• ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    SHAKEN OR STIRRED by Georgia Beers | ARC Review

    30th November 2021
    Cover of Shaken or Stirred (Georgia Beers)

    SHAKEN OR STIRRED (A Swizzle Stick Romance #1) by Georgia Beers

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    A new series with gay cousins and I’m so here for it! Shaken or Stirred is the first book in the Swizzle Stick Romance trilogy featuring cousins Julia, Vanessa, and Amelia Martini, respectively. I love this trio and am excited for Vanessa’s (On the Rocks) and Amelia’s stories because Vanessa is such a fun person who is an elementary school teacher and Amelia is in her late forties (48 in Shaken or Stirred) who takes zero bullshit. While Vanessa and Amelia seem to have more personality to them, Julia is… a business owner who is a workaholic. Maybe not the most intriguing character, her story was still an enjoyable one.

    Julia Martini (38) just bought Martini’s from her uncle and reopened the bar. When Savannah McNally (34), who works as a caretaker, comes in for a drink one day, sparks fly. But there is something going on between the Martinis and McNallys on top of other issues within their own families. Will Julia and Savannah retreat to their comfort zones and miss out on this chance of love?

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    Before. After. Always. by Morgan Lee Miller | ARC Review

    3rd May 2021
    Cover of Before. After Always (Morgan Lee Miller)

    Before. After. Always. by Morgan Lee Miller

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    Content warnings: panic attacks, PTSD, motor accidents, loss of loved ones, surgery, hospitalization, homophobia, outing, conversion therapy (pray the gay away)

    I loved Miller’s YA duology All the Worlds between Us (my review of ATWBU & ATPTY) and have been looking forward to Before. After. Always. for months. And I wasn’t disappointed.

    Dr. Eliza Walsh (31, lesbian) lost her girlfriend of four years when she was eighteen in a car accident where she was the driver. Now, thirteen years later, she is a surgeon on her last year of residency and still not entirely ready to love again. When Blake Navarro (30, lesbian, Mexican American) enters the ER with multiple fractures after a motorcycle accident, Eliza becomes intrigued by this flirty patient. After discharge, Eliza decides to take up on Blake’s invitation to Mezcal Cocina where she works as a head chef. Would it be so wrong to get to know this reckless woman?

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    Catch Lili Too by Sophie Whittemore | ARC Review

    29th April 2021
    Cover of Catch Lili Too (Sophie Whittemore)

    Catch Lili Too (Gamin Immortals #1) by Sophie Whittemore

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    Content warnings: death, blood, gore, cancer, murder, HP reference, attempted arson, drug abuse, vaping, alcohol (recreational)

    This is a whimsical story with a very funny and entertaining narrative. I love all the jokes threaded throughout even though a lot of important things were happening and I couldn’t really keep up with them all. I do think there are scenes that do not line up or are a tad bit confusing, but that might just be an ARC issue.

    Told in the first-person POV, the story follows an immortal, asexual, depressed Siren, Lili, who is haunted by her past and sick and tired of living, seducing people, and killing. Yes, you read that correctly: an asexual Siren. She arrived at Gamin after two murders of humans—a young girl Anna Snow and a poet Byron López (gay). After stumbling upon Byron’s body and his ghost (whom she fails to seduce because, ta-da, he’s gay), Lili is persuaded to help the town solve this murder mystery. But then supernatural beings start getting murdered, too.

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson | ARC Review

    26th April 2021
    Cover of A Dowry of Blood (S.T. Gibson)

    A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    Content warnings: blood, death, bones, gore, murder, loss of family, burning, plague, war, manipulation, emotional abuse, depression, sexism, cutting, confinement, isolation

    What is it like to be in a relationship with the same vampire for centuries?

    A Dowry of Blood read almost epistolarily, perhaps a nod to the original Dracula story. The book opens with “you” (think Dracula, but never named) bleeding to death, seemingly killed by the first-person character Constanta. Divided into three parts, each part tells the history of where “you” find each new lover—Constanta, Magdalena, Alexi—over the last few centuries.

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  • Book Reviews,  Fiction

    Requiem for Immortals by Lee Winter

    22nd April 2021
    Cover of Requiem for Immortals (Lee Winter)

    Requiem for Immortals (The Law Game #1) by Lee Winter

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    Content warnings: dub con, graphic sex, death, poison, human trafficking, animal cruelty, choking, erotic asphyxiation, torture, threaten, abuse, manipulation, gaslighting, blood, fatphobia

    Side effect: developing an obsession with cellists.

    Professional cellist Natalya Tsvetnenko (41) is also a professional assassin. As Requiem, Natalya is known for her skills of getting her jobs done. When her newest target Alison Ryan (34) seems to be nothing like her usual ones who reek evilness, Natalya is intrigued and unexpectedly strikes up a friendship with Alison. However, she never anticipates just how unexpected this assignment is going to lead her.

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