What I'm Reading: January to March

I LOVE reading. I am a proud, self-proclaimed bookworm (hence the blog title), and I can spend an entire weekend doing nothing but reading and be completely happy. A big part of this blog is writing book reviews for books that I've enjoyed reading, but I read so much (more than one hundred books a year) that I don't have time to review every single book. So, I've decided to do a monthly post dedicated to the top books I've read each month but didn't have time to review.

For this post I'm sharing my top six (not-reviewed) books from January, February, and March! Here you go:

Title: Lost Girl
Series: Neverwood Chronicles #1
Author: Chanda Hahn
Stars: 5 out of 5
For fans of: YA, Fantasy, Peter Pan Retellings
Blurb:
Wendy doesn't remember anything about Neverland—or the experiments done on her there as a child. Seven years later, all she wants is a normal life, but shape-shifting shadows plague her dreams and turn her life into a waking nightmare. When the shadows attack at a football game and a boy disappears right in front of her, she realizes these wraith-like shadows are real. They’re not just haunting—they’re hunting.

A mysterious boy named Peter, his foul-mouthed sidekick, and a band of misfit boys intervene before Wendy faces a similar fate. But can they trust Wendy enough to take her to Neverwood Academy and reveal all of their hidden secrets when she's hiding a secret of her own, or will the dreaded Red Skulls find her and drag her back to Neverland?

Title: Born in Fire
Series: Fire and Ice Trilogy #1
Author: K.F. Breene
Stars: 4 out of 5
For fans of: Adult, Urban Fiction/Fantasy, Kick-butt Heroines
Blurb:
Supernatural Bounty Hunter isn’t the sort of thing you see on LinkedIn. But with a rare type of magic like mine, I don’t have many options. If people found out what I could do—what I am—I would kiss my freedom goodbye.

So dangerous or not, the job is mine. And it was going fine, until an old as sin vampire stole my mark, and with it, my pay day.

Knowing I’m poor and desperate, he has offered me a job. I’ll have to work by his side to help solve a top secret case.

Everyone knows not to trust vampires. Especially a hot elder vampire. But without any other jobs coming up, I’m stuck. As I uncover a web of lies and treachery, revealing an enemy I didn’t know existed, the truth of my identity is threatened. I might make it out alive, only to end up in a gilded cage.

Title: The Rose Mark
Series: Black Rose Sorceress #1
Author: Connie Suttle
Stars: 5 out of 5
For fans of: YA/NA/Adult, Fantasy, Strong Heroines, Scarred Heroes
Blurb:
Sherra 
We belong to the King--those of us with the black roses tattooed on our left wrist, directly over our pulse. As if every beat of our hearts reminds us that we are not our own. 

All the women with the fire burning within them are culled, tattooed and taken to the warriors, to provide more energy. Energy that the warriors will then use to defeat the barbarians from the ocean of sand. Women with black roses on their wrists are emptied of their power by those warriors, who care not that they die a shrunken husk. 

In the King's library, The Book of the Rose says to honor the tattooed women. More than anything, I want to spit on its pages. 

As for running--there is one thing worse than having a black rose on your wrist. That is for the enemy to find you and see the black rose on your wrist. Your death will be slow and excruciating at their hands...

Title: Playing with Fire
Series: Standalone (but I hope the author writes a sequel)
Author: R.J. Blain
Stars: 4 out of 5
For fans of: Adult, Urban Fiction/Fantasy, Sassy Heroines, Unicorns
Blurb:
Warning: This novel contains excessive humor, action, excitement, adventure, magic, romance, and bodies. Proceed with caution. 

What do you get when you mix gorgons, an incubus, and the Calamity Queen? Trouble, and lots of it. 

Working as the only human barista at a coffee shop catering to the magical is a tough gig on a good day. Bailey Gardener has few options. She can either keep spiking drinks with pixie dust to keep the locals happy, or spend the rest of her life cleaning up the world’s nastiest magical substances. 

