Thursday 31 March 2022

REVIEW - Breed Her Hard by B.J. Mann


The Book
Release Date: 30 January 2021

Not many guys leave juvie with a twenty-five-year plan.
But then not many guys were like me: driven to the point of manic, determined with an edge of ruthlessness. 
My plans were simple. 
Dig myself out of the gutter by seventeen. Three tours in the army by thirty. 
Become a multi-millionaire by forty. 
Check, check and check. 
All that’s left on my checklist is the one thing I want most: a baby. 

Then she breaks into my life. 

At twenty, Brea Nelson is too sweet, too innocent. A damn virgin. Wholly incompatible with the straitlaced life I’ve planned for myself and the demons I struggle to hold at bay. 

But this girl has a streak of compassion and a body that just won’t quit. When my surrogate lets me down and Brea ends up in my bed, there’s only one option. Improvise. 

And once I’ve tasted her, there’s no way she’s leaving. 
Not until I’ve bred her hard and she’s carrying my baby.

My Review   3 STARS
This is an age gap book where both characters have issues with family and other events that have them fall for each other quite hard as they immediately sense that the other is what they need.

Brea is only twenty, but lost her parents when she was twelve and was looked after by her older sister who has since needed her help and Brea works two jobs along with looking after her sisters children quite often, especially now that her brother in law is in jail.

Jett Davenport had parents that did not really care about him and after a stint in Juvenile Hall joined the military and changed his life around.  Now he has a booming multimillion dollar company in his forties he wants to tick off the last remaining wish he has to become a father.

While waiting for a surrogate, Brea enters his life one night after she drops in one night when he should not be there to clean his apartment.

He sees a fit petit female, his perfect type who he would love to take care of and may fit his persona fettishes in which he has struggled to find someone that previously fit.  Brea sees he fantasy.  A tall muscled man who wants to take care of her and understands what she too needs, especially the want to call him daddy.

There is a good story here and the timeline moves fast, however as usual so much of their issues could have been dealt with by just talking to each other, rather than hold it in until something happened to make them talk.

On the whole it was a good read and I would read this author again.

Tuesday 29 March 2022

REVIEW - Breeder (Breeder #1) by Cara Bristol


The Book
Release Date: 17 June 2017 (first published 14 Oct 2013)

She was only meant to be the Alpha Commander's slave...but she became his everything.
High Commander Dak, a ruling Alpha of planet Parseon, purchases Omra strictly as a breeder slave. He intends to impregnate her, produce a son, and hand her off to his anointed beta partner, Corren. Any infractions of the rules by her will be harshly punished.

But as Dak and Omra discover a sexual bliss banned by law, Dak begins to question the traditions and ways of his people, causing him to jeopardize his command and endanger the life of the woman he has come to love.

Dak has enemies, men who will not hesitate to exploit his fondness for Omra, and use it to portray him as unfit to rule as Alpha. Can he expose the rampant cruelty and corruption in Parseon culture... or will the protocol he's spent his life defending, be the weapon used to destroy them and their love?

My Review.  4 STARS
This book happens on another world where the social order and the way things are done is quite different. Men are sorted into Alphas and Betas and only Alphas are able to breed.  The betas are given the menial tasks and often are paired up with an Alpha for physical release and companionship while the beta cleans and cooks and does anything the alpha wants or needs.

Women on the other hand are only used as breeders.  They are not educated and thought of as inferior and stupid.  It is also though that the get no pleasure while breeding so most men do not bother and only take their own release in order to get children.

Commander Dad has decided to get a breeder and when he accidentally stumbles upon Omra in a breeding  facility all that he has been taught about woman changes.  Suddenly he finds out that things are not as they seem, especially as he seems how she was treated, how he comes to feel for her and the intelligence he finds within her.

Having been in contact with another race called Tarrans which are very human like, he finds that the falls for Omra, but he has to step up and pave the way for change which does not come easy and there are enemies along the way.

I enjoyed this book and will certainly look to read more from this author in the future.

