The Nightmare Before Kissmas

                     

Title: The Nightmare Before Kissmas

Series: Royals and Romance #1

Author: Sara Raasch

Published: Bramble, October 8, 2024

Pages: 359

Genre: LGBTQ+ NA Holiday Romance

Nicholas “Coal” Claus used to love Christmas. Until his father, the reigning Santa, turned the holiday into a PR façade. Coal will do anything to escape the spectacle, including getting tangled in a drunken, supremely hot make-out session with a beautiful man behind a seedy bar one night.

But the heir to Christmas is soon commanded to do his duty: he will marry his best friend, Iris, the Easter Princess and his brother’s not-so-secret crush. A situation that has disaster written all over it.

Things go from bad to worse when a rival arrives to challenge Coal for the princess’s hand…and Coal comes face-to-face with his mysterious behind-the-bar hottie: Hex, the Prince of Halloween.

It’s a fake competition between two holiday princes who can’t keep their hands off each other over a marriage of convenience that no one wants. And it all leads to one of the sweetest, sexiest, messiest, most delightfully unforgettable love stories of the year.

This book is full of adorable disasters. The world of these holiday royals is really fun. There's magic and sass and really cute Christmas antics. There was a tiny bit more "I'm doing this for your own good" than I typically like. But it was still a good time. And I'm really looking forward to the next one!

Ratings

Stars: 4/5

Spice: 2/5

Onyx Storm

                    

Title: Onyx Storm

Series: The Empyrean #3

Author: Rebecca Yarros

Published: Entangled: Red Tower Books, January 21, 2025

Pages: 758

Genre: NA Romantasy Adventure

After nearly eighteen months at Basgiath War College, Violet Sorrengail knows there’s no more time for lessons. No more time for uncertainty.

Because the battle has truly begun, and with enemies closing in from outside their walls and within their ranks, it’s impossible to know who to trust.

Now Violet must journey beyond the failing Aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with Navarre. The trip will test every bit of her wit, luck, and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves—her dragons, her family, her home, and him.

Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything.

They need an army. They need power. They need magic. And they need the one thing only Violet can find—the truth.

But a storm is coming...and not everyone can survive its wrath.

A CLIFF HANGER?!?! The betrayal. I mean. I guess not really. But still. It's downright rude!

Back at it again with the flight goggles out here in Basgiath. Until we go on a little quest! #questsquad4lyfe. The trip across the isles was really fun and interesting. I'm so hooked by Tairn and Andarna. I just want a buddy cop comedy show that's kind of like Avatar the Last Airbender...but it's Andarna the Last Dragon. And it's Tairn and Segayl flying after Andarna to get her out of scrapes. Where's Violet and Xaden. Meh, I guess they can tag along, but only if they quit it with the melodrama. I'm here for that good good sassy dragon drama!

Ridoc is amazing. I love every single side character. Which is my main character flaw. Anyone that I get to know too well becomes less interesting. I love the mystique provided by not seeing inside a side characters head. Which does make the expanded points of view that we get toward the end of this book a little concerning. But only a little. Seeing how the different dragons and riders talk to each other is very fun. 

And now I'm waiting with bated breath for book 4, of course. I'm also pretty pumped for the TV series.....but I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high. 

Ratings

Stars: 5/5

Spice: 2/5

A Wolf Steps in Blood

                                                 

Title: A Wolf Steps in Blood

Author: Tamara Jerée

Published: Water Sign Books, April 16, 2024

Pages: 163

Genre: Sapphic Paranormal

Yasmine is a red wolf girl stuck in rural Alabama. Her world is small: pick up shifts at the greasy late-night diner and endure her pack’s petty squabbles. She’s not good at being a wolf or being human, directionless in life and disconnected from her ancestors.

Blessed by a century-old enchantment, the local red wolves have escaped extinction by blending into the human world. But with the old witches’ blessing wearing thin, the wolves face an uncertain future.

