Tag: ARC Reviews

Dashing Mr. Snow by Alexis Winter

5 Stars

Office romance

What a fun holiday book!  We meet Sadie Emmert first, about 3 years ago as she is starting a new job out of college.  The group of new hires is attending a new hire orientation, and the CEO sees her and decides to speak to the group.  Alex Snow is about in his early 30s, and is considered unfriendly and intimidating.  Sadie settles into her job, enjoying work, but not so much her personal life.  Now, 3 years into her career, she’s asked to take paperwork to the CEO for signatures that his assistant forgot in the assistant’s rush to leave for the weekend.  And this is where the story takes off and becomes a fun read.  I enjoyed reading about the increasing friendship between the two, and how Alex Snow is such an un-typical boss.  Alexis Winter has written a well though-out story, with no errors.  The characters are both fun and detailed.  A great holiday read!  I was given an ARC of this book from the author through BookSprout and this is my honest opinion. 

Thunder with a Chance of Lovestruck: A Paranormal Women’s Fiction Romance Novel (Grimm Cove Book 5) by Mandy M. Roth

4 Stars

Non-Linear Timeline

This is the 5th book in the series, and like the previous book, doesn’t really follow a straight line.  Once you accept that, the story is interesting and gives you more information about what is happening in Grimm Cove.  The two main characters, Rachael Franks (Frankenstein) and Drest Bright are meant to be together, but the road they follow takes a long and convoluted track to get to the end.  This book should be read after the first 4 in the series because each is intertwined and will be harder to follow without having read the others. This book is well written, with no grammatical or spelling errors.  Other than the way the timeline is handled, I enjoyed reading Book 5 and am looking forward to book 6.  I was given an ARC of this book by the author through BookSprout and this is my honest opinion. 

Rage (Kindred: The Fated Book 1) by Donna Grant

5 Stars

New Kindred trilogy

This is the first book in a new trilogy dealing with the situations left from the original Kindred series written by Donna Grant.  The writing style is very similar to how the original books were written, and several characters from that series are mentioned in this new book.  We meet Elin, who is a witch on the run from the Coven, a group of witches who are determined to dominate their world.  She lost her sister to the Coven, and she wants no part of them and their schemes.  She has stopped running for a short time, squatting in an out of the way hunting cabin, hoping to recover some of her strength and come up with a plan to keep away from the witches hunting her.  The cabin is on Mackenzie land, and the brother of the Laird, Rob Mackenzie decides to find out who has been using the abandoned cabin.  As any book written by Donna Grant, there are issues for the main characters to overcome, and a larger challenge that has to be addressed.  This book is well written, with a good plotline and character development.  A very enjoyable read, I am looking forward to book 2 of The Fated.  I was given an ARC by the author to read, and this is my honest opinion. 

Of Mates and Magic (Eliza Falls Book 1) by Maggie Francis

3 Stars

Short with silliness

This book is written very simply…and seemed to me more suited for a much younger audience.  A sweet witch/shifter story that would be good for a middle school aged teen.  It features Cora and Desi who are best friends, running a business together, and new witches.  Their small town is mostly a magical enclave, and draws in Seb and Tate, brothers and wolf shifters looking for a new home.  While Desi and Tate become friends, there is a tension between Cora and Seb.  At this point the story takes a lot of time for the characters to move forward.  At about 175 pages, the story needed to move more quickly through the “should we, shouldn’t we” be friends or something more.  Not a whole lot of conflict between the two, until finally a situation arises that forces the two main characters to make decisions.  This book had no editing issues.  Hopefully the next book, telling Tate’s story will have a tighter plotline.  I was given an ARC through BookSirens, and this is my honest opinion. 

A Royal for Christmas (It’s Raining Royals Book 4) by Alix Nichols

4 Stars

Changing life circumstances

It’s a month to Christmas, and we meet Camille Mussey, sister to the dead Jeanette Mussey who was accused of arson, and is the poorest person in the country of Mount Evor.  She is an outcast because of her sister, and a witch.  She’s working as a pantomime for pocket change.  One of the Royals, Marquess Louis-Philibert de Valois is grandson of the Duke of Arrago, is sent to collect her, and bring her to the ducal estate.  This sets up the story that takes place over the Christmas season.  Camille’s character isn’t the most likable one in this series, but she is smart.  Louis might be a playboy.  Unlike the prior books, this one doesn’t involve finding a key, but some loose ends may, or may not, be tied up with this story.  I enjoyed reading A Royal for Christmas and am looking forward to the next book.  I received this book from BookSirens, and this is my honest opinion.

King of the Unblessed (Realm Immortal: #1) by Michelle M. Pillow

4 Stars

The story grew on me.

