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Review: Winterbourne by A.M. Blythe

20 July, 2026 7:59 pm , Leave a Comment , Kristin

Winterbourne
A.M. Blythe
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication date: July 15, 2026
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Rating:

Three rules keep a memory thief alive.

Rule #1: Don’t touch skin.
Rule #2: Don’t look too long.
Rule #3: Don’t let them see what you really are.

Tonight, I’m breaking all three.

Kira Shadowmere is the best memory thief in Vespera — a city where memories are bottled, sold, and savored like wine, and the people they’re stolen from are left to rot. One touch, one pull, thirty seconds: she can lift the worst night of your life right out of your head. The Guild pays in silver. Her conscience pays in everything else.

But memory thieves don’t live past twenty-four. Tomorrow is her birthday.

One last job should buy her way out. Instead, it binds her — soul-deep, unbreakable, fatal — to Lysander Winterbourne: the last son of a slaughtered house, the lord who executes thieves like her, and the only person in the world whose presence quiets the curse that’s been drowning her since she was three years old.

She should run. He should kill her. Neither of them does the smart thing.

Now the Guild’s master wants her caged, a power no Null should have is waking in her blood, and the deeper Kira digs, the clearer the truth becomes: she isn’t the only memory thief in this story. Someone has been inside her head. Someone has been editing. And what they took will cost her the only family she has left.

Posted in: Fantasy Romance

Review: Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

17 July, 2026 8:00 pm , 1 Comment , Kristin

Red, White & Royal Blue
Red, White & Royal Blue #1
Casey McQuiston
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Publication date: May 14, 2019
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Rating:

First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz is the closest thing to a prince this side of the Atlantic. With his intrepid sister and the Veep’s genius granddaughter, they’re the White House Trio, a beautiful millennial marketing strategy for his mother, President Ellen Claremont. International socialite duties do have downsides—namely, when photos of a confrontation with his longtime nemesis Prince Henry at a royal wedding leak to the tabloids and threaten American/British relations. The plan for damage control: staging a fake friendship between the First Son and the Prince.

As President Claremont kicks off her reelection bid, Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret relationship with Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations. What is worth the sacrifice? How do you do all the good you can do? And, most importantly, how will history remember you?

Posted in: Romance

Sneak Peek Wednesday: Reaper’s Quest by Debra A. Kristi

15 July, 2026 7:53 pm , 2 Comments , Kristin

Reaper’s Quest
Curse of the Royal Reaper #1
Debra A. Kristi
Publisher: Ghost Girl Publishing
Publication date: July 13, 2026
Genre: Fantasy Romance

Two rival reapers. A century of overdue souls. Revelations sure to crumble foundations.

Raven Gunn blamed herself and the cheat she used on her last job for her team’s assignment to the cursed reaping. Her father even packed the tool responsible for the cheat in her travel bag, silently suggesting the need, while reminding her not to trust her designated coreaper, Chace Badden. A hundred years of accumulated reapings, a prohibited reaper-tool, her born rival tasked as her partner… What could go wrong? She definitely wouldn’t allow Chace’s good looks to compromise her focus. Not. One. Bit.

Chace Badden suspected family connections were to blame for his team’s assignment, and he trusted nothing about the current reaping task. Especially not the Fae bastard showering Raven with unnecessary attention. That pr*ck needed to go. Raven was his coreaper and the pretty boy held no claim. Of course, the same could be said for Chace given Raven was his coreaper and his rival, professionalism and distance needed to remain steady between them.

But as more complications arise and old ones intensify, will Chace and Raven’s rivalry cloud emotions, hinder task success, and pave the road for, not only failure but, something far more concerning than mortal danger? Because the overwhelming number of unreaped souls is turning out to be the least of their worries.

Posted in: Excerpt

Top Ten Books On My TBR By New-To-Me Authors

14 July, 2026 4:41 pm , 6 Comments , Kristin

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

Today I’m going through my TBR and listing some of the books that I’m most interested in reading, that were written by author’s I’ve never read before. A lot of these books are by debut authors or authors who are indie-published and may not be big household names…. yet.

Posted in: Ramblings

Review: Not His Dragon by Annie Nicholas

13 July, 2026 8:00 pm , 2 Comments , Kristin

Not His Dragon
Not This #1
Annie Nicholas
Publisher: Self-published
Publication date: July 25, 2016
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Rating:

Eoin Grant hasn’t encountered a female of his race in decades, and this crazy person’s scent declares her unmated. Fate set her in his path, and he won’t let this opportunity slip through his claws. No matter how wary she is of him. After all, how many chances does a dragon have at finding love? But fate can be a crueler mistress than his perfect mate. Of all things, she thinks she’s human.

Business is taking off for Angie Weldon. She put her freakishly sharp nails to good use when she opened her back-scratching spa in downtown New Porter City. The local shifter community pounced on her skills and she’s knee-deep in shed fur. By the end of the year, if lucky, she could afford to move out of her crappy apartment.

Dollar signs flash before Angie’s eyes when a dark, brooding stranger books her solid for a week but she notices the possessive fury in his glare. She’s been around enough shifters to know the look, and she won’t go down that road again. Angie is literally swept off her feet by the intense shifter and he wants more from her than she’s willing to give. She figures it’s best to avoid eye contact and back away slowly. Until he changes her life by insisting she’s a dragon.

Posted in: Fantasy Romance, Urban Fantasy

Review: Forsaken Mate by Vasilisa Drake

10 July, 2026 8:00 pm , 1 Comment , Kristin

Forsaken Mate
Shifted Fates #1
Vasilisa Drake
Publisher: Self-published
Publication date: June 1, 2023
Genre: Paranormal Romance

I thought my fated mate would cherish me. Mine kills me in cold blood.

