Heidi reviews Defying Gravity by AM Kusi, a husband and wife duo taking on some tough topics. Come join Heidi as she delves into the complexities of this contemporary romance. Heidi found this to be a heavy read with a central romance with a hero and heroine she enjoyed getting to know. While it is a romance Heidi thought it pushes into fiction as well, and contains topics and content with a lot of value. Heidi felt that this is a book that is well written and has a lot of romance elements that spoke to her, but it does have a lot of elements that will make you think and will sit with you. Come listen to the podcast to find out why. 

Books mentioned in this podcast:

Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man by Emmanuel Acho
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson

Heidi didn't have a book ready to do her normal review this week so she decided to talk about a short story she downloaded on Valentine's Day.  It's erotica, so this is a non-traditional podcast. Be prepared for a conversation about taking a trip into an alien-human world... ! We are talking about Thirst by Addison Cain. It's 85 pages of Glabrx the alien.

Minutes 1-8 - Discusses erotica as a general genre

Minute 8.50 - Heidi talks about her journey into discovering this tale

Minute 11.25 onward goes into the description of the book

Other book mentioned - Parasite Rex: Inside the Bizarre World of Nature's Most Dangerous Creatures by Carl Zimmer (this is NOT a romance book but a fascinating Non-Fiction book on parasitic creatures). 

***Side note trigger that wasn't explicitly described in the podcast - the story Thirst is dubious consent due to the dynamic at the start of the story. 

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This contemporary romance topped the charts of best romances in 2020. Listen to the podcast to find out if Heidi agrees with this assessment and what score she gave it on the 1-10 scale. 

This sweet romance (kissing only described so rated PG) is between two men, Luc and Oliver, who enter a fake relationship so they both have a date to important events coming up in their lives. As you may expect... the romance starts to not feel so fake. 

Both men are vibrant and wonderful characters you will fall in love with through the story. The emotional development of the main characters with the hurdles that make them so fearful of love, yet desperate to find it, is incredibly well done.  This is an appropriate book to present on Valentine's Day as it was a book that moved Heidi to tears (and she has a heart of stone.)

Heidi goes over 14 of the 15 books in this great series and gives her Heidi rating for each one. These books vary GREATLY in their steaminess, their plots, and if they are worth reading or not (spoiler - some of them are a SKIP!) The Heidi rating is listed below and each title is also listed below.  Heidi gives a brief synopsis of each book, what she liked/didn't like, and it may help you decide which books in the series you want to read as well.

 (The first book is not discussed as there is an entire podcast dedicated to this book - see elsewhere. Also Book 15 is short stories and is also not discussed).

Book 2 - Visions of Heat: Heidi Score 7

Book 3 - Caressed by Ice: Heidi Score 9

Book 4 - Mine to Possess: Heidi Score - 0

Book 5 - Hostage to Pleasure: Heidi Score - 6

Book 6 - Branded by Fire: Heidi Score 10**** This book is a must read! STEAMY

Book 7 + 8 - Heidi skipped

Book 9 - Play of Passion:  Heidi Score 6

Book 10 - Kiss of Snow:  Heidi Score 6 - this book broke Heidi's heart a bit. Justice for Hawke. 

Book 11 - Tangle of Need: Heidi Score 4

Book 12 - Heart of Obsidian: Heidi Score 10.5 **** WOWZERS this book is amazing, depth of character, emotional connection, steam, it all comes to a head in this, the best out of all the books.

Book 13 - Shield of Winter: TBD

Book 14 - Shards of Hope: TBD

Love fated mate stories? Love wolf shifters?  The Phoenix Pack series comes up as a recommendation whenever someone asks for a good fated mate or wolf shifter story so Heidi checked out Book 1 Feral Sins.  This is a "marriage of convenience - or mating of convenience" trope in order to help out both the heroine and hero and is definitely a STEAMY insta-lust book!

Heidi provides a deep dive into the book to give you a breakdown on the overall premise so you can see if it will appeal to you. Heidi then gives her opinion of the book and the things she connected with, or that didn't really hit. 

The end of the podcast (after a musical interlude) starts the "spoiler section" where Heidi gives more details on things she liked/disliked and gets into the sexy times details. 

The Ratings:
Heidi uses a 1-10 system with 10 as the best. Each of the following categories can get a point: characters, romance, plot, climax, pacing, dialogue, world building, mechanics, overall impression, and authorial voice. She did give one book a 0.

She also let's you know if it is PG, PG-13, R, or X!  WOWZERS!

