Romance Wrap-up March 2024

 Sharing Shane - Hannah Murray

This polyamorous romance follows Veronica after she finds her boyfriend cheating on her with her neighbor.  Instead of moping, she decides to take the couples vacation to Bermuda by herself.  The only catch - she needs a second person to go with her or else her reservation is cancelled.  Shane is a friend of a friend and needs some nice rest and relaxation time.  Plus, it doesn't hurt that his boyfriend is going to be at a retreat at the same time.  Things quickly heat up with Shane and Veronica but transitioning this vacation fling to something more concrete once they are all back to real life will take more than a little work.  I really enjoyed this read.  It was my first poly romance that didn't end in throuple territory and I loved seeing different representation of what a poly romance could look like.  While I'm not poly personally, I do think this book does a good job of explaining the dynamics and challenges that come with this relationship structure so I think even folks who aren't well versed in poly-culture could follow along just fine.  I absolutely loved Veronica and her kick-ass attitude when it comes to her ex.  Shane is certainly a bit more buttoned up about his feelings (with the past relationship trauma to back that up) and I loved how they came together.  I did want more of them just dating when back in the real world because the transition from vacation fling to relationship was a little fast and loose for my liking.  I loved how much heart this read had and the emotional depth we get from these characters.

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for the ARC.  Publication date was March 19, 2024.

Gouda Friends - Cathy Yardley

This is the second book in the Ponto Beach Reunion series and follows high school best friends Tam and Josh.  After a disastrous break up with her boyfriend, Tam reaches out to the one person who was always there for her - Josh - using their special code word goldfish.  Next thing she knows, she's flying across the country and reuniting with her high school friend group that she had been distanced from for a while.  Now, Josh is determined to help Tam find her next step in her life plan, just like she did for him a few years prior.  Only as the two friends work closely together, they start to realize there might be something more between them, maybe something that had been there the whole time.  This was a fun read, but I think it might have been a bit over-hyped for me.  Personally, I found Tam and Josh to be such good friends that I wasn't entirely sold on their relationship.  This was one of those reads where, at the end, I was left feeling like they were maybe better off as friends.  I think my main issue was that we don't get to see a whole lot of time when they are actually in the relationship phase.  We see friends, budding feelings, friends with benefits, and then we skip to the third act breakup pretty quickly.  I wanted more time to settle into their relationship and see how them being together is even better than them being friends.  All that being said, this had some really heartfelt moments and I loved the found family aspect of the friend group.  I also loved all the cheese related humor and plot points. 

Ben - Cora Rose

This MMM, age gap romance is the 8th book in the Unexpected series and follows Ben, Cash, and Ford.  Cash and Ford are Ben's father's best friends and until a few weeks ago, the three men didn't have any interest in each other beyond friendship.  But now that they've breached that relationship barrier, they must contend with their new feelings as well as what their relationship dynamic might mean for the people around them.  This read was 80% smut, 20% plot, and I wasn't mad about it.  But by the end, I was a bit tired of the smut and I'll fully admit to skimming those scenes to get to the plot points.  I didn't read any of the previous books in the series, so I'm not sure if I missed some character development there, but in this read we are just dropped into this world and relationship dynamic a few weeks into it.  We don't get to see, in this book, the moments that these men crept from friendly to something more - we just hear about it as off-hand comments.  I'm not sure if those scenes were present in book 7 or not.  In any case, since we skipped seeing those points on page, I didn't get a great sense for any of these characters until I was well into the book and for me, that meant the smutty scenes lost their intrigue pretty quickly because I didn't have the emotional build up or connection with these characters.  I didn't see enough of their character that I fully believed any of them had feelings deeper than horny lust.  I did like that since this was mostly smut, it was also low angst and the conflicts get resolved very quickly with basically just a conversation. This felt like it should have been a novella but then to add pages to make it novel length, Rose just added more sex scenes. 

