sup3r_xn0va_maya's reviews
361 reviews

💬: "“I would take anything she chose to give me—the tiniest fraction or her entire world. I would take her for a single night knowing that I’ll lose her by morning, and I would hold on to her and never let go. I would take her healthy, or sick, or tired, or angry, or strong, and it would be my fucking privilege. I would take her problems, her gifts, her moods, her passions, her jokes, her body—I would take every last thing, if she chose to give it to me.”

Hazelwood, Ali. Bride (pp. 201-202). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

📖Genres: adult, spicy, romance, paranormal, paranormal romance, urban fantasy

📚Page Count: 402

🎧Audiobook Length: 12h 47min

👩🏾‍🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 - 4.5/5 

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Bride by Ali Hazelwood is a paranormal romance about a Vampyre named Misery who is sent to be in an arranged marriage to an Alpha wolf named Lowe. Misery doesn't just agree to the arranged marriage only to ensure continued peace between the Vampyres and Weres, she also does it because she's determined to get back what's been taken from her. Even if that means being the only Vampyre in Were territory. 

I've never read anything by Ali Hazelwood until now and I'm pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book! I think it started a little slow and the world building felt a bit jarring at first because the setting is not exactly explained until around 25% of the way through the book (if I remember correctly). I was feeling very impatient during the first 25% of the way through and the main reason why I continued the book is because it was a buddy read between myself and a best friend. I'm so happy I convinced myself to finish it. I'm not big on political romance stories but this hooked me in once I hit that 25% mark. I think it also helps that this book unfolds into somewhat of a mystery on top of all the politics, romance, and the "enemies to lovers" themes. 

I want give this book five stars but there were two things I didn't like. I only liked the first half of the last spicy scene, I didn't like what happened after the stuff I liked (LOL 😂😂). Another thing I didn't like was how the "enemies to lovers" trope was really based on a continual misunderstanding. I honestly don't think this book is "enemies to lovers" at all.

I don't want to spoil anything so I'll just say that the spicy scenes were enjoyable in some parts and then they became "interesting" in other parts. I'll say that I've never read an intimate scene like the last scene, but I'm very hopeful that it'll be the last I read of it's kind. I'm giving it three chilies 🌶️🌶️🌶️ out of five chilies.

"Bride" is my first Ali Hazelwood book and I was not disappointed, I really enjoyed this book and it was honestly so fun to read.  I'm giving this book 4.5 stars out of 5. 
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 -  4.5/5 Stars

I listened to this for free on the library app [Libbyapp.com]

💬: "Perhaps the moths knew what he didn’t, that the joy of the flame was worth the price of destruction. He intended to find out.

Frost, Jeaniene. Eternal Kiss of Darkness (Night Huntress World Book 2) (p. 199). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition. 

📖Genres: romance, paranormal romance, paranormal, supernatural, urban fantasy

📚Page Count: 375

🎧Audiobook Length: 10h 24min

👩🏾‍🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 - 4.5/5 
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Eternal Kiss of Darkness is the second book in the "Night Huntress" spin-off series, "Night Huntress World" both by Jeaniene Frost. Kira Graceling, a private investigator, hears sounds of pain coming from around the corner while she was walking home from work. Kira does what any upstanding citizen would do and she checks on the person who's been hurt. Mencheres is a master vampire and he isn't sure what to do about the human who just risked her life to save him. He finds himself drawn to her. In the end, Mencheres must choose the woman he's fascinated by or the darkest magic that he needs to defeat an enemy that threatens to eternally damn him. 

At first I was apprehensive because I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy a book about Mencheres but this book only disappointed me once (more on that below). Mencheres' and Kira's relationship really worked for me. There was a little miscommunication and that usually bothers me in books but the book was so good that I just let it play out and I ended up liking the book overall.

I really don't like the constant threat of sexual assault that the female characters have to endure every book, it seems. For some reason Frost keeps adding elements of sexual assault and misogyny in her stories and that really ruins parts of the book for me. To further explain this specific example,

in this instance there is a young 16 year old girl and a vampire "pimp" has forced her to do sex work and start stripping.

