The Wolf and the Sheep (Wolf, #1) by Penelope Sky Review

This is a spoiler-free review!

This book was literally sitting in my TBR pile since August 2020... Well folks, we made it! I have been itching for an arranged marriage trope for awhile, and this needed to hit the spot for me. Arwen and Maverick are at immediate odds with one another and they find themselves at the alter in order for their families to get what they want - to both of their resentment. Arwen wants a family, and Maverick is the last man on the planet who wants a wife, especially one he did not pick for himself.

Every other chapter was basically filled with "I do not want to be married to this person" while simultaneously followed by "Wow I think I am attracted to the person I am married to," which makes the plot become repetitive very quickly. However, you see Maverick and Arwen try to support and connect with each other in their own way, and while they do have this tension filled with arguments or the silent treatment, you could tell the chemistry was brewing. I would have loved to see that chemistry develop just a little bit more - they were in limbo for a majority of the book.

It never felt as though there were any stakes in the game until the last 15% of the book, and even then I was not that invested in Maverick and Arwen's relationship - if you could even call it that. They basically just existed in the same house together and have about three more intimate interactions with each other. You could tell that they were beginning to care for one another, but it was so distant that it does not cause the reader to form a major attachment. However, I am intrigued enough to continue with this series, solely to see what exactly is in store for their chemistry development and possible obstacles with Maverick's family.

The dual perspective at least allowed the reader to see both sides of the story, but it felt surface-level at best, and as stated before, became very repetitive. I did not love their whole open marriage situation, even though they were basically forced to marry each other from the beginning. It made it hard to root for them to be together when they were always with other people or by themselves. That being said, I did like both of their personalities, and while they disagreed on things more often than not, I can certainly see a future between Maverick and Arwen.

If I remember correctly, I saw a blurb of this on TikTok, and we all know that my track record for recommendations on that app is questionable... I have gotten some hits, and definitely some misses - unfortunately, I just could not find myself invested in this story. I cannot even remember what the blurb was, and since it has been living and haunting my TBR pile for over four years, I figured it was time to tackle it. If you are looking for a super quick read with only a touch of smut, this is definitely the book for you - it is low stakes, and can essentially be thought of just the world-building aspect of the story, since it is the first installment of a trilogy.

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Moonlit Thorns (Midnight Manor, #1) by P. Rayne Review

This review contains mild spoilers for Moonlit Thorns - no major plot points are revealed!

I love a dark romance Beauty and the Beast retelling, and I have to say that I had the time of my life reading this book. An older, billionaire romance with a bunch of spice is right up my alley, and even though I have read my fair share of these type of retellings, it never gets old. When Anabelle's father passes away and her family's estate is slipping through their fingers, she finds herself employed and housed at a manor occupied by the Voss billionaire brothers. Asher Voss, the 36-year-old billionaire with a cold side has somehow ended up with Anabelle at his fingertips, and her curiosity is about to lead her down a path she may not be ready for.

Anabelle's ex-boyfriend literally coming up to her and telling -- not asking -- her that they are going to get married actually had me laughing out loud. This man is living in the land of delusion, and I was glad to see that she did not put up with it one bit. That being said, she traded him in for a 36-year-old man that is set on tormenting a 22-year-old girl for giggles and because he was low-key bored, which I have to say, not Asher's best moment. I fear Anabelle has a curse on her, because she somehow finds herself in danger or in trouble nearly ever chapter.

The entire contract agreement that Asher presents to Anabelle is literally so insane - taking her phone for a year, only paying her minimum wage, and only letting her leave on Saturday nights - at least she had the good sense to read over every page before signing it. She basically becomes an indentured servant to Asher, and he does not even give her a decent uniform - he has her wearing what I can only picture as clogs, for crying out loud.

Dual POV in romance books are my gold standard, and I was so glad to see that this was held up -- it is always so fun to watch the perspective change when the female lead thinks the male lead hates her, and then we see that he is utterly obsessed with her. I was cackling when he put in one of her AirPods and started listening to her audiobook because girl, same. Watching Anabelle literally walk into danger was infuriating at times - I wanted to reach into the book and shake her to warn her about the red flags she was ignoring.

