The Wicked by Rebecca Johnpee

My Rating: 

Spice Rating: 

Blurb: 

Rebecca Johnpee bursts onto the dark romance scene with The Wicked ―where a mafia and heist romance collide in a scorchingly intense and unforgettable tale.

Elio

They call me “The Wicked.”

I’ve earned that name with blood, silence, and the weight of every secret I carry.

As head of the Marino Family, nothing slips past me. Not lies. Not weakness. Not fear.

But when she enters my world…everything tilts.

Zahra

I’m dangerous—and I’ve had to be.

I grew up with men who treated bullets like sugar cubes.

I’ve risen from the streets to create the most notorious gang of thieves in the country. But after a job goes wrong, my crew and I are held captive by The Wicked, and I’ll do just about anything to take advantage of it. Even if it means working with The Wicked and pulling off the biggest heist I’ve ever dreamed of.

I’m dancing with the devil, and the cost might be my body–my very soul.

But I’m willing to pay the price if it means I get him…

My Review: 

Have you read The Wicked by Rebecca Johnpee?! Because I am fully obsessed and not even trying to hide it.

Elio has completely ruined me in the best way. I’m talking “wrap him up with a bow for my birthday” levels of attachment. I said what I said.

I picked this up through my Book of the Month subscription after a book club member practically nudged me into it, and I’m so glad I listened. I paired it with the audiobook and honestly? Zero regrets. That combo pulled me straight into the world.

At the start, it gave me strong “Atlantis crew” vibes, and I was immediately hooked on the group dynamic. A morally gray team of thieves who don’t trust anyone and refuse to get emotionally close? It just worked. And yes, I know people had opinions about the nicknames, but honestly, it made sense. When you’re all hiding secrets and surviving off distrust, of course you’re not using government names and sharing your life story.

And if you stick with it, those nicknames? They hit different once you learn the stories behind them. Some of them are genuinely heartbreaking.

But Elio… Elio is on another level. He’s intense, controlled, blunt, and completely shut off from emotional noise in a way that feels so intentional. I won’t label anything outright, but I definitely picked up on those neurodivergent-coded traits, and it added so much depth to his character for me. An autistic-coded MMC with power, precision, and emotional distance in a brutal world? I was eating it up.

Now I’m just impatiently waiting for book two like my life depends on it, because I need more of this world, and more Elio immediately.

The Thorns Remain by Jennifer Hartmann

 The Thorns Remain

by Jennifer Hartmann

My Rating: 🟊🟊🟊🟊🟊

Spice Rating: 🌶🌶

Blurb:

I used to be someone: an up-and-coming writer, a doting father, a husband who believed he was the center of his wife’s universe.

Then everything crumbled.

Thanks to Benjamin Grant, I became a joke. A divorced man. A shell. Thirsty for revenge, I needed him to feel the weight of loss like I did.

Enter Josie—Benjamin's wife and the key to my vendetta. My aim was to infiltrate her life, seduce her, and use that to hit my enemy where it hurt most. It was supposed to be straightforward. But as any writer knows, stories rarely stick to the script. Now I’m caught in a plot twist I never intended to write.

Vengeance was the goal, and Josie Grant was my way in.
I never meant to fall in love with her.
Now?
There’s no way out.

My Review: 

I’ll admit it, when I first picked this up, I wasn’t completely sold on the male POV. It threw me for a second. I wasn’t sure if I was going to connect with it the way I usually do with her books.

And then Jennifer Hartmann did what she always does. She broke me anyway.

There’s something almost unfair about the way she writes, like she quietly lures you in, lets you settle, and then slowly pulls the ground out from under you. I don’t think I’ve ever finished one of her books without feeling a little cracked open afterward, like my heart has been handled too carefully and too roughly all at once. And yet… I keep coming back. Every single time.

This story is heavy with revenge, but it’s not just about anger, it’s about what anger becomes when you let it live in you too long. Evan’s mission is to make the man who destroyed his life feel even a fraction of his pain. It’s raw, consuming, and at times almost painful to watch unfold, because you can feel how badly he believes he needs this.

But revenge doesn’t stay neatly contained. It spills. It twists. It takes more than it promises. And in chasing destruction, Evan ends up standing in the wreckage of his own making, only to find something he never expected blooming in the ruins.

And that’s what makes it hurt in the best way: love showing up in the middle of devastation. Not clean. Not easy. Not deserved. Just… real.

If there’s anything this book left me sitting with, it’s this: revenge feels powerful until it isn’t. Until it costs more than it gives. And sometimes the hardest thing isn’t getting even it’s choosing to stop, breathe, and let yourself live outside of the pain that’s been driving you.

It made me uncomfortable. It made me think. And, like every Jennifer Hartmann book I’ve read, it left a mark I won’t easily shake.

 Night Witch by Jaymin Eve

My Rating: 🟊🟊🟊🟊🟊

Spice Rating: 🌶🌶

Blurb:

Night Witch is the sequel to the instant New York Times bestseller Spellcaster with an intense enemies-to-lovers arc, a steamy heat level, magical creatures, super high stakes, and an epic family saga.

Be careful what you witch for.

Welcome to year two at Weatherstone College…

Last year, after coming face to face with darkness and lethal monsters, Logan Kingston, my sworn enemy and sometimes ally, brought my first year to an explosive ending. There’s a bond between us that I can’t explain, but I just know he’s hiding something. Maybe I don’t fully trust any spellcaster, but there’s no denying my draw to him.

My Review:

I went into Night Witch thinking I’d just enjoy it… and instead I lost sleep, lost self-control, and completely lost the ability to put it down.

Jaymin Eve is already an auto-buy author for me, but this book just cemented why. She builds worlds that feel alive, characters that refuse to be one-dimensional, and romances that somehow manage to be both explosive and deeply tender at the same time. Every time I pick up one of her stories, I know I’m about to be hooked, and this one had its claws in me immediately.

From the very first pages, this book moves. It’s fast, addictive, and overflowing with magic, tension, and heat. Paisley and Logan completely surprised me in the best way. After the first book, I wasn’t expecting this level of softness and devotion between them, but I ate it up. Logan is firmly in his “protect her at all costs” era (and honestly? unhinged about it in the best way), while Paisley is a powerhouse FMC who never fades into the background. Their chemistry doesn’t just simmer, it burns. The yearning is real, and yes, the spice absolutely delivers.

The atmosphere is another standout. Think dark academia layered with witches, warlocks, elemental magic, and fated bonds, it feels fresh, immersive, and just a little bit dangerous in the best way. Add in a found family that actually feels warm, loyal, and alive (especially Paisley’s family), and the emotional stakes get even richer.

And the pacing? I made the mistake of thinking “just one more chapter” and suddenly it was way past my bedtime. No regrets.

What I loved most is how much the characters have evolved. Where there was tension and mistrust before, there’s now full commitment. Logan and Paisley are all in, emotionally, magically, and romantically. There’s forced proximity, shared danger, and constant unraveling of mysteries that keep them pressed together on every page. Watching Logan soften while still being intensely powerful made him even more compelling this time around.

This book is the perfect continuation of Spellcaster and really should be read in order, the payoff is worth it. The stakes are higher, the romance is hotter, and the world feels even more expansive. I won’t spoil anything, but Paisley truly comes into her power here, both in her magic and in her bond with Logan.

By the end, I was just sitting there thinking: how did this get even better than the first one?

If you love high-chemistry fantasy romance with witches, found family, emotional growth, and spice that actually delivers, Night Witch is absolutely worth the obsession.

Behind Closed Doors Shain Rose

 Behind Closed Doors

by Shain Rose

My Rating: 🟊🟊🟊🟊⯨

Spice Rating: 🌶🌶🌶

Blurb: 

He’s the forbidden enigma I wanted to ignore . . . but instead I’ll be forced to share a home with him.

Jameson Knight arrives at precisely the same time every day to pick up his young daughter from school, smiling as she runs into his open arms.

It’s the only time I see him smile.

I don’t ask questions because it’s not my place. I’m just his daughter’s favorite teacher, nothing more. . . . Until the first bullet flies by us at recess.

Suddenly, I’m risking my life to protect her. And then Jameson drags me back to his estate, claiming it’s a matter of life-or-death.

Now I’m in the most beautiful home I’ve ever seen, faced with an offer from a man who’s just as gorgeous: Be the temporary live-in nanny until he can ensure my safety and find a more permanent solution. It’ll be easy, he promises.

Yet, the arrangement is anything but simple.

Not when Jameson’s hungry stare is all consuming and his touch pulse racing.

And definitely not when I find that nothing in this neighborhood is as it seems, including Jameson.

He may be powerful, possessive, and protective. But he’s also dangerous, demanding, and calculating.

As more of his secrets come out, I should run but . . .

How do I escape the enigma of Jameson Knight if he’s already captured my heart?

My Review: 

Behind Closed Doors by Shain Rose

This book was hot. Like fan yourself, look around to see if anyone is reading over your shoulder, maybe question your life choices kind of hot. It honestly reminded me of those addictive little reel series that start off innocent enough. You tell yourself you will just watch one or two, and next thing you know you are emotionally invested, slightly stressed, and somehow considering spending money just to see what happens next. That was me with this book. Hooked, confused about how I got there, but absolutely not leaving.

The tension in this story? Out of control. You have him, this intense, dangerous, mob adjacent mystery man tied to some secret society, walking around like he owns the air everyone breathes. Then you have her, just living her life as his daughter’s teacher, trying to mind her business and absolutely failing because this man exists in her orbit. The setup alone is enough to make you sit up a little straighter. The whole vibe is very much “this is a bad idea” mixed with “but what if it wasn’t though.”

And the internal struggle? Delicious. It is that constant push and pull of I should not want this, this is wrong, this is complicated, this is probably going to ruin my life… but also maybe just one more conversation, one more look, one more moment. The tension really does write itself because you already know they should not, which obviously means they absolutely will. And we are all here for it.

Also, let’s talk about the universal truth this book reinforces. A bad boy with a questionable moral compass but a secretly soft center will always win. Every time. Across all timelines. I do not make the rules. There is just something about a man who could ruin your life but instead chooses to be obsessed with you that hits every single time.

This book is packed with action, drama, and enough chemistry to make you pause and reread certain scenes just to fully absorb what is happening. It is one of those reads where you tell yourself you will stop at the end of the chapter, but suddenly it is three in the morning and you are too far gone to quit now.

This was my first time reading Shain Rose, and let me tell you, it will not be my last. I am already mentally preparing to fall down this rabbit hole again because clearly I learned nothing the first time. And honestly? No regrets.

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

 Witchcraft for Wayward Girls 

by Grady Hendrix

My Rating: 🟊🟊🟊🟊

Spice Rating: 🫑

Blurb: 

They call them wayward girls. Loose girls. Girls who grew up too fast. And they’re sent to the Wellwood Home in St. Augustine, Florida, where unwed mothers are hidden by their families to have their babies in secret, give them up for adoption, and most important of all, to forget any of it ever happened.

Fifteen-year-old Fern arrives at the home in the sweltering summer of 1970, pregnant, terrified and alone. Under the watchful eye of the stern Miss Wellwood, she meets a dozen other girls in the same predicament. There’s Rose, a hippie who insists she’s going to find a way to keep her baby and escape to a commune. And Zinnia, a budding musician who knows she’s going to go home and marry her baby’s father. And Holly, a wisp of a girl, barely fourteen, mute and pregnant by no-one-knows-who.

Everything the girls eat, every moment of their waking day, and everything they’re allowed to talk about is strictly controlled by adults who claim they know what’s best for them. Then Fern meets a librarian who gives her an occult book about witchcraft, and power is in the hands of the girls for the first time in their lives. But power can destroy as easily as it creates, and it’s never given freely. There’s always a price to be paid…and it’s usually paid in blood.

In Witchcraft for Wayward Girls, the author of How to Sell a Haunted House and The Final Girl Support Group delivers another searing, completely original novel and further cements his status as a “horror master” (NPR).

My Review:

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix absolutely pissed me off, and I mean that in the most visceral, blood-boiling way possible before it slowly, almost reluctantly, let me come back down to earth.

From the very beginning, I felt personally attacked. Not in a cheap, gimmicky way, but in that deep, uncomfortable way where a story holds up a mirror and you don’t like what you see reflected back. As a young mother, I was furious. The way these girls are treated? Dumped, discarded, hidden away like shameful secrets just because they got pregnant? It’s not just upsetting, it’s infuriating. The idea that a parent could abandon their child, not out of necessity but out of fear of society’s opinion, is absolutely unhinged. I was sitting there genuinely seeing red. It made my stomach turn.

And maybe that’s what hit me the hardest, because I can’t relate to those parents. I had a mother who stood by me, who loved me through everything, and because of that, I genuinely cannot wrap my mind around choosing reputation over your own child. It’s cruel. It’s cowardly. And this book doesn’t soften that reality it shoves it in your face and dares you to look away.

But once I got past that initial wave of anger, once I stopped wanting to scream at fictional parents and judgmental strangers, the story started to settle into something deeper. Because underneath all that rage, this book has a point. Actually, it has several, and none of them are subtle.

First: this isn’t just some outdated, historical issue. This has happened, and in different ways, it’s still happening. Girls are still being judged, silenced, and punished for things that involve more than just them, but somehow they’re the only ones carrying the blame. And the judgment? Oh, the judgment. The constant, suffocating, holier-than-thou commentary from people who have absolutely no stake in the situation. Honestly, if your name isn’t on the problem, your opinion shouldn’t be either. Keep it to yourself.

Second: every action has consequences, but what this book does so well is show how unfairly those consequences are distributed. The girls suffer. The girls are hidden. The girls are forced to “atone.” Meanwhile, where is everyone else? Exactly.

