Titan by Jillian Graves

3 Stars

Living, breathing gargoyles shouldn’t exist. Julianna should be running for the door. But the way he looks at her… and touches her… awakens new desires.

When former child star Julianna Novak loses everything to her shady managers, she’ll do whatever it takes to win her independence back, even if it means rushing to find a new sugar daddy. When Titan, a wealthy businessman, makes her an offer she can’t refuse, she soon realizes he may not be what he seems. His curved horns, massive wings, and ribbed prehensile tail are, however, more than she ever bargained for.

Leader of the last surviving gargoyles, Titan knows what desperation looks like, and he recognizes it in Julianna. The heavy weight she carries is one he’s able to bear—and one he finds he wants to.

Julianna needs a Daddy, and Titan is ready to be the firm hand—and more—she needs.

When his missing supernatural artifact and her financial troubles unexpectedly align, Titan and Julianna find that a single night together won’t be enough. Confronted by old enemies, the diverging paths they once followed may no longer be the destiny their hearts desire.

I really enjoyed the idea of this book but wish for more world building and character development. The pacing was super fast and it led to issues with both. Apparently, there can also be too much sex in a book. It led to an ok book.

Book 1 Romancing his Stone

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Rejected Runaway Mate’s Baby for the Lycan King by Elara Haze and KA Iris

4 Stars

I got pregnant with the Lycan King’s baby-

then he rejected me and our child for being human.

I thought I was saving a wounded wolf.

Instead, I saved Fenris Mourningstar- the Lycan King.

A monster in a crown who dragged me to his castle, caged me, and called me his pet.

His pack called me human filth.

He called me mine.

When a guard dared to insult me, he killed them.

Then he pressed me to the wall, his breath hot against my throat, his growl vibrating through my skin.

He worshipped my curves like a man starved-

until I was on my knees, begging for more.

Then I got pregnant his child.

And before his court, he tore us apart.

“No child of mine will have human blood.”

Now I’m disgraced, hunted, and still aching for the monster who destroyed me-

the only man my body can’t forget.

But when he finds me again…

I won't surrender to the bond.

He will have to beg for forgiveness for rejecting us.

I enjoyed this book so much. I loved that MMC kept kidnapping FMC. The book flowed nicely. The breakup was hard to read mostly because in my head there were so many things they could have done differently. When FMC found out why he broke up with her in the way he did she took charge and fixed the issue and also didn’t make it easy on MMC when she came home.

Book 2 Possessive Small Town Alpha Kings

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Cuddle Clause by Roxie Ray

4 Stars

Living with a werewolf is… complicated.

Maggie James is thirty-one, freshly dumped, and emotionally scorched.

Losing her relationship also cost her the apartment and the business she built with her ex. Now she’s broke, unmoored, and answering a roommate ad from a total stranger.

A stranger who turns out to be a neurodivergent werewolf with a detailed lease agreement… and a legally binding cuddle clause.

Roman Velasquez likes quiet, structure, and his Good Plate.

He’s used to living alone—until pack politics force his hand. To avoid being mated off for supernatural convenience, Roman needs to convince his Alpha that he’s already claimed. He panics, blurts out a lie, and suddenly he and Maggie are fake-mated, cuddling after full moons, and trying very hard not to catch feelings.

It’s just a roommate agreement. Just magical paperwork. Just a fake relationship to stop a supernatural power grab.

They both know the rules.

Don’t touch the plate.

Respect the schedule.

No falling in love.

Too bad they’re already breaking all of them.

This was such a cute story. I loved FMC and MMC. The contract between them made me want to read the book and it was such a good one to read. The world and characters were well developed. I will be looking for other books by this author.

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While We’re Young by K.L. Walther

 2.75 Stars

Grace, Isa, and Everett used to be an inseparable trio before their love lives became a tangled mess. For starters, Grace is secretly in love with Everett, who used to go out with Isa before breaking her heart in the infamous Freshman Year Fracture. And, oh yeah, no one knows that Isa has been hanging out with James, Grace’s brother—and if Grace finds out, it could ruin their friendship.
With graduation fast approaching, Grace decides an unsanctioned senior skip day in Philadelphia might be just what they need to fix things. All she has to do is convince Isa to help her kidnap Everett and outmaneuver James, who’s certain his sister is up to something.
In an epic day that includes racing up the famous Rocky steps, taste-testing Philly's finest cheesesteaks, and even crashing a wedding, their secrets are bound to collide. But can their hearts withstand the wreckage?

There was so much repeated in this book because everything had to be explained from each characters POV and there were four of them. I got really tired of reading the same thing over and over again. The idea was there and the writer has written amazing stories. This one just didn’t work for me.

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Her Pucking Stepbrother by RJ Sterling

2.5 Stars

Being shamed out of college and forced to move back home is bad enough.
Having nothing but a thin wall separating my bedroom from my stepbrother's is even worse.
But the cherry on top?
The reminder that, before my dad and his mom ever thought to make us "family"... he was my first.
And now he hates me.
Puck my life.

Book was so freaking slow. Add in the cliffhanger ending with no next book. This is a book I would skip. MMC was an ass to FMC through most of the book and he never really makes up for it. Then the ending happened and I was so mad.

Book 1 Royal Icehole

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Any Trope but You by Victoria Lavine

3 Stars

Beloved romance author Margot Bradley has a dark secret: she doesn’t believe in Happily Ever Afters. Not for herself, not for her readers, and not even for her characters, for whom she secretly writes alternate endings that swap weddings and babies for divorce papers and the occasional slashed tire. When her Happily Never After document is hacked and released to the public, she finds herself canceled by her readers and dropped by her publisher.

Desperate to find a way to continue supporting her chronically ill sister, Savannah, Margot decides to trade meet-cutes for murder. The fictional kind. Probably. But when Savannah books Margot a six-week stay in a remote Alaskan resort to pen her first murder mystery, Margot finds herself running from a moose and leaping into the arms of the handsome proprietor, making her fear she’s just landed in a romance novel instead.

The last thing Dr. Forrest Wakefield ever expected was to leave his dream job as a cancer researcher to become a glorified bellhop. What he’s really doing at his family’s resort is caring for his stubborn, ailing father, and his puzzle-loving mind is slowly freezing over—until Margot shows up. But Forrest doesn’t have any room in his life for another person he could lose, especially one with a checkout date.

As long snowy nights and one unlikely trope after another draw Margot and Forrest together, they’ll each have to learn to overcome their fears and set their aside assumptions before Margot leaves—or risk becoming a Happily Never After story themselves.

The story was just ok. Margot was irritating throughout the book. It was a standard romance without any surprises. And as the title says about any trope there were a bunch. Way too much and it bogged down the story.

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Banished Mate by Allie Santos

3.5 Stars

To my pack, I was a broken girl—mute, unable to shift, and easy to forget.

I spent my life in the shadows, invisible to everyone but the future Alpha. He was my everything. But he needed a strong mate, and that could never be me, not without revealing the truth.

I was an Omega—a secret that could cost him his life.

So I did nothing.

I would have kept hiding what I was forever, but then I was captured. With one chance to escape, I shifted and ran—straight into the arms of two of my mates. Fierce. Protective. Mine.

But danger was closing in. The past I’d tried to outrun was catching up fast, and this time, it wasn’t just my life on the line.

I am questioning the location of the story. She ends up in Scotland and acts like that is so far but when she goes to confront people in the old pack it’s a really quick trip to get home. World building needs to be done. Otherwise the story was good.

Book 2 Omega Heat

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