Tag: book review

Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Reviews: Laurelin Paige’s Brutal Arrangement ✍🏻

professorromance

Overall Grade: A-/B+

Laurelin Paige’s Brutal Arrangement is a romantic interrogation of old-moneyed family dynamics set against the world of popular music. As Paige has so deftly done with the other stories in this series, we are treated to erotic tension between a Sebastian and his brother’s former girlfriend, turned fake relationship. Paige is a queen of spicy romance, making nothing off limits between her characters. The tension between Riah and Alex in Brutal Arrangement engages the reader and draws us into this world of familial machinations. As I read this story, I listened to Alex’s brother’s story, Brutal Secret. What compels me to continue to read about these privileged billionaires is the realization that family trauma is the cornerstone of the Sebastian family. These stories interrogate the older generation’s stilted politics in the face of the younger generation’s message of “can’t we all just get along.” I find this compelling. In Brutal Arrangement, Riah and Alex’s journey ahead against the stricture of Alex’s brother Hunter’s machinations makes for an exciting read. Every step forward for Riah and Alex is met with complications, creating tension throughout most of the story. I love how these Sebastian men fall hard for their FMCs, ameliorating their power and laying it at the feet of an FMC such as Riah or any of the former FMCs in this series. I am most excited for Adly’s story, teased in Brutal Arrangement. 

Laurelin Paige proves once again that she writes the “heck” out of a billionaire romance. Whether it’s the guys from Reach, Hudson Pierce, Edward Fasbender, or any of the Sebastians, you know a dirty, difficult road ahead leads to a wallop of a happy ending. What I find the most intriguing of Paige’s newest books is her capacity to write alpha-hole MMCs while testing the autonomy and authority of the women in her books. I’m ready for more of the Sebastian family.

In love and romance,

Professor A

new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Review: Jillian Liota’s The Echo of Regret, the final book of the Cedar Point series ✍🏻

professorromance

Overall Grade: B

Tropes: second chances; pro baseball MMC; artist FMC; small town romance; opposites attract

The Echo of Regret is the first book I’ve read from Jillian Liota. Something about the blurb attracted me to this story, even though it’s the final book of her Cedar Point series and I hadn’t read the earlier books of the series. With all of that, I was pleasantly surprised that I chose well with this story. Often when you read a story in a series, you feel as though you missed out on a bigger sense of the story. I never felt this way reading The Echo of Regret. Did it pique my curiosity for the other stories? Of course, but I also didn’t feel compelled to pick them up immediately to read them. 

Bishop and Gabi have different intensities throughout the book. At first, Bishop reads as almost indifferent to the reason for their break-up. It is underplayed in contrast to Gabi’s disdain for him. Even more, Liota ameliorates this pretty quickly which is one of my criticisms of this book. Bishop moves from indifference to intense interest in reconciling. At 61%, Bishop and Gabi are already moving towards reconciliation, and I thought they needed more discussion of the past before doing this (my second criticism). I’m certain Liota didn’t want her readers to wait too long for it, given Gabi tended to cycle through her feelings for Bishop quite a bit (almost repetitively – my third criticism). Still, Liota remedies it through Gabi and Bishop moving forward. Bishop recognizes that Gabi will never be more important than baseball, the mindset of a man four years older and wiser. 

Jillian Liota’s The Echo of Regret reminded me of Laura Pavlov, Devney Perry, and that ilk. It’s sweet and spicy small-town romance that uplifts after putting you through a juggernaut of emotions first. If this is your jam, you should grab this one!

In love and romance,

Professor A

new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Review: Hit Me with Your Best Shot ✍🏻

professorromance

Overall Grade: A

I have recently spent quite a bit of time reading sports romance. It has slowly taken over my Kindle, and I enjoy the stories. Hit Me with Your Best Shot, an anthology of 6 new sports romances from some beloved authors, is a wonderful surprise. The stories in its pages are engaging, entertaining, and exciting. 

