Tag: ARC Reader

Posted in Spicy Romance

The Orc and the Innkeeper

Posted on by Little Bee

By Cora Crane

Rating 5 out of 5 Stars

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The Orc and the Innkeeper was one of those books that I could not put down. I found myself gasping and kicking my feet giggling throughout the story. It follows two characters who start out as “enemies”. Thorak traumatically teased Mariah growing up. It was so bad, that all these years later, she is still suffering the effects. Situations occur and they pretend to be fake engaged in order to get a human investor to work with Thorak.

The story follows the standard framework for a typical romance novel: the background information on both characters, the eventual coming together, the romance, the third act breakup/blowout, followed by the reconnection, HEA. This story also relies heavily, I mean HEAVILY, on the miscommunication trope. I mean like, the whole story. I would normally mark down in ranking for that, but the whole story was still just so fun and so cute. It is a great little cozy, spicy, monster romance, and I was here for it the whole time.

I really enjoyed all of the side characters. I think each one enhanced the story to help further it along. The characters all had things going on in their lives, but all still were brought together. There were several points of high drama, I will let you read those for yourself, and they definitely amped up the miscommunication tropes.

I liked that the internal “racism” wasn’t just one sided. There were humans who did not want to do business with Orcs (which is the whole purpose of this story) and even Orcs who were very anti human (such as Thorak’s parents, and Thorak’s bullying of Mariah when they were younger). I like how it showed the progression of these characters to adopt new mindsets, and how it is not always easy to do so.

The spice was nice, but it is not SUPER spicy. It has enough, but comes a bit later in the book.

Overall, the story was well written. I read it so fast, it is not a terribly long book. I am definitely looking forward to Ecco’s story in book 2. I think Elderberry Falls needs to have a vacant house so I can just move right in 🙂

Posted in Spicy Romance

Guarded by the Kraken

Posted on by Little Bee

By Cassie Alexander

Narrated by Avery Caris and Jonathan Lake

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars, Narration 5 out of 5 Stars

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Guarded by the Kraken is one story in the Monster Security Agency series, which comprises many different authors, all writing smutty monster romance. I have reviewed another MSA book of Cassie’s, Guarded by the Spider. It has the same narrators.

Elle is hired to go below to the deepest trench in the Ocean for a science research project. She is given the chance to discover a potential new language, race of monsters, etc. There is a large metal mechanism at the bottom of the ocean, and Elle is tasked to discover its secrets! She is assigned a body guard that is from the Kraken population. Ceph is required to bond with her in order to keep her safe, however, he ends up mating with her.

The two begin their adventure together, working together to solve whatever this puzzle is. Meanwhile, they get to know each other better. One thing I really appreciate about Ceph is, even though the mating was accidental, he does not force her into wanting it. He would let her return to the land if she chooses to do so.

I did not see all the twists and turns that happened. I constantly wondered a LOT of things while listening to this story. My brain kept working to find how this was going to work. Elle and Ceph could not even touch. She could not leave the science center without a special suit. I will let you read for yourself what happens, but you will not be disappointed.

I highly recommend reading this book via the audiobook. The narrators are class acts. They make you feel a part of the story. At one point, I thought my chest was going to explode, others I sad cried, I happy cried, I laughed and giggled…I kicked my feet happily.

Definitely check your triggers, there is violence, also some breeding kink in there. Spoiler: Epilogue contains the pregnancy, so if you don’t want that, skip the epilogue.

Posted in Spicy Romance

Bad Neighbor

Posted on by Little Bee

By Maya Nicole

Rating 5 out of 5 Stars

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I am always happy to read a book by Maya Nicole! I have read quite a few, many voluntarily which led me to being able to be an ARC reader also. I am happy to have gotten Bad Neighbor, book 2 in the Badden Brothers trilogy. You can also find my review for Bad Nanny as well :).

Bad Nanny followed the oldest brother, Gabriel. You find out about Noah and his feisty new neighbor and her cat in the first book. Bad Neighbor picks up from the meeting point. Noah met Jade and that was all she wrote folks! Jade is a smoking hot, super independent, self made millionaire with her own Adult Novelty company….who also sent Josie a whole barrel of lube in Bad Nanny. Jade has had a rough go at love, starting with her family and ending in every bad relationship or man in general. Noah really had to work to gain Jade’s trust and eventually love.

You can’t help but love Noah Badden. He is a green flag from start to finish. He never waivers from Jade, even though she is resisting letting her walls down. He just keeps giving her unwavering and unconditional support. Every chance he gets to defend her, stand up for her, fight for her, etc, he takes it.

There is not really a third act break up, the whole relationship was kind of up and down. It had roadblocks they had to overcome, but their relationship only grew stronger with each one. That was kind of nice. Book ends in an HEA. It ends, but there is a book 3 that will follow the youngest brother.

Maya Nicole is such a great author. Her stories are so creative and they just capture you from the very beginning. I will always recommend her books to anyone! If you see a lot of 5 star reviews, it is because she is truly a 5 star author!