Last podcast we broke down the omegaverse and at the very end (57 minute mark) discussed Addison Cain the foremother of the omegaverse and a lawsuit she was involved in, as well as the first book in her breakout series Born to Be Bound. 

This podcast revisits both of those topics. Heidi dove deeper into the NYT article (not well done and pretty shoddy research), and presents her findings. 

Despite her adamant stance, Heidi DID read Book 2 in the Born to Be Bound series and she discusses how amazing Addison's writing is. She also read The Golden Line by Addison Cain and discusses that book and what she enjoyed about it. 

Support the show (https://paypal.me/romancebookreviewpod)

Heidi recently learned about the Omegaverse and has dived in. Reading about ten books in this subgenre in the past month, she breaks down what the Omegaverse is (first half hour). She explains the main themes:

1. Alpha's, Beta's and Omega's
2. Knotting
3. The power dynamic
4. The bond

* This episode has more sex talk than most episodes* You have been warned

Books mentioned in the podcast:

Hired for Heat by Leann Ryan - Omega's are on top in this book with Alpha's being caged and kept away from society. Heidi felt this was the most 'romance-like' out of all the ones she read.

Choosing Her Alpha by Isoellen - The first book Heidi read. Another good book to start with. Starts slow and not overly sex heavy. Get a good introduction into Alpha/Omega dynamic.

Her Broken Alpha by Isoellen - This book has BDSM elements in it, has much more sex throughout than her other book. Heidi had issues with the BDSM occurring while the heroine was pregnant.

Beholden Duet by Zoey Ellis - Not a bad series but Heidi felt there were some plot holes when there is a reveal from the hero at the end about things that he knew all along and his treatment of the Omega when they are together their first nights.  It did not feel consistent and either she missed something, or it wasn't resolved properly.

The Knotted Book Series by Laxmi Hariharan - Four book series with Zeus as the hero. Good Alpha/Omega dynamic but this series was a bit too long. Didn't need to be this many books. Good full Omegaverse experience.

Fae Series by Laxmi Hariharan - Stolen by the Fae - Heidi loved the hero Dante, but thought that the sex moved a little too fast. First encounter a little much for her. Heidi didn't read second book, didn't connect with heroine in book one. Seduced by the Fae - Book 3, packaged as a BDSM book but does not deliver with this. This book fell flat for Heidi and she did not finish it (maybe only a few chapters left.).

The Sacred Omega's Book 1 - December - by Merel Pierce - Great writing, great description of how the Alpha/Omega relationship works but this book contains very graphic rape halfway through. The second half of the book is about the trauma of dealing with this encounter. Heidi wished she'd passed or that the book had gone a different direction. She will be looking at other books by this author that hopefully don't have this theme.  This is a good author to keep an eye out for.

Rite of the Omega - Eva Dresden - Hard pass for Heidi. The heroine was very weak and cried or was afraid the entire book. Difficult to connect with or root for. She had no personality and was completely unlikeable. As the hero is a dark hero, he is unlikeable too. No reason to buy Part 2 in the two part book series for Heidi. Additionally, Heidi had issues with the writing, the prose is heavy handed and bogs the book down. The writer does not do a good enough job of describing where the people are in space, in particular even in sex scenes you are not sure where the person is facing in relation to the other. That is a problem. 

Born to be Bound - By Addison Cain - The first book in the 4 or 5 Part Shepherd series. Heidi detested this book. At the very end the hero randomly cheats on the heroine. WHAT?! WHY? Alpha's and Omegas are supposed to have very strong bonds so this came out of left field and literally left Heidi feeling like she'd been slapped in the face. She has no desire to read the rest of the series. Also, she didn't like the hero even before this moment, forced pregnancies are pretty repulsive. 

Addison Cain and Zoey Ellis law suit article:  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/23/business/omegaverse-erotica-copyright.html

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This podcast deviates from the normal one book, one review format.

Heidi was going to be discussing The Hidden Legacy Series by Ilona Andrews Books 1,2, and 3 with Nevada and Connor over a two part series but she removed the podcasts. Why?

As a teaser, it involves a suppression of discussion of the books on the Ilona Andrews fan page including the author themselves. If you listened to Heidi's intro podcast you know that she values discussion of all books and having a critical review and discourse.

Romance books should be no different. In some ways, romance books are even tougher because they engage a covenant with the reader. Romance book readers expect things like a happy ever after, a hero to adore, a heroine to be friends with. Heidi always evaluates characters and if they are true to how the author has represented them throughout their entire book/series.  As a fan, Heidi has her opinions on when these expectations are not met and she discusses them in this podcast series.

