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Ironing by S.E. Wendel is currently free on Amazon Kindle! I’ve had this on my TBR for a while now, and I happily scooped it up! (I’m not sure how long it will be free. Reminder that you don’t have to have a Kindle to read Kindle books! Just head to your App Store and download the Kindle App!)

Synopsis Below:

A lady heir in a world of lords…

Aislinn Darrow was never meant to be her father’s heir, but that was before her selfish brother condemned himself. Now, she must give up her old life to take his place. She should be presiding in her father’s council chamber and serving the people of the Darrowlands—yet time and again, she finds herself straying to the castle smithy, to visit the handsome new blacksmith manning the forge.

A lady can never claim a monster…

Hakon has known all his life his place is in the background. At least at his forge, he can be of use and demonstrate his skills. The life of a halfling is one of halves and pieces, never quite to belong. When he hears of a place that welcomes halflings, he determines to build a new life for himself in the Darrowlands. It is a bittersweet fate to find everything he could ever want there, in a woman he can never have. He knows his green, sooty hands don’t deserve to touch her, but Hakon cannot resist tempting Lady Aislinn back to him, nor indulging in the fantasy of claiming her as his own.

But in a world of lords and politics, a lady such as Aislinn could never truly take a halfling like him to mate and wed—especially when her position as a woman lord and usurper leave her and her people vulnerable. When grasping lords threaten the Darrowlands, prepared to take Aislinn’s hand and land through marriage or force, she must choose—the halfling who loves her or the people who need her.

Fans of Grace Draven, Ruby Dixon, and SJM will love this fluffy, steamy monster romance story! Check sewendelauthor.com for content and trigger warnings. Mature content intended for readers 18+. — Book 2 stands on its own but will best be enjoyed after Halfling.

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"He'd come to recognize the bizarre phenomenon of Zoya's beauty, the way men loved to create stories around it. They said she was cruel because she'd been harmed in the past. They claimed she was cold because she just hadn't met the right fellow to warm her. Anything to soften her edges and sweeten her disposition—and what was the fun in that? Zoya’s company was like strong drink. Bracing—and best to abstain if you couldn’t handle the kick." - Nikolai Lantsov 💛 King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

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Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 Stars)

Does this book contain spice? Yes!

Throwback to a read from March of this year. This was a fun book, and a nice break from just finishing A Court of Silver Flames, which is obviously a pretty heavy one (both emotionally and physically lol.)

But 2 months later, I’m still in love with and think about Mateo Cruz💙🐺✨

If you’re like me and you romanced Lucanis in Dragon Age: The Veilguard and apparently now have a think for sweet men who basically come with a secondary personality (*cough cough* Spite), then you just might like the dynamic between Mateo and his wolf, Alpha.

My one gripe was some of the language in this book. I can’t believe I had to read the words “awesome sauce” and “amazeballs” in 2025 from a book that was published in 2019. Those were little speed bumps that kind of took me out of the moment at times. Also the maturity of the witches sometimes didn’t feel like it lined up with their actual ages.

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A monster romance about a demon MILF… call that a DeMOM.

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I won a book giveaway from Ace Publishing! 📚

The Unorthodox Chronicles by James J. Butcher! I’ll post individual reviews when I read each one.

Cold Iron Task is currently available for pre-order, and comes out March 4th, 2025!

I’ll post the blurb for book 1 below!

In the tradition of his renowned father, James J. Butcher's debut novel is a brilliant urban fantasy about a young man who must throw out the magical rule book to solve the murder of his former mentor.

On the streets of Boston, the world is divided into the ordinary Usuals, and the paranormal Unorthodox. And in the Department of Unorthodox Affairs, the Auditors are the magical elite, government-sanctioned witches with spells at their command and all the power and prestige that comes with it.

