Review: Checkmate – This is Effortless by Kennedy Fox

Title: This Is Effortless
Author: Kennedy Fox
Series: Checkmate #4
Published: April 25, 2017
Genre: Romantic Comedy, College Romance

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another 4 stars for this amazing series! Checkmate: This is Effortless, Drew & Courtney, #2, is book 4 in the Checkmate Duet Series by Kennedy Fox. This duet series follows three couples, each couple having two books to tell their stories.

OMG! This book was perfect! After the last book ended on an EPIC cliffy, I couldn’t read this one fast enough when it fell onto my Kindle.

Drew and Court were adorable together. She put up with A LOT of crap from his psycho ex and she was so much stronger than I would have been. Her brothers were hilarious and loved the interaction between the siblings.

There were lots of moments I laughed out loud and several more where I was caught with a goofy grin on my face. There were so many twists that left me saying “no way” or just laughing my ass off. In this book it was irrevocably proven that Travis is indeed the KING!

Kayla may be my spirit animal. I love that we got to know Kayla (aka, the doggy dealer) a little better and I can’t wait for the next book to find out more about the ever mysterious Logan.

I love this friends to lovers romance! If you haven’t yet read Kennedy Fox books, you need to get on that now! I highly recommend you start with This is War to get the full effect of the series. You won’t regret it!

is book 4 in the Checkmate Duet Series by Kennedy Fox. This duet series follows three couples, each couple having two books to tell their stories.

Courtney Bishop is as sugary sweet as her famous blueberry muffins.
Southern belle at heart, Cali girl by choice.
She barged into my life and easily became my best friend.
All was great as roommates and just friends, but then I fell for the girl who could chop firewood, deliver baby calves, and bail hay without breaking a sweat.
She’s the perfect mixture of sugar and spice, and I love her.

Being more than friends and trying to build our future isn’t as easy as it sounds.
Moving forward and creating memories is all I want for us, but when the past continues to come back and haunt me, I’m not so sure she’ll stay for the ride.

Loving her is easy, but losing her will break me. Burning passion combined with an undeniable chemistry constantly pushes and pulls us together. In the end, I’ll prove we’re worth the fight, even when the game is far from over.

Checkmate, sweetheart.

REVIEW: Doyenne by Anne Malcom

Title: doyenne
Author: Anne Malcom
Series: Standalone
Published: June 25, 2019
Genre: Dark Romance

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

HOLY WOW! This 5 STAR read was raw beauty.

Nothing about this book is a typical romance. It’s gritty, dark and full of cold characters. Characters that learn love isn’t always warm, nor is it a choice we make. Charlotte was a hard character to like, let alone love. She was a cold, ruthless business woman. Well respected, yes, but not well liked. She is emotionally detached and as this shrewd business woman soon finds out, she said no to the wrong person.

Jacob is a shell of the man he used to be. War tends to take pieces of your soul that you can never get back. He is in the right place at the right time and saves the girl. But soon figures out, she’s no damsel and this girl can save herself.

There is so much in this book that I loved. The suspense was phenomenal and the devastating loss just about broke me. I thought it was fast paced and kept me on the edge of my seat. And though emotions are kept on lock down, there is this spark of chemistry that I was just waiting to combust in the bedroom. And it was well worth the wait!

These characters are far from perfect, but so perfect for each other. I love that every book I read by this author is better than the last. She is so expressive in her art, always making sure the visuals are magnificent and oh so real.

Don’t go looking for the typical happily ever after here. That’s one of the things I love about this book. She keeps it realistic. They may not have the typical HEA you’re looking for, but it’s their HEA. The only one that’s right for them.

I don’t know what it’s like to feel.
To hurt.

The ability was stolen from me in my youth.
I consider that theft a gift.

Feelings got in the way when you were building an empire.
Amassing power.

I had the empire.
I had the power.

One moment in an alley changed everything.

What took over a decade to amass was snatched away in a second.

He killed for me.

But he didn’t save me.

REVIEW: Dane’s Storm by Mia Sheridan

Title: Dane’s Storm
Author: Mia Sheridan
Series: Standalone
Published: September 17, 2018
Genre: Romantic Suspense

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Second chance books are my jam and this one was beyond fantastic.  Dane and Audra met and married in a whirlwind romance. When tragedy sticks them to their very soul, the grief is too strong for these young lovers to claw their way out of the abyss.

Seven years have passed and Aubra is still grieving the unthinkable loss hey suffered as well as the loss of the love of her life and possibly the loss of her business. She must face her ex husband and the trials that follow to make it right.

Will Dane and Audra work through the pain and devastation and finally find the peace and love they both deserve or will the storm of emotions be too much?

I loved this book, these characters with everything I am. They are strong. They are real. And I couldn’t put it down!

Dane was her first kiss and the only man she ever loved . . . until their marriage crashed and burned. Now Audra has built a quiet life for herself running a flower shop she’s put her whole heart into. But Audra is left reeling when an unexpected circumstance brings Dane back into her world. He’s still as breathtaking as he ever was, and he still affects her more than any man she’s ever known. Yet learning to trust him again could be a matter of life and death . . .

When Dane offers to fly his ex-wife from California to Colorado to help correct a wrong, he never imagined the harrowing twist of fate awaiting them. When their plane goes down in the snowy mountain wilderness, Dane and Audra are stranded with no one to turn to but each other. Will their second crash end their lives–or save their souls?

REVIEW: Brant’s Return by Mia Sheridan

Title: Brant’s Return
Author: Mia Sheridan
Published: January 6, 2019
Genre: Romantic Suspense

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I listened to the audible version of this book and Wow! This audiobook was utterly phenomenal! I absolutely devour every book this author writes, but this book will forever hold a place in my heart. I fell in love with Belle and Brant. The story was incredible, the writing flawless and the narrators were phenomenal at bringing these characters to life.

These characters were so different yet so much the same. Both suffered heartache no one should ever suffer and made it out the other side of grief, one appreciative for the life she has and one left bitter and wanting to forget the life he left behind.

There were many unforgettable moments in this story. Loss, love and finding yourself again. But The big twist at the end was devastating to find out.

Get this book and bring the tissues.

Brant Talbot runs a glitzy network of high-end bars in New York City, enjoying all the benefits of the lavish lifestyle he’s worked so hard to achieve. When he learns that his estranged father is dying, he must return to his family’s Kentucky horse farm – and to a past he thought he left behind.

While facing long-buried truths, he collides with his father’s secretary, Isabelle Farris. Despite his undeniable attraction to the beautiful, independent young woman, he sees secrets in her eyes and believes she has designs on Graystone Hill.

Now the one woman he can’t afford to trust is about to become the one he can’t let go.