What I Would Do For You (This Love Hurts, #1-3) by Willow Winters Review

This is a spoiler-free review! You can read my review of Do You Want Me? on my blog, now! What I Would Do For You consists of the novella, Do You Want Me?, This Love Hurts, But I Need You, and And I Love You the Most.

It has been nearly two years since I read the prequel novella, so my memory was a little hazy when it came to the exact plot point this series compilation encompassed - however, memory was quickly restored after diving right back in. With Delilah and Cody's relationship seemingly at a rocky standing, Delilah's personal life seems to be in a downward spiral as she battles between her own life, her mother and her sister, and juggling Cody -- and Marcus -- in order to make it through the day. There is a much better balance of Delilah and Cody's perspectives overall throughout the series compared to Do You Want Me?, and honestly I enjoyed the increased frequency of Marcus perspective chapters.

Sure, Marcus is a serial killer. But I truly felt he had more chemistry with Delilah than Cody did - Cody's overall character development just was not doing it for me, and I wish you could feel the tension come off the page like you could with Marcus and Delilah. That being said, there was obviously some good chemistry with Cody, but it just was not doing it for me the same way. The suspense and thriller aspect of the series was definitely bumped up a ton, which made the plot actually interesting and have real stakes for the characters. There is always a chance with romantic thrillers that the "thriller" side gets abandoned for smut, and thankfully that was not the case here. However, the smut was a little lacking and made the series feel more like a crime thriller than a true romantic thriller.

Delilah's stressors in her life are just as present as they were in the prequel, and I would even go as far as to say they increase tenfold. She seems to never be able to catch a break, and even when she does, it is short-lived and stripped away from her. Considering this love triangle of lawyer, detective, and serial killer, I could tell from a mile away that her life would not be easy, but boy did this girl get put through more than I could imagine. She is constantly conflicted about her feelings, justifiably so, and that just makes her life even harder as she grabbles with being pulled in different directions by men who stand on opposing sides.

As this is a compilation of the entire series, I would definitely recommend reading it as a set rather than going one-by-one, mostly due to the fact that reading them individually is super quick in theory, but causes abrupt stops in the flow of the plot. I really wanted to see a big improvement from the prequel novella to the rest of the series, and unfortunately only a small job in quality was noted. If you are looking for a quick read that will hold your attention for a couple of hours, this series could be the perfect thing to tide you over.

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Tease Me Once (Shame on You, #1) by Willow Winters Review

This is a spoiler-free review! You can read my reviews for other works by Willow Winters on my blog, now - Do You Want Me?, It's Our Secret, and A Single Glance.

I am no stranger to W. Winters, and with a number of their works available for free on iBooks and Kindle, it makes an easy choice to continue to dive into yet another series. Maybe one day I will actually finish one instead of only reading the first installment as a filler book - this book certainly makes a case for that hope. Declan and Braelynn share a history that is seemingly glossed over a number of times throughout this book - Braelynn mentions through her internal dialogue and to her close friend that she knows Declan from "before" but we never see how they were actually connected, unless I somehow managed to miss that. I would have loved some more explanation or even flashback chapters from Declan or Braelynn's perspective to understand how entangled they are and what the tension they share is from.

Braelynn is too easily convinced of, well, everything - she trusts easily, which I found odd, considering her past, and seemingly falls into a number of inopportune scenarios that would have been completely avoidable had she either paid attention or minded her business. I wanted her to use common sense so bad throughout this book that I was willing to donate some of my brain cells to the cause. She eventually smarted up at one point, but I still wish she was aware of what was going on around her - she needed to lock in and realize that she cannot trust everyone in her life, especially when it seems too good to be true.

Declan... good lord. The author should have given us some background on him - clearly we get the face value details of him and his brothers, but still no exploration into why he is the way he is or why he is into the things he is. I will say that he is an effective communicator and actually sits down with Braelynn explaining to her that she needs to be very clear with him about what she wants and what she does or does not like - he is not good at reading people and needs her confirmation before moving on with more delicate matters.

The spice was going wild in this book - definitely on the more extreme end of dark romance and juicy, I ate it up. Some of it was a little out of pocket considering Declan basically threw Braelynn into the relationship and only asked her if she was willing to do whatever he said - she basically nodded her head and then was in the middle of an intense BDSM relationship without even knowing what she signed up for. And I say "signed up for" in the lightest of terms given they did not even talk about anything before launching into this relationship. Declan is a wild man and Braelynn just does not know what to do, so she seems to go along with anything that anyone tells her to do.

Looking at the mafia plot - I will be honest, it felt like a little bit of a mess. Declan and his brothers are clearly involved in some super shady stuff, and readers are exposed to much more than Braelynn ever saw. However, it did not feel finished and Declan's involvement felt unpolished to me - it would have been interesting to see more of his leadership and what he has done to get to this position. I know there are more books to get through, but considering this is our introduction to the character, it would have been helpful information in case it influenced his character.

With an ending like that, I will be continuing on with this series in order to see what in the word Braelynn has gotten herself into. I can only imagine the tomfoolery that she allowed to happen right under her nose, and considering Declan is not a forgiving man, I know she has a world of punishment in her future. You can read this series in its three installments, or in its complete work, Only for Him.

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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.

You can add Do You Want Me? on Goodreads now, and follow the author to stay up to date on releases and publications.

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It's Our Secret by Willow Winters Review

This is a spoiler-free review! You can read my review of A Single Glance on my blog, here.

I had such a great time reading Winters's first installment of the Irresistible Attraction series, so when I saw that It's Our Secret was available for free on iBooks, I knew I had to read it, especially since I was in the mood to read a stand alone. The bickering between Dean and Allie was *chef's kiss* and very much appropriate for college students, it did not seem overly childish or too mature for their age. And with the knowledge that they were once involved with one another, it definitely adds on to the complexity of their characters as we try to figure both of them out as the story goes on.

Compared to the only other book by Willow Winters I have read, I would say that It's Our Secret is definitely on the spicier side of her work. This is new adult, but it really does read more so like an adult novel in the sense that I think the dynamic between Dean and Allie would have worked better if they had already graduated college, rather than still be students.

I do have to say that Dean and Allie's relationship definitely went from 0 to 100 very quick, so much so that I felt as if it was done over the course of a nine page chapter, and then all of a sudden they were fooling around with one another. Since the book is on the shorter side, I should have expected some quick revelations, but it just was not having the pace that I expected. 

There is a ton of mystery surrounding Allie and her past, especially when it comes to her self confidence and the way that she chooses to present herself to people. Dean's backstory is more fleshed out from the beginning and it makes the reader more interested in his character than in Allie, at least in my opinion. We really dive deep into Allie's past as the story approaches the third act, and it definitely adds much needed insight on her character and on the choices she makes.

The chapters are super short, which makes the story fly by so fast that at some points I was not even sure if I was processing what was on the page before the point of view changed or we were somewhere else in the story. Allie's emotions are all over the place and I felt like I was going to get whiplash from the amount of times she would change her mind about Dean or about the way she felt about anything that became an obstacle for their forming relationship.

Allie has a death wish like girl what in the world where you thinking??? She really saw a potentially dangerous situation and said yes, this is exactly the plan I need to finally get closure. Girl be so serious for two seconds and think about the hundreds of ways things could go wrong before just walking in blind and hoping for the best, because that clearly worked the last time. I was truly perplexed on how she thought what she was doing was going to end up going the way that she wanted it to, without any repercussions. 

I am still confused on what exactly the genre for this book was supposed to be -- romantic thriller? Romance with a hint of suspense? Contemporary? Honestly even after finishing the book I am a loss for how to categorize it without leaving out some of the aspects of the story. It had a strong beginning but then slowly became a touch choppy as we approached the third act, which felt as if it flew by, and then we were at the end.

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A Single Glance (Irresistible Attraction, #1) by Willow Winters Review

This review contains mild spoilers -- no major plot points are revealed in the review! A Single Glance is currently available for free on iBooks and Kindle.

After the death of her sister Jennifer, Bethany is determined to find out what really lead to her death, and lucky for her, Jase is the one to deal with her constant snooping. Bethany has zero self-preservation skills when it comes to finding out the truth, and while her common sense does seem to be in fact, she is pretty reckless to say the least. Jase, on the other hand, is calculated and does not make a move without being ten steps ahead and two back up plans in place.

In her efforts to seek the truth about what happened to her sister, Bethany finds herself entangled in an unconventional contract with Jase, who is quite literally counting down the minutes when they are together. But what Bethany does not know is what truly is in store for her when she agrees to the unknown with Jase, and the more time she spends with him, the less she may want it to end.

"It's only a pocket knife" GIRL be so serious I am begging you. Bethany literally does not care what happens to her, it is actually so hilarious to watch her get thrown into less than safe situations and her just roll with every punch. Getting kidnapped? No big deal to Bethany, it is just like playing hide and seek!

The smut scenes are actually really well done and not completely over the top that they make you think that they simply are not possible. I really enjoyed the progression of Bethany and Jase's relationship -- it was not insta-love and had its ups and downs, making it much more realistic compared to a lot of mafia or dark romance pairings. With this series having the male lead own a club, we are not super far removed from the mafia world, but I think it was a great choice having him involved in crime that way compared to being a mob boss.

Jase is over here lighting Bethany on fire (safely?) and I am twirling my hair, giggling thinking it is so romantic and swoon-worthy. Perhaps this is the reason why I took a month long break from mafia romance books, because boy oh boy I am back on that ride for the upcoming month. The author actually does a great job articulating both Jase and Bethany's thoughts and emotions through their dual POVs, and we really start to see how similar they are to one another.

The way that Bethany seems to think things through only to do something completely unhinged in order to get closer to finding out who killed her sister actually had me cackling at some points. She literally does not care what happens at all, as long as she is able to finally get answers about what exactly went down between Jenny and someone from The Red Room. As she finds out more information from Jase about her sister, we see her really start to go down this path of throwing logic out of the window in place of rational thinking.

"Why did I have to fall for a villain?" Bethany, sister, that is a question I ask myself with every single book that I read. Too relatable. She really started putting the pieces together right at the end of the book, and the author did a greta job of weaving in the chapters of the book left for Bethany and her actual perspective together in order to make readers uncover what she was at the same time. I wish we were able to see more of Jase's backstory, and I am sure there must be more to it in the next book, I just wish it was a touch longer in this first installment.

I would definitely recommend this book to fans of Debt Inheritance by Pepper Winters and When it Raynes by Montana Fyre. I had a lot of fun reading this book, and with it being such a quick read, it definitely paces well enough that it makes you want to dive right into the next book.

You can add A Single Glance on Goodreads now, and follow the author to stay up to date on releases and publications.

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