ARC Review: The Chateau (The Original Sinners #9) by Tiffany Reisz

Title: The Chateau
Author: Tiffany Reisz
Series: The Original Sinners #9
Genre: erotica, contemporary

As the Jack-of-All-Wicked-Trades for a secretive French military intelligence agency, 24-year-old Lieutenant Kingsley Boissonneault has done it all—spied, lied, and killed under orders. But his latest assignment is quite out of the ordinary. His commanding officer's nephew has disappeared inside a sex cult, and Kingsley has been tasked with bringing him home to safety.

The cult’s holy book is Story of O, the infamous French novel of extreme sado-masochism. Their château is a looking-glass world where women reign and men are their willing slaves. Or are they willing? It’s Kingsley’s mission to find out.

Once inside the château, however, Kingsley quickly falls under the erotic spell cast by the enigmatic Madame, a woman of wisdom, power, and beauty. She offers Kingsley the one thing he’s always wanted. But the price? Giving up forever the only person he’s ever loved.

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ARC Review: Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young

Title: Sky in the Deep
Author: Adrienne Young
Series: none
Genre: young adult, historical, fantasy

A 2018 Most Anticipated Young Adult book that is part Wonder Woman, part Vikings—and all heart.

OND ELDR. BREATHE FIRE.

Raised to be a warrior, seventeen-year-old Eelyn fights alongside her Aska clansmen in an ancient, rivalry against the Riki clan. Her life is brutal but simple: fight and survive. Until the day she sees the impossible on the battlefield—her brother, fighting with the enemy—the brother she watched die five years ago.

Faced with her brother's betrayal, she must survive the winter in the mountains with the Riki, in a village where every neighbor is an enemy, every battle scar possibly one she delivered. But when the Riki village is raided by a ruthless clan thought to be a legend, Eelyn is even more desperate to get back to her beloved family.

She is given no choice but to trust Fiske, her brother’s friend, who sees her as a threat. They must do the impossible: unite the clans to fight together, or risk being slaughtered one by one. Driven by a love for her clan and her growing love for Fiske, Eelyn must confront her own definition of loyalty and family while daring to put her faith in the people she’s spent her life hating.

“THIS IS A GRIPPING STORY, RICHLY TOLD.” —Renée Ahdieh, New York Times bestselling author of Flame in the Mist
"FIERCE, VIVID, AND VIOLENTLY BEAUTIFUL.” —Stephanie Garber, New York Times bestselling author of Caraval
“A STUNNING DEBUT” —Roshani Chokshi, New York Timesbestselling author of The Star-Touched Queen
“BLEAK BEAUTIFUL AND DEADLY” —Traci Chee, New York Times bestselling author of The Reader
“WHOLLY UNIQUE AND INSTANTLY ADDICTIVE” —Kerri Maniscalco, New York Times bestselling author of Hunting Prince Dracula
“HEARTRENDING, HEART-MENDING” —Kayla Olson, bestselling author of Sandcastle Empire

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Tempting Two (Scandalous Ballroom Encounters #3) by Victoria Vale

Title: Tempting Two
Author: Victoria Vale
Series: Scandalous Ballroom Encounters #3
Genre: Historical romance

Penelope Hunt is well on her way to becoming a spinster. When Colin Worthing courted her secretly for an entire season before making off with her virginity, he ensured that she could never make a good match … or put the pieces of her broken heart back together again. His duplicity has her convinced that men are not to be trusted, and that she would be foolish to bind herself in marriage to one for the rest of her life. Deciding that life as a spinster has its benefits, she vows to avoid matrimony and enjoy her life in any way that she can—the inheritance to be had on her twenty-fifth birthday will see her endowed to do just that.

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Transcendence by Shay Savage

Title: Transcendence
Author: Shay Savage
Series: none
Genre: historical romance, time travel

It’s said that women and men are from two different planets when it comes to communication, but how can they overcome the obstacles of prehistoric times when one of them simply doesn’t have the ability to comprehend language?

Ehd’s a caveman living on his own in a harsh wilderness. He’s strong and intelligent, but completely alone. When he finds a beautiful young woman in his pit trap, it’s obvious to him that she is meant to be his mate. He doesn’t know where she came from; she’s wearing some pretty odd clothing, and she makes a lot of noises with her mouth that give him a headache. Still, he’s determined to fulfill his purpose in life – provide for her, protect her, and put a baby in her.

Elizabeth doesn’t know where she is or exactly how she got there. She’s confused and distressed by her predicament, and there’s a caveman hauling her back to his cavehome. She’s not at all interested in Ehd’s primitive advances, and she just can’t seem to get him to listen. No matter what she tries, getting her point across to this primitive, but beautiful, man is a constant – and often hilarious – struggle.

With only each other for company, they must rely on one another to fight the dangers of the wild and prepare for the winter months. As they struggle to coexist, theirs becomes a love story that transcends language and time.

