Review: Beauty and the Professor (A Modern Fairy Tale Duet #1) by Skye Warren

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Title: Beauty and the Professor
Author: Skye Warren
Publisher/Year:  Dangerous Press 4/23/19
Length:  200 pages
Series: A Modern Fairy Tale Duet #1

Overview

Once upon a time there was a beautiful college student…

Erin cleans Mr. Morris’s house twice a week to pay her tuition. The reclusive ex-soldier intimidates her, but she can’t help but feel sympathy for him. Then she walks in on him touching himself, and she has much darker, much more sensual feelings.

And a beastly professor with scars he can’t hide…

Blake Morris knows he’s scarred both inside and out. He’s reclusive and surly. Nowhere near good enough for the smart and beautiful young woman who cleans his house.

He receives an offer to return to his alma mater as an associate professor. This is his chance to reenter the world–and to be worthy of the woman he dreams about. He never expected to see her sitting in his classroom on the first day of the semester.

My Thoughts

The summary gives a certain level of romanticism to this story, and while it’s accurate, there are elements that are a little misleading. We do meet Erin while she’s working as a maid, cleaning Blake’s house. We know that she’s attracted to him even though he feels that he’s scarred and hideous and damaged. It’s all due to being in the army, being tortured and yet that still doesn’t seem to be enough for him. What we learn is that he was engaged prior to the accident and the woman that he was with (ironically another professor at the university), she dumped him QUICKLY when he came back and that;s part of what makes the pain worse.

Erin on the other hand has her own struggles. She’s working to pay tuition, being the first in her family to go to college, and we also learn that her mother forged much of the same path. working as a maid – a profession that’s respectable when you need to feed your family, but what she learned quickly is that there’s a disparity when you’re working for a wealthy family who feels like you have to do all they say since they pay your bills. A lesson that Erin’s mom is afraid she’s going to learn from Blake.

This story takes a turn when we see the feelings that Blake has for Erin when she least expects it. She walks in on him pleasuring himself, and out comes her name. We then get to watch how she takes matters into her own hands, makes him realize that what he feels isn’t one sided and a lovely romance blooms from there.

There’s a bit of risk here knowing that he’s a professor now and she’s a student, although not in his class. they manage to keep things under wraps until a new semester starts and Erin finds herself in the last class she needs to take to graduate and it’s Blake who’s the teacher. They play it cool, but what we learn is that it’s not cool enough. The professor that was engaged to Blake before his accident is stil lat the school and we get to see what happens when she realizes that he’s still perfect and yet he’s moved on. She discovers the truth and that’s where our story nets out. There are threats on him, there are threats to Erin and we don’t know what the outcome will be. Romance is off the table and hearts are broken. Off the cliff we go, until we get into the next installment. Enjoy!

Review: The Escort by Skye Warren

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Title:Escort
Author: Skye Warren
Publisher/Year:  Dangerous Press 3/30/18
Length:  258 pages

Overview

There is no shame in pleasure. And no love in business.

I have a blind date tonight, and I know with 100% certainty that I’m getting lucky. There shouldn’t be any surprises, not for one as jaded as me, but when I walk into the penthouse suite of L’Etoile, everything changes.

1) For one thing, Bea is heartstoppingly gorgeous. Pale green eyes and endless freckles. Curves I want to spend all night exploring, as if her body was made for me.

2) Her innocence makes me want to use my entire inventory of bedroom tricks on her and then invent a few more.

3) Except that… she’s a virgin.

I can initiate her into the world of desire without letting her get attached, can’t I? A few hours of tutoring, and at the end of the night a small fortune will be deposited into my bank account.

Yes, you read that right. There are many words for what I do. After all, mine is the oldest profession. I’m an escort, which means this date is nothing more than a mutually enjoyable transaction.

But once I realize one night with her won’t be enough, I’m the one who’s screwed.

My Thoughts

Well, we all know by now that i’ve read all these books out of order so that means that I know how they’ll end up. Regardless – this peek into what brought Bea and Hugo together is a lovely story.

The summary doesn’t truly open the reader’s eyes to what is going on here, but it’s a good tease. Bea is a young woman who’s had a really rough and traumatic life. She lost her parents at a young age and for some reason that has transferred in her fear for her safety and inability to leave her home, the penthouse of an amazing hotel. She’s the desire of a much older man, who likely only wants her for her money and she thinks that aside from that, she’s desired because she’s a virgin, so she’s working to resolve that. She tries to sort that via men in the hotel and finds that she doesn’t have the nerve and that’s where Hugo comes in.

