definitely, possibly, maybe

i forget how alternate universe this story is...

a bit like hunger games meets harry potter,   ruthless magic  has a group of outcast magicians competing to become champions in order to retain their right to use magic. among them finn lockwood, who gives up his secure future because he realizes that the only reason he has that chance is because of his family name and not because he's earned it. then there is rocío lópez, who is a more talented and powerful magician than most, but because of her family's ancestry is considered a risk. there's also desmond, a magician with poor sight; prisha, finn's best friend, whose family competitiveness leaves her with no other option but to succeed; and more. we get to know all the individual competitors both from finn and rocío's point of view. and they go through some serious trials as the examination tests the limits of their magic and their willingness to do anything to keep it. i'm not sure if this is a series, because the way this ends is kind of open-ended, bu...

tanner ford never intended to reconnect with the girl who broke his heart when she chose a career over him. but now that career of hers might be what saves his. in all night with the cowboy , tanner and lauren are forced to come together. this time on a professional level. but there is too much water under the bridge to allow them to ignore all the hurt and anger from their past. it's not smooth sailing, and at times you just want them to get over themselves and admit that they needed to grow up and be apart. and this second chance at love will work if they can only move past all the baggage. set in the same world as the texas kings series, and continuing the story of the ford kids of river ranch, this series is an enjoyable set of standalones. i can't wait to see which ford child is next. **all night with the cowboy will publish on may 29, 2018. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/st. martin's press in exchange for my honest review. 

the sexy banter and summer-away-from-the-city locale make i flipping love you  the perfect beach read. starting from the meet-cute where pierce believes that rian is the hot chick who ran into his car and ran off without swapping insurance information, he's stunned to realize that she's a twin. and that he's super attracted to her. when they keep crossing paths and battling it out over properties they each intend to flip, things only get better, funnier, sexier. they both bring enough baggage to the table that there is some depth and real emotional heft to the story, but overall it's a fun, quick read meant to be enjoyed by the pool or out of the deck. **i flipping love you will publish on may 29, 2018. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/st. martin's press in exchange for my honest review. 

the bashful bride  is not your standard regency fare. picking up the stories of london's 'blackamoor' population in the early nineteenth century, riley gives voice to people whose stories haven't been written. based on historical fact, you can see the meticulous research that builds the regency world her characters inhabit. the story here is simple, ester croome is about to be married off by her father to a man she considers to be abhorrent. she doesn't like the way he treats women and knows that he is a philanderer even before they are to be married. when she accidentally runs into arthur bex, an actor who's golden voice she is in love with, he's leading an abolitionist meeting and planning to meet his possible future wife. he'd been exchanging letters via an advertisement, not knowing this was ester's friend. but ester is in more dire need of a husband that frederica, so arthur and ester decide to elope. the drive to gretna greene and the pre...

so, sadly, a mistress for penndrake  was not my favorite. there was a lot of circular plot here, and i just did not love the heroine or the hero. and the whole conflict, where the hero is being blackmailed by the heroine's cousin to marry her, but she gets a letter from her cousin telling her to avoid the hero makes no sense at all. by the time it gets explained, it's still nonsensical and also creates more drama that felt so unnecessary to me. in the meantime, the hero decides he's going to be a total jerk and ruin the innocent heroine as revenge for her cousin winning his ancestral home fair and square in a game of cards from his father. and so the heroine and hero basically find themselves at odds and cross-purposes and behave horribly to one another most of the novel and then are kissing the other part of it. and pretty much every other character in this book was horrible. i don't know, this mess did not work for me.  i'm having a harder time with histo...

in lock 'n' load , cia analyst trista gold has never thought of herself as a damsel in distress. mostly her job with the cia keeps her out of danger, since she's generally poking around corners of the dark web and figuring out codes and ciphers. but from the moment matt connors comes to her rescue when a kid tries to jump through the building's security line, it seems that danger suddenly has her on speed dial. at first things seem to be random, but matt is not so sure that the attacks on trista aren't related to her cia work. when the danger escalates and trista's home is burned down and she is nearly killed, matt takes her into protective custody. with everyone at the cia and fbi acting downright shady, trista and matt work together to figure out where the danger lies. of course, the crazy attraction between them grows the more time they spend with one another. but matt has baggage he needs to deal with before he can commit to a relationship with trista....

when finley cartwright meets caleb sherwood at a bar, she's soliciting donations badly and he's having a bad day. they flirt and bicker and when finley's ex walks into the bar she lays a kiss on caleb that he's not forgetting. caleb is a con artist, the latest leader of a family of con artists and he is on the lookout for a new one night wife . finley is the perfect person to beguile into the position because she's naive and doesn't ask too many pesky questions. especially once caleb helps her get her charitable foundation out of the red and actually helping people.  the pace and narrative voice are somewhat breakneck, it almost feels like it belongs to a howard hawks film. finley and caleb are well-matched, even if he spends a lot of time lying to her. when he does finally admit the truth, she plays him perfectly in revenge. and yet, comes to realize that he's somewhat necessary to her happiness. and that maybe she wants to be part of the con. the...

review copies of marrying the rebel prince  were sent out to tie into harry and meghan's royal wedding , but prince nicolas and lauren do not have much in common with the real life royals. i mean, i guess nicolas and harry both served in their countries militaries, and both had to give up serving because they were a security risk for their teams. but nicolas reacts with immaturity compared to harry's track record of charity work. and lauren is essentially an anti-royalist, judgmental snob who pretends to be charitable when in truth she's self-absorbed and unforgiving. so pretty much nothing like meghan. and yeah, i'm not a lauren fan. she was such a prig it was hard to like her. she jumped to conclusions constantly and never stuck around to get the full story on anything. she's a coward when it comes to standing up for love. in the end she's the one who has to make the grand gesture, because she's spent most of the book being a total jerk. it was ha...

liz meets her old friends and still doesn't remember...

the season finale is upon us, and we will hopefully put this black hood mess behind us. except now we have a southside serpent mess. and a weird deatheaters/mob mess. and hiram lodge is becoming the super big bad we always knew he was. which is what still bothers me about the episode that allegedly intimated that hermione was boss. she's the new mayor, by about 200 votes. so fred andrews continues to be our local lovable loser and good dad. it's still weird to me that mad, bad and dangerous to know dylan mckay ended up becoming the very milquetoast fred andrews. occasionally we get hints that his past has more edge to it, but nothing is ever really revealed and so he's just white bread bland. archie is not white bread bland, but the character is limited by his portrayer's inability to express real depth. and this mob capo storyline and the black hood stuff has not played to his strengths, other than when we get to look at his washboard abs...

rogue royalty concludes the savage trilogy and does so with the angst and twist and turns you'd expect in a meghan march read. temperance really comes into her own in this book, taking control of her destiny, of her story in a way that allows you to appreciate all the kickass growing she's done from where she was in book one and where she is at the end of book three. which i'm not spoiling, sorry! i continue to enjoy this darker new orleans march has created and the shadowy webs that unite these characters, new and old. and i enjoyed this story, but i find that the mystery character thing really does impact my ability to connect with and care for the characters. i know everyone loves rix, from the beneath series, but Iistill to this day am not a huge fan. i've actually come to like him more over time as we've come to know him from appearances in subsequent books. and here, i like the hero, i really do, but he hasn't had a chance to win me over the way i w...

some books are harder to write about than others, not because you don't have much to say, but because you don't want to give away too much about the plot. furyborn  is not like other books i've read before. the structure and concept are surprising and different. the dual pov and timelines are not what you'd expect, and the story takes you on twisty paths that keep you guessing and make you hungry for more. this is a story about two girls, two queens, and the power they wield that affects the whole world around them. and the at times devastating consequences to that power. and it's a good thing that there are three books meant to be in this series. **furyborn  will publish on may 22, 2019. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/sourcebooks fire.

