Review: Sinner Anonymous by Somme Sketcher

Sinner Anonymous by Somme Sketcher

Series: Sinners Anonymous #1

Publication date: December 24th, 2021

Pages: 348

Spice: 🌶️🌶️

Synopsis:

My fiancé's nephew knows every sin I've ever committed. He's about to become the deepest and darkest of them all.

My name is Rory Carter and I do bad things.

There's a charred soul under this angelic exterior and sometimes, I wonder if my weekly confessions to the Sinners Anonymous hotline will be enough to heal it.

Marrying the seventy-something head of the Cosa Nostra to save my father is the only good deed I've ever done.

I'm burning and bitter under the fake smile and tight dresses, but I was keeping it together.

Was.

Until my fiancé's nephew turns up to dinner uninvited.

Angelo 'Vicious' Visconti.

A beautiful monster with cheekbones as sharp as his tongue.

They say I shouldn't be scared of him, because nine years ago, he went straight.

He's barely a Made Man anymore.

But I say, he's the most dangerous Visconti of all.

It's not just because his cold sneer makes my pulse flutter.

Or the way his syrupy drawl trickles down my spine.

No. He holds all of my sins in his big, rough hands.

And the only sins darker than mine are his own.

Available at:

Review:

For a girl who only curses in bird words, Aurora finds herself to be one of the ultimate sinners. Every week when she goes to visit her father she calls the hotline Sinners Anonymous to confess all the petty sins she had caused in retribution for the horrible people she had tethered herself to. Aurora has hooked her wagon to the capo of one of the biggest territories around. She had to. If she didn't her father would pay the price. Her fiancé's nephew showing up should have been safe. He was no longer in the family business and had gone straight. But the more time she spends around him the more she sees him leaning into his Made Man status and a lot of the time it centers around her. Aurora is in danger of committing the biggest sin of all: falling for the nephew of the man she was meant to marry.

First, I would like to discuss how well written the book was. The vocabulary and grammar as well as the ability to set a scene was really on point for the author. The characters were developed well and it was easy to visualize them and understand their mannerisms. However, I struggled a little with this book. I loved Angelo as a character even if I didn't completely understand his whole decisions to come back to town at that particular time nor why someone who acts firsts and asks questions later would wait so long to do what he should have done years ago. It doesn't seem like he would be the type to really sit on something like that for that long. And Rory's reasoning for marrying Angelo's uncle is also a bit shaky. I can understand the underlining reason for it but she was from the town that she was fighting to protect, so shouldn't she have known who was in charge of it? I think that the characters motivations for their actions or the way they carried them out was hard to be believable. But the characters were so likeable that you tend to kind of overlook it.

I think that this book could have been better as a series that followed the main characters for a while instead of switching it up to another couple for the second book while also (probably) trying to reconnect the main characters into the plot. I will be waiting to read the second book until I wish to delve into the other characters as they find love. As is, I am fine leaving it where it is. I feel like this book could have been great if the plot line was smoother. But the characters and the love story scored it some points to save it.

Review: Too Far by Abby Millsaps

Too Far by Abby Millsaps

Series: Boys of Lake Chapel #3

Publication date: December 29th, 2023

Pages: 431

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Synopsis:

I never considered how far I'd go to protect those I love.

Not until now.

Not until them.

Locke. Kylian. Kendrick. Decker.

The boys of Lake Chapel own me: mind and body, heart and soul.

I'll fight for them. Wait for them. Root for them and support them through anything.

Because what we're building together is a forever kind of love.

Every word will be dissected, every move recorded, but the cameras and media scrutiny are temporary.

We cling to private moments away from the mansion and hold out hope that life won't always be this hard.

But when a terrifying encounter with parallels to the past leaves us shaken, Decker takes drastic action.

And despite our whispered promises and dreams for the future, what we share may not be enough to survive the pressure of what comes next.

The boys of Lake Chapel taught me that love can be limitless.

No one warned me what can happen when love is pushed too far.

TOO FAR is the third and final book in the Boys of Lake Chapel series. It is a full-length why choose sports romance featuring darker themes and high heat.

