REVIEW: Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

COURT: Around here, we've been fans of Rebecca Yarros for a really long time...and her books are always deep in plot and heavy on emotion, and give me a great hangover but I was very curious to see how this epic fantasy would go since it was pretty different from her usual novels. SHEL: Yes! Court told me I absolutely had to read this book and knowing it was Rebecca Yarros, I put aside any hesitancy about it being something outside of my norm and jumped in. I'm so glad I did. 

COURT: And I am so glad that it lived up...and dare I say exceeded... every expectation that I had! I made Shelley stop what she was doing and read it immediately! SHEL: She did. Very insistent. So glad she bossed me around.

COURT: So the general premise is that Violet is ready to be a student at Basgiath War College, and her mother is the general. She has lived her entire life to be a scribe like her father, but last minute her mother decides that she will volunteer to be a Dragon Rider, and in this book you either become a rider or you die! So I was so on the edge of my seat to see how that would go since she's described as being weaker than her peers and small, and fragile. 

COURT: This brings happiness in my nurse heart with several friends who have Ehlers Danlos syndrome will absolutely love this book! It take something that is sometimes an invisible struggle for people, until it very much isn't (hello, random dislocation of joints) and gives a voice to something that might not be something most people know about or understand and I love it so much. Violet's journey is incredible because we see her character development grow her into who she is meant to be, and every little bump along the way is realistic for the rest of us in this epic fantasy. SHEL: 'Seeing' her transformation was so invigorating--you were pulling for her the whole time, especially because she was perceived as so weak. To see her excel and succeed was so gratifying.

COURT: THEN...dun, dun, dun, the dragons. I came for the dragons, let's be real, and I stayed for everything else. I LOVED the dragons. SHEL: ME TOO! Who'd a thunk it?! I really did! COURT: I loved the tone of the book being more modern language, and their internal dialogue was hilarious and I also really loved an aspect of the novel that they really had to train and learn their abilities and it wasn't just instant fierceness. They worked for it with every blood, sweat and tear, and it added so much depth to the book. SHEL: Their tenacity and desire to overcome was inspiring, but seeing how they handled their failures was too. And let's not forget the romance--that was a nice addition too!

COURT: I cannot stress enough that this is a must read, and you will miss out if you do not give it a shot! SHEL: I agree. It wasn't my norm and I'm so glad I got it and am so very eager for the rest of the series to come out!

Buy the Book:  

Amazon

528 pages, Hardcover

First published May 2, 2023

Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders from USA Today bestselling author Rebecca Yarros

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away...because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom's protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die

REVIEW: Salt Kiss by Sierra Simone

 

  SALT KISS BY SIERRA SIMONE 

Release Date: September 12th   

  Prepare to Be Seduced by Salt Kiss by Sierra Simone! 

The First Sizzling Installment in the Captivating Lyonesse Series!   

 Welcome to a world of desire, temptation, and irresistible attraction in this scintillating MMF romance that will leave you breathless.   

  Get your copy now and experience a romance that's as forbidden as it is irresistible: https://www.thesierrasimone.com/salt-kiss

    

  Add to Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/75296599-salt-kiss 

OUR REVIEW:

Before you read the next sentence, make sure that you know that you really really really should read the prequel, Salt in the Wound, before you read Salt Kiss. Now that we've got that out of the way, let's chat. 

In Salt in the Wound we see everything through Isolde's point of view, whereas in Salt Kiss it's from Tristan's point of view. As you'll come to know via synopsis or reading, Tristan is Mark's nephew-in-law and his newly hired bodyguard. From the beginning, we come to know Tristan as honorable and smart and kind, loyal, and haunted from his recent military duty. We see him trying to process that while processing exactly what his new job entails: the kinky-f***kery that is Lyonesse. And we see him begin to discover more and more about himself and his wants and desires. And of course, because Sierra Simone loves to torture her darlings, she has him fall in love with the person he really shouldn't: Mark. The conflict he feels about his feelings only deepen when he finds out about Isolde and the further intensify when he gets to know her and fall in love with her too. This poor boy. Only Sierra Simone could cook up something this delicious, and yet so wrong, and have us all know that we should just go with it because, while she'll torture us all a lot more, eventually she'll make it all better in a really wonderful and twisted way.

