The Alien's Who Abducted Me Aren't That Bad

Here's Amy Padilla's latest: "The Alien's Who Abducted Me Aren't That Bad."

["When I first saw the headline about alien ships hovering over major cities, I did what any traumatized millennial would do. I rolled my eyes and kept scrolling.

Then the call came. Report to base. No explanation.

Before I could even process what was happening, I was yanked off Earth and dumped onto an alien ship alongside millions of military personnel from around the world.

Except these aliens—the Krezikians—aren’t here to conquer us. They’re here to stop humanity from destroying the only livable planet we have. Which is… noble, terrifying, and wildly inconvenient when you’re being “saved” against your will.

Things get complicated when I sneak out to check on a friend and get caught by gorgeous, sweet, and equipped with a set of curious tentacles that do not understand the concept of personal space. Suddenly, I’m being shoved into the role of Earth’s unwilling spokesperson, spending far too much time with my abductor-turned-ally… and discovering his interest in me might not be entirely diplomatic.

Turns out that the monsters in this situation might not be the ones from space.
And maybe the aliens who abducted me… aren’t that bad."]

A sweet, himbo alien, willing to go anything to protect his new..'coworker'..and the human race as a whole. Versus a human who didn't ask for any of this, quite actually said 'no' to most of this.

This was utterly fabulous! There were such perfect moments of "fuuuck" and "fuck it" that perfectly balanced each other, so many "I won't do it" versus the "well I guess I'm doing it." Just as the Aster perfectly balanced Enzo. They made it work, all amongst the humans making it sooo freaking hard to save (which, let's be honest...not entirely wrong). 

I'm a little obsessed. I don't necessarily see a sequel in the future, but you never know. ;)

I love everything Amy's been doing lately. Working on one new series, and new spin-off series after another all the while writing several standalones. Beautiful!

#thealienswhoabductedmearentthatbad #amypadilla #books #queerbooks #queererotica #bodicerippers #bookstagram #bookphotography #ilovebooks

Red (House of Misfits #5)

Here's Cambria Hebert's "Red." It's the fifth novel in the House of Misfits series. Annd, who doesn't love a little fairy tale romance/retelling--even if I'm skipping around the series for the MM books. 

["I’m a cop. He’s a criminal.

We’re the human equivalent of oil and water.

Staying away from him would be the obvious answer. Too bad we share a one-bedroom apartment. It’s an unfortunate situation I didn’t choose but can’t do anything about. When my best friend, Earth, moved out, he offered his room to his big brother who had rolled into town from Korea to kill him… but then ended up saving him.

And now we’re all supposed to be one big happy family.

Except Daeshim is not my brother and never will be. And no one has any idea who I really am. For years, I’ve been Beau the hacker. Beau the agreeable, quiet one in the corner.

I am those things. But I’m also a cyber crimes specialist with the FBI.

Surprise!

My real identity is a secret no one can know. Because the second they find out who I really am, my cover will be blown, everything I’ve been doing will come to light, and the found family I desperately want will toss me on the street.

Or worse.

But Daeshim won’t stop staring, dissecting me with his perceptive dark eyes. I can’t stand him, yet the heavier his attention gets, the more I crave. The more I begin to wonder if I’m just nervous he will find out my secrets or somehow get into my heart.

I’m starting to crumble, the weight on my shoulders too much to hold alone. His stubborn, unruly presence challenges me, scares me, yet also somehow calms me.

When danger gets uncomfortably close, I realize the only one strong enough to save me is the very criminal I’m not supposed to trust."]

This was a whole other beast than Fletcher's book. There was much more at stake. There was a lot higher anxieties (well a different kind of anxieties).  I cried even more, too.

These two were explosive. And entirely codependent. But they were each other's safety, each other's home, each other's reason to fight the demons and get back up again. 

I wish there were more MM books in this series. It was the perfect balance of fairy tale, insta-love, angst, spice (ohhh that spice).

Trigger Warnings: mentions of off-page child abuse, violence, anxiety representation, and more.