Hugo is a high end escort – a man who knows how to please a woman and make her feel like the most beautiful thing. He is picky with whom he works, and only works one night a week. His lifestyle as a result of his skill and experience is that of someone who’s got a successful portfolio, so he can compete with all of the high society.

Hugo comes to Bea, uncertain of what he’s getting himself into and realizes quickly that he’s got a challenge on his hands, but something quite special as well. She’s a woman to be treated with care and teased with passion and all the things that she doesn’t know or thinks she wants, and in return, he gets something powerful from her. Eye opening, and life changing. What we also don’t see from the other books in adjacent series is that he’s got a motive to going to this hotel, to take this job. He believes the man that destroyed his mother is the owner of the hotel, and therefore the guardian of Bea. He wants to get his revenge.

The journey throughout this story is one of trust, growth and hope. We know that we want to see happy endings outside of the bedroom for these characters and we know that there is no piece of this journey that is easy. Bea’s fear is so gripping that she can’t even go to the roof of her hotel, and that means that Hugo needs to create a bond that is so true and real that she trusts him. The same time, he needs to make sure that there’s a way to protect her heart when she learns that he’s got other motivations.

We see them grow, we see them thrive and we also get to see Avery/Gabriel, Sutton/Christopher/Harper in this story along with Penny/Damon, so all of the characters that we love and can’t live with out. Pepper in heat, sex, passion…and tension and we have yet another amazing story. So, please….enjoy!

Review: Mating Theory by Skye Warren

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Title:Mating Theory
Author: Skye Warren
Publisher/Year:  Dangerous Press 3/17/20
Length:  234 pages

Overview

Billionaire Sutton Mayfair has nothing left to lose…

My best friend is getting married to the woman I love. They say the nice guy finishes last. So what’s the point of being a goddamn gentleman?

Maybe I should take what I want.

Even that sexy little thing on the street corner.

She needs a hot meal and a place to sleep. Instead I’m taking her home to soothe the savage beast inside me. I was born a bastard, and for the first time in my life I act like one.

Except the more I use her, the more I need her.

I didn’t know I had someone left to lose.

For a single heartbeat, I had her.

My Thoughts

We all met and probably fell in love with Sutton when we dove into the story of Harper and Christopher. Now it’s time to see how his life has gone on (or paused) now that Harper has made her choice once and for all and has gone to Christopher. We knew that was always going to be the outcome, however there was a moment where it seemed like it would be a menage. Too bad that didn’t happen, and we get to see what Sutton’s life looks like after.

We learned a bit about where Sutton came from, how his background was a bit rough and how he struggled to survive, making him into the man that he is now. He’s got a varied family situation, knowing that his father fathered more kids than anyone should….and he’s able to recognize similar traits in others. That’s where the introduction of Ashleigh into his world takes new form.

we don’t know what brought her to the streets, but we know that she doesn’t belong there. (I mean, does anyone really?). She’s a mystery but clearly more damaged than a person on their own should be. She’s got a friend Ky that looks out for her and tries to steer her down a path to survival, but we learn throughout this story that he’s got his own demons.

Anyhow – watching the way that Ashleigh and Sutton come together is a story of someone who’s broken trying to survive using someone else who’s broken. Sutton sees things in Ashleigh that he wants to help, and at the same times, sees that she’s able to help him find himself again.

We watch how she makes him feel more than he has in a long time, for someone that he can perhaps have. We know that the love that he’s had for Harper and Christopher isn’t dead, but we see the sensitive, caring and passionate sides of him come to life with power when she gives herself to him…..although there’s the hitch of her age.

She helps him through the wedding

He helps her get off the streets

they save each other until he tells her that she needs to find herself without him, to live her life because now she’s got all the opportunity in the world. He walks away from something that he knows will be amazing if the circumstances were different, and she gets a new chance at life. What the future holds is anyone’s guess and I think that we can all safely say that we wish for happiness and passion, but I don’t know if that’s on the menu. Enjoy!

Review: The Evolution of Man (The Trust Fund Duet #2) by Skye Warren

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Title:The Evolution of Man
Author: Skye Warren
Publisher/Year:  Dangerous Press 9/25/18
Length:  206 pages
Series: The Trust Fund Duet #2

Overview

Ambitious. Intense. Irresistible.