I really appreciated that we got to see Tristan in almost equal parts with Mark and Isolde-nothing felt rushed or slow. I loved seeing a different side of Mark (I won't lie--he really pisses me off sometimes, especially when I think about how he treated Isolde versus how he's treating Tristan) and I know he's up to things and I can't wait to see what those things are. I still have many questions about Isolde and Rome so I'm looking forward to more of that, too. And now with the incident that happened at Lyonesse, I really am eager to see where that goes.

Definitely a 5/5 read for me and as eager as I am to have book 2, I'm okay with waiting because I know that it'll be well worth it. 

   Blurb:   After being a soldier, working as a bodyguard should have been simple: Keep the owner of DC’s ultra-secret club safe. Don’t think about his midnight eyes or his devil’s smile. Don’t surrender my body to his wicked desires. But I underestimated Mark Trevena and the power of his dark, seductive world. I underestimated the hold he’d have on me, the way I would do anything for him, anything at all. And so when he asks me to escort his soon-to-be bride home, I can only—miserably, broken-heartedly—say yes. Isolde is nothing like I expect, however. Quiet and lonely and sharp, a girl who likes knives and God, a girl whose nightmares echo my own. One night while sailing under the cold stars, we share a reckless, tear-soaked kiss. I’m doomed. Falling in love with Mark was one thing, but his bride too? Being in love with a husband and wife at the same time? Torture. Misery. A tragedy if tragedies came with bruises, sweat, sighs. But it isn’t enough to merely fall into the forbidden. Because in Mark Trevena’s world, the fall is only the beginning…  

    

  Read the Lyonesse Prequel, Salt in the Wound, for FREE 

 Tropes: Anti-hero. Age gap. Arranged marriage

   https://www.thesierrasimone.com/saltinthewound     About the Author: Sierra Simone is a USA Today Bestselling former librarian (who spent too much time reading romance novels at the information desk.) She lives with her husband and family in Kansas City.

   

  Connect w/Sierra Simone: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheSierraSimone/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/SierraSimonesLambs Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheSierraSimone Amazon : http://amzn.to/1PDR4K4 Goodreads : http://bit.ly/1oo9WEh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesierrasimone/ Website: http://authorsierrasimone.com/   Subscribe to Sierra's newsletter: https://www.subscribepage.com/sierrasimone

NEW REVIEW: Yellowface by R. F. Kuang

 

Yellowface is one of those novels you almost hate read; it's kinda of like watching Succession in that I detest all of the characters at any given moment and yet I can't look away from whatever trouble they've managed to get into. 

In Yellowface we follow the story of June Heyward, a young, white mediocre writer who is absolutely insufferable and yet I cannot look away from her. She's insanely (...and well maybe just insane) jealous of a friend/enemy/acquaintance (depends on what part of the book you're in), Athena, because of Athena's popularity and sales in the book world. They both came up through the same writing programs and both sold their debuts but June's flopped and Athena's soared. So for the entirety of the novel, we're in June's head as she justifies one terrible thing she does or thinks after another. She's truly insufferable and yet recognizable because if we don't know someone like her in real life, we've probably seen someone like her on social media or tv. 

The synopsis will tell you that Athena has an unfortunate death that June witnesses and it's from that death that majority of this novel takes place. June steals a manuscript, sells it as her own, and then gets on the rollercoaster of twitter darling to twitter pariah to twitter nobody. She's continually making things worse and then trying to make them better and in her own twisted mind, it's all okay. I've always thought that you can't truly lie to yourself because you know the truth, but boy does June try. 

