🍷🍷🍷🍷.5 #Review of The Liar’s Crown by Abigail Owen

 

Title: The Liar’s Crown
Series: Dominions #1
Author: Abigail Owen
Format: eBook, 448 pages
Published: August 30th 2022 by Entangled: Teen
ISBN: 1649371527
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N
Source: Netgalley
Reviewer: Crystal
Rating: 

🍷🍷🍷🍷.5

Some shadows protect you…others will kill you in this dazzling new fantasy series from award-winning author Abigail Owen.

Everything about my life is a lie. As a hidden twin princess, born second, I have only one purpose—to sacrifice my life for my sister if death comes for her. I’ve been living under the guise of a poor, obscure girl of no standing, slipping into the palace and into the role of the true princess when danger is present.
Now the queen is dead and the ageless King Eidolon has sent my sister a gift—an eerily familiar gift—and a proposal to wed. I don’t trust him, so I do what I was born to do and secretly take her place on the eve of the coronation. Which is why, when a figure made of shadow kidnaps the new queen, he gets me by mistake.

As I try to escape, all the lies start to unravel. And not just my lies. The Shadowraith who took me has secrets of his own. He struggles to contain the shadows he wields—other faces, identities that threaten my very life.

Winter is at the walls. Darkness is looming. And the only way to save my sister and our dominion is to kill Eidolon…and the Shadowraith who has stolen my heart. 

Crystal's Thoughts-

The Liar’s Crown is the first book in a new high fantasy, upper ya, romance series from author Abigail Owen. I adored this author's Inferno Rising (adult paranormal romance) series so when I saw this book in a promo from Entangled I had to know more! 

🍷🍷 #Review of Court of the Vampire Queen by Katee Robert

Title: Court of the Vampire Queen
Author: Katee Robert 
Format: eBook and Paperback, 496 pages
Published: September 6th 2022 by Sourcebooks Casablanca
ISBN: 1728264693

Links: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N 

Source: Netgalley and Sourcebooks

Reviewer: Crystal

Rating: 🍷🍷

Three Powerfully Alluring Vampire Men
And One Queen to Rule Them All

All Mina ever wanted was to escape her father's control. Half human, half vampire, she lived eternally torn between two worlds, never fully experiencing the pleasures of either—until her father chose her as the pawn in his latest political move, gifting her to the darkly powerful and dangerously seductive Malachi Zion.

Malachi is not a vampire to be trifled with. He rules with an iron fist and has a reputation for the darkest of sins. But the longer Mina spends with him, the more she realizes he's not the monster she first thought—and as fear bleeds into lust, then trust, then something more, Malachi opens Mina up to a world she never knew could be hers for the taking: including the love of Malachi's two closest friends and companions.

Now surrounded by all three men, the center of their shockingly seductive world, Mina may finally have the power to face down her father and take back the life—and crown—that by all rights should be hers.

LONG LIVE THE QUEEN. 

Crystal's Thoughts;

“You might have the bond, little dhampir, but we do, too. You're ours just as much as we're yours.”

Read an #Excerpt from Pride and Protest by Nikki Payne

Pride and Prejudice meets “Dear White People” in this diverse rom-com by debut author Nikki Payne. In PRIDE AND PROTEST, an outspoken DJ goes head-to-head with the CEO of a property developer taking over her D.C. neighborhood during a protest, but they soon find that the fire between them isn’t rage but chemistry.

About the Book

Pride and Protest
by Nikki Payne
Paperback, 416 pages
Published November 15th 2022 by Berkley Books
ISBN0593440943

Liza B.--the only DJ who gives a jam--wants to take her neighborhood back from the soulless property developer dropping unaffordable condos on every street corner in DC. But her planned protest at a corporate event takes a turn after she mistakes the smoldering-hot CEO for the waitstaff. When they go toe-to-toe, the sparks fly--but her impossible-to-ignore family thwarts her every move. Liza wants Dorsey Fitzgerald out of her hood, but she'll settle for getting him out of her head.

At first, Dorsey writes off Liza Bennett as more interested in performing outrage than acting on it. As the adopted Filipino son of a wealthy white family, he's always felt a bit out of place and knows a fraud when he sees one. But when Liza's protest results in a viral meme, their lives are turned upside down, and Dorsey comes to realize this irresistible revolutionary is the most real woman he's ever met. 

