Begonias and Blood (The Botanicum Book 2) by Evangeline Hunter

 

 

Blurb:

Four deadly trials. One forced marriage. No way out.

My name is Anastasia Ashwood. I run The Botanicum, a magical flower shop in New York City, and I am also a dryad, a retired assassin, and a fugitive from Sentinel Security Group.

When my floral designer, Sophie Hartwell, is kidnapped by the powerful witch coven she fled, I follow her to Pittsburgh and discover that her uncle intends to force her through four deadly elemental trials before marrying her and taking control of her family’s bloodline.

If we fail, we die. If we succeed, Sophie will be forced to marry her uncle and bear the child he intends to use to secure his rule.

Now I have to keep Sophie alive, rescue my judgmental telepathic cat, and find a way to escape before victory becomes a fate worse than death.

 

My review:

Begonias and Blood begins where Roses and Ruin left off. Sophie is under attack.  Her past has come to reclaim her and she doesn’t want to go. When she is taken against her will Anastasia and Mochi are determined to get her back. This is a fast-paced magic filled adventure that will keep you on your toes and holding your breath. Can’t wait for the next installment.

 

Buy link:

Amazon

A Visitor’s Guide to Guarded Vampires (Ravenslight Creek #1) by Rebecca Arden

 

A Visitor’s Guide to Guarded Vampires (Ravenslight Creek #1) by Rebecca Arden

 

Blurb:

Ellery runs to Alaska to figure out what she wants. Too bad nobody mentioned her new boss is grumpy, gorgeous, and technically dead.

Twenty-four years of being the perfect daughter ends with one explosive fight, three thousand miles, and a taxi driver named Gary who drops her in the entirely wrong town. Stranded, with a broken suitcase and seven dollars, she takes the first job she’s ever chosen for herself. Falling for the locals is not on the itinerary.

Nick would like it noted, for the record, that he did not sign up for any of this. He didn't ask to be a vampire. He didn't ask to inherit his dead father's tour company, or the interspecies pact that chains him to Ravenslight Creek for the rest of his long life. And he definitely didn't ask to hire some city girl in an impractical coat (that part was his meddling mother).

But stuck together, night after night under the northern lights, something shifts. For the first time in her life, Ellery feels seen. And Nick, who gave up on wanting anything, starts to want her. Badly.

When something with teeth comes hunting too close to town, too close to Ellery, Nick is forced to show her exactly what he is, and pray she doesn't run screaming back to New York.

But Ellery doesn’t run, she’s got questions. Lots of them. Which is a problem – because Ravenslight Creek has a way of dealing with outsiders who learn too much.

He can't leave.

She was never supposed to stay.

Neither of them counted on the town having a say.

A slow-burn, cozy paranormal romance under the Alaskan northern lights.

 

My review:

My kind of romance. Ellery is smart but entrapped by familial expectations. She runs to Alaska to escape. Nick too is entrapped but he can’t leave and he is resigned to that fact but it doesn’t make him the happiest of tour guides. With a little matchmaking on his mother’s part these two eventually figure it out. This is a slow burn, entertaining vampire romance that will leave you smiling and with a couple of questions I need answered. Maybe in the next book.

 

Buy links:

Amazon

 

Bite Me (Demon Underground #1) by Parker Blue

 

Blurb:

Part human, part succubus, and one hundred percent done taking crap from anyone.

Eighteen-year-old Val Shapiro has problems most teenagers don’t. Her dad was an incubus, her human mom can’t stand her demon side, and her only real friend is a snarky telepathic hellhound named Fang. (No, really. A hellhound. He sheds.) When she gets kicked out of the family and thrown into San Antonio’s supernatural underworld, Val does the only thing that makes sense: she becomes a vampire slayer.

But keeping her succubus under control while hunting things that go bump in the night is harder than it sounds—especially when every fight risks letting the demon out for good. And in a world that already sees her as a monster, losing that battle might just prove everyone right.

 

My review:

Bite Me is the first in a new to me Urban Fantasy. Val is a sharp character, Fang will make you laugh and Dan will make you swoon. I really enjoyed this one and am starting the next installment now.

 

Buy links:

Amazon

Kid Gloves by Annie Carlisle

 

Blurb:

Wade Mercer gave up his career to save the family ranch, and he runs it like control is a love language. The last thing he needs is the new neighbor — a whip-smart auditor with an underwater mortgage, a herd of opinionated goats, and a habit of being right — turning his operation, and his blood pressure, upside down.

Then the fire marshal says arson. And the whole county starts whispering her name.

