High Sticking by Marie M

4 Stars

Ariella Contreras doesn't need distractions.

She’s fought too hard for her independence to let tradition, family expectations, or a man derail her career. So when a tall, cowboy-hat-wearing Texan in too-tight Wranglers approaches her at a bar and begs her to be his fake date to dodge an ex? She should’ve trusted her gut and told him to get lost.

Because the guy she'd never see again?

Yeah, he's Dalton Langley—the star player on the hockey team she's been hired to be the strength and conditioning coach for. Oh, and he's her new boss's son.

Thanks to a dumb team policy, her job is under scrutiny, and walking away from the "girlfriend" charade isn’t an option. What was supposed to be one night of fake dating quickly spirals into something neither of them saw coming. Lines blur, emotions get tangled, and walking away might hurt like a High Stick to the Heart.

I loved this book so much. All of the characters make the book enjoyable to read. I loved Ariella’s cousin Graciella. The interaction between them made me laugh so much throughout the story. I loved the interaction between Ariella and Dalton. Overall, it was a cute romance that kept me entertained.

Book 1 A Scoring Chance

Amazon 

Crimson River by Devney Perry

3 Stars

Lyla Eden has spent the last few years watching her siblings fall in love. Meanwhile, she’s married to her job. It’s on her hundredth consecutive workday that her sister stages an intervention, kicking Lyla out of her own coffee shop. With nothing else to do, Lyla sets out on her favorite hiking trail.

It’s there that she spots a man washing blood from his hands in a stream. One moment she’s staring at the jagged scar on his face. The next, his hand is around her throat. But by some miracle, he lets her go.

Shaken to her core, Lyla reports the incident to the local police. Two days later, Vance Sutter arrives in town, armed with endless questions and a tarnished badge.

Vance may be ruggedly handsome but he’s as mysterious as the man he’s hunting. And he’ll be gone from Quincy in a blink. Yet Lyla’s crush is impossible to stop.

No matter how hard Vance tries to ignore it, there’s no denying the chemistry between them. And avoiding Lyla is not an option. After years of chasing dead ends, she’s his only lead to closing the case that haunts his career. So together, they’ll retrace her steps.

To find the scarred man she met beside a crimson river.

I wanted to like this book because I liked Lyla in the other books. The serial killer plot was a lot and the ending was meh. I did like the love between Lyla and Vance.

Book 5 The Edens

Amazon 

Heartbreaker by Elise Faber and Kat Mizera

3 Stars

She was just supposed to be a one-night stand…

But then she became my world.

Once, I was the lead guitarist of the hit rock band, Midnight Sun. Then a tragic accident took everything from me. I can no longer play guitar, my wife left me, and the future I worked so hard for is slipping away.

All I am now is a grumpy, infamous, former rockstar.

So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I’m not in the market for a woman, especially not Jade Cantrell—who’s as beautiful and talented as she is sweet.

Then the media pounces on a story about the two of us, and suddenly we’re zipping off to a mountain retreat and writing an album together.

I can’t keep it strictly business—no matter how hard I try.

And the more I get to know her, the more I know I don’t have any hope of keeping her out of my heart.

One night will never be enough.

I'm going to keep her forever.

When the Game Breakers meet more than hearts will be broken…

They’ll claim, protect, and...maybe just rock their women's worlds.

Jade and Royal both had their own struggles they had to work through in this book. They are best when they're working together and the ending was so not fair I wanted more. Can't wait for book 3.

Book 2 Gamebreakers

Amazon 

Lessons with Mothman by Kathryn Moon

3.5 Stars

Elias - freelance consultant to Monster Smash Agency, and prestigiously rare moth fae - has never been in love. Granted, he's never been interested in the emotion, but with his friends mating with their clients, the new curiosity is keeping him up at night. If only he could find someone to draw him in like the moth to the flame.

Victoria is looking for facts not feelings. She wants to understand why the monster species are so much more satisfied than humans, than her. But the handsome mothman who volunteers to aid her academic study wants to stimulate more than her intelligence. She's willing to explore their physical chemistry, but she wants no part of his designs on her heart.

Love can't be taught, and it certainly can't be forced, but falling in love with the woman who refuses to let him in might just teach Elias a lesson.

I’ve loved many of Kathryn Moon’s books but this one was just ok. I liked the different monster for a love interest. I loved that he was trying to discover love like his friends had. I just didn’t connect with this one as much as I have with other books.

Book 3 Monster Smash Agency

Amazon 

Come Back to Me by Sirena Song

3 Stars

Lizzy Lockstead recognized her pack as a girl. Too bad they didn’t.

After years of pinning for Jacob and his pack, Lizzy has given up on fated mates, scent-matches, and love. Coming into her twenty-first year after graduating from the state Omega Finishing Academy, she makes her way back home to Knotty Pines, resigned to settle for a life without her alphas by her side. Just when she has given up hope, the pack comes for her, pleading forgiveness. Will she find room in her heart to forgive her alphas and join the pack she knows is meant for her? Can she trust them with her heart after all this time?

Jacob Edwards lost his omega right out from under his nose.

After years of searching for his pack’s omega, he realizes she was there all along. His best friend's younger sister wasn’t the omega he was expecting, but when he finds a trace of her scent the summer she turns twenty-one there is no denying who she is to them. The hunt is on, but Lizzy blocks them at every turn. How could he, Mateo, and Rhett make such a huge mistake? How will he ever get her to come back to him when they denied her for so long?

