Book Review: Runaway Love (Cherry Tree Harbor #1) by Melanie Harlow

Runaway Love by Melanie Harlow


Once again, Melanie Harlow knocked it out of the park with this one, and I loved it, as I should.

This one is about a single dad who falls for a runaway bride and ends up becoming a nanny, so I had to let her hold my hand as I read this, and honestly, I loved every single bit of it. I don't read much romance about single dads, but maybe it's time to read some, because I love the way Melanie Harlow writes her men and how they fall in love, and how the relationship takes time to grow, finally culminating in love. Also, there's some groveling at the end, which I LOVED very much.

This book is about a single dad named Austin Buckley who needs a nanny for his twins, Adalaide and Owen, for the summer. What he didn't expect to appear in his doorway was a runaway bride! Immediately, Austin turns her down because she doesn't have everything he needed to take care of his kids for the summer, but when she started to prove herself-teaching the kids how to do some simple yoga, actually learning how to cook, and things like that-that's when he hires her.

But he shouldn't kiss is hire. Or fall in love with her. Or punch her dickhead of a fiancé in the face.

But he did, and now Austin doesn't know what to do with himself.

Veronica "Roni" Sutton had gotten a sext from her fiancé, Neil Vanderhoff, which should've been sent to whom it was meant to be sent to, but when she confronted him about it, he denied it. When it came to saying their vows, Roni said nah, Rockette-kicked him in the face, and ran away to Moe' Diner, where she saw the help-wanted ad for the nanny job. She goes in her wedding dress and got the job, and for the summer, everything is perfect.

Until she starts to fall in love with Austin, and their chemistry is on fire. But then she wants to leave, to go back to NYC so she can go back into dancing, but instead she stayed in Cherry Tree Harbor, opened a dance school, and she moved in with her Austin, and everything was perfect. The ending made me cry, and now I want an Austin x Roni extra scene with them married, raising Owen and Adalaid,e and their own kids.

I really do highly reconmend this book (and Melanie Harlow) so, so much.



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Book Review: The Scarlet Alchemist by Kylie Lee Baker

The Scarlet Alchemist by Kylie Lee Baker
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My god, this was beautiful.

The Scarlet Alchemist was such a beautiful book, with necromancy, alchemy, a bit of romance, and also the FMC, Zilan, beating the odds and becoming the Scarlet Alchemist, only for it to go to hell at the end, which was so much fun. It weirdly felt like an anime, until I saw that the author got inspired by Fullmetal Alchemist, and I could see it.

The way alchemy is used in this world is very interesting, along with the necromancy that Zilan uses to bring back people. When she does reveal that she brought her cousins back from the dead when they were young, I thought it was weird for a moment. I thought they were as normal as you and me, but when she revealed their skin tags that were on their necks....I was honestly shocked. That was one of the most perfect reveals that I wasn't expecting one bit.

The second reveal in the book was that Zilan herself had a soul tag. The Crown Prince, Li Hong, found it during their night together, and she freaked out about it. When she went to the Moon Alchemist to ask her about it, it was revealed that Zilan died when she was young, was run over by Emperess Wu Zeitan's horse carriage (oh yeah...I forgot to say that Emperess Wu was in this book...oops). She was shocked about it, but not shocked enough when she was kidnapped and taken to a room where the Moon and Paper Alchemists wanted to kill the Empress.

See, Empress Wu needed Alchemists to create gold so she could eat it as if it were chicken nuggies and she could live forever. But the Alchemists didn't want to be making gold anymore, so they had a plan, only for it to turn around and get everyone killed, because the Empress was a couple of steps ahead of them and poured their blood on the bandages that were supposed to come from her.

The plan was to feed Empress Wu's blood to the monsters that were in the dungeons. But sadly...that didn't work.

The Empress played UNO Reverse, and they fed their blood to the pearl monsters, and they attacked them.

It was a bloodbath, and the ending made me happy, but I was also a bit sad that Zilan didn't bring Li Hong back. But it was funny that she brought her cousin Yufei back in the Empress's body and let her rule. I cannot wait to read the next book in this series, it was SOO GOOD.

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Book Review: Murder at the Beacon Bakeshop (Beacon Bakeshop #1) by Darci Hannah

Murder at the Beacon Bakeshop by Darci Hannah
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is how you do a cozy murder mystery!!

Lindsey Bakewell left NYC after she caught her ex-fiancee with another woman, and she decides to follow her dream: she wants to open a bakery and sell a whole bunch of baked goodies. When she brought a lighthouse and opened up a bakery. While she was doing that, a woman named Fiona started making a rukus all over the place, threatening to shut her bakery down before she could even sell one delicious doughnut. But thanks to her real-estate agent, Betty, along with her staff and a very hot writer next-door neighbor, the Beacon Bakeshop is ready to open!

With her bestie Kennedy Kapoor, the shop was doing well...until Lindsey's ex, Jeffery, and his girlfriend Mia Long came in and started to run everything...until Mia started to choke and had to go to the hospital, thus making the Beacon Bakeshop a crime scene, because, well...Mia died.

Which was very odd, because all Mia did was pretend that the baked goods were so bad to the point that she started to pretend to choke on them.

