Review: Guarded Souls

Guarded Souls by Amanda Carol
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've mentioned a whole bunch how I love enemies to lovers books. I've also mentioned that I love a survivor story. And a forced proximity story... Seriously, this book is all of that and more!

Amanda Carol wrote one of my favourite PNR series with The Awakened Trilogy and while I am DYING to have more books in that world ( #TeamBennettNeedsLoveToo ) I am overjoyed to have something new from her to read!

Guarded Souls is the first in her new Heroes of River Falls series. It's a story about a grumpy detective who's grieving the loss of his partner and best friend becoming the one thing that stands between a sweet, kindhearted yet sassy photographer and her stalker ex boyfriend who's hell bent on making her pay for putting his abusive ass behind bars. Welcome to the town of River Falls, the home of Aubrey Daniels and Dean Holden, and the place where they met and proceeded to be put through the wringer to fall in love.

Sounds like one HELLUVA romantic suspense doesn't it? Right?!?!

And who doesn't love a romantic suspense with a first responder as the hero? It can't be just me, seriously!

I caught a glimpse of the Gentleman Jack bottle he was looking at. I turned my head to look at him, and my breath hitched at how close we were. I could see a dusting of freckles on his nose, and his dark green eyes narrowed in on my face.

“I wouldn’t recommend the Gentleman for you—it’s way too classy,” I whispered low enough so no one else but Dean would hear. “Why don’t you try Fireball? It’s cheap, and it’s something you’ll regret in the morning.”

He leaned in closer, a smirk forming on his full lips. “It sounds like you know that from experience.”

With our gazes locked, he pulled the bottle of Gentleman Jack off the shelf, then left.

Seriously, these two! There's banter, but there's also a connection and a bond because they've both experienced the pain of loss and what it means to be the one left to live on through a traumatic experience. I swear, I wanted to wrap Dean up in blankets (there were a few moments for Aubrey too) which should tell you just how much feeling there is in this story. There's just something about the heartache that I like.



Aubrey's history is full of pain and heartache while for Dean, that's what his more recent past has been like. Everyone deals with grief in different ways and that point is hammered home with the difference in the ways Aubrey and Dean handle their respective grief at the monumental losses they've faced. This story is raw, it is very real, and the relationship between the grumpy, hurting, asshole detective and the sweet and kind photographer is one that I have absolutely fallen in love with!

It's the perfect mix of romance and suspense, and the characters feel real and welcoming and just suck you into their world. I swear, I loved the roller coaster ride for my emotions. Please take the trigger warnings to heart, there are moments that are just absolutely gut wrenching. Chapter 21 - I dare you to not sob!!! Absolute GUT PUNCH right in the feels!

I could wax poetic about Guarded Souls all day, but I want you to read it not just read about other people reading it! Sooo…

Let me leave you with some of my...



Favourite Lines -

There was something about her that when she opened her mouth, she didn’t give a shit what I’d been through; she would give it right back to me. She gave what she took, and if I wasn’t careful, she could take all of me.

“You know, if you took a picture it would last longer.” His husky voice brought me to my senses.

“I’d love to,” I quipped back. “Then I’d have something to remind myself that you can keep your mouth shut."

“Will somebody please explain what’s going on?” I commanded, and Aubrey narrowed her eyes on me.

“What’s going on is none of your damn business.”

I jerked back. Usually, this was the other way around. The way she would meet me tit for tat was becoming a bit of foreplay for me.

Dean was only wearing a button-down flannel with the sleeves rolled up. I guessed his muscles kept him warm, or his hatred for the world—it was anyone’s best guess.

I looked at her, and damn did a part of me want to wrap my arms around her. The more time I spent with her, the more my walls started to crack. I needed to plaster that shit up now. I could hear Wyatt now.

You’d be an idiot to let this one go.

Well, sorry pal. I had to let her go. I would be poison to her, never allowing her to blossom.

I never thought that I would be hiding in shadows until the sun came up ever again.

