Vee Taylor Your Sharpest Edge

 Ravens Hockey Book 2  ARC copy read in 2025 I did not read the first book but it feels like it could be a stand alone I didn't feel lost not reading the first in the series. 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/223917345-your-sharpest-edge

Anastasia is an Olympic figure skater but as she is getting older her partner and sponsor have dropped her and the only way she can keep her dream alive is to move to the United States and marry a man (Dimitri) that her parents have set up for her.  Dimitri is the captain of the hockey team he has a good job as a high paid athlete he's so handsome he's charming and her parents feel that he will be a good match for her and be able to provide for her and any children they might have in the future he will also be able to help support her continuing her figure skating dreams.  

Dimitri is unfortunately nothing like she imagined he immediately welcomes her to his home by being demanding and cutting her off from her only friend, limiting her phone time to her family and in general controlling everything she does including when she can and can't practice, he is a hot head and frequently takes out any bad day on her when she gets home... she is there to do what he says and what he wants without question.  

The one amazing thing about her new life is that she has become secret friends with Alexsey "Alex" he is from her home country (Russia), he is her husbands team mate and he lives in the same building he is the exact opposite of her overbearing husband he is kind, thoughtful and present while Dimitri is angry, abusive and cold the only good thing is he is frequently away from the home going to parties and cheating on her with various women... maybe he will leave her for one of them.  

Alex knows that something is wrong with Anastasia's relationship with his captain... but he also knows that it's not his place to interfere in someone else's relationship even if it kills him to see her so upset when she comes over to his home.  The more time they spend together the more Alex falls a bit more for her and he knows that she can never be his but he can't help but think of what could be if they were together, she is someone to protect and cherish and he knows she isn't being treated like the treasure she is at home.   

Alex does a good job just being there for Anastasia and letting her know that he will help her if she needs him, often if someone is in a DV situation they have a hard time gathering the courage to leave and Anastasia is a fighter she knows that she needs a better life for herself and her baby... but will she be able to get out of Dimitri's grasp?  

Anastasia ends up at the lowest point in her life after an attack lands her in the hospital for a lengthy period of time and pushes Alex away not wanting to burden him with her current problems.  While they live their lives separately Anastasia puts her life back together and Alex ends up on a different team eventually they end up back in each others lives again and it must be meant to be different State/city and years later but the love they had for each other as friends is still there and has so much potential to blossom into a lot more (the kind of love that Anastasia deserves and so does Alex).  But is the nightmare life that she had with her ex all in the past?  Can they move forward to both have a happy life?   

Anastasia is trying to move past the worst part of her life but its hard when the court has ordered that she allow her son to speak with his father while he's in prison and there is always the concern that he will find them when he gets out.  

As far as hockey romance goes there was not much "hockey" in it only mentions of going to practice or if they won or lost a game, there is also not much ice skating involved either.  Anastasia is a survivor and has learned to be strong for herself and her son.  I knew about the trigger warnings but there was a lot of on page DV which was really difficult to read about.  I was really rooting for our main characters to find their happily ever after throughout the book I just felt like it spent a lot more time focusing on the on page trauma portion of the FMC's life and not as much time as I would have liked on the couple being together.  There were a lot of time jumps in this which sometimes made the book feel like it flowed a bit strange at times.  

Alex was everything that Anastasia needed him to be caring, supportive and patient allowing her to go at her own pace and not rushing her healing journey he really would have waited for her forever he had that kind of energy.  Alex had always been a safe space for Anastasia and it was great seeing their love grow.  

*ARC read  *arranged marriage  *DV partner violence  *single mom

*Hockey Romance  *Sports Romance  *Forbidden Love  *Slow Burn  *dual POV 

*spice (including M/F, voyeurism, exhibitionism, MFM and FFM) 

*golden retriever MMC  *Ice skater/hockey player pair  *big time jumps *2nd chance for love

*journey of healing  *second chance for romance  *happy ending

Read your trigger warnings prior to reading:  TW include on page domestic and sexual assault (marital/spousal rape) physical, emotional and sexual violence leading to physical injury 

If you or anyone you know are in a DV situation please know you are not alone most States have resources to help you get out of your home and to a safe space:

National Domestic Violence Hotline

Call: 800-799-7233

Text BEGIN to 88788

https://www.thehotline.org/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=domestic_violence

Isabella Brimstone: The Sapphire Sonnet

 Hedon Hall Book 1 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/235677178-the-sapphire-sonnet

Bree has graduated from high school and is off on a trip of a life time with her best friend they are going to college together and will be rooming together in a run down dorm known as Hedon Hall but it's within their budget and not having much financial support from their families they will take lower cost options where they can.

