Tag: Scattered Thoughts Highly Recommended

Review: Cramming at Randy’s (Diner Days Book 3) by Alex Silver 

Rating: 4.5🌈

I forget how much I love this series until I read another book about that fabulous all inclusive diner in Boston and the people who live near it and have found their authentic selves and love there.

Cramming at Randy’s is one of my favorites. Alex Silver’s characters and their stories are so beautifully written and believable, funny, raw, young and compelling.

Ray, coming from the large loving Quebec home, to go to college in Boston, is everything. He’s a fully fleshed out person, multilingual, fearfully setting out to find his true identity and the ability to live as he knows he is, a man, not the girl his family thinks of him as. 

He encounters Jordan, a student, who’s secure in their own right, but has struggled with their past romantic relationship. Together, they find themselves first friends helping each other out in classes and with Ray’s new transition. 

Then it turns into romance.

Everything about them and their storyline is beautifully written.  It sensitive and funny, moments where they become awkwardly young adults yet it’s sexy and loving.  And it has one of the funniest scenes of coming out to a family I can remember. 

And these families? Totally supportive and just as respectful and wonderful as the main characters. 

Honestly, I could have done with a longer version because I enjoyed it so much. 

This is a series not to be missed and this is a must read among them! 

Highly recommended!

Great cover!

Cover design by Cormar Covers

Diner Days series -11 books:

🔷Written at Randy’s by Katherine McIntyre

🔷Final Boy at Randy’s by Loren Leigh

🔷Cramming at Randy’s by Alex Silver 🩷💚🌈

🔷Temptation at Randy’s by Emily Alter

🔷Hitched at Randy’s by A. E. Madsen

🔷Gaming at Randy’s by Duckie Mack

🔷Striking a Chord at Randy’s by K. C. Carmine 

🔷Composed at Randy’s by Zile Elliven❤️ 

🔷Roleplay at Randy’s by Rikki Leighton

🔷Finding Home at Randy’s by Abrianna Denae

🔷Aftercare at Randy’s by R.A. Frick 

Buy link

        Cramming at Randy’s

    

Blurb 

These study buddies are getting randy. 

When Ray transfers to university in Boston, he has every intention of using his new start in a new city to step out of the closet. His family knows he’s bi, but he hasn’t quite figured out how to tell them he isn’t the daughter they always thought of him as. His first new friend, Jordie, is the one who gives him the courage to follow through on living as himself. Ray has Jordie pegged as the one he wants to take from study buddy to steady date—he just needs to figure out how to get Jordie to see him as partner material.

With graduation in their sights, Jordie isn’t looking to mentor another baby queer. Let alone get tangled up in a messy crush after he imprints on them. But there’s something intoxicating about helping Ray embrace his gender euphoria. Is it really such a wild idea to turn their study dates at Randy’s into a love connection?


Love beyond the binary: serving up low angst trans romance at Randy’s Diner.


Cramming at Randy’s is an X/X friends to lovers standalone romance between a newly out demiboy transfer student and an openly genderqueer older student who helps him find the confidence to be himself.

  • Publisher: (September 5, 2024)
  • Publication date: September 5, 2024
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 285 pages

Review: The Grip of Death (Arcane Hearts Book 8) by Nazri Noor

Rating: 4.5🌈

The Grip of Death does it job! It pulls together all the many fabulous characters, various universes, and multiple storylines to give the long term romance of Jackson Pryde and his fiancée, Xander Wright, the wedding of Jackson ‘s wildest dreams and end the series longest running mystery. 

That’s a lot of elements and stuff to jam into one book. Because at eight books, this couple has had a lot of fun, many adventures, and the Black Market itself is full of the most memorable Masters of the most interesting fields of magic one could imagine.

Every one, including the Goddess Hecate and the adorable sentient AI family members, Lore and Whitby, are present at the goings on, new mystery, and a relocation of the wedding to, where else, the Summer Palace, courtesy of King Oberon.

The author balances the storyline of the many characters and elements involved in the couple’s wedding with the ongoing process of completing the arcane engine his parents had started as well  as launching the guild of artificers.  This arcane engine process brings the story back to the original mystery of the original destruction of guild of artificers and the deaths of Jackson’s parents. 