Monday 28 March 2022

REVIEW - The Mane Event (Pride #1) by Shelly Laurenston


The Book
Release Date: 1 October 2009

Mace Llewellyn. Brendon Shaw. Two tall, gorgeous, sexy alpha heroes who are 100% male―with a little something extra. Lion-shifters, to be exact, who can unleash every woman's animal side and still look good―make that spectacular―in a suit... and even better out of it...

NYPD cop Desiree "Dez" MacDermot knows she's changed a lot since she palled around with her childhood buddy, Mace. But it's fair to say that Mace has changed even more. It isn't just those too-sexy gold eyes, or the six-four, built-like-a-Navy Seal body. It's something in the way he sniffs her neck and purrs, making her entire body tingle...

Meanwhile, for Tennessean Ronnie Lee Reed, New York City is the place where any girl―even one who runs with a Pack―can redefine herself. First order of business: find a mate, settle down, and stop using men for sex. Even big, gorgeous, lion shifter men like Brendon Shaw. But she needn't worry, because now that Brendon's set his sights on her, the predator in him is ready to pounce and never let go...

My Review.  3 STARS
This book is the beginning of a series but this one has two separate stories inside of Lion shifters who find their mates.

Mace is a breeding male lion and is in a pack where the females are the ones in charge.   One of his sisters is the head of the pack and she is not that nice a person.  Having come back from the military he wants to find the person that he knows is his mate, the only problem being that she is a human.

Dez is a cop and when Mace show back up in her life thing get turned on their heads especially then she find out about the shifter world, but she takes that all in her stride.  Mace however will do what ever he needs to do to get her to accept him as the man in her life and certainly helps with her safety especially when she is taken by hyenas.

The other story in this book is of Lion shifter Brendan Shaw and wolf shifter Ronnie Lee.  Ronnie is another strong female character and when she is told to look after tan injured male lion while he is at the hospital she finds a man that does not give up like Mace for what he wants.  He too plays dirty and sneaky to make sure he get what's he wants from his woman.  For her to accept him as her mate.

Although I enjoyed these stories and the main story line continues within, I was not expecting two short stories with insta love.  Although old I did thing there was a little something lacking for me to get completely absorbed into the story.

Tuesday 22 March 2022

REVIEW - Coaching the Nanny (Wildcatters Hockey Series) by Alexa Padgett


The Book
Release Date: 22 April 2022

He's sexy as sin, and I'm one shot from falling for the hockey coach and single dad.
I loved being a Nanny with all my heart.

But when my charges grew up and hit me with the reality that as much as I loved them, they were someone else’s kids, I didn’t think I could do it again.

Until I met the little firecracker Beatrix Whittaker. She’s young, angry, and so in need of love. Within moments, she’s stolen a piece of my heart that I didn’t realize I had left to give. Her uncle, sexy-as-sin hockey coach Silas Whittaker, had me the moment his sultry, soul-searing eyes promised all my dreams.

Like the girl he cares for, he’s jaded and broken by his childhood—not to mention in way over his head parenting for the first time. He knows nothing about children and even less about families.

That’s where I come in. Putting it in hockey terms he understands, I’m the fixer. I’m not sure if I can fix their issues, but Beatrix and Silas make me yearn to share in their future while teaching them how to hope and, maybe even love.

A steamy, angsty single dad sports romance from USA Today Bestseller Alexa Padgett.

My Review   4 STARS
*My thanks to the author and Hidden Gems for providing me with a free copy for an honest review**

Silas's world changes when he get a phone calll at 5am to let him know that his estranged sister has died and he is now the guardian of her daughter Beatrix.  As a hockey coach and no other family he does not know what to do especially as he travels a lot for his job.

Paloma is a nanny who has only had one other job before looking after two boys from a wealthy family until recently when the last one has graduated high school and since having been there for them they look upon her as a mother mother and speak to her about things before their own parents.

However with her mothers failing health Paloma is forced to sell her house in order to pay for her mothers medical costs and that means getting another nannying job to help pay the bills, something she didn't think she could do again.