I never wanted to fall for a man.
And definitely not two men.

They tear me apart until I don’t know how I’ll ever be whole again. Until I’m not sure I want to be. How can I choose between two halves of myself?

My Thoughts

What a complicated place Harper has found herself, loving a man that’s not capable of it and being loved by a man that we’re not sure has her best interests in mind. Sutton and Christopher are mysteries, yet they are so overt in their intentions (sometimes)

In this second book, we are at a point where Harper’s life has changed because her mother is close to the end of her suffering, and Harper has decided that her life’s goal now is to make sure her mom has everything that she wants since so much was kept from her when Harper was growing up. They buy an amazing house where her mom can live out her last days, and at the same time, Harper finds a way to buy the library from the men since that’s something that she feels that she needs for closure.

While making the purchase, Christopher forces her to pay an ungodly amount of 2 BILLION dollars for the building, and from that we learn that Sutton has left the partnership with Christopher, and while he’s made his 50% of the profit, he’s no longer partners with Christopher and he’s separated himself from that mess. What we learn throughout the book though is that there’s so much more to the story and the dynamic there and it’s eye opening.

So instead, we focus on the dysfunctional relationship between Christopher and Harper. She’s come to the realization that the unhealthy love that she has for him is something that she’ll always hold onto even though it’s not healthy for her and she’s never going to get anywhere with it, but it also means that all men are going to be compared and that’s another flaw. The way their love hate, oil and water relationship evolves in this book is one that takes a really long time to see progress, and it’s not until the very end that we see the result of horrible moment bring things to a close.

There are chains of lies and mis-truths throughout this story – and they’re not always to mislead, but instead to protect. Everyone wants to save and protect Harper, knowing what her motivation is with life and with the Library, but to what detriment. What is she going to lose in the long run with everyone who tells her things that aren’t necessarily what she needs to hear.

There’s love, there’s life and there’s death in this story. There is a lot of closure that happens but then some open ended new beginnings that we can hope for. Throughout this story too we see the re-emergence of the Avery/Gabriel saga that we know from the previous series, and we get to experience the sadness that Avery had all over again, at least knowing what the outcome will be.

So all in all, a finale that is warranted and a story that we’re sad to see end but hopeful to see what comes next for Sutton since his story is next. Enjoy!

Review: Survival of the Richest (The Trust Fund Duet #1) by S

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Title:Survival of the Riches
Author: Skye Warren
Publisher/Year:  Dangerous Press 6/12/18
Length:  199 pages
Series: The Trust Fund Duet #1

Overview

Two billionaires determined to claim her.
And a war fought on the most dangerous battlefield–the heart.

My story starts with a plunge into the cold water of Massachusetts Bay. A strong hand hauls me back onto the deck of the luxury yacht. Christopher was supposed to be my enemy. Instead he protects me with fierce determination.

That should have been my happily ever after, but then Sutton appeared–ruthless and seductive. He doesn’t care that my heart belongs to someone else, because he’s determined to win. No matter the cost.

It’s an impossible choice, but I can’t have them both.

My Thoughts

We’re taken back into the world of Tanglewood via Boston and New York. We meet Harper, our leading lady when she’s fifteen and spending another spring break week with her father and the latest new wife. She knows that it’s not worth building any bonds since these wives come and go, and when there are other children around, she knows that it’s even less worthwhile to try to make friends. Well, what happens on this particular break is something that changes her life forever.

She’s got a great relationship with her dad, even if she knows that she’s not living up to his expectations. But what she learns is that the son of the latest wife, a boy named Christopher is that perfect child – the heir so to speak that he always wished for. There’s an interesting dynamic that we see develop between Harper and Christopher on this trip and it’s one that stays with them for years. He’s dark and mysterious but mis reads her and that puts her on edge. Harper is a girl that can’t be tamed but has her own motivations for being wild. they’re never reckless or meaningless, that is until this night. She finds herself falling over the edge of the yacht and Christopher dives overboard to save her.

Fast foward through the years and we see that they’ve kept in touch even though their parents are no longer together. There’s an interesting friendship that’s grown even though they’ve never seen each other again since that one week on the boat. It’s not until Harper is nineteen and has her first exhibit that they cross paths and what they had years ago between them is definitely something of a spark that is about to explode.

