Book Review: The Dragon’s Bride by Katee Robert
The Dragon’s Bride
Series: A Deal with a Demon #1
Author: Katee Robert
Published: March 29, 2022
186 Pages
Reviewed By: Kim
Kim’s Rating: 3 stars
Book Description:
Briar Rose might have a name out of a storybook, but she learned at a very young age that no prince was coming to save her. She’ll have to save herself. Unfortunately, even that is an impossible task in her current situation—trapped in a terrifying marriage to a dangerous man.
Desperate times call for desperate measures, which is how she finds herself making a deal with a demon. Freedom from her husband…in return for seven years of service.
She expects the service to be backbreaking and harsh. She doesn’t expect to be put on an auction block in a room full of literal monsters and sold to the highest bidder.
To Sol.
A dragon.
He might seem kinder than his fearsome looks imply, but she knows better than to trust the way he wants to take care of her, or how invested he is in her pleasure. In her experience, if something seems too good to be true, it certainly is.
Falling for Sol is out of the question. She’s suffered enough, and she has no intention of staying in this realm…even if she leaves her heart behind when she returns to her normal life.
Kim’s Review:
Another buddy read with Beccie! And unfortunately, not nearly as good as the Prime Mating Agency. I get suspension of disbelief and all, but c’mon. I don’t think any of the mechanics actually worked in this book. A dragon with 2 huge dingdongs and a maw filled with fangs and a forked tongue and a petite human female. It was just too much of a leap for me. Plus, both human and dragon were morons. Apparently they were incapable of working their way out of a problematic wet paper bag! They didn’t use their brains until like the last chapter and by then, they were already given the solution by someone else. I’m giving it 3 stars because it held my attention, but I didn’t really like this book.
Book Review: The Chemist by Stephenie Meyer
The Chemist
Author: Stephenie Meyer
Narrator: Ellen Archer
Audiobook
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: April 12-22, 2022
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
She used to work for the U.S. government, but very few people ever knew that. An expert in her field, she was one of the darkest secrets of an agency so clandestine it doesn’t even have a name. And when they decided she was a liability, they came for her without warning.
Now she rarely stays in the same place or uses the same name for long. They’ve killed the only other person she trusted, but something she knows still poses a threat. They want her dead, and soon.
When her former handler offers her a way out, she realizes it’s her only chance to erase the giant target on her back. But it means taking one last job for her ex-employers. To her horror, the information she acquires only makes her situation more dangerous.
Resolving to meet the threat head-on, she prepares for the toughest fight of her life but finds herself falling for a man who can only complicate her likelihood of survival. As she sees her choices being rapidly whittled down, she must apply her unique talents in ways she never dreamed of.
Jessica’s Review:
I listened to the audiobook version for a book club I am joining. I don’t think I would have ever picked it up on my own otherwise, but I am so glad I did!! I enjoyed The Chemist immensely. It has just about everything a reader could want: Action, thriller, a strong female lead who is tiny in stature, and there is even some romance! There is also the world’s best canine sidekick with the best name ever!
I had read the Twilight series as just about everyone else many years ago and had seen the movie The Host, but not read the novel, so I wasn’t sure where Meyer was going to go with The Chemist. I got a different novel than I was expecting based on the title, and I wasn’t really expecting much going in.
This was a good novel that kept me interested. I had figured one ‘twist’ out early thanks to me being a heavy thriller reader, and at first, I wasn’t sure about the novel. But I liked our female character, she can definitely do damage despite her size: In fact she can torture when needed and she is good at it too! For me the torture was just graphic enough to make the reader squirm just a little.
I liked all of our three main characters and main dog sidekick. The whole novel I kept thinking “Don’t let anything happen to the dog!” The Chemist is a fast-paced novel that would have kept me turning the pages if I had read the physical book. I never lost interest in what was coming next. I’m glad we had a strong female lead in this novel. This is a long novel at over 500 pages, but never lagged and worth the read. The audiobook was narrated by Ellen Archer and she brought the novel to life for me. The epilogue wrapped things up nicely. I don’t see there ever being another novel, so it brought a good conclusion to The Chemist for me.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
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Book Review: Verity by Colleen Hoover
Verity
Author: Colleen Hoover
Published: December 7, 2018
Audiobook
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: January 25- 28, 2022
Jessica’s Rating: 5 stars
Book Description:
Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish.
Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity’s notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started. What Lowen doesn’t expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read. Page after page of bone-chilling admissions, including Verity’s recollection of what really happened the day her daughter died.
Lowen decides to keep the manuscript hidden from Jeremy, knowing its contents would devastate the already grieving father. But as Lowen’s feelings for Jeremy begin to intensify, she recognizes all the ways she could benefit if he were to read his wife’s words. After all, no matter how devoted Jeremy is to his injured wife, a truth this horrifying would make it impossible for him to continue to love her.
Jessica’s Review:
Verity is my first ‘CoHo’ novel, though I have several more of hers on my TBR. Hoover is known for her romances, but this one is far from that: Verity is an extremely dark thriller and more. It is very different from her other novels, and I wish she would write more like Verity!
Verity will not be for everyone and there should be trigger warnings galore which will also be
***SPOILERS:
There is graphic sex which includes adultery, child abuse, child murder, and attempted home abortion.
END SPOILERS***
Verity is a novel where it is best to go in knowing as little as possible. To say much will be giving things away. What you need to know is that it is a dark, intense, disturbing novel that pulls you in from the beginning with a gruesome death. The reader will have no idea what they are getting into by starting this novel and from the start this one pulls no punches. I’ll just say this: I have read a few novels with dark characters (Eva in We Need to Talk About Kevin should have never become a mother and Amy Dunne in Gone Girl.. Well… Let just say I wanted to throw my kindle with that one…) These characters are NOTHING compared to Verity!
We have two POVs in Verity: Lowen which is present day, and Verity’s memoir which is beyond disturbing. I can’t say enough how dark this novel is and it will be too much for some. But… in addition to the disturbing nature this novel will be compulsive and addicting. As you get closer to the end you don’t want to stop reading. If I had been reading the physical book I bet those pages would have kept turning! There was a part I had figured out, but not quite the why behind it. And then we have that epilogue! The reader is left to determine their own thoughts at the end of the novel, and I still haven’t decided for myself what I want that to be!
I don’t know what it means for both Hoover and myself: How was Hoover able to come up with/write a novel so twisted and that I really enjoyed it! My message to CoHo is this: PLEASE write more thrillers and I promise to read more of your romances!
Verity is extremely recommended if you can handle the content.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK