A Very Wellington Christmas by Annalisa Nicole @AnnalisaNicole4

Some stories hit you right when you need it. Love is not just a feeling ..it's a living thing. Sometime love can hurt. We lose people we love and that pain is just so deep that we can shut down. Or people we love hurt us and it's so hard to trust. What happened to Levi would break the hardest and toughest person. Quinn was stubborn and saw through his pain to the sweetest heart inside. I believe love is something that heals and strengthens and that's what was found in this heartwarming story. Healing and strength from a new love and also from a family who takes you in and keeps you. I pray this year everyone I love has people like the Wellington family to support them. I also pray we spread some of that love around because you never know when that reaching hand might bring someone out of the darkness.  Annalisa Nicole writes exactly the perfect medicine for battered hearts. Love stories with healing messages you just feel straight to your soul.

Unlawful Justice by K. C. Lynn & K. Langston @klangston13 @AuthorKCLynn

In this world we battle on a daily basis so many types of unfairness and injustice. Most of the time it's clear and strait forward whose wrong and whose right. But when things like racism occur.. Its a very hard thing to fight. Being raised in the south.. A poor white girl.. Moving into a black project neighborhood I felt the harsh truth of racism firsthand. Thankfully I was taught something that these authors mentioned in this book. Maybe not in the exact words but still the same meaning. "When the eyes of hate are upon you, look away" I didn't give into the hate, I showed kindness and before long I made friends. Some are still my friends today. I feel like the subjects tackled in this amazing story surpass racism. I feel like hate knows no color. Its taught.. And it's learned from childhood. That's a sad fact but it's the honest truth. So while there was racism and hatred in this book.. There was more importantly forgiveness and justice. There was truth and honor. Brave souls who stood for what was right. And that was Love. We are all cut from the same creator. We are all truly one color.. Or rather one race.. Human. This story transcended lines of color. It showed the other side of hate. It showed there are people who still believe in truth and friendship.. Family and loyalty. Those bonds are not based on skin color, religion, or economic status. Those bonds are based on the Heart. The heart has no eyes.. In all of us the same blood flows.  Grayson and Liv were a beautiful and passionate couple. I swooned and I cried watching them fall in love. Tragedy may have brought them together but their love was meant to be. I fell in love with K. C. Lynn a while back and am new to Ms. Langston. But their amazing writing duet blew me away. I couldn't put this story down.  Sexy as can be the heated scenes were just wow. But there were times that I found myself with a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes.. All because of the extraordinary side characters and the emotional connection of all these beautiful relationships.  Walter just stole my heart. This proud brave honorable man was just defending his home and most importantly his only living family. Liv was his to protect.  He didn't see color..  He saw danger. Then Terrell and Tania were so vivid and full of life. These authors did some sort of magic,  breathing life into every single part of this wonderful cast. I loved how there was such a pure and unvarnished romance here. Nothing causing relationship angst. One small moment that only showed Liv and Grayson the true depth of their feelings and led to some hot wet make up loving.  Truly this was a great and heartfelt story breaking down walls and building up hope and love.  I am really touched in so many ways.

Tread (Ronin MC #1 ) by Brandace and Justin Morrow

This was my first book co written by a man and a woman together. The fact it was a husband and wife teaming up really made it a special read.  Tread at first came off as the typical man whore biker. But he also had issues from his time in the military.  Being a Marine mom this story hit close to home with the PTSD flashbacks. It's so hard to accept the reality that war comes home with our loved ones and is continuously fought out in their dreams for years to come. I for one don't take for granted their sacrifice. I really feel these authors touched this subject with grace and  compassion but also with reality.    First real introduction (besides a glimpse of each other)  to Tread by our heroine Grace was when he was in a compromising situation to put it mildly. He had to grow on me. But what made this work for me was that the attraction and relationship between these two was a slow build. They weren't even sure if they liked each other at first. But when things started heating up it was pretty much a blaze. Grace was so innocent in so many ways yet her bravery came through so strongly with how she faced everything with fists up and a ready for anything personality. I loved that about her. Tread was adorable with how he didn't even know how hard he was falling as he'd never felt like this before. This big strong biker was brought low by a innocent slip of a girl and he didn't fight it at all. He loved her with everything he had. Suspense is a key factor in this story with the lifestyle of the club a big part of the plot. Things in the MC are about to change and Tread is ready for that change. There were some pretty scary times and I for a moment thought I might need to put this book down to regroup but I simply couldn't and that made this a book I'll not forget anytime soon. It wasn't so much a love story as a survival story with some romance thrown in that heated things up and made it even more gripping. It clearly laid down the footwork for future story lines. I only hope that this author team keep these heroes loyal to their women.. That is something that is hard to find in MC romance. Really looking forward to more.

Walk Through Fire (Chaos #4) by Kristen Ashley @KristenAshley68

Having lived through my own brand of second chance romance, I find when I read this type of story line I tend to be harder on characters then other books. I find myself a little judgmental and with a lot less mercy. Normally my harshness is always aimed towards the hero. Why? Because it seems like he always moved on, skirt to skirt, girl to girl.. Non relationship to non relationship before he sees the one he left behind. Then I see the heroine has usually had either nobody at all or very few.. No real moving on being done at all. So yea I was a little nervous when Kristen went this route again. But she took all my preconceived and biased notions and shook them up and sprinkled them over my head and said take that! While technically that's what happened her with Logan "High" Judd and Millie Cross. . This time I couldn't place them blame anywhere but at Millie’s feet. You'd never find a more loving or cherishing hero then the 20 something Logan. He absolutely adored this down to earth girl. Three years of adoration thrown in his face. Her reasons.. Her struggle... Not shared.. She just sent him away and it destroyed him. Two decades go by and then we see her sacrifice. Twenty years late.. The wall comes down. To be honest I was pissed the hell off that Logan didn't get the chance to even fight her demons back then. But I was quickly sucked into one hell of a vortex. The gloves came off and things went a little haywire. This was one hell of a rocky, cruel and nasty.. But strangely erotic dance to get to the beauty in Walk through Fire. Because fire had to be what burned away the guilt and the rage between these too. After the smoke cleared there was an absolutely amazing hero standing and waiting to love and adore Millie exactly and actually more profoundly then ever before. Logan didn't hold grudges, he didn't punish anymore, no he LOVED hard, raw, without reservation. Millies scars stood no chance against the simple yet immensely healing love of Logan Judd. I find myself highlighting so much when I read this ladies work. This time I simply couldn't stop long enough to do that very often. I still found quite a few favorite parts of course but I found for one, Kristen Ashley is by far still the reigning queen of dialogue, a character talks and you better pay attention because every word uttered is something that can stop your heart or steal your breath. I was dizzy with those physical manifestations of wonder throughout this crazy ride. I was breathless and shaken and never wanted it to stop. I felt every emotion from swooning and all of the biker badass flowery. I felt anger and frustration over the bratty antics of Zadie and absolutely in overload of sweetness for cuddly little kitties. But must of all I felt a healing warmth all the way through my soul, being witness to a couple’s journey, struggle and rise from the ashes while they  lay the past to rest and enjoy what today brought them. To take what was forged in their fire, and brush it off, make it shine and  cherish it together ..always. That’s a real love story. Because love is forgiving and patient and kind and sacrifices. Both lived it and earned it. 10 million stars for the Queen!

TRIPLES with EMMA

Fighting Wrath (Deadly Sins #2) by Jennifer Miller @JenMillerWrites

I am so torn right now with how I feel about this book. So I'm gonna break it down in loves and dislikes. I loved Tyson, he was so protective and loyal to those he cared for. He had demons he was battling but he really did try so hard to always be there for those that depended on him. I adored sweet Lilly and the other characters from Fighting Envy.  There were so many supportive friends. I felt like it was one big family. I loved that Sydney couldn't keep up her walls against Tyson. That their undeniable chemistry could be literally felt vibrating from the pages. I wanted them to work out. I rooted for them from the start. This author has a very talented way of bringing out the characters wants and desires so you feel their love grow. Its truly so much passion between these two. The things I disliked had me loose some respect for the love story. I think its fair to say that each person has their own moral compass that we live by. What's right for me may not be right for you. I truly believe that people in committed relationships shouldn't participate in certain activities. I think that Tyson did something that was a little bit of a double standard when the climax of this story came to head. I also think his feelings were justified but at the same time he was saying it's ok for him to do something but Sydney was supposed to be held to a different standard. Then Sydney lied by omission throughout the story. The thing is she also felt guilty. What she decided to continue doing once she started dating Tyson to me was not something anyone should do while in a relationship. This is my own personal beliefs and yea she was in a bad place and was trying to survive. If I hadn't lived at age 16 with my infant son to raise all alone but close differently then I would understand her choice more but the fact is she chose differently and couldn't respect her own choices. Having read through all of these issues I still found parts of this story beautiful and healing. I cried several times. In the end what was important was that these two people learned from their mistakes and healed together. I fully believed in their HEA by the end so even among all my triggers and personal tastes issues this author did get job. She proved that redemption is possible and true love can survive if you really try and believe not only in each other but in yourself. For me even though this book took me out of my comforting "safe" zone.. it still stayed with me and really touched my heart. For that I am glad I braved pushing myself a little. For really when an author can make you feel things that shake you up and make you think, well I say she's doing her job. 4.5 Not quite perfect stars but  4.5  Imperfect stars of healing