Late Bloomer - Mazey Eddings

This FF romance follows Opal and Pepper.  Opal is ready for a fresh start and winning the lottery is just her ticket.  Her impulsivity pays off when she buys a flower farm in Asheville, North Carolina. But when she goes to move there, she finds Pepper.  The flower farm was her late grandmother's and Pepper believes she's the rightful owner - if only she could find the will that proves it.  The two strike up a deal that they will both live on the farm until Pepper can start buying Opal out.  As the flowers bloom, so does the relationship between the two women and soon enough they are thinking more about staying than leaving.  I loved this read - it had everything I was hoping for from the premise.  Opal and Pepper are such great opposites attract and were such fun characters to follow falling in love.  Pepper is autistic and Opal is neurodivergent and these are characteristics that they celebrate in each other right from the beginning.  I also loved Opal's sisters and Pepper's friends who all come together in such a loving and fun group.  The background of a flower farm is maybe my new favorite romantic backdrop to a story and I think Eddings does a fantastic job balancing the reality of farming with the romanticized elements.  The plot with Pepper's con-woman mother was really interesting and I think Eddings handled the topic with care.  This was another win from Eddings with a great mix of heart and heat and I can't wait to get more (hopefully following Opal's sisters).

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC.  Expected publication date is April 16, 2024.

The General - Jessica Gadziala

This is the fourth book in the Professionals series and follows Smith and Jenny.  Jenny is married to Senator Ericsson's son - and her abuse is an open secret in Navesink Bank. She was coerced to lie on the stand when her husband got caught one night but then she faded into the background. Until one night she had enough, took matters into her own hand, and then called the office of Quinton Baird & Associates.  Another great entry in this series after book 3 (which I wasn't a fan of).  Smith is Quinn's #2 in command and is running the office while Quinn is on vacation so when the call from Jenny comes in - Smith is on the case.  While Smith may be the titular General, this story feels 100% like Jenny's journey.  She has spent years being abused by her husband and is now not only having to navigate her way out of being caught for murder (which of course Smith is helping her with), but also navigate finding her way back to herself.  Big content warning that we do see the abuse on-page in the form of flashbacks as well as her probable PTSD manifesting even after her husband is gone.  We don't get a whole lot of information or character development from Smith.  Instead, he is the solid person there to help Jenny find herself and safety after her ordeal.  I loved how these two characters come together and support each other.  This is less of the typical romantic suspense that the previous books in the series have leaned toward and more of a caretaking book with a political edge. I liked getting to see the other members of the Professionals a bit and I think this book helps set up the next half of the series nicely.

Eyes on Me - Sara Cate

This step-sibling romance is the second in the Salacious Players Club series and follows Garrett and Mia.  Garrett is co-owner of the Salacious Players Club and he's a voyeur.  He had all but given up on relationships until he's browsing cam girl sites one night and comes across someone he recognizes.  Not just anyone - his younger stepsister, Mia.  I'll fully admit I was a bit hesitant going into this one and almost skipped it.  The only reason I picked it up was that there is a significant age gap (13 years) between our two characters which meant that while they did know each other when they were younger, they didn't really grow up together in the same house.  When it comes to age gap and/or step sibling romances, I really prefer there to be a pretty significant separation.  In this one, we get other characters even confirming that it wasn't like they were actually siblings since Garrett was grown and out of the house pretty much when their parents were married.  That being said, there was still a good amount of tension between the characters and the taboo aspect of their relationship was really well developed.  This was lower angst than I was expecting, which is a plus in my book.  This had a great core romance lesson of "you can't help who you fall in love with" which I think is the best core to build a taboo romance around.  I do wish we had gotten a little more playing of Garrett's voyeurism and Mia's exhibitionism at play when they are together.  I loved the amount of character depth and development we get with both characters - more than I found in the first book.  I loved being back in the SPC and can't wait to continue on in the series.

