The Weekly Recap

What a week it’s been friends! The large research project I’ve been working on finally wrapped up (and was presented), which means I am officially on vacation! Yes, you heard it here first, your favourite neighbourhood romance book blogger is about to live it up for the next 14 days with no work and ALL the romance books. I actually need to dig myself out from under the absolute pile of ARCs sitting on my kindle (~10 of them last I checked) so wish me luck!

But first here’s all the romances I read this week…

Shielding Jayme by Susan Stoker

A shorter novella features a down on her luck baker and a military aircraft mechanic contractor. Very insta-love, which is a standard feature of most of Stoker’s romances, AND their size differences. My word, every paragraph was regaling us with how HUGE he was and how tiny she was. It was a ok.

Vampire Prince by Juliette N Banks

Apple Books algorithm strikes again! This is a fated mates meets romantic suspense paranormal romance between a royal vampire and a human. Listen I LOVE, all caps love a vampire / fate mates romance and for most parts I think this was entertaining enough, but there are better ones out there.

Vampire Protector by Juliette N Banks

Well, well, well if it isn’t the dumb b*tch that runs this blog, back again hoping this one would be better. And you know what, no. Lots to work with here and I kind of wanted a little more? But vampires DO be horny, so there is that. BUT, read with extreme caution as there is graphic and extreme on page depictions of rape/sa that did not have any content warnings. VERY upsetting to kind of stumble upon this.

Vampire Spy by Juliette N Banks

This has extreme SA/Rape storylines and yet again another graphically depicted scene. Beyond that some really problematic themes surrounding SA survivors (being healed through magical d*ck). I dunno read with caution.

Sweet Brutality by Zoe Blake (Free with KU)

I’ve read so many KU mafia romances that at a certain point they all kind of meld together into 1 singular story with mostly the same plot-points. So much so that the entire time I read this I kept thinking, wait have I read this before? Sassy woman who’s been treated badly by everyone in her life, is “chosen” by the extremely dominant mafia guy who is into BDSM (but is a terrible representation of trust, safety and consent) and butt stuff, there is dub-con but she kind of loves it?

Spare Me by Tara Sivec (Free with KU)

I’ve lost track of what Summersweet Island book this is (I think 6?) but Tara is a real auto-read author for me. And this one is no different. Hot, quiet nice guy Ryan who is the high-school algebra teacher, finds his voice and dominant side in the bedroom with Danny. Lego sets, listening to police scanners, classic island hijinks, crafting with the men and grump Uncle Dean, Sip and Bitch! I loved it.

When She Belongs by Ruby Dixon (Free with KU)

I picked this up on KU after reading an “good girl” excerpt over on the r/romancebooks subreddit. I love Ruby’s alien romances. This one for me might be the romance I’ve read that has the most depth in terms of story development and love story. So many things worked for me, and the genuine love these two have for each other makes this story so great.

Puck Me Secretly by Odette Stone (Free with KU)

Okay listen. This book is all caps B-O-N-K-E-R-S. It starts out with a meet cute on a plane, which turns into a plane crash, which turns into a hook-up one night stand. I so stupidly and wrongly assumed when these two end up meeting up again there would be a lot of tension re: plane crash / and now being colleagues but no that basically isn’t really even a plot point? And the mean girl drama?! Terrible. We hate it. Oh and the MMC is the product of SA/Rape?! Which we learn at like the 70% mark. Oh and then the FMC is held at gun point?! OH, and at one point late in the book during dirty talk the MMC is like I WANT TO PUT A BABY IN YOU, all before he’d even said he loves her. Listen this book had all the potential for soft, delicious caretaking moments and I’m still here thinking WTAF did I read?