Category: books

Falls flat on both the romance and fairytale retelling.

Let me start by saying I wanted to like this book. A gay spin on Beauty and The Beast? Sign me up. Grumpy/sunshine, introvert/extrovert, nerd/jock? Triple check. However, this didn’t do it for me.

I will say from a technical standpoint Evie Drae is a competent writer as this book had few if any typos, grammatical errors, and was formatted well.

That said, this book failed to deliver on both the romance and fairytale aspect. Bo and Adam had no chemistry whatsoever and instantly wanted to hook up with each other. And aside from being gave and supposedly liking books, they had nothing in common.

I say supposedly because I don’t recall Adam ever picking up a book besides when he and Bo are studying to get their GED.

This combined with their lack of chemistry had me scratching my head as to why they’d be declaring their undying love for each other after only a few months of knowing the other, let alone why they’d be together at all. It felt to me like their whole relationship was surface level and based solely on looks/wanting to hook up.

As for the Beauty and The Beast aspect, it was nonexistent. You could have changed the names and it would have no effect on the story. There was no curse, no magic, no whimsy at all.

Additionally, the whole third act could have been resolved in a matter of paragraphs had they just talked and been honest with each other about what they wanted and were thinking/feeling.

As for the sex scenes, they lacked emotion and sensuality and towards the end I skipped them as they added nothing to the story.

This leads me to my next issue. Halfway through the second act, the story drags and by the last 60 or so pages I was tempted to DNF as nothing was happening. And by the end I was just glad to be done with this story.

 This book just didn’t spark joy for me. Check it out and maybe you’ll have a different experience.  

I give Beauregard and The Beast 2.0 out of 5 stars.

Claim Me, Love Me by Jaiyde Thomas

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

What a hot mess, emphasis on mess.

Claim Me, Love Me by Jaiyde Thomas is a BDSM m/m romance. It features Josiah, an out and proud frick boy who’s blind; and Caleb, his Uber driver, who’s closeted and suffers from anxiety and intimacy issues.

I wanted to like this book as I felt for Caleb and Josiah, but this book missed the mark in so many areas.

First, there was zero chemistry between Josiah and Caleb. They become obsessed with each other after exactly one meeting and then declare their undying love after only knowing each other a few months. I honestly don’t see what they saw in each other as they didn’t interact much, and when they did it was mostly to hook up (more on this later).

If this weren’t eye-roll-inducing enough, so much of the “conflict” in this story could have been easily solved had they just talked to each other. Also, they both needed a ton of therapy, but like in so many bad romances, Caleb’s and Josiah’s issues magically get better through the power of love (cue eye roll).

I don’t know much about BDSM, but I do know informed consent is a big part of it, and that was completely lacking with Josiah and Caleb. Josiah constantly sprang things on Caleb and expected him to be cool with it. And not to kink shame, but I found the whole Sub/Dom thing as depicted in this book to be abusive like crazy.

If someone isn’t comfortable doing something, as Caleb makes clear to Josiah several times throughout the book, then you should respect their boundaries. Yet, he kept pushing Caleb to do things he wasn’t ready for.

But the biggest offender in this book is the writing, especially the dialog. It’s just so bad. Like every time someone talks, they always say the other person’s name. Also, so much passive voice. And I lost count of how many times I cringed during Caleb and Josiah’s Sub/Dom conversations.

The common thread between them all being it didn’t ring true and felt forced.

I kept reading, hoping things would get better but they got worse, and I found myself skimming the pages, especially the mechanically sex scenes devoid of any emotion or sensuality.

And while I’m on the topic of sex scenes, there’s a scene where Josiah gets wasted and has unprotected sex with multiple people, then he later talks about how he doesn’t want to risk passing anything to Caleb so they should hold off on sex until he gets his test results. Yet they then have unprotected oral sex.

Make that make sense.

This book was just a hot mess, and I can’t give it more than 1 star. Skip it.





