Tag: forbidden relationship

new release

✍🏻 “You’re a wanderer with dreams too vast to walk a straight line…” Jewel E. Ann’s first book of her Sunday Morning series, Sunday Morning, is LIVE! This is required reading for your weekend. ✍🏻

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Sunday Morning by Jewel E. Ann is now live! 

A small-town, forbidden, standalone, new adult romance with Footloose meets A Star is Born vibes from USA Today & Wall Street Journal Bestselling author Jewel E. Ann

Her boyfriend’s older brother should be off-limits, but he’s a sinful temptation.

Sarah is a preacher’s daughter and a people pleaser. She’s also on the verge of graduating high school and following her dream of singing in Nashville. The only thing standing in her way is that the entire town of Devil’s Head, Missouri, thinks she will marry Matt, the son of the town’s richest rancher.

But Sarah’s not sure he’s her future husband, especially when his older brother, Isaac, returns home after serving six years in the Army. He has tattoos on his arms and bad habits that are not “father-approved.”

When he’s not working on the ranch or roping at the rodeo, Isaac hangs out in the barn, playing his guitar. He’s trouble, but Sarah’s music-loving heart gravitates toward him.

Isaac loves consuming Sarah’s mind, crawling under her skin, backing her into corners, and whispering inappropriate things in her innocent ears.

After weeks of playful banter and guitar lessons blurring the line between right and wrong, Issac makes Sarah a proposition she can’t refuse.

But when the unthinkable happens, and everything she knows is destroyed, will Sarah make the right choice?

  Download today or read for FREE with Kindle Unlimited

Amazon: https://amzn.to/45cPTOH

Amazon Worldwide: https://mybook.to/SundayMorning

Add to Goodreads: https://bit.ly/4caMm5y

Meet Jewel E. Ann

Jewel is a Wall Street Journal & USA Today bestselling author with a quirky sense of humor. When she’s not saving the planet one tree at a time, you can find her role modeling questionable behavior to her three boys, binge-watching Netflix with her husband, and writing mind-bending romance. 

Connect with Jewel

Website: https://www.jeweleann.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7505427.Jewel_E_Ann

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Jewel-E-Ann/e/B00IJYHDIG/

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

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/485996228236493

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JewelE_Ann

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/jewel-e-ann

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

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jeweleannauthor

new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Reviews: Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward’s The Rules of Dating a Younger Man, the final book of The Law of Opposites Attract series ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: B-

Tropes: age gap; close proximity; cinnamon roll MMC; “forbidden” relationship; he falls first; friends to lovers

Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward’s The Law of Opposites Attract series has come to a close with their final book, The Rules of Dating a Younger Man. Throughout this series, their readers have been gifted with the found family/band of brothers trope that tends to be popular. From Colby to Holden to Owen to Brayden, Keeland and Ward have ingratiated their lives into our lives. Here’s the thing about this series, though. This series started strong with Colby/Billie and Holden/Lala’s stories, but the magic of those books feels lost in Owen and now Brayden’s book. With The Rules of Dating a Younger Man, for me, the highlight is Brayden. In their friend group, Owen and Brayden seem the most level-headed and secure of the bunch, but Brayden, especially, is one of the quietest of the stories going into his book. Keeland and Ward draw him as a wildly handsome, thoughtful, humble, kind man. You have no heart if you leave TRODAYM and don’t love Brayden. It’s impossible to dislike him because he cares so much for his friends, the kids he develops prostheses for, and the project of Ryan’s House. Alex, the FMC, cannot help but fall in love with someone like Brayden. 

The issue with this book is two-fold: Alex’s journey can be challenging to understand. She is not readily likable because she spurns Brayden at every turn. I found it tiring as it continues for 80 percent-ish of the book. The second issue is their chemistry. Keeland and Ward create more tension between Brayden and Alex than they create their love. Yet, these two fall in love after three weeks (weekends only). I struggled with this inconsistency, making it difficult to believe they were indeed in love. As situations play out, Alex readily denies Brayden for much of the book, even though she allegedly loves him. Again, the credibility of their relationship created issues for me. 

Did I love the camaraderie of the friends? Yes.

Did I enjoy their antics and the way they loved each other? Absolutely!

Did I love Alex and Brayden when they finally got where they needed to go? Yep. However, this takes up most of the book and adds a huge helping of frustration. 

Do I think The Rules of Dating a Younger Man a fitting end to this series? I’m not sure. I believe this series began strong and lost its magic in the two later books. 

As always, however, I adore Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward’s storytelling prowess, and I will continue to read their works. I’m just not sure I loved The Rules of Dating a Younger Man as much as I wanted to.

