miras_booverse's reviews
413 reviews

 If I fell in love with the first book of Abby Millsaps' "Boys of South Chapel," I had no idea that the second - "So Real", would go so deep into my heart.

I was on a completely different wave, when I started the book and it was a little difficult for me to switch. But as soon as this happened, and it didn't take much time, it was so nice to get back into this story. It helped a lot for the quick immersion, that the second book starts exactly where the first one ended, which immediately made me feel the mood with which I had finished "So Wrong".

Now, let's get to the point. When Spence first showed up, I didn't think I'd particularly like him and hoped he wouldn't be part of the relationship with Hunter. I just wanted him to be her old friend and in the end to not have any romantic or intimate feelings between them. But after maybe the 40-50 pages from the start, I was thinking that if Hunter didn't want him, no one would be mad at her if she gave him to the rest of the female audience, because Kabir Spence is a great character who has become my favorite of the three men. In their very first scene together with Hunter, you can see how close they are, how intimately they know each other and how good they cooperate together. And from the flashbacks and, accordingly, their acquaintance, it immediately becomes clear how great the chemistry between them is. Their teasing and flirting made me feel very happy and excited to such an extent that I couldn't wait to get to another scene of them.

"Besides, I knew it wasn't really a goodbye for you and me."
"How?" I ask through a yawn.
"I've told you before, love. We're endgame."

Thanks to these flashbacks I had a greater view of Hunter's emotional state when she arrived in London and was just getting to know Spence, because then I witnessed another side of her. I saw how she struggled in the first weeks and months with the loss of her child and the man she loved, as well as her struggle with the premenstrual dysphoric disorder that she developed as a result. In my opinion the author shows without ignoring or downplaying the seriousness of the problem, how suffocating, separating from reality and tiring this disorder is, which only made her grow more in my eyes.

The other reason why I love this woman so much is quite obvious, but I will say it anyway - THESE FOUR!!

This isn't infatuation. This isn't just sexual attraction. This woman is the epitome of everything I want and need. I want to spend every day for the rest of my life making sure she knows it.

As a matter of fact, it was very difficult for me to imagine that Spence and Greedy would be on good terms and would go well with each other, but Spence and Levi, on the other hand, are so cool together, there is so much passion, chemistry and desire between them that you just burn! At the expense of Spence and Greedy, however, Greedy and Levy had such a great chemistry, and the sexual tension between them is felt so far away that you practically have to be absolutely devoid of feeling that you can't feel it.

I couldn't wait for the four of them to be together because I knew how cool they would be and when it eventually happened, they were a real bomb! So sensual, hot, passionate - my legs buckle just when I remember.

And after this moment, the dynamics between the four outside the bedroom also improved a lot - they begun to understand each other, share some things, be together, making me rejoice for them.

Rather than being prodded with spikes of jealousy at the sight of them, a warmth grows in my chest. The way he looks at her? The unyielding trust she has in him? It's all starting to make sense.

And here we come to the end, which again left me in complete shock, needing the next book IMMEDIATELY, because HOW CAN IT END LIKE THIS?!?? Really - I don't know how I will wait. I love this series!
~~~
Rating: 5/5

~~~This book was provided to me by Valentine PR for my honest opinion.~~~ 

Physically, I finished the book a few days ago. Emotionally, I'm still there, in Harrowdean, along with Ripley, Raine, Xander and Lennox. I experience their horrors with them, I worry about them, I'm scared all the time from what can happen. I don't stop thinking about them. And this only convinces me more and more that "Sin Like The Devil" is perfection - a rare diamond that I couldn't be more happy to have fallen into my hands. A book as heavy and strong as it is beautiful, making you feel the huge palette of emotions of the characters.

"Maybe we feel empty because we leave pieces of ourselves in everything we used to love."

But let me try to start from the beginning so that you understand where my excitement comes from.

From the very first page, while reading the epigraph itself, I knew that this book would be something different. "Sin Like The Devil" doesn't start like any other book. It starts as a documentary that gives you goosebumps with just its first 5 sentences. I am extremely impressed and pleased that finally this kind of atmosphere, this feeling that they evoke, I can experience in a book.

I'm amazed at how quickly the writing style captivated me and how it immediately managed to get me into the story, making me sink completely into it and forget everything else that happens around me, because it's hard for me to be so emotionally and mentally invested in a book. The constant keeping under pressure helps a lot for this, because of the horrors that happen to the characters, because the author is not afraid to hurt them and does not feel sorry for them too much. The extremely ugly, harsh and shockingly terrible things made me not stop thinking about them.

And the characters... They are so complex, so multi-layered and well-built that you can't help but want to know everything about them, you can't help but want to immerse yourself in their mind and get to know them as much as possible. What surprised me a lot, is that each of the men grabbed my interest in a different way and with different qualities, which happens to me for the first time. Usually one of them stands out from the others and I like him the most, but here I just can't choose only one.

Raine, with his sarcasm, self-confidence, vulnerability and desire to fight the situation he is in, is tearing down walls.

For someone who struggles to perceive the world and numbs himself to escape it, he burns so goddamn bright.

Lennox is brute force and deals with his anger issues in very disturbing ways, but at the same time, he makes me admire him for refusing to hide how much he cares about the people he loves and how he tries to do everything in his power for them to be okay.

The man who tried his damndest to kill me is breathing life into my lungs, one kiss at a time. I'm trapped in hell with an enemy, and disaster has never felt so fucking good.

