#reader recommendations

[ozwriterchick]

Ok my lovelies..

I need some absolutely gut-wrenching angst recommendations. Will accept Bucky Barnes (or other Seb characters), Spencer a Reid, Jensen Ackles or any of his characters.

Bonus points if there’s no happy ending but that’s not a big requirement.

Hit me with your faves..

[wolfe837422]

A powerful journey of loss and love!

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

“And at that moment when the dream turned into a nightmare, as she stood before a wide-eyed audience, Ravenna realized that she didn’t want Darius to leave.”

That line may be the most powerful one of all in this book. In a sea of powerful moments and deep emotions, that one line shines like a beacon in the darkness and puts a knife’s edge focus on all that was and all that has yet to be. There is so much I want to say but it would spoil the story. Instead, I shall leave you with this.

A Countess Betrayed, the first book in the Storyville Saga is a tale of lost hopes and broken dreams, of survival and building walls, only to evolve into something so devastatingly beautiful and bittersweet. This is a story I highly recommend. Jade Alters has a way of weaving the story in such a manner that you don’t realize how much you’ve fallen in love until you find yourself suddenly at the end with a heart full of emotions and a mind spinning with all the twists and turns you’ve seen the characters through.

If you’ve read Jade Alters before, I don’t need to say anymore, you already know how brilliant she is. But if you haven’t read her before, I must insist that you do. She shares a pantheon of authors I adore, joining a rare squad of Stephanie Rowe, Bella Benz, Julia Goldhirsch, and Isabelle Hardesty.

[wolfe837422]

The twists and turns. Pure magic!

Book received as an ARC from the author.

To start off with, as a word of warning to those interested in reading this book, let me tell you a little secret and a little advice. You won’t want to put this book down. Not for one second. Not even to eat. But you’ll need to, if only to save the heartache that comes with knowing a book is over. Stephanie’s writing will capture you mercilessly, hold you tight in bonds of intrigue and lust, angst and romance. You won’t know it’s over until it’s too late, until you have nothing more left to read, and then you’ll be lost to the wonder and heartache that is “book hangover”.

Brody and Tatum come alive in these pages. The supporting cast around them, just as vibrant. There is such suspense here, intrigue and mystery around each corner. Pieces of shared histories are discovered slowly, like a rosebud not entirely sure it’s ready to bloom until at last it has.

And the twist, the big twist? You never see that coming. But that’s the magic of Stephanie’s writing. It’s what draws you in and what makes it impossible to read slowly. To savor every last word as you wish so deeply you could. Oh, but their story stays with you long after. The emotions of it, the way simply thinking of Tatum Crosby or Brody Hart can make your pulse race, your breath catch in your throat, as you bite down on your lower lip or the tip of your nail—to keep from smiling like you know something everyone else doesn’t or to keep silent the sounds you make when emotions overwhelm you; you may never know.

But I will tell you this much. You’d be a fool not to read it. Pick up a copy, you won’t be disappointed.

[wolfe837422]

As many facets as a gemstone

Book received as free ARC gift from author.

One of the things that stuck out to me the most while being so subtle in the writing is the representation of different cultures as well as LGBTQ+. If you’re someone who is non-binary, trans, or elsewhere along our many colored rainbow flags and feel a desperate lack of representation in other bold, then look no further. This is the book and author for you!

Julia has an incredible way of weaving the story so subtly, so gracefully, that you’re completely entranced by it before you realize it. To see Amy, the Amethyst mage, not just grown up but leading a revolution is at once both enthralling and breathtaking. You’re on the edge of your seat by the action, the suspense, not to mention the mixing of mythologies that blend so effortlessly as to have been born this way all along.

Julia Rose Goldhirsch stands apart as an author, making her in the collection of only 5 authors I will seek out regularly for my fantasy wants. Beside her along their own points in this pentagram are: Britini Chenelle, Allison Rose, A.D. Winter, and Bella Benz.

[wolfe837422]

Mind. Blown.

I received this book as a free gift from the author via BookFunnel, no review expected or required.

You know, I have read my fair share of books that have held me captive and enthralled me, but there have only been a very few that turned me speechless while at the same time driving me to find the author on social media to tag them with cover of their book and “mind blown” emojis because I lacked the proper words.

When language leaves you and all you can communicate in are partial sentences and emojis, you have done one hell of a masterful job. So many twists and turns and the end? So much better than I could’ve hoped for.

Go on, people of the interwebs. Grab this book and get your read on. You won’t be disappointed

[wolfe837422]

When no one believes in you, how do you believe in yourself?

**Presented with an ARC via HiddenGems in exchange for an honest review.**

Lincoln Laing has been through far too much, far too soon. Coming from a small town called Fiddlers Creek, suffering a tragedy that no one would allow him to forget—not that he ever could forget—only to spend the next three years of his life bounced from one disastrous foster home to the next, he’s barely holding on by a thread. The judicial system calls him a delinquent, his last foster mother—a drunk who’s unsuitable to be a mother to her own baby, let alone a seventeen-year-old who’s suffered more personal trauma in such a short time than most people experience in their entire lives—threw his orphaned status in his face constantly; only to be returned to the one place and family that he never wanted to see again. And people wonder why he’s so messed up.

It’s a testament to the author just how easily she’s able to draw you into the story, to make you connect with Lincoln on such a deep level in such short a time. This book is a page-turner of tragedy, heartache, apathy, and redemption. It captures the reader’s attention, their heart and soul, and haunts you long after you’ve finished reading it.

If you’re a fan of Brittni Chenelle, L.A. Pepper, Bella Benz, Stephanie Rowe, Megan Blackwood, A.D. Winter, Mary Fan, or Andrew Mayne, you will love this book. Just as the authors I listed, Becky Bird holds you captive with her ability to draw you into the story within the first few pages and make you connect and empathize with a damaged character so easily that reading the next page isn’t even a thought, it’s a compulsion. Truly, a must read!

[wolfe837422]

Mercilessly immersive and powerfully emotional!

**Presented with an ARC by the author via direct download in exchange for an honest review.**

Written in the turn of the century, during the industrial revolution, this is a story of struggle and redemption, fear and hope. It brings together angels and nymphs fighting to live in a world with humans who couldn’t care less about who they hurt with their factories and ‘progress’. This book holds such raw and aching truths that you can’t help but devour every word.

One of the things I have come to love about Julia’s writing is the same thing that draws me in time and again to Stephanie Rowe and Bella Benz—the absolute purity and depth of emotion, as though the emotions the characters feel are living entities all their own.

For those who are coming to this book after reading the first one, you know without any doubt that this book holds everything you’re looking for and perhaps a few things you hadn’t thought of. To those looking at this book as a new read, let impart these few things upon you. First, although it can be read as a stand alone, I do highly recommend starting at the beginning and following the story through in order. And second, brace yourself. This will be an experience for you unlike any other.

Fans of Bella Benz, Stephanie Rowe, Brittni Chenelle, Jessica Feyden, and Megan Blackwood will love this book. And although this is a high/urban fantasy dealing with angels, nymphs, and humans set in the Victorian era, fans of Star Trek: DS9 will love this book for the way it evokes such raw emotions and deals with powerful themes.