March 2023 Reading Roundup
Happy April! Hopefully, no one gets you too badly with April Fools Day. March was a better reading month for me, by sheer force of will and some killer books. I was determined to break my reading slump and get back in the groove of reading and reaching or even exceeding my Goodreads goal of 175 books for 2023. . .so without further ado, here is what I read in March. . .
I began March strong with this stellar Romantasy that has quickly become one of my favorites of the year,
read my review > HERE < 5+ Stars
Their games will change her. Their love will ruin her.
Lonnie Skyeborne is a human servant bound to the immortal court, until a cruel fairy tricks her into killing the High Fae King…and she finds herself next in line for the throne.
But in the kingdom of Elsewhere, the heir to the throne must defend their crown in the Wilde Hunts: A series of deadly trials where anyone may hunt down the new queen without consequence.
To survive her coronation, Lonnie must bargain with the ruthless fae princes she just dethroned. Prince Scion is arrogant, violent, and guards his own dark agenda. His cousin, Prince Bael, makes no secret of how much he hates Lonnie…but wants to strike a sinfully tempting deal.
Every full moon, the mortal queen fights for her life…all other nights, she guards her heart.
I sooooo wanted to LOVE this duet, I mean look at the covers, they’re stunning. In the end I gave Dance Butterfly Dance 3 stars for hooking and entertaining me and Burn Butterfly Burn 2 stars, because I just didn’t jive with it.
A contemporary why choose romance set in the third year of university. Multi POV, multiple love interests, very detailed high steam scenes, No full MM but a fluid scene with her in the middle.
Savy St. James is a sad lonely girl with too many secrets to count. She hides away in her oversized frumpy clothes and thick glasses wishing she was brave enough to be seen without her mask.
One small favor backfires and forces her into a fake date deal by the school’s hot shot quarterback. Him and his three best friends treat her like a pet to play with and are careless with her until she’s had enough and breaks the deal. But when her secrets are revealed and her masks are stripped away, they will all burn for it.
Tate Valor thinks this nerdy girl is the perfect choice to use as his shield keeping all the groupies and gold diggers off his back. Savy’s a built in tutor to help him drag his marks back up so he doesn’t get benched. He never expected the make out show he forces her to put on in public to affect him more than it does her.
Jude Dixon is the wild child, f**k boy of the team. His crazy antics that match his white blond hair, multiple piercings and slightly psycho personality couldn’t be any different from the shy little doll Tate’s brought into his orbit. He’s the first to see the treasure that she is and stakes his claim when he falls hard and fast for her even when she doesn’t want to be claimed.
Beckett James had his shot at going pro blown right along with his knee. With football no longer a choice, he’s lost and depressed. Savy’s sweet heart and peach smelling hair has more than his interest stirring. He wants to peel back the masks she hides under and see the real her.
Asher James doesn’t give a sh*t about the bookworm his friends are obsessing over. He only has one obsession, the Butterfly that dances in the cage for him. It doesn’t matter that she’s never spoken to him in two years. He wants her and only her…until Savy starts getting under his skin and he sees that maybe he’s been the one in the cage all along.
Dance Butterfly Dance is book 1 of a duet and will be completed in Burn Butterfly Burn
Sooooooo, I normally greatly enjoy Albany Walker novels. . .this one, not so much. It was a 3 star read for me, I liked it, but I didn’t love it and I won’t continue on with the series or re-read this one. Interesting ideas though and the love interests were likable, as was Waylynn the main character. . .
I’m starting over.
Moving to a new town to start college, where I can try to be normal. Or at least pretend I am.
I’m willing to fake it, because I’m tired of trying to get better. Tired of spilling my guts to doctors and therapists to understand why I’ve heard voices since I was a child.
The meds are working… for now, but if they stop, I’ll never tell. I just want to live my life, and if that means ignoring why so many people think I’m crazy, so be it.
She’s the most silent storm I’ve ever witnessed.
Waylynn is as pretty as a picture, curvy, with hazel eyes that always seem to evade everyone’s gaze.
She’s been avoiding me since our first encounter, but fate intervenes and brings her right back to me… and my brother.
Now I need to know more.
Seeing Sound is the first book of the Tasting Madness Series. This is Reverse Harem novel with adult themes and situations.
A Knight’s Revenge Trilogy is solid. Solid writing, solid storytelling, solid characters, it’s just. . .solid.
4 Stars and you can read my mini reviews for each > HERE <
In Saint Gabriel City, there are the Four Families, and there are those who are owned by them.
