catsandcliterature's reviews
504 reviews

Thank you to Union Square & Co. for the gifted copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a pretty cutesy read. Towards the end, it became a bit TOO cutesy, but it was a great time passer and the MMC's growth journey was nice to read. 

POV: First person, alternating
Pace: Fast
Type: First in a series of standalones

Tropes:
📚 Werewolf MMC
📚 Witch FMC
📚 Fantasy
📚 Wholesome
📚 Bad Boy/Good Girl
📚 FMC with tragic past
📚 FMC with overprotective family
📚 Werewolf Fight Club
📚 Fated Mates

Spice:
🌶 Public sex
🌶 Semi-public sex
🌶 Oral sex (Female & male receiving)
🌶 Rough sex
🌶 Biting

Triggers:
⚠️ Attempted sexual assault (discussed)
⚠️ Drugging (graphic)
⚠️ Kidnapping (graphic)
⚠️ Violence (graphic)
⚠️ Injury (minimal detail)
⚠️ Domestic violence (discussion of past)
⚠️ Death of a parent (graphic description of past event)
⚠️  Abandonment issues (Evident)
⚠️  PTSD (Discussed)

 

This was a fun and entertaining read. The characters' flirtations were really funny and the sexual tension between them before they accidentally got married was super hot. 

Characters: 
MMC: Renn Brewer, age not stated
FMC: Blakely Evans, 30
Nicknames: Cutie, baby, babe

POV: First person, alternating
Pace: Fast
Type: First in a series of standalones

Tropes:
📚 Accidentally Married in Vegas
📚 Love on a Deadline (90 days)
📚 Rugby Player MMC
📚 Reformed Player
📚 Brother's Bestie
📚 Friends to Lovers
📚 Forced Proximity
📚 Instalove
📚 Rich MMC

Spice:
🌶 Slight Breeding Kink
🌶 Face Sitting
🌶 🐱 Eating
🌶 🍆 Job
🌶 Potential Exhibitionism (whether or not people heard them is vague)

Triggers:
⚠️ Alcohol abuse, drunken antics
⚠️ Violence 
⚠️ Sexual harassment
⚠️ Shitty father
⚠️ Death of a parent (mentioned in passing several times)
⚠️ Previous domestic violence (mentioned once in passing)
⚠️ Pregnancy, longing for a baby, anxiety regarding nature's clock

Characters:
MMC: Thorne Haywood, 25
FMC: Eden Matthews, 24
Nicknames: "Mate" (In a primal way, not a British way)

POV: Third Person, Alternating
Pace: Fast
Type: Standalone

Tropes:
📚 Forced Proximity
📚 Instalove
📚 Tarzan Retelling
📚 Royalty (he's a long lost Earl)
📚 Magical aspects

Spice:
🌶 Shower Sex
🌶 Outdoor Sex (duh)
🌶 Virgin MMC
🌶 Blowjob
🌶 🐱 Eating

Triggers:
⚠️ Gun violence
⚠️ Murder
⚠️ Loss of parents
⚠️ Animal death
⚠️ Kidnapping
⚠️ Violence against a woman

Thank you to Forever Publishing and Julie Soto for trusting me with this ARC.

I'll open this review up by saying I read the fanfiction this is based off of - The Auction - back when it was a weekly/monthly updated fic on AO3, so I did carry that with me while reading. However, I do think that this book will be widely loved, even by people who didn't read that fic as it was so, so loved by me. 

Briony is a Mind Magician and the princess of Evermore. She is almost constantly underestimated and pushed aside in favor of her brother - Rory, who is set to not only be the King of Evermore but the Heir Twice Over. He is foretold to be the only person who can put a stop to the war between the Mind Magicians and the Heart Magicians, who reside primarily in Bomard. Veronika Marrow - the first owner of a Dragon familiar in centuries - claims that Mind Magic is dangerous and unnatural and leads the Bomardi people to war with the people of Evermore. On opposing sides of that war are Briony and Toven - her school crush and the flirtatious boy who bullied her. The story opens as Rory is killed and the Bombardi people have taken hostages - including Briony - to siphon them of their magic and use them for other nefarious purposes. 

This book was un-put-down-able. I feel like I ate, slept and breathed it from the moment I turned the first page to the acknowledgements at the end - which I rarely ever read if I'm being honest but I felt the need to read these because I didn't want it to be over. The characters are so lovable and multi-faceted and with the story primarily being told through Briony's eyes, we're just as lost as she is when it comes to Toven's character and motives, as well as those of his family. Their wit was sharp, the banter was on point and I'm almost positive that Julie Soto invented the word 'yearning' at this point. All that being said, buckle up for a SLOWWWWW BURNNNNN. 

The only bad part about getting an ARC of a book you've been anticipating for a year is that the wait to book two is so much longer in a lot of ways, and with a cliffhanger like this one.... I need book two STAT. 

Tropes:
📚 Romantasy
📚 Rival Magicians
📚 Enemies to Lovers
📚 Banter!
📚 Warring Realms
📚 Forced Proximity
📚 Yearning!
📚 Childhood Crush
📚 School Bully MMC
📚 Virgin FMC
📚 SLOW BURN
📚 Royalty

One of my most anticipated releases of this year - and the conclusion of my favorite ever cowboy romance series - definitely didn’t disappoint! I feel like I’ve always had a soft spot for Wilder, one that grew softer during the last book when finding out more about his mental health struggles, so I adored getting to read him finding his happiness with Delilah. And Delilah, that baby needed some happiness in her life too.  Going on her grief journey with her and watching her learn to lean on Wilder and put down the caregiver role and let someone take care of her for once was so rewarding. And of course, watching Wilder ‘grow up’ was fun too.

Tropes:
📚 Small Town
📚 Cowboy Romance
📚 Ex's Twin Brother
📚 Accidentally Married in Vegas
📚 Mutually 'Unrequited' Pining
📚 Friends to Lovers
📚 Mental Health Representation
📚 Reformed Player
📚 Secret Identity
📚 Boy Obsessed
📚 Love on a Deadline

Spice:
🌶 Pierced MMC
🌶 Face Sitting
🌶 Squirting
🌶 Light Breeding Kink
🌶 He Cums in His Pants
🌶 Public Bathroom Sex
🌶 Frottage

Triggers
⚠️ Self-Harm (spoken about and one scene dealing with the aftermath)
⚠️ Pregnancy & Childbirth (outside of a hospital setting)
⚠️ Violence (MMC is punched & punches) 
⚠️ Kidnapping
⚠️ Alcohol Use/Abuse (discussed and general drunken antics)
⚠️ Death of a Parent/Grief
⚠️ Suicide (not on page, discussed)
⚠️ PTSD
⚠️ Depression (& Crisis Hotline discussions)

POV: Dual
Series: 5th in the Sugarland Creek series (series of standalones)
MCs: Wilder Hollis & Delilah Fanning 
Nicknames: Delly, Darlin', Baby, Wifey, Hubby

Series Ratings:
.5- Come With Me - 3 stars
1 - Here With Me - 5 stars
1.5 - Wish With Me - 2 stars
2 - Stay With Me - 4 stars
3 - Fall With Me - 5 stars
3.5 - Ride With Me - TBD
4 - Only With Me - 4 stars
5 - Sin With Me - 4 stars