Ice Queen – Gun Brooke

Feb 3, 2021 ~ lgbtqreader85 ~ Leave a comment

I have to admit that until the release of this I hadn’t been aware of Brooke’s romances, only her sci-fi work and therefore hadn’t taken the opportunity to read her work. I was pleasantly surprised by the book and enjoyed how it introduced important topics outside the main romance itself.

Aislin is a school guidance counsellor. She spends her spare time hitting the town with her friends. Susanna is a CEO of a fashion conglomerate and finds herself with very little time for relationships of any kind, including the time to build a good relationship with her daughter. They find themselves pushed together at a club when Susanna is entertaining some clients that just want to have fun.

Unbeknownst to Aislin, the friendship she’s struck up with a teenager in a coffee shop brings her back to Susanna in a professional capacity.

The development of the romance worked really well for me. It was always there, but both characters prioritised Cynt, Susanna’s daughter and her situation at first. This gave appropriate time for a bit of a slow burn. I also enjoyed the development of Aislin’s relationship with Cynt, there were some things I thought might be added to this to create drama later on in the storyline but I’m really glad to say that didn’t happen.

The bullying storyline was dealt with well. I think there were some elements I’d have preferred to have been closed off more fully as I felt neither Aislin or Susanna would have let it slide, but I can understand why Brooke chose to focus on the relationship rather than more explicitly discussing more of the reasons behind Cynt’s unhappiness.

As an ice queen character I really like Susanna. I found that she was in touch with how she came across to the world and I appreciated that. Both characters might have been a little bit slow at communicating with each other, but they did communicate and that was refreshing too.

I will definitely want to read about the characters that appear in this from the Coffee Sonata universe and explore Brooke’s romances further. I would recommend this to romance fans and those that are fond of ice queens.

I received an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Spirit of the Law – Carsen Taite

Jan 31, 2021 ~ lgbtqreader85 ~ Leave a comment

I have to say this wasn’t what I was expecting when I started reading, it’s certainly a lighter read than I’m used to from Taite (though I am still working my way through her back catalogue so it could just be me). I also wasn’t expecting the elements of the paranormal that the narrative includes, though whilst they surprised me, I did in fact enjoy them.

We meet Summer on her first day of jury duty. She ends up being voted as the foreperson on a case where Owen is the DA. Owen doesn’t lose cases, in fact she has a perfect record. When the jury convenes to decide the verdict, Summer finds herself with influence she didn’t want and an understanding and outlook to the case that leads to her peers breaking Owen’s perfect run.

Owen is working on a larger case with bigger implications and when Summer has a vision involving the case, Owen’s boss forces them together. Owen is sceptical as to what Summer can provide to her case, but it’s fun reading them battle and work through the case together.

I loved all of the characters in this one, including the friendship Owen starts to develop with Summer’s family. I really started to believe that she would fit in with them by the end of the book.

The biggest drawback to this book for me was that it ended too early. I liked the ending, but it felt rushed. I like it when I get to see the characters together for a while before the book ends. I would definitely love a second part of this to see them continuing to work together and how their relationship develops.

Taite fans won’t be disappointed with this. I would definitely recommend this to romance fans and those that like their romance to include lawyers and a little bit of mystery. Due to the slight paranormal elements I think paranormal romance fans would also enjoy this even if they don’t normally read Taite.

I received an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Detour to Love – Amanda Radley

Jan 31, 2021 ~ lgbtqreader85 ~ Leave a comment

This was my first Radley and I’m happy to say it won’t be the last. This was a sweet easy-read romance, with an age-gap, an ice queen type character, and settings in more than one country, ensuring that things are kept interesting.

Lily is an artist traveling to Tokyo to meet the person she hopes will become her girlfriend for the first time. On the plane she meets Celia, an insurance executive on her way to Tokyo to accept an award. Lily is excited about her adventure, Celia would rather be anywhere but there.