Both parties are attracted to each other from the beginning, but there is a claus in her contract with an agency that stops her doing anything romantic with her employer.  But the attraction keeps getting in the way and she finds herself falling for Beatrix and the man that is her employer as he makes it difficult not to like him.

This is a good feeling book and Silas is certainly there for Paloma when she needs him and steps up to be the man/uncle/father that Beatrix needs without complaint.  I really ejjoyed this book.

Monday 21 March 2022

REVIEW - Shopping for a Billionaire Box Set One (Shopping for a Billionaire #1-5) by Julia Kent


The Book
Release Date: 11 August 2016

Ever meet a hot billionaire while your hand's in a toilet in the men's room of one of his stores?

No? So it really is just me. Hmm.

When you're a mystery shopper, you get paid to humiliate yourself, all in the name of improving customer service. Romance isn't in my job description. But the day I met Declan McCormick it was love at first flush. 
Until I nearly castrated him with my EpiPen.

How Hot Guy and Toilet Girl became an item involves my crazy mom, a trip to the ER, my homicidal cat, my fake wife, and true love.

Don't look at me like that. I'm just doing my job.

I'm shopping for a billionaire.

---

The Shopping for a Billionaire collection from New York Timesbestselling author Julia Kent is a 600+ page, hilarious romantic comedy with heart, heat, and laughs.

This boxed set contains the previously published:
Shopping for a Billionaire 1
Shopping for a Billionaire 2
Shopping for a Billionaire 3
Shopping for a Billionaire 4
Christmas Shopping for a Billionaire

My Review.    4 STARS
This book had me laughing out loud at times making my children look at me funny while I listened to this story.  Tanya Eby is the narrator for this one and she does a fantastic job.

Shannon is a mystery shopper for a living and seems to have so many unfortunate events, that its funny, even if she meets Declan in the mens toilet whilst fishing out her phone from the toilet bowl.

Declan is from a wealthy family after his father built up an empire and he is immediately struck by how different Shannon is to every other woman he has met before.  When he happens to go to a meeting where her company are giving a presentation for a business proposal for their company, he uses this to lunge for a date, disguising it as a business meeting.

Shannon has a great friend in Amanda and her other co-workers and her mother is a hoot, her cat a laugh as well really.  The book is told from just Shannons point of view, so we never really get what Declan is thinking at times, especially when the eccentric or unfortunate events happen when he is around.

I enjoyed having all the books together so that I could listen to the whole story at once and how things begin and end with Shannon and Declan.  I do wish however that we had an epilogue of a year or two further into the future to see how the pair were holding up together.

Friday 18 March 2022

REVIEW - Claimed by the Mountain Man (Montana Mountain Men #4) by Gemma Weir


The Book
Release Date: 30 November 2021

Infuriating, sexy and seemingly everywhere, Penn Barnett is far too sexy for his own good. It seems like every woman in Rockhead Point has had a taste of the mountain man, and I can definitely see the appeal.
When I literally fall into his orbit, he tells me I’m his the moment our eyes meet. But my life is anything but simple, and right now I just don’t have the time or energy for another complication in my world… no matter how hot he is.
Only he isn’t prepared to take no for an answer… and he’s determined to make me his.

Now he’s everywhere I am, following me home and trying to take over my life. But I’m not the only woman who wants to be claimed by him and his ex has open access to my life, especially when I’m staying in her mom’s house.
If I’m his and he’s mine, how come everything is trying to tear us apart? He wants to claim me, and I might want that too, but my life isn’t my own, and for the first time ever… the Barnett brothers’ legacy might not be as powerful as real life.

My Review  5 STARS
Penn Barnett has been looking for HIS woman ever since Granger and Alice found love, but when single mum Lulu literally bumps into him on her first day at work he KNOWS that she is the woman that he has been looking for.  Therefore he lets his brothers know he has finally found her and practically forces his way into her life and stays at her place of business until he can get more out of the woman he now claims as his.

Lulu has only been in //// Mountain for the last week or two and is shocked and angry at the way that a strange man just pushes his way into her life and claims that she is now HIS woman.  However there is something about Penn that also turns all her buttons on and excites her even if it is also terrifying and annoying.