hot asset  kicks off a wall street based trilogy for layne. someone has set the sec on ian bradley's case, even though he's innocent. they also put their most doggest agent on the case with the carrot being a letter of recommendation to the fbi. the more digging lara does in this case she had been so convinced would be a slam dunk, and the more she gets to know ian, the worse she feels about the case. but does she trust her bosses at the sec who tell her he's guilty, or should she trust the lack of evidence and trust her gut, or should she trust the guy who is telling her he's done nothing wrong. the heart of the relationship is watching ian and lara come to terms with the circumstances that thrust them together and figuring out how to accept that together they can have it all. **hot asset will publish on may 22, 2018. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/montlake romance in exchange for my honest review.

truth time: i'm just enough older than wills and harry to have never fantasized about marrying either of them. but they aren't that  much younger either. and i've always followed the royal family happenings with interest. when will and kate got married i stalked all the things about their wedding. and with harry and meghan it's been pretty much the same. and now today was the big day and i have some thoughts y'all. first one of my favorite things about harry and meghan as a couple is that they have not hidden how infatuated with each other they are. when he looks at her, when she looks at him, you feel the sexual connection between them viscerally. it's crazy hot. it's swoonworthy because we all fantasize about a man (or woman or person whatever is your jam) looking at us like that. she is the only person in the room for him. and he's it for her. and i was genuinely thrilled for them on their wedding day even though these peaple are almost like fi...

book three in the brits in manhattan series, hedging his bets , has drew's little brother jake front and center with his commitment-phobic roommate jess. these two are kind of dumb, and i mean this in the nicest possible way because they are damn likable and funny and just a pleasure to read about. but they are also impossibly stupid because they are so all in with each other from the get-go. jake and jess have this friends-with-benefits-only-when-we're-drunk relationships that is a cover for the fact that they are really in a relationship. when jake's ex is going to be around for his planned vacation with his family in the hamptons, he convinces jess to join him. it's not a fake relationship story, she's there for moral support. everyone knows they say they are just friends, but everyone also knows they are totally into each other and can't get out of their own way. the novel is about them figuring out their baggage and finding a way to move forward in ...

here's to coming home, even if you don't quite remember it...

if you are on twitter, then you might have heard about a misguided romance author who trademarked the word cocky and started sending out cease-and-desist type letters alleging trademark infringement. this sparked #cockygate , and the romance community has responded in a way only they can. keep reading for more info about the anthology and what it's all about.

so everything in riverdale is bonkers. people are rioting. everyone is scared. the black hood is out there. the serpents are on the verge of war. hiram's got a hand in all of it somehow, or at the very least is loving the chaos. this is an action-packed, revelatory hour. and i feel like the selected clips explain more about what is happening than i could ever put into words. we finally find out who hal cooper really is. so, that happened. hal is the black hood. and the darkness goes back to the original blossom family murder saga. at least it's all out in the open. but who is gunning for fred? is it the lodges? someone else? and as for the serpent war, things aren't looking too good for jughead in the season finale. things should be interesting tonight...

riverdale   episode names are generally taken from classic cinema, and shadow of a doubt  is one of my favorite hitchcock movies. i love joseph cotten and teresa wright in this film. the suspense and game of cat and mouse is beyond amazing. and the show is definitely trying to echo this cat and mouse game and foreboding with the increasing evidence that seems to indicate hal cooper is the black hood. i mean, this is a character who has shifted from fairly innocuous to total douchecanoe over the course of the season so while i would have been sad and horrified earlier on, at this point i'm like, yes. let it be hal. get him off our screens. he's totally ruining the f.p. and alice vibe. other subplots include the increasing competition between the lodges and the andrews on the mayoral race, with poor beleaguered archie stuck in the middle. he's canvassing for his dad, but he's also looking for the black hood. whose eyes he still sees in his nightmares. a...

