Knitting, Sci-fi and other stuff...

5⭐️2🌶  I finished my ARC of Red Runs the Blood by Angelina J. Steffort last night.  It was so freaking good.  Better than the first book which I loved, but found to be a tad slow at the beginning.  This one picked up right where 1 left off and did not slow down at any point.  I sadly can't say too much about it because I'd be spoiling so much of it.  We do get a couple chapters from Elina's POV.  Elina is Khayrivven's sister who is being held by King Ulder as leverage over Khayrivven.  Khay let's Lory into his carefully crafted facade just a little bit more.  He reveals several more secrets to her.  Lory continues to hone her powers and gains better control over them.  There is an undertone in thus book, there is something rotten at Ashthorn Ward and people are starting to get a whiff of it.  The found family is as strong as ever in this one.  Some new alliances are formed and new allies brought into the fold....

5⭐️1🌶 I finished an ARC of Waterbound by Aeva Vox.  This was a quick fun read at only 235 pages.  It moved quickly, was well paced and had a good amount of action.  It did not feel rushed and had a good story arc.  I enjoyed it.  This is book two in the Fated Shores series and immediately follows the events of book 1, Wildbound.  This book follows Natalie and Vincent.  Vincent is the actor who was thrown out of Hollywood after a scandal and was working in the theater department at the college.  Natalie is a graduate student studying art history.  They hadn't interacted very much prior to the whale watch nor once they got to the island.  Whatever is in the water hits these two.  This time though Lex, Olivia, Ben and Cody know what's happening to them, just not how, so these two get a bit of an explanation.  Natalie wanders off toward the beach to clear her head.  She has a boyfriend and doesn't want to be drawn...

4⭐️ 1🌶 I finished The Sapphire Sailor's Tale by Julia Lovely last evening.  This was a solid debut novel.  I'm assuming this is a standalone; the story arc was completed.  It was short at just under 400 pages so it was a pretty quick read.  Cordelia the FMC is a junior officer in the Navy.  She is on her first tour aboard a ship.  She is running herself ragged doing her own job and going through all the training a new officer is required to take on as well.  When the ship enters the Bermuda triangle Cordelia starts feeling odd, like she's being pulled toward the ocean floor.  During the swim day Cordelia is pulled by that force down to the bottom of the ocean. She assumes she should be dead, but she wakes up in a completely different world.  She finds herself in a castle built into the walls of a cavern with lava streaming down the walls.  She steps out onto the balcony attached to her room and comes face to face with a fire...

5⭐️1🌶 I finished The Ties That Bind Us by Deidra Duncan at about 4:30 this morning.  It was amazing but if I'm honest, I feel scandalized by that ending.  I knew it was the first in a series; I think it's going to be a duology, so I figured it would end on a cliffhanger but holy Hannah, I was not expecting that.  The book is very heavy with fantasy lore, the magic system is also downright trippy.  It's essentially a portal fantasy.  David and Sean are raised in Viterra, the mortal realm, our realm.  They live in a tiny town in California.  But they are both important.  There is a prophesy, they are both components of this prophesy along with a couple other people.  It gets really complicated, really fast.  I will admit, this first bit of this book dragged a bit for me, but there was so much that needed to be established.  Sean and David get pulled into Luxoria separately but they both wind up there.  Sean is the pu...

5⭐️1🌶 I finished Scream for Me by Rabea Scholz. How do I begin to even describe this book?  It wasn't remotely what I thought it was going to be.  In no way is that a disparaging comment.  This was so much more than I ever could have possibly imagined.  This book dives deep, so incredibly deep, into human connection, vulnerability and true surrender.  I've had books pull at my heart strings; I've felt sympathy for characters.  I've even seen parts of myself in them.  I have never read a book that cracked me open and peered into my soul. Owen, the MMC, is emotionally closed off.  He's completely numb and is just floating through his life mearly existing.  He goes down a bit of an internet rabbit hole and finds The Grey Lady, who specializes in "therapeutic surrender."  Owen is rather intrigued and on an impulse fills out the contact info on the website.  He goes through the lengthy intake process and meets Claire Stirlin...

5⭐️3🌶 I just finished Wilbound by Aeva Vox.  This was sort of a impulse read.  I'm reading a physical book but had some time but couldn't pull out the physical book.  Since book two is coming out later this month I decided I should bang out book one.  I'm glad I did because it looks like book two is going to start immediately, the last paragraph of Wildbound set it up.  This was fun.  It has fantasy or sci-fi elements but is otherwise contemporary.  This one is quite spicy but I was craving something more spicy.  Everything I've been reading just recently has hovered around a 1🌶 for me.   Lex is a English professor who's been so focused on her career she hasn't really pursued friendships or hobbies and she's a bit of an introvert.  Ben is the captain of the boat.  He took over his father's fishing business after he died, but the fishing business is struggling so he does whale sighting expeditions on the side....

I can't believe its July already!  Here's my recap of June.  It was a great month.  I liked everything I read.  I read seven books six of which were ARCs.   A Ballad for the Broken was another 6 star read for me.  I've gotten physical copies of that whole series now.  There is a Novella that falls in between the two which I will also read when I get the time.   To Drown Among the Stars was good solid fantasy.  I loved that it was from the MMCs perspective.   Starfire's Heir was amazing.  The MMC, Griff, was extra special and has become one of my absolute favorite MMCs.  He's on the list with 99th Commander and Lucas Scott.  I'm still floored that was a debut novel. The Merrow's Wrath was just plain fun.  Pirates, Mermaids, the high seas and a second chance at the love they should have both had years ago.   Whisked Away blew my mind.  The world building, the imagery, the story,...

5⭐️1🌶 I finished Vows of Blood and Deception by Aria Ashbrook yesterday evening.  It was a great sequel to Web of Vows and Vengeance.  It felt quite a bit different, but the banter and found family really solidified it.  I don't want to give up too many spoilers.  The events of this book immediately follow from book one.  So Rose is very angry and conflicted in the first several chapters.  I found the beginning to be a little slow, but Rose had to get her bearings and make decisions.  I will reveal this, Jonas and Khay get married and I think Jonas is committed to trying to make her happy.  Rose still possess the Issen ice magic and she can't get it under control so she decides to travel North into Issen territory.  She's hoping someone will be willing to train her.  Caz, Rubin and Benny agree to come with her.  Kyor also shows up.  Immediately there is tension between Rubin, Kyor and Rose as Kyor can immediately s...