Unfortunately for her, Faery Fortunes is located in the heart of Manhattan Island, not far from where Police Chief Samuel Quinn works. If she’d been smart, she never would have agreed to help the man find his wife. 

Bailey found her, all right—in the absolutely worst way possible. 

One divorce and several years later, Bailey is once again entangled in Chief Quinn’s personal affairs, and he has good reason to hate her. Without her, he wouldn’t be Manhattan’s Most Wanted Bachelor, something he loathes. Without her, he’d still be married. 

If only she’d said no when he asked her help, she might have had a chance with him. While her magic worked well, it came with a price: misfortune. Hers. 

When Quinn’s former brother-in-law comes to her for help, he leaves her with a cell phone and seventy-five thousand reasons to put her magic to the test. However, when she discovers Quinn’s ex-wife is angling for revenge, Bailey’s tossed in the deep end along with her sexiest enemy.

Title: Clam Jam
Series: Standalone
Author: R.C. Boldt
Stars: 4.5 out of 5
For fans of: NA, Romantic Comedy, Roommate Romance
Blurb:
Clam Jam 
Definition: the female equivalent of a cock block. 
Example: You're chatting with a guy you're interested in and your friend comes along and lays claim to him. 

Maggie
That's my life except it's worse. My friend who keeps jamming me is my gay roommate, and if that isn't a W.T.F. moment, I'm not sure what is. 
Fact: He went home with three yes, three of the guys I had been so sure were into me. 
Fact: He's really pissing me off. I mean, hello? I'm trying to get back in the saddle, but I'll never manage to get a boyfriend before the age of fifty if he keeps this up. 
Fact: Secretly, I wonder what it would be like if he weren't gay. Why do all the hot, sweet, tender-hearted guys have to be gay? 
Fact: My gay-dar needs a serious tune-up. 


Ry
The day I interviewed for the room to rent, everything changed. I knew I had met the girl, except there was one small problem: she didn't want anything to do with men. I recognized a top-notch force field when I saw one. She'd been burned badly and didn't want to deal with a heterosexual guy as a roommate. I could've turned around and found another place to live, but I wanted to live there with her. 
So I had to go undercover. 
Fact: I'm in love with my roommate. 
Fact: I'm a likely candidate for carpal tunnel surgery since all the action I've had for the past year has been my hand. 
Fact: She's going to hate me if I come clean now. 
Fact: I'm not giving up. Which means I'll just have to continue to run defense until I figure out a way to get Maggie to see the real me. 
The me that loves her. 
The me that would never do her wrong. 
Until then, I'll keep running off every guy who shows any interest. 
Until then, I'll continue to Clam Jam. 

Title: Trigger 
Series: Origin #1
Author: Scarlett Dawn
Stars: 4 out of 5
For fans of: NA, Post-apocalyptic, Shifters, Soul-mates
Blurb:
New York Times bestselling author, Scarlett Dawn, has created a fresh and magical new adventure for romance and paranormal lovers alike. Shifters rule the world through corporations after the humans all but destroyed Earth. It's too bad humans are still oblivious. They have no clue terrifying beasts run their broken world.

And then along came a human. A beautiful and klutzy human.

She's the trigger the shifters have been waiting for...
But beware of the soul-sucking darkness soon to follow.

"Falling for Them" Book Review

Title: Falling for Them
Series: Standalone Anthology
Authors: See Below
Stars: 4 out of 5 (overall)
Book Blurb:
Indulge in 10 all-new reverse harem stories from New York Times, USA Today, and bestselling authors, as well as up-and-coming indie authors. This collection of modern, paranormal, and sci-fi romances is sure to satisfy every palate. Whether you love to turn up the heat with a spicy romance, or savor a sweet love story, Falling for Them has it all. On sale for a limited time, all proceeds will go to charity. Help us make a difference for the new year by doing what you love…meeting our guys.