The one thing I noted as I read is that Yellowface is that it's very much a novel for those who are very online. If you don't really follow book twitter, June's highs and lows due to what's being posted may fall flat for you. But if you do follow book twitter, you'll definitely recognize the drama that seems to follow the publishing world all the damn time.

BUY IT: https://amzn.to/3KvO9GV

SYNOPSIS:

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK

“Hard to put down, harder to forget.” — Stephen King, #1 New York Times bestselling author

White lies. Dark humor. Deadly consequences… Bestselling sensation Juniper Song is not who she says she is, she didn’t write the book she claims she wrote, and she is most certainly not Asian American—in this chilling and hilariously cutting novel from R.F. Kuang, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Babel. 

Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars. But Athena’s a literary darling. June Hayward is literally nobody. Who wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks.

So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers during World War I.

So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? Doesn’t this piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller? That’s what June claims, and the New York Times bestseller list seems to agree.

But June can’t get away from Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens to bring June’s (stolen) success down around her. As June races to protect her secret, she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.

With its totally immersive first-person voice, Yellowface grapples with questions of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation, as well as the terrifying alienation of social media. R.F. Kuang’s novel is timely, razor-sharp, and eminently readable. 

REVIEW: Perfect Together by Kristen Ashley

 

OUR REVIEW:

What can I say, that hasn't already been said about Kristen Ashley and her novels? I don't know but if you figure it out, please share. Without fail, when she releases a new book I've either pre-ordered it or I immediately download it because I know that when I begin reading it, the entire rest of the world fades away and I can disappear into whatever trouble Kristen Ashley has cooked up for her characters. In Perfect Together, Wyn and Remy, a divorced couple, realize that they really shouldn't have been divorced to begin with. They clearly love each other and decide to figure things out. The end, right? I guess so, if you want to skip over the part where they demonstrate the depth of their love and care for each other through various major life events, or if you want to ignore the observations their kids and friends so humorously make. Telling the basic plot of this story is easy; it could be done in a few sentences, but the thing that always draws me back to Kristen Ashley is all of the interactions that make the characters who they are. It's the banter, the inner monologues, and the wisdom and humor that is woven through all of that. It's also the attention to detail-the interiors of the house, the outfits and jewelry, and the quirk of a lip or an eyebrow. It's clear that Kristen Ashley is a student of human nature (and of all things fashionable) and that she strives to create characters who show us the vast range of who we are, why we are, and the potential for what we can be.

As always, I'm glad that I read it, sad that it's over, and eager for the next book.

BUY IT: https://amzn.to/443B3Zf

SYNOPSIS:

Wyn and Remy Gastineau were perfect together…

Until, without warning, Remy walks out on their life, their love and their marriage.

Wyn is blindsided and heartbroken. It takes her years to get over the loss of Remy.

Sometime later, their children call a family meeting and Remy is acting strange. Wyn refuses to hope. Remy has moved on. She must do the same.

But she’s wrong.

Remy wants her back and he’s pulling no punches. He’s determined to do the work to piece together the marriage he shattered. Forced by circumstances to tell Wyn things he never wanted her to know, Remy reveals his tragic secrets.

As the family reels from pain long buried now laid bare, Wyn realizes instead of letting go, she has to hold tight to the man and the family they made that’s perfect together.

NEW REVIEW: The Good GIrl by Nikki Sloane

 

She's ready to be naughty.

The Good Girl by Nikki Sloane is now live! 

What are you supposed to do when your best friend's little sister—a classic good girl—asks you to help her go bad?

You should say no.

You shouldn't pretend to date her so she can piss off her parents.

You definitely shouldn't agree to take her virginity and show her all the experiences she's been missing out on.

And you really shouldn't keep it a secret from her brother, the one who's your best friend and business partner.

But I don't always make the best choices. In fact, I can be kind of a dick sometimes.

