definitely, possibly, maybe

the thing about the duke i once knew  is that if only the hero weren't such a gross horndog when we first met him, i might like him better. because honestly, he's not that bad, but first impressions are hard to beat and when we first see the main characters interacting abigail has just heard max finger some random widow in his library. this doesn't scream romance. and on the one hand she writes it off as this is just max being max and not the guy i fell in love with who must have really only wanted in my pants and became a jerk when i said no. but like, isn't that terrible? it's also weird to me that abigail is fed all these stories of him being this gross libertine. like why would she want anything to do with this guy. in the here and now we don't see much evidence of this. and the reasons they were kept apart also make no real sense. his dad didn't want him to find love, because his mom was probably manic depressive? i don't know. these things didn...

American Gods  meets the Da Vinci Code in ANALIESE RISING (Entangled; 01/08/19), a suspense-filled novel by New York Times bestselling author Brenda Drake. This first book in a new fantasy series offers a new take on the paranormal romance genre—with a mythological spin. Gone are vampires and werewolves; in are descendants of the God of Death. Brenda Drake is known for creating addictive, entertaining series with strong female characters (Library Jumpers and The Fated) and her fans will not be disappointed. ABOUT THE BOOK When a stranger gives Analiese Jordan a list of names before he dies, the last thing she expects to see is her own on it. Not. Cool. Her search for answers leads to the man’s grandson, Marek, who has dangerous secrets of his own. Both are determined to unlock the mystery of the list. But the truth is deadly. Analiese is a descendant of the God of Death, known as a Riser, with the power to raise the dead and control them. Finding out she has...

okay, so apparently male pregnancy (mpreg) storylines are a subgenre of m/m romance. i did not know this. preston walker has several series revolving around werewolves and male pregnancy and twice bitten  is the second book in his welcome to wheaton series. so this story starts out strong, but then loses it's way sometime around the pregnancy reveal. and i think one issue is that the werewolf thing doesn't feel necessary to the plot at all. so the weird pack dynamics between alistair and kenneth weren't really working. and two this book explains none of the mythology behind these wolves at all. and i get that it's a book two, and i have not read book one, but even a refresher could have been useful. the other issue is that the main source of conflict between the two main characters is that alistair doesn't want to talk about his past with matthew. which, okay. but like, dude, just sit down and talk to the guy you claim to love. on the performance side, ran...

a charm like you is the last installment it seems in a series about a group of friends whose lives have been touched by a mysterious mr. bailey. (maybe it's the last, don't quote me on that. there's an air of finality about how this book ends, but there's totally room for at least one spin-off, if not more both leads have siblings who seem to need happily-ever-afters of their own.) anyway, gabi graham has been through a lot. her ex, cheated on her, failed to make payments on her home, got his mistress pregnant and is marrying her. so when she decides to go to a divorce support group, it makes sense. She could use some support. but she gets more than she bargains when she meets this hot guy there. hot guy turns out to be her best friend's older brother. and also her business partner. one of the more confusing things about coming into a series like this late is that some of the friend interactions are super confusing. i couldn't figure out who everyone was ...

a new series from elizabeth hoyt is most certainly a gift, so it's appropriate that not the duke's darling  has published just before christmas. freya de moray is a wise woman, or rather a *wise woman* part of a sect of women who have dedicated their lives to helping other women in need. as the macha, she provides the organization with vital intelligence to help the people they are charges with protecting. when she encounters christopher, duke of harlowe on a mission, her anger and resentment for the wrongs her family suffered that she lays on his door nearly overwhelms her. he wears her brother's ring, and it's such an outright insult even as he fails to recognize her that she can barely contain her rage. when they cross paths again at a house party she is determined to get her revenge. it takes a while to suss out what happened the night of the greycourt scandal. not the duke's darling  actually includes a third point of view, beyond freya and ...

