Book Review: It Happened One Night by Stephanie Laurens, Mary Balogh, Jacquie D'Alessandro & Candice Hern

It Happened One Night by Stephanie Laurens
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It Happened One Night is a four stories about four couples who haven’t seen each other in a long time (like ten years-ish) and they spend one night together, one beautiful, incredible night together, and then they go off on their happily ever afters. I quite like the premise of the stories, and all of the authors coming together to create the same thing, but different couples? I love that. So for this review, I’m going to break the stories down, because the titles sound like D&D stories, honestly.

The Fall of Rouge Gerrard: This story was written by Stephanie Laurens, and shockingly, no acid damage or people dying happened in the making of this story. Basically this one is about a man named Gerrard who all around England is called the Rouge Gerrard. He stops at an country inn to rest for a night, when he sees Lydia Makepeace there. Why was Lydia Makepeace there? Well, she’s trying to get into someone’s house to retrieve a letter for her sister. Well of course he had to go to protect her, to make sure no one finds out about them, and they sneak in (Lydia pretending to be a courtesan) and they go into the office to look around. They found it before the owner of the house showed up, but at least they made out before the spice happened. At the end, they went back to the inn and made love again, and the next morning Lydia’s sister and their parents appeared, and oh boy, was Lydia embarrassed. But at the end, after trying to get Ro to not marry her….her parents and sister is just like, ‘It took y’all THIS long to get together? THIS LONG?!” but at the end, Lydia said yes, and the story throughout the ton of how the Rouge Gerrard fell.

Spellbound: Now this story is one hell of a mess. Picture it: you’re sitting in the inn, having a drink, and your partner, whom you haven’t seen in a LONG time, walks in and they’re penniless, don’t even have no money, and they’re basically about to be turned away when you get up and walk up to that inn keeper, and you say bravely, having NO IDEA what or why or HOW this happened, but you say, as clear as day, ‘That’s my partner/wife/husband.’ Well that’s what happened when Richard Kemp saw his wife Nora walking in the inn and was about to be turned around. Holy hell this is a second chance story, and it was pretty good. Nora was shocked to see said husband, because she remembered her father saying that she’s not married to this man anymore. But she finds out that she was actually still his wife after everything her father had done to them, and after that, they ran off and lived happily ever after.

Only You (cw: abuse): This one might have to be one my favorites, because it’s about old friends who hasn’t seen each other in a long time, and they spent the whole day together. They learn a lot about each other-Cassandra is a survivor of abuse, both physical and mental abuse, and she’d never had a night of romance, where she can experience someone truly making love, asking questions like, “Is this what ecstasy feels like?” or “Is this what real happiness feel like?” and I ended up crying. Because no one should go through what she went though. She even told Ethan that her husband thought coming to her was a chore, and when she couldn’t conceive, he basically cheated on her and had gotten so many of his mistresses pregnant, and I think he flaunted them in front of her, making her feel worse. And Ethan-sweet, inn owning Ethan. He actually had a life after Cassandra’s father threw him out and gave him the scar. He went to the war to stop Napoleon, he took the inn off the hands off an old friend, and he stood up to Cassandra’s father who was going to slap her. But honestly, this was a sweet story and I’m glad it was written.

From This Moment On: How to sum up this story...let’s say Victor and Nikki (yep, I know who that is thanks to my grandmama) haven’t seen each other in ten years. They see each other again, and Nikki plans all these funny things (breaking a wheel twice, second time letting the pigs run through and stomping on the wheel) just so they can spend one last day together. Well all of that happened and more-with Wilhelmina and Sam. This must be one of my favorite stories of all time throughout this book, because it’s about a second chance romance. I liked how Willie had fears about Sam’s feelings because she’s a demimonde/courtesan, and she turned him down after their night of passion. Sam, confused as hell, tried to tell her that it wasn't the case, but she didn’t want to hear it. Then at the end, while going their separate ways, somehow Willie’s horse got lame because of the horseshoes...that Sam rigged himself. And, like all the stories, they rode off to their happily ever after.

I’ve read this book a long time ago, like back in middle/high school, and I haven’t thought about this book until now, and I’m so glad that I read it now, because these stories, though different, were pretty damned good, just like the first time I read it when I was in middle/high school.

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Book Review: Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo

Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Okay….I thought King of Scars would break me, because it did. But RULE OF WOLVES...good lord that book should come with a warning: Let’s break Brittany in half so much, that once we get to that part where Zoya transforms into a dragon, that’s when Brittany’s Skyrim-senses start to tingle. Because good lord, this book-though it took me half a month to finish it, was so good that I had to take a night off from reading anything else, to keep my mind clear before I sit down and do this book review. Like before, I’m going to break this down by the multiple POVs that showed up:

Nikolai: Still the King of Ravka. Still has the demon inside him. Still a sly son of a bitch. I loved the fact that throughout the book he kept Ravka in mind, even when they were about to go to war with Fjerda. He didn’t even marry Princess Ehri, which I thought would happen in the story. But then, as the story went on, he fell in love with Zoya that he gave up his throne for her-gave up his throne-for her, and is going to be next to her forever, which I think I loved the most about Nikolai’s character development throughout this book. He moved up to being one of my favorite characters of all time and I love him so much.

Zoya: ALL HAIL QUEEN ZOYA NAZYALENSKY, QUEEN OF RAVKA AND DRAGON QUEEN. Holy shit Zoya’s storyline just blew me away. Blew me the fuck away. Chef’s kiss. She went from soldier of the first army, a summoner/squaller and commander of Ravka’s first and second army, and then Saint...WHEN SHE TURNED INTO A DRAGON. A full-blown, holy moly there’s a huge dragon in the sky dragon. That for me was the best part of the story, because after what happened in King of Scars, I got worried for Zoya. Like, honestly worried. But then, as I kept reading and taking notes, you realize that Zoya is a caring woman, and yes she’s half-Suli (I think, please correct me if I’m wrong), but honestly...becoming queen at the end was beautiful. Just beautiful. I loved it, so, so much.

The Darkling/Aleksander Morozova: I know, I know-daddy Darkling is back. I was shocked when he came back, and honestly, like everyone else, I thought he would come back and be civil. But NO. What did he do (dammit, Aleksander)? He kept asking for Alina, and he got her alone in a room...to stab her in the palm so he could get his power back. As if he was saying, “Jokes on you, bitch, I've had my powers this whole time.” Then, as Yuri, he’s getting all of his followers together to GO TO THE BATTLEFIELD so he can put on one big show. Well he didn’t-he helped Nikolai with his demon, and then turned around and cried out, “Sankta Zoya!”. Then he sacrificed himself when they finally caught him again, and he got stabbed in the heart like Nikolai did, and got sucked in the tree.

Nina Zenik: Nina had grown into a character and my favorite human being right now. Still masquerading as Mila Jandersdat, she has integrated herself into the Brum household. Even though she hates Jarl Brum, commander of the druskelle and Hanne, her girlfriend’s father. She had a mission to get close to the Little Lantsov, Demidov, and to get the letters of Queen Tatiana from Fjeda’s clutches. Well, she didn’t-she found instead Magnus Opjer, Nikolai’s real father, locked up behind bars in Jarl Brum’s office. She didn’t get him out, per say, but she almost killed Joran after she found out that he killed her love, Matthias Helvar. Hanne stopped her, and it did worry me that she thought Hanne died on the boat, Levithan's something I can’t remember. The shocking thing throughout this whole entire thing was that Joran, JORAN, shot Jarl Brum, and Prince Rasmus was the one that actually died, and now she and Hanne/Rasmus will be king and queen of Fjerda.

And the appearance of the Crows made me smile hugely because GOD I missed them so much, though now Inej is a captain now (and Kaz misses her SO DAMNED MUCH.) I loved every bit of it and I want more.

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Book Review: King of Scars (King of Scars, #1) by Leigh Bardugo

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So….welcome to my TED talk, where King of Scars BROKE THE HELL OUT OF ME. I wasn’t prepared for this, I just sat there and mentally screamed because the ending was so good. But HE DIDN’T CALL ME, HE DIDN’T WRITE ME A LETTER-NOTHING. HE JUST-whoo this might be a long-ass review, so let’s get into it by breaking it down (and also this is the only book I read this month because of school):

Nikolai Lantsov: Okay, the demon inside of him woke the hell up somehow, and he’s going around attacking animals, and don’t even know if he attacked a human. He’s scared that his future wife will be scared if she finds out if he still had the demon inside him. So he’s trying to be a really good king, trying to be caring, finding and stealing stuff from almost everyone and using it to his advantage, which is actually pretty damned good. One day, he and Zoya hears and meets with a man named Yuri, a follower of the Starless Saint (aka the Darkling aka Aleksander Morozova), who helped them find a ritual so Nikolai can get rid of the demon inside of him. They do, and they meet the three Sankts-Elizaveta, Juris and Grigori. They explained that they are stuck here because of the Darkling, and they can get rid of the demon inside him...or so they thought. Elizaveta betrayed everyone, killed the last two Sankts, just so she can bring back the Darkling. Sadly she died, but unfortunately the Darkling came back, and the demon is still in Nikolai’s body. Oy vey.

Zoya Nazyalensky: Zoya shined in this book. When I say this girl SHINED, this girl SHINED. Zoya is the Commander of the First and Second army, and she’s helping Nikolai get rid of the demon. At the same time, while he was training on calling the demon so he can get rid of it, Zoya trained with Sankt Juris, the Dragon, and when Elizaveta killed him, Zoya took his power, and I swear to god, I think this girl is gonna turn into a dragon. PLEASE LET HER TURN INTO A DRAGON, I BEG OF YOU, LEIGH, PLEASE LET ZOYA TURN INTO A DRAGON. And lemme tell ya, I think in Rule of Wolves she does, I feel it.

Nina Zenik: Nina Zenik is in Fjerda, trying to help Grisha escape from the druskelle, and also bury Matthas (RIP). She does meet a young woman named Hanne, who is Jarl Brum’s daughter (yikes). Oh and also Nina is a necromancer (I CALLED IT, FIGHT ME). She hears the cries of the dead, which lead her to a factory...where pregnant women are given jurda and is giving birth to multiple babies that are fathered by multiple druskelles/witch hunters/grisha hunters. Well Nina didn’t like that, so she came up with a plan to use Hanne and Leoni and Adrik to get the women and babies out before shit hit the fan (and it did). Also Matthas’s wolf, Trassel, found her, which was nice. After saving the women, Nina decided to stay in Fjerda so she can try and save all of the grisha there, which I hope she does in the next book, because I’m hoping for it.

I also loved the political intrigue in this story, and I did squeal when I saw Genya and David together again, and that Genya is doing well. I’m glad to see Tolya and Tamar too, and I’m sorry, but what happened to the Nikolai double, Isaak, was fucked up. I hope this war can be over soon or not, I don’t know, because Aleksander is there and I feel like he’s up to something bad and scary as hell and I’m gonna read Rule of Wolves to find out, so pray for me.

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Book Review: Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've always wanted to read this book since Cemetery Boys came out, and it was on my radar for a long time, until a book challenge on tumblr challenged me to read it...and I'm so glad I did. Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas surprised me, thrilled me in many ways possible, and I also loved the world buliding so so much. This book told me things I didn't even know, but I'm so glad I did, because now I want to sit and read about the Meso-American/latinx history more and read more books by trans authors.

The only thing that made me mad throughout the book was the way they misgendered him. I understand (or maybe not, but I'm still learning) that when someone comes out a transgender, misgendering comes out (I know, I've done that before and someone had to correct me), but to do it almost all the time just made me mad.

But I have to say, my favorite character is Julian. He's funny, witty, always loyal to his friends and will protect anyone. I loved how he encouraged Yadriel to go to the boys restroom when he was in school, and I also loved how, when Yads sacrificed himself, he jumped up and protected him while waiting for the paramedics to come. Even though it took them a long time to get together, I'm glad they did it at the end.

My other favorite part was when Yadriel and his father finally, finally talked and his father FINALLY recognized him as a true brujo, as he fucking deserves. I got real angry at the father and the grandmother for misgendering him, but the more I read this book, the less mad I got, and the ending when he was FINALLY recognized as a brujo (I know I said it twice) for what he did, saving the town from the rising of the jaguar god and stopping his Tio from doing any harm to the brujx community. But secretly, my favorite was when Julian spoke spanish and it threw me, yelling 'EXCUSE ME, SIR, DON'T THROW ME MY THAT SIR (and Yads, for the love of god KISS HIM)'.

I highly highly highly reconmend this book, ten out of ten stars if I could because this is soo good and I love this book so, so much.

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Book Review: Fantasy Lover by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Fantasy Lover by Sherrilyn Kenyon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When you read this book two times and you haven't even written a book review the first time...(whoops)

Okay, so hello people, young and old, here's a book review that I haven't written in about five years.

Fantasy Lover is about Mr. Julian of Macedon, first of his name, King of the Andals, so on and so fourth, who is stuck in a book thanks to a curse by fucking Priapus, all because he slept with a virgin that was supposed to sleep with him. Oof. Julian is an old Macedonian general, and whenever he's summoned, all he's supposed to do was please whoever it summoned him, and after a month he's back in the book....

Until he met Grace Alexander, a twenty-something year old sex therapist who summons him and...treats him like a human!? (*le gasp*). Grace teaches him many things-about Peter Pan, about the Hard Rock cafe, she even teaches him about TV (see, if I summoned him, I would've told him about the wide world of anime). Julian, who has been in the book for 2,000 years and is summoned every full moon, has to do whatever his summoner does, which is please them. But he's learning how to be human, and that's when he realizes "oh no, I'm in love with her oh no" BUT BUT the one thing that ticked me off was the ONE TIME he made that damned deal with Athena and says, 'yeah, I'll go back to Macedon, my own time, I don't belong here' which made me mad because he was learning new things, learning how to love...he even told Grace his life story and even went down the elevator hatch to save her from Rodney Carmichael, a creep that stalked the hell out of Grace and thinking that she was his, and he even sold his general ring so he can give her all her books back (my kind of man).

