REVIEW - Runaway (The Magnussons #2) by Noelle Adams

The Book

Release Date: 12 April 2022

Goodreads Link

My relationship with Elias Magnusson happened in a blaze of fiery passion. We met and fell in love and got engaged in just a few weeks. He might be heir to a fortune and act as cool as ice, but I believed I saw the real man beneath the surface. And that was a man I loved.

But on our wedding day, I suddenly realize that I'm about to marry a stranger. A stranger with endless resources and more power than I've ever known. We might be great in bed together, but a marriage needs a lot more. Needs a lot deeper. So I run. I run away from the wedding and leave Elias without a word.

It's a terrible thing to have to do, but I'm sure it's for the best. I'll become a runaway bride, even though it's the last thing I want. I assume Elias will never forgive me for such a betrayal. Never once do I dream that he'll come after me and try to convince me that our wild whirlwind romance is real.

My Review   3 STARS

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

This is a vert sweet short novella where the couple are already together and wake up in the morning with a horny man.

Both M/C's have their own little issues as their relationship thrusts forward at a tremendous pace, a pace which frightens Jenna, who being an orphan feels overwhelmed but feels she cannot say anything.  

Elias is from a very powerful and rich family and knew Jenna was to be his the moment that he saw her.  Being him he has pretty much railroaded her for what he wants, but also tried his best to be the perfect man, not really letting his real feelings show.

When Jenna runs on the day of their wedding two months after first meeting, Elias goes to find her and together they work through their issues and realise that they need to take things slower, with his family being completely supportive.

This is a sweet book that has lots of emotion and a realness to it and an adult reaction to the events once they finally start opening up and talking to each other.

REVIEW - A Beautiful Liar (Hades and Persephone #1) by Beena Khan

The Book

Release Date: 8 April 2022

Goodreads Link

I gave Hades a fake name at the club, and now, he's chosen me as his mate.

Once upon a myth...
I've always been sheltered by my overprotective mother, hence the nickname given to me by my tormentors. “The nun.” As a geeky scholarship student at the ancient and prestigious Saint Eudora Academy, I craved freedom, so, I sneaked out into the nightlife for the first time to mend my broken heart. There, I met a pair of alluring blue eyes and our worlds collided leaving nothing but destruction in its wake.

It was a single night, and we both wanted to forget someone. He said, I have six months before he returns. Six months to tell my old life goodbye. In my drunk state, I agreed, and he declared us as betrothed. The next morning, I ghosted him.

Imagine my surprise when I see him at my academy six months later. He's returned like a raging inferno to claim me.

The connection and recognition are still there. He was supposed to only be a myth. The man I meet now is different. He’s tortured, dark, and deadly like Hades. A sense of danger surrounds him, trapping me toward him. I don't know what he is capable of until a favor from the reaper and a chilling murder forces us to bond.

I fear the unknown ahead of me when I finally unmask him. I’m entangled in a web of secrets and lies where money and power rule in his dark world. He says he collects souls, and now he is here to take mine.

Valerius Vitalli will never let me go.

Loosely based on the myth of Hades & Persephone.

My Review  5 STARS

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

First of all I love this cover.  It really spoke to me and therefore I decided to read a book with a theme darker than I normally would.  This is the darkest theme book I have ever read.

There is lots of description in this retelling of Hades and Persephone of a world a lot darker than ours, of the mafia and a man who is obsessed with the woman he finds at the bar of the discotecq six months ago.  Annabella met Valerius while there with her best friend Cecilia, her friend who great all of the attention.  She is dumbfounded that Valerius sees her and actually want to talk to her instead of her friend.

A few tequilas later and 18 year old Bella goes home with 19 yr old Valerius and in her tipsy state agreed to be his fiancé and to be his in six months when he returns for her, then they completed her v-card removal.

When he returns however, he is not quite the same man as before, now he is darker and and many more secrets, he is also angry that she gave him a false name.

Two souls call for each other, each balancing each other out, one dark and one full of light.  Although this book does not end on a cliff hangar, there is a mother book after this that tells the rest of their story and I cannot wait to read it.

REVIEW - Screwed by Lili Valente

The Book

Release Date: 19 April 2022

Goodreads Link

My best friend’s older brother excels at many things—being a bossy grump, a jerk, and...this hopeless virgin's fake fiancé?

I need a guy who understands that this is all pretend, and who better than a man who can't stand me—and vice versa? Besides, Derrick is the kind of cocky, confident, successful dude bro my gram will adore. 

We'll convince my ailing grandmother I’m not going to die alone, Derrick will honor that favor he owes me, and we'll part ways as enemies with NO benefits.

It’s a rock-solid plan…until it isn’t. 
Turns out I may have made a slight miscalculation.

Now Derrick is charming my family, sweeping me off my feet, and making me want crazy things. 

Suddenly, I think I might actually want him to be my first and maybe…my only?

Yeah, I’m screwed. 
So bleeping screwed.

My Review  5 STARS

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

Harlow is Evie's best friend and Derek is Evie's older brother, but the pair have been verbal sparing partners since Harlow was eighteen and got her heart broken.

However both now find they are going to the same ski resort for the same time period and end up travelling their together thanks to Evie, but also Harlow ends up asking if Derek will be her fake boyfriend, Derek goes one further and says he will be her fake fiancé.

Close time together however only amps up the feelings between them and it takes very little time before the pair end up kissing and eventually ending up in bed with Harlow finally ditching her v-card.

Derek finally accepts what he has known with Harlow and does not fight his feelings, however after some fun together, Harlow freaks and hurts Derek, until her sister and her Gran point her in the right direction.

I cannot wait to read the next book in this series to see how Cameron gets his happy ever after.  I am really enjoying this series and I certainly comes with the authors wit and zest.

REVIEW - 10,000 Things I Hate About You: A V-Card Diaries Novella by Lili Valente

The Book

Release Date: 29 March 2022

Goodreads Link

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a woman newly turned eighteen, with a few grotesquely cheap beers in her belly, will want to pounce on her best friend’s older brother.

Okay, so maybe that isn’t a “universal truth,” but it’s my truth.

I’ve had a crush on Derrick Olsen since I needed help tying my shoes. And yes, I was nearly ten by the time I finally mastered the skill—why are laces still a thing when Velcro is so awesome?—but still…

I could stare at the man for hours.

Meanwhile, he barely knows I’m alive. Or at least, that’s the way it’s been before. But tonight, with a spring moon overhead and bonfire flames dancing across the sexy planes of Derrick’s face, I sense things could change between us.

If I’m brave enough to make them change…

I can do that. I can come on to my best friend’s older brother. What’s the worst thing that can happen? He turns me down in a fashion so horrifically embarrassing that I decide to hate him forever, and he happily agrees to return the favor? I mean, yeah, I guess that’s a possibility.

But the odds of that are slim to none…right?

My Review  5 STARS

This is a very sweet novella of how eighteen year old Harlow and twenty six year old Derek went from fancying each other to not wanting to speak to each other and verbal sparring enemies.

Harlow decides she is going to act on her lust on Derek, her best friends brother, only to be kissed and then shot right down.

It is only four chapters long, but certainly gives a better idea of the couple before their full book in SCREWED after the first book of the series SCORED.