Hey my lovely readers! First things first Happy Valentines day!

In honor of the lovely heart celebrating love filled holiday I thought I would highlight all the fictional men that have complete and UTTERLY stole my heart and gave me very much unreasonable HIGH expectations for men in real life…. because lets face it:

 Fictional men >>>> real men any day. All day. 

That being said my list of Book Boyfriends in INSANe.

Like so many different shades of potential boyfriend material here – all I need is one of them to jump off the page and DATE ME PLEASE.

And since I will never stop ranting about my fictional loves I thought I’d compose a neat little list of 15 of my TOP favorite Fictional Men that have ruined me for all others (and why yes there is more than 15 fictional men I swoon over but these are TOP TIER in terms of literature men *thumbs up* *winks*):

(This list is also in random order- not ranked by whose my fav – you cant ask me to choose between my babies I love them all) 

 

Josh (The Hating Game by Sally Thorne)

Ugh top tier office romance. Need a Josh in real life.

Tristian Ballentine (A Rogue of Ones Own by Evie Dunmore)

Did not expect to swoon this much for Tristian. But this dirty minded rogue is everything I didn’t know I needed. 

Kai (Cruel Intentions by Siobhan Davis)

HOT. Just so adjhfsfh. 

Asa Makepeace (Sweetest Scoundrel by Elizabeth Hoyt)

Literally in love with him. Thats all I have to say about that. 

Hades (A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St.Clair)

My new bae. If you all read my review you know my love for the god of the underworld is endless. 

RHYSAND (A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas)

END GAME. My first book love and my last. I now uphold all men to Rhysand. Consider my standards impossibly raised. 

Adrian (Bloodlines/Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead)

I LOVE Adrian. Omg his banter. His snarkiness. Just ahhh love him!

Devon (Wicked and the Wallflower by Sarah Maclean)

So another dark crime lord to add my list of fictional husbands. (if you watched peaky blinders Devon is literally Thomas Shelby and I am here for it). 

Kaidan Rowe (Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins)

SO sexy. I love love love Kaidan!!

Daemon (Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout)

One of my first book bfs. He’s an a-hole with snarky banter for DAYS. Love me a sarcastic boy. 

Alex Fuentes (Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles)

Swoon love. The classic bad boy we all wanted to fall for in high school. YEs please. 

Kaz Brekker (Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo)

AHHHH my book BF for life!! Another top tier crime lord and example of “I will burn the world down for you” love love love!!

Severin (The Gilded Wolves)

Severin took me by surprise and I am so here for it! Another angsty masterminded treasure hunter I didn’t know I signed up to give my heart to.

Cillian (The Villain by LJ Shen) 

Ughhhhhh Cillian can TAKE ME AWAY please. Just that MAN.

Alex Winslow (Midnight Blue by LJ Shen) 

Alex is one funny mother F-er. Like his internal monologue. The banter. The way he is just straight up crazy rockstar. I’m sorry I fell. 

What do you guys think? Have you read any of the books above? Any of the fictional men above make your list of book bfs? Lets chat swoon in the comments!!

-BubblyBooks

A Touch of Darkness

By Scarlett St.Clair

Rating: 5/5 stars

Summary: 

A Modern Hades and Persephone Retelling

Persephone is the Goddess of Spring by title only. The truth is, since she was a little girl, flowers have shriveled at her touch. After moving to New Athens, she hopes to lead an unassuming life disguised as a mortal journalist.

Hades, God of the Dead, has built a gambling empire in the mortal world and his favorite bets are rumored to be impossible.

After a chance encounter with Hades, Persephone finds herself in a contract with the God of the Dead and the terms are impossible: Persephone must create life in the Underworld or lose her freedom forever.

The bet does more than expose Persephone’s failure as a goddess, however. As she struggles to sow the seeds of her freedom, love for the God of the Dead grows—and it’s forbidden.

 

My Review:

Wow. Just put out a “wanted” sign for my heart and emotional sanity and am offering anyone who can find it my eternal gratitude as well as some “sprinkles of motivation” to get offline and READ A DAMN BOOK. 

Now that we got that out of the way – this book DESTROYED ME.

My – heart and soul – we don’t know them anymore because they have been taken and converted into a PDF file of this book. Oh my god. Oh my flipping goodness gracious this book. THIS BOOK. wow. Just gotta collect myself for a minute here because this book was spicer and quicker to devour than a packet of minute microwave spicy Mexican rice. 

If you know me at all (or even just a tiny tinsey bit) than you know I am an absolute trash can for anything to do with greek gods or greek god retellings. That being said this book took my expectations lit them on fire and tossed them into the ocean to be reborn. 

Yes it was that good and as you all know HADES and PERSEPHONE is one of my all time FAVORITE retellings too so you know I was about to dive into this ready for some top tier fabulousness and *thank god* this book did not disappoint. 

“Take her, and I will destroy this world. Take her, and I will destroy you. Take her, and I will end us all.”

Don’t get me wrong – this is a DEBUT book so the writing wasn’t a tasty dense cup of chocolate pudding – but that being said I still enjoyed this and binge read it faster than I would have devoured said pudding cups. 

Like guys the TENSION, the back and forth banter, the seductive sultry spicy tingly tongue flavor this book gave me!!! ajfhhfkshfk please its a miracle my eyebrows are still resting comfortably over my eyes and that they were not burned off from the level of  sheer FLAME that was this book.

“Oh, darling.”

The chemistry between Persephone and Hades is one of my favorite things ever. I love a couple in which the guy is super dark and powerful and has a bad reputation but would literally drop everything and burn the world down for their girl simply because they “felt like it”. 

“They say Hades is protective of his realm, and while that is true, it isn’t about power. He cares for his people, protects them, and he takes it personally if anyone is harmed. If you belong to him, he will tear the world apart to save you.”

Not to mention Persephone is a literal fairy gum drop who is super innocent and sweet but also slightly sassy strong and doesn’t put up with Hades jazz and actually challenges him in the BEST WAY *snaps*. Like yesss we love love love matches in which both MC’s CHALLENGE THE HELL out of one another (in the best way) and one second are like “you drive me insane I want to kill you” but their inner dialogue is like “are we about to kiss right now”… just yes freaking yes *claps approvingly* 

And SAFE TO SAY I AM A HAPPY CAMPER BECAUSE we got all of that and more in this book!! Hades and Persephone were literally destined for each other and I loved that. I also loved how this retelling took place in a modern city version of “Olympus” and how each of the Gods had a night club themed after them. Aphrodite had her own nightclub, Hades had Nevernight, and even Apollo had his own club. Hot night clubs are a 10/10 for me. Really liked that a lot. 

Overall this book is a 10/10 for fabulousness, romantic tension, greek gods, and TOP TIER smut, smut, smut!!! Like a book with an addicting as heck plot line and amazing smoochy scenes give it all to me!!! I mean this book made me FEEL things. So. Many. Emotions. and the ending had me in absolute stitches. Ugh please book just take my heart and STOMP on it – run it over with a truck if you must. 

Soooo in short if your looking for a book to suck away all your time and make you an sugary smut addicted reader in which your butt is literally glued to your couch (unless your taking a snack break in which you can promptly unglue your butt from said couch) (I approve of snack breaks) (snack breaks are good)  than you NEED this book in your life and you need it NOW. 

Loved every second of this and it is now a new Forever Favorite. Can’t get my hands on the other books in the series fast enough – five cherry sauce dripping romantic STARS!!!

5 stars 

What about you all? Have you read this book? Like greek god retellings? Add this one to your tbr! And please lmk your thoughts in the comments below – is this one making the TBR? Lmk!!

• BubblyBooks

Hey there my bookmark hoarding friends! I hope 2021 isn’t treating you too terribly so far… but most of all I hope your TBR’s are exploding and your ability to consume fabulous books is on point 😉

Since I wasn’t able to post a wrap up for last month (time just slipped through my fingers like sand. Honestly couldn’t tell you what even occurred in December) I decided to just do a MEGA wrap up post and include all the book goodies I was able to complete (miraculously) this past December and January. 

So lets get to it! 

What did I actually read in December?? Well I’m glad you asked. By some miracle of the bookish gods I was able to complete a whopping 5 books! (honestly: I can’t believe it myself) 

While I was hoping to read more last month (and was honestly a bit shocked I had read such a small puddles worth of reading material) I did enjoy the books I read which has to go to count for something right??

Books I Read in December: 

The Duke and I by Julia Quinn – 3 stars –

Ok so yes, after binging the first 3 episodes of the Bridgerton series on Netflix I immediately found myself seeking out copies of the books…so  when I found this one at a local bookshop I picked it up ASAP ASAP!! There was one scene in this book that appalled me, but other than that it was a great start in terms of world building and characters. So much so that I immediately found myself reaching for book 2. I 100% recommend starting this series if your a fan of the show!!

The Villain by L.J. Shen – 5 stars – 

Another FABULOUS, PERFECT, HEART INFECTING, SOULD CRUSHING favorite from on of my favorite romance authors of all time: L.J. Shen. Cillian just very well might be one of my favorite male characters she has ever written (safe to say I now have a new book BF to add the the ever growing collection) (seriously it is getting out of hand). This was everything I love from LJ Shen and more!! A new forever favorite. 