Posted in Spicy Romance

Accidentally Summoned an Incubus

Posted on by Little Bee

By Belle Blakley

Rated 5 out of 5 Stars

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

First of all, Belle Blakley, how dare you. How dare you make me want a magical house. Like, it is 2024 and magical houses should be a thing by now. Also, how dare you make me want my own incubus. Purely for research purposes. Purely.

I really enjoyed the Her Monster for the Night short novellas…you can check out my reviews for those as well as I reviewed them earlier this month. I found myself begging and wanting more in those stories, and here we have one. (completely unrelated to Her Monster for the Night, just not a short little story but an actual book almost 200 pages!)The start of a trilogy. It ends on a HEA, but the stories will mingle with other characters and essentially follow different witches summoning their fated mates.

In this series, to protect their coven during the Salem witch trials, the coven leaders had made a deal with Hecate to help protect them and they were mated with a specific clan of shadow demons, incubi. On Samhain, the witch could cast the summoning spell and it would launch their fated mate from the shadow realm they lived and boom! Mated. I wont go into the full specifics, you should read those for yourself. The witches and their mates (and eventually families) live in bespelled magical houses that have their own personalities. Alexis (Lex for short) found herself having to go to trial after hexing her former boss after being harassed by him. You know the type I mean. She was given this old house to stay in while she awaited trial and the house forced her into summoning her mate, which she had no intention to. The rest of the book basically is about her resisting mating at first, and slowly her and Lochran getting to know each other. Lex wanted to focus on healing while she prepared for her trial.

Everyone’s personalities were so unique and fun. I want to live in the community that houses Briar Coven. I can’t wait to read the next stories….I especially can’t wait to read Hell’s Gate series that follows a pack of werewolves. One of the werewolves, Billy, is Lex’s best friend. Billy, a female wolf, from a very hidden (spelled hidden) wolf pack, slowly starts becoming an alpha. Lex and Lochran find themselves being packed up with Billy while she is becoming an alpha. I will leave the other twists for you to enjoy 🙂 I can’t wait to read her story with Jake!

Belle Blakley has such a unique writing style, that reading her books does not feel like work. They just flow so well. There was a good amount of spice, and early on so you don’t have to wait. No third act break up, though her trial and after affects occur in the third act of the book. It was just such a well thought out book. It was both plot heavy and had a good amount of spice, that even if the characters weren’t actively engaged in spicy acts, boy were they thinking them! You won’t be disappointed if you read this book.

Posted in Spicy Romance

Once Charmed, Twice Cursed

Posted on by Little Bee

By Shaylin Gandhi

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Once Charmed, Twice Cursed in a nut shell is about two people, one who was blessed to be lucky (always) and one who was cursed to be unlucky (always, and deadly so). They met when they were children, and fell in love. If they touched, their Marks would break and they would be normal. She wanted it and he didn’t. He did not want to take her luck.

I liked the uniqueness that follows this story. You know eventually that it will end how it ended, but it was a ride getting there, and a few times I thought to myself “this author is going to end this badly isn’t she” lol. She definitely made me second guess myself a lot.

I did feel some parts were slow, especially in the middle. It really picks up the last 30% of the book. This book is mildly spicy, with it mostly being in the last 1/3rd of the book. The story was still sweet. I really loved Weston. Even if he didn’t want to take away Bria’s luck, I loved his devotion to her.

Over all, it is a good, light read and I recommend it!

Posted in Spicy Romance

Tangle with the Mages

Posted on by Little Bee

By L.A. Monteiro

Rating 4 out of 5 stars

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is the second book in the Seasonal Spice series. I recommend you read the first book, 50 Shades of Orc, prior to reading Tangle with the Mages. This book is supposed to be a kind of continuation, in the first book, there is a prophecy surrounding a witch, but it is incredibly unclear. I did not feel any more clarity during this book either. For some reason, I thought the witch would end up with Tom’s brother because that is how it felt from book 1. I know book 3 follows along where book 2 left off, but, even though I haven’t read book 3 yet, I feel like they could have just been released as one book instead of 2.

Overall though, I did like the book. I liked that it took some creative liberties. I like that Irene was a sentient plant and that she melded with Cassia. I thought that offered a unique take. This book is not very spicy, I would say maybe a 3.5 out of 5. There are definitely some scenes in here, and the book is not very long, but I felt they could have been spicier like the first book.

Overall, its a fun, quick read! I look forward to working my way through the rest of the series.

Posted in Spicy Romance

Knot Forgotten

Posted on by Little Bee

By A.J. Moran

Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

A.J. Moran is a new to me author. I started with an ARC of a new Omegaverse/non-shifter book that is just released. This book has elements of dark romance, and is reverse harem, no MM in the pack. It is not super traditional along those lines though. It is also a bully omegaverse, but was mostly light bullying and only for a small percent of the book.