I don’t want to give away too much about why Celia feels the way she does about herself and her career, but I really appreciated how Radley incorporated different sides to Celia, and how her friendship/relationship with Lily encourages her to see other sides to the situation.

Whilst it only forms a small part of the book I really enjoyed Celia’s time with her brother and the contrasts/similarities between the two.

I enjoyed how Radley played the conflict between Celia and Lily out throughout the book, rather than focussing on one big particular blow-up. The continued conflict and then points of understanding between the two makes the development of the trust between the two more natural and a nice read. The character development of both is strong, both individually and together.

The storyline has interesting plot points to keep you reading but is at its heart a romance between two people who on the surface are opposites and I think all romance fans would enjoy this one.

I received an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Clinch – Nicole Disney

Jan 12, 2021Jan 12, 2021 ~ lgbtqreader85 ~ Leave a comment

I’m not an MMA fan, but I loved this book. It’s the perfect mix of action and romance with some family drama thrown in for good measure.

Eden is the undefeated MMA champion in her weight class. She runs a Taekwondo dojang in a difficult neighbourhood and is dedicated to her training and the local kids.

Brooklyn is an up and coming fighter from a long line of jiu-jitsu specialists. As the only woman and the youngest one in her family she’s under a lot of pressure to take Eden’s belt and be the first Shaw to claim a world title.

I love so many things about both characters. The inclusion of Taekwondo and Jin as her Eden’s martial arts master allows us to see a different side to MMA than you might presume, with honour and discipline shown through Eden and her approach to life.

Brooklyn is passionate and out to achieve everything she can as quickly as possible, but underneath the bravado and brashness she’s soft, loving and conflicted. Her family are extremely homophobic and her love for Eden is something she struggles to reconcile with her desire to fight and make her family happy.

The chemistry between the two of them is really steamy and I loved how there is balance between tension, desire and love throughout the storyline.
The descriptions of the MMA action really make you feel like you’re in the heat of the moment with them, somehow without feeling too violent, which really impressed me.

Disney has created something special here, and even if you don’t love sport, or martial arts, I highly recommend you try this, it’s a definite re-read for me.

I received an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Veterinary Technician – Nancy Wheelton

Jan 12, 2021Jan 12, 2021 ~ lgbtqreader85 ~ Leave a comment

3.5 stars. I thought I would be onto a winner with this one – animals and romance should have been my thing, but this didn’t wow me. It’s a solid romance, with some good moments, but it didn’t wow me.

Val is a veterinary technician. She’s happy with her daughter and her friends and is hopeful one day she’ll be able to go to veterinary school. Whilst she’s happy she’s living a well organised somewhat rigid life and after some bad breakups isn’t sure she’s looking for a relationship.

Ronnie is relatively new to town. She teaches English at the school in town and helps with some extra-curricular activities. She has a background with animals from her teenage years and like Val is suffering from the effects of a breakup in her past. She’s also had addiction issues in the past.

I didn’t realise this was the second part in a series when I picked this one to read. I don’t think I missed anything by not having read Veterinary Partner – but I wish I had as I liked both Lauren and Callie whom the first book is about. The moments both of these characters appear are some of the better ones in the book so I think even though I wouldn’t return to this one, I will still make the time to go back to the original.

The book alternates point of view and the unfortunate thing for me about this was that both points of view were often just reasoning and feelings about why they shouldn’t be together. There’s a lot of stop start in their relationship – making this quite a significant slow burn.

I hadn’t read the blurb since choosing the book (a normal habit for me), so it came as a bit of a surprise to me how Ronnie’s addiction was introduced, as whilst we spend a lot of time with Ronnie clearly having issues with the idea of a relationship and failure in general, it isn’t explained why. I feel like I would have connected more with the book if it had been.

This wouldn’t be the first book I would think of to recommend, but I think it’s likely if you enjoyed the first part you’ll enjoy this one too and if you’re a romance and animal fan you’re likely to find something in this too.

I received an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.