Breaking Boundaries by Gemma Blythe

Release Date // Datum izdaje:  June 30, 2023

Genre // Žanr: Erotica

Buy here // Kupi tukaj: Amazon

Blurb:

Darcy and I have been friends forever, so when we plan a kid-free getaway with our husbands, we’re expecting the same relaxing, stress-free time we always have together.

What we don’t expect is a rental with walls so thin we hear everything happening in the other room.

Or how hot it is to hear Darcy and Alec get it on—to imagine the actions going along with those sounds, to try and guess who’s doing what to whom.

As the week goes on, we can’t deny our growing attraction to our best friends—I can’t stop checking Darcy out, and Rafe’s gaze keeps drifting over to Alec.

And they’re looking too.

My thoughts:

This book teased with the promise of more but it didn’t deliver. Much of it is happening between the actual couple before everything starts to unfold. It includes FF, MF, and MM scenes but at the end, you’re still left with a cliffhanger and the question ”Is that it?”. The story continues in a second book but I’m not interested because I feel like it would be better to be wrapped up in one.

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

ARC was provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Tainted Dreams by Kimberly Quay

Release Date // Datum izdaje:  May 26, 2023

Genre // Žanr: Dark Romance

Buy here // Kupi tukaj: Amazon

Blurb:

KILLIAN ASHER isn’t the kind of man who gives in to temptation.

Haunted by a past full of pain, he’s coldhearted and lethal. His focus is on his business, taking down anyone who stands in his way. He has no time for relationships and no woman has ever come close to piercing the armor around his tainted heart.

Then he saw her…

Stalking wasn’t a hobby he ever thought he’d pick up, but when it came to her, he couldn’t stay away. Now she’s all he thinks about, all he dreams about.

She’s consumed him in a way nothing or no one ever has. And he’ll do whatever it takes to make her his.

Whatever. It. Takes.

***

SKYE LARSEN keeps a smile on her face and a bounce in her step, but inside she’s tormented by her past.

Owner of Skye Yoga, she spends her days teaching others how to find inner peace, and her nights pouring out her inner turmoil onto a canvas.

Then she sees him.

She feels the tingle of his eyes on her as he watches. She should be scared, but she’s drawn to him like a moth to a flame.

He stalks her while she’s awake and possesses her in her dreams. She wants him like she’s never wanted anything before, and she’s determined to be with him.

My thoughts:

I was drawn to this book because I needed a dark romance and the blurb gave me this vibe.

However, this book does not contain much of stalking, just in the beginning. Tainted Dreams was a mess of everything. It even has a fake dating trope, though why remains unsolved. It could be easily skipped.

So this book is marketed as a dark romance but even though there were some dark scenes it was very light and did not go into details. I felt like all the throat-holding scenes gave this book the privilege to be called dark, otherwise, it wouldn’t be. And all those scenes just didn’t hold my attention because like I said I really didn’t feel like I was reading a dark romance. Killian was intense and he supposedly killed people but not much was done in the meaning of gore and blood to make me feel queasy.

Funny enough, one scene reminded me of the movie/book Confessions of a Shopaholic,

In the end, there were a lot of time jumps and I felt like the ending was a very long epilogue, all wrapped up neatly.

To sum up, 3.5-4ish stars.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

ARC was provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Neutral Zone by Teagan Hunter

Release Date // Datum izdaje:  May 18, 2023

Genre // Žanr: Sports Romance, Contemporary Romance

Buy here // Kupi tukaj: Amazon

Blurb:

To my fans, I’m known as Ivan Fitzgerald.
To my teammates, I’m just Fitz.
And to the girl I’ve been talking to online, I’m ShootsAndScores.

There’s no doubt in my mind that the woman on the other side of the screen is completely out of my league. Why wouldn’t she be? Sure, I’m a professional hockey player, but that doesn’t mean anything when I’m shy and awkward in the most basic social situations and she’s a fiery vixen who oozes sex appeal.

No matter how badly I want her, I can’t have her. Because the woman I love watching so much? The one I might be slowly falling for?

She’s not just some stranger on the internet. It’s Rosie, the woman who serves me coffee and donuts every morning.

And she has no clue it’s me.

My thoughts:

I was very interested In Fitz after reading the blurb. He was always being this kind guy so to know he has a naughty side… well, I had to read his book 🙂

Fitz started watching Rosie by complete accident but when he realized it’s the girl who sells him donuts he is hooked. He is shy so he never planned to reveal his secret.

Rosie and Fitz start talking and she started to like Fitz in person and online which makes a mess out of her feelings.

