All Booked Up

So This is Christmas by Josh Lanyon My rating: 5 of 5 stars I didn't think I could love a book-boyfriend more than Tucker Lance, but yeah...Jake's it for me now. View all my reviews

The Dark Tide by Josh Lanyon My rating: 5 of 5 stars I could not have asked for a better ending. I am content. And so sad that it's over. I am a burrito of sadness. View all my reviews

Death of a Pirate King by Josh Lanyon My rating: 5 of 5 stars I'm going to feel so empty when I finish this series. View all my reviews

A Dangerous Thing by Josh Lanyon My rating: 4 of 5 stars Lamenting that his relationship (friendship? Who-knows-ship?) with LAPD Homicide Detective Jake Riordan is going about as swell as his writing the next book in his sleuthing series, bookseller/amatuer sleuth himself Adrien English decides getting out of LA for a while would be a great idea. And from there he stumbles onto another murder mystery. Literally. There's a dead body on his property in the mountains. This gruesome discovery leads to Adrien finally getting what he wanted - time with reluctant, closeted, self-hating Jake. I liked this one more than the first for a lot of reasons. The main one being no sassy (gay) black best friend. I hate that trope with the fire of 40 thousand suns. A clear view of Jake and Adrien's budding romance (which we barely got in the first book), a deeper look into Jake himself, Native American folklore which I adore , and less of Adrien's internal ...

Fatal Shadows by Josh Lanyon My rating: 2 of 5 stars Okay, so that was...that. I'm honestly not sure how to feel about it. I was obviously invested in it, because I finished it; and not just to see who the killer was. I figured that out the moment they were introduced. I did enjoy reading it. It was a cast of colorful characters; and even though I thought Adrien was an unreliable narrator for more than half of the book, I was fine with that. I enjoy unreliable narrators. But just because I enjoyed the act of reading it, that doesn't mean I liked it. Those colorful characters? Yeah, jerks and assholes. Every last one. Hell, even Adrien was annoying with his inner monologue. And don't even get me started on the part where Adrien makes the most foolish choice ever . As for the romance, which was severely lacking, I think I'll really like Jake...eventually. He was a super jerk, closeted asshole, but I'm honestly interested to see how...

Trading in Danger by Elizabeth Moon My rating: 4 of 5 stars That was...a lot. A great coming of age adventure, and Kylara is definitely a character that I enjoy, but that pacing was s l o w . Whew. View all my reviews

His Forbidden Bride: 50 Loving States, West Virginia by Theodora Taylor My rating: 2 of 5 stars Some parts were enjoyable, and others were so cringe-worthy that I wished I'd never read it. View all my reviews

Captivated by Nora Roberts My rating: 2 of 5 stars Well, that was...something. View all my reviews

The Villa by Nora Roberts My rating: 5 of 5 stars Nora Roberts at her finest. Though it was contemporary, it was everything I love about epic 80s romantic suspense miniseries done really well. It was a lush, full world with interesting characters, steamy romances and friendship. Ahhh, I loved every word. View all my reviews

The Iron Wyrm Affair by Lilith Saintcrow My rating: 1 of 5 stars More Gaslamp than Steampunk; and my favorite part was when the dragon almost killed the main characters. I could list all of the reasons why this should have worked for me and didn't, but me wanting the main characters dead before half of the book was done pretty much sums it up nicely. View all my reviews

Fall by Kaye Blue My rating: 3 of 5 stars Enjoyed this one more than the first for quite a few reasons. 1) I'd met the characters in the previous book and had a glimpse of their backstories. Something I didn't get with Fawn and Vasile. 2) Personalities. Esther is a spitfire. She knows her own mind, she's brash and ballsy, but smart. I didn't seen her make one bad move. Other than falling in love with a known mobster, but I'm fine with that. It's a mob romance. 3) Sorin. Ohh, God, Sorin. Handsome, charming, smokin' hot sexy. Confident, arrogant, but vulnerable. Alpha without being too much of a prick. It's hard finding the right balance, but it was met here. Even more, he's honest. About his feelings or lack thereof. That is always appealing. And pretty damn unheard of for a mobster. 4) Their relationship. Anyone with eyes could see this pairing coming in the first book. Could immediately see the attraction Sorin ha...