i don't know what it is about 14th-century highland romances, but i love them. there's something about the setting, the time period that really appeals to me. all the alpha posturing by the clansmen should put be over the edge, but it rarely does. i think because the heros are usually super progressive and the women they fall in love with are always so clearly ahead of their time. it's funny to me that sometimes that same progressiveness will drive me batty in a regency romance, but in these renaissance-set novels i have no problems with it.  anyway,   the bride chooses a highlander  finds katherine mackenna with the unusual chance to make her own choice for a husband. when she chooses hamish drummond, she's determined that they get along pleasantly enough and it should all work out for the best. when she finds him in another woman's arms at their betrothal celebration, she's quickly disabused of that notion. electing to run away, she quickly fall...

i'm slightly obsessed with jessica hawkins' books. because they are so angsty and amazing. her latest release is coming just before the new year and i can't wait. here's a sneak peek of the cover and blurb.

this is the third in a series about three friends finding love in unlikely places. the nashville bet has the friends coming together for the cma fest, and while they're there they meet up and coming country star chase hudson. when ava trent runs into him (literally) on the dance floor there's a spark that neither of them are ready to let extinguish. instead they have a whirlwind of a weekend, spending time every chance they get. because this is a vacation romance, you have to rely on instalust and instalove, but the author handles the way these characters open up to each other in a very deft manner. you see the speed with which their emotions develop but you also understand why they fall as hard as they do. in the end this is a fun read, and you don't have to read the previous books in the series to enjoy it. **the nashville bet will publish on december 18, 2018. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/entangled publishing (amara) in exchan...

set in the small, coastal town of new milton, between the lines  finds two men at a crossroads of sorts. luca moretti's family legacy has been his touchstone, but now it's in danger of being sold to a hotel conglomerate out to make it another luxury golf resort. he's too much of a ramblin' man to settle down, he has old hurts and wounds that won't allow him to take over for his mother. some of his anger rational, and some just covering some deep hurts. and then there's theo wishart, who longs to be the ruthless businessman his father wants him to be, but who struggles with dyspraxia that makes him feel awkward and unable to read social cues. luca makes him feel like a bumbling idiot most of the time, but he also is the only person who has a viable solution for the majestic and as much as he wants to help luca preserve his family legacy, he is enough of a realist to know that it might not be possible. luca and theo connect and it's both sweet and challe...

as a wedding planner toby has one strict rule. don't fall for the groom. usually this isn't a problem, since most grooms are straight and also less than involved in their wedding day. but when he meets his latest bride, julia and the guy she's with, hunter, he finds that he has a big problem. hunter keeps flirting with him. he's always at every meeting and pays extra attention to toby every time julia's attention is on something else. this coupled with the fact that julia seems more concerned with how everyone else will think about her marriage than making it one special to her, and toby is at his wit's end. when hunter comes on to him during a meeting, toby finally calls him out. only to realize that the person he's mistaken as the fiancé is the bride's brother .  once the confusion over who is marrying who is all cleared up, toby and hunter make a real go of things. but julia and her wedding come between the two once more, when hunter fails to st...

kiss me slowly  is a collection of short and sweet stories celebrating first-time love. up first there is "snack bar" about a camp counselor who finds the perfect first partner in the guy who runs the snack stand. everything happens so fast, but given the short format the breakneck speed of the plot makes sense. then there is "method actors" where two straight actors find themselves in love while filming a gay romance. this is the longest entry in the collection and it's also maybe the kookiest. i'm actually impressed the narrator made it through this story without losing his composure. i lost my composure. there is a plot point that is so unbelievable, so absurd, so insane, that i still cannot deal. the suspension of disbelief required was a bridge too far for me. but i did keep listening. up next is "building hearts" in which a young man estranged from his family because of his sexuality is assaulted on the job, and finds love in the arms o...

