Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Summary from GoodReads
Marcus Caster-Rupp has a secret. While the world knows him as Aeneas, the star of the biggest show on TV, Gods of the Gates, he's known to fanfiction readers as Book!AeneasWouldNever, an anonymous and popular poster. Marcus is able to get out his own frustrations with his character through his stories, especially the ones that feature the internet’s favorite couple to ship, Aeneas and Lavinia. But if anyone ever found out about his online persona, he’d be fired. Immediately.
April Whittier has secrets of her own. A hardcore Lavinia fan, she’s hidden her fanfiction and cosplay hobby from her “real life” for years—but not anymore. When she decides to post her latest Lavinia creation on Twitter, her photo goes viral. Trolls and supporters alike are commenting on her plus-size take, but when Marcus, one half of her OTP, sees her pic and asks her out on a date to spite her critics, she realizes life is really stranger than fanfiction.
Even though their first date is a disaster, Marcus quickly realizes that he wants much more from April than a one-time publicity stunt. And when he discovers she’s actually Unapologetic Lavinia Stan, his closest fandom friend, he has one more huge secret to hide from her.
With love and Marcus’s career on the line, can the two of them stop hiding once and for all, or will a match made in fandom end up prematurely cancelled?
I received an e-ARC from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
So what can I say about this book? Should I speak about the beauty of the writing? The amazing characters or their love for fanfiction and how pretty much embody the true spirit of a fan?
Both Marcus and April are people with their own insecurities and every day lives. But both are connected via their love for writing fanfiction about their favorite tv series...which is something akin to the final season of Game of Thrones? (you know what I mean admit it).
The problem is that Marcus is the leading actor in the series and April is also a cosplayer for her favorite female character...and they don't know that they are also friends under different names in the fanfiction site they both write on.
I loved this book! It was funny, sexy, and swoony and filled with vulnerability about both characters who despite their outside confidence deserved each other and a big hug.
The book chapters have also commentary of their messages in the fanfiction server they write which also gives clues to their true personalities. The comedy is very refreshing and I also saw in the end of the bok that there would be a sequel following another set of characters! I can't wait to read that one!
I do not need to emphasize it but...READ THIS BOOK!
About the author:
Thirty or so years later, I have a few answers. 1) Because my mom apparently fancied pirates at that time. Now she hoards romances involving cowboys and babies. If a book cover features a shirtless man in a Stetson cradling an infant, her ovaries basically explode and her credit card emerges. I have a similar reaction to romances involving spinsters, governesses, and librarians. 2) His manhood. Also, her womanhood. 3) It's his "hard length," sometimes compared in terms of rigidity to iron. I prefer to use other names for it in my own writing. However, I am not picky when it comes to descriptions of iron-hard lengths. 4) Because explaining how an orgasm feels can prove difficult. Or maybe the couples all had sex on New Year's Eve at Cancun.
During those thirty years, I accomplished a few things. I graduated from Wake Forest University and earned my M.A. in American History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I worked at a variety of jobs that required me to bury my bawdiness and potty mouth under a demure exterior: costumed interpreter at Colonial Williamsburg, high school teacher, and librarian. But I always, always read romances. Funny, filthy, sweet--it didn't matter. I loved them all.
Now I'm writing my own romances with the encouragement of my husband and daughter. I have my own stack of books in my closet that I'd rather my daughter not read, at least not for a few years. I can swear whenever I want, except around said daughter. And I get to spend all day writing about love and iron-hard lengths.
So thank you, Mom, for perving so hard on pirates during my childhood. I owe you.
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The Jackal by J.R. Ward
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Summary from GoodReads
The location of the glymera’s notorious prison camp was lost after the raids. When a freak accident provides Nyx clues to where her sister may still be doing time, she becomes determined to find the secret subterranean labyrinth. Embarking on a journey under the earth, she learns a terrible truth—and meets a male who changes everything forever.
The Jackal has been in the camp for so long he cannot recall anything of the freedom he once knew. Trapped by circumstances out of his control, he helps Nyx because he cannot help himself. After she discovers what happened to her sister, getting her back out becomes a deadly mission for them both.
United by a passion they can’t deny, they work together on an escape plan for Nyx—even though their destiny is to be forever apart. And as the Black Dagger Brotherhood is called upon for help, and Rhage discovers he has a half-brother who’s falsely imprisoned, a devious warden plots the deaths of them all…even the Brothers.
I don't usually review J.R. Ward's books because they are amazing and she still is an auto-buy author for me. But this book was a new beginning in the universe of the BDB and I felt that I had to say some words.
Nyx travels into a secret prison searching for her last sister and there she meets the Jackal, another vampire who has suffered a lot and keeps his secrets close.
While this takes us a little away from the core group of the BDB members we do have the appearances of Rhage, whom I adore, Vishous and Wrath. The story mostly centers around Nyx and Jackal as they navigate the prison and try to find a way out.
But it is the new species that stands out. The wolven, which sounds like werewolves but I am not sure how they will tie up to the rest of the lore in the books. J. R. Ward over the years has created amazing mythology behind her worldbuilding with deities and demons angels and...well Devina but this species caught my attention. Also, I do hope that some of the secondary characters survived the ending of this book. I loved them immediately despite their craziness. And Apex? Oh boy, this guy will have a good friend in Zsadist if you get my meaning.
A great introduction into a new series that expands the universe even more.
About the author:
The Midnight Bargain by C.L. Polk
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Summary from GoodReads
In a stroke of luck, Beatrice finds a grimoire that contains the key to becoming a Magus, but before she can purchase it, a rival sorceress swindles the book right out of her hands. Beatrice summons a spirit to help her get it back, but her new ally exacts a price: Beatrice’s first kiss . . . with her adversary’s brother, the handsome, compassionate, and fabulously wealthy Ianthe Lavan.
The more Beatrice is entangled with the Lavan siblings, the harder her decision becomes: If she casts the spell to become a Magus, she will devastate her family and lose the only man to ever see her for who she is; but if she marries—even for love—she will sacrifice her magic, her identity, and her dreams. But how can she choose just one, knowing she will forever regret the path not taken?
I received an e-ARC from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
This book was a pleasant surprise. And it needs more attention too. Set in an alternative historical period which slightly represents the Victorian era, there exists magic that can be harnessed and used. But for women, this is not an advantage. They wear a type of collar which leashes their power and when they get married they have to lose their powers.
Which is almost derogatory, to be honest. Beatrice is a sorceress who seeks a way to not lose her powers as she doesn't want to marry. But when she meets the Lavan siblings, one will try to help her seek a way to have the power she wants while the other will become her suitor and grow to love her. And Beatrice will have to choose between love and freedom to be whom she truly wants.
I liked the story and the premise, the cover is beautiful and it felt quite easy to read. I won't spoil you but my only missing star goes to the almost insta-love feels I got. But other than that this is a really good book.
About the author:
C. L. Polk (she/her/they/them) is the author of the World Fantasy Award winning debut novel Witchmark, the first novel of the Kingston Cycle. Her newest novel, The Midnight Bargain, is upcoming in 2020 from Erehwon Books.
After leaving high school early, she has worked as a film extra, sold vegetables on the street, and identified exotic insect species for a vast collection of lepidoptera before settling down to write silver fork fantasy novels.
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Summary from GoodReads
Mian
Don't run. Don't fight. Just hide. That's all we can do against the Sasor barbarian horde – huge megalithic aliens, born to fight, who can shape shift at will into monsters. We're only human, and me, just a slave among them.
Getting caught is not part of the plan, but when they raid our village, I do the only thing I can think of to spare the whole. I offer myself up to their leader. Infuriating, and strangely funny, I have a lot to learn – his languages and customs, the roles I'm meant to fulfill in his tribe, and how to keep him at arm's length when he's seemingly everywhere, blocking any chances I have to find a mate and keeping me at his side.
Neheyuu
She's funny, this human. A fast learner, already adapting to our language with ease. She's forgiving. Quick to smile, it's easy to smile back. Too easy. She's slipping under my skin, infecting me and my manerak.
The monster that I can become seems more ready to do her will than my own. Like she's controlling it. I should let her go. I should let her find a mate. I should let the tribes that come for her, take her...
My manerak says no. Its defiance is something I've never felt before and I will need to find a way to deny them both – but how can I when my manerak wants her close?
Taken to Sasor is a full-length (95k words), standalone, interracial, shifter, SciFi romance complete with an alpha snakeshifter alien overlord, warrior heroine, fated mates who are also enemies-to-lovers, world building and extra steamy bits. All Xiveri Mates books can be read as standalones, each one with a guaranteed HEA. NO cheating, harem or love triangles. Some dark themes, illusions to abuse, and debatable consent due to intergalactic cultural misunderstandings may be trigger warnings.
I received an e-ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review.
I have been following this author since my fellow GoodReads friends recommended her books to me. And boy was I surprised? I enjoyed the first two books which featured strong heroines and aliens of all shapes and kinds as all of them navigated intergalactic politics, cultural misunderstandings and their growing feelings.
While each book is loosely connected to each other, I do have a sense that all the couples will meet at some point. The protagonists of this specific book are Mian and Neheyuu. Mian is a human slave to what I think was a human settlement in this planet while Neheyuu is a snake-like shifter who is a chief of his clan.
When he raids Mian's slave camp, he kind of bargains with her as both don't know each other's language and she follows him in his home. As both try to learn about each other and also fall in love, Mian will grow as a woman who is beautiful and strong and brave despite what others thought of her.
This is a really good series that also strives to develop an intricate world-building with diverse and amazing alien forms.
About the author:
