Just Jake by Jaimie Engle

 

Blurb:

Amber Gibson, Entrepreneur
 

Life is perfect. Amber runs Pops Place, a popular downtown Colorado Springs diner and a staple her parents passed down upon retirement. She also teaches music to underprivileged kids at The Music Center, where they put on a concert during Octoberfest at the Mining Museum each year. Amber’s happy with life just the way it is. Until her ex-boyfriend Jake comes back on the scene.

Jake Collins, Superstar

Life is perfect. Jake’s a country music sensation discovered on TikTok by manager Marvin Banks. With fawning fans, cash in his pockets, and travelling on tour, Jake’s got it all. Except for the passion to write his next hit. He’s not feeling it anymore and can’t figure out what’s missing. Jake’s sent back home, where he runs into high school sweetheart, Amber Gibson.

Like most second-chance romances, the prospects don’t look promising for Amber and Jake’s reunion tour. But then, he connects with her newest student, Joaquin, a boy with Jake’s same musical talents and abusive father. As Jake’s falling in love with her students, Amber’s falling back in love with him.

He never stopped loving her…but his proposal may not be the one she’s expecting.

 

My review:

Disclaimer: I didn’t realize this was a Christian romance when I picked it up. Not being a Christian I don’t usually read these type of stories.

Just Jake is a second chance romance about a country singer making life choices that have affected everything from the way he sings to the girl he left behind. He has reached a spot in his career that has him rethinking things. I liked Jake.

Amber is the girl he left behind. She’s never stopped loving him and buries herself in work. Boy can she hold a grudge.

I enjoyed the story even if it was a bit saccharine. I liked the way they found their way back to each other. I could have done without a lot of the preaching but…

 

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Leo (Masters of the Zodiac #11) by Golden Angel

Blurb:

The only thing Chadrick Cummings loves more than himself, is a woman who hates him.

Her disdain is like his own personal brand of catnip, and he can’t seem to stay away.

And Scarlet O’Brien loathes him.

From the moment she reports for duty as his new bodyguard-slash-fake girlfriend, all he can think about is getting her under him. Then she walks into his dreams—literally—and he finally gets his chance.

But while he’s busy chipping away at Scarlet’s resistance both in the dream world and the waking, someone else is dreaming of Chadrick’s demise. Unless they can figure out who, their dreams of happily ever after may be shattered for good…

 

My review:

Leo is a witty enemies to lovers filled with the authors trademark steam. This fun romp had me laughing out loud.

 

Buy links:

Amazon

 

 

Money Shot (Blue Ivy Prep Book 4) by Heather Long

 

 

Blurb:

Kaitlin Crosse wields an extraordinary power over me. She pushes, dares, and drives me to the brink of madness. Ever since our paths intertwined, my obsession with her has been absolute and unyielding.

Every aspect of her calls out to me, yet the very thing I yearn for the most might be forever beyond my grasp. She resists my attempts to possess and protect her. She refuses my claims, asserting her fiercely independent nature.

That same, unwavering self-reliance only intensifies my attraction to her, and ignites a fierce desire to eradicate the pain in her eyes. Pain we inflicted upon her. Pain her father has inflicted. Pain that the world relentlessly imposes upon her.

I don’t want to share her with anyone. Not my brothers. Not her friends. Not the world.

But that’s not what Ace needs…

And I need her.

So I have to become what she needs, and that means working with my brothers, her closest friends, and her family. It means fighting to keep her safe when the whole world seems to want to tear her apart.

I won’t let that happen.

We won’t.

Kaitlin Crosse, my ace, my fixation, and my future.

*Please note this is a reverse harem and the author suggests you always read the foreword in her books. Contains some bullying elements, mature situations, and is recommended for 17+. This is book four of four in a series.

 

My review:

FANTASTIC FINALE! Money Shot sucked me in and kept me reading past my bedtime. I just could not put it down. This book wraps up KC’s tenure at Blue Ivy Prep and answers all the questions that have been stacking up. Major surprises.

