Review by Valerie

TITLE: Pop Star

SERIES: Famous #1

AUTHOR: Eden Finley

PUBLISHER: Self Published

LENGTH: 330 pages

RELEASE DATE: April 8, 2020

BLURB:

Harley

What happens when the most successful boy band on the planet breaks up?

How about twenty thousand fans screaming my name.

But the price of fame comes with an increased risk to my safety.

I’ve been avoiding the dreaded B word for as long as I can, but after a close call with a rambunctious fan, I can’t do it anymore.

It’s time to give in. I need to hire a full-time bodyguard.

And when he shows up, he not only screams badass, he’s another B word I try to stay away from: boyfriend material.

Brix

Protecting people is not what my company usually does, but the boss knows I need money, and the pop star is offering an insane amount to live with him and make sure no more crazy fans break into his house.

I’m doing it for the money and nothing else.

He may be the prettiest man I’ve ever seen, and I may feel sorry for the celebrity life he’s been forced into since he was a teenager, but that doesn’t mean anything.

Just because he fascinates me, that doesn’t mean I like him. It doesn’t.

Professionalism. I’m gonna live it. Breathe it. Enforce it … Mostly.

Reviewed by Becca

TITLE: Swallow

SERIES: Forbidden Desires Spin-off #1

AUTHOR: Piper Scott & Virginia Kelly

PUBLISHER:  self-published

LENGTH: 128 pages

RELEASE DATE: July 29, 2019

BLURB:

A Forbidden Desires Spin-Off Story.

Grimbold Drake, influential patriarch of the Drake family, revels in his solitary life of order—a life which is thrown into chaos when his son pays him an unexpected visit, bringing with him a broken but gorgeous young man more than a millennium Grimbold’s junior. A man Grimbold instantly finds himself yearning to fix, to protect, and to claim.

Meek, subservient, and eager to please, Wally Brand doesn’t doubt the tales he’s been told of the cruel and deceitful Amethyst clan, so when he’s forcibly taken from his home and entrusted to Grimbold Drake—the most powerful Amethyst dragon of all—he knows he won’t be long for this world. Only there’s a gleam in Grimbold’s eyes when he looks Wally’s way and a tenderness to his touch that Wally can’t understand.

All he knows is one thing: whether Grimbold means him harm or not, if he can be good to his dragon captor, maybe, just maybe, he’ll get out of this mess alive.

Swallow is a 30,000 word steamy omegaverse mpreg-ish romance set following the events of the Forbidden Desires series. It contains a broken young man who badly needs love, a curmudgeonly dragon with a heart of gold, new nicknames, familiar faces, and the sweetest dog known to dragonkind. For maximum enjoyment, Swallow is best read as a companion piece to the Forbidden Desires series. 

Reviewed by Valerie

TITLE: How to Elude a Vampire

AUTHOR: Alice Winters

SERIES: VRC: Vampire Related Crimes #2

PUBLISHER: Self Published

LENGTH: 336 pages

RELEASE DATE: April 16, 2020

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Finn

When the vampire stalking me sent me a letter, I was prepared for my new life with the man I love to get thrown into chaos. But as the days stretch on and nothing happens, I become determined not to allow that monster to rule my life, and decide that Marcus and I will move on. We can’t always allow the past to haunt us. If that includes pestering Marcus and harassing my fellow detectives, they’d better learn to love it, because I’m not going anywhere even if they like to remind me I’m the only human working in a department filled with vampires. But Marcus loves me for who I am, even if he’s not crazy about the cute pet names I call him like McBitey. Being with him is more than I could have dreamed, and even with the trials thrown in our way, he never fails to make me smile.

Marcus

When Finn joined the VRC, I never expected how everything would change. Now that he’s the brightest part of my days, I’m unsure of how I existed without him. Before Finn and I can settle into our new life together, we’re called in as lead detectives when a body is found in the river, and the case soon hits closer to home than we anticipated. I want to be by Finn’s side to keep him safe, but at the same time, Finn’s fighting for the freedom he’s always wanted after being forced to live a life of fear. What I do know is that my future is with Finn, no matter what happens.

Reviewed by Becca

TITLE: Magpie

SERIES: Forbidden Desires Spin-off #2

AUTHOR: Piper Scott & Virginia Kelly

PUBLISHER: self-published

LENGTH: 253 pages

RELEASE DATE: March 11, 2020

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Reynard Drake, solitary cybersecurity expert and curator of the Drake family fortune, would rather be chucked in the midden than forced to bed an omega, but as the selected Amethyst candidate for the mating experiment, he has no other choice. Resigned to his unhappy fate, he takes solace in the fact that one thing will never change—his virtual rival, Magpie, will always be there to keep him on his toes, even if he has been strangely absent from the internet lately…

Diamond Disgrace Misha Vasiliev has a secret. By day he learns what it takes to warm a dragon’s bed, but at night he’s Magpie, renowned hacker and dark web service provider who steals from dragons in his spare time. His favorite target? Reynard Drake, whom he’s only ever seen in pictures, but whom Misha wants more than anyone else.

And now, with a faceless threat closing in on his cloister, quite possibly the only one capable of saving his life.

Magpie is a 64,000 word steamy omegaverse mpreg-ish romance set during the events of the Forbidden Desires series. It contains pretty things hidden where the sun don’t shine; a scandalous screenshot or two; plenty of laughs; its fair share of tense moments; and, of course, “Beagle!” For maximum enjoyment, Magpie is best read as a companion piece to the Forbidden Desires series.

