Shiver

Shiver by Allie Reynolds
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a great Locked room mystery set in snowy mountains and After seeing the synopsis, the eerie front cover I was immediately drawn to the story and This story is so much like "One by One" by Ruth ware, which I enjoyed a lot.


The story starts when Five snowboarding friends, Milla, Curtis, Dale, Heather, and Brent are brought together again at an isolated resort in the Le Rocher-French alps for a reunion weekend. They had last been there 10 years ago, training and preparing for the British Open snowboarding competition and Olympic selection. But an unfortunate event happens at that time when Saskia, Curtis's sister disappears during the finals of the competition. Without knowing what happened to her, friends drew apart and haven't seen each other after that.
But after 10 years, Upon receiving the tempting invitation for this weekend getaway, Milla hopes to spend the weekend catching up with her friends and enjoying snowboarding like she used to be.

Once they arrived they begin to feel that something is not right and unexpected, mysterious events happen one after the other. Little did they know that all their secrets are about to unravel and the past will become the deadly present.
I really loved how the story turns page by page with two different timelines and page by page author builds the suspense, thriller. Also enjoyed her writing style, the setting of the story, character building, and how she shows the story from Mill's Point of view.

I could not believe that this is her debut novel and I'm looking forward to reading her works in the future.

Well done!




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Final Girls

Final Girls by Riley Sager
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“You can’t change what’s happened. The only thing you can control is how you deal with it.”

The story is about three girls are known as "Final Girls", who survived in each of their own terrible massacres.
Lisa, Sam, and Quincy are the sole survivors of the mass murders and Quincy is one of the final girls who survived a mass murder at Pine Cottage while all her five friends murderded brutally.
While the law desperately tried to solve the mystery, Quincy has blacked out most of the night and she doesn't exactly remember what happened that night.
After 10 years, she is doing great with her fiancé, Jeff, and living in a beautiful apartment doing a popular baking blog. Suddenly everything turned up and down when Lisa, the first Final Girl, is found dead in her bathtub, wrists slit, and Sam, the second, appears on Quincy's doorstep. and her hidden past is about to unravel with her forgotten memories.


This is a dark, psychological thriller full of suspense. The story is well built and I loved the plot.
The issues I had with this book are the characters and I smelled the potential murderer in the beginning.

Quincy is too friendly to let a total stranger stay in her home and easy to manipulate and so she was not my favorite character in the book.

But overall I enjoyed the story and glad now I completed all Riley Sager's books.






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Once Upon a Moonlit Night

Once Upon a Moonlit Night by Elizabeth Hoyt
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is my first reading from Elizabeth Hoyt and read not knowing this is the 10.5 of Maiden Lane series.
The story begins when heiress Hippolyta(What a name 😂) escaped from the kidnapper and desperately tries to find help standing out in the cold, rainy night all by herself.
she saw a carriage passing by and tries to stop. Inside the carriage, Matthew Mortimer, Earl of Paxton who is traveling home and ready to take his duties.
he is the grumpy hero and she is the perfect sunshine.

I loved the story and the characters. This story is the perfect blend of Love, intimacy. Her writing style and character building are perfect and I can't wait to read the maiden lane series.😘










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Fires of Winter (Haardrad Viking Family, #1)

Fires of Winter by Johanna Lindsey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

🗡Enemies to lovers
🗡grumpy/ sunshine hero
🗡Strong heroin

Fires of winter is the first book of the Haardrad Family series and a Viking romance. The story is about two characters from two clans, lady Brenna is the younger daughter of lord Angus is a fearless, strong warrior woman raised as a boy, who has been kidnaped from her village by an inhuman Viking chieftain, happened to be her in-laws.
she and all the women in her family have been captivated as slaves and all the men have been brutally slaughter by Vikings. she was brought to Viking's icy lands far from her home to be a slave to Viking chieftain's son, Garrick Haardrad hoping she will make him happy and heal his wounded heart.
Garrick Haardrad absolutely dislikes females after been betrayed by his former lover and has no intention to make Brenna's life easy.
This is the third time I'm reading JL's book and I could not decide whether I like it or not. There lot of TW for rape, Brutal murders, assault, etc., and all the three books I have read so far have the same characteristics,
fearless/headstrong heroine, grumpy/sunshine hero, accidental pregnancy, hero ignores heroine, and later redeem himself. The only difference is the setting.
The things I like most about this story are the fearless, warrior heroine and JL's writing style. Normally I'm not a huge fan of Viking romance but I enjoyed this story a lot.
overall it is a good read.


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A Lifetime of Heaven

A Lifetime of Heaven by Nan Ryan
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Kay Montgomery is a captain of the salvation army who came to San Francisco's waterfront to spread the good, save the sinners, and find her missing brother.
Her ultimate goal is to save the people from doing sin and spread her good work.
She met Nick McCabe upon arrival and he is a scoundrel who owned one of the top salons in the city. The rival begins once Kay starts to turn his customers to be saints.

From her eyes, Nick is a sinner and from his eyes, Kay is a saint.

This is my first reading from nan Ryan and I quite enjoyed the story, her writing style. This story is a mix of romance, mystery and thriller, and a lot of salvation army stuff.
I absolutely loved the character, Nick, and the heroine Kay. He is a Grumpy/badass hero and she is a strong, fearless woman.
Overall, I enjoyed the story and will be picking more books from the author in the future.