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Review: Owning Arabella by Shirl Anders

Title: Owning Arabella
Author: Shirl Anders
Series: none
Genre: historical romance

Arabella is gambled by her stepfather in a card game and won by the fiercely scarred Lord Darth Peregrine. A man who believes that no woman could desire him.

Lord Peregrine holds Arabella captive to his desires and she becomes the one woman that doesn't cringe in distaste of his scarred visage. He is the lord and master. In the end Lord Peregrine saves Arabella's young brother ... and he saves himself. This story is an erotic regency romance with Gothic darkness and a happily-ever-after.

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Review: Leo by Mia Sheridan

Title: Leo
Author: Mia Sheridan
Series: none
Genre: contemporary romance

A USA Today bestselling book. Leo is a full-length, standalone romance.

Evie and Leo met in foster care as children and formed a bond of friendship. As they grew, their bond turned to love, and they vowed to make a life together when they turned 18 and were no longer a part of the system.

When Leo unexpectedly gets adopted as a teen and moves to another city, he promises Evie that he will contact her as soon as he gets there and come back for her in a few short years. She never hears from him again.

Now eight years later, in spite of the odds, Evie has made a life for herself. She has a job. She has friends. She's content. Then a man shows up out of the blue, claiming that her long lost love, Leo, sent him to check up on her. The attraction between them is undeniable. But, should she trust this sexy stranger? Or is he keeping a secret about what his connection to Leo is really all about and why Leo disappeared all those years ago?

THIS IS A STANDALONE SIGN OF LOVE NOVEL, INSPIRED BY LEO. New Adult Contemporary Romance: Due to strong language and sexual content, this book is not intended for readers under the age of 18.

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Review: Epoch (Transcend Duet #2) by Jewel E. Ann

Title: Epoch
Author: Jewel E. Ann
Series: Transcend Duet #2
Genre: contemporary romance

Some lives end unfinished, and some transcend time.

After a horrific incident, Swayze finds herself trapped between two lives. Patchy memories and fear for her own safety thrust her into a gut-wrenching journey to uncover the truth.

Will she let her dreams slip away to seek retribution and find the missing pieces to a puzzle that existed a lifetime ago?

“I’m not going to watch you self-destruct. I’m not going to watch you fall in love with another man.”

Or will she discover the only truth that matters?

Epoch pushes the boundaries of what we believe and what we know. It redefines fate and proves that the only thing separating the heart and the soul is an infinite timeline.

“I think a part of you will be mine to love in every life.”

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Review: Half-Blood (Covenant #1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Title: Half-Blood
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Series: Covenant #1
Genre: paranormal, young adult

The Hematoi descend from the unions of gods and mortals, and the children of two Hematoi pure bloods have godlike powers. Children of Hematoi and mortals--well, not so much. Half-bloods only have two options: become trained Sentinels who hunt and kill daimons or become servants in the homes of the pures.

Seventeen-year-old Alexandria would rather risk her life fighting than waste it scrubbing toilets, but she may end up slumming it anyway. There are several rules that students at the Covenant must follow. Alex has problems with them all, but especially rule #1:Relationships between pures and halfs are forbidden. Unfortunately, she's crushing hard on the totally hot pure-blood Aiden. But falling for Aiden isn't her biggest problem--staying alive long enough to graduate the Covenant and become a Sentinel is.

If she fails in her duty, she faces a future worse than death or slavery: being turned into a daimon, and being hunted by Aiden. And that would kind of suck.

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Review: How to Save a Life by Emma Scott

Title: How to Save a Life
Author: Emma Scott
Series: none
Genre: contemporary romance

Josephine Clark is trapped. A harrowing past haunts her every time she looks in the mirror, and she can’t escape the violence of her everyday life. More and more, her thoughts turn to Evan Salinger, the boy she knew in high school. The boy they called a mental case. A loner. A freak. The boy who seemed to know things no one could know. For a few short weeks, Jo had found perfect solace in Evan’s company, sneaking every night to meet him at the local pool. In the cool of the water and the warmth of Evan’s arms around her, Jo had tasted something close to happiness.

Cruel circumstances tore them apart, and four years later, the sweet memory of their time together is dissolving under the punishing reality of Jo’s life now. Evan seems like a fading dream…until he reappears at the moment she needs him most. Guided by Evan’s strange intuition, they flee her small Louisiana town, and Jo begins to suspect there is something more to his sudden return than he admits.

Over twelve days across America’s heartland, deep secrets come to light, buried pasts are unearthed, and the line between dreams and reality is blurred as Evan and Jo fight to hold on to their soul-deep love, and discover that there is more than one way to save a life.
***

How to Save a Life is a complete second-chance STANDALONE novel with shades of the paranormal. It carries the characters from high school through to their early twenties. It is not YA; mature subject matter, and sexual situations. TRIGGER WARNING: domestic violence (on the page) and mention of sexual abuse (off the page) For readers 18 years and up. The Dreamcatcher novels are a series of interconnected STANDALONES, each with shades of the paranormal. It is NOT necessary to read them in order, though some characters appear in other novels.