And Xander, who is an absolute psychopath, sadist, cold, isolated and seemingly does not care about anyone or anything, but in fact, after getting to know him, I saw that he is a person who cares very much and who hides behind the mask of coldness because of what happened to him in the past.

I'm where I belong. Sleeping with the devil.

And Ripley...

Survival is a personal thing. Sometimes, it looks a whole lot like self-destruction.

Ripley is strength, struggle, sacrifice and at the same time selfishness in equal amounts at different times. She is fire, storm, emotion, vulnerability, fear, loneliness. And somehow these three manage to love the different qualities in her, bringing out different versions of her, but falling in love with each of them.

We all survive the aftermath of total self-destruction in our own ways.

I adore the scenes between each of them with her, but the ones with Raine have a special place in my heart, as he is the first person who manages to get her walls to fall and makes her show her true self. Then the others make sure that all her walls completely collapse. The relationship between them is so special and full of feelings and emotions that my head spins when I think about it.

That's what love is, right? A mutual agreement to destroy each other.

The climax is extremely tense and exceptionally strong. Enough to keep me on my feet, ready to jump at any moment to an unknown threat or simply because I can't find a place to stay.
The ending is open and given what happens in it, I can't wait for the next book! I hope it comes out faster!
~~~
Rating: 5/5

~~~This book was provided to me by Valentine PR and J Rose for my honest opinion.~~~ 

 Some books affect with their harshness, others with their love story and some with their darkness. Rainelyn's "Monstrous Grave" does it with all three.

My feelings for "Monstrous Grave" warmed slowly and gradually, but in the end it managed to make me like it and appreciate how good it is.

The book is quite slow and difficult to read, on one hand because of the difficult situation in the story, on the other - because of the many inner reflections of the characters, the explanations of their feelings and emotions, which probably represent more than 2/3 of the book itself. It is immediately evident how high the writing style is because of the extremely deep and complex characters and the good execution of the story, which managed to keep my interest, although the plot is not predominant here. The story develops quite slowly, the dynamics are almost completely absent, but nevertheless it is there and you can feel it every time the action is more tense, especially at the end, at the climax, which was quite good and did not betray the rest of the book with its style.

The characters are very well built, especially Arcane, who is extremely well developed. Kaiden, on the other hand, even though we see some things from his perspective and learn elements of his past, it seemed to me that he was not given as much attention as Arcane.

"You think I won't get what I want? You think I'll ever let you have any other man? You're mistaken. You're mine now, and in all the lifetimes to go."

Their relationship is really strong and the sexual tension is shrouded all the time in a huge dose of adrenaline and an even greater dose of fear, because of Kaiden's psychopathic tendencies and his unpredictability. This, in turn, leads to great erotic scenes - a little kinky, full of passion and desire, which are clearly felt by the reader.

Ours has never been a romance of candlelit dinners, gentle and passionate intimate moments. It's the kind that delves into the deeper edges, where our souls call to each other's darkness i nways no one would ever understand.
Destruction looms over us, but oh, it has never felt more bittersweet.

The plot twist at the beginning of the climax was surprising and unexpected, which I really liked.

And the ending was very good, fully befitting the story.

"Monstrous Grave" is a book that is difficult to go through, but it is worth it.
~~~
Rating: 4.5/5

~~~This ARC was provided to me by Rainelyn for my honest opinion.~~~ 

 You know those books that you can't stop reading, even though you realize that they are not very good. "Psycho Sinners" by J.E. Cluney fits perfectly into this category for me.

✨"We need therapy."
"Bitch, please, that boat has sailed and sunk. Embrace the chaos, you only live once."✨

"Psycho Sinners" starts off pretty strong. The whole thing about setting her ex’s bar on fire and the female rage that Scarlet unleashes immediately grabbed my interest and made me feel involved in the story, and the woman instantly became quite a curious character for me to get to know. However, this beginning is somewhat false, because after the first 4-5 pages it begins to show that the writing style is nothing special. It is somewhat detailed, at least as far as the setting is concerned, but on the other hand, it does not delve into the situations themselves and presents them quite superficially.

It's the same with the characters - not completely superficial, but there is certainly a lot to be desired, as they feel underdeveloped. And I understand that the author wanted to have a mystery around them and tell us more about them, most likely in the next books, but there are ways to do this without them looking so one-layered.

Some of the scenes seemed longer than necessary, and the story could have gone without this procrastination. But apart from these few moments in the beginning, everything happened quite quickly. The plot is dynamic, the story moves at a good pace and I really liked that the initial interactions between the men and Scarlet are not half done because of how heavy they are, but they are given the necessary attention. Their relationship is also developing quite well - smoothly and slowly it is shown to the readers how they begin to get used to her, to see her more as a person, less as their slave.

✨Why did I have to be attracted to men who were the embodiment of goddamn red flags? My spirit animal had to be a damn bull.✨

The erotica is also well written, even those scenes that are harder to read.

What I didn't like for sure was that some moments were repeated, others came completely out of nowhere, although an explanation could be found for them, but nevertheless they looked as if they were just put there for the plot, without much logical connection to them.

It ended unexpectedly with light doses of predictability, but it certainly managed to hold my attention and make me want to read the next one.
~~~
Rating: 3/5⭐

✨This book was provided to me by J.E. Cluney for my honest opinion.✨