this playful, erotic novella finds joe the plumber hooking up with lexie the librarian in all sorts of fun, kinky ways. from the moment they meet in laying pipe  a crazy hot attraction blooms. and when lexie finds herself with a plumbing crisis only joe can fix, the tension and banter builds. these two are all about exploring their fantasies together, and while at times it felt like they were going into intense scenes without proper conversation about it, everything they experimented with was clearly enjoyed by both parties, so it's all good. in the #metoo era it's hard not to stress about consent. anyway, this is definitely not a dark, erotic thriller. lexie and joe are fun and funny. their entire relationship is based on awful puns around pipes and drilling and holes needed to be filled. they get off on it, and more power to them. **laying pipe will publish on may 21, 2018. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/entangled publishing (scorched) i...

this sexy novella has bad girl jenna finally getting her bad girl way with straitlaced rob lindgren. rob is uptight for reasons having to do with a career he hates but feels obligated to endure. and jenna has always been his sexual kryptonite. around her he loses the control he's always valued. around her he wants to do the kinkiest, dirtiest things. and maybe this one weekend will let them get it out of their systems. but maybe his best-laid plans aren't giving him any happiness. and maybe there is something to the unrestrained wickedness that jenna brings out in him. in don't hold back  they finally have a chance to sort out their history and a chance for a future that might be different from what they had pictured for themselves. **don't hold back will publish on may 21, 2018. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of entangled publishing (scorched) in exchange for my honest review. 

it's no secret that i love   pretty much everything priscilla oliveras writes. mainly because i love, love, love how fully her heroines embrace their puerto rican culture. the sense of familia is something i adore. and the why it matters is something that's part of my dna, and i love reading about characters who get that. in resort to love  sofia vargas has a plan, she just doesn't expect to confront her past when trying to make her future dreams come true. nate hamilton has always been it for her. but his own family ties had a hold on him. and sofia would never ask him to cast those aside for her, even if she just wanted to be his first choice. and when she realized this, she cut him out of her life. but nate is in town, and could possibly be the obstacle that destroys her plans for the future. in nate's defense, he's got his reasons for not making the leap for sofia when he had the chance before. she'd always gone about...

when dog walker caitlin ramos accidentally gets taylor blankenship's family ring stuck on her finger in front of his grandmother in three day fiancee , she finds herself roped into a family vacation in the poconos. i love a good fake relationship trope. and caitlin and taylor are perfect fake relationship turns real material. the meet-cute here is adorable, and the fun and sweet moments of this story are just the perfect feel-good romance. there is no deep, angsty stuff here, and that's a good thing, for when you want something to read that just leaves you feeling happy. **three day fiancee will publish on may 14, 2018. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/entangled publishing (lovestruck) in exchange for my honest review. 

erin mallon and teddy hamilton bring the hilarious, sexy, sweet workplace-ish romantic comedy  wait with me  to life with their wonderfully expressive voices. one of the things that makes daws such a fun read is her sense of the absurd. this story is based on her real life experiences of sneaking into a tire center to enjoy free wi-fi and coffee while curing her writer's block, and the premise for the character's meet-cute follows suit. the voice actors do an admirable job of keeping the fun, light-hearted feel even during the characters darkest moments. they bring the dual-pov story to life in a way that captures the spirit of kate and miles and makes them feel real. i've enjoyed the duet style narration of the harris brothers books, and was slightly disappointed this didn't follow suit, but at the same time, the narrators' voices were perfect for the characters and i don't actually have any complaints. basically, this is exactly what you want in an audio...

midnight heart-to-hearts in the icu...

who doesn't love a good summer camp story? in summer constellations  julia is looking forward to summer days spent with her summer love on her family's campground. but summer starts with a bang when her best friend leaves for osaka to spend time with her dad, her mother lets her know that she is considering selling the camp, and the boy she's dreamed of all year shows up with a girlfriend. it's the wrong kind of bang. when julia connects with a mysterious boy out stargazing on the dock, little does she know that her life is going to change. nick is not just the son of the guy trying to buy her campground. he's also her crush's cousin and he might be a little bit famous. she's so hurt and suspicious, but she's also drawn to him. every action nick takes shows that he is on her side. but all the circumstances look bad for him. what is it going to take for julia to trust him. trust in the way they feel above all? this is the sort of dreamy ya i lov...

