#the sea sand warriors series by ursa dax and

[dollypartonswig]

My top 10 books of the year!

1 ) The Nothing Man - Catherine Ryan Howard -

At the age of twelve, Eve Black was the only member of her family to survive an encounter with serial attacker the Nothing Man. Now an adult, she is obsessed with identifying the man who destroyed her life. Supermarket security guard Jim Doyle has just started reading The Nothing Man--the true-crime memoir Eve has written about her efforts to track down her family's killer. As he turns each page, his rage grows. Because Jim's not just interested in reading about the Nothing Man. He is the Nothing Man. Jim soon beings to realize how dangerously close Eve is getting to the truth. He knows she won't give up until she finds him. He has no choice but to stop her first.

2 ) The Night Ship - Jess Kidd -

1629: A newly orphaned young girl named Mayken is bound for the Dutch East Indies on the Batavia , one of the greatest ships of the Dutch Golden Age. Curious and mischievous, Mayken spends the long journey going on misadventures above and below the deck, searching for a mythical monster. But the true monsters might be closer than she thinks. 1989: A lonely boy named Gil is sent to live off the coast of Western Australia among the seasonal fishing community where his late mother once resided. There, on the tiny reef-shrouded island, he discovers the story of an infamous shipwreck…

3) The Reading List - Sara Nisha Adams -

Widower Mukesh lives a quiet life in the London Borough of Ealing after losing his beloved wife. He shops every Wednesday, goes to Temple, and worries about his granddaughter, Priya, who hides in her room reading while he spends his evenings watching nature documentaries. Aleisha is a bright but anxious teenager working at the local library for the summer when she discovers a crumpled-up piece of paper in the back of To Kill a Mockingbird. It’s a list of novels that she’s never heard of before. Intrigued, and a little bored with her slow job at the checkout desk, she impulsively decides to read every book on the list, one after the other. As each story gives up its magic, the books transport Aleisha from the painful realities she’s facing at home. When Mukesh arrives at the library, desperate to forge a connection with his bookworm granddaughter, Aleisha passes along the reading list… hoping that it will be a lifeline for him too. Slowly, the shared books create a connection between two lonely souls, as fiction helps them escape their grief and everyday troubles and find joy again.

4) Midnight Is The Darkest Hour - Ashley Winstead -

Ruth Collier has always felt like an outsider, even as her father rains fire and brimstone from the church pulpit. In Bottom Springs, his word is as good as law. But there are things the townspeople fear more than God, like the Low Man, a vampiric figure said to kill sinners in their beds on moonless nights. When a skull is found deep in the swamp, a hunt for the Low Man begins. Suspicion turns to Everett – Ruth's oldest friend, with a dark past. As Ruth and Everett grow closer, Ruth begins to unearth the town's secrets, determined to discover the truth. But as the line between good and evil grows ever thin, how far will Ruth go to save the person she loves most?

5) The Appeal - Janice Hallett -

The Fairway Players, a local theatre group, is in the midst of rehearsals when tragedy strikes the family of director Martin Hayward and his wife Helen, the play’s star. Their young granddaughter has been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, and with an experimental treatment costing a tremendous sum, their castmates rally to raise the money to give her a chance at survival. But not everybody is convinced of the experimental treatment’s efficacy—or of the good intentions of those involved. As tension grows within the community, things come to a shocking head at the explosive dress rehearsal. The next day, a dead body is found, and soon, an arrest is made. In the run-up to the trial, two young lawyers sift through the material—emails, messages, letters—with a growing suspicion that the killer may be hiding in plain sight. The evidence is all there, between the lines, waiting to be uncovered.

6) My Sister, The Serial Killer - Oyinkan Braithwaite -

When Korede's dinner is interrupted one night by a distress call from her sister, Ayoola, she knows what's expected of her: bleach, rubber gloves, nerves of steel and a strong stomach. This'll be the third boyfriend Ayoola's dispatched in, quote, self-defence and the third mess that her lethal little sibling has left Korede to clear away. She should probably go to the police for the good of the menfolk of Nigeria, but she loves her sister and, as they say, family always comes first. Until, that is, Ayoola starts dating the doctor where Korede works as a nurse. Korede's long been in love with him, and isn't prepared to see him wind up with a knife in his back: but to save one would mean sacrificing the other...

7) Outlawed - Anna North -

The day of her wedding, 17 year old Ada's life looks good; she loves her husband, and she loves working as an apprentice to her mother, a respected midwife. But after a year of marriage and no pregnancy, in a town where barren women are routinely hanged as witches, her survival depends on leaving behind everything she knows. She joins up with the notorious Hole in the Wall Gang, a band of outlaws led by a preacher-turned-robber known to all as the Kid. Charismatic, grandiose, and mercurial, the Kid is determined to create a safe haven for outcast women. But to make this dream a reality, the Gang hatches a treacherous plan that may get them all killed. And Ada must decide whether she's willing to risk her life for the possibility of a new kind of future for them all.

