Review – This Time Around

11 Wednesday Jun 2025

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Book Review, Marina Pirlimpou, This Time Around

This Time Around

by Marina Pirlimpou

Blurb:

Waking up 20 years in the past had not been on Maddy’s bingo card.

Nor dragging another guy there with her.

When Madison Pierce finds herself back in her childhood bedroom after an unexpected incident, she decides to act like everything’s perfectly fine and normal. Because what self-respecting introvert doesn’t want a second go at high-school life, right? Except, none of this is normal and she’s not alone in this mess.

Nate Keaton never thought he could land himself in such a bizarre situation, and all for trying to help out a stranger in need. Except, she’s not a stranger but someone he used to go to school with, who is a bit weird and adorable, can’t shut up, and barely reaches his shoulder.

Now they’re stuck together in 2006, renting movies from video clubs, and browsing CDs in music stores, and… getting hot chocolate?

Suddenly, the pull is stronger than it’s supposed to be and feelings are building up.

But why does it feel like the clock is ticking down?
And most importantly, what happens when they inevitably have to go back?

*Perfect for fans of Lynn Painter’s Better Than the Movies, Elle Kennedy’s The Deal, and Ashley Poston’s The Seven-Year Slip, This Time Around is a contemporary, adult romance with a tiny hint of magic. It is the first book in a series of interconnected standalones. Prepare for a sizzling, swoon-worthy, slow burn romance that features strangers–to reluctant friends–to lovers, delicious tension and spice, banter for days, all the feels, and a time slip that will change their lives forever.*

Buy Link:

https://a.co/d/75JeNuY

Available in KU

*****

Review:

I am pretty dang impressed with this as the author’s debut novel. It was fun, with an interesting take on her characters getting to know each other. I loved the way they threw themselves into the teen selves and spent time getting to know each other better. An interesting mix of YA and adult contemporary, with the way they enjoyed all of the teen activities but with the outlook that age brings.

It’s fantastic the way that Maddy is able to take her adult perspective (and later her teen experiences as an adult again) and really accept her quirkiness. With Nate’s help she embraces who she is and thrives. And speaking of Nate … such a fabulous friend and then boyfriend. He’s supportive, caring, and oh-so-sweet, embracing all the things that make Maddy unique.

I will say that if I thought too much about it there were things that bothered me. Like, even tho their minds were 30 something, the first half of the book their bodies were those of teens. And while I totally got behind their connection, their physical attraction was a bit … I mean they are mentally grown adults finding themselves attracted to teens. They didn’t really act on it past kissing but … yeah. And no one else caught on that they were different? Friends, family? Also, the reason for the time travel wasn’t explored either. While it didn’t bother me, it seems to be an issue for some.

Overall tho great first outing! Entertaining plot and enjoyable characters, with a HEA journey that tickled me. I’m definitely looking forward to what comes next (fingers crossed it’s Cooper and Liam 🙂 )

*****

Author Info:

Marina Pirlimpou is an English teacher, a self-proclaimed book lover, and a proud introvert who lives for dreary, autumn days, cozy blankets, and hot beverages.

She’s half-Greek, half-Italian, and lives in Athens.

When she’s not explaining grammar rules to her – sometimes – uninterested students, you can find her reading in her favorite nook, listening to music, or writing about all things romance.

If you want to know all about her new releases, be sure to follow her on Instagram!

Connect with Marina Pirlimpou:

https://linktr.ee/marina_pir

Review – Mountain Defender

10 Tuesday Jun 2025

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Book Review, Gia Cobie, Green Mountain Guardians series, Mountain Defender

Mountain Defender

Green Mountain Guardians series

by Gia Cobie

Blurb:

I thought I’d come to terms with my solitary existence.

Most days, I even told myself I preferred it.

After all, the dogs at my shelter didn’t ask questions about my appearance. They didn’t stare at my scars. They didn’t make me feel ugly.

Then I met Gage. He came to the shelter to adopt a dog, but even after that, he kept returning. Was he just coming to help, like he claimed? Or could I dare hope he wanted to spend time with me?