Grimshaw Griswald Grimsby is... not one of those witches. After flunking out of the Auditor training program and being dismissed as "not Department material," Grimsby tried to resign himself to life as a mediocre witch. But he can't help hoping he'll somehow, someway, get another chance to prove his skill.

That opportunity comes with a price when his former mentor, aka the most dangerous witch alive, is murdered down the street from where he works, and Grimsby is the Auditors' number one suspect. Proving his innocence will require more than a little legwork, and after forming a strange alliance with the retired legend known as the Huntsman and a mysterious being from Elsewhere, Grimsby is abruptly thrown into a life of adventure, whether he wants it or not.

Now all he has to do is find the real killer, avoid the Auditors on his trail, and most importantly, stay alive.

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Star Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 Stars) Is there spice? Yes. What kind of spice? At least 3 big open door scenes, with some arousal talk in between. Expect your usual sex stuff: oral, fingering, and penetration. There’s nothing to really “warn” about, imo. At the beginning they have to work through a bit of a language barrier, which involves a lot of touching and some body part naming.

TWs: Abduction which leads to imprisonment, being kept in a cage, being whipped and mistreated, near death experience, a mention of drugs in the beginning.

Judging a Book By Its Cover: (Waves at the shirtless man) …Hey. After reading, I really like that it’s demonstrating the changing skin color pigments of the Irrans!

Review: This was my first alien romance book, and I think it was a good one to start with! This really felt like a fairy tale, BUT, make it sci-fi.

I liked the MMC, FMC, AND the side characters. (Except for Chanísh…obviously. eye roll) Oljin (MMC) is such a sweetie; I loved his gentle nature and patience with her. His reserve and decision making when it came to spilling vs not spilling blood. He would make a wonderful Jara.

Speaking of Jaras, I enjoyed learning the Irran’s language alongside Rose (FMC), and I think the word Alara is so pretty?? I appreciated Rose’s determination to survive and her drive to learn everything she could; how she kept a kind heart despite everything she had been through. There was a surprising amount of inspiration in this, and so of course I found myself a little misty-eyed a couple of times.

If you read this book, don’t skip the epilogue or the author’s note! (Thank you to the author for letting us know about Saana and Honhura, it’s like you read my mind, I wanted to know what happened to them. I’m also very excited to know that Rose and Oljin make an appearance later on. I was almost a little upset, haha. I’m also very interested in what's going to happen with Pravil.)

I will definitely be continuing with this series at some point.

Thank you for reading! If you liked my review/thoughts, consider following me on [GoodReads] or [Bookstagram]

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New hand made shabby chic tassel bookmark. Click here to view “bookworm” in the Etsy shop.

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New handmade bookmark, click here to view in the Etsy shop.

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New shabby chic handmade bookmark. Click here to view in the Etsy shop.

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Sweet Berries by C.M. Nascosta is currently free on Kindle (not KU), I'm not sure for how long, but, y'know... It's usually $4.99

(FYI: You don't have to have a Kindle to read Kindle books. Just download the Kindle app onto your smartphone, and there ya go. You can read Ebooks on your phone.)

Book Description:

"Grace has a job she loves, a community she adores, and plenty of friends . . . but her lack of bedroom action has left this event planner too horny to think.

When one ill-advised night at the bar leads to her giving an exhibitionistic show to an unknown presence outside her bedroom window, she thinks she’s hit a new low. When her voyeur turns out to be a nebbishly charming mothman, Grace needs to decide if she can trust her body — and her heart — with this garnet-eyed stranger before he flys out of her life for good.

Sweet Berries is a monster/human romance featuring high heat and a lot of heart, with a guaranteed HEA. It is the second book in the Cambric Creek Steamy Sweet Monster Romance series."

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Six of Crows Ebook is currently available for $2.99 on Kindle, Apple Books, & Google Books! (It’s usually $9.99?) If you’ve been wanting to read it but have been holding off…… 👀

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I don’t have a full review (or even a condensed one) for The Witcher Omnibus Vol. 1, but I did give it 4 stars! ⭐️ I need to re read it, it’s been a couple of years and I’ve forgotten some of the plots. But here’s some pictures from inside if anyone is interested!

