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Mr June (Calendar Men #6)
Mr June (Calendar Men #6)
Rosalind Abel | 2018 | LGBTQ+, Paranormal, Romance
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Perfect hangover cure!
Independent reviewer for Divine Magazine, I was gifted my copy of this book.

This is book 6 in the Calendar Men series, and I would recommend you read Jan through May before this one, if only to give you a better picture of this photo shoot and what's happened up to now. Not totally necessary though.

Having dumped his boyfriend right after shooting their photo for June, Ilias finds himself on a callout to a fight at a local doctor's office. Meeting Henry makes his heart swell with everything he had been looking for up to this point. There is just a small matter of someone dealing drugs out of Henry's office!

I'm really enjoying this series.

They have, for the most part, (May not included!) just the right amount of loves, drama, sexy time, emotions and the whole gamut of emotions that need to be in a book to make them engaging and enjoyable.

This one did seem a little longer than the rest, but they are all a similar page length.

I loved Ilias and Henry, both separately and together. They really are perfect for each other!

While it's painfully obvious (to me anyway) WHO is doing the dirty on Henry, I liked being proved correct, just as much as I would have liked to have been proven wrong!

I read this in one sitting while suffering from a book AND an alcohol hangover, so despite its longer length, there it will sit!

Great addition to the series. Love to see what happens next with this shoot!

4 solid stars

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A Hamiton Christmas (HIS #9)
A Hamiton Christmas (HIS #9)
Sheila Kell | 2018 | Contemporary
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
a very fitting end!!
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book direct from the author, and I thank Ms Kell for that.

This book takes place a year after His Fantasy, Brad's story, and is like a catch up on what all the brothers and their wives have been up to. And they are been doing a LOT of baby making! So it was great to catch up with everyone, all in one place.

It's a bit different that the other HIS books, in that the story is told from Jesse's ten year old daughter, Reagan and her Poppy, Blake Hamilton's points of view. Reading such polar opposites was amusing at times: Reagan is determined to follow in her father's footsteps, even if she has to go against him to do it, and Blake is still a little in the dog house as far as I'm concerned! Oh, he redeemed himself in His Family, but maybe not as much as I thought he had!

There is a lot of love here, with every member of the Hamilton clan, their partners and babies all here along with a new member of the family that is introduced here. Reagan and her new cousin are a well matched pair and they pull their sleuthing off extremely well!

It was so lovely to catch up with everyone, it's always sad to say goodbye and this was a great little catch up, a little time after the main books ended.

Very well done, Ms Kell, I'm just not a great fan of holiday stories!

4 solid stars

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Passion Awakened (The Hush #1)
Passion Awakened (The Hush #1)
Katherine Diane | 2020 | Paranormal, Romance
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
thoroughly enjoyable 4 star read!
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

Kyr, leader of the Hush, races a psych test, along with the others in his group. Their supervisor thinks they are hiding something. He was, but not quite what the boss thought. Mira is Awakened, a half breed vampire and trained psychotherapist. She is tasked with assessing The Hush members. All the while, those members are trying to find the missing vampire females who keep disappearing.

While not a particularly original theme, I really REALLY enjoyed this!

The vampires are fighting demons. The vampires are alien to earth. they are big, bulky guys that are drop dead gorgeous. But still!

There is enough variation to the theme to make it sufficently interesting, and engaging. Its dark and deadly in places, and sweet and sexy in others.

Both Mira and Kyr have a say, but also a good deal of the other characters do too, and I loved that we get more from them. The bad guy too! I LOVE when the bad guy gets a say!

There is a MUCH bigger picture going on, which I assume will unfold as future books come out, but I'm not getting a clue as to what that is yet. So that will keep me engaged for the next book at least!

The author has published under another name, Kyla D Knight, but this work doesn't really show the work under that name, if you see what I mean? Very different.

A thoroughly enjoyable 4 star read.