A Soul To Keep - Opal Reyne

This is the first book in the Duskwalker Brides series and follows Reia and Orpheus.  Every 10 years, a Duskwalker demands a human offering in exchange for giving the village protection from demons. Reia, village outcast, is the offering for this round.  Orpheus is immediately intrigued by Reia and her almost lack of fear of him.  He agrees to take her as the offering and the two set out for his home in the Veil.  There, he sets out a number of rules in place to keep her safe from not only the demons outside, but also from Orpheus himself.  The more they spend time together, the closer they become, but Reia is torn between escaping back to the human world and admitting her feelings for Orpheus.  This was such a great monster romance and I was immediately drawn into this world.  This had big Beauty and the Beast vibes (which I loved) but wasn't a straight up rewrite of that story.  Reia and Orpheus are such interesting characters and I loved how Reyne is able to give us such clear characterization of two very different entities.  The world building was superb and I'm 100% continuing on in the series to see more of these Duskwalkers and this world.  While this is a captor/captive romance, we get enough scenes outside of Orpheus's home that it never felt like the plot was stagnating. I adored the gradual feelings blossoming between the two and Orpheus was about as cinnamon roll a character as I've ever seen in a monster romance. I can't wait to continue on in this series.

Lips Like Sugar - Jess K Hardy

This is the second book in the Bluebird Basin series and follows Mira and Cole.  When Mira's ex boyfriend shows up unexpectedly at her bakery and asks if she is going to attend the wedding of Ashley and Madigan (the couple from book 1) - she of course says yes and that she's actually going to be bringing her boyfriend.  What boyfriend?  Well the handsome stranger that just so happened to walk into the bakery at just the right time - Cole, Madigan's best friend.  The two agree to fake date for the wedding but when fake dating leads to real feelings, the 50+ year olds must figure out if they have something worth disrupting their carefully crafted lives for. This was a great next installment in the series and really felt like a continuation of the first book.  Because of that, I did feel a little lost at times before my memory would get triggered and I'd remember who some of these side characters were.  I'd recommend reading book 1 for sure before starting this one and I'd say the shorter the time between the two, the better.  I've only read a handful of older MC romances and I'm really enjoying them and the slightly different dynamic of either being a second chance at love or, as is the case here, a chance to go all-in.  Mira and Cole have a great depth of character and I love how much we get to see of them outside the main relationship dynamic.  We get to see family and friends as well as their own thoughts and worries.  I do wish we got to see a little more of Cole's internal thoughts on paper because there were a few places where it felt like the book was missing that extra layer of character development.  

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for the ARC.  Publication date was March 28, 2024

The Last Guest House - Caroline Mitchell

 

This mystery follows DI Alex McKenna as she, her son, and boyfriend, all take off for a weekend away. But there's a problem with the reservation and the only other place in the area with a vacancy is The Loch House.  When they arrive just ahead of a snowstorm, The Loch House owners greet them with the rules: no smoking, no loud music, no phones, and no leaving their rooms after 9pm. Over dinner with the other guests, Alex learns about the grisly history of The Loch House and starts to wonder if they'll be able to leave or if they will become the next mark on its bloody history. 

This read had a lot of interesting elements, but they didn't quite come together for me as well as I would hope.  We have a great cast of weird characters, a detective MC, and an isolated setting.  This should have been a slam dunk.  Unfortunately, I didn't love some of the narrative structure choices which really knocked the whole reading experience down a bit for me.  Obviously mileage may vary with my complaints, but the parts that did work for me were great so it all evened out to just an okay read at the end.

I did not enjoy the true crime podcast element at all.  I'm not a big true crime enthusiast on a normal day, but I have enjoyed books in the past that use these podcasts as framing devices for the plot.  In this case, it felt very removed from the main plot.  The podcast hosts were not characters at The Loch House nor was anyone listening to the podcast.  Instead, it felt like an easy way for the reader to be told background information or to flesh out information in a way that wasn't just having the characters give pages of exposition. Since it was so removed from the main plot, every time we switched to a podcast transcript, it took me out of the story.  I do think we needed the information in the podcast for the ending reveals to really come out, but I wanted it to be integrated into the story in a more natural fashion.  

The setting was by far and away my favorite part of this read. Mitchell wastes no time getting us to The Loch House but still manages to give us so much atmosphere to really set the scene.  The descriptions were absolutely wonderful and I loved how they really toed the line of being quirky but also sinister.  As the narrative goes on, we get to revisit similar areas or pieces of the setting but they come across as completely different because of the plot reveals.  Mitchell really uses the isolated setting to her advantage and it often feels like a separate entity that our characters are battling against.  

