Audiobook Review: Capture the Sun by Jessie Milhalik

 

📚 Capture the Sun – Jessie Mihalik

🥃🥃🥃 Bourbons

🔥🔥🔥 Heat Level

I love this world. Truly. Jessie Mihalik has built a universe that hits all my sci-fi romance buttons—spaceships, political maneuvering, badass heroines, and rogues with hidden hearts of gold. The series is fun, clever, and richly layered. But if I’m being honest, this installment didn’t quite hit the same as the others.

Part of that is on me. I read the first two books back to back, and I was fully immersed. But by the time this one came around, I’d let too much time pass and most of the plot details from book two had drifted off into the void. The emotional weight just didn’t carry the same punch when I couldn’t remember what everyone was mad about. Totally a me problem, not a Mihalik problem.

Audiobook Review: Plains of Passage by Jean Auel

 

📚 Plains of Passage – Jean M. Auel

Earth’s Children, Book Four

🥃🥃🥃 Bourbons |

 🔥🔥 Flames

Ayla and Jondalar are back on the move, trekking across Ice Age Europe with horses, a wolf, and enough gear to start a small civilization. If that sounds like a lot—it is. Plains of Passage is the definition of old-school epic: sweeping landscapes, deeply researched prehistoric culture, and a writing style that insists on telling you every single thing that’s happening, whether it moves the plot forward or not.

This book is detailed to a fault. We don’t just know what Ayla does—we know how, why, what time of day, what herbs she uses, and probably how her grandmother’s cousin once did it, too. It's impressive in its own way, but also exhausting. At times it reads less like a novel and more like a prehistoric field guide with relationship angst.

Audiobook Review: The Mammoth Hunters by Jean Auel

Series: Earth’s Children #3

Rating: 🥃🥃🥃

Flame Level: 🔥🔥

Format: Audiobook

Story Snapshot:

Ice-Age survival—with mammoth hunts, wolf-taming, and slow-burn romance. A deep dive into prehistoric life that’s more animal bond than modern hookup.

My Thoughts:

I didn’t expect to spend 25 hours of my life wrapped up in mammoth fur, dodging jealous lovers, and emotionally adopting a prehistoric wolf pup… but here we are.

This was a whole Ice Age vibe. Ayla is that girl — competent, strong, bonding with wild animals like she’s auditioning for Animal Planet. But when it comes to men? Whew. Let’s just say she handles a spear better than she handles her feelings for Jondalar. I wanted to shake her a little… then him a lot.

Audiobook Review: The Valley of Horses by Jean Auel

 

Series: Earth’s Children #2

Rating: 🥃🥃🥃

Flame Level: 🔥🔥

Format: Audiobook

Story Snapshot:

Self-sufficient cave girl meets wandering Ice Age himbo. Horses are tamed. Sparks fly. Everything is described in detail — including the body parts.

My Thoughts:

Look, I didn’t come here to fall for a blond prehistoric himbo with trust issues… but here we are.

This one split its time between two lonely hearts and a lot of long, frozen travel sequences. On one hand: Ayla, abandoned, self-sufficient, learning how to hunt like a beast and raise her own dang horses and cave lion. On the other: Jondalar, pouty and pretty, taking the longest route to personal growth I’ve ever read.

Audiobook Review: The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel

Series: Earth’s Children #1

Rating: 🥃🥃🥃

Format: Audiobook

Story Snapshot:

Self-sufficient cave girl defies clan norms in this immersive prehistoric saga — with 1980s vibes.

My Thoughts:

This is where it all begins — reindeer hides, clan drama, and a girl who’s clearly not built for quiet obedience.

Ayla was hard for me to connect to at first. She’s smart, she’s strong, but she feels a little distant — like we’re watching her through a sheet of Ice Age glass. That said, I admired the hell out of her perseverance. She never stopped trying, even when the odds (and the Clan’s traditions) were stacked against her.

