To Love Jason Thorn by Ella Maise

 

To Love Jason Thorn by Ella Maise
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**Borrowed through Kindle Unlimited**

Synopsis (written by me): When Olive was a child, her brother made friends with Jason, a new kid in the neighborhood. From the first time she saw him, her young heart was smitten. Unknowingly he broke her heart and Olive did her best to get over him. Fast-forward to both of them in their 20s, with Olive a recent college graduate who just wrote a book and Jason the star who is set to start in the movie adaptation of said book. Considering that Olive never really did get over Jason, this has the makings of an awkward situation.

I picked up this book after watching a glowing video review by Izzy (Happy for Now on YouTube). Normally, I avoid the "sibling's best friend" trope but I do enjoy celebrity romances and authors as heroines. I was hoping my likes would balance out my dislike, and for the most part, they did.

My biggest gripe about this book was that all the secondary characters were either bland or unlikable to me. This disappointed me because I enjoy stories where the main characters have their loyal tribe or found family that they banter with. Even the heroine's best friend Lucy annoyed me, which is unfortunate because she is at the center of the second book so I guess I won't be reading it. I could tell that the author wanted Lucy to come across as exuberant, goofy, and fun, but she just rubbed me the wrong way with her constant invasive questions.

I kept reading because I really enjoyed the relationship between the hero and heroine. A character who has been pining for someone since childhood usually turns me off, but it was well handled in this book. Watching the hero slowly come to the realization that he loved the heroine was satisfying, and I would recommend this book for that if nothing else.

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The Queen's Line (Inheritance of the Hunger #1) by Kathryn Moon

The Queen's Line by Kathryn Moon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Synopsis (written by me): Bryony is the next in line to become the queen of Kimmery. All the queens of this magical land have had something called the Hunger, a ravenous sexual appetite that is supposed to bring prosperity to the kingdom and its people. Unfortunately, Bryony is five years past the age of majority and still hasn't felt any stirrings of the Hunger yet. If she can't manage to find it within herself, her grandmother and younger sister are more than ready to take over and rule with an iron fist, to the detriment of the common people. So she picks a small group of men and retreats to the royal family's decrepit Winter Palace in the north, where she learns what is really going on outside the capital while trying to figure out how to keep her crown.

I'm not the biggest fan of fantasy or reverse harem, but Kathryn Moon writes in a way that makes me enjoy both. For her books, I ignore my general rule of no more than two sex scenes per book because she writes them well. Each male has a distinct place among Bryony's Chosen and they don't come across as interchangeable. As for the fantasy, Moon didn't make the world, the magic system, or the names so complicated that I got confused (something that often turns me away from fantasy and sci-fi). She also has the ability to write a story where I care about what happens outside the romance. I really am interested in seeing how Bryony saves the kingdom helps her people, so I can't wait to read the next book.

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