readintowonderland's reviews
363 reviews

I liked this one significantly better than the prequel. It has some exciting and thrilling aspects. Still not what I would typically pick up but color me intrigued. I am definitely curious to see where this series heads in the future! 

This book had an adorable dog named Bo. I wish there were more Bo hijinks because he is so adorable. The magic of Bella's art was wonderful to read about. I can tell the change in style of her works from this trailer series compared to her current series. It is fascinating to see how her style has changed. This was a short and sweet story. Not my favorite of hers but it was nice to read.

I received this book as part of the haylingsbookstorm street team for Evie Sterling. My review is honest and voluntary 

I would scarely all this a thriller as it was advertised. It is certainly dark but I didn't feel particularly thrilled. I also didn't connect to the characters much so I wasn't super attached to them. Without that investment, it was hard to finish. Overall I do not recommend it as it just lacks thrill. 

Pretty heavy and not my vibe due to sci-fi elements. The narrator was too serious for my taste. That said, I did enjoy having a background to the series. 

I enjoyed the super-long playlist. It really added to the reading experience as a whole.

I will admit the tropes of this one gave me pause but I enjoy Shae Ruby's writing style so I gave it a chance anyway. I wasn't disappointed. The whole step-brother thing is not my cup of tea but apart from that this is an excellent angsty romance. There was a ton of depressing moments throughout that were usurped by the light when they got together. 

The angst was absolutely giving. There was so much tension at all times you could cut it with a knife. I loved their dynamic of an artist and a hockey player. Having knowledge of both I quite enjoyed the dichotomy. Even the cheesiness of them having the same birthday made me smile. 

The LGBTQ+ representation in this book is great. It included a lot of gay representation and some demi representation. I loved how Hunter and Oliver had different timelines for their coming out and acceptance of their own identities. It really displayed how while some people are out and proud from an early age, other people struggle with the concept a lot more and can have to float through a few labels before finding the one that fits. 

My only complaint about it was that it was starting to get repetitive around the 60% mark. The will they won't they started to drag on. It kind of felt like an excuse to write more and more slightly different spicy scenes. Had some of that been cut out the moment the conclusion of the book begins, it would've felt more natural and less like a potentially poor decision for Oliver and Hunter. 

I will warn you this book is incredibly spicy and has a lot of triggering moments. Please review a full list of triggers before reading because even the prologue is incredibly heavy. 

Overall I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I look forward to seeing what Shae has in store in the future!

I received this book as part of Shae Ruby's street team. My review is honest and voluntary. 

Oh my goshhhhh! This book is INCREDIBLE. It is fighting for my top book of this year. Super super easy 5-star to give! Everything about this story is purely incredible and just what I needed. 

This book is super angsty, dark, and drama-filled and I am here for it. It absolutely flew by! I had to break it up into chunks due to being busy but I know I would've totally binged this if I were less busy. I totally ate it up and adored every moment. This factor is a good part of why I knew this gave me the 5-star feeling. 

Every character is fantastically written. They are all just so addictive. Not just Phoebe and Rocky, absolutely all of them. Some are more devilish than others which upped appeal. Their various complicated relationship dynamics and inherent trust (or distrust) in one another made them perfect for the plot.  I really really want to see more from this group. The banter and quips the boys had in particular were especially amusing. The blend of humorous moments with more serious moments was totally perfect.

The cliffhanger has me foaming at the mouth for this to become a major series and never end. I was shockingly satisfied with the answers that were given in the story versus the things that are still secret to perfectly set up for a continuation. I am begging for the next installment to come out as soon as possible because I need it. 

This book is definitely a dark romance. There are violent and graphic moments that may be triggering to some readers. There is also open door spice of various levels. If those are not your vibe, sadly this is not the book for you. 

If you couldn't tell from the extreme ranty length of this review, I adored it! If you can handle it, you need to read this. Just go, go get the book for yourself, it is worth every penny. 