8) Madhouse At The End Of The Earth - Julian Sancton -

The harrowing true survival story of an early polar expedition that went terribly awry--with the ship frozen in ice and the crew trapped inside for the entire sunless, Antarctic winter. Drawing on firsthand accounts of the Belgica's voyage and exclusive access to the ship's logbook, Sancton tells the tale of its long, isolated imprisonment on the ice--a story that NASA studies today in its research on isolation for missions to Mars. In vivid, hair-raising prose, Sancton recounts the myriad forces that drove these men right up to and over the brink of madness.

9) Morbidly Yours - Ivy Fairbanks -

Callum Flannelly would rather dive into an open grave than take a stranger to dinner and a movie. But he can only inherit the family undertaking business and carry on their legacy under one condition: He must marry before his 35th birthday. So it’s out of the mortuary and into the dating scene. Lark Thompson would rather get crushed by a falling anvil than stay next to a funeral home during her stay in Galway, Ireland. The vivacious American cartoon creator and animator came here to embrace life, not be reminded of losing her husband. When Lark learns of Callum’s dilemma and aversion to marrying out of necessity rather than love, she agrees to help the introverted mortician. Although sworn off love herself, she is optimistic that Callum can find The One and secure his inheritance. But as the dating project progresses and their friendship grows, so does a mutual attraction. The more time she spends with serious, sarcastic Callum, the more she dreads finding him a match. And the more disastrous dates he endures, the more he dreads Lark’s imminent return to the states. If they think it’s possible to ignore their connection, they’re dead wrong.

10) Bunny - Mona Awad -

Samantha Heather Mackey couldn't be more of an outsider in her small, highly selective MFA program at New England's Warren University. A scholarship student who prefers the company of her dark imagination to that of most people, she is utterly repelled by the rest of her fiction writing cohort--a clique of unbearably twee rich girls who call each other Bunny, and seem to move and speak as one. But everything changes when Samantha receives an invitation to the Bunnies' fabled Smut Salon, and finds herself inexplicably drawn to their front door--ditching her only friend, Ava, in the process. As Samantha plunges deeper and deeper into the Bunnies' sinister yet saccharine world, beginning to take part in the ritualistic off-campus Workshop where they conjure their monstrous creations, the edges of reality begin to blur. Soon, her friendships with Ava and the Bunnies will be brought into deadly collision.

#honourable mentions to any Mariana zapata book #the ice planet barbarian series by ruby dixon #the sea sand warriors series by ursa dax and #also berries and greed by lily mayne(do not judge me) #bookblr #bookworm

[monstersmutpeddler]

Books That I Tried Reading But Couldn’t Finish (The Rest of May 2022)

So, if you’re ever wondering why I sometimes don’t post very often, it’s because I’m stuck trying to fight my way through this. I really tired getting through my backlog of books this month (which, I kinda did, yay!) but oooooofff, some of these books were not my cup of tea. 

For those who don’t know:

I’ll sometimes write reviews for the “Personally Couldn’t Finish” section of my rating, but I honestly prefer talking about things that I actually liked reading. Exceptions of course being for books that made me viscerally angry. Because those are fun to write about. 

Instead, here is a collection of books I tried reading but personally couldn’t for whatever reason. This could be because I got bored (the most likely answer), I really wasn’t into it, or I got really uncomfortable/triggered.

(I love Sci Fi Alien Romance Books, but hot damn, a lot of them really blur together. Like, I can only read so many ‘abducted for alien sex slavery but then saved by a hot alien man that basically looks human’ books before I zone out. You’d think that after like, 100+ books like that we’d have a lesbian alien. But no. We get alpha aliens who fated mate imprint like werewolves. Not that I have a problem with that, I’m just shocked there aren’t any M/M or W/W yet? Even in reverse harmes or poly books there isn’t a lady.)

Some of these books could actually be really great books (I wouldn’t know, I didn’t finish them), and you might get more enjoyment out of them than I did. So feel free to try them out, my opinion is just that. An opinion.

Alien Instinct (The Alien Series Book 1)

By: Tracy Lauren

 I’m just going to copy and paste the bullet points I wrote in my writing review journal because I think it summarizes everything perfectly:

Very lost/confused 22 year old who has no idea what she wants to do in life. 

Cut to the alien man right after we were reading about the girl being abducted, no easing into that. Very off. Wtf is going on?

Oooof so he works for the bad guy. At least he’s not into it. 

They think the humans are goddesses? This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this kind of trope, but I think Stolen By An Alien did it best.  

Gargoyle alien.  

There’s always one smartass chick in the group. Always the one bitch that makes it difficult for everyone while sometimes contributing.  

Got bored.   

