Hello!

I am bringing back my recent reads series which I totally abandoned last year. So fingers crossed I stick with it this year! I’m still trying to find the best way to review all the books I read since monthly wrap ups don’t work for me. In these posts I won’t be reviewing the books from the Romanceopoly and Finishing Series TBRs.

I will do my best not to include spoilers for the sequels but just be weary if you want to avoid finding out too much about the storyline.

Onto the ratings!

★★★★1/2

Lava Red Feather Blue by Molly Ringle

Lava Red Feather Blue follows Merrick Highvalley, a half-fae, who’s trying to find the away to heal his father from the strange fae sickness that’s rapidly ageing him. His search leads him to a hidden portal where Prince Larkin has been in an enchanted sleep since 1799. Merrick accidentally wakes up the prince that also breaks the enchanted sleep of Ula Kana, a powerful faery, who’s determined to eradicate humans from Eidolonia.

This was a magical quest across an island filled with just about every fae creature imaginable. I adored it! It also had the sweetest MM romance. I also enjoyed the twist on the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale.

⁠At the start, I was a little confused about the setting. But once I got my head around it I adored the idea of a hidden island in the pacific where humans and fae live alongside each other. The island feels as like a part of the pacific. I love the addition of Hawaiian and Maori words for names of people and places.

|| My Review ||

★★★★

Rhythm, Chord & Malykhin by Mariana Zapata

At this point, I don’t need to know anything about a book if it says it’s a rockstar romance because I will buy it and read it. Thankfully I adored this!

Rhythm, Chord & Malykhin follows Gaby Barreto who’s unemployed with no job opportunities, recently dumped and newly homeless. So she would be stupid not to say yes to joining her twin brother on tour as the merch girl. Spending over 90 days with her twin, two childhood friends and eight totally strangers shouldn’t be a big deal, right?

This is one of the few romances I’ve read that’s told in one point of view but it works. It adds to the tension between Gaby and the lead singer of the headlining band, Sasha’s budding relationship. So like Gaby, we are trying to figure out how Sasha feeling about out based on his actions. It’s as frustrating as real life. The romance is a slow burn, friends-to-lovers. The way that Gaby and Sasha meet is hilarious and all kinds of awkward. It had me laughing out loud.

I loved that this books is set on the road, in a tour bus. Most of the rockstar romances I’ve read, the band are off tour or they are uber rich and fly to and from teach show. We get a look at how unglamorous and difficult it can be for musician who are on the road.

I will say that at times I wasn’t a fan of Gaby’s inner monologue when she thought about other women. She was quick to judge other girls and there was a lot of slut shaming which felt unnecessary.

Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined (The Twilight Saga #1.75) by Stephenie Meyer 

After reading Midnight Sun last year, I figured it was time to finally read the gender swapped version. I don’t know what I was expecting going into this but I surprised at how different this is from Twilight.

I loved that Stephenie Meyer didn’t just stop at gender swapping Edward and Belle and pretty much the whole cast has been changed.

Beau and Bella are two different people. Beau is chill, a little awkward and doesn’t have that anger Bella seems to carry around. I adored him. Edythe’s personality is pretty smiliar to Edward but I didn’t mind since I’m Team Edward all the way.

The changes made to the storyline make sense and feel like they fit the difference in the characters but still has that Twilight feel. It was fun to see what has changed and what stayed the same. And that ending! Oh my lord! I was not expecting that!

Lilac by B.B. Reid 

I was really in the mood for some rockstar romances. I picked Lilac up after seeing a handful of times on bookstagram. I was interested to see how the poly element would play out.

Famous rock band, Bound, is looking for a new lead guitarist to complete their final tour with their current record label. The label picks, Braxton Fawn to fill in. The member of Bound —Houston Morrow, Loren James, and Jericho Noble —are jaded and determined to make Braxton’s life a nightmare. They want her gone. The label wants to change Bound’s image and if Braxton is survives the world tour she will get a chance to release her own music.

Braxton is one of the strongest women I’ve ever read. Not only does she have to deal with the Houston, Loren and Jericho going out of their way to be horrible, she’s also spent most of her life fighting her strict religious family. I would’ve crumbled if I was in her shoes. Braxton has Synesthesia, which was interesting. I’ve never read about a character with Synesthesia it added a lyrical nature to the writing style.

This is definitely an enemies-to-lovers romance. Houston and Loren are your typical Alpha male bullies, which I didn’t like at the start. Jericho was the sweet sad emo boy who you just wanted to save. As the narrative went on Jericho’s lack of communication drove me crazy. I just wish he would’ve come out and told Braxton the truth. I enjoyed seeing the relationship between the three boys and how they included Braxton into the fold.

★★1/2

Before You Ghost by Helena Hunting and Debra Anastasia 

This was my first read of 2021! I adore Helena Hunting and I was so excited when I found out that she was releasing a paranormal romance. Unfortunately, this didn’t work for me.

Sammi lady bits are accused accused of accidentally killing her boyfriend, Evan, they shot him off a cliff and fell to his death. I did like that the romance was between an established couple, since a lot of the romance is about two people falling in love.

It was interesting that the paranormal creature was the ghost of Evan since I haven’t read any. Overall I think it was too short to explore the lore surrounding the ghosts and the mystery that unfolds.

For the full synopsis of each of these book click on the image it will take you to the related goodreads page!

These are that books I’ve read recently. Comment down below and let me know if you’ve read any of these. Also what have you been reading recently? 

Until next time, happy reading!
Dearna