The men in this book just pissed me off so much. Add in Lizzy’s mother I just wanted to bash so many heads together. Lizzy deserved more groveling and care than she got. She told so many people that they were her mates and they all made out like she was crazy and it was just a girl hood crush. Then when they figured out that she was in fact their mate she was just supposed to forgive and forget. Ultimately I did enjoy the read and the drama but I so wanted her to reject all of them and make them crawl.

Book 2 Knotty Pines Omegaverse

Amazon 

Beneath the Cursed Veil by Kel Carpenter and Aurelia Jane

4 Stars

My captor, my enemy, and my fated mate.

I’m the best bounty hunter in the business. I find lost artifacts that people would kill to possess. I’m also broke. When a notorious leprechaun offers me a job I can’t refuse, I realize too late I’m not hunting an object.

The contract was simple; steal the prince, escape unseen.

Spoiler alert: I failed. Horribly.

The moment I step into the fae kingdom beyond the veil, I feel it—someone watching me. Waiting for me.

King Vareck.

He’s nothing like I imagined—fierce, unyielding, and as cursed as the frozen lands of Faerie. An ice-cold ruler whose very presence bends the room to his will. He shouldn’t care about a thief like me, but we have one thing in common.

Vareck is more than just a king—he’s the man who has haunted my dreams for years.

And apparently, I’ve been in his too.

The difference?

He’s been searching the nine realms for me, and I never thought he was real.

Now that he’s found me, he has no intention of letting me go.

Curses cliffhanger endings. I loved the magic Meera had. It was different and unique. The way she uses it makes the book. When she meets Vareck she is all set to hate him for so many reasons. The tension between them is amusing. I loved that he kidnaps her … after she kidnaps him. The ending made me so mad but the next book is out and I just need to find time to read it.

Book 1 Faeted Seasons

Amazon 

 

Cold as (N)ice by Ginny Sterling

3 Stars

A new hockey team, a new location, a new family - what happens when a marriage of convenience becomes all too real?

Barrett Coeur takes on a maid as a favor to a teammate, but he quickly finds himself in over his head. Having sworn-off marriage, focusing on hockey and gaming, he’s blindsided when he learns his new employee, Irene, is pregnant… and the stipulations laid before him by his agent.

Irene is struggling to make ends meet, haunted by past mistakes and wary of trusting anyone with her deaf son—especially when it comes to the handsome man sporting a man-bun. When Barrett makes her an unexpected offer, she agrees to a loveless marriage to protect her child and give him a life she couldn't provide on her own.

When her ex reappears and threatens their new lives, will her marriage become a refuge and the key to saving her heart?

This was just so sweet. It was short and sweet and flowed nicely. I get why Barrett and Irene wanted the marriage of convenience. They both had reasons for wanting a marriage of convenience. The move from convenience to all in love was really quick but I still liked it. Will be reading the other books even without the on page heat.

Book 1 Sticks and Vows

Amazon 

Dewey Belong Together by Ann Whynot

2 Stars

Librarian Maxine Peters lives her life behind the scenes. By day, she's a buttoned-up cataloguing whiz in the basement of the Green Valley Public Library. By night, she's secretly dominating in an online role playing game as the legendary Maximus_Damage. Her in-game persona has the skills to back up the hype. But every hero has an enemy; every saga,a villain. And by her own invitation, Maximus’ arch nemesis, Wrath, has just landed in Green Valley.

Jonathan Owen is not at all who Maxine expects when she meets Wrath face to face. Eager to leave the past in the game, Jonathan takes this golden opportunity to win Maxine's heart. There's just one wrench in that plan: he may have, on a few occasions, acted like a bit of a jerk online. And to his puzzlement, she has taken their fun rivalry to the level of epic dislike. When Jonathan and Maxine are unexpectedly alone for a weekend, secrets are revealed that make love hard and hatred even harder. Jonathan quickly learns fighting his own demons will take more than one elite gamer. And Maxine, who is busy rebooting her life in Green Valley, might not be up to the task.

When real life starts to override the game, can Maxine and Jonathan find a way to make it work? Or will it be game over for this player versus player adventure?

I really wanted to like this book but I just didn’t like it. There was anxiety about the long distance between Max and Jonathan. I also struggled with Jonathan being all in with Max well before meeting her AND believing she was actually a man. There was just pacing issue with the book and it was just a meh kind of read.

Book 3 Green Valley Library

Amazon 

Knot the one They Want by Harper Lennox

3 Stars

I thought I'd finally found my fairy tale with the Blackwood Pack.

Four drop-dead gorgeous and filthy rich alphas, ready to claim me as their own?

It was a dream come true.

Until I presented myself to them on our mating night and all four of them turned and walked away, leaving me half-marked and completely humiliated.

I'm clearly not the one they want.

And they blame me for not being the omega who ran away from them.

I try everything I learned in omega finishing school to make my new alphas change their minds, but with my first unmedicated heat approaching fast, I'm starting to think plastic smiles, a perfectly decorated nest, and gourmet meals aren't going to be enough to thaw these frigid hearts.

You know what? Fine. They don't want the perfect omega?

I'll become their pretty little nightmare instead.

The pack pissed me off so much in this book. Evie and the guys are forced into this mating but they are scent matches. The guys refuse to complete the bond for their first omega and they want to hurt her. Which the accomplish so much that they nearly kill her from an incomplete bond. After her near death experience most of the guys cave to their need for her but Damian holds out longer. It was so frustrating that they didn’t make up for being dicks to her and she just kind of accepts it. And to the surprise of no one the first omega comes back for more drama. Overall, it was fine.

Book 1 Claimverse

Amazon