Lost and Found Sisters by Jill Shalvis Book 1 – 5*

Quinn Weller has been in a fog since she lost her sister two years ago in a car accident. She has struggled to get her life back to what it was before her loss. She’s missing a piece and doesn’t start healing until a lawyer tracks her down about a mysterious inheritance. Quinn gives up her job, boyfriend, and home to head to Wildstone, California to claim her inheritance. She doesn’t know if this is what she wants but it is what she needs.

I loved this story. It isn’t something I normally would pick up as it is more fiction then romance, fantasy, or mystery but it is a story that pulled at me.

Don’t get me wrong it is a romance between Quinn and Mick but the story isn’t really about them it is about Quinn’s feeling she has lost everything with her sister’s death and her finding her spark again. It isn’t just her relationship with Mick that brings her back to life but her new relationships in Wildstone. How wishy/washy Quinn was. It is understandable why she is the way she is but at times in the story I wanted to slap her upside the head and say it isn’t all about you.

Overall the story was well written, had good pacing, and kept me engaged. I loved the characters in the book and other the Quinn being a bit to wishy/washy for me it kept me engaged throughout. I will definitely pick up the next book in the series.

Protector by Anna Hackett Book 4 Galactic Gladiators – 4*

Madeline Cochran had a successful career as a Civilian commander of a space station until the Thraxian aliens destroyed the station and kidnapped her and a number of other humans.  She suffered during her captivity but it isn’t anything compared to finding out she can never go home to her teenage son.  She has to navigate the strange world of Carthago and try to ignore Gladiator Lore and find her place on this strange world.

Lore Uma-Xilene is drawn to the hard-shelled but soft hearted Madeline.  He knows what she is going through being ripped away from you family and having everything changed in a heartbeat.  The two have to work together in an underground gambling den to try and track down kidnapped humans.

I loved learning more about what made Madeline tick.  The more that was revealed it explained her character and why she acted the way she did.  Lore was the perfect match for her.  He is a charming easy going man who compliments her need for control in all things.
This book was a little slow going for me.  But overall the itself was good.  I liked the romance between Lore and Madeline.  I liked learning more about both of them and seeing them come together.

Hero by Anna Hackett Book 3 Galactic Gladiators – 3.5*

Kace Tameron is military-trained gladiator on loan to the House of Galen.  He is at the Kor Magna Arena to hone his fighting skills and then come home to help his race win their war.  He was not planning on meeting and falling for Rory Fraser.

Rory Fraser an engineer from earth.  She was kidnapped with an untold number of humans by the Traxians.  With no way to go home she has to find her place with the other rescued humans in the House of Galen.  She is determined to find out how many humans were taken and rescue all of them from the evil Thraxians.

I liked Kace a lot.  He was strong and had a lot of honor.  Somehow in his stay with the House of Galen he made friends and found love.  Things he wasn’t supposed to have.  Watching him come to grips with these two things made the story for me.
I was not a huge fan of Rory.  She was let’s go let’s go.  Not really thinking through all of the consequences of their actions.   I get that she was trying to come to terms with her new life and that she had to give up a lot against her will but and that is a huge but she put others at risk because she just HAD to find Madeline. It just bothered me.

Overall it was a good story that moved the overall story along.  You find out there are still more humans needing rescuing.

Warrior by Anna Hackett Book 2 Galactic Gladiators – 4*

Scientist Regan Forrest is kidnapped and dropped on a new planet.  She was rescued from the Thraxians and is determined to make a place for herself.  She isn’t a fighter but she has other skills and she will use everything she has to take care of herself.
Sirrush warrior Thorin was sold into slavery by his own people when they couldn’t control him anymore.  He carved out a life for himself in the Kor Magna Arena.  He is perplexed by the humans but Regan perplexes him and he has to discover more.

I loved that Regan was a strong woman who even though her life has been turned upside down she is trying.  She was kidnapped, held against her will, tortured and she is still standing.  There are several attempts to kidnap her again and she still is trying everything to find her cousin Rory.  Once Thorin stopped being an idiot him being good enough for her the couple story was very well written.
However, Thorin was trying to turn her off through most of the book.  She was interested in him and let him know this but he felt he wasn’t good enough for her so let’s pretend to sleep with other women to show her how she ranks.  Once he realized his error it’s kind of swept under the rug.  No real apology about being a jerk.

