ARC Review: THE PRIEST (The Original Sinners, #9) by Tiffany Reisz

New Orleans, four months after the events of THE QUEEN...

Søren has been suspended from the Jesuits for a minimum of one year after confessing to fathering a child. To say he's struggling with his newfound freedom is an understatement.

Kingsley is about to be a father again and is convinced something very bad is about to happen. Nerves? Or is he right that the time has come for the Sinners to pay for their sins?

And if things couldn't get worse, a handsome private detective shows up and tells Mistress Nora that a priest has just committed suicide, and she was the last person he tried to call. He would like to know why...

She doesn't know, but Nora and her new detective friend will turn over the city to find out, meeting liars, vampires, and witches along the way. When she finds what she's looking for, she may wish she'd never stepped foot in New Orleans.

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Even after all these years, and all the novels, novellas, and all the short stories, I still drop everything to read the new book in The Original Sinners series.

And even after all these years and all those stories, Tiffany Reisz still surprises me.

When I first read The Siren, I was left speechless. So many surprises held the chapters of that book. Then I thought I knew what to expect from The Angel. I was so wrong, I couldn't have been more wrong. With two books read, I once again thought I knew what to expect, this time with The Prince. Cocky youth! I was wrong. I was wrong again with The Mistress. I think that was when I learned my lesson: Always expect the unexpected. It's served me well. By the time The Priest came around, I knew better than to try to answer the question What will happen in the book?. I expected the unexpected, and the unexpected I got.

It says this is the beginning of a new era in The Original Sinners series. It felt that way. Our Sinners are in a new place, geographically and mentally. After all the ups and downs, the fights, the drama, the life-threatening situations, they are living new lives. Happier lives. Calmer lives. How weird it was, after everything, to read about Nora and Kingsley arguing about paint colors. It was nice. Sweet. But still weird.

Also nice, sweet and weird was Nora and Søren's relationship. Now that Søren is suspended, he and Nora were spending more time together, and they weren't doing it in hiding. It was like a normal-ish relationship.

And I can't say sweet without thinking of Kingsley's fussing over the people in his life. He was adorable. I was somewhat disappointed there wasn't more of him in the novel, but I understood it. Since it says this is the beginning of a new era, I'm hoping there will be books focusing on him in the future.

Keeping with the theme of good stuff from the book, when I started reading The Priest, I was reminded of The Siren. The Siren started with Zach, then introduced us to Nora, and we learned about their complicated lives, and we got to meet her kinky world through both of them. In the later books that were solely from the Sinners' perspectives, I admit I missed reading about them and their world from an outsider's perspective.

Well, The Priest introduces us to Cyrus Tremont with a happy love life, as opposed to Zach's when we met him. Cyrus's private life filled him with joy. His work as a private detective helping women and children was satisfying.

Then -- and now we're heading into murky waters -- a priest committed suicide.

Cyrus was asked to investigate further, because the police wasn't going to. The officials were to rule it a suicide caused by depression and be done with it. One officer sensed there was more to the story, and asked Cyrus's help. His investigation led him to our very own Nora Sutherlin, as she was the last person the priest had called before he killed himself. That fact was enough for Nora to join Cyrus on his mission. They were fast friends. I loved their interactions. His and Nora's, his and Søren's. Plus, it was interesting reading about them uncovering clues. The people they met along the way were even more interesting.

Then it got sad. Horrific, really. The truth Cyrus and Nora uncovered was horrific.


See, you can never guess where Tiffany Reisz's story will go.

After the discovery of what led up to the priest's suicide, surprises didn't stop. Nora's decision. Søren's decision. Søren's... something else. The talks they had. The huge question marks about things I held up at the end.

Well, this can't be THE END, right? It's THE BEGINNING. I'm holding onto those words and not letting go. The Original Sinners: New Orleans has only just started!



What can I say in the end? I loved reading something new about the Sinners. (Next time, more about Kingsley, please.) I loved meeting new characters. And I loved that the story had it's twists and turns, though some of them hurt.



There's a quote in the book: Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid.

You could easily say:


Here is the world of the Original Sinners. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid. Just read.


I started with






And ended with







***ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.***

Until next time, happy reading! 

XOXO,

Review: WINTER TALES: An Original Sinners Christmas Anthology by Tiffany Reisz

Return to USA Today bestseller Tiffany Reisz's Original Sinners series with Winter Tales, a collection of three fan-favorite Christmas novellas plus a brand-new novella exclusive to this anthology.

