definitely, possibly, maybe

there is so much i love about american dreamer . 1) it's got some serious latinx cred. the author is of dominican descent and so is the main character, but all the islands of the greater antilles are represented. haiti, cuba, and puerto rico, with a hint of jamaica. listen, it's all good. 2) there's lots of food. food i grew up with. food that represents my culture and had my stomach growling. 3) it also takes place in the southern tier. (the southern what? you ask. yeah i live and work in the southern tier of new york. the tompkins county public library is a weekly stop for my family as that is where we take some community spanish lessons. there's something just fun about reading a book set in a place where you live.) i also just love nesto and jude. their story is so sweet. i love how their relationship builds and while yes it starts out from a place of intense attraction, they also develop this really beautiful friendship and it makes everything so ...

an ice age has settled over earth and the people who have survived it must scavenge for everything. food, shelter, medicine...nothing is certain in frost . when spencer saves finn from a life-threatening situation, they form a friendship that is forged in hardship. there are hints of attraction, but finn is afraid to explore things further, especially since he needs to get back to his ailing sister. if anything happens to her while he was off enjoying himself, he wouldn't be able to live with the guilt. never mind that the human connection, the burgeoning companionship is exactly what he needs. but life is too fragile, too unpredictable to waste time. as the novella ends there may or may not be hope for the world after an environmental collapse, but at the very least you know that if you find love and happiness you might as well hold on to it. **frost will publish on march 4, 2019. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgally/ninestar press in ex...

the juniper falls series is just so good. seemingly about hockey and teenagers, each book has tackled some serious issues in deep and thoughtful ways. jake and brooke are dealing with some heavy stuff in on thin ice . and what makes jake such an interesting hero is the stuff that makes him tarnished. on the surface, he appears to be the all-american boy who has it all. but he's not perfect. he makes mistakes. costly mistakes that are a result of peer pressure and stupidity. but then he tries to turn it all around. he works hard to ensure that the mistakes that were made stop repeating themselves. and because of this, he comes out on top. and it's wonderful. and brooke who is damaged and trying to find herself, in jake she finds someone who understands. someone willing to listen. someone who cares about her. i can't gush about this book enough. it's just so good. i love these characters so much. **on thin ice will publish on february 26, 2019. i received an ...

lady augusta vivers is brilliant and ahead of her time in so many ways. all she wants is to attend university and complete her studies. all her mother wants is to marry her off. forced to agree to a london season, augusta plots with her siblings a way to appease her mother while still getting what she wants. when she is introduced to lord phineas carter-wood, she meets a kindred spirit. he too is tasked with looking for marriage and children, while trying to plan an escape to europe. meeting augusta however, he sees that their interests are aligned and that marriage between them could be a success. but augusta has convinced herself that marriage would be a hindrance to what she wants to achieve. she doesn't believe that a man would allow her to go after what she wants. mostly she completely underestimates phineas and what he would do for her. she keeps thinking he doesn't love her, but it's pretty clear that he's head over heels from the get-go, ...

the heart of texas series possibly concludes with caleb harper's story—though i wouldn't be surprised if jace and cooper didn't get spin-off stories of their own—so don't quote me on the concluding thing. my favorite cowboy  finds commitment-phobic caleb entangled with equally commitment-phobic audrey martínez. thrust together when horses suddenly turn up sick, it quickly becomes clear that they are being poisoned and that audrey is the real target. as the premier equine vet in the area, it seems as if someone is out to destroy her reputation and her livelihood. caleb's protective instincts go on overdrive, and soon he finds himself breaking all kinds of rules in order to get close to the horse doctor. when caleb's past comes calling in the form of his deadbeat mother and audrey's insecurities about committing to anyone rise to the surface they both find themselves facing their pasts. but the promise of real happiness has them slaying those dem...

the apocalypse rages on in hardest fall , and bone continues to forge the weapons asked of her without picking a side. but when george the demon hunter and dommiel the fallen angel bring her a fellow demon hunter, george's cousin, who has been mortally wounded things start to change. maybe it's actually when she uses her seraph powers to stitch together xander's heart. his heart mending triggers her own sort of healing. because xander sees her as redeemable. he sees that making a choice is inevitable, and he believes she will choose good. and so he chips away at her armor. at the being she has become as bone. and he discovers who she was before. carowyn the seraph. and he uses her name and brings her back to her truest self. this crew of characters are literally battling with the demon princes of hell, the stakes are as high as ever, and somehow the swoony romance is absolute perfection. i loved dommiel and anya to pieces in darkest heart . but xander an...