My favorite of the lot is Saffron A. Kent’s “Love Made Me Do It,” a short story from SAK’s St. Mary’s Rebels and Bad Boys of Bardstown series. It’s actually a story I didn’t even know I needed until I found myself lost in its pages. It follows Riot Rivera, a fellow soccer player on the New York FC soccer team and the nanny of his daughter, Sophie, Meadow. If you’ve never read SAK, it’s imperative to know that she has a specific style, a pared-down, almost stream-of-consciousness way of writing, and her signature is all over this story. Even more, she writes forbidden angsty romance like it’s her job (which it is), and her MMCs cannot help their obsession with the FMC and vice versa. It’s stylized, engaging, and messy. And this reader loves it. The way that SAK decidedly and deftly develops tension between her MMC and FMC (in this case, Riot and Meadow) intrigues me every single time. She hides the attraction fo the MMC to the FMC, drawing you deeper into her story, anticipating its revelation. In the short space of “Love Made Me Do It,” SAK reminds us of her writing voice while enticing us with Riot and Meadow’s love journey. It isn’t necessarily a surprise, especially if you know SAK’s storytelling, but it’s a delight to be introduced to these characters and reminded of some of her beloved ones. 

Hit Me with Your Best Shot is a MUST-read if you love sports romance. The authors represented in this anthology are next-level, and they remind you why you LOVE to read their stories, even ones laden with sports.

In love and romance,

Professor A

new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Review: Tia Louise’s A Little Naughty, the final book of the Be Still series ✍🏻

professorromance

Overall Grade: A-/B+

Tropes: small town romance; marriage of convenience; bad guy/good girl; found family; he falls first; touch her and die

Tia Louise’s Hamiltown Heat series had all the angsty feels mingled with a huge helping of spice. Coming out of that series, I needed some levity, and she didn’t disappoint with her Be Still series. From the first book of the series, A Little Taste, I found myself engaged with Tia Louise’s rendering of small-town couples finding love against the odds. It is a lighter series than her Hamiltown Heat series, but its power lies in the sometimes light-angsty nature of the couplings. 

Her final book of the series, A Little Naughty, is the perfect exclamation point to the series. It happens to be my favorite. Jemima and Raif are magical in that they know they want each other from the start, and they don’t allow outside forces to keep them apart. Even more, Tia Louise has drawn Raif as a good man from a “bad” family, and the protectiveness that Jemima shows him draws you into their relationship. The complications of Raif proving to people he isn’t his family makes you fall hard for him, but it’s also how he falls hard for Jemima, protecting her at all costs that really cements it. To me, this is the lightest feeling book of the series, and I believe it’s because Tia Louise brings Raif and Jemima together and keeps them there. A Little Naughty sets out to offer you a marriage of convenience, and she has underscored the found family/community of the special small town of Eureka. That’s really the gem of this story. As the happy ending unfolds, you cannot help but be filled with all the good feelings. Tia Louise’s Be Still series is a feel-good series of special romances that will absolutely steal your heart.

In love and romance,

Professor A

new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Review: Stacy Travis’s Love You Anyway ✍🏻

professorromance

Overall Grade: A-/B+

Stacy Travis’s Love You Anyway, the second book of her Buttercup Hill series, promises so much for this continued series of siblings. Stacy Travis has written about the undeniable chemistry between Colin, an astrophysicist hiding from scandal, and PJ, the youngest sister of the Corbett family. Some suspense is a running thread thus far in this series, although Travis treats us to a surprise in this second book. Colin and PJ’s “cat and mouse” foreplay drives the reader forward into the story. The age gap, the “will they/won’t they”, and the almost forbidden-esque nature of their coupling make for a story that keeps you engaged to the last page. 

I’m excited about the future stories in this series. I can’t wait to find out more about what’s lurking in Kingston Corbett’s mind. Stacy Travis’s Love You Anyway moves us decidedly and beautifully forward into this world of grapevines and casual living.