Alien Commander's Mate (Fated Mates of the Xilan Warriors Book 1)

By: Ava Ross

 Not a fan of the start where this whole group of girls are just like: Talking about how they’re gonna bang these aliens and get pregnant. These first few chapters could’ve been summarized in four paragraphs at most. Then I got bored. 

Claimed: A Sci-Fi Alien Romance (Fated Mates of the Kalixian Warriors Book 1)

By: Presley Hall

Things were happening way too fast for my liking. Then I got bored/not invested.

Alien Tyrant: A SciFi Alien Romance (Fated Mates of the Sea Sand Warlords Book 1)

By: Ursa Dax

Got bored. 

Claimed by the Hunter: A Post-Apocalyptic Alien Romance (Xarc'n Warriors Book 1) 

By: Lynnea Lee

Not really in the mood for this kind of book. Had an interesting start, but then I got lost. Then bored. 

Captured: A Sci-Fi Alien Invasion Romance (Garrison Earth Book 1) 

By: V. K. Ludwig

Interesting premise that it’s these aliens that are invading earth. That alone could add some interesting dynamics, it’s funny seeing the scientists guards trying really hard to justify themselves and say they aren’t bad guys. But they are. 

But then we meet our main love interest guy. Holy shit. Wtf. Not only is he an ass, but the first sex scene between him and the leading lady was rape. He’s all shocked about it but no. You can’t come back from that. That was rape. Fuck no. 

Taken by the Alien Pirate: A SciFi Alien Romance (Fated Star Mates Book 1)

By: Kyla Quinn

Got bored. 

Possessed: A Sci-Fi Alien Warrior Romance (Raider Warlords of the Vandar Book 1)

By: Tana Stone

Ok, this has the concept of being a funny comedy riffing on the alien romance genre as a whole, but then it got dubious consent-y and I’m not really wanting to read that.  

Sirein: A Dystopian World Alien Romance (Alien Fairytale Romances)

By: S.J. Sanders

Started off really interesting, but then I got bored the moment we started reading the love interests perspective. I don’t think they even met until like 40% through the book?

Alien Creep: An Alien Shifter Romance (Alien Abductors Book 1)

By: Calista Skye

Got bored. 

Sacrifice (War Brides of the Morja Book 1)

By: Miranda Bridges

Starts straight up with a horny alien man. Like, he is so horny. Then I got bored. 

Trauhn: A SciFi Alien Barbarian Romance (Rakui Warriors Book 1)

By: Lena Grey

Got bored. 

There Arose Such A Clatter: Tales From The Naughty List

By: C.M.Nascosta

Woah woah woah woah ok. I know the author warns you before hand that this is extreme, but oooof. This was waaaayyy too much for me. Nope. 

The Virgin Hunt Games, Volume 1

By: Mel Tescho

Got bored. 

Warrior Hunted: A Sci-Fi Alien Romance (Fated Mates of Halia Book 2)

By: Alaska Jones

Got bored. 

Big Bad Wolf (The Lycans, 1)

By: Jenika Snow

Got bored. 

Tail 'Em: A Reverse Harem Shifter Romance (Jailbreak Book 1) 

By: Sam Hall

Got bored. 

The Orc Wife: A Monsterly Yours Romance

By: S.J. Sanders

Interesting start, but then things started moving real fast and I got uncomfortable. What happened to hello? How are you? My name is?

Dark Planet Warriors: A Science Fiction Romance

By: Anna Carven

I liked things at first one, but then got real bored at the halfway mark. 

Love & Monsters 

By: Raven Flanagan

Got bored.

Vincent's Resolution: Blind Date With An Alien (Children of the Dead Fall Book 1)

By: Susan Trombley

I wanted to like this, but really couldn’t get into it. Into The Deadfall (if I had to give it an actual rating, which I don’t do) was a 6/10. Interesting concept but two out of the five books were not fun for me. I was really hoping it’s sequel series would’ve been interesting (especially with all the cute kiddos finding love) but this wasn’t fun for me. Another: What happened to hello? How are you? My name is? Moment.

Props for Gabby being down with banging a monster on the first date the moment she finds out. She was like, ready for some weird kinky shit. XD

Honestly? If this was some cute rom com bullshit with Vincent trying to hide the fact that he’s an alien hybrid and his entire family is from an alternate dimension rip in space/time I would’ve loved every second of it. God, could you imagine the meet the parents scenario? 

^ Even funnier, if Gabby was actually one of the kids from the Iriduan Test Subjects series. Imagine the SHIT that would’ve gone down. 

I’m spiraling I need to stop. :’)

So I’m gonna stop here and pretend the story itself ended happily. Unless I find out Nemon or (mostly likely, if I had to pick someone) Halian shows up. Then I’ll just have to find out what is going on, especially for Halian, because anytime he shows up in a book crazy shit always happens. 

#books #book reviews #smutty book reviews