Review: Promise

Promise by Chelle Bliss
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

📘 Promise by Chelle Bliss
Men of Inked Sinners #6
📚 Format: Ebook 💫 Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

♣️ What happens in Vegas is supposed to stay in Vegas…unless you wake up and discover that one very unexpected night has changed considerably more than your relationship status 💍

Promise took me a little while to settle into, particularly when it came to Amelia. At first, I struggled to reconcile the woman we’re introduced to with some of the choices she makes in Vegas. Amelia is the responsible one. The serious one. She’s much more likely to choose a quiet night with a book, room service, and a bath than a wild night with strangers.

But the more I thought about her character, the more my perspective changed.
I may not have loved all of her choices, but I understood them better once I looked at her journey that way.

♥️ Amelia has spent much of her life fitting herself into certain expectations. She even recognizes that there are different versions of herself—the person she is with her family and the person she allows her friends to see. Vegas felt like Amelia giving herself permission to step outside that familiar pattern and find out what might happen if, for once, she did something completely unexpected.

♠️ Reed, however, was the character who really won me over. What I appreciated most about him was that his commitment never felt like something forced upon him. When life takes a very unexpected turn, Reed doesn't disappear or look for the easiest exit. He shows up. Again and again. And there's an important difference between staying because you believe you're obligated to and staying because you've decided this is exactly where you want to be.

For me, that became the heart of Reed's character.

There was also something lovely about watching their relationship develop beyond the craziness that originally brought them together. Beneath the unusual circumstances are two people trying to figure out whether something completely unexpected might actually become something real.

By the end, I saw Amelia differently, too. Her journey isn't simply about becoming part of a couple or a family. It's also about allowing herself to stop compartmentalizing who she is and realizing she doesn't have to remain the version of herself everyone expects.

♥️ Amelia is discovering who she wants to be.
♠️ Reed is discovering where—and with whom—he wants to be.
♦️ And somewhere between those two journeys, they begin figuring out what it means to become a we 🏡

🎵 Book Song: “Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)” — Big & Rich
Because sometimes you just have to lean into the cowboy energy. 🤠



View all my reviews

Review: Our Journey

Our Journey by H.K. Brown
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



View all my reviews

📘 Our Journey by H.K. Brown

📚 Format: Ebook 💫 Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“Grief changes the shape of a heart, but love teaches it how to beat again.”

What an emotional journey!

I loved how this story came together. H.K. Brown has a wonderful way of developing her characters, allowing their histories, emotions, and relationships to unfold naturally. I felt incredibly close to Benedict “Buckie” McAlester and Evelyn May Dixon (Evie), and I was genuinely invested in how their story would come together.

What I especially appreciated was how Brown explored the effects of grief, misplaced trust, and the consequences of allowing someone else's version of events to shape our understanding of the people we love.

There were moments when I wanted to reach into the pages and tell Evie to trust Buckie! But I also understood how vulnerable she was following her father's death. Grief had left her emotionally fragile, and sometimes the pain we're already carrying makes it difficult to see beyond what we believe to be true.

Their journey wasn't simply about finding their way back to one another. It was about confronting the past, accepting difficult truths, and learning how to move forward without allowing those experiences to define the rest of their lives.

And then there's Maria. ❤️

I absolutely loved Buckie's devotion to her. His determination to protect her and put her well-being first was one of the most beautiful elements of this story. It speaks to what truly makes a family. Love isn't always defined by blood or biology. Sometimes it's defined by the people who choose us, love us, and stand beside us.

Initially, I viewed Jenna as the manipulative other woman, someone whose behavior seemed rooted in jealousy and those familiar mean-girl high school dynamics. However, as the story progressed, I realized there was much more to Jenna than I had originally believed.

I appreciated that Brown gave her character complexity without dismissing the consequences of her choices. More importantly, I loved how Evie's response demonstrated her own emotional growth. Rather than allowing resentment to dictate her future, she began looking beyond her pain and considering the well-being of those around her.

Another element that touched me was Evie's relationship with her mother. Following her father's death and what she believed was Buckie's betrayal, Evie felt the need to leave everything behind. I understood her desire to escape the pain, but in doing so, she lost out on so much, particularly precious time with the people who loved her.

I appreciated how Brown explored the complicated emotions surrounding their relationship. Sometimes grief isn't simply about losing someone. It's also about mourning the time we've lost, the things left unsaid, and the relationships we wish had been different.

And that brings me to one of my favorite elements of the story: Evie's personal journey.