Available at:

Review:

How could Joey not realize that being with four of the most sought after men of her college would put her directly in the spotlight that she so badly wanted to avoid? She learned that eventually her past would come back to bite her if she didn't get ahead of it and so she let down her guard and let her men know what had happened to her that sent her running away to their hometown. She thought they would judge her or be upset with her for hiding it but instead they only wanted to support her through it and make things better for her. They all truly love her on a depth that it hurts them to see her hurt. However, when they are meant to be followed around by cameras for a week and a half due to one of Decker's contracts, the apprehension grows palpable. Can the girl who longs to live a quiet life in solitude put herself back in the public eye despite her trauma for the men she loves? And when the paparazzi seem to take it a step too far, it might threaten everything they had built between them.

I liked this installment in the series a lot better than the last. This one wasn't just about battling the "should I or shouldn't I" of revealing past trauma to the people the FMC was involved with. This had action, intrigue, and more of Decker's pigheadedness. I swear, that man loves to make things difficult for himself. He really outdid himself this time. He ended up hurting Joey beyond what was considered good taste. How can a man sleep with a woman for the first time and in the light of the morning do that to her? That urge to strangle him never went away. I really wish the author would have just... had him eaten by rabid badgers or something. About the only thing he didn't do was bang another girl or allude to doing so to hurt Joey and push her away. I have zero love for Decker. Even when he tried to redeem himself. Nope.

I did like the ebb and flow of the story. It didn't purely focus on the smut. It didn't purely focus on the stressors and problems they all had to deal with. It was a good mix of all of the components from both books. It even surpassed the first book in my favor. There were a distinct lessening of "fuck/hell yeah" sentiments in the sex scenes which gave me a sigh of relief. I liked watching how they each complimented Joey in their own way. They had their roles and they played them well. Even Dickhead Decker.

Again I ran into the issue of 4-5 epilogue-like time skips at the end of the book. I understand the author wants to give more depth and also give the reader time to say goodbye to the characters. I get that readers want to know what happens after the credits start to roll and the characters are presented with a happily ever after. But when it starts saying, "four years later, one year later, two years later, four years later" I start having to pause and do math. I hate math. I don't want to do math while reading! It all becomes a series of me trying to figure out what time period we're in, how old the characters are, hold old any kids or pets are, and like we're Marty McFly-ing our way through their lives at the speed of sound. I felt, personally, it would have been better with just one slightly longer epilogue encompassing everything that happened between the end of the book and the end of the epilogue choo-choo train. But... I loved the characters so much that even the abundance of time skips didn't detract too much from my opinion of this final book.

Review: Too Fast by Abby Millsaps

Too Fast by Abby Millsaps

Series: Boys of Lake Chapel #2

Publication date: September 27th, 2023

Pages: 355

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

Synopsis:

Lake Chapel was supposed to be my fresh start: an opportunity to reinvent myself; my chance to finally live.

Now I'm grappling with the demons of my past... and losing.

To survive this setback, I'll need the support of the four possessive, domineering men who think I belong to them. But can my captors really be my salvation?

Worlds are bound to collide. Friendships will be tested, and rivalries are revving up.

I can't slip back into the dark--not now that I know what it's like to live in the light.

For the first time in my life, it's more than just me I'm flight for.

It's them.

Kylian. Locke. Decker. Even Kendrick.

It's all of them, and all of us together.

My name is Josephine Meyer. But that hasn't always been my name. What will the boys of Lake Chapel think when they finally learn the truth?

TOO FAST is a the second book in the Boys of Lake Chapel series. It is a high heat why choose sports romance featuring darker themes. Content notes can be found at the beginning of the book and on the author's website.

Available at:

Review:

Joey had thought that by moving away from the town that held so much pain and trauma would be the end of her issues but when she starts to grow closer to the football players of LCU she must confront her past head-on. After being captured by a rival football team as a prank she is transported back to her past and put through even more trauma that makes her essentially catatonic. The men she is hopelessly falling in love with watch her spiral with pain echoing in their eyes as well as a healthy dose of vengeance heavy on their shoulders. Joey knows that she can no longer keep her past a secret and hope that it never catches up with her. It's caught up with her but she has to know whether she can trust the men she loves to be able to look past it to who she has become. But with her men being firmly in the public eye it will only be a matter of time before the choice of telling them herself is taken away from her. Can she find a way to let down her guard and let her four lovers in finally?

