By Melanie Listen, I don’t want to point fingers and assign blame, but I must get this off my chest. Beverly Jenkins has caused me a lot of sleepless nights this year. At the end of 2021, as I was looking back at my reading over the course of the year, I was also thinking about making a reading resolution, one that went a little bit beyond setting a reading goal on Goodreads. I decided to focus a part of this year on reading Ms. Bev’s extensive historical romance backlist. I had already read Continue Reading
Review: To Catch a Raven by Beverly Jenkins
To Catch a Raven by Beverly JenkinsHistorical Romance August 23, 2022, by Avon Review by Melanie I don’t want to point fingers but Beverly Jenkins has been responsible for a lot of the late, sleepless nights in my life, especially this year. Early this year, I decided I was going to do a deep dive into Ms. Bev’s histrom back catalog. I had already read several but after perusing her website, there were 18 titles I hadn’t yet read, including her newest release. I’ve been reading a couple Continue Reading
Smexy’s February TBR
Angela: I have so many books to read this month. So. Many. And I think they are all historical romance for some reason. There are like seven million historical romance books coming out on the 9th. Wild Rain (Women Who Dare #2) by Beverly Jenkins Historical Romance 2/9- Y'all Ms. Bev is an auto-read for me and I've been putting this off so I have it to look forward to. The Duke Heist (The Wild Wynchesters #1) by Erica Ridley Historical Romance 2/9- I was drawn in by the cover and then I Continue Reading
Angela’s Most Anticipated for 2021
Contemporary Romance: Shipped by Angie Hockman- Release date 01/19/2021- Billed as "The Unhoneymooners meets The Hating Game", an enemies to lovers on a cruise ship? Yes, please. The Dating Plan by Sara Desai- Release date 03/16/2021- This is the follow-up to The Marriage Game and it features the fake dating trope. Sweethand (Island Bites Book 1) by N.G. Peltier- 03/30/2021- Enemies to lovers who are stuck together for a wedding.... and I really love this cover. The Continue Reading
Top Ten November 13, 2020
It's Friday the 13th! I am writing this from Lincoln, NE where it is a balmy 27 degrees right now. BOOOOO Cold weather I am not ready for you! The romance world has been busy this week! I hope I have room to share some cute animals with you this week :) 10. Perhaps you noticed some new reviewer names on the Smexy site recently? We are so happy to officially announce we have some new friends joining the Smexy team! Welcome to Melinda, Jen, Kate, Melanie, and Isabelle. All are long time Continue Reading
Juneteenth Book Fest
I don't have much new to talk about today, so I wanted to spotlight the Juneteenth Book Fest, created by author L.L. McKinney, happening today, June 19. Including a panel called- Black Love: Writing Black Romance with Farrah Rochon, Beverly Jenkins, Rebekah Weatherspoon and moderated by Alyssa Cole. See the thread below for the full list of panels. About The Festival: Juneteenth Book Fest seeks to use this day of jubilation to boost and celebrate Black American stories and the people behind Continue Reading
Did Not Finish Friday
I like to do an occasional wrap up of books that I did not finish. I am a fickle mood reader and DNFing a book doesn’t necessarily mean it was a bad book, it typically just means it did not work for me at that moment. Sometimes I like to think I will go back and try it again but that has happened maybe twice in all my years of reading/reviewing. Walk Me Home by Liza Kendall- This was out in January and I tried to read it but I couldn’t get into it. I couldn’t figure out what the story was Continue Reading
Smexy’s March TBR
Angela- Remember last month when I said I had a gazillion books to read this month? I was totally serious. For some reason a crap ton of great books release every March (which also happens to be my birthday month) and every March I overload myself on ARCs I simply must have. Here are just a few of the books I'm most anticipating this month. House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City #1) by Sarah J Mass 3/3 Fantasy- As soon as I found out this author was releasing a book in a new series I had to Continue Reading
Kini’s Most Anticipated Reads 2020
First I want to mention that almost all of the books that I am excited about are from traditional publishers because they typically release information about new books several months in advance. If you are indie or self publishing a book, we would love to know about it sooner rather than later so we can get it on our radar! Our request form does not require an ARC. Second, most of these books are from the first half of 2020, with a few from the second half as publishing hasn’t released much Continue Reading
Saturday Smexy Deals
NAACP nominee and USA Today bestselling author Beverly Jenkins continues her beloved Blessings series with a heartwarming novel about what really makes a family. There’s never a dull day in Henry Adams, Kansas. Tamar July has never had a great relationship with certain members of her family. In fact, she’d characterize it as a “hate/hate relationship.” But when her cousin calls her with the news that she’s dying and wants Tamar to plan the funeral, she’s shocked but is willing to Continue Reading