I loved watching her gradually find the strength to confront the past rather than continue running from it. Her growth wasn't immediate or effortless. It came through difficult conversations, painful realizations, and the willingness to open her heart again.

Brown beautifully captures the idea that strength isn't always loud or dramatic. Sometimes it's simply finding the courage to get out of bed, ask for help, or take that first step toward something new.

For me, Our Journey was so much more than a second-chance romance. It was a beautifully emotional story about grief, forgiveness, misplaced trust, and learning that moving forward doesn't mean forgetting the past.

Sometimes it means finding the courage to build something new.

Five stars for a story that reminded me that home isn't necessarily a place. It's the people who love us, the family we choose, and the life we find the courage to build together.

BROKEN WING BOOKS · FEATURED QUOTE

“For the first time since coming home, I’m not running from the past. I’m walking toward something new.”

— Our Journey by H.K. Brown

https://linktr.ee/ravenblackbird74

Review: A Rhode to Love: Wayfinder Series

A Rhode to Love: Wayfinder Series by Manda Mazanec
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



View all my reviews

📘 A Rhode to Love (Wayfinder Series) by Manda Mazanec

📚 Format: Ebook

💫 Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

“I’ve come to realize it’s okay to grow. It’s okay to move forward in life without forgetting my past.”

🚗 Road Trip Romance

💞 Forced Proximity

⏳ Age Gap

💜 Grief Representation

🌲 Adventure

🌙 Fade-to-Black Romance

💜  Violet's life is unraveling. She's grieving the loss of a patient, facing trouble at work, looking for somewhere to live after the end of a relationship, and carrying memories of a loss from years before.

Jamison is carrying a different kind of grief. He loved his wife, Felicity, and lost the future they were supposed to share. Violet was the unexpected connection that came afterward—and one he hasn't been able to forget.

🚗 When circumstances bring Violet and Jamison together again, their road trip gives them a chance to see one another differently and confront some of the assumptions, guilt, and grief standing between them.

🌲 My favorite part was their time in the Catskills. With a funny nod to Dirty Dancing, an unexpected rainstorm, plenty of mud, and an ex-girlfriend who simply will not take a hint, Violet and Jamison finally begin laughing together. Beneath all the chaos, Violet also starts to recognize something important: Jamison has been looking out for her all along.

I enjoyed the underlying message of their story—that moving forward doesn't mean forgetting the people or experiences that shaped us. Sometimes it simply means allowing ourselves to grow around them.

💞 A sweet, adventurous, fade-to-black romance about two people discovering that honoring the past doesn't mean they have to stop living in the present.

🎧 Broken Wing Soundtrack:

🎶 Wayfinder Bus Playlist

🍹 Escape (The Piña Colada Song) — Rupert Holmes

💜 The Story — Brandi Carlile

#BrokenWingBooks #BookTok #ARCReviewer #Bookstagram #MandaMazanec #ARhodetoLove

Review: Burnout

Burnout by Rebecca Jenshak
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



View all my reviews

📘 Burnout (Holland Brothers #1) by Rebecca Jenshak

📚 Format: Ebook

💫 Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

On the bike, Princess…

🖤 He Falls First

💖 Healing from an Injury

🖤 Constant Banter

💖 Calls Her Princess

🏍️  Knox Holland has spent most of his life taking care of everyone else. After losing his mom and watching his father walk away, raising and protecting his younger brothers became his responsibility. Relationships aren't really part of the plan—partly because his life is already full and partly because he's terrified of becoming anything like his father.

🏅 Avery is fighting a different battle. An Olympic gymnast attempting a collegiate comeback after a devastating injury, she knows exactly what she's capable of—or at least what she used to be capable of. She loves gymnastics, but the possibility of returning as a lesser version of herself may be harder to accept than walking away altogether.

💖 I really enjoyed watching Knox and Avery find their way toward each other. On the surface, they don't seem to have much in common, but underneath, they're both carrying tremendous pressure and fear. As they begin training together, they also give each other something neither realized they needed: a place to step outside the expectations and responsibilities weighing on them.

Their relationship develops with a sweetness I really enjoyed. They encourage each other, challenge each other, and slowly become a safe place for one another while still pursuing their individual goals.

And after everything Knox has spent his life trying not to become, watching him finally allow himself to love—and hearing Avery realize, Knox Holland loves me—made for such a satisfying moment.

💖 This was my first time reading Rebecca Jenshak's work, and Burnout was a sweet introduction. I enjoyed her balance of sports, family, personal struggles, and romance, and I'm looking forward to seeing where the Holland Brothers series goes next.

A sweet sports romance about family, pressure, perseverance, and finding someone who helps you remember that you don't have to carry everything alone.

🎧 Broken Wing Soundtrack:

🎶 The Burnout Playlist 

🏅 Avery — “Try,” P!nk

🏍️ Knox — “Whatever It Takes,” Imagine Dragons

💖 Knox + Avery — “The Bones,” Maren Morris

#BrokenWingBooks #BookTok #ARCReviewer #Bookstagram #Burnout #RebeccaJenshak #SportsRomance #CollegeRomance

Review: Blue Arrow Island

Blue Arrow Island by Brenda Rothert
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



View all my reviews

📘 Blue Arrow Island by Brenda Rothert

(BAI Series #1)

📚 Format: Audiobook

🎧 Narrated by Gideon Frost & Angelina Rocca

💫 Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Fantastic. Hauntingly insidious. Absolutely breathtaking, heroic, and heartbreaking.

💙 Brutal dystopian world order

💙 Government experiments

💙 Survivalists

💙 Strong FMC

💙 Morally gray MMC

🪷 Blue Arrow Island slowly reveals itself like the very flower they’re searching for. Layer by layer, the world expands and the truth underneath it becomes more disturbing. The themes are so well constructed and woven through intricate overlays that I was genuinely shocked when it ended. I was not ready to leave this world 🪷

🌿 And then there are Marcus, Pax, and Briar—the wolf, the snake, and the vines. Three very different characters, each with their own strengths, instincts, and scars, but somehow they fit together. I loved the symbolism woven into who they are, especially as the story explores what happens when people are deliberately stripped of the very things that make them human 🐺

🪷 Briar's struggle especially stayed with me. The experiments may give people extraordinary strength, but that strength comes at a terrifying cost. Watching her fight against what the chemicals are doing to her—fighting to remain Briar—made the story as heartbreaking as it was thrilling.

🎧 And the narration! Gideon Frost and Angelina Rocca were incredible. They reached into their characters’ tone and motivation in a way that made Marcus and Briar feel completely alive. I wasn't simply listening to their story—I was immersed in it.

This is such a departure from what I’ve previously read from Brenda Rothert, and I loved seeing this side of her writing. The world she created is brutal and unsettling, but there’s something incredibly human running through it.

💙 I loved this book so much that when it ended…I immediately started it again. Blue Arrow Island has earned a permanent place on my shelf, and I cannot wait to continue the series 💙

🎧 Broken Wing Soundtrack: Three songs for a story about holding onto your humanity, fighting against what you're becoming, and discovering the animal within...

🌿 Bring Me to Life — Evanescence

💙 Human — Rag'n'Bone Man

🐺 Wolf — Spencer Lee

#BrokenWingBooks #BookTok #ARCReview #Bookstagram #BrendaRothert #BlueArrowIsland  #AudiobookReview #DystopianRomance #FiveStarRead

Review: Fully Loaded:

Fully Loaded: by Samantha Wilde
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



View all my reviews

📘 Fully Loaded by Samantha Wilde 

(Bad Company #2)

📚 Format: ebook

💫 Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

🚨 Fully Loaded is a fun, fast-paced read that kept me turning pages—I finished it in a day 🚨

🔐 It takes a thief to rescue a thief 💾

 Ex-lovers

 Lots of Banter

 Touch her and die

 He never moved on

🔐 What I enjoyed most was Dani and Brock’s relationship. From the beginning, it’s clear that their love for each other is unfinished. Despite their difficult past, time and distance haven’t diminished what they feel for one another. There’s still hurt between them, but there’s also a connection neither has really been able to leave behind.

When Brock rushes across the country to help Dani, he inadvertently lands himself right in the middle of a vigilante group’s secret bioterrorism plot—one that has Dani’s face plastered across the news and her name on the FBI’s watchlist. 🚨

👠 But Dani is no damsel waiting for Brock to rescue her. She’s talented, confident in her abilities, and more than capable of taking care of herself. She’s a tough opponent and no one’s victim. I especially liked watching Dani and Brock work together and seeing Brock come to understand that protecting her doesn’t mean taking over. Dani is his equal partner, and their relationship is stronger because of it.

💥 With plenty of action, danger, and a second-chance romance at its center, Fully Loaded was an entertaining read and a great way to spend the day.