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A Pirate's Love

A Pirate's Love by Johanna Lindsey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

( may contain spoilers)

🏴‍☠️pirate romance
🏴‍☠️damaged hero
🏴‍☠️enemies to lovers

I finished reading this book and Ummm...I don't know whether I want to laugh or cry.😐
The story starts when 19yrs Bettina Verlaine leaves France to travel across the sea to her betrothed, whom she has never met.
On the voyage, her ship is overtaken by pirates. She was captured by the pirate captain, Tristen, and kept as his hostage.🏴‍☠️
She tried to escape many times and failed but one day when the pirate ship anchored in a port, she was able to escape and find her soon-to-be husband hoping he will be able to save her and her caretaker + take revenge against Tristen.
Unfortunately, her plan did not work as she learned, the man she intended to marry has other plans.

Well, I have not seen such an unlucky heroine like Bettina Verlaine in HR, and if you think your life sucks wait until you read this book.
In the entire story, she had been raped constantly, had to protected herself from lustful men, had to dress like a boy to hide her gender to avoid assault, give birth to a child while hands tied, and finally fell in love with the rapist.
so yeah, that sucks a lot.

This is that typical JL book with a Grumpy/damaged hero + short-tempered heroine and in the end accidental pregnancy.
Also, I think Tristan is too good to be a pirate captain and Bettina is too beautiful to be a woman, that every man wants to assault her at first sight. 😳
You will find the word "Rape" or the act of rape/Assault in every chapter. So if you are sensitive to those triggers, this is not the book for you.
Overall, I enjoyed their little romance and the JL's writing style.


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Rapture's Rage

Rapture's Rage by Bobbi Smith
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

🏕 Western Romance
🏕 Love at first sight
🏕 Damaged Hero

The story starts when Roger Fontaine met a beautiful single mom, Anne Chase-Parker fell in love and gets married. After Anne's Marriage, they moved to Roger's home city with her daughter, Elizabeth.
later Anne had a second daughter, Renne, and died giving birth to her.
Losing her beloved wife, Roger goes into deep mourning, and his stepdaughter, Elizabeth is taken away by maternal grandparents.
After 16 years later, Renee grew up to a beautiful young lady and Roger passed away leading Renne to move to St. Louis to live with her aunt, Elisa.
She met Westlake brothers, James and Marshall who happen to be her aunt's family friends.
At first sight, Marshal stole Renee's, Innocent heart and marshall was shocked to see Renee's resembles his dead wife.
He was everything to her and little did Renne knows that this man holds her future and the family secrets she never knew.
This is my first reading from Bobbi Smith and the story is a mix of romance, thriller, and mystery with twists and turns.
I enjoyed the story a lot and her writing style. Also the setting of the story.
The downside of this story is the misleading synopsis and the pace. It is slow, lengthy and I wish the story could have been a bit shorter, descriptive. Intimacy between two leads was average but no lacking of romance Department. Also, there are a few TW for abortion, Murder, and violence.

Overall I had a very good reading experience and looking forward to reading her other books.


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Texas Destiny

Texas Destiny by Lorraine Heath
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

🤠damaged /grumpy hero
🤠western romance

"I've always believed that dreams were meant to be shared. Where's the joy in reaching for something if you have no one to see you capture it?"

19 years old Amelia Carson, is a mail order bride who desperate to start a new life suffered a lot from the civil war. she agrees to become the mail-order bride to the eldest brother of Houston’s brother, Dallas. She did know little about texas and life in texas through the letters they exchange and all she wants is a place to grow her dreams with the right man beside her.

The day before she arrives at fort worth from Georgia, Dallas broke his leg and send Houston(the second of the family)to bring her home back.
It takes three weeks to travel from the port to the rance and he and Amelia were riding down dangerous trails, sleeping under the stars with challenging weather conditions. When the journey becomes longer the affection between them getting stronger.

Wowza.. I love love this story. I'm a huge sucker for western romance and this book is right up my alley.😘it was an emotional read with love, anger, sadness, and happiness and
I loved everything about this story. The premises, the author's writing style, the characters, and this story gave me the same vibes as the book "fulfillment" by lavyrle Spenser.
I loved all the characters in the book, especially the younger brother Austin and Amelia. She is a sweet as a magnolia flower and a determined woman. 🌸

This is my first time reading Lorraine heath's books and I'm glad I picked up this book as a part of the April reading in #historicalhellionsbookclub and will be definitely read her other books.👍

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Shanna

Shanna by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

🌸enemies to lovers
🌸marriage of convenience

This is my first Kathleen Woodiwiss reading and the April pick for the #historicalhellions book club.

First of all, let me say this is a very looong(more than 600 pages) book with long chapters. The pace of this story is slow, wordy, flowery
and I wish this could have been a bit shorter, descriptive.

so going back to my review:
I absolutely dislike the main character, Shanna. She is one spoiled, entitled and selfish person I have come across in HR.😕
She put a bad taste in my mouth. Her action against our hero, Ruark Beauchamp is unacceptable when clearly he showed love & caring.
Also calling every single name in the dictionary to insult him and him accepting her cruel actions, made my head shake.😖
with that been said, I have to read the story with a grain of salt. I did not hate it but did not love it either. Also, there are a few TW for rape, murder, etc.
If you are a beginner to Kathleen woodiwiss book's, I don't think this will be a good start.

Overall this was a decent reading and I will be picking up other books from the author, just to check on her other stories.


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