Title: Blackthorn

Author: JT Geissinger

---

BLURB

You never forget your first love. Especially when he’s also your worst nightmare.

Twelve years ago, Maven Blackthorn fled her small hometown, leaving behind the wreckage of her mother’s suspicious death. But now, drawn back for her grandmother’s funeral, Maven steps onto Blackthorn soil once more, only to find herself thrust into a fresh nightmare: her grandmother’s body has vanished.

The Blackthorns immediately suspect the Crofts—the ruthless titans of Croft Pharmaceuticals, whose bitter blood feud with the Blackthorns has spanned generations. But when Maven comes face-to-face with Ronan Croft, the son of her mother’s suspected killer and the only man she ever loved, she discovers the forbidden passion they once shared is as alive—and dangerous—as ever.

As long-buried family secrets claw their way to the surface, betrayal lurks behind every whisper, and old vendettas ignite anew. The deeper Maven digs for answers, the more treacherous the game becomes. And the one man she can never seem to escape is hiding a truth that could burn their whole world down.

In a town where the dead won’t stay buried, is love salvation…or the deadliest game of all?

Blackthorn is a page-turning gothic romance with darker themes and scenes that may not be suitable for everyone. Please see the author’s content note at the beginning of the book.

Maven and her daughter return to Maven’s hometown for her grandmother’s funeral….and lordy, it all happens!

~ A weird family, well 2 really.
~ Family feuds
~ A scary house
~ Missing bodies
~ Secrets, lies and outright untruths
~ Forbidden love
~ Scathing banter
~ Rekindling romance (or obsession/lust!)
~ Mysterious circumstances
~ A gothicy, very dark romance

It was eerie and I admit I was intrigued and scared!

I liked no-nonsense Maven and Roman was delish, he was a dirty boy!

The last 20-ish percent was wild. WILD. What was happening. It was just crazy. What the heck did I just read?! I mean it was, I don’t even know the word. But I couldn’t look away. Now I dont know what was real and what wasn’t…..world of the strange.

All I can say is beware the content warnings.

---

Sound like something you’d like?

I read this series between 2022/23 and remember really liking it! Recently, my friend has started to read it and I went back and looked at the series and thought I’d post about it.

The Bonds That Tie series by J Bree

My ratings:

Broken Bonds ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Savage Bonds ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Blood Bonds ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Forced Bonds ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Tragic Bonds ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Unbroken Bonds ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Basically what we have here is a girl who a central in a bonded group – all have some sort of power and they are all strong. She ran away after an incident before she met them for reasons we find out slowly in each book.

The guys are hot and lust after her due to the bond, it’s a bit dark, an RH but you don’t really see much ‘action’ until book 3 but it’s not overdone at all!

Have you read it? Sound like something you’d be interested in?

Top Ten Tuesday is featured by That Artsy Reader Girl. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Topic: Modern Books You Think Will Be Classics In The Future

I mean, I don’t think these will be classics, but one can dream!!!!!

Anything Shadowhunters by Cassandra Clare
Anything TJ Klune
Servant of Earth by Sarah Hawley
Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas
Illuminae Files by Jay Kristoff
The Three Series by Kristen Ashley
ACOTAR by Sarah J Maas
Nevernight by Jay Kristoff

 

Have you read any of these?

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted by Caffeinated Reviewer  It’s a chance to share news, a post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received.

I hope you had a great week!

What a week! I was officially discharged from the eye hospital — my pressure is finally down! They think it was caused by the steroids, and now that I’ve stopped taking them, everything has settled. Such a relief!

I also treated myself to a pedicure, which was absolutely lovely. And even though I spent two days battling a migraine, I still managed to get through two audiobooks!

---

🎧 Fallen City by Adrienne Young
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

🎧 Blackthorn by JT Geissinger
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

See my reviews soon!

---

Unboxing – Afterlight October
Review – Fallen City by Adrienne Young
Feature – December releases

---

Feature – Remember, Remember
Review – Blackthorn by JT Geissinger

What have you read lately?

Here’s what’s tantalising me that’s releasing in December…

It’s slim pickings nearly every December, and this year is no exception – one book!

Better in Black by Cassandra Clare

Will you be getting this?

Title: Fallen City

Series: Fallen City #1

Author: Adrienne Young

---

BLURB

Luca Matius has one purpose—to carry on the family name, maintaining its presence in the Forum once his powerful and cruel uncle dies. But his noviceship with the city’s Philosopher places him in the middle of a catastrophe that will alter the destiny of his people.

Maris Casoeria was raised amidst the strategic maneuvers of the Citadel’s inner workings, and she knows what her future holds—a lifetime of service to a corrupt city. But her years of serving as a novice to the last Priestess who possesses the stolen magic of the Old War has made her envision a different kind of future for the city. When she meets Luca, a fated chain of events is set into motion that will divinely entangle their lives.