One of the things I really like is that the FMC is a strong character, even when she has had to flee in fear from past situations, she doesn’t let it break her. I like when an FMC is not wishywashy and can stand on her own. She also actively has anxiety attacks from her trauma and I thought the story handled it appropriately. She does get in her head a lot, and some of the initial issues in the story would obviously not have been there if they would have just talked, but that is the point of the story isn’t it 😉

Her and her 4 best friends grew up together, eventually, she presented as an omega, specifically their omega, but something happens and she disappears from their lives. They reconnect when they end up at the same college and accidentally share a co-ed living space in the dorm. They do not recognize her and she goes by a different name, so it takes a bit to figure out who she is. That is really when you see the bullying. Eventually the truth comes out and everything stops and the rest of the book is their love and relationship taking its course. It is not an easy path and they face a lot of challenges.

I liked each alpha, and I liked that they were well thought out characters. Each one had their own inner demons to deal with but they all loved each other for them anyways and worked together to help everyone. This book has some great representation: mental health/bipolar/active anxiety attacks and one alpha is deaf. Each of the alphas were easy to like, even in the beginning when they were not nice to her.

There is some decent spice in there, which of course picks up as the book goes. This book may not be everyone’s cup of tea. But as far as omegaverse goes, this is definitely up there with some of my favorites. I look forward to reading more in this story line.

Posted in Spicy Romance

Matched with a Leprechaun

Posted on by Little Bee

By Belle Blakley

Rating 5 out of 5 Stars

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is book 3 in the Her Monster for the Night series. It follows Ava, the sister of Bryce from Matched with a Merman. Ava is not doing so well at the moment in life and ends up on a vacation in Ireland with $100 to her name to last her the whole trip. She ends up in the wrong town from where she was supposed to be, without a room for the night. She happens upon a man she thinks is being chased and tackles him, turns out, he is a leprechaun and grants her 3 wishes, but she does not believe it. She wishes for a bed for the night, and then a text to/from her sister, she ends up on the supernatural escort service, where she indicates she wants a leprechaun for the night….color her surprised it was the man she had met earlier.

I am fully aware these are short books and meant to be the best one night stands of these women’s lives, however, this one truly felt like Connor and Ava could have ended up together. They felt perfect together. I will still give if 5 stars though, because it is very spice heavy yet some how still has a decent plot for a book that is only 50ish pages long. I look forward to reading whatever comes next! This one is similar to the others, high on spice, has enough plot to keep the story going and connected to the ones before it. I recommend it if you are looking for a good, quick, spicy read. Like the others, the story ends when the night ends. Relationships do not continue. Just a wham-bam-thank you ma’am of a good time.

Posted in Spicy Romance

Matched with a Merman

Posted on by Little Bee

By Belle Blakley

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is book 2 in the Matched with Monsters, short, paranormal, erotica series by Belle Blakely. It takes place after Liz from Matched with a Vampire‘s book comes out. Liz, Sarah, (both from previous book), and their friend Bryce, go on a private yacht to celebrate Liz’s book release and success.

Bryce is about to ask for a divorce from her no good, cheating, gaslighting husband. Liz and Sarah convince her to try out the supernatural escort service and get herself a merman. She does, and it turns out the hot deckhand she has been ogling is the merman who accepts her request.

I really liked the spicy scenes in this one. While I liked the spice in the first one, the ones in this book were hot. I really liked the way the underwater spicy scenes were handled and how/what he gave her to help her breathe while underwater. The story is developed, having enough plot that the spice doesn’t fall flat.

Once again, minor spoiler alert, the happy ending in this story does not mean the guy gets the girl. Bryce desperately wants to go on her sort of spicy self-discovery after that last years of her life married to her husband have treated her. I love that for her!

Posted in Spicy Romance

Matched with a Vampire

Posted on by Little Bee

By Belle Blakley

Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I have been in a bit of a reading slump lately, and nothing has really caught my attention. I received this ARC through Booksirens, and I am happy I asked for it! It is an incredibly short read and ticks the marks I look for in a short story.

I review short stories differently than a full length novel. My expectations are there is a beginning, a middle, and an end. If it is a spicy short read, I also consider if the scene is well developed or is the spicy scene(s) short, quick, and too the point leaving me as a reader disengaged and uninspired. Finally, I look at the overall development of the story itself. Some short spicy books, its all spice and no plot. That is totally fine. And often, it is what I want from a short spicy book.

*Minor Spoiler ahead* When I look at Matched with a Vampire, I do feel it is a well developed book. I do not necessarily need a happy ending, and if you are looking for a fated mates/the guy gets the girl etc, you won’t find that here. While, I like an ending where the MCs end up together, there is something special about a story about a FMC who is just out looking for hers, you know? I do feel this story does have some plot but also has some spice. And the spice nice ;).

I also like matchmaking services that involve the paranormal. While this is an escort matching service, the idea is still there. I really love that Dean was a fan of Liz’s historical romances and he had a book store and she was an author. That was such a fun dynamic. I hope there are more stories that involve Liz with some of the other monsters in the service.

If you are looking for a short book that packs a little punch, this one is a good one to pick up! I immediately started the second book. I am also looking forward to the other monsters!