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lollylovesbooks's reviews
693 reviews
Anna and the Alien by Honey Phillips
Reading this has showed me I'm not a fan of the kidnapped-by-aliens style of romance. So I'll leave the sub-genre to those who do enjoy it.
100% not a fan of the guy's response when she was nearly raped. Particularly "claiming" her again like he did.
Caging Ella by Andie M. Long
Not 100% sure how I feel about this. Didn't enjoy the breeding aspects, and wasn't a fan of the creepy age situation. The initial setup was good though.
Bound to Shadows by Keri Arthur
This one definitely packed an emotional punch. Lots going on for Riley both professionally and personally. Great continuation of the series.
The Darkest Kiss by Keri Arthur
A lot of the focus here is on Riley coming to terms with where her life is at, and processing what it means for her. But alongside this are 2 different guardian cases with dangerous killers.
Really enjoyed this one, this series has so many great characters and ongoing threads.
Really enjoyed this one, this series has so many great characters and ongoing threads.
A Betrayal of Storms by Ben Alderson
Fun queer fantasy romance with fae and new powers.
This story follows on Robin, who finds himself captured and taken to a prison camp for fae, after neighbors notice his pointy ears and fancy a pay day. Only once he's there, Robin discovers that he inherited more than his ears from his mother, as he turns the place to ice.
Let's start with the obvious. Is there anything new about a fantasy book where someone discovers they have powers, gets swept into a different world, and finds themself in the middle of a war? No, of course not. But does this book do it well, and with its own twist? Yes it does.
I liked that Robin had known he was half-fae, but just thought he didn't have powers. I also appreciated the comparisons he made in how histories were told in the human realm vs the fae realm. The types of magic were really interesting too, with different members of families having differing powers along a theme.
I enjoyed the romance thread in here - particularly the comments from some of the friends Robin had made. There's just always something great about the dynamic when a character falls for their guard.
With the title "A Betrayal of Storms" it's fair to say that while reading you're fairly certain there will be a betrayal. I thought the build up of this was done really well, as you're not certain which of the characters that betrayal will come from.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the free digital copy. All thoughts are my own.
This story follows on Robin, who finds himself captured and taken to a prison camp for fae, after neighbors notice his pointy ears and fancy a pay day. Only once he's there, Robin discovers that he inherited more than his ears from his mother, as he turns the place to ice.
Let's start with the obvious. Is there anything new about a fantasy book where someone discovers they have powers, gets swept into a different world, and finds themself in the middle of a war? No, of course not. But does this book do it well, and with its own twist? Yes it does.
I liked that Robin had known he was half-fae, but just thought he didn't have powers. I also appreciated the comparisons he made in how histories were told in the human realm vs the fae realm. The types of magic were really interesting too, with different members of families having differing powers along a theme.
I enjoyed the romance thread in here - particularly the comments from some of the friends Robin had made. There's just always something great about the dynamic when a character falls for their guard.
With the title "A Betrayal of Storms" it's fair to say that while reading you're fairly certain there will be a betrayal. I thought the build up of this was done really well, as you're not certain which of the characters that betrayal will come from.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the free digital copy. All thoughts are my own.
Her Pretty Knight by Mariah Rae Birch
Magic, intrigue, and forbidden love
Della and her sister have been imprisoned for having magic, and are given a way out. The Princess is engaged to marry a Prince from a nearby country, but wants nothing to do with him. All Della has to do is take her place, convince the Prince all is well, and then conveniently die before the wedding (not as final as it sounds, with her magic). Only there's more going on in her new home than expected. And her personal guard of a Knight is awfully attractive...
This took me a little while to get into, but once I did get into it I didn't want to put it down. This was such a fun take on a forbidden bodyguard romance.
While I did enjoy the setting generally, it was absolutely the back-and-forth between Gal and Della that caught me. The balance of power, the tension, wondering how much to trust each other, and the pay off from the slowwwww burn.
I'd have loved to see more of her sister's magic. Or actually her sister generally - I loved their scenes together.
Definitely enjoyed this one and will look out for future books in the series.
Thank you to BookSirens and the author for the free digital copy. All thoughts are my own.
Della and her sister have been imprisoned for having magic, and are given a way out. The Princess is engaged to marry a Prince from a nearby country, but wants nothing to do with him. All Della has to do is take her place, convince the Prince all is well, and then conveniently die before the wedding (not as final as it sounds, with her magic). Only there's more going on in her new home than expected. And her personal guard of a Knight is awfully attractive...
This took me a little while to get into, but once I did get into it I didn't want to put it down. This was such a fun take on a forbidden bodyguard romance.
While I did enjoy the setting generally, it was absolutely the back-and-forth between Gal and Della that caught me. The balance of power, the tension, wondering how much to trust each other, and the pay off from the slowwwww burn.