In love and romance,

Professor A

Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Reviews: Skye Warren’s The Professor ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: B / B-

Tropes: student/teacher; interconnected series of standalones: forbidden; romantic suspense

Any time Skye Warren announces she’s returning to her storied Tanglewood, I’m in. The dark romances wrought from this universe have been some of my first and favorite romances. When she announced a spin-off series set at Tanglewood U, I jumped for joy. Like her earlier stories in Tanglewood, I found myself engrossed in the “cat and mouse” chase of Professor Stratford and Anne Hill. As with her other romances, The Professor is sensual and erotic. There is a darkness underpinning Anne’s journey to know herself. Warren guides us through their story through the POV of Anne which automatically makes her an unreliable narrator. This affords Skye Warren a surprise ending that leaves us on a cliffhanger and the promise of more in her next book. 

Here are my criticisms:

  1. I need Warren to stop writing trilogies. I don’t know her direction, but I often feel like her stories would work as duets. 
  2. There are places in the stories where the editor missed continuity issues as though scenes had been removed and the remaining scenes were spliced together. The story is not seamless.

Skye Warren has a craftsmanship issue, and I believe her stories could be stronger with a better editor. However, her storytelling entices me enough that I want more stories from her. I need to understand Professor Stratford’s real motivations; I need Anne to bring him to his knees and stand in her power; and I need another HEA for another couple in the Tanglewood world. It may take her three books to do so, but she always leaves us with exactly what we need in the end. I’m certain The Professor is simply a step in that direction.

In love and romance,

Professor A

Review

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

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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

Cover Reveal

✍🏻 Oh, Alex. You dirty, dirty man! Check out this sultry cover from Laurelin Paige for her next Sebastian family story. Preorder Brutal Arrangement now…you won’t want to miss this one. ✍🏻

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Laurelin Paige has revealed the gorgeous covers for Brutal Arrangement!

Releasing: March 13, 2024

He can have any woman he wants.
He wants his brother’s.

Alex Sebastian is the billionaire who knows exactly how to re-launch the pop career I walked away from to raise my little sister.

He knows everything, apparently, about what’s good for me. For my image. Even for my lingerie. Everywhere I turn, he’s there, smirking. I cannot stand him.

So why can’t we stop sneaking around?

Maybe it’s his filthy, bossy mouth that does things more wicked than his insults.

Maybe it’s that he does know what’s good for me when he uses it—backstage before my show, during a black tie event, in another man’s living room.

Because maybe deep down, I’ve never been the good girl the world sees, and the dirty, shameful things he makes me do are exactly what I crave.

The problem? Alex isn’t the Sebastian billionaire I’m dating—I’m dating his brother.

Pre-order your copy today!

https://geni.us/BrutalArrangementAmz

Add to Goodreads: https://bit.ly/488HkEi

Brutal Billionaire is available for FREE for a limited time only!

Download your copy today!

https://geni.us/BrutalBillionaireAmz

Meet Laurelin


With millions of books sold worldwide, Laurelin Paige is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestselling Author. She is a sucker for a good romance and gets giddy anytime there’s kissing, much to the embarrassment of her three daughters. Her husband doesn’t seem to complain, however.

When she isn’t reading or writing sexy stories, she’s probably singing, watching Game of Thrones or Letterkenny, or dreaming of Michael Fassbender. She’s also a proud member of Mensa International though she doesn’t do anything with the organization except use it as material for her bio.

She is represented by Rebecca Friedman.

Connect with Laurelin

Website: http://www.laurelinpaige.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7056140.Laurelin_Paige

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2knJOrx

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

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

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

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/laurelin-paige

Pinterest: https://pin.it/7hgsd8I

Verve: https://ververomance.com/app/laurelinpaige

Cover Reveal

✍🏻 I’ll take any reason to return to Skye Warren’s Tanglewood. Check out the cover for her forthcoming story, The Professor! ✍🏻

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Skye Warren has revealed the gorgeous cover for The Professor!

Releasing: March 26, 2024

Money for textbooks? I’d get it from a single night with a handsome stranger. No one would ever have to know how much I loved what he did to me.

On the first day of class, I realize he’s my new professor.

And my ex-boyfriend’s father.

THE PROFESSOR is a forbidden romance with a secret society starting a brand new series written by New York Times bestselling author Skye Warren.

Pre-order your copy today!

Amazon: https://a.co/d/iBo1gr3

Amazon Worldwide: https://bit.ly/48yz6Xe

Apple Books: https://apple.co/3HjsU9g

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

Kobo: https://bit.ly/48ZIdQw

Google Play: Coming Soon!