As a secret comes to light and throws the city into chaos, Luca and Maris hatch a plot to create a calculated alliance that could tip the scales of power. But when an execution forces Luca to become the symbol of rebellion, he and Maris are thrown onto opposite sides of a holy war. As their fates diverge, they learn they are at the center of a story the gods are writing. And even if they can find their way back to each other, there may be nothing left.

‘When a legionnaire falls in love with a Magistrate’s daughter, their love will threaten the fate of the city and the will of the gods.’

The premise of this had me dying to dive into this read!

Let’s start with what I did like:
~ Luca
~ The concept
~ The pacing was perfect
~ The forbidden love, the tension
~ The political intrigue and war.

However, there was something that I didn’t get on with. The plot jumped back and forth in time and, maybe it was just because I was listening to the audiobook, but I found myself getting a bit lost. I’ve read plenty of books with dual timelines before, but in this case, I kept rewinding and relistening just to keep track of what was happening, which took away some of my enjoyment.

The ending was left open for the next book and I’m hoping that I enjoy it!

---

Sound like something you’d like?

Top Ten Tuesday is featured by That Artsy Reader Girl. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Topic: Books I Enjoyed that Were Outside My Comfort Zone

I actually think it’s good to occasionally read outside your niche because you never know if you’re missing out on some fab books.

Primarily, I’m now a fantasy, romantasy, sci-fi reader and I don’t really read contemporary romance anymore. But, over the years, I’ve read quite a few, probably more on the darker side! So here’s some of my faves!

Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
Wildfire by Hannah Grace
Lizzie and Belle Mysteries by JT Williams
My Killer Vacation by Tessa Bailey
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Cash’s Fight by Jamie Begley
Raw by Belle Aurora
Untouchable by Sam Mariano
Fear Me by BB Reid
Ride Steady by Kristen Ashley

 

Have you read any of these?

AFTERLIGHT – October 25

Theme – Locked Out of Heaven

We’re locked out of heaven, but hell is hotter with you here.

✨ Adult standalone paranormal romance
✨ Enemies to lovers
✨ Poly romance

Son of the Morning by Akwaeke Emezi

✨ An exclusive redesigned cover (art by @hillarydwilsonart; design by @perrycuffdesigns)
✨ Full colour and foil on the hardback (by @perrycuffdesigns)
✨ Digitally printed edges (by @perrycuffdesigns)
✨ Illustrated endpapers (by @gbenle_maverick); different front and back
✨ Bound-in author letter
✨ Digitally signed by the author

---

BLURB

Tenderhearted Galilee was raised by the Kincaids, a formidable clan of Black women sequestered deep in the weeping willows and dark rushing creeks of their land. Galilee has always known that she’s different—that there is an old and unknowable secret around her very existence. It has been a hollow ache inside her since her childhood, something she assumes she will always have to live with.

Until she meets Lucifer Helel. He’s fronting as the head of security for her wealthy friend Oriaku’s family, protecting a mysterious, ancient artifact, but from the moment she lays eyes on him, Gali knows he’s not human. From her first incendiary touch, Lucifer knows something even Gali herself doesn’t—that she isn’t human either. 

Leviathan. As Lucifer’s most trusted prince of Hell, Levi is ruthless and determined to eliminate the intolerable danger that is Galilee before she brings death and disaster to those he loves. While unseen battles rage between Hell, Heaven, and earth, Lucifer and Galilee’s attraction threatens to bring all the structures of their existence crashing down around them.

Soon, loyalties will be shattered and reformed as Kincaid secrets clash with the princes of Hell, driving even the most powerful to their knees. Galilee Kincaid must decide if she will step into herself and embrace the consequences of power in this astonishing, seductive, and wildly original fantasy.

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted by Caffeinated Reviewer  It’s a chance to share news, a post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received.

I hope you had a great week!

Firstly, it was a great reading week – 2 five star reads!

It was back to work for me after a week off, it was firework night aka Guy Fawkes so we had fireworks in the garden along with hot dogs and I started my Christmas shopping!!!!

I’ve got an eye hospital appointment tomorrow to see if the high pressure has gone after my op. I don’t think it has as my eye keeps twinging so shall see what happens!

---

🎧 We Fell Apart by E Lockhart
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

🎧 The House Saphir by Marissa Meyer
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

See my reviews soon!

---

Review – We Fell Apart by E Lockhart
Calendar – Firework Night aka Guy Fawkes!
Stacking the Shelves – October

---

Review – We Fell Apart by E Lockhart
Feature – December releases

What have you read lately?