The story is highly entertaining, extremely suspenseful, and action packed. But Noor never forgets about the emotional impact of family and relationships , writing moments of genuine poignancy and deep love. 

I’m thrilled with the ending and this book and series are a definite recommendation for me. 

Arcane Hearts:

A Touch of Fever #1

A Stroke of Brilliance #2

An Iron Fist #3

A Velvet Glove #4

Hand of Glory #5

A Clap of Thunder #6

The Claws of Winter #7

The Grip of Death #8 – finale 

Cover art by Christian Bentulan coversbychristian.com

Buy link

        The Grip of Death (Arcane Hearts Book 8)

    

Blurb 

Wedding bells. Death knells.

Jackson Pryde and Xander Wright are hard at work preparing for their upcoming wedding. Good thing they have everything they need right in the Black Market, whether it’s an enormous cake or the perfect wedding rings.

Jack is working on an incredible project, too: an arcane engine inspired by his parents’ schematics. If it works, artificers and mages alike will unlock untold stores of energy, making it the guild’s greatest discovery to date.

 But it’s not all wine and roses. Echoes from the past point to dark secrets still lurking within the Black Market. Jackson and Xander must unearth these mysteries before they wreak havoc and ruin the wedding… or put their very lives in danger.

  • Publication date: February 28, 2025
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 204 pages

Review: Bespelled (Bewitched, #2 by Laura Thalassa 

Rating: 4.25⭐️:  

Bespelled is a strong sequel to Bewitched by Laura Thalassa about a young witch coming to terms with duel memories, a ancient morally ambiguous soul mate and a terrifying mystery that threatens her friends and future on the very campus she fought so hard to attend.

In Bewitched, Selene’s memories of her previous life as Roxilana are back so she’s able to use magic without the curse of memory loss.  And the truth of her own death and role in Memnon’s entombment is revealed as well changing their dynamics.

Thalassa balances the conflicts and emotional tension between Selene and Memnon with the complex storyline of the investigation into the events of the witches murders and those beings at behind the plots. 

It has great action sequences and a strange cliffhanger that’s not exactly one that’s logical when you consider the elements of the events that just happened. 

Next book is a prequel so it might be a while before we see the cliffhanger resolved. 

I enjoyed Bespelled, anticipated some of the elements here and remained invested in the story and the relationship. 

Recommended!

Bewitched series:

Bewitched #1

Bespelled #2

The Curse that Binds – a prequel story/ July 1,2025

Buy link 

        Bespelled (Bewitched Book 2)

    

Blurb 


“Neither magic, nor time, can keep us apart. We are like the stars. Eternal.”

No one told witch Selene Bowers having a soul mate would be so difficult. Nor did they warn her that he might be a vengeful, ancient sorcerer who would frame her for murder, force her to remember a past life he swears she lived, and then coerce her into an unbreakable marriage pact. But that’s exactly what happens the night of the Samhain Ball, when Selene finds herself in a jail cell.

After waking from enchanted sleep, Memnon swore to discover why Selene betrayed him long ago. But when his soul mate’s memories return, the truth reveals something else entirely. Horrified by his own actions and desperate to make amends, Memnon offers Selene the unthinkable: a magic bond that will give her full control over his will. And Selene is desperate enough to accept it.

But other enemies still haunt Henbane Coven, Selene’s magical academy, and they’ve taken a keen interest in her. If she wants to stop them, she’ll need Memnon’s help. But partnering with the sorcerer is a tricky business, especially when he’s dead set on winning her heart. And that can’t happen…because the bond controlling him will break the moment she falls in love with him.

  • Publisher: (May 17, 2024)
  • Publication date: May 17, 2024
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 506 pages

Review: SOS HOTEL: On The Road by Adam Vex (Ariana Nash)

Rating: 4.5🌈

No, our favorite triad, Adam the surprising non-human, Victor aka Fancy Fangs, and Zee the fabulous incubus, aren’t done yet! 

After all the explosive and deadly events of Your Final Resting Place #7, where they vanquished the Big Bad and saved the SOS Hotel and Lost Ones as maybe the world, you’d think they’d be able to rest. 

But Adam’s story isn’t finished. And his history is coming for him and those he loves.

