Where Fiction and Reality Meet
Title: The Sunny Side Series: The Model Agency: Book One Author: Lily Morton Publisher: Amazon/Kindle Unlimited Length: 374 Pages Category: Contemporary Romance Rating: 4 Stars At a Glance: At its core, The Sunny Side is about kindness and empathy and compassion, and there is heaps of hurt/comfort in its pages. If you like Lily Morton's... Continue Reading →
Title: It Helps With the Blues Author: Bryan Cebulski Publisher: tRaum Books Length: 171 Pages Category: Teen Fiction Rating: 4 Stars At a Glance: The angst and woe in this short novel is intense, real, and frequently painful. These are teenagers being teenagers, for better and for worse, just trying to cope, and there are... Continue Reading →
Title: Stone Wings Series: The Gargoyles of Arrington: Book One Author: Jenn Burke Publisher: Amazon/Kindle Unlimited Length: 200 Pages Category: Contemporary Fantasy Rating: 4 Stars At a Glance: Stone Wings hits all the romantic beats and offers the truth that sometimes love is a lightning strike, and sometimes it sneaks up like a thief of... Continue Reading →
Title: My Name Is Jimmy Author: Garrick Jones Publisher: Amazon/Kindle Unlimited Length: 90 Pages Category: Historical (Post-World War II) Rating: 4 Stars At a Glance: My Name Is Jimmy is a gritty, lusty story of vengeance and endurance, set in a lawless frontier in the aftermath of World War II. Not a romance by the... Continue Reading →
Title: Stolen Token Author: Felix J. Léon Publisher: Self-Published Length: 119 Pages Category: Fantasy Rating: 4 Stars At a Glance: There is no doubt Felix J. Léon loved telling this story and held his characters in great affection. That sincerity endeared them to me as well, by simple virtue of realizing I was being introduced... Continue Reading →
Title: His Lethal Desire Series: West Coast Mobsters: Book One Author: Leighton Greene Publisher: Amazon/Kindle Unlimited Length: 410 Pages Category: Contemporary Romance, Mystery/Suspense Rating: 4 Stars At a Glance: Age gap, only one bed, and forced proximity are just a few of the juicy tidbits that round out this romance. What makes it work is... Continue Reading →
Titles: No Accident at Abergwyn & No Friends at Abergwyn Series: Tudor and Stewart Abergwyn Mysteries: Books One and Two Author: Ripley Hayes Publisher: Amazon/Kindle Unlimited Length: 108 Pages/202 Pages Category: Cozy Mystery Rating: 4 Stars At a Glance: If you’re looking for some cozy summer reading, with a little murder to spice things up,... Continue Reading →
Title: The Final Sin Series: Brooklyn Sinners Author: Avril Ashton Publisher: Amazon/Kindle Unlimited Length: 147 Pages Category: Contemporary Romance Rating: 4 Stars At a Glance: The race to find and punish Càtia’s captor takes readers through our emotional paces. The Final Sin is quite the send-off, just as I’d expect from Avril Ashton. Reviewed By:... Continue Reading →
Title: The Sins of the Orc Author: Finley Fenn Publisher: Amazon/Kindle Unlimited Length: 192 Pages Category: Fantasy Content Notes: dark situations and power dynamics causing current and past trauma (not between main love interests); intense intimate scenes (including in public); discussion and depiction of abuse and its effects; depression and suicidal thoughts; discussion of war... Continue Reading →
Title: Burning for You Author: Joel Abernathy Publisher: Amazon/Kindle Unlimited Length: 298 Pages Category: Fantasy Content Notes: Action violence, substance abuse, extreme enemies-to-lovers dynamics, nonconsensual ritual bloodletting, heat sex, knotting, technical suicide in a supernatural context (not self-harm). Rating: 4 Stars At a Glance: For as angsty as it had the potential to be, the... Continue Reading →
Title: The Bachelor's Valet Series: Flos Magicae Author: Arden Powell Publisher: Amazon/Kindle Unlimited Length: 148 Pages Category: Historical Romance, Fantasy Rating: 4 Stars At a Glance: The Bachelor’s Valet is a gentle and charming story with happy endings for all involved, short on drama and long on anticipation, waiting for Alphonse to suss out his... Continue Reading →
Title: Labours of Stone Author: EM Harding Publisher: Self-Published Length: 164 Pages Category: Fantasy Rating: 4 Stars At a Glance: Labours of Stone is one of those happy little accidental finds: a quick, sweet summer read that I'm glad I happened upon. Reviewed By: Lisa Blurb: Day after day, Ephra Stone labours away on trashy... Continue Reading →