Bree is a shy girl who doesn't make friends easily but with her best friend Fiona by her side she meets several new friends after starting classes and they become a fast friend group I really loved their interactions and how they became close throughout the book, it's always good to have a group of friends you can count on to have your back and Bree isn't afraid to stand up for her friends when she needs to.

Bree is used to being an unnoticed wallflower but when she catches the attention of a super hot library worker in her first week at school she ends up doing things she never thought she would do... especially in public.  Very steamy Voyeuristic/Exhibitionist and public place scenes throughout the book, the library and classroom scenes woah! 

This story follows Bree over her first few semesters of college where she is on a journey of learning but also one of self discovery and she is finding she would like to be more sexual and lean into it like her fierce friends do she ends up with what seems like the perfect guy for her but when all sorts of red flags start popping up with this guy she is again drawn to the hot librarian who she has continued to text off and on since meeting him early that first semester.

Can Bree get over her negative thoughts and self doubt and get rid of the guy who doesn't put her first and go for the guy she wants even with her concerns that he might just be playing with her heart?  He is so sweet and always telling her how much he wants her he is a poet after all and so handsome he must be a player... right?  

Let me talk a bit more about the spice... if you don't like spice this might not be the book for you, the spice is spicing once it gets there!  there are scenes with FF and MF along  FFM scenes.  The spice in public places scenes had me stressing out about them getting caught!!  Also not going to say much more than this the last spicy scene omg!  

Some typos/repeat lines especially with the text sections but it was easy to over look and will probably end up fixed in the final copy (I received an arc read copy) I don't feel these issues took away from the story and I enjoyed getting to know Bree and her friends I'm looking forward to the next book in the series!  

Would love to ARC read the next in the series if given the opportunity!  

*arc read  *Indie author  *First book  *College romance *young adult  *forbidden relationship/romance 

*spicy  *Single POV from FMC  *friends --> lovers  *Teacher/student  *Voyeur/Exhibitionist  

*happy ending  *Girl power   

*Partner sharing and Polyamory  *Bi & WLW characters also has FFM scenes

**read your trigger warnings list before reading the book**  

Lilian Monroe: Conquest

The Four Groomsmen of the Wedpocalypse book 1 read in 2024  --> should be read in order the next three stories continue the story line of what happened in the first book.  

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/205566788-conquest?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_16

Leo St. James now older and wiser but still handsome is trying to no longer live up to his college nickname "Pestilence" after an STI outbreak across campus (which he may or may not have had a part in... as there was a lot of partying and partner swapping going on at the time).  

Amelia is a hard worker (freelance data analyst) and she has also worked hard to make sure that her sisters wedding goes off without any issues, while making sure everything is perfect she runs across Leo who is one of the groomsmen... she knows he has a reputation and she is not going to let him ruin her sisters day.  

Leo is trying to move up the ladder at work and at the time it seemed better to just tell everyone at work that he was in a relationship in fact he has a fiancé (except he doesn't).  Going with Amelia to pick up the cake for the wedding at a local bakery he unfortunately runs into his boss, who assumes that Amelia is his fiancé and then invites them both to a company retreat that Leo wanted to be invited to... now to convince Amelia to play along for the retreat.  

Amelia agrees to go along with Leo to the company retreat and pretend to be his fiance but she wants something in return, her previous long term partner (ex now) left her with a lot of emotional damage due to constantly belittling her and she would like to be able to find someone who will treat her better, a true partner in order to do this she feels she needs lessons in seduction from someone who has a lot of experience (in comes Leo).

While at the retreat a mystery pops up when an expensive ring goes missing and someone at the retreat is the culprit... who else could have done it?  

When his boss makes the announcement that he will find who has been lying to him and catch the thief Leo and Amelia begin to panic they don't even really know each other how are they going to keep pretending they are in love and on their way to getting married?  Well it might not be so hard the longer they are in this situation together the more those fake feeling start to feel real.  

*former playboy MMC  *Fake fiancé/fake relationship  *romantic comedy  *pretty ridiculous at times

*mystery  *fluffy read  *one bed/room  *drama  *happy ending  *read in order  *some spice

have you read this series?  have you read anything by this author before?  what would you recommend?

Negatives for the book (I've compiled some of the things from peoples negative reviews as I thought the book was silly at times but I enjoyed this series):

• some people found the book over the top ridiculous/corny 
• FMC grumpy and over the top irritated/angry with the MMC for no good reason
• FMC is too focused on lack of "bedroom" skills and self depreciating a lot throughout the book with no resolution as to how she started to feel better about herself/these issues
• MMC is also down on himself for different reasons, some readers found the self loathing parts of both characters a slog to read through 
• repetitive inner monologues 
• short amount of time for lead characters to fall for each other 

Jennifer Sucevic Hate You Always

Western Wildcats Hockey Book 1 read in 2024

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/217004776-hate-you-always?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=2CUrcy3tdo&rank=4

Ryder McAdams is one of the Hockey teams star players he is hopeful to sign with a NHL team after college but while he's in college he doesn't see why he can't play the field being on the hockey team is huge and it doesn't hurt that they have their own groupies (Puck Bunnies).  What he has kept to himself though is the fact that he has a crush on his best friends sister Juliette but knows that he needs to keep his distance because she is off limits to him.

Juliette is also focused... on school but she has been a bit of the opposite she hasn't been living her best college life which becomes apparent when she finds a "bucket list" of sorts that she made around freshman year of the things she wanted to accomplish while in college... some of these things are on the spicy side and now that she's going to be graduating soon she sees that she has checked off nothing from her list she was so focused on school that she forgot the socialization and the fun side of things.

Juliette thinks that Ryder doesn't see her as anything more than his friends sister but that's because he's been good at pushing her away, that is until he takes her home one night (on the one night she decides to let loose at a hockey party) he keeps her safe and make sure she gets home ok after drinking a bit too much... unfortunately for Juliette he also finds out about this bucket list and as a surprise to her he wants to help her check off the items on the list... all of them he isn't letting anyone else help her with this list! 

Some drama thrown in since they end up in a "secret" situationship and the brother doesn't know, also Ryder is having some issues getting along with his new hockey coach the coach is just trying to prepare him for the next step because he knows that the NHL will be a lot tougher on him in every way. 

I thought the book was ok and I went on to read more of the series (I can't remember if I have finished the series or not at this point).  

some negatives for the book:  

• some awkward/cringeworthy writing during spicy times  (her "honey" 😬)
• Juliette and Ryder are both supposed to be close to her brother Maverick but he isn't in the story much
• When the brother did come into the book he was a bit too over protective over his sisters love life... she's a grown woman who can make her own choices, or at least she should be able to  
• some misogynistic type vibes in the book at times  
• repetitive words/phrases throughout the book
• The characters are very horny all the time and get turned on very quickly, I don't mind spice in a book but sometimes find myself skipping those scenes if it becomes too much

*Brothers best friend *college Hockey *enemies (frenemies)--> more  *Sexy Bucket list  *YA  

*open door spice  *Sports romance *good girl  *opposites attract  *pining forever 

*dual POV  *childhood friends  *secret arrangement

N.L. Silver: Echoes of Us

Read in 2025   https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/235531962-echoes-of-us

Ashley is living her best life (almost) she has a job she loves working with people who need help dealing with their grief, her husband is super handsome, caring and so smart best of all they are expecting their first baby and she already loves this baby so much... but (yes there is a but) she can't help but feel that her husband is maybe hiding his true self from her at times he feels a bit distant and while she is helping all of these people at work she can't seem to help her husband who needs her at home.

Cole Westwood has been dealing with grief for awhile now it hovers over himself and his family like a blanket that they can't get out from under, losing his twin brother Dale changed his life and he doesn't know how to deal with this loss.  He always felt as if he was the inferior brother in their parents eyes (especially his overly critical mother), he looked up to his brother and went to him for guidance on decisions but who can he go to now that he's gone?  

Back to Ashley feeling like she doesn't know all there is to know about her husband Cole after an old college friend comes over and basically says that she doesn't know the real Cole she thinks that maybe it would be best if she had a little bit of time away from Cole.  She goes to stay with her parents at her child hood home and makes a wish before she goes to sleep about how she wished she knew Cole prior to his grief when his brother was still alive it would help her understand him better.

Ashley wakes up in the past but it isn't the past that happened in her own timeline, the one that she so clearly remembers like it was yesterday (because it was).  In this timeline she is back in college after a bad break up to a guy she no longer cares about (but prior to her relationship with Cole... in fact in this time line does she even know Cole?).  How is she going to get by without letting on that she has different memories?  It's not like she can really tell anyone she is from a different future timeline.    

Luckily her friend Sarah is there with her when she wakes up to help fill her in that they need to get back to school... not the school she originally remembers going to, in this timeline she lost a bet with Sarah and they both have been attending Yale.  While there she runs into Cole and as a surprise his brother Dale is there as well.

Ashley then struggles with reminders of the future (or alternate reality) that may never happen the loss of her relationship with Cole and the loss of their baby that in this time line hasn't even been a thought yet since Cole it turns out is the campus playboy making his rounds to parties and getting with any woman he feels like which of course tears Ashley's heart apart a bit more each time she sees him and these different ladies.

Dale on the other hand is the thoughtful, kind, considerate, intelligent basically this truly amazing all around guy --> all of these things that she loved about her husband previously, while Cole is charming and acts like he doesn't care about much of anything he also is a bit manipulative and plays head games with her pulling her closer only to push her away again.   

Ashley in this timeline at her new school manages to get into a summer physics program being led by Dale and spending more time with him it's hard to overlook that he is everything that she is missing from her old life with her timelines Cole.  

Ashley finds herself drawn to both men for different reasons and there comes a point where she doesn't know how to deal with her emotions in this new timeline, everything so far she has tried to do has gone wrong and if Dale's car accident is still in the future of this time line can she help prevent Dale's death?

There were some typos and some repeat sentences but it didn't take away from the story, I found myself drawn to the characters and wanting to see how things would play out for Ashley and the brothers who will she choose safe choice Dale who is sweet, caring and loyal or Cole who is kind of a hot head and likes to play games but seems to be only because he is having a hard time keeping his walls up when it comes to Ashley he has armor up with those around him that show him as a careless playboy but Ashley sees him for who he is warts and all (don't worry, he doesn't have warts of course he is a flawless, handsome hard body) but she still is drawn to him even with seeing his flaws and that means a lot to someone who has always felt like he wasn't good enough compared to his brother.  

There are still some left over questions that leave room for a sequel and I would love to arc read for the next book in the series.   

*arc read  *time travel romance *alternate reality (like sliders) *love triangle  *single POV from FMC

*Indie author  *First book for this author  *miscommunication/no communication  

** my own personal opinion I was rooting for Dale and Ashley for this time line --> Team "Dashley"

M.L. Collins The Good Girl & the Bad Boy

Jackson High Series (Book 2 read in 2023) this is the second book in the series but can be read as a stand alone and this was my favorite in the series.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52322164-the-good-girl-the-bad-boy?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=eoo444jxMU&rank=3

Grady is the "bad boy" of this story but I feel this is misrepresented as he is a super nice kid he is a athlete and plays football and lacrosse the other kids look up to him and he's a hard worker.  He works late playing guitar at a club to earn some extra money.  A problem he does have is he is a bit absent minded he regularly leaves his guitar in places he shouldn't which is what leads to it getting destroyed by our LFC Lacey when she accidently backs over it with her car in the school parking lot.

Lacey feels awful about breaking Grady's guitar and he is totally out of sorts due to being a musician and this was his prized possession.  

Lacey and Grady then get more bad news... they will be stuck together working on a school advice column only Lacey is now stuck doing his work too after he lays a huge guilt trip on her over the whole broken guitar situation... so after doing double work for several weeks she has had enough and confronts Grady about this, serves him right for lying about a certain situation.    

Grady has it tough at home his mom remarried a guy who is a big ole jerk and and he has a nasty step brother (evil step dad + step brother vibes).  Lacey is trying to be the perfect all around student but feels like the odd man out at her home she's a twin but her sister is so laid back, confident and cool.

While getting to know each other better they realize that not everything is as it seems and maybe they don't dislike each other at all, in fact it could be the exact opposite.  

Really cute quick read with some humor (like when we find that Lacey isn't amazing at "everything" when she joins the talent show).  I did feel that the end was wrapped up a little too quickly and maybe not "as much" time for our couple to get to know each other better.  

*young adult  *age appropriate (high school)  *opposites attract  *bad boy/good girl  

*Enemies (sort of but not really)--> more   *LFC is a twin but complete opposite 

*reverse Cinderella story

Annie Truro: Again

 Read in 2025

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59520819-again

Maddy is in her 40's she's set in her ways and while she has an ok life it's nothing she pictured for her future when she was younger it feels more like life has been happening around her she's not going after  what she wants and it's been like that for years.  She's in a job that doesn't really give her any sense of fulfillment, a relationship where the guy is super nice but they really don't have much in common and she should have ended it years ago... but Paul is stable and at this point they have been together forever, she can't just break up with him now it would crush him.

When Paul gets a job that takes them across the country from Colorado back to her hometown on the east coast she is happy to be closer to her good friend Franny but old emotions come into play while the tragedy that involved a train derailment and the death of two of her high school friends has always been at the back of her mind it comes to the front of it after returning home.  A lot has changed (new buildings on top of where things used to be... like her condo is where the mall was, and her high school was knocked down years ago) there is something comforting in the fact that the old record shop that she used to go to with her friend is still around it was close to her high school and holds a lot of good memories.  

Andy and Darcy died during their senior year of high school a tragic event that really effected everyone in town it's been years but Maddy still remembers the event and how she felt like it was yesterday.  Maddy had a big crush on Andy and she never got to tell him... after the move she finds an old note from Andy (in a jacket pocket) she had never read the note before in this note Andy professes his love for her, what if she had been with him the night of the accident what if they had been given the chance to be together? 

While on break from her work from home job she takes a trip down memory lane at the record shop in the back of the shop she hears a weird sound like an air conditioner is starting up not thinking anything of it at first she soon finds that she's back in the late 1980's in her 18 year old body and reliving her high school days, she walks to her old high school (which is not demolished in this time) and sees Andy very much alive and at first she thinks she's dreaming or maybe hallucinating as anyone would probably think at first... time travel that's just like the plot of a movie, or a book not real life.  

She can't resist going back to the record shop to use the portal and finds herself addicted to being able to see her friend Andy again, if there is any way to prevent his death she's going to try.  She finds that she's not the only one who can use the time portal at the record store another man about her age has been using it as well... wait is that her old lab partner Charlie from high school?  He was also a foot ball star and class clown, he has his own reasons for going back in time and is surprised to see that there is another person able to use the portal.

Maddy and Charlie end up meeting up to talk about their experiences (because who else can understand what has happened better than someone else going through the same thing).  They get invited to join a government project by the young record shop worker who is obsessed with the idea of time travel portals but has never been through one himself (this is heavy to the plot in the beginning --> middle but kind of fades out).  

Maddy and Charlie face the dilemma anyone in their situation would face if given the opportunity to go back in time, if they make a change to the past (even if it's small) it could potentially cause a bigger ripple effect to their future selves and they have been returning to their future selves every time after going back to the past trying to never stay too long.  If Maddy were to change a larger event (that effected so many people) like the train accident would she be the same person in the future, would she even have the same relationships?  It's a big risk especially for someone who has spent so long playing things safe, will she be able to sacrifice the life she knows to change the past?  Also is it even possible since there is a theory that the past doesn't like to change course once it's already on that path.

Maddy and Charlie naturally get to know each other better through their shared time travel experience and you start to see some changes with how Maddy sees her current life and how it could be different, they also struggle with multiple memories from what happened in their original time line, what happened when they went back in time as adults in their younger bodies and how time fixed itself by creating reasons for those changes (I felt that was a nice touch to kind of make up for the fact they were time traveling which was the actual reason for the change).    

I really enjoyed this book for the most part, there were some more dense sections where they were talking about the "time travel theory" with the government study and it got a little repetitive since it was a bunch of "no one really knows how this works or what happens" I also kind of felt that while the book was heavy on the study towards the beginning it dropped off and never got picked back up so it was an unfinished situation in the book.  but I love the idea of being able to go back and have a do over.  

This book had a few typos (but nothing that really took away from the story) and kept me turning the pages wanting to see if she could take the plunge and make the changes needed in the past to save her friends lives which would ultimately cause a huge ripple effect to her whole life, has going to the past all these times like she has been led to her being brave enough to face an unknown future?   

This book is filled with 80's nostalgia tons of bands are brought up --> records, tape cassettes, the fashion it's a time capsule and it really gets you thinking about how you would feel if you had the opportunity to go back in time to your high school days, would you try to change things if you could?  

What is your favorite time travel romance?  Have you read this book?  what did you think?

*Time travel romance (going back to relive own life in high school)  *multiple points of view  

*sapphic relationship representation (small scenes)  *happy ending and sad moments