I have a few anticipated books that have come out recently and I am so excited to finally read them and let you know whether they were worth the wait, or not…

Close Protection (Eden Victoria)

3 stars

I liked it okay, but it was pretty mid level for me. The concept was average, romance was good but mostly average save few great moments, the writing was good but not incredible. It was nice but sometimes a little boring. Only because it didn’t really have a grab your attention premise amongst a sea of other options. It sounded great, but it was just good/okay.
It frustrated me that almost grown woman exclusively referred to her actual Father as Daddy continuously like she was 8. It gave booktok type hints but never properly followed through. Simultaneously characters were somewhat dull and unusually brutal at once. Everyone was good at everything.
It felt like it hovered around the edge of great but just never quite made it. Good, but not incredible. Still a worthwhile read though.

Thieves Gambit: Heist Royale (Kayvion Lewis)

? Stars

I’m going to count this as “read” even though I did not technically finish it. I was really wanting to continue the series with this book, however it was released too long after I read the first for me to a) remember what happened and who I was supposed to care about and b) be interested in general. I am hoping to come back to this another time when I’m more in the mood for it, but I did find it difficult to get into this story.

Games Untold (Jennifer Lynn-Barnes)

3 stars

Mixed short stories following the characters we know from the inheritance games. Some were good, some were really interesting, and some only so so. A short story book is always a little challenging to review, because there are so many variables. But I will say, though, I did enjoy seeing the characters again and filling in some of the blanks that the main books didn’t flesh out.
Stories I really enjoyed was Hannah and Toby, I also love Xander. He is such a fun character. Nash is actually my favourite after this short story, I really wish we had more Nash in the main series because he is such a funny character.
Fun and really just for fans to get another little look into the characters that they like.

Fragile Sanctuary (Catherine Cowles)

3 stars

Ummm, well that wasn’t what I expected.
I didn’t realise this was an open door book until I was already in it. For some reason the content warnings I looked at did not put that on the list, which I really wish it would have. I’m a closed door book preferred reader, so it was a little bit Unusual. Having said that, I made it all the way to the end because I wanted to see how the rest of the plot would conclude. I liked it, I thought that the characters were on the heavy side, there was a lot of grief and loss that was looked at, discussed, and dealt with. I thought it was done pretty well, and pretty realistically. I enjoyed the mystery part of the story, however I will say the reveal at the end was more of the. “ Let’s not give the reader any clues whatsoever and throw an absolute curveball at the end” type of conclusion. I don’t like those, because they feel undeserved, and almost like a trick on the reader. Rather than laying down clues all the way through, if you were smart to pick them up or if you look back and think of course, those are the better reveals. This was very much a zero clues given type of a reveal.

Wes and Addie Had Their Chance (Bethany Turner)

3.75 stars
There was a lot to like in this book, and I found the character of Wes to be really fun to read. There was a lot of elements going on, like the CIA, presidential candidate, being left at the altar, second chance romance, death of a spouse, alcoholism, fake marriage, and so much more. It was a lot packed into one story. There was also a small town romance, And links to the characters we saw in the first few books of this town. I didn’t love these characters as much as the previous, however Wes really was a great character. He was interesting, a little bit sloppy and crazy, but we love him for it. Addie was an interesting one for me, I am not 100% sure on how I feel about her. I understood her motivations, she was pretty well written, but as a character I didn’t really engage with her. I bought their story, I bought what happened in the plot when we came into it, but I really came to the story for Wes.
While this was printed under a predominantly Christian publisher, I wouldn’t call this book a Christian book. A lot of Bethany‘s earlier books would have an easier time being labelled as that, but a lot of her later books are not. There was one very small reference and in passing to Jesus in here, but if you are looking for what made her earlier books so great in the Christian space, you won’t get it here. In fact you won’t get it in this entire entire series. Not that I mind necessarily, I did feel like this book had a little bit of a sellout vibe to it though. I understand it’s a story that Bethany wanted to write for a very long time, so I understand if she had to do what she had to do to get this written, or she could’ve wanted the story to look like this the whole time. It doesn’t really matter, it was still a good book.
I liked the idea of the presidential campaign in the background, but it really wasn’t the focus of the book. There was even death of a parent to focus on, and a lot to try and pin down. I think perhaps that’s why some of this fell a little less than I was hoping for, because it was just so much jam packed into one story.

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Well, there you have it. Have you ready any of these books? Let me know your thoughts below!

See You in the Adventures!
Christy Grace