The circumstances that end this weekend are not positive and we see a death change what their future could have been. The hold that her father had on her and what she was able to do for herself and her mother is now in the hands of Christopher and he’s as ruthless as we always imagined him to be. So the story takes us to Tanglewood, years later, when all Harper wants to do is save her mother, but the stipulations of her trust won’t allow that. Christopher is the only person who’s able to do anything and he refuses.

What readers have to remember is that Harper is the best friend of Avery, a main character from a previous series with Gabriel Miller and their story was a tormented one but one that gave us hope for the brooding men who had too much power. Avery comes up in the story through a series of events to help ground us and Harper on what the next best action should be.

We meet a new character in the form of Sutton Mayfair – a man who’s the opposite of Christopher in looks, but has the same animal chemistry and an eye on Harper. So when Harper goes hunting for Christopher, to get what’s rightfully hers, she finds herself in the cross hairs of two incredibly sexy and powerful men….who are competitors in all things, even though they are partners in business.

We essentially have a coming of age story here where we see Harper not only grow into womanhood but realize her power and strength. She knows her value and what she’s capable of ever since she was forced to stand on her own two feet and provide for herself and her mom, and now the power that she develops as a sensual woman comes to the forefront as she finds these two men enamored with her. She doesn’t know who she should pick since her heart is with one but wants another, and the way that the final chapters of this book play out, we’re left hating one man and wanting the best with another, yet we don’t know if that’s the right choice or the one that will be her downfall. So….on that note, we’re on a cliff of which man is her future, and what does that mean for her life….and her mother’s life. I’m searching out book 2 now, and I can’t wait to see where this one goes. Enjoy!

Review: One for the Money (One for the Money #1) by Skye Warren

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Title:One for the Money
Author: Skye Warren
Publisher/Year:  Dangerous Press 5/27/22
Length:  294 pages
Series: One for the Money #1

Overview

inn Hughes knows about secrets. His family is as wealthy as the Rockefellers. And as powerful as the Kennedys. He runs the billion-dollar corporation. No one knows that he has a ticking time clock on his ability to lead.

Eva Morelli is the oldest daughter. The responsible one. The caring one. The one who doesn’t have time for her own interests.

Especially not her interest in the charismatic, mysterious Finn Hughes.

A fake relationship is the answer to both their problems.
It will keep the swarming society mothers from throwing their daughters at him.
And it will keep Eva’s mother from bothering her about marriage.

Then the fake relationship starts to feel real.

But there’s no chance for them. No hope for a woman who’s had her heart broken. And no future for a man whose fate was decided long ago.

My Thoughts

I love this family, and I love reading more about the Morellis. Reading this one though makes me wonder what i’ve missed in other series so i’m going to have to go back and see which ones I could have read since I don’t recall ALL the match ups that have happened before Eva got her time.

Anyhow, what we have in this story is watching our leading characters carry the weight of the world and their families on their shoulders, and realizing that it’s ok to let someone in, as long as it’s at arms length. Once that distance is compromised, things go up in smoke.

We start this story watching Eva, the default go to of the family, managing a gala with the utmost ease and beauty. She’s able to avert crisis, smile and make sure that everyone is enjoying themselves. All for the greater good right? That’s until her mother tries to match her with an older man who’s well off since that’s what’s expected. Eva is to marry someone who’s more wealthy and powerful than she and her family are to continue the line. What happens though is her saving by Finn. A playboy that no one expects to be what he is.

Finn Hughes comes from an equally powerful and wealthy family but his reputation is that of a playboy and someone who doesn’t take life seriously. If there’s anything that we know about stories like this, is that surface is not what it seems and there’s always something far more dark and sad under the surface. That’s exactly his story – he’s been forced to take on far more responsibility than any one should at a young age and carry the burden that the future is written already and he can’t avoid a curse that’s been smote on his family.

They come to an agreement to save each other. To keep the outside world from staking claims to them, and I hope that it means that they will start to be a bit more humane and relaxed to enjoy what they deserve rather than avoiding anything that could truly make them happy.

There’s a fake relationship that’s developed and it keeps them both safe. What happens though is that feelings are inevitable and when that happens, it’ll be no surprise to see who cuts bait first. There are so many factors at play when that happens, who’s family will suffer, and which of the two of them will see their demise first. I think that we’re left on an expected edge of things – knowing that there’s a path for the future that there’s no way to avoid, and yet it’s the path that no one wanted to go down to begin with. This is what happens when friendship turns into lust which turns into love, and neither is prepared to deal. So on that note, I now have to wait a month for the next book to come out and i’ll have to be patient with the directions my brain goes. Enjoy!