Add to Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3S0ltZA

Meet Skye

Skye Warren is the New York Times bestselling author of dangerous romance such as the Endgame trilogy. Her books have been featured in Jezebel, Buzzfeed, USA Today Happily Ever After, Glamour, and Elle Magazine. Her books have sold over ​two million copies.​ She makes her home in Texas with her loving family, sweet dogs, and evil cat.

Connect with Skye

Website: http://www.skyewarren.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5339130.Skye_Warren

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2BX2sUG

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

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1569845016592572/

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

X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/skye_warren

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/skye-warren

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

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

Verve: https://ververomance.com/app/skyewarren

Cover Reveal

✍🏻 Gulp…well, hello handsome! I say “yes please” to J. Saman’s cover for Irresistibly Dangerous, the final book of her Irresistibly Yours series. I am SO ready for this marriage of convenience romance. ✍🏻

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J. Saman has revealed the covers for Irresistibly Dangerous!

Releasing: January 15, 2024

Designer: Lori Jackson

Photographer: Michelle Lancaster

For the record, I knew I never should have touched her.

She was everything good in this world and I was everything but.

I was too broken to care about how off-limits my best friends’ cousin was.

And I didn’t want to stop.

She was the air I needed while drowning in darkness.

Until I broke her heart and finally forced myself to do the right thing and walk away.

Six years later she’s on my doorstep asking me for a favor I can’t say no to.

Only a marriage of convenience to Georgia Monroe is anything but convenient.

Not with how I still crave her despite the promises I made to never touch her again.

Not with the dangers lurking around us, coming after her in ways she knows nothing about.

I’m the only one who can help her.

Her dark knight. A silent hacker.

The cold, broody man who never felt worthy of her love.

But now everything is different.

I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her safe and prove I deserve a second chance at owning this irresistibly dangerous woman’s heart.

No matter what comes my way. 

Pre-order your copy today!

Amazon: http://geni.us/IrresistiblyDangerous        

Add to Goodreads: https://bit.ly/46XCeL0 

Meet J. Saman

J. Saman is a USA Today and Amazon top 40 bestselling author who writes sassy, swoony, and scorching contemporary romances. She is addicted to Diet Coke, sour candy, and indie rock. She swears way too much (especially after a glass of wine) and has a penchant for sarcasm (or so her husband and children like to tell her).

J. is an admitted lover of second chance romances, enemies to lovers, and the perfect amount of angst. She is best known for writing funny and emotional romances filled with smart, strong women, and sexy alphas who have a softer side—especially for their women.

Connect with J. Saman

Website: http://jsamanbooks.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14923699.J_Saman

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/J.-Saman/author/B01FOIUR46

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jsamanbooks

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

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/jsamanbooks

Twitter: http://twitter.com/jsamanbooks

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

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/j-saman

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

Verve: https://ververomance.com/app/jsamanbooks

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new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Review: Jewel E. Ann’s Because of Her ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: A

Jewel E. Ann’s Because of Her is a true gem. I was honored to edit this book, so I read it early on. It’s been a month or so, and this book has stayed with me. Jackson/Jax/Jude Day is one of a handful of characters whose story was penetrating. I will never forget him at the end of Out of Love, offering the ultimate parental sacrifice. I felt that deep. When Jewel announced this resolution, this final story, in a series of standalone books, I wanted to celebrate. As I read her manuscript, a process that causes a distance of feeling from the story, I found myself drawn to Frankie and Jackson. Even more, it made me pine for more of this family: Jessica and Luke and Livy and Slade. Even though this book can be read as a standalone, what I loved the most is the return to this beloved world. Jewel doesn’t hold us away from Jackson’s family. She gives us access and resolution in a way that fans like me needed after Out of Love. 

If you haven’t read this series, here’s why you should read this story: 

  1. A wildly protective, assassin of a man MMC. Yes, he’s older, but he’s wildly attractive
  2. An FMC who reminds me of Jackson’s sister. You don’t have to read her Jack and Jill trilogy (although you should) to get a sense of the one person Jackson believes to be his soulmate: his sister, Jessica. Frankie embodies the same qualities: headstrong, fierce, independent, and protective.
  3. Jewel writes romances that follow the beat of their own drum. It’s hard to pin tropes on them. She intentionally rips up her characters’ lives and their storyline to interrogate different aspects of human nature. For example, one of the challenges for readers is the idea of ethics: what are you willing to do for revenge? Should you sell your soul to mete out revenge on a person who has wronged you? Jackson and Frankie turn this inside out and upside down throughout the story. This is but one of many themes she tests throughout this book as well as the rest of the books on her booklist.
  4. I’ve said this before in many reviews, but it’s important to say it again: Jewel E. Ann is a queen of quotable nuggets. As I was reading her manuscript, I would highlight sentences and type “this is a great teaser.” She wordsmiths at a level that astounds me.
  5. And finally, her intentionality in crafting romances that aren’t formulaic should get people to read Because of Her. This point is the main reason you should download your booklist today and get reading. Her voice and sense of authorial identity are unique in romancelandia. 