The cast of characters - especially the strange owners of The Loch House, were such a fun group to follow for this read. We do get both Alex and her boyfriend's POVs, but I wish this was more of a full-cast of POVs type of book.  These characters were so interesting and the right amount of over the top that I wanted to spend more time with each of them.  I didn't love our MC Alex as much as I was expecting too.  I found her characterization was a bit off for me and she seemed to oscillate between two main personalities, neither of which I felt particularly interested in.  There is a bit of domestic suspense with her relationship, but even that felt like it wasn't used to bring as much tension to this read as I was expecting.  There was significant domestic violence in her past that is brought up but it didn't really add anything to the character for me as is.

The ending reveal was interesting, but the way it played out on page felt like it really deflated the moment.  We do find out what is going on with The Loch House and why everyone there is so strange and I did like the reveal from a plot perspective.  However, when it comes to the big finale scene, we skip over seeing the action on page and instead have like a 30 min fast forward moment only for our characters to then flash backwards and recount the events that happened.  It felt really strange to read, especially for the moment where all this building tension was boiling over. 

Overall, this was an okay read that I enjoyed some parts of but not all parts.  I felt like this just fell into the "not for me" category and I didn't have any significant plot holes or other complaints. 

Thanks to NetGalley and Embla Books for the ARC.  Expected publication date is April 9, 2024

The Gathering - CJ Tudor

 

This mystery follows Barbara Atkins, detective with the Forensic Vampyr Anthropology Department, as she arrives in Deadhart, Alaska.  There, a teen boy was found with his throat ripped out and the town is calling for Barbara to authorize a cull of the local vampyr colony.  However, Barbara isn't so sure this case is as open and shut as the town believes it to be.  With an impending snow storm and tensions in the town growing, Barbara is on limited time to find the truth behind the killings. Enlisting the help of a former sheriff who almost lost his life the last time the vampyrs were accused of killing, the two dig into the town's history and reveal more than they could have ever expected.

This was such a fun read and it wasn't what I was really expecting.  I thought this would lean much more on the sort of vampyr hunter trope but I loved how it was pretty much a regular police procedural.  We have a full investigation, suspects (both human and vampyr) and a town full of red herrings.  We get right into the action and the investigation hooked me from beginning to end.  We also get a set up at the end for a potential series which I would love if we got.

I know police procedurals aren't everyone's preferred mystery sub-genre (I really enjoy them).  However, I think this has a good mix of the horror and supernatural elements layered in.  This had everything I want from my police procedurals - protagonist with a bit of baggage, a seemingly straightforward case that ends up being more than expected, a solid investigation thread, and a satisfying and surprising whodunnit ending reveal. The layers of vampyr lore and the every day horror of living in a remote area really intensified the main mystery elements.  I also loved the choice to have Barbara be in her 50s and overweight as opposed to maybe the more typical hot shot newbie female detective. 

I was thrilled with how Tudor introduced us to the vampyrs of this world by giving us a few quotes from various publications and legal documents in the opening of this read.  While these quotes are obviously fake, they did a great job of setting up the history of the vampyrs in this world in a way that was extremely easy to digest. This meant that the reader goes into page 1 with a basic understanding of what a vampyr is in this setting which was extremely helpful given the vastly different types of fictional vampire types to choose from.  This also helps avoid any heavy handed or odd exposition dump by a character or plot device like listening to a radio.  As the story progresses, we learn more about vampyr history as well as the vampyrs themselves.  If we do get a series, I would love to see the vampyr side of things explored more.

I absolutely loved the theme of outsiders and 'us vs them' which play out beautifully in this remote and isolated setting. I know those are themes for a lot of 'monster' books because it is such an easy line in the sand to draw, but Tudor also gives us some examples of how those lines get blurred, especially over time.  I didn't feel like any character were caricatures, but we certainly saw the whole range of responses to the alleged vampyr killing.  I also loved the world building around anti-vampyr sentiments.  I don't want to go into details because of spoilers but I found these touches of the lore to really help make it feel like the vampyrs were living beside humans for ages, they weren't some creature that came out of the darkness recently.  We have that generational trauma and prejudice that comes out in many different ways - some more obvious than others. 

Overall, this was a great procedural read with a good sprinkle of fun vampyr on top.  I absolutely loved the investigation as well as lore and world building.  I hope we do get a series (or at least a sequel) out of this world because there is a lot more I want to see.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the ARC.  Expected publication date is April 9, 2024.

The Angel of Indian Lake - Stephen Graham Jones

 

This is the third book of the Indian Lake Trilogy and we're back with Jade Daniels in Proofrock 4 years after the end of book 2.  Jade and Proofrock both look very different than when we last saw them and both are trying to move on from the past tragedies as best as they can.  However, in Proofrock, it seems, there's always another shoe to drop.  Now, on Halloween, the curse of the Lake Witch is coming to life and Jade has one last stand to make. 

This is the final installment in the trilogy and Jones wraps it up expertly - and I was expecting nothing less.  I absolutely loved this new Jade, now back in Proofrock after 4 years in prison.  She's older, wiser, and trying to keep to herself.  There were so many full circle moments in this read which felt like Jones wrapping up loose ends that I didn't even know I wanted tied up.  The town also was trying to go through its own healing journey as well since the first two books did not leave the town unscathed.  Now, just like the first two books in the series, we do get some good slasher action so it isn't all soft and squishy feelings.  I feel like Jade earned her ending to her story and it was such a great last ride to witness.

I've read each book in this series as an ARC so my reading was spaced out about 1 year apart.  I didn't have that hard of a time between books 1 and 2 but it seemed like there were so many character name drops that were ringing faint bells but I couldn't completely place.  I think for maximum impact and name recognition, I would recommend re-reading at least the first book if not both previous books before picking this one up.  I could still follow the plot just fine, but there were times were it felt like knowing this character's name should automatically fill in some gaps.  

The first two books in the series have very distinctive and different styles and I thought this third entry combined the best of both worlds. The first book, to me, read very much as literary horror.  We were in Jade's head a lot and weren't sure if we were going to see any horror action on page.  The second book was much more of a straight forward slasher read with Jade being our reluctant hero.  This third book has more action than the first one did but I found it to have more of Jade's introspection than we got with the second book.  This melding of styles helps the trilogy feel cohesive and whole instead of like three very different books with the same main character in common. 

Plotwise, this was a little off the rails from pretty much the very beginning and only picked up steam from there.  We waste no time getting into the newest threat to Proofrock and as much as Jade really wants to stay out of it this time, she just can't help being pulled in.  There are a lot of moving pieces and a lot of characters so it feels a bit hectic at times and I could see some readers really getting lost in the weeds.  This is where I think having better name recognition than I did may come in handy.  However, Jones excels at making this tangled web of plot points and characters into something incredibly compelling and readable.  There were so many great moments of tension where I was reading as fast as I could to see what would happen next.  And whenever a horror book can make me cry, I know it is a winner.

Just as in the first two books - Jade is on point with her slasher lore and rules.  We even get some newer references which were fun. I didn't feel like they were used as much as they were in the previous books which I think works to reflect Jade's personal development in the past few years.  That being said, Jade does still lean on them in times of stress or confusion to make sense of the absolute bonkers things going on around her.  I think there are so many layers that Jones works into Jade's character that re-reading this series down the line would be a very interesting undertaking.

Overall, this was a fantastic read and a great way of finishing up the trilogy.  I got more of everything I like from this series - great characters, interesting twists, and some fantastic slasher moments.  

Thanks to NetGalley and S&S/Saga Press for the ARC.  Expected publication date is March 26, 2024

The September House - Carissa Orlando

 

This horror follows Margaret after her husband walks out of their Victorian home after deciding he couldn't take another September in the house.  September is when the walls of the house start dripping blood and when the ghosts of previous residents come out even more than usual.  Margaret has learned to live with and even enjoy the company of the ghosts in the house so she's not leaving.  Eventually, their daughter Katherine decides that a month of not hearing from her father is long enough and she comes to town to look for him.  Margaret is worried more about keeping Katherine safe during her September stay but as the investigation into Hal's disappearance escalates, so do the hauntings and the house might have a secret of its own.