Title: Safe Haven  Series: Captain's Duet Book 1 Author: Red Phoenix Release Date: June 12th

this fantasy introduces us to a world, yigris, where people are ruled by the king above and the queen underneath , when both rulers die under mysterious circumstances their heirs, the awkward prudish prince tollan and the plucky thief gemma are left to figure out what is happening to their world. what follows is an adventure of sorts, a quest to figure out who committed these murders and why. what purpose does destroying the structure of the world they live in serve? why is putting yigris on the brink of civil war anyone's end goal? gemma and tollan have a healthy crew of friends helping them along the way. among them are master assassin devery, gemma's long-time lover, elam, the leader of the dajinn, and wince, tollan's best friend.  there are all these ties, all this history in every relationship. maybe too much? for a standalone it makes sense that there is a lot happening, you have to hit the ground running and you have to include everything. but it's still a ...

hayden wolf needs to get away from it all, he needs to figure out who is leaking company secrets to his competitor and shut it down. his company and his reputation as a businessman depends on it. when he charters a yacht to hole away from the world while he completes the biggest deal of his career he doesn't expect to meet avery walker. she is the stewardess, he is the ruthless gentleman . her job is to make sure every single one of hayden's wants and needs are met. platonically speaking, of course. there's no fraternization between crew and guests, and avery has never been tempted. her career is too important, it's her redemption. she needs to help provide for her brother's long-term care after a swimming accident left him paralyzed. she needs to help her dad out with the bills. but in taormina everything changes. it becomes clear that staying away from hayden is impossible. he owns her. and she owns him too. it's not smooth sailing. there are t...

the nashville dreams series concludes with the final words & music owner finding his own happy for now in can't fight the feeling . russell green is kind of a mess. when he is stitched up by nurse joslynn wright, who happen's to be savannah's best friend previously introduced in can't walk away, the long-simmering attraction between them bubbles up. in a twist on trope, joslynn is the one with crazy commitment issues and russ prefers monogamy and waiting until the moment is just right. slowly he wins joslynn over to his way of thinking on relationships, while she wins him over on finding ways to manage his stress. there are a couple of shoes that need to drop first. one of the more interesting things about this romance is that it's pretty clear from early on that these two are in love. and the other thing that is true is that their commitment issues are driven by some real medical issues that both characters must face. they both need to learn that when a per...

just when white house pastry chef, marin chevalier, is desperate to find a date to her cousin's wedding, she meets special agent griffin keller. too bad she's his top suspect in an art forgery case that has been troubling him for months. recipe for disaster  is part romantic comedy, part spy thriller. marin has no idea why the secret service is everywhere she turns, or why a trail of dead people lead directly to her door. all she knows is that griffin is too hot and too charming for her sanity. his interest in her seems to blow hot and cold, and when she realizes what he's investigating she wants nothing to do with him. except when it becomes clear that her life is in danger, and this art forgery case has strong ties to the president's inner circle at the white house. griffin has made it a point to avoid relationships, figuring that love would complicate his ability to make hard choices while on the job. but this time love and the job are inextricably tied...

i can't believe the party is over! the grad night series comes to a close with love beyond opposites  and we finally find out what lennon and jade have been up to during the big bash.  though first we back up, and learn that lennon has had an eye on jade since they first met freshman year. but his dad warned him away from her, because lennon is a known playboy and jade is not a girl to trifle with. jade's always noticed him too, but assumed he'd never be interested in a girl like her, especially given his reputation.  he's the rock star, she's the mathlete.  but there's something in the air during grad night. like maybe it's the moment to grab onto the things you've always wished for and see if you can make them reality. yes, lennon dreams of being a rock star, and he has the chance to pull off a record contract and extend his band's tour with a kickass performance on grad night. but maybe getting the girl is a bigger, better dream....