Asher's' brothers are giving off major bad vibes when they are first introduced - maybe not all of them, but the breakfast scene had my skin crawling a bit, and I was glad Asher stepped in. Preston, and even the sheriff that Anabelle used to date, are certainly no better, and yet you become glad that Asher is there so at least someone is trying to protect her, even if he does have ulterior motives. Not entirely sure why Anabelle is suddenly okay with basically becoming Asher's sex bot in his house when she clearly has stronger feelings towards him. Like girl, he is paying you minimum wage and now instead of his maid, you are his secretary/assistant - I need you to stand up.

Anabelle is thrown into a pretty horrible situation, and someone literally pulls the line "Maybe she consented?" Boy, she was drugged and unconscious, let us use our big brain cells and think logically - she obviously did not. She honestly has to deal with a lot in this book, and this is far from the first time that she is found in a dangerous situation. As the story goes on, we reach more "action" scenes towards the end, and it reminded me so much of plot points from Fifty Shades Freed by E.L. James.

I had a blast reading this book - I was literally doing laps around my room at every chapter, and the story moves at a great pace to keep you completely enthralled with the characters. I do wish Anabelle stuck up for herself more often, and that Asher could tone it down a bit when he treated her rudely in the beginning, but overall it was a fun read and I will definitely be returning to this series.

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Prey Drive (Parallel Prey, #1) by Jen Stevens Review

This is a spoiler-free review! Prey Drive is currently available on Kindle Unlimited.

Dark romance was calling my name and I could not ignore it any longer. Haunted past? Stalker? And we get his POV? Count me in. I know this genre is not for everyone, but it is so entertaining, and I can truly say this was another fun read that keeps the reader intrigued.

Jovie has been through something unimaginable, and the way to start over is to move away from her family in an attempt to rebuild her life after a horrible night. What she does not expect is a mysterious man to become ever so present in her dreams, only to show up as real as you and me. Trying to make sense of this lurking figure, Jovie is just a lamb to his wolf, and only time will show her how much danger she is in when she least expects it.

Sebastian's loss has led him down a dark path that he can never return from, and in his conquest to seek revenge, he crosses roads with Jovie somewhere he least expects it. With Jovie posing a new obstacle in his path of destruction, he must find a way to balance his two lives without merging them. He fails this goal basically three seconds after laying eyes on Jovie, and his interest in her causes a chain reaction no one would see coming. Their relationship lowkey had me giggling and kicking my feet, and since I love a bit of drama, their complicated views of one another really drew me in. Sebastian is basically a little Zade Meadows junior, and that sold me on his character from his very first chapter.

With Jovie and Sebastian forming a complicated relationship, it leads to putting Jovie in a danger that she could not imagine, with Sebastian needing to find a way to keep her in his life while carrying our revenge. Yes, he may be a stalker, but he is polite! Kind of. At least he does not hide who he is from Jovie, so it is a point in my book. He certainly has some serious things to work through, but he has allowed revenge to take over his life, and he is becoming sloppy. He is passionate about two drastically different parts of his life, and takes both of them to the extreme.

Once the story gets into Jovie and Sebastian's relationship, we see them do so many things... literally I do not think that they were ever NOT doing something. And let me tell you, I was not complaining at all -- the author was able to pace the story and the spicier scenes together that still kept the story's pacing while giving a tasteful amount of spice. This being a dark romance, I will say that these scenes may not be everyone's cup of tea, and I would recommend looking into content warnings if you do not fair well on that front.

The ending of this book let me somewhat confused... not sure if we are headed toward the paranormal route or if there is something major to be revealed in the second book, but I will definitely be finishing this duet to get to the bottom of it. Sebastian and Jovie have such an interesting dynamic with each other, and with both having some significant things to work through, I need to see how it ends for them.

If you are looking for something Haunting Adeline-adjacent, but more tame, this is definitely a great choice to slowly work your way into the genre, without diving in head-first. I did not know what to expect from this story, but the summary was so intriguing, I just had to abandon my fantasy TBR to begin this duet. Stuff Your Kindle Day is officially two for two this month for me, and I honestly did not want to put this book down -- if I was not busy, I would have finished it in one sitting.

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Do You Want Me? (This Love Hurts, #0.5) by W. Winters Review

This is a spoiler-free review! Do You Want Me? is currently available for free on Kindle. You can read my reviews of It's Our Secret and A Single Glance on my blog.

