Dark romance – Page 4 – Past Midnight Book Reviews & More

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Author: Ann Aguirre

Format: eBook (NetGalley eArc)

Categories: Mystery, Time Travel, Paranormal, Romance

Pages: 336

Publication Date: July 9, 2019

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

In this tiny, terrifying town, the lost are never found. When Araceli Flores Harper is sent to live with her great-aunt Ottilie in her ramshackle Victorian home, the plan is simple. She’ll buckle down and get ready for college. Life won’t be exciting, but she’ll cope, right?

Wrong. From the start, things are very, very wrong. Her great-aunt still leaves food for the husband who went missing twenty years ago, and local businesses are plastered with MISSING posters. There are unexplained lights in the woods and a mysterious lab just beyond the city limits that the locals don’t talk about. Ever. When she starts receiving mysterious letters that seem to be coming from the past, she suspects someone of pranking her or trying to drive her out of her mind. To solve these riddles and bring the lost home again, Araceli must delve into a truly diabolical conspiracy, but some secrets fight to stay buried…

Thank you to MacMillan-Tor/Forge and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this eArc.

Heartwood Box is a mystery story that builds slowly in the beginning and packs a punch at the end with an ending that is somewhat bizarre but it works. I thought it was creative and different. My reaction was more like, what?……🤔

While reading this book, I was wondering if this was a ghost story but some things didn’t add up especially when there are people going missing in this strange town. I mean if it was just haunted, why would people go missing? Also, this is the second book I’ve read this month with references to World War I! That’s pretty cool since most people are engrained in World War II history, so I like having the spotlight be on WWI.

I enjoyed the diversity represented with the characters. Araceli is a strong young lady who grew up abroad in Central and South America, so she’s seen a lot of things, especially with parents who are investigative reporters. But this town is something different and she has a challenging time figuring things out.

I thought the ending was a nice twist and a bit strange. But I still enjoyed it because the story is well written. It flowed nicely from a slow mystery, which took me a few days to get into and then it took a turn with full on action and time-travel in the last part of the book. Yes, it did that.

Overall, I like this book! It’s not usually the type of genre I read but it was a nice change of pace.

Get it here: Amazon

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My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Authors: Jaymin Eve & Tate James

Format: Kindle E-book

Pages: 325

Categories: Alpha Males, Dark Romance, Bully Romance, Major Cliff Hanger, Car Racing

Book Blurb:

They rule my new town, my school, and with more money than God, there’s very little out of their reach.

Four gorgeous, perfect, scary boys. There used to be five, but one of them died, leaving a fifth position that I now fill.

I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t want to be part of this billionaire-boys-club. But no one cares about what I want.

Sebastian Beckett is the worst of them. Their leader. He draws me in, and strips me of every defense I have. He calls me Butterfly, but it’s not a pet name, it’s a threat. Beck wants nothing more than to break my wings, pin me to a board and watch me writhe.

He wants to see me broken. Body, heart and soul.

And what these elite want, they get.

Only they’ve never met Riley Jameson.

Let the battle begin.
**This dark romance features four sexy, dangerous boys but is NOT a reverse harem.**

MY REVIEW

Broken Wings was, WOW. It is the first book in what looks like a two book series. The story takes place in a high school but this reads as a New Adult novel. It has alpha males and steamy sex. If you do not enjoy dark romance/bully romance novels, this book isn’t for you. What is it about bad boys who are bullies at first? It’s those guys we love to hate, who come off hard but has some issues to deal with inside. All it takes is that one girl that penetrates their wall and makes them fall in love, hard. It just makes for a juicy tension filled story. But I did grow up with four alpha male cousins, and I know that bully romances in real life sometimes just do not end very well. Thank goodness this is fiction though!

I will note that although there are four main alpha males this is not a reverse harem, which made me happy because I’m not the biggest fan of reverse harem quite yet. I’ve found a few I liked though so I’m working my way into it. But I’m a big sucker for a soul-mate connection.

In Broken Wings, we meet Riley Jameson who is in a car accident, loses both her parents and finds out the life she believed was all based on a lie. She is not a Jameson, but a Deboise and her real parents brings her back into the family again – with an agenda. Riley finds herself thrown into a world of the rich and powerful. But with riches come power and with power comes sacrifice and a multitude of dangers as Riley comes to find out immediately.

Riley is no push-over, which I love. She stands up to Catherine, her cold biological mom (did that woman really birth her? Because my goodness, the hate from that woman), she loves to race fast cars, and she can handle herself among the alpha males even when they scare her. Then there’s Sebastian Beckett, the leader of this little group of four alpha males she’s tied to through the family business. The tension between them is strung tight and yes eventually they have some very amazing sex. Sebastian is a typical hot alpha male, but trained in extreme survival skills no twenty year old has business knowing. He was born into this life but a life that was void of family love, so he’s not all bad, or is he? But why was my heart sort of pining for Riley to hook up with Dante, her best friend? I know she’s crazy about Beck (Sebastian) but Dante is awesome too.

Dante has been there for Riley since before she became a rich girl. He’s got her back. I love him! Hot, rich, powerful, sexy Sebastian Beckett? Or hot, tatted, got his own connections, best friend Dante? What’s a girl to do? And Riley does find a female friend among this sea of alpha males. A girl needs her girlfriends, right? Her new best friend Eddy, sister to one of the alpha males, is a cool chic that welcomes her right away. Thank goodness for Dante and Eddy for keeping Riley grounded.

This book was a fast read! I could not put it down. I will say though that some things about the story made me pause: The unprotected sex scene – I get it – it happens in real life, but I was rolling my eyes like Riley, you’re going to get pregnant at seventeen! 🤦🏻‍♀️ And Beck (Sebastian) is 20 but it’s crazy to think he’s not even 21 yet with all that financial power – I felt like I was reading about a 30 year old! I know they live a fast lifestyle because of their status and position but at some points I had to remember Riley was only 17 and so the boys had to between 18-20. To think these boys would rule the world? Yikes…

Other than those minor things this book was a fun, exciting, intense read. There is sex, violence, high school parties, car racing and that cliffhanger ending! Oh my! I’m ready for book two because I have to know what happens, that twist in the end. Like, WHAT? How dare they…oh it’s so good. I’m so glad I don’t have too wait long for book two to come out. I’m ready to fall back into Riley’s world again.