And then there’s the chaos, the glorious, unhinged chaos, and the feminine rage that pulses through this story. That part? I loved. Give me anger. Give me rebellion. Give me girls who are done being quiet and start pushing back, even when it gets messy, even when it gets dark. Especially then. That energy carried the book for me and turned my frustration into something almost cathartic.

Now, as for calling this horror? I don’t know if it fits neatly into that box. It’s not horror in the traditional sense, there aren’t constant jump scares or relentless dread, but don’t get it twisted: this book is horrifying. Not because of monsters, but because of how real it feels. The situation, the treatment, the emotional brutality, that’s what sticks with you. It’s eerie, it’s unsettling, and it lingers in a way that’s arguably worse than typical horror.

What really pulled me through, though, were the twists and the direction the plot takes. Just when you think you have a handle on it, the story shifts, and suddenly you’re deeper in than you expected. That creeping unease builds into something sharp and unforgettable.

So yeah, this book made me angry. It made me uncomfortable. It made me want to yell. But it also made me think, and feel, and reflect in ways that stuck long after I finished it. And honestly? That kind of reaction is powerful, even when it’s messy.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

by Maya Angelou 

My Rating: 🟊🟊🟊🟊

Spice Rating: 🫑

Blurb:

Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide. Her life story is told in the documentary film And Still I Rise, as seen on PBS’s American Masters.

Here is a book as joyous and painful, as mysterious and memorable, as childhood itself. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings captures the longing of lonely children, the brute insult of bigotry, and the wonder of words that can make the world right. Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide.

Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local “powhitetrash.” At eight years old and back at her mother’s side in St. Louis, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age—and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. Years later, in San Francisco, Maya learns that love for herself, the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors (“I met and fell in love with William Shakespeare”) will allow her to be free instead of imprisoned.

Poetic and powerful, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings will touch hearts and change minds for as long as people read.

My Review:

Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is a powerful, poetic memoir of childhood, trauma, and survival that remains a modern American classic.

Told with honesty and lyrical beauty, Angelou traces her early years growing up between the deep South and St. Louis during the era of segregation. Raised for a time by her grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas, Maya and her brother find comfort in books, faith, and each other while navigating the cruelty of racism and abandonment.

Her life shifts between moments of warmth and devastating pain, including abuse that leaves lasting scars, but what stands out most is her resilience. Even through grief, displacement, and injustice, she discovers the power of words, education, and self-love to help her reclaim her voice.

This memoir does not shy away from difficult truths, including racism and sexual violence, but it handles them with clarity and purpose rather than sensationalism. It is an essential coming-of-age story about pain, identity, and the long journey toward freedom.

Ultimately, Angelou’s story is one of survival and becoming, of a girl who endured unimaginable hardship and grew into one of the most important literary voices of her time.

The C_ck Down the Block by Amy Award

 The C_ck Down the Block 

by Amy Award

My Rating:

Spice Rating: 

Blurb:

Always the nerdy girl, never the girlfriend~
Until her cocky best friend and his *ahem* rooster take charge.

Look, I've had it bad for the girl with all the curves next door forever. She turned me down in high school and since I'm not a total douchecanoe, I lusted after her all by myself in my shower, and we stayed just friends for years.

Now she's the adorkable librarian next door and I'm the star quarterback of the best pro football team in the league.
So when she asks me to be her fake date to her all-girls school reunion I am totally down to show her off to the mean girls who bullied her back then so they can see just how incredible she is.
I'll be the best boyfriend they've ever seen. The best fake boyfriend that is.

Until I find out from her slightly-stalkery classmates that she still has her v-card. I don't see how that is even possible. Not with how sexy and sweet she is. Could it be because she knows she belongs with me?

This curvy girl and football quarterback sports romance has a baddie plus-size woman who knows her own worth and a Bridgertons-meets-American-Football family you'll wish you were a part of.

My Review: 

The Cock Down the Block by Amy Award was such a fun, feel-good read, I absolutely loved it!

From the very first chapter, I was hooked. It’s playful, spicy, and just so easy to fly through. I’m obsessed with the titles in this series and I’m already excited to keep going and read the rest.

One of my favorite parts is how the author writes the plus-size FMC as confident, beautiful, and genuinely desired in a way that feels heartfelt and affirming. The romance is sweet, fun, and full of chemistry, and I loved watching their connection grow.

The side characters added so much personality too, especially the overprotective, chaotic energy around her and the whole entertaining family dynamic. It all made the story even more engaging and hard to put down.

Honestly, I devoured this book in a single day. It was light, entertaining, and exactly the kind of romance that leaves you smiling the whole time.