missdevo's reviews
290 reviews

 Smoking hot love story with main characters over 30?! YES PLEASE!

Eva is a 41 year old English literature and p0p culture professor at Montgomery University. Sean is a 36 year old firefighter who is working his way through the classics in his down time. When he arrives on the truck dispatched to deal with a potential fire on the quad at the University, there's no fire, just a very pissed off woman at the end of her rope. Armed with an industrial can of roach spray and a pink Bic lighter, Eva has had it with her cheating ex's refusal to accept the break up, and is threatening to end yet another attempted grand gesture attempt to win her back with a homemade blow torch. Sparks fly right away, and with inspiration from a fellow romance reading firefighter, a plot to protect her with a fake dating scheme is born.

It seems too rare lately to find main characters over 30 with sexy stories. I love that these are fully formed adults with established lives that fall in love. He definitely falls first, and his desire to protect and take care of her is really sweet to me. There's an emotional maturity to their developing relationship that I really appreciated. Without revealing too much, the 3rd act drama is well developed and handled with sensitivity. It's a super realistic dilemma that plays out in a way that drew me further into the story instead of pulling me out. The spice is also really nice. It's sexy and sweet and dirty all at the right moments.

I feel the "fake dating" plot is abandoned pretty quickly once our characters have met each other. The suspense subplot that runs under the love story is ok, but lacks any real punch for me in terms of tension. I am way more invested in the dynamics of their budding relationship, than what's happening on that front. For me, there's more emotional tension between Eva and Sean to build on and make the resolution really payoff.

Overall I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a hot story with emotional depth that centers around older characters. It's a quick enjoyable read with some nice sizzle.

Thanks to Netgalley, Harlequin, and Afterglow Books by Harlequin for the ARC. 

I absolutely love this book. Spicy Swiftie-coded Rom-Coms with strong women who find men who understand their trauma and meet them where they are? *Chef's kiss* Cami is smart, tough, and downright ingenious when it comes to targeting someone's weakest spots. She's got super protective instincts around those she loves, and she's not afraid to go HAM when necessary. I adore Zach and how he cares for Cami. His gentle constant persistence and care for her is swoonworthy. Their dynamic together is so great, and the SPICE... the spice is next level. (The dirty talk, the "home movies"!) It's super hot and well written. Morgan Elizabeth is great at writing with heart and spice both. This 2nd installment of the Seasons of Revenge series, is getting me hyped for what's coming next too!

If you like closed door romance and baseball, this should be a home run.
I was all in on the concept of a team's social media photographer getting involved with the bad boy star of the team. While I liked and enjoyed this book, I didn't love it. I didn't feel super invested in the love story. It was somehow both insta-lovey and a bit of a slow burn, but it was lacking the sizzle and snap of tension to really keep me pushing toward the payoff. Maybe I am just not into closed door anymore? It's a very sweet story, that also touches on some serious topics, but that felt a little too surface to get me truly emotionally invested. Overall I'd say it was enjoyable, but maybe just not my thing 100%.

Thank you to Netgalley and 8th Note Press for the ARC.

Wowza! We've got a hot one here folks! 
I listened to the Audio of this one, and I recommend you do too. I do love a good age gap, and this one is sooo good. Maddie is a strong, independent woman who is tired of carrying the load all on her own. She's seen her BFF fall in love, and she's ready to find her person too. Enter Axel (through a weird set of circumstances) to show her he's more than ready to take some of the weight off her shoulders. I love a hot blue collar Daddy (when it's well written and not cringe), and Axel is one of the best I've read. He's a sweet cinnamon roll of a burly man with a filthy mouth, and really, what more could a girl ask for? This book had me blushing, giggling, kicking my feet, and biting my lip in all the ways you want from a spicy read. This was a great palate cleanser for me too, and I can see myself rereading when I need something that hits like this book. 

This wasn't good. I believe the author wrote it in an all-night sprint once news about Taylor and Travis broke. I wanted to love it. I may have given it more credit than I should have because I'm from KC, and invested in everything around this concept. I can't recommend this to anyone, and I wonder if the author would agree since she quickly pulled it from publication. 

 Now this is what I love. It's fun, it's super spicy but it still feels emotionally grounded and real. We've got three men to fulfill the emotional, mental, and physical needs of one woman, but it doesn't feel gratuitous. It makes sense in a way that some why choose books need me to suspend disbelief to get into. The spice is heavy and varied, which I love. It takes some of the fun away when it starts to feel redundant. This is not the first book in the Chicago Racketeers universe, but I didn't feel like I was missing anything by not having read Dani, Crew, Michael, and Nathan's story first. I do want to go back and dive into those books though because I really loved this one. It's my first Emma Foxx book too, but it won me over very quickly. I liked that it was complicated, and that it took some time to get where it needed to for everyone. It makes the payoff so much richer. If you love hockey romance, and why choose relationships, do not miss this one! 

The performances were great in this 3rd installment of the All In series. While Bishop and Stevie still have my heart, King and Queenie have a sweet story too. I love a good boy who likes to be filthy at the right time, so King hit the spot. Corey is the villain I’d most like to kick in the nards, so he was well written too! My only regret is not seeing he and Sissy get what’s coming to them. 

If you like it hot and basically non stop, Sucker Punch is a great place to start. It's a smorgasbord of sexy times with a little plot to tie it all together.
I enjoyed the read, and how gritty the story is. Set in a world of MMA/boxing gyms and underground cage fighting, Ari runs her family gym "Smiley's" with the help of her...Frankie. Enter Bones and Lotto, a fighter and his friend/manager trying to get back in the game and overcome past mistakes. This is more of a polyamorous love story (swords cross in multiple configurations) than a why choose/3 musketeers style (all for one and one for all). I actually liked seeing all their dynamics develop together and separately. There are some D/S elements to the relationships, and some situations that I would definitely recommend checking TW/CW before diving in if you have concerns in that area.
For me this book is really about how this crew must somehow form a family (I'm almost embarrassed I typed that, but not enough to take it out). Plot feels a distant second to spice in this case, but as it seems to be the launching pad for more to follow around this universe, I don't feel as robbed by that as I usually do. There's some grace for world building, and the challenge of giving backstory and development to 4 leads instead of the usual two. 

I listened to the audio book, and let me tell you- Chris Brinkley and Joy Nash are fantastic. They do the lion's share of narration for the Green Valley series. This series revolves around the Winston family. There are 6 brothers and one sister (Ashley Winston's book "Beauty and the Mustache" from the Knitting in the City series also serves as the backdoor series starter for the Winston Bros) living in Green Valley Tennessee together and meddling in each other's love lives. This book features Duane Winston (whose twin brother Beau has his story in "Beard in Mind"). I got sucked into this little Tennessee town and family so quickly that I found myself running through the entire series. It's not super spicy, but it's so entertaining that I didn't feel like I was missing anything. Highly recommend you head to Green Valley to discover the Winston family for yourself. 

This was the first darker romance I had read. This book is not for the faint of heart if you're not comfy in the dark romance world. I kept seeing it on social media as highly recommended, and I went in blind. WOW - mind blown.  That said, I really loved this book. It is devastating and hopeful, and I cried more than once. I still think about it to this day, and I read it years ago.  I even discovered the original cover is the author and her husband's hands in a photo they took themselves for the book. I love the original cover.