I received this book as an arc from Valentine PR. This review is honest and voluntary

Please see my blog for all of my review as this is definitely trimmed down:  https://readintowonderland.blogspot.com/2024/07/dishonestly-yours.html

 There were a few little nods in this book that made me smile. These little touches added a lot to the reading experience to help ground it in the real world and the current zeitgeist. 

For adults coming back together, I would've loved to see more communication from Kristy and Connor. There were more than a few moments I wished they would just be honest about how they were feeling instead of bottling everything up. That said, their banter was absolutely great. Honestly, their best communication is through banter. 

A lot of my negative feelings about this book were because I simply wasn't in the mood for itThe pacing of this book is superrr slow. The slow burn was slowly burning, that is for sure. 

I felt like this book felt even more Scottish in terms of slang and attitudes than the previous books in this series. The beauty of the coast was very apparent. That said, there was almost too much description of the visuals . All of this description minorly bogged down the plot. I found myself skipping through to the dialogue to get through. 

This book is definitely spicy which is the point of the story. If you don't like reading spice, this is not the book for you.

Overall, this book wasn't the right book for me at the time which impacted my thoughts about it. The pace is slow, there is a lot of description, and the miscommunication was a bit much. If you are up for a slow-paced story, this would be a better fit for you. 

For a more in-depth review please see my blog:  https://readintowonderland.blogspot.com/2024/07/love-on-the-scottish-summer-coast.html 

To this story's credit, there are a lot of funny moments sprinkled throughout. Especially including birds and adult items (if you have read this, you know exactly what I am talking about). The characters meshed well and their history really played into. I love the mental health and LGBTQ+ representation and the transparency as to exactly where the spice is. 

Sadly this is where the compliments end. This is a solid story but genuinely 200 pages too long. So much of the story just.. doesn't matter. You can skip large portions of the book and be just fine. I also felt like in the end River did not help Lily grow at all. He played zero part in her becoming less flighty. In addition, whether or not River and her ex play hockey wasn't consistently contributing to the story. While it is not a sports romance, if you are gonna bring up a character trait at the beginning, you have to stick to it. 

This book does include open-door spice that is hard to skip as it highly contributes to character growth. If spice is not for you, this is not a book I would recommend. 

I received this book as an arc from Happily Booked PR. My review is honest and voluntary

While some of these tropes are very much not my thing, I will always give Evie a chance. I was pleasantly surprised how a story that would typically not be for me turned out pretty good. I will say the provided synopsis is basically the entire plot so you know exactly what to expect going in. The story as a whole just flew by. 

Both Warren and Emily are grieving when they meet. Their different approaches to handling grief are both quite realistic. I would've loved to see more of both of them helping each other navigate that to help the instalove aspects seem less jarring. 

It was genuinely amusing to see Emily's reactions to the rich lifestyle. Especially her worries about taking Warren to Target. Warren's "it's the least I can do" adage also adds to the humor of their dynamic. Bro will causally buy you a house at the minimum if he is fond of you. 

The glee I felt when Warren started interacting with his hobbies and just having a more well-rounded life was unmatched. I was so happy for him to get the happy ending he deserved. Emily also has a fitting ending for her character that gives her all she hoped for given the current circumstances. 

There is one thing that irked me about the story that just kept coming up and definitely detracted from my enjoyment. There are constant "hint" drops about Emily's pregnancy. How on earth it didn't occur to her that she might get pregnant when she was trying with her late husband Caleb is totally beyond me. Every third page she is nauseous and not fitting her clothes again. It was so tremendously obvious it completely detracted from the story.

Overall while there were certain elements to this story that were not my favorite, I had way more enjoyment than I was expecting. I will be happy to continue reading the stories in this series. I think the best way to explain it is that Evie's writing is now further improved. 

 

I received this book as part of the @haylingsbookstorm street team for Evie Sterling. My review is honest and voluntary

Please see my blog for a more in-depth review:  https://readintowonderland.blogspot.com/2024/06/protective-billionaire-boss.html