You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.

book_lover_irl's reviews
437 reviews

Playboy Pilot by Penelope Ward, Vi Keeland

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I enjoyed this emotional and hot drama. The angst was on par. Plot a bit far fetched but then again I read to escape so prefer spectacular vacations from reality. 

Narrators did a great job. The MMC was a manwhore that I found pretty gross. However, he became more lovable as he changed his ways. 

Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️
POV: Dual / duet
HEA: Yes
Cliffhanger: No
Tropes: Instalove?

Goodreads: Book Lover IRL
Instagram: @Book.Lover.IRL

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I loved this book
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really liked this book
⭐️⭐️⭐️ I liked this book
⭐️⭐️ Meh…  bored or annoyed
⭐️ Seriously? Not worth it

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ INFERNO. P@nty melting
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Blazing hot
🌶️🌶️🌶️ Now we’re talking
🌶️🌶️ Meh… uninspired missionary
🌶️ Does weak foreplay count?
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
The Darkest Hour by Maya Banks

Go to review page

medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The Darkest Hour by Maya Banks is an emotionally tumultuous drama with lots of chaotic action. The plot kept me engaged and the pacing was great. The spice was a slow burn (necessary given the plot) and when it happened, it was deliciously sweet and emotional. Given what the FMC went through I was happy that the author didn't instantly make her "better" when she was stateside. The MMC was alpha male all the way, along with his amazing brothers whose stories I cannot wait to read next. His guilt and protectiveness could be overwhelming but made him an empathetic character. 

Main pet peeve is the constant lying or omissions of the full truth by the MMC. He kept borrowing more and more trouble the longer he waited to be honest with the FMC. I hate when stories are centered on lies but I understand it's a commonly used plot driver / catalyst used by some authors.

My only suggestion for improvement to the audiobook would be to add a female narrator, so it is read by two narrators, instead of one. However, that is just a personal preference and I wouldn't let that deter you from enjoying the story.

I love the Kelly brothers and cannot wait to read more of their stories as I continue the KGI series. 

Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️
POV: Multi-narrative (single narrator in audiobook)
HEA: Yes
Cliffhanger: No
Tropes: Ex-military, MMC rescues FMC, touch her & ☠️, strong family ties

Goodreads: Book Lover IRL
Instagram: @Book.Lover.IRL

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I loved this book
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really liked this book
⭐️⭐️⭐️ I liked this book
⭐️⭐️ Meh…  bored or annoyed
⭐️ Seriously? Not worth it

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ INFERNO. P@nty melting
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Blazing hot
🌶️🌶️🌶️ Now we’re talking
🌶️🌶️ Meh… uninspired missionary
🌶️ Does weak foreplay count? 
Hidden Away by Maya Banks

Go to review page

adventurous emotional sad tense
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Loved the slow burn. Garrett’s patience and sweetness with Sarah… Insta-love stories aren’t my favorite but this one made my heart happy. This is the first book of the KGI series that I’ve read. Now I’ll be going back to read book 1 & 2 , then continue on with the series. These brothers and this family — LOOOOOVVEEEEE! 

Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️
POV: Third person
HEA: Yes
Cliffhanger: Kind of
Tropes: I’m bad at picking out tropes. Ex military, innocent girl over her head

Instagram: @Book.Lover.IRL
Goodreads: Book Lover IRL

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I loved this book
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really liked this book
⭐️⭐️⭐️ I liked this book
⭐️⭐️ Meh…  bored or annoyed
⭐️ Seriously? Not worth it

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ INFERNO. P@nty melting
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Blazing h0t
🌶️🌶️🌶️ Now we’re talking
🌶️🌶️ Meh… uninspired missionary
🌶️ Does weak f0replay count?
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Bound Together by Nikki Ash, K Webster

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Loved both books in this duet. First book (Torn Apart) was semi-light on the steam but the second book more than made up for it. Wowsers! Good plot, lovable characters, great spice and a HEA. What more could you ask for?

Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
POV: Quad
HEA: Yes
Cliffhanger: No
Tropes: reverse harem, why choose, nerd / jock, college romance

Instagram: @Book.Lover.IRL
Goodreads: Book Lover IRL

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I loved this book
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really liked this book
⭐️⭐️⭐️ I liked this book
⭐️⭐️ Meh…  bored or annoyed
⭐️ Seriously? Not worth it

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ INFERNO. P@nty melting
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Blazing h0t
🌶️🌶️🌶️ Now we’re talking
🌶️🌶️ Meh… uninspired missionary
🌶️ Does weak f0replay count?
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Torn Apart by Nikki Ash, K Webster

Go to review page

emotional funny reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A rebel, hockey star, geeky girl, and coach are in a series of convoluted relationships / friendships. There is an openly gay character, a happily bi character, a v1rg1n, and a character who isn't sure what their role in life is right now.  Their feelings for each other are messy. Their living situations and life circumstances are complicated and I am HERE FOR IT! I fell in love with all four main characters almost instantly. Even when you want to hate them, you can't and you end up rooting for them.

It's challenging to say much about the story without giving away part of the plot, so I'll stick to the basics. Story had excellent banter between the MCs. Ashton made me literally LOL. The spicy scenes were relatively few but excellently done. I enjoyed the story's pacing and didn't want to put the book down. 

Book 1 ends on a cliffhanger, so I am super excited to jump straight into book 2, Bound Together.

Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️. (very little spice but it’s good when it’s there)
POV: Lots — Quad?
HEA: Not yet?
Cliffhanger: Yep
Tropes: gay BFF, rich kids with crappy parents, poorer kids with great parents, college kids, sports guy & nerd girl

Instagram: @Book.Lover.IRL
Goodreads: Book Lover IRL
 
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I loved this book 
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really liked this book 
⭐️⭐️⭐️ I liked this book 
⭐️⭐️ Meh…  bored or annoyed 
⭐️ Seriously? Not worth it 
 
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ INFERNO. P@nty melting 
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Blazing h0t 
🌶️🌶️🌶️ Now we’re talking 
🌶️🌶️ Meh… uninspired missionary 
🌶️ Does weak f0replay count?
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Forget Me Not by Q.B. Tyler

Go to review page

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The most angsty of angst-filled stories and I am here for it. 

Normally I hate cheating tropes. They don’t do it for me and are generally a huge turn off buuuut there was something about Bennett that got to me. As much as I wanted to hate him, I just couldn’t. I mean the fact that he
continued to sleep with the a$$-hat he cheated on Livi with after she left him and all while supposedly fighting to get her back
was a bitter pill to swallow. It quite literally made me throw up in my mouth a bit. Yet… I forgave the b@stard. 

Great read if you love emotional drama, knee deep angst and a FMC who doesn’t roll over and take crap from a man. 

Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
POV: Duel
HEA: Yes
Cliffhanger:  No
Tropes: Cheating, age gap
TWs: Infidelity, infertility 
 
Instagram: @Book.Lover.IRL
Goodreads: Book Lover IRL

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I loved this book 
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really liked this book 
⭐️⭐️⭐️ I liked this book 
⭐️⭐️ Meh…  bored or annoyed 
⭐️ Seriously? Not worth it 
 
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ INFERNO. P@nty melting 
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Blazing h0t 
🌶️🌶️🌶️ Now we’re talking 
🌶️🌶️ Meh… uninspired missionary 
🌶️ Does weak f0replay count?
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
One Too Many by Jade West

Go to review page

adventurous challenging emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I am so torn about how to review this book. I was very invested in the plot and wanted to see where it was going. There was good emotional and spicy tension leading up to the first main event. The characters were interesting and well developed. The situations they faced gave them opportunities to deal with “real” emotions. 

The second and third bouts were different. The last third was … challenging. The spicy parts were over the top for me and too violent to be enjoyable.


I wasn’t sure how I felt about the final chapters and that epilogue… 

If you had asked me in the first half or two thirds of the book, I would’ve thought it was potentially a five star book. However by the end I was trying to decide between three and four stars. SIGH

Last note, I didn’t like the narrators. The female narrator sounded waaayyyyy too old. The male narrator was just not for me. Sadly I guess I don’t like romances with British English words. If I have to hear knickers or shunted one more time… sorry, not sorry. Others loved it but it wasn’t for me.

Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️  
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ (not my cup of tea, but it might be your yum?!)
POV: Three
HEA: ?
Cliffhanger: No
Tropes: Financial issues leads to desperate decisions, s3x outside married couple

INSTAGRAM: @Book.Lover.IRL 
STORYGRAPH: Book.Lover.IRL
GOODREADS: Book Lover IRL

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I loved this book
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really liked this book
⭐️⭐️⭐️ I liked this book
⭐️⭐️ Meh…  bored or annoyed
⭐️ Seriously? Not worth it

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ INFERNO. P@nty melting
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Blazing h0t
🌶️🌶️🌶️ Now we’re talking
🌶️🌶️ Meh… uninspired missionary
🌶️ Does weak f0replay count?
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Lights Out by Navessa Allen

Go to review page

adventurous dark funny fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Best book I’ve listened to in a verrryyyyy long time BUT check the trigger warnings! It touches almost all the TWs you can imagine. It’s seriously dark and infinitely pushes against your boundaries. I wanted to hate and be disgusted by parts of it AND I strangely still loved it. Plus it’s insanely hysterical. Like legit LOL. 

Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
POV: Dual
HEA: Yes
Cliffhanger: No
Tropes: stalking, rom-com, dark romance, CHECK THE TWs. 
 
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I loved this book 
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really liked this book 
⭐️⭐️⭐️ I liked this book 
⭐️⭐️ Meh…  bored or annoyed 
⭐️ Seriously? Not worth it 
 
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ INFERNO. P@nty melting 
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Blazing hot 
🌶️🌶️🌶️ Now we’re talking 
🌶️🌶️ Meh… uninspired missionary 
🌶️ Does weak foreplay count? 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Terms and Conditions by Lauren Asher

Go to review page

funny lighthearted tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The grumpy billionaire man and poor intelligent woman isn’t my favorite romantic teope. However I love a strong, sassy, independent and intelligent FMC. Was a little frustrated with the crappy attitude and actions of the MMC for the first third of the book. He was downright mean and I didn’t appreciate it. Novel was a slow burn for the spice. 

Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️
POV: Dual
HEA: Yes - extended epilogue is a great touch
Cliffhanger: No
Tropes: Billionaire MMC falls for poor FMC, Boss falls for employee
 
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I loved this book 
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really liked this book 
⭐️⭐️⭐️ I liked this book 
⭐️⭐️ Meh…  bored or annoyed 
⭐️ Seriously? Not worth it 
 
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ INFERNO. P@nty melting 
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Blazing hot 
🌶️🌶️🌶️ Now we’re talking 
🌶️🌶️ Meh… uninspired missionary 
🌶️ Does weak foreplay count? 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
That Guy by Kim Jones

Go to review page

funny lighthearted slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

This was supposed to be a rom com and it certainly had a few funny parts but mostly I was just bored or irritated with how “quirky” the FMC was. She was straight up looney and most of the time impossible to relate too. 

Then the MMC… his character was under-developed and shallow. What’s that famous Harry Potter quote: the MMC had the “emotional range of a teaspoon”. 

He was raging and mean in the beginning, then suddenly he desired her and appeared to be falling in love, then he’s overheard telling his BFF that he only wants something casual. None of it connects or flows together.


According to my teenagers, I don’t have a sense of humor so maybe the negative review isn’t valid. The book is meh for me. It was relatively lighthearted and maybe I just needed more drama and darkness for my little black heart. 🤣

Stars: ⭐️⭐️ 1/2
Spice: 🌶️🌶️
POV: dual
HEA: yes
Cliffhanger: no
Tropes: instalove, enemies to lovers, poor girl / rich guy
 
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I loved this book 
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really liked this book 
⭐️⭐️⭐️ I liked this book 
⭐️⭐️ Meh…  bored or annoyed 
⭐️ Seriously? Not worth it 
 
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ INFERNO. P@nty melting 
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Blazing h0t 
🌶️🌶️🌶️ Now we’re talking 
🌶️🌶️ Meh… uninspired missionary 
🌶️ Does weak f0replay count? 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings