Debbie Charles: Dances With Pucks

 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/223879486-dances-with-pucks

Cam our MMC is good at his job and wants to make sure he's prepared for the upcoming season he's been given an amazing opportunity and has been selected for an expansion team for the NHL he's got to make a good impression and wants to make sure he is the starting goalie... one of his ways to stay limber is a not so secret secret he's been taking ballroom dance lessons since college... he feels it's a way to stay close to his mom who passed away years before.  

Cam finds a dance studio willing to give private lessons and soon he is dancing beautifully with his new partner Christina she's stunning and keeps him on his toes... he's soon surprised to learn that she is one of the owners of his new team along with her brother and sister while Christina feels the pull towards Cam too she holds herself back for obvious reasons... he's too young for her, he's her dance student and now he's also on the team that she co-owns... so many reasons to hold back and not get involved as anything more but she can only resist for so long... he is the most handsome guy she's ever seen and it's been awhile since she's been with anyone.

Christina has some medical issues which have led to the end of her competitive ballroom dance career as well as made it impossible for her to get pregnant since ending competitive dancing she has focused on her career with her families financial portfolio and also is now to help guide the hockey players (if they want to use her services) with their finances... knowing that Cam is so young and might want a family some day should she just end things before they really get started?  Or can she let go and take a chance on something that has the potential to be amazing?  Always in the back of her mind is her poor relationship with her last partner that ended badly. 

They both say it's just casual but as they spend more time together even though they haven't admitted it to each other everyone can see it's already so much more.  

When the truth comes out about Christina's health conditions will there even be a relationship to worry about saving?  

*Hockey Romance  *Sports Romance  *Dual POV  *Spice  *strangers --> more  *dealing with grief (MMC loss of mom)  *workplace romance *reverse Age Gap  *Goalie MMC  *position of power (female owner)  *Dance partners *forbidden romance *complicated family relationships (MMC) *secret relationship *millionaire/billionaire romance  *slow(ish) burn *State Challenge: Texas  *Indie Author

Thoughts:

Likes: 

This was a cute hockey romance with some humor and some spice, it did take me a bit to get into but both of our leads are likeable and I did root for them to give each other a chance to make things work.  Both characters have their individual struggles --> FMC with health issues and infertility, and MMC with an absent/distant father/family.  

Good chemistry between our leads.  Love a handsome hockey goalie! 

I liked the interactions with Cam and his team mates and everyone should have a group of girlfriends like Christina's.  I'm looking forward to reading the next in the series and have pre-ordered the 3rd book.  

Dislikes: 

I did find that some of the book seemed to focus more on positioning of their dance moves (kind of like an instruction manual), or lengthier descriptions on hockey positions and financial management and I think those portions could have been trimmed to add additional scenes with our couple getting to know each other better.  

Took awhile to get to actual spice for the amount of inner monologue from both sides about how their body was reacting to each other... every chapter in the beginning seemed to bring up wetness gathering on leotards or painful bulging by looking at Christina's amazing dancer's body... yes we get that you both want each other... get together already!... or talk about something else 😂 (probably just a me problem...)

  

Tequilla Havens: The Long Game

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/242997803-the-long-game

Kaius Merrick (MMC) left his small hometown to pursue his dream career of being a professional baseball star he left everything and everyone he knew to go after this dream including the one always on his mind Avaline... after he made a name for himself and had money in the bank he would come back for her... but would she still be there waiting for him?

Ava has big walls up when it comes to her heart and Kaius is a big reason why... instead of taking her he just left her why was she so easy for him to walk away from?  Now he's back in town saying that he wants to right his wrongs and be part of his family again and with any luck he would love nothing more than for Ava to give him a second chance even though he knows he's in the wrong he's trying in a big way... he's making big changes in his life and all he wants is the opportunity to prove he deserves another chance.  

Once Kai is back in town weird things begin happening at Ava's book store the lights are flickering, there are smells of cinnamon everywhere and pumpkins and books are being rearranged... even though it starts in her bookstore it becomes so much more when letters get shoved under her door, messages begin popping up in odd places and old friends return with unexpected gifts that may or may not be the key to solving this budding mystery where clues are popping up but without coming back together and facing their past how will they ever be able to solve the case? 

I went into this book without reading the back summary I thought it was going to be a baseball/second chance romance (which it is) but it also focuses on their friend group coming together to solve this mystery each have been getting pieces of the puzzle but until they are willing to be honest with each other and reveal all of the secret clues will they even be able to get to the end of this mystery?  

I really enjoyed this book it wasn't what I expected and I enjoyed that the author was able to keep this eerie mystery vibe throughout the story.  I'm looking forward to reading the next in the series!  

