definitely, possibly, maybe

sean o'malley plays the part of a rough around the edges, overgrown man-child, bad boy. in fact, he's everything that emma long avoids when it comes to relationships. when it comes to one-night stands, however, she's a little more open to the idea of a bad boy. and when their paths cross in your arms  the sizzle starts up between them immediately. except that emma doesn't get quite what she expects from sean. he is more than just the bad boy. i mean, in some respects sean is a slacker and he is definitely a man-child, but no one has given him a reason to be different. until emma he's never wanted to try to be different. and this is the one thing i found frustrating about the novel, she wants him to be different but assumes he can't be and never really gives him the chance to prove himself. he has to fight for all of his chances. and yes, he messes up a couple of times, some with more reason than others, but he also is the one consistently putting himself out t...

parts 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , and  5  can be found at their respective link, part 6 follows the mysterious jump.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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