VALENTINE'S SLAY by Navessa Allen

Valentine's Slay by Navessa Allen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Tonight I felt like reading something but only had a few hours, so this turned out to be the perfect size.

Noah is a gravedigger and this Valentine’s night while working late in the cemetery, he hears someone screaming from inside a grave. Emma was recently buried but she's still alive...

Well, this is such a fun story! It's a cute second-chance romance. The setting is atmospheric, especially the scenes in the cemetery and Noah's lovely cabin. Noah is a very cool character, and I liked Emma too. Did I mention that it's super spicy? Yikes.

I had a blast reading this shortie.

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CAUGHT UP by Navessa Allen

Caught Up by Navessa Allen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

After reading and enjoying the hell out of Lights Out, I had to read the next book. 😅

Junior is a serious man stuck in a family business he wants to escape, while still obsessing over his teenage crush. Lauren has a great life with her found family and a job she loves, as well as the club she frequents. When Junior decides to make a move on Lauren, their tumultuous past catches up with them and leads the couple into a whole lot of trouble...

Sexy. Inclusive. Interesting. Dark.

Like the first book, I was hooked from the very beginning. That's one hell of a scene to start with! Yikes.

By the way, I was a little worried about Junior being the main guy because he was quite the douche during Josh and Aly's story, but the more I read, the more I wanted to know about him. Adding Lauren to the mix was another reason why I enjoyed the latest installment so much.

Told in the alternating POVs of Junior and Lauren, the narrative focuses on his current obsession for her, and her past obsession for him. Delving into their separate lives helped understand what brings these two together even though the odds are stacked against them. Their connection is definitely spicy, and some of their raunchy locations are very, um... creative.

Ultimately, this is another great story that brings back some familiar faces but also introduces a whole new cast of intriguing and funny people. Did I mention that I laughed out loud several times? Well, I did. Love the dark humour in these books.

It was also great to catch up with Josh and Aly, and I especially enjoyed the engagement party.

In my review of the first book, I mentioned that animals make great stories even better because of the kitty, Fred. Well, in this one we have a doggy called Walter. Oh, and Fred makes several appearances with his new kitty sibling, Maud.

REALLY enjoying this trilogy!


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LIGHTS OUT by Navessa Allen

Lights Out by Navessa Allen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've had this book on my shelf for a while now, and finally got stuck into it last night.

Aly is a trauma nurse who works too hard, and wants to help people so much she often ignores her own health. She's also addicted to watching videos posted by a particular masked man. Josh works in cybersecurity, and is constantly trying to outrun his father's deadly legacy. He's also got a tendency to stalk people. When Aly and Josh meet, their shared search for darkness takes them to unexpected places...

Yikes. Wow. Intriguing. Raunchy. Dark.

I have to admit that I was hooked from the beginning and liked both characters instantly. I found their separate lives and pasts very interesting. The mutual attraction between these two sizzles off the page. But not just that, I actually enjoyed their interactions. The messages they send each other, as well as the flirtatious banter, surprisingly cracked me up several times.

The book is told in the alternating POVs of Aly and Josh. Apart or together, the narrative keeps the story moving at a fast pace. And OMFG, the raunchy scenes are: 🔥 !!

In spite of the creepy, and at many times, wrong aspects of this story, it's also very easy to root for these two characters.

Make sure you read the MANY trigger warnings at the beginning because this book is not fucking around. It's totally messed up in many ways, but it sure is entertaining and well written.

Oh, and before I forget, I have to mention the adorable kitty, Fred. He's so cute and I love that he has a place in the narrative. Also, the inclusion of animals make great stories even better.

I REALLY enjoyed the hell out of this!


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Getting Stuff Done

Hey! How are you today?

Well, we enjoyed an awesome two-week break but my husband went back to work on Monday. Cool thing was that he had an RDO on Wednesday and we went to the optometrist for our follow-up appointment that included getting the dreaded drops and photos of the back of our eyes. Great thing is that behind-the-scenes both of our eyes are healthy. But we both need glasses.

Yeah, a week before this appointment we had another one to get our eyes checked. Turns out we both need glasses for different conditions. My husband is long-sighted and my short-sightedness has come back.

In case you didn't know (because I'm not sure if I mentioned it before) I got LASIK surgery in my mid-twenties so I haven't worn glasses for decades. Unfortunately, getting older means that my eyes aren't what they used to be so I'm back to wearing glasses. Looking forward to picking them up.

Anyway, on Monday I got stuck into the final read-thru of the two short stories I wrote this month. I made all the changes, formatted The docs and the final word counts are: 🥩 4,621 and 🚉 2,960.

I'm very excited about getting these two stories done. Not only because that means that I've written and completed three shortish (so far) this year, but mostly because these two were previously stalled tales.

The other thing I did this week—asides from taking it easy on Wednesday while the effects of the drops wore off—was embark on the very infuriating task of turning a bunch of PDFs back into Word docs. Yeah, it was a slog that took several days because doing this threw out all the formatting, including italics, etc.

Not fun, but definitely had to be done so I have updated Word docs of these stories.

During the second week of our break we watched more movies: Your Monster (fantastic and sad feminine rage story with a nice dose of humour), and MEGAN 2.0 (fun and ridiculous cautionary tale about AI needing very tight regulation).

Well, that's about it. Looks like we're headed for another dark and dreary weather weekend around here. I'm getting tired of so many overcast days.

Have a great weekend!

March Break!

Hey! How's it going?

Well, March is here and in Australia that marks the beginning of autumn. I'm going to miss summer because it's my favourite season, but at least we have one more month of daylight savings left.

My husband has a few weeks off and we're having a great time together. So exciting!

Also, in the evenings, while taking it easy on the couch, I finished writing a new short story on my phone.

The strange thing about this particular story is that I started it last year, but stopped for two reasons: the tale stalled, plus the vampires were calling. LOL. Seriously, for me, 2025 was the year of the vampire and I put everything else aside. LOL. But I never forgot about this tale and the characters, and knew I'd go back one day. The problem was that I wasn't sure where to go next. THEN, after I finished a different story last week and sorted through my files, the character started whispering in my ear again.

So I took notes, researched a few things, went back to check what I wrote, and the words wouldn't stop coming. After three sessions, I reached the end of the first draft (4,499w). But it didn't end there because I revised the story (4,731w) and added the doc to my Paperwhite so that I can complete the final read-thru after our break.

And then, I did the same for a completely different first draft! This one was actually already written but it just didn't work. I seriously considered giving up on it, was ready to shelf it... but then inspiration struck, I cut the story in half, and pretty much rewrote it. I even completed several revision rounds! The story is now 2,718 words and ready for the final read-thru.

I'm REALLY excited about this burst of inspiration and hope it continues. 😊

Asides from staying up late, sleeping in, playing ACNH, going for walks when the weather allows, we've also been watching movies: Dust Bunny (whimsical and cozy monster tale), Bring Her Back (bleak and traumatic cautionary tale), Predator: Badlands (excellent found-family adventure), Weapons (creepy intriguing mystery), and Fantastic Four: First Steps (terrible pro-life propaganda).

We've got another week off. Yay.

Have an awesome week!