The Forever Rule by Carrie Ann Ryan

4 Stars

Blakely

The moment I met Aston Cage, I knew my life had changed. A single dance later, we’re both all in. Until he ghosted me.

Then my boss fires me for dancing with the enemy.

Three months later, working for the Cages is my last resort. Now I’ll work beside him day by day, trying not to let my feelings take control. It’s heaven and hell. Except I’m starting to think there’s a part of this story I’m missing…

Aston

I made myself walk away from Blakely after my family’s dirty laundry hit the news. My father’s secret family complicates everything. In order to keep our inheritance intact, we’re forced to do monthly dinners with both sides of the family—the brothers I grew up with and the new set of siblings we never knew about.

An additional obstacle: Blakely is my new sister’s best friend.

Meaning the moment I give into temptation, I not only risk the woman I’m falling for, but the family legacy just starting to reveal itself.

But Blakley is worth it. I just have to prove I am as well.

I loved all the drama and the give and take between the characters. Aston is dealing with a lot with his family secrets that are coming out. He screws up so much with Blakely but he does have his reasons and he does make it up to her. The story flows nicely and this builds off of the Montgomery books. I can't wait for the rest of the Cage books

Book 1 The Cage Family

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Their Pucking Omega by Tericka Black

2.5 Stars

Omegas are weak and submissive... and definitely should not roll their eyes during meetings with potential packs.

Holly Riley was many things. Sassy, snarky, easily irritated, and curvy. None of those things align with the ideal image of a proper omega. With her Senator father breathing down her neck, Holly is running out of time to find a pack on her own terms. But no one, not even Holly, expected her to scent match with her brother's biggest rivals. And she never thought they would smoosh her cupcake.

In a perfect world, Holly would be swept away by her pack... in this world, they would have to fight for her on and off the ice.

This was an ok read. I liked parts of the book but there were too much going on. The characters weren’t developed well either. It has the potential to be an amazing story but it needs some formatting and development.

Book 1 Knotty and Ice Verse

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Wooing the Witch Queen by Stephanie Burgis

3 Stars

n a Gaslamp-lit world where hags and ogres lurk in thick pine forests, three magical queens form an uneasy alliance to protect their lands from invasion…and love turns their world upside down.

 

Queen Saskia is the wicked sorceress everyone fears. After successfully wrestling the throne from her evil uncle, she only wants one thing: to keep her people safe from the empire next door. For that, she needs to spend more time in her laboratory experimenting with her spells. She definitely doesn’t have time to bring order to her chaotic library of magic.

 

When a mysterious dark wizard arrives at her castle, Saskia hires him as her new librarian on the spot. “Fabian” is sweet and a little nerdy, and his requests seem a little strange – what in the name of Divine Elva is a fountain pen? – but he’s getting the job done. And if he writes her flirtatious poetry and his innocent touch makes her skin singe, well…

 

Little does Saskia know that the "wizard" she’s falling for is actually an Imperial archduke in disguise, with no magical training whatsoever. On the run, with perilous secrets on his trail and a fast growing yearning for the wicked sorceress, he's in danger from her enemies and her newfound allies, too. When his identity is finally revealed, will their love save or doom each other?

I wanted to like this more than I did. It started off very cute and is what led me to buying it. However, the book soon became bogged down with the details and the story moved at a snails pace. It was fine but not the best book.

Book 1 Queens of Villainy

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Wild Love by Elsie Silver

4 Stars

Rosie Belmont has been driving me wild for years. The good kind of wild. The bad kind of wild. But mostly the kind of wild that comes with wanting your best friend’s little sister and knowing you can’t have her.

After living in the city, she comes blasting back into Rose Hill like a storm. Beautiful, messy, and chaotic.

And one wide-eyed desperate plea for a job is all it takes for me to hire her.

Forbes may have labeled me the World’s Hottest Billionaire but all I care about is opening my new recording studio. Something that comes to a screeching halt when I end up face-to-face with a young girl who claims I’m her biological father.

Now I spend my days balancing business with parenting a sullen twelve-year-old all while trying desperately to keep my hands the hell off my best friend’s little sister.

