A Vicious Game by Melissa Blair

My Rating: 🟊🟊🟊🟊

Spice Rating:  🌶

Blurb:

“It seems fate has dealt me the same hand again. I know how to play it.” 
 
A new king is on the throne and the rebellion lies in ruins. Keera spends her days drinking and her nights avoiding the strange dreams that have haunted her since she returned from the capital.

Keera’s family in Myrelinth won’t let her go without a fight. With new intelligence about the magical seals left behind by Keera’s ancient kin, the Light Fae, she rallies to face her demons and unleash the formidable powers she inherited from her people. But a shocking truth is hiding in plain sight, one with the power to unravel the entire rebellion...

The pivotal third installment in the Halfling Saga will upend everything Keera thought she knew about her enemies…and her allies.

My Review:

⚠️ Spoiler warning — if you plan to read this series, turn back now. I mean it.

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Book three broke me. Completely and utterly broke me.

By this point I thought I understood what this series was capable of. I was wrong. The pain in this installment is not the kind that sits quietly in the background, it is loud and relentless and it gets into your chest and stays there. Watching Keera fight just to be loved, trusted, and accepted by the very people she would burn the world down for? Devastating does not cover it.

She is not asking for much. She never has been. She just wants to belong somewhere, to not be used up and discarded for what she can offer and then left the moment things get hard. And yet, the betrayals keep coming. One after another, from people who should know better, who do know better. I was furious on her behalf. I am still furious.

And underneath all of it, the grief she is carrying, the mourning that has hollowed her out, the addiction she is drowning in because feeling nothing is safer than feeling everything. It turned my stomach. It broke my heart. It made me want to reach into the pages and tell everyone around her to leave her alone and let her breathe.

Keera just wants what is best for her people. That is it. That is all she has ever wanted. And they could not survive without her, and somehow that makes it worse.

I had to put the series down after this one. I needed something soft and sweet to come back to myself, and I have zero regrets about that decision.

Please check the trigger warnings before going into this book. Your mental health matters more than finishing a series. Take care of yourself first, Keera would want that.

 A Shadow Crown by Melissa Blair

My Rating: 🟊🟊🟊🟊🟊

Spice Rating:  🫑

Blurb:

To the kingdom, Keera is the king’s Blade, his most feared and trusted spy and assassin. But in the shadows, she works with Prince Killian and his Shadow—the dark, brooding Fae, Riven, who sets her blood on fire. Together, they plot to kill a tyrant king.

In Myrelinth, the lush, secret city of trees, Fae, Elves, and Halflings like Keera live in harmony. But Keera cannot escape her past: her crimes against her own people have followed her all the way to the Faeland. There is a traitor in their midst, and Keera is the top suspect.

Keera finds comfort in the allies that have become her family. She swore she would never open her heart again after a loss she barely survived. But she will soon find she has more to lose than she ever imagined.

My Review:

I am in deep. There is no other world right now, only this one.

By book two, Melissa Blair has built something so rich and immersive that stepping away from it feels genuinely difficult. The world-building alone is worth the price of admission. The way the Fae world is constructed, the landscapes, the magic system, the creatures woven into every corner of it, feels so right that when I pictured where Fae might actually live, a tree made complete and total sense. Of course it does. Where else would they be?

But what elevates this beyond beautiful world-building is Keera herself. The love she carries for her people, the pain she absorbs in silence and never lets anyone see, it is the kind of quiet, crushing devotion that does not announce itself. It just is. And it is so powerful that while you are reading, nothing else exists. Not your to-do list, not the time, not the world outside the page.

There is a love interest woven into this one, and I want to be clear, it adds to the story without ever hijacking it. The plot stays exactly where it needs to be, and the romance breathes alongside it naturally. No detours, no derailing. Just a beautiful addition to an already layered story.

The sheer number of characters Melissa Blair manages to hold together, main cast, side characters, threads upon threads of storyline, is honestly breathtaking. How she keeps it all in line is a mystery I am grateful for.

Do yourself a favor. Read these books. Please.

 A Broken Blade by Melissa Blair

My Rating: 🟊🟊🟊🟊🟊

Spice Rating:  🫑

Blurb:

Keera is a killer. As the King’s Blade, she is the most talented spy in the kingdom. And the King’s favored assassin. When a mysterious figure called the Shadow starts making moves against the Crown, Keera is forced to hunt the masked menace down.

She crosses into the magical lands of the Fae, trying to discern if her enemy is Mortal, Elf, or a Halfling like her. But the Faeland is not what it seems, and neither is the Shadow. Keera is shocked by what she discovers and can’t help but wonder who her enemy truly is…

The King that destroyed her people? The Prince that tortures them? Or the Shadow that threatens her place at court?

As she searches for answers, Keera is haunted by a promise she made long ago. A promise not only to save herself but an entire kingdom.

