amandamant's reviews
213 reviews

I absolutely LOVE the premise of this book. But I did have an issue.

The story itself truly is just wonderfully smart. It’s well written and entertaining.

But the truth of the matter is I felt like something was off for me. Honestly, I felt that the main characters were a tiny bit too perfect.

Any flaws were completely justified. Particularly because they were surrounded by very flawed supporting characters. The hero, for example, was completely sensible until the big issue at the end. And we all know a big issue at the end that has to be worked out is a super important part of a romance. But the thing is, while it was foreshadowed through his pervious experience, it didn’t match the way he acted the rest of the book. I’m trying not to use any spoilers here so sorry for being super vague, but he had multiple opportunities throughout to jump to conclusions.

The thing about romances that keeps me on the edge of my seat is that characters are flawed and they come together and create something that’s perfect for them. I’m not into hugely angsty stories often times because it’s super stressful for me. However, seeing perfectly good and sensible people getting their happily ever after in fiction feels a bit unfulfilling. Note the word ‘perfectly’ in that ast sentence.

It truly is a good book. ‘Cleaner’ and ‘safer’ [those terms annoy me, but I know they’re the best explanation in popular book review slang] than most romances I read. Very descriptive, well written, it never felt like it dragged for me. I’m glad I read it and I recommend it to all lovers of romance. But, while it made me laugh and kept me entertained, it didn’t get my heart pumping.

I don’t give Ella Goode bad reviews, but I feel like this book wasn’t on par.

Her last book was sensational. A new favorite of mine. This one just didn’t work for me.

You see, the first sexy scene just ended. There was no mention of her passing out or anything, it’s just [page turn] she’s wearing new clothes. I’m very confused. That doesn’t happen with Ella. The naughty stuff doesn’t happen off page. And if someone passes out from the joy and exhaustion of incredible orgasms, it’s mentioned immediately. She’s amazing at the naughty stuff. Was I missing a page or chapter or something? :(

I didn’t get all tingly with this story. I’m used to getting all tingly with Ella stories. It’s part of their appeal. Short, but sexy. I honestly didn’t feel it with this one.

Also, I felt like our hero was pretty cold. Sure that whole strong alpha royal ‘I get whatever I want’ thing is going on with him, but I never felt like he was particularly nice to her. I did like that he didn’t let her past make a difference to him. Here’s the thing though, he never actually asked her to marry him. In fact, he calls her his ‘consort’ during their second sexy times. That word usually equates to mistress in my experience. And mistress and romance heroine just doesn’t work for me.

Again, I don’t give Ella bad reviews. I truly love her books. But unfortunately, this one is just not my favorite. I still recommend it if you’re a fan of Ella’s work. Please tell me I’m wrong if you disagree. Maybe I’m just in a weird mood or something. But if you’re looking for your first Ella Goode book get Claiming His Queen and fall in love with it.

I am not a fan of bully romance...at all. But I love Jessa Kane.

The stress of a bully romance is real for me. Honestly, it’s triggering. Having had my own real life bully romance in high school that left nothing but scars reading about them is less than fun. But I am a huge Jessa Kane fan so I wanted to take the chance. And while it’s still a ‘not my cuppa’ trope, I’m glad I read it.

I felt awful for our heroine very early on. Domestic abuse is horrible and she dealt with a lot. Truthfully, I really wish Jessa would’ve put a trigger warning on this for the domestic abuse. The bullying was rough enough.

But, the bullying wasn’t very detailed. I truly appreciated that. It was clear that it was happening, but we only experienced a bit of it.

She made me like a bully romance so I’m giving this one four stars. But I’ll admit, this one will not become a re-read for me. I do recommend it for Jessa Kane lovers and fans of bully romance. I will say though, if you’re not a fan of either, you may want to skip it. If you don’t like bully romance I don’t think this will make you like bully romance. And it could put a bad taste in your mouth for Jessa Kane who is flat out awesome. Check out her other synopses for a plethora of other options of books you’ll love if bully isn’t your cuppa. You won’t regret reading Jessa Kane. Trust me.

I really enjoyed this book. For me, it was a lot like Wanting My Stepsister (which I loved!) with a high school / Shielding Lily (another fantastic AR book) vibe.

I love that these two meet as kids and become besties. I love that things get confusing for them when hormones get involved. But most of all, I love that when they decide to go for it, they do. The twists and turns that get them there are deliciously entertaining. The steam though? Off the charts.

I hadn’t read this one before because my AR experience before expanding my book budget consisted solely of the books they had available on KU at one time or another. But I’m very glad I took a chance on this one. That’s the thing about Alexa books...the great ones are great, the good ones are good, but the bad ones are very bad. I’m glad this wasn’t in that last category.

I highly recommend this to my fellow lovers of short and steamy stories. It’s definitely worth the purchase, and if you manage to catch it on sale or as part of an anthology, you better go for it!

Holy hotness Batman!

The naughty train has left the station and has no plans to return from this one!

It’s over the top in the extreme. Completely unrealistic. Quite a bit ridiculous. Don’t you dare read this book expecting it to fantasize reality...this is complete fantasy and frankly, I’d be scared spitless of this dude in real life.

But it’s entertaining for a short story that’s sole purpose is to give you that tingly feeling. Unless you refuse to suspend reality, it’s really hard to say this book isn’t hot.

Is it worth $2.99? Eh. Probably not. But I was in the mood for exactly what this book gave me. I don’t regret dipping into this month’s book budget. Recommended for lovers of short and sexy stories!

