Introvert’s Book Club
Still working towards that personal pan pizza🍕
Eternal by Eva Simmons
Sigma Sin #3
Rating: 4/5
Spice: 3/5
Plot: 4/5
Primary Genre: Dark Romance
Trigger Warnings: See author website here
Favorite Quote: “She tastes like hope and self-destruction. Two opposing forces that shouldn’t coexist, but she does.”
Blurb: Declan Pierce is a bully and a sadist. He’s been my enemy since birth, and he’s made my life a living hell. But when my father barters me in an arranged marriage, Declan proposes a deal I can’t refuse. After all, so long as Declan owns my soul, it can’t be sold to another… But it turns out Declan wants more than I bargained for. My body, my submission, the truth behind what sent me to Montgomery Psychiatric Ward three years ago. And he’ll haunt every facet of my existence until he gets it. I thought death was the only truly inescapable thing. After all, nothing is eternal… except maybe him.
Elfemies to Lovers by Jennifer Chipman
Rating: 4/5
Spice: 3/5
Plot: 5/5
Primary Genre: Christmas Romance
Blurb: Ivy Winters As the head elf at Santa’s Christmasland, I never expected to be butting heads with the new executive—or going on a date with him. But when he asked me to go home with him for Christmas, I surprised myself by saying yes. Oh, and he’s from the North Pole. And apparently, I’m an elf.
Teddy Claus Training to take over the family business was no small undertaking, but for the last few years, I’d been working my way up through the ranks, mastering each branch of our enterprise. But everything was different when I arrived at our Christmas themed amusement park and met her. Maybe that was why I invited her home with me for Christmas. It felt like I’d been searching my whole life for something, and I’d finally found it. Maybe, what I’d needed all along was Ivy by my side.
The Check Down by Brandy Pelletier
Rating: 4/5
Spice: 3/5
Primary Genre: Sports Romance
Trigger Warnings: Situational depression, cheating (not by either MC) and a brief mention of a loved one’s passing.
Plot 4/5:
Girl crashes boy’s car, boy saves girl from horrible relationship. Boy is an NFL superstar, BTW. Griffin and Brynn are new besties. Griffin is determined to show Brynn the magic of Memphis as she hasn’t ever acclimated to her new city even though she’s lived there for years. Will Griffin be able to keep things friendly so he can focus on his football season?
Coffee Break With The Billionaire by Holly Kerr
Rating: 3/5
Spice: 0/5
Primary Genre: Billionaire Romance/RomCom
Trigger Warnings: Alcohol use, bad parenting
Plot 3/5:
Billionaire heiress Fenella needs to go into hiding after her most recent, very public break up with her cheating ex. Where to? Her other ex’s (who’s a prince, by the way) remote town! Well, technically it’s a whole country. Fenella can’t get enough of the local coffee shop, Coffee For the Sole, and her pumpkin spice lattes. She also becomes interesting in the coffee shop owner, Silas, once she realizes there’s more to him than coffee beans.
Tropes:
• cinnamon roll hero
• friends-to-lovers
• small town
• opposites attract
Toxic Obsession by J.A. Owenby
Rating: 4.5/5
Spice: 4/5
Primary Genre: Dark Romance
Trigger Warnings: Suicide and suicide pacts, child sexual abuse (not on the page), Dub-con, Non-con, Knife play, Anal play & Plugs, Violence, Revenge, Sensory Depriving, Physical Abuse, Emotional Abuse, Gun Violence, Degradation, Breath Play, Grooming, Mental Health, Reference to School Shooting
Favorite Quote: He’s just a boy. Make sure he actually deserves you instead of trying to convince everyone you deserve him. You have nothing to prove, girl.
Plot 5/5:
Wynter is finally leaving home to head to Whitmore College. She can’t wait to leave her difficult past behind and start fresh. She meets Quinn and he’s determined to make her fall for him. Little does she know, he thinks that she’s responsible for his twin sister’s death and he’s out for revenge. But you know what they say, there’s three versions of the truth. Yours, mine and the truth.
Monarch by Sophie Lark
Grimstone #2
Rating: 4/5
Spice: 2.5/5
Primary Genre: Romantic suspense
Trigger Warnings: Domestic violence, assault, alcohol use, drug use
Favorite Quote: I’m with you. I love you. I’ll protect you, I’ll take care of you. Carry me with you always and keep me in your heart. Because you are in mine.
Plot 5/5:
Elena is a 90 day fiance who had been desperately looking to leave Ukraine. She has just arrived in Grimstone, Oregon to marry her fiance Lorne. He’s a famous, wealthy thriller author. When they met in Ukraine he seemed like was a sweet, loving father and a kind/nerdy guy. Once she arrives, his behavior begins to change and not in a good way. Lorne is having a castle built for them to live in but there have been multiple construction delays so they are staying at the town’s historic hotel, The Monarch. The owner of the Monarch, Atlas, tries to protect Elena as Lorne get more twisted and vicious.
The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop
Rating: 5/5
Spice: 0
Primary Genre: Memoir
Trigger Warnings: Abortion, death of a spouse, death of a parent, grief, misogyny, cancer, addiction, child abuse, infidelity, domestic abuse, terminal illness, alcoholism, sexual assault
Favorite Quote: I admit it, given a choice, with a handful of exceptions, I tend to prefer the company of animals to the company people. Animals are honest-there’s not a hint of pretense about them, they just unapologetically are who they are, and their capacity to love and be loved outshines ours by about a million.
Plot 5/5: Kelly chronologically hops along through the major events in her life. She covers the high points as well as the lows. She leads us on a journey from starving artist Carole Bishop to a closing in on 80 years old Kelly Bishop.
The Housemaid’s Secret by Freida McFadden
Rating: 3.5/5
Spice: 0
Primary Genre: Thriller
Trigger Warnings: Sizeism and body-shaming, Classism, Attempted rape, Infidelity (on-page), Discussions of domestic abuse and violence, Disordered eating & food thoughts including calorie counting and food shaming, Suicidal ideation, Alcohol consumption, Infertility mentioned, Blood depiction, Emesis, Death of a mother from a stroke mentioned, Murder by gun & knife violence, Physical assault, Stalking, Incarceration for physical assault mentioned, Poverty & financial difficulties discussed
Favorite Quote: “You hiding drugs up there?” “No! Definitely not!” I just murdered somebody, that’s all. Sheesh.
Reign of Cinders and Glass by Linsey Hall, Veronica Douglas
Rating: 4/5
Spice: 2
Primary Genre: Romantasy
Trigger Warnings: Violence, gore
Favorite Quote: “Touched by the Fates?” Aamon scoffed. “She’s a drunk. She’s touched by whiskey, not prophecy. You know as well as I do that there’s no magic beyond these walls.”
The Memo by Rachel Dodes, Lauren Mechling
Rating: 3.5/5
Spice: 0
Primary Genre: Women’s Fiction
Trigger Warnings: Emotional abuse, toxic relationship, toxic friendship, abandonment, drug use
Favorite Quote: No matter how hard I pounded the dough, I was never quite able to knead away the sense that I was committed to a guy who would never be fully committed to me.
Cole and Laila Are Just Friends by Bethany Turner
Rating: 3
Spice: 0
Primary Genre: Romance
Trigger Warnings: Mention of terminal illness, abandonment, alchohol/prescription drug use, death of a family member/parent
Favorite Quote: Who knew romantic comedy was such a brutal sport?
Plot 3/5:
Slow burn, friends to lovers, closed door romance. And when I say slow burn, we’re talking the slowest. This story is about a girl and a guy who live in a small town in Colorado, have known each other since they were little kids, and are extremely close best friends.