Wade knows exactly one thing for certain: Delaney didn’t do it. Proving it means staking the ranch’s biggest contract — and his own carefully fenced heart — on the woman who has been dismantling both since the day she moved in.

 

My review:

Hilarious start to a new series. Each can be read stand alone. This is a terrific story about a by the book contractor and an smart, opinionated, tough as nails subcontractor. They’ve both got issues but proximity and a cast of quirky characters will make them see they’re perfect for each other while keeping you snickering out loud.

 

Buy links:

Amazon

B&N

Golem for Broke (Mad Queens Inc. Book 1) by Deborah Wilde

 

Golem for Broke (Mad Queens Inc. Book 1) by Deborah Wilde

 

Blurb:

Surviving your forties requires coffee, good friends, and a morally flexible relationship with illegal magic.

Tovah Silver runs Mad Queens Inc., an unlicensed magical problem-solving agency with her three best friends. They've built their reputation on grit, loopholes, and unrepentant competence, ignoring those who think their perimenopausal magic tops out at party tricks.

They’re wrong but correcting them would be a felony. Every one of the Queens has a forbidden second magic buried deep—until an assassin golem forces Tovah to unleash hers.

She thinks she got away with it. Then Nikolai Azarov shows up.

Vancouver’s only golem maker would call her story creative if he wasn’t too busy calling BS. Worse, once he figures out what she actually did to that golem, he doesn’t turn her in. He names his price.

Now Tovah must honor a dangerous bargain with a man who’s already insufferable without leverage, outmaneuver the magic cops circling her agency, and hunt down whoever left a hand-delivered clay effigy on her bed.

Middle age isn't a crisis. It's a weapon.

Perfect for fans of paranormal women’s fiction, slow-burn romance with banter, and found family who’d help you hide a body.

 

My review:

Fun, fascinating, full bodied characters will keep you laughing and gasping in this first in an exciting new series by Deborah Wilde. Filled with the authors offbeat sense of humor and featuring a healthy friendship between four women this tale will take you into a world of magic and intrigue. I LOVED IT. I look forward to the next installment with a lust usually reserved for chocolate oranges.

 

Buy links:

Amazon

B&N

Promise (Men of Inked Sinners #6) by Chelle Bliss

 

 

Blurb:

What happens in Vegas sometimes follows you forever.

Amelia Gallo wasn’t known for being wild. She spends her days working in her family’s bakery and her nights catching up on sleep. Average should’ve been her middle name. But when her friends drag her to a girl’s weekend in Vegas everything spirals out of control.

After a drunken game of truth or dare, Amelia wakes up with a hangover and a wedding ring on her finger. But Amelia has no memories of the ceremony and neither does the hunky, shirtless cowboy lying next to her.

Reed Anderson’s a cowboy who works too much. He’s too busy on his family’s ranch to have much time for anything else, including fun or dating. But when his friends drag him to a guy’s weekend in Vegas, his entire world shifts. Reed marries a stranger and has zero memories of the entire thing.

A quickie marriage can be solved with a quickie divorce. Problem solved. But when he goes to Chicago to hand deliver the paperwork to the city girl who’s now his wife, he finds out she has an even bigger surprise for him.

And what starts out as an ending turns into ‘my wife’ in an instant.

 

My review:

City girl and country boy meet in Vegas and spend some quality time being wild with each other. When that wild turns into a drunken wedding things get a little crazy. But what if…

This is a sweet and steamy romp that will have you laughing out loud and rooting for love.

 

Buy links:

Amazon

B&N

 

Double Booked by Piper Strickland

 

 

Blurb:

Take Care of my Babygirl

That was the message Maci Kate's Daddy had left for his two best friends after cancer took him from their lives.

Tifton and Malice know they've been given a gift, and a great responsibility, but with their best friends and former MMA brothers, they all step up to help Maci rebuild the pieces of her life and show her she's not alone as she may feel.

Determined to build something beautiful from the pain, Maci Kate decides to open a kink-themed bed and breakfast in her husband’s honor. But during the renovations, something unexpected happens.

Maci Kate, Tifton and Malice realize their friendship has grown into something deeper and they all have to come to terms with their new feelings, the guilt over their happiness, and the idea that the future looks a little different than any of them expected.

And much like the doors on the bed and breakfast, their hearts are ready to open again.

 

My review:

Cole was Maci’s husband and heart. But when he passes away she is lost in grief. Cole asked his best friends to help her through his loss. I really felt for them all and was thrilled when they found their way to love again. Maci is much stronger than she thinks and their healing journey will fill your heart.

 

Buy link:

Amazon