jessanicolesingh's reviews
80 reviews

Green Light by Jescie Hall

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

5.0

You guys, she did it again! Jescie Hall’s writing style is always top tier; if she writes it I am automatically going to read it, and can almost guarantee a 5 ⭐️ ride.

This is a dark, taboo romance with PLENTY of trigger warnings to check. It is NOT a beginners guide to the genre, with a very toxic relationship between the main characters. If you are however, a seasoned vet in this reading category, I strongly advise going into this book blind 🫣 At no point could I guess where the story was going to go, though there was one small part of the climax reveal that I took a wild guess on towards the beginning that ended up being right on.

Keep it up Jescie, I will continue to devour every work you decide to grace us with!
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Five Brothers by Penelope Douglas

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emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I knew right from the first chapter that this book was going to be a hit, though why should I be surprised, it’s Penelope Douglas after all! Five Brothers is a HOT taboo read, spicy in all the right places.  

Krisjen is probably one of my favorite FMCs to date. Fresh out of high school and already raising her younger siblings, she is strong, quick witted, and full of angst towards her absentee parents who are arranging her marriage to a rich and arrogant prick.

Across the tracks live the five brothers of her best friend's girlfriend, one of which she had a friends-with-benefits situationship. One night after a party at their house, she ends up hooking up with another one of the brothers, but she doesn't know who. Throughout the book, she forms both friendly and intimate relationships with the guys, and weaves through the mystery of who her one night stand was with. We also see an ongoing rivalry between the posh and poor sides of town, waging war in the background of the story.

Though I am partial to reverse harem over multiple love interests with a closing choice, I was happy with the final couple at the end. The rest of the brother’s had fairly open endings, so maybe we will see them again in another interconnected standalone. The Jaeger brothers were already heavily featured in a previous book by Douglas, Tryst Six Venom, which is officially on my TBR, so anything is possible!
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Crossed by Emily McIntire

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

4.5

Fifth in the Never After series, Crossed is a loose reimagination of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, a story that I am less familiar with than the others. Father Cade Frédéric has just moved to a French inspired town in Vermont to become the new priest. While he is devout to Him, he battles an internal bloodlusting monster, snuffing out the evil in the world by killing those with “demons” in them (it’s giving Dexter Morgan’s “dark passenger”). Amaya on the other hand is an exotic dancer (stage name: Esmeralda) and town outcast, solely raising her young brother, Quin, who is on the spectrum. The two meet by chance and Cade becomes OBSESSED with her, stalking her and ultimately killing in her honor. In an unfortunate turn of events, Amaya becomes the murder suspect, forcing her hand to marry Parker, the sleazebag ex of her runaway mother, who alsosexually assaulted her and has been harassing her for years. I find myself rather glad I didn’t know much about the original storyline while reading this one, as I got to enjoy some of the twists that might have otherwise been not as surprising. 
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Twisted by Emily McIntire

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dark emotional 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

4.5

Fourth in the Never After series, Twisted is a loose reimagination of Aladdin. Set in modern day NY, we find Yasmine, the daughter of a sick billionaire, who's dying wish is to marry her off and leave the legacy of his jewel empire to her husband-to-be, all the while she is already engaged in a secret relationship with her childhood friend, Aidan. Julian is her father’s right hand man and  COO of Sultans, who has murdered his way to the top and has his eye on the fortune to be left by the mogul. He devises a plan to force Yas's hand in marriage to him, while also getting the boy, Aidan, out of the way by sending him on a wild goose chase for an ancient lamp artifact in Egypt. The two had great banter and a true enemies to lovers blossoming, and I loved seeing the transition of him wanting to own her for power, to owning her for love. 

I'm so torn because although I thoroughly LOVED this book, I felt the plot was predictable the whole way through, so I never really felt at the edge of my seat. 
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Wretched by Emily McIntire

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dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • 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

4.5

 Third in the Never After series, Wretched is a loose reimagination of The Wizard of Oz, featuring Evelina, the “wicked witch” coded daughter of an Irish mobster, and Nick, an undercover DEA agent who scoffs in the face of love (one might say he is heartless). The story is set in modern day Chicago, centering on Evie's family's growing drug empire, and the formerly mentioned DEA agent on the hunt for their supplier. This book held a great pace, had great characters with a lot of depth, and wove through a very entertaining plot with a final twist that actually caught me off guard 👏👏👏 As always with this series, I love looking for all of the tie-ins to the original story and figuring out the who’s who as far as reworked characters goes. 
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Scarred by Emily McIntire

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dark emotional 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

4.5

Second in the Never After series, Scarred is a loose reimagination of The Lion King, featuring Tristan (the SCARred prince) and King Michael Faasa, and fiancé of the latter, Sara. In an early 1900s royal court, the King is honestly doing a terrible job and revolution is on the horizon, with none other than his brother leading the rebellion. Simultaneously, his betrothed only agreed to be his bride as a means to plot revenge for the murder of her father. Both of these secret rivals are fighting the same fight, unbeknownst to each other, while also building a slow burn forbidden love.

The story and “twists” were predictable at times, but overall it was still a great read. There were some clever tie-ins to the original tale, but also a lot of cheesy parallels (like are you kidding me with Paul Wartheg 🤣)
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Breaking Boston: A MFM Masked Stalker Dark Romance by K.M. Rogness

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

2.0

I went in with high hopes, I came out disappointed. 

I almost DNFd this book so many times, but held on strong waiting for it to get better. I really tried to find something redeemable here, ultimately coming up empty handed. The characters were severely underdeveloped, the pacing was all over the place, the plot was repetitive (shoot up heroin, sex, murder, repeat), and the steamy scenes were overkill. Most infuriating of all, the “strangers” that stalked the FMC, who were her foster brothers, didn't do a single thing besides wearing masks to conceal their identities. They used the same obvious language and even called her the same nicknames, regardless of whether they were being themselves or in disguise. I normally love dark romance, all things dirty and taboo, but this just felt gross and flat.
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The Perfect Fit by Sadie Kincaid

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dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced
  • 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

Ladies and gentlemen, meet my FAVORITE book of the year. This was the hottest book I think I’ve ever read, I felt like I was revving up to have a heart attack 🥵

We have three hot billionaire men, involved with each other in not just business but pleasure too, who are searching for a woman to add to their relationship to take the trio to a quad. They come across Lily who seems like the “perfect fit” for them, but she has buried secrets that threaten the dynamic and privacy of the group, and their overall safety. The first half of the book might have you thinking its straight smut, but I swear there is an actual plot, climax, twist and resolution outside of the poly relationship. The specifics of the spiciness might not be for everyone, but for me this book is the blueprint going forward 😉
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God of War by Rina Kent

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

4.5

God of War features Eli, a controlling and overworked sociopath, and Ava, a party-girl musician with psychosis. Their story has been teased at heavily throughout the series, and does NOT follow the same formula as the rest of the books. In fact, this timeline takes place a few years after we last saw these characters, starting with Ava waking up in the hospital after an accident to learn she has been married to Eli for the past 2 years with no memory of their relationship. I really enjoyed how this book brought some thriller elements as the mystery of her amnesia is unraveled, as well as some bonus HEA closure for the rest of the couples. 
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God of Fury by Rina Kent

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dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

God of Fury features Brandon, an artist with an inferiority complex and borderline personality disorder, Nikolai, a golden retriever mafia prince with a craving for violence, and Kolya, Nikolai's very vocal and opinionated penis 😂 I smiled so much during this read, I loved how unapologetically cringey Niko was, and am always gushy for a gay awakening trope. It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows however; while the other books had dark themes and outsider “bad guys”, this one looked deeper into mental health and internal sabotage. This rawness definitely won me over as my favorite of the series. 
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