This was an absolutely fantastic read where the premise paid off 100%.  I was hooked from the first sentence and read this straight through.  Initially, I thought maybe this was a little bit too quirky of a set-up and it would get old quickly.  However, I loved how Orlando worked in some more heart and serious topics into the story and used those as a way to sort of ground the plot in reality.  There are also complicated family dynamics at play and those also add depth and complexity to the story and characters. 

TW/CW: alcoholism, domestic violence, child death, suicide

I absolutely loved Margaret's voice and character.  She was such a compelling character to follow and her more no-nonsense personality helped temper the over-the-top ghost shenanigans.  We get to see her face a number of different situations and I found her an incredibly interesting and complex character.  She seems like a normal housewife on the outside, but there's a lot of layers to her psychology that Orlando expertly explores.  Given how close we follow Margaret, I was incredibly excited when we got to the potentially unreliable narrator (no spoilers if Margaret is unreliable or not) because I hadn't even considered that she might be unreliable until then. I was 100% on board with her and her story.  Usually with thriller/mystery/horror reads, I'm on the lookout for unreliable narrators since that is one of my favorite tropes so when one can catch me off guard like this, I'm thrilled.

The horror aspects were fantastic and really straddled the line between a little silly and absolutely horrifying.  It was giving me Ghostbusters mixed with Poltergeist and a touch of The Exorcist.  The ghosts that haunt the house all died horrific deaths and there is a good bit of gore in this read.  But a lot of the antics they get up to come off pretty funny, especially with Margaret's dry sense of humor about the situation.  The more details we get about the lore of the house and the reasons behind the haunting, the darker the story gets.  The supernatural events also get more severe as the month progresses which helps propel the plot forward.  

Overall, this was a very entertaining read with fantastic characters and lore building.  I was hooked from the very beginning and was pleasantly surprised at the emotional depth we got with the family history. 

February 2024 Romance Wrap-up

 Hideaway Heart - Melanie Harlow

This is the second book in the Cherry Tree Harbor series and follows Kelly and Xander. Kelly is also known as country music star Pixie Hart, but she's ready to have a break from the spotlight and spend some time alone in a cabin.  But her older brother doesn't want her to be alone, so he enlists the help of former Navy SEAL Xander to be her bodyguard.  Only problem is the cabin Kelly rented is tiny, there's only one bed, and the two can't stand each other ... at first. This was such a fun bodyguard romance and I loved seeing Kelly and Xander get together.  They seemed to immediately know how to poke one another's buttons but I really liked how both of them dropped their prickly exteriors.  I'm not the biggest fan of celebrity romances, but having Kelly be on a break from her regular life helped temper the celebrity part a bit.  I loved seeing the small town stuff through her eyes and how she valued the things that people living in Cherry Tree Harbor may take for granted. When they do finally get together, the pages were sizzling but there was also a lot of emotion from both of them.  There was a bit of a romantic suspense sub-plot but I would not call this a romantic suspense book.  It is always great being back with Harlow's small town characters and this was no exception.

Not Your Crush's Cauldron - April Asher

This paranormal romance is the third in the Supernatural Singles series and follows Olive and Bax.  Olive is perfectly content to live with her very set routines until one of her students challenge her to do her own assignment and step outside of her comfort zone.  Bax is a guardian angel and when his next assignment is Olive - his new roommate and long time crush - he knows this is going to get complicated.  But spending more time with Olive is not something he's going to pass up.  This was so fun and it was great to see the two characters who we haven't seen a ton of in the previous books.  I love a good "oops, my crush is now my roommate" moment but when Bax is assigned to Olive as her guardian angel, it brought that to a whole new level.  Asher got their whole opposites attract dynamic down perfectly where the seem so different on paper, but their personalities just mesh so well that is is obvious they belong together.  I loved how Olive was really the catalyst for a lot of the romantic growth between them and it really showed her coming out of her shell in many ways.  I loved learning more about this world and the guardian angel system was so interesting to me.  We get to see a good amount of the other characters as well, which is always fun.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC.  Publication date was February 13. 2024