i was excited to realize that we were getting more of the everest brothers in bad reputation . and this story, it's totally a fairy tale. there's a princess who is trapped in a tower and she needs someone like hunter everest to set her free. she was never supposed to meet him. never supposed to fall in love. he wasn't supposed to fall in love with her either. what's keeping them apart isn't a small thing. it's her birthright. it's her country. it's her people. this story is so dreamy and romantic. i love, love hunter as a hero. he's just so dreamy. how he fights for his girl is just out of this world swoonworthy. he knows that they are right together. they just need to find a way to make the world right for them. **bad reputation published on december 7, 2018. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of s.l. scott in exchange for my honest review. keep reading for more information about the book...

and fin. and i think that finally wraps up all the fanfic i had stored up. crazy to realize it's been a 3-year project basically.

i've been a literary agent for over a year, and reading inbox queries for over two years. authors do a lot of things that start things off poorly. i mean, listen, every agent is different and will find different things annoying or off-putting. but since i'm making a concerted effort to get my query inbox under control, i have a lot of time to stew about this. ergo, i'm just going to share some of my pet peeves because i need to vent about this somewhere. via GIPHY 1. not following submission guidelines listen all agents have their own set of guidelines. some want the first ten pages, some want only the synopsis, some want one chapter, some want three, some want the pages attached in a word document, some want the pages attached as a pdf, some don't want any attachments at all! i get it. it's confusing and maddening. and yet, if you are taking the time to query an agent because you think they'd be a good fit for your work, take the time to follow their...

millie and reid are clearly otp. as super smart university professors you'd think they'd be smarter about their love lives, but they are not. my favorite half-night stand  is a frothy, enjoyable rom-com that has a lot of heart. i love millie and reid's relationship. and the way they complicate their feelings for each other. how they misunderstand each other. how they open up to each other in unexpected ways. millie is the one who really messes up here, and i love that she's the one who grovels. there are so many romance novels where it's pretty clear the heroine has been the one to mess up communication and the hero is still the one with the grand gesture. this is the main reason i dislike the grand gesture most of the time, because the wrong person is doing it. but here, the way millie works her way back into reid's life is perfection. and i pretty much enjoyed everything about this book. the real friendships these characters have. the way they communic...

the final book in the woodbury boys series, rough trade , finally sheds light on the ever-enigmatic ghost. abused in every way possible, ghost's moral compass is somewhat lacking. but he's trying to do the right thing. his problem is that the right thing keeps blowing up in his face. on his way to share some important evidence with duncan rook, an honest police officer on medical leave, ghost is left fighting for his life with the evidence he was meant to put to use completely destroyed. duncan isn't sure what to do with ghost, except he believes him, and he sees all his broken pieces and wants to help. but ghost is so damaged, it's hard to fathom that it would ever be possible for him to be whole and healthy enough to be the person duncan believes he could be. this series is gritty and suspenseful and tells these beautiful love stories. there's so much angst and anger and pain, but there is also romance and this astounding love and healing that these charac...

dmitri's adorable younger brother nik gets his happily ever after in this holiday-themed dance off novella. dance all night introduces us to jess davenport, a ballroom dancer on the dance off who has a chance encounter with nik on new year's eve. they kiss and have a discussion about settling down where nik is clearly not into that idea. nearly a year later, they run into each other at an ugly sweater party and nik wants a do-over. his views on settling down have shifted, and he believes that jess could be the girl he wants to settle down with. jess is skeptical. and she's been burned one too many times by others and isn't willing to take a chance on nik. so he asks her for three dates to prove to her that christmas is magical. and she agrees, believing there is no way he is serious. but nik is dead serious. he's a guy who knows what he wants. he's not sure iess wants the same thing, but he's all-in. he puts himself out there emotionally in ways that ...

