Well, it’s been almost 1 ½ years since I’ve been in the Black Dagger Brotherhood world. At least, this part of the world. I took a side trip to read the Fallen Angels series, which takes place in the same universe. Anyway, I was excited to get back. Especially once I was reminded of how much I had been enjoying Trez and Selena. I was hoping for them to find their way back to each other and get their HEA. Hoo boy! There’s a lot I could say about that, but I don’t put spoilers in my reviews. While both Trez and iAm find love in this book, I felt Trez’s story was more prominent. In some ways I was fine with that since I really enjoy the Trez/Selena pairing. But I also loved seeing iAm doing something for himself and finding someone who seemed to care for him as much as he took care of others. Of course, as is always the case with the BDB series, there is a lot going on other than the Shadows finding love. It’s barely a blip on the page, but I’m intrigued by Paradise and Craeg and hope to see that play out eventually. Who is he? And Rhage! That poor man has some major PTSD, and I want (need) to see him settled. I loved that he was in this story so much. Let’s not forget about Layla and Xcor. I have been on tenterhooks as their story has played out over the last few books. I never thought Xcor would have my sympathies, but people change and grow. I know there is eventually a story there, but I hate spoilers so I haven’t looked into it in any depth so as not to know too much ahead of time. But every time either Layla or Xcor is on page, I am devastated for them. As much as I enjoyed my foray back into the BDB universe, there has to be some down-rating on this one due to one particular thing. There were rules broken and it somewhat ruined part of this story for me. That statement is already spoiler-ish enough, so I’ll leave it at that.

First of all, if you haven’t read the previous two books, you need to leave. Go back and read them. There will be spoilers for those books in this review, but not spoilers for this book. And, quite frankly, there is no reason to read this book without having read the others, as it wouldn’t make a lot of sense. This book tore me apart. I really wanted a resolution for St. Sebastian, but it still hasn’t come. Not only are Saint, Audon, and Poe dealing with a multitude of issues which have their throuple imploding, the rest of the gang is also spiralling out of control. I don’t even know how all of these catastrophic things can be put back together and wrapped up in the one last book that is left in the series. It’s chaos! The stories of Delphine and Rebecca have been woven into the series a little at a time up to now. In this book, we get a lot more of Delphine. Be warned that Delphine is still struggling with her rape and she definitely has PTSD from that night. There is also a flashback to shortly after it happened and how Rebecca took care of her, even while they always fancied themselves enemies. Their love story is a classic case of not talking enough. They are both so careful with their emotions and not wanting to be any sort of burden to the other so they don’t open up until it’s too late. Well, I hope it’s not too late. These two almost broke me. I’ll be frank, this book is like a whole novel’s worth of a third-act breakup in a romance book. Not that they are all breaking up, but that hollow gut feeling while you watch the characters struggle to figure it out. Figure it out already! On the happier side, there are a few things that happened that give me hope for the throuple. I also choose to believe Rebecca will calm down and be rational. Although I’m not sure what poor Becket will do. I only hope he finds peace, wherever life takes him. He’s my favorite after Saint, and they both struggled a lot in this story. I appreciate that there were some revelations as to their parents. There’s even a sweet side story going on with two of them that helped to fuel my hope for the younger generation.

Don’t worry, the solution to the big-box bookstore moving in next door to the small town romance bookstore is not the big-box bookstore absorbing the small bookstore. The solution, in order for Summer and Wes to get their HEA, is a tad bit more palatable than that. This story was much more emotional than I had anticipated. By all accounts, Summer has a fantastic family and is very close with them. It doesn’t take long to see the cracks in Summer’s relationship with her twin sister, though. And once Summer is stuffed into a cabin with her whole family as well as her arch nemesis, it becomes clear that Summer is the pushover. She does what needs to be done to make everyone else happy and keep the peace, never sticking up for herself. Not that most of her family is bad. They just don’t realize how they hurt her with some of their teasing and meddling since she never voices her discomfort. Wes notices this dynamic immediately and finds himself stepping in time and again to soften the blow to Summer. He may be single-minded and come across as pompous, but Wes is a good egg and turns out to be a swoony hero. I was trying to figure out my problem with this book, because I did have some issues with not staying fully engaged. I love the characters, there is fantastic chemistry, Summer’s woes are gut-wrenching and were giving me all the feels, so what was the problem? Having sat with this for a few days, I think it’s the intensity of the rivals part of the rivals-to-lovers. Sometimes, Wes and Summer were cruel to each other. While I’m sure some readers eat that up with a spoon, it was a bit too much for my belly…it felt hollowed out at times. So that’s going to be a preference thing for sure. For me, I loved seeing Wes and Summer lifting each other up…even before they became friends. That means the beginning, before they made it to the cabin, was a rough start for me. Also, I hated Summer’s sister so much and didn’t even forgive her at the end with her groveling. **I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely.**

I tried to go into this one with a rein on my expectations. I just adored Boyfriend Material so much, it was hard to imagine any sequel could live up to it. And I was kind of right. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, revisiting Luc and Oliver, and the phenomenal narration. But it was quite on par with the first book. First of all, kudos to the author for being true to the personalities of these characters. Throughout the book, I would sometimes get so frustrated with them both, especially when they were arguing. Yet I know they were acting just as they should. All the way through to the end. What is fantastic is how this story and these characters show that you can love someone and disagree with them, too. As long as your core beliefs and morals don’t clash, love will find a way if you get out of its way. And what works for one couple won’t necessarily work for another couple. Luc and Oliver go to a series of weddings and a significant funeral over the course of this story. Their relationship is tested in different ways, from minor things to major life changes. Through it all, they 100% support each other, even when it’s not what is best for them. Therein lies the problem. Don’t worry, they get their HEA. It’s hard fought, so don’t be surprised by the angst, but they are together and still in love when this book ends. My problem with the book is that there are times it would slow down a bit too much. It didn’t flow as well as the first story, with pockets of stagnation here and there. I still didn’t want to put it down and still enjoyed it immensely, though. Once again, Luc’s friends and coworkers had me in stitches.

This is shorter than most vampire books. Not a bunch of world-building on the front end; the reader learns as the newly turned Skye does. Things move fast. The ancient, sleeping vampire is awakened within the first chapter, and Skye is turned in that same time frame. Not a lot of depth, but I found this book fun. The chemistry between Skye and Lucas doesn’t come off the page as I’m used to with this author, but I enjoyed all the little things Lucas did that made it obvious he was enamored with Skye while he acted so calm and in control. Of course, that made things confusing for poor Skye the newborn vampire. Lucas’s other “children” are a hoot. They helped to bring this book alive and helped fill in a lot of gaps about the vampire world. I’m not sure if the author is going to make this a series, but this book reminded me of the type of story you see as an introductory novella (although it’s too long to be a novella) to a series. For being just under 200 pages, there are a lot of people introduced on the periphery of Skye’s world, as well as the “siblings” she now has. What it all comes down to is I had fun with this book. It’s nothing earth-shattering, but it’s a quick and interesting read.

What a freaking delight! I adored this story, the writing, the characters, and the narrator. Usually, once the characters get their HEA or HFN, I don’t necessarily revisit them for various reasons. The next book in this series is about this same couple and, in this case, I am all for it. This is one of those books I put off reading because it got so much hype. I hate going in with my expectations too high only to be let down. Here it is, years since its release, and I finally read other books by this author and fell in love with their writing. I figured it was safe to read this one now. I was a bit nervous since on their website they say this book is a different sub-genre than the books I’ve read so far, but I needn’t have worried. It’s just as good. Somehow, this author can always take a character who should be disliked and make them lovable. Luc makes it hard to get to know the true him. I can’t blame the guy, there is a lot that has made him the cynical man he is today. Yet he has a tight group of friends who must know there is a hurting boy beneath his sardonic barbs. Somehow, although they barely know each other, Oliver seems to see the loveliness that is the true Luc. The side characters in this book kept me in tears of laughter. Not only were Luc’s coworkers the best comic relief, they also showed Luc’s emotional growth throughout the story. Luc slowly let his mask down and started letting people in because of the courage being with Oliver gave him. He started seeing things through different eyes, and it helped him gain confidence and empathy. The growing affection between Oliver and Luc kept me swooning. They never tried taking over the other’s life, but gave the support each needed to inform their life decisions. First, it was Oliver and his support of Luc, but it turned out put-together Oliver needed support too. He just didn’t know how much he needed someone to have his back. I cannot wait to see what is in store for this couple in the next book. I’m so happy it has the same narrator. Joe Jameson blew me away with his voices and the emotion he conveyed throughout his narration. I’ll have to seek out more books with him as narrator.

When I (finally) started reading Sarah MacLean’s books last year, my reactions to her stories have been all over the place. While I enjoyed the last book I read by her, it wasn’t captivating, where I was looking to grab up another book by her asap. I’m happy I finally did because I thoroughly enjoyed this tale. This is a road trip romance, with the main couple travelling apart and together throughout the course of the story. There are fancy travelling carriages, mail coaches, and curricles. There is danger and intrigue, a quest to reclaim how things were in the past, looking toward the future, and so much more. It was a lot of fun, with a ton of emotions, and some fantastic groveling by both Sophie and King. Listen, King does some abhorrent things. If it wasn’t for the fact that I was in on his inner thoughts and got tidbits of his past along the way, I don’t know how I’d have been able to forgive such a hero. Yet, knowing what I did about King and seeing how he grew in so many ways as he got to know Sophie, I was able to forgive a lot. He realized how her family treated her hurt her, even when she acted as though it didn’t. They never seemed to notice how deeply their “teasing” cut and continued to treat her as if her dreams and feelings weren’t as important as theirs just because she didn’t make waves. That earns a lot of points from me. It seemed King often acted without thinking, Sophie would get hurt, and King would feel remorse. It’s a good thing Sophie is forgiving. There is a wonderful cast of misfits Sophie befriends early on in her trip, and I hope to see them again in this author’s universe. I want to see who the mysterious doctor is and I hope Mary is the one to unwrap him. Even though my thoughts on previous books have been up and down, I truly trust the author. Sophie’s family did not endear themselves to me, and I’m especially shocked to learn her eldest sister’s marriage is somehow saved in one of the future books. As I said, I trust this author. I’m beyond curious to see how she’s going to pull this all off.