And I know if I don't do it, someone else will . . . and I can't have that. If anything, it means I get to be the good guy for once.

I just wasn't prepared for how gifted this good girl would be at going bad.

OUR REVIEW:

This series just gets hotter and hotter. In the latest book in the Nashville Neighborhood series, we finally get Preston's book. He's been hovering in the background for a while and it was interesting to get into his head, especially when it concerns a certain friend's little sister....ahh how the mighty fall. Mr. Hook-Up finally finds the girl he can't seem to stay away from, even if it means potentially ruining a friendship and maybe even his business. And Sydney? Well, she can't resist the opportunity to get to know the person she's been crushing on for a long time.

In alternating viewpoints we watch them really get to know each other, try to resist each other, and fall for each other, all under the guise of teaching Sydney lessons of an intimate nature. This one is a quick and fun read. Go get it.

  Download today on Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, Kobo!

Amazon: https://bit.ly/3pIju1P

Apple Books: https://bit.ly/40sjhfV

Nook: https://bit.ly/40qZQ6U

Kobo: https://bit.ly/3KWyakE

Google Play: https://bit.ly/3LhP1zQ

Add to Goodreads: https://bit.ly/43NVDgu

Meet Nikki

USA Today bestselling author Nikki Sloane landed in graphic design after her careers as a waitress, a screenwriter, and a ballroom dance instructor fell through. Now she writes full-time and lives in Kentucky with her husband, two sons, and a pair of super destructive cats. She is a four-time Romance Writers of America RITA® & Vivian® Finalist, a Passionate Plume & HOLT Medallion winner, a Goodreads Choice Awards semifinalist, and couldn't be any happier that people enjoy reading her sexy words.

Sign up for her newsletter: https://www.nikkisloane.com/newsletter/

 

Connect with Nikki

Website: https://www.nikkisloane.com/

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REVIEW: The Grace Year by Kim Liggett

 

OUR REVIEW:

The Grace Year is a quick read that builds on the dystopian novels that have come before. What I mean by that is that there seems to be a nod to female driven narratives that pit women against the oppressive societies that rule them, a nod that acknowledges that you know where we're coming from so let's just dive right into the action without a lot of the backstory of how they got there. In The Grace Year, that's not the point. I think the point is that Tierney and the other girls are in it now, so now what?!

In this novel, young women are sent away for a year to dispose of their 'magic' and when they return they'll return to assigned roles, like in a caste system. Some will marry and some will be laborers and some will be sex workers or outcasts. Tierney, our main character, assumes that she'll be a laborer because she's purposely led a life that would make that so. Her assumption is wrong and she starts her journey to their 'grace year' property in a state of shock and determination. Once all of the grace year girls arrive at their grace year destination, the immediate devolution of civility begins. There's peer pressure, bullying, and mob mentality at work ...among other things. Tierney tries to set up a society that would be equitable and helpful and within days, it's all destroyed. Within weeks she's an outcast and not long after that, she finds herself on death's doorstep. It's only when someone who should be her enemy nurses her back to health that she begins to really understand all of the elements working against the grace year girls, and begins to try to work against them to make things right, better for them all. Ultimately, when Tierney makes it back to her original home and has some time to reflect on it all, she gains some clarity and leaves us with a sense of hope for better days.

While I really enjoyed The Grace Year--it's definitely a 4.5-5 star read for me--I did want a little more backstory and information about how in the world they got to this point to begin with, where are they, and when is this all taking place. Other than those things, The Grace Year held my attention, was a quick read, and offered insights about being a woman in the world, insights that I wish we didn't have to learn because we lived in a truly equal and free society. 

BUY IT HERE: https://amzn.to/440HE6O

Synopsis:

The instant New York Times bestseller, Kim Liggett's The Grace Year is a speculative YA thriller in the vein of The Hunger Games and The Power, now in trade paperback.

No one speaks of the grace year. It’s forbidden.

