Tag Archive: romance



Battle Bond: An Urban Fantasy Dragon Series: Death Before Dragons, Book 2Battle Bond: An Urban Fantasy Dragon Series: Death Before Dragons, Book 2 by Lindsay Buroker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Vivienne Leheny narrated this audiobook. I had attempted to read the text-to-speech Kindle version. It was difficult to stay in the story as Kindle’s TTS read a main character named Nine Inch Nails and called fingers finJa. Nin was the person’s name. She didn’t show up often, but that moniker didn’t work.

This series is a great distraction from all the worries of our day. Who doesn’t need a dragon who becomes human. I can’t wait to read the next installment.

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Clarity 2: Clarity, Book 2Clarity 2: Clarity, Book 2 by Loretta Lost
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Don’t get me wrong. This book was good. But I HATE cliffhangers. I forgave book one. But this one was way worse. The world is a mess right now. I don’t need the angst. I am quitting on this series. If you are rich enough to get all the series, enjoy. Luckily, enough of the answers are given in the blurbs, so you don’t have to continue buying to find out if it works out. But NO book is worth this nervous energy,

Still, I raised the star rating to two stars because the writing was well done. And the narrator, Elise Arsenault,  did a marvelous job of acting out the characters.

Trigger warnings are all over, from rape and abuse at the top of the list. But I don’t feel the character who is supposed to help is helpful in the long run. So, read at your own risk.

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Clarity (Clarity, #1)Clarity by Loretta Lost
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Reaching to the bottom of my currently-reading shelf I found this at 79.

Look straight up, I will warn you. The main character is blind and experiences a rape. So you will have to decide for yourself if this is something you can handle. The author covers the situation with all her senses, as she does with the rest of the book. Though I didn’t like the rape, the next bits of the story are quite interesting.

Elise Arsenault narrated the Audible version I listened to. Her voice is a great addition to the story.

Now I have to say what I didn’t like. Say it with me? Cliffhanger! The worst! Good thing it happened at night with me awake enough to want to read more. I often don’t buy the next if that’s how the authors do it. Somehow, I moved on and am reading book two. But I feel violated when an author does that!

Still, I do like the main character and how she chooses to live her life. And I do want to read more.

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Sinister Magic (Death Before Dragons, #1)Sinister Magic by Lindsay Buroker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sorry for a repeat. I finished reading/listening to the Kindle Text-to-Speech edition a week ago. And though I liked it overall, the story was lost to me as the person named Nin was referred to as Nine-Inch-Nails, EVERYTIME! It pulled me out of the story, and I felt very distracted while attempting to read.

It is on Audible! I can’t tell you what a marvelous book it is with a narrator! Vivienne Leheny told Lindsay Buroker’s story with enthusiasm. It felt like a totally different story. Ms. Leheny acted out all the characters, making it easy to differentiate who’s who.

I don’t think I discussed location in my last review. I felt right in the story with the places, including Bend, Oregon, Seattle, Washington, and points between. I felt I was right there in the story. I hope everyone gets the chance to read this series.

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Elven Doom (Death Before Dragons, #4)Elven Doom by Lindsay Buroker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was another fun addition to the Death Before Dragons series.

Who doesn’t love a dragon that can transform into a handsome man who is out to save your life while you try to save his?

But in this book, our monster-slayer moves on to another mission even though her dragon-man isn’t around to help.

This book might be the most exciting and scary of this series.

I want to listen to these books on audiobooks because I got lost with the text-to-speech. And I often felt such irritation about how the word ‘finger’ is pronounced ‘fin jer’ or how one of the support characters, whose name is Nin, was repeatedly called Nine Inch Nails. That takes me right out of the story. So before I find the next books in the series, I will try to see if I can find the audiobooks.

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The Dragon Blood Collection, Books 1-3The Dragon Blood Collection, Books 1-3 by Lindsay Buroker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

My last few nights I read this three-book collection from Kindle Unlimited. It was a nice bedtime book. But, honestly, I didn’t even remember reading (listening to text-to-speech) the book. There were fun times while getting to know dragons who could become human-shaped. And there was a person who reminded me of the supplier of spy gadgets (M?) in the 007 movies. But once I was finished I nearly forgot I read it. Until I found I had ordered the next in the series. Which I will read soon before I forget the rest of what I read.

There was nothing wrong with the books. I think others might enjoy them a lot. Hey, here’s the blurb from GoodReads, to help you decide.

“A thousand years have passed since a dragon has been seen in the world. Science and technology have replaced magic, which has dwindled until it has become little more than an element of myth and legend. There are those who still have dragon blood flowing through their veins, distant descendants of the mighty creatures of old. These rare humans have the power to cast magic, the power to heal, and the power to craft alchemical weapons capable of starting wars… or ending them. But they are feared for those powers, and in recent centuries, they have been hunted nearly to extinction. The few remaining survivors must find a way to change how humanity perceives them or be lost to the world forever. The Dragon Blood Collection includes three full-length novels of action, magic, and Balanced on the Blade’s Edge Deathmaker Blood Charged.”

Give them a try!

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My Grape Wedding (The Grape Series, #5)My Grape Wedding by Laura Bradbury
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love this autobiographical series! I read them on Kindle on my old phone. These are the only books I actually read with my eyes: no text-to-speech or audiobook. My tracking issues take a long time. But I love the French phrases scattered throughout. With the little bit of French, I do on Duolingo, these are easy enough, and I mostly don’t need help. But Kindle has the feature to show translation if needed or a dictionary lookup for words I might not get, such as food or other things that are foreign to me.

I feel I am traveling as I read these, and I love Laura Bradbury’s family, friends, and her sweet husband.

Look, I know it is a book about a wedding, and the series seems to surround the romance of Laura and Franck, but these are more the growing process and educational adventures of Ms. Bradbury. As I mentioned, it seems more travel and food than the yucky, sweet, snuggling stuff that can get annoying in other books.

I look forward to reading more of this series. Sorry, it takes so long.

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Scourge and Seed (Thalassic, #0-0.5)Scourge and Seed by Liz Shipton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Don’t you just love a back story about how the bad guy started out as a human? That’s what you get here—the back story to a few of the main characters of the Thalassic series. As book zero, this prequel shows you everyone’s start.

I found this one quite interesting. And now I feel I hold the whole story. So, it all started with a pandemic. And it all leads to the apocalypse and post-apocalypse. And as with all sci-fi disasters, you hope, like heck, the stories are not prophetic.

As far as I can tell, this is the last book of the series, though it could be read as book one, I suppose. I’ve already put Liz Shipton’s next book on pre-order. I think it comes in April.

I think most of these are on Kindle Unlimited. I loved all of them. I miss the world and the characters who became as close as friends in my mind. Try them out.

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Savage (Thalassic)Savage by Liz Shipton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“I’d rather be a savage with you…than be civilized on my own.”

Jameson Briggs grew up in a savage world.

A survivor of the pandemic. An orphan at twelve. A brilliant poet, bullied for his words. A cutthroat pirate, ruthlessly hunted.

But when a disastrous shipwreck leaves him stranded in a foreign city, Jameson finds himself starting over in a world that is savage in a whole new way. Political maneuvering. Deception. Wealth. Beautiful women.

Beautiful dangerous women.

Like Zahara and Petra – daughters of the city’s most powerful CEO and heirs to a tech fortune. As Jameson grows closer to their family, his world spirals and he is drawn into a tangled web of lies and corruption. Jameson must will he rise above it?

Or will he become a savage?

This is a standalone origin story for the villain in the Thalassic Series. You DO NOT need to have read the series before you read it! In fact, this makes a nice entry point to the series. It is a spicy, enemies-to-lovers, forbidden-love romance between a morally-gray pirate and rich man’s daughter. In it, you’ll find the following

– Touch her and die
– Villain gets the girl
– Fish-out-of-water
– Found family
– Badass women
– Love triangle
– Pirates
– Dystopian world
– Plot twists
– Fast-paced, high-stakes adventure
– More snarky banter than you ever thought possible.

TRIGGER This book contains cheating. This guy is a villain. He is morally gray (and it is a pretty dark shade of gray.)

~~~
That is the blurb, as I found it hard to come up with something to say about this prequel. I was happy to read it, but how to describe it? I lost my words. I’m still a big fan of the Thalassic series and hope you find it fun, too. Now, on to the last written in the series.

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Prologue (Thalassic, #6)Prologue by Liz Shipton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This continues Paz’s story, and though it starts out with him in a bad place, he comes around to being the person I loved from the beginning of this series.

And once again, the exploration and adventure take over. I loved this addition to the series. There are two more little books about folks of this series. I can’t wait to fill in the missing pieces, Liz Shipton, author, supplies us.

I can’t wait to get started on what’s next.

By the way, did I mention these are all on Kindle Unlimited? Enjoy!

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