In love and romance,

Professor A

new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Review: Skye Warren’s Blue Moon, a Smoke and Mirrors novella ✍🏻

professorromance

Overall Grade: B-

If you’ve invested any time in Skye Warren’s Smoke and Mirrors (Cirque des Miroirs) trilogy, take a moment and read Blue Moon, a nibble of a novella based on the enigmatic and charismatic showman, Emerson. As the “villain” of the trilogy (or seemingly so), Warren situates him in a more morally gray position in Blue Moon. He’s responsible for finding a new act for Circque des Miroirs as penance, and he finds it with Luna, a gorgeous acrobat. Throughout the novella, Emerson shows the complications of his character as he saves Luna from an abusive situation while wanting to covet her for himself. There is definite chemistry and team between Emerson and Luna, a cornerstone of a Skye Warren story.

However, Emerson’s novella is wildly underdeveloped, leaving us with questions at the end of Blue Moon. Maybe it’s because Emerson is an important character in the Smoke and Mirrors trilogy, but I was hoping for more from his story. Warren may have more for him in store later, but Blue Moon feels like mostly a start, not an end for Luna and Emerson. I know that 1001 Dark Nights and Blue Box Press stories are short-form; however, I’ve read several of them to know that I wanted more from Warren for this story.

In love and romance,

Professor A

new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Review: Parker S. Huntington and L.J. Shen’s My Dark Desire ✍🏻

professorromance

Overall Grade: A

“You make my soul breathe fire, my beautiful dark desire.”

Parker S. Huntington and L.J. Shen’s newest book, My Dark Desire, begins with a content warning: “this is a dark romance and may contain triggering content.” Anyone who’s read dark romance from either of these two authors knows that their dark can grow dark quickly. Like its partner in crime, My Dark Romeo, My Dark Desire finds its darkness in its MMC’s behavior. When one is rich and powerful, one’s scruples can become gray…and Huntington and Shen’s MMC, Zach, is the grayest of grays. 

My Dark Desire is a modern-day Cinderella story with an FMC in Farrow with more backbone than your average dark romance FMC. What I loved the most about this story is Farrow’s capacity to bring Zachary Sun to his knees. It’s always my favorite part of a romance when the MMC seems like the most indomitable character in the room, but it’s clear from the moment this type of MMC meets his FMC, all bets are off. Huntington and Shen have imagined one of my favorite MMCs in this book: a seemingly impenetrable, robot of a man. This only means he will fall hard…and Zach Sun does just that. He becomes obsessed with Farrow. 

Thankfully, Huntington and Shen understand the chemistry between an MMC obsessed with his FMC and an FMC who simply cannot help herself when it comes to the MMC. Farrow and Zach are pure chemistry from the start. Their banter, push and pull, and fire set this story’s path—and it’s a blazing one. In fact, Huntington and Shen have written so much story in My Dark Desire that it’s 428 pages of a cat and mouse chase. 

What’s most compelling about My Dark Desire and by extension, My Dark Romeo, for that matter, is the creation of Romeo, Ollie, and Zach’s band of brothers trope. Usually, in dark romance, there is very little to save you from the wretchedness of the powerful character towards his/her prey. In this book, Huntington and Shen save you with the humor between these “brothers.” The choice to interrupt the narrative with text messages that will absolutely make you laugh out loud provides a respite from the growing tension between Zach and Farrow or Farrow and her step-family. The intentionality behind the layers of this book, ones that swirl between suspense, humor, and spice, drew me in and compelled me forward. There is something here for every type of romance reader. 