meet zoe king: chess champion; origami master; sister to mae; completely and utterly afraid to leave her house.  then there's jackson: homeless, but driven; smart about math and physics; wants to get a degree in astronomy; totally into zoe.  when jackson is hired to be zoe's tutor, he's thrilled to finally have an in to talk to her. zoe, on the other hand, is trying not to have a panic attack. but jackson wants to help zoe. as he begins to get a fuller picture of her issues, he wants to assist her in overcoming them. and he does provide a lot of motivation for her. paper girl   explores these really interesting characters in a really engaging way. i loved jackson and zoe. homeless and homebound, they should seem like total opposites, but they fit each other in just the right way. **paper girl will publish on december 4, 2018. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/entangled publishing (entangled teen) in...

this part is a little interlude-y, but it couldn't be helped.

if you just said to a random person that you just picked up a "bait shop rom-com" they might look at you like you were a little bit crazy. and if you explained it's from the same author who wrote the "tire shop rom-com" they may also still look at you funny. but here's the absolutely fantastic thing, the follow up to the non-sequitur about the bait-shop rom-com is "it's so good, you have to read it." guys, next in line  is so good. i loved sam so much. he was so funny and grumpy and charming in wait with me . and he's perfection in next in line . like when maggie takes a while to figure things out i was dying because he was the perfect hero. i honestly can't wait to get my hands on the audiobook, because i can only imagine how swoony i will feel listening to this. it's also really funny, i definitely laughed out loud several times. the longest and hardest at the whole master baiter joke. i still am not sure if maggie got ...

after a bad breakup, involving walking in on her fiancé having sex with her best friend, olivia watts is looking for something different. when she comes across a special kind of dating service,  one that happens to pair dominants to submissives, she decides that it's the perfectly inappropriate  time to explore her sexual fantasies. when she's paired with state senator, noah grant, it feels too good to be true. because their chemistry is immediately off the charts and their connection deep enough for the senator to start breaking all kinds of rules he has in place for relationships like this. that kind of instant connection can be wildly romantic to read about, but maybe in this case it's a little too insta-love? like this isn't something i normally complain about, where i see others hate on it, but something about this pairing felt like things happened too quickly. i felt like the characters were telling me more about their amazing connection than showing me t...

set during navy seals bud/s training, loving a warrior  is a slow-burn romance between two leads who have chemistry so explosive they nearly tear each other to pieces before they figure it out. shane hovland and matt knytych have a lot to prove to themselves, to their families, to their teammates before training is over.  the rivalry that sparks up between them is enough to keep them strong throughout training, but it's also what keeps them apart. teammates can't be in romantic relationships with each other. not that either of them is looking for a relationship. i'm not kidding when i say this is a total slow burn of a story, but the deep emotions and feelings that these characters feel for each other. the understanding and bond that they share, you believe it because they endure the unendurable and hold each other up in the end. i enjoyed this romance and loved these two characters together. **loving a warrior will publish on november 26, 2018. i recei...

the youngest fernández sister, lilí meets her match in diego reyes in their perfect melody . at cross purposes when they first meet when trying to manage a domestic violence situation, he's a cop with the chicago pd and she helps run a center for battered women. they are both principled and strong-willed, and have so much in common that it's crazy how often they find themselves on opposite sides of an argument. mainly it's because where lilí is reckless and impulsive and giving, diego is cautious and overprotective and strong. but they have such a strong sense of social conscience and justice. at the end of the day, they make perfect sense together. and having them figure all that out is just lovely to read. i will miss this family, but can't wait to see what is next for this author, her books are one-click buys for me. **their perfect melody will publish on november 27, 2018. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/kensington books (zebr...

paul barstowe, now duke of southart, was a charming, possibly misunderstood villain in the earlier novels in this series, so in the good, the bad, and the duke  he's up for redemption. and you guys, he's possibly the absolute best? i mean, i'm also clearly a huge sucker for reformed bad boys. a fact that's been well-established here. but i love a hero who is complicated and imperfect. i love that the romance is partly about how much he would do for the woman he loves. there's something heady and delightful about that. because from the moment this story opens, it's clear that paul will do what ever he can for daphne. that somehow, some way, she's caught his eye and he's never not seen her. and she sees him too. she sees his imperfections, she knows he's done wrong, but she also sees how hard he tries to make things right. how deep his sense of honor runs, and she simply can't stop herself for loving him for it. this was such an enjoyable r...