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Special Note: On February 16th, Falling for Them will no longer be available for purchase. The royalties will be tallied, and the authors will send their donation to St Jude Children's Hospital. Many of the authors will be releasing their stories as standalone books, so the stories will still be available, just not as a collection. So, if you want to get all of these stories in one book, hurry and order your copy of Falling for Them now!

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Falling for Them is an anthology featuring 10 reverse harem original stories and 2 reverse harem novel samples. The stories are NA so the romance and sex scenes can get pretty explicit. I found some of the works included in the anthology more enjoyable than others, but overall this was a very entertaining anthology and it's great that the proceeds go to charity. It's difficult to review this book as a whole, so I've written mini reviews for each story instead below in the order that they appear in the book.

4.5 stars: Raising the Stakes - Autumn Reed & Julia Clarke
I really liked Emma, the main character, whose journalism background came in handy as she investigated the three swoon-worthy love interests who suspiciously all start pursuing her the same night when she meets them at a trendy club in Vegas. The story is well-written and well-paced. It was instant attraction between Emma and the guys, but the relationships took more work, which I appreciated. I also appreciated that, while this story was short, it was complete; no cliff hanger ending here! But I wouldn't mind seeing more of Emma, Cole, Nicholas, and Shane should the authors choose to write another story! ;) 

3.5 stars: Meeting Them - Rebecca Royce
This story is set in the Wings of Artemis world but you don't need to have read any of the other books to understand this story (I should know...I haven't read any of the other Wings of Artemis books but I'm thinking I will now!). Paloma has had a pretty rough life - she was sent to a convent as a teen where she faced endless abuse - but it hasn't broken her. One day, Clay McQueen comes to warn the Sisters that they are in danger, but they send him away and as he's leaving he is almost killed by a falling rock, but Paloma saves him. Soon after, the worst happens and the convent is blown up but Paloma escapes and finds refuge with Clay and his brothers, Thomas, Quinn, and Keith. But the McQueen brothers are hiding a dangerous secret. This was another complete story, but set up for a sequel. One thing I found disappointing was that while Paloma was strong in that she never let circumstances keep her down, she was too passive and the guys were always riding in to save the day. 

2.5 stars: Finding Nora - Ripley Proserpina 
Nora is another unlucky character with a difficult life. This story has a very interesting premise. Nora was substitute teaching when one of her past foster brothers comes to the school and starts shooting, then kills himself. Nora saves her students but is injured and then becomes a major suspect. Though she was eventually cleared, she was vilified and now can't find anyone willing to hire her and many people are scared or suspicious of her though she was a victim. Luckily, she's got a great group of supportive guys in her life and it was great seeing the group's dynamics. I was frustrated though, because I felt like I was starting the story halfway in. Turns out, there is a first book where we see the shooting happen and how the guys come into her life, so maybe it's better to read that first. Nora was also in a really sketchy study and everything about it gave me bad vibes but Nora didn't seem as cautious or skeeved out as she should be. This story also didn't feel complete; I felt left hanging at the end which was disappointing. 

4.5 Stars: The Four Clever Brothers - Amy Sumida
This was a fun story written in the style of a fairy tale. Adelysia is a princess of a small kingdom kidnapped by a dragon prince. I was frustrated at first because she doesn't put up a fight at all in the beginning, instead she figures she would have been married off to someone eventually with no choice so why put up a fight against this guy even though he repulses her? She does redeem herself and grow more of a backbone thank goodness, but after the four clever brothers use their magical mermaid gifts to save her from the dragons. The relationships between Adelysia and the brothers is great, but I also really liked the relationship between her and her parents. This was also a cliff-hanger free, complete story.