In December Wine, the long-awaited story of Nora Sutherlin's first meeting with Nico can finally be told. Nora enlists her editor (and sometimes lover) Zach Easton on a mission to track down Kingsley's long-lost son. Nicolas "Nico" Delacroix turns out to be young, strikingly handsome, and very French. He wants nothing to do with his father...but everything to do with Nora.

This special holiday-themed collection also includes the novellas Poinsettia, The Christmas Truce, and The Scent of Winter (previously available only as ebooks). A bonus short story starring Søren rounds out the Winter Tales anthology.

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I step into the Original Sinners world and I never want to leave.

Especially now.

When I closed my copy of Winter Tales, all I wanted was more OS tales. I had the urge to go back to The Siren again and reread everything and anything that is Original Sinners related. It would be lovely to get away from the world and get lost in these books once again. Until I manage to do that, a few words about these wintery tales from me are long overdue.

Tiffany Reisz has been gifting us with Original Sinners Christmas stories for a long time. They've always been something to look forward to in the cold, bleak winter time, especially in the years after the series ended the first time with the eight book. It's really nice to have them collected in print form. I love having them in print on my bookshelf. It makes the book lover and the OS fan in me very content.

There are five winter tales in this collection. Three I've read before, and happily reread, and two are new.

This series has introduced us to a lot of characters, but at the heart of it is the unholy trinity: Kingsley, Nora, and Søren. All three are present in one way or the other throughout the collection, though I would say Søren here has the lead role. That's how it felt to me, at least.

The tale that comes first chronologically is Poinsettia . Poinsettia is the story of a Christmas many years ago. Christmas that young Søren spent in the house of a sadistic madam that was a great teacher to him. Magdalena was quite mean to him. It's something I enjoyed reading the first, second, and the third time. Søren was lovesick over Kingsley. I enjoyed that even more. If only Kingsley knew about it.

Next comes The Christmas Truce in which my dearest trio put their differences aside for one night. The story is set at a difficult time in their relationships, but they let it all go for a little while and celebrated in style. Original Sinners style. With a flashback to an even earlier and even more difficult Christmas for Nora and Søren, this was two Christmas stories in one. It was sweet, emotional, heartwarming, and a bit kinky.

Next in line are the two new additions: December Wine and Blood and Snow.

December Wine has a few elements to the plot. It is about finding Kingsley's son Nico. It is the very start of Nora and Nico's relationship. It's a glimpse into Nico's life and personality. More than that it is Nora and Zach's last tryst. Nora bargained a night with Søren for a week with Zach, and this is that week after which they're friends and friends only. So, it was sort of a goodbye to Zach and hello to Nico. The story is also filled with uncertainty of what the future will be for them all. Lots of changes happened at that time. New city, new children, new relationships.

That brings me to Blood and Snow . It's another Søren and Magdalena story. It takes place at the same time as December Wine, and as such it is also filled with uncertainty. Søren was in such a mental state he sought out Magdalena. A nice bonus short.

The last and my favorite story of the five is The Scent of Winter . It comes as no shock the story entirely from Kingsley's POV is my favorite. I'm nothing if not consistent when it comes to my fangirling. In fact, my original review for this novella was:

"KINGSLEY! KINGSLEY!

KINGSLEY!!!"

Yeah, that summed it up nicely.

The Scent of Winter was Kingsley and Søren's. Two winter stories in one: one from their teenage days, and one from their fifties. All quite romantic and bittersweet.

And that's all five lovely winter tales. I look forward to the future ones, and revisiting the old ones, because as I said at the beginning, I step into the world of the Original Sinners, and I never want to leave.

***An ARC was provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, but I also got a paperback copy from Amazon in exchange for my money, sooo...***

Until next time, happy reading! 

XOXO,

ARC Review: DANGEROUS PROMISE (The Protector, #1) by Megan Hart

A female bodyguard with enhanced abilities. A billionaire playboy committed to destroying people like her. A romance they didn’t expect…
 
Dive into the first book in this fantastic new series set in the near future from New York Times bestselling author Megan Hart!

Nina Bronson used to be all human -- until the experimental surgeries and internal technology that saved her life and enhanced her as a soldier also forced her to leave the army for private service. Now she and her peers are facing slow, painful deaths unless their technology is upgraded, and the one man keeping those upgrades illegal and unavailable is an obnoxious billionaire. A man too gorgeous for his own good.

A man she’s supposed to guard with her life.

Ewan Donahue is the public voice speaking out against the enhancement procedures of injured soldiers. But when his lobbying leads to death threats, he needs someone to protect him around the clock. He doesn’t want to rely on an enhanced soldier—Nina’s tech goes against everything he stands for. But he really doesn’t want her to be beautiful like she is. Doesn’t want her to suffer like she will.