So Adam does what he does best and runs. With Victor and Zee together on the road, destination unknown. 

I really loved that their relationship has grown so that Adam trusts them with his highly problematic history and the danger that’s following them. 

Of course, they encounter strange events and a few bodies with a murder to solve. 

Entertaining, sexy, formidable challenges again to face, and a wild ride for all involved. So happy to see them back!

Cover design by Ariana Nash 

SOS Hotel:

  • For a Supernaturally Safe Stay #1
  • Friendly Sanctuary for the Fiendishly Fabulous #2
  • Sleep with Us #3 
  • Great Service from Top to Bottom #4
  • No Rest for the Wicked #5 
  • Ho, Ho, No #5.5
  • Luxury To Die For #6
  • Your Final Resting Place #7 -ends this sequence of events.
  • On The Road #8 – starts a mini-trilogy 
  • Icy Reception #9 – coming soon 

Holiday release!

 SOS HOTEL: Ho, Ho, No by Adam Vex, Ariana Nash❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Buy link

        SOS HOTEL: On the Road

    

Blurb 

Did you think it was the end of our wild hotel adventures?

Yeah, us too. 

The Big Bad is gone. We’re heroes! Adam, Fancy Fangs, and me (Zee, obvs) are long overdue some downtime. I’d also like a foot rub, a string of Tom’s hallucination‑inducing cocktails, and endless hours of some much needed personal time between the sheets with my two favorite people. And my pole.

Hello, happy ever after! 

But it turns out, fate ain’t done with us yet.

Everyone’s favorite sunshine twink is great at unexpectedly unaliving folks who probably deserve it. What he’s not great at is keeping secrets. So when Adam packs our bags and springs a surprise vacation on us, it’s obvious—even to senile ancient vampires like Lord Fancy Fangs—that something is up. 

We’ll play along and won’t ask questions, because it’s Adam. He’ll tell us what’s really going on . . . eventually. 

But as we take the SOS Hotel team on the road and the weirdness stacks up—biker‑gang werewolves, psycho witchy influencers, trolls, fairy souls, and sinkholes—there’s one question Fancy Fangs and I can’t shake. 

What the f*ck do dragons run from?

(We’re back in a new three part mini-series! Ha, didn’t see that coming did you? Yeah, neither did we. I still don’t get a book about ME, but the author “allowed” me to write this blurb, so long as I don’t f*ckin’ swear. Pfft. So buckle up, b*tches, the ride ain’t fuckin’ over yet. You think you’re ready? Think again, cupcake. The crazy just got crazier.)

Welcome to the SOS Hotel ~ Where we’re definitely not on the run.

  • Publisher: Crazy Ace Publishing (February 28, 2025)
  • Publication date: February 28, 2025
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 160 pages

Review:  The Games Gods Play (The Crucible Book 1) by Abigail Owen

Rating:  4.5⭐️

Another new series and book by another new to me author, Abigail Owen’s. The first in Owen’s The Crucible series, The Games Gods Play is reimagining of Greek mythology and the Greek pantheon crossed with a Hunger Games along with a slow burn romance that ends on a cliffhanger. 

I really enjoy how different Authors put their own vision into the recognizable Greek mythology to make the Gods and Goddesses as well as their respective relationships acquire a new histories and dynamics. Owen’s book does this while retaining some of the old foundations and essential elements key to the Greek pantheon. 

I quickly found myself engaged by the premise and main characters. Primarily Lyra, a young woman cursed at birth and part of a Guild of Thieves. She’s one of the 13 human champions chosen by a Greek God or Goddess. They then represent each of them in The Crucible, a series of trials set by the same Gods, the winner of this will have unimaginable honors and their God will rule Olympus for the next 100 years. 

That’s the barest of things. But the storyline is so great. Primarily due to the fact that the other main character is Hades, God of the Underworld, and Lyra already has an unfortunate relationship with the Gods. 

The trials that the champions have to compete in are well crafted, terrifying, and make for a fast paced storyline, full of exactly what you might expect, characters that don’t survive, bloodshed, and heartbreak. 

As Lyra is navigating the intricacies of Olympian pantheon dynamics, and that of her fellow champions, there’s a slow burn romance trying to happen with Hades.  