The Spencers, the Hargraves, the Ferreros, and the Knights rule the City together with their exorbitant wealth and iron fists that no one dare challenge.
Each Family has an Heir, and they are raised together to one day assume control of their respective empires, trained to crush anyone who stands in their way under the heel of their unmeasurable power.
At least, there were Four Families, and there were four Heirs—until three of the Families banded together to murder the Knights in cold blood one fateful summer night.
Their daughter was only eleven years old.
And the other Heirs—three sons—were only twelve as they watched their best friend die on the floor of a soulless beige conference room next to her parents.
Seven years later, the remaining Heirs have taken their place at the ultra-exclusive Holywell Academy where the City’s elite strive to earn a coveted place in the Families’ kingdom by rubbing elbows with the exalted sons.
Only what Bennett Spencer, Noah Hargraves, and Zach Ferrero don’t know—what the Families have failed to realize after all these years—is that Jolie Knight didn’t die that night.
That little girl has been hiding just across the river, right under their noses.
That little girl is all grown up, and now she’s the Academy’s newest scholarship student.
That little girl is me, and I’m going to burn this City to the motherfucking ground.
Okay, this one pains me. I DNF’d this one. I made it about 75% through and was so bored to tears that I finally called it quits. The writing is. . .well, the accolades say it’s good, amaze, wonderful. I was bored. The cover is stunning though and the reason I picked up the book to begin with, I love macabre, plus it sounds soooo good.
Edinburgh, 1817. Hazel Sinnett is a lady who wants to be a surgeon more than she wants to marry.
Jack Currer is a resurrection man who’s just trying to survive in a city where it’s too easy to die.
When the two of them have a chance encounter outside the Edinburgh Anatomist’s Society, Hazel thinks nothing of it at first. But after she gets kicked out of renowned surgeon Dr. Beecham’s lectures for being the wrong gender, she realizes that her new acquaintance might be more helpful than she first thought. Because Hazel has made a deal with Dr. Beecham: if she can pass the medical examination on her own, the university will allow her to enroll. Without official lessons, though, Hazel will need more than just her books – she’ll need bodies to study, corpses to dissect.
Lucky that she’s made the acquaintance of someone who digs them up for a living, then.
But Jack has his own problems: strange men have been seen skulking around cemeteries, his friends are disappearing off the streets. Hazel and Jack work together to uncover the secrets buried not just in unmarked graves, but in the very heart of Edinburgh society.
A gothic tale full of mystery and romance about a willful female surgeon, a resurrection man who sells bodies for a living, and the buried secrets they must uncover together.
I liked Corpse Roads, 3 stars, you can read my review > HERE < BUT I didn’t love it, I will be continuing on with the series but probably not until the last book releases. The writing itself is beyond stellar, J Rose is incredible.
In therapy, they tell you to use your senses.
List the things you know.
Sermons recited with malice. A blood-soaked ritual. The sting of tears and gasping sobs of the dying. Rotting flesh.
I grew up in a cage, tortured by the Lord Almighty’s most twisted servant. Death and despair became my close companions as I watched years of slaughter at Pastor Michaels’ hand.
Eighteen girls. Dead.
Eighteen lives. Ended.
Eighteen futures. Stolen.
After years of captivity, I don’t recognise the world I’m suddenly thrust into. The road in front of me is lined with corpses, demanding vengeance from beyond the grave.
I escaped… but they didn’t.
Now, I have to live for them.
Sabre Security offers me a lifeline in the dark. They want to find the killer before another girl dies, but their protection comes with a price.
My soul must be excavated, one sinful memory at a time.
The Hunter will become the Hunted.
Author Note: Corpse Roads (Sabre Security #1) is a contemporary reverse harem romance set in the same universe as Blackwood Institute, which is recommended to be read first but not compulsory.
Prey Island is brilliant! I absolutely LOVED this novel, easy 5+ Stars and one of my favorites of 2023!
Read my review > HERE <
Welcome to Prey Island. . .
Billie watches enough serial killer shows to know she’s in deep trouble when she finds herself kidnapped and shoved in a cage with dozens of other people. What she doesn’t expect is to be dropped off on a remote island, given weapons, and told to run.
The Hounds have been released and they say she’s the prey.
Now, Billie is being hunted just like everyone else on the island. Trapped with nowhere to go, she finds herself teaming up with others in order to survive. Four men set her ablaze with their touch and threaten to corrupt her every moral, each as dangerous as the Hounds who hunt them. She may not be built for Prey Island, but she won’t be going down without a fight.
This rabbit has teeth and the only way out is to
Play the Game.