My favorite moment of this book came at the end. I haven’t exclaimed at the end of a book for its final line in a while, and Huntington and Shen end My Dark Desire brilliantly. So consider this my warning: if you’re a “read the end of the book to alleviate your anxiety” kind of person, do NOT read the epilogue before you’ve read the entire story. You will ruin the brilliant machinations of its authors. A day later and My Dark Desire is still taking up space in my brain. Parker S. Huntington and L.J. Shen have absolutely done it again with this book, and I am very ready for Ollie’s story…

In love and romance,

Professor A

new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Review: Kennedy Ryan’s This Could Be Us, book 2 of the Skyland series ✍🏻

professorromance

Overall Grade: A+

“Books are the mirrors of our soul.” – Virginia Woolf

“That she was indeed a hornet, not a butterfly. That the plain of her heart stretched vast enough to love two men so completely, love her children so purely, love her mother and her friends and the world around her with such a quiet fervor … because first, she loved herself.” – Kennedy Ryan

Rarely do I get personal in my book reviews. I’ve inserted my personal experience into the number of reviews I could count on one hand. Quite frankly, that seems sad. As the quote above from Virginia Woolf suggests, books are a reflection of ourselves. They help us understand life and love and longing, and it seems a shame that we don’t show authors in our reviews where we found ourselves in their book babies. If I were an author, I’d love to hear readers’ stories of the intersection of personal experience and my written word. 

Kennedy Ryan’s This Could Be Us is impassioned, intelligent, and impeccable. Her style and syntax are cinematic and breathtaking. Her words grab you by the wrist and pull you into her story, and they hold your hand as you endure and experience her story. 

I’d love to tell you how her focus on enduring female friendships in this book is the soft throw around your shoulders on a stormy day. I’d love to highlight the insight offered about the spectrum of neurodivergent characters, a spectrum so wide and vast that it makes it difficult for people to get the proper care and help. She volleys us between Aaron and Adam and Judah to illustrate the spectrum of autism, but that’s Kennedy’s story…and it’s also a bit of my own. Unfortunately, I’m not articulate enough to explain my connection to it. 

I’d also love to tell you how the complications of Soledad and Judah’s journey surgically fillet your soul and create a leaner, better understanding of the power of love. The distinct understanding that one’s love affair shouldn’t compare to anyone else’s is a powerful notion. Lastly, I’d love to explain how Kennedy leans into the colonial idea of Republican Motherhood as she draws Soledad’s power in the domestic sphere. This notion ran rampant through my mind as Soledad became more influential in the domestic arts, reminding us of the impact women have made for centuries even when they were stripped of their power.

Where my mind took me for this review is in my want to be a” hornet, not a butterfly.” Here is where This Could Be Us feels like a “mirror” of my soul, where I felt empowered and changed. For the past two years, I’ve been on a journey of self-discovery and change. I learned late into my marriage that my husband lands somewhere on the autism spectrum, and he lacks the self-awareness or interest in loving me as I need to be loved. I had created a very careful existence, one that leaned heavily into peace-making for myself and my son, and it left me feeling lost and alone when my son left home to go to college. Over the past two years, I’ve been working towards becoming the “hornet” that Soledad’s mother, Catelaya, writes about so beautifully in her journal. And it hasn’t been easy. And it hasn’t been perfect, but I am learning to love myself little by little. To embrace all that I am. Opening the pages of Ryan’s inviolable book felt inspired. Kennedy Ryan’s capacity to capture the human experience, manifesting it onto the fullness of the page, is why I will read her stories until the end of my time. Her books are the mirrors to our souls, to my soul, and I feel seen and changed by them. I feel challenged and disarmed by them. I feel empowered by them. 

Kennedy Ryan is an apt ambassador for romancelandia, and her books, ones like This Could Be Us, should be celebrated and held as the ultimate representation of all that is good in this genre.

In love and romance,

Professor A

new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Review: Lexi Blake’s Live, Love, Spy, a Masters & Mercenaries New Recruits romance ✍🏻

professorromance

Overall Grade: B+

Tropes: best friends to lovers; found family; romantic suspense; next generation; opposites attract

I have figured out why I adore Lexi Blake’s Masters and Mercenaries in all its iterations: her books are a wonderful mix of serious, steamy, suspenseful, and amusing (there was no great “s” word for funny). Her newest series, Masters and Mercenaries: the New Recruits, continues to bring us more of what her original series and its various offshoots have brought us: an investment in the found family of the Taggarts and their colleagues. 

