Category Archives: Entries

Single Malt by Layla Reyne

FBI agent Aidan “Irish” Talley had it all until a harrowing car crash left him with a heap of survivor’s guilt and a hole in his heart where his happily ever after used to be. Aiming to fill the void, he returns to work—and to a new partner. Charming, smart, and athletic, Jamie is the last thing Aidan’s bruised heart needs. Cyber agent Jameson “Whiskey” Walker joined the Bureau three years ago and has pined for Aidan ever since. Working with the Irish expat is a fantasy and a challenge, one Jamie intends to win by earning the surly older agent’s trust and respect. Except there’s no time… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Child physical & sexual abuse and stalking by a foster parent mentioned (secondary character)
  • Infidelity mentioned (secondary character)
  • Child trafficking mentioned
  • Early On-Set Alzheimer’s Disease mentioned (secondary character)
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Spouse with terminal cancer mentioned (secondary character)
  • Death of a brother in an Irish Republican Army (IRA) car bombing recounted
  • Death of a father in a factory fire recounted
  • Graphic hit-and-run car accident as attempted murder, resulting in hospitalisation for coma & head injuries and death of the protagonist’s husband & working partner
  • Bioterrorism discussed

Over a Barrel by Layla Reyne

Annaliese Rosin is fifty-six and starting over. New city, new job, new scene she’d like to explore with the stunning redhead from her flight home. She just needs to finish one last year-end deal. Should be easy, except her sexy seatmate ends up being the attorney across the table. Carrington Clarke started over once already. At forty-three, she can’t afford to risk her job, her friends, or her heart, not even for the bossy older woman who understands exactly what she needs in the bedroom—to be watched by others. At least not until their deal closes.. While working side by… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Workplace sexism
  • Parental disownment recounted (protagonist)
  • Emancipation of a secondary character mentioned to homophobic child abuse
  • Divorce recounted
  • Alcohol consumption

Context: The main relationship is in violation of professional ethics (sexual relationship while opposing counsel) and discussed on-page.

Blue Plate Special by Layla Reyne

Giving orders in the kitchen is chef Noah Becker’s specialty. He’s made a name for himself dishing up seasonal, farm-to-table comfort food at the local diner. A name that isn’t really his..The last person Ezra Rosin expects to find while he’s on sabbatical in a small town is his son’s best friend. The one he helped disappear thirteen years ago. The one who’s grown into a hauntingly beautiful man. Noah and Ezra grow closer, reconnecting over their shared love of food and wine until their friendship smolders into more. They agree to explore the unexpected dynamic, to… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homophobia discussed
  • Emotional & physical child abuse recounted
  • Divorce recounted
  • Housing & food insecurity

The Last Drop by Layla Reyne

Three restaurants, three flops. Chef Gregory Valteau doesn’t want to believe it’s a sign, but his culinary future in New Orleans looks bleak. Until he meets a handsome hipster with all the right moves, behind the bar and in bed. Gone the next morning, the sexy bartender leaves Greg inspired and wanting more—of him and his creative cocktails. Anthony Monaco has spent five years on the go, but a steamy NOLA night with a sexy chef has Tony aching for a return trip to the Big Easy. When Greg offers him the chance to help launch a new gastropub, Tony can’t turn it down. But six weeks… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Alcoholism
  • Death of a parent
  • Car accident

Dine with Me by Layla Reyne

Miller Sykes’s meteoric rise to award-winning chef is the stuff of culinary dreams, but it’s all crashing down around him. He’s been given a diagnosis that could cost him something even more precious than his life: his sense of taste. Rather than risk the very thing that defines him, Miller embarks on a last tour of his favorite meals while he still can.But there’s a catch: he needs a financial backer to make it happen, and he doesn’t want anyone to know he’s sick. Dr. Clancy Rhodes has two weeks to come to terms with putting aside oncology to work at his father’s thriving plastic… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child abuse mentioned
  • Divorce recounted
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Hospitalisation mentioned
  • Protagonist diagnosed with late-stage throat cancer & chooses not to receive medical treatment (theme)
  • Fatal heart attack mentioned
  • Emesis

