Tag: Fantasy Romance

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 Romance

Shattered Vow

Posted on by Little Bee

By Eva Chase

5 out of 5 stars

Shattered Vow is the first book in the Shadowblood Souls series by Eva Chase. This book follows a group of captives who are forced to train together, caged, and not allowed to live a “normal” life. The story follows a female character (Riva) and five males. After a tragic incident, they get separated. Four years later, Riva makes her way back her men, but do they accept her back?

This is the first in a series, with book 3 coming out in February 2023. While it is a romance read, it is not spicy. It is very slow burn and the only sexy scene occurs much later towards the end of the book. I am not usually a bully romance reader. I tend to stay away from them as much as possible, because I am just not a fan. I will say, I did still enjoy this book. I had hoped for something a little more grander than the incident that kind of set everyone straight again. I thought Jacob’s treatment of Riva for majority of the book was too much and felt forced. Even with this, I still enjoyed the book. I really liked Riva’s character. She was very strong and put up with a lot of shit from these guys without ever faltering. The one sex scene that occurs was okay, I wouldn’t say it was the spiciest I have ever read, but was written well. I wish there was a little more information on the “marking” that happened, but maybe it comes in a later book, since at that point in the story, the characters still did not know what they truly were.

The characters are all part human and part monster. They are trained very hard to highlight and strengthen their gifts. They eventually break out of captivity and set across country to try and find the former head of the program to get answers. All they all want is answers and to be free. Along the way, each person has their own growth development. The story is told from multiple POVs, however, the main POV is usually Riva.

This book does end on a cliffhanger, and boy is it a doozie. The book starts out when they are about 16 years old when they are separated and picks up around 20 years old. During that time, each character had new “powers” show through that were further developed. Riva keeps hers pretty close to her chest as she does not know much about it or how to control it, so when she finally does show it off…..it is very intense. I could not help but smile and laugh all the way through the scene. I really wish I could have seen those guys’ faces afterwards. I am looking forward to reading book 2 to see how they felt about it!