Doesn’t want to succumb to the searing desire he feels for her. 

As a series of attacks on his life send them to a remote cabin, their close proximity brings them together in ways they never imagined. They know they must prevent the need simmering between them, resist each other at all costs. But when tensions are high and danger is close, passion burns hottest of all…

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Dangerous Promise is a science fiction (I think) romance set in the near future written by Megan Hart. I read it because Megan Hart wrote it — it's as simple as that. I didn't even have to read the full summary to know I would be reading it. All I needed to know was that one of my favorite authors wrote it.

Science fiction and futuristic stories don't find themselves on my reading list often, probably because authors tend to set their books in a future time that's far from something to look forward to, but I wouldn't let that deter me here. The disturbingly near future Megan Hart created in this series is bleak: a lot of species are extinct, synthetic food seems to be on the main menu for most people, while real food is something only the rich can afford, humans have messed around with the Moon, and caused damage on Earth, and the United States now called the North American United States have been in, surprise, surprise, yet another war.

Nina Bronson was a soldier who got severely injured in that war and died, but she didn't stay dead. Enhancement technology was implanted in her body, and she survived and became stronger, faster, she became a super soldier. However, that technology had become illegal, making necessary upgrades impossible, so the tech which had saved her life would end it an a matter of few years.

Being enhanced meant Nina had to leave the army and work in the private sector. She worked as a protector, and her newest job was being a bodyguard of Ewan Donahue, the man most responsible for making the enhancement tech illegal. Ewan was less than pleased to have Nina as his bodyguard, but the threats on his life called for having someone extremely capable to protect him, and Nina was the best. Neither of them was satisfied with their arrangement, but they were determined to push through: Nina was a necessity for Ewan, and Ewan was a job for Nina.

Like the time the story takes place, the relationship between Nina and Ewan was cold in the beginning. It was nothing surprising given their backgrounds. What was also nothing surprising is that that changed because of all the time they spent together which really was all the time. They would have friendly talks, other times they would argue. With each attack on Ewan that Nina stopped, they became closer. Despite himself, Ewan was becoming more and more attracted to Nina, and that attraction wasn't one-sided. They danced around it a lot. It wasn't until the plan to find out who was after Ewan led them to Ewan's secret property away from anyone that they finally acted on it. That's when it got complicated and more emotional.

Complicated and emotional love stories is one of the main reasons I love Megan Hart's books, and Nina and Ewan's is apparently so complicated it needed a series to be told. Having read this book and about a third of the second installment, I can see why that is. Staying together won't be easy for them. That was clear from the beginning. The story is told from both Nina's and Ewan's perspective. What we find out about Ewan and what Nina wasn't aware of is Ewan's involvement in the development of the enhancement tech, and his reasons for lobbying to make it illegal. That was why his attraction to Nina was unwelcome, and once he developed feelings why he was afraid of Nina finding out about it. For the first time he was with a woman who made him think about forever. Sadly, he was having a hard time figuring out how to make it happen. It was the same with Nina. They were in love. Away from the world and their regular lives, everything was perfect in their little bubble. But the bubble burst. Reality and hidden truths came crashing in leaving them with heartache.

In the end I'll say this was another Megan Hart book I really liked reading. Dangerous Promise did what any first book in a series should do, and that is to make me want to read the sequel. I not only want to continue reading, I am anxious to find out what happens with Nina and Ewan. Wicked Attraction, here I come!

***ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.***

Until next time, happy reading!

XOXO,

 

ARC Review: AN UNNATURAL VICE (Sins of the Cities, #2) by K.J. Charles

 

In the sordid streets of Victorian London, unwanted desire flares between two bitter enemies brought together by a deadly secret.

Crusading journalist Nathaniel Roy is determined to expose spiritualists who exploit the grief of bereaved and vulnerable people. First on his list is the so-called Seer of London, Justin Lazarus. Nathaniel expects him to be a cheap, heartless fraud. He doesn’t expect to meet a man with a sinful smile and the eyes of a fallen angel—or that a shameless swindler will spark his desires for the first time in years.

Justin feels no remorse for the lies he spins during his séances. His gullible clients simply bore him. Hostile, disbelieving, utterly irresistible Nathaniel is a fascinating challenge. And as their battle of wills and wits heats up, Justin finds he can’t stop thinking about the man who’s determined to ruin him.

