* * NEW SERIES ANNOUNCEMENT * *

The Pittsburgh Titans organization suffered a devastating loss when their team plane crashed, killing all forty-one passengers aboard. This January, the team gets one step closer to getting back on the ice when Baden Oulett joins the coaching staff.

The Pittsburgh Titans series will bring the same hot hockey hunks and strong heroines that readers expect from Sawyer Bennett but will turn up the feelings and emotions.

● Baden: A new city, a second chance.

● Stone: A minor league player whose big break comes after his younger brother died in the crash.

● Gage: A player at the end of his career who struggles to bring the team together.

● Coen: A broken man spiraling out of control with survivor’s guilt.

● Drake: The goalie who walked away from the league after they turned their backs on him.

The first FIVE books are all plotted and ready to go, and you can preorder the first THREE now!  Get full series details: https://sawyerbennett.com/bookstore/the-pittsburgh-titans-series

#preorder/add to your TBR now:

Baden – January 11, 2022

After suffering a horrific injury that threatens to end his career, Baden Oulett is about to learn that sometimes a fresh start is just what the doctor ordered.

I worked my whole life to achieve one goal—play professional hockey. As part of the defending Cup champion Arizona Vengeance, I was living my dream until one split second decision destroyed it all. Instead of lacing up my skates and hitting the ice, I’ve spent my days in rehab and physical therapy just so I could walk again. When a coaching opportunity with the Pittsburgh Titans is presented to me, I find myself with a career I had never considered but which allows me to continue being part of the sport that I love. While my injuries are physical, the same can’t be said for the woman I rescued. Suffering from wounds that can’t be seen, Sophie Winters has withdrawn from the world in fear and guilt. I didn’t know Sophie before that fateful night and have only met her once since, but I refuse to let her face her demons alone. Determined to be a friend, I support Sophie in the only way I know how… by simply being there. Through our shared trauma, Sophie and I begin to find peace within one another. As we grow closer, what started as friendship becomes more intimate until our broken pieces become one. But can a love born of anguish endure, or will the pain of our past prove too much to overcome?

Stone – March 1, 2022

Minor league player Stone Dumelin lost his younger brother when the Titans’ team plane went down. Now the team has offered him the opportunity of a lifetime, but is his big break worth the price?      

Gage – July 26, 2022

Veteran player Gage Heyward retired from the league three years ago following a very successful career. Now the Titans need him, but does he have what it takes to get back on the ice and pull this team together?      

Coen – December 20, 2022

Coen Highsmith was a league star, but he lost more than his team the day the Titans’ plane crashed. Can he be saved from his downward spiral of guilt and regret to become the man he once was?      

Drake – March 28, 2023

Drake McGinn turned his back on hockey and settled into life as a single dad of three after the league betrayed him. Will the Titans be his chance to clear his name and take back the career he once loved?      

About the Author:

New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal Bestselling author Sawyer Bennett uses real life experience to create relatable stories that appeal to a wide array of readers. From contemporary romance, fantasy romance, and both women’s and general fiction, Sawyer writes something for just about everyone. A former trial lawyer from North Carolina, when she is not bringing fiction to life, Sawyer is a chauffeur, stylist, chef, maid, and personal assistant to her very adorable daughter, as well as full-time servant to her wonderfully naughty dogs. If you’d like to receive a notification when Sawyer releases a new book, sign up for her newsletter (sawyerbennett.com/signup).

Connect with Sawyer:

✦ Facebook: http://bit.ly/Sawyer_FB

✦ Reader group: http://bit.ly/Sawyer_NEP

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I hadn't dared hoped for another Superior Spider-Man reboot; the first one was overly ambitious, and yet paid off so much.  Then again, it completely replaced Peter Parker with Otto Octavious and this was the overly part of the overly ambitious.   It condemned Parker to an ugly death and elevated Octavious to the one, true Spider-Man, declaring him not only that but superior.   And so this also doomed that series.  