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The second entry in LD Valentine’s QPOC-led fantasy series finds water witch Adam taking the reins as coven leader after a powerful psychic demon enthralls Xavier and kidnaps him.

It took me a minute to get into this book, but once I did, I loved it. It was nice seeing all the characters grow and respond to Xavier’s absence. I also liked the scenes between Adam and Serea and how they butted heads, and him having to deal with the politics involved with Zora.

But this book isn’t without its faults.

First, after Adam and Max got into a fight, I thought they were too easy to forgive each other given everything that transpired between them.

Second, the story dragged a bit towards the middle and got repetitive with all the scenes of them fighting Xavier only for him to best them and retreat.

Third, I felt how Adam survived a fetal encounter tipped into deus ex machina territory, as it’s something that no water witch has ever been able to do nor is it ever explained and only commented on twice.

Fourth, the ending came off rushed, anticlimactic, and things wrapped up too neatly.

That said, I liked this book overall and can’t wait for the next in the series to drop. If you liked the first book, go ahead and add this one to your TBR list now.   

I give Storming (The Coven of Zora #2) 4 out of 5 stars.  

Tristan Strong Keeps Punching by Kwame Mbalia

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Tristan Strong Keeps Punching is the third entry in Kwame Mbalia’s middle grade fantasy series inspired by African American and West African folklore. Picking up a few weeks after book two, Tristan must track down the missing Alkean inhabitants and children with fragments of Alke’s story woven within them, while trying to defeat the haint King Cotton and his Redliners, who want to take over the world and make it a safe space for them and their racist hateful views.

This time around, Tristan must deal with anger issues and questioning whether he’s worthy of still being an Anasesem and the Alkean Gods’ champion.

This time around, Tristan must deal with anger issues and questioning whether he’s worthy of still being an Anasesem and the Alkean Gods’ champion.

I don’t know what happened between the last book and this one, but I found Tristan to be so annoying. He constantly ran off halfcocked, ignoring everyone’s advice not to go off alone, and put himself and others in danger. And he suffers no consequences for his actions.

I get the adults are useless trope exists in middle grade and young adult novel for a reason, but just once I wished Tristan would have listened, instead of thinking he knew better. I could have excused this as his being only twelve-years-old, had he learned form his actions, but he doesn’t at all. And the only reason he survives is because of plot armor.

I also felt the romance Mbalia is setting up for Tristan and Ayanna wasn’t needed at all and it came off as an afterthought.

I will say Tristan’s sense of humor, which hooked me, was on showcase here, but those moments were rare as he spends mostly of the story complaining about things as though that alone will change things.

Overall while I did enjoy this book, I liked it much less than the other entries in the series. But I’m hopeful to see where the series goes next now that there is an army of kids with Alkean magic other there to be found and trained.

I give Tristan Strong Keeps Punching 3.0 out of 5.0 stars. If you liked the previous entries in the series, then check this one out. But know that it’s nowhere as light or funny, and Tristan can work your last nerve with his complaining.











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Dark Star by Arch Hunter

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Short and sweet but lacking depth.

Dark Star by Arch hunter is a short young adult LGBTQ+ romance novel that follows sixteen-year-old Tyler, the son of a conservative politician, who develops a sudden crush on his classmate Rufus and then must choose between being with his homophobic popular friends or being true to himself and pursuing his feeling for Rufus.

Overall, I like the story and thought Tyler and Rufus were well-rounded characters; however, I thought the other characters weren’t as developed and came off as one-dimensional.

I also thought the ending was abrupt and left a lot of questions unanswered. With a bit more editing this could have been a 5-star book. But as it stands, I give Dark Star three out of five stars.

Definitely check this out if you’re looking for a short, fun read.




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My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Needs tons of editing but has a lot of potential.

Heal Queen Heal by TaSh Shabazz is a short collection of poems interspersed with Shabazz’s observation about life and her self-healing journey. While I got what she was going for I had several issues with this book.