But Justin and Nathaniel are linked by more than their fast-growing obsession with one another. They are both caught up in an aristocratic family’s secrets, and Justin holds information that could be lethal. As killers, fanatics, and fog close in, Nathaniel is the only man Justin can trust—and, perhaps, the only man he could love.
 

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Sometimes you read a review copy of a book, and for whatever reason it takes you ages to actually review it. You realize it's been so long since you read the book you can't properly write about it, so you read the book again. And sometimes, if you're lucky, you end up loving it more the second time around. I was lucky with An Unnatural Vice. The first time I really liked it. This time I really, really liked it.

I had a strong feeling this series would get more interesting, and I was right. Sins of the Cities continues, and gets wonderfully more complicated... and foggier. I never would have guessed I would enjoy reading about the dreadful London fog, but when it brought two lonely hearts together, the foul murkiness didn't seem that bad. Especially since the hearts in question belonged to Nathaniel Roy and Justin Lazarus.

While Nathaniel played a part in the previous book, An Unseen Attraction, Justin Lazarus was only mentioned by name, after which he was called a "damned fraud" by none other than Nathaniel, so imagine my surprise followed by excitement when I read the blurb for An Unnatural Vice, and saw Nathaniel's love interest would be the damned fraud. I just knew I'd be in for a treat. I adored Clem and Rowley from the previous installment, but Justin and Nathaniel's story was more my speed. Adversaries who become lovers, and whose fights are like foreplay -- oh, yes, it's always a lot of fun to read.

Nathaniel and Justin started off on the wrong foot, to say the least. Nathaniel was a journalist with strong opinions on right and wrong, a journalist determined to expose Justin and his profession as false. Justin was a spiritualist to whom people came wanting to communicate with the dead, and who had no qualms about lying to his visitors and taking their money afterwards. His usual clients bored him, and Nathaniel was a welcome challenge. Nathaniel had been grieving for his lover for years. He hadn't felt attraction for another man since Tony, but then his visits to the Seer of London changed that. He wanted that damned fraud, which was unsettling as was Justin's ability to guess what lay deep in Nathaniel's heart. The seance didn't end well. That could have been the last they saw of each other had there not been trouble brewing in the foggy city streets.

The mystery from An Unseen Attraction continued in this book. The secrets and crimes surrounding Clem's family were increasing in number, as there were more and more people claiming to have a right to the family fortune, some of which were willing to go to great lengths to achieve it, even resort to torture and murder. Two of those unsavory characters would find their way to Justin Lazarus and demand his help in tracking the heir to the title by using his ability to talk to the dead. Justin's performance wasn't satisfactory which in turn put his life in danger. Justin had made it his mission to never depend on anyone, so when the time came he needed help, he had no one to ask for it. Except Nathaniel.

Running away from murderers brought Nathaniel and Justin to a place where they had plenty of time to spend in each other's company and to clear the air. They had time for discussions and arguments, and enough privacy to make up afterwards. It was my favorite part of the novel. With each book by KJ Charles, I'm impressed with how she handles bringing two very different characters together, and Nathaniel and Justin couldn't have been more different.

An Unnatural Vice left Justin and Nathaniel in a good place. Well, not counting the murderer that's still on the loose. The person not in a good place at all was Mark. I can't wait to read his story in An Unsuitable Heir, and finally see how this mystery unravels, but mostly to see what happens between Mark and the heir. It'll be a great conclusion to the series, I know it!


***ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.***

 
My review of the first book can be found here.


Until next time, happy reading!

XOXO,

 

REVIEW: Torn (Devil's Wolves #1) by Carian Cole

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SUMMARY:

He’s loved me since the day I was born.
He’s taken care of me.
He’s awakened me.

Tor. My father’s best friend.
Fifteen years older than me, he’s always been my protector.
The one I should never, ever want.
But I was born to be his.

She’s always loved me.
She’s shattered me.
She’s healed me.

Kenzi. My best friend’s daughter.
I held her the day she was born, and I never let go.
She’s forbidden to me. But she’s the only one that really gets me.
We’re slowly being torn apart by everything we love.
Everything we want.
Everything we desire.

And now I want the one thing I can’t have... I want her.

** Please note: There is no underage sex in this book. This is a romance. **

MY RATING:

MY REVIEW:

Taboo romance lovers, behold!

So, in the morning I was browsing this list ’11 taboo books you should read’ or something like that and this one was on it. By that evening, I was already reading this. Never mind that I have 100 other books to read. Taboo books are my weakness.

