Scan barcode
torilovesheas's reviews
645 reviews
Tornn's Mate by Sue Lyndon
Did not finish book. Stopped at 29%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 29%.
The sex scenes were so oddly written and the way body parts/sex was described was sort of icky. He kept calling her butt her “bottom cheeks” and I couldn’t deal with it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Lizards Hold the Sun by Dani Trujillo
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Phenomenal. Phenomenal. Phenomenal.
Gorgeous prose + the sweetest/gentlest romance + an emotional 3rd act = my favorite book of the year. Hands down.
Dani Trujillo truly wrote something special here. This book is just…gentle. Gentle in the way Xiomara approaches archeology from the viewpoint of an Indigenous woman. Gentle in the way Calehan shows he cares for Xiomara with acts of service. Gentle in the way Xiomara is allowed to grieve and love and reconcile the two without sacrificing one emotion for the other. And I think that gentleness in the first 2/3 is what made the third act conflict so impactful.
I loved Xo and Calehan. They were so sweet together. The amount of caretaking they show for each other is so sweet and beautiful. They’re two people that have known loss and are brave enough to reach for more with each other. It’s just a beautiful love story.
And the way Trujillo really wove a love letter to ancestors that came before was gorgeous and so special. The scenes with tribal elders holding ceremony for ancestors from thousands of years ago was just…so so beautifully done.
I just…if I had to describe this book, it would be “handled with care”. From the romance to the community to the characterization, nothing feels tropey or shoe horned in.
Truly excellent. Truly gorgeous. I cannot wait for book two.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Sexual content, Grief, Car accident, and Colonisation
The Harvest Bride by Kati Wilde
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Always a good time in the this little fantasy world that Kati Wilde has created! I got the hankering for Bannin’s story in previous Dead Land stories (Warreck’s I think) and I’m so glad Kati gave him an HEA! Bannin is a boy obsessed with a girl that thinks he’s nothing but a braggart and his courting skills….kinda suck lol hence the nickname Bannin the Blowhard. What Sarya doesn’t know is that Bannin is stupid in love with her and just wants to bask in her sunshine. They’re so sweet together!
Love that there’s a little demon hunt going on in the back ground (which sounded terrifying ngl) and LOVE that we have in depth characters in such a short tale. Kati is really talented with her characterization and character development in minimal pages and fleshes out their story at the perfect pace.
10/10 plus we get birth control ye olden fantasy style and a near death “please don’t leave me” scene. My cuppa.
Love that there’s a little demon hunt going on in the back ground (which sounded terrifying ngl) and LOVE that we have in depth characters in such a short tale. Kati is really talented with her characterization and character development in minimal pages and fleshes out their story at the perfect pace.
10/10 plus we get birth control ye olden fantasy style and a near death “please don’t leave me” scene. My cuppa.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, and Sexual content
Minor: Alcoholism, Alcohol, and War
The C*ck Down The Block by Amy Award
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I always feel mean when I’m like “this needed a better round of edits” but…this needed a better round of edits.
I think Amy Award is talented. The story is there. The bare bones of these characters is there. But between contradictory statements (first 8 brothers are mentioned and now there’s only 7 later on?) and a tendency to lean too into hyper specific modern slang, it just ended up feeling like an early draft. I love that it’s a friends to lovers set-up with fake dating and a plus sized girly/big muscly man combo. It’s my catnip! And there’s super loveable characters in here. The Kingman siblings are all likeable and feel real. There’s so much personality traits for each sibling sprinkled in that will be great in setting up later books. But having 8 siblings (7 of which are boys) all on page at once became very confusing VERY fast.
I love the concept behind this book. An American football dynasty family with alphabetically named siblings a la Bridgerton and a pack of grumpy chickens is a series I can get behind. I just need tighter editing in book 2 to really sell me on this being a series I could love.
ps authors please stop writing “it’s so hot when girls kiss haha” dude bro nonsense in your books. It’s so icky and fetishy. Nope.