I felt the corners of my lips tip up, and her mouth gaped open.

“Is that a smile?” She lifted a brow.

“No.”

“Oh my gosh. Is the Dean Holden smiling? Hell must have frozen over.” Aubrey chuckled, and I couldn’t help but smirk. She lifted her camera and snapped a picture, then glanced down at the screen. She stopped laughing, but her smile stayed as she looked up at me.

“You should smile more often. It suits you.”

I was scared. I was scared of never seeing my friends again. I was scared of being away from home, my safe haven. I was scared of falling in love with someone who had the potential to break my heart. I was scared to let down the people I loved…I was scared of Ray finding me.

I’m scared of dying.

His kiss was intoxicating, bourbon and mint, my new favorite flavor.

Sinking down onto the floor, I came to one realization that rocked me to my core.

I had finally surrendered myself to Dean Holden, and there was no coming back.

Kissing Aubrey was like breathing in fresh air after a night of rain. I had forgotten all the pain and the grief as my mouth moved against hers. I gave in to temptation, and I would sell my soul to the devil if it meant getting to taste her just one more time.

If kissing Dean meant giving in to temptation and possibly damnation, then let me be damned.

“You know, if you take a picture, it’ll last longer,” he said, but I could hear the playful tone in his voice. The last time he said this to me, we were not on great terms.

I smiled. “Don’t tempt me with a good time, Holden.”

“C’mon, Holden, crack a smile for once in your life,” she joked, and I grimaced. “A real smile.”

“I am smiling,” I said through my teeth, half-amused, half-annoyed.

“No. You look like you have a stick up your ass.”

I shot her a look, and I heard the distinct click of her camera going off.

Her first and only experience was with someone who didn’t cherish her. He used and abused her. That’s not a man. A man knows the real value of a woman—that was why Aubrey would never be “mine.” She belonged to no one but herself, and I counted my lucky stars that this woman trusted me enough to allow me to cherish her in all the ways he never did.

She’s my partner. My best friend. My equal.

She wasn’t a possession and never would be when she chose to be with me.

Yes… I am going to say what I always say now but I swear with everything that I am that I MEAN IT. RUN, don't walk I need you to RUN -





And one-click this baby today! You're going to fall in love with Aubrey and Dean and be demanding the rest of the series because I know I am demanding the hinted at Saving Grace couple's story (*cough, cough* Is that Cassie and Dylan I spy? *cough, cough*). And if we all beg loud enough, maybe she'll have them ready for us faster. I don't like waiting…





I promise you, you will not regret picking this one up and tucking in with it!




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Review: Gravity

Gravity by Mia Monroe
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I’ve never done anything like this, but I think it’s time to be bold. Would Galileo sit at home not experimenting with things because he never had? No. Would Newton have decided gravity wasn’t worth researching? No. It’s time for me to get my head out of the clouds and do something with myself.

I love me some nerd love. I have to tell you, nothing makes me happier than seeing a nerd find their happily ever after especially if they're someone I had the instinct to wrap up in blankets and protect from the second I read the first hint of them. The epilogue for Stars Collide did that to me for Julien. I have loved that sweet, silly nerd from the second he and his whacky nicknames graced my Kindle and I have never stopped, and I'm pretty sure I never will!



What do you mean you haven't read Stars Collide yet??? Go and grab it! Devour it!!!

I'll wait...





Gravity is the second installment in Mia Monroe's Written in the Stars series and it was everything I was hoping it would be!

Julien and Henry are two of the sweetest, yet slightly battered and broken, nerds I have ever read. They shared such a similar past that the flaws of their accelerated childhoods ends up forming an incredible bond between them. Both of them went through accelerated learning being years ahead of their true social peers. The trauma left over from being thrust into more mature situations and not being able to experience just being a kid colouring their perspectives on the world. They became who they are, and probably developed the compassion they both have in spades, based on these experiences. And they're space nerds!

Space is cool *shrugs*. Totally sexy. Like bow ties.



