What I'm Reading and Loving Right Now

What I'm Reading and Loving Right Now

Ice Planet Barbarians

Barbarian Alien

Barbarian Lover

by Ruby Dixon

(links to Goodreads

Months ago in a group chat, I asked what everyone was reading and reader after reader kept listing Ruby Dixon's ICE PLANET BARBARIANS series. At the time, I didn't know about the series but I made a note of it because SO MANY people kept talking about it. A couple of days later, I saw a paperback of ICE PLANET BARBARIANS in an airport bookstore and I was tempted to get a copy, but didn't. Jump to April and I was in the mood for something different from the contemporary romance that I usually read. It was the perfect time to start ICE PLANET BARBARIANS.

I may be a little late to the game with this series, but I don't even care because I am LOVING it. I'm having so much fun getting caught up in the stories and constanting laughing. And these stories are hot, hot, hot filled with Barbarians whose main goal is loving, adoring, and pleasing women - what's not to love about that?

What I LOVE:

• The joy I'm experiencing reading this entertaining series - it's complete escapism  
• How the couples couple up  - it's more than their khuis/cooties - they do find their perfect mates for their personalities:

Vektal and Georgie - She speaks, He listens. They have so much to learn about each other and they are eager to do so.

Liz has more in common with Raahosh than she thinks. When they figure it out, it's more explosive than either of them can imagine.

Aehako's playfulness is adorable and he's such a flirt. He can bring the calm to a situation and helps to ease Kira of her responsibilities and worries. 

• The world-building - the elements are brutal. Their environment is both primitive and futuristic and it's interesting to discover it all as the women adapt and find a new way of life on the Ice Planet.
• The fantastic illustrated covers and their gorgeous depictions of fierce women

 I am so happy that I was curious enough to begin this science fiction romance. I've read the first three books of the series so far and don't plan to stop there. I'm having too much fun!

Ruby Dixon definitely has a new fan in me AND I cannot wait to dive into this fandom and discover all of the gloriousness that everyone brings to it.

Review: A WICKED AND BEAUTIFUL GARDEN by Katie McGarry

 

A WICKED AND BEAUTIFUL GARDEN

Witches of the Island #1

by Katie McGarry

Publication Date: May 5, 2021

Pages: 308

Source: Author

Add to Goodreads

Synopsis

 

Twenty-eight year-old Cassie Strega can’t escape fate.

All she wants is to live a normal, quiet life delivering the babies in her small town. But when she discovers she comes from a lineage of witches, her life becomes extraordinary—in the gravely dangerous type of way.

Then, she’s reunited with her first love.

Orion, the sultry Fae warrior who broke her heart years before, is searching for a baby. Not just any baby, but the queen of the Fae who will one day lead them in their final battle against the demons determined to rule the world. The same baby who has been calling to Cassie for help in her dreams.

Fighting the intense attraction of their former blood bond, Cassie and Orion work together to find the child. But when the heartbreak that nearly destroyed Cassie nine years before looms once more, she’ll have to decide whether getting involved in the supernatural war is worth losing everything, including her life.

MY THOUGHTS

I adore Katie McGarry and she has written some of my favorite YA contemporary romances. I will read anything that Katie writes. When I was offered the opportunity to receive an early copy of A WICKED AND BEAUTIFUL GARDEN and read her first adult novel which is also her first in the fantasy romance genre, my answer was YES!! OF COURSE!!!!

The First Sentence:

“Cassie was five when she learned she would one day play chess with the devil.”

I loved getting lost in the supernatural world of Fae and Witches and Demons which is full of visions, dreams, prophecies, and fate. It’s a mystical and magical world where anything can happen.

The Suspense:

“Don’t trust anyone. Orion included. Everyone here has an endgame, and none of their original plans included you.”

This made all of the alarms go off. Who is a friend of Cassie's and who is a foe. I have so many spoilery theories of what will happen and what it all means. 

The Romance:

“To have you in my life again is a gift I never thought I’d receive.”

Orion's devotion to Cassie pours out of him. And there were times that it made me feel super emotional because he would do anything to protect her. To have a love like that is powerful and it comes across on the page as beautiful and devastating.

Oh how I NEEDED them to kiss. I kept willing Cassie to just go ahead and kiss him. Not the memory of kissing and all of the other good stuff. The anticipation is TOO MUCH and I want them to be together. So together. Like that. 

I cannot wait to read A WICKED AND BEAUTIFUL GARDEN again. I read it so quickly to find out what was going to happen. Just as Cassie is beginning to learn about her abilities as a witch in this world, there’s a lot for the reader to grasp too. Next time I want to savor it and pick up on even more details and connections of this fantastical world.

I loved it!!!

Disclaimer: I received this e-ARC from the author for review consideration. Quotes are from the   e-ARC and may differ from the final published version. I've purchased a final finished copy for my personal library. Thoughts and opinions are my own.

New Release: A WICKED AND BEAUTIFUL GARDEN by Katie McGarry

I'm excited to celebrate the release of the new Adult Fantasy Romance A WICKED AND BEAUTIFUL GARDEN by Katie McGarry. I'm currently reading it and let me tell you that the first line will have you hooked. That's what happened to me! 

A WICKED AND BEAUTIFUL GARDEN

by Katie McGarry 

Available Today!!!

Book Summary:

 

Twenty-eight year-old Cassie Strega can’t escape fate.

All she wants is to live a normal, quiet life delivering the babies in her small town. But when she discovers she comes from a lineage of witches, her life becomes extraordinary—in the gravely dangerous type of way.

Then, she’s reunited with her first love.