I think Amy Award is talented. The story is there. The bare bones of these characters is there. But between contradictory statements (first 8 brothers are mentioned and now there’s only 7 later on?) and a tendency to lean too into hyper specific modern slang, it just ended up feeling like an early draft. I love that it’s a friends to lovers set-up with fake dating and a plus sized girly/big muscly man combo. It’s my catnip! And there’s super loveable characters in here. The Kingman siblings are all likeable and feel real. There’s so much personality traits for each sibling sprinkled in that will be great in setting up later books. But having 8 siblings (7 of which are boys) all on page at once became very confusing VERY fast.
I love the concept behind this book. An American football dynasty family with alphabetically named siblings a la Bridgerton and a pack of grumpy chickens is a series I can get behind. I just need tighter editing in book 2 to really sell me on this being a series I could love.
ps authors please stop writing “it’s so hot when girls kiss haha” dude bro nonsense in your books. It’s so icky and fetishy. Nope.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia and Sexual content
Moderate: Bullying
Minor: Eating disorder, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment
Shiver Me Timbers by Cassie Mint
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
What a bizarre little world Cassie Mint has written in this Hot and Haunted series. Obviously, you know the drill if you’ve ever read a CM novella before. It’s sweet. It’s smutty. It’s insta-lovey. But I like that this has a haunted town where ghosts are legit real and the whole town knows it! The MCs run and own a boat tour business that takes tourists to haunted locales to see ghosts and I could read a whole series based just on that set up alone.
I don’t always love when it’s an age gap where the older character knew the other character as a minor but Mint makes it clear that there was absolutely zero sexual thoughts at the time. So. I’ll let it slide since it’s a dad’s best friend set up. But I still didn’t love it.
I don’t always love when it’s an age gap where the older character knew the other character as a minor but Mint makes it clear that there was absolutely zero sexual thoughts at the time. So. I’ll let it slide since it’s a dad’s best friend set up. But I still didn’t love it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Minor: Death and Death of parent
Offered by the Orc by Finley Fenn
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Horny orcs horny orcs horny orcs. Technically a reread but also not because I don't know that I ever read this little spicy novella?? I think I did but who knows at this point. It's a newsletter freebie featuring Silfast and Stella and it's just a spicy Bautul good time. Would I be mad at a big scarred Orc stumbling upon me naked in the moonlight, ravishing me, and whisking me away from my terrible husband? Nope. And neither is Stella.
Living my DREAM, girlfriend. Get you a Silfast, ladies (gender neutral). If you're going into for plot, this ain't it. If you're going in for hot bang times with a scarred Orc, read away.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
The Chief by Monica McCarty
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Love finding a new Highlander series. Love it even more when it has that 90’s HisRom feel!
McCarty did her research on this one and managed to combine a fully fleshed out romance with the complexities of Robert the Bruce era political machinations and it was fantastic. Forced marriage due to trickery? Check. A big ole Highlander falling ass over head into love with his tiny wife? Check check. A special group of warriors training to be Robert the Bruce’s secret weapons? You got it, baby.
Sometimes I want a feminist angle in my HisRoms and sometimes I just want that old school feel where he’s in love and mad about it and she’s going to win him over if it kills her. But that doesn’t mean that Christina isn’t a force all her own. She’s smart. She can read. She wants to help her husband succeed. And she’s determined to make their marriage work. I loved her, even if she was a bit more naive at times than I wanted. For a survivor of domestic violence at the hands of her father, I think her resilience is admirable.
The main theme in here is disillusionment. Tor believes he has to put clan and country first and had no place for love. Christina believes in Lancelot and Guinevere and chivalric love. And they both have to let go of those ideals and meet in the middle to be happy. And boy howdy is it a push/pull to get there. But I think the subtle ways that Tor shows he’s losing that control and the way Christina keeps trying after falling down is realistic for a time period where battle hardened warriors really do have to put their people first in such a heightened political atmosphere.
My only complaint is the way it drags in the middle. At 400 pages, there’s a lot of training going on (which is necessary for later books) but can be a bit boring and repetitive unless you like that in your romance. But I think if you’re setting up a 12 book series with special secret warriors defending Scotland, it has to be in there. Just maybe a little less balanced than I would have liked.