Keep by Kaye Blue My rating: 2 of 5 stars I feel like I blinked and missed everything that would have possibly made some of this (read: a vaaaaast majority) make sense. I have a lot of questions; but damned if I wasn't entertained. View all my reviews

All the Ever Afters: The Untold Story of Cinderella’s Stepmother by Danielle Teller My rating: 1 of 5 stars This was....boring. View all my reviews

Syncopation by Anna Zabo My rating: 2 of 5 stars This is kind of hard to rate and review because I was super bored throughout most of it. Weird for a romance book with an aromantic lead and lots of BDSM in it; or maybe because of it. I don't know. Something integral that would connect me to the characters was missing. I was engaged to the point of wanting to see how it ended, but I didn't care one iota about the characters. At all. Any of them, including the one that the second book is featuring. It wasn't terrible or poorly written, but.......meh. I never thought I'd classify BDSM as boring, but here we are. View all my reviews

Fair Chance by Josh Lanyon My rating: 4 of 5 stars Now that's how you end a trilogy. View all my reviews

Fair Play by Josh Lanyon My rating: 5 of 5 stars *happy, contented sigh* View all my reviews

His to Own: 50 Loving States, Arkansas by Theodora Taylor My rating: 3 of 5 stars I shouldn't have started this one yet because there are two books in front of it but I tapped the wrong cover in my reader app and we were off to the races. I will never be a fan of this reformed white supremacist/black woman romance subgenre. I like interracial just fine, clearly; but there's a difference between an interracial couple dealing with clashing cultures and, more often than not, society and social issues in their relationship and overcoming them... and a couple where one of them literally hated the other and thought their entire race of people are subhuman. And went about proving that in violent, disgusting, bigotry-filled ways. I can't really wrap my head around falling in love with a guy who used racial epithets freely...up until the point he wanted in my pants. Speaking as a black woman, "Nah, I'm good. Thanks. Hard pass. I would rat...

The Phoenix Illusion by Lisa Shearin My rating: 1 of 5 stars Every word that didn't include Rake and wasn't about Rake and Makenna's boring arsed relationship was perfect. Review revision 11/21/2018: I had to come back and change my rating from 3 to 1. This book doesn't even feel like it should be part of the SPI series. It's basically The Rake Knows Everything And Saves The Day Show with little bits of Ian and the others thrown in while Makenna follows Rake around with big puppy dog eyes and drones on and on about how awesome he is and how she's lucky to have him. Ugh. This is not the series or characters I fell in love with. View all my reviews

Her Russian Brute: 50 Loving States, Idaho by Theodora Taylor My rating: 5 of 5 stars Oh, how I loved this! Let me count the ways: 1) A kick ass heroine! Sola was consistent perfection in personality, growth and individuality. That counts for a lot, trust me. I love a girl who can fall in love and still be herself and not just an extension of the man she loves. 2) An alpha who can be a jerk but isn't a flaming asshole. Listen, after the previous Rustanovs, Ivan had a super high bar to reach with me and he scaled it perfectly. He was a great balance of "who I used to be isn't who I want to be anymore." And went about changing himself for himself and Sola. He didn't expect her to fix him. Hell, he didn't even feel he deserved her or to be a whole person. But he wanted that, mostly for himself, so he could be with her. Again, after reading about his cousins, especially Bair...I fully expected to hate him. I was pleasantl...

His Pretend Baby: 50 Loving States, Oregon by Theodora Taylor My rating: 4 of 5 stars That actually went waaaaay better than I was expecting after the Russian Fiasco I call Bair....and my complete hatred of nearly every werewolf TT writes (I'm looking at you, Rafe). So, yeah, pleasantly surprised. I really liked Go from the start; starting loving him on their - *ahem* Wedding Night . Nyla was a...waffle honestly. She's tough one minute and then spineless the next. I'll chalk it up to her falling in love and learning to trust because this book was a return to the soap-opera feel that made me fall in love with the series in the first place. View all my reviews

Angels Fall by Nora Roberts My rating: 3 of 5 stars It wasn't terrible. View all my reviews

Becoming by Michelle Obama My rating: 5 of 5 stars After eight years with confident, witty, unfailingly graceful Michelle Obama - First Lady of the United States, it was a great experience getting to know Michelle Obama - The Person. As a black woman, I've been in some of the places she found herself and I hope that when I reflect on my own life at 54, I can say I did it with as much courage as she has. View all my reviews

The Red Scot by Twyla Turner My rating: 3 of 5 stars Cute. The friendship is spot on. View all my reviews

Holt, Her Ruthless Billionaire: 50 Loving States-Connecticut by Theodora Taylor My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book has given me so many feelings; about the characters, their struggles - both together and separate - and about the passing of my own mother that I can't even review it properly right now. View all my reviews

Seduced By The Wall Street Werewolf by C.J. Howard My rating: 1 of 5 stars Good and terrible. View all my reviews

