definitely, possibly, maybe

how not to let go  is the sequel to how not to fall  of the bellhaven duology. i know that duologies are a thing in new adult romance, but i'm not a fan. i feel like the story being told here could have been compressed into one book. there was a lot that was repetitive and mostly the entire plot revolved around charles getting his shit together psychologically in order to accept that 1) he was totally head over heels for annie and 2) to deal with his dysfunctional family crap. the author, emily foster, is wicked smart and has a doctoral degree in health behavoir and human sexuality with a master's degree in counseling and this is very evident in the story. in several chapters we get these extended psychological metaphors for what is going on in charles' head and i just wish they hadn't felt like filler. part of me feels like it's unnecessary to illustrate the character's psyche to this level of detail. it was already obvious what charles' hang-ups are and ...

the latest in the maiden lane series, duke of pleasure , tells the story of the duke of kyle and a street urchin named alf. hugh is intent on disbanding and unmasking the notorious lords of chaos, and he hires alf, in her street urchin garb, to help him investigate and attack he believes was instigated at the command of the lords. hugh doesn't know alf's secret, he thinks she is a teenaged boy. alf has many secrets in fact, because she is also the current ghost of st. giles. alf has had run-ins with hugh in both her guises, she saved hugh from a nasty attack on the streets of st. giles as the ghost. an encounter that ended with a heated kiss and his realization that the ghost of st. giles was a woman. and as a street urchin/informant who barters information for coin, they first crossed paths when alf was working for valentine, and again when hugh asks alf to look into the nasty attack and suss out who hired the gang of thugs to take hugh out. working with hugh puts her life...

poppy ellis lane is miranda and daisy's eldest sister, though she didn't have much of a role in either of her sister's novels. but at the end of moonglow  she's had to reveal to her sisters, and to her husband, winston, that she is involved with the society for the suppression of supernaturals (aka the s.o.s.). and that she has always been aware of miranda and daisy's supernatural abilities. this does not go over well. there are still more secrets that poppy is keeping. and the thing is winston, in particular, is devastated because he has spent 14 years adoring a person he realizes he didn't know. not really and truly. and here's the other thing: i can sympathize with that. it was harder to sympathize with poppy. so this book, which is about how these two married people find themselves torn apart and who are still desperately in love with each other, was a bit of a challenge. because we are meant to empathize more with the woman, as a woman, i hate when ...

the fallen series kicks off with surrender to sin , a novella that makes it clear that this is not your average regency romance. this has an added layer of sexy that works in spite of the fact that none of it feels historically accurate. grace, lady carrington, has been inconveniently married to an old geezer who mercifully dies five years into the marriage. on the eve of the end of her mourning period her father, a prominent bishop, informs her that she is to be married off to an even worse old geezer than her first husband. this causes grace to nearly lose her mind. she was about to be free. free to look for someone who could stir her passions, after years of dealing with a loveless and painful consummation she yearns for something more. her maid suggests she seek out lord sebastian st. john, known as lord sin, he is part owner of a house of sensual delights called fallen. and as the son of a former courtesan and a baron he is unconventionally open-minded about women's sexualit...

unlike the darkest london series, the highland hearts series does not deal with things that go bump in the night. at the very least there are no werewolves or vampires or demons to worry about. but in the highlander who loved me   there are thieves and murderers and evil kidnap pets who will think nothing of cutting short the lives of innocents. johanna templeton is desperate to save her niece, who has been taken and is being held hostage in exchange for a rare first edition copy of frankenstein . but the ransom demand isn't actually about the rare book. it's about finding the map to the demon's heart, a rare ruby linked to the macmasters family. the ruby is said to have rare powers that lead to unpleasantness, and the macmasters family has been charged with protecting and recovering these old scottish artifacts. so when connor macmasters saves johanna at the first encounter she has with the kidnapper's henchmen, she isn't sure whether she should be grateful or ...

moonglow is the second book in the darkest london series. it takes on the story of two characters we met in firelight:  daisy ellis craigmore, miranda's older sister; and ian rannulf, archer's friend/rival. daisy is recently widowed and is feeling reckless after enduring a loveless marriage. she craves attention and affection. always a free-spirit, she's been bound by propriety and society for too long. while at a party she crosses paths with ian, who notes her attention but has no intention of getting involved. he's had enough tangling with her family after miranda and archer settled down together. but then daisy finds herself in the midst of a werewolf attack. and ian saves her and takes her back to heal. he is especially concerned by the attack, given that he is a lycan and his brother is the current head of the lycan family. daisy finds herself pulled into this supernatural world, and she loves it. the danger, the adventure speak to her free spirited soul. she ...

catch up with parts 1 , 2 , 3 , and 4 , then read part 5 after the jump.