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A little glimpse inside Demon in the Wood by Leigh Bardugo 🖤✨

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Andrzej Sapkowski Books

The Witcher 🐺

📖 The Last Wish (#0.5) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📖 Sword of Destiny (#0.7) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📖 Blood of Elves (#1) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📖 Time of Contempt (#2) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📖 Baptism of Fire (#3) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📖 Tower of the Swallows (#4) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📖 Lady of the Lake (#5) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📖 Season of Storms (#0) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📖 Crossroads of Ravens (#0.1) - TBR (Release Sept. 2025!)

Hussite Trilogy 🏆

Tower of Fools (#1) - TBR

Warriors of Gods (#2) - TBR?

Light Perpetual (#3) - TBR?

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Leigh Bardugo Books

Grishaverse

Shadow & Bone

📖 Demon in the Wood (#0) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📖 Shadow & Bone (#1) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📖 The Tailor (#1.5) ⭐️⭐️⭐️

📖 Siege & Storm (#2) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📖 Ruin & Rising (#3) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Six of Crows

📖 Six of Crows (#1) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📖 Crooked Kingdom (#2) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

King of Scars

📖 King of Scars (#1) - TBR

📖 Rule of Wolves (#2) - TBR

Other

📖 Language of Thorns - TBR

Lives of Saints - TBR?

Alex Stern

Ninth House (#1) - TBR

Hell Bent (#2) - TBR

Miscellaneous

The Familiar - TBR

Wonder Woman: Warbringer - TBR?

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If anyone is interested, and ok with buying Ebooks on Amazon, Quicksilver by Callie Hart is currently available for $2.99!

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First of all…if you see me reading and rating this… no you don’t.

This is my review/thoughts on The Defiled by Jade Lane & Em Jay

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3.75 Stars! Is there spice? LOL, YEAH. Major taboo aspects of a nun and a demon (incubus) having a sexual relationship. - Expect dirty talk (some of it being religious), fingering, biting, blood, taking virginity, wet dreams, oral sex, sex in a church, etc…

TWs: As I said, taboo religious things. General sexual content. Blood. Death. Crucifixion.

Judging a Book By It’s Cover: …No comment. The cover DEFINITELY isn’t what initially got my attention. I’m not sure what you mean.

✨📖Review📖✨ Boy, did this surprise me. I thought I would give this book 3 stars at first, then it changed to 4 stars, and then by the end I somehow ended up saying “you know what? 5 stars.” I bumped it down to 4 stars after a few days, but still... I think it’s because the plot actually ended up being pretty dang good?? There were a couple of things that I didn’t see coming. Just overall a pleasant surprise. I saw a few reviews before I started reading that said they couldn’t wait for book 2. I didn’t understand what could happen that would make them say that… But now that I’m done. Uh??? Sign me up for book 2, please!!! I’d like to see where this goes.

This is one of those pieces of work that do a good job of making you root for the “bad/evil” thing. I didn’t like Mother Superior or Sister Angie and ended up finding Heath, our little demon, to be kind of…endearing? I even liked his twisted sense of humor (which I’m kind of ashamed to say, haha. There was a teeny tiny bit of shame nagging at me throughout the whole thing, and I’m not even that religious… It’s fine. It’s FINE.) I really liked the protection provided by his mark on her. 👀

You know it’s enticing in some way if I end up reading it in one day. 😅 I’m glad I ended up giving this a go! (The short bonus chapter at the end with Heath and Father Keith was also greatly enjoyed. That is NOT how I expected things went down between them, even after learning the truth about their past.)

Thank you for reading! If you liked my review/thoughts, consider following me on [GoodReads], [Bookstagram], or [Threads]! (I tend to post on GoodReads & Threads first!)