Orion, the sultry Fae warrior who broke her heart years before, is searching for a baby. Not just any baby, but the queen of the Fae who will one day lead them in their final battle against the demons determined to rule the world. The same baby who has been calling to Cassie for help in her dreams.

Fighting the intense attraction of their former blood bond, Cassie and Orion work together to find the child. But when the heartbreak that nearly destroyed Cassie nine years before looms once more, she’ll have to decide whether getting involved in the supernatural war is worth losing everything, including her life.

 

Katie McGarry Website: 

www.katielmcgarry.com

 

Follow Katie McGarry  

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katielmcgarry/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KatieMcGarry

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katielmcgarry

TikTok: @katiemcgarryauthor

💜💜💜 Doesn't this just make you want to read it??!! 💜💜💜

Links to purchase:  

Amazon: https://amzn.to/31ZaSok

B&N ebook: https://bit.ly/3dN2r4T

B&N Print Book: https://bit.ly/3s2rar4

Google Play: https://bit.ly/3erHs8b

Apple Books, Kobo, and other international etailers:  https://books2read.com/u/3JRpNg

 

From My Shelves Giveaway: BRING ME THEIR HEARTS by Sara Wolf

I MUST MAKE MORE ROOM ON MY SHELVES. 

What does that mean? More giveaways on my blog! 

This week: ARC of BRING ME THEIR HEARTS

I'm sad to say that I didn't finish this one. I received an unsolicited copy from the publisher for review. Fantasy is not my usual genre, so I was hesitant to start it. And I was right, I know myself and what I'm drawn to read and unfortunately this book wasn't it. But I know there are many readers who love fantasy, so this book might be for you. 

BRING ME THEIR HEARTS

by Sara Wolf

Publication Date: June 5, 2018

Published by Entangled Teen

Pages: 370

Add to Goodreads

Synopsis

Zera is a Heartless – the immortal, unageing soldier of a witch. Bound to the witch Nightsinger ever since she saved her from the bandits who murdered her family, Zera longs for freedom from the woods they hide in. With her heart in a jar under Nightsinger’s control, she serves the witch unquestioningly.

Until Nightsinger asks Zera for a Prince’s heart in exchange for her own, with one addendum; if she’s discovered infiltrating the court, Nightsinger will destroy her heart rather than see her tortured by the witch-hating nobles.

Crown Prince Lucien d’Malvane hates the royal court as much as it loves him – every tutor too afraid to correct him and every girl jockeying for a place at his darkly handsome side. No one can challenge him – until the arrival of Lady Zera. She’s inelegant, smart-mouthed, carefree, and out for his blood. The Prince’s honor has him quickly aiming for her throat.

So begins a game of cat and mouse between a girl with nothing to lose and a boy who has it all.

Winner takes the loser’s heart.

Literally. 

Giveaway Details

Must be 16 years or Older to enter

U.S. addresses only

To enter, fill out Rafflecopter below
(invalid entries will be disqualified)

Giveaway ends Septemer 29, 2019

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: POET ANDERSON . . . In Darkness by Tom DeLonge and Suzanne Young

Poet Anderson . . . In Darkness

by Tom DeLonge and Suzanne Young

Publication Date: January 30, 2018

Published by To the Stars

Pages: 304

Source: BWR Public Relations | Publisher

Add to Goodreads

Purchase Link

Synopsis

Multi-platinum recording artist and Blink-182 founder Tom DeLonge once again teams up with New York Times bestselling author Suzanne Young to continue the award-winning, critically-acclaimed transmedia project—Poet Anderson—inspired by a Stanford University study on how your dreams can effect your reality.

In the Waking World, Jonas Anderson works as a doorman for the Eden Hotel, dividing his free time between seeing his girlfriend, Samantha Birnham-Wood, and visiting his comatose brother Alan. In the Dream World, he is Poet Anderson, a Dream Walker, a guardian of the Dreamscape charged with protecting sleeping innocents from the nightmares that threaten both worlds.

But Jonas remains tormented by his own nightmare—his failure to rescue Alan from the Dreamscape and free him from his coma. Together, Jonas and Alan fought side-by-side against the night terror entity known as REM. Even though they defeated the vicious monster, Alan continues to waste away in a hospital bed while Jonas’ guilt eats away at his soul.

REM may have lost a battle, but the war continues. His Night Stalkers roam the Dreamscape, hunting for Jonas and the other poets capable of traversing the waking and dreaming realms. And now, demonic shadow creatures are possessing the spirits of dreamers and using their bodies to enter the Waking World.

Jonas can no longer avoid his destiny. To save reality from the maelstrom of nightmares, Poet Anderson will have to sacrifice the Dreamscape…

My Thoughts

I have been waiting on this book for what seems like forever and let me just tell you that this book was more than I could have imagined. While contemporary fiction is still my ultimate go-to in reading, I'm more than happy to step into the dream realm of Poet Anderson. Suzanne Young and Tom DeLonge have gone to the limits in this follow-up to Poet Anderson  . . . Of Nightmares.

In Poet Anderson  . . . In Darkness, the stakes are higher, the risks are greater, and the losses, well they're unimaginable. The horrors are scarier and the drama will leave you haunted - this book will give you Nightmares.

There are many layers to the storytelling. Poet Anderson  . . . In Darkness isn't just a story about fighting the demons that haunt our nightmares. It's about love and sacrifice and the risks you are willing to take to save others. 

I love the multi-media experience of this saga because it's a story that can be imagined but it's also visual - with the comic books and sort film. I've only read one installment of the comic, but after finishing Poet Anderson  . . . In Darkness, I'm going to read EVERYTHING I can find about these characters. 

This series is so good and I'm already anxious to find out what will happen next. A must read!

Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. I was not compensated in any way other than the book provided. Thoughts and opinions are my own.