This could have been left out or changed to something else, we don't need to see female characters threated with sexual assault by the people who are supposed to be the bad guys. We get it, they're bad guys. 

I really enjoyed the spicy scenes in this book, they were so good. I think I just really enjoy the way Frost writes intimate scenes. I'm giving the spicy scenes four chilies 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ out of five chilies

Overall, "Eternal Kiss of Darkness" was really entertaining just like the first book in the "Night Huntress World" series, "First Drop of Crimson". I liked this book's female protagonist way more than I liked the female protagonist in the first book so this was even more fun to read than the first book in the series. Mencheres and Kira really worked together as a couple for me and reading about them was thrilling, heart wrenching, and just amazing. I'm giving this 4.5 out of 5 stars. 
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 - 4.5/5  Stars


I listened to this audiobook for free on [Libbyapp.com]

💬: ““Fruitless obsession will lead you to your grave, Canto,” he muttered, repeating words his grandmother had said to him. Ena had also added: “Mercants have a gift for obsession. It’s led to prison sentences, epic heroism, great works of art, and madhouses. Choose your path.”

Singh, Nalini. Last Guard (Psy-Changeling Trinity Book 5) (p. 14). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

📖Genres: paranormal romance, romance, urban fantasy, adult

📚Page Count: 371

🎧Audiobook Length: 10h 52min

👩🏾‍🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5 

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Last Guard is the 20th book in the Psy/Changeling series and 5th in the Psy/Changeling Trinity series both by Nalini Singh. Payal Rao is the CEO of a major company as well as a cardinal telekinetic and an Anchor (a Psy designation of people working together to stop the PsyNet from collapsing) . She's calm, collected, and mostly emotionless. Canto Merchant is the head of intel for the influential Merchant family, he's an Anchor who's been deemed "damaged" because of a spinal injury he endured as a child. Payal and Canto need to work together, to save the Psy/Net but this isn't the first time they've had to work together. Both of them are still hurting from their intertwined dark past. Will they be able to save the PsyNet and possibly the love that they develop for each other?

This was an okay read, I didn't hate it and I didn't love it. I will say that this is one of the most boring Psy/Changeling novels I've read. I enjoyed Canto and Payal's romance towards the end but the journey of getting there felt long. There wasn't much that was memorable about this book to be honest.

The spice in this was okay, it wasn't really memorable, though I did like the depiction of a physically disabled person being intimate with their partner because we don't see that a lot in media. I'm giving it two point five chilies 🌶️🌶️.5 out of five chilies

Overall, I think Last Guard was just okay. The book felt like it was a little longer than it needed to be, I actually found this to be one of the most boring Psy/Changeling novels. Though I did appreciate the fact that we finally got a romance or relationship between two Psys, the book was just not as exciting as the previous one that came before it (Alpha Night). I'm giving this 3 stars out of 5 stars.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5 Stars

I listened to this for free on the library app [HooplaDigital.com]

💬: "To ensure success, and your mental health during extended isolation, we have equipped you with ourselves—a dynamic-matrix consensus intelligence encapsulating the ideals and blessed rationality of our Founders. We are implanted in your mind and will travel with you everywhere. We are your companion, and your conscience.

Jemisin, N. K.. Emergency Skin (Forward collection) (p. 3). Kindle Edition. "

📖Genres: sci-fi, fantasy, short story, novella, Hugo Award winners

📚Page Count: 29

🎧Audiobook Length: 01h 04min

👩🏾‍🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5 


"Emergency Skin" by N.K. Jemisin is a short story or novella from the short story collection, "Forward" published by Am*zon. A scout or explorer travels back to Earth to collect information, the danger lies in that Earth was destroyed by climate change centuries ago. When the explorer discovers that there is still some humanity left on Earth, he worries about how dangerous they are. He's instructed to get off Earth and survive any encounters. Will the soldier make it back home intact? Or was the mission more than the explorer could handle? 

This was amazing. I am blow away by the fact that Ms. Jemisin created these characters, this story, and the world building within 29 pages. I'm not going to spoil anything, I want everyone to read this story while only knowing what the synopsis is. 