Would he? Handsome, brave, heroic Gage, who could have any woman he wanted? Could he possibly see me as more than just the quiet, reclusive woman who ran the dog rescue outside town? More than the scarred woman everyone else looked away from?

I liked Rory from the first time I met her.

How could I not? She was caring. Smart. Beautiful. Even though I knew it couldn’t go anywhere, it didn’t stop me from wanting to spend time with her.

Friends was enough, I told myself over and over. It was all I could offer. It was all my wounded self-esteem would allow me.

Until I found her unconscious and injured in the woods, with no memory of how she got there. Until I held her in my arms and realized I’d do anything to protect her. Until I realized just being friends wasn’t enough.

But first, I need to make sure she’s safe. That the person who hurt her is caught. And I’ll draw on all the skills I learned in the Special Forces, along with the help of my Green Mountain Guardians teammates, to make sure no one hurts her again.

Buy Link:

https://a.co/d/6ZT0Xvx

Available in KU

*****

Review:

Often in these kinds of stories the suspense part is what brings the couple together and I always think of the beginning of Speed 2 when Annie says that “relationships based on extreme circumstances never work out” 🙂 Here Rory and Gage develop a friendship over weeks of him coming to her dog rescue to help out so there was a good basis for their interactions and their deepening feelings. But both have some insecurities that they need to work out and time spent together figuring out what’s going on allows them to come to terms with them.

I did feel like A LOT happened to poor Rory in a short amount of time but everything worked for me. I liked the villain, the reasons why, and how it all played out. Nothing seemed to be a stretch and I liked the way the guys worked together to keep her safe & figure out what was going on.

I had two things going into this – it’d been a while since I’d read a romantic suspense and this is the first story I’ve read by Cobie … and I think I need more of both! I feel like she blended the romance element and the suspense portion well, giving each the necessary time & attention. This seems to be her thing so I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on Cobie and picking up more of her books.

*****

Author Info:

Gia Cobie is an award winning author living in upstate New York with her husband and small zoo of animals. She loves writing about protective heroes and the strong women they fall in love with.

In her spare time (when she has any!), Gia enjoys reading and spending time in the Adirondacks, and also has a weakness for reality romance shows, wine, and buying way too many books!

Follow Gia for updates on her latest releases!

https://www.giacobie.com

Review – Trick or Treat

05 Thursday Jun 2025

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AJ Mullican, Ariel Dawn, Book Review, Trick or Treat

Trick or Treat

by Ariel Dawn, AJ Mullican

Blurb:

Sugar, Pumpkin Spice, & Everything Nice…

Jax

Spinning tales of Jack-O-Lanterns is what I do, not who I am. At least, that’s what I thought before one argument with my grouchy grandpa ended up with me turning into a literal gourd.

If my family’s legends are true, I’ll be stuck as a pumpkin forever unless I find my fated mate before my thirty-first birthday…this Halloween.

But how am I supposed to find a guy as a pumpkin when I can’t even find one as a single man?

Mason

The last thing I want to do after a long shift at the coffee shop is go to family owned pumpkin farm with my friend. That is, until I find the perfect pumpkin to bring home. When a hot, muscled, and very naked beefcake appears in my locked house, I’m sure I’m losing my mind.

Especially when I realize I’m falling in love with a man…who turns into a pumpkin every night.

Can I push aside my sanity and embrace my feelings for Jax and save him from turning into a pumpkin forever? Or will Jax’s curse break more than just my heart?

Trick Or Treat is perfect for fans of quirky shifters, pumpkin spicy rom-coms, and laugh out loud humor.

*****

Review:

The premise of Trick or Treat is absurdly fun. I mean the main character turns into a pumpkin during the day and back into a man at night and he only has a few days to find his mate or he’s a gourd forever. It’s quirky and weird and humorous. (I mean his … ya know … smells and tastes like pumpkin spice, for goodness sake.)

There are a couple of problematic moments – from homophobia & slurs to questionable spicy moments – but it’s a novella with a plotline that kinda necessitates an insta-love thing and once they give in to their connection things heat up pretty quickly. I like them together and I feel like they are a good match. I also found the resolution to be entertaining.

You pretty much have to throw any believability out the window with a story like this but that’s ok. It’s meant to be fun and weird and steamy and … well, fun.

Review – Glitter

05 Thursday Jun 2025

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Book Review, Glitter, Kayla Halleur

Glitter

by Kayla Halleur

Blurb:

Stupid workplace lunch thief. Stupid upper management for not helping. Stupid me for not getting more than my gorgeous rescuer’s first name when I had the chance. How will I find him now?

Blue
There’s a lunch thief on the loose in my office, except he only seems to be stealing my lunch. Oh, I know who it is… But for “reasons,” management refuses to do anything about it.

When things escalate one Friday night, an attractive stranger comes to my rescue.

A cute, teddy bear of a stranger that is making me want to cuddle and call him my own.

I only have a first name to go on, but surely I’ll be able to track him down with enough determination.

Henry
His unique design sense, bright colors, sparkly jewelry, and colorful hairstyles grabbed my attention from the moment I first saw him a year ago. He’s held it ever since.

When I interrupted a nasty confrontation in the men’s restroom on a Friday evening, I finally learned his name and discovered that he’s even more beautiful up close than from a distance.

Waiting one weekend to see him again feels like forever, but I’ve waited this long, and I already know that he’ll be worth it.

Now if I can just manage to help him vanquish his bully, maybe he’ll notice me in return.

Glitter is a standalone story featuring an outgoing scientist who loves experimenting with his creative style, a quiet engineer who loves building creative things, and a love story that blooms in an office lunchroom. Oh, and one very important cat who thinks the whole tale is about him.

Tags:
Blue gets his lunch stolen yet again; upper management can go and get bent; Henry is a workaholic but is okay with it, even if it is a Friday night; suspicious bosses have perfectly valid reasons to be suspicious; Blue loves to get dressed up; Henry loves to see Blue dressed up; color and jewelry and accessories, oh my; the less said about the antagonist, the better; Henry finds something new to obsess over; Blue feels like an idiot, but he’s determined and a researching wizard, so this should be child’s play (it’s not); Blue is stubborn about shipping (he shouldn’t be); Sir Cattus deigns that Blue is an acceptable new servant (as it should be); lasagna competition; impromptu and versatile sleepover; lace is pretty and smells delicious; pocket bears and angels; phone calls that turn into something more; nervous dates with creative solutions; overprotective brothers and best friends; overly engineered things of beauty; revenge truly is the sweetest thing

*****

Review:

Glitter is so sweet and not very long, but please make sure you check out the content warnings. Parts of it were very tough to read and my heart just broke for Blue. But there were great parts too – like the connection with Henry and with Blue’s friends, the sauciness of Sir Cattus, and the satisfaction when things work out in the end.

Blue hasn’t had it easy. Obviously gay from a young age, he’s grown into a man with confidence and his own unique style. But that hasn’t stopped the bullying, which is just so difficult to imagine. Luckily it also attracts Henry’s attention. Henry who is super smart and super into everything that makes Blue Blue. I loved the way his brain works and the way that he throws himself full body into helping Blue, wooing Blue. It’s so sweet to see.

There’s fluff and steam and insta-love in Glitter but also heartache and hurt. And I enjoyed every last moment of it.

Review – Can’t Always Get What You Want

04 Wednesday Jun 2025

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Book Review, Can't Always Get What You Want, Houston Baddies series, Sara Ney

Can’t Always Get What You Want

Houston Baddies #2

by Sara Ney

Blurb:

There are two sacred rules in the Montagalo household:

Family comes first.
Don’t date my brother’s teammates.

Of course I went and broke both…

It started with a little banter on a dating app.

A teeny, tiny secret: Flirty messages with Luca Babineaux, the sweet, charming—and stupidly attractive forward on the Houston Baddies—who makes sweat and bruises look so f’ing hot. One spark turns into a secret first date. A few kisses become way more.

Now I’m tangled in a full-blown secret romance and every time Gio walks into the room, I have a full-blown anxiety attack.

Dating in secret? Thrilling.
Lying to my brother? Exhausting.

Falling for Luca Babineaux obviously wasn’t part of the game plan.

He wants to go public with our relationship. I’d rather not.

Now I have to decide what matters more: keeping my promises to my dumb, overprotective brother…or choose myself for once.

All’s fair in love and hockey. Right?

Buy Link:

https://books2read.com/CAGWYWSNeyKU

Available in KU

*****

Review:

I didn’t love this one QUITE as much as I did Hit Me With Your Best Shot, but it was definitely a fun read. Luca is a good boyfriend – supportive and loving of Nova’s every messy inch. He’s emotionally solid and seems to have his life together. Except he doesn’t have someone to be with.

Nova is unabashedly loud and, well, a lot. She’s struggled to find someone that accepts all of her. Until she meets Luca. Someone she should not be getting involved with.

I enjoyed these two together – their flirty texts and unconventional dates. There were times when I actually laughed out loud at their antics. I wasn’t 100% behind the resolution to their issues, and really feel like Nova needed to step up a little more, but I really enjoyed their romance. It ends in just as amusing a way as it started 🙂

*****

Author Info:

Sara Ney is the USA Today Bestselling Author of the How to Date a Douchebag series, and is best known for her sexy, laugh-out-loud New Adult romances. Among her favorite vices, she includes: iced latte’s, historical architecture and well-placed sarcasm. She lives colorfully, collects vintage books, art, loves flea markets, and fancies herself British.

Connect with Sara Ney:

https://linktr.ee/authorsaraney

Review – Privileged

03 Tuesday Jun 2025

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Adrenalin series, Book Review, Michele Lenard, Privileged

Privileged

Adrenalin #2

by Michele Lenard

Blurb:

I’m one bad decision away from losing everything.

Carter – I’m used to pressure. Used to privilege. What I’m not used to? Having the fate of an entire town resting on my shoulders, and my long dormant libido smacking me in the face mid-back rub.

That’s what happened on Monday morning, when my assistant sent in a masseuse—and in walked Sloan. With strong hands, soft eyes, and a very firm directive for me to undress… Let’s just say it relieved the tension, though not in the way I was expecting.

It should have been a one-time thing. A tension-reliever. A professional service.

Instead, it’s my undoing.

Because Sloan isn’t just anyone. He’s an employee. The one person I should never touch—especially with my father on the board that decides whether I sink or save the ski resort that keeps this small town alive.

And yet, every time I look at Sloan, every rule I’ve lived by starts to unravel.

I can fix the resort. I can fix my relationship with my father. But can I do it without destroying the one man who makes me feel like I’ve finally found home?

This spicy small-town MM romance features a workaholic, a do-gooder, costumes with way too much latex, and a drinking game you’ll have to try for yourself.

Author’s Note: Privileged is written as book two in the Adrenalin series, although it can be read as a standalone. This slow-burn, workplace romance with adult themes and humor will have you dreaming of the mountains, craving small-town charm, and wishing you had a reason besides Halloween to wear a costume. HEA guaranteed.

*****

Review:

*minor spoilers*

Oh Carter *sigh* I just want to give him a hug. His younger years as a pro skier had many positives, but it also left him at a disadvantage at people-ing. Add that he’s spent a year by himself, giving his all into figuring out how to save the ski resort, and by extension the town, well … it means that he doesn’t have the best reputation with the locals. And that he’s carrying all sorts of stress on his own. Until he meets Sloan.

I like Sloan. He’s a stand-up guy, hardworking and big hearted. He’s compassionate, giving, & loyal and just what Carter needs. He’s able to help Carter set down some of his burden, ask for help where he needs it, and open up to others. Together they are just the sweetest and I couldn’t get enough of them together.

For me, third act breakups can be an obvious choice but Lenard’s work. This one just about broke my heart but I appreciate where they were both coming from and why things went the way they did. And I really like how it all gets resolved.

I am really enjoying Lenard’s books. She delivers relatable characters, interesting story lines, and a good mix of heat & heart. Her Adrenalin series so far has been feel good, lower angst, and charming. It’s got a lovely found family, small town charm and satisfying HEAs.

*****

Review – Home Hearts Hooves

02 Monday Jun 2025

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Beaker Brothers series, Becca Jackson, Book Review, Home Hearts Hooves

Home Hearts Hooves

Beaker Brothers Ranch #1

by Becca Jackson

Blurb:

Beaker Brothers Ranch is part dairy farm, part animal sanctuary, even more so since the gorgeous town vet keeps finding more misfits to deliver to Dean’s door. Even if he wasn’t a fumbling mess whenever the Doc came around, he’d never say no.

Beaker Brothers has always been a place where even the most awkward of the world can find their home.

With his happily ever after on the line, Dean will need to grow some bull-sized balls and go after the man of his dreams.

But hey, with a pygmy goat as a wingman, it’s in the bag… right?

Loosely connected to the Love in Play series, Dean is the older brother of Alan Beaker, Banana Ball player and MC in Totally Opposed, Love in Play book 3.

*****

Review:

I loved this one sooo much – the unconventional farm animals, the way Dean can’t say no to Preston & how he calls him Doc, the way everyone on the farm supports each other. It’s just ALL the sweetness and I couldn’t get enough.

There is a little drama with Preston’s past that was unexpected but it works. Leading to a few extra heartwarming moments for our guys. Not that they need any help! Their friendship developing into something more is *sigh*

Jackson’s newest is a slow-burn, small town romance with all the feels and quirkiness I could want. Like her Love in Play series, it’s not going to be for everyone. But I’m here for every fluffy, feel good moment and I am ready for the next book. Gimme, gimme now!

Review – Rival for Rent

02 Monday Jun 2025

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Book Review, Heartbreakers Anonymous series, Rival for Rent, Spencer Spears

Rival for Rent

Heartbreakers Anonymous series

by Spencer Spears

Blurb:

Rule #1: Don’t become a bodyguard to the kid you used to bully.

In my defense, I didn’t know it was that kid. I barely remember high school. But Kai Jacinto remembers everything.

Rule #2: Don’t let him pretend he doesn’t need you.

Kai’s got a stalker. He’s already been attacked—twice—but he still acts like this is just a mild inconvenience. He’s rich, arrogant, and pushes my buttons like he’s trying to set off a bomb. Unfortunately for both of us, I don’t walk away from the job.

Rule #3: Don’t get distracted by how gorgeous he is.

I’m straight. Allegedly. But Kai’s grown into a man I can’t ignore—brilliant, funny, and hotter than sin, straightness be damned. And the more I see of the beautiful, fragile man he’s become, the more determined I am to keep him safe.

Rule #4: Don’t let him know you’ve fallen.

I’ve been through war zones, gun fights, and more ambushes than I can count, but nothing prepared me for the mess Kai’s made of my heart. He’s mine to protect. Mine to crave. Mine to ruin if I’m not careful.

But I’ll burn the world down before I let anyone touch him again. And I’ll break every damn rule I’ve got, just to make him mine.

Rival for Rent is Book 1 in the Heartbreakers Anonymous series. It’s an enemies to lovers, bully to bodyguard, bisexual awakening romance with high heat, forced proximity, and opposites attract energy.

*****

Review:

Mason is struggling after the end of his military career but finds a purpose in protecting an old schoolmate. Even if he is hostile and unwilling to accept Mason’s help, or take the threat to his safety seriously. I liked how patient Mason is with Kai at the beginning and how the tables turn in the second half. I think that they are a good match – Mason taking care of Kai and Kai boosting up Mason. It’s super sweet. And steamy too 🙂

I did have a few issues. I felt like Kai forgave Mason a bit too quickly for the way he was in high school, which could have been better explored. And considering some of the things that happened in the Marines I was also a bit surprised at Mason’s “bi-awakening”. The bad guy also seemed a bit far fetched, a little too convenient – good romance with a bit of suspense but not necessarily a good romantic suspense story.

Overall, tho, I did enjoy their stories purely on Kai and Mason today. The way they are forced to spend time together, getting to know the men they have become. I also liked the way the suspense element was well paced and woven smoothly into their romance. With the fun epilogue I’m gonna be looking for the next book.