Title: Small Town Pride Author: Phil Stamper Publisher: HarperCollins Length: 265 Pages Category: Middle Grade Fiction Rating: 4 Stars At a Glance: Just in time for Pride month, Small Town Pride is a book that needs to be given a place on middle school library shelves. It’s an uplifting story about the power of love... Continue Reading →
Title: The Sceptic Series: Arcana: Book One Author: Lily Morton Publisher: Amazon/Kindle Unlimited Length: 365 Pages Category: Paranormal, Contemporary Romance Rating: 4 Stars At a Glance: The Sceptic is, as her readers have come to expect, signature Lily Morton. The only unexpected difference is that the paranormal aspect of the book was more of a... Continue Reading →
Title: Reckless Series: Luckless: Book Three Author: Cari Z Publisher: Amazon/Kindle Unlimited Length: 124 Pages Category: Fantasy Rating: 4 Stars At a Glance: The gripping moment when Evan and Lee's bond is stricken delivers on the tension shaped by betrayal and the emotion driven by anguish. I am, as always, anxious to see what Cari... Continue Reading →
Title: Favourite Hello. Hardest Goodbye. Author: E.S. Carter Publisher: Self-Published Length: 290 Pages Category: Contemporary Love Story, Magical Realism Rating: 4 Stars At a Glance: This story is told with an abundance of emotion and a lovely prose that illustrates the need behind Macsen’s pursuit of Ellis as much as it persuades readers to understand... Continue Reading →
Title: City of Angels Series: An Incarnate Accounts Novella Author: Justin Schuelke Publisher: Self-Published Length: 77 Pages Category: Urban Fantasy Rating: 4 Stars At a Glance: I wasn’t sure I needed a spin-off novella starring Trish Takahashi until I read it, and I can say that while it was different not having Emery Luple at... Continue Reading →
Title: Hand of Glory Series: Arcane Hearts: Book Five Author: Nazri Noor Publisher: Amazon/Kindle Unlimited Length: 281 Pages Category: Fantasy Rating: 4 Stars At a Glance: The Arcane Hearts series is a good fit for readers who like Urban Fantasy that includes fun and interesting world building but lacks the darker themes and a story... Continue Reading →
Title: Redcap, Whitecap, Goblin, Thief Series: The Blackwarren Heists: Book One Author: Vaughn R. Demont Publisher: Self-Published Length: 223 Pages Category: Urban Fantasy, Mystery Rating: 4 Stars At a Glance: It’s been almost seven years since Vaughn R. Demont released the last book in this -verse, and all I can say is welcome back. Revisiting... Continue Reading →
Title: Spellsworn Series: Journals & Journeys: Book One Author: Justin Schuelke Publisher: Amazon/Kindle Unlimited Length: 322 Pages Category: YA Fantasy Rating: 4 Stars At a Glance: I may have never rolled the dice in a single game of Dungeons & Dragons, but I appreciate the imagination that went into bringing this story and its characters... Continue Reading →
Title: Exodus 20:3 Author: Freydís Moon Publisher: NineStar Press Length: 93 Pages Category: Horror, Erotic Fantasy Rating: 4.5 Stars At a Glance: This novella packs a lot of punch, and I was completely absorbed by the author’s voice and their storytelling. I’ll be watching for their next release to see what boundaries they’ll explore, and... Continue Reading →
Title: I'm So (Not) Over You Author: Kosoko Jackson Publisher: Berkley (Penguin Random House) Length: 364 Pages Category: Contemporary Romance Rating: 4 Stars At a Glance: I’m So (Not) Over You put me through my paces with the ups and downs—all those downs—but it was worth the bumps to get the payoff of Kian and... Continue Reading →
Title: Some by Virtue Fall Series: The Seven Gods: Book One Author: Alexandra Rowland Publisher: Self-Published Length: 150 Pages Category: Alt U, Historical Rating: 4 Stars At a Glance: The subtly self-referential aspect of Some by Virtue Fall is that this story itself would have made for a brilliantly entertaining play, with heroes and villains,... Continue Reading →
Title: Oak King Holly King Author: Sebastian Nothwell Publisher: Self-Published Length: 464 Pages Category: Historical Fantasy Rating: 4 Stars At a Glance: Oak King Holly King is both character and action driven, both fast and meticulously paced, and is not a book I breezed through but more one I savored not only for the richness... Continue Reading →
The Novel Approach Reviews 