"Emergency Skin" is definitely the best short story in the "Forward" Collection published by Am*zon. It's an amazing short story, I was speechless by the ending of the story. I can't believe she wrote this in 29 pages?! Ms. Jemisin is such an amazing writer, I know this and she still manages to surprise me with her talent.  I'm giving this book 5 stars out of 5. 
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5 Stars

I own this audiobook, I didn't find it available at the library. 

💬: "“I want you.” He states it as fact, as if he’s not crossing a thousand different lines by putting it to voice. “I’ve wanted you since the first time I saw you, all done up in white and marrying my best friend.”

Robert, Katee. Gifting Me To His Best Friend (A Touch of Taboo) (p. ?). Trinkets and Tales LLC. Kindle Edition.

📖Genres: adult, spicy, romance, contemporary romance

📚Page Count: 114

🎧Audiobook Length: 04h 06min

👩🏾‍🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 

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TW -

Cursing, Infidelity, and Sexual content

Gifting Me To His Best Friend is an erotica and romance novella by Katee Robert. Emma and Grayson are a married couple and every year during Christmas they go to the mountains with Grayson's best friend, Derek. This year Grayson plans to give Derek the unconventional gift, permission to get close and steamy with Emma. Derek stars warming up to Emma and then he starts warming up to Grayson. Their ménage à trois was only supposed to last one night, what happens when it lasts the entire vacation?

This was my first spicy novel with two men and a woman and it did not disappoint me! I originally was told that this book was the "brother's best friend" trope but that was so far from being correct (because the trope in this book is "husband's best friend"). There wasn't a lot of storyline to work with, but there is a little angst towards the end. 

The spicy scenes were really good! I definitely enjoyed them, they were creative. There was some roleplaying and even though I'm not a fan of the scenario they were roleplaying, the scenes included some nice spice. I'm giving it four chilies 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ out of five chilies

I enjoyed this book despite it being something I didn't anticipate.  I'm giving this book 4 stars out of 5. 
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 Stars

I listened to this for free on the library app [Libbyapp.com]

💬: "‘I’m sorry’ if Bones gets killed doing what you didn’t have time to. After all, it’s so much easier to say you care than to prove it.”

Frost, Jeaniene. First Drop of Crimson (Night Huntress World Book 1) (p. 30). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition. 

📖Genres: romance, paranormal romance, paranormal, supernatural, urban fantasy

📚Page Count: 374

🎧Audiobook Length: 10h 06min

👩🏾‍🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 4/5 
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First Drop of Crimson is the first book in the "Night Huntress" spin-off series, "Night Huntress World" both by Jeaniene Frost. Denise has seen so much violence, chaos, and death recently and it seems as if it's not going to stop any time soon. A demon has set his sights on Denise and he won't leave her alone until he's forced to leave her alone. In comes Spade, a centuries old vampire who has promised to protect Denise at any cost. Will Spade be able to save Denise or will all be lost once the first drop of crimson falls?

This was exciting and entertaining just like the books from the Night Huntress series, the only different is that we're following characters who are normally side characters, but in this story they're main characters now. You might need to start the "Night Huntress" series before picking up the "Night Huntress World" series because "First Drop of Crimson" starts off where one of the "Night Huntress" books end. I really enjoyed that the sexy vampire Spade was our main male character. The main female character, Denise, really needed to grow on me. She's a survivor of a horrific attack and she has PTSD, I liked the mental health representation. What I didn't like about Denise is that she had the tendency to misunderstand almost every situation and every other conversation. By the end of the book I liked Denise a lot more but I still don't think she's as compelling as the main female character of the "Night Huntress Series", Cat.

Another thing I didn't like was the threat of sexual assault that Denise had to deal with. There's a character that gets rescued in this book by Spade and Denise and they say that they've spent decades as a prisoner/victim being assault sexually and physically. As you probably guessed, if they don't stop the evil forces in this book, Denise is being threatened with the same fate. I don't like when characters are threatened or have the threat of sexual assault looming over their heads so I'm just going to knock a star off and leave it at that. 

