LAST YEAR I WAS READING…(December 29, 2021)
This meme was created by Reading Marie. It’s a great meme because it’s nice and easy to do.
Here are the rules:
Take your current read and compare it to what you reading this exact time last year. Which one do you like better? What is different about the books? Any special facts/things you want to make note of or bring attention to
This Year I Am Reading…
“When you talk, chaos follows and I forget who I am.”
Madigan has spent his life indulging in the world’s most hedonistic pursuits, his skills as a sharpshooting killer-for-hire paying his way.
Azrael, an assassin referred to as the angel of death, is a chemist and a loner, his poisons as lethal as they are undetectable.
A chance encounter leads to a passionate night and a heated rivalry that spans years, but after they’re both offered a chance at big money by taking out elite targets on a mysterious hitlist, they find themselves once again in each other’s way. And then in each other’s arms.
Trust doesn’t come easily for either of them, but no matter how far they stray, fate always seems to pull them back together. In a profession where your partner is just as likely to kill you as kiss you, maybe trust is as close to love as they get?
Play Dirty is a steamy, action-packed thrill ride of a romance with a HEA and no cliffhangers. It features two stubborn rival assassins who can’t seem to stop tempting each other, a bit of knife play, a Die Hard-style Christmas, plenty of dark humor, and true love. Because even assassins deserve their soulmates. This is book 2 in the Wages of Sin series. Each book will follow a new couple.
Bookshop: US
Amazon Buy Links: Kindle| Audiobook
Amazon UK Buy Links: Audiobook
Just finished this very combustible combination of two rival assassins trying to one-up each other. Also has lots of smooshy moments.
Last Year I Was Reading…
If you win the bet, we’ll let you disappear. If you lose, you’ll be trapped on stage forever.
Charlie
I’m definitely straight, but when rock god Eli Steele offers me the opportunity of a lifetime in exchange for being his fake husband for a year, I can’t say no. That’s how I find myself sharing a bed – and more than a few kisses – with the lead singer of Blood Money. All I have to do is stay focused on my work and pretend to be in love with him. Easy, right?
Eli
I took a stupid fucking bet and now I have to convince Charlie to fall for me without using mind control. He’s straight, but the bigger problem is that he’s human and I’m not. Once he finds out I’m really a vampire, will he be able to look past my fangs and see what’s in my heart?
Bookshop: US
Amazon Buy Links: Kindle| Audiobook
Amazon UK Buy Links: Paperback | Audiobook
This one also had a couple that sparkled and zinged but the story went tepid with the world-building and other plot points. Still worth a shot though.
My 3.5-star review here.
Today we have a steamy action suspense and a paranormal romance. The current book is about an insta-attraction, slow-burn enemies-to-lovers romance between a vigilante sharp-shooter with Irish roots and an American-Pakistani assassin/chemist. Last year’s book is an insta-fake husband, slow-burn gay-for-you romance between a rock star vampire and a random stranger. Both books touch upon death, secrets, trust, and found families. The tones were lightly humorous and low-angst. They also have fight scenes, although last year’s read did mostly tell rather than show the action.
Play Dirty is the second book of Wages Of Sin, a series about vigilante hitmen who bonded together through violent and bloody circumstances. Madigan and Azrael were introduced in Book 1. In this book, it was revealed that they had met 3 years prior and had an ongoing rivalry where one tries to take out the other’s mark first. They were also as magnetically drawn to each other as much as they love antagonizing the other person. Then one day, Az proposed they work together. The longer they did, the sooner they had to face their true feelings for each other.
The book tackles some dark subjects and has morally gray characters, The two MCs have tragic backstories that were later revealed. The biggest issue between them is trust. Maddie was known for selling out a lover for a lump of money. Az made a gamble that didn’t pay off. It affected Maddie’s trust in him. They worked on this as the story progressed. Or as much as they can, given their jobs. However, the way they just mesh left no doubts they were a perfect match.
Shot In The Dark is about a rock star vampire, Eli Steele, who is ready to hang up his guitar, but first, he had to win a bet. He has to marry the first person who walks into the bar. In walks Charlie. He’s a fan of the band and was very flattered to be asked by the Eli Steele. Thing is, he’s straight. How would they convince everyone that they were in love?
Eli kept his vampire identity a secret, but Charlie trusted him implicitly. Even after the reveal, Charlie kept an open mind. Eli is the youngest member of the band, Blood Money. They were also his coven and his family. Vampire lore always fascinates me so it was such a letdown that these aspects of the plot weren’t fully explored. The book could use more detailed world-building because I was curious about the entire setup. All in all, a beautifully executed fake husband, gay-for-you romance that went too low-key on the paranormal.
Between assassins and vampires, sparkle and zing pale in comparison to fire and gasoline.
I’m ending the post with a book I’m looking forward to reading.
Atticus Mulvaney is the eldest son of eccentric billionaire, Thomas Mulvaney—a role he takes very seriously. Atticus takes everything seriously. Like his brothers, Atticus is a psychopath, raised to right the wrongs of a broken justice system. Unlike his brothers, he’s not very good at it.
Jericho Navarro is no psychopath, but he is a vicious killer. Like Atticus, he also has a secret life. To most, he’s just a mechanic. But to a ragtag group of social misfits, he’s Peter Pan, teaching them to eliminate those who prey on the weak with extreme prejudice.
When Atticus and Jericho come face to face over a shared enemy, their accidental meeting ends in an explosively hot hookup neither can forget. But they have nothing in common. Atticus is a buttoned-up closeted scientist and Jericho is a man on a mission, determined to find and punish those responsible for the death of his sister. Still, Jericho can’t stay away. And, truthfully, Atticus doesn’t want him to.
As Jericho’s mission begins to bleed into Atticus’s life, two separate but equally brutal families will need to learn how to fight together to take out a common enemy. But no amount of brute force can show Jericho how to scale the walls of a psychopath’s heart. Can Jericho convince Atticus that, sometimes, the couple who kills together stays together?
Moonstruck is a high heat, intense psychopath romance with an HEA and no cliffhangers. It features a fumbling, sexually confused maniac and the dominating, unapologetic gang leader who can’t stop tormenting him. As always, there’s gratuitous violence, very dark humor, more killers than you can count, and enough explosive chemistry to level a city block. This is book three in the Necessary Evils series. Each book follows a different couple.
Among the Mulvaney boys, grumpy Atticus has a special place in my heart. I am tickled pink Jericho calls him Freckles. Can’t wait to moon over these dorks!
What were you reading this time last year?
(I hope it’s as riveting as Morticia’s book)
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