Stuff Your Kindle Day strikes again with this final read of 2023 for me -- honestly, I did not even read the description before downloading -- I saw W. Winters and immediately hit download. As a prequel novella to a series, I was hoping to learn a little background on our main characters before deciding to continue on with the series. For the other books I have read by this author, I have been a one and done reader, with the possibility of returning to the series once I tackle more of my physical TBR pile.

Delilah has a lot of stressors in her life, not to mention the man she parted ways with finally coming back into her life years later. This novella takes us two years prior to the prologue, exploring Delilah's complicated life, along with perspectives from Cody, a detective, and Marcus, the man that just will not stop from making Delilah his own, but only in the future books.

We spend most of the time in Delilah's perspective, with the occasional appearance by Cody and just a dash of Marcus to add to the mix. I wish we spent more time with Marcus in his perspective -- he is so important to the story, yet we barely had two chapters of his thoughts, most of which focused on Cody rather than Delilah. Winters does provide readers with a decent amount of background information considering this is a prequel novella, but I do believe it could have been fifty pages longer, just to really seal the deal with how Delilah and Marcus are connected.

If the author included just a touch more bit of action or suspense in the prequel, it would have really engaged readers to keep moving forward. I took a few breaks while reading this short installment, only because I was not itching to finish it in one sitting, and the way that the plot was moving, I could tell there was not going to be a wild third act or final chapter. Looking back at how the novella started with the prologue, I would have loved to circle back to that moment at the end of the story.

The multiple perspectives did give the story a more well-rounded sense, especially when readers are able to get a wisp of how Delilah, Cody, and Marcus are connected. It was refreshing to see a main character that has some semblance of self preservation and a decent amount of common sense. Delilah is definitely one of the more structured adult female characters that I have encountered when reading romantic suspense novels.

I would not go far enough to say that this was suspenseful, or even wavering on the edge of dark romance, but that just may be due to the fact that the story is just getting started. Winters alludes to Delilah having some big secret or terrible past a number of times in the novella, but never goes further than having it as a lingering thought from Delilah -- I wish we could have gotten just a crumb of what happened. I am interested enough in this story to continue on, but I would not consider it one of my top priorities.

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Uncovering Lily (MacKay International, #1) by Rene Webb Review

This is a spoiler-free review!

Stuff Your Kindle Day is yet again the culprit to me not making my way through my physical TBR pile and it is taking a toll on the never-ending growing list of books I need to read. Webb jumps right into Lily and Finn's story as Lily has been kidnapped while studying abroad and is now in a Hong Kong brothel, where Finn happens to be meeting a business associate. To no one's surprise, Finn remembers Lily from years ago, but Lily does not recognize the man before her, and she is under the impression that he is just another customer in the brothel.

Through dual perspective we are able to see Lily process what she has been through and Finn try to get her out of this horrible situation while still maintaining the mystery of why he is so interested in her. The chapters move quickly and are fairly short, which allows the plot to maintain a fast pace while not skipping over too many details. 

I personally think Lily was way too trusting of Finn when they met at the brothel, especially since she was just kidnapped and no one seems to be looking for her. Finn on the other hand low-key gave some creeper vibes when he was first introduced, and I was second guessing how much I was going to root for him in this book.

There is a definitely a sense of urgency throughout the book since Lily desperately wants to be free from this brothel and get back to her life, which makes the suspense aspect of the book work well with the dilemma of her being attracted to Finn. Get free from your captors? That's the plan! Leave this mystery man behind? Now that is where Lily draws the line. Finn does a pretty good job of keeping his cool when he realizes that Lily is who he thought she was, and I would say that he is one of the more collected male leads I have seen, especially since blowing his cover would be bad for the both of them.

Finn is certainly a character, and I found him more interesting than Lily as his character development seemed to be given much more attention compared to Lily's development. For the majority of the book, Lily was just going back and forth in her mind on what she thought of Finn, whereas Finn was really doing the most to make the situation better for them.

The spicier scenes were... well... pretty much the bare minimum at best and were not entirely entertaining to read. Honestly, every time a scene would come up, it was overshadowed by Lily constantly thinking that she wanted to be out of the brothel, so it kept creeping me out that Finn was pretty much using her situation to get what he wanted. The book was so short that everything exciting pretty much happened in the last ten pages, and I only see myself going back to finish this series is if I have the time, but overall it is a quick read that makes decent filler book in between other reads.

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