4 Stars: House of Glass - Lyn Forester
This was an interesting, futuristic story featuring Caitlyn Lonette, aka Sparks, who races disc-bikes against the wishes of her Councilman father. He sends her to the Academia for Planetary Alliance to follow in his footsteps, and the day she arrives at the school, she meets Blaze, Vice, and Rush, who turn out to be her biggest competitors from the disc-bike races. The guys' dynamics is great and Sparks fits in well, and quickly. The world is intriguing and though their is enough world-building for readers to understand the story and what's going on, I am curious to know more. While this is a complete story, the ending wasn't entirely satisfying for me and even though Sparks knew the guys before they interact at school, they were competitors that she didn't interact with outside of the races so I'm not entirely sold by how quickly the romance develops between them all at the school. Still, I was very entertained by the story and I look forward to reading the next Poisoned Houses story. 

3.5 Stars: Another Move - RM Walker
This book started out great, but ended on a cliff-hanger, which is a big pet peeve of mine. Lily's mom is an artist so they are constantly moving so her mom can find new inspiration and complete commissions. Also complicating matters is that Lily has seizures. This time, Lily's mom has a long-term painting project so Lily has a chance to put down some roots and make friends. Lily quickly captures the attention of Joshua, Jacob, Matt, and Nate and they pull her into their tight-knit group. There is plenty of intrigue as the guys have a secret, Lily's seizures may be more than they seem, and a mysterious man has sinister intentions towards Lily. All of this exciting stuff is revealed, however, near the very end and the resolution doesn't come until the next story. I've got a lot of questions about some of the information revealed that I feel could have been explained better or more in depth, but hopefully I will get some answers when the next installment is released.

2.5 stars: Precursor - AJ Anders
This story had a lot of promise but failed in the execution. There were many editing errors and I found the world-building lacking. The story is set in the United States and Evie lives in an anti-Surmata (the Surmata are some kind of paranormal beings) resistance camp, which her cruel father leads. Evie hates the camp and doesn't believe in the resistance and is biding her time until she turns 18 and can escape. Her best friend, Max, is a half-Surmata spying on the camp. Through Max, she meets other Surmata but an encounter with a demon planned by her father and Dominic, a leader in the camp who wants her, causes her to lose all memory of her Surmata friends. The story ends with a disappointing cliff-hanger. I was really interested in the story, but was distracted by errors in the writing and found myself with too many questions. 

2.5 Stars: Ellie's Bears - G.E. Kelly
This story features Ellie and the three shape-shifting bears she befriended as a toddler and comes to love as men. While the premise was very interesting, this was another story that didn't meet the mark for me. The writing and dialogue didn't always flow well and I found Ellie annoying at times. One good note is that the story is complete and doesn't have a cliff-hanger!

3 Stars: One Greedy Fool - AS Oren
This story also features the paranormal, which I enjoyed. Sincerity, or Hope as she prefers, is another strong character making the best of some tough circumstances. At the beginning of the story we learn that she is homeless and interning for a P.I. because she'd like to become a P.I. herself and find her parents. Soon she gets a night shift working at a prison guarding none other than the seven deadly sins. Talk about interesting! I appreciate how strong Hope is and how she doesn't mope around and feel sorry for herself and act passively, instead she works to change things. The story is also really original. Still, I had a lot of questions revolving around this world that the author created and was confused about many things. There were also some editing/formatting issues that I found distracting. 

4 Stars: Favored - C.L. Stone
This story seems to be set in an Asian alternate world with magical elements. The old emperor died and there is a big selection process being held in the Immortal City to pick who will be advisers to the new emperor. Mizuki, the main character, is eligible to go and try for the position. With the help of Ryuu, an old classmate and another candidate, Mrs. Satsu, her sponsor, and Sota, her escort, Mizuki travels to the Immortal City and prepares for the selection process. I liked the characters, the world, and the elements of intrigue. This story, of all of the stories in the anthology, is the lightest on romance. This story is complete and ends with the conclusion of the selection process, but is set up for another story. I personally would like to know what happens next!

Love is Not Lost by ikki Bolvair and Charcoal Tears by Jane Washington are sample chapters from already published books. Because they are only samples and not full stories, I am not reviewing them in this post.

Full disclosure: I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review