Destructively Mine by Krista and Becca Ritchie Review

 

* This review is spoiler-free *

5/5 ⭐

Blurb

As the daughter of a con artist, Phoebe Graves only knew a life of swindling the rich until her best friend and fellow grifter, Hailey Tinrock, proposed an idea to start a new, honest life in a wealthy college town of Connecticut. Once there, they decided to leave behind their deceitful tricks and be truthful for once. But you know what they say about best intentions. . . .

While Phoebe is fake-dating Jake Waterford, the third-born son to an uber-wealthy and influential family, she’s actually dating and falling deeper in love with Brayden “Rocky” Tinrock—Hailey’s older brother. To make matters more complicated, Phoebe’s mother shows up out of the blue with conniving match-making designs of her own.

Her mother’s arrival threatens to unravel Phoebe’s plans. To keep her love, her friends, and her newfound happiness, Phoebe will have to return to her old games . . . and win.

Best Quote From the Book

“Like I'm an open book, when I feel like I've always lived untouched and lost on a dusty shelf. How long has he held the pages of who I am? How long has he loved each messy line? How long have I loved the pages of who he is?"

LGBTQ+ Representation

4/5 🌈

This book does contain bisexual and pansexual representation via the main characters. I like that it is just part of them and isn't made a big deal. I do wish it were a bit more impactful for their storylines, but other than that, zero complaints. 

My Thoughts

I am well and truly obsessed with this book and these characters. Which should come as no surprise if you are at all familiar with my review of the first book in the series. I was obsessed with them then, I'm still obsessed now. They are the perfect morally grey characters that have me totally rooting for them while still questioning their choices. This one is even more twisted than the first, with more exciting and dark characters added to the mix. I don't think it is possible to be more invested in a group of characters than I am with these guys. I will be very impatiently awaiting the third book in the series. 

There is a delicious amount of tension throughout this story. Both between Rocky and Phoebe and the stakes they are in. This is masterfully interwoven with funny moments to create an addictive story. It has me swooning, laughing, crying, and everything in between. Which is a testament to how much these characters mean to me. 

My only complaint is that this story included another "event that shall not be discussed and will only be referred to by the location it occurred." Thankfully, the suspense doesn't last nearly as long in this one. 

This book does contain spice that is well-intertwined with the plot. If that is not your thing, I do not recommend this book because it is a key part of the characterization. I will also say, this was some of the most respectful and communicative spice I've ever read. I wish this were the norm in books because it was legitimately healthy in that way.

Overall, it sums up to the fact that this book has left me an emotional wreck, and I'm thankful for it. If you are looking for morally grey characters you are gonna care about, I highly recommend this series. 

I received this book as an ARC from Valentine PR. My review is honest and voluntary.

Text Appeal by Kylie Scott Review

 

3.25/5 ⭐

Tropes

➮ Small town

➮ Fake dating

➮ Grumpy x sunshine

Synopsis

Romance author Riley always dreamed of living by the water. Within a day of landing in Port Stewart, she's getting calls and texts for some dude on her new number. Weird ones. Sad ones. Sexy ones. Ones that make her want to meet him. For curiosity's sake...if nothing else.

After years of being on-again-off-again with his high school sweetheart, Connor wants to move on. If only everyone in Port Stewart agreed. What he needs is to be seen with someone else. So when fate puts him in the path of the new girl who got his old number, faking it seems like the solution.

Spending time with him might be great research for Riley’s romance writing…if only she can keep her feelings in check. The more she gets to know him, the harder she’s falling. Can their serendipitous meeting turn into something real and true?

My Thoughts

I have a bit of mixed feelings about this one. It wasn't bad by any means, it was just incredibly unoriginal. Everything in this book has been done before many times over. Nothing makes it special or unique in any way. I really wanted something more from it. 

For a book called Text Appeal, I wanted a lot more text conversations. While there were some, I was really wanting more of them. The texting aspect is what inspired me to pick this one up in the first place so I was sad to see how lackluster it ended up being. I've seen other books include way more text conversations and more entertaining ones that weren't advertised in that way. 

All of this said it was a solid story. If you are looking for a predictable small-town fake dating romance, this one has you covered. The characters are nice enough and it checks all expected boxes. I just simply wanted more or at least something to make this story stand out more. I'll be honest here, in a week's time, I will not remember this one at all. That's okay! Not every read is going to be earth-shattering or life-altering. 

There was one element of the book that made me really pissed. This is a spoiler warning for the rest of this paragraph. He gave her fucking breakup oral. Who the actual hell does that and doesn't expect to be stomped in the face as a result? Riley then suddenly forgives him and commits to a man who is very much not ready to actually be in a relationship. It was so toxic and frankly gross. He leaves a toxic woman, only to become toxic himself. 

This book does have a few spicy scenes but they can be skipped without missing any plot. 

Overall, this book was incredibly basic but not terrible (minus the ending). If you are looking for a predictable read, I can recommend it. It isn't making any waves nor is it very impactful but not everyone is looking for that all the time. 

I received this book as an arc from Valentine PR. My review is honest and voluntary. 

