• 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

    THE TELL TALE by Clare Ashton | ARC Review

    1st October 2021
    Cover for THE TELL TALE (Clare Ashton)

    THE TELL TALE by Clare Ashton

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    The Tell Tale is a historical fiction with many awesome queer reps, and it is the quality mystery we need!

    The year is 1971 and Beth Griffiths (~38) has returned to the village of Foel with her daughter Nia at the same time people start getting anonymous notes that reveal secrets of their past. Lady Sophie Melling (~38), who recently inherited a manor from her late father Lord Melling, is also back in the village. And the villagers are pointing fingers, desperate to find out who is the tell tale as more and more details about what happened in Foel twenty years ago begins to unveil.

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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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  • 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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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    Night Tide by Anna Burke | ARC Review

    14th April 2021
    Cover of Night Tide (Anna Burke)

    Night Tide (A Seal Cove Romance #2) by Anna Burke

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    You know when you hate someone so much you ended up knowing every tiny thing about them? Well, I don’t, but Lillian and Ivy do.

    Dr. Lillian Lee (31) and Dr. Ivy Holden have been archenemies throughout vet school, so when Ivy relocates to Seal Cove where Lillian is working, the latter is not pleased. To Lillian, Ivy is a spoiled rich kid who made her life hell. But what if she isn’t horrible anymore now?

    I love books with wonderful imageries and great thematic choices. In Spindrift (my review here), I adored the opening and ending scenes of the dock, from boat to land, and here in Night Tide, the freedom on an isolated island with crashing waves, persistent and ever-growing vines of ivy, the somberness of Edgar Allen Poe references, etc. are as beautifully interwoven as I could have wished for.

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