I was shocked to realize I’d never read this story when I sat down to watch the Netflix show. I decided to read it simply to note every difference between it and the new show on Netflix. And I filled six pages back and front with notes.

The show is phenomenal. The book is good too. But they both have this glaring problem and that problem is so much bigger in the book.

The rape scene.

And yes, she rapes him.

Doesn’t matter which way you read it, or who you sympathize with, or that they’re married. The man was asleep and she woke him up with her goodies and got him to [you know] before he was even truly conscious. And he was two sheets to the wind drunk only a few hours before. Was she mostly clueless? Yes. But even as she did it, she knew what she was doing and that it was wrong.

And she never actually apologizes for it! He apologizes. Tells her she screwed up and leaves her high and dry (as he should), but eventually, he’s the one who apologizes. It’s not okay. At all.

It’s handled differently in the show. Still rape, but you have to actually look for it. If you aren’t quite paying attention it’s not hard at all to miss it. I did the first time around. I felt yucky and wasn’t sure why, but then I realized it. And man, what a crappy choice from the producers. They had a wonderful opportunity to shine a light on a subject we’re still afraid to equate with men. Frustrating. They didn’t omit it, so...small steps...I guess. I wish more people were pissed so they’d actually do something about it.

I reviewed another historical romance not long ago that I had read before. Many times. Whitney, My Love by Judith McNaught. I need to state for the record - Judith McNaught walked so Julia Quinn could run - full stop.

In Whitney, My Love there is a blatant rape scene. The genders are reversed so it’s much easier to spot. And frankly, that was a bully romance before we knew to categorize bully romance. But that book was written in the 1980s. It was part of the renaissance of historical romance. I give it a bit of a break because of it’s times.

This book came out in 2006. I graduated from high school that year. Historical romance had been established as a romance sub genre powerhouse. And we knew that rape wasn’t okay, even in fiction, so it needed to be acknowledged at the very least. In fact, this was near the beginning of the ‘rape trope’ that was used frequently as a cheap plot device to give heroines something to grow from. So, why was this acceptable?

Let me answer that for you. It wasn’t.

But the story around it is entertaining and well written so people just went with it.

Can we stop just ‘going with it’ when it comes to rape?

I get that there is an entire dark romance sub genre out there right now that often employs that kind of experience, but those authors are honest about it. Trigger warnings roam freely, proud to let you know what you’re getting into, just in case you’re not ready for it.

There’s no trigger warning on this book. There’s no trigger warning on that episode of the show. I truly hope that one day more people look back and say ‘wtf were they thinking’ about things like this.

I’m such a huge Laylah Roberts fan! I love DDlg books and frankly I think she is a master at them. This book was no disappointment.

I’ll be honest, I prefer single couple (or thruple+) stories as opposed to reading about multiple couples at once. But it’s a lot of fun to check in with my favorite characters! Sunny and Duke are doing great. The Fox is still causing havoc. And my personal favorite couple - Charlie and Clint are happily married and settling in! Oh, and Abby and Kent congrats on your news!

I’m never disappointed in the worlds that Laylah creates and I cannot wait to read about Reyes in March!

This trope is phenomenal! I’m all about a man who looks like a man! Not that all men can’t be hot in their own awesomeness, but I’ve always loved a big strong man with some extra cushion around the middle! Particularly since that means he loves my baking!

Murph is a total book boyfriend. He’s hot, alpha, and easily wrapped around the finger of the woman he loves. But only in the best way! This couple is just plain precious.

And y’all - the hotness factor is way up there! I love that they didn’t jump right in the sack, but I also love that he couldn’t hold himself back for too long.

I don’t read a lot of paranormal or shifter romance, but I couldn’t put this down.

I saw the synopsis in one of my Facebook reader groups and I was intrigued so I grabbed it on KU. The actual writing style is a little different than I’m used to - different descriptors and such [stav anyone?], but it was truly entertaining.

Both of our MCs were interesting, well written characters that I understood. Things did come together fairly easily. I was hoping for a little more action in the climactic moment. But that said, I did truly enjoy it.

The whole story is a play on multiple tropes put together in a way to make it interesting and different. According to my reader group there is another book from the early 2010s with a similar premise, but I haven’t read it. Frankly, the synopsis didn’t seem as interesting to me. But this is all hearsay. It doesn’t matter to me if someone else had a similar idea - frankly, there is no such thing as a completely new romance anymore. It’s all about how the story is told. How the tropes weave in and out of each other and how well the author tells the story. Well, these two authors tell a wonderfully interesting story. So interested that I was up all night reading this book and its immediately available sequel. And I have no regrets!

I loved the first so much that I went right into this one and I am glad I did.

I get truly annoyed by the sheer amount of Cinderella retellings. And in the very beginning of this book I thought I’d be just as frustrated with this one, but it kept me on my toes and I couldn’t put it down. Despite the fact that I’d already taken my melatonin. Lol.

I truly thought this story was going to be the basic Cinderella ABC123 that I’m used to, but it twisted in ways I wasn’t expecting and that kept me interested. In fact, I don’t know how many times I asked myself ‘ugh, why are you letting her walk away?’ Or ‘seriously, that’s the choice you’re going to make?!’ And as frustrated as I got, that’s why I couldn’t put it down.

Like the first in the series, this is a five star book. The story is interesting and well written and the characters are full and honest. The steam factor is there. I have personally read much steamier books. But if you like a strong touch of gooey hotness then you’ll be very satisfied with this story. And frankly, the fact that it wasn’t all steam is a part of why it was so impossible to put down. The story was very entertaining.