RH (Reverse Harem) Is Taking Over My Life

...Again...

I used to read SO MANY Reverse Harem books. Like, I consumed them at an alarming rate (I mean, I read just as many other books as well, but that's not the point of this post.)

I think the one that really started me out was... Curse Of The Gods...? I picked it up on a whim not actually knowing what it was about, and it was SO FUNNY. And surprisingly amazing. So I just kept looking for them and reading more and more.

And then I just kind of stopped.

No real reason, it's just something that happens to me as a reader. I read so much of something and get burnt out, so I have to walk away from it for a while. Sometimes I go back to it and other times I don't.

But in the last month, I've read several, and have been looking for more to read. I tweeted about it and said that I was regressing back to the days where all I wanted was to read RH books. And I don't think that's actually the right word, because that word brings about a negative connotation...

I know WHY this sudden urge to read RH has hit me again. I'm not going to get into the reason WHY, because that would take far too long and literally no one would read through the whole post. Instead, I think I'll share some of my favorites. 

As always, you can click on the cover of the book to be redirected to Goodreads in case you want to read up about them

 

 

ARC Audiobook Review: The Bodyguard ~ Katherine Center

 

Image from Goodreads. Click on the image to learn more about this book.

Format I Used: Audiobook ARC
Pages: 320
Running Time: 9h:40m
My Rating: 5 gazillion stars
Publication Date: July 19, 2022

 

Is this book on your radar at all? If not, it 100% SHOULD be.

I don't think I need to warn you, but just in case you're new to my reviews: I love spoilers and I love to ramble. So PLEAAASE read on with caution if you haven't read this book yet and plan on it.

You know what? I need to start carrying around a bag full of stars so I can just go around throwing them when I read a book that I like.

Because this book?

Deserved all the stars.

All. The. Stars.

This is, I think, the third book in a row that I've just absolutely adored, and it's a good feeling. But also, I'm going to cry the second a book doesn't make me feel this happy.

I love love loved this book.

I was so excited when I got notified that my audio ARC request had been approved. But at the same time I was nervous, because this book was so hyped in my head and online, and I was afraid it wouldn't live up to that and disappoint me. But my worries were unfounded, because it was AMAZING.

I was constantly updating on Goodreads and was kind of sad that I didn't have the ebook or physical book handy to put sticky notes and highlights in. I updated my reading on Goodreads every 1-10 percent, so I can't wait to get my hands on a physical copy and add all my sticky notes and pencil underlines.

I adored the back and forth between Hannah and Jack. I was literally always smiling or laughing like an idiot. Jack's family was amazing, especially his parents!

I couldn't stand Robbie. Euch, blech. He was such a toxic person and I couldn't stand him. I didn't really like Glen either because it felt like he was just as toxic but in a different way?

The whole stalker aspect was interesting. There was so much left in the book after they got the stalker taken care of, I knew something else was going to happen. And it did. But not exactly the way I thought it was going to. I was convinced that the original stalker was going to show back up and that was going to throw things into a frenzy, but I was NOT expecting there to be a second stalker.

That whole situation felt a little anticlimactic, but I'm super glad it ended so well. I liked how they took a scary situation and were able to turn it around for EVERYONE. I think Hanna and I both had the light bulb moment at the same time when things were going down.

This book gets bonus points for the fact that there WAS NO MISCOMMUNICATION THAT HAPPENED. There wasn't a big fight because they were keeping secrets from each other/they assumed something bad about the other person. And I loved that so much.

This is also what I would consider a gentle read. So if you're looking for something that's super steamy, don't get your hopes up with this one. It's chick lit with a small side of romance. And it was so good.

I will be purchasing a physical copy of this book to add to my shelves (and so I can add sticky notes and whatnot to it) but I'll also probably buy a Kindle version of this book too!

There are so many thoughts in my head about this book still, but I think this is where I'll stop for now. Who knows, maybe I'll do a re-read and write a review for the second time reading it.

Thank you so so much to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for allowing me to listen to an audio ARC. My whole year has been made.

Did It Make Me Cry? In fact, it did. Close to the end when Jack was telling him about the dream that he has about his brother but it was slightly different this time.

 

Review: Aurora Rising ~ Amy Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

 

Image from Goodreads. Click on the image to learn more about this book.

Format I Used: Audiobook
Pages: 473
Running Time: 14h:4m
My Rating: 3 stars
Publication Date: May 17, 2019

This keeps flippity flopping between a 2 and a 3 star rating...I mean... It wasn't terrible. But also it wasn't my favorite either.  There are three reasons I ended up reading/listening to this book even though I do not read Sci-Fi books:

1. The cover is B E A U T I F U L (because Charlie Bowater is the bees knees)

2. It fit a prompt for a reading challenge that I am participating in.

3. I listened to The Illuminae Files, and thought they were pretty ace, so I figured, w h y n o t ?

So, like, I was intrigued by the whole premise and things started out a'ight, but then the farther it got into things, I started having problems. You know, despite the obvious that I kept wanting to compare it to Illuminae, but they're not even in the same universe. SO THEN WHY DID THE TWO KEEP BLENDING IN MY MIND?!

I wasn't crazy about Aurora. I was expecting her to be this hardcore heroine, but she was kind of...not. Maybe that will change in the next book?

I wanted to throttle Cat for 99.9 percent of the book, and by the time I decided she might be okay, it was too late.

Zila was almost forgettable, I wasn't really emotionally attached to her.

Scarlett was great, I wish she could be my BFF

Finn was okay, thank goodness for comic relief

Tyler was okay, I thought he was going to be Aurora's Love Interest and I almost rioted.

Kal was my broody alien Cinnamon Roll and I loved him so much.

I say that, but I did not like the romance between Aurora and Kal. It was like, Kal felt the pull to her, but she didn't even think about him romantically until he told her what he felt, which was pretty late into the story. I didn't like it. I wanted to see more of them together, falling in love and that just didn't happen. So boooooo.

So after telling you all what I didn't like... Here's some of what I did like.

I am ALL FOR audiobooks that have a full cast, especially when there are a bazillion characters. It helps me keep things straight in my head.

The friendships that happened and grew and blahbity blah. It is always nice read books where the characters have a good, tight relationship (like the Inner Circle)

I kinda liked the evil aliens at the end, and the whole Hive Mind thing that was going on (It reminded me of Ben 10:Alien Swarm)

If I can get my hands on the second book in audio form, I will probably listen to it, because if I start a series, I like to try and finish it, so we'll see.

Review: Seasons Of Chaos ~ Elle Cosimano

Click on this image to learn more about this book on Goodreads

 

Format I Used: Combination Audiobook/Ebook 

Pages: 464 Running Time: 13h 

My Rating: 3 stars 

Publication Date: June 8, 2021 

 

Do you want to know something that I find absolutely hilarious? The bad guy's name is Doug. DOUG! But the whole time I was reading this book, the name wouldn't stick. They would say his name, or it would be there as an indicator that DOUG was the narrator, and then two seconds later, the name just slipped away from my brain, and I wanted to call him Roger. And I would call him Roger until they said his name again and I swore I would remember it, but no. That did not happen. This repeated itself all the way through to the very end of the book, and now I can tell you exactly what his name is...

I don't remember a good percentage of what happened in book 1, but I was able to piece together enough to make this book make sense in my head. I thought this was interesting, and I still was really into the idea of the seasons being actual real live people. This one did make me a little anxious and fidgety every once in a while for some reason, and I kept finding myself skipping forward to see what happened, and then back again.

 

Did It Make Me Cry? No

Review: Defy The Night ~ Brigid Kemmerer

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                                     Image from Goodreads. Click on cover to read more about the book.

Format I Used: Audiobook
Pages: 448
Running Time: 13h:58m
My Rating: 4 stars
Publication Date: September 14, 2021

 

Wait, how old is Quint? Did they ever say, or was he just described as "young for his role as Palace Master" and that's it?? Hmmmmmmmmm Hold on, Imma go look again.