CW: attempted SA of FMC (not by MMC), general violence, kidnapping, murder (non graphic), death of parents (off page, but described), rape (not of MCs, off page, but discussed)
McCarty did her research on this one and managed to combine a fully fleshed out romance with the complexities of Robert the Bruce era political machinations and it was fantastic. Forced marriage due to trickery? Check. A big ole Highlander falling ass over head into love with his tiny wife? Check check. A special group of warriors training to be Robert the Bruce’s secret weapons? You got it, baby.
Sometimes I want a feminist angle in my HisRoms and sometimes I just want that old school feel where he’s in love and mad about it and she’s going to win him over if it kills her. But that doesn’t mean that Christina isn’t a force all her own. She’s smart. She can read. She wants to help her husband succeed. And she’s determined to make their marriage work. I loved her, even if she was a bit more naive at times than I wanted. For a survivor of domestic violence at the hands of her father, I think her resilience is admirable.
The main theme in here is disillusionment. Tor believes he has to put clan and country first and had no place for love. Christina believes in Lancelot and Guinevere and chivalric love. And they both have to let go of those ideals and meet in the middle to be happy. And boy howdy is it a push/pull to get there. But I think the subtle ways that Tor shows he’s losing that control and the way Christina keeps trying after falling down is realistic for a time period where battle hardened warriors really do have to put their people first in such a heightened political atmosphere.
My only complaint is the way it drags in the middle. At 400 pages, there’s a lot of training going on (which is necessary for later books) but can be a bit boring and repetitive unless you like that in your romance. But I think if you’re setting up a 12 book series with special secret warriors defending Scotland, it has to be in there. Just maybe a little less balanced than I would have liked.
CW: attempted SA of FMC (not by MMC), general violence, kidnapping, murder (non graphic), death of parents (off page, but described), rape (not of MCs, off page, but discussed)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Violence
A Soul to Keep by Opal Reyne
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
This pretty much gets 3 stars because Orpheus is baby and I love him and his cinnamon roll core. I wanted to squish him because he was so sweet and caring. Big dude just wanted to be loved. 🥹
Everything else was….meh? For a book that clocks in at 537 pages, 400 of those pages were just the MCs spending time together in a cabin. No external plot. Minimal contact with anyone else. Just them living together. Normally I love a character driven story but I found myself incredibly bored by the 50% mark. It’s extremely repetitive and the amount of times we have a “Reia runs off into the veil amidst demons she has no hope of saving herself from because….Orpheus is wonderful and what would the human villagers that tortured her and made her feel like a harbinger of doom think if they know she’s attracted to a monster?” got very old, very quick. Idk, man, maybe it’s just me, but if a demon guy with a heart of gold was giving me the tender care and consideration Orpheus gave to Reia, I’d have given less than a single shit what they thought of me? Especially when they were horrible to me? And wanted to sacrifice me to a demon or lock me in an underground prison forever?? GIRL. Who cares what they think?
The pacing is weird, slow in some parts and speed running into others. Nothing happens for 400-ish pages and then we zoom into a lackluster third act. The big bad at the end for the third act conflict is cartoony and ridiculous with no depth or real motivation for their actions besides some mustache twirling villainy. And the world building is somehow both great and awful at the same time? We’re giving fascinating and unique lore for demons and Duskwalkers that I loved and wanted more of only to have phrases like “Stockholm syndrome” thrown around in what (appears to be because it’s never explained) a high fantasy world? IS it post apocalyptic? No clue. But the switch to modern language is jarring in what leads to be a world without technology with medieval-esque setting elements.
It’s wordy. It’s info dumpy. We get pages upon pages of lore and world building (what little there is) that isn’t relevant or necessary to the plot (what little there is). The prose is a slog because of how heavy it is. I do think the audio made it better and a lot more tolerable but I struggled to retain any world information because it’s just lobbed at you like word vomit. So much of this could have been edited out and I really have no desire to read any further in the series because I don’t feel super confident that I’ll enjoy them considering one has been released about every 3 months and that does not feel like an adequate amount of time to edit these stories absolute chunks of a story into an enjoyable book series (for me personally). Six 500-650 pages novels in one year feels…like we need to take a step back and spend more time developing the story instead of rushing these out.
