I stumbled across this author by complete fluke and then read everything she's written. Then stalked her until I found out how to get my grabby hands on an arc of this book. It's one of those moments where I'm so excited to find a new to me author and so miserable that there isn't a massive back catalogue for me to devour. So now I have to wait for each new book to be written. 

Callum and Lilac were so perfect together. I'm becoming a little obsessed with these psycho guys and their possessive over the top ness. And Callum delivered. But I loved that Lilac just accepted his crazy stalkerness and embraced it.

There was so much going on here that I couldn't wait to get to the bottom of it all. I had so many different theories about the who's and the why’s that I was dying to see how Callum, Tristan and Hayden were going to keep their ladies safe. Almost as much as I was waiting to see what the next slightly (entirely) unhinged thing they were going to do or say next.

And yet with all the murder and mayhem there was so much humour. And for a virgin our boy had a filthy mouth and knew exactly what he was doing. This series has been awesome and I am really excited to get Winter and Tristan, but damn, October feels way too far away. I hate waiting.

https://amzn.to/44Mu3CZ

Every time a new Until book comes out, I can't wait to get my grabby hands on it. Since I first picked up Until November, I have been obsessed with the entire Mayson family, and I am absolutely dreading the end of this amazing family. Aurora Rose Reynolds has been an automatic one click author since that first book.

Bax was everything that we can expect from a Mayson man. His past is less than desirable, but from the second he lays eyes on Olivia the “boom” hits and he is the perfect over the top, possessive alpha. And of course, for Olivia that means nothing but trouble without her even realising. 

Of course we got a beautiful, caring, sweet, strong woman who has absolutely no idea of all that is about to befall her. The good and the bad, but I was there for every word of it and I didn't want to leave for a second. And now I go back to impatiently waiting for the next one.

https://amzn.to/4jr9q4L

I am so obsessed with Bella Matthews books it's bordering on a problem. The minute I could I stuck off to read a chapter or two before bed. Cue the book hitting me in the face around the 50% mark because I can't bring myself to put it down. Then I'm having to adult all day before I finally get to finish it. And now I'm miserable because I've finished it and have to wait for the next one.

I really love the whole marriage of convenience trope, and a single parent is just icing. Add in the fact this is part of a large sporting family dynamic and I really couldn't ask for more. There are so many amazing secondary characters and the very much loved first generation I really am in my happy place every time I pick one of these books up.

Addie and Leo were sizzling hot. And although their relationship progressed quickly it felt really natural and organic. The way Leo instantly took to Izzy and Lennox and loved them like his own had my ovaries exploding every time he loved on them. Then we got the whole growly, possessive “my wife” and sign me up for one please.

The book had all the spice, sweetness, romance and drama that I want to stay wrapped up in all things Kroydon Hills. So, I guess I'll just go back to not so patiently waiting for the next one.

https://amzn.to/4idKKMe

This book was exactly what I needed. While also being exactly what I wasn’t expecting when I picked it up. The first book in the series was set in college and I assumed this one would be too. But once I picked it up, I didn’t care at all that it wasn’t set in college because I was so busy falling for these characters and waiting for the drama bombs to start dropping. 

From the first page I was in and needing to know exactly what had happened to get Vi to that point. Then we jump to the first chapter and Declan was beyond perfect, and an idiot, at the same time, but in all the right ways and for all the right reasons and I just couldn’t get enough of him. Their relationship happened so organically and realistically and just smoothly but with so many little strings left dangling that I couldn’t put it down. I had so many theories of how things were going to be revealed and what was going to be the fallout of each revelation.

We got the perfect amount of the OG characters and a great introduction to some new characters. But I was so busy obsessing over Vi and Declan and how perfectly they handled everything involving Tucker. I had all the feels while reading this, but the main one was just pure swoon over Declan. I am off to add the next one to my kindle. Toodles

https://amzn.to/4d0Brft

KING OF NOTHING

Aurora Rose Reynolds

Release Date: July 29

Blurb

I met him when my ship was sinking, and I clung to him through the storm. Little did I know he needed me as much as I needed him.

The first time I saw Roman Dante King, he stuck out like an odd puzzle piece that got mixed up in the wrong box. It wasn’t his blue eyes in the dim light of the bar, the tattoos that covered his arms and hands, or even his arrogant personality. It was something else—something I couldn’t see—that told me he didn’t belong in our small beach town on the Oregon coast.