Reviewed by Valerie

TITLE:  Charlie Sunshine

AUTHOR:  Lily Morton

SERIES:  Close Proximity #2

PUBLISHER:  Self Published

LENGTH:  272 pages

RELEASE DATE:  April 21, 2020

BLURB:

Sometimes love is a lot closer to home than you think.

Charlie Burroughs can’t keep a man. All he wants is a good relationship like the ones he sees his friends having, but none of the men he picks ever work out. Despite him trying to be the perfect boyfriend, the men are either threatened by his looks or his epilepsy or a combination of the two. It’s lucky that he has his best friend Misha to turn to. The two of them are closer than peas in a pod and fiercely loyal to each other. He can’t imagine his life without Misha in it.

Misha Lebedinsky is the complete opposite of his best friend. Being the support system for his mum and twin sisters leaves Misha with neither the time nor the inclination for a relationship. Quick and frequent hook-ups are his favourite means of communication and any other pesky emotional needs he has are met by Charlie, who he’s devoted to. He lives a life of happy compartmentalization with no intention of ever changing.

All of this changes when the two best friends move in together. Being in close proximity means that they suddenly start to see each other in a very different light. But Charlie struggles when his drive to be the perfect partner clashes with the fact that he’s in love with a man who knows every little thing about him. And even if he can get past that, can a relationship ever work with a man who’d need a dictionary to tell him what love means?

From bestselling author Lily Morton comes a love story about a sunny librarian who has relationship written all over him and a cynical banker who doesn’t even have it in his blurb.

Reviewed by Becca

TITLE: Rules for Loving

SERIES: Davey’s Rules #8

AUTHOR: Susan Hawke

PUBLISHER: self-published

LENGTH: 131 pages

RELEASE DATE: April 14, 2020

BLURB:

Davey’s Rule #85: Daddy will always treat his boy like he’s Daddy’s world… because that’s how it should be!

Note: This is a 37k collection of short stories that follow the final book in the Davey’s Rules series.

Revisit all your favorite couples and families from Daddy’s Lap in this five-part, seven-story collection that shows them all living their happily-ever-afters.

These stories include:

A unique bachelor party, wedding, and new proposal that take place during a long weekend in Vegas.

The day when Travis and Adam officially adopt their daughter.

The fabulous moment when Sammy and Davey say ‘I Do’.

Mikey and Landon finally share how they became a couple.

And finally, get ready to smile as Davey and Sammy welcome a new baby.

This collection of shorts is number eight in a series about not-so-perfect Daddies, adorable “boys,” and one sassy brat with an insane list of rules. Grab your fan and tissues because this series comes with both a high heat advisory and all the squishy feels you’d want from a Susan Hawke book. Please be aware that this is a bonus book to the series, a 37k collection of shorts rather than a full-length novel.

Reviewed by Anna Lynn

TITLE:  Broken Warrior

SERIES: The Weavers Circle #1

AUTHOR: Jocelynn Drake & Rinda Elliott

PUBLISHER:  Self-Published

RELEASE DATE:  April 24, 2020

LENGTH:  329 pages

BLURB:

Clay Green

A brotherhood? Monsters? Goddesses? Magic?

The world has become a strange place.

After a life on the run, Clay Green is rescued by a crazy old lady with a shotgun and an even crazier story about monsters, goddesses, and a secret brotherhood.

Gifted with the power of the earth, Clay must locate his missing “brothers” before invading monsters can destroy everything.

As if that’s not enough to contend with, Clay can’t keep his hands off the man trying to rebuild the plantation house he’s temporarily living in.

Dane Briggs

Something strange is going on…

Dane knew restoring the old plantation house wasn’t going to be an easy job, but at least none of the clients were going to be underfoot. Since losing his wife and child, the only way Dane can keep going is to focus on the work.

But that focus crumbles the second Clay appears covered in blood and barely hanging on to life.

Mystery and danger cling to Clay and the other men who suddenly show up. A smart man would walk away.

Dane chucks smart out the window in favor of hungry kisses and the silken slide of skin against skin. He doesn’t understand what’s happening, but there’s no question that Clay needs him.

He’s just not sure his heart can survive being broken again if something happens to Clay.

Broken Warrior is the first book in The Weavers Circle series. It includes fast-paced action, explosions, hurt/comfort, sexy times, animal shenanigans, wounded hearts, three crazy old ladies, and magic!

Reviewed by Becca & Jen

TITLE: See Me

AUTHOR: T.L.Travis

PUBLISHER: Sapphire Publishing

LENGTH: 176 pages

RELEASE DATE: February 14, 2020

BLURB:

For Raphe Lombardi, life hasn’t been easy.

Permanently disfigured by a car crash at the age of nine that claimed the lives of his parents, set him on a never ending path of doctors and painful procedures.

“Never judge a book by its cover, Il mio piccolo,” Aunt Sophia would always say, tapping the space above her heart. “Trust what’s inside. Even beauty sometimes has an evil lurking beneath.” Over the years her nickname for me, my little one, was shorted to Mio. Calling me little when I now towered over her five foot frame by more than fourteen inches made it even more adorable to hear her say.

Is it best to see someone for who they truly are, or is it safer to hide in the shadows and avoid risking it all?

Potential triggers: Verbal abuse/bullying, physical abuse, self-loathing, self-harm, thoughts of suicide, dealing with death of loved ones.