Lindsay was devastated that her Bakeshop had to close, but at the same time, she wondered why the heck Mia and lazy-arse Jeffery Plank would come to Beacon to destroy the opening of her shop? She wondered and puzzled, to the point that she decided to investigate. From cyanide poisonings to finding out that someone pretended to be Lindsay to try and kill Betty, something wasn't adding up. Also, there was a certain ghost named Captain Willy Riggs trying to help her too....

When it turns out to be her baker, Dylan, who was smuggling drugs from her bakery to the cartels, that's when things got nearly ugly, when Lindsay and Dylan (whom I loved so much to the end) started to fight after Lindsay told her New Fowland, Wellington, to go get Rory Campbell (she also suspected him after he told her of his knowledge about cyanide, but she forgave him). Once the scuffle was over and Rory and the cops placed her under arrest, everything was just fine.

Lindsay had another Opening 2.0; she and Rory, and Kennedy are on good terms, and Lindsay's parents are helping around at the Bakeshop now. Everything is perfect, and Betty and everyone else are very happy that the bakeshop is open again.

This book was so good that I would read the next book in the series. I loved how Lindsay tried to solve the murder, even looking into the murder of Captain Willy Riggs. Wellington was such a good dog, and I hope there is a romance blooming between Lindsay and Rory. I also hope that we see more of Kennedy, because she is the bestest bestie I've ever seen in a book. Love, love, loved this book so much.

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Book Review: Queen of Roses (Blood of a Fae #1) by Briar Boleyn

Queen of Roses by Briar Boleyn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book took me a minute, and even though it was slow, it was also pretty fun to read. I find that I do like Arthurian retellings, and the retelling of Morgan Pendragon sounds like a fun, hinged time. But as I read it, it felt like I was reading an actual fantasy rather than a romantasy. Also, I should've looked at the triggers, but I kept reading, and yes, it was slow-very slow, to the point that I wanted to find something else to read. But I pushed through it, and even though it was okay, I still enjoyed myself. I don't know if I am gonna pick the second book up (spoiler alert: I will), but either way, I still enjoyed this book.

What I mean by this book being a fantasy with a romance subplot is, I felt like it was an epic fantasy novel with a romance subplot with Morgan and Vesper and Morgan and Draven. I thought that Morgan would get with Draven after traveling together and him saving her from drinking that horrible tea with the iron in it, but the more they are together, the more I feel like they were going to get together.

The reason they were put together was because of Arthur, who wanted Morgan to get Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake. Even though Morgan wanted to be with her brother Kaye, she decided to go ahead and go with Draven and a man named Whitethorn, who was very terrible and kept making her that godforsaken "medicine" that looked like it was suppressing her fae heritage and almost killed her because Arthur told him to. She also left because of a horrible, disgusting man named Florian, who assaulted her and carved his name into her skin in the most disgusting way possible, and it was a journey to find the sword and bring it to Arthur.

...or so she thought.

Turns out, Pendrath went straight to hell the moment she left. People are dying or starving, Arthur went to war with some kingdom I can't remember, and also Vesper, the half-fae bard, pretty much works for Arthur and helped her get the sword, but then stabbed her and wanted to kill poor Draven after those dead children rose up and tried to kill them. Those dead kids did drag her friend Lancelet away, but we don't know if she's dead or not.

But at the end, which I find that I like, that it turns out...

...ol' Draven is a siabra. I'm guess they're cats?

Cat people?

Cat demons?

Are they like InuYasha?

Will I ever know that answer?

When I read book two I will. Which will be soon. So yes, I did have a good time, and I think I am gonna go ahead and read book two, to see if it gets better.

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Book Review: A Monsoon Rising (The Hurricane Wars #2) by Thea Guanzon

A Monsoon Rising by Thea Guanzon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh. My. God.

Oh my good giggty good, this book was SO GOOD that the ending nearly made me fall out of my chair (not really, BUT STILL).

Talasyn and Alaric are my favorite characters/couple so far this year, and I enjoyed how they dealt with the marriage while also dealing with the dangers of the Voidfell, and how they dealt with the politics of their countries. I did cackle out loud when Elgabi showed up at the library one time, looking like he was going to straight-up cook our boy Alaric, but somehow kept his calm and talked to him with very sweet whiskey, and the two had an understanding.

The action in this book, though it was less of it than in the first book, was pretty good, but the building of the romance to the spice (even though I don't care about spice in books like this, I really care about how the romance is built between the characters and are they gonna fit) was so well done. I liked how they fit, how they worked together, and how jealous Alaric got at the ball.

BUT THAT ENDING?!

THAT. ENDING.

I need book three in my hands NOW. Because how dare you end it like that, and now I'm thinking that that certain character is a spy for the Night Empire, or is the Regent taking over this girl?! I need more, and I wanna know how Talasyn and Alaric can get out of this one and save the world yet again.

My favorite part of all of this is the dragon-riding part and putting an ancient dragon back to sleep after waking up after all this time. I almost cried reading this part, mostly because I was worried about Talasyn and Alaric and hoped that they didn't fall. I'm glad they didn't and Talasyn put Bakrun back to sleep, but that was the most fun I've read in a book in a long time.

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