there has to be a name for the sort of bad luck that would find you giving a stray dog a bath in your skimpiest bikini when you are crashing at your ex-boyfriend's home while federal agents execute a search warrant that ends up with you as a suspect. whatever the name for that bad luck is, andromeda 'andi' hardt has it. her first encounter with nick houston and his k-9 partner, saxon, does not go well in armed'n'ready . but in spite of their awkward meeting, and the fact that she's a suspect on a case that resonates on a personal level with nick's past, there's something between them. when he is posted undercover at her dog park café, the time they spend together highlights their connection. but the case and both their pasts has them running scared. this is an enjoyable romantic suspense, and an excellent book two in the federal k-9 series. **armed'n'ready  will publish on february 25, 2019. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of n...

i was excited to see moonsworn   available for review, because i have a little history with this manuscript and i wanted to see what the finished product ended up like. (full disclosure: in my other life as a literary agent, i read this manuscript and thought that there was a lot that worked, but a few key elements that didn't, so i gave the author a revise and resubmit letter. she did resubmit, but at that point she had received an offer of publication, i am assuming from wild rose press, since they are the publisher and the timing makes sense. i was happy to see that some of my recommended edits made it into the final version of this manuscript, and i really do hope to see some of the potential books the author outlined to me as part of the series make it to press. it's funny to have a backstage view of things sometimes.) anyway, moonsworn  introduces us to the pine richland and steel valley werewolf packs. kaelan o'cur and tavis alger are rival heirs to their res...

when landon wolf is asked to go undercover as a junior deckhand on a luxury yacht in the mediterranean, he only says yes when it's clear that doing so will prevent some really bad dudes from doing some really bad things. what he doesn't expect is to hook up with the chief stewardess on the yacht and want more than one night with her. skylar plays the impossible to please golddigger with her friends, but the truth is she wants nothing to do with men or marriage. a one night stand she thought she could handle bites her in the rear when she realizes he's one of the crewmembers on her ship. as hard as she tries to keep things platonic between them. there's a spark there. both skylar and landon have some baggage, and sorting it out is made more difficult because landon has that uniquely terrible ability to do the most hurtful thing possible for what he believes is the greater good. he's not wrong about the greater good thing, but he still knows how to go fo...

jake lexington is kind of a hot mess. since his brother's accident, he's been coping with feelings of guilt and trying to keep everything in his life together all alone. his best friend, chris howell, doesn't know what else to do to help him. when jake sees haley howell at a party, it shouldn't mean anything. she's his best friend's twin sister. she's the other howell. chris would kill him if he thought twice about her. but once he sees her, really sees her, he can't stop. soon he sees how she's afraid to put herself out there, afraid to take a risk. and since he's been living life on the edge, he decides to help her reach her full potential. he's still a hot mess, but he's also intrinsically a good guy. his problem with alcohol is more about self-medicating than anything, and the crush collision   doesn't go so far to say that he is an alcoholic, but jake is still walking a dangerous line. haley helps him pull back from that li...

i'm still crying. the last letter  was both emotionally devastating and heartrendingly uplifting. it's the kind of story that gives you all the freaking feels. i can't tell you enough about how much i love beckett and ella's story. they first fall in love while writing. while he's deployed on special ops and she's dealing with life, running a business, raising her kids. and then they fall in love after everything falls apart, and her constant is taken away, and he is untethered. and then again, they fall in love, after heartbreak and mistakes and good intentions. and every time they fall in love, you fall in love too. and not just with the lead characters. everyone in this book, except for maybe jennifer and drake's mom, and drake too and principal hansen, those folks i didn't love so much, but everyone else, i loved them. and colt and maisie, what they go through, what they endure, what they survive. i'm probably making no sense. but i'm a...

i was up late last night binge-reading this book! i couldn't put it down. there are so many things i find unique about this story. i studied the nineteenth century a lot in college. any class focused on it, i was there. but i clearly have a knowledge gap regarding what was happening in american society at the time. i like that this book is set in this time frame. it's different, but not. it's 1841 in philadelphia (and delaware) as appetites & vices opens, and life wasn't all wars. there was a social structure that owes its framework entirely to the europeans. and life in the city was a whirl of social engagements and there are plenty of opportunities to exclude anyone considered other. though money talks more than pedigree, to an extent. ursula nunes is a wealthy young woman, her father is a brilliant investment banker and she is as smart as he is about business. social situations are more of a challenge. she doesn't suffer fools, and rather unfo...

i'm so excited to get a peek at cindi madsen's new romance with entangled publishing...especially on a day that celebrates romance. keep reading for the pretty cover....and some additional book info...

joe arden is the perfect jericho forge. the timbre of his voice, the way he conveys all the danger and that squishy soft heart beneath all the baggage is total perfection. there wasn't a better choice for this series, and luck of the devil  is just as an enjoyable listen as deal with the devil . erin mallon is also a great indy, her way of questioning how she's gotten herself into the position she's in, with that touch of self-deprecation and the steely determination to get her way is just perfect for the character. i love when i have the chance to both read and listen, because the experience of doing one or the other is different, but my enjoyment of the story remains the same. i love this trilogy and can't wait to listen to heart of the devil . i might have to go out and search for some more of the duo's audiobooks. **luck of the devil releases on audio on february 12, 2019. i received an advance listening copy courtesy of meghan...

luck of the devil opens with a flashback, but once we're in the present the action picks right up where deal with the devil  left off. india and jericho still have an abundance of trust issues. and both of them are holding something back. but some well-timed advice from a dirty billionaire might help get india and jericho on the same page. because together, they are an unstoppable force. this read is just as fun, just as twisty, just as enjoyable as the first book in the series. so much of that has to do with the chemistry between these two characters. when they're on the page together, everything just crackles with electricity. you feel their spark viscerally. all you can do is strap on your seatbelt and go along for the ride. it's so worth it. india and jericho forge are #couplegoals. and the ride will continue on in heart of the devil  and i can't freaking wait. **luck of the devil will publish on february 12, 2019. i received an advance reade...

book three in the phoenix risking series, resurgent ,  finally tells liam's story. labeled a traitor in book one, book two explains that he'd been working undercover with the cia. now in book three, the woman he loves but doesn't fully remember falling in love with is in danger and he needs to figure out this mess he's in before anyone else he loves gets hurt. from mexico to malaysia, charlotte and liam sort out his coded map and solve the mystery of his actions once and for all. this was a satisfying conclusion to the series. **resurgent will publish on february 11, 2019. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/entangled publishing (brazen) in exchange for my honest review. 

lady claire falls head over heels in love with colin smith the moment she sees him in wicked with the scoundrel . cursed with an eidetic memory she quickly decides to make sure her future pans out the way she'd like it too for once. so she sets out to entice colin into helping her find the lost treasure of scipio that is rumored to be hiding somewhere in bath. if he can make a claim, he will be famous, and the wealth he'd bring to their marriage might be enough to sway her father for consent. claire and colin are delightful together. how he appreciates the very quirky things that make her special, is really sweet this was a light-hearted read, even though the topic of how the brits handled antiquities is actually quite serious. but it doesn't bring down the book. it's just kind of educational in a fun way. **wicked with the scoundrel will publish on february 11, 2019. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/entangled publishing (amara)...

honestly, insta-love/lust doesn't bother me. i don't mind the gay-for-you trope either. the only thing i require is that whatever the trope you're using, you do it well. unfortunately, in strip me , the best way to describe this plot is ham-fisted. putting aside the crazy way these two characters hook up with each other, the issue i have with this book is how it tries to bring it all together. the characters hook up until they're not. then run into each other again and decide to try for real. except it's a secret. oh and one of them has some other really crazy secrets. oh and those crazy curveball secrets are revealed in the last twenty pages of the book. yeah. so ham-fisted is the best way to describe this. there was potential here, it just didn't quite live up to it. **strip me will publish on february 11, 2019. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/gallety, threshold, pocket books (pocket star) in exchange for my honest review. 

the men of lakeside series continues with the standby guy .  carter colburn and katie dixon have been best friends forever. he was her late husband's best friend, and after tim's death he helped her raise their son, sean. but now sean is off to college and it's time for katie to tackle her list of things to do. it's her time to put herself first, finally. except, she's not quite sure how to go about that. especially when it comes to sex and dating. and since carter has always been a serial dater, maybe he's the one who can help her  with getting her mojo back. and since he's in need of a pretend date to make it seem like he's a standup guy to win over a potential client who has old-fashioned ideas of what makes a good person. the thing is, they cross a line they can't uncross when they explore these things. and suddenly all those feelings that they'd both been repressing for years are all out there. it's like they are the last to know t...