*Plays Jeopardy waiting music*

Okay I'm back. He's in his early twenties.

But, like, he's the real MVP of the story. Why? Uh, because he IS... OKAY

Anywhoodles

This book was pretty good. It's based loosely on Robin Hood and we all know how much Kaitlynne loves a good fairytale retelling. The romance in it was rather slow burn (which I also love) but maybe too slow burn? Is that a thing? Like, on a scale of 1-10, the romance level was at a 2 or 2.5. It focused mostly on the corona virus... oh... uhh...I mean the mysterious illness, and all the other things.

I'm curious and also nervous to see what's going to happen in the next book

 Did It Make Me Cry? No 

 

Review: Realm Breaker ~ Victoria Aveyard

                                     Image from Goodreads. Click on cover to read more about the book.

Format I Used: Audiobook
Pages: 576
Running Time: 16h:34m
My Rating: 2 stars
Publication Date: May 4, 2021

 

I mean... It's fine?

Overall, for me, this was a very much an... average read.

I had real high hopes for this one. Although I wasn't the biggest fan of The Red Queen Series, so it shouldn't have surprised me that I felt rather meh about this.

I just felt like there were too many narrators and it was hard to keep track of everything, and at the same time it all just moved so slow. I struggled to care for the characters. And honestly, I could probably only tell you the most minuscule details about what happened in the book

The cover is amazing, and the cliffhanger of an ending has me slightly intrigued, so I will probably pick up the sequel just to see what happens.

This one was not right for me right now, but give it a try and decide for yourself. You may love it!

Did It Make Me Cry? No 

Review: The Girl Least Likely ~ Katy Loutzenhiser

                                  Image from Goodreads. Click on cover to read more about the book.

Format I Used: Audiobook
Pages: 352
Running Time: 10h:3m
My Rating: 4.5 stars
Publication Date: June 29, 2021

 

 So for a YA book, this was surprisingly good. (I only say that because I've read a string of... annoying ones...)

I've not read any fiction books about comedians, so the whole idea was a breath of fresh air. And I could kind of relate to Gretchen. Going to places where there are a lot of people give me anxiety, and sometimes I do think it would be nice to be able to... Not be myself for a while? I mean, she got busted... surprise, surprise. And things kind of blew up dramatically. But it was actually good for her, because it forced her to confront some issues that she had. 

------SPOILER------

I am thrilled that she ended up with the person that ended up with. Some reviews I've seen since actually finished this book are like: whaaat? why him? There's no build up or anything!

But.... Ummmm... Excuse me? He was a better friend to her than her supposed best fried was. AND DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON JEREMY. I don't know what it was, but he was not my favorite person from the beginning...I was rooting for Ethan from the get go.

------END SPOILER------

It was nice watching Gretchen grow and learn more about herself, and actually finally talk to her family about how she was feeling. And her parents were actually pretty supportive of her once the communication channels were finally open and flowing.

10 out of 10 recommend.

 

 

Review: The Spanish Love Deception ~ Elena Armas

                                     Image from Goodreads. Click on cover to read more about the book.

 Format I Used: Audiobook
Pages: 437
Running Time: 14h:32m
My Rating: 3.5 stars
Publication Date: February 23, 2021

 

So this one started out a little bit slow for me. It took me quite a while before I was actually invested in the story, but it ended up being surprisingly funny. In fact, I probably looked like a fool because I was walking my dog at the park while listening to this, and would just randomly smile like a crazy person.

It was Grumpy x Sunshine, it was enemies (ish) to lovers, it was THE ONE BED TROPE. And I was delighted. Though I will say that I thought it was a little bit drawn out. There was a lot of random filler stuff in here, and it could have been cut out and not have made a difference overall. And it was a fun slow burn romance... until it wasn't slow burn anymore! So just be prepared for it to take off lol 

Overall, I enjoyed the story, and the relationship that Catalina and Aaron had.

Did It Make Me Cry? No