The story moves along and even though there is some timeline overlap with the last book it doesn’t show in the story itself.

Spring Magic by TM Cromer – 3.5*

*This post contains spoilers*
Spring Thorne is determined to find the next artifact to save her mother. She is also determined to get her man Knox Carlyle. She has wanted Knox forever and is set on having him.

Knox, with his dark past, doesn’t feel he deserves to have Spring. He does everything in his power to stay away from her at all costs until it is her turn to go on a quest for the next artifact.

With the way Winter Magic ended I wanted to read this book so badly. The epilogue alluded to Spring being damaged in some way. Because of this I had a hard time getting into the book. Once the bad thing happened I settled into the story. I ended up having several issues with the plot from the very bad thing alluded to in Winter’s book. The best part of this story was the progress the book is making in the overarching quest. It is still a well written story and the pacing is spot on.

Spring was immature from the beginning. I get she wanted what she wanted and she wanted Knox but there were better ways to get what she wanted. She was not cautious in any way shape or form. Because she was not cautious she ends up being kidnapped by the bad guys. Not blaming her in any way for what happened to her. She didn’t ask for it and sure as hell didn’t deserve it. This leads into the other big issue I have with this story. Spring was raped repeatedly for weeks. Horrible things were done to her before she is sort of saved. It is never really addressed in the book. The Goddess wipes her memory of all things including her family and the story just moves on from there. She is literally having sex with Knox a couple chapters after being raped. I think it was a month or so later but I still had a really hard time with the timeline. She eventually is shown her previous life and sees everything that led to her memory wipe but even then it’s kind of shrug and move on situation.

I really wanted to like this book just as much as I liked the rest of the series but with the issues I had with the plot I couldn’t. It frustrated me and not in a good way. Still worth the read and I will still pick up the next book.

Gladiator by Anna Hackett Book 1 Galactic Gladiators – 5 stars

Earth Space Marine Harper Adams is abducted by aliens off her space station.  Taken to a planet where she becomes a gladiator fight in the Kor Magna Arena.
Former Prince Raiden Tiago long ago earned his freedom fighting in the arena.  He no longer fights for his survival but for revenge against the Thraxian aliens who killed his family and destroyed his world.  He is thrown for a loop when Harper is brought in by slavers.
Harper is determined to head home but first wants to rescue any other humans the Thraxians stole.  Harper and Raiden will have to work together to rescue the humans and get some revenge against the Traxians while ignoring their chemistry.

I loved the chemistry between Harper and Raiden.  She struggles to find her place and come to grips with new planet with new rules.  Raiden is thrown for a loop with her.  She distracts him in the best ways possible and he doesn’t feel he has a right to be distracted.  He has his family to avenge and this human is all he can think about.  The book is fast paced.  I didn’t feel there were any lags in the story.  Since it was the first book in a series there was some world building but not any that slowed the book down.

There wasn’t anything I particularly didn’t like about this story.  It was paced nicely.  There was humor, tears, and whole lot a sex in it.

The Chase - Elle Kennedy - 4.5 stars

Briar U Book 1

Summer Heyward-Dilaurentis has been kicked out of Brown due to the "incident".  she is able to transfer to Briar University.  She's drawn to Colin Fitzgerald but his narrow view of her makes her look elsewhere for affection. Dealing with school, her ADD, and weird behaviors of teachers lead Summer on a merry adventure.



This book is a continuation of Kennedy's off-campus series.  Summer has ADD and struggles with school.  She moves in with her brother's friends to finish school.  The chemistry between her and Colin is really good but Colin is an ass.  He shouldn't want her because she's his friend's sister. Because he wants her / can't have her, she flirts with one of the other roommates.  When she finally puts her foot down, she ends up hurting a good guy where if he had just been honest there wouldn't have been a problem. Once they straighten everything out it is really good.  I liked some of the conflict, like what Summer has with her professor and her advisor.  I'm not a fan of the triangle love bit. There was  a lot of humor which always makes the reading faster.



Looking forward to book 2.