Penn is initially shocked when he find out that not only does his woman have a six month old baby, but lives with the mother of his ex bed partner.  However after his initial shock, he just claims the child as his and proceeds to care for for his princess shocking Lulu at a man who just accepts her daughter as his own.

Both Penn and Lulu certainly fight their corners with Penn certainly having more of a temper than previous members of the Barnett family, however he too shows that he will do anything in takes to keep the woman he wants close and letting everyone know that she is his.

I really enjoyed this book and seeing more of the now bigger family dynamic of the Barnetts and seeing the other family members interact and just accept the new members of their family and the brothers constant love, help and support of all of their family members.

REVIEW - Kept By The Mountain Man (Montana Mountain Men #3) by Gemma Weir


The Book
Release Date: 1 July 2021

Kind, insistent and refusing to go away, Granger Barnett is one of the most gorgeous men I’ve ever met. I imagine every woman in Rockhead Point wants a taste of the mountain man. Except me. 

When my RV breaks down, he shows up like the good Samaritan ready to save me, only I’m not looking for a hero. But it turns out no isn’t a word Granger hears that often, especially not from the woman he thinks is meant to be his. 

He says it’s fate, I’m confident he’s got the wrong girl.

Only, apparently the Barnett brothers know how to get their own way. So now I’m staying at his house and he’s talked me into giving him the weekend to convince me I’m his. 

But while I’m planning my great escape, I realize he doesn’t just want the weekend, he wants to keep me forever.

My Review  5 STARS
What happens when very timid Alice breaks down in her RV and Granger Barnett happens to come along?  A man who steam rolls his way into Alice's life and who helps her in mind, body and soul.

Alice has spent the last five years living a nomadic life, travelling around America for work and not settling anywhere for very long.  She is convinced that she is a poisonous person and cannot be loved by anyone.

Granger is another one of the Barnett boys and when he sees someone stranded on the side of the road he stops to help only to find that he knows instantly that the skittish woman he encounters is THE woman for him.

He can see that there is something in Alice's past that is holding her back and with his caveman tendencies he certainly shows Alice that he is the man for her, that he can take her insecurities and all the decisions away from her that cause her trouble, while still helping her become a stronger more secure and solid woman.

Alice has been abandoned too may times in her life and feels that she repels people because she knows that she is clingy and needy if she lets her guard down.  Therefore she has spent the last part of the last five years alone without making friends.  When Granger all but bulldozes his way into her life and tells her that he can take anything she throws at him, she cannot believe it at first.  Granger however not only takes it, he also shows her that he needs her clingy needy personality.  He shows her that he is the man for her and becomes her biggest supporter and advocat.

I really loved this book and the man that Granger showed us that he is.  Really looking forward to see more Barnett men fall under the spell when finding their perfect woman.

Tuesday 15 March 2022

REVIEW - Shenanigans (Brooklyn #6) by Sarina Bowen


The Book
Release Date: 15 Mar 2022

What I meant to do in Vegas: Let my hair down for once and celebrate winning a medal at my first women’s hockey all-stars competition. 

What I actually did: Got senior prom drunk and woke up married to Brooklyn’s star winger, the great Neil Drake. 

He’s the heir to a billion dollars, and I barely survived my childhood. Our friendship is based strictly only on hockey, takeout food and smack talk. 

And now holy matrimony. Although we both know it can’t last, especially once his evil family gets wind of our Vegas shenanigans… 

Contains: Meddling teammates, meddling parents, ugly jewelry and a pretend-kiss that nearly sets the world on fire.

My Review. 5 STARS
**My thanks to the author for providing me with a free copy for an honest review**

What happens when you are both Professional Hockey players, you have always fancied each other and you get dunk in vegas?

Charli (Charlotte) is away with the woman's hockey team in vegas at an awards with the male hockey team, among the male team is her brothers best friend Neil.  When they wake up in the same plush room, blank spots in their memories and half naked, things become more interesting.  Especially when they find a tacky ring in Charlie's hair and a marriage certificate on the side board.