#ivorywhite #prince #huntsman #beast #merrymisfits #red #houseofmisfits #houseofmisfitsseries #cambriahebert #books #queerbooks #queererotica #bodicerippers #bookstagram #bookphotography #ilovebooks

Prince (House of Misfits #2)

Here's Cambria Hebert's "Prince." It's the second novel in the House of Misfits series. Reading this because these two were mentioned in "The Ghost and The Geek" (and I still need a mental health break from the other series I was binging). Annd, who doesn't love a little fairy tale romance/retelling--even if I'm skipping around the series for the MM books. 

["Life has always been about one thing for me: Survival.

I wear scuffed-up, hand-me-down shoes and too-big jeans and share a one-bedroom apartment with my three brothers. I’m not great at holding down a job, so I busk in the subway and pick other people’s pockets to fill mine.

Oh, and my mother wishes I’d never been born, a fact she makes sure to hurl in my face every time I see her. It’s just one more thing to prove the odds of life have never been in my favor.

But still, I’m lucky. I have the misfits and my violin. Most days, I’m really good at ignoring the echo of loneliness deep in my bones. Until Ethan finds me in the park and the melody that’s always playing in my heart finally makes sense.

He’s everything I’m not. Tall, commanding, and so handsome it hurts my eyes. He lives in the most elite part of the city and has probably never once had to steal to eat. He’s not like you’d expect, though—stuck-up, snobby, or mean. He’s protective and warm… He makes me feel safe. He doesn’t care that I don’t have a coat or a penny to my name. He just wants me.

I’ve never had a relationship. I’ve never even been kissed. No one has ever chosen me before.

But how can we be together?

He’s Upper East Side royalty, and I’m a misfit…

Or so I thought."]

That was SO good! Sure, it was a little dramatic and over the top at moments, and yet, I cried quite a lot anyway.

Fletcher's brothers were...a hoard of fucking neanderthals...who just wanted their baby bro to be safe and happy. Even if they were gruff about it--and total men (showed their love with actions to a boy who needed words).

Ethan was fabulous--scratch that a hot mess who could have talked more up front about his past and his present, but then we wouldn't have a story. Then again, Fletch was good at running (until he learned he could run to E). But Ethan was always there, time and time again. 

Fletcher lived his best life, doing what he could to everyone else in his life (even strangers). He loved hard. He didn't trust well, but he let Ethan try (and try again to get passed those walls). 

Gwennie <3

I wish I had more patience (and time) to read the rest of this series. I looove a good fairy tale romance/retelling. Here's to Red though, coming up next.

Trigger Warnings: child abuse and neglect, kidnapping, homophobia, and more.

#ivorywhite #prince #huntsman #beast #merrymisfits #red #houseofmisfits #houseofmisfitsseries #cambriahebert #books #queerbooks #queererotica #bodicerippers #bookstagram #bookphotography #ilovebooks

The Geek and The Ghost (Protectors #2)

Here's Cambria Hebert's "The Geek and The Ghost." It's the second novel in the Protectors series. 

["I’m about thirty seconds from a toe tag and my own freezer at the mortuary when he materializes from the shadows and fights like hell to keep me breathing.

I had no idea homeless disasters like me got guardian angels—or that guardian angels punch people and smoke—but suddenly, there he is: a hero dressed all in black who ghosts me so hard I consider calling a medium.

But that would be a waste of money I don’t have.

I thought I’d never see him again, but just as I’m about to eat a bullet, he appears, using his body to protect mine. I might have swooned—okay, fine, I do but only on the inside—if it weren’t for the fact he thinks bleeding is an adequate apology for implying I’m a prostitute and running off with my heart.

Spoiler alert: It’s not.

Now the man with a PhD in vanishing, a tattoo that totally offends me, and eyes with their own force of gravity is suddenly stuck to me like glue and being wildly inconvenient about it.

And he won’t stop calling me a pipgeek. What even is that?
He insists I trust him, but I can’t trust anyone, not even my own body. Unfortunately, when the resident drug lord calls in that favor I foolishly owe, things go from bad to catastrophic with alarming enthusiasm.

