definitely, possibly, maybe

when half-fae, half-vampire holden is brought into an active murder investigation in blood is forever , he's frustrated by the fact that he is unable to help the way he is expected to. these murders, how they are occurring, are stranger than usual. and his failure pushes him to work harder to solve them. when he is paired with witch royalty, val blackwood, everything breaks open. but not before he finds himself entirely taken with val and too enmeshed in the case to be considered objective anymore. this case is bigger than them. it's bigger than the council demanding they solve it. and the implications have significant consequences for them both. i enjoyed the mystery and was willing to go along with the twists and turns this story took. and i can see a future for more stories set in this universe. **blood is forever will publish on june 3, 2019. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/ninestar press in exchange for my honest review.

this is what happens when the hero of the story is the villain. loosely based on disney's aladdin  with a whole host of other disney movie-related characters making appearances, desperate measures  is the kind of read that feels so good even though you know it's wrong. if you are triggered by non-con, then this is not the read for you, since consensual non-con is the kink favored by this version of jasmine and jafar.  jasmine is trapped by circumstances, and the dangerously erotic game she plays with jafar most certainly lands her in trouble, but the other options are significantly worse. ali is a horrible rat of a human, and the best part of the story is that for all that jafar tries to save her from him, jasmine ultimately saves herself.  for all the subjugation and submissiveness, the real theme here is empowerment. because jasmine likes what she likes. she loves who she loves. and she takes power and her life in control and is a freaking boss. and at the...

addison "addie" murphy is just one of the guys. she's always been one of the guys, so when one of the guys gets engaged, she's included in the wedding party as just one of the groomsmen , hiding in plain sight as a bridesmaid. one of the best things about addie is how much she clearly loves her friends and would do anything for them, because even though wearing dresses and doing girly things aren't her scene she willingly submits to all of it. things only start to get confusing when tucker crawford gets back in town. at first, he's just happy to be in the place that has always felt like his truest home with the people who matter most to him in the world. but then, when he starts noticing addie in not friendlike ways he's torn. because their friendship means everything to him. and he's afraid that one wrong move will ruin everything. and this book is just about so many things, in part it's about coming home, but it's also about finding you...

lucy and sam grew up in the worst sort of circumstances. but they had each other, and they believed that together they'd get out, that life would get better. than things could be different. but when sam is arrested for drug possession, lucy sees the promises they made to each other as lies and his betrayal cuts deep. so she leaves him and everything else behind. eventually finding a way forward. ten years have gone by when a love like yours  opens, and sam is now a successful boxer, having won olympic gold after his stint in prison. lucy has followed his career, without ever admitting to anyone her connection to sam. not even to her fiancé. but when she's given the chance to see sam fight in person, she can't stop herself from going. even though she's terrified about facing him again, there's so much unfinished between them. he's the man she can't stop thinking about, even though she has a man at home who has done so much for her, and for her career. w...

when milo and tom first meet in american fairytale , it's this instant connection and crazy hot hook up. and then it's complicated. milo is a social worker dedicated to helping women out of abusive situations, who works hard to help his mom and does the best he can with what he has and tom is the man with the purse strings, who has the means of solving all the problems with merely opening his wallet. this difference between them is the heart of their conflict. milo and tom have more than enough love and chemistry and commitment between them. but milo is proud and he doesn't want tom for the money. the last thing he wants is tom's money. and tom, he's a fixer and he doesn't always grasp that sometimes even though he has the means to solve a problem, he needs to take a step back and let milo fix them on his own. milo doesn't want a white knight swooping in to save the day. he wants a partner. and tom wants to be that partner. but he also can't stand ...

in a surprise twist, just when you might have thought the harris brothers were in retirement, amy daws throws a loop and come out with payback . focusing on alice harris, a long-lost american cousin, and roan de walt, booker and tanner's south african bethnal green teammate. the chemistry between these two is scorching hot. and it's only right that their porn-style raunchy sex is actually caught on video. and you know what they say about the accidental sex tape in the first act...it will come into play by the third. you'd think that what allie did was unforgivable, but the thing is, roan is like the super dreamiest guy. he is actually not interested in groupies. he's looking for a monogamous relationship. he wants something real and serious with allie. he's all in from the get-go and it's allie who is the hot mess who needs to get her head on straight. spending time with the harrises is always a delight. and allie and roan are a couple you can root for...