This book was a lot heavier than the last one. It had mentions of SA that might be triggering to some but it truly gave the book all the more depth. Throughout the first one a reader can watch Joey struggle through her PTSD. The saving grace is Kylian with his ability to navigate her triggers so effectively and pull her through her episodes. I think making him autistic as a character fit the best in the caregiver role that Joey needed to be able to heal. His nickname of Daddy Genius made me laugh because he truly was like a number-crunching, dry humored, papa bear making sure everyone was well taken care of and safe before ever considering himself. That is what made him by far my favorite character.

Decker is still being a tool and I want to strangle him. He has to have some sort of withholding kink to be able to continue to hold himself back from his feelings for Joey while his friends all get even closer with her. He self-sabotages and makes absolutely bonehead decisions that he thinks is protecting people but is really just debilitating them. I have never seen a character act in such a way that I simply wanted to reach through the kindle screen and strangle him. If he was severed from the group, I would not feel much loss, honestly. I'd slap him then slap his PR boo thang even harder. 

Despite Decker's toolishness, I was disappointed in the flow of the story overall. It felt like it was dragged on unnecessarily. There were parts of it that could have likely just been removed entirely and the story would have progressed the exact same way. I continue to have issues with the "fuck/hell yeah" expressions during the sex scenes. The people involved are college kids, yes, but the sentiment just feels so juvenile that it makes me feel weird reading the scene after reading it. Aside from Joey revealing her trauma I honestly don't remember a lot of the fine details of the book. Just felt like a lot of smut with very little actual progress. If I wouldn't have been invested in Joey's story and Daddy Genius I would have probably dipped from the series. 

Review: Too Safe by Abby Millsaps

Too Safe by Abby Millsaps

Series: Boys of Lake Chapel #1

Publication date: July 21st, 2023

Pages: 317

Spice: 🌶️🌶️

Synopsis:

Never let them get you to the second location.

Even if that location happen sot be a lakeside mansion home to four hot-as-sin men.

After years of living in survival mode, I'm finally hitting rewind on the story of my life. There's nothing standing in the way of my bright future at Lake Chapel University.

Or so I thought.

Being ambushed by four devastatingly attractive football players wasn't on my bingo card. Ironically, they seem just as stupefied by me as I am of them.

There's the brooding, scowling leader. Then the iPad-wielding nerd. Net is the gruff, gorgeous jock. And finally, the huge, tattooed emo boy.

It's the last one that catches my eye.

As the recipient of the Crusade Scholarship, I'm here on a full ride, and I intend to make the most of my education. But a girl's allowed to have a little fun, right?

That's how I find myself hooking up with the right guard of the Lake Chapel Crusaders at the first part of the school year.

My plan for a casual fling is derailed a few days later when I unexpectedly run in to a couple of the guys outside of school.

Now Decker Crusade thinks I saw something I shouldn't have, and he's decided the only way to control the narrative is to control me.

There's nowhere to run, considering Decker and his boys live in a lakeside mansion that can only be accessed by boat.

Apparently, I live here now, too.

They think they can keep me captive indefinitely, but there's something about me they're sorely underestimating: my will to finally live.

TOO SAFE is the first book in the Boys of Lake Chapel series. It is a full-length why choose sports romance featuring darker themes and high heat. For a full list of tropes and CWs, see the author's website.

Available at:

Review:

When your 96-year-old best friend tells you that her major regret was that she didn't live her life to the fullest and makes you promise, on her deathbed, that you will not make the same mistake, you listen. That is how Josephine Meyer finds herself enrolled in Lake Chapel University while she lives with her uncle at his junkyard. As far as living conditions go, she has been through worse and so she welcomes the change in scenery as well as the upswing of her life. But when she arrives at school the first day she has a run in with the local heartthrobs of the town and it was less than friendly. However one of the guys seemed decent enough so when she attends a party with her new friend she seeks him out immediately. After some heated exchanges he is pulled away and she is left smitten with her new love interest. All of that goes to hell when she sees him and one of his friends outside of her work. For some reason them seeing her there freaks them out to the point where she finds herself awoken that night in the captive sight of their leader. She is to stay with them until they are sure that she didn't see anything that night and until they can trust her. Their reputations are everything and she could destroy everything they worked for. She might be their captive but for how long?