*Indie author  *baseball star MMC (book focuses on the town mystery not so much his career it is off season)  *book shop owner FMC  *ghosts of the past  *Paranormal activity *mystery

*Multiple POV's  *2nd chance for romance  *small town  *State Challenge Indiana  

Emily Blackwood: House of Lies and Sorrow

 Fae of Rewyth book 1

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60816947

Jade Farrow is used to struggles in her life she has been forced to grow up quickly after her mother passed away and her father turned to drinking instead of focusing on taking care of his family she has been responsible for protecting her younger sister, she hunts and forages in the forests surrounding their cottage and she takes the brunt of their father's anger so that her younger sister won't have to deal with him... only time is running out for her in a moment of weakness to save his own life her father made a deal with the Fae King that he will give his daughter's hand in marriage to one of the King's sons.

While in many stories it would be a dream come true to be married to a handsome prince it is not the case in Jade's story, while the prince (Malachi) is handsome he is also the most dangerous Fae in the land and if rumor has it correct his previous 3 human wives died on their wedding day... rumor has it he is the one responsible for their demise.  

Only when Jade goes to the Fae Kingdom expecting this to be her last day alive Malachi surprises her... while he is still just as dangerous as all the rumors make him out to be, he's not a danger to her he is just as upset about the outcome of his previous marriages he has had enough... no one is going to touch what now belongs to him and that includes his new bride Jade. 

Without knowing who she can trust Jade meets many shady characters in her new home including his 4 ruthless (but slightly less powerful) brothers, his father the king who has been using him as a weapon of mass destruction for an unknown period of time to take out his enemies... even Malachi's ex situationship has her on guard.  His sister seems trustworthy even if she does keep talking her into doing things that lead them into a bit of trouble... but someone in this place wants her gone just who could it be?  Will she even get a chance to eat her wedding meal or will she be gone before the end of the day as she originally expected?  

If she does make it past the day will she ever be able to see her sister again?  

*Fae  *Romantasy  *arranged marriage  *age gap (😁)  *fierce FMC  *Shadow Daddy MMC  

*Touch her and 💀 *enemies to more  *no spice just kisses  *magic  *magical realm  *young adult

*Slow burn  *ends on a cliffhanger  *need to read in order

Thoughts:

*My husband saw the title and he sang in a Meatloaf voice "In the House of Lies and Sorrow, Girl there is no tomorrow, no, no, no" he has asked me to put this into my review*  

From reading a few other reviews if you are a super big Romantasy fan and have read a bunch of them this one might not be for you, I haven't read many and haven't read the popular ones but a lot of the reviews compare it to being ACOTAR fan fiction.  I thought it was an interesting enough start to a story to continue with the series and finished this book in a few days.  

I thought it was a quick read, I wouldn't really consider this as much of a romance story at this point as they kissed a few times and might have felt some "heat" of some sort but neither character makes much effort to get to know the other one and our MMC spends a lot of time away from the FMC doing Princely business.  Also seems his protectiveness in book one stems not as much from actually having "feelings" for her as it does that he's had enough of losing his human wives and wants to put an end to that... however he has to do it... You can see towards the end that maybe his feelings are starting to change so looking forward to seeing what happens in the next book.  

Our FMC is fierce and stubborn and sometimes gets herself in trouble by doing things that are obvious to us as the reader as a bad idea... like going by herself to meet try to meet a shady character at night, or venturing out into the forest when she was told to stay in the room with the guard outside.  She really doesn't have much control over her life before or after going to the Fae world.  

The book is fairly repetitive, it is hard to determine the timeline of events or how much time has truly passed between any event.  The dialogue is sometimes awkward at points it is more modern (like we speak) and other times it tries to sound more romantasy worldish "Saints."  The book also goes from not much happening to things happening quickly at the end feeling more rushed, so maybe some of the pacing will work itself out in the rest of the series.  Hoping to learn more about the world and about how any of the Fae's magic works there are vague hints but nothing concrete.  

book two blog post:  https://elbyslibrary.blogspot.com/2026/02/emily-blackwood-prince-of-sins-and.html

Nikki Lawson: Offside Hearts

 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/134097798-offside-hearts

Noah Blake is an NHL superstar, Margo is a woman on a mission she is looking for a job as a social media manager in a chance encounter the two get stuck in an elevator together and have an intense moment in time where Margo is afraid and Noah is happy to comfort her however she needs to be comforted.  

Margo thinking she will never see this handsome stranger again is so wrong since he is one of the stars on the NHL team where she is starting her new job as their social media manager... so she will be working with him a lot she can't mix business with pleasure (even if she wanted to) and she needs this job it's an amazing opportunity for her and nothing will get in the way of her career even a super hot shot hockey guy.

Noah has been a ladies man in the past (the past being very recent) but the moment he sees Margo things change for him she is "The One" he knows it... he just needs her to see that they would be amazing together and to do that he needs to convince her that she should give him a chance to prove he's worth her time and not a playboy like the tabloids say.