I think what I really love is that despite the awkwardness of their first encounter, Jules and Henry truly do become friends before becoming something more. They watch movies and tv shows together, they talk, they share all those things that we're always worried about when we let someone in - hell, they even go to a con together! Cosplaying no less!!!! I need more cosplay books in my life.

The Darth Vader guy motions for some people dressed like Storm Troopers. After a quick explanation of what we’re doing, two of the Storm Troopers grab my arms as if pulling me away, but Julien grabs my shirt, tilts his face, and yes, I lean in and kiss that gorgeous mouth. It’s a peck, but it’s a kiss.

“I love you,” Julien says, with so much sincerity it takes my brain a few lagged seconds to realize this is role playing.

“I know,” I murmur Han’s famous line, studying Julien’s eyes.

Holy swooning Batman! That makes my nerdy little heart happy! True story, that was always one of my favourite scenes for Han and Leia - I was so convinced that it was the most romantic moment possible for that space pirate and the badass rebel princess. Who would have thought I would get it acted out in a cosplay moment between these two adorkable men??? My heart was not prepared!

I could wax poetic about Jules & Henry all day long, but I think you'd probably rather I do my sharey-sharey thing so you can get to reading.

And now let me share a few of my...


Favourite Lines -

It totally does not bother me that the Gabenator and Captain Planet are in the observatory getting it on. Nope. Not jealous.

“Want to go eat some tacos? Tacos make everything better.”

“You better hold my hand, or someone might try to capture you and keep you all for themselves.”

“And then what would happen?”

“I’d have to break in, get in a bunch of trouble, end up frozen. Wouldn’t be good.”

“You’re cute when you blush.”

I shake my head. “No, I’m never cute. I’m a tough ginger.”

"That’s why I think space is cool. There’s so much in it—stars, planets, moons, and galaxies—but yet, here we are. Just one Henry and just one Julien.”

As we walk, I grab his hand again to make sure we don’t get separated in the huge crowd. Yep, that’s why.

“I guess in its simplest form...what I think is cool is that there’s nothing you can do about it when it’s present. Two objects exert a force of attraction and draw together.” He smiles. “I’m revealing that not only am I a massive space nerd, but I’m a hopeless romantic. Gravity is like attraction to me. You can’t fight it once it's present.”

I wish I knew what went wrong for him. Maybe I could be the man who shows him it could be different. Maybe we could be an Orion Nebula. I shake my head. It would probably be a supernova like all my other relationships.

"I hold no reverence for my virgin status. It’s not a sacred gift or some shit. Virgin worship culture is not for me.”

LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK!!!

“Because it’s a dick and dicks are good. Doesn’t matter what kind it is. Doesn’t matter if you were born with it, got it later, use a toy to have it. Dicks are good.”

“Where is Romeo?”

“Morning off. He had to get his car serviced.”

Samuel waggles his eyebrows. “Sounds like he’s really good at servicing.”

“Fair, but YOLO as the kids say.”

“Uh, used to say. Now they yeet things.”

“Any age can yeet.”

“This sounds like some kind of bodily function discussion.”

“Jules, they obviously did for him. I think he fell for you and it freaked him out.”

“So I lose anyway. The first guy who likes me back is too fucked up to follow through. Same result.”

“Don’t you know by now, Henry? I’d rather be with you than anyone else.”

“Oh my god. You discovered rimming.”

“That is some amazing shit. Giving and receiving. Like, who knew that part of your body was like, yes please, may I have another?”

“Who was the first person who looked at an asshole and was like, yeah, I’m gonna eat that?”

Run, don't walk, RUN and grab your copy of Gravity today.



I'm dying to see more of the Blue Moon Planetarium crew, and I bet you will be too! While I do want the story up on deck next for this crew (Nate & Aiden because the gamer in me loves seeing the gamer geeks), I'm definitely in this for the long haul and hoping for a happily ever after for Richard (hopefully with Easton... PLEASE!!!!).



Trust me, you won't regret it!




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