Blog Tour + GIVEAWAY: Signal Moon by Kate Quinn

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Signal Moon Excerpt

When there was a war on, and when your part in it was so deadly serious it sometimes kept you from sleeping at night, there was really nothing to do but make jokes about it all. It was either make jokes or start weeping at your desk, so Lily made jokes.

“The wallpaper in this place is going to do me in,” she quipped an hour into her shift that Monday. “I can see my obituary now: ‘The Honorable Lily Baines, petty officer in the Women’s Royal Naval Service, twenty-two, dead of mid-Victorian chintz.’”

The others laughed, a welcome sound of cheer in the chilly parlor. The little seaside hotel, in which Lily and her fellow Wrens had spent nearly every day of the last year, had been made over into a listening station at the start of the war. The space was crammed with desks, naval message pads, and National HRO receivers with their cranky dials and chunky headphones. The only part of the room that still looked like a parlor was the wallpaper, pink blotches that might have been cabbage roses or maybe diseased kidneys, writhing across the walls and down the corridor outside, and in all the rooms upstairs where Lily and her fellow Wrens billeted in a welter of hideous china and starched doilies. “This whole place is a mid-Victorian howler,” Lily had decreed their first day, already slotted into her place as court jester, the one who kept everyone laughing.

And if she often felt like weeping from the stress and the fear and the endless grinding dread of it all, what did that matter? There was a war on; you pinned a smile in place and kept going.

“No daydreaming, Baines,” tutted Lily’s superior officer, a middle-aged woman named Fiddian who had a face like a fist. “Put those headphones back on.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Lily blew on her mittened fingers. No one bothered to take off the coats bundled over their uniforms; it was far too cold. One of the advantages of joining the Wrens was supposed to be that sleek, dashing, brass-buttoned uniform (designed by Molyneux!), but no one ever saw the uniform here; Lily and her fellow Y Station listeners spent every shift bundled.

Lily slid the big Bakelite headphones back over her ears. Cold enclosed rooms, headphones, and secrecy—that was a Y Station listener’s world in a nutshell. Reaching toward her wireless receiver, she began turning knobs and went hunting.

It hadn’t seemed like hunting when she was doing her training course in Wimbledon over a year ago as a newly assigned special duties linguist. It had been serious business, of course, but there had been a certain fierce pleasure in learning to do it, and do it well: tuning her ears to the next room where a chap with a microphone droned a never-ending series of call signs, code groups, and German words, and Lily and a cluster of German-speaking Wrens scribbled on their pads, straining for every syllable. Can you repeat that? one of the girls had been foolish enough to ask, and the snap from the next room came right quick: Are you going to ask the Nazis to just repeat that, when you’re taking down their transmissions in the North Sea? It was all about learning to listen with every spark of energy you had, straining to hear as the teachers started building in interference: fading signals, interrupted signals, aural chaff (Write down exactly what you hear, and no guessing, girls!). Lily would exchange delighted grins with the others when they got a message clear; they’d compete to see who was best at parsing the transmissions.

But here in Withernsea, everything was deadly serious: they were intercepting live radio communications sent to enemy vessels, the same vessels that hunted their countrymen. Lily saw her quarry the moment she first sat down at this desk: wolf packs of U-boats knifing through the waters of the Atlantic, German surface vessels poking their ugly snouts through the Baltic, looking for soft Allied flesh. She didn’t have a brother out there, thank God—hers were both too young—but she had a whole flock of cousins, a pack of school friends, an entire flotilla of old beaux she’d fox-trotted and waltzed through her deb season with. Willy, Terry, John, Phil, Arthur, Kit, Andrew, Eddie, Dickie, Alan, Fred . . . Just running the list in her head, the ones she could lose, sent an icy hand of pure terror clawing down her throat.