The story starts with the reader meeting Lady Julianna of Bellemare and her brothers, who are preparing for her wedding to a much older neighbor.  Julianna wishes otherwise, but for her family she’ll do this.  Watching her from his kingdom from the otherworld is King Merrick of the Unblessed, King of Valdis.  He hears Julianna wishing in her room to be taken on a adventure; Merrick comes to her, and coerces her to leave Bellemare, and go to the Otherworld on a quest.  I found that the character of Julianna to be very immature for her age, and very colorless.  Merrick is a much better developed non-hero whom I couldn’t help but root for.  The story grew on me as I read further into it, but I never could care for Julianna.  I like the Faery Queen Tania better, even though she had a very small part in this story.  I plan on reading the next book Realm Immortal: Faery Queen.  I was given and ARC of the book from the author through BookSprout, and this is my honest opinion.

Iron Ember (Skye Druids #1) by Donna Grant

5 Stars

Dark World continuation

This is the first book of the Skye Druids series, but follows immediately after Dark Alpha’s Command.  In this book we meet Elodie MacLean, who has come back to Skye to help her sister get their parents’ house ready to sell.  A terrible tragedy happened over a decade prior, but since neither sister, nor an absent brother plan on living in the house it needs to be cleaned, repaired and sold.  Elodie is a druid, but her magic has been gone since the tragic event.  She meets Scot Ryan, and the brother of his best friend are on Skye, having come from Edinburgh to try and solve the murders of Druids there.  They are looking for Elodie, and when they meet her, and hear she is looking for help to get the cottage repaired, they offer their services.  Donna Grant weaves an interesting story reminiscent of her earlier Dark World books.  She plots out an intricate storyline for the reader to follow, and while following we get glimpses of other characters from prior books.  I can say that the start of this book dragged for me-I couldn’t figure out who these characters were and why they were important.  But Donna Grant had a plot, and it is full of twists and turns, and leads the reader to a satisfying conclusion.  I received and ARC of this book from the author through BookFunnel and this is my honest opinion.

Just Like Magic by Sarah Hogle

4 Stars

Enjoyed the ending.

I started reading this, and the main character, Bettie Hughes, is an absolutely horrible person.  She is self-obsessed and feels she is entitled to everything she wants.  As the book goes on, the author explains Bettie’s reasoning for feeling this way, but she continued to be such a whiney, revenge driven person, I almost decided to stop reading.  But upon the introduction of the Holiday Spirit, I wanted to see what would happen to Bettie since Hall (the Holiday Spirit’s earthly name given him by Bettie) is such a giving person.  I don’t want to give away the story, so I will only say that after Hall’s arrival, the plotline starts to make a slow climb to acceptable.  By the end of the book, I was glad I had continued reading.  I was given an ARC of the book through NetGalley, and this is my honest opinion. 

A Guide to Being Just Friends (Jensen Brothers, #3) by Sophie Sullivan

4 Stars

Enjoyed the book.

I really enjoyed reading the first two books in the Jensen brothers’ series and anticipated reading this one.  In it, we meet Wes Jensen, the oldest brother, who has decided to join his 2 brothers by moving to the West Coast from New York.  But where Chris and Noah have a good outlook on life, Wes’ is more pragmatic and because of this he doesn’t believe in relationships and love.  Our second main character is Hailey Sharp who is open to new experiences even though she just went through a bad breakup.  She doesn’t want to rebound back into a serious relationship, so when she meets Wes, who tells her clearly that he only wants to be friends, she agrees to being his friend.  After this start, the books seemed to take a long time in telling us the readers that they were fine as being just friends, but in their minds that they might want more.  Finally, by the end of the book, Sophie Sullivan allows us to see how the two friends truly feel.  This is a well-written book, with fully developed characters.  It’s also book 3, and the author does allow characters from the first two books to be part of this book, but if you’ve read the first two, they are welcome additions to this book.  Question is will Sophie Sullivan give us the story of the 4th sibling, a sister who is still in New York?  This book can be read as a standalone, but for the best experience, read Ten Rules for Faking It and How to Love Your Neighbor: A Novel first.  I was given an ARC of the book through NetGalley, and this is my honest opinion.

The Ice Duchess (The Duchess Society #0.5) by Tracy Sumner

4 Stars

Short but good.

At only about 100 pages, this is a quick read, a prequel to the series.  We meet the main character Georgiana Whitcomb, Countess Winterbourne who is also known as the Ice Countess.  She says she’ll never marry again, after her husband dies.  Along with her friend, Lady Hildegard Templeton, they have created the Duchess Society to help young women make advantageous matches for themselves.  Enter Dexter Munro, the future Duke of Markham, who has made a promise to his dying father to marry in less than 12 days, by Twelfth Night.   This is a fun read with well-developed characters and a solid story.  And a perfect lead into the next book in the series.  I was given an ARC of the book by BookSirens, and this is my honest opinion.