Show Me How to Heal: Juniper Creek Book 2, Ray Celar

From the very beginning I felt for Luke.  He was so broken, just floating on the brittle mantra of "I'll be okay, I'll be okay", and needing someone to wake him up to not only his path to healing, but to just acceptance of himself, his situation, his desires.  Finding that in Zayne was perfect and even though there was a sizable secret between them their connection was everything I was hoping for in this series.

I truly love this setting, the characters are captivating, problematic, and make me yearn for them, the town and surroundings are things I can imagine and want to visit, and the relationship pairings are well crafted with personal evolution and a believable outcome.

My only frustration is the immediate shutdown of Luke by Zayne.  Yes, secrets are hurtful and when they're revealed in a surprising way from the wrong source it can exacerbate that hurt, but to immediately run to "everything there ever was was a lie" is a personal pet peeve that drives me insane.  I get it.  I do.  I just don't like it, like, at all.  You end up increasing the hurt for yourself and for the other person and it makes the apologies fall flat when they finally come.

Maybe it's a trust issue thing that I have, that when something happens later on and you end up counting on your partner to blow up and run away or kick you out because of a situation blown out of proportion.  I'm not saying that Luke's issues with the lie of omission wasn't big, no, that's not it at all.  I just don't think Zayne's actions were completely justified, especially his first thought of everything being a lie because he was extremely intuitive to Luke's real feelings even when the details were vague.  The hurt, pain, yearning, loss...it was all there and Zayne specifically mentioned it in those moments.  The surprise about the career truth should have clicked rather than exploded in his brain.  At least that's what I hoped would have happened.  It's not though, and I'll have to live with that.  It's the reason for a 4 star rating instead of a 5.

So overall I truly enjoyed this book and would read it again.  I'm absolutely coming back for more from this series and can't wait for all my favorite men to have their own HEAs.  My one pet peeve thing likely didn't bother a lot of other readers so take my review with a grain of salt and dive in because Luke and Zayne have some amazing moments that make their whole relationship worth realizing.

Find the Jinn: Wilde Contracts Book 1, Maz Maddox

The premise grabbed me right away and I was ready to jump right in. Despite feeling like we were coming in a chapter or two later even though it was the opening scene, this wasn't the first story I've read that did this kind of thing. I was sure we would get a little explanation, back story, or something to catch me up so I pressed on...but we didn't get any of those things.

For the first book of a series it felt like I was missing something -- constantly. I've read in other reviews about Killing the Messenger (or is it Kill the Messenger?) that I got through a Prolific Works giveaway event so I'll need to back to that and read to see if there's anything that can give me a better picture, but I'm not sure what to expect in that regard.

I really enjoyed all the characters, but for very different reasons. Dallas was incredibly flawed and we can see pretty early on that there's a torturous tragedy in his past that he's running away from by using drugs, danger, bravado, and any and all kinds of avoidance. I'm sure there will be a sharing, a reckoning that will take place, but that wasn't here in this first book. So for trigger warnings, there is drug use, unfaithful partners, alcohol use, and servant/master type situations.

The two other characters that play a pivotal role may or may not be actual love interests and they intrigued me from the beginning as well. There's an incubus, Sias, who seems to care for Dallas, but has no commitment or intentionally tender moments to show us that there's more than a preferred "meal" situation between them. Is there a possibility for more? Definitely. There's also some incendiary spice between them in a club where Dallas is offered up as a delicacy...

Zane is the one that intrigued me the most out of the two possible interests there. There's a bit of an enemies to reluctant partners to possibly something more spicy to maybe lovers kind of situation brewing there. Because of the connection between Zane and Dallas there's bound to be confusion, frustration, and a reluctant amount of feels that may be misconstrued, argued away, and eventually explored. At least, I sure hope so!

I'm certainly looking forward to seeing the progression, all the types of progression, that we're going to get in this series. Opening of hearts, vulnerabilities, and a whole lot of answers needs to happen before the end of it though, otherwise I might revolt...kind of, haha.

There isn't an actual romantic relationship by the end of this first story and, to be honest, I'd be a little on the disappointed side of apprehension if either potential love interest is chosen over the other one at this point; I'm kind of hoping for an MMM situation even though that's not my preference in pairings. It kind of feels right for now to imagine that will be the outcome, but there are still two more books to go.

But really, the thing to keep in mind here is that in this first book you're going to feel lost, frustrated, intrigued, annoyed, disappointed, and eager for more all at the same time. Maybe you'll be more on one side than the other, but I think you should really give the rest of the series a shot before deciding overall that this just wasn't for you. This isn't the best showing of the author in a first-of-the-series way, but it is definitely their style and I'm sure we'll get something great to follow it up...well, after being stymied by more frustration first. There are A LOT of threads that need tying off because they keep getting dropped for no good reason.

*$6.99 on Amazon or FREE on KU!

Bad Bishop: Perfect Play Book 2, Layla Reyne

The communication that I felt was lacking in book one really shone here in book two.  There was a subtle shift in the relationship that allowed for both men to truly rely on one another as they faced the enemy that was taunting them and drawing them further into a dangerous game that threatened not only the safety of countless vulnerable young women, but themselves and everyone they hold close.

There are moments in this book that I'm not sure will play out well for the men but it's far more clear this time around that they are in it together.  They come to trust one another not just professionally, but with their hearts and the hurts of their past.  It bonds them far more deeply than just their attraction that got a small but powerful moment in Dead Draw.

We're left at the end with a bigger cliffhanger, one I truly wasn't expecting, and it shocked me.  I'm now at the edge of my seat and cannot wait for the resolution which is sure to be messy, frustrating, painful, and also vindicating, powerful, and right.  This was a fantastic continuation of the series with more feels, more spice, and more drama.

*4.99 on Amazon or FREE on KU!

Add it to your Goodreads TBR list!

Baking with A Ghost, R.M. Neill

I really wanted to round down from 2.5 stars, but 2 stars means I really didn't like it and this didn't quite meet that criteria.

There was just no connection between the characters, between me as a reader and the characters, and nothing compelling about the writing. I can't believe this is indicative of the author's other works because I've enjoyed others from them. It was just so...so...boring. I struggled so hard to finish this book, to get into it enough to want to finish it.

At so many moments I thought, "this has to get better. It just has to." Only...it didn't. It was just as dry and uninspiring at the end as it was in the middle as it was in the beginning. The conflict with the ex fell flat because it seemed like a huge escape from abuse in the beginning only to be watered down so much that it seemed that all the drama in the beginning was unfounded. The seance moment was awkward for sure too.

I think the most interesting thing was the medium themselves. I'm interested in them, but only in a mildly intrigued way. The weird and overacted references to his mystery and the what-if part from the news article was inelegant. And Simon's connection to him was awkwardly shocking and the unexplained emotionalness was unsatisfying.

So it's not like I majorly disliked the book, there were just so many little moments that I totally didn't care about. Moments that led to a whole story that I kind of wish I hadn't felt so committed to finishing. This is not like what the author can usually produce, it's a frustrating anomaly.

*$2.99 on Amazon or FREE on KU!