In Garner County, girls are banished for their sixteenth year to release their magic into the wild so they can return purified and ready for marriage.

But not all of them will make it home alive.

Tierney James dreams of a better life―but as her own grace year draws near, she quickly realizes that there’s more to fear about the grace year than the brutal elements and the poachers in the woods.

Their greatest threat may very well be each other.

With sharp prose and gritty realism, Liggett's The Grace Year examines the complex and sometimes twisted relationships between girls, the women they eventually become, and the difficult decisions they make in-between.

REVIEW: Accidental Attachment by Max Monroe

OUR REVIEW:

It's been a while since I've picked up a Max Monroe rom com and so I decided to pick up Accidental Attachment. True to my expectations, this writing duo plunged the reader right into the comedy part of the romcom, but the romance wasn't far behind. 

 Accidental Attachment is the story of Brooke and Chase, a writer and her editor, and how she accidentally sends him a draft of a novel that hasn't been requested or sold. It's essentially her fantasy if she was an on air anchor and he was her producer. Chase reads it, loves it, pitches it and when he's successful, has the joy of telling Brooke-who has no idea that she sent the file that she sent. Once she discovers her oopsie, she basically dies and then tries to avoid doing anything with it. Of course that can't happen and the rest of the novel is divided up between her making peace with the fact that she's publishing her fantasy and trying to figure out how to be around the object of her affection without blowing it, all while being trapped in an RV, with her crush, on a cross country road trip to promote her previous hit turned Netflix series. 

As you can imagine, there's lots of comedy: physical comedy, puns and word play, and the always fun second hand embarrassment hilarity that ensues from their various snafus. The romance is slow burning and sweet and a nice counter to the constant funny. All in all, a fun, slightly nutty read.

BUY IT: https://amzn.to/430qAwr

SYNOPSIS:

A successful writer accidentally sends her new (and super-dreamy) editor the wrong manuscript. Instead of the full-length paranormal novel she promised Longstrand Publishing, she sends the fan fiction she’s written about her crush…on him—including every detail of the hot, steamy “physical activity” she’s fantasized about happening between them.

And Chase Dawson may be the hottest man alive and a super-talented editor to boot, but he’s completely oblivious that he’s the star of the manuscript he just convinced his boss to green-light.

Brooke Baker has been through a lot in her thirty-one years of life.

A divorce.
A career change.
A move to New York City from “small-town” Ohio.
Not to mention, she has a bit of a medical condition that involves occasional fainting spells, mild embarrassment, and the companionship of her adorable service dog and canine sidekick, Benji.

But none of it has prepared her for this.

None of it prepared her for Chase Dawson.

Strong jaw, blue eyes, cut muscles, and a perfect swoop of superhero-worthy black hair, Chase’s features are those of a book boyfriend and then some. Obviously, Brooke would know—she literally filled an entire manuscript with it.

A manuscript no one was ever supposed to see.

Will she survive two months of revising and editing the sizzling romance she imagined with Chase in extremely close quarters with him? Or will the constant white lies and overwhelming attraction make her spontaneously combust?

 

NEW REVIEW: Son of a Gun by Jay Crownover

OUR REVIEW:

I've been loving this series-following the 2nd generation of Marked Men children and now with Son of a Gun, characters from The Point. It's always interesting to see how an author envisions her characters and what they're up to long after their story has been published and while it's been a while since I've thought of some of these characters, it didn't even matter. Jay Crownover did a great job of making Son of a Gun stand alone if you haven't read any of the other novels (or have forgotten characters). 

I'd been waiting for Daire and Campbell's book and it did not disappoint. Ever since they met and seemed to rub each other the wrong way, I knew these two would be fun to read about. They were. Both Daire and Campbell are grappling with finding their way and figuring out who they are in this world, and it works so beautifully because they soon discover that as opposite as they are, their situations are strangely complimentary and can teach them each a little something about how to see things from a different perspective. 

I enjoyed all aspects of their romance-how they were thrown together, how they bond, how they learn from each other and fall for each other. I also enjoyed that their problems were never really with each other, but with those on the outside. It made those inevitable hard moments easy because it was them against the world, and not them against each other. In a novel that had a lot of other drama, it was nice that it was never drama they created to make things worse. 

This mash up of characters and backgrounds worked and I'm so glad that Jay Crownover put these two together on the page; I flew through the pages because of how much fun they were to read.

BUY HERE: https://amzn.to/45zk5Cl

SYNOPSIS:

Heavy is the head that inherits the crown.

The only thing on Daire Archer’s mind when she pulled a disappearing act on Christmas was proving she was worthy of being her father's daughter. She was born an Archer, which was a blessing and a curse, and Daire was determined to show everyone she deserved to carry the legacy that came with her name.

There is power in a name, and being an Archer meant Daire needed to do better, to be better. At least, that’s what she thought she needed, until a boy from nowhere—with a name that meant nothing—showed her that she was already pretty great just the way she was.

Campbell has always rejected everything concerning his maniacal father and his troubled past. When he left Nowhere, he was certain he wanted a nice, quiet life free from the only things he'd ever known: violence and bloodshed. He thought he needed to be a better man. He wondered if there was a kinder, gentler version of himself under his thick armor of scars and tattoos.

It wasn't until he started chasing Daire Archer all over hell and back that Campbell realized he needed to be a man who was better at being bad than everyone else in his troubled world.

Because now, he had a problematic princess to protect. One with an uncanny ability for finding trouble. Where Daire is concerned, being a good guy isn't necessary.

 

REVIEW: Codename Charming by Lucy Parker

 

OUR REVIEW:

When Lucy Parker releases a new novel, we're always ready. Her novels entertain us with snappy dialogue, plunge us into London (and in this case a royal family), and always guarantee a good time. In Codename Charming we get to watch Pet and Matthias go from pretending to be annoyed (or actually just a little flustered) around each other to becoming friends while faking a relationship that we all know will never be fake at all. Both Pet and Matthias come from less than wonderful upbringings and both carry wounds from earlier years; the difference is that Pet is a ray of sunshine while Matthias is perceived to be a grump (he's actually a huge softy) and while these wounds could prohibit them from falling for each other, it's really their disbelief that the other could possibly want them that is the real obstacle. Typical. 

Playing in the background is a royal family that is a hot mess in the most hilarious ways and a nefarious media circus always trying to put them in the worst light--which is how the "fake" romance comes to be. While this is all going on, we get to know more about our main characters and their friends, as well as see more of Pet's brother and sister-in-law and how their dueling bakeries are doing (happy to report all is well there). 

As usual, Parker not only has us invested in what's going on with our main characters, she's building interest in secondary characters, making us hopeful we'll get another book in this series. 

BUY IT: https://amzn.to/3jWWc5x

SYNOPSIS:

Following Battle Royal, beloved author Lucy Parker pens another delicious romantic comedy about a fake relationship between a grumpy royal bodyguard and the charming, sunny assistant who melts his cold, hard exterior.

Petunia De Vere enjoys being the personal assistant to lovable, bumbling Johnny Marchmont. But the job has its share of challenges, including the royal’s giant, intimidating bodyguard, Matthias. Pet and Matthias are polar opposites—she’s spontaneous and enthusiastic, he’s rigid and stoic—but she can sense there’s something softer underneath that tough exterior…

For Matthias Vaughn, protecting others is the name of the game. But keeping his royal charge out of trouble is more difficult than he imagined because everywhere Johnny goes, calamity ensues, and his petite, bubbly assistant is often caught in the fray. Matthias hates the idea of Pet getting hurt and he’s determined to keep everyone safe, even if it means clashing with his adorable new coworker.

