A Wine Lovers Book Blog / Books n Wine

***5 Stars*** I’m a sucker for fairytale retellings of any kind…sweet, contemporary, paranormal…you name it and I’ll definitely perk up and when an author I already fangirl over announces that she’s about to dabble in them? Weeell, I’m ALL in and I freakin’ loved this retelling! It has all the main elements of the Little Mermaid but with twists that kept me turning the pages to see what would happen next. And then we have Maren and Ramsey. Can I just say that I freakin’ adored both of them. Maren is a force to be reckoned with, even when she doesn’t realize it. She regrets the choices she made as a girl, but man, watching her acknowledge all that she is and own it was awesome. Ramsey…well, the man is book boyfriend goodness. Yes, he is morally gray and has interesting way of getting things done, but he is a pirate who is loyal to those that are loyal to him and will go to the ends of the world for them.  Their journey to their HEA was definitely a fun one, for me the reader, not so...

He’s loved her for lifetimes but this time around she’s his worst enemy. Blood Orange, a wildly addictive, heat-filled dark vampire romance featuring Dracula from New York Times Bestselling author Karina Halle is out now! Once there was a man who fell deeply in love with a woman he could never have. When their affair was uncovered she was brutally murdered in front of him, and he discovered he was cursed, doomed to live forever as a vampire. Over the centuries, he found his love again, and lost her again, until he was so broken he gave up on love entirely, sinking into the depths of depravity, losing his humanity. Then one day, she came back into his life. A student of music studying under him at the conservatory in Venice, Italy where he was a professor. But even though he found her beautiful and intriguing, he didn’t recognise his fated mate at all. Because this time she had to hide her true self. This time she came back as a witch, whose dest...

Crown of Crimson, an all-new dark fantasy romance with high heat in the Underworld Gods Series from New York Times Bestselling author Karina Halle, is out now! All Hanna Heikkinen wants is to be reunited with her father again. After all, that's why she ventured into the dark and dangerous fantasy world of Tuonela, the Land of the Dead, in order to save his life. But this time her devotion to her father comes at a cost---her growing relationship with Tuoni, the God of Death himself, who held Hanna captive in exchange for her father's life. The last thing she expects is to feel remorse at leaving Death at his castle of Shadow's End without even saying goodbye, and yet he's all she can think about. Death has always prided himself on never trusting the living, but Hanna's apparent betrayal has left a scar fathom's deep. Vowing revenge on his future bride, and making sure she upholds her end of the bargain, Death sets out across his realm to steal Hanna ...

Crown of Crimson, an enthralling dark fantasy romance in the Underworld Gods Series from New York Times Bestselling author Karina Halle, is now available! All Hanna Heikkinen wants is to be reunited with her father again. After all, that's why she ventured into the dark and dangerous fantasy world of Tuonela, the Land of the Dead, in order to save his life. But this time her devotion to her father comes at a cost---her growing relationship with Tuoni, the God of Death himself, who held Hanna captive in exchange for her father's life. The last thing she expects is to feel remorse at leaving Death at his castle of Shadow's End without even saying goodbye, and yet he's all she can think about. Death has always prided himself on never trusting the living, but Hanna's apparent betrayal has left a scar fathom's deep. Vowing revenge on his future bride, and making sure she upholds her end of the bargain, Death sets out across his realm to steal Hanna back,...

In order to save my father, I have to marry the God of Death. River of Shadows by Karina Halle is now live! River of Shadows is an adult dark fantasy romance based on Finnish mythology and the underworld of Tuonela. When 24-year old Hanna Heikkinen's estranged father dies, she reluctantly makes the trip to Northern Finland for his funeral. Being in the enchanting land of ice and snow feels miles away from Hanna's busy life back in Los Angeles, especially under the complicated circumstances. But when Hanna discovers that her father's body is missing, that's when things really get weird. A mysterious man, Rasmus, tells Hanna the truth: her father was a powerful shaman who went into Tuonela, the Realm of the Dead, in order to barter for more life, and has been held captive by Tuoni, the God of Death. The only way her father can be freed is if she travels with Rasmus into the mythical underworld to rescue him. Willing to do anything to have a second-chance ...

***5 ‘Love and Loss Go Hand-in-Hand’ Stars*** As soon as I heard that Wolf and Amethyst were getting their HEA, I started making grabby hands at it because I loved them in Solon and Lenore’s books and totally believed that they needed to be together one way or another and I was not disappointed. Their journey hit all the right buttons for me, even the sniffly teary eyed one, and just made my heart happy when everything was said and done. I adored Amethyst and Wolf. Amethyst is a little spitfire, but she has to be considering she lives and works with vampires. Wolf is charming and protective and just a sweetheart. Their journey to their HEA was a lot of fun because they are friends already. They have a flow I really liked and it was just fun to be around them. Unfortunately, things get a bit bumpy and while I do tend to lean a little more towards Team Amethyst, I hurt for them both, but they end up coming out of it with so much more than they could have ever dreamed of. As emotional as ...

I'm a human and he's a vampire and he's told me more than once that those love stories never end well. Too bad my heart doesn't know the difference. Nightwolf by Karina Halle is now live! My name is Amethyst DeMille and I'm in love with a vampire. Sounds complicated, doesn't it? Yet the fact that he's a sexy, centuries-old blood-drinking vampire isn't what makes our relationship complicated. It's because we live in the same house together, work at the same exclusive club together, and he happens to be my best friend with absolutely no idea how I feel about him. I mean, sure he's probably seen me give him heart eyes more than once. Wolf is not only a deadly, charismatic vampire with great persuasion skills, he also happens to be built like a Nordic God, all solid muscle and chiseled bone structure and haunting eyes that I sometimes think tell me more than he wants me to know. He's the type of guy most women find themselv...

***5 Stars*** I asked, begged, pleaded for MORE and I most definitely got it with this baby. More of not only Lenore and Absolon, but Wolf, Amethyst, Ezra, Odin, Yvonne...and even some others that I may or may not have wanted more of, but still...this was what I needed and more. I already loved and adored Lenore and Absolon, and that didn’t change one bit. In fact, I ended up loving and adoring them more because we get to experience how they navigate their new norm. Both of their lives have shifted sideways ~ especially Lenore’s ~ and I really enjoyed how they worked through it together and became stronger as individuals, but also as a couple. This baby is filled with a bunch of twists and turns, some I figured out, some had me going WTF?!? And then there were a few moments of well, that was definitely eye opening...opening being the operative word...but in the end I thoroughly enjoyed getting a deeper look into this rich and dark world and all those that reside in it. And as for their...

True love never dies The Blood is Love by Karina Halle is now live! From the fog-shrouded bay of San Francisco to the dark cobblestone streets of Helsinki and all the hidden places in-between, The Blood is Love takes the reader on a sensual and twisted journey deep into Lenore and Solon's lush vampire world in this thrilling sequel to Black Sunshine. When Lenore Warwick turned twenty-one, she expected lots of bar-hopping, parties with friends, and the occasional hookup. What she got was the realization that she's both a witch and a vampire, and that there are things in this world that want her dead. Thank god she has her enigmatic vampire lover, Absolon Stavig, to help show her the ropes. But while Lenore struggles to fit into her new topsy turvy world, full of blood, sex, and magic, she also has to contend with her messy and complicated love for a vampire who isn't always what he seems. To make matters worse, her real father, Jeremias, a powerful warlock f...

  A second-chance to heal their hearts Bright Midnight by Karina Halle is now live!   From the New York Times bestselling author of Where Sea Meets Sky and Racing the Sun comes a wildly romantic novel about a young American abroad in Norway who runs into the man who broke her heart eight years ago. After years of bartending her way across Europe, Shay Lavji has seen almost everything the continent has to offer, but there's one country she hasn't crossed off her bucket list yet: Norway. It's not that she doesn't want to visit the land of the midnight sun--far from it; she's obsessed with the culture and is dying to see the majestic fjords for herself. What she's not dying to do is run into her Norwegian ex-boyfriend, Anders Johansen, who broke her heart in America eight years ago before returning to his ancestral home. The last time she saw Anders, he was a cocky, rebellious, and tortured teenager who couldn't stop himself from pushing all ...

Black Sunshine by Karina Halle is now live! All Lenore Warwick wants for her 21st birthday is to hang out with her friends, finish her second year at Berkley with flying colors, and maybe catch the eye of a hot musician playing a show at a club that she can now (legally) get into. Unfortunately, fate has other plans for her. A week before her birthday, she's kidnapped by the brooding and dangerous stranger with cold eyes and a lethal touch, who has been stalking her on San Francisco's fog-shrouded streets. Absolon Stavig isn't your average criminal though. He's a centuries-old vampire who's caught between wanting to kill Lenore and wanting to save her. You see Lenore, too, is a vampire. She just doesn't know it yet. Taken by a pair of vampire slayers when she was just an infant, Lenore was raised never knowing her true nature. All Lenore knows is that she has seemingly normal parents who love her, that she's exceptionally smart, and she's sq...