book 3 in the highland hearts series, tempting the highland spy , finds harrison macmasters finding his match in jewel thief gracie mae winters. they'd shared an interlude at a wedding earlier in the series, and she was the one girl who got away. forced to work together to solve the murder of an american tycoon, harrison and grace must find a way to forget their past connection. but the longer they are forced to pretend to be married, the more both of them wishes that there could be a different ending to their story. harrison is kind of a dreamboat hero, so it's easy to swoon over him and grace together. i can't wait to see who's turn will be next in this series. **tempting the highland spy will publish on november 26, 2018. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/entangled publishing (amara) in exchange for my honest review. 

the bibliophile  is about a bookish young man who is sold into in servitude by his father. the man who is in charge of his is a rough, uncouth farmer, a man of few words, but also a man of great kindness. the whole thing is rather sweet, and somewhat strange and icky, but i suppose in the end nat belongs with cayuse jem and who am i to say otherwise. maybe if this had been in not-journal style i would have liked it a little more? i don't know. i didn't fall in love with this one. **the bibliophile will publish on november 26, 2018. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/ninestar press in exchange for my honest review. 

so i can't remember if i mentioned this earlier, but this fic was actually unfinished. so part 7 was the last of the original content i had. everything from part 8 on is new material. it's a little nerve-wracking to admit this, because i'm going to have to own my choppy writing as something new and not something old, but what can be done. maybe i can say i'm matching what came before on the page? anyway, happy thanksgiving! read on after the jump...

in mine for christmas  a super cute holiday novella, matt has had a crush on cody for years but thinks he's been friend-zoned. when cody asks him to join him for christmas as his pretend boyfriend, things start to feel real. this is a very short novella, but the characters are sweet and when they admit their true feelings for each other, it gives you all those feel-good emotions that a holiday story should. **mine for christmas  will publish on november 26, 2018. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/ninestar press in exchange for my honest review.

the panic series continues, with what about us , but this time with characters slightly further afield from the original brothers who run the nightclub. this is helen's story. working as a dancer is not her life goal, but helen has been down in her luck since her father was arrested for crimes she believes he did not commit. when she runs into alex archer, she's not too happy after the initial burst of joy when she sees him. alex blames the blackwood family for his father's death. the blackwoods stole millions from his, and finding helen working at a nightclub is the last thing he expects when he arrives in miami. after some initial resistance, alex and helen begin working together. trying to deny a chemistry that flares between them every time they find themselves alone. the biggest problem they have is that both helen and alex are clinging to some misconceptions of what happened to the other person when they first lost contact. there's a lot o...

the latest novel from christina phillips,  not so happily ever after , focuses on mackenzie carter, sister of lucas and harry from the previous two british bad boys books. she's unhappily enrolled in medical school, and feeling somewhat aimless about what she wants to do. her true passion is her art, but she can't imagine being able to have a successful, professional career as an artist. this dream was already inadvertently destroyed by will hamilton. her brother, lucas's best friend and her crush. he has his reasons for standing her up two years ago. but the misunderstandings and hurt feelings that come from this moment both make sense and are incredibly frustrating. it's a well-known fact that i hate it when characters don't talk to each other about their feelings. and will and mac have a lot of misunderstanding problems. like when they finally do get on the same page and talk, it's all so easily resolved. but then i suppose we'd have no book if the...

when country music star trent thorne is outed in stay a little longer , he finds himself holing up in his best friend's hometown of fate, texas. the only little problem is that he accidentally finds himself in the wrong bed, due in part to his best friend's vague directions and some honest confusion. but what a great meet-cute. the whole bed discovery scene is funny and yet also really poignant. closeted cop lance nichols is not okay when he comes home and finds an intruder sleeping in his bed. he's even less okay when he realizes that it's his celebrity crush, trent thorne. and when i say not okay, i mean, he's totally freaked out and totally turned on. but he's also struggling with his identity in every way and believes that there is no way for him to live his life openly. trent and lance have an explosive chemistry and don't deny their attraction to one another. but now that trent has been outed, he wants to be able to live his life openly. and he w...

within the ever-expanding stark world, we find the blackwell-lyon agency, a security firm based in austin, run by pierce blackwell and cayden and connor lyon. pierce takes the lead in lovely little liar , and does he fall hard.  jezebel stuart is incredibly protective of her sister, delilah. an up-and-coming actress, delilah has made enemies of her fans when she cheats on her celebrity boyfriend. think kristen stewart–robert pattinson level drama. jez needs a security firm to help keep an eye on her sister.  when pierce and jez meet, they don't realize they believe the other to be someone else. this meet-cute of misunderstandings is super funny, but also just the right length to work without making the characters seem stupid. once pierce sorts out that he and jez were talking about different things, he also figures out that she needs him. like right now needs him, because there's been a security breach and delilah's location has been...

you all know my unabashed love for amy daws, and here's a sneak peek of the cover of her latest release. which sounds like perfection to me...

sawyer paulson had it all, the love of a lifetime, a family he adored, friends he could count on. when his wife dies, his world is shattered even though he needs to stay strong for his young son. as sleepover   opens, the one thing he knows is that nothing is certain in life, but he won't risk another relationship. because he's not sure he can stand risking his heart only to have it broken again. elle dunning is learning to deal with life post-divorce. she married young and for the wrong reasons, but can't regret that she has her son. when new neighbors move in, the last person she expects to see is the guy she hooked up with on a post-divorce night out. but avoiding him is impossible, not when it becomes clear that their young sons are instant best friends. elle isn't actually opposed to the idea of being with sawyer, but she can see that he is not okay with their proximity. that he's not quite ready for someone else to be in his life romantically. but the at...

when sargeant major nicholas nowicki is sent to a local community center to fill-in as santa he's about as happy as you might expect someone who is being forced to retire from his job early and into a santa costume would be. teddy macnally, the community center director is full of enough christmas cheer for the both of them in better not pout . when a snowstorm forces them into close proximity, nick's walls start to crumble as he finds it hard to resist the relentlessly optimistic younger man. but he's moving to florida, and he's too old, too set in his ways to be anyone teddy would want to settle for. but the ever-cheerful teddy has hidden depths and he is head over heels for his grumpy santa. he just has to convince him that in spite of the age difference, in spite of their personality differences, they are meant to be. i really enjoyed this holiday read, which i found to be the perfect amount of sweet and angsty. **better not pout will publish on november 12,...

i've read hammerle's young adult books, so i was surprised to see that one of her novels was part of entangled's august line launch. but she transitions seamlessly to adult romance. knocked-up cinderella  is basically what you get when  knocked up  (the movie) is mixed with a nancy meyers movie. forty-year-olds aren't any better at handling unplanned pregnancy than millenials are. i don't know if that's a good or bad thing. anyway, here ian donovan has a reputation. he's upfront that he's not in it for the long haul. women can expect to have him for one night and then nada. but for some reason, erin sharpe seems to be the exception to that rule. and he's not too sure he knows how to handle it. and he is crap at admitting it. and so when erin winds up pregnant after a one-night stand, she expects nothing from him. and she'd be okay if he offered nothing. the problem is that ian keeps randomly showing up. he keeps coming ba...

when coffee shop owner marshall calloway finally gets a chance to try for a date with alexa mcintyre in adventures in online dating   he's bummed to realize that she doesn't take him seriously. marshall is ten years younger, has a penchant for wearing geeky t-shirts and purple converse sneakers, and lives his life seeming to fly by the seat of his pants. alexa was already married to someone who hated to be tied to plans. but three boys later she couldn't envision that kind of unsettled existence anymore. she wanted a home she could call a home. a salary to count on. she wanted to be in control of what happened to her family. but when her oldest boy starts to act like a teenager she starts to believe that maybe a man's steadying influence would be good for him. as an actuary, alexa's life is about numbers. and she has an algorithm better than any those online dating apps have created. so she creates a spreadsheet and kicks off a plan, that involves 20 minut...

when ally henderson ends up stranded in bethlehem, colorado in the christmas layover .  she is pretty sure her christmas wedding plans are falling apart. this is made even more certain when she learns her fiancé has left her a letter breaking things off and cleaned out their bank accounts. trapped by the snowstorm she has to put all her meditation techniques to work and find her balance. when she stumbles upon charlie's the local diner run by her host's son, jake nelson, she decides to help him out due to the extra stranded passenger traffic. soon, she's helping him not only in the restaurant, but also with helping him recapture his holiday spirit. jake has let his grief for his father and for his fiancée take away his christmas joy. but having ally around changes all of that. this is a sweet, small town romance, with lovely supporting characters and that made-for-tv holiday movie feel to it. **the christmas layover will publish on november 12,...

captivating the earl  continues the lords & ladies in love series, with miss lizzie moore who has a secret identity, one she's all too eager to keep from her employer's cousin, lord hawkins. hawk knows he's seen the young governess somewhere, but it's not until a letter from the home office arrives that he realizes she is the daughter of a treasonous lord he'd worked with his friends to capture. by then, lizzie had captured his attentions, moreso when he witnesses several attempts on her life. his need to protect her becomes all-consuming. more than that he needs to make her his. lizzie isn't sure about hawk's sudden commandeering of her life. on the one hand, she's alone and terrified of being sent to prison because people might think she was colluding with her father, when that is the furthest thing from the truth. on the other hand, she managed to take care of herself for two years after escaping london and assuming her new identity. but eve...

*disclaimer: i am sonya's literary agent, but i had nothing to do with this book as she had it contracted for publication before signing a contract with me, below are my unbiased, honest opinions.* in the millionaire's revenge contract , cole mitchell is very clear that he's out for revenge. he likes to tell everyone and anyone this. he seeks vengeance on the russell family for their actions that led to the death of his friend adam. really, it's one russell he's bad at in particular, unfortunately for maddie russell, even though cole isn't mad at her, she's going to bear the brunt of it. there's this whole scheme about the two of them beginning a sexual relationship, so he has a contract written up and she has a counter one written up and the end result is that she's going to be his mistress for six weeks. this whole plot is kind of old school harlequin in the way i love. the thing is, in spite of all his bitterness, at his heart cole mitchel...

when alexa is left at the altar after her groom ran off with his personal trainer, she's pretty much off men. it's not until she's back at the singles bar where she had her bachelorette where she comes across the one man who might be interesting enough to pursue. rafe was filling in with the male dance troupe the night of alexa's bachelorette, when the next time he sees her happens to coincide with another night he's filling in, things seem like kismet. alexa has plans to move out of town and start over, and rafe is too busy making sure his night club succeeds, so they decide to exclusively be each other's booty calls until alexa is due to leave. the first rule of hook-ups is don't take things too seriously. but that intense chemistry bleeds over into everything, rafe is everything alexa wants in a guy and she is pretty much it for him. they just have to get past some insecurities about their self-worth and that happily ever after is theirs to e...

when zandy meets oliver and propositions him in the rain, it's one heck of a super-sexy meet-cute. virginal zandy has no idea that the guy she's inviting back to her room will end up being her summer employer. she has no idea that the good girl submissiveness that is innately hers will poke at all his dom hot professor buttons. there is some angst amidst all the sexy when zandy worries that oliver will always compare her to his former flame and he worries that his twisted desires aren't something she'll want long term. this was hot and enjoyable and a super quick read. if you've read all the misadventures series,  misadventures with a professor is a solid entry. **misadventures with a professor  published on november 6, 2018. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of bare naked words in exchange for my honest review. keep reading for more book info...