Margo briefly rejects his advances towards her only to very quickly give in and next thing she knows she is in a very fast paced secret relationship with Noah who is so much more than she originally thought him to be and just maybe she's falling a bit more for him daily... but what will happen if their relationship comes out to the public?  Is there a rule against dating one of the players?  She doesn't want to be seen as a jersey chaser or even worse be seen as "just Noah's girlfriend" she wants to show she is good at her job on her own.

While Margo's family is very caring, loving and welcoming Noah's family is old money and very all about appearances what if Margo can't live up to their expectations?  

Naturally secret relationships with someone very much in the public are hard to keep secret and when a bit of scandal occurs will their relationship last?  or will it be just a moment in time like their elevator encounter?  

*Hockey Romance *Sports Romance *strangers --> more  *golden retriever MMC  *Pierced 👇

*spice (lots of it) *family drama  *Scandal  *workplace romance *she falls --> he falls harder  *NHL

*book boyfriend *miscommunication/no communication  *3rd act break up  *insta lust/love *cheesy

My thoughts:  May contain spoilers:

Likes:   I loved Noah he was a super sweet guy and he really cared about Margo.  Margo's family was family goals very supportive and willing to stand up for her even against a pro athlete if needed.  Loved Noah's team mates and might check out the next book to see if it’s any better.

dislikes: : I love hockey romances I really struggled to finish this book like I started reading it in June of 2025 and just finished it today (1/8/26) I almost DNF multiple times but powered through.

*I didn’t like the FMC she was obnoxious at times and I was actively rooting for Noah to find a new woman throughout different parts of the book 

*I just don’t believe that a person can go from a player seeing different ladies all over the country to all in with a stranger in a matter of a few days

*the spice starts with these two strangers in an elevator and in the middle of a panic attack the FMC grinds herself on this mans thick thigh… seriously

*the spice just continues from there I began to skip past some of these scenes to get back to plot

*the FMC gets hired as the social media manager but they act like the team needs to find fans for their franchise through her efforts alone… they are a NHL team I’m sure they have plenty of fans… she also knows very little about Hockey and is new to social media management I don’t see how she beat out all the other competition for this job or why it’s portrayed as basically just her with her cell phone recording things some days? Big teams have bigger social media teams it wouldn’t just be one girl with her phone.

*At any little issue instead of talking our FMC blows things out of proportion and jumps to conclusions not even waiting for the MMC to be ready to talk about the issues.

*Margo tells Noah she loves Sunflowers when they are in the elevator together… he calls her this all the time sometimes multiple times on the same page.

*Noah is so sweet and perfect… like too perfect do you have any flaws at all now?  Of course you do handsome we love you anyways but be real 😉

*the book was at least 100-150 pages too long, padded out with a bunch of filler which was a slog to get through.

*I could go on about this but basically this one wasn’t for me, I’m not saying it won’t be a good book for the right person. 

  à  Possible spoilers

 

*Margo has a secret she stole 20k from her previous employer but justifies the embezzlement because the guy was a jerk and her sister needed the money to get out of a bad living situation (I’m sorry but the family was really supportive I’m sure that if she went to their parents and brothers they could have found out a different way to deal with this  à also someone has embezzled from me and my neighbors in our association (it was 40k… and it really sucks to be stolen from… she now has to pay us back at $60 a month me and my neighbors are going to die before we get our money back… anyways back to this story)    

à Noah is totally fine with her stealing she is a wonderful person, the best one he knows and she is so great at her job… His stuck up father later hires an investigator and finds out from a former co-worker of Margo’s that she stole the money… if the other employee knew about the theft how did Margo get away with it? 

•   I was ok with how this part was resolved at the end and how Noah stood up to his father.  

Sandra Sookoo: Of Dukes and Forbidden Words

 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/243838816-of-dukes-and-forbidden-words

Barrington Combes-Mead Duke of Scarbourough finds an ancient Egyptian book while doing renovations to his townhouse, with his children grown and out of the house (unable to return due to poor road conditions) and being a widower around the Christmas holiday perhaps this is just the distraction he needs from feeling so alone during the holidays.

Barr wants to have the book translated before he decides whether to keep it for his personal collection or selling it.  The book is a bit on the erotic side (with pictures) and while at the library to find a translator he runs into Catherine Pickwick daughter of a professor she is used to research and has a love for ancient Egyptian culture... this just might be exactly who he needs to translate this book.

Cate agrees to work on the translation of the book and very soon after the couple falls into some extracurricular activities, Barr doesn't know what's gotten into him he hasn't been this enthusiastic about anything in quite some time she has brought some joy back to his life.  But when a possible curse attached to this ancient book begins to cause some "accidents" will he need to get rid of the book before it's translated?  When he does will he still be able to see his sweet librarian?  