3 ⭐️ for Orpheus and Orpheus alone.
Everything else was….meh? For a book that clocks in at 537 pages, 400 of those pages were just the MCs spending time together in a cabin. No external plot. Minimal contact with anyone else. Just them living together. Normally I love a character driven story but I found myself incredibly bored by the 50% mark. It’s extremely repetitive and the amount of times we have a “Reia runs off into the veil amidst demons she has no hope of saving herself from because….Orpheus is wonderful and what would the human villagers that tortured her and made her feel like a harbinger of doom think if they know she’s attracted to a monster?” got very old, very quick. Idk, man, maybe it’s just me, but if a demon guy with a heart of gold was giving me the tender care and consideration Orpheus gave to Reia, I’d have given less than a single shit what they thought of me? Especially when they were horrible to me? And wanted to sacrifice me to a demon or lock me in an underground prison forever?? GIRL. Who cares what they think?
The pacing is weird, slow in some parts and speed running into others. Nothing happens for 400-ish pages and then we zoom into a lackluster third act. The big bad at the end for the third act conflict is cartoony and ridiculous with no depth or real motivation for their actions besides some mustache twirling villainy. And the world building is somehow both great and awful at the same time? We’re giving fascinating and unique lore for demons and Duskwalkers that I loved and wanted more of only to have phrases like “Stockholm syndrome” thrown around in what (appears to be because it’s never explained) a high fantasy world? IS it post apocalyptic? No clue. But the switch to modern language is jarring in what leads to be a world without technology with medieval-esque setting elements.
It’s wordy. It’s info dumpy. We get pages upon pages of lore and world building (what little there is) that isn’t relevant or necessary to the plot (what little there is). The prose is a slog because of how heavy it is. I do think the audio made it better and a lot more tolerable but I struggled to retain any world information because it’s just lobbed at you like word vomit. So much of this could have been edited out and I really have no desire to read any further in the series because I don’t feel super confident that I’ll enjoy them considering one has been released about every 3 months and that does not feel like an adequate amount of time to edit these stories absolute chunks of a story into an enjoyable book series (for me personally). Six 500-650 pages novels in one year feels…like we need to take a step back and spend more time developing the story instead of rushing these out.
3 ⭐️ for Orpheus and Orpheus alone.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Grief
The Ruin's Revenge by Sara Ivy Hill
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
I love this bizarre little world that Sara has created where regular sized human women fall in love with 15 ft tall giants and live happily ever after. This is my favorite so far because Alrek, big giant grump, is such a sweetheart that's stuck in grief over his lost mate and Raina is a neurodivergent sunshine that just wants to heal the environment that terraforming destroyed. It's sweet, a little angsty, and has the perfect amount of
"getting revenge on money hungry jerks" that I love to see. Plus, when he rolls around in the hay like a dog because her scent is still on it LOL
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Sexual harassment
Behind the Net by Stephanie Archer
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
I read really ranty reviews of this book before I started it and I was expecting the worst. But while I didn’t love this, it wasn’t as bad as I imagined it was going to be. I just…once again…think it needed better editing.
Pippa and Jamie end up being really cute together. Jamie is a bit of an ass in the very beginning but once that drops off (early on), he’s a big ole simp and is really supportive of Pippa and her dreams of becoming a professional singer. There’s great close proximity (she’s his love in assistant/dog sitter). There’s a cute rescue dog and interesting side characters and it’s honestly pretty low angst for how many obstacles are built up in the beginning.
Which leads me to why this ended up being kinda meh despite the parts I really enjoyed. There’s multiple obstacles set up for why Jamie can’t be in a relationship. A bad breakup when he was 19, his mother suffering from untreated anxiety/panic attacks, and the whole boss/assistant situation are built up as these HUGE problems he can’t get past in order to date and then….everyone of them is resolved super quick after not ever being an ACTUAL problem throughout the whole book. His mom’s anxiety? Pippa handles it with him like a champ. The breakup? One conversation with the ex and it’s resolved. The boss/assistant relationship? Literally never a problem. What was the point?