Elora Mazie Barlow reminded me of a hummingbird zipping from one flower to another, never stopping, never allowing anyone more than a glimpse before she was gone. Never letting anyone in… until me. Then she gave me her smiles that were more valuable than anything I ever owned and wrapped me in her peace without asking for anything in return.

Her tragic story sounded achingly familiar to my own.

Our connection is knotted up in loss. The journey we’re on together will eventually come to an end. But will we be able to untangle the mess of strings that have tied us together?

Will we even want to?

My Review

Buy Links

US https://a.co/d/bBBpTI0

UK https://amzn.eu/d/ehcqYjH

CA https://a.co/d/7rpXK2x

AU https://amzn.asia/d/0TfEPjp

Available in KU

Meet Aurora Rose Reynolds

Aurora Rose Reynolds is a New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author whose wildly popular series include Until, Until Him, Until Her, Underground King, Shooting Stars, Fluke My Life and How to Catch an Alpha series.

Her writing career started in an attempt to get the outrageously alpha men who resided in her head to leave her alone and has blossomed into an opportunity to share her stories with readers all over the world.

Connect with Aurora Rose Reynolds:

https://linktr.ee/Auroraroser

Anyone who knows me, knows that Aurora Rose Reynolds could never write a bad book in my opinion. In fact, I'm pretty sure the lady just has golden words flowing from her finger tips. So, it feels incredibly disloyal to say that story wise, I think this is her best written book to date. It's hard to explain because Until November still has all the stars and will forever be a favourite read of mine but this book feels like it has more depth to the story.

The characters were beautiful, don't get me wrong. And I loved them and their journey, but the true beauty of this story was as much their journey as it was them. Whereas earlier books the characters have been the heart, and their journey has been second to them. 

Elora and Roman met while each dealing with their own grief in different stages and in different ways. And watching each of them come to terms with that and not only work through it but also grow together at the same time was awesome. There was so much going on that could have worked out in a multitude of ways that I couldn't wait to see what was going to happen next and how.

Everything worked out beautifully and I fell more in love with each character and I loved it. I laughed, I swooned, I cried, and I smiled through my tears. And although I think from a literary perspective this book shows the authors growth and development, I still think her debut book is my favourite. Sorry not sorry. #AsherForever

https://amzn.to/4cRaYBb

I put down Dark Intentions and immediately needed to read Nikolai and Sophia’s story. And I don’t regret a thing. I normally avoid mafia stories, and anything labelled as dark is normally hit and miss because dark is such a broad brush. Yes, this had dark themes but I have no issue with blood and action, the things I can’t stand are degradation and using the label to just let the hero be an all-around piece of shit. The guys in this are the definition of anti-hero and they have their moments where they are maybe a toe over the line of treating their ladies poorly but the mitigating circumstances made me ok with it.

I am not able to review these books separately as I made the mistake of reading the blurb of both books because I knew I would have to read both, and I had to check the trigger warnings and such because I am a wuss. So, I went into the second book knowing that the cliffhanger from book one was going to be resolved. Also, from their cameo in Dark Intentions I knew they were living happily ever after so I was reasonably confident I could handle it.

Nikolai was a complete psycho, but he was so completely obsessed with Sophia and literally saw nothing but her. Their entire love story was dark and twisted and probably the least romantic story I have read but their connection was so intense and undeniable. I couldn’t get enough of them or their journey from first meeting to Nikolai burning down the whole world to make sure his sparrow was safe.

Everything about this book had me unable to breath anything but it from the second I read the first page. And now I am wanting to read the rest of the books around this couple because I am in love with them all and their dark world. Oh, and now I have a new author to stalk so YAY. 

https://amzn.to/41FcRfz

So, it’s not really a secret that my reading tastes have become a little on the wussy side over the years. Every now and then I look back over the books I’ve read and realise just how drastically my reading tastes and my reading style has changed. But the thing is I still want to read some of those books that I used to devour I just always feel like I need to be in the right head space and to be honest with a houseful of kids running around along with a handful of adult or mostly adult kids my head space can change on a dime. 

Then you have the fact that the books labelled as dark, and bully can vary so drastically and the things that I like in those books are hard to discover when just reading the blurb and warnings and tags. So, I tend to steer away as I would rather read a book I’m pretty much guaranteed to like rather than read a book I hate and can’t review fairly because it’s my own personal preference as to why it didn’t work for me. Then a book like this comes from left field. Like seriously never heard of the author or the book but while looking for a different book spotted a teaser and had all my kinks jump out at me and make me instantly one click it. Plus, it’s a KU title so bonus.

From the first page I was so in. Lily was so sweet and drove herself so hard to be perfect without realising the only one putting that pressure on her was herself. But she was no push over either. She had grown up in such a safe and loving and perfect family and place that she knew her own worth and knew she was safe even when she was picked on by the queen bees. Plus, she had an awesome friend who had her back. But then we meet Cayden and suddenly the story just grabbed hold even tighter.

Cayden was a character that I can kind of relate to and I swear I read half of this book with tears in my eyes. His actions are so understandable when you see the trauma he has lived through and having his point of view and knowing how he felt made me love him so much. Even if I wanted to slap him for his self-sabotage and tell Lily that she deserved more I couldn’t help but want her to stand up and push back and see where his actions came from. And the fact that Lily didn’t let him walk all over her but that she did forgive him and see past his front made her the perfect match.

I literally couldn’t be happier that I picked up this book even if I did it on a whim. And now I’m going to go beg for the next one. Oh, and I need to know more about Nikolai and see if I can see if my big girl panties can handle that now. Toodles.

https://amzn.to/48eH87i

I feel like I'm in the opposite of a book slump. Suddenly there are all these awesome books that I've added to my TBR over the years and forgotten about and I want to read them all right now. Which is the opposite of my normal what to read next dilemma. Although it still took me over an hour to narrow it down to this one and in the end, I had to use a random number generator to pick from the fifteenth books I couldn't choose between.

But damn am I glad this was the pick. Plus, it was on KU so I even feel like that was a win. That said I feel like I'm in a college hockey era and I have no plans to leave. The biggest stumbling block for me with this book was the length. I feel like most of the books I read are 200-300 pages and when they get beyond that I worry. But there wasn't a single page in this that I skimmed.

Chase Carter was the perfect hero. Seriously he fell so hard, and there was never any doubt as to where he was in this relationship. I couldn't get enough of him and the way he loved Bailey and put her above everything. Unfortunately, he had the whole man whore thing down to an art form. But watching him become this amazing man with Bailey always at the forefront of his thoughts was beautiful.

Bailey started off a bit of a doormat before Chase stepped in and showed her the strength he saw in her. And honestly watching her bloom and stand up for herself made her incredibly likeable. I couldn't put this down and as much as I want to grab the next book in the series, I think I better wait until I have the time to get wrapped up in the pages like I did with this one.

https://amzn.to/3NJZCV7

Ah. I'm so mad with myself right now. I saw the promo for The Wildcat and had to read it. Then I saw it was book two in the second generation. Having a little time up my sleeve and the OG generation being on my TBR I thought I'd start there. So, I binged all of the Kings of Kroydon Hills and loved it. Then I waited until I had The Wildcat on my kindle to read this book. Now I'm just kicking this off and I'm realising that I should have read the other books that I added to my TBR for “after”. Because it's all of those guys second generation too and I am feeling so left out. Ah.

Ok I just finished and yeah. I can't keep the second generation straight. I've only read a third of the first gen but I'm obsessed and want nothing more than to hide out and binge every book right now.

Lindy and Easton were everything. And from the second that Lindy realised she had gotten everything she wanted and more this book was hot AF. I think when Lindy said Easton was the perfect mix of growly protective and supportive of her choices, she best summed him up. The way Easton loved Lindy was awesome.

But watching Lindy come into her own to stand up for her relationship with Easton was just as perfect. I had all the feels, and I spent half the book waiting for the drama to kick me and when it did hit it was perfect. I couldn't put this book down and I can't wait to pick up the next one.

https://amzn.to/4877OGj

The worst part of being obsessed with an author and her work is having to wait for her to write the books. Especially when you have a goldfish memory, and the books are months apart because all I want to do is binge read the series, so I know how everyone fits together. But because I have read each of these books as they were released, I feel like I read this as a standalone.

Fallyn and her loss had me feeling so devastated for her. And I completely understood her anger towards Wolf. Until we got to know more of Wolf and see how entirely devoted and obsessed, he was with Fallyn. And seeing the loss from his side had an extra dose of devastation. 

