This Was NOT Good

 Slave by Cheryl Brooks 

I am not sure why I wanted to read this or why it ended up on my TBR because it was not good. The writing was repetitive and uninspiring. The storyline was gross. I didn't like any of the characters. It never got any better. She calls him kittycat throughout the entire book when she's not calling him Cat because she couldn't come up with any kind of nickname that made sense. So, she is searching for her sister who got kidnapped 6 years ago and sold into slavery. When she finds out the planet she is on requires all of the women to be chained to their masters she goes in search of a slave. She finds Cat, buys him, and immediately frees him. When the man she bought him from tries to attack her, Cat jumps in to save her and she takes him with her on her journey. She tells him about her sister and asks him to pretend to be her master on the planet so they can look for her sister. He agrees. They flirt. They journey through the jungle and eventually find her sister who is now pregnant and happy and doesn't want to leave. Then, her sister tells her the truth of the planet, the women are engaging in selective breeding because the men are so aggressive. Only pre-approved men are allowed to breed and while her husband is the father of this child, he will not be the father of any other children she has because she will be artificially inseminated. Then Cat gets captured and she goes after him. Because of some procedure that a different alien did, she can track him and is able to save him but it's too late. Cat is bleeding out. A monkey comes out, sees her crying, leaves, and returns with some poultice. The women warriors show up with an alien just like the one that turned her into a tracker and they help Cat, then tell her they are very lucky because that monkey was a Guardian and they rarely show themselves. She and Cat rest and recover then make the trip back to Earth to tell her parents what happened. She and Cat have triples, which they call a litter. The book ends with them both old, having had many litters and Cat having donated his semen to the selective breeding program on the planet that sister is on. This was weird and I didn't like it. I won't be reading anymore from this series or from this author.   

Rom-Com

 69 Million Things I Hate About You by Kira Archer 

 I was smiling and kicking my feet basically the entire time, and I'm not a huge fan of office romance, especially not boss romance, books. But this was so cute! Kiersten gets promoted to first assistant when Maria quits because their boss, Cole, tells her to move her wedding because he needs her to work over the weekend. While talking with his friend, Brooks, Cole comes to realize that he might have overreacted so he gives her a good recommendation and an even better severance package. He then proceeds to work Kiersten into the ground. That is, until she and her two best friends win the lottery. If they take the one time payment and split it, they all end up with $69 million. She can't quit her job, not until everything is finalized legally, but she decides she's going to make her bosses life hell until then. Her friends create a poll of when he's going to fire her and put it on the business forum. He finds out from IT, but doesn't say anything to her. In fact, he tries to be even worse just to see what she will do. Turns out, they like this side of each other. Then, he tells her to schedule his yearly poker trip, but it can't be some place they have been before and they can't fly. So, she first books them in a sleazy motel, but has a helicopter take them to the real location: Amish Country. They have to participate in a school building and do all of the farm chores. Cole finally makes a move and kisses her. Then, he flies her to France and they stay in a literal castle for the weekend. Everything is going great until he gets a call about the paperwork for one of the projects. He immediately accuses her of messing it up on purpose. She yells at him about why is he currently with her if he's doing something for one of his mistresses. He tells her that house is in his sister's memory and is for people with her same illness. She flies back home and calls in the two friends for help finding the paperwork. She gets it filed, but because it was late the venue has been rebooked. She then works tirelessly to get everything set up at a new location and the party is a hit. But he isn't taking her calls or responding to her texts. She decides to just quit and wants to know who is going to win the poll, but the last day has a super cheesy message about not being able to be without her. She shows up, barges into a meeting, yells at the client and him. He follows her out. He apologizes. She quits at the same time as he fires her. They get back together. The epilogue is two years in the future with them happily married and her going into labor. He and Brooks are both a mess and it was adorable! I adored this book.  

YA Fantasy

 Firelight by Sophie Jordan 

A dragon and a dragon hunter fall in love. Jacinda is a fire breather which is super rare and because of that the pack doesn't see her as a person but as a commodity. Her twin sister doesn't have a dragon form and her mom let her dragon die after the death of her husband, their father. So, when Jacinda is almost caught by hunters the pack wants to punish her but mom has them run away in the middle of the night. The only reason Jacinda wasn't caught by the hunters is because the hunter that found her, Will, let her go. The twins end up in school in the desert because mom wants Jacinda's dragon to die. On the first day she has an encounter with Will. Then he sits beside her in study hall. He is trying to stay away from her, but he feels drawn to her. They have this will they won't they thing going on. He finds her wandering around one night because he went to look for her. She shows up at his house, with his entire extended family of hunters, and finds his dads trophy room. Will tries to stay away, but it isn't working. She gets accosted in the bathroom by a mean girl who 1) thinks that Will belongs to her and 2) tells her to leave him alone or his sister won't make the cheerleading team. They end up fighting and Jacinda burns her. Will eventually can't take it and they go public, making out in front of the whole school. They are about to go on their first date when his cousin makes the pull over and her sister pops up out of the back seat of his cousins car. They end up at a hunter party. They are kissing and a dragon from her pack, the one they want her to mate with, storms in. They get into a fight and fall over a cliff. Jacinda gives up their secret and shifts to save Will. Her secret is out, in front of the hunters and they have to leave. The book ends with them on the way to get her mom and go back to the pack. It took a while for me to get invested in this book, but I got there eventually. I am looking forward to seeing what happens in the next one!  