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Review: The Empty Jar by Michelle Leighton

Title: The Empty Jar
Author: Michelle Leighton
Series: none
Genre: contemporary romance

Three months touring Europe. Romantic. Dazzling. Unforgettable. The trip of a lifetime.

But some lifetimes are shorter…

We couldn’t have known it would work out this way. No one could. No one could’ve guessed that something so beautiful could be so tragic.

But it is tragic. Yet so, so beautiful.

That’s what sacrifice is—beauty and tragedy. It’s pain and suffering for something or someone you love.

And this is the ultimate sacrifice. One stunning act of true love.

This is our story. Our true love story.

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ARC Review: The Boy and His Ribbon (The Ribbon Duet #1) by Pepper Winters

Title: The Boy and His Ribbon
Author: Pepper Winters
Series: The Ribbon Duet #1
Genre: dark, new adult

“What do you do when you meet your soul mate? No wait…that’s too easy. What do you do when you meet your soul mate and have to spend a lifetime loving him in secret? I’ll tell you what you do. You lie.”

REN

Ren was eight when he learned that love doesn’t exist—that the one person who was supposed to adore him only cared how much he was worth. His mother sold him and for two years, he lived in terror. But then…he ran. He thought he’d run on his own. Turned out, he took something of theirs by accident and it became the one thing he never wanted and the only thing he ever needed.

DELLA

I was young when I fell in love with him, when he switched from my world to my everything. My parents bought him for cheap labour, just like they had with many other kids, and he had the scars to prove it. At the start, he hated me, and I could understand why. For years he was my worst enemy, fiercest protector, and dearest friend. But by the end…he loved me. The only problem was, he loved me in an entirely different way to the way I loved him. And slowly, my secret drove us apart.

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Review : Transcend (Transcend Duet #1) by Jewel E. Ann

Title: Transcend
Author: Jewel E. Ann
Series: Transcend Duet #1
Genre: contemporary romance

“In another life, she was my forever.”

An unexpected tragedy leaves Professor Nathaniel Hunt a widower alone with a newborn baby.

He hires a nanny. She’s young, but well-qualified, with a simple life, a crazy name obsession, and a boyfriend she met at the grocery store.

Over time, he discovers she knows things about him—things that happened before she was born—like a hidden scar on his head, his favorite pizza, and how he cheated on a high school Spanish test.

She speaks familiar words and shares haunting memories that take him back to over two decades earlier when he lost his best friend in a tragic accident.

“I’m afraid of what’s going to happen when you realize I’m not her.”

Transcend is a sexy, mind-bending journey that uncovers possibilities, challenges beliefs, and begets the age-old question: is there life after death?

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ARC Review: The Duke of Ruin (Untouchables #8) by Darcy Burke

Title: The Duke of Ruin
Author: Darcy Burke
Series: The Untouchables #8
Genre: historical romance

With her betrothal to a duke in tatters and scandal imminent, Diana Kingman has two choices: live in certain ignominy or flee into obscurity. Diana wants solitude. She never wished to wed in the first place. However, her father will stop at nothing to betroth her to one of the finest titles in the realm...no matter how loathsome the bearer. Escape is Diana’s only option, and she’ll pay any price to achieve freedom.

Universally blamed for the death of his wife and unborn child, Simon Hastings doesn’t dispute his guilt over an accident he cannot even remember. He hasn’t had a drink since, nor a moment’s peace. Determined to be a better man, Simon rescues a young woman in need—only to be accused of kidnapping. They must marry to save him from prison. But how can a man haunted by the love he lost and a woman afraid to get too close find happiness together?
(for spacing)

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Review: The Lucky Ones by Tiffany Reisz

Title: The Lucky Ones
Author: Tiffany Reisz
Series: none
Genre: contemporary, mystery, romance

They called themselves “the lucky ones.” They were seven children either orphaned or abandoned by their parents and chosen by legendary philanthropist and brain surgeon Dr. Vincent Capello to live in The Dragon, his almost magical beach house on the Oregon Coast. Allison was the youngest of the lucky ones living an idyllic life with her newfound family…until the night she almost died and was then whisked away from the house and her adopted family forever.

Now, thirteen years later, Allison receives a letter from Roland, Dr. Capello’s oldest son, warning her that their father is ill and in his final days. Allison determines she must go home again and confront the ghosts of her past. She's determined to find out what really happened that fateful night--was it an accident or, as she's always suspected, did one of her beloved family members try to kill her?

But digging into the past can reveal horrific truths, and when Allison pieces together the story of her life, she'll learns the terrible secret at the heart of the family she once loved but never really knew.

A vivid and suspenseful tale of family, grief, love—and the dark secrets that bind everything together—Tiffany Reisz’s latest is enthralling to the final page.

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