In her latest book, Live, Love, Spy, TJ Taggart and Lou (the daughter of the FMC in Delighted, a Masters and Mercenaries novella). Lou and TJ have loved each other from afar from the time they’ve met. TJ, however, believes they are too different to become a couple, and he essentially friendzones Lou until he realizes he can’t live without her. Much of this story is TJ convincing Lou of their potential future, and Lou holding him accountable for his earlier decisions. Blake deftly draws the complications of their journey to underscore the reality of timing in a relationship. While it takes much of the book for them to find equal footing, Blake ends her newest story with the HEA typical of her other M&M’s romances. They earn their happily ever after against the backdrop of a burgeoning suspense. 

I’m invested in the underlying story of the New Recruits. Blake has laid the perfect foundation for more stories in this world, and she continues to keep her readers guessing about new couples, the new twists and turns of espionage, and the “world in danger” stories. 

If you’re a fan of dom/sub and romantic suspense books, start reading Lexi Blake’s Masters & Mercenaries romances.

In love and romance,

Professor A

new release

✍🏻 Lexi Blake is back with her next New Recruits story. And it’s a rollercoaster ride. Live, Love, Spy is HERE, and TJ and Lou’s journey has everything you love about Lexi Blake’s romances: intrigue, D/S, and a HEA worthy of the Taggart clan. ✍🏻

professorromance

Live, Love, Spy by Lexi Blake is now live! 

Life can often be awkward when you’re a child genius. For Louisa Ward, that came in the form of meeting her one true love at the age of 12. TJ Taggart was perfect. But being a year younger and a full grade ahead of him in school always made things weird. Working in the CIA has turned her into a strong and capable woman. Until TJ walks into a room. Fifteen years later, she still gets butterflies every time she sees the gorgeous soldier, but she’s tired of waiting and ready to find love, even if it can’t be with him.

TJ Taggart always knew he wanted to be a soldier. But joining the Army would require a sacrifice. Since meeting Louisa, TJ knew she was the one for him, but they had different paths in life. Lou was meant to change the world at some prestigious research job or maybe teach at an Ivy League school. There would be a chance to sweep her off her feet when his time in this dangerous life was done, and their happily ever after could begin.

Before he can make it home on his latest leave, TJ is kidnapped by an unknown adversary. As he waits to die, all he can think of is the time he wasted and how badly he wants to be with Lou. He’s more than a little surprised when his sweet, quiet girl shows up leading a CIA special ops squad to bust him out. Back in Dallas, it’s time to claim the woman of his dreams. He has a plan to win her over, until the adversary who almost killed him returns to finish the job.

  Download today on Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, and Kobo!

Amazon: https://bit.ly/45x75Oc

Apple Books: https://bit.ly/44BklA1

Nook: https://bit.ly/3R3mBgi

Kobo: https://bit.ly/44OdC65

Google Play: https://bit.ly/3R85Fp7

Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3YXhAaY

Meet Lexi


New York Times bestselling author Lexi Blake lives in North Texas with her husband and three kids. Since starting her publishing journey in 2010, she’s sold over three million copies of her books. She began writing at a young age, concentrating on plays and journalism. It wasn’t until she started writing romance that she found success. She likes to find humor in the strangest places and believes in happy endings.

Connect with Lexi

Website: www.lexiblake.net

 Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5124235.Lexi_Blake

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Lexi-Blake/author/B005JVSDJ0

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorlexiblake/

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/526080691345626

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorlexiblake/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/authorlexiblake

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lexiblakeauthor

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/lexi-blake

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/lexiblakeauthor/

Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCORVsrIAcbqMFxp0cHi51nw