One wealthy businessman, a trio of unsuspecting wives, and an explosive turn of events. In this scandalous, twist-filled new series from Shelly Ellis, will too many secrets and one devastating bond unite three women–or destroy them?

Noelle. Diamond. Vanessa. Each woman believes she is Cyrus Grey’s only wife–until he’s nearly shot to death. Now, as he lies in a coma, the deceptions keep coming, unraveling everything they thought they knew…

Gorgeous model Noelle’s marriage to Cyrus anchored her–though she couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t have a baby with her. They certainly had the money. But she’s learning fast just how Cyrus became so rich–thanks to his fatally attractive business partner…

For Diamond, marrying Cyrus saved her from the streets–and being a pimp’s punching bag. But her past makes her the police’s prime suspect in Cyrus’s shooting. She’s determined to get to the truth–if she can she survive long enough to tell it…

Even with her beautiful house, three kids, and elegant lifestyle, Vanessa sensed something was wrong in her marriage. But she never expected this–or that taking a lover for comfort would change the game completely.

With danger closing in, Cyrus’s life hanging in the balance, and collateral damage threatening to take them all down, how far will each woman go to be the real Mrs. Grey?

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

All eyes in the waiting room were focused on them. Vanessa wondered if the nosy family of three huddled across the room in the line of leather chairs was going to break out a bucket of popcorn to watch the show.

Why would I be jealous of a woman who’s made of more plastic than my daughter’s Barbie dolls?

Ripe? … What am I? A damn grapefruit?

When Vanessa had heard he was shot, she’d braced herself for the possibility that her husband would die and had even started eagerly looking forward to it, but here he sat, very much alive. A wave of emotions overwhelmed her, making her eyes flood with tears.

Cy’s life had always been a delicate balancing act. He would sometimes envision himself as one of those high-wire performers rolling across the Big Top on a unicycle.

My Review:

This was a gritty, confounding, and curiously intriguing tale about horrible people engaging in stupid and reprehensible behaviors.   While some were getting what they deserved, some were not. The storylines poked and taunted my curiosity while also making me itch and gnash my teeth, yet I couldn’t put my Kindle down as Shelly Ellis can certainly unspool an entertaining, addictive, and uncomfortably chilling tale. But, to leave me dangling with a despicable cliffhanger… what gall! Thankfully I already have book two locked and loaded or I would be stamping my little foot and turning the air blue.  I do believe I am invested.

I generally despised 90% of Ms. Ellis’s uniquely bent and well-drawn characters – the uncouth, volatile, and self-serving wastrel of wife #1 Vanessa, most of all.   Although followed closely in my level of annoyance was the weak and moronic wife #3, named Diamond.   Vanessa was a conspicuous and spoiled trophy wife who seemed to be thinking with what was between her legs rather than using the limited gray matter she had between her ears. Although, I wanted to give all three Mrs. Greys a few good smacks with my Kindle to hopefully jar lose the few functioning brain cells between them, and most of those seemed to belong to wife #2, Noelle.

Mr. Grey was obviously a demon and a toad, and I have my fingers crossed that these hideous humans get exactly what they deserve in the newly released sequel.

Killer Instincts
(Assassins in Love #1)
 by Tawna Fenske

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

“You have a goat named Scape and a horse named Maple?” Like he wasn’t already half in love with her. Jen’s cheeks pinken like he’s spoken out loud. “Scape Goat and Maple Stirrup, yes.” Her chin tips up. “Pony Soprano’s on loan to a kids’ petting zoo this week.” It’s official. She’s his dream girl.

 

“Gabor. Well, Ga-boar.” A pig pun like Maple Stirrup and Scape Goat. “I tried Eva and Magda, but she’s more of a Zsa Zsa.” The pig squeals behind him but stays on the couch. Maybe her hoof hurts, or maybe life’s better on a La-Z-Boy.

 

He’s never met a woman so delicate and daring, so fragile and fierce.

 

“You’re a hitman.” He flinches. “I prefer ‘bodyguard.’” “And I prefer ‘princess,’ but I’m a goddamn farmer, okay?” Jen huffs a breath. “You’re an assassin.” It’s just semantics, and he knows he shouldn’t argue, but— “Security professional.”

 

“Didn’t go well?” “Nope.” A pause. “Cover’s blown?” Dante flinches but keeps walking. “Yep.” “Had a hunch when she stalked past muttering how all men should be castrated at birth.”

 

“Do you really love me?” “Yes.” No hesitation. “Really?” “More than anything.” He takes a step closer, arms opening to enfold her. “More than chili or Cheez-Its or my Ruger Mark IV Hunter.” “More than Cheez-Its?” She draws back and gives him a skeptical look. “Sounds serious.” “You have no idea.”

 

My Review:

 

This was a fun, lively, smirk-worthy read and I loved every cleverly written word of it. The storylines were engaging, vastly entertaining, and actively paced with crisp and cunningly snarky humor that caused a few giggle-snort eruptions during my rapt perusal. I haven’t had this much fun in ages and am eagerly awaiting the next installment.   This wily author has more than redeemed herself for that demonic cliffhanger of a prequel, which now that I think about it, was rather ingenious.