My Review:

I went in blind. A recommendation from a friend in book club, the promise of fantasy, maybe some romance, and I thought I knew what I was walking into. I did not. I was not even close.

This is fantasy first, romance second, and plot absolutely everywhere. The story grabs you and does not let go, and by the time I finished I was rushing headfirst into the next book without stopping to breathe. That is not a choice, that is a compulsion. This series creates compulsion.

Can we also talk about these covers for a moment? Because they are stunning. The kind of beautiful that does not fully translate on a screen, you need to hold one in your hands to truly understand.

But the heart of this book is Keera. She is messy and broken and achingly real, carrying addictions and traumas that never feel like plot devices, they feel like weight. The kind of weight a real person carries. I felt everything she felt, and there were moments it physically hurt my chest to read. That is rare. That is the kind of character writing that stays with you long after the last page.

The rest of the cast? Full of people you will question, distrust, and despise, and you will love every complicated second of it. I finished this book genuinely unsure who I was rooting for, and honestly? I might still be figuring that out.

If you want a series that burrows into you and refuses to leave, characters so human they make your heart ache, a plot so full of twists it gives you anxiety about the next book, this is it. This book has everything.

 Seven Year Itch by Amy Daws

My Rating: 🟊🟊🟊⯨

Spice Rating: 🌶🌶

Blurb:

Alone and Looking to Bone! Loudmouthed Mountain Man Seeks Fiery Woman to Grow Old With.

I might look like a tall, tattooed, bearded neanderthal...but like an onion, I have layers. Swipe right if you like a proud cat daddy who catches feelings after direct eye contact.

All I wanted was a casual plus-one to my brother's destination wedding, but those idiots on my family tree hacked my dating profile and sabotaged my quest for the perfect weekend fling. Now I'm stuck on a tropical vacation with only my hand to keep me company.

Until I’m forced to share a room with the bane of my existence: my sister-in-law’s best friend.

Dakota has hated me for the past seven years. I wasn’t losing much sleep over her screaming rants because she was some other guy’s problem. Or she was, until she got divorced.

Being stuck in paradise with a woman who loathes your very existence doesn't sound hot, but after an unexpected moment in our shared palapa, she starts screaming at me in a different way.

What happens in paradise stays in paradise. That is, until Dakota shows up on my mountain with a proposition: be her wingman to help her regain her pre-divorce confidence.

Suddenly, Dakota’s not just person I love to fight with. She’s the woman I want everything with.

My Review:

Seven Year Itch by Amy Daws rip into Amy Daws' world, and it will not be my last. I was already head over heels for Trista and Wyatt's story, and this one? It pulled me right back in, though I have thoughts, so hear me out.

First, the mountain men. There is something so deeply satisfying about men who are fiercely loyal to family, who choose to stay close and hold each other together. Because let's be honest, the world can be brutal, and sometimes the people you were born to are the only ones who truly show up. Amy captures that warmth and wraps an entire romance around it, and it works every single time.

Watching these men fall in love is genuinely beautiful, and the ways Amy engineers those moments? Naughty, cute, hilarious, and somehow all three at once. Is "naughty cute" a genre descriptor? It should be. Because cracking open one of her books is a guaranteed good time from the first page to the last.

Now, Dakota. Sweet, insufferable, absolutely a Karen. Colt called it, and he was not wrong. There were moments I physically cringed watching her fight what was right in front of her face. I understand she's been hurt before, I do. But Colton was so consistently sweet and patient that her resistance started to feel less endearing and more exhausting. Though I suppose even Karens deserve a love story. And in this case, his actions spoke so much louder than any word he could have said, Karen included.

If you want something that makes you laugh out loud and leaves you warm all the way through, this one is absolutely for you.

Psycho Beasts by Jasmine Mas

My Rating: 🟊🟊🟊🟊

Spice Rating:  🌶🌶🌶🌶 (0-100 real quick!)

Blurb:

Welcome to Serpentine City. The Mafia rule, and we're about to be indoctrinated.

Cobra's the heir to the throne, and he's been given an ultimatum.
Form a pack...or else.
Now, we're fighting for our lives and each other.

Will Jax, Xerxes, Ascher, and Cobra fall apart under the pressure?
Will Sadie be strong enough to handle what they want?
Will their tension crumble into hatred? Or build into love?

Between training and fighting for our lives, it's about to go down like never before.

We may have survived the Fae realm, but the real test has just begun.

My Review:

The final book. And it does not hold back, not even a little.

After everything they have been through, the crew breaks free and tumbles into yet another realm, one they hoped would finally be the answer. But of course, nowhere is ever truly safe, and this new world comes with its own brand of chaos and complications. Because when has anything ever been easy for Sadie and her Alphas?

Now, full transparency, it had been a while between reading and reviewing, but here is what I know for certain: my gut says this one delivered. Sadie's story wraps up in a way that feels complete, with answers to the questions that have been building across the entire trilogy. Nothing left dangling, nothing left unresolved. There is real satisfaction in that.