Devil of the Highlands by Lynsay Sands – 3.75 stars –

As a newbie to the ever growing mountain that is historical romance I liked this highlander read very much. It was cute and romantic. However the plot just fell a little flat in terms of pacing at some points for me?? That being said I will definitely still be picking up more Lynsay Sands books because I heard she is one of the top authors to read when it comes to historicals. 

One to Watch by Kate Stacyman-London – 5 stars –

WOW. This book took me by surprise. The straight up EMOTIONS I felt while reading this and how much I just utterly connected with the characters in this shocked me. I felt like I was reading about a real person – it felt that real to me. If you love reality tv, the bachelor, or just rom-com, romancy plots in general READ THIS. You will not be disappointed. 

The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd Jones – 3 stars – 

There wasn’t anything bad about this book. I liked this book. The whole concept of Bone Houses was fascinating and I loved the writing and pacing in this book. However for some reason it just fell a bit flat for me overall??! I liked it but I wasn’t blown away by it. A solid 3 star read. 

Books I Read in January: 

The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn – 5 stars –

By far my favorite in the Brigerton series so FAR!! Anthony is the brooding older brother I did not know I NEEDED ughh and Kate is absolutely his perfect match in every way possible. I also loved the family dynamics in this one – can’t wait for season 2 of this beautifulness after I’ve completed the series!! (My Review) 

Romancing Mister Bridgerton by Julia Quinn – 3 stars –

This book was cute. It was Penelope’s story with Colin and I enjoyed it. There just wasn’t much of a wow factor for me, overall it was just “cute”, 3 stars. 

To Sir Phillip with Love by Julia Quinn – 4 stars –

This one took me by surprise with how much I enjoyed it and I’ve come to realize that in historicals the broodier the male the more likely I am to fall in love with the book – this was no exception. I loved Eloises story and how Sir Phillip was just trying his hardest to be a better father for his kids. Def my second favorite book in the series so far!

Saga Vol 4 – 4 stars–

Read the fourth segment in this graphic novel series and enjoyed it! Although I was not a fan of that one GIRL who was trying to get with her husband?!? Like a no from me sweetie. Other than that will probs pick up Vol 5 sometime in the future. 

Dearest Rogue by Elizabeth Hoyt – 4 stars –

My FIRST Elizabeth Hoyt book and I must say I was not disappointed!! Dare I even say I’ve found a new author to love?? This book was fabulous because it follows a London socialite (who is the sister of a duke) and who also happens to be blind – which was super interesting – and a dashing ex solider who is HIRED to be her body guard and assist her with her blindness. SO DANG FLIPPIN GOOD!! 4 stars. 

Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff – 5 stars –

One word: KAL KAL KAL (did I say Kal?) (aka my new book BF)

A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St.Clair – 5 stars –

OMG OMG OMG this book made me FEEL things. Like I don’t even know why I was so drawn in (I mean besides the obvious which is loving Hades and Persephone retellings #greekgods) but danggg this book made me so emotional and destroyed me. A new forever favorite – my gosh dang it I love this book and still can’t stop thinking about it. 

A Touch of Ruin by Scarlett St.Clair – 4 stars –

Ok so this sequel only made me more attached to my newest loveliest OTP and now I have to wait until MAYYY to get my hands on book 3?? Excuse me while I go hide under the covers until this book is released.

What I watched:

Bridgerton (season 1) –

LOVED LOVED LOVED this show!! Season 2 cannot arrive fast enough and if you are a fan of period dramas (think pride and prejudice or Emma) than you simply need to watch this show – like yesterday. 

Blacklist (season 3/4) –

Really loving this dark crime FBI type of show. You know me the darker the show the more likely I am to loveee it. Give me all the drama please. Also that season ending for season 3 *jaw drops* is the show trying to kill me with heart stopping plot twists?? Because it damn well is working. 

The Bachelor (current season) –

OMG the DRAMA in this. Poor Matt his sensibilities are just to delicate for all these crazy chicks. Praying he ends up with Michelle at this point because my boy needs some normal in his life right about now. Plus they are just meant to be. I said what I said. 

 

In all I’m really happy with my reading over the past two months! January took me by surprise with a whopping total of 8 books?? Don’t even want to know where that time came from. Any who heres to hoping February is just as successful for all of you readers out there… and for those of you who need to here this “GET OFF TWITTER/GOODREADS AND GO READ AN ACTUAL DANG BOOK”

Have a lovely rest of your day my bookish bunnies!!

-BubblyBooks