Category: Spicy🌶️

Categories
Romance Spicy🌶️ Thick Babes

My Big Fat Fake Marriage

by Charlotte Stein

Rating: 4*s – Sweet n Spicy!

Publish Date is March 11, 2025

Publisher’s Synopsis:

“Connie has always distrusted nice guys. In her experience, they’re just waiting to reveal some horrible secret. And then she meets big, adorable, Henry Samuel Beckett—editor extraordinaire, lover of bow ties, sweet and so cheery she struggles to believe he’s real.

Until Henry Samuel Beckett—or Beck, as he’s known to most—tells her the secret underneath his sunny surface: He’s been single all his life. But in a moment of panic, he’s told everyone at his publishing house that he’s married. And when Connie, an aspiring writer herself, can’t help defending him, she ends up being the fake wife he doesn’t actually have.

When they head off on a writing retreat, surrounded by people convinced this must be a ruse, both of them can’t help but agree. Until they share their first kiss, their first touch, their first time in only one bed. Side by side, every night, as the simmering tension builds…Connie starts to wonder if this might be real after all.”

REVIEW:

CHARLOTTE STEIN has quickly become one of my absolute favorite authors of thick queen contemporary romance alongside Olivia Dade. I love the dynamic between her characters and My Big Fat Fake Marriage was no exception. This one was so cute, so sexy, and 100% awesome. Deserves the all the delicious buzzwords like ‘unputdownable’ and ‘beautifully smutty’. Our mustachioed main man was all green flags and our thick queen was properly ravished and had excellent character development. 

Love this author’s stuff and CANNOT WAIT for what she has next!

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced copy in exchange for this review!

Categories
Adventure Historical Fiction Romance Spicy🌶️

A Lady’s Lesson in Scandal

By Darcy McGuire

Rating

Available Now from Boldwood Books

Publisher’s Synopsis:

“Secret femme-fatale in training Millicent Whittenburg needs to escape her unpleasant betrothal. Taking matters into her own hands, she plans her eventual ruin! Then she can disappear from society to carry out the Queen’s deadly missions. Step 1: seduce the one man who despises marriage more than her!

However, she hugely underestimates her target. Major General Beaufort Drake. Fearsome private investigator, he’s notoriously cold and visibly battle scarred. But Millie’s scandalously public kiss awakens a deeply suppressed desire in Drake. Instead of allowing them both to succumb to shame he does the unthinkable, and offers for her hand in a convenient marriage.

Nothing prepares them for the fireworks when a fearless damsel collides with a dangerous Major General! And as their secret missions align they face their hardest test on the glittering battlefield – a week long wedding house party where there is nowhere to escape…only new and wicked lessons to be learnt!”

REVIEW

This was my first in this series and it was so great, even without reading the official first. I love the “mission” that the couple has in common–very important work fighting human trafficking!

The sparks certainly fly between our MCs and despite how they started the relationship, they are stronger together fighting for a similar cause. However, I think my favorite part of these books is how absolutely supportive our MMCs are with their counterparts. Although, if they weren’t, I don’t think the FMCs would hesitate to show them the what-for!

Thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

Categories
Contemporary Fiction Fantasy Romance Science Fiction Spicy🌶️ Uncategorized

Love & Other Conspiracies

By Mallory Marlowe

Rating:

NOW AVAILABLE FROM BERKLEY PUBLISHING

Publisher’s Synopsis:

“Hallie Barrett’s life has imploded after she’s dumped by her hotshot ex, who also happens to be her coworker and the star of the online series she was producing. Without a new show to present for the company competition, she’ll be out of a job. But inspiration can come from the strangest places . . . like the most handsome guy she’s ever seen passionately discussing Bigfoot on a late-night docuseries.
 
Hayden Hargrove made a name for himself as a cryptid expert on his hit podcast, and is intrigued by the plucky, blue-haired producer who offers him the opportunity to lead his own web show. When the production team sees that Hayden’s solo on-screen presence is bad enough to make a ghost blanch, Hallie jumps on camera too, hitting him (and his cryptids) with a healthy dose of skepticism—and enough chemistry to electrify their show to the top of the competition.
 
As Hayden and Hallie investigate the unknown, they unearth feelings for each other that shake their beliefs to the core. In their search for Mothman, aliens, and the truth, the most elusive discovery might just be learning to love again.”