I'd have loved to see more of her sister's magic. Or actually her sister generally - I loved their scenes together.
Definitely enjoyed this one and will look out for future books in the series.
Thank you to BookSirens and the author for the free digital copy. All thoughts are my own.
Make the Season Bright by Ashley Herring Blake
A fun Christmas romance movie in book form.
I knew very little about this book going in, only that it was a sapphic Christmas romance written by Ashley Herring Blake - possibly I'd never looked at details, possibly I'd forgotten. Having really enjoyed the experience of reading with no knowledge, it makes it somewhat harder to write a review and choose which bits to highlight.
Charlotte is a violinist in New York, and is having all the career success she ever dreamed of. But she won't admit to anyone, not even the other members of her quartet, why she thinks December is cursed and wants to avoid Christmas. One of the quartet takes matters into her own hands and invites the whole group home for Christmas. Meanwhile, in Nashville, Brighton is working in a bar and feeling sorry for herself, after being kicked out of the band she helped form. After plans with her parents get cancelled, her friend decides to drag her to their family home for Christmas. The only problem is that Charlotte's friend and Brighton's friend are sisters... and 5 years ago Brighton left Charlotte at the altar.
I have really been enjoying second chance romance this year, but it's a trope that's so easy to do badly. In this case, though, it was done so so well. The reasons for what happened 5 years ago, as they were slowly revealed, made perfect sense. And they also really fit with the opportunity to return to the relationship after the characters had grown up a bit more.
If you prefer your romance books to have 'normal' and 'realistic' plotlines this isn't for you. In the best spirit of Christmas movies we have, aside from the whole managing to end up in the same house thing, a series of Christmas-themed dating activities for singles in the town. It's honestly amazing, and fits the setup so well.
The queer rep in this book is sensational, and completely normalised within the story. It's so nice to see this type of rep included as standard, without it being a big deal to the characters.
And I have to mention the steamy scenes (partly so those who only read closed door know to avoid). I loved how we got a flashback/memory scene while Charlotte and Brighton were still dancing round each other in the main timeline. And all the scenes were both hot and beautiful.
I had such a good time reading this book - with the biggest grin on my face throughout. In case you couldn't guess, I highly highly recommend it, and am planning to make it an annual Christmas read.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free digital copy. All thoughts are my own.
I knew very little about this book going in, only that it was a sapphic Christmas romance written by Ashley Herring Blake - possibly I'd never looked at details, possibly I'd forgotten. Having really enjoyed the experience of reading with no knowledge, it makes it somewhat harder to write a review and choose which bits to highlight.
Charlotte is a violinist in New York, and is having all the career success she ever dreamed of. But she won't admit to anyone, not even the other members of her quartet, why she thinks December is cursed and wants to avoid Christmas. One of the quartet takes matters into her own hands and invites the whole group home for Christmas. Meanwhile, in Nashville, Brighton is working in a bar and feeling sorry for herself, after being kicked out of the band she helped form. After plans with her parents get cancelled, her friend decides to drag her to their family home for Christmas. The only problem is that Charlotte's friend and Brighton's friend are sisters... and 5 years ago Brighton left Charlotte at the altar.
I have really been enjoying second chance romance this year, but it's a trope that's so easy to do badly. In this case, though, it was done so so well. The reasons for what happened 5 years ago, as they were slowly revealed, made perfect sense. And they also really fit with the opportunity to return to the relationship after the characters had grown up a bit more.
If you prefer your romance books to have 'normal' and 'realistic' plotlines this isn't for you. In the best spirit of Christmas movies we have, aside from the whole managing to end up in the same house thing, a series of Christmas-themed dating activities for singles in the town. It's honestly amazing, and fits the setup so well.
The queer rep in this book is sensational, and completely normalised within the story. It's so nice to see this type of rep included as standard, without it being a big deal to the characters.
And I have to mention the steamy scenes (partly so those who only read closed door know to avoid). I loved how we got a flashback/memory scene while Charlotte and Brighton were still dancing round each other in the main timeline. And all the scenes were both hot and beautiful.
I had such a good time reading this book - with the biggest grin on my face throughout. In case you couldn't guess, I highly highly recommend it, and am planning to make it an annual Christmas read.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free digital copy. All thoughts are my own.
An Education in Malice by S.T. Gibson
Sapphic vampire dark academia.
Laura is a new student, having moved across the country for her college of choice. Carmilla, on the other hand, has been at the college for a while, and is disgruntled to have to share her favourite professor's attentions with a newcomer.
I knew very little about this book going in, and quite a few things about the setting surprised me. For example, it's set in the 1960s. And there is a lot of poetry reciting.
