Tag: Urban Fantasy

Posted in Spicy Romance

The Grim Reaper’s Lawyer

Posted on by Little Bee

by Mea Monique

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

The Grim Reaper’s Lawyer was the book of the month read for The Spicy Book Club. This review may contain spoilers, but also not really. It focuses on Joyce, who is a defense attorney, which she hates. She is falling out of love with her career, and decides to say fuck it all the way off, and quits. She finishes up her last case, which she lost, and her client promptly killed her. She was collected by a Grim Reaper named Aiden and taken to Eden. Aiden is being charged with violating 3 rules from the Reapers’ Code of Conduct, which she rejects doing and spends several days in “hell”, which is really only a few minutes.

This story follows their love/hate, grumpy/sunshine, story. Aiden is kind of a jerk, but also a total daddy…I mean baddie. I mean baddie. When he finally says “to hell with it” (quite literally) and allows them to purse the steam that has been building, it is hot. The story is a slow burn up until they decide to pursue a sexual relationship with each other. The agreement provided to Joyce is, she wins Aiden’s case, she goes to Heaven, instead of Hell (which she was slated for).

Joyce meets a variety of characters that become great friends. Each character brings out a fun side of Joyce that really makes you fall in love with her. The book is hilarious from start to finish. It does end on a cliffhanger and I have no idea when book 2 comes out as this book did not release until December 2022. The book is easy to figure out and ends how you want it to, but the journey was still fun!!

I tell you what, the book had an opening quote that I am STILL thinking about and had to share— “For those who feel that you must water yourself down for others- Let them choke.” Man, what words to live by!! I needed this when I was younger.

Overall, I would say the spice level is around a 3.5-4. I felt it took a bit too long to get to anything sexy, but when it did, it was quite a bit. Those two were like rabbits…but I guess it is the year of the rabbit isn’t it LOL. They could not keep their paws off of each other and Aiden is a total Dom. So we ship and approve.

Having said all of this, it was enjoyable. I laughed so much during the story. It was a very light read and I am looking forward to more in this series and from this author!

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!

Posted in Book Reviews, YA Book Reviews

Cold Burn of Magic

Posted on by Little Bee

IMG_20160320_204839

 

Cold Burn of Magic by Jennifer Estep

Goodreads Rating: 3 stars

I received a copy of this book at the RT Booklover’s Convention in May 2015. I was super excited to get to meet Jennifer Estep as I am a HUGE fan of her Mythos Academy series. Estep is super nice and very humble.

Cold Burn of Magic is the first in the Black Blade series. Based on the first book, I am not entirely sure what the series as a whole will be or how many books. This new series has monsters and magic, but you only ever see the pixies, loch ness, and what what magic someone may or may not carry. I do think this series carries a lot of promise and that perhaps this first book is more of prepper, getting the whole of the story ready. There was some excitement and drama, but not until the last couple of chapters. I figured out who the bad guy was pretty early on. The rest of the series will, I believe, focus around the bigger picture conflict with probably some obstacles here and there. (My guess).

I only gave it 3 stars because I felt like there could have been more. More action, more monsters, more magic, more to the story,  and more of the other characters. My hope is the next books will give me the “more” that I look for in Estep’s books! I will continue on with this story, as I said before, I believe it carries a lot of promise.

Posted in Book Reviews

Daring

Posted on by Little Bee

20454084

Daring by Elliott James

Goodreads Rating: 5 stars

IMG_20151118_213615

I want to first start by saying, I LOVE this series. This is the second book in the Pax Arcana series by Elliott James. For a sci-fi/fantasy/paranormal series, it is probably one of the single most entertaining reads I have read in a while. You can check out the review for Charming here: Charmed, I’m Sure

Unlike in Charming, the Knights Templar have a bigger role. You meet more Knights, including the very head honcho who puts John Charming up to an ultimatum: his life, and his friends’ lives be spared, if he infiltrated a wolf pack, and brought a human/knights killer to justice. And by justice…he means death.

Be prepared for just as much wit, fighting, betrayal, and humor as the first book. If you make time for the books, they are pretty quick reads due to their humor and story flow. There is not a lot of stalling in the story, and everything progresses at a normal, expected speed, with not really any filler or bits of information that if removed from the story, would not have altered it. Everything part in this story was necessary for story to progress appropriately.

And like the first book, I still picture that hunk John Charming being played in my head by Joe Manganiello! mmmm mmm mm!

Posted in YA Book Reviews

The Immortal Circus (Act One and Two)

Posted on by Little Bee

1739882917698017

The Immortal Circus (Act One and Two) by A.R. Kahler

Goodreads Rating: 3 stars

Audible Rating: 4 stars

I had to go back and see if I actually reviewed Act 1, and it doesn’t look like I did. The reviews are pretty much the same. I don’t do book reviews very much, but pinpoint a few things here and there that I like or dislike. So I guess I can do both at the same time, because both books really had the same things right and the same things wrong with them.

In both books, Vivienne is annoying, and doesn’t have a memory. In Act 2, she slowly starts gaining her memory back, but bits and pieces. None of you questions are ever answered, and at the end of each Act, you are only left with more questions. Yet, I continue with the series.

I do have to say, I would suggest LISTENING to them, Amy McFadden is a great narrator, and I have said that over and over again because if she narrates, I will generally listen instead of read.

My qualms with this series is mainly that I always felt lost in the storyline. In both books. Even after Act 2, and all the WTF moments that both Acts equally shared, I still had too many moments where I struggled to hold on to the overall story. I also hate that I wasn’t fully prepared to have my heart a little broken in Act 2, but I won’t say why.

I am still lost to the whole purpose of this story as a whole. Hopefully, the Final Act will answer all the questions, however, I feel like there is way too much that needs to be addressed before this series can end!