**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
  
Reluctant Billionaire (The Billionaire’s Playground #2)
Reluctant Billionaire (The Billionaire’s Playground #2)
JP Sayle | 2020 | Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I'm enjoying this series. I like that the billionaires aren't arrogant or big headed.
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

My review will be fairly short, I'm not in a good place right now!

This is book 2 in the Billionaire's Playground but its not necessary to have read book one, Property of a Billionaire. However, THAT book is where we first meet Nanna and you might want to get the full force of her nature :-)

I thoroughly enjoyed this second book, as much as, but not more than, the first book.

It's relatively low on the angst scale, but there is some, it's just not too much, you know? Just enough.

Both Brett and Guy have a say, in the first person.

I loved Nanna's meddling! While it was pure chance Brett and Guy ended up on the same holiday, everything that comes after is pure unadulterated Nanna-meddling and I loved it! She proper puts Brett's dad in his place. I liked how the reason Brett's dad was so . . . negative? maybe not quite the right word, but it fits now . . .towards him wasn't what you are first led to believe.

It's steamy, but again, not too much, and I really rather enjoyed that it was not too much, just like book one.

I'm enjoying this series. I like that the billionaires aren't arrogant or big headed. They are just regular guys with an obscene amount of money, is all! They will show that money off when needed though, but they don't shove it in anyone's face.

Keep them coming, please!

4 delightful stars

**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
  
Bound (Chinatown Demons #1)
Bound (Chinatown Demons #1)
Rhys Ford | 2020 | LGBTQ+, Science Fiction/Fantasy
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
cant wait to see where this series goes!
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

This is book one, a short introduction if you will, into a new series by Ford, Chinatown Demons, and I bloody loved it!

Spencer moved to San Francisco, for a last chance to save himself from his demons. Only to find himself working with a different sort of demon he never knew existed.

It's only short, this book, some 100 odd pages, but it pulls and tugs you in so far and so deep, you keep reading til you blink, and poof! The book is finished and you didn't see it coming! I loved that!

I haven't tagged this one as a romance, because, quite simply, it isn't one. Oh there is attraction between Xian and Spencer, but there is nothing else. Xian, though, seems to know something more is going on between him and Spencer.

There is something going on, that isn't made clear yet, much like why Spencer came to town from the LAPD. Hints are all we get, and I'm not able to currently put the pieces together fast enough, but hey! I don't mind that. Makes future books far more able to pull me in again, like this one did.

I can't wait to see where this series goes, and I know it will probably be some time before we get the next instalment, but I'll wait!

I'm sorry this review is short, but I'm in a difficult place right now.

5 full and shiny stars

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Mad Hatter Vampire Prince (Token Huntress #0.5)
Mad Hatter Vampire Prince (Token Huntress #0.5)
Kia Carrington-Russell | 2020 | Paranormal, Romance
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
dark and deadly
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

I apologise up front, this review will be short.

I *struggled* with this, and I kept hoping, and praying that Sasha would get a say, to offset Kyran but she doesn't and I think had she been given a voice, I would have enjoyed this more.

Kyran is a vampire prince, he knows what he wants, and he takes it. In all things, he gets his way and he wants Sasha. He will kill vampires for her, and let her do the killing too. He will start a war for her, although just WHY he started the war was beyond me.

This book is DEADLY in all things. Its violence is graphic and there is a LOT of it. I think, even though Sasha is almost as deadly as Kyran, had she been given a voice, I would not have had to struggle with Kyran so much. Kyran's mind is warped, and I didn't much like it.

There is NO kind of romance in this! Not complaining about that, I've no idea whether Kyran or even Sasha could love, at all, but this is not a romance, and it needs to be said.

BUT

I did finish it, cos I wanted to see what Sasha was doing in the experiments (although I'm still a little fuzzy on that) and I wanted to see how it all turned out. But it doesn't really round the ending out, it kinda stops. . . just like that.

