Bliss Devlin

Our female lead, Jacinthe, has learned that her blood has no magic. When her mother accompanies her siblings to a magical school, she is lost leaving Jacinthe at the mercy of her stepfather and his new wife. That is until her stepfather decides to sell her as an indentured servant to a school that caters to a group of wealthy children with a history of problems. On the voyage over to the school, Jacinthe meets Tama, a merman forced into a human form. Later, she will meet a Dragon and a Fae at the school, forging an unbreakable bond between them. But someone is doing away with occupants of the academy and all eyes are turning toward Jacinthe and her males as prime suspects.

While this was a book that I was excited to read, it did not live up to the expectations that I had for it. The premise was promising and it had been the main reason why I had been so excited about reading this book. Merman. Dragons. And Fae. Oh my! I mean, who does not love a fantasy reverse harem novel where the males are from different creatures and all in human form? Yum!

But the book's execution fell flat. The pacing seemed to be slow, in my opinion, and it was easy to get bored within its pages. I had hoped that there would be something that could keep me hanging on so I continued. Maybe even a bit of a mystery that continues my interest. Unfortunately, the strong beginning starts to die down and the character development slows painfully. With nothing to push the storyline and character growth, I found myself skimming half the book instead of reading.

Additionally, I didn't feel a strong connection to the characters. They lacked depth and development, making it hard for me to invest in their journeys. I wanted to root for them and feel empathetic towards their struggles, but they felt one-dimensional and unrelatable.

It is also important to note that these criticisms are purely subjective. What may have not worked for me to enjoy this novel may be different for other readers who might feel the opposite. It just did not hit the mark for me personally.

Final Thought:
In conclusion, while I had high hopes for this book, it ultimately didn't captivate me as I had anticipated. The pacing, character development, and writing style all contributed to my overall disappointment. That being said, everyone's reading preferences are different, so it's possible that others may find enjoyment in this book that I didn't.… (mais)

In book five of the Children of Lilith series, Marissa belongs to a powerful paranormal organization—OMSSAM, or the Order—that fights against incubi and succubae (also known as the Children of Lilith), shapeshifters, and other creatures that they deem monsters. She’s a human/pyromancer/bodyguard/assassin and a kickass heroine. When she’s set up by the Order to die on a mission, her target decides not to kill her and to bring her into his fold. Werewolf Mark and his succubus wife Korinna give Marissa a new name and a job, but she needs help to control her fire power. The only way to control it is to have an incubus drain her excess energy through sex.
Michael is the incubus chosen for the job. He recently got out of a bad relationship, so he sets up ground rules to not fall in love with Marissa. Needless to say, they both fall head over heels, but Michael has a secret that could destroy their relationship before it really ever gets started.
Cheating is a big pep-peeve of mine. (In the previous book, Her Incubus Master, the heroine Katie had to have sex with multiple incubi during the Sharing Rite to become infected with their magical, immortality-giving sperm. Michael was one of those men. The timeline for that scene coincided with the middle of this book, Submitting to her Incubus.) Luckily, Michael considers the Rite a job, an honorable obligation, and didn’t experience any real pleasure from it, but Marissa is devastated when she finds out. She forgives him, however, after he explains why he did it and even agrees to let him participate in the Rite in the future since she understands he needs to help others (both men and women) achieve immortality. Given the circumstances, I’m fine with the cheating in this case.
Anyway, the sex scenes are mouthwatering hot. The kinky parts include: BDSM, spanking, restraints, Dom/sub play, sex toys, oral sex, anal sex, etc.
This book needs an edit. Typos include punctuation mistakes, misplaced words, and a few stray POV shifts. It’s written in third POV and in passive voice.
I really enjoyed the story, but Michael’s actions stopped me from loving it. I find this series very intriguing, and I’m anxious to read more books in this series.
4 Stars

Disclaimer – I downloaded this book from Amazon and volunteered to review it. I am not compensated in any way, shape, or form for this honest review. I will not change or alter this review for any reason unless at my discretion.… (mais)

This is the fourth book in the Children of Lilith series. I haven’t read many incubus stories, so I jumped on the chance to get this one in a box set of three books for free.
Katie is a normal twenty-something woman working at a marketing firm and living city life. Expensive restaurants, drinking, clubs, etc. But she’s recently divorced and not into casual sex. Then her friend and boss, Amanda, introduces Katie to her twin brother, Andras. He’s gorgeous, intelligent, and an incubus, but she doesn’t know that last part yet.
Andras had lost the woman he loved two years earlier and can’t move on until his sister sets him up on a blind date with Katie. For an incubus, or a succubus in Amanda’s case, he needs to find a philtata—a mortal mate to bond with—so he can feed off her sexual energy. Without a philtata, he must take women or men to bed in order to feed and survive, or just steal their energy without them being any the wiser. He’s given up on all of that and is on the verge of Decline, or death, until he finds his new philtata in Katie.
The sex scenes are scorching in this erotic novel. Each scene seemed to fit well and flow with the story. That’s very refreshing. In my opinion, some authors just throw unneeded sex scenes in a story without the scene doing anything to advance the relationship or the plot. In this book, all the sex scenes added depth and flavor, and were definitely needed.
As for the kinks, there were: light BDSM, spanking, restraints, Dom/sub play, sex toys, oral sex, anal sex, multiple couples, F/F, M/F/F (brother/sister sharing the heroine but no touching among siblings), etc.
The story could use a light edit. Though I didn’t notice any misspelled words, there were a few punctuation typos, but it didn’t take me out of the story. The book is written in third POV with proper shifts between the H/h, but I was surprised by the use of passive voice.
I very much enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more.
4 Stars

Disclaimer – I downloaded this book from Amazon and volunteered to review it. I am not compensated in any way, shape, or form for this honest review. I will not change or alter this review for any reason unless at my discretion.… (mais)

In book six of the Children of Lilith series, Nicole Jaeger is in hiding from a mad man. Six years earlier, a stranger kidnapped her, turned her into a werewolf, and kept her prisoner for an entire year. She finally escaped and has been on the run ever sense. She knows all about computers and finds work at a security company. Though she never stays in one place too long, she’s drawn to one of her bosses and doesn’t want to leave.
Gabriel Amestra is an incubus, a Child of Lilith, but he’s more of a gentle lover than his brother, Michael, and his cousin, Andras, whom we’ve met in the previous books. When Nicole first starts working at the company he co-owns with Michael and his other brother, Rafael, he knows she’s a shape-shifter by the color of her aura. Their romance blooms slowly because of her past trauma, but with Gabriel’s and Mark’s help (Mark is a powerful alpha werewolf and a friend to the Amestras), she works through her emotional problems.
I read this book back-to-back with the previous two. In doing so, I noticed at least one scene in this book is almost identical to a scene in book 5, Submitting to the Incubus, as though it was copied and pasted but with the names and a few details changed. I normally wouldn’t have noticed that if I hadn’t read the books so close together.
There aren’t any naughty kinks in this story as there were in books 4 and 5 (the only other ones I’ve read). The sex is still hot and mouthwatering, but it’s more straightforward like a regular erotic romance novel.
This book could use an edit to add in missing words and to fix some minor content errors.
Anyway, I enjoyed this story a lot and would like to read books 1, 2, and 3 (which are historicals) as well. Books 4, 5, and 6 are standalones, however, and readers don’t need to read the first three to understand them.
4 Stars

Disclaimer – I downloaded this book from Amazon and volunteered to review it. I am not compensated in any way, shape, or form for this honest review. I will not change or alter this review for any reason unless at my discretion.
… (mais)