Quick Review: The Wrath & the Dawn (The Wrath & the Dawn #1) by Renée Ahdieh

The Wrath & the Dawn

(The Wrath & the Dawn #1)

by Renée Ahdieh

May 12, 2015

404 pages

Goodreads Summary:

One Life to One Dawn.

In a land ruled by a murderous boy-king, each dawn brings heartache to a new family. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, is a monster. Each night he takes a new bride only to have a silk cord wrapped around her throat come morning. When sixteen-year-old Shahrzad's dearest friend falls victim to Khalid, Shahrzad vows vengeance and volunteers to be his next bride. Shahrzad is determined not only to stay alive, but to end the caliph's reign of terror once and for all.

Night after night, Shahrzad beguiles Khalid, weaving stories that enchant, ensuring her survival, though she knows each dawn could be her last. But something she never expected begins to happen: Khalid is nothing like what she'd imagined him to be. This monster is a boy with a tormented heart. Incredibly, Shahrzad finds herself falling in love. How is this possible? It's an unforgivable betrayal. Still, Shahrzad has come to understand all is not as it seems in this palace of marble and stone. She resolves to uncover whatever secrets lurk and, despite her love, be ready to take Khalid's life as retribution for the many lives he's stolen. Can their love survive this world of stories and secrets?

Quick Review: Beyond Here Lies Nothing by C.J. Duggan

Beyond Here Lies Nothing
by C.J. Duggan

September 30, 2019
266 pages

Goodreads Summary:

When a big city agent wants to rent the abandoned chapel on the Bowen’s property for an obscene amount of money, it seems like the deal of a lifetime … there’s just one small catch.

Nathaniel Black.

Disgraced, broken-down, whisky-swilling Rock God Nathaniel Black is set to make a comeback, or at least that’s what his long-suffering agent is hoping.

It’s Nathaniel’s last chance for salvation, to lock himself away from the temptations of his wicked life. With no women, no booze, no drugs: only the music. The one thing he didn’t count on was forming a complex, life-changing bond with a reclusive, talented songbird, Sadie Bowen.

Twenty-three-year-old Sadie has all of Nathaniel’s vinyl records under her bed and his poster lining the inside of her wardrobe door. And now he was here, in her backyard, eating her food and sharing her bathroom—a dream come true, right? Until Sadie soon realises her teenage idol is the most infuriating, arrogant man-child she has ever met.

Will seclusion lead to destruction? Or will Sadie finally get a chance to learn who the real man is behind the music? One thing is clear, despite every voice inside her head telling her to stay away, she couldn’t.

She couldn’t help it, couldn’t fight it.

Nathaniel Black was about to become her favourite mistake.

Quick Review: A Rogue of One's Own (A League of Extraordinary Women #2) by Evie Dunmore

A Rogue of One's Own

(A League of Extraordinary Women #2)
by Evie Dunmore

September 1, 2020
448 pages

Goodreads Summary:

A lady must have money and an army of her own if she is to win a revolution - but first, she must pit her wits against the wiles of an irresistible rogue bent on wrecking her plans...and her heart.

Lady Lucie is fuming. She and her band of Oxford suffragists have finally scraped together enough capital to control one of London’s major publishing houses, with one purpose: to use it in a coup against Parliament. But who could have predicted that the one person standing between her and success is her old nemesis, Lord Ballentine? Or that he would be willing to hand over the reins for an outrageous price—a night in her bed.

Lucie tempts Tristan like no other woman, burning him up with her fierceness and determination every time they clash. But as their battle of wills and words fans the flames of long-smouldering devotion, the silver-tongued seducer runs the risk of becoming caught in his own snare.

As Lucie tries to out-manoeuvre Tristan in the boardroom and the bedchamber, she soon discovers there’s truth in what the poets say: all is fair in love and war…

Quick Review: The Book of Broken Hearts by Sarah Ockler

The Book of Broken Hearts

by Sarah Ockler

May 21, 2013

352 pages

Goodreads Summary:

When all signs point to heartbreak, can love still be a rule of the road? A poignant and romantic novel from the author of Bittersweet and Twenty Boy Summer.

Jude has learned a lot from her older sisters, but the most important thing is this: The Vargas brothers are notorious heartbreakers. She’s seen the tears and disasters that dating a Vargas boy can cause, and she swore an oath—with candles and a contract and everything—to never have anything to do with one.

Now Jude is the only sister still living at home, and she’s spending the summer helping her ailing father restore his vintage motorcycle—which means hiring a mechanic to help out. Is it Jude’s fault he happens to be cute? And surprisingly sweet? And a Vargas?

Jude tells herself it’s strictly bike business with Emilio. Her sisters will never find out, and Jude can spot those flirty little Vargas tricks a mile away—no way would she fall for them. But Jude’s defenses are crumbling, and if history is destined to repeat itself, she’s speeding toward some serious heartbreak…unless her sisters were wrong?

Jude may have taken an oath, but she’s beginning to think that when it comes to love, some promises might be worth breaking.