On the upside, having a hero with a villain complex for a stalker means staying alive will be easy.

But not getting hurt again is a whole other story."]

I love how soft this dark romance series is. Sure, there's hitmen and mafia threats and some light stalking. There's tragic backstories and trigger warnings. There's a total lack of tact, a total sense of over protectiveness and what's-happening-to-me obsession. There's falling in love in hours.

But the MCs, particularly the hitmen, are sooo soft and gooey for their soul mates, particularly the klutzy, slightly crazy, totally surviving in a world that somehow has it out for them. It's instant gifts and sweet names. It's ooey, gooey, cotton candy hearts just leaking everywhere with all of the feels. Not to mention the spice.

I looooved these two. They were perfect. Ghost's commentary was fucking hilarious. As was Ghost and Rhett's views of Kerian (still fucking love him--and Haz).

I cannot wait to see more of Wyatt. At least, I hope we get to see more of him.

Trigger Warnings: auto-immune disorder rep, homelessness, violence, murder, mentions of past abuse, and more.

#thehazardandthehitman #thegeekandtheghost #theprotectors #theprotectorsseries #cambriahebert #books #queerbooks #queererotica #bodicerippers #bookstagram #bookphotography #ilovebooks

The Lodge

Here's Natasha Preston's "The Lodge." 

["Hallie and her friends wanted a carefree ski getaway—powdery slopes, cozy cabins, endless laughs. But when a storm traps them and someone falls from the lift, their dream week spirals into a nightmare. Cut off from help, they turn to a friendly young couple, two brothers, and a mysterious worker at the lodge.

Then bodies start piling up in the snow.

As paranoia takes hold, Hallie and her friends must risk everything to escape. But what if the killer has been hiding in plain sight all along? What’s waiting out in the blizzard is nothing compared to what’s hiding in the lodge. . . .  "]

Wow. What another amazing, edge-of-your-seat thriller from Natasha. It had the isolation, the betrayals, the secrets, the utter anxiety-inducing, who-can-you-even-trust paranoia. You never knew who to trust, your favorite people and your favorite suspects changed from chapter to chapter. The worst things possible happened---and then they happened again. 

This book miiight just have the highest body-count in any of Natasha's books, too--which is either really cool or really scary. It wasn't overly gore-y, but the bodies definitely piled up--just like the snow storm outside. I've seen in many, many snow storms, a really bad one only a few months ago. I cannot even begin to imagine that low-level fear mixing with the serial-killer-on-the-loose fear.

I'm not gonna lie, I expected more of the ending. Spoiler alert: it was...nice and powerful and karma-inducing. It was not the classing very-last-moment twist, book-throwing-worthy Natasha Preston ending.

#thelodge #natashapreston #thriller #yathriller #murdermystery #yamurdermystery #books #bookstagram #bookphotography #ilovebooks

Body and Soul (Wayward Sons #4)

Here's "Body and Soul" by L Eveland. It's the fourth novel in the Wayward Sons series.

["I’ll do anything to have him.
Even if it means destroying him.

Shepherd
My life is a carefully crafted web of lies. The world knows me as Doctor Shepherd Laskin, respected dom, psychiatrist, and professor. But underneath the façade of the perfect gentleman, I’m a monster, a vigilante with a shattered psyche who hunts men who abuse their positions of power.
But I’m burnt out. Lonely. Desperate for a submissive who can withstand my darker side.
When I met Elias, the sparks were instant. We even share the same taking down a dangerous cult to free my estranged sister.
But I can’t have him. He’s too good, too pure, too psychologically fragile.
I know I’ll ruin him, but what choice do I have? He knows my secret, and with the FBI breathing down my neck I have only two choices…
And Elias might not survive either outcome.

