A review by chelseaj91
1001 Dark Nights: Bundle Eight by Jennifer Lyon, Rebecca Zanetti, Riley Hart, Christopher Rice, Liliana Hart, Melissa Foster

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Kiss The Flame by Christopher Rice 2.75 Stars!
I liked the story of Laney and Michael. Overall anyway...I did feel like Laney was always looking for an excuse just because. I mean, she literally snuck to the bathroom during a date to google a story. There's wariness/distrust and then there's snooping. I do get wanting to make sure someone is telling the truth (having dealt with guys telling me a story just to try and get sympathy/something from me, I get it) but I feel like there are a lot better ways to deal with it than lying on a date. That's honestly not the best way to get things started. The story kind of started to suffer for me once the supernatural aspect/Lilliane was introduced. There was a lot of baggage involved there that was just brushed off in pursuit of Lilliane stopping something that likely wasn't going to happen. Just because she was afraid doesn't mean it's going to happen to everyone else, but if that's the way this was going to go, I feel like the author should have given us more about things.
Daring Her Love by Melissa Foster 3.25 Stars!
This was an interesting story. I liked the little hint of second chance we got with Kat and Eric (even if their "first" chance was back when they were both too young to understand what that really meant). Even with the "hey I swear I know you" aspect of things, I did feel like it went a little quick. Although it still managed to work, honestly. Hearing about Eric's past, the reasons he was at that camp were a little sad but I liked that Kat saw who he'd been and the way he was using his past to shape his present/future.
Teased by Rebecca Zanetti 3 Stars!
Okay, this was fun. I haven't read any of the other books in this series although there are a couple on my TBR. I did wish there'd been just a little more on the way this world works. I mean, there was something about the extra chromosomes and how it's only the males and everything but there was still a lot of stuff that was phrased almost in a "hey by this point you're already aware" kind of way that was a little confusing. I did get frustrated with Olivia's idea on blackmail, especially after she was told by multiple people it was sadly impossible. Like, I liked that she was loyal to her friend and wanted to help but at the same time, even advanced people can only do so much and I feel like by the time she heard it from the King, she should have gotten over the "all I have to do is blackmail them and they'll help!". I did kind of laugh at the fact that the underlying point to all of this was a misguided matchmaking attempt. Even though things went slightly sideways just because of opportunistic little buttheads, it was still kind of funny.
The Promise of Surrender by Liliana Hart 2.5 Stars!
Meh. It was decent as far as second chance romances go, I liked the fact that Mia and Zeke kind of had the "well you made your choice" fight. But I felt like the biker thing was going to be a bigger issue than it was. There was a lot of references made to the fact that Mia could hold her own and knew how to be a pain in the ass but everything got "resolved" with a "that was our CI and they didn't make it to the checkpoint" and a vandalized store. The story felt a little more like it was about Mia accepting that she belonged in town rather than a second chance romance/action story.
Savaged Surrender by Jennifer Lyon 3.25 Stars!
Ethan's constant "I can never have her because I can never have anything good" every time something would happen started to grate. Honestly, we spent a lot of time (not) dealing with his baggage that I feel like Ana's troubles/baggage got lost. Yeah, there was a little because Chelle got in his face and called him an idiot, but most of the issues focused on "Ethan Hunt can't have anything nice because his past is horrible". Yeah, once he finally talked about it, his past was horrible and sad but I felt like it was overused in this instance. I did wish he'd realized what Siena was doing earlier, but I kind of liked Ana showing up and standing up for him.
Jumpstart by Riley Hart 3.5 Stars!
Beck and Chris were kind of amazing. They definitely had some issues from their past and I did get a little frustrated when the past was revealed (the way things happened/why Beck cut contact). Not necessarily because Beck didn't flat out admit anything but the fact that he was silent. There are definitely ways that could have been handled. But at the same time, it was needed for them to be able to have their "Come to Jesus" moments when everything came out for Beck. I did like the fact that even after so long, the one person Beck knew he needed was Christian, and Christian knew that Beck physically needed him by his side, and didn't really question anything. There was some awkwardness as they found their footing again, but I thought it was actually kind of sweet.