The spicy scenes in this story were nice and sizzling hot! I thought Bones was the only vampire I was attracted to but Spade also seems like a good choice in a vampire companion. I'm giving the spicy scenes four chilies 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ out of five chilies

Overall, First Drop of Crimson was a good story, I loved how some of the side characters from the original "Night Huntress" series are the main characters of this series, "Night Huntress World". It was entertaining and I enjoyed most of it aside from the parts that mentioned sexual assault, those simply did not have to be included. I'm giving this 4 out of 5 stars. 
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 4/5  Stars


I listened to this audiobook for free on [Libbyapp.com]

💬: “I will fight always for you. Until my breath stops, I’ll fight.” She accepted that to the core, and so she could tell him the rest."

Singh, Nalini. Alpha Night (Psy-Changeling Trinity Book 4) (p. 274). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

📖Genres: paranormal romance, romance, urban fantasy, adult

📚Page Count: 355

🎧Audiobook Length: 11h 19min

👩🏾‍🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5 

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Alpha Night is the 19th book in the Psy/Changeling series and 4rd in the Psy/Changeling Trinity series both by Nalini Singh. In Alpha Night alpha wolf Selenka Durev is fierce and protective of those who are under her care. She meets Ethan Night who is a standoffish member of The Arrows, somehow they become fated mates at first sight, even though Selenka believed mattings at first sight to be a myth. What Selenka sort of knows but doesn't is that something is wrong with Ethan, Selenka and sense it through the mating bond. Will they be able to stay mated or with the secrets they're both keeping destroy everything?

This was so fun to read, I was definitely entertained through my read.  I loved the chemistry and banter between Selenka and Ethan. I also really tend to love the mystery based Psy/Changeling storylines, I find those to be the most interesting and entertaining. It was nice to see past characters in this story pop up (like the author normally does with her Psy/Changeling books.) This reading experience was so pleasant.

The spicy scenes in here were so nice. I did like that we didn't have to read about a woman and her first time, because this author tends to write about that and I never really like those scenes. This was enjoyable. I'm giving it three point five chilies 🌶️🌶️🌶️.5 out of five chilies

In my review for the previous book in the Psy/Changeling Trinity series I said that "Wolf Rain" had been my favorite book from the series so far. After having read "Alpha Night" I've changed my opinion. "Alpha Night" is my favorite in the series now. The book was entertaining, exciting, and it depicted such a wonderful love. I'm giving this book 5 stars out of 5. 
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5 Stars

I listened to this for free on the library app [HooplaDigital.com]

💬: "His breathing shudders out. “Don’t stop. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.” His voice goes hard. “Don’t you dare come. That orgasm is mine and I intend to take it.”

Robert, Katee. Your Dad Will Do (A Touch of Taboo) (p. 122). Trinkets and Tales LLC. Kindle Edition.

📖Genres: adult, spicy, romance, contemporary romance

📚Page Count: 140

🎧Audiobook Length: 04h 13min

👩🏾‍🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5 

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Your Dad Will Do is an erotica and romance novella by Katee Robert. Lily is engaged but she just discovered that her boyfriend has been cheating on her and she decided to end the relationship. Feeling lost, frustrated, and hurt, she decides to visit her ex-fiancé's father, Shane. Lily's plan is to get her ex-fiancé's father to sleep with her so she can hurt her ex the way he hurt her. Will her plan work or will Shane turn her away?

I thought I would like this more than I do. This reading experience has been a disappointment because there were some parts that were so good but there were parts that were so bad it just ruined the reading experience. There were several times in the book where Lily would ask Shane to stop doing something and he would flat out ignore her and continue with what he was doing. Once Lily told Shane that his manhood was too endowed for her to receive and he ignored her and KEPT GOING, then the character says to herself something like "oh, it did fit". Honey, if you tell someone to stop or you say no during intimacy moments and the other person or people don't stop, that's border lining assault. 

Reading this was uncomfortable for me because in the quote above he ignores Lily's concerns and continues with what he's doing and I think he should handle her with more care and consideration.

