Minor spoilers ahead!

It’s time! I finally got out of my reading slump, only to be put back into it with how much I loved this book. Initially, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to read this book because I had heard mixed things about it. However, I saw it on my TikTok again, so I thought, “Why not?” and boy, this book did not disappoint. I was attracted to it because the plot point was all about figure skating, and as a beginner figure skater myself, I instantly fell in love with it. One of the things I saw in many reviews was how this book was the slowest of all slow burns. Usually, this would put me off a book, but with all the tension and gradual relationship building, it made sure that the enemies to lovers were not entirely out of the blue and made sense. When reading other reviews, apart from people complaining about how slow the relationship building was, people also suggested that the relationship between Ivan and Jasmine in the last 10% of the book didn’t seem authentic, and the sudden shift from friends to lovers didn’t make sense to them. While I can see this point of view, it doesn’t matter because I have gathered from reading the book that Ivan has always loved Jasmine. So, for him, there wasn’t a change in his feelings. I can understand Jasmine’s change of heart, but while the relationship change was quick, I didn’t necessarily think it was done poorly.

Cora Reilly has done it again! I am a massive fan of the Born in Blood series, those I’ve read so far, and this book has followed in the footsteps of its predecessors. Bound by Vengeance follows the relationship between Growl and Cara, who are both part of the Camorra, the Las Vegas-run mafia. At a social event, we start with Cara being the typical mafia princess, prim and proper. Here, we first see Growl lurking in the corner. As with most books with a love interest, Cara and Growl lock eyes with each other and cannot look away; they even get a small moment alone together! The twist comes not long after this when we find out that Cara’s father, an underboss, has betrayed the capo and is killed; Cara is then gifted to Growl as a punishment for her father’s crimes. However, we find out that Growl has started to develop a soft spot for Cara, so he never harms her physically. The story then follows the ups and downs of Mafia life. Cara, who is now so angry at what has been done to her family, will stop at nothing to get revenge for her father’s death and her family’s hostage situation. To get this revenge, she manages to convince Growl to help her and take out the other people who have harmed him in his life, too.

Please read trigger warnings before choosing this book!

Minor spoilers!

With the official halfway mark of the year approaching, I have decided to give you all a rundown of my top books for each month. There have been many ups and downs with the books I have read this year, and they are all mostly 4–star reads, so hopefully, one of these next five books will have something for everyone.

As you have probably seen, I've been doing fewer book reviews recently, and the reason for that would be that King of Wrath has put me in a reading slump because it was so good. However, that doesn’t mean I won’t be creating content for all of you. Today, I will give you the list of my favourite book boyfriends from the books I have read so far, so don’t worry if I haven’t said your favourite boyfriends; it is probably because I haven’t read them yet.