Dark YA

 Binding 13 by Chole Walsh 

I wanted to call child protective services multiple times during this book. I am a mandated reporter and was ready to report multiple things. But you can't report a book. This stressed me out. We did not need the school secretary engaging in sex acts with a literal student. (CPS call #1) She is a predator and a pedophile and doesn't need to be around children. Now, for the actual story. Shannon has been bullied mercilessly at her public school and her mom takes out a loan so she can go to the private school. On her first day she gets hit in the back of the head with a rugby ball and it's not good. Johnny didn't mean to hit her, but her mom doesn't believe him. He has been ordered to stay away from her. No problem, except he can't stop thinking about her and looking for her. The become friends and he is desperate to protect her from everyone and everything. But, also, he's a star rugby player and is very high profile - like destined for the national team high profile. Everyone knows him. That works out in his favor when people start hassling Shannon; he is able to put a stop to it. Her friends think he's into her. His friends think he's into her. They both deny it. She ends up at his house and kisses him, but he doesn't respond and she is so embarrassed. Then, she ends up at his house again because his mom is doing some real wing woman work, and he tells her that he wished he had responded differently, then he kisses her. Now its the day of the big game. He gets injured, or re-injured is more like it. She waits around outside of the locker room so she can see him, and they end up getting caught making out. Coach is disappointed and says he's going to have to tell their parents. The game and dealing with Johnny's injury went so late that they have to stay in a hotel. His best friend gets Shannon and takes her to the hospital with him. Johnny is super loopy from the medicine and tells his dad that he has to find the girl because he loves her. Then she shows up. Nurse says only one person can stay the rest of the night with him and Shannon tries to leave and he decides to go with her. His parents decide that she should be the one to stay since her being there is the only thing keeping him calm. As he's falling asleep he asks her who is hurting her and she says her father. The next day she is back home and her father is beating the literal life out of her, not for the first time (he is CPS calls 2 and 3). Her older brother Joey gets home and beats him to protect her. Their mom runs to the abusive father instead of checking on Shannon. Joey tells the younger boys to pack bags, gets Shannon, and then they leave. The book ends with Johnny waking up and having a memory of Shannon telling him her father, but can't remember the context. We have no idea how Shannon is or where Joey took them.  This book had me stressed! I like Johnny and Shannon, but I don't understand why this book has such a cult following. But, I am going to read the second one.  

Done With This Author

 Kiss of the Royal by Lindsey Duga

This is my second book by this author and like the first, it was weird. I never felt a connection to any of the characters, mostly I was irritated with them. Ivy is a princess and a direct descendant of the first queen. Because of this her kiss has magic. Her 5th prince is dying and she needs someone new to bond with. Enter Zach. Only, there's a problem. Zach was raised basically in a cult and doesn't believe in the magic of the kiss. He thinks the original queen was able to do magic because of True Love's Kiss. So, while he bonds with her, he refuses to kiss her. Throughout their adventure to find the black dragon egg and kill it, they are faced with challenges that Ivy knows she could solve with a kiss. But, they do things Zachs' way and when it works out they are showered with gold light. They start falling for each other but Zach thinks it's all a manipulation to get him to kiss her. Then, they meet a mage who is able to help them. But, she ends up turning on them because she's really being possessed by the heart of the original queen. Turns out, she is the one who caused all of the dangers because she was heartbroken that her husband slept with her sister to produce more children with magic blood. Ivy and Zach save their friend and separate her from the evil queen, and kill the dragon, using love. Then they go back home and tell everyone the truth of what happened, and that using the kiss makes things worse. It takes a while, but eventually people come around to the new way of thinking, which turns out the cult was right.  I think I'm done with this author.  

Dark Romance Book 2

 Where I Belong by M. O'Keefe

This was better than book 1, not near as aggressive or trama-filled. It picks up where the previous book ended, with Tommy in a fight in a gas station bathroom. Beth takes the keys and drives them someplace safe. They are met by some dogs and an old man with a shotgun. But once he sees Beth, it's fine. She introduces Tommy and then shares a look with Peter, the old man. Beth and Tommy can't keep their hands off of each other and it's a good thing that her room is above the garage. Tommy and Peter are getting along okay until Tommy's dog is attacked by one of Peter's dogs and when looking for the first aid kit Tommy sees a picture on the fridge. Of his mom. Turns out Peter is the grandfather that didn't want him, signed away his guardianship rights and put Tommy in foster care. Then, we get the story: Tommy's first family was good and he probably would have gotten adopted but the dad got sick with cancer and they couldn't take care of him. He ended up back in the system and bounced around until ending up with the pastor. Then, we hear from Peter. He signed away his rights because he wife was sick with cancer and he couldn't take care of both of them, plus the social worker told him Tommy was with a good family. Now, Tommy feels betrayed by everyone. He gets a message from Carissa that forces a phone call between them and Tommy tells her about Beth; how her mother was drugging her and using her as a guinea pig and put her in foster care when she wouldn't cooperate because she kept running away. Carissa says Bates needs proof. Tommy leaves, but Beth has his phone and she sees the messages about Bates needing proof. She and Peter start to go after him, but don't know where to look. Instead, she makes a youtube video telling everything. Tommy shows up at the club that Bates is working out of and is met by Carissa who takes him to Bates. Tommy has no idea about the video and Bates shows it to him. Bates considers the debt paid. Tommy asks why, but Bates doesn't elaborate. They almost come to blows. Tommy goes back to Peters' and he and Beth get back together. They get a happy ending and Tommy gets a message from Simon, Bates has come to collect his debt from him. This sets up the next book without giving any of it away.   

Non-Fiction

 Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip Heath, Dan Heath

Reading this at the end of the school year was probably not a good idea; you have to be in a particular frame of mind for this book and end of the year just isn't that mind frame. This was easily digestible and had good examples, but it didn't do anything for me.