Being able to discuss books openly, politely, and with clear points on why we feel the way we do, is incredibly important and makes us all better readers. When this is suppressed, Heidi will not react well.
 
This is Heidi's favorite series and favorite couple so it is disappointing for her not to reveal all of her love for Connor to pod listeners, but for now, the podcasts are being yanked.

There is also a random three minute side track in the middle of pod where Heidi talks about Boston and some famous Bostonians like Chris Evans. She talks about the recent Sam Adams commercial. Yes this all makes sense and ties into the podcast.

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Follow me on instagram at:  @romancebookreviewpodcast 

Holy cats this book is fantastic!  Nalini Singh creates a dramatic world in her Psy-Changeling series that starts with this book. This book details the world of the Psy - a race of creatures that have removed emotion from their population for the last hundred years in order to cure the insanity that was causing murder and suicide rates among their numbers. Our heroine, Sascha, is a Psy of the highest strength, a cardinal. Her power has never manifested in any of the typical power lines acceptable for her race. Lucas Hunter, the hero, is a black panther shifter, alpha of the leopard clan DarkRiver. He is working on a construction project with the Psy as an undercover operation to infiltrate them in order to find out what they are hiding. A Psy has been killing changelings and he will find out who.

This is a fated mates story. This is an investigation story. This is an urban fantasy/paranormal story. Wowzers!  This has world building that will take you away from daily life and a high paced action that will keep you reading late at night.  What an incredible hero and heroine!

It's got it all PLUS it's got sexual tension that is written so well you will want to read everything Singh has ever written immediately.

This book may get an elusive perfect 10!

Heidi breaks it all down for you in the podcast and then gives you her ratings.

Part I - A spoiler free review of the book to help you discover if you want to read the book.

Heidi gives each book a Steaminess Rating using the PG, PG13, and Rated R system.

Heidi also ranks each book using her own ranking system.

Heidi uses a 1-10 system with 10 as the best. Each of the following categories can get a point: characters, romance, plot, climax, pacing, dialogue, world building, mechanics, overall impression, and authorial voice. She did give one book a 0.

Part II - There are mild spoilers about the book as Heidi does a deep dive to explore what she liked or didn't like and give you the details on why.  Usually this is also where we discuss the sex. There is a brief music interlude to break up the podcast to let the listener know that going forward to the end of the podcast there are mild spoilers about the book.

Listen to the first half of the podcast to find out if you want to read the book... then listen to the full review when you have finished the book to see if your review aligns with Heidi's!

Join us at:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/637531733526838/
Follow me on instagram at:  @romancebookreviewpodcast

Daring the Duke by Sarah MacLean is the third book in the Bareknuckle Bastard trilogy by MacLean. In Heidi's opinion it is by the best of the three (although Heidi did not read Book 2). This trilogy recites the stories of four children all united by a sadist Duke who wanted an heir. Ewan, our hero, is the child that was chosen by the Duke to take the title. The other three, Devil, Whit, and Grace, must flee for their lives and live in the seedy underbelly of London despite Ewan and Grace having loved each other their entire lives.

Grace feels Ewan betrayed them. This story is a hate to love and also a story about redemption and misunderstanding over a very tragic past and truly horrible circumstances. For a historical romance we have women in the drivers seat which is a nice change. Heidi very much enjoyed this. Heidi also loved Ewan. She's a sucker for men that want to be worthy of their women. Heidi couldn't put this book down and couldn't wait for the HEA.

Join her to learn about this story and see if it is a book you may enjoy too.

Part I - A spoiler free review of the book to help you discover if you want to read the book.

Heidi gives each book a Steaminess Rating using the PG, PG13, and Rated R system.

Heidi also ranks each book using her own ranking system.

Heidi uses a 1-10 system with 10 as the best. Each of the following categories can get a point: characters, romance, plot, climax, pacing, dialogue, world building, mechanics, overall impression, and authorial voice. She did give one book a 0.

Part II - There are mild spoilers about the book as Heidi does a deep dive to explore what she liked or didn't like and give you the details on why.  Usually this is also where we discuss the sex. There is a brief music interlude to break up the podcast to let the listener know that going forward to the end of the podcast there are mild spoilers about the book.

Listen to the first half of the podcast to find out if you want to read the book... then listen to the full review when you have finished the book to see if your review aligns with Heidi's!

Join us at:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/637531733526838/
Follow me on instagram at:  @romancebookreviewpodcast

Support the show (https://paypal.me/romancebookreviewpod)