Book source ~ Purchased

Miss Melissa Atwell has been confined to her suite of rooms ever since her mother died of a fever when she was 3. Her step-father, Rupert Atwell, only wanted to protect her, but for 18 years she’s been isolated from the world. With her father’s death and the sale of the manor and lands, her uncle George, the Earl of Braddock, has come to collect her, take her under his wing, and find her a husband. He’s hired a companion for her, Diane Stanhope, to help with this task and act as chaperone. His son, John, the Viscount of Willington has agreed to help by providing a list of his friends who would be suitable. Problem is, he’s beginning to think he wants her for himself and Melissa feels the same. But society thinks they are first cousins and therefore unsuitable to marry. There’s no one alive who knows who her real father is, so there’s the added stigma of being a bastard when they figure out she is not a true Atwell. What a mess.

I loved two other books in this series so I thought I would love this one, too. But I just can’t. I feel bad for Melissa, having been tucked away from everything and thinking her whole life that if she goes outside or touches anyone without gloves that she’ll die. Her father did her no favors keeping her locked away even if his intentions were good, that he wanted to keep her away from her true father. But other than feeling sorry for Melissa, I just don’t like her. Or John. They just feel off to me. Oh, well. The story isn’t horrible, it’s just my own personal feelings that bring my rating down. Secondary characters are pretty good and the villain is shudder-worthy. Ugh. So give it a try and see what you think. Maybe you’ll like it a whole lot more than I do and that will make me feel better.

Book source ~ NetGalley

Ever since her brother was wrongfully arrested, convicted, and sent to prison, Rachel Wainwright has fought for those she feels gets shafted by Lady Justice. As a public defender she gets a lot of those cases and she gets the occasional Innocence Project client, too. She has taken on the 30-year-old case of Jeb Jones, a man put away for murder. He has steadfastly declared his innocence and has been petitioning for his DNA to be tested for over a decade and getting nowhere. Enter the Innocence Project and Rachel. Does she think he’s innocent? It’s not up to her. Her job is to get the DNA tested now that such a test is available. After that? Well, one step at a time.

Detective Derek Morgan inherited the case from his late father. The Jeb Jones case is the one that made his dad’s career so he’s understandably pissed that the DNA test is calling his dad’s integrity into question. But the law is the law, so he sent it in. And the wait for results begins. In the meantime, he has cases to solve, including the brutal bludgeoning murder of an aspiring singer. But that’s not the only murder he’ll need to solve as bodies start dropping like flies and the only connection he can find is Rachel Wainwright. Uh, oh…

This is one hell of a twisty turny tale! It held my attention from the first chapter all the way to the end. I even stayed up way past my bedtime trying to finish it. That’s a rare thing for me since I love my sleep. The characters are awesome, the world is great, the killer is…whew, what a mess. The mystery is one that kept me guessing. I had started to glean a few half-formed inklings at about the 60% mark, but not nearly enough to state with any certainty who I thought was the murderer. Great job! This is one of my favorite reads of 2019. I’m looking forward to continuing with this series even though I’ve already read book 4 by accident. Luckily, my memory sucks ass and I didn’t remember it until after I was finished with this one. I hate reading books out of order. lol

Book source ~ NetGalley

It’s been a decade since the outbreak of V2000 and everything went horribly wrong. Vampires are no longer hiding in the shadows, but with the virus comes a high price: most humans are turned into a mutated Vampire offshoot called vamps. True, pureblood humans are a fast dwindling commodity and even though they have a synthetic blood that they can survive on, Vampires crave warm sweet blood straight from the tap.

Danika Chekov is the only female Vampire Lord in America. She’s young, too. So of course, the older male Vampire Lords try to make her feel inferior. But Danika is made of sterner stuff. She may be going through a rough patch and someone may or may not be trying to kill her, but she will not bow down to anyone. So she purchases Mason, a human swept up by a slaver crew. Their attraction to each other is undeniable. But Mason isn’t what he seems and Danika’s world is about to get very complicated.

Bad timing on my part, but I just finished a Vampires-Take-Over-The-World book and it sucked. So, I went into this one with great reluctance and was immediately sucked in. Hehe I said sucked in. Like blood…oh, nevermind. Anyway, the characters are awesome, the world is complicated, and the mystery is twisty. My only complaint is the terminology for the Vampires, vampyr and vamps confused the fuck out of me for far too long. It wasn’t explained very well or I just didn’t get it. I’m not sure which. Anyway, Mason is definitely not human. I’m not giving anything away with this observation. You’ll see it in the opening chapter. But what he is…is something cool. I love this story and can’t wait to read more in this series.

Book source ~ NetGalley

Rowan Harper is a human who works in a bookstore. No, this does not redeem her for being so damn stupid. I want to fire her. She shouldn’t be allowed around books. That’s a pleasure and a privilege she doesn’t deserve. What a fucking twat.

Gabriel is a mysterious guy who rolls into Rowan’s life and she lets him. He knows things. He’s hot. He has money. He’s hot. He only comes out only at night. He’s gorgeous. His body has every woman slobbering and dripping from between the thighs. No, seriously. Half the book is about describing how hot Gabriel is and how Rowan just can’t resist him even though he’s a stranger and she knows literally nothing about him. Even after they have sex. Lots and lots of monkey sex. Then he dumps her with no explanation and after three months waltzes right back into her pussy. And THEN…it ends in a massive cliffhanger. Omfg. I hate everything about this book. Needless to say I will not be reading book 2.

Helena Winsome is being blackmailed into spying on the Duke of Greybrooke in order to keep her brother out of debtor’s prison. She has to find proof that he’s a traitor and her brother’s debts will be paid.

I have mixed feelings about this. While the writing is awesome and the characters are great, I think Helena is a bit of a moron. Who lets themselves be coerced into a situation and does zero research? I know I would have done some digging before I let myself be pushed into something. Her family owns a newspaper for fuck’s sake! And her brother? Omg, I would have killed him. Ok, I know this is historical and he’s technically head of the house, but I’d still kick his ass. Period. Also, she’s gutsy and intelligent and lets herself be led around by her pussy. Ugh. Stop.

I don’t particularly like the Duke of Greybrooke either. Guys who think they can get whatever they want because that’s always been so for them piss me off. Arrogance without redemption is a huge turn off for me and I don’t think he changes enough over the course of the book to get in my good Graces. Hehe See what I did there?