An answer arrives in the form of an exiled blood witch whose magic is steeped in reckless grief. Kalta rides into town in her dead brother’s truck, prophecy following on her heels. Despite the danger Yasmine can smell swirling around the witch, a fated bond tangles their futures—and those of all the wolves.

After an accident threatens the wolves’ secret, Yasmine has no choice but to join Kalta on the road, carving a path through the South’s backroads and hoping the magic brewing between them is enough to overcome their bloody pasts.

This was a really interesting shifter/magic system. It's brutal and visceral in many ways. Which isn't standard fare for a sapphic book. But I think it might be standard fare for Tamara Jerée and I am certainly not mad at it. It definitely grounds you in their reality.

A common theme of the werewolf story is the reluctant wolf. And Yasmine certainly falls into that trope. But it does present in a unique way. Then there's Kalta, and she is obsessed with her magic. Her magic and Yasmine's wolf. 

Weaving the werewolf story in with endangered red wolves and black people in the American south was stunning. It was tragic and aching. And not an easy read, but well worth it.

Ratings

Stars: 4/5

Spice: 2/5

I'm Starting to Worry About this Black Box of Doom

                              

Title: I'm Starting to Worry About this Black Box of Doom

Author: Jason Pargin

Published: September 24, 2024

Pages: 400

Genre: Comedic Mystery/Thriller

Outside Los Angeles, a driver pulls up to find a young woman sitting on a large black box. She offers him $200,000 cash to transport her and that box across the country, to Washington, DC.

But there are rules:

He cannot look inside the box.
He cannot ask questions.
He cannot tell anyone.
They must leave immediately.
He must leave all trackable devices behind.

As these eccentric misfits hit the road, rumors spread on social media that the box is part of a carefully orchestrated terror attack intended to plunge the USA into civil war.

The truth promises to be even stranger, and may change how you see the world.

Oh this book. I had a good time reading this book, I think I even liked it. But it was definitely a very specific style choice. It was very rooted in pop culture as well, which was pretty fun actually. Seeing how the social media machine shapes stories from multiple angles felt very realistic.

The black box. This woman is dead set on getting this black box to DC, and she doesn't care what laws she has to break to do it. Which is hilarious to me because she is the most inconspicuous and ridiculous person, so of course everyone is following along with the story on their phones. Discretion? Never met her.

Here's where I'm going to give a mini *spoiler alert.*

I wish we hadn't seen what was inside the black box. I kind of wish that it had stayed a mystery. It IS funny when you find out what's in it, and I enjoyed all of the shenanigans surrounding it. 

Ultimately, it's good, but it was just missing something for me.

Ratings

Stars: 3/5

He Loves Me Not

                             

Title: He Loves Me Not

Series: Cambric Creek #5

Author: C.M. Nascosta

Published: January 24, 2025

Pages: 289

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Sumi is on top of the world. Applying for franchise ownership with a giant flower conglomerate seems like a piece of cake — they provide the equipment, the distribution contracts, all those annoying little bits she didn’t learn in Dream Flower Shop Academy in her head. Everything’s coming up roses.

There’s only one catch . . . she didn’t realize chasing after her dream might cause someone else to lose hold of their own.

Ranar never actually wanted to inherit the family business. When Bloomerang, an online flower conglomerate, opens one of their soulless flower factories in Cambric Creek, Ranar knows it’s only a matter of time before he’s forced to close the door on his family’s flower shop for good. It doesn’t matter how pretty the sylvan owner is or how friendly she seems — she represents everything wrong in the industry, in his world. She’s bound to put him out of business eventually . . . but he can make her regret it first.

Sumi is positive there is room for two flower shops in Cambric Creek, if only the owner of The Perfect Petal wasn’t such a rude, condescending, infuriatingly handsome jerk. When she joins an online chat server for florists, discovering The Perfect Petal’s owner is chatting there as well, she decides it’s the perfect opportunity to discover his weaknesses and take him down . . . if she doesn’t wind up falling for him first.