But the ending of one story doesn't have to mean goodbye to this world entirely, and that is what excites me most. There are side characters living in the corners of these pages who deserve their own spotlight, and I am hoping Jasmine Mas feels the same way. The door feels cracked open, and I want to walk through it.

The standout of this book for me? The Omega. This trilogy takes the Omegaverse and does something genuinely different with it, wrapping it in high-stakes fantasy and relentless action in a way I have not seen done quite like this before. It felt fresh in a genre I already love.

If you are an Omegaverse fan who is craving something with serious world-building and non-stop action, start this trilogy and do not stop until the end.

 Psycho Fae by Jasmine Mas

My Rating: 🟊🟊🟊⯨

Spice Rating: 🌶🌶 (Slight sexual frustration)

Blurb: 

The second book in Jasmine Mas’s best-selling Cruel Shifterverse trilogy now in deluxe paperback with gorgeous stenciled edges, foil detail, and original character art.

Are you ready to enter into a new realm?
It’s an all-out fight for survival in the deadly gladiator Fae Games.

I shifted into a saber-toothed tiger...but that was just the beginning.
Jax, Cobra, and Ascher are now my teammates.
Once again, we're fighting for our lives. And our futures.
But nothing is as it seems, and for every secret we uncover, another unfolds.

Under the spiteful watch of Xerxes and the evil Fae Queen, it's not clear we're going to survive.
Can we work together? Or will we implode?

One thing is for sure, I'm about to uncover my destiny.
Power is in my veins.

My Review: 

Psycho Fae by Jasmine Mas

Book two, and things just got a whole lot bigger.

The entire crew gets yanked into the Fae realm, and from the moment they arrive, nothing is safe, not their freedom, not their trust, and definitely not their secrets. They are thrown into brutal arena-style battles just to survive, and while the action alone would be enough to keep you glued to the page, it is the revelations that really hit hard. Sadie's dark past? The boys have one too. And not just any secrets, one of them escaped this very realm, and another? Betrayed them all. The tension that creates is delicious.

Sadie is right in the middle of her Alphas, trying to find her footing in a world that keeps shifting beneath her, and watching her navigate that, the loyalty, the heartbreak, the chaos, is exactly what makes this series so addictive.

What I loved most about this installment is that the world gets wider. Side characters who were background players in book one suddenly have real stories, real weight, real stakes. New characters crash in and immediately shake things up. The action is relentless, the plot keeps moving, and by the time I finished I was absolutely not ready for it to be over.

If book one had you hooked, book two will make it impossible to stop. The excitement of the first book doesn't just carry over, it multiplies. There was no version of me that wasn't finishing this series after this one.

 Psycho Shifters by Jasmine Mas

My Rating: 🟊🟊🟊🟊🟊

Spice Rating: 🌶 (This is just for mention, but no actions)

Blurb: 

Fight like a girl...or a shifter of lore.

After growing up with nothing, I've finally found my path to freedom: I'm a shifter, an elite soldier who transforms into a monster.

All I have to do is survive.

I didn't count on my three 6'5 roommates. Covered in tattoos, jeweled, and horned, these are like no men I've ever dealt with before.

They don't think I belong.
They don't think I'm strong enough for war.
They don't think I can fight.

I'm about to prove them wrong.

The only problem, can I survive them discovering the secrets of my past? In the battle for life and death, everyone is so much more than they seem.

Jax, Ascher, and Cobra are going to be devastated when they discover my truth...just wait until they see my shifted form.

My Review:

There is a special kind of joy that hits when a book opens with your FMC already stuck in a nightmare she didn't choose, and Psycho Shifters wastes absolutely no time. Sadie is small, she is weak, and somehow the weight of saving everyone lands squarely on her shoulders. The odds are stacked against her from page one, and honestly? That's exactly where the fun begins.

What hooked me was Sadie's refusal to quit, even when fighting back could literally kill her. She never folded. Not once. That kind of stubborn, reckless bravery is the backbone of this whole story, and it kept me turning pages.

Now, the love interests. Three massive Alpha shifters, each one more distinct than the last. There's a bear who is all warmth and protectiveness, the kind of man who quietly holds everything together. There's a wolf, cocky, devastatingly handsome, the type everyone gravitates toward without knowing why. And then there's Cobra. Yes, he's a snake shifter. Yes, the name fits perfectly. He's all sharp edges and dark energy, the "don't even breathe in my direction" type, and he is absolutely magnetic.

Are these character archetypes familiar? Absolutely. But here's the thing, there is real comfort in that familiarity. Romantasy is a genre with a heartbeat, and that heartbeat is consistent for a reason. These stories hit the same emotional notes because those notes work, and sometimes you just want to sink into a world that feels like home, even if home is a shifter academy full of chaos.

If you love training academies, pulse-pounding action, why-choose romance, and an FMC who refuses to be anybody's victim, pick this up. It was made for you.