Tori’s Reviews:

Wild Ride by Chantal Fernando
Romance Contemporary/Novella
C+

Wild Ride is the 4.5 installment in the Fernando’s Wind Dragon MC series and fans are pleased to see it is the elusive Talen’s story. Talen is the president of the Wild Men MC; a rival club of the Wind Dragons. Though the MCs don’t get along, his relationship to a Wind Dragon brother and another member’s girlfriend complicates the situation. Content to stay in the background, trying to keep his MC on the straight and narrow and improve his relationship with his half-brother and sister, Talon has no time for romantic entanglements. But love waits for no one. We first meet the heroine, Tia, in Rake’s Redemption. She is Bailey’s bff and the perfect comedic sidekick. Fernando digs deeper into Tia’s personality and background, showing us and Talon that she is more than able to hold her own against a commitment phobic biker. This fast and furious story is brimming  with plenty of laughter, passion, and some suspense as Fernando takes readers on the wildest ride of their lives. The novella does end rather abruptly on a cliffhanger, leaving this reader feeling a bit unfulfilled.

Rock Wedding by Nalini Singh
Romance Contemporary
B+

The fourth and supposedly last book in Singh’s Rock Kiss series is an emotionally rich, sexy, and bittersweet second chance romance that speaks to everyone who has lost their way. Love, heartbreak, and forgiveness help a couple find their way back to one another after their journey to happily ever after was interrupted by fear and addiction. Singh doesn’t pull any punches as she takes us back to the beginning so that we can understand the elements that destroyed Abe and Sarah’s marriage before she slowly moves forward with the reconciliation, using their dialogue and internal thoughts to grant us an intimate step by step view. Laughter, tears, and incredibly sensual scenes keep the reader entranced as a couple destined to be together fights for one more chance. Previous characters in the series maintain a strong presence and Singh gifts us with some much desired scenes that assures us they are all happy, healthy, and very much in love.

Fury Rising by Yasmine Galenorn
PNR
C+

Gods, goddesses, pantheons, explosive magic, vengeful antagonists, and a world on the brink of destruction is just the beginning in Galenorn’s newest PNR series-Fury Unbound. This action-packed supernatural conflict is saturated with Galenorn’s trademark wicked humor, personable characters, and explicit attention to detail. Set in an alternative post-apocalyptic Seattle, the world has been changed drastically due to a temper tantrum thrown by the goddess, Gaia. One woman, Kaeleen Donovan aka Fury, a servant to Hecate, is charged with recovering an ancient artifact before it falls into the wrong hands. As with most fantasy-based stories, the world building, and character setup holds a large part of the storyline though I found the sheer amount of information pushed at us in the beginning daunting and somewhat confusing. The story soon settles and we are off as Galenorn takes readers on a wild untamed ride that will leave readers ready for the next installment. My only qualm, besides the information overload in the beginning, was the weak interaction with the main antagonist . I hope the following novels allows them more on-screen time. 

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Mandi:

Triple Score by Regina Kyle
Contemporary – C+

Last year I read Triple Dare and found this author has a really nice voice. I enjoyed Triple Score, but more the second half than the first. The hero is a baseball player and the heroine is a world-famous ballerina – and they meet in a physical rehab facility because they are both injured. The hero is very cocky, immediately calling the heroine “Duchess” and giving her a hard time.

The heroine often finds herself accidentally bumping into him or walking into his room during intimate moments. I felt their chemistry was too forced in the first half of the book. They just didn’t seem to go together. But things settle down in the second half and their romance felt more natural. This book is pretty hot too.

Game of Shadows by Amanda Byrne
Romantic Suspense – C

I enjoyed the premise and the start of this book, but then I think it falters a bit. Cass is an assassin, which pays the bills as she tries to get through college. Her assignment is to kill a man named Dominic, who ends up being the hero. I love this scenario. When she is scoping him out one night, she sees him being targeted by someone else, and steps in. She saves her target – and then they have to figure out if they can trust each other and who is after Dominic – who happens to be in a big crime family. I think they trust each other too easily – and don’t question each other about their backgrounds enough to start. Their initial dynamic confused me. I also would have loved to see Cass actually be a bad ass, top-of-the-tier assassin. I never truly felt she was one. The romance was rushed for me as well.

I really like this premise, but it fell short for me.

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Kini:

Married by Contract by Noelle Adams
Contemporary
Grade: C

I have really enjoyed this author’s voice in all the books I have read of hers. I had a few problems with this one.

I may have mentioned that I really enjoy the marriage of convenience trope. When the story opens Jenn and Nick are a few years into their marriage and seem to be relatively comfortable with their situation. Jenn is stressed from work and back massages from Nick quickly turn to more. They escalate to having planned sex one night a week. As the sexing continues, Nick wants more, but Jenn is hesitant due to having issues with trust.

Jenn sees Nick as someone who doesn’t care and doesn’t push for more or take things seriously. Nick sees Jenn as someone who takes things too seriously and wants her to have more time for herself. They work to navigate toward a real marriage and relationship.

This book can probably be described as a novella at 149 pages. And although it is a super fast read with a satisfying ending, I wish there had been a little more substance to it. I felt like there wasn’t enough time/backstory for me to buy into their marriage of convenience. It just wasn’t quite enough for me to invest in them. Nick also talks about how Jenn runs away when she is scared, but she always comes back to him. I felt like there wasn’t enough material to really make me understand that. I would have liked to have more of their beginning to really believe in their ending