REVIEW

I’m a real nerd when it comes not only to books, but also supernatural stuff. Cryptids, UFOs, the paranormal–you name it, I’ve probably heard of it before. Sasquatch possibly being an interdimensional being? Yup. Poltergeist activity being a manifestation of excess preteen energy? Of course!

That said, I was so excited to read a romcom featuring some of my favorite material. I love a good will they won’t they, high chemistry/high tension contemporary romance, and this book did not disappoint. I love seeing it on shelves and I make sure to point it out to people and say “OH, this is a good one!”

Thanks to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

Categories
Romance RomCom Spicy🌶️ Thick Babes Witchy!

How to Help a Hungry Werewolf

By Charlotte Stein.

Rating: 3*s – Supernatural Spice

NOW AVAILABLE FROM ST. MARTIN’S PRESS!

Publisher’s Synopsis:

“When Cassandra Camberwell returns to her hometown of Hollow Brook to clear out her late grandmother’s ramshackle old house, the last thing she expects is Seth Brubaker on her doorstep. Her former best friend was responsible for the worst moment of her high school life, and she can’t imagine he wants to do anything but torment her all over again.

Until she unearths the real reason this annoyingly gorgeous beast of a man keeps hanging around: he’s an actual werewolf, who’s certain she’s the witch that will ease his suffering. But Cassie just isn’t sure if she can trust him again. So Seth offers a pact: he’ll teach her all about her undiscovered magic, and she will brew the potions he needs. No feelings, no funny business, just a witch and a werewolf striking a deal.

Totally doable. Until they get hit with a do-or-die mating bond. And now the heat is rising, in between fights with formers bullies and encounters with talking raccoons. They just have to not give in. Unless giving in just might be the very thing they never knew they always wanted.”

REVIEW:

Let me preface this by saying that I LOVE Charlotte Stein books. I also LOVE witchy books. I dig Werewolf stories, and LOVE enemies to lovers romances. Why am I sugar coating? Because although I loved the ending and see the potential in a series, the first 25%-40% of this was ROUGH. Not everything. Just the dialogue between the MCs. It felt like it was one person talking to themselves. They talked the same and it really did not feel like there was any actual chemistry. The male MC had some Himbo energy, but it wasn’t pulled off well–at first!

Although the beginning was rough and I hated the dialogue, the rest of the story was a ton of fun. Very redemptive. It’s kind of worth the bumpy road in the waybin, hut it would have been better if the dialogue hadn’t been super cringe. I almost DNFed in the beginning. But I’m really glad I stuck with it!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

Categories
RomCom Spicy🌶️

The Launch Date

By Annabelle Slator

Rating: 4.5*s – Ambitiously Spicy Rivals to Lovers

Publisher’s Synopsis

“Grace Hastings’s dream job at the popular “true love” dating app, Fate, has turned into a nightmare. Her boss is a leech, her career is stagnating, and her fiancĂ© has just brutally dumped her. Her hope for finding her own love story is waning, and she feels like a fraud for promoting a concept she no longer believes in. When the company’s CEO offers her an opportunity to earn a big promotion, she resolves to fight her imposter syndrome to show she deserves a seat at the table.

The opportunity? To launch a brand-new app focusing on IRL dating and genuine connection.

The problem? She must develop and test-drive a series of “first dates” with the other person gunning for the job: notorious socialite playboy and Grace’s biggest work rival, Eric Bancroft.

During their disastrous hikes, dangerous cooking classes, and steamy yoga sessions, they begin to realize their stark differences may just be surface level and Eric might just be the perfect person to challenge Grace’s perceptions of love, dating culture, and self-worth.”

REVIEW:

Absolutely ADDICTIVE friends to rivals to lovers workplace romance! Sexy, emotional, and hilarious with believable characters and excellent character development. Highly recommend starting during the weekend because you will not be able to put this down and unless you don’t need to sleep before going to your office job, weeknights are not it. 

Loved.

Thank you Netgalley and Avon Harper Voyager for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Categories
Historical Fiction Romance Spicy🌶️

In Want of a Viscount

Final Novel in the Chessman series –NOW AVAILABLE

by Lorraine Heath

Rating:

Publisher’s Synopsis:

“American Leonora Garrison has come to England in desperate search of investors to keep her family business afloat but instead finds surprising pleasure when she visits an exclusive ladies’ club and dares to kiss a stranger, who leaves her yearning for more.