Amen Maxine by Faith Gardner

Welcome to Silicon Valley, where the weather is perfect, the income is high … and Rowena Snyder is miserable. A transplant from New York, Rowena moved into her husband Jacob’s idyllic childhood home with their new baby. But suburbia isn’t Rowena’s cup of Starbucks. And she’s got serious anxiety and depression to boot. Jacob, worried about their marriage, scores a new product currently in beta testing from his tech job: Maxine, a “digital friend” that bonds with an individual by continually gathering their personal data. Along with functioning like an upscale digital assist… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Infidelity
  • Domestic emotional abuse & gaslighting
  • Postpartum anxiety & depression (protagonist, on-page)

The Glass Arrow by Kristen Simmons

In a world where females are scarce and are hunted, then bought and sold at market for their breeding rights, 15-year old Aya has learned how to hide. With a ragtag bunch of other women and girls, she has successfully avoided capture and eked out a nomadic but free existence in the mountains. But when Aya’s luck runs out and she’s caught by a group of businessmen on a hunting expedition, fighting to survive takes on a whole new meaning.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Attempted sexual assault

Us Dark Few by Alexis Patton

Khalani is a Prisoner. Takeshi is a Guard. Both are slaves to the Underground. Khalani Kanes has never stood on the surface of the earth. In the underground city of Apollo, faith and dreams are as absent as the sun. She longed to visit Genesis, the infamous Domed City and the final place where humanity lives aboveground. But when Khalani is given a life sentence and thrown into prison for a theft she didn’t commit, those wishes shatter into oblivion. In Braderhelm Prison, murderers are neighbors, ruthless and cold-blooded guards live to punish, and every second is a battle… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault & attempted rape, thwarted by the perpetrator being beaten to death & having his eyes plucked out
  • Physical child abuse & domestic violence recounted, resulting in the love interest murdering his step-father in revenge for murdering his mother
  • Suicidal ideation (protagonist, on-page)
  • Alcohol consumption & mentions of smoking
  • Decapitation mentioned
  • Murder of a mother & father recounted (protagonist)
  • Physical assault & death in ‘fight pits’
  • Mass shooting mentioned
  • Imprisonment (theme), including inhumane treatment of prisoners through electrocution, starvation, and being worked to death
  • Nuclear fallout & terrorism recounted (post-apocalyptic world, set 300 years after the events)

Us Deadly Few by Alexis Patton

Khalani Kanes never imagined surviving Braderhelm Prison, let alone escaping to the desolate surface they had been told was uninhabitable. Haunted by the Governor of Apollo’s dark secrets, Khalani and her crew of criminals embark on a new perilous journey. Now, the true test begins as Khalani ventures through the treacherous “Death-Zone” toward the nearest underground city, Hermes. Abandoned relics of a once-great nation are not the only threats on the barren road. Violent storms sweep across the Death-Zone, the deadly Takeshi Steele has resumed…. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault & attempted rape, thwarted by the perpetrator being beaten to death & having his eyes plucked out
  • Alcohol consumption & mentions of smoking
  • Drugging
  • Physical injury, including mention of secondary character going into septic shot from an arrow wound
  • Graphic fantasy violence including explosions, bombings, weapon violence (bow & arrow), physical assault/fight scenes & murder by gun violence
  • Torture, including electrocution, knife violence & lobotomy-like medical experimentation
  • Nuclear fallout & terrorism recounted (post-apocalyptic world, set 300 years after the events)
  • Kidnapping

Storm Caller by Nisha J Tuli

Poet Graves has only ever wanted to be free. But no matter where she turns, she’s held captive—by a power she doesn’t understand, a truth she no longer believes in, and a love she can’t deny. As Poet is drawn further into Rook’s world, his secrets force her to question who she can trust. But when friends turn into enemies, enemies prove to be allies, and the place that was once a safe harbor is revealed as the eye of the storm, Poet’s only choice is to fight for what she believes in. When New Manhattan’s darkest secrets refuse to stay hidden, the cause Poet and Rook fight for will be…. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Classism & related fictional slurs
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Murder, explosion, electrocution & fantasy violence related to magical storms
  • Kidnapping & false imprisonment while drugged