I had been so close to DNFing the book based on something I thought was an addition by way of the author's viewpoints instead of the character. As far as politics go, I tend to avoid siding with either extremist views and reside carefully in the middle. I don't like politics, cancel culture, or anything of the sort being within the books I read. It feels too much like the author is trying to push their audience into believing their way. Even when I may agree with the views, I don't like them being present within fiction books I'd like to just lose myself in. There was one instance where the FMC made a statement that was swaying one way or the other and it just made me grimace in the fact it was even there. But I wanted to see where the story went so I trudged on. There were a few more... persuasive political statements in the book but I tried to just ignore them and focus on the characters and story. I found out later that it may have just been a character trait and not the author's own views that were interjected and it was meant to show the character in a certain light. After that I was perfectly fine and started to enjoy the book.

There were times in the book where I felt like the language was a little juvenile even for college students. The fact that 'fuck yeah' was said various times in sexual scenes gave me a bit of an ick. But overall I was intrigued by the book. I am curious about Joey's past and how it can possibly tie into her future with the guys. I absolutely LOVED that they had one of the male characters be autistic. I have never read a book where the love interest was openly autistic and had it displayed so well in his mannerisms. That was what completely saved this book for me. I am anxious to see what the next books hold for Joey and the Crusaders.

Review: Restitution by Leigh Rivers

Restitution by Leigh Rivers

Series: The Edge of Darkness Trilogy #3

Publication date: March 2nd, 2024
Pages: 525

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

Synopsis:

THE WEAPON THEY CREATED

WILL BE THEIR DESTRUCTION

The line between sense and madness blurs as Kade seeks revenge on those who destroyed his life. They threatened his family, shattered his sanity, and then they stole his girl. He'll sacrifice everything to save them all, even if it means war.

Stacey Rhodes has been to hell and back, and now she's trapped by the monster who stole Kade from her. But Stacey isn't backing down -- she'll do anything it takes to save Kade, no matter the cost.

Can she free them both from Bernadette's clutches before war consumes everyone they care about?

As this is a dark romance the author highly recommends reading the 'content warning' page.

Available at:

Review:

Stacey is safe for a little while as her stepbrother has disappeared and Bernadette seems more focused on tormenting Kade and his best friend Base than trying to put forth true effort to find her. Stacey has not given up hope though of freeing Kade and having the life she always dreamed of having with him. But before she can even make plans to find her lost love and free him she is captured once more by her psychotic stepbrother and drawn into his plan to be get Bernadette off Stacey's back so the two can have their own version of Stacey's dream. But it will not be that easy. Riddled in betrayal, twists, and turns Stacey and Kade's story becomes a desperate journey back to each other with vengeance at the forefront of both of their minds for all that they have lost.

This installment was a long one. 500+ pages of a rollercoaster that I didn't ever want to get off. Just when I thought that the author was getting to a point where there might be a wrap-up coming soon there would be another wrench thrown into the works and we were off like a rocket all over again. These poor characters got put through the absolute wringer by Leigh Rivers. 

There were fine details that I really loved about the book. The fact that the author showed just how messed up Kade was after so much time being sexually assaulted, tortured, and forced to kill and sell his body to whoever Bernadette wished. The issue I had was in the fact that he was in it for two years before Stacey ever came back around. He seemed to be handling it decently. He hated it and it did come out in a few scenes where he was very aware how much he was struggling with it, but he wasn't completely mentally messed up. It seems that last year he was held captive did him in the worst which being as they went harder on him that could account for it. But it just seemed like I would have thought he would have still been pretty messed up after those two years than how he was portrayed. He got out of there and couldn't even be touched by Stacey without flinching. 

Another thing that wasn't for me but was pretty understandable in the story was Base referencing things he and Kade did while they were held captive in a nonchalant and playful way. I know that was his coping mechanism which we saw towards the end, but it felt like something that maybe should have been at least met with some backlash from the other characters, especially Kade. It seemed they all kinda just took it in stride and didn't even seem bothered by it. I, for one, would have a terrible time hearing that no matter my relation to the guy. Stacey didn't even blink and that was hard to swallow and took a bit away from the character for me.

While I think the book was decent, the major pet peeve I have is when there are two or more epilogue time jumps. I really can't stand them. It just feels like things are trying to be wrapped up quickly and it takes away from the immersion into the story. It jumped from present time to five years later to two years later to, I think, another four years after that? Why did it need all that? It really spoiled the ending for me even though I often do like seeing how the characters turn out after the main story is over. 

Aside from my own personal grievances, I enjoyed the series overall and would highly recommend it. I loved the love between Kade and Stacey and how true they remained to each other even in the face of overwhelmingly bad odds. They made the series a page-turning wonder of love and redemption.