Chin up, she told herself again, fingers resting on the knob like a pianist’s on the keys, sliding the length of the band. German transmissions, always to be found in the 4, 8, and 12 MHz bands— ship-to-ship communications fell in the 30 to 50 MHz band. Listening through the static, through the fuzz, sliding slowly along the frequencies. (Have my ears grown? Lily wondered sometimes in the bleariness of late-shift exhaustion. Do they stick out from my head like platters, the way I strain and swivel after radio chatter so many hours and hours and hours a day?) Straining, straining, straining, never knowing when a voice in German would suddenly jump into your ears. Two hours of static droned through her headphones tonight before a nasal Teutonic tenor emerged; Lily gave a sharp knock on the desk, and dimly heard one of the other Wrens calling, “We’ve got a Jerry ship up. Call Fiddian—” Lily was already writing with one hand, transposing the drone of German letter groups as her left-hand fingers poised on the knob, ready to track the voice if it disappeared back into static. She lost the signal in the middle, got it back within seconds, only a few letter groups dropped out there . . . It was all ciphered, just gibberish in five-letter clusters, but she didn’t have to make sense of it. She just wrote until her hand burned and listened till her ears bled, the entire person and essence of the Honorable Lily Baines stripped down to a pair of ears and a pair of hands. 

***

About the Story

Title: Signal Moon

Author: Kate Quinn

Publisher: Amazon Original Stories

Summary

Yorkshire, 1943. Lily Baines, a bright young debutante increasingly ground down by an endless war, has traded in her white gloves for a set of headphones. It’s her job to intercept enemy naval communications and send them to Bletchley Park for decryption. One night, she picks up a transmission that isn’t code at all—it’s a cry for help. An American ship is taking heavy fire in the North Atlantic—but no one else has reported an attack, and the information relayed by the young US officer, Matt Jackson, seems all wrong. The contact that Lily has made on the other end of the radio channel says it’s…2023. 

Across an eighty-year gap, Lily and Matt must find a way to help each other: Matt to convince her that the war she’s fighting can still be won, and Lily to help him stave off the war to come. As their connection grows stronger, they both know there’s no telling when time will run out on their inexplicable link.

Author Biography

Kate Quinn is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of many historical novels, including The Diamond Eye, The Rose Code, The Alice Network, and The Huntress. A native of Southern California, she received her bachelor’s and master’s in classical voice from Boston University before turning her focus to writing fiction. Her books have been translated into multiple languages, and The Alice Network was featured as a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick. Quinn lives in San Diego with her husband and three adorable rescue dogs. 

Social Media Links

Website: https://www.katequinnauthor.com/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KateQuinnAuthor 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katequinn5975/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KateQuinnAuthor 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2974095.Kate_Quinn 

Giveaway

CLICK HERE for your chance to win a $50 Amazon Gift Card!

Review: Luke’s Touch (Walker Security: Lucifer’s Trilogy #2) by Lisa Renee Jones

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Title: Luke’s Touch
Author: Lisa Renee Jones
Publisher/Year:  Amazon Publishing 6/18/22
Length:  206 pages
Series: Walker Security: Lucifer’s Trilogy #2

Overview

She loved him. He betrayed her. Nothing is what it seems.

One touch can change everything though, and it did. The minute he showed back up in her life, all deals were off. He touched her and she melted. He promised her everything, and she wanted everything. The question is: is he her salvation or her destruction? Love. Hate. Passion. Danger. It’s about to get hot in here…

My Thoughts

I love Lucifer / Luke and I think being able to see what made him in to the man he is really helps add another layer to things. Add to that the story with Ana, well we have something intense, complex, and HOT.

We left off the first book with these two on the run, we know that many of the people around them are dirty and we don’t yet know who we can trust. There’s so much more of a mystery shrouding the whole situation with what it was that Ana’ brother was doing, as well as the resolution with her father, his business and everyone who’s connected to them. Walker is now involved and we know that they’ve got their back, but there’s always a question of who’s going to survive.

The chemistry between Luke and Ana is something that we have to struggle with. They are meant to be of course, but they fight each other on what the future holds since they both know that it’s not safe to be together. There’s really not future for them though that doesn’t include one another, so we get to watch how they combust, how they dance around each other and hopefully how they resolve to just be what they always were meant to be.

Throughout this second installment we fly all over the place, uncovering more secrets, questioning the motivations and motives around all the actions of the past, and really wondering if people who are said to be dead are dead. You know in these types of books, just like in all good soap operas, if you haven’t seen a body, the person isn’t dead, and even if you have, the person’s not dead. So that’s what we encounter after there are shoot outs, huntings and lies. Someone who’ deemed dead isn’t, and someone that we thought was on our side flips.

So, that means that we’re on the edge of a cliff again. Guns being pointed at everyone’s heads, and there’s a big question mark on who’s going to come out alive. There’s tension, heat and hatred, all wrapped up in the last few chapters here. So on that note, i’m now waiting for book three to come out and I hope you enjoy!