Owen’s has some terrific support characters including Charon and Cerebus the three headed dog of Hades. 

I could wish that more of the other characters were better layered or the Gods/Goddesses had been more defined, but it’s a wild ride with a good many mysteries involved and a new twist on the Hades/Persephone relationship mythology that I loved. 

Actually, it’s more Percy Jackson than Hunger Games. I believe it is fine for young adults as it is for adults. Very engaging , well written, and highly entertaining.  I’m onto the next book when it’s available to see what happens! 

A definite recommendation! What a wonderful book.

Cover art and design by Bree Archer and LJ Anderson, Mayhem Cover Creations

The Crucible series:

The Games Gods Play #1

The Things Gods Break #2 – September 25,2025

Buy Link

        The Games Gods Play (The Crucible Book 1)

    

Blurb 

The gods love to play with us mere mortals. And every hundred years, we let them…

I have never been favored by the gods. Far from it, thanks to Zeus.

Living as a cursed office clerk for the Order of Thieves, I just keep my head down and hope the capricious beings who rule from Olympus won’t notice me. Not an easy feat, given San Francisco is Zeus’ patron city, but I make do. I survive. Until the night I tangle with a different god.

The worst god. Hades.

For the first time ever, the ruthless, mercurial King of the Underworld has entered the Crucible—the deadly contest the gods hold to determine a new ruler to sit on the throne of Olympus. But instead of fighting their own battles, the gods name mortals to compete in their stead.

So why in the Underworld did Hades choose me—a sarcastic nobody with a curse on her shoulders—as his champion? And why does my heart trip every time he says I’m his?

I don’t know if I’m a pawn, bait, or something else entirely to this dangerously tempting god. How can I, when he has more secrets than stars in the sky?

Because Hades is playing by his own rules…and Death will win at any cost.

  • Publisher: Entangled: Red Tower Books (September 3, 2024)
  • Publication date: September 3, 2024
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 645 pages

Review:  Weyward: A Novel by Emilia Hart

Rating: 5⭐️

“The connections between and among women are the most feared, the most problematic, and the most potentially transforming force on the planet.—Adrienne Rich”

That’s the quote that ends this extraordinary story but just as easily could be the one that begins it. 

This is one of my most favored books. 

Emilia Hart’s story of three women, related to each other by blood and by the horrific abuse they are experiencing, and the cottage named Weyward that’s their home and finally their sanctuary. 

The author relates their stories simultaneously in three different time frames , managing to emotionally and historically connect them and us as a whole rich tapestry. 

Kate is the first voice, so fearful and utterly desperate. It’s 2019 and she’s got one chance to flee her abusive husband.  The scene is chilling and the terror palpable. 

Altha, a healer, is equally terrified, afraid for her life when we first meet. She’s on trial for witchcraft. The year is 1619. 

Violet is the third voice heard, an innocent in 1942, one who listens to her bees and mayflies in the gardens, and crows in the trees. She’s a wild child hidden away from the world by a harsh father , a woman, damaged by those close, who will be an unlikely bridge to the other two women and their worlds. 

The writing is remarkable, Hart is able to create a wild magic in her descriptions of the natural beauty and sounds of a garden. She brings alive the power of winds blowing through the woods, a dark threat imminent, on a dark, scary night, making the reader feel the fears for ourselves. 

The basics of the book is the women come from a long line of witches, which make them in tune with the power of the natural world , the insects and animals, as well as the environment around them.  But it’s  also about each of them finding their inner strength,  their acceptance of themselves and their past experiences. And these women have had some truly traumatic past histories and experiences occur to them.  Every possible thing you can think of. 

They survive, are courageous and resilient and beyond brave in going forward with their lives in the end. 

This is one of my favorite books besides The Women by Kristen Hannah .  Such a remarkably crafted story and memorably well written women. 

Highly recommended. Read the trigger warnings. 

I love the cover. Morg the crow and possibly his descendants play an important role in their lives. 

Cover art by Michael Storrings

Buy link

SponsoredAmazon.comhttps://www.amazon.comWeyward: A Novel: Hart, Emilia: 9781250280800: Amazon.com: Books

I am a Weyward, and wild inside.