Squid Games meets Predator in this thrilling WhyChoose romance. If you love K.A. Knight, Jennifer L. Armentrout, Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti, pick up Prey Island now!
I freaked out when I found out this was going to be a Duology and we were going back to the Island.
5++ Stars and another favorite of the year.
Welcome to Predator Point. . .
Billie barely escaped Prey Island with her life. She fought her way out alongside the four men she fell in love with, a family formed in chaos. Two weeks filled with blood, desperation, and desire left their mark on her soul. The blood still stains her hands.
But just because she survived doesn’t mean she’s free.
The Hound Society is always watching. They’ve spent far too long at the top, free from consequences for their actions, and though Billie escaped them once, she isn’t finished with them yet. The Hounds will pay for what they’ve done and the lives they’ve taken. With that thought in mind, Billie steps foot on Predator Point again, savagery on her lips.
The prey will rise, and this rabbit?
She’s going to eat the rich.
She’s going to swallow them whole.
Squid Games meets Predator in this thrilling WhyChoose romance. If you love K.A. Knight, Jennifer L. Armentrout, Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti, pick up Predator Point now!
Dark and sexy. . .I loved everything about this first in a new duology, can not wait for book two! 5 Stars
Read my review >HERE<
Revenge.
Raised to be my father’s weapon against the Coven that took away his sister and his birthright, I would do anything to protect my younger brother from suffering the same fate. My duty forces me to the secret town of Crystal Hollow and the prestigious Hollow’s Grove University—where the best and brightest of my kind learn to practice their magic free from human judgment.
There are no whispered words here. No condemnation for the blood that flows through my veins. The only animosity I face comes from the beautiful and infuriating Headmaster, Alaric Grayson Thorne, a man who despises me just as much as I loathe him and everything he stands for.
But that doesn’t mean secrets don’t threaten to tear the school in two. No one talks about the bloody massacre that forced it to close decades prior, only the opportunity it can afford to those fortunate enough to attend.
Because for the first time in fifty years, the Coven will open its wards to the Thirteen.
Thirteen promising students destined to change the world.
If the ghosts of Hollow’s Groves’ victims don’t kill them first.
Amazing Angst-ridden, second chance, enemies-to-lovers, high spice romance – 5 stars – 1st in duology
Read my Review >HERE<
From the USA Today Bestselling Author Ivy Fox comes a new angsty romance filled with intrigue and revenge, and a thick web of secrets and lies that begs to be disentangled.
“The king is dead. Long live the Winter Queen in the north!”
Unfortunately, those jubilant shouted-out wishes over my role as queen of the Kingdom of Aikyam were short-lived.
All because three pesky kings stand in my way.
King Levi in the east.
King Teodoro in the south.
And the rebel king in the west, Atlas.
They want my crown.
My throne.
My birthright.
So instead of trying to dismantle their plots to overthrow me, I do the unexpected.
I offer up marriage instead.
A trap of my own making that will ensure I remain on top.
Because, make no mistake, there can only be one ruler in this kingdom—me.
*The Frost Touched Queen is a #whychoose, enemies to lovers, royal romance.
*This is the first book in the duet – The Winter Queen.
*Recommended 18+ due to mature language and situations.
Smutty smutty goodness is had by all in this retelling of King Arthur and the Knights of the Roundtable.
4 Stars || Read my Reveiw >HERE<
The legends were wrong. King Arthur and his knights were never the good guys…
I’m not the first Guinevere in my family line, or even the tenth. I’m just the newest one. I’m not special. Everyone I know has abandoned me, except Grandma Gwenny, who raised me. And now she’s gone, too.
When my beloved grandma’s final act leads me on a wild hunt across oceans, I never imagined I’d end up in the mythical realm of Camelot.
Except this Camelot isn’t like any of the legends I’ve read about. It’s dark, dangerous, depraved. The land is cursed. Rebellion is afoot. King Arthur and his knights are wicked brothers… and these brothers share everything.
A girl could get lost here. Hell, I might want to get lost here.
I was brought to Camelot for a reason. Ancient prophecies say I’m more special than I thought. But what do I do when the legendary Knights of the Round Table are more villainous than the bad guys?
I should want to leave, but this place is too seductive. I’m a prisoner in this realm of sin… Do I embrace the darkness?
Author’s Note: Realm of Sin is a steamy retelling of Arthurian myths. This dark fantasy romance features multiple morally gray love interests, tons of touch-her-and-perish vibes, swordplay (of all kinds), and a heroine who refuses to be chained… unless she’s into it.