This felt so long and it was only 400 pages or about 7 hours on audio (I listen at 1.7 speed). Lots of repetitive discussions and scenes and waffling back and forth over being with each other. The whole “he/she doesn’t remember me from high school” plot line? Resolved so fast. Every obstacle is really nonexistent and it made this feel so freaking long when it’s just Pippa going to the games, Pippa walking the dog, Pippa and Jamie being sweet together. On repeat. Lots of this could have been edited out and not hurt the story at all.
I’m also continuing a theme of restricting nickname privileges because “songbird” was used 67 times (yes I counted) and I got so tired of it so fast. Plus “bossy” and “my pretty assistant” were used over and over again. Just so repetitive to the degree that it’s noticeable.
There’s not really any hockey for this to be a hockey romance. There’s cringy one liners that ended up sounding like bad 80’s porn dialogue. “Do you have a fever? Cause you’re burning up” is straight from a porno and you can’t convince me otherwise. And the sweet moments get overrun by cringy conversations that no real human being would say.
I can see why people like this one. Jamie is a teddy bear once he stops being a hard ass and Pippa is likeable (if very not like other girls). But I think this was written too fast with too little editing. Which really could have made this a great read. Archer is talented but I think the need to hop on the hockey romance trend may have pushed her to churn out a book that wasn’t really ready for release.
Will I read the next one? Probably because she roped me in with teasers about Pippa’s sister and the cocky hockey star and the coach and the bartender. But I won’t be rushing to preorder it, for sure.
Pippa and Jamie end up being really cute together. Jamie is a bit of an ass in the very beginning but once that drops off (early on), he’s a big ole simp and is really supportive of Pippa and her dreams of becoming a professional singer. There’s great close proximity (she’s his love in assistant/dog sitter). There’s a cute rescue dog and interesting side characters and it’s honestly pretty low angst for how many obstacles are built up in the beginning.
Which leads me to why this ended up being kinda meh despite the parts I really enjoyed. There’s multiple obstacles set up for why Jamie can’t be in a relationship. A bad breakup when he was 19, his mother suffering from untreated anxiety/panic attacks, and the whole boss/assistant situation are built up as these HUGE problems he can’t get past in order to date and then….everyone of them is resolved super quick after not ever being an ACTUAL problem throughout the whole book. His mom’s anxiety? Pippa handles it with him like a champ. The breakup? One conversation with the ex and it’s resolved. The boss/assistant relationship? Literally never a problem. What was the point?
This felt so long and it was only 400 pages or about 7 hours on audio (I listen at 1.7 speed). Lots of repetitive discussions and scenes and waffling back and forth over being with each other. The whole “he/she doesn’t remember me from high school” plot line? Resolved so fast. Every obstacle is really nonexistent and it made this feel so freaking long when it’s just Pippa going to the games, Pippa walking the dog, Pippa and Jamie being sweet together. On repeat. Lots of this could have been edited out and not hurt the story at all.
I’m also continuing a theme of restricting nickname privileges because “songbird” was used 67 times (yes I counted) and I got so tired of it so fast. Plus “bossy” and “my pretty assistant” were used over and over again. Just so repetitive to the degree that it’s noticeable.
There’s not really any hockey for this to be a hockey romance. There’s cringy one liners that ended up sounding like bad 80’s porn dialogue. “Do you have a fever? Cause you’re burning up” is straight from a porno and you can’t convince me otherwise. And the sweet moments get overrun by cringy conversations that no real human being would say.
I can see why people like this one. Jamie is a teddy bear once he stops being a hard ass and Pippa is likeable (if very not like other girls). But I think this was written too fast with too little editing. Which really could have made this a great read. Archer is talented but I think the need to hop on the hockey romance trend may have pushed her to churn out a book that wasn’t really ready for release.
Will I read the next one? Probably because she roped me in with teasers about Pippa’s sister and the cocky hockey star and the coach and the bartender. But I won’t be rushing to preorder it, for sure.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Sexual content
Minor: Alcoholism, Medical content, Car accident, and Death of parent