hand, starts to worry that he’ll never find what he needs.

Tempers flare, tension builds, and for the first time ever, Gus and Teddy start to see each other in a different light. As new feelings start to simmer below the surface, they must decide whether or not to act on them. Can they keep things cool? Or will both of them get burned?]]> 313 Lyla Sage 0593732456 Sarah 0 to-read 4.33 2024 Lost and Lassoed (Rebel Blue Ranch, #3)
author: Lyla Sage
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Fall I Want 217241182 The brokenhearted billionaire visits Cozy Creek to escape. I never expected to become his fake girlfriend or fall madly in love...but here we are.

My first impression of Zane Alexander isn't great. The second is worse, but when he forces me to hang out with him, I ’t say no. We quickly go from familiar strangers to flirty friends.

When my ex returns, Zane flawlessly pretends to be my boyfriend to protect me. He’s so damn good at it, I almost believe it. Afterward, we devise a plan to fake date through the holidays. I become his plus one and he becomes mine.

I don’t know when our relationship moves from pretending to passionate, but I catch feelings. As our exes desperately crawl back into our lives like zombies, I realize there is only one man for me, and (f)all I want is him.

FALL I WANT is a spicy autumn-inspired small-town romantic comedy with a billionaire who falls first and harder. Grab a pumpkin spice latte, a warm fuzzy blanket, and make your way down to Cozy Creek. Each book in the series is a complete stand alone with a happily ever after. ]]> 476 Lyra Parish 1961229455 Sarah 0 to-read 3.47 Fall I Want
author: Lyra Parish
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.47
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Devil Himself (Devil of Dublin, #2)]]> 217456175
And thirteen years later, I’m doing it again.

When my coastal Irish town is bombed by the new Russian president, a Bratva leader seeking revenge on the United Irish Brotherhood, those missiles destroy everything I’ve ever known—my home, my family, and evidently my sanity—because when I pull an injured Russian Navy officer out of the sea, a man who led the charge against my town, I ’t bring myself to let him die.

Secluded together in my secret hiding spot, we’re safe from the Mafia war raging outside, but the overwhelming connection I feel to this stranger is a battle I fight every single day. I hate him with everything that I am, but when he looks at me with those smoky gray eyes, all I see is my friend. When he touches me, all I feel is desire. And when he wraps his lips around the sustenance I offer him, all I want is to feel them pressed against mine, loving me, putting me back together.

But no one can live in a fantasy world forever, and when reality finally finds us, the truth about him is worse than anything I could have imagined.

The man I rescued is no fairy prince.

He’s the goddamn Devil himself.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: The Devil Himself is a continuation of Devil of Dublinand is not intended to be read as a standalone. It contains the same dark themes, graphic violence, and explicit content as Book 1, but if you have questions about specific subject matter, a comprehensive content warning can be found on my website. Thank you, and enjoy!]]> 462 B.B. Easton Sarah 0 to-read 4.56 2024 The Devil Himself (Devil of Dublin, #2)
author: B.B. Easton
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Summer I First Saw You (The Summer, #5)]]> 216784611 An angsty, age gap, forbidden romance from bestselling author, Elizabeth O� Roark.

Once upon a time, my buddy’s niece was a toddler in a swim diaper following me around the beach. Now Daisy’s twenty-one, the loveliest thing I’ve ever laid eyes on, and blackmailing me into letting her stay for the summer.

If she’s not bent over on my deck in yoga pants, she’s in a bikini that covers far less. She makes me laugh when I want to stay pissed off and forces me to remember all the things I used to love. If only she wasn’t so damn young and so incredibly off-limits.

The sizzling tension between us is getting harder to resist, but giving in would destroy some of my oldest friendships. Worst of all, though?

It might destroy Daisy too.]]> 312 Elizabeth O'Roark 1956800158 Sarah 0 to-read 3.99 2024 The Summer I First Saw You (The Summer, #5)
author: Elizabeth O'Roark
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Her Soul for Revenge 199353216

Juniper
After a cult tried to sacrifice me to their wicked God, I went on the run, doing whatever was necessary to survive. Until a demon offered me a give him my soul and he'll help me claim the vengeance I seek. Blood will be spilled, and the monsters I once ran from will soon be running from me. But damning my soul was just the beginning—it’s my heart the demon wants next.