With a libertine for a father, Viscount Wyeth, more commonly known as Rook, vowed to live his life above reproach, with nary a hint of disgrace. Until one night, he takes a mysterious beauty into his arms, a lady who tempts him to cast his sterling reputation aside in favor of more wicked pursuits.

When fate reunites the couple, they are torn between desire and duty. Leonora may want the viscount, but she needs a stakeholder not a lover. When caught in a compromising situation that places everything they hold dear at risk, they must determine how best to win. However, in this scandalous game, nothing except love takes all.”

REVIEW:

The Chessmen series as a whole is a fantastic historical romance adventure, but I especially loved In Want of a Viscount.

Our MC Lenora is inventive and secretly adventurous. She is on a mission to save the family business, a beloved memory of her late father. Her brother and mother could care less, but she’s bound and determined to save her father’s legacy. While visiting a club for women, she is offered an opportunity to kiss a stranger. She decides to take a chance and gets more than she bargained for when she ends up kissing Rook, who is filling in for an employee at his brother’s club. Sparks fly, but they part–never thinking they’ll see one another again.

We know where this goes. Of course they see one another again, and that spark of passion is still intense. It leads to lots of spice and plenty of tension, which–wow. I truly loved the plot and the characters were very well thought out, but I wouldn’t expect less from Heath.

Thanks to Netgalley and Avon Harper Voyager for the free copy in exchange for an honest review!

Categories
Adventure Fantasy Spicy🌶️ Survival

Fourth Wing

By Rebecca Yarros. Book 1 of the Empyrean series

Rating: 4*s

Publisher’s Synopsis:

“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

I was SERIOUSLY HESITANT to read this one for no real reason other than the length, which felt like a herculean task. I finally had a friend really lean into it and tell me to just give it a try. Well, you see the stars. Sometimes Violet annoyed me, but I loved the life or death feel and the danger around every corner. I devoured this book and Iron Flame in less than a week–don’t ask me how I crushed almost 1500 pages in a week, I honestly do not know.

The plot is fast paced and there is a stack of secrets that you absolutely race to reveal. The tension between the main characters is palpable and the stakes are sky high–any wrong move could be a death sentence. I was hooked on this in the same way I was hooked on Hunger Games and ACOTAR when they first hit shelves.

If you’re into high tension, some spice, and fantasy, get on the frigging band wagon, dude.

Categories
Romance Spicy🌶️ Witchy!

Hot Hex Boyfriend

By Carly Bloom

Now Available from FOREVER Publishing!

Publisher’s Synopsis:

“As a child, Delia Merriweather believed with all her heart that she was a witch. Because all Merriweather women were witches. There was just one problem: they had no magic. As an adult, Delia no longer believes magic even exists. However, when she accidentally breaks a hex and restores her family’s powers, she’s forced to accept a new reality: she is a witch. And maybe that’s why the crushingly handsome guy next door has been looking at her like he’s expecting her to fly off on a broomstick, cackling into the night.
 
Just when Max thinks he’s done keeping an eye on the bumbling Merriweather women, now he must help his neighbors learn to control their magic before they out witches everywhere. But Delia can’t decide if Max is helping or hexing, and Max can’t tell whether his growing feelings for Delia are real, or if he’s come under the spell of the most powerful—and clueless—witch he’s ever known. And the last thing Max needs is to fall for the one witch who could rule the entire witching world by controlling the hearts of men.”

REVIEW:

This was one of the coziest contemporary witchy romances I have ever read and I absolutely adored it. I’ve also read A LOT of witchy contemporary romances. I found the magic system very interesting and the characters were fully engaging and as layered as a flaky biscuit. There was also a little bit of spice and I will never complain about some tasty spice! It’s very cute, funny, magical, and surprisingly believeable given the subject matter. Overall, this was a superb first entry into a series (yes, I strongly feel this needs to be a series), and I highly recommend it for any of you witchy folk looking for a magical little cozy of found family, hot fellas, amazing women, love, and magic.

Thanks to Netgalley, Avon and Harper Voyager, and Carly Bloom for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for this review. I am so excited for more Willow Root!

