• ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    Payback by Charlotte Mills | ARC Review

    27th August 2020

    Payback (Payback #1) by Charlotte Mills

    Content warnings: off-page arson, murder, suicides, pedophilia, rape, deaths of family members, sexual harassment; blood, cancer

    I did not expect the story to escalate like this.

    Dead body. Arson. Missing person. Throughout most of the story, I had trouble getting into the plot, connecting with detective Kate Wolf (34) and her boss Helen Taylor, as well as understanding their attraction. A lot of things did not add up for me, so it took me a very long time to get past the first few chapters and keep reading. Even as I was close to finishing, I couldn’t understand why everyone loved it so much. Until I did.

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    Spindrift by Anna Burke | ARC Review

    25th August 2020
    Cover of Spindrift (Anna Burke)

    Spindrift (A Seal Cove Romance #1) by Anna Burke

    Content warnings: depression, past suicidal thoughts, off-page death of family member, multiple mentions of animal deaths

    This is the first Burke’s book I have read, and I may have found a new auto-read author.

    Emilia Russo (30, of Italian descent, lesbian, depression) was a shelter vet. When her father passed away, her job of putting down innocent animals suddenly became too much. Now on leave and coping with depression, Emilia goes back to Seal Cove to renovate her father’s house for listing. She only plans to stay for a few months. When she accidentally falls into the ocean, it is her teenage crush Morgan Donovan (31) who happens to save her. Morgan, who is also a vet, is recently dumped by her fiancée and still wary of love. Off to an embarrassing and rocky start, the pair keep running into each other in the small town and gradually grow closer. After befriending Morgan’s supportive friends and falling for Morgan, Emilia finds herself reconsidering selling the house, and maybe staying for good.

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    Out on the Ice by Kelly Farmer | ARC Review

    23rd August 2020
    Cover of Out on the Ice (Kelly Farmer)

    Out on the Ice by Kelly Farmer

    Caro Cassidy has competed in three Olympics before a hip surgery pushed her into retirement. Now she runs Girls & Goals for girls who play hockey and is very private about her personal life. When pro player and social media celebrity Amy Schwarzbach comes to coach Caro’s summer camp, the pair eventually acted on their mutual attraction and begins to date. But Amy plays in Boston while Caro lives in Chicago, and that means long-distance as hockey season begins. Can the two very different athletes fight for their relationship even when everything is on ice?

    TW: homophobia, depression, brief discussions of suicide.

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi | ARC Review

    21st August 2020
    Cover of The Death of Vivek Oji (Akwaeke Emezi)

    The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi

    I know what they say about men who allow other men to penetrate them. Ugly things; ugly words. Calling them women, as if that’s supposed to be ugly, too. I’d heard it since secondary school, and I knew what that night was supposed to make me. Less than a man—something disgusting, something weak and shameful. But if that pleasure was supposed to stop me from being a man, then fine. They could have it. I’d take the blinding light of his touch, the blessed peace of having him so close, and I would stop being a man. I was never one to begin with, anyway.

    Content warnings: death, incest, rape, infidelity, abuse, misogyny

    I don’t know how Emezi does it, but they managed to make Vivek’s story breathtaking.

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    Moon Fever by Ileandra Young | ARC Review

    20th August 2020
    Cover of Moon Fever (Ileandra Young)

    Moon Fever (The S.P.E.A.R. Mission Files #2) by Ileandra Young

    CW: speciesism from main character, ableist language from main character, blood, transphobia, sexism, loss of body parts, torture

    I have very conflicted feelings about this sequel. Danika’s egotistic actions irk me constantly, but I am still very invested in her story. In Both Ways, her stubbornness and rashness often lead her into horrible situations. And now? Things are worse. With her team investigating in recent werewolf attacks, she is drastically overpowered by the edanes and yet somehow thinks it is a good idea for her to get involved in their conflicts.

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