After a decade of bullying me, the Alpha Heir discovers I’m his predestined mate. But just because he rejects me in front of the whole pack doesn’t mean he’s going to let me go.

When I flee my fated mate, he gives chase. The Alpha Heir would sooner murder me than let me live out of his reach.

Only death isn’t the end for me. The afterlife is a bit more fiery than I pictured, but that’s fine. I’m used to fighting to survive, and literal Hell just might be a step up from what I’ve been dealing with.

Even if that means facing off against minotaurs and murderous mermaids.

Even if, when I find refuge in a seemingly abandoned castle, I find the most dangerous creature in the underworld.

The good news: He agrees to train me, so I’ll never be left weak and at the mercy of another.

The bad news: His training methods involve a variety of unconventional methods, such as infiltrating my dreams and pinning me beneath him when we spar.

The worst news: He’s never going to let me leave his castle.

Posted in: Paranormal Romance

Review: Kissed by Iron and Glass by E.V. Everest

3 July, 2026 8:00 pm , 3 Comments , Kristin

Kissed by Iron and Glass
E.V. Everest
Publisher: Golden Bird Press
Publication date: April 23, 2026
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Rating:

When my stepmother sold me at auction, I thought I’d experienced the cruelest fate. I was wrong.

Because now I belong to the Iron King, a fae with a heart as cold and unyielding as the cursed iron that encases it. To keep his throne, he needs a queen–his fated mate. And I’m supposed to use my ability to protect him, to see through deception… by posing as one of his potential brides.

Assuming I can survive.

The Iron King’s Bridal Trials are a glittering nightmare of cutthroat fae and deadly secrets. His kingdom is on the brink of rebellion, and every fae lady is willing to kill for the crown.

But when the clock strikes midnight during my first dance with the Iron King, everything changes. Because maybe, just maybe the man I loathe might also become the man I love…if two hearts can break a curse of glass and iron.

Posted in: Fantasy Romance

Review:My Vegas Groom by Piper Rayne

29 June, 2026 7:59 pm , 4 Comments , Kristin

My Vegas Groom
The Greene Family #3
By: Piper Rayne
Publisher: Self-published
Publication date: May 18, 2021
Genre: Romance
Rating:

Waking up next to a stranger wearing a wedding ring was not on the itinerary.

I came to Las Vegas for a quick girl’s trip, but somehow ended up a married woman. What I thought would stay in Vegas followed me back to my small town of Sunrise Bay, Alaska.

Of course, my new husband—MMA champion fighter, Logan Stone—couldn’t find me alone at my house to tell me he wants to give our impromptu nuptials a shot. He has to tell me in front of my entire family and half the town.

The two of us couldn’t be more opposite, but he offers me a deal I can’t refuse which involves me pretending we’re happily married for three months. Yeah, a lot of things can change in that short amount of time, most importantly catching feelings for a man whose lifestyle I despise.

Posted in: Romance

Dusting Off the Digital Bookshelf

28 June, 2026 10:33 am , 8 Comments , Kristin

This post is linked to Sunday Post, Staking the Shelves, Sunday Salon, and #IMWAYR

I did a deep dive into my Goodreads TBR list this month, to go through all the books and delete ones I don’t plan to read. I have had books sitting on my TBR for over a decade. A DECADE!!! Books that I saw and thought, “That looks like a good book” but then never actually purchased it or read it. It’s safe to say that some of those books are no longer of interest to me. Most were YA, and while I still enjoy reading YA, it’s not my primary genre anymore.

So, I went through my list, and any books that I immediately went “meh” over, got the boot. Books that are not available on KU or at my library, that I was not willing to pay money for, got the the boot. I was able to knock out almost half of the books on my TBR. What was once a TBR of over 200 books is now a list of 109 books. It’s still a bit overwhelming, but I feel like it’s more manageable… as long as I don’t go crazy adding books to it again.

Therefor, I have decided that I will spend this summer going through and reading my TBR one book at a time. I won’t push myself to read anything that I’m not feeling, but I do feel like I need to give these books a chance. So many of these books have so few reviews and ratings, and I want to give them a chance to find readers. The book I’m currently reading only has 4,000 ratings on Goodreads.

So, it’s time to brush off my TBR and start giving these books a chance in the spotlight.

Posted in: Ramblings

Top Ten Books On My Summer TBR

24 June, 2026 8:00 pm , 24 Comments , Kristin

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

This summer, I actually have a few reading projects going on. Every year, I join a summer reading program challenge with my friend and her family. They come up with a cool theme each year (this year is space and planets) and we have to read books for specific categories. It’s usually things like suspense, romance, books with certain colored covers, books set in a particular place, or books released in a specific year. For the last handful of years, I did terribly at the challenge because I was exploring Japan and finishing school. Well, I finally graduated, and it looks like we may be in for a very active typhoon season with no summer traveling. So, I should have nothing but time on my hands to read!

The other thing I have going on is that I joined and became an admin for a local romantasy book club here in Japan. So, that has been pushing me to read more books. I’ve read a lot of books that haven’t been on my radar, but that I really enjoyed. It’s kind of helped me get back into the groove of reading again.

The other bookish project I’m doing is trying to go through my Goodreads TBR. I have had books sitting on that list for over a decade, and it’s overwhelming to look at. So, I recently went through and knocked out a bunch of books that no longer interest me, and I am now going through the list, dusting off the books, and giving them a chance in the spotlight. So far…. it’s not going great. HOWEVER, I’m sure there are some winners in there.

So yeah, this summer is going to be a mix of book club reads, dusty TBR books, and my summer reading challenge.