Nat Reads Books & People Too

🍪 BOOK REVIEW | Sugar, Spice, & Cozy Nights by Ilsa Rayne

Baby, that cute little title LIED to me. 😂 I thought I was getting baked goods, fall vibes, small-town coziness and a little spice.

I mean…I DID.

But apparently we were also bringing grief, addiction, healing, and emotional damage to the function. 😭

At the center of this one are Eva, Mal, Liam & Hawk—four people who already love each other but are trying to figure out how to keep loving each other after losing someone who was an important part of their family. And whew…it gets MESSY.

Eva had me wanting to reach into my Kindle and shake her more than once, but I also understood her. Grief doesn’t always make people likable. Sometimes it makes them angry, selfish, destructive and hard to love—and I appreciated that the story allowed her to be complicated.

And when this group finally starts finding their way back to each other? 👀🌶️
Yeahhhh…Ilsa wasn’t playing with us. 😂

My only complaint is that with SO much happening emotionally, I wanted a few of the heavier moments to sit a little longer before we moved on.

Overall, this was cozy with emotional damage, and apparently that’s exactly my kind of cozy. 😂🍂

Also, Jingles & Jangles? STARS. No notes. Give the cats their own book.

⭐ 4/5
🌶️ 4/5

QOTD: Do you like your cozy romances purely fluffy, or can we sprinkle in a little emotional devastation? 😂

Fake it Under the Mistletoe

Tropes:
🎄Fake Engagement
🎄Hockey Romance
🎄Grumpy x Sunshine
🎄Big Loud Mexican Family
🎄Found Family
🎄Forced Proximity
🎄He Falls First
🎄Meddling Tías
🎄A cat named Don Gato Corleone who has opinions

Releases: November 4th 2026

Narrators:
Stacy Gonzalez
Jason Clarke-

BLURB
There are three things people should know before letting me near an injured professional athlete.
One, I am very good at my job.
Two, my bedside manner has been described as "aggressively cheerful in a way that feels humanly questionable."
Three, I will absolutely threaten a grown man with resistance bands if he lies to me about his pain level.
Crew Wolfcraft lies about his pain level. Constantly.
He also has a hip that's one bad twist from ending his career, a charity weekend he'd rather die than attend, and the conversational range of a man being held hostage. I've been hired to keep him upright through Christmas. That's the job.

Then a reporter asks a question under the mistletoe, Crew opens his mouth, and my grandmother's ring—the one on my hand, the one being resized, the one I am absolutely not engaged with—becomes a headline.

I don't correct him.
In my defense: my Tía Marta has lined up a dentist, an architect, and a firefighter for me to meet before Christmas Eve.
Now there's a tamalada, four aunts with a group chat and no fear of God, a cat named Don Gato Corleone who has chosen him over me, and a man who was supposed to leave in January learning my grandmother's recipes like he's planning to stay.

I can rehab a hip in eight weeks.
I have no idea what to do about the rest.
From USA Today Bestselling Author Claudia Burgoa comes a grumpy-sunshine fake-engagement romance about a big, loud Mexican-American family, a hockey player with a bad hip and worse coping skills, and one very small lie that refuses to stay small.

Sweet Redemption by is now live on audio!

Duet Narration by: & Sebastian York

From #1 Amazon and USA Today Bestselling Author Bella Matthews comes a single dad, dual athlete, second chance, hockey romance.

Hendrix Sinclair is everything I’ve ever wanted and nothing I could ever have.

He’s hockey’s hottest single dad, with a sinfully sexy smile and a deliciously dirty mouth. One I’ve loved for nearly half my life. Not that anyone but the two of us have ever known that fun little fact . . .

We spent a decade in two different cities.
Chasing two different dreams.
And were supposed to be falling in love with two different people.
Only I never did.

He was busy becoming the NHL’s newest superstar, while I was fighting to become one of the biggest names in professional soccer.

Now, after years spent convincing myself we could never work, it only takes one look, one searing kiss, and one forbidden night to unravel everything I thought I knew.

It also only takes one day to shatter it all.

🚨 BREAKING NEWS: Your next morally grey obsession is recruiting ARC readers. 😈🖤

She ignored the text. He made sure he had her attention. 👀

RUIN by I.V. Shady brings a bratty FMC, a morally grey MMC, and a power exchange that deserves its own headline. Consider your TBR officially on notice. 🫠🔥

📖 Releases December 4
🖤 Coming to KU, ebook & paperback
🔗 Want an early read? Apply through the link in .ivy.author’s bio!