Then at the end, he went back in the book after not spending that night with Grace, and Grace begged and pleaded for someone to bring him back, and the most shocking thing ever is that Aphrodite, Julian's mother, actually reversed time and they had that wonderful, magical night, breaking the curse (hooray). But then...at the end...Priapus appears and went 'nope, since you slept with the girl I was supposed to be with, I'm going to be Mr. Steal Your Girl and steal your girl' and that didn't end well (I mean, Athena AND Aphrodite showed up to help Julian). Julian beats Priapus, and Priapus ends up being in the book, replacing Julian, and then at the end, one year later, Julian and Grace has two twins (yay).

I really loved this book and jumping back in this world made me miss it so much, and Julian of Macedon made it to the *very long list* of boyfriends that I really, really love so much. And if I did summon him through a book, you goddamn right I'm going to introduce him to Jujistu Kaisen, The Folk of the Air series and the Court of Thorns and Roses. Oh and tea. Lots and lots of tea. And coffee. Maybe pinot grigio and the Housewives (I'm going to WRECK his mind if I did all of that)

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Book Review: Once a Moretti Wife by Michelle Smart

Once a Moretti Wife by Michelle Smart
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book, even though it was short (about twelve chapters) made me mad as hell. For once, the hero of the book, Stefano, wanted to get revenge on his wife, Anna, but the problem is that she tripped and fell hard, losing her memories (she has retrograde memories) where she lost eightteen months of memories, so she doesn't remember what she did to make Stefano hate her. But honestly, thoughout this whole book, I got really irritated by Stefano. He really wanted to embrass her throughout this whole entire book while taking care of her, coming up with a plan: he's going to make love to her, and then humiliate her, which, in my case, is fucking stupid.

And then when the time came for him to embrass him-calling some reporter and called a cab for her to leave his life-that part pissed me off-and then when she remembered everything (and I mean everything), she told him why she called him multiple times and why when she came to visit him she thought he was cheating on her: she was pregnant with his baby, and then she had a miscarrage (woof). Stefano was stunned, just stunned as she told him this, and then when she left to see her sister, he found 2 wedding bands...2 WEDDING BANDS, Y'ALL....and Anna found out a lot of things about herself (she loves shoes, really good wine, and she uses Stefano's birthday as the password). Even though this was a three out a five star book, I just really wasn't feeling it and the hero of the book just made me mad.

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Book Review: Rock Hard by Nalini Singh

Rock Hard by Nalini Singh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is my first time ever reading one of Nalini Singh’s novels-I know people had said that her psy-changeling novels are the best-but since my library didn’t have one (and I really don’t feel like buying them somewhere) I decided to check out Rock Hard from her Rock Kiss novels...and I have to say, her writing did not disappoint me. This book was so damned good-it was my first office romance novel and on top of that, it had to deal with trauma and abuse, which I took care of myself after I read this book, and it also touched on second chances at love, and, of course, letting the characters work out the relationship slowly.

So what is this book about?

This book is about Charlotte Baird who works at a failing business with a really crappy boss (um, who does this remind you of?), who meets her new boss. Gabriel Bishop (before we go any further…)

Gabriel Bishop is drop dead sexy as hell and the nickname T-Rex suits him to a G (yes, I said G. MOVING ON….).

..by throwing a stapler at his head. Yes, that’s right, stapler. Then over the course of the book, we see the mouse (Charlotte) grow as a character, from being all shy and timid, to learning how to handle her rugby player boss/boyfriend (my new book boyfriend) and to overcome her trauma of what happened to her by the hands of her ex, who was in jail before he got out and tried to hurt her again. I loved loved loved the fact that Gabriel was slow and steady with her, not wanting to do anything to her that she was not ready for. I did also love the growling and the dirty talk too, but I think this book just shows that if you have someone who understands you and learns what you’re going through, then I think y’all can have a really good relationship, especially when said man is a T-Rex that thinks he can have his way, and a mouse that teaches him and pretty much fights with him the whole entire time, but then lets him do things to her-like take her to therapy, take her to a rugby game-and slowly but surely learn to love her, even when they got engaged she said “I’m not getting married to you after I learn how to sleep with you (in bed together instead of apart).” and he agreed to those terms.

All in all, Nalini Singh did a really good job with this book, ten ten across the board.

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