it's the day before thanksgiving and i'm surrounded by extended family and friends and am feeling grateful for all the good things in my life. this past year has been complicated and challenging in many ways, and i have no idea what the future holds, but at the very least i am facing it with a wonderful group of people. in any case, here's my favorite thanksgiving gif: happy thanksgiving all!

i'd been reading callihan's contemporary series and was all caught up when i realized there was a historical series i could check out. firelight takes place in victorian london, but there are people inhabiting this london that have special abilities. miranda ellis is one of these people, her ability to start fire with no kindling has been both a blessing and a curse. a blessing because it has provided protection from unsavory elements and a curse because this ability is what in part caused her father's ruin. when benjamin archer first encounters miranda he is entranced. she is still too young and he has his own secrets. when he approaches her father years later and asks for her hand in marriage it is because he can't stay away, her allure is too strong and he doesn't have much time before the darkness that has been consuming him swallows him whole. as the story unravels, we get to the truth behind archer and miranda's secrets. this opens their eyes to a wh...

it's fitting that there's a blizzard happening outside just this moment. because it doesn't feel weird to write that it's christmastime and we have another wonderful adventure to enjoy with dash and lily in  the twelve days of dash & lily.   i loved their first outing dash & lily's book of dares , and it's been a year since dash and lily found each other and it's been hard to keep the romance of the holidays alive throughout the year. part of the problem is that lily's beloved grandfather suffered a heart attack in the spring and since then nothing has felt quite right. dash doesn't know what to do to get through to lily. but he knows something is off, because it's christmas and it's her favorite time of year and she isn't feeling it. lily isn't sure of what she is feeling. she knows things are all wrong but she doesn't know how to fix it. she's the ray of sunshine, the incurable optimist, who can't stop feeling ...

zach ashley knows about saving lives. fixing people who are broken is his life's work. when he meets kiera connelly in  completely yours   she's just suffered a severe trauma. she's not the kind of girl he normally finds himself attracted to, especially considering she's dressed up as a video game character at a comic-con. zach doesn't understand video games, he doesn't really keep up with pop culture, but it doesn't matter, because from the moment he meets kiera he wants to get to know her. he wants to be a part of her life. he recognizes her loneliness, because it is a loneliness that he too has felt. so he sets about breaking down her walls, and slowly she is convinced that maybe he is someone worth really getting to know. the connection that grows between these two characters is surprisingly emotional. granted both zach and kiera have some heavy baggage that they end up working through together and the way their relationship develops is really sweet....

in an ember in the ashes  we were introduced to the world of martials and scholars, with our narrators elias and laia giving voice to the struggles of each faction. in a torch against the night  the world expands, with helene's voice added to the narration. a choice that makes sense given that elias has seemingly thrown his lot in with laia's. the novel picks up moments after an ember in the ashes  closed. elias and laia are in the catacombs of the city trying to escape the martials on their tail. elias seeking to get them both out of there and figuring out a way to kauf prison, where laia's brother darin has been taken and whom he has promised to do all in his power to rescue. elias must not only evade helene, installed as the emperor's blood shrike and tasked with capturing and executing him, but also the commandant, his mother who has made it her life's work to give him hell. keris veturia is plotting something, she's always plotting. her ultimate goal is...

it's hard to explain replica  without giving away too much. it's hard to describe replica  because you can read it in several different ways. the way you choose to read this book will influence the way you see the story, the way you experience the story. there are four ways to read the story, 1) you can read lyra's book and then gemma's, or 2) gemma's and then lyra's, or 3) you can read one chapter of lyra's book and then one chapter of gemma's until you reach the end, or 4) you could also read one chapter of gemma's and one chapter of lyra's until you reach the end. there are some overlapping scenes and dialogue in the story, but not so much that you would find it burdensome or repetitive. the fact that you have two different perspectives on these overlapping scenes helps with this. i followed option 3. reading alternate chapters beginning with lyra and ending with gemma. and this totally worked for me. in some ways structuring the book in t...

parts 1 , 2 , and 3 are available at the links, read on for part 4.

book 2 in the vip series doesn't start out with quite the same literal bang as idol , but managed gets you hooked quickly with the delightful banter between sophie darling and gabriel scott. gabriel is used to being an island. as the kill john's manager he's taken care of business and made himself and his friends very, very rich. but he's also held himself apart. no one cracks his walls, until he's seated next to sophie on a transatlantic flight and finds her constant verbal assault a distraction for his very real fear of flying. in those early moments he comes so close to opening up, that it's not until she reveals that she's coming to new york to interview for the kill john team that he realizes that he needs to take a step back. gabriel tries so hard to stay away. he tries so hard to stop himself from making a claim on sophie that he can't take back. and he completely and utterly fails at this. everyone knows it. except, of course, for sophie and g...