Do Your Worst - Rosie Danan

This supernatural romance follows Riley and Clark.  Riley is working on expanding her family's gift as curse breakers by offering her services for hire.  Being hired for a cursed castle in Scotland seems like a great way to get her name out there but the only problem is the grumpy and skeptical Clark was also hired to work at the castle.  The two vow to be enemies, but somehow keep ending up in situations together and they get the sense that maybe there's another force bringing them together.  I loved the premise and supernatural elements of this, but I had a bit of a hard time with the characters.  I didn't quite buy that these two actually liked each other and found their weird bickering/hot-cold dynamic a little annoying to read.  I can see Danan going for an enemies to lovers/opposites attract dynamic but for me the constant back and forth felt like we were never making any headway.  They would be sworn enemies, then one would do something nice for the other so then they'd agree to a truce.  Until someone did something the next day that would make them sworn enemies again.  I thought Riley and Clark were both very interesting and well developed and I loved how they each had their own personal growth throughout this story.  However, they just didn't click for me as a couple by the end.

Headcase - Onley James

This is the fourth book in the Necessary Evils series and follows Asa and Zane. Zane is an aspiring crime reporter and he has a theory that Thomas Mulvaney and probably the entire Mulvaney clan are murderers. In the hopes of getting more evidence, Zane hopes to run into Thomas during a gala dinner.  Instead, he runs into Asa who immediately starts pressing Zane's buttons as entertainment.  But neither expect the evening to truly end where Asa offered - with him chasing Zane down through his mansion with the fun beginning when Zane is caught. When Zane gets too close to the family secret, Asa chooses to bring him into the fold.  This was yet another fun entry in the series and Zane's path into the family had a lot of similarities to Noah from book 1.  In the previous books, Asa and his twin Ari were never really seen separately but it was great to have the plot separate them so that we can get a really good sense of Asa's character.   Asa really came off to me as the most sadistic of the brothers we've met so far (and not just in regards to his bedroom proclivities).  Asa and Zane certainly have chemistry for days and I loved the way their insta-lust for each other momentarily made them forget their own goals for the night they met. While I don't doubt that  Asa and Zane are a good pairing, the ending to this felt more like a Happy for Now rather than a Happily Ever After (I think mostly due to the fact that Asa would bring up his twin Ari so that plot line felt a bit unresolved).  At this point in the series, over half of the brothers have found their person to be with so the inner circle 

TW/CW: The investigation in this book is based on a real internet game where the players usually eventually commit suicide. Zane is very close to this topic so the discussion of suicide is frequent in the book. 

Praise - Sara Cate

This age gap, kinky read is the first book in the Salacious Player's Club series and follows Charlie and Emerson.  Emerson is the owner of the Salacious Player's Club - a kink club he co-owns and runs with his friends. He is also Charlie's ex boyfriend's father.  When Charlie shows up at his office to collect the security deposit of the apartment she shared with her ex, Emerson mistakes her for a new sub.  Once he realizes his mistake, Emerson is very apologetic and ends up offering Charlie a very vanilla job as his secretary.  But as the two work closer together and Charlie learns more about the kink world, the two end up forming a connection that can't be undone even if they wanted to.  This was such a fun, kinky read and a great first entry in a new series that I was immediately obsessed with. Cate does a fantastic job with the world building of the club as well as all the other side characters who will each have their own book in the series.  Emerson and Charlie are both very unique characters and I really loved the way they ended up together despite everything they had going against them.  I found this read to be lower angst than I was expecting given the tropes of age gap and ex boyfriend's dad. I loved the way kink was portrayed and how Emerson explained the more emotional elements to Charlie.  I didn't quite love Charlie as much as Emerson and it mostly came down to her relationship with kink.  In the kinky romances I've read where one MC is vanilla, they usually still have an inkling that they are kinky themselves or even have a list of kinky interests but have never acted on them.  Charlie came across very vanilla where she didn't even know some of the terms or acts and then she would jump in with both feet.  I would have expected her to be a little more hesitant or for there to be more of a ramp up in the kinky aspects as she expanded her experiences.  However, a lot of this exploration I was expecting was explained away by an evening of Charlie Googling.  All that being said, Cate does a great job of really selling the connection between Charlie and Emerson both in and out of their kink scenes and I'm so excited to have found a new romance series where I want to immediately read all of the books.  