C.M. Nascosta does not miss. I'll be the first to admit that I was not a fan of You've Got Mail when I watched it the first time. I was very young when it came out, so it's not shocking that a rom com with 30-somethings wasn't my favorite film. After reading this, I'm thinking that maybe I need to give it another shot though!

Sumi is looking for a way out of her job and into her dream life. All of the dominos start lining up perfectly for her. She gets a home in this perfect town and finds a way to have her dream job. She meets a smoking hot man and hires some great help in her new flower shop. 

Ranar both loves and hates his family flower shop. He also knows that Sumi is hot as hell, and is desperate to make her pay for opening a shop to compete with his own shop. Is it love of the shop or love of the competition? I don't care because it's a great time to read about!

And don't even get me started on the heat. Very high heat! I expect nothing less, though I would accept anything Nascosta is willing to bless me with. And I'm so glad she blessed us with this one!

Ratings

Stars: 5/5

Spice: 5/5

Deal with the Devil

     

Title: Deal with the Devil

Series: Mercenary Librarians #1

Author: Kit Rocha

Publisher: July 28, 2020

Pages: 336

Genre: Urban Fantasy/Sci-Fi

Nina is an information broker with a mission--she and her team of mercenary librarians use their knowledge to save the hopeless in a crumbling America.

Knox is the bitter, battle-weary captain of the Silver Devils. His squad of supersoldiers went AWOL to avoid slaughtering innocents, and now he's fighting to survive.

They're on a deadly collision course, and the passion that flares between them only makes it more dangerous. They could burn down the world, destroying each other in the process...

Or they could do the impossible: team up.

This is a really fun concept for a series. I love post-apocalyptic settings! I love badass soldier types and alpha holes. I think, had I read this book back in 2010 I would have been absolutely RAVENOUS for it! Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed myself, and I am interested in the other 2 books in the trilogy. I just wasn't as invested in these two main characters as I would like to be.

Nina is the leader of her little girl gang of vigilante librarians. Knox is the leader of his little guy gang of vigilante soldiers. They might as well be fated mates, but those don't exist in this universe. But Nina's girl gang? I love them! 

The world building and technology discussed in this book is super interesting. So if badasses reading through the apocalypse are your jam, this is the series for you.

Ratings

Stars: 3/5

Spice: 2/5

Lessons with the Mothman

    

Title: Lessons with the Mothman

Series: Monster Smash Agency #3

Author: Kathryn Moon

Publisher: January 14, 2025

Pages: 295

Genre: Contemporary Fantasy Romance

Elias - freelance consultant to Monster Smash Agency, and prestigiously rare moth fae - has never been in love. Granted, he's never been interested in the emotion, but with his friends mating with their clients, the new curiosity is keeping him up at night. If only the act of loving made any logical sense. And if only he could find someone to draw him in like the moth to the flame.

Victoria is looking for facts not feelings. She wants to understand why the monster species are so much more satisfied than humans, than her. But the handsome mothman who volunteers to aid her study wants to stimulate more than her intelligence. She's willing to explore their physical chemistry, but she wants no part of his designs on her heart.

Some lessons can't be taught, and love is certainly one of them.

Elias and Victoria are so perfect. For being so smart, they're exceptionally dim about feelings. They could benefit from watching Inside Out. But they are fascinating, and seeing them figure each other out was very hot.

I loved how she handled Victoria's bedroom needs. I guess I loved how Elias handled them. :) The consent is impeccable, per usual. And getting to see and talk to all of the other monsters through the lens of Victoria's thesis research was really fun.

Elias's plan for finding love was fascinating. And the idea of making himself be in love no matter what was also very relatable. Their ending is perfect for them as well. UGH so good. I want to squeal about it but I don't want ultra mega spoilers in here.

Ratings

Stars: 4/5

Spice: 5/5