Zane
I’ve been hunting souls for centuries, but she’s the ultimate prize—vicious and feral with a broken soul as dark as my own. I thought claiming her would be a simple game, but Juniper is far from simple. I chose to follow her on a path drenched with the blood of her enemies, but it’s our blood that may be spilled next. As an ancient God wakes from its slumber, neither of us may survive.]]> 544 Harley Laroux 1496752902 Sarah 0 to-read 4.37 2021 Her Soul for Revenge
author: Harley Laroux
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Delicate Escape (Sparrow Falls, #2)]]> 215179514
Shepard Colson is all golden-boy charm and devastating good looks. But I know what it’s like to be taken in by easy smiles and the promise of forever—I have the scars to prove it.

Only the handsome contractor won’t stop coming by the bakery and prying little truths from my lips. Those amber eyes of his seeing far too much. And when all the secrets come crashing down, he’s determined to keep me safe. Even if it means moving into my rundown cabin to do it.

Now, Shep isn’t just rebuilding the walls of my home, he’s working his way into my heart. Suddenly, he’s everywhere: shirtless in my garden or in a towel coming out of my bathroom. And my resolve is no match.

Only it’s more than his golden looks. It’s him. The way he watches for my wounds but tells me I’m stronger than anyone he’s ever known. And I ’t help but fall.

But I should’ve known better than to think I could be happy. Not when a ghost from my past still has me in his sights. And when he finds me, he’ll do anything to tear my life apart, even if it means ending it for good…]]> 378 Catherine Cowles 1951936612 Sarah 0 to-read 4.59 2024 Delicate Escape (Sparrow Falls, #2)
author: Catherine Cowles
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.59
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/21
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]]> <![CDATA[Poison Study (The Chronicles of Ixia, #1)]]> 201243073 Choose: A quick death� Or slow poison...

About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered an extraordinary reprieve. She'll eat the best meals, have rooms in the palace—and risk assassination by anyone trying to kill the Commander of Ixia.

And so Yelena chooses to become a food taster. But the chief of security, leaving nothing to chance, deliberately feeds her Butterfly's Dust—and only by appearing for her daily antidote will she delay an agonizing death from the poison.

As Yelena tries to escape her new dilemma, disasters keep mounting. Rebels plot to seize Ixia and Yelena develops magical powers she can't control. Her life is threatened again and choices must be made. But this time the outcomes aren't so clear...]]> 336 Maria V. Snyder 0778368157 Sarah 0 to-read 3.83 2005 Poison Study (The Chronicles of Ixia, #1)
author: Maria V. Snyder
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2005
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/21
shelves: to-read
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]]> Do Your Worst 122977981
Riley Rhodes finally has the chance to turn her family’s knack for the supernatural into a legitimate business when she’s hired to break the curse on an infamous Scottish castle. Used to working alone in her alienating occupation, she's pleasantly surprised to meet a handsome stranger upon arrival—until he tries to get her fired.

Fresh off a professional scandal, Clark Edgeware ’t allow a self-proclaimed “curse breaker� to threaten his last chance for redemption. After he fails to get Riley kicked off his survey site, he vows to avoid her. Unfortunately for him, she vows to get even.

Riley expects the curse to do her dirty work by driving Clark away, but instead, they keep finding themselves in close proximity. Too close. Turns out, the only thing they do better than fight is fool around. If they’re not careful, by the end of all this, more than the castle will end up in ruins.]]> 317 Rosie Danan 0593437144 Sarah 0 to-read 3.44 2023 Do Your Worst
author: Rosie Danan
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/21
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are]]> 203546971
A mistake that would haunt my every waking moment.

I accidentally killed Nate, the star quarterback.

Or so I thought.

Now he’s back from the dead.

Nothing will quench his thirst for revenge.

Not until my broken pieces lie scattered by his feet and he’s inhaled my last breath.

The only way out is in a body bag.

Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are is a Halloween-themed horror story intended for mature audiences. It's very dark and contains graphic sexual content and violence. Reader discretion is advised. Please see the book preview for complete CW.]]> 187 Harleigh Beck Sarah 0 to-read 3.93 Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are
author: Harleigh Beck
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.93
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/18
shelves: to-read
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