But the history of Fallyn and Wolf was so sweet and beautiful. I loved seeing them fall in love all over again with the history between them and the misunderstandings cleared up. I was so glad that they were cleared up quickly and easily and we got so much of Fallyn and Wolf together.

The chemistry between them was off the charts and with the way Wolf spoke and acted I wasn't expecting the little twist. But it was cake on top of cake. Dirty talking, jealous, protective, possessive, obsessive, tattooed, growling hockey player. Yeah, I am glad I got to read it in private. 

I honestly didn't put this down for a minute from the first time I opened it. Wolf is a hero that's going to be living rent free in my head for a while. Oh, and the bonus epilogue was so sweet. I loved it. Now I'm dying to read the next one, even though I know by the time I get my hands on it I won't remember a thing. That teaser was like catnip.

https://amzn.to/48UzOO5

I saw a teaser for this book, and I basically ran around screaming I volunteer as tribute. I couldn't get my hands on it fast enough. I had absolutely no idea it was a crossover of a series that's been on my TBR. So, once I realised that I was even more keen to get an idea of the writing style and see some of the characters.

Obviously, this was just a smutty little novella, so I wasn't expecting much of a story. And although we did get some it was just enough to make me invested in the characters. Because the first “meet” was steamy and set up their first in person meeting perfectly. From there the push and pull managed to toe the line between stop being an idiot and omg when is this going to happen perfectly. 

Aaron was possessive and jealous and all things hot, over the top, alpha. Amber was the perfect mix of naive and smart, well educated, strong willed and well aware of her worth but wanting to break out of her good girl persona. And watching her get what she wanted, and more was so hot, and my husband definitely appreciated the read.

I always know I am going to enjoy reading a Melissa Foster book. The story has never failed to be interesting and unique. The characters are likeable and engaging and we run into a whole heap of people we have already met and fallen a little in love with.

None of the heroines in these books are pushovers, which is lucky since all of the men are growling, demanding alphas who need to be put back in their place from time to time. And that went doubly so for Blaine. Especially since at the start he was so demanding, but he was also so inflexible and unprepared to give anything of himself. Add to his reluctance to be in a relationship and I wanted Reese to look elsewhere.

But Reese knew her own mind and had been looking after herself and Collette for long enough to not be a doormat. The story was good and as usual I felt all the feels. There was just enough drama to keep me glued to the page and the pacing was great. Plus, it was hot as hell with Blaine's dirty mouth.

I love that I can binge read these as a series when the mood strikes or just pick one up here or there when a blurb grabs me. Because these big families and interconnected characters feel like coming home to a warm bath.

Kristen Ashley is the queen of alpha's so when she started the whole mystery thing, I wasn't sure how it was going to go. Luckily for all ka fans it went with a bang and was freaking awesome. And this one was actually better than the last.

I had this on preorder and before I could start, I had to find an audio book for a two hour drive and all I could focus on was my desire to read this so I ended up buying it twice. And the narration was great. I actually was bummed to arrive at my destination and have to put the story aside for a few hours.

Rus and Cin felt like they were made for each other. And I was so in love with Rus by the time he met Cin that no one less than her would have been enough. But damn do I wish I was her when I grew up. Throw in her beautiful daughter Madden and they were the perfect package for Rus.

The story had me absolutely captivated and I don't know if I was just oblivious or if I was just so engrossed in the story, but I literally didn't see that character as being the killer. I honestly, gasped his name out when it was revealed and then wondered if I had missed something when that character was mentioned earlier. But in the end, I decided I don't care if I missed something that whole thing was awesome.

I really really hope that Kristen Ashley continues with this series. Because as much as I love her writing and have several of her books on my all-time favourites list I have been struggling with some of her other works. But this was gold, and I loved every word. And I'm praying that Sabrina and Jace are coming to our kindles soon.

I love these 1001 dark nights novellas. They are the perfect taste test of new authors or a cherry on top of ones I already stalk love. Aurora Rose Reynolds is one of my top insta click authors so everything she has written I've devoured. 

Bridgett and Noah are secondary characters we got a very brief introduction to in an earlier novel but to be honest I didn't pay any attention to them. So, this book was an entire stand alone in the series. But it is classic ARR.

Sweet, smart, independent woman meets possessive, protective alpha hero and a relationship grows. There's a slight drama (not between the main couple) and the hero swoops in to save the day. Plus, we got cute as hell puppies.

I devoured it as soon as the pre-order landed on my kindle. And now I am sad that I have finished it.