ARC Review: The Cowboy Says I Do by Dylann Crush

Series:	Tying the Knot in Texas #1
Pub. Date:	Aug. 4, 2020
Publisher:	Berkley
Length:	332 pgs
Source:	NetGalley

As I just moved to Houston, I thought this would be a good choice. I don't, Texas is a tiny town somewhere between Houston and Dallas. There are quirky small town residents and family-driven politics and economics. That's how we get our main characters, the newly elected mayor (despite a lack of qualifications) and the deputy sheriff (despite questionable business activities by his family). This is a good story for those fond of sweet romance without a bit of small town drama.

ARC Review: Diary of a Bad Boy by Meghan Quinn

Pub. Date:	March 5, 2019
Publisher:	Self-Pub
Length:	371 pgs
Source:	InkslingrPR

I am a fan of Meghan Quinn's romantic comedies, and I haven't experienced one in a while, so I thought I would give this new contemporary romance a shot. I mean... bad boys and books from their POV seem right up my alley. So while this one wasn't a rom com, it still kept me entertained and had a drool-worthy hero to get my imagination going.

Audiobook Review: The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi

Series:	Gilded Wolves #1
Pub. Date:	Jan 15, 2019
Publisher:	MacMillan Audio
Narrator:	Laurie Winkel P.J. Ochlan
Length:	11 hrs 55 min
Source:	Publisher

I have been a fan of Roshani Chokshi since I first picked up The Star-Touched Queen. I was expecting The Gilded Wolves to be similar in nature, with loads of beautiful prose and maybe some Hindu and Indian Folklore. So I was quite surprised by this book, as it stepped away from the prose and focused more on dialogue, character relationships and a linear plot.

Audiobook Review: Love Sincerely Yours by Sara Ney and Meghan Quinn

Pub. Date:	Oct 29, 2018
Publisher:	Novel Audio
Narrator:	Ava Erickson Alexander Cendese
Length:	7 hrs 45 min
Source:	InkslingrPR

Love Sincerely Yours is a cute office romance story by new-to-me author, Sara Ney and one of my favorites, Meghan Quinn. I liked this collaboration, the grumpy entrepreneur hero and our unassuming-yet-brazen marketing consultant. 

Audiobook Review: Divorced, Desperate and Dangerous by Christie Craig

Series:	Divorced and Desperate #3.5
Pub. Date:	May 1, 2018
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Narrators:	Wendy Tremont King
Length:	3 hrs 37 min
Source:	Publisher

Divorced, Desperate and Dangerous is a novella in the Divorced and Desperate series, which started off with a posse of women who were, as the title suggests, divorced and desperate. With failed marriages and man trouble in their lives, the women were on the hunt and somewhat sex obsessed, but commitment phobic. I have only read the first book, Divorced, Desperate and Delicious, but I don't think you necessarily need to read this series in order.

ARC Review: All the Way by Kristen Proby

Series:	Romancing Manhattan #1
Pub. Date:	Aug. 21, 2018
Publisher:	William Morrow
Length:	288 pgs
Source:	Publisher

All the Way is the first book in Kristen Proby's new series, Romancing Manhattan. I'm still relatively new to Kristen Proby, and was happy to start this new series at the outset, as I never seem to find time to go back and read back titles.

ARC Review: Bad Reputation by Stefanie London

Series:	Bad Bachelors #2
Pub. Date:	Aug. 7, 2018
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Length:	379 pgs
Source:	Publisher

Bad Reputation is the second book in the Bad Bachelors series, which revolves around a dating review app a la the former DontDateHimGirl.com. I recommend reading these books in order so you have the backstory on the app, its creator, and the circle of female friends serving as our heroines. Note: This review may contains spoilers for the first book, Bad Bachelor, so proceed at your own risk.

Audiobook Review: Faery Born by Donna Joy Usher

Series:	War Faery #1
Pub. Date:	June 12, 2018
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Narrator:	Rachael Beresford
Length:	7 hrs 39 min
Source:	Publisher

Faery Born was a somewhat surprising read. I didn't realize it was young adult when I started it, and while I do read some young adult, it's not something that I pick up often. This story did seem somewhat juvenile, but I think that was partially because the narrator sounded so young. So I wasn't sure that I was going to finish the story at first, but something about it kept my attention and kept me listening until the end. So I think the story was good, I just had to get over the age and maturity level of the characters.