when theo lockhart shows up on rose valentine's doorstep two days after going missing she doesn't hesitate to give him a place to stay. even though she doesn't know who or what theo is hiding from, she finds herself compelled to keep him safe. she's always noticed theo, even if he held himself apart from her, from everybody. this is why she knows that seeking shelter with her is such a big step. she likes being there for him. she wants him to trust her, with his secrets, with his heart, with everything. when they get caught, because hiding a boy in your bedroom is never going to work for an extended period of time no matter how absent your parents are, things fall to pieces. theo knows he's hurt rose because he didn't trust her with his truth. but it was so ugly. and it makes him feel weak and awful and scared. he's always liked her. he just never believed he was good enough to deserve her. as rose and theo find their way through the trust issues and...

when jenna gets her shot at stardom, she will need to face her biggest heartbreak, tanner james. ten years have not been enough to change how her heart reacts to his presence, but she's not interested in leaving herself vulnerable to him again.  what she doesn't know is that tanner has orchestrated this reunion. he's never forgotten jenna and wants a chance to explain what happened. because things were not as they seemed back then, and if jenna hadn't run away and listened maybe their lives would be different. it takes some time for them to reconnect and regain the trust they lost so long ago. but the heat that flares between them is evidence that the connection between them has never died. **one more time published on may 2, 2018. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of candi kane pr/laurelin paige in exchange for my honest review. keep reading for more information on the book.

senator graham delaney is the youngest (and hottest) senator in d.c. when he sees eleanor courtney at a bar early on in his pawn   he decides to pursue her for less than honorable reasons. his longtime rival in the senate is elle's father. so he makes her an offer she can't refuse. not just the money. because he intrigues her. she's crazy attracted to not just his body, but the power he wields with it. and what follows is a battle of wills for control, for the upper hand. and the stakes get higher the more their lives become entangled. when all cards are left out on the table, the end result is that what started out as a cold-blooded arrangement has more heat and feeling and love than either graham or elle could have anticipated. **his pawn published on may 3, 2018. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of candi kane pr/emily snow in exchange for my honest review. keep reading for more detail on the book.

i thought the espionage was of the political/international variety based on the title, but it's corporate espionage. mainly because i did not read the blurb very closely. laurel kristoff pesters her dad into letting her work at his company for the summer. she sees his corporate life as the evil empire that keeps her dad too busy to be there for her. and she totally has a point. laurel is constantly battling off assumptions of entitlement and being immature, even though she is neither of these things in her narration. i found her to be totally relatable and a character to root for. i was very much #teamlaurel throughout this story. and #teamlaurelandcarlos too. i really enjoyed how the main conflicts in the story were resolved. and as a summer YA spies, lies and allies  should totally hit the spot. **spies, lies and allies published on may 1, 2018. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/entangled publishing (entangled teen). kee...

and the story continues after the jump...

sometimes riverdale  is more over-the-top crazy-stupid than gossip girl  ever was. it's easier for me to give the show a pass on a lot of things, because the atmosphere of the show is profoundly steeped in this magical realism. riverdale is the all-american macondo. the blossom family are the buendías. if i were still a lit student i'd be all over a paper drawimg parallels between the two. anyway, midge is dead. i'm not really sorry because i'm hoping this means that moose and kevin can become a thing again. but first we mourn her, and cheryl for some unknown reason gets her solo. it's the black hood. and betty and jughead are all convinced it's chic who's behind it all. they're scooby-doing it all over town, going the evil sisters and the motel and holding chic hostage until he confesses that actually, the real charles smith od'd on jingle jangle. and maybe he's just a red herring in all of this. meanwhile, archie is worried t...

the latest book in the cavensham series , the luck of the bride ,  pairs desperate, brilliant mathematician march lawson with dutiful, generous, non-mathematically inclined michael cavensham, marquess of mccalpin. they meet when he discovers she's been embezzling from the trust her father set up for her to inherit on her twenty-fifth birthday. unfortunately, he's only just learned about the trusteeship, given that he inherited it from an uncle, and the documentation available doesn't back up her claims. i'll be honest, the whole paperwork issue—which does become an even bigger deal later in the story—was super confusing and i'm still not sure why any of it actually came into play in the first place. it was a very convoluted way to create obstacles where there weren't really any. especially since the moment they set eyes on each other, michael and march are totally enthralled. she is unreserved in her admiration, and while he is equally smitten. t...