Small Town Swoon - Melanie Harlow

This is the fourth book in the Cherry Tree Harbor series and follows Dash and Ari.  Dash comes back home to Cherry Tree Harbor in the hopes of finding himself for the next phase of his acting career.  Ari has been helping her parents run the family diner and the last person she wants to see is Dash.  The two have history going back to childhood, but Dash's rebuff of her feelings when she was a teen still hurts.  But they aren't teens any more, and when adult Ari and Dash get together, the chemistry is off the charts.  This was fantastic and I absolutely loved Dash and Ari.  As I said above, I don't love celebrity romances, but since Dash was on vacation from acting it didn't really feel like a celebrity book.  However, I did love the practical conversations about Dash and his career plans that I think are often overlooked with celebrities.  I was glad that we got past the incident from years ago pretty quickly which meant this was more of a friends to lovers than I was initially expecting.  Harlow does a great job (as usual) with balancing her character's career aspirations and love of their small town/families.  Dax and Ari are so compatible on just about every level and I really enjoyed how deep their conversations went into their career and life aspirations.  It really felt like their relationship is built on a super solid foundation and I fully believe these two will have a HEA.  We also see a lot of the Buckley family in this one which I absolutely loved.

Thanks to the author for the ARC.  Publication date is March 4, 2024

What Grows in the Dark - Jaq Evans

 This mystery/horror follows Brigit and Ian - friends and fake paranormal investigators.  After Brigit receives a call from her hometown about a potential job, her and Ian head to Ellis Creek.  When they arrive, they learn about the recent missing persons search for two teens.  At first, it isn't clear why Brigit, specifically, was asked to come help.  But with a connection between the current missing people and her sister's suicide 16 years prior, Brigit finds herself confronting a long kept secret that may be the secret to finding and ending the string of missing children from Ellis Creek for good.

TW/CW: suicide on page

For the first half of the read, this felt like a pretty straightforward mystery.  Brigit and Ian were investigating by non-paranormal means such as interviewing locals and doing some research at the local library.  As the plot progressed, the horror elements came in and slowly escalated until by the last 75%, we were in a straight up horror movie and it was fantastic.  Evans does a great job of using the horror elements to heighten the emotional points of the plot.  This makes the stakes feel so much greater and I found myself holding my breath while reading because I was so stressed about these characters. The mystery investigation was well done and I really enjoyed that it was equally rooted in the regular investigation as well as the paranormal investigation.

The actual horror elements were pretty solid in the folk horror category - complete with creepy forests and unnamed entities within.  As mentioned above, the horror creeps into this read in bits and pieces.  The first few times, it is easy to chalk it up to Brigit maybe being mentally impacted by being back in her hometown after so long or the trauma of losing her sister resurfacing.  For a while, I was wondering if this would turn into an unreliable narrator read where we aren't sure if the horrors are real or imagined.  The scene where the horror elements were solidified as being real is a scene I'm not going to forget soon.  I'm not sure if the folk horror entity in this read is based on any real local legends, but it was very unique and Evans fleshed out the lore and rules surrounding it very well.

 Brigit and Ian were wonderfully complex characters and I loved getting both of their POVs.  For me, most reads are pretty easy to label as either character-driven or plot-driven.  In this case, I think Evans does a great job of balancing both of these aspects.  We certainly get a lot of character work but the mystery investigation plot is also very well developed.  We are dropped into this read in the middle of Brigit and Ian working a job and the plot takes off from there.  We don't get much of any sort of summary of their relationship or history - rather, Evans sprinkles in details throughout the story and by the end we have such a great understanding of them as individual characters as well as their relationship.  All of the side characters we see, as well, are incredibly detailed and complex.

Overall, this was a fantastic read and one I don't think I'll forget about easily.  Complex characters, good mystery plot, and great horror elements.  I'd love to read more from Evans in the future. 

Thanks to NetGalley and MIRA for the ARC.  Expected publication date is March 5, 2024