noellelovesbooks's reviews
1460 reviews

 Content Warnings: sexual content, sexual violence, stalking, blood, gore, murder, CPTSD, grief, trauma, and anxiety.

I have been waiting to read this book and AJ did not disappoint. 💜

I love how AJ described Bailey's sensory issues. There are so many people, myself included, that have sensory issues but I've never seen good representation of it in books. Sensory issues isn't just about touch...it includes all your senses and different things affect different people.

Vibes/Tropes:
🎃Small Halloween obsessed town
🎃"Gingersnap before the bite" [Bailey gives off these vibes]
🎃Scream 1 vibes
🎃"Touch/hurt her and die"
🎃"You've always been mine"
🎃She falls first but he falls harder
🎃Fear is part of the foreplay
and so much more 🥰

Honestly, I don't want to say to much and give out any spoilers...but trust me you'll want to read this book. 

Okay, so when you watched Scream 1 and found out who the killers were...did you ever secretly wish that Sidney had hooked up with Billy AND Stu? Cause this book is giving those vibes and I LOVE IT.

Content Warnings: sexual content, classism, toxic relationships, childhood trauma, and loss of a parent.
Mention of: child abuse, childbirth death, and pregnancy. 

Ahh, I am so excited I got to read this early! 

Ever since I read "Cinderella and the Duke" I was desperate to know more about both Viola and Huntington...and Lydia made it worth the wait 🥰

Viola has had feelings for Huntington from the moment she met him. Working for his bff means for the last 10 years she's watched and pined...believing there's no way he'll ever see her let alone consider her for marriage. 

Huntington met Viola, the quiet governess, years ago. Viola always seemed so reserved to him and he wondered what she was like when she wasn't attempting to be so proper. Now, still licking his wounds, in the countryside fate forces them to spend time together. The more time Huntington spends with Viola the more he gets little peeks of the fire inside her...and like a moth to a flame...all he wants is to see more. 

Vibes/tropes:
Parent Trap
She falls first but he falls harder
He never notices her...until he does

 Content Warnings: Sexual content, sexual violence, blood, gore, body horror, violence, murder, stalking, toxic relationships, and CNC.

You know growing up in a town that had a lot of corn fields...I never once thought they seemed anything other than boring and creepy 🤭

We get instant obsession, stalking, touch her and die, and a lot of violence packed into a fun quick novella. Really hoping we end up getting a full length novel to explore more of our leading mans backstory because it sounds pretty interesting.

Really wish I would have recorded my hubbys facial expressions as I told him everything that happens in this book 🤣 

 Content Warnings: sexual content, child abuse, sexual violence, breathe play, primal play, death of parents, grief, emotional abuse, and toxic relationships.
Mention of: alcoholism and infertility

I've been seeing so many snippets about this book and the FOMO was getting intense haha so I decided it was time to dive on in...and this book did not disappoint.

Ngl when I first heard about primal play I didn't get the appeal...but after reading several books that explained and showed it well...well I get the appeal now. 🤭

I LOVE this entire falling for your brothers bff in high school only to be rejected at graduation...and then them seeing each other 8 years later and the chemistry is still there...if not even more explosive 🤌🏽 

 Content Warnings: sexual content, toxic relationships, toxic friendships, grief, and abandonment.


This is such a cozy fall read! We get to experience a magical small town in NJ where a witch and a merman get a 2nd chance to take a chance lol

I definitely read this in one sitting and cannot wait to read more in this series! 

 Content Warnings: racism, colonialism, ableism, sexism, homophobia, blood, gun violence, hate crime, and violence.
Mention of: genocide, animal death, animal cruelty, suicide, death of parents, and internalized racism.

This book was incredible. I love all the lore within, how every so many chapters we get a story told to us, and I LOVE how the dragon's look.

Anequs is such a great main character. She knows who she is, where she's from, and isn't ashamed to speak up when she needs to. Although she's stuck living within a different culture, one that views hers as below them, she stand firm in her teachings and culture. She is determined to learn what she needs to ensure her dragon doesn't cause unintentional harm or danger so that she can return home and help her people.

I love that this book has short chapters, short chapters always make it easier to get through books imo.

I have no idea when book 2 is set to release but I look forward to learning more about Anequs, her people, those that she's connected to, and just more about her life. 

 Content Warnings: sexual content, sexual violence, blood, murder, death, body horror, violence, mutilation, attempted suicide, kidnapping, coercion, sexual assault, blood play, breathe play, knife play, CNC, bondage, bullying, toxic relationships, anxiety, depression, grief, isolation, child physical abuse, child emotional/verbal abuse, and religious trauma.

***I received an ARC ahead of the October 21st, 2023 release***

OMG, if I wasn't already invested by the summary, the dedication for sure would have had me invested.

Okay so picture the setting of Scream two, but we get a falsely accused hottie [sorry Cotton...but Beau is perfection 🤌🏽] send to prison who's spent the past four years obsessing over the girl/woman who falsely accused him...obsessing and imagining how he'll make her pay.

Then we have Nevaeh, someone who's been in love with Beau since she first met him, and was devastated when she had to name him as a murderer. She's spent the past four years hating herself and regretting her decision to turn him in.

It was so easy to understand and relate to Nevaeh, someone who grew up in the grip of religion...always doing what she was told and what was right...but still having a parent that constantly made her feel like a failure and unclean...a parent who in fact is projecting their own flaws/failures onto their child. 😤

Darcy either has experience growing up in an a controlling religious' environment or she did her due diligence while researching for this book because damn...the religious guilt took me back to so many times I had as a new adult as I was trying to find myself and where I fit into the world.

I do feel like dark romance is definitely easier to understand/relate to when you've had trauma of some kind 😅...I know that the intro to Beau he was not nice...like that man is not morally grey...he's pitch black BUT it's easy to understand where he's coming from and the conflicting feelings he has towards Nevaeh. It's also easy to relate to Nevaeh and how she reacts to his aggressive/bullying behavior...and even responds to it.

I think it would be difficult/nearly impossible for someone who had a happy life and never experienced devastation/trauma to understand or see how books like this can be genuinely healing for some of us and how we can love and root for such "toxic" people.

Anyways...this book was AMAZING and I really hope we get more books set in this world...even knowing that would mean there would probably have to be more serial killers involved 😬

I cannot wait until this book releases so I can order a physical copy to annotate. 🥰 

 Content Warnings: sexual content, violence, blood, gore, body horror, torture, murder, death, sexual harassment, and mention of death of loved ones.

I loved getting to know more about Dragon, and see his softer side 🥰

There are a few things that I would have loved to have explored a little more but we still have a few more books so it might all flesh out by the end. ^^ 

 Content Warnings: sexual content, stalking, violence, death, murder, torture, grief, and PTSD.
Mention of: death of a child, child abuse, abandonment

Ngl I saw the cover and just assumed it was a dark contemporary with a masked man...am I glad I was wrong! The supernatural elements, the mysterious town, the lore, and the why choose 🔥

Definitely felt like there were some pacing issues...some information that was thrown out super fast and other information seemingly held back a lot when it didn't seem necessary.

I definitely plan on reading the rest of this series! 

 Very cute ending to this manga! Definitely would qualify this as a cozy fantasy romance 🥰