ARC Review: Star-Touched Stories by Roshani Chokshi

Series:	Star Touched Queen #2.5
Pub. Date:	Aug. 7, 2018
Publisher:	St. Martin's Press
Length:	304 pgs
Source:	NetGalley

Roshani Chokshi has a beautiful flowery writing style. Her writing seems rich and decadent to me, and I enjoyed the first two books of this series very much.

Audiobook Review: Queen Takes King by Joely Sue Burkhart

Series:	Their Vampire Queen #2
Pub. Date:	May 29, 2018
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Narrators:	Tristan James Cassandra Myles
Length:	8 hrs 22 min
Source:	Publisher

Their Vampire Queen has been my first foray into the recently trending reverse harem genre. I wasn't sure how I felt after the first book, Queen Takes Knights, but the story is starting to shape up and I was more interested in this installment.

Audiobook Review: Getting Wilde by Jenn Stark

Series:	Immortal Vegas #1
Pub. Date:	June 19, 2018
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Narrator:	Stephanie Bentley
Length:	7 hrs 37 min
Source:	Publisher

I have been looking for a new urban fantasy series to read, and this one caught my interest right away. The genre has been dwindling over the last few years, and there just aren't as many of these stories being written.

Audiobook Review: Deerskin by Robin McKinley

Pub. Date:	May 15, 2018
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Narrator:	Xe Sands
Length:	11 hrs 54 min
Source:	Publisher

This is my first read from Robin McKinley, and the beautiful cover with the hound really drew my eye. Deerskin was first released in the early 1990s, but is just now being brought to audio by Tantor Audio. The narrator, Xe Sands, did a great job with the performance, pacing and characters.

This is the story about the coming-of-age of Princess Lissla Lissar, a quiet child largely ignored by her larger-than-life parents. The King and Queen were beloved by their people, seemingly more for their beauty and fairytale origins than for any good deeds or benevolence. When the Queen's beauty fades and passes away, Lissar is thrown more into the spotlight than she has been in the past. This draws some horribly unwanted and incestuous attention from the King, which leads to a series of tragic events. Trigger warnings weren't the thing back in the 90s, but this story probably warrants one with today's societal trends.

Audiobook Review: Queen takes Knights by Joely Sue Burkhart

Series: Their Vampire Queen #1 Pub. Date: May 8, 2018 Publisher: Tantor Audio Narrators: Tristan James Cassandra Myles Length: 5 hrs 31 min Source: Publisher

So my friend Deanna has been raving about a lot of reverse harem lately, a new trend/trope in the romance community, particularly with indie authors. It seems that most of these stories are written in the young adult and new adult age groups, but I wanted to give it a shot and see what all the hoopla is about. The Their Vampire Queen seemed liked a good and steamy place to start, with each book being a quick read of about novella length.

Shara Isador grew up not knowing what she was or anything about her heritage. All Shara knew was that she was in constant danger, and both of her parents died protecting her. But when two handsome strangers come to Shara's rescue one night in the middle of Arkansas, it begins an enlightening and awakening for Shara where she will learn her true nature, potential, and power.

ARC Review: The Good Luck Sister by Jill Shalvis

Series:	Wildstone #1.5
Pub. Date:	May 1, 2018
Publisher:	Avon
Length:	144 pgs
Source:	Publisher

This is a second chance romance with a great little dog, and a novella following Lost and Found Sisters in the Wildstone series. I have not read the first book, but I felt like this one did okay as a standalone novella. 

ARC Review: Order of Protection by Lexi Blake

Series:	Courting Justice #1
Pub. Date:	June 5, 2018
Publisher:	Berkley
Length:	336 pages
Source:	NetGalley

Order of Protection is the first installment of the new Courting Justice series by Lexi Blake. This series ties into Lexi's other series involving the Lawless family and the McKay-Taggert guys. It seems that this series will follow some of the attorneys that we met in the Lawless series, and heavily features Noah Lawless, who has joined the firm. I am interested to see how these stories play out and entwines with the other two series.