AMAZON | B&N 

#Spotlight on In It to Win It by Sharon C. Cooper

Your December just got a little bit hotter, with a new romantic comedy from award-winning and USA Today bestselling author Sharon C. Cooper. IN IT TO WIN IT follows two entrepreneurs competing for one special property and just might secure the biggest win of all—each other—in this second chance romance. 

About the Book 

In It to Win It 

by Sharon C. Cooper 

 Paperback, 336 pages 

Published December 13th 2022 by Berkley 

ISBN0593335279 

Spoiled, fickle, and flighty are only a few adjectives that have been used to describe Morgan Redford. She’s never had to worry about money, but she’s determined to build a career on her own and do something meaningful with her life—by helping children who are aging out of the foster care system. She has her eyes on a property that a family friend is selling, which is perfect for these young adults to live in, but her competition is someone she never expected… 

When Los Angeles real estate developer Drake Faulkner learns that his eccentric mentor is selling property that is perfect for his portfolio, he jumps at the chance to buy it. But he soon learns the billionaire has other ideas: buyers must compete in an Iron Man competition of sorts for the property. Drake refuses to play along with this ridiculous demand…until he finds out Morgan, his ex who left him years ago without a word, is one of the potential buyers. No way is he letting her—Little Miss Self-Absorbed—win the property he wants. Bitter? Yes. Petty? Probably. But as the gauntlet of games heats up and forces them to face the past, they are met with a pull that feels all too familiar. 

Now, if they could only keep their eyes on the prize and off each other—but who’s to say they can’t do both? 

AMAZON | B&N 

#Spotlight on A Warrior for Christmas by Donna Grant

New York Times bestselling author Donna Grant returns to her beloved Dark Warriors series with sixteen all-new short stories featuring the cherished characters you’ve been missing.

About the Book 

A Warrior for Christmas

 (Dark Warriors #10) 

by Donna Grant 

Published December 6th 2022 by DL Grant, LLC. 

Defenders against evil. Bound by the gods. The Dark Warriors fought their battle from ancient Scotland to the modern world—where love set them free... 

Now, with the past evil behind them and things quieter than they remember in ages, they can celebrate the holidays—and each other—with tradition, love, and fun. 

Just days away from the winter solstice, Christmas, and Boxing Day, the Warriors and Druids of MacLeod castle come together once more to give thanks for the family they’ve made and the hardships they’ve overcome. But returning brings back so many memories, and each couple in residence finds themselves lost in reminiscences—and one another. 

Tonight is about each other. Tomorrow, they will honor the ties they have forged and the life they have built as a group, putting the past behind them and looking to the future. No matter what it holds. 

AMAZON | B&N 

Read an #Excerpt from The Spice Master at Bistro Exotique by Samantha Verant

This December, author and amateur chef Samantha Vérant whisks readers back to Paris in an all-new story about an American chef who aims to open her own restaurant in THE SPICE MASTER AT BISTRO EXOTIQUE!

About the Book

The Spice Master at Bistro Exotique

by Samantha Verant 

Paperback, 352 pages

Published December 6th 2022 by Berkley Books

ISBN0593546008

A talented chef discovers how spices and scents can transport her--and, more importantly, how self-confidence can unlock the greatest magic of all: love--in this perfectly seasoned new novel by Samantha Vérant.

Kate Jenkins doesn't believe in fate. She believes in a clear vision, meticulous planning, and hard work in order to achieve her culinary dreams. On the cusp of opening her own Parisian restaurant, Bistro Exotique, she isn't even concerned when her standoffish--and annoyingly sexy--neighbor dismisses her as a crazy American tourist or when she meets the wildly eccentric Garrance, the self-proclaimed Spice Master of Paris, who ominously warns her of the previous owner's failures.

Confident and optimistic, Kate keeps calm and cooks on. Until a series of unfortunate events derail her plans and her entire staff quits.

Kate is about to throw in the kitchen towel on her lifelong dream when Garrance offers to use her mastery of scents and spices to help her, but it comes at a price: Kate must work with Garrance's son, Charles, a world-class chef and total jerk. After Kate hesitantly concedes to the deal, she slowly learns to open her heart and mind to new concepts, not quite sure if the magic she's experiencing comes from Garrance's spices, from within herself, or from the growing chemistry with Charles. One thing is certain, though: her kitchen is getting increasingly hot.

AMAZON | B&N