Happy Friday! I missed my Throwback Thursday post yesterday because I'm fighting another cold, but I plan to have some new book recs for you next week *fingers crossed*.

Today I'm sharing a week's worth of what I want to read, what I want to buy (or borrow), what I want to read, and several romance book bargains.

Hopefully you find something to enjoy here too!

New Releases of the Week

Upcoming Releases for Next Week

Other Books I'm Keeping my Eyes on This Week

I haven't changed my mind or purchased the books from last week. Curious? Check them out HERE

What I want to read next

Book Deals under $2

What are your reading plans for the weekend?

One of the things I love about the bookish world is that one book can evoke different feelings in all sorts of readers. One book can be a five-star read for me and a DNF for someone else. We all see something different because we're all different and I love exploring those differences by reading reviews. So here are three books that I enjoyed and didn't love, however, they got five-star reviews from a ton of other readers.

Have you read any of these?

Satan's Affair by H.D. Carlton

thriller / 197 pages

Every Halloween, Satan's Affair will come to you.

We travel the country, offering terrifying haunted houses, thrilling rides and the tastiest food. And with every passing town, I cleanse this world, one execution at a time.

I hide within the walls, casting my judgement for those that reek of evil, singing lullabies to their rotting souls.

Once you've been chosen, there's no escaping my henchmen—they cater to my every desire.

You can run and you can hide, but it only excites me.

Come.

Take a walk through my dollhouse, where your screams will blend and your cute little pleas will go unanswered.

But I can't promise it'll be over quickly...

Checkmate by R.L. Mathewson

Contemporary romance / dual 1st pov / enemies to lovers / descriptive scenes / 350 pages

There’s nothing worse than living next door to your childhood nemesis, except maybe being forced to share your dream project with him, being blackmailed into going along with something that was just wrong on so many levels, and having your hot cocoa stolen by the person that drove you to drink it in the first place.

As long as she has plenty of hot cocoa, a pair of pliers on hand and is able to resist Connor O’Neil's bad boy charm then Rory James should be able to make it through this project with her sanity intact. If not...

She’d probably face a few more nights in jail, have a few more restraining orders slapped against her and lose her heart to the man that ruined her life.

Shuttergirl by CD Reiss

I never forgot her. Not for one minute. Not from the last time I saw her, at seventeen, to today. I measured all women against her and all women came up short.

But being with her was unfeasible in high school, and it’s taboo now.

I see her sometimes, but I’ve never spoken to her. She runs, or I run. We’re in the same town, on the same block, in the same building, and the gulf between us is just too wide to cross.

Until tonight.

He was my high school crush, back when I lived in a world that didn’t want me. He was the perfect boy, and I was the outcast kid from the other side of town. And when he held my hand I thought I could fit in, just a little. I thought I could be his and he could be mine.

Then he left, and my life fell apart.

Now we are the king and queen of opposite sides of Hollywood. And we haven’t spoken a word to each other.

Until tonight.

Clown Motel by Lani Lynn Vale

It’s not every day you meet a man at the bar, stare at him for hours, and then right when you decide to make a move, he gets up to leave. Worse, when you follow him outside, you see him completely change his appearance by shucking a wig and a button down shirt, dropping them into the nearest trash can.

When Crimson looks around to see who noticed the complete one-eighty that’s just taken place, not a single person notices or cares. When she looks back, he’s gone.

Dejected, she leaves, thinking maybe she’d hallucinated and made the whole night up.

Only, just as she passes a dark alley, she’s taken. Literally and figuratively.

That’s the night that Winston Cyrus Osborn, III walks into her life.

***

Crimson is the worst type of woman.

She’s curious.

And curiosity kills the cat in his line of work.

With nothing else left to lose, he’s set to rid this world of the filth that infests it. And in doing that, he’s made a lot of enemies that would like nothing better than to ruin him and every single person he cares about.

At every turn, she’s there, insinuating herself into his life. And despite his attempts to keep her at arm’s length, she blows past every single barrier he erects.

He should really stay away.

He should also make sure that she stays out of his business.

Yet, he keeps letting her in. And she keeps reminding him why he wants her to stay.




I thought I knew what I was stepping into. Three books deep and I figured I knew what to expect from this series. Book four has thrown me for a loop. It went deeper, it went harder, and all the ugly pain got out... at least for the Singh siblings I've met so far.

I feel like I should be embarassed by how much I enjoyed Crimson's stalker vibes. The way that she didn't allow Winston any personal space gave me life! It wasn't like he wasn't aware of her every move too and that shared obsession was beautiful to witness.

I watched him from across the room.
I didn't know who he was.
I didn't know why he was there.
I didn't know why I was there.
What I did know was that I wanted him.
I'd never wanted someone so much in my life.

Winston had a backstory that broke my heart, but it wholly explained his hesitance to have something real with Crimson. She had her own story of trauma and honestly, no one had it easy. However, whatever they saw within one another made them better people and I was just happy to read about their journey.

I laughed, I cringed, I cheered, and I almost cried. Clown Motel was a remarkable read.

Other books in the series: Fun House * Freak Show * Show Off

Lani Lynn Vale is married to the love of her life that she met in high school. She fell in love with him because he was wearing baseball pants. Ten years later they have three perfectly crazy children and a cat named Demon who likes to wake her up at ungodly times in the night. They live in the greatest state in the world, Texas. She writes contemporary and romantic suspense, and has a love for all things romance. You can find Lani in front of her computer writing away in her fictional characters world...that is until her husband and kids demand sustenance in the form of food and drink.

Visit https://lanilynnvale.com for more information!

Today's flashback is the Broken series by Azure Boone. This is a contemporary romance that tackles past abuse, a broken hero, some BDSM, tons of angst and emotional turmoil. I read it a long time ago and gave the series THREE STARS, but because it was so long ago, please take my ratings and reviews with a grain of salt.

Have you ever read these books? Are you interested in giving them a try?

1. Broken Desires

Sofia follows a dare and sets an appointment with the hot gynecologist she's crushing on. After an embarrassing series of events, she feigns a diabetes attack, leaves his office and prays she never sees him again. Two days later, she meets him in the supermarket and he asks her to dinner.

Daniel deals with his dark past by pleasuring women. Very selective with who he chooses for his erotic games, his next available choice, Sofia, doesn't measure up to the kind of woman he needs. But with his options near zero, he decides to take a chance, and soon discovers that pleasuring Sofia opens a door to a rewarding new desire.

2. Broken Lies

Dr. Daniel Fletcher gives up his career as a gynecologist and goes into the cookie business with his beautiful fiance Sofia. But his dark past refuses to stay buried when his sweet Sofia reunites him with his long lost brother Seth who can't keep his eyes off of his soon to be bride. Daniel is sure Seth is a fraud and a con and plans to prove it then kick him out of their lives. But Daniel isn't the only one with a dark past, and Seth's threatens to crush what is already broken.

3. Broken Souls

Daniel struggles to see his life as whole and not broken. But through his efforts to fix his past with his brother, he discovers souls can be broken too.

4. Broken Free

Daniel has been broken in every way for as long as he can remember. Will his wife and baby be enough to piece him back together? Can he break free from his past, when his father's sins still strangle his heart?