in romancing his rival   elena mason has decided that lucas albright the third is the jerk who ruined her perfect relationship. somehow he convinced her dreamy fiancé to leave her. and now she hates his guts. so when she finds herself snowed in with him on her vacation she's less than happy. even though he's actually kind of nice. it doesn't matter because she's decided he's worse than lord voldemort. the thing is, elena is kind of wrong about everything. lucas isn't the heartless ruiner of relationships that she imagines him to be. he's right that she and her former fiancé do not belong together. it takes a while before elena is ready to admit that the person she does belong with is the very person she was so adamantly against. i enjoyed this story so much. lucas and elena play off each other really well. **romancing his rival will publish on february 11, 2019. i received an advance review copy courtesy of netgally/entangled publishing (bliss) ...

sophie kinsella's latest heroine is fixie farr, and basically, her deal is that she's a miss-fix-it. this kind of makes her a doormat, and you can totally see where she is doing life wrong, but that's why she gets a book to figure out her issues and grow up. i owe you one reminds me of i've got your number  but slightly less funny. partly because the issue are a little too real. and partly too because it's so hard to top that one in my book. but i enjoyed the back-and-forth between sebastian and fixie. and as always kinsella's books are a breeze to read. **i owe you one will publish on february 5, 2019. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/random house publishing group (the dial press) in exchange for my honest review. 

the kinky spurs series comes to a close as the last blackshaw brother standing gets the happily ever after in hard-riding cowboy . nash blackshaw is starting over after a bad injury derailed his bull-riding career, everything in his life is different, except for his heated rivalry with megan harrison. they've been raised to hate one another, their fathers were fierce rivals. bur there's a thin line between love and hate, and megan and nash cross it multiple times. their journey isn't a straightforward one, but that makes the end result all that much sweeter. they have to fight to find their happy, and it's totally worth it i think. just another great addition to the series, and there are plenty of side characters to explore should the author choose to do so. **hard-riding cowboy will publish on february 5, 2019. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/st. martin's press (swerve) in exchange for my honest review. 

the kings series continues with the fearless king , and honestly, the only fearless person in this whole novel is frank evans. the king siblings are running scared, terrified by the reappearance of their deadbeat, abusive jerk of a father. the trauma of that abuse is a real, living thing in journey. when she seeks frank out, it's because the moments she's in his arms, those are the only moments she feels safe from the minute she is aware of her father's inglorious return to her life. some of that pain is absolutely visceral to read. and the effects of that trauma on the individual king siblings is something that will reverberate throughout the series, i think. i want to keep reading, i'm so compelled by this family. much like the o'malleys i want them to find their way to some sort of peace. **the fearless king will publish on february 5, 2019. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/grand central publishing (forever) in exchange for my hones...

when brynn hilder is invited to study at vale hall, she sees a chance to escape her not-great home life. little does she know that she's being recruited to the school for her talents at long cons. the school claims to be righting wrongs, and brynn is only to happy to help eliminate corrupt public figures. but as her con progresses and she gets closer to her mark, and also finds herself growing closer to her peers, the lines between wrong and right start getting confusing. and knowing what the correct thing to do isn't a straightforward choice. part caper, part teen high school drama, the deceivers  is a fun story and well-worth the read. **the deceivers will publish on february 5, 2019. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/macmillan-tor (tor teen) in exchange for my honest review. 

i don't know what it is about the professor–student trope in romance novels that really works for me? because for sure there are power dynamic issues galore. the one time i was hit on by my college professor was not hot and creeped me out so badly i stopped going to class regularly. but there is something about the fantasy that i enjoy. and her guilty secret  has so much forbidden lust that it basically sparks off the page. when connor hughes first spars with olivia amorelli during a lecture he knows that he's in trouble. she's something he can't stay away from. and as much as she wants to despise him, she also adores his brilliance. even as he stands for everything she hates. the chemistry between these two is incredible. **her guilty secret will publish on february 1, 2019. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/harlequin (dare) in exchange for my honest review.