the july guy  takes place in a small town in upstate new york, and ironically enough i happened to read it while in buffalo and literally on the banks of lake erie. i think this fictional town was on the fingerlakes though. i happen to live not far from these environs so it's always nice to see an author build a story in a setting i recognize. when noah colburn and anita delgado nearly crash their vehicles you wouldn't think they'd be focusing on how they find each other attractive. but from first sight, that attraction is all they see. both characters are in their 40s and neither is interessted in beating around the bush. anita has never been married and life lessons from her parents have taught her that there's no point in trying to find commitment. noah, on the other hand, is the divorced father of twin teenaged girls. they're on vacation visitng their mom, so when anita propositions noah with a month of sex and fun, there's no ...

grace burrowes kicks of a new series with my one and only duke . beginning the story of the wentworth family, the first novel opens in a prison where quinn wentworth prepares for his death by offering his name and legacy as protection to the pregnant, widowed daughter of the prison priest. when his execution is staved and he is discovered to be the heir to a dukedom, he must find his way forward with his young bride. one of the things that made this story enjoyable to read is that jane is not a useless, damsel in distress. she accepted quinn's help because she needed a way to provide for her child without relying on her meddlesome father or her dead husband's awful family. when they decide to make the marriage work, she needs to figure out her role as a duchess and how to wrangle a life with a duke she never expected to stay with her. that he does, that they both want to make their marriage of convenience work in spite of the difficulties is telling. from ...

take two magician's apprentices, in victorian london, and have one performing in a magic show with an inexplicable illusion and the other out to figure out how it's done, and you have the barebones of this story. illusions  is told from the perspective of the two apprentices, thomas and saverio, through their journal entries and correspondence. we learn that thomas is hiding a huge secret, he is the explanation for the magician's tricks. he possesses a real power, magic to transform and alter people's perception of the world around them. the how and whys of his magic are irrelevant to the novel, he simply possesses it and we accept it. it manifests physically and visually. when thomas and saverio quite literally run into each other in manchester square, sav notes the interest in thomas's eyes. interest that he has no problem exploiting for his own gain. but the more time he spends with the younger, innocent man, the more he finds him appealing. t...

the conclusion of the ryogan chronicles,  war of storms ,  finds khya struggling with her role as a leader to the band of rebels that have set out to save their world. her immortality, her sense of self is all in question here, and what these things mean to her relationship with tessen also weighs on her. she's also forced to chose the world over her brother, and knowing that yorri suffers while she tries to save as many people as she can is cold comfort. especially when she is uncertain that she will accomplish any of this. this is a series that is best to binge read than to wait so long between installments. the book provides a primer on characters and a glossary of terms, but even so, it took me a good long while to find my groove again and remember the moments and characters from earlier books. **war of storms will publish on november 5, 2018. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of entangled publishing (entangled teen) in exchange fo...

the chicago falcons series comes to a close with just pretending . this time focusing on queen eva of eldonia and tyler evans, daniel sacachelli's sister and best friend respectively. the whole fake kingdom of eldonia angle kind of record scratched the series for me, but i did enjoy this book much more than just one of the royals . both tyler and eva are super appealing characters and when poor ty gets caught up in the pretense that he's prince tiberius of prienzza you know that their entire relationship is going to fall apart like a house of cards. and it does, but it's also kind of eva's fault for refusing to talk to ty. when she finally does go to him to right that wrong, he's worked himself into a tizzy of insecurities and is a huge jerk. for a while you wonder if these two will get their acts together, but the truth is tyler and eva together are stronger, braver, better people. and that's pretty amazing. **just pretending will publish on november 5....