3 dark, deadly and bloody stars

**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
  
A River of Crows
A River of Crows
Shanessa Gluhm | 2023 | Thriller
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Being kept on my toes here was a very good thing!
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

Once in a rare while, I step out of my comfort zone and read something that isn't romance of any description. And once in an even rarer while, that step is a very good thing.

Because THIS surprised me, and I can't pinpoint why!

For a long time, I could not see where this was going, and the path it did take was very much how I did NOT see it going! Being kept on my toes here is a very VERY good thing!

What happened to Slaon's brother all those years ago is made perfectly clear, just not for a time, and something one of the minor characters said pinged my radar. Wrongly, as it turns out, but still.

I can't go into too much detail, because it would spoil this for you and I really don't want to do that!

I really enjoyed the way it all came together, both then and now. I liked hearing from all the important characters, even the bad guys, before, during and after.
I really enjoyed the way this was written, told in 1988 and 2008. Each time change is clearly headed, and titled with the person it is talking about.

This appears to be the author's second book. At some point I'd like to go back and read their first book. I shall certainly read MORE of this author in due course.

4 very VERY good stars

*same worded review will appear elsewhere
  
All He Wants For Christmas is a Fingerling (The Weird & Wacky World of Shifters #1)
All He Wants For Christmas is a Fingerling (The Weird & Wacky World of Shifters #1)
JP Sayle | 2021 | LGBTQ+, Paranormal, Romance
8
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
weird and wacky but so bloody good!
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

Did you ever read a book and think "what the actual f88k did I just read?"

Cos let me tell ya, this book is such a book! But I mean this in the BEST way!

Frenchie is a potato shifter. Yes, you read that right, a POTATO. Tala is a wolf. And it makes for quite an interesting read, it really does!

It's quite hard, I think, to come up with a really NEW idea, but Ms Sayle proper nailed it here!

It's proper weird and wacky as the series title suggests, but it's also a lot of fun, with some sass and some smex and some danger and a whole sack full of hints and clues about this world that I want more, and I want it yesterday!

As well as feeling pleasantly buzzed and left warm and fuzzy by this book, I'm also left with a lot of questions (which Ms Sayle will know, for me, is dangerous ground!) I'm hoping they get answered in future books. I can't really voice them, for spoilers, but I know what they are, so that's good!

Frenchie's brother and Tala's twin need their story. There is a lot of hurt between those two right now!

Or maybe a broccoli shifter? Or even a bean cos, apparently, beans are dull!

Please, though, read this. It really is a whole lot of fun, and a great start to what I can see being an fantastic series!

4 weird and wacky stars

*same worded review will appear elsewhere
  
Fall to Pieces
Fall to Pieces
Becky Flade | 2021 | Contemporary, Romance
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
loved the back seat the romance takes!
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

I liked this book, I liked it a lot!

Xavier is sent to assess Alexandra's mental capacity to do her job, following the suicide of her detective husband. But things are not as they seem and Xavier and Alex are soon fighting her department as well as a child killer hellbent on driving Alex mad.

This is a dark book. Suicide, child murder and abuse. How cops deal with stress. And I liked that. I liked that it made me think about those things. I have no triggers though, and some readers might not like it.

Both Alex and Xavier have a say, and they have a lot to say about a lot of things! Both of them are suffering from things that happened but while Alex' is (mostly) clear from the start, it takes time to get the whole picture. Xavier's pain is far deeper and we don't get the whole picture there til much later. I like being made to wait.

The romance between Alex and Xavier takes a back seat to the crime aspect of the book and I loved the twist that took. I did think Alex would push Xavier away more than once and, Lord she tries! But Xavier is strong and even though the reasons he comes into Alex' life are beyond his control, keeping her safe is within his control and he will do that.

I liked this, a lot. It's the first I've read of this author, I would like to read more.

4 stars

*same worded review ill appear elsewhere