Revealed to Him (Kerr Chronicles, #3)  by Jen Frederick
Romance Suspense
RATING: B-

The third book in Frederick’s best selling Kerr Chronicles involves Tiny’s intractable boss, Jake Turner. When he is hired to provide security for an agoraphobic writer, his protective urges soar to the forefront. Fredericks pens a seductive suspense driven romance between two people whose disabilities affect them in very different ways. Jake lost his leg in the war but has learned to adapt and continues to live his life to the fullest. Natalie Becker wasn’t so lucky. When she is doxxed for a game she developed the result is agoraphobia. Though she was on her way to recovery, a series of disturbing notes sets her back. This enjoyable steamy read does well blending the romance with the conflict though the romance commands a larger portion. Well developed characters and some intriguing secondary subplots only add to the appeal. Fredericks does a good job of bringing the readers into her protagonists lives and helping them understand the emotional and mental constraint of their disabilities. Even though this can be read as a standalone, Frederick brings in some familiar faces and gives us a hint or two to the next couple in this series. I did feel the pacing was off at times, creating some drag in the story. Also, the reveal fell a little flat for me after the big build up. I guess right off who it was but expected better reasons for their actions. Regardless, Revealed to Him is a worthy read and I look forward to book four.

The Single Undead Mom Club by (Half-Moon Hollow, # 4) Molly Harper
PNR
RATING: B+

Molly Harper is back in Half Moon Hollow and bringing plenty of laughs, romance, and snark when a mother makes the ultimate sacrifice for her child. Well written with a fast moving storyline, lovably eccentric characters, and a heroine you can’t help but want as your new bff.  When Libby Stratton finds out she is dying, she chooses to go the way of the vampire in order to stay with her young son. Using Craigslist (OMG-CRAIGSLIST) she finds a donor and wakes up in the middle of a little league field with a raging hunger and the overwhelming feeling that maybe she didn’t think this one through enough. Add in a rude janitor/mechanic/single father, a pair of anti vampire in-laws, and the dreaded PTA and you will be laughing your way to the end as Libby struggles to blend her new life with her old in order to hold on to the one person who means the world to her-her son.

One King’s Way by Samantha Young
Romance Contemporary
RATING: DNF

This is one of those times when I KNEW it was time to let go but dragged my feet because I was afraid the one I passed by would be the one to make me fall back in love with the series. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be. One King’s Way is a romance novella in Young’s prolific On Dublin Street series. Craig, the flirty handsome bartender that doesn’t do romance. When he meets the sexy and very uninterested Rain Alexander, he realizes that his nights as a bachelor are numbered. Only, Rain has an agenda all her own and he isn’t on it. The story starts out interestingly enough. Rain wants revenge on her sister’s ex boyfriend and ends up in Craig’s bar. I liked that Rain called out Craig’s flirting and told him it wasn’t special for anyone because everyone gets the same treatment. But the story quickly goes south when you realize Rain is one of Young’s famously damaged heroines; only she never redeems her. Abandonment and anger issues gives us an emotionally manipulative woman with a martyr complex whose very nature is very annoying right off the bat.

Marked by An Assassin (Eternal Mates) by Felicity Heaton
PNR Suspense
RATING: C+

Harbin, a broody alpha snow leopard shifter/assassin was exiled from his clan when his libido leads to devastation by the enemy, the Archangels. He becomes an assassin for survival and to atone for his failure by using his skills to kill every Archangel he comes across. When he learns of a hit being placed on another snow leopard, he demands the mission and soon realizes this woman is his mate. Aya has spent seventeen years in hiding, craving vengeance for the loss of her loved ones. When the situation presents itself, she takes advantage only to learn she has been played and now must find away to stop the events she has placed in motion. A hardened tortured assassin’s latest kill target is his mate? WHAAAA? Gimme. Enjoyable to a point, the problems I had with the story is it was extremely slow to start off. There is a lot of emotional and descriptive prose that weighs the story down. Also very repetitive. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times we are told the same thing over and over and over again. Harbin has a lot of guilt and we are subjected to multiple scenes where he ruminates over his past in great detail. On a good note, the characters are vibrant and well developed. The storyline engages & Heaton provides plenty of subplots to hype the interest for future stories. once Harbin snaps out of it, the action and intrigue picks up and the story flies like the wind as our hero and heroine band together to stop the villains and learn to forgive one another and themselves.

Shifter by Jennifer Reynolds
PNR
RATING: DNF

I picked this one up on a whim because I like shifters and I found the premise funny. A male wolf shifter turned into a house cat by a vengeful insane witch? Sign me up. Unfortunately, the first two chapters annoyed me so much, I have no idea if it eventually does get funny or engaging. The hero is turned into a house cat because he has a one night stand with a witch and lies about calling her the next day. Of course, according to him, it was all her fault for believing him because all drunk men lie to get sex. Hmmmm. The heroine isn’t much better personality wise. She’s strange and not in a fun way. I’m not sure if Reynolds was striving for that effect but it’s there. The book is also extremely verbose with an overwhelming amount of external and internal dialogue. When we practically get a full page of nothing but the heroine going on and on about texting & driving, I was done.

Mandi has a mini review too:

A Love to Last by Kelsey Browning
Contemporary
Grade: C

Delaney finds herself back in Prophecy, Texas and while she wants to travel and explore the world, she feels pressured to stay in her family’s boot-making business and start designing boots that help provide prophecies to certain people. She runs into Cal at the boot shop and sparks reunite. I got tired of the prophecy stuff in this book – I felt like it got repeated over and over – how this older man has made special boots his entire life and he has to find that special replacement to keep the prophecy stuff going – and if the boot shop goes under, tourist stuff will go away and the town will suffer. I also felt the hero was not properly fleshed out. He came across flat to me.