Review: Sonata (North Security #3) by Skye Warren

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Title: Sonata
Author: Skye Warren
Publisher/Year:  Skye Warren 8/6/19
Length:  280 pages
Series: North Security #3

Overview

Who is Samantha Brooks without her violin? Fear lives in the silent spaces. Love does, too. There’s a battle being waged in her heart, and Liam North is determined to win. He’ll use every weapon in his arsenal. His body. His heart. Except the spotlight puts her in the crosshairs of dangerous men.

Samantha fights to compose her own ending, even as the final notes rise to a heartbreaking crescendo.

My Thoughts

We needed to have this final installment to see how the story not only continued but completed. There’s so much uncertainty in the relationship between Samantha and Liam, as well as in her future as a musician and on top of that, there’s chaos around her father and his motives. We left them with Samantha giving up the violin and going on the run essentially with Liam and we don’t know what that means.

Throughout this final installment we see a few things happen. We see Samantha grow up. you have to remember that she’s only 18, so she’s really not very experienced with the world even though she had quite the untraditional upbringing. When she’s faced with suitors other than Liam and she’s not sure how to read those situations or the motives behind actions, we are once again reminded of Liam’s need and the rationale behind his need to protect her.

Bethany comes back into the fold in this story and we see the bond that she creates with Samantha. It’s a good set up to see what will happen in her own story since she’s about due one. We watch how Samantha’s relationship with the man who’s now backing a new tour that she’ll headline changes the dynamic of the entire story and all the characters within.

The question continues to rise, whether she’s good enough to headline, whether she’s strong enough to risk her life and Liam’s life to go back on stage and what that means in general. She has passion on top of passion for not only music but for her relationship with Liam, and we watch all of that play out in a deep and angsty way.

So on that note, we get a resolution that does this story justice – of course with a lot of tension, fear, and lies. But regardless, it was worthy of this series finale. So, on that note – enjoy!

Review: Concerto (North Security #2) by Skye Warren

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Title: Concerto
Author: Skye Warren
Publisher/Year:  Skye Warren 5/14/19
Length:  290 pages
Series: North Security #2

Overview

Samantha Brooks stands onstage as the curtain rises. Her dreams are coming true. She doesn’t know her nightmare is coming too.

The spotlight lands on Samantha Brooks. Years of practice build to the opening night of a global tour. She plays her heart out, but there are darker forces underneath the stage.

There are eyes watching from the wings.

Liam North fights to keep her safe with every weapon he owns. She’s his greatest pride—and his greatest weakness. The danger comes from somewhere no one expected. Betrayal threatens to destroy everything he’s build. His business. His family. His life.

When the curtain falls, only one of them will be left standing.

My Thoughts

We left the first installment with Samantha becoming an adult, free from Liam’s guardianship, and making the decision that the only way to truly figure out what she needs and who she is was to leave him. She moves out of the house and goes to the first tour stop in Tanglewood early. What she quickly learns though is that her protection will continue – Josh is there, watching her back while they try to suss out where the danger is coming from before it gets too close.

This second story takes us to the tour, where we see a new cast of characters which brings new levels of intrigue. We know that there’s a lot of fanfair around Harry March who’s the headliner of the tour and what we learn throughout this story is that there’s so much more under the surface of what drives him, what keeps him going and as a result, what haunts him. The role that he played in making this story come together is one that as a reader we should have suspected, but we focused elsewhere which left us with a bit of a surprise.

The others on the tour all have their own interesting and complicated backstories, some of which I can expect will intertwine with our existing characters. There’s a dynamic shift and odd chemistry that we see developing among a few, that it makes you want to dig in more and see what’s next.

Back to Samantha and Liam though. What we saw in the first book is that they have this bond that’s keeping them tethered together in a way that distance won’t break. They cannot be apart, and when they are, it’s damaging for them. They have this physical attraction that’s hot but they have something that’s so much more, and yet it’s enough to continue to keep them pushing each other away. That results in someone getting shot and being on the edge of death.

It’s true – Samantha’s father is still alive, and now he’s trying to get to her for reasons unknown. Everyone is at risk, and following your heart can put you directly in the line of fire. That’s the lesson that we learn in this second book, and what we find out is that there’s no such thing as trust, loyalty and being safe. So, onto the next book in this series to see how this plays out since we know there’s not meant to be a happy ending for everyone. Enjoy!