🎧 Broken Wing Soundtrack: “Run” — OneRepublic

💘 There really couldn't be a much better soundtrack for Dani and Brock: unfinished love, danger constantly on their heels, and a relationship that quite literally keeps them on the run. Even a romantic night in Paris beneath the Eiffel Tower can unexpectedly turn into a fight for survival. Apparently, date night is an adventure for these two 💘

#BrokenWingBooks #BookTok #ARCReview #Bookstagram #SamanthaWilde #FullyLoaded #RomanticSuspense  #BookReview

Review: Shut Up and Drive: A Closed-Door, Road Trip Rom Com

Shut Up and Drive: A Closed-Door, Road Trip Rom Com by Noelle Davenport
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



View all my reviews

📚 Shut Up and Drive (Wayfinder Series)

🖋 Noelle Davenport

📖 Format: eBook

💫 Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Operation Bisquick, the reboot: Thane and Sera

🚘 Second Chance

🥞 Frenemies to Lovers

🚘 Forced Proximity

🥞 Brother’s Best Friend

Thane and Sera absolutely stole my heart❣️

Shut Up and Drive is a sweet, humorous, and sometimes disastrous second-chance romance, frenemies-to-lovers, forced proximity, brother’s best friend, ten days at a family lake house—and a whole lot of heavy baggage that neither Thane nor Sera has managed to leave in the past.

After getting out of a controlling relationship with her cheating ex-boyfriend Bradley, Serafine is headed to her family’s South Carolina lake house on Amethyst Lake. This trip is supposed to be about self-care, healing, and reclaiming a little piece of herself. 

💖 Sera ~ This “me-time” is like an Independence Day celebration for my soul.

Unfortunately, Sera just found out that Thane will be there too.

From the very beginning, I loved Sera’s internal dialogue and descriptions. Sera desperately wants to convince herself that she can simply ignore Thane for ten days. But underneath all that irritation is something much more complicated. She doesn't really hate him. She needs to hate Thane because the alternative is admitting she might still love him.

💖 Sera ~ It’s the only thing that keeps me from loving you again.

And that history is where this story really got me...

As Thane and Sera start wandering down memory lane on their impromptu road trip, we get glimpses of the two people they used to be—the Oreos and milk🥛 , Waffle House, Rules of the Road, Operation Bisquick 🥞 and even Operation Burrito Backfire 🚽. I loved that their memories weren't all picture-perfect moments. They were funny, awkward, sweet and sometimes painful. They felt like real memories between two people who had once known each other for most of their lives.

Then there is the accident...

When Thane admits that the night of the accident happened differently than he told the police, my imagination immediately went somewhere much darker. Early on, I was convinced someone had died or been horribly injured! That mystery added another layer to everything I was learning about their past.

But what really made this a five-star read for me was the fantastic blend of humor and emotion.

This story understands that life and love rarely happen in perfect little moments. Sometimes they're ridiculous. Sometimes they're painful. Sometimes the memories that mean the most involve pancakes, road trips, Oreos, old jokes and front porch dreams.

By the time Thane and Sera gasp onto their happily ever after 💍, Thane had the perfect romantic gesture. But what they got was so much better because it felt authentically them—sweet, funny, emotional and perfectly imperfect.

Thane and Sera weren't getting a chance to erase their past and start over. 🗺️ They were getting the chance to take all those messy, funny, painful, wonderful memories with them and finally figure out where their road will lead them next 🏡.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

🗺️ They aren’t erasing their past and starting over. They’re taking all those messy, funny, painful, wonderful memories with them and figuring out where the road leads next. 🏡

💖 Pull up a chair because here are a couple of easy sweet treats themed for all those messy, funny, painful, wonderful memories that Thane and Sera shared:

🥐 Snickerdoodle Crescent Bites: Use refrigerated crescent-roll dough, brush it lightly with melted butter, sprinkle generously with cinnamon sugar, roll it up, and bake according to the package. This gives that warm cinnamon-sugar snickerdoodle-feeling without making cookie dough from scratch. You could add a little vanilla glaze if you want them sweeter.

🥛 Oreo Dunkers: literally Oreos and a cold glass of milk  In this case, I actually think the simplest version might be the most meaningful because that's their treat.

Shut Up and Drive is a sweet, humorous, and sometimes disastrous second-chance romance filled with frenemies-to-lovers, forced proximity, brother’s best friend, a haunting secret, and an ex-boyfriend that just won’t take a hint!

https://linktr.ee/ravenblackbird74 #ShutUpandDrive #NoelleDavenport #brokenwingbookreviews #WayfinderSeries #Bookstagram