Lots is packed into this fast reading story with mis-haps, hilarity, awkward moments, horrible family and most of all a love that emerges that makes each person stronger.

I really loved Neil and the way he supported Charlie, her dreams and what he wanted too.  He certainly stuck up for her and in turn, they both showed each other what they were missing in life and what a life together could really be like.

Sunday 6 March 2022

REVIEW - Archangel's Light (Guild Hunter #14) by Nalini Singh


The Book
Release Date: 28 Oct 2021

Nalini Singh returns to the world of the Guild Hunters for the most highly anticipated novel of the beloved series—a love story so epic it’s been half a millennia in the making…

Illium and Aodhan. Aodhan and Illium. For centuries they’ve been inseparable: the best of friends, closer than brothers, companions of the heart. But that was before—before darkness befell Aodhan and shattered him, body, mind, and soul. Now, at long last, Aodhan is healing, but his new-found strength and independence may come at a devastating cost—his relationship with Illium.

As they serve side by side in China, a territory yet marked by the evil of its former archangel, the secret it holds nightmarish beyond imagining, things come to an explosive decision point. Illium and Aodhan must either walk away from the relationship that has defined them—or step forward into a future that promises a bond infinitely precious in the life of an immortal…but that demands a terrifying vulnerability from two badly bruised hearts.

My Review  5 STARS
At last we have the story of Aohdan and Illium and in this book we get both the past and the present as we see how this pair have become so close and the major events that have shaped them.  We get to see their pair, but them we also get to see their happiness.

Aodhan went to China to help Suyin as a second to help her in the aftermath of her Aunts death as she establishes herself as the new Archangel.  Aodhan is only there to help however, but having newly awakened to a semblance of what he was before he had been taken Illium is finding it hard that Aodhan is becoming angry when he tries to help.

Illium however has a massive heart and shows his love for those he holds close by holing on a little too tight and giving more of himself and not thinking about himself.  

We also finally get to see the event that had Aohdan taken and held hostage for two hundred years as he finally opens up to Illium and reveals why he did not wish to be touched by others or even Illium.

It was not much of a shock to watch as this very close pair of friends evolved into something more.  As they shared their last secrets and finally opened up that last little part of each other, trusting the other with the last vestige of themselves and the knowledge that they are together forever.

I am certainly hoping that we get more books in this series and I am currently sad that there are currently no further books in this series.

Friday 4 March 2022

REVIEW - Archangel's Sun (Guild Hunter #13) by Nalini Singh


The Book
Release Date: 26 November 2020

A horrifying secret rises in the aftermath of an archangelic war in New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh’s deadly and beautiful Guild Hunter world...

The Archangel of Death and the Archangel of Disease may be gone but their legacy of evil lives on—especially in Africa, where the shambling, rotting creatures called the reborn have gained a glimmer of vicious intelligence.

It is up to Titus, archangel of this vast continent, to stop the reborn from spreading across the world. Titus can’t do it alone, but of the surviving powerful angels and archangels, large numbers are wounded, while the rest are fighting a surge of murderous vampires.

There is no one left…but the Hummingbird. Old, powerful, her mind long a broken kaleidoscope. Now, she must stand at Titus’s side against a tide of death upon a discovery more chilling than any other. For the Archangel of Disease has left them one last terrible gift…
 

My Review  5 STARS
In this book of the series we have the Hummingbird, Illiums mother coming into her own and out of the sheltered world that she has been accustomed to where she recoved from the pain of her past.  The Hummingbird takes back her name of Sharine as she helps Archangel Titus in Africa as he battles across both northern and Southern Africa the scourge of the unborn let loose by the now deceased Archangel of Northern Africa and Lijiun of China.

Titus is a loud Archangel who seems to scare off people that do not know him, however we soon see that there is more to Titus than first appears.  We see a strong man quite happy to show his softer side when needed and who has older sisters that mother his and constantly give him advice even if he does not need it.

Titus sees a new person in Sharing however and even though her new strength is shocking, he does not stop her from growing back into herself and actively encourages her to be herself even at times if it goes against his protective instinct.  Sharine on the other hand feels younger than ever and loves coming back into her true self and discovering things that have long been forgotten.