2019: Under cover of darkness, Kate flees London for ramshackle Weyward Cottage, inherited from a great-aunt she barely remembers. With its tumbling ivy and overgrown garden, the cottage is worlds away from the abusive partner who tormented Kate. But she suspects that her great-aunt had a secret. One that lurks in the bones of the cottage, hidden ever since the witch-hunts of the 17th century.

1619: Altha is awaiting trial for the murder of a local farmer who was stampeded to death by his herd. When Altha was a girl, her mother taught her their magic, a kind not rooted in spell casting but in a deep knowledge of the natural world. But unusual women have always been deemed dangerous, and as the evidence of witchcraft is laid out against Altha, she knows it will take all her powers to maintain her freedom.

1942: As World War II rages, Violet is trapped in her family’s grand, crumbling estate. Straitjacketed by societal convention, she longs for the robust education her brother receives––and for her mother, long deceased, who was rumored to have gone mad before her death. The only traces Violet has of her are a locket bearing the initial W and the word weywardscratched into the baseboard of her bedroom.

Weaving together the stories of three extraordinary women across five centuries, Emilia Hart’s Weyward is an astonishing debut, and an enthralling novel of female resilience.

  • Publisher: St. Martin’s Press (March 7, 2023)
  • Publication date: March 7, 2023
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 408 pages

Review:  Betrothed to the Emperor (Emperor’s Assassin Book 1) by Kai Butler 

Rating: 4.5🌈

Kai Butler’s new fantasy series, Emperor’s Assassin, gets off to a fast, and absolutely magical start with Betrothed to the Emperor.  Right from the beginning, Butler plunges the reader and her protagonist into a strange, and mystical realm where the wealthy are masked by not only the makeup and outfits they wear but the rigidity of the culture and politics of the Empire that has consumed so much of the Kingdoms around it. 

It’s a highly detailed and disturbing place, a perfect place to start a plot of assassination. And a story full of twists and tricks and incredible creatures . 

Butler really is creating a universe that can expand with its series storylines, going forward into other parts of the world, exploring new cultures and their unique instruments of war. 

As this happens, so does a remarkable relationship between Emperor of the Southern Imperium, Emperor Tallu and Airón of the Northern Kingdom, who gets chosen to be his consort. 

 

Exactly how that occurs and all the events that happen afterwards are just why I can’t wait for the next book to be released.  The chemistry is excellent, the cast that surrounds the pair amazing and equally interesting.  And the various layered aspects of the storyline that are being generated by Butler are so intriguing that I want to see more of everything the author is planning. 

If you are a fan of this author, like me, I’m sure you’ll have grabbed this up. I’m highly recommending it to fantasy lovers too. 

Emperor’s Assassin series:

  • Betrothed to the Emperor #1
  • Emperor’s Wrath #2 – June 23,2025

Cover by Hannah Latham at oexasart. 

Buy link 

        Betrothed to the Emperor (Emperor’s Assassin Book 1)

    

Blurb 

I was born to kill the emperor, but first, I must marry him.

I trained as an assassin while my twin sister trained to be the empress. My life will be forfeit once I murder the most powerful man on the continent, but I have no choice. If I fail, the Imperium will consume our nation and anyone who rises against them.

Too soon, we walk into the glittering imperial court, each step taking us closer to the dangerous man on the black throne, my sister’s future husband, the newly crowned Emperor of the Southern Imperium. Emperor Tallu has more spies than fish in the sea. He poisoned his own father to secure the golden crown.

When his sharp eyes skim over us, they don’t catch on my sister. They land on me, his killer.

“I choose you, Prince Airón of the Northern Kingdom. You will be my consort.” Tallu’s smile is mirthless. “Or I will reduce your entire nation to ashes.”

Betrothed to the Emperor ends with more story to tell, but the characters end on a HFN

  • Publication date: February 24, 2025
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 282 pages

Review:  Cosmic Castaway: A MM Sci-Fi Romance (Cosmic Romance 3) by Mars Quinn

Rating: 4.5🌈

Cosmic Castsway is the third book in Mars Quinn’s Cosmic Romance series about a family of alien brothers and the abducted human beings who end up as their fated mates. 