Leverage in Death by J.D. Robb My rating: 5 of 5 stars The 47th (58th if you count the half-numbered novellas) book in the In Death series starts off with a bang. Literally. A bomb explodes in the middle of a company meeting claiming 12 lives. From there, it's a nonstop race for Lieutenant Eve Dallas and her cadre of dedicated New York City homicide cops to find the bomber before more lives are lost. What follows is, of course, your standard murder mystery; but having read 58 books in this series, you know it's not the reason I'm here. No. The reason I keep reading, and will until the inevitable end, is the character development. Eve, Roarke, Peabody and the rest are all characters that I've come to know and love and this book further cements why. The constant growth from them all, especially Eve - the main character - is exactly what keeps the series fresh. The friendships, the marriage, the romances - everything is constantly evolv...

Her Scottish King by Theodora Taylor My rating: 4 of 5 stars Thought Magnus was going to be like Rafe for a second there (and if you've been with me as I make my way through all of TT's books, you know Rafe is the love interest I hate the most), but he's truly better. Hot, alpha, jerk-ish but that comes with responsibility I suppose, but willing to change. Tara was just wonderful and I could relate on a personal level. Fighting for your right to live your life the way you want is something very hard to give up. This was the second story in what is clearly going to be a trilogy and it ended on a cliffhanger. As such, it was a more fleshed out story than Milly and Iain's, but I still prefer the first story. Something about Milly's innocence and Iain's intentions to love her from afar as well as pine for her is endearing. View all my reviews

Her Russian Beast: 50 Loving States, New Mexico by Theodora Taylor My rating: 1 of 5 stars "We accept the love we think we deserve." Had I never read those words in Perks of Being A Wallflower or been in a relationship where those words (unfortunately) applied, I'd have rated this book much lower than one star. But, here we are. Bair and Thelxiope's story (yes, that's actually her name) was a well-crafted emotional roller coaster ride of two extremely fucked up individuals in an extremely fucked up relationship. Well, one extremely fucked up person - Bair. Thel was just a young, sad girl who couldn't figure out how to forgive herself. Bair, however, was a dangerous young man with anger issues that became a cruel, horrible man. I still feel that Thel forgave him for the degradation he put her through far too quickly. I don't get how she thinks she's in love with him when she carried such anger for Alexei because he e...

Her Scottish Wolf by Theodora Taylor My rating: 4 of 5 stars Cute, fun, sexy, fast-paced; and although Iain was a jerk, he was nothing like Rafe and that makes him amazing in my book. And Milly was too adorable for words. View all my reviews

Fair Game by Josh Lanyon My rating: 4 of 5 stars View all my reviews

Her Viking Wolves: 50 Loving States, Michigan by Theodora Taylor My rating: 1 of 5 stars No. Nope. N O P E! View all my reviews

One Grave Too Many by Beverly Connor My rating: 4 of 5 stars It took a while for me to get into it; but once I did, I was all in. Diane has a great personality. She's not hardened or rashly trying to prove herself. She's smart, saavy, witty and funny. And Frank treats her like the smart, confident and capable woman she is and not like a damsel in distress. The mystery was engaging right up until the end. Can't wait to read more. View all my reviews

The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White My rating: 5 of 5 stars Full review to come. I need time to collect my thoughts, but suffice to say it's worth the read and will speak to everyone who has ever felt trapped in a prison of their own making. View all my reviews

His Everlasting Love: 50 Loving States, Virginia by Theodora Taylor My rating: 3 of 5 stars It wasn't terrible. I just didn't connect with the characters like I usually do. I really didn't care if they ended up together or not. View all my reviews

His for the Summer: 50 Loving States, Florida by Theodora Taylor My rating: 4 of 5 stars Seriously, how does she make me love these flaming jerks so vehemently?! And it's tied into Vegas, Baby! Which, I should probably finish reading. Fun, sexy story that TT writes well. View all my reviews

Unmasked by the Marquess by Cat Sebastian My rating: 3 of 5 stars This is quite a conundrum. Well, not really because I know exactly why I didn't rate this book as highly as the M/M romances CS writes impeccably well. I really don't feel the "we can't do this/we can't be together" problem that is a cornerstone of most Regency Romances when the leads are M/F. Yes, Robin is nonbinary and Pembroke is bisexual, but the constraints placed on them(Robin) is usually what is reserved for women of that period and it never rings true to me that they can't do something. I'm sure that's me, a Black American woman born in the 21st century, having been afforded privileges even white women of that time couldn't dream of shaping my view; but...still. As always, CS crafted a story that kept me engaged and watching Pembroke come alive was quite swoon-worthy. I'm absolutely going to continue to read the rest of the series ...

