bigbuttandabook's reviews
1123 reviews

Splintered Hearts by Teralyn Mitchell

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lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

It was a quick and easy read. The majority of the relationship development felt like it was between Tatum and Micah, and her a Mason’s connection was all chemistry. It was pretty spicy for such a short and sweet read. I personally would have enjoyed a little more effort on Mason’s part, it felt like even in that someone else did the work for him. Mitchell is a new to me author so I’m not sure if her stories are all like this but it’s the type of read that is good for cleansing your palette between heavier or darker reads. 
Yours, Finally by Leonor Soliz

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challenging emotional funny reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

To many elements I don’t personally enjoy. I also felt like the characters kept creating unnecessary conflicts/obstacles and their actions and personalities felt contradictory. I never quite connected with them the way I usually do with Soliz’s characters. But if you like messy emotional conflicts, office place romance, gentle giants, friends to lovers, mutual pining and lots of push and pull you would enjoy this. For me there just wasn’t enough of an explanation for why the characters made the choices they made and why the conflicts outside of the legal ones mattered. I didn’t vibe with the characters’ thoughts and then their families confirmation that they were required to share their happiness with them. 
Burry The Hatchette: A Sordid South Tale by Aria Daze

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dark emotional funny reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Give me two people who are obsessed with each other in a borderline toxic way, bonus points if he’s an unhinged boss with unaliver tendencies who turns into a cinnamon roll for his wife/girl and I will be the happiest little bug in rug!! This is one of the funniest enemies to lovers I have read. Daze gives you a sort of mafia romance romcom, good banter, outrageous situations, good relationship development, swoon worth moments, and good spicy. I would have personally enjoyed if we got to the subplot conflict sooner so it could have been given more time, but overall I thoroughly enjoyed this read.
Fingertips: A Courageous Love Novel by Terreece M. Clarke

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

Go start this series RIGHT NOW! It is an experience!! HD 4k 4DX. Honestly all I really and truly have to say is you need to read this book and this series immediately! My personal order preference is Chaser,  Heartbeat, Love Never, Fingertips. 

This was such an amazing story and Selena and Fox are some of the most dynamic characters I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Baby Jacob Q. Fox is a  man, a myth, a book boyfriend all star mvp! Topped only by his leading lady. Selena is all the qualities I love in a fmc, she is one of my favorite heroine archetypes and she legitimately only got better as the story progressed. There are several things I loved about this book. It is both a gripping page turned that you can read in one sitting or because of the breakdowns in the chapters which are relatively short you can take your time and savior the experience. Clarke gives you compelling back stories, adult life lessons, and complex characters that you will love and hate (and yes at the end it was still eff June). There are cultural beliefs and practices that lend themselves to paranormal like elements in this contemporary romance with themes of suspense. I lived five lives and spent 2 months inside this book in 3 days. Terreece Clarke is a masterful storyteller and piles every emotion on the known spectrum into her work. Fingertips feels like both a culmination and an extension of that. There is love, loss, violence, murder, grief, rebirth, spirituality, humor, passion, chemistry, submission. This book like this series is an experience. I’ll never have to wish I could read this again for the first time because I’ll experience something new each time I come back to it.
The Alpha Club by Roxy Collins

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adventurous challenging emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

3.5 OV stories where the pack has to work hard to gain the fmc’s broken trust are truly some of my favorites. Collins does a great job of this. It didn’t feel like it had the same risk factor as House of Omega since she was basically sequestered inside the alpha club but it was still good. But I think it would have been better if the POVs would have been more balanced. I didn’t get enough of what Casper was going through and how he was feeling. Patrick really didn’t get enough on page time, and I would have liked it if he had been brought into the mix a lot sooner. Overall it was a solid read and for the majority of the time a page turner.
Treacherous Twins: Justice by Natisha Raynor

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emotional funny tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This was so wild. Not the wildest I’ve read but wild nonetheless. The author has a tendency to start off slow and with filler before she gets in a grove but once she does and it seems to be around the 20% mark she stays in the pocket! I really didn’t see it for Justice at the beginning but I was giggling over that man by the end. I definitely want to see what Simone has to say for herself, and Wise could take a long walk off a short cliff. I like that Raynor’s stories are unexpected and entertaining so I’ll be getting into more of her work.
The Orc Queen by Qua Hudson

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 54%.
It just wasn’t holding my attention 
The Offer by T.M. Richardson

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emotional funny inspiring reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Aka Big Pressure 
3.5 ⭐️🌈
This one right here!!! The way so much of this story spoke to the love of this sub genre. I loved an appreciated the way Richardson choose to give her MMCs two of the hardest career paths in which to navigate queerness and a polyamorous lifestyle. Alisa was a fun and real character I enjoyed her a lot. This whole story feels like taking a risk or a giant “hold my cup.” Instalove in a contemporary poly dynamic. A queer PK football player and pansexual political figure. A plus size Black love interest for those figures. Richardson said if folks like to think non struggle successful Black love isn’t realistic, no problem. Let’s live out all our “wildest fantasies.” They are going to lose their minds over this one! While things went of the rails fast and hard first with Chris after the primary election, then all of them on election night, which I found dramatic and slightly confusing how they went from 0-100. And the reconciliation wraps up a little too quick for me. I need GROVELING!! This is overall a fun, smexy, nasty (in the best ways), spicy read. Mrs. Richardson knows how to pouch my 1-click ticket every time! 
A Summoned Husband by S.J. Stewart

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adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Sweet but scary, morbidly hilarious, and chaotic a story that mirrors its author if I’ve ever read one. I swear I died a little every time Asmodeus expresses his feelings for Eden, mentally or verbally. And I just about died laughing every time that man tired to comprehend the Lord book and church. “Maybe I’ll pray back at them,” is going to live rent free in my head forever and has got to be one of the coldest threats you don’t know is a threat ever! Even thought I wanted to smack Imani several times I absolutely loved this friend group and those fierce cult member (lol) grandmothers! The genre jumping S.J. Stewart really doesn’t miss, even when she’s writing outside of her comfort zone. The pace of the story does have some ebbs and flows as this is a paranormal romance so the plot isn’t secondary, it’s at the front. But for the most part it’s a fast paced story with a slow burn romance. There are some scenes that given your level of sensitivity to horror are pretty scary. And some smexy times where the writing is a little flowery where I would have liked it to be a little more gritty. Overall though it’s a great story that’s nonsensical in the way  things are when you’re with your friends and everything is funny. Another reader @nailahkingwrites described it as “Living Single meets A Black Lady Sketch Show” and that is the most accurate description imaginable!
Awakened by Stephanie Kazowz

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challenging emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

This is a paranormal women’s  fiction story. Which is a very new experience for me. Reading stories with a romantic undertone where the relationships and how they are navigated are important but not the romance itself are always difficult for me to gage. On one hand the story was an engaging page turner, with good humor, and enjoyable messiness. On the other hand the romance isn’t traditional so it isn’t quite as satisfying. I enjoy the realism, the mess, the mistakes made and lessons learned. The love triangle vibes make it hard to get fully invested for me personally. But overall this has a very sitcom episodes feel to it and the plot just kept evolving. A little confusing at time and not taking the routes you would expect. It’s a solid read and Celeste is an amazing FMC. This is a new to me author and I’m honestly really interested in reading more of her work. I’m very curious about the way she crafts stories and how vivid she paints a picture without being wordy.