Light 'em Up by Kelly Jamieson Review

 

* This review is spoiler-free *

4.75/5 ⭐

Tropes

➮ Hockey romance

➮ Enemies to lovers

➮ Matchmaking

➮ One night stand

➮ Brother's rival

➮ Workplace romance

➮ Dual POV

Synopsis

Annie is thrilled to be working in professional hockey since her brothers are all players. Her new role as skating coach to the New York Bears is the perfect fit. Except one of the guys is Logan Coates—the guy who sent her brother to the hospital in a memorable game three seasons ago. She wants nothing to do with him.

Logan doesn't need some tiny figure skater telling him what to do. Although he's a fourth-liner, he wants more ice time. Learning from Annie Bang, who hates his guts. She’s a pint-sized badass, that's sexy as hell.

Best Quote From the Book

“Your cold hands aren't getting anywhere near my beefy baloney"... my man-sized manicotti... zipper sausage? How about love stick? Magic wand?"

My Thoughts

I adored this story for including a badass woman doing better than all of the men around her. Of course she's faster with less effort, that's how queens do it! But seriously, she's a FMC we can all look up to who knows her worth and doesn't take any flack from the boys. I love to see it. While she is a petite woman, she doesn't let that become her whole personality. She is also iconic for standing up for figure skating and getting some skin in the game. Overall she's a fun character who I would love to be friends with.

 

Speaking of iconic, Logan and Ivan are iconic for loving country music. I love seeing two strong men in sports unafraid to show their love for music which is often teased. I adore Ivan, he needs his own series just so he can be his amazing quippy self. Another character I would adore being friends with. This book does a great job of demonstrating a platonic relationship full of trust with physicality purely from the nature of figure skating. We need more really close best friends who really have no feelings for each other.

The only thing I wasn't fully in love with was how there were moments that highly promoted good communication amongst everyone but it felt like it wasn't as fleshed out as it could be. The moment everyone starts talking, it all gets resolved. In reality, I feel like there would be more pushback and would take more time to get there, especially for Logan and his father. 

This book seems to me like it would be fantastic adapted into a movie. I'd especially love to see Annie and Ivan's skating routine to the song Beggin' as I just know it would be incredible. Or all of the cute moments such as Logan's jealousy that I will not spoil despite how much I want to gush about them. 

I will say this book does include open-door spice and a good bit of it. That said, if you don't find that cumbersome, it can be skipped

Overall, this book does a great job with lovable characters with personalities, flaws, and complex character dynamics more indicative of real life than the average romance. It would be fantastic as a movie and was an engaging read from cover to cover.

I received this book as part of a Literary Media Tours arc team. My review is honest and voluntary

The Other Murder by Kevin Chapman Review

* This review is spoiler-free *

4/5 ⭐

Tropes

➮ Multiple POVs

➮ Butterfly effect

Synopsis

Hannah Hawthorne is a cable news producer who is looking to revive her career. Paulo is a local newspaper reporter looking to bring more attention to the lives of locals. When an NYU sophomore is found dead in Central Park a frenzy ensues. Paulo wants to shed light on the other murder in the park that night, Hannah wants to solve the case, the media wants the juiciest story, the police want to keep the public out, and the people involved want to fly under the radar. The Other Murder follows all of their perspectives as the two murders bring these people together. 

Best Quote From the Book

“Hannah kept chasing the tentacles of the Angelica Monroe story, which were spreading out in every possible direction."

My Thoughts

This book follows the perspectives of at least seven characters. That said, it is all written in the third person. It was like there were a lot of different side plots like a TV  show yet every perspective unravels the main plot. At first, these many perspectives got a bit confusing as I was getting to know all of the characters. That said, it was totally worth it to get the rich depth about the two murders from the lens of many different people all with different motives. 

My biggest qualm with this book is that it is set in the active present. More specifically, modern-day truly 2024. There was a brief mention of the pandemic and I have to be honest it took me out of the book for a good bit. I would've liked it more if the book was set in the present without such clear and distinct time markers making it feel too, meta. 

This book does an INCREDIBLE job of demonstrating how one incident can shape the lives of many people. The deaths of Angelica and Javier connected so many people who would've never given each other a second chance otherwise. It goes to show how powerful the butterfly effect can be. One brief moment directly and indirectly shaped the lives of many people forever. I wonder how many indirect events have shaped the direction of my life?

I am not sure why exactly this happened but I did find myself starting to make much slower progress with the book at about the halfway point and beyond. Perhaps that was the point where the story started to become much more complex and took me longer to process. 

There is one moment at the end of the book I just, cannot forgive. All I will say is why Paulo, why would you do that? That alone knocked the book down a quarter of a star because it just seemed so insane and out of character. 

Thought-provoking book club questions. If you do give this book a chance, I would love to hear what you think about what this book has to say about the criminal justice system and reporting. I didn't dive into that aspect in my review because it didn't really shape my opinion of the book. 

In sum, this book stands out a lot to me as a part of the mystery genre. I greatly appreciate the power of the many perspectives around the murders. Hearing from so many voices provided so much richness and variety while all being about the ramifications of about 15 minutes if that.