Jewel E. Ann’s Because of Her is the true final chapter of her Jack and Jill series. Yes, it can be read without the others, but to read it before the rest is to miss out on Jewel E. Ann’s genius. If I had any recommendation, I would download the entire series and binge-read it in one weekend. You’ll fall madly, deeply in love with Jackson, Frankie, Jessica, Luke, Livy, and Slade…

In love and romance,


Professor A

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new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s 4.5 ⭐️ Review: Nikki Sloane’s The Good Girl ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: 4.5 ⭐️

Tropes: brother’s best friend; best friend’s little sister; virgin heroine; prolific hero; series of interconnected standalones

“He wasn’t wrong. I was a good girl, but sometimes, especially when I thought about him, all I wanted was to be bad.”

And that, my friends, is the crux of Nikki Sloane’s deliciously steamy The Good Girl, another story in her Nashville Neighborhood world. Preston and Sydney (Preston of The Doctor and Sydney who is the little sister of The Frat Boy’s Colin) remind us what we love most about Nikki Sloane’s brand of romance: it’s pure spice. This story is an insta-attraction between her main characters. Sloane deftly weaves Preston and Sydney’s forbidden journey with themes about overwhelming parental expectations and the danger of falling in love (or lust) with your best friend’s little sister, lending more gravity to her story beyond just smutty romance. Preston’s journey into maturity redeems him from his role in Sloane’s The Doctor, and you can’t help but fall in love with him as he negotiates his intense attraction to Sydney while starting a business with her brother. If I have any criticism, it’s the forbidden nature of their relationship. This has nothing to do with Nikki Sloane’s ability to write romances. Her easy prose and the pacing of the characters’ progressions make for an unputdownable read. However, I’m weary of the protective older brother trope. I’m not a fan of a big brother having a “say” over his little sister’s choices. I’ll fight against this as long as I can, hoping that authors will allow little sister’s agency and autonomy.

If you’re looking for a quick bit of romance, one that will satiate your erotic hunger, Nikki Sloane’s The Good Girl is the perfect read.

In love and romance,

Professor A

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new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s 4.5 ⭐️ Review: Adriana Locke’s The Proposal ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: 4.5 ⭐️

Tropes: brother’s best friend; best friend’s little sister; forbidden relationship; surprise Vegas wedding; marriage of convenience

Adriana Locke’s The Proposal is the type of romance story made to binge-read. It is a book that you’ll pick up and won’t be able to put down. She’s lying to herself if she thinks this is a true standalone because it introduces us to a family BEGGING for their own stories, but I digress. 

The highlight of The Proposal is the burning chemistry between her main characters, Renn and Blakely. Renn is the best friend of Blakely’s older brother, and these two have toyed with each other for years. The sexual chemistry is off the charts between these two, and Locke shows her prowess as a romance writer when you desperately need them to jump into bed together from almost the first page. It’s clear from the start that they are destined for each other, and Locke does a superb job of making them loveable characters. 

The pacing of the story is also well done. While they have a moment of drama, for the most part, Renn and Blakely are connected almost immediately. It isn’t rushed; Locke keeps them simmering on the stove for the first portion of her story, but she knows when to turn up the heat. It’s the pacing of their story that actually makes it unputdownable.  

Additionally, she doesn’t mire her story in the forbidden nature (bro code rules) of Renn and Blakely’s pairing, thank goodness. A serious pet peeve of mine is the older brother taking his ire too far with the MMC when he breaks the rules. Locke gives it space in her book, and Brock takes his responsibility to Blakely seriously. However, his friendship with Renn is more important than his anger over his perception of Renn’s breaking of the bro code rules. Thank you, Adriana, for moving us quickly over that plot point.

Ultimately, Renn’s cinnamon roll hero characterization made me love the book. His facade is built on his player status, but it’s clear that he’s pined for Blakely for a long time, adding depth to his character development. In fact, while Locke doesn’t name it as a trope in her promotional graphics, it seems Renn was the first to fall, making him even more delicious. His protectiveness over Blakely coupled with his ardor for her is the final enticement of The Proposal. 

What does it say about Adriana Locke as an author that she builds families that create a fervor in her fans for more stories from one book?  This is the case with The Proposal. Renn and Blakely’s story feels like a launching pad for more stories from Renn’s family. I’m hoping those characters speak to Adriana Locke because I’m ready to give her my money right now.

In love and romance,

Professor A