Cate knows far too well from her previous relationships not to expect too much to come of this relationship either... if you could even call it that, he's a powerful Duke and she's a librarian not of nobility he couldn't possibly see her as anything more... or could he?

*Historical romance  *forbidden attraction  *class difference  *Handsome duke  *spice 

*MMC in 40's, FMC in late 30's  *ARC Read *Netgalley  *insta lust/love  *cozy read  *Spinster

Thoughts on this book:  likeable lead characters and side characters I really liked that our Handsome Duke was humble and kind towards his staff considering them friends and inviting them to his holiday festivities, and I liked that our leads were both a bit older than the usual historical romance couples.  This was a cute cozy quick read for me.  

Dislike:  While I wasn't expecting a literary masterpiece I do generally like more of a story to go along with my books, this book had so much spice (and it was a shorter book to begin with) that I found myself scrolling through pages to get back to some actual plot that didn't involve some form of disrobement... I just didn't feel that they knew each other well enough for things to progress so quickly.

Logan Chance: Oh, What Fun it is To Ride

 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/240103678-oh-what-fun-it-is-to-ride

Ivy Garland ends up in a charming town for the holiday season with a job to do she's a PR manager and she's been tasked with helping the town raise funds for the towns Snowflake Jubilee things are a bit of a disaster when she arrives since sponsors for the festival are threatening to pull out... does anyone even come to this tiny town?  

Ivy crashes into a sleigh upon arrival and the owner of said sleigh is of course a handsome, grumpy mountain man while his job is to cart people around in his horse drawn carriage his personality is closer to Grinch than Santa... and now his best sleigh is going to be out of commission for an unknown amount of time... is this even more devastating to the upcoming festival.  Luckily Rhett Ryder has a back up sleigh. 

Ivy over the next several days spends her next several days making content and charming everyone in town... even Mr. Frosty is starting to come out of his shell... which is good because Ivy is about to be spending a whole lot more time with him in close quarters when they get snowed in at his cabin up the mountain, what could they possibly do with their time together?  

Maybe Rhett isn't as big of a grump as Ivy originally thought, perhaps something bigger is going on...

This is a cute insta lust/love holiday rom-com with a lot of puns and hallmark vibes.  I love the small town aspect and the meddling townspeople help make the story more charming.  

I did feel that since it was a novella things had to progress faster but I always have a harder time believing that the characters could be in "love" in less than 2 weeks.  If you are looking for a cozy holiday rom-com that's a easy quick read with small town charm this might be the one for you.    

Have you read anything by this author?  What other books would you recommend?

ARC read 2026 booksirens; Holiday romance, grumpy/sunshine; Ex-military MMC; enemies to lovers; some spice; one room/forced proximity; instalust/love; novella; snowed in cabin; small town;  feel good/cozy read

PTSD, loss of loved one mentioned (in past) 

Cayenne Sirois: Between

 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/240749763

This story begins in our own world where our FMC is struggling to find meaning with her life as it is working at a job where she's overworked and under appreciated she ends up getting into a car accident leaving her in a coma but when she wakes up things aren't as they were before while she's not dead she is not in the mortal realm either but somewhere in Between.

Our FMC is left wondering what is going on she's with many others that she doesn't know but that's not a problem since she doesn't remember who she is either.  When a being that calls themselves Sintra and looks like a talking statue gives her and her companions a few options they can go into the after where they will be guided and helped to settle in peacefully or they can go through an unknown amount of trials/tribulation with the ending outcome being they return to their body in the "before."  But since none of them remember who they were before (not even their names) is this whole process even worth going through?  

Eight decides to pursue the second option and with a handful of others begins a lengthy process of going through many eerie landscapes that seem familiar but at the same time not never knowing what is waiting for them in any given area or when these tribulations will pop up everyone is on edge all the time and you can't let your guard down.  

This was different from the usual books I read but it pulled me in from the very first chapter I was invested in Eight and the other's journey and wanted to see them get through all of these trials and make it back to the Before.  The writer does a good job with pacing the tribulations out so even when they have more "rest" days it never feels like that since there is always an element of creepy movie vibes with no one remembering their life from before and never knowing if any of them will make it through the next tribulation or when it will be haven't they been through enough already!  

There is a side of romance between Eight and one of the other characters and our MMC is very sweet and protective over the whole group especially the young child that is unfortunately on this adventure with them.  

If you are looking for something different that will have you turning pages and wondering what will come next be sure to add this to your TBR!

*Indie Author  *First book  *Fierce FMC  *protective MMC  *close proximity  *found family  

*second chances *trials/tribulations  *spooky vibes  *slow burn  *between life & death