Categories
Romance Spicy🌶️

When Grumpy Met Sunshine

By Charlotte Stein. Pub Date Feb 6, 2024

5*s, 4 x Spice ❤

Publisher’s Synopsis:

“When grumpy ex-footballer Alfie Harding gets badgered into selling his memoirs, he knows he’s never going to be able to write them. He hates revealing a single thing about himself, is allergic to most emotions, and can’t imagine doing a good job of putting pen to paper.

And so in walks curvy, cheery, cute as heck ghostwriter Mabel Willicker, who knows just how to sunshine and sass her way into getting every little detail out of Alfie. They banter and bicker their way to writing his life story, both of them sure they’ll never be anything other than at odds.

But after their business arrangement is mistaken for a budding romance, the pair have to pretend to be an item for a public who’s ravenous for more of this Cinderella story. Or at least, it feels like it’s pretend—until each slow burn step in their fake relationship sparks a heat neither can control. Now they just have to decide: is this sizzling chemistry just for show? Or something so real it might just give them their fairytale ending?”

REVIEW

When Grumpy Met Sunshine is the kind of romance I live for. Curvy/plus sized cheery MC? Check. Tall, handsome, super broody love interest? Check. A super unlikely romance, hijinks, spice, and a strangers to friends to lovers trope? Yes. Yes. Yes. Also yes. It’s a “something’s there that wasn’t there before” and I’m here for it.

Mabel is a ghost writer and her latest assignment, writing a biography for footballer Alfie Harding, she’s ready for complications. She’s not the first ghost writer to try to tackle Alfie’s story. He’s rejected several who could have done the job. However, Mabel wins Alfie over when she stands up for herself on first meeting him. Unfortunately, what Mabel thought would be the biggest issue with this assignment, namely Alfie’s forbidding and grumpy nature, turns out to be less of an issue than the media speculation that they are a couple.

What I loved most about this story was the friendship that blossomed between them and the way Stein wrote the potent chemistry of the two. It’s hard not to feel what the characters are experiencing and you end up falling in love right alongside them. Obviously this kicks up the impact of the spicy parts, and the ending is so heartwarming you may find out when you’re done reading that your face is a little wet for some odd reason.

Thanks to Netgalley, Charlotte Stein, and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest, personal review.

Categories
Historical Fiction Romance Spicy🌶️

The Duke Starts a Scandal

By Sophie Jordan, Pub Date Oct 23 2023

5 Stars, 3 🌶️🌶️🌶️ . This was my favorite installment in the Duke Hunt series!

Publisher’s Synopsis:

“A duke with secrets. 

Lucian, the newly minted Duke of Penning, has much to prove— to himself, his family and the ton. Craving spotless respectability, he must find an aristocratic wife. Unfortunately, he can’t keep his eyes—and thoughts—off his deliciously distracting housekeeper. Such a dalliance can only mar the facade he’s constructed to protect his sisters’ future from the demons of his past…but this fiery passion is a temptation he cannot resist. While Susanna may not the bride he needs, she is everything he desires. 

 A woman with a past.

As the housekeeper to one of the grandest estates in England, Susanna Lockhart has worked determinedly to become all that is proper and efficient, and she never steps over the line. Romance is an indulgence for the upper class, not for her—and most especially not with her employer. But every smoldering glance from the surly, handsome duke calls to the long-buried reckless wanton inside Susanna. A love between them can never be, but will Lucian and Susanna risk being together…Even if it starts a scandal…”

My Two Pence:

The Duke Hunt was a great Jordan series. I am a sucker for spicy historical romance, and this entire series was less of the Ton and set in a provincial town. That did not at all detract from the story or time period. If anything, that made it feel far more delicious.

This installment – unfortunately, the final one – was especially tasty and had a healthy dose of my favorite enemies-to-lovers trope. The story is based on the actual duke arriving to the estate and finding a housekeeper that has been employed there for quite a while. The country manor has been under her care since the last (actual) duke was in residence, as is basically the only home she has ever known. Then the two start butting heads with how the house should be run. But at some point, that animosity turns into something far more delicious, and the risks reap their own rewards.

The spice is great and Sophie Jordan is definitely one of my autoread authors. She never sacrifices plot for spice and the tension in her books is absolutely mouth watering. I highly suggest her to anyone, and The Duke Hunt series in their totality as well!

Thank you to Sophie Jordan, Avon Harper Voyager, and Netgalley for the advanced copy!