I really enjoyed this story and hope some of the Archangels get to have a happy ending, especially Neha.

Thursday 3 March 2022

REVIEW - Archangel's War (Guild Hunter #12) by Nalini Singh


The Book

Release Date: 26 September 2019

Goodreads Link

Return to New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh's darkly passionate Guild Hunter world, where human-turned-angel Elena Deveraux, consort to Archangel Raphael, faces a new challenge that threatens the balance of the world.

Wings of silver. Wings of blue. Mortal heart. Broken dreams. Shatter. Shatter. Shatter. A sundering. A grave. I see the end. I see. . . .

The world is in chaos as the power surge of the Cascade rises to a devastating crescendo. In furiously resisting its attempts to turn Elena into a vessel for Raphael's power, Elena and her archangel are irrevocably changed. . .far beyond the prophecy of a cursed Ancient.

At the same time, violent and eerie events around the world threaten to wipe out entire populations. And in the Archangel Lijuan's former territory, an unnatural fog weaves through the land, leaving only a bone-chilling silence in its wake. Soon it becomes clear that even the archangels are not immune to this deadly evil. This time, even the combined power of the Cadre may not be enough. . . .

This war could end them all.

My Review  5 STARS 

This book does start up slow as it leads up to a war, however when the war starts there. is constantly things going on and the war is on a massive scale.

Pretty much all of the previous characters portray a part in this story and fight with Raphael and the Cadre as they fight for the lives of humans and the world against Lijuin and her forces.

There is a lot of dead, even a few Archangels, however the remaining fight together, there is romance in how Raphael and Elena fight for each other and those they love and the greater good.  There is suspense as we wait for the war to come, then the wait to see how and when the next will fall.

Yes, finally Lijuin is defeated, but she has left a scourge upon the earth that now needs to be cleansed and some Archangels first need to heal and recover, others who have woken agree to help until the injured have recovered and they can go back to sleep.

The power balance restored we end with Raphael and his Elena having made stronger alliances, but fighting back to get the world back into order.

Apart from getting a little tedious about 'when will Ljiuin die!"  The story really held me captive and I was so invested in the characters.  

I am glad that there are at least two more books, and I am wondering what can happen next.

Tuesday 1 March 2022

REVIEW - Archangel's Prophecy (Guild Hunter #11) by Nalini Singh


The Book
Release Date: 26 September 2019

Return to New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh's darkly passionate Guild Hunter world, where human-turned-angel Elena Deveraux, consort to Archangel Raphael, is thrust centre stage into an eons-old prophecy . . . 

Midnight and dawn, Elena's wings are unique among angelkind . . . and now they're failing. The first mortal to be turned into an immortal in angelic memory, she's regressing. Becoming more and more human. Easier to hurt. Easier to kill.

Elena and Raphael must unearth the reason for the regression before it's too late, and Elena falls out of the sky. Yet even as they fight a furious battle for Elena's very survival, violent forces are gathering in New York and across the world.

In China, the Archangel Favashi is showing the first signs of madness. In New York, a mysterious sinkhole filled with lava swallows a man whole. In Africa, torrential monsoon rains flood rolling deserts. And in Elena's mind whispers a haunting voice that isn't her own.

This time, survival may not be possible . . . not even for the consort of an archangel.

My Review  5 STARS

Goodness, so much happens in this book.  And the ending?  I am so very glad that I have the next book lined up so I can find out what happens next already without having to wait.

The book focuses on Raphael and Elena again (thank goodness because I love them).  Elena finds that the cascade wants something different from her and her body begins to change, which not only frightens and confuses her, it frightens and confuses Raphael too.

Elena get whispers in her mind from another being but it is only about halfway through that we find out who it is and that the person is just letting her know what is supposed to happen and what she has seem of the future.  But is the future set in stone? Or can it be changed with a fierce will and a strong heart?

Raphael and Elena fight for their future and their friends, and their strong love for each other has them in its grip right until the end of the book.

A brilliant book continuing with a series that is seriously impressive.