devil and the bluebird  is jennifer mason-black's debut young adult novel. blue riley is searching for her sister, cass. after making a deal with the devil where she must give up her voice for a pair of boots that function as a compass--where north happens to be her sister's location--she embarks on a cross-country adventure with nothing but her backpack and her mom's guitar. there's magic in this story, music in the words. blue's story is one of love and loss. she learns a lot about herself, about her talent, her ability to survive, and she learns the truth about her past and how those truths give her a different perspective on her family and the hurts that were more complicated than they looked. in the end, blue learns that in order to survive, in order to save herself and her sister, she needs to believe in herself. she needs to believe in the music that she holds within her soul. she needs to believe in the music she hears in other's souls. not speakin...

luke mccall is determined to take down his business rival, a man who has bribed or stolen his way into the real estate deals luke had been looking to develop. his rival's daughter, grace wilson, is sick of being wooed by guys out to get something from her dad. when she and luke meet he pretends he doesn't know who she is. and she at times charmed and wary of his too good to be true behavior. she had come up with a test to weed out the loser guys looking for something from her dad, but luke passes every test. the key is that luke doesn't want anything from her dad except a confession of wrong-doing. and as his plan involves him more in grace's life, and as he gets to know her, he realizes that she is not her father's daughter. she is bright and funny and giving. and something about grace encourages him to let down the walls he had built around his heart after a terrible childhood and start to feel things again. his plan backfires spectacularly when the authorit...

finding love while trapped in a snowstorm is one of my many favorite romance tropes, even though it totally requires a suspension of disbelief in how quickly the characters end up in a relationship. one sexy mistake  is a delightful example of this. this novella extends the chase brothers series to one of their brothers-in-law. grady donovan is a computer whiz and hacker and he's decided that he's no good at  relationships and they are no good for him. so he joins tinder n the hopes of finding a one night stand. he figures if he's super upfront about what he wants then he won't get in trouble with the ladies. and it's not like olivia is looking for a relationship either. she also wants a one night stand. her ex-boyfriend screwed her over badly and she just needs a palate cleanser so to speak. she appreciates that grady has laid out what he wants so explicitly. that means there are no surprises. but being upfront doesn't stop someone from feeling hurt. and ...

the main characters in tempting tanner  spend a lot of time willfully misunderstanding one another, situations, and actions. it's amazing that they manage to work anything out because when they aren't willfully misunderstanding each other they are failing at communicating. juliana shea has spent two year pining after tanner collins. the fact that he's her roommate's boyfriend is a big complicating factor in pursuing a relationship. but when he finally breaks things off and admits that he's been thinking of her in a more than friends kind of way, things finally seem to be working out. except rebecca, juliana's roommate and tanner's ex, is insane. she refuses to accept the break up. and constantly tells everyone who can listen that she and tanner are together. which he denies. and you know, he also is actively dating juliana, so you'd think that would be enough to prove a break up. juliana doesn't really doubt that they've broken up, but she st...

a while back i read his best mistake , which was the last in the series of shillings agency novels. i enjoyed that novel , and when i was given the chance to review the first of the series, temporarily yours  of course i said yes. because of course this book has one of my favorite tropes, seated next to someone on an airplane leads to fake relationship leads to love. if that trope seems oddly specific to you, well, you're right, but it's a thing  and i love that it's a thing . anyway, kayla moriarty is a stats nerd who is terrified to fly. when she meets cooper shillings at the airport she's so unnerved that she can't stop herself from confessing her fear of flying. cooper is an ex-marine with a hero complex so when he realizes how scared she is, he maneuvers his way into the seat next to her. this isn't a hardship because he obviously finds her attractive. luckily for him it's mutual and the two of them do their best to try to hit all the bases mid-flight...

here are the links for parts 1 and 2 . part 3 continues the story after the jump.

where do we go from here i wonder? today's headlines  are not the outcome i was hoping for. i think about where i was 24 hours ago, standing in line, excited to vote for our first woman president. and now, knowing that my vote wasn't enough. that racism and sexism and ignorance won the day yesterday. i don't know how i feel about these things. i'm heartbroken. more than that even. i feel shredded. i always knew this outcome was a possibility. just because i couldn't imagine a world where donald trump was president, didn't mean others couldn't either. and obviously i surround myself with like-minded people, so i don't know or understand how anyone could be on the other side. i get that we all have different feelings and views of this country, but i thought we were better than what we got. my dad would say that america got what it deserved. that this is what jerry springer and reality television and fox news and celebrity culture have wrought. and mayb...

owen and gabby have been best friends and neighbors for a long time. ever since they both went through some painful breakups while recently moving into the same apartment building. owen comes from a crazy, loud family and all he wants is a quiet christmas. but when his little white lie that he didn't want to leave his new girlfriend alone over the holidays results in his entire family planning to spend christmas at his place he begs gabby to pretend to be his girl. more than friends , that's exactly what gabby would like to be. but owen has never given the slightest indication that he even realizes she's a girl. she's his friend and she is so stuck in the zone. so she keeps hoping that by agreeing to this pretense, she'll get this aching want for him out of her system. maybe the forced proximity will reveal that they aren't perfect for each other. except she isn't that lucky. or maybe she is? because while she is having a hard time resisting falling ev...

the story of forever charmed  isn't bad. see the synopsis: rose morgeaux is a healer, not a killer, so training to fight is the last thing she wants to do. and if going against everything she believes in isn’t bad enough, she has to do it with the eyes of the dark and handsome callahan mccray on her back. cal’s seen the work of warlocks firsthand when one killed his brother a year ago, so rose’s hybrid heritage is all the reason he needs to stay away. teaching her to throw a knife was not on his agenda, but neither was falling for her. when rose begins to pay a heavy price for her passions, cal’s love must be enough to save her from herself and keep her from following in her grandfather’s dark footsteps. sounds good right? my problem with this book was the writing style. it was so abrupt and the character's internal monologues made them sound like morons. it was so hard to get through. which is such a bummer, because i love young adult romance and i enjoy supernatura...

in this sweet holiday read, kennedy pepperdine is ready to launch her new matchmaking software. software that she developed expressly for her matchmaking firm, and that she's tested on herself. she's got the perfect match in justin ellis. everything should be perfect, except kennedy has never felt her life so out of control and nothing feels right. when she goes back home with justin for the holidays to meet his family for the first time, she realizes that she has a history with matt ellis. justin's older brother. months before at a conference in las vegas, she and matt had ended up stuck in an elevator together. they'd shared a kiss and kennedy had admitted some of the misgivings regarding her relationship with justin. matt had found himself thinking of that interlude often, so when kennedy shows up and he realizes that the woman he's been dreaming about, the woman he is crazy attracted to is going to be his future sister-in-law, he isn't all that sure abou...

so it's well-established that i love a good fake relationship story. in no romance required cory santangelo starts out the novel getting some crazy pressure at a charity event from his family to take a step back from work and look for some romance. when he goes outside for some fresh air he runs into victoria townsend, the designer he is currently working with and his nemesis since childhood. And for some reason, sparks fly. they share an intimate moment, which is photographed without their knowledge. to cover for the photographs, cory proposes that he and victoria pretend that they have something serious, at least until his parents' retirement and goodbye party. this will get his parents off his back about his sex life and will cover for their momentary indiscretion. cory and victoria go back and forth on whether or not they can actually commit to being in a fake relationship. and there's a lot of back-and-forth on whether or not victoria can handle the kind of sexual...

hard compromise  is the companion book to  compromising her position , in fact many of the events in both novels overlap with one another, which is why it is so surprising that they are publishing nearly a year apart. but no matter, luckily for me i didn't find out about the series until now and i read the books in the opposite order. and while reading this one first spoils some of the events that take place in compromising her position  it's still not a big deal. and both books work perfectly well as standalones. hard compromise  tells lauralie peterson's story. she is chelsea's best friend, and her childhood left her with a lot of baggage. her mother was emotionally abusive, neglectful, and criminally indifferent to laurie's emotions. she first meets ethan booker when she is 16 and being busted for underage drinking. she'd gone to a college party with the intention of losing her virginity and booker stops her cold. he also turns her down when she propositi...

part 1 is at the link, part 2 down below.

i came across the compromise me series on netgalley, actually reading the sequel to this book first. but since i decide when i post things, i'm reviewing compromising her position  first. this sexy contemporary read follows chelsea wayne and rafe st. sebastian from a super steamy meet-cute in a supply closet to a marriage proposal in the aforementioned closet. the thing about romance novels is that once you've figured out the main players, you generally know where things will end up. romance novels are not only about happy endings, they are also about the journey it takes to get there. chelsea and rafe have a slightly bumpy road, but the moments that we witness of how they build their relationship on off-the-charts chemistry are so worth it. there's a lot of sexy back-and-forth, and you guys, it's really sexy. rafe is totally a take-charge in the bedroom kind of guy, and the push-and-pull he gets from chelsea only intensifies things. beyond that the characters are...

set in the fictional small fishing town of port lucia, addicted to you , tells the story of two best friends who have loved each other forever. but for many reasons, some valid, some ridiculous, neither colby or isla has ever dared to take the step that would push them over the line to lovers. but isla is at her breaking point. she's planning to leave town to go to nursing school and she doesn't want to leave town without knowing whether or not she and colby can be something more. and when an incoming storm strands them at colby's home for a night, they finally cross that line. but it's still complicated. colby holds himself back and isla can't figure out why he's blowing hot and cold on her. she also is completely unaware that colby's brother landon has a thing for her, which is the main reason colby is holding back. the whole thing is a little preposterous because colby is being so noble because he wants to make everyone happy. except that he is mise...