This post is pretty easy because I cover in fairly exhaustive detail the majority of the books I read this month in my Smutathon Wrap Up. I read six books in the first half of December that were not part of my Smutathon reading. Let’s jump in!
1. The Game Planby Kristen Callihan
I’m still doing well limiting myself to one book in this series per paycheck and then reading the book quite promptly. This book follows Dex, our virgin hero with a beard, and Fiona, aka Ivy’s little sister (also an artist who worries she is too flighty). The first chapter involves the sexiest make out session at a bar while Dex and Fiona are visiting Ivy and Grey. Honestly, it was so sexy it has me reconsidering my stance on beards. ANYWAY, other than I feel like the importance of p in v sex was blown WAY out of proportion, I did absolutely love flipping the usual way of things on its head. Also though, Ethan Dexter is like… way too good at everything to have zero experience. But anyway, if you want something steamy, but with conflict that will make you want to scream, I highly recommend this book. (Part of the problem is that the original conflict, distance is really hard and they barely know each other, is a VERY real problem. Especially given Ethan’s schedule. But then issues KEEP popping up and I’m like, YOU ALREADY FIGURED IT OUT, JUST BE HAPPY NOW.)
2. Merry Inkmas by Talia Hibbert
Talia is honestly just a goddess. I love everything she writes and this was no exception. And, it’s free until Boxing Day, I think, on Amazon! This novella has Talia’s masterful romance with characters that you can’t help but love. Bailey is the most optimistic and sweet (but very strong) heroine and I love her and Cash has a hard shell on the outside, but is the softest on the inside. And I love them. They both have commitment issues, so I could see an argument for why the novella needs to be longer to fully buy in, but personally, I loved it.
3. A Gentleman in the Streetby Alisha Rai
I’ve been wanting to re-read this one for ages and I finally downloaded it from the Cloud so I could. Akira is one of my favorite heroines ever. She is a super rich business woman who hosts her own sex parties. Her parents are/were pretty much awful and she struggles a little bit with that, but mostly she’s a self-assured badass who is just amazing. I love her so much. She also can’t help but tease her former step-brother who she’s extremely attracted to and who doesn’t like her. She’s pretty sure, anyway. But Jacob contains multitudes. This is steamy, steamy, steamy so definitely good for you to know that going in.
4. Magic Gifts by Ilona Andrews
I don’t have much to say about this novella because (a) I read it out of order so I spent half the time being confused about what was going on and (b) it takes place in the middle of the series so I feel like anything I did have to say would be a spoiler. What I can say is that I’m still not sure I’m totally sold on the world of Kate Daniels. I know so many people love this series SO MUCH, but I just don’t know that I’m ever going to be one of them.
5. The Grift of the Magi by Ally Carter
I love Ally Carter and I’ve had this novella on my Kindle for years. This particular novella is a part of the Heist Society series, which is really fun. Essentially, Kat is told that this fancy egg was stolen from Hale’s grandmother’s charity and then she, Hale, and Gabrielle really take off from there. It’s a very fun novella with a good amount of plot and great amount of romance.
6. A Hunger Like No Other by Kresley Cole
If y’all aren’t listening to the Fated Mates podcast, y’all reallllly should get on that. It’s a fascinating experience to read the Immortals After Dark series alongside the podcast. A Hunger Like No Other was wild when I read it for the first time two-ish years ago–I mean, the hero literally amputates his own leg in the first chapter–and reading it after listening to the episode about it just deepened my enjoyment of the utter absurdity that is this first book in the series. Now, it is important to remember that this is an early paranormal romance and our hero is an ALPHA. Which, for the record, is something super well addressed in the podcast. I love it so much.
And the rest of my reads were books I read for the Smutathon.
My favorite book of the month was honestly my re-read of A Gentleman in the Street by Alisha Rai, but I did really enjoy most of these books! what was your favorite of the first half of December?
xx
firewhiskeyreader 