About the Author 

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When Tawna Fenske finished her English lit degree at 22, she celebrated by filling a giant trash bag full of romance novels and dragging it everywhere until she’d read them all. Now she’s a RITA-nominated, USA Today bestselling author who writes humorous fiction, risqué romance, and heartwarming love stories with a quirky twist. Publishers Weekly has praised Tawna’s offbeat romances with multiple starred reviews and noted, “There’s something wonderfully relaxing about being immersed in a story filled with over-the-top characters in undeniably relatable situations. Heartache and humor go hand in hand.”

Tawna lives in Bend, Oregon, with her husband, stepkids, and a menagerie of ill-behaved pets. She loves hiking, snowshoeing, standup paddleboarding, and inventing excuses to sip wine on her back porch. She can peel a banana with her toes and loses an average of twenty pairs of eyeglasses per year. To find out more about Tawna and her books, visit www.tawnafenske.com.

About the Author 

 

Website 
Amazon
Goodreads 

 Facebook
Twitter 

When Tawna Fenske finished her English lit degree at 22, she celebrated by filling a giant trash bag full of romance novels and dragging it everywhere until she’d read them all. Now she’s a RITA-nominated, USA Today bestselling author who writes humorous fiction, risqué romance, and heartwarming love stories with a quirky twist. Publishers Weekly has praised Tawna’s offbeat romances with multiple starred reviews and noted, “There’s something wonderfully relaxing about being immersed in a story filled with over-the-top characters in undeniably relatable situations. Heartache and humor go hand in hand.”

Tawna lives in Bend, Oregon, with her husband, stepkids, and a menagerie of ill-behaved pets. She loves hiking, snowshoeing, standup paddleboarding, and inventing excuses to sip wine on her back porch. She can peel a banana with her toes and loses an average of twenty pairs of eyeglasses per year. To find out more about Tawna and her books, visit www.tawnafenske.com.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

She’s still looking for that happy ending where someone will pick her up, pledge undying love and whisk her away to a new-build semi in Surrey. The sort of world Hayley and I inhabit, the semis and happy endings normally end on our faces.

I know what my sisters are like and this could possibly still be a very elaborate joke. Those cows told me for years that my real father was Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and that he had to leave the actual country to be a Watcher because he was so ashamed of me.

‘We’re just going to get you into a deep state of relaxation…’ All I can think is that when I’m that relaxed I will most likely break wind. I hope the lotus and white musk will be able to mask that.

My Review:

This was a fun, dynamic, and energetic read that kept me wildly amused and gleefully giggle-snorting with abandon. The writing was crisp, breezy, sweary, and delightfully snarky while the sharp visuals conjured were diabolically humorous and colorful in every sense of the word.

In the previous installments, Lucy’s character was the most eccentric of the five sisters. Lucy was the fiercely independent, feisty, and predictably unpredictable free spirit/firecracker and youngest of the Callaghan clan. So I was doubly impressed with the insightful observations and emotive underpinnings permeating the unfamiliar sense of vulnerability Lucy was experiencing as she struggled to regain a sense of self during her period of memory loss following a head injury. Having lost twelve years would be quite unsettling for anyone but Lucy had packed a lot of living her best life and unusual adventures and eye-opening experimentation into those years. I was fascinated and deliciously entertained by each new development.

This being the last of the series, I am experiencing a sense of rueful melancholy, I will greatly miss this irreverent, divinely inappropriate, and tightly bonded family unit. They were good fun and their hijinks provided me with not only smirk-worthy entertainment but several unusual entries of British vernacular to my Brit Words and Phrases list. Many of which I cannot add to my reviews for fear of being censored, but this installment has produced the current publishable new addition of gurn, which Mr. Google indicates is to grimace or make an ugly face. I would expect nothing less from the lascivious Lucy.

Give It Arrest
by Laura Barnard

My Rating:

Laura Barnard lives in Hertfordshire, UK, and writes romantic comedy or ‘chick lit’ as it is so often described. In her spare time, she enjoys drinking her body weight in tea, indulging in cupcakes the size of her face, and drooling over hunks like Jamie Dornan, Ryan Gosling, and Leo Dicaprio.

She enjoys wearing yoga pants and reading fitness magazines while sitting on the sofa eating chocolate. She’s a real fan of the power nap and of course READING!

She writes not to get rich or famous, but because she LOVES writing. Even if one person tells her they enjoyed her book it makes the midnight typing worth it!

Favorite Quotes:

I’d never slept in twelve-hundred-dollar pajamas and I didn’t think I was ready to pick up the habit. What if I could never go back to oversized T-shirts and sleep shorts after this was all over? I didn’t want to ruin myself with unsustainable luxury.

I can’t not buy them, Rex. They deserve a home. They deserve to give love in the manner in which the creator of the quilt intended… And that’s why I have twenty-four quilts.

Santas were in every corner, some danced and sang if you walked by them… I couldn’t even begin to absorb the splendor… She even had that leg lamp from A Christmas Story on the side table in the living room and that bowl of eggnog with the reindeer antlers from Christmas Vacation. The woman was a marvel.

That boy was blinder than a bat with its head up its own ass.

 My Review:

I will never tire of Penny Reid’s divinely amusing and smirk-worthy tales. Her style is sweetly salty and deliciously steamy, although this one was a clever slow burn that finally culminated with such volcanic combustion I struggled to catch my breath and felt a trickle of perspiration despite being in the chilly room. The characters were well nuanced, quirky, multi-layered, and highly appealing. I adored them and reveled in their banter, insights, and sharp and witty humor. I am eagerly anticipating more of this new series and curious as to the direction it will be taking.