End of the Month Wrap Up - February 25

 

Another month in the books for 2025!! I wish that I was able to read more books by black authors this month. Unfortunately, I was reading a lot of ARCs this month and getting into March as well. I definitely am going to try to slow down after this batch that I've read so I can dive into some diverse reads. I already have the screen shots of the books I want to read on hand. Hopefully you had a great Black History Month! A reminder to also read diverse every chance you get! Not only during February! With that being said, with this being the shortest month of the year, I only was able to knock out 7 books. I finished one right as the month turned to March. Look for that review in a little bit. I had to put that one on ice since it was for an ARC. I'm going to also be putting out a video version of this review so that you can get a little  more in depth info. It'll prob be a Tik Tok with a short link on Instagram. With that being said. Here are the books that I was able to read this month!

Favorite Character - Vivienne (Destined to Fall): I loved reading about Viv. So rarely do we get the opportunity to see the FMC be the one that is out here living her best life sexually. There is such shame attached to that type of work or even if you just live that as your truth. It was just such a refreshing thing to see. Not only from her but also that the MMC was the one that was sheltered and had a different perspective on sex. I loved that this showed how people who work in this field are constantly on their toes and have to work on making sure that the people that they are dealing with are safe. They are constantly working off how good they can read people and I think that this was definitely showcased by Viv in this book. Loved her!

Best Cover - Sinful Pleasures : Ya'll know I have a thing for hands. The fact that we have another mafia book with a tatted man flexing some beautiful hands definitely suckered me in here. This type of cover will have me one clicking EVERY. TIME. I mean come on....just look at this mans hands! Anyway, I think that this also captured the vibe of Maddox very well. The danger, the sophistication. All captured nicely by a cover that shows nothing explicit yet still makes you gasp!

Best Voice Actors - A Touch of Darkness : Le sigh. All of my audiobook reads this month kinda let me down in that there was only one narrator for entire book. I really enjoy getting the play by play when there are two narrators. One for the male POV and another for the female POV. Especially if there is more than one POV. Now, I will say that this narrator did an amazing job of playing both parts. One of the reasons that I don't like just one is that they usually don't do a good job of either differentiating the two characters or it's like...super obvious that it's a woman/man playing the opposite sex. Now, I choose this narrator because they did an amazing job at playing BOTH. There was never a time where I didn't know who they were portraying even if there were multiple characters that were speaking at the same time. I really love that and appreciate someone being able to do that. 

Spiciest Book -  Bared to You : This book was so spicy!! I really enjoyed re-reading this book! I forgot how H O T Gideon Cross was. My goodness. I mean this man just oozed. It was coming through the pages. It made every scene in this book that much better. Then getting to know the story of how these two end up getting together just makes everything that much better. If you are looking for a spicy book with a good plot then this is the one for you! 

Top Baddie - Mother/Titus (Overlord) : I thought that these two just couldn't get any worse...but they keep upping the ante. Of course this is mainly Mother because she is definitely controlling Titus. Though of course he has his own aspirations as well. We finally get a chance to meet Beritram (Kara's sire). Things are getting very tense in the story since Titus is making his move. Mother is also making her move and my goodness. I was stressed so bad reading this book. Mother and Titus are in their bag right now. They don't care who they kill nor who they hurt. This story is going to have you looking at the book crazy. Jump on this series ASAP!

Best Storyline - Bared to You : This book had me hooked from the beginning. Even though this was a re-read I really enjoyed this, like it was the first time. This book just showed the beauty of how things can be when there is communication and when people know their boundaries and how to voice those boundaries. Even though in this book there is some miscommunication, it felt more like new relationship bumps then anything else. The way they were able to talk through their issues was very nice. Even though sometimes they allowed those issues to be problems in the moment, they still were able to work through them. Then of course there is the side characters and how they are involved in the main characters lives. They were all memorable. From Eva's bestie to her bosses at Crossfire. I enjoyed everyone that we met. I can't wait to continue this series as I never got a chance to read all of the books.

Author of the Month - Simone Nicole : I really enjoyed the book that this author wrote. Like I said previously, I really liked the fact that she showed a different side to sex workers. Even though it is a job that many look down on, it's still a very hard and respectable job. It's something that can also be very dangerous. It takes a special kind if person to not only do this type of work but to also be able to find happiness in it. It's definitely not for everyone. I really loved Vivs sense of self and the fact that she didn't allow anything that anyone said to doubt her self worth. She did what she liked and made money doing it. I also really liked that this felt like an opposite approach to what is common, where the FMC is the more experienced one. Definitely a book that I would recommend to others.

Book of the Month - Bared to You : This was such a great read. It deserves all the flowers. I loved the dynamic between the characters here. The fact that they both were able to acknowledge that they had flaws and could verbalize what they were, was a really nice touch. Watching these two broken characters try to make it work with each other was really amazing. It shows how having good communication with each other can really make or break a relationship. I loved it. I definitely would recommend this book to anyone and like I said before, I definitely can't wait to continue this series. Check your triggers with this one because both of these characters are very flawed and have experience trauma.