Quinn’s been able to create very diverse characters and layered backgrounds for each of the novels even within the same framework. Every human, while having been abducted, has had a very unique experience to go along with their story. And each human has their own distinctive traits, some with accompanying disorders or others (Caleb was a ghost then had to deal with body dysfunction), that figured gradually into the narrative. As did the struggles of their alien mate counterparts. 

Bartholomew is among a huge number of humans abducted and sold as slaves by illegal alien marketers. His life as a slave has been one of barely surviving amidst daily violence and terror.  Until he’s seen, and kidnapped by a huge alien who says he’s saving him as he’s carted off world again. 

Serlotminden aka Mindy is the middle brother and the most impulsive of the five. He’s just gone to a shady corner of the universe and spotted humans where they shouldn’t be any.  So he decides to rescue one. 

The result doesn’t go as planned. 

Quinn does a great job in creating multiple worlds, complete with detailed flora and fauna, ferocious ones. A stumbling romance, that has the characters learning about each other’s lives and their own experiences. Which, in Bartholomew’s case, means the trauma of his recent enslavement and the survivors guilt he carries. 

Mindy and Bart’s story is well worth reading.  It’s got an extra twist in it regarding another human slave Bart was living with before Mindy saved/kidnapped him.  

Cosmic Soul is still my favorite but I love seeing how all the couples are doing together and progressing in their lives.  

Highly recommended!

Cover Artist: Etheric Designs

Cosmic Romance:

Cosmic Husband #1

Cosmic Soul #2

Cosmic Castaway #3

Buy Link

        Cosmic Castaway: A MM Sci-Fi Romance (Cosmic Romance 3)

    

Blurb 

If this is a rescue, it sucks.

Bartholomew

After two years of captivity, I’ve been “rescued” by another alien. But the supposed rescue quickly goes south when we crash on an icy planet. Freezing and in a broken shuttle, I have to work with this alien to survive. But as Mindy keeps smiling at me and moving closer and closer, I can’t help but wonder if this isn’t as horrible as I thought.

Serlotminden

My plan to rescue the captive human didn’t quite work, but it’ll be fine. My brothers will find us. Until then, I will protect him. But the longer we spend together, the more I want to touch him and make him laugh. It’s only natural, right? It’s because we’re friends, though why does that thought bother me?

This is a spicy stand-alone MM romance in the Cosmic Romance series. It’s a sci-fi romance on an icy planet with a serious human, an easy-going alien, MCs who save each other, and a happily ever after. This book is for adult audiences only and has explicit content. Content warning inside.

  • Publication date: February 24, 2025
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 410 pages

Review: Fate & Furies (The Legends of Thezmarr Book 3) by Helen Scheuerer

Rating: 4.75⭐️

I tried reading other books but knowing this series was complete I simply couldn’t resist and had to finish this amazing epic fantasy adventure featuring one of my new favorite characters. That would be Thea Voltaire. 

Fate & Furies is the perfect, or near perfect penultimate book to build the up the drama and start to pull all the complex storylines of these incredible characters together before the final climactic battles, revelations and wholly satisfying ending. 

Fate & Furies begins with a vengeful Thea on the hunt for ex-Warswords Wilder Hawthorne, traitor, whose betrayal has cut deep. With her is fellow warriors and friends Kipp and Cal, who are also aware of her real identity as well as her powers. 

Helen Scheuerer’s story is heartbreakingly raw, filled with fury, pain, and, on Thea’s part, an almost mindless need to drive herself towards capturing the person who has betrayed her and the country.  It’s so vividly written that the character’s state and actions are pouring off the page, as she’s burning herself out in grief. 

Wilder too, is seeking redemption, from new characters who have been only quietly been mentioned in the other books. Here they come to the front of the action and the storytelling. Also all the issues I had with Wilder are brought up here by the characters and discussed in a well thought out conversation. He becomes, in a way, the character that, has grown considerably since the beginning. 

The battle scenes are tremendous, the twists startling, and still looming over the relationships between the characters and their families and friends is that Thea’s time is running out. 

That’s always a sorrowful note for whatever victory or moment of joy that occurs. 

One more book. This is quickly become a series for my bookshelf. 

Highly recommended. Love Thea Voltaire.  And author Helen Scheuerer

Covers. Love the simplicity. 