Tag your book bestie—the one who sees “morally grey” and immediately says, “Where do I sign?” 💜

✨TEASER: CHRISTMAS IN THE SHADOWS by releasing November 11th!


https://readerlinks.com/l/5478555

Why you will love this book…
🌲Obsessive/Possessive MMC
🖤Unhinged Serial Killer
🌲Dark Holiday Romance
🖤Found Family
🌲Revenge & Ruin
🖤Forced Proximity
🌲Secret/Hidden Trauma
🖤Touch Her and ☠️
🌲Who Hurt You
🖤Wounded Hero/Wounded Heroine
🌲Dark Devotion

Twelve days of Christmas. Zero days of mercy.

One, two, he’s coming for you.
Christmas has always been about family.
Then he decided to make mine part of his game.
Twelve days until Christmas. Nine gifts on his list.

Three, four, blood on the floor.
Every box arrives wrapped in ribbon, addressed to
someone my little lamb loves and filled with the
one thing that can still destroy them.

Five, six, his dirtiest tricks.
A memory he stole.
A secret he kept.
A wound he knows exactly how to reopen.

Seven, eight, seal your fate.
He calls himself the Pied Piper.
He thinks he can pull every person Ella fought
to save back into the darkness they crawled out of.

Nine, ten, I’ll make him beg for the end.
He forgot who he’s playing with.
I’m Death. I’ve spent years teaching monsters what happens
when they touch what’s mine.

Eleven, twelve, I am his personal hell.
I have until Christmas morning to cut the strings before he tears
my family apart. Because if I fail, he won’t just take her from me.
He’ll make sure she watches everyone she loves fall first.
I’m not running out of patience.
I’m running out of mercy.

Christmas in the Shadows is a pitch-black Christmas dark romance featuring a possessive serial-killer vigilante, obsessive devotion, touch-her-and-die protection, a found family under siege, twisted gifts, buried secrets, psychological suspense, vengeance, and a countdown to Christmas morning.

Christmas in the Shadows is Book 5 in the Shadows series and is NOT a standalone. It is highly recommended to read Books 1–4 first due to significant spoilers.

✨INFLUENCERS: Sign up to review here: https://bit.ly/CITSSIGNUP
✨Start The Shadows series now, available in KU https://amzn.to/4AbzjO8

.agency

📖 Vega by Jessica N. Watkins
⭐ 5/5

Friend, the first half of this book had me trying to connect dots that did not seem to be on the same page. But once things started coming together, I enjoyed the suspense, funny moments, and, most of all, Sonnet and Vega.

Sonnet worked hard to build a quiet life, only to witness a murder and get pulled into a dangerous situation. Enter Vega, whose assignment becomes a whole lot more complicated when feelings get involved. Sir, you kidnapped her…you’re going to have to give her a minute to warm up to you.

Their banter was a highlight for me. Sonnet might have seemed meek, but she had plenty of fight in her—and Vega was often on the receiving end. I enjoyed that she questioned him and challenged him. His protective side and their growing connection gave me something to root for, even with their messy beginning.

Where I struggled was with the secondary storylines. For much of the book, I couldn’t figure out how Kash and Novi connected to the main story. Some of those chapters felt more like setup for future books, and I wanted that time spent with Sonnet and Vega. The connections eventually became clearer, but it took too long for me.

I also noticed a few editing inconsistencies with character descriptions and names. They didn’t ruin the story, but they stood out.

Overall, this was an uneven read that became entertaining once the pieces clicked into place. The humor, danger, and chemistry helped bring it together, and I’m curious to see what comes next in the series.

Tropes: Captor to lovers • Protective/possessive hero • He falls first • Independent heroine • Found family • Romantic suspense

What happens in Vegas…apparently comes home for Christmas wearing a cowboy hat. 👀🤠🎄

Happy release day to Christmas in Bridger Falls by erinbranscomauthor!! Cozy cabins, flirty banter, found family, and weaponized dimples? Put a bow on that cowboy, please. 🤭🎁

⭐⭐⭐⭐ from this reader! Who’s ready to trade pumpkin spice for hot cocoa and cowboy kisses? ☕🤎