First, the eBook wasn’t formatted right. I tried reading it on my Kindle Paper White but kept getting an error message saying the file wasn’t compatible with my device. Ultimately, I had to read it on my iPad. Thankfully, the book was only 82 pages, or this would have been an automatic DNF for me.

Second, the lack of proper editing and formatting. There are several punctuation and grammatical errors throughout the book, to the point I almost gave up as those combined with the author’s inconsistent formatting, random capitalization, and all-caps-ing of words made reading a chore.
While I empathized with Ms. Shabazz and her journey to self-acceptance and healing, I thought most of the poem lacked refinement, vivid or unique imagery, metaphors, or similes. They also didn’t have a consistent meter, and she often shoved words together with little to no meaning just because they rhymed.

However, the writing improved as the collection neared the end and I am open to reading future works by Ms. Shabazz as there is a glimmer of good writing to be found in this collection, but its cons outweigh its pros. Perhaps with more editing, this collection could have shined, but as it is, it doesn’t warrant the $9.99 price tag given the faults I listed and its shortness.

I give Heal Queen Heal 2.0 out of 5.0 stars.

Either rent this from your library or snag it when it’s on sale.



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Eternally Yours by Patrice Caldwell

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Eternally Yours is an anthology of fifteen paranormal romance short stories by and featuring people of color. The stories run the gamut from tales about vampires and other monsters to mermaids, sea witches, and angels.

As with other anthologies I’ve read, I thought the stories stopped without telling a satisfying story. Also, I found most of them predictable to the point I guessed all the twists and the endings. I will say it was nice seeing Black and brown folks centered in paranormal romance stories.

However, of the bunch I only loved three of them, and thought the rest were just meh. My favorite of the three was Who Will Save Me by Julian Winters. It’s the story of a guardian angel pinning for his male charge, and I’d so read a complete novel with this premise.

My next favorite was Kiss The Boy by Adib Khorram. It’s a queer twist on The Little Mermaid featuring a nonbinary merperson and the boy they are soul bonded with.

My third favorite was another story featuring merfolk, La Bruja y la Sirena by Anna-Marie McLemore. It follows a sea witch and a mermaid who fall in love with each other. I loved the lyrical prose.

Overall, I thought this anthology was just okay and could have been better if there were fewer stories, so the ones included would have been longer to tell a more satisfactory story.
I give Eternally Yours 3.0 out of 5.0 stars. Rent this or pick it up on sale.



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Newsletter Ninja: How to Become an Author Mailing List Expert by Tammi Labrecque

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Newsletter Ninja: How to Be an Author Mailing List Expert is a nonfiction book about building and maintaining a mailing list to build your readership. At just under 200 pages, it was a quick, yet informative read.

I’ve read several books and articles and taken several courses on building your author platform/mailing list, but none of them explained the process in as much detail as Labrecque did in this book.

She gives you a tested process for growing your mailing list and nurturing relationships with your subscribers with several understandable examples that I found an immense help. I also found her voice friendly, funny, and always engaging. Also, her chapters were well organized with subheadings and bullet points that made note-taking a joy. They also didn’t drag on like in other books.

While I knew a lot of the topics she talked about, she covered them in more depth than other sources I’ve read, and I came away with a better understanding of them. She also covered several areas I wasn’t aware of, like the ask-to-give ratio and how to build genuine relationships with subscribers and keep them engaged in the long term. I especially loved the section on her newsletter philosophy, which is readers are secondary to building authentic relationships with people.

Until this point, everything I’ve consumed said it was all about gaining a lot of subscribers/clicks and converting them into buys. I’ve never been comfortable with that method, as it left me feeling sleazy. I was happy to learn there was another thanks to this book.

If had any criticism, it’s I wished Labrecque went into a little more detail on lead magnets and how to promote your list without coming off like a spammer. Also, she tries to upsell you on her newsletter course and consultation services toward the end, but it’s not overbearing.

Overall, I give Newsletter Ninja 5 out of 5 stars.

If you’re looking for a good explanation of how to build your author mailing list or if, like me, you haven’t had much success with your current methods, then I highly recommend this book.




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