I enjoyed the relationship building and dynamics between Laura and Carmilla - I felt bad for them how often their kisses were interrupted though!
Even though it made sense for the circumstances, I definitely felt uneasy with students regularly being invited to a professor's apartment. The student-professor dynamic made me a little uncomfortable at times.
But overall I definitely enjoyed reading this. Different style to a lot of the vampire books I read, so a nice bit of variety there.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the free copy. All thoughts are my own.
Laura is a new student, having moved across the country for her college of choice. Carmilla, on the other hand, has been at the college for a while, and is disgruntled to have to share her favourite professor's attentions with a newcomer.
I knew very little about this book going in, and quite a few things about the setting surprised me. For example, it's set in the 1960s. And there is a lot of poetry reciting.
I enjoyed the relationship building and dynamics between Laura and Carmilla - I felt bad for them how often their kisses were interrupted though!
Even though it made sense for the circumstances, I definitely felt uneasy with students regularly being invited to a professor's apartment. The student-professor dynamic made me a little uncomfortable at times.
But overall I definitely enjoyed reading this. Different style to a lot of the vampire books I read, so a nice bit of variety there.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the free copy. All thoughts are my own.
Requiem for Immortals by Lee Winter
I have no idea what genre to classify this book as, but I enjoyed reading it!
Natalya as a cellist, Requiem as an assassin. Requiem is the best of the best at what she does, fulfilling difficult to reach hits and adding a sense of poetic justice. One day, though, the target she's given just doesn't make sense. But the biggest question is why that even bothers her.
First up - if you only want to read books where the main character is likeable from the start then this is not for you. Natalya has been groomed to be a killer from a very young age, with all emotion beaten out of her. She treats people like trash.
This book has a strong romantic thread, but I'm on the fence on whether I'd call it a romance. Partly because of plot balance, partly because Natalya takes so damn long to realise that she actually has emotions. But it's definitely sapphic. And dark. With a lot of suspense.
Alison (the mark) was a really interesting character, and arguably had a bigger development arc than Natalya did. Fair warning that her background isn't the happiest either, so make sure you're prepared for some unhappy themes coming into this one.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the free digital copy. All thoughts are my own.
Natalya as a cellist, Requiem as an assassin. Requiem is the best of the best at what she does, fulfilling difficult to reach hits and adding a sense of poetic justice. One day, though, the target she's given just doesn't make sense. But the biggest question is why that even bothers her.
First up - if you only want to read books where the main character is likeable from the start then this is not for you. Natalya has been groomed to be a killer from a very young age, with all emotion beaten out of her. She treats people like trash.
This book has a strong romantic thread, but I'm on the fence on whether I'd call it a romance. Partly because of plot balance, partly because Natalya takes so damn long to realise that she actually has emotions. But it's definitely sapphic. And dark. With a lot of suspense.
Alison (the mark) was a really interesting character, and arguably had a bigger development arc than Natalya did. Fair warning that her background isn't the happiest either, so make sure you're prepared for some unhappy themes coming into this one.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the free digital copy. All thoughts are my own.
Queen of Dreams by Kit Rocha
This is book 2 in an MFF fantasy romance series that must be read in order, and so this review will contain some spoilers for Consort of Fire.
I loved reading Consort of Fire, finding it the perfect balance of fantasy and romance, and so was eagerly anticipating its follow-up. Second books in fantasy series can often struggle, but Queen of Dreams absolutely lived up to my expectations in every way.
Zanya and Ash take on a bigger role in proactively protecting their people, and combined with the intense training Zanya has to undergo this leaves Sachi feeling alone and unable to help. But when tensions start mounting with The Betrayer it's the power of dreams that is needed to help.
I loved how each of the three had their own character development, and that different aspects of their relationship deepened on different timelines. It was great to see the exploration of powers, ranging from the obvious developments for Zanya and Sachi to the more subtle emotion-based changes for Ash.
This is an incredible fantasy world, and I can't wait to see where things go in the next book.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free digital copy. All thoughts are my own.
I loved reading Consort of Fire, finding it the perfect balance of fantasy and romance, and so was eagerly anticipating its follow-up. Second books in fantasy series can often struggle, but Queen of Dreams absolutely lived up to my expectations in every way.
Zanya and Ash take on a bigger role in proactively protecting their people, and combined with the intense training Zanya has to undergo this leaves Sachi feeling alone and unable to help. But when tensions start mounting with The Betrayer it's the power of dreams that is needed to help.
I loved how each of the three had their own character development, and that different aspects of their relationship deepened on different timelines. It was great to see the exploration of powers, ranging from the obvious developments for Zanya and Sachi to the more subtle emotion-based changes for Ash.
This is an incredible fantasy world, and I can't wait to see where things go in the next book.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free digital copy. All thoughts are my own.