The spicy scenes are hard to rate in this novella because some of them were really good and some of them were a turn off because of Shane's tendency to not listen to Lily's pleads or concerns. I'm giving it two chilies 🌶️🌶️.5 out of five chilies

Overall, this was just okay, I would have rated it higher if it weren't for the issues I mentioned above. I'm giving this book 3 stars out of 5. 
⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5 Stars

I listened to this for free on the library app [Libbyapp.com]

💬: N/A

📖Genres: horror, thriller, suspense, paranormal, supernatural

📚Page Count: 597

🎧Audiobook Length: 21h 55min

👩🏾‍🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 
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The Good House is a suspense, horror, thriller, and mystery novel by Tananarive Due. Angela and her family have returned to her grandmother's house, also known by towns folk as "The Good House, hoping that some of her grandma's magic would help fix her marriage but instead a tragedy happens. Two years later while Angela is still coping with the traumatic events that occurred two years prior, she revisit The Good House and discovers that other people have been experience tragic events as well. Angela wonders if these incidents have anything to do with an entity that her grandmother fought against in 1929. Myles Fisher, Angela's high school boyfriend, helps Angela try and solve the mystery before it's too late and their meddling has deadly consequences. 

This book felt like it was mostly suspense and it gave me actual stress from anticipation. There are tragic and horrific things that happen in this book, but the way it's written is interesting. I'll explain - the author sometimes eludes to us that a character is going to die and then we have to sit through a few agonizing scenes of them not knowing they're going to die. It was torturous in the best ways! This is the first suspense story that I've read in my adult years that actually creeped and stressed me out. 

TW -

adult/minor relationships, rape, pedophilia

This is a really good novel but there was one thing that I didn't particularly like about it. There's a scene where a character has possibly

turned evil and to depict that the author makes that adult aged character engaging in a sexual act with a 13 year old, so rape. We get that he's evil, you don't have to write that scene in there to show us that he's "gone to the bad side".

The other problem that I have with this story is that it's so long. I don't think a thriller/suspense needs to be almost 600 pages long, I usually expect tomes to be fantasy or fantasy/sci fi books. The audio book for this was 5 minutes just shy of 22 hours long! It was entertaining so there was only one time that I wondered "How long do I have left in this audiobook?". I think there might have been some things that could have been cut to make it at least 400 pages but I know it would change the story drastically to just cut away almost 200 pages. It was a good story overall, just one that I don't think I'll revisit due to the length. 

Overall, this book was really good! I enjoyed it for the most part, aside from the issues I mentioned.  I'm giving this 4 stars out of 5
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 
4/5

I listened to this audiobook for free on [Libbyapp.com]

💬: "Unlike big, burly bears with their adorably soft hearts that us wild women have to be careful not to bruise, wolves have egos that are titanium over iron. It takes a great deal to insult a wolf, so if you manage it, kudos to you. He’ll probably give you ten thousand orgasms in revenge. You poor, poor thing."

Singh, Nalini. Wolf Rain (Psy-Changeling Trinity Book 3) (p. 143). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

📖Genres: paranormal romance, romance, urban fantasy, adult

📚Page Count: 392

🎧Audiobook Length: 13h 23min

👩🏾‍🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 

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Wolf Rain is the 18th book in the Psy/Changeling series and 3rd in the Psy/Changeling Trinity series both by Nalini Singh. Wolf Rain is about a Psy named Memory, who was found by a wolf changeling, Alexei. Memory was trapped in an underground bunker, confined against her will by a psychopath of a Psy. Now that she's been rescued and freed Alexei comes to find what a strong spirit she has inside of her and he becomes fond of her. Now he has to make a final decision, "risk everything or lose Memory". Will he choose to save her? 

I think Memory was a compelling character and I enjoyed reading about her and seeing her grow. I think Alexei showed character growth by the end of the story, but he didn't have much of a personality within the story. If Alexei had more of a personality outside of caring about Memory, I would have given this 5 stars. 

I think the spicy scenes in this book were much better than the ones in the previous book (Ocean Light) I'm still not a fan of the "first time" scenes but the scenes afterwards were nice. I'm giving it two chilies 🌶️🌶️🌶️ out of five chilies

Overall, I'd say Wolf Rain has been my favorite book from the Psy/Changeling Trinity series. I'm giving this book 4 stars out of 5. 
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 Stars

I listened to this for free on the library app [HooplaDigital.com]