The Legends of Thezmarr – 4 books completed:

Blood & Steel #1

Vows & Ruins #2

Fate & Furies #3

Shadow & Storms #4

Sequel series (Wren and Torj) :

The Ashes of Thezmarr (2 book series to date)

Iron & Embers #1

Thorns & Fire #2 – July 31,2025

Buy link

        Fate & Furies: An epic romantic fantasy (The Legends of Thezmarr Book 3)

    

Blurb 

“I always knew you would be the end of me.”

With darkness cursing the world around her, Althea Zoltaire is desperate for vengeance. But as she hunts Wilder Hawthorne across the kingdoms, brutal secrets begin to unravel.

Not knowing what – or who – to trust, Thea and her companions find themselves entwined with a destiny far greater than one man. Together, they must navigate the haunting revelations that could shatter the very foundations of the midrealms.

Yet it’s not only the world at stake, but Thea’s heart too. As everything teeters on the verge of destruction, her fate collides once more with Wilder’s.

Will their reunion ignite the fiery passion between them amidst the ashes of betrayal? Or will it end in a heartbreaking, deadly showdown?

In a journey fraught with danger, where the lines between enemies and allies blur, Thea must decide where her loyalties lie, and who will stand at her side against the looming evil.

Get ready for an epic adventure brimming with steamy romance, and a sprawling world of magic and monsters. Fate & Furies is the penultimate book in the spellbinding epic romantic fantasy series, The Legends of Thezmarr and is perfect for fans of Fourth Wing, The Bridge Kingdom, and The Witcher.

  • Publisher: Alchemy (February 22, 2024)
  • Publication date: February 22, 2024
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 466 pages

Review:  Two Thousand Promises  ( Kings of Chaos Book #5) by Jocelynn Drake

Rating: 4🌈

Two Thousand Promises finishes the Kings of Chaos series with the last of their clan to get their fated mate so they can all finally go back home to China.

Jocelynn Drake’s series has been excellent. From the beginning, the Chinese vampire, the cultural elements, and their history has added a richness and depth to a well developed, and thoughtful fantasy universe.  Dragons, elves, witches, and Chinese warrior vampires! What an incredible combination!

And Two Thousand Shadows, the fourth book, gave us and the series a fantastic dramatic ending, full of vivid battle sequences, emotional moments and scenes that tied up major plot lines and character relationships.  Realistically, that book was the series finale. 

And the clan started to prepare for their journey home, back to China. 

That left just the relationship between Xiao Dan and Huli, the fox spirit, unresolved.  That’s the storyline of Two Thousand Promises.  It’s a sweet addendum to a basically finished series, a group of alternating chapters where we see the progression of their relationship over time.

And a protagonist who has been in Huli’s life but just appears now as a dramatic character. 

Huli is a sweet character, Drake captured the essence of a nonhuman  who’s in love with a man so well. And Xiao Dan is someone we’ve gotten to know over the series, together , stumbling towards a relationship, it’s a sweet romance.

Honestly, I wish they could have been folded into the other book, Min the villain just doesn’t have the same energy as the rest of the characters. 

But it’s been a fabulous series and a grand finale. One I highly recommend reading.

Love the covers, the concept. Fantastic.

The Kings of Chaos :

  • Two Thousand Dreams #1
  • Two Thousand Tears #2
  • Two Thousand Blades #3
  • Two Thousand Shadows #4
  • Two Thousand Promises #5

Buy link

        Two Thousand Promises (Kings of Chaos Book 5)

    

Blurb 

He promised me forever…But she came to take my soul.

Huli had dedicated his entire existence to making himself into something worthy of Xiao Dan.

But as he stood on the brink of claiming the vampire’s heart, an evil deal he’d made centuries ago was coming due.

Min wanted Xiao Dan’s soul.

Would he lose Xiao Dan when he confessed his ugly promise? And could he stop Min before it was too late?

Two Thousand Promises is the fifth and final novel in the Kings of Chaos series. This book contains a reluctant vampire who is finally giving in to the thousand-year seduction of a sly fox spirit determined to claim his mate, a nosy family who wants all the spilled tea, snark, angst, magic, found family, brotherly bickering, chaos, cuddles, secrets, and an endless love.

  • Publication date: February 21, 2025
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 230 pages