Tag: BookSirens

Posted in Spicy Romance

My Brutal Beast

Posted on by Little Bee

By Melissa Cummins

Rating: 5 Stars out of 5 Stars

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

My Brutal Beast is a monster romance retelling of Beauty and the Beast. You can read the description of the book for more information, because I really want to talk about the content of the story as a whole.

Sometimes, novellas can be very difficult reads. They are short, sometimes have major plot holes, you feel like you are missing something, you want more, or all of the above at one time. This author created a well rounded story in just 77 pages. Do you want more at the end? Yes. But the depth of the plot and the development of the characters is pretty impressive for such few pages. This book had spice, murder, monsters, mayhem….what more can you ask for? The spice scenes are not fade to black. They are entire scenes. My only qualm is I wish I knew more about Raven. Maybe more novellas will be written about these monsters so we can learn more about them.

If you are looking for a quick read that packs a punch, this one was really good and I recommend.

Posted in Spicy Romance

We’re All Mad Here

Posted on by Little Bee

By Leann Belle

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

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

Let me start off by saying, I love a good Alice in Wonderland retelling. I love retellings in general. I like that an author can really do what they want with it and transform it and it still be respectful to the original classic. I also enjoy a good reverse harem. We’re All Mad Here brings these two things together in a twisted, dark, psychotic, steamy romance.

Alices are stolen by the White Rabbit, drugged, and brought to Wonderland, where they go through a series of trials in hopes to get rid of the Red Queen, who is the original Alice. Each time an Alice dies, the world resets. Everyone who died comes back, and they start over. Typically they have gone for young Alices, 18 or 19 years old. But this time, they went for 30 something Alice who is in a rut in her life. She is strong, confident, and smart. Her goal is to just live, to get through the trials. Along the way, she learns a lot more about herself and becomes stronger.

There is a lot of steamy romance in this book and it starts off pretty quickly. I like not having to wait around and watch all the characters awkwardly beat around the bush, so to speak. After each successful trial, each character falls in love with Alice. They want to see her succeed. I really loved Mau, the Cheshire Cat. All of the characters are so twisted, it is nice to see them change and transform because of Alice’s will to live.

This book includes primal kink, CNC, death, and some other potentially triggering topics.

I only gave it 4 stars because something wasn’t connecting for me. I can’t really place it. I felt like I was missing something. A bonus epilogue might be nice, to kind of see what happens after everything is over and through. It is good, I really enjoyed it and I liked the writing style. I am definitely interested in reading more by this author. I am not huge on dark romance, but I feel that what I normally find lacking in dark romances, this one does not lack. The FMC is not wishy washy. This book is quite unique and I do recommend it!

Posted in Spicy Romance

Filthy Punk

Posted on by Little Bee

By Saint Bryde

Rating: 4 Stars

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

Filthy Punk is a short novella, only 52 pages. I have not read any other of this author’s works, but I did enjoy it overall. Novellas are very hit or miss for me. It is very tricky to find that happy balance of plot, character development, and for spicy novellas, spice as well. This is considered a spicy novella that was supposed to be heavier on the spice and less on the plot. I am fine with less plot when it is heavy spice. However, I felt there was plenty of plot and could have used more spice, which is ultimately why I gave 4 stars.

If you are a looking for a quick read, this is a good one to pick up. It includes a tatted bad boy, a prim and proper (but not) FMC, some light bullying, and frenemies to lovers. There is a small layer of character development, but an appropriate amount for a novella. Again, I could have used a bit more spicy time but that is just me 🙂 If you don’t like heavy spice, and a couple of light D/S play is fine, then this would be more along the lines of 4.5-5 stars. The writing style was fine, it felt like I was in the heads of the characters, so it read like they were having a conversation or silent conversation. I did not catch any editing issues.

Thank you for this opportunity!

Posted in Book Reviews

The Broken Darkness

Posted on by Little Bee

By Theresa Braun

4 Stars

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

This book is a compilation of short horror/paranormal stories. It is not my typical go to. I do like a good short story though, even collections of them, because sometimes they are just what you need in between heavy reads. These were easy reads, though I did find some of them harder to get through then others. I don’t think it is a negative to the book or the author, and more just not my preference. I did read one of the stories already listed in the book several years ago, and I enjoyed that one very much (Dead Over Heels).

Of the new to me stories in the collections, two of them stand out as my favorites. I really enjoyed The Celestial Assignment and Dying for An Invitation. I liked The Celestial Assignment because it gave a dark, harrowed look at how we humans are a lesson for new guardian angels. That the angels themselves might have been horrible people but then when they die, they are given people to guard that is supposed to teach them something. I liked how this story really came full circle with some of the characters in it. I still think about it. I liked Dying for An Invitation because it took a new take on lore we already typically know regarding Transylvania and Vampires, and follows the craziness of family and learning maybe they really weren’t so crazy when it is too late to change your fate.

The stories are too short to really give a description over each one. If you enjoy quick reads and horror at that, this is a good book to pick up. If you are okay with stories not having a happy ending, this is also a good book for you, because I don’t remember any LOL.