I vow to keep Rosie at arm’s length. I try to stick to scowls and grumpy one-liners. But with her verbal sparring is merely foreplay—friction that turns to blistering heat.

I know damn well I shouldn’t cross that line.

But shouldn’t and can’t are two very different things.

And the only thing I truly can’t do is resist her.

I really enjoyed this audiobook. It was a friends to lovers and a second chance. Pretty standard romance rules are followed in this book but it was an amazing listen. Super spicy with some interesting curves to the story. I loved the paint scene between Ford and Rosie. The audio book was so well done and I loved the narrators. I also really loved Rosie calling Ford out on all his antics. Definitely worth a listen.

Book 1 Rose Hill

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Survival is Hard by Letty Frame

3 Stars

I tried to give up. To let the darkness swallow me whole. But my wolf refused—and now I’m left breathing when every part of me feels broken.

My mates don’t give up on me. They fight when I can’t. They hold me when I fall. And they spend their days teaching me how to believe in forever. To trust that I can be loved… wanted… whole.

But survival is never simple.

Hunters still circle me and my pride, determined to end my life—or the lives of those I love.

The return of my wolf couldn’t have come at a worse time. She’s restless, demanding, and desperate for the bonds I’m still too afraid to complete.

Because my first true heat is coming.

With it comes a terrifying choice: surrender to the mates who hold claim to my soul… or lose myself for good this time.

I’ve fought death. Now I have to fight for life.

And if I falter, I won’t be the only one who bleeds.

Not as good as the first book. It dragged more and there was a lot of regression with Nora. There was a lot going on and wasn’t written well to follow. Still enjoyed enough to read the last book.

Book 2 Second Chances

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Stealing Hearts by Lex Martin

3.5 Stars

A marriage of convenience might save his ranch, but will it break her heart?

I don’t remember a time when I didn’t love Rhett Walker, which is complicated since he’s ten years older and my brother’s best friend. After a falling out, we didn’t speak for years—until today, when he found me sleeping in my car, threw me over his shoulder, and dragged me “to safety.”

He’s grumpy and overprotective and even more handsome than I remembered. I’m shocked to learn he’s in trouble. Someone is sabotaging his ranch, which is thirty days from foreclosure. He needs a loan from a friend who won’t extend the funds unless he’s married. Only Rhett’s now a single dad with no plans to fall in love again.

When his brother suggests I marry Rhett for health insurance so I can rehab an injury, my first reaction is hell no. I can’t afford to catch feelings for someone who won’t see me that way.

But spending time at the ranch reminds me how much is at stake—the family business, the welfare of Rhett’s children, and the happiness of a man I’ve always longed for.

Rhett says we’ll keep things platonic in private, even though I’ll be sleeping in his bed. He refuses to mix business with pleasure.

Except when the lights go out in his bedroom, our chemistry is too explosive to contain.

Would it be so bad to fall for Rhett? Or will he steal my heart all over again?

One thing’s for sure—the clock is ticking on our divorce.

Rhett was just so freaking stubborn about Paige and caused all sorts of problems in their relationship. I loved Paige so much. She had so much working against her besides the injury. Having a crush on her husband was minor compared to everything else. The pacing in the book was spot on and it kept me reading. Pulled me out of a reading slump. The reason for knocking it down from a 4 was the will they/won’t they got old very quickly.

Book 1 Wild at Heart

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Always the One by Carrie Ann Ryan

3 Stars

It took two days for me to know Kendall was the one for me.

And it took two years for me to realize I had to leave in order to protect her.

When I walked away, I told myself it was for the best. But now we work together, and every time we’re in the same room, we end up fighting. If we didn’t, we’d end up naked. Or worse–spilling heartbreaking secrets.

If she knew the truth, she’d either walk away for good or convince me to take a second chance. The first thing would break me, and the second would break her. I can’t let either of those things happen…

I loved the narrators. They did an amazing job bringing this story to life. I struggled with the story a lot. The fighting between the couple was a lot and its was all choosing not to be honest with each other. Overall, I liked it but not my favorite

Book 2 The Wilder Brothers

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