Rosie and Fitz are perfect for each other and complete each other. He likes to watch and she likes to be watched.

For me, reading another book in the Carolina Comets series was great but Neutral Zone kind of lost me somewhere in the middle. I was very into hearing their story at the beginning, then it was just okay and when I approached the ending I started to get interested again. Also, there’s this one moment in a book where I felt like it had some meaning but it was brushed aside as nothing so I don’t know why it was even there.

(She went in a costume to a party and there was a man in a corner who watched her intensely but then vanished when she looked back again. It wasn’t Fitz, apparently.)

4 stars.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

ARC was provided via Valentine PR in exchange for an honest review. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Heiress Swap by Maddison Michaels

Release Date // Datum izdaje:  25 Jul 2023

Genre // Žanr: Historical Romance

Buy here // Kupi tukaj: Amazon

Blurb:

Evie Jenkins didn’t know what she was thinking by agreeing to switch places with her American heiress cousin. After all, she’s naught but a poor—and usually quite sensible—companion. All she has to do is spend six weeks among London society, pretending to be an heiress…and ensure that absolutely under no circumstances does she accept any proposals of marriage.

When his cousin declares himself in love with a new woman visiting from the States, Alexander Trenton—the sixth Duke of Hargrave—is determined to prove that the young lady in question is just another American “Dollar Princess” desperate for an English title. She seems innocent enough, but Alex is determined to expose her…by thoroughly seducing the lovely and fiercely intelligent heiress himself.

What he assumed would be just one simple kiss erupts into something wild, uncontrollable, and much too public. Now the duke must save her reputation with a betrothal…little knowing that his charming Princess harbors a secret that would certainly ruin them both.

My thoughts:

I’ve read a book by this author before and liked it. The Heiress Swap convinced me to request on Netgalley by the blurb.

Two cousins went to England, one is wealthy and one not so, so they switch places. Evie would have a chance to see museums since she loves fossils and her cousin will train to be in her father’s company since wealthy women don’t usually work and she wants to prove herself to her father.

Evie, unfortunately, catches the attention of the duke. He is convinced she wants his money.

The rest of the book was okay. I was surprised by the drama that followed Evie and the result of it. The ending disappointed me a little because I felt like his uncle let her down and she was raised in her cousin’s shadow for absolutely no reason. I think she forgot too easily. I also felt like Alexander only decided to go after her once he discovered the truth of her past and the letters from his mother. I was annoyed that he kept referring to Evie as a Dollar Princess even though she continued to prove him otherwise.

3.5 stars.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

ARC was provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Game Changer by Piper Lawson

Release Date // Datum izdaje:  April 25, 2023

Genre // Žanr: Contemporary Romance, Sports Romance

Buy here // Kupi tukaj: Amazon

Blurb:

After being dumped and losing my job the same week, the last thing my broken heart needs is a rebound.

I’m escaping across the country to help my perfect sister plan her dream wedding, and to prove to both of us everything is under control.

But a combination of tequila and turbulence on the flight there lead to word-vomiting all my troubles to the huge and handsome stranger in the first-class seat next to mine.

Only his whispered dirty diversions keep me sane until landing.

Despite the spark of attraction, we go our separate ways.

Or so I thought.

Turns out the tall, muscular, tattooed tower of a man from the plane is the star player on my future brother-in-law’s pro basketball team.

Clay is the last person I should gravitate toward. They’re called “players” for a reason.

Grumpy and cynical, he carries a weight on his shoulders I can’t possibly fathom.

He’s also the only one who knows my secrets and gets my heart racing.

The more we’re thrust together, the stronger the chemistry between us becomes.

Hooking up with the all-star athlete isn’t the way to get my life on track…but it could just be the game changer we’ve both been searching for.

My thoughts:

The funny thing is I don’t remember much because I read it two weeks ago. I do remember that they met on a plane and she doesn’t know who he is. She is not a fan of flying and he talks her through. She also admits some fears.

Anyway, he leaves after the plane lands and then she finds out he’s a star basketball player.

I don’t remember much then about their relationship. I know they didn’t sleep together and that he didn’t like her brother-in-law. Said brother-in-law also gave him an ultimatum at the end and Clay leaves her. The book ends on a cliffhanger.

The weird thing I never understood through the book is if she likes her own sister or not. I felt like she hates her at some point but in other moments felt like they are okay but are just distanced.

Anyway, I don’t know if I’ll read a second book because like I said, I already don’t remember much now, two weeks after, so I’ll probably completely forget what happened by the time book two comes out.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

ARC was provided via Valentine PR in exchange for an honest review. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.