Elias
I’m used to being alone. Ever since I left that cult, I’ve gotten used to it. People just don’t seem to understand me. Hell, I don’t understand me.
But Shepherd does. From the moment we met, he’s understood me and my dark desires better than anyone. Maybe it’s because he knows what it’s like to grow up in a cult, to be alone, to be damaged.
I know the last thing I should want is more pain, but I can’t help it. I crave what he does to me, even when it hurts. Especially when it hurts.
I know he’s complicated. I know he’s dangerous. Falling for him could mean death…or worse.
But I don’t care. I want him, even the complicated, messy, deadly parts of him, and I’m willing to go through hell to prove it."]

First warning we were given for this novel: “nothing here is vegetarian.” I snort-laughed much harder than necessarily. 

Didn't-like-this-character-in-previous-books-but-love-them-in-this-one update: Keres. That took less than a full page in his POV to win me over. Oh, buddy, did it win me over. Shepherd took longer than the other MCs from the other books. His coldness and general lack of empathy towards most people was still prominent, but it was slightly less asshole-coded. Then again, Algerone was just as evil as he was in the last book (which, inevitably, threw so much of Shepherd's actions int eh previous books into a new light in this one).

I like and didn't like the fact that this book took place during books two and three. Again, it was interesting to see Shepherd's reasons behind his actions in those books, but I also felt like I was constantly waiting for the timeline to catch up. Then again, that could have been the fact that the book was 650 pages.

Trigger Warnings: cults and religious trauma, cannibalism, stalking, gun violence, conversion therapy, past sexual assault, homophobia, homelessness, incest and child sexual assault by a (villian) family member, torture, violence, murder, blood, gore, imprisonment, kidnapping, and more. 

#bodycount #skindeep #viciouscycle #bodyandsoul #heroworship #playingwithfire #vitalsigns #waywardsons #waywardsonsseries #leveland #books #queerbooks #queererotica #bodicerippers #bookstagram #bookphotography #ilovebooks

Vicious Cycle (Wayward Sons #3)

Here's "Vicious Cycle" by L Eveland. It's the third novel in the Wayward Sons series.

["I’m a rabid dog that only one man can tame.

After springing me from the psych hospital, my brothers sold me to a group of assassins posing as mechanics. Forced to work in their garage, I’m biding my time, waiting for my chance to escape, this time for good. I’ve got people to kill.

The only thing in my way is Boone Calhoun, their charismatic leader. He likes to pretend he’s untouchable, but I know his weakness. A whisper here, a fleeting touch there and I’ll have him begging to please me.

Seducing my captor without falling for him should be easy, but something’s wrong. I can’t help but crave his touch, even as I hate him for it.

But I will have my vengeance against the people who hurt me. No one’s going to stop me. Not the Laskins, not the voices in my head, and certainly not the irresistible man holding me prisoner."]

Well fuck..If that prologue didn't get me to start speed-reading the book, the first chapter had me forgiving Xion for practically everything (and wanting to wrap him up in a blanket and give him some cocoa (oops, how'd that knife get in his cocoa?)).

But seriously, these two were sooo much more complicated than those first images we got of them in the previous novel. Which is what I said about War, too. I love how we judge these characters and maybe dislike them in the books that aren’t their HEAs, but in their books, I’m weak for them. That’s some first class characterization and compartmentalization  

And another this-got-complicated-fast book. Fuck, we’re in the junkyard where the toughest obstacle is their feelings for each other and how their baggage plays into that then we’re thrown into a whole other world with much higher stakes. 

Not unhappy with this brand of crazy though. Boone and Xion’s as well as all of these brothers. 

Trigger Warnings: schizophrenia, blood, violence, murder, human trafficking, auditory hallucinations, breif mention of self-harm, references to an off-page suicide, flashback to a deadly car accident, alcoholism in a MC, death of a parental figure, child abuse, child abandonment, child sexual assault, child abuse in a psychiatric setting, torture, underage alcohol consumption, animal death (on page), PTSD, serious injury/traumatic brain injury in MC, kidnapping and imprisonment, and more. 

#bodycount #skindeep #viciouscycle #bodyandsoul #heroworship #playingwithfire #vitalsigns #waywardsons #waywardsonsseries #leveland #books #queerbooks #queererotica #bodicerippers #bookstagram #bookphotography #ilovebooks