As Drake would say:

Anyhow, this was unexpectedly good. A lot of books try to sell themselves as taboo, but you don’t feel that forbidden factor. Here I felt it all. There is the age difference of 15 years between Tor and Kenzie, plus he’s her father’s best friend and he helped raise her. So you can see how it’s all very tricky.

I think all relationships start with an invisible line, and even though we can’t see it, we all know it’s there because we can feel it. We respect that line because it keeps the bounds of the relationship intact. The line guides us within our relationships and dictates who is our friend, who is our family, who is our lover, who is someone we can or can’t trust.

But I loved how everything was handled; there is a slow transition from family to friends to lovers. They don’t get together too fast and I love that. They struggle with their feelings and attraction towards each other.

Ah, the sexual tension, the angst, it was all so very hot and emotional.

I feel sick.
I feel twisted.
I feel unhinged with want for her.

So yeah, this book will make you uncomfortable, but if you’re like me, and like these books that dance on the edge of appropriate, you’ll like this.

xoxo,

Beatrix

Review: COLLIDE by Megan Hart

A childhood accident left Emmaline vulnerable to disturbing fugue states that last only minutes, but feel like an eternity. The blackouts are unsettling but manageable …until she meets Johnny Dellasandro. 

The reclusive painter gained notoriety in the '70s for his debauched lifestyle and raunchy art films. His naked body has achieved cult status, especially in Emm's mind —she's obsessed with the man, who's grown even sexier with age. Today Johnny shuns the spotlight and Emm in particular… until she falls into a fugue on his doorstep.

In that moment she's transported back thirty years, crashing a party at Johnny's place in his wild-man heyday— the night is a blur of flesh and heat that lingers on her skin long after she's woken to the present.

It happens again and again, each time-slip another mind-blowing orgy, and soon Emm can't stop, though every episode leaves her weaker and weaker. She's frightened by what's happening to her, but she's even more terrified of losing this portal to the Johnny she wants so badly. The one who wants her, too, and takes her— every chance he gets.

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Nothing scarier than getting to the last third of Megan Hart's book, and reading that the main characters are just fine.

As I've already said a thousand times, I am a huge Megan Hart fan. For good reason. With her books, it's not a question whether or not I'll like the book, but how much I'll like it. Collide is one of those I really liked.

This is Emmaline's story. Emm is a new resident in Harrisburg, a familiar place in Hart's novels. A lot of her fictional characters live there and cross paths with whoever it is I'm reading about at the time. I love those cameos, but back to Emm. When she was a child she suffered an accident which left her vulnerable to fugue states. In reality she'd black out while in her mind she was experiencing something else. At thirty-two, after being free from fugue states for a longer time, she's finally living independently. New town, new job, new friend, and then a new crush: Johnny Dellasandro.

Johnny is an artist and an art gallery owner who likes to keep to himself, but in the seventies he was a famous movie star with a famous body often on display in his films. Jen, Emm's friend, is already a fan who knows a lot about him. Emm becomes one soon afterwards. She's attracted to and intrigued by him. Her internet searches become more Johnny-oriented, as do her film choices. She became a bit obsessed by him, I'd say. Well, more than a bit, actually. I found it a little odd, her sudden intense interest in him. But, I went along with it in the hopes it would all make sense after a while.

Crossing paths with Johnny has another effect on Emm -- her fugues return, and this time in all of them he's there. The young Johnny with whom Emm is more free, more brave, and who is more into Emm than the present Johnny seems to be. Though she has more luck with the dream Johnny than the real one, she wasn't giving up until she wore him down, so to speak. At that time, I still had my doubts about this couple. They were one big question mark. There was just something not quite clear.

All my questions flew out of my head when I was two thirds into the book, and Emm said everything was fine. It was a terrifying sentence. This is Megan Hart we're talking about: creator of worlds, destroyer of worlds. Up until that point I took my time reading Collide, but that sentence freaked me out so much that I read and I read until I got to the end. Sure, it was five o'clock in the morning when I finished reading it, but at least I was able to sleep in peace afterwards. That was the part where it all clicked into place. Everything that didn't make a lot of sense, everything I found weird, I saw in a new light, and I understood.

This is one of Megan Hart's paranormal romances. Truth be told, the romance was a lot more important to me than the paranormal aspect of the story. I didn't want to overthink the paranormal stuff. You could say I adopted the heroine's take on what was happening: None of this made sense, yet it made perfect sense. All I had to do was suspend my disbelief. So I did, because in the end I all cared about was that Emm and Johnny got an ending belonging in a romance novel. 

Until next time, happy reading!

XOXO,