Parker was beloved, and while people might have loved to hate Octavius, to see him attempting to be heroic wearing Parker's face?   It was galling.   And yet I adored Octavius and while I was merely amused by his antics at first, I saw just how much changing how the world treated him changed him.   How seeing the world from a hero's eyes changed him. 

And I fell in love. 

So imagine my delight when not only does Octavius - using a new name - as Spider-Man came back.   Now imagine how lovely it was to find this meet my expectations, even surpass them. 

This is a wonderful series that tries to tackle the implications of the lies Octavius had to tell to make in the world as Spider-Man, all the while being the hero he had hoped to be before.   And the wrinkles are just so much fun as he fights for the world.   I loved to hate him as a villain, and now I love to root him on a hero even more.   Doc Ock?  He really is my superior Spider-Man!

Book source ~ Library

Buffy and gang have been living their life in the wake of the last big near-apocalypse. Magical creatures are laying low and life is quiet. Buffy and Spike have broken up, Dawn and Xander are married with a baby and living in the burbs of San Fran, Giles is his old self again, and Willow is teaching women how to empower themselves. But something big is coming. Bigger than anything they’ve ever faced before. And they’ll need everyone on board to stop it.

This graphic novel says Volume One, but it feels an awful like The End to me. I know I read that Joss Whedon and Dark Horse were parting ways after Season 12, but I’m not sure if there will be a Volume Two to this one. Maybe?

I’m really not happy with the fast forward. What the fuck? So many changes and no explanations. Then Angel and Illyria show up and I find out they are lovers? Again, I say wtf?! Where is all this coming from? Apparently the Angel and other comics have some major shit going on that I missed.

What I like about this last gasp: The humor, the appearance of some major characters, the fight scenes.

What I don’t like: the fast forward, the huge changes dumped on me with no explanation, a lot of the artwork is just…off. There were many times I couldn’t tell who was who in this. Ugh.

I really get the feeling this is it – the end. So, good-bye, my friends. I’ll miss you.

I wasn't 100% sure about this series, but I liked the concept enough of having Doc Ock as the Spider-Man to subscribe to this series. 

Given what happened with him, and his girlfriend Anna, I understand why she wouldn't want to be involved with him, and why she's so unhappy with his new deception.   And so it might make sense to keep her out of this, but it's delicious to watch her struggle with the implications of having a new, cloned Otto Octavius - living under a new name - and her knowledge of who he is.   Is he going to prove that he wants to do good to her?   I think he already is, and this makes her secret knowledge that much more of a cross to bear. 

And yet, as sucky as it is for her, it's damn good drama.   It's handled deftly and I'm glad the author found a good way to bring her back into the fold. 

The art is pretty fabulous, but it's not different enough to be a favorite.   Phil Noto, Alex Maleev, and others have a painterly, or different style, that make them stand out as top tier favorites.   While this art is spectacular, it looks very same-y to many other comics. Gorgeous, and I can tell many artists apart from decades of reading comics, but I think this would blend into the general 'standard comic style' for novices.   (And yes, I've been told that all comic book art looks the same to novices, who struggle with the fact that details differentiate.)

4.5

Book source ~ Library

Buffy, Willow, and Spike are still in the “Safe Zone” (i.e. internment camp) out in the Grand Canyon. They know the gov’t is up to something nefarious, but they need to escape to figure out what. When all of the magical creatures are given the option to become “normal” most take it just to get out of the terrible living situation. But there are those who can’t live without their magic (and those who choose not to), so Buffy and Willow give up their magic to get outside. After that, it’s all about Hannibal Smithing. You know, loving when a plan comes together. Because they do have a plan, right? Right?

The thing about Buffy and her Scoobies is, they usually have a workable plan. So you have to kinda go on faith (not that Faith) that what they come up with will work. I wasn’t so sure about this one. I was kept in the dark the entire time as to what the plan might  be so I worried it was going to go all FUBAR. Luckily, it mostly didn’t. Ok, that’s also typical of their plans. In any case, well done! Also, I love the artwork. Gorgeous!