 

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Khan (Rolling Thunder MC Birmingham #5) by Candace Blevins

 

Blurb:

A motorcycle club dark-and-twisted paranormal romance with his MC brother’s sister...

Khan is in charge of Rolling Thunder’s professional submissives. He manages them (herding feral cats would be easier), he protects them, and he trains them when they wish to advance their skills. There’s no shortage of women at the local BDSM clubs who want Khan to take them home and hurt them, and he frequently has from one to four submissives in his home, but he’s given up hope of finding his very own pet or slave — his needs are too dark, too evil. The human part of him wants to hurt them, his wolf wants to smell their terror, and the combination of the two had, so far, sent even the most hard-core of masochists running for the hills before he’d barely gotten started. So, no more relationships, and no more trusting a masochist could actually handle him at his worst, no matter the promises made ahead of time.

Tempe, short for Temperance, is a self-described maso-slut, chasing the ultimate sadist. She’s been with the same Master three years, and when that relationship crashes and burns, her brother moves back to Birmingham to try to keep her safe. His MC brothers are supposed to help protect her, but she senses one is a kindred spirit, and makes sure he overhears when she’s talking to another woman and shares her fantasies: magnitudes of violence and violation while choked with terror.

Warning: Triggers. All the triggers. Every one of them. Proceed with caution.

 

My review:

Khan is a motorcycle club dark-and-twisted paranormal romance with as the author warns ALL THE TRIGGERS. Theirs is not a sweet romance. They shouldn’t even be thinking of being together. She’s human and everything he could want in a woman but oh so breakable. She wants to be broken repaired and broken again. These two were made for each other and thank goodness for it because I wouldn’t want to wish them on any other. I don’t understand their kind of love but it is a love.

 

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Stay Here With Me (The Wilder Brothers, #5) by Carrie Ann Ryan

 

Blurb:

The Wilder Brothers from NYT Bestselling Author Carrie Ann Ryan continues with a secret romance that East and Lark never saw coming.

The world thinks I only write songs about my ex-boyfriends.

They study each lyric to point a finger at which man broke my heart—even if I’ve never met him.

Only the man I refuse to write about is the one who is so tangled in my mind that I know I can never be with him.

I had one night with East Wilder, and I know that’s all there will ever be.

He broke my heart without even trying.

Yet now I can’t seem to write a single verse and I need a place to hide while I figure out who I am. The Wilder Retreat will have to be my refuge as the Wilders prepare for, my best friend’s wedding.

And when I’m there, I refuse to fall for East again.

Even if the dark shadows in his eyes draw me in. And the dangers of his past might be the one thing that forces us to finally give in.

 

My review:

East has issues. PTSD, survivors guilt, anger and self esteem issues. But he also has a supportive family a job and a good heart.  

Lark has issues too. She can write and sing about love but hasn’t had much luck with that particular emotion no matter what the paparazzi say.

A one night stand with East has her heart fighting with her mind and she can’t even find consolation in the one thing she’s always always been able to do. Write.

This grumpy/sunshine romance had my heart rooting for both of these lonely hearts. The author shows us how love can hurt as well as heal. I fell head over heals for Lark and East.

 

Buy links:

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Caramel Drizzle (Little Cakes #14) by Pepper North & Paige Michaels

 

Blurb:

Welcome to Little Cakes, the bakery that plays Daddy matchmaker!

Can a hardware store crush provide the building blocks to happily-ever-after?

Jordi Crouse is thrilled when she lands a new remodeling job. Sure, it’s not a luxurious mansion or a fancy restaurant, but funky strip mall beauty shops deserve to be both gorgeous and functional, too. But it turns out trying to build the hairdressers’ stations by herself was not her smartest move.

Callen James’s hardware store has everything a contractor could need. If only he could stock someone special to make his life complete. One gorgeous and knowledgeable woman wiping out his supply of mini light bulbs and ordering tons of paint is definitely as close as he’s come to finding love in a long time, so of course he volunteers to deliver the supplies to her job site. And as Callen gets to know Jordi, it quickly becomes clear to him that the salon isn’t the only thing in need of a Little TLC.

Little Cakes is a sweet and satisfying series, but dare to taste only if you like delicious Daddies, luscious Littles, and guaranteed happily-ever-afters.

 

My review:

I loved Jordi! Jordi is a woman working in a traditionally male position and nailing it. She works hard and then goes home and lets her little out except she has no Daddy to play with until that is she meets Callen. These two are so sweet together you could open a candy store. This story is just adorable.

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Atlas: Shadowridge Guardians MC, Book 3 by Becca Jameson

 

Blurb:

“Baby girl, I’m going to count to three…”

Carlee is doing just fine on her own. She doesn’t need a man in her life. They never treat her right anyway. She certainly doesn’t need her best friend’s brother to swoop into town and take over like he never left her. It takes him less than one day to cause her to lose her car, her job, and her apartment. Now she’s furious.

Atlas is in town as a favor to his father to help the MC club. What he’s not prepared for is Carlee—a woman he’s spent years trying to forget. A woman with cute pigtails, a sassy attitude, a pile of problems, and the need for a good spanking.

She can push him away all she wants, but he won’t leave town until she can stand on her own.


Combining the sizzling talents of bestselling authors Pepper North, Kate Oliver, and Becca Jameson, the Shadowridge Guardians are guaranteed to give you a thrill and leave you dreaming of your own throbbing motorcycle joyride.

Are you daring enough to ride with a club of rough, growly, commanding men? The protective Daddies of the Shadowridge Guardians Motorcycle Club will stop at nothing to ensure the safety and protection of everything that belongs to their Littles, their club, and their town. Throw in some sassy, naughty, mischievous women who won’t hesitate to serve their fair share of attitude even in the face of looming danger, and this brand new MC Romance series is ready to ignite!

 

My review:

Atlas is the sexiest accountant I’ve ever read.

Atlas grew up in  the Shadowridge Guardians MC but left after college. He’s been climbing the corporate ladder in the city. He is needed by the MC to review their books after their treasurer disappeared. He didn’t count on running into his little sisters best friend stranded and in trouble.

This is a sweet and sexy tale of a protective man and the woman he’s always been drawn to. Guaranteed to leave you with a smile.

 

Buy links:

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Bohemian Tragedy (Bewitching Midlife Crisis Mystery #2) by Dakota Cassidy

 

Blurb:

Hello again! It’s me, Evanora Dark, Buttermilk Bay’s newest sage of house staging and recently discovered unalived whisperer (that’s ghost-talker to you lay folk).

Business is booming, a certain silver-fox contractor named Cary Mann is hot in pursuit (wink-wink), and me and my bestie Fab are as tight as ever. Life is good—newly inherited boggart-in-a-crystal ball aside (don’t ask; he’s a handful. And libidinous. And it’s more of a snow globe than a crystal ball…)

Good, that is, until the next ghost shows up with an untimely demise to solve. Turns out, she’s a blast from my past…a painful one at that, one I could have gone the rest of my life without ever seeing again. My loved ones—both living and dead—all have my back though, ready to throw down with this particularly pesky poltergeist.

But my gift for helping the unalived comes with certain responsibilities. I’ll help this ghost solve the mystery behind her death and see her to the light. Even if, years ago, I would’ve liked to have bumped her off myself. After all…isn’t that how most of us feel toward the person who helped blow up their marriage?

Yep. I’m tasked with helping the very woman who ruined my marriage. But the more I get to know her ghost, the more I realize things are never as cut-and-dried as they seem. Not life, not love, not relationships… And certainly not murder!

 

My review:

This story filled my heart. The ghost of the woman who broke up Evanora’s marriage comes to her for help. Evanora could have passed and let her wander lost with no answers but instead did her best to find out who this woman was and who was responsible for her death. Evanora is a woman I would love to have as a friend. Empathetic and a little crazy I truly enjoyed this journey with her.

 

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