The Black God's Drums by P. Djèlí Clark My rating: 5 of 5 stars This was amazingly crafted. The story, the characters, the world-building all flowed together perfectly and made this a true adventure. I need more! View all my reviews

A Gentleman Never Keeps Score by Cat Sebastian My rating: 5 of 5 stars View all my reviews

His For Keeps: 50 Loving States, Tennessee by Theodora Taylor My rating: 1 of 5 stars I didn't like Colin in Josie and Beau's book and I like him even less in this one. He has now been added to the list with Rafe of characters I never want to see again. Kyra, girl, you deserve so much better. View all my reviews

Her Russian Surrender: 50 Loving States, Indiana by Theodora Taylor My rating: 4 of 5 stars I really enjoyed this even though I found both leads quite exasperating a few times. View all my reviews

Wolf and Soul: 50 Loving States, Oklahoma by Theodora Taylor My rating: 3 of 5 stars Certainly better than the last book, but still far too much Rafe. It cannot be exaggerated how much I hate him. I'm honestly glad this particular trilogy in the overall series is over, because I have had my fill of werewolves. Tu and Grady complimented each other well and, of the three books, had the best story arc. View all my reviews

It Takes Two to Tumble by Cat Sebastian My rating: 5 of 5 stars Cat Sebastian as officially a one-click author. This book was beautiful, funny and poignant. View all my reviews

The Ruin of a Rake by Cat Sebastian My rating: 5 of 5 stars Just...perfection. I'm so happy that I stumbled across this trilogy; they were each a perfect blend of romance, emotion, and humor. I found myself lost in each character and actively rooting for their happiness. All good things must come to an end, but *happy, contented sigh* ... View all my reviews

Magic Triumphs by Ilona Andrews My rating: 5 of 5 stars It was everything I ever wanted for the end of Kate's journey. View all my reviews

The Lawrence Browne Affair by Cat Sebastian My rating: 5 of 5 stars Just as emotional and erotic as the first. I fell quite in love with Lawrence myself, so Georgie never stood a chance. View all my reviews

Vox by Christina Dalcher My rating: 1 of 5 stars It's a mashup of other dystopian novels that I adored - Handmaid's Tale, Native Tongue, etc. - but I didn't enjoy it as much. I can't really explain why, other than the main character wasn't written as the powerhouse she was supposed to be. A lot of things fell flat for me, honestly; but the entire premise hangs on the main character and she was a complete letdown. View all my reviews

The Soldier's Scoundrel by Cat Sebastian My rating: 5 of 5 stars I am so happy that I stumbled across this book because every word was a joy to read. From start to finish, I loved it. I loved the mystery, the character development, the supporting characters, the social issues of the time period, the romance...everything. Everything. View all my reviews

Confessions by Kanae Minato My rating: 5 of 5 stars WOW. A fascinating look at the worst parts of human nature. View all my reviews

Wolf and Prejudice: 50 Loving States, Alaska by Theodora Taylor My rating: 2 of 5 stars The lowest rated Theodora Taylor book yet, and it's all because of Rafe. Truly. I really hated him. I disliked him heartily in Chloe's story and then again in Janelle's, but this book brought it to an all-time high loathing. He's an abusive prick (view spoiler) [...no, seriously. He kept her in a cage and kept their children from her. And he had the audacity to blame Chloe for keeping him and Alisha apart when Chloe did her absolute best to please him and make him happy...at the expense of her own, mind you...and he didn't have the balls to even talk to Chloe about what she wanted. Ugh. I don't even want to continue... (hide spoiler) ] and I really hope Alisha finds her backbone again and leaves; because any amount of time with Rafe is an eternity in hell. View all my reviews

Wolf and Punishment: 50 Loving States, Wyoming by Theodora Taylor My rating: 4 of 5 stars I really, really liked this one. Almost as much as Chloe's story, and that one was damn near perfect. I loved Mag from the first moment he was introduced to the last line of the book. And even when Janelle was annoying the frag out of me, I understood completely where she was coming from. Living with someone else's expectations of you is something I think many (read: all ) Black women have dealt with since the dawn of time. I could relate on a personal level and it made the journey that much better. This book is the 7th I've read in the series, and firmly cements Theodora Taylor as a one-click author for me. Unfortunately, Rafe's story is next and it's no secret that I despise him. He's a complete arsehole and I really don't want him to be happy. I'm perfectly content to let that jerk be miserable. I *almost* don't want to re...