you have to love the inscrutable hero in the unhoneymooners . poor ethan is much maligned and really doesn't deserve all the bad feelings olive torres has been sending his way. from the get-go it's pretty clear that she's bad at reading body language and social cues, and prone to thinking the worst and making huge assumptions about what people think.  this is the root of her problems. one she learns when she's on an impromptu honeymoon with ethan and realizes that all the things she assumed about him are dead wrong. lest you think olive is some horrible shrew, she's actually not. she's funny and engaging and the kind of heroine you root for. she's got a problem with verbal diarrhea at the most inopportune times. and have i said she's funny.  the chemistry and interplay between her and ethan is fantastic. and how the black moment turns on both her being right about this one thing, but no one believes her because of her propensity to think the wor...

when reed bishop corners the woman he believes to be his informant at her studio apartment in wrong bed, right girl , he's more than a little surprised to discover someone else in her place. but not knowing whether or not his informant has been made, and being in the middle of a big drug case means that he can't just leave the stranger behind. so he brings talia home. and then she doesn't leave. and it's okay, because he doesn't want her to leave. because there's that spark that flutters every time she's in the same room. and he is afraid to acknowledge it. and he's afraid that holding on to it will snuff it out. but it's there. and talia feels it too. she tries to leave and then, she doesn't. and all of a sudden, instead of strangers, they're roommates and then a couple. and so when the inevitable freak out happens, it's because they've moved so quickly that their feelings are so involved when they lash out and it hurts. but fe...

as the president's only son, alex claremont-díaz is paparazzi fodder. he's young, attractive, and smart. he's got a will-they/won't-they thing going on with his best friend nora, the vice president's granddaughter and a great relationship with his older sister, june. which is a good thing, since they inhabit this politically-famous world together, one where they must balance being wild and carefree with avoiding scandal at all costs.  and maybe if alex hadn't been forced to attend the future king of england's wedding as red, white & royal blue opens he might have avoided running into prince henry and taking out the wedding cake in a spectacular fashion. it's not every day an act of clumsiness and rivalry results in an international incident. but it has, and now he is forced to spend even more time with his possibly least favorite person on the planet.  (my only complaint about this book is that prince henry is named henry. i would have pref...

at wilmont academy abstinence-only education is the only way to talk about sex. never mind that the student populace is left confused and underinformed about sex, relationships and how to keep yourself safe from assault, pregnancy and other stds. ask me anything opens at the annual student lecture about how sex is all that is wrong with the world, and our heroine, amber is so over this attitude. but she's not sure how to make things better for her friends. or for herself really. until recently she had a boyfriend, but after he assaulted her at a party she's struggling with trust, safety, and guilt. for a young adult novel, the way the characters talk about and experience sex is open and upfront, so if that isn't what you are looking for in your young adult fiction, then this is probably not the book for you. that being said, the openness and honesty about sex and the consequences of sex and nonconsensual sexual situations is absolutely wonderful. when dean (amber...

full disclosure: i'm the literary agent of record on 8 souls . so obviously there is a lot i love about this book. and i'm going to tell you what those things are. and why those things had me sign rachel up to be my client and why you might also enjoy this book. as a literary agent one of the things i do to search for talent is review query letters. these are essentially cold-call emails from prospective authors telling me about their book and why i should read it. query letters are good practice for back cover copy, and i wish more authors thought of them that way. just how like a reader is in a book store and picks up your book and flips to the back to see what it's about, and then maybe opens the first page and reads a couple of sentences, that's what an agent does with a query letter. and i'll be honest, i wasn't sure about this book rachel was pitching me. i usually read contemporary ya romance. not true crime. but this book is inspired by a true crim...

usually accidental pregnancy stories don't work for me, but there was something about becka and aaron, maybe how hot the chemistry ran between them. maybe how the way they connect physically leads them to connect emotionally on so many levels is done in a way that feels organic and honest. it doesn't just happen in an instinctive way, but in an intellectual way that really works for me. they have reservations about each other all over the place. but they also want each other so badly. make me yours  works because that's all either of them really wants. to belong. to be claimed. to be wanted by the other person as badly as they want. **make me yours will publish on may 1, 2019. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/harlequin (dare) in exchange for my honest review.