When a clumsy moment leads to a questionable tabloid photo, the press begins to speculate that Pet is romantically involved with Johnny. To put an end to the rumors, the royal PR team asks Pet and Matthias to stage a fake relationship and the two reluctantly agree. But as they spend more time together outside of work, they begin to wonder what real emotions this pretend connection might uncover. Especially when a passionate kiss leaves both of their heads spinning… 

REVIEW: Second Down Darling by Lex Martin

Title: Second Down Darling

Author: Lex Martin

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Tropes: Single Dad/Forbidden Romance

Release Date: August 7, 2023

OUR REVIEW:

 I am such a sucker for this series. The second I download the newest book, I inhale it, which is exactly what I did with Second Down Darling. This novel featured Charlie (a friend of Maggie's in The Baby Blitz) and Jake; she's been crushing on him since high school, even though he's totally off limits (due to his one night stand with her sister, resulting in his son). Case closed, novel over. Yeah right. Never ever is that easy, and why would we want it to be? 

On the surface, anyone can see why Charlie and Jake being in a relationship would be a huge no-no. He has a son with her sister and that just seems so weird and confusing, right? Well the way that Lex Martin builds their world, you never feel that weirdness. As a matter of fact, it feels absolutely natural and right that Charlie and Jake be together, despite the initial SMH-ness of it. Charlie's been nothing but respectful of Jake and the 'relationship' he tried to forge with her sister, for the sake of his son. As a matter of fact, when she realizes that her unrelenting crush is potentially damaging for all involved, she removes herself from the situation. Fast forward two years, and Jake and Charlie end up in the same town, despite her ghosting everyone from home. As their story builds and you get to know them, you can't help but want things to work for them both. Charlie and Jake are genuinely good people trying to do the best they can with what they have. 

As with all of the Varsity Dads, it's never an easy journey to a happily ever after. There's fear, desperation, and hope all wrapped up in football and parenthood and the relationships they're all involved with/in, as they all look ahead to trying to achieve their dreams. And while each of these couples have different challenges, I love that I know they're going to get it all figured out and dreams will come true by the end of it all. Lex Martin never leaves me in that anxious angsty-ness for too long, and always gives me more than enough of an ending (and those extra epilogues are the best for really closing things out and giving each couple a sense of finality). Second Down Darling is a great escape and the perfect way to wait for regular season football to start. 

BLURB

Jake’s my best friend and first love. There’s just one problem—he belongs to my sister.

I’ve been crushing on Jake for years, but never had the guts to tell him. One drunken night with my sister and two pink lines later, and he’s lost to me forever.

She doesn’t care that I met Jake Ramirez first. That he and I were best friends first. That I fell in love with him first. Because what my sister wants, my sister gets.

When she video-calls me and Jake accidentally walks by in the buff, something in me snaps.

Transferring to a different college might seem like a copout, but I have to get away from Jake and my sister before I say or do something I’ll regret. In an act of desperation, I ghost my old life.

For the next two years, everything is great—until I come face-to-face with Jake and his son, who my sister abandoned.

Jake’s the new wide receiver at my school, and he wants nothing to do with me, which is fine because I plan to keep my distance. Except we’re thrown together in the most dire circumstances that bring back all those old feelings.

They say everyone deserves a second chance, but my heart can’t handle breaking one more time.

Second Down Darling is an angsty, friends-to-lovers, forbidden romance, featuring a sexy single dad who’s a down-and-out college football player and a nerdy girl determined to overcome her wallflower ways. It has major second chance vibes and lots of steam! Second Down Darling is a dual POV standalone in the USA Today-bestselling series Varsity Dads.

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Lex Martin is the USA Today bestselling author of The Varsity Dad Dilemma, the Texas Nights series, and the Dearest series, books she hopes readers love but her parents avoid. A former high school English teacher and freelance journalist, she resides in Texas with her husband, twin daughters, and a bunny named Dandelion.

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