by Penny Angeles-Tan | May 2, 2023 | Book Reviews
Twin Alpha Kings Pup Mate by Platinumstar is a wonderful “coming of age” shifter romance story between a young girl who loves all things Disney and who grows up to become the mate of the twin Alpha Kings.
Jayden and Kayden are in their late 20s when they meet Kiara “aka Kiki” Middleton, their mate. Unfortunately, she is only 9 years old and is, therefore, too young to feel the mate bond. Nevertheless, she feels strongly drawn to the twin kings who decide to find a way to keep her close so that they could be with her as she grows up. This paved the way for a wonderful friendship that will later segue into all parties realizing they are mates when Kiara turns 18.
I loved how the author did not rush through Kiara’s childhood. We, the readers, get to watch/read her grow up before our eyes and it is wonderful! It is organic and doing it this way eliminates possible questions that may have arisen about her relationship with her best friend and other people around her.
It is not until Chapter 44 that the author makes her 17, 2 weeks before her 18th birthday, so we know we are THIS CLOSE to seeing her recognize the mate bond and I have been on tenterhooks!
Pro: This story is really, really, really good! Con: The author has not updated this story for quite some time. Admittedly, it only really bothers me because I zoomed through the chapters in less than 2 days … that’s how good the story is! I understand, though, that aside from having several books to update, Author Platinumstar does have a life outside of writing. Whether we like it or not, we just need to accept our beloved author is human, as are we, and can only do so much while maintaining her health and relationships with people outside of the literary world.
I am truly lovin’ Twin Alpha Kings Pup Mate by Platinumstar and I look forward to receiving an alert on a story update on Goodnovel. If you guys are looking for something different and refreshing, do check this story out! I highly recommend it. The innocence of the story is so wonderfully refreshing.
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Apr 26, 2023 | Book Reviews
Single Dad’s Surrogate by Krista Lakes is a book I encountered when checking out the books on sale during Goodnovel’s 3rd birthday bash. Money (and Goodnovel coins) well-spent!
Wyatt is a widower. His wife, Caroline passed away a year ago from cancer. When they were newly wed they discovered that because of her cancer treatment, Caroline would not be able to have a child. Thus Caroline and Wyatt decided to go for surrogacy.
Lily is the surrogate they chose 5 years ago. Her one condition to agree was that she be allowed to remain in the child’s life and they agreed immediately. In all that time she was loved and treated like family. Maggie, their daughter, even calls her Aunt Wiwee.
Wyatt’s housekeeper, Mildred is leaving for vacation for 10 days. Because he knows how much his daughter, Maggie, loves Lily he came up with the idea of asking her to be Maggie’s temporary nanny while Mildred is not around. With pay, of course. He even offered to add $100 compensation to each of Lily’s workmates who will cover her shift at the coffee shop.
Lily loves Maggie with all her heart and would have done it for free if not for the bills she still needed to settle. She immediately agreed and made arrangements at work. It didn’t hurt that she would get to feast her eyes on the object of her affection and the star of her wet dreams.
What I love about this story is that it is so organic … it is believable and possible. It does not feel forced. The fact that Wyatt is a billionaire is incidental even. The mansion, the private playground, the pool, the Lamborghini, etc. are just indicators of his wealth. He could have been a fairly well-off man living in a condo and the story would have still unfolded the same way.
There is no great conflict in the story other than the ghost of Caroline … only as this prevented Wyatt and Lily from getting together sooner because of guilt. It wasn’t until they both felt that Caroline would be okay with them being in a relationship that they are even able to be together.
I mentioned that I found this book on Goodnovel. Happily, it is also on Amazon, so those of you who don’t want to pay per chapter can get it there for 4.99. Strangely, when I checked Goodreads for this book it turned up but appears under a different author! Same title, the same preview, and the same book cover. In Goodreads, Single Dad’s Surrogate is credited to Cassandra Zara and Annie Young. So who is the real author?
Nevertheless, I have a feeling you will enjoy this book as much as I have. Do check it out!
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Apr 16, 2023 | Book Reviews
I don’t know how it happened but Rise to Ultimate Power: The Great Awesome Power System by Strange Pen was recommended to me by Goodnovel and out of curiosity I opened it and started reading. It isn’t the usual kind of story I read on Goodnovel but when I checked “About the Book” I saw that it was just 74 chapters (so far) so decided to give it a shot.
Quick backgrounder, Harvey is poor and because of it, his peers ridicule him and his girlfriend dumped him for her ex who had more money than he. Not too long after he hears a voice in his head that tells him he has a windfall of several million and it tells him to complete tasks to receive rewards.
This voice in his head is called The System. How it got in his head is not explained. The way The System seems to work is through a rewards system where he does tasks and is given different things. Sometimes it is more money, company shares, and even skills he never had before. It almost gives me that Matrix feel, without having to choose between the red or blue pill.
So far I am 19 chapters in and all he has done is good. He helped his family and the police. I’m invested in the story because I’m curious about just how much he will level up. A love interest would be incidental, as far as I am concerned.
It is not a romance. At least, it hasn’t been 19 chapters in. I would probably classify it as a “coming of age” kinda story even though Goodnovel classified it as “system”.
Here I am posting this review and, of course, I intend to share the link to the story on Goodnovel where I am reading it. The funny thing is … when I try to search for the book using the search feature it says the book does not exist! It is already in my library but it is not searchable. Also, for some reason, the book is currently being promoted.
This does not compute. How am I reading the book and where is my payment going if it does not exist?
If you are unable to find the book on Goodnovel, you can also read it on Meganovel. Interestingly, when I opened the book cover on Meganovel on another tab, the favicon indicates that it is pointing to an image hosted in the Goodnovel server. Are Goodnovel and Meganovel related perhaps? Curiouser and curiouser!
Side comment/s:
- I find the title very juvenile. the first part made sense, but the second part … it made me think that the author is probably a teenager
- The book cover is also very juvenile and does not really match the way the character is portrayed in the story. It is hard to believe that that boy on the cover is 19.
- The author cannot make up his/her/their mind if the main character’s name is Harvey or Melvin. Sometimes his last name is Weinstein and other times it is Reed.
- The author keeps messing up his/her/their pronouns.
- Often the author uses a term that does not make sense, but probably closely resembles the word he/she/they want to use. As the reader, you should be able to grasp it in context.
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Apr 3, 2023 | Book Reviews
I have not given up hope on The Revenge of a Rejected Mate by Pure Ink because the story has a lot of potential. However, 48 chapters in, and, as a copy editor, I am getting more and more frustrated as I read on because it does not seem as though the author is keeping track of what he/she/they have previously said. At times, in the middle of the chapter, character names change or the story goes in a different direction.
Sometimes it takes too long to get to a critical point and other times it feels like we are suddenly just there and the journey was skipped and the characters moved forward several chapters without letting us know. In addition, there are just too many antagonists and the characters are weak.
Kaden, the Lycan King, is indecisive when it comes to Audrey and he seems to have difficulty compartmentalizing. Despite being supposedly mated and in love with Audrey, he still has a mistress, Shantel, who he supposedly got pregnant with. He is also constantly seeking advice from his Beta, Adler, about all things, including his love life.
Audrey is an Alpha’s daughter and an Omega who became a slave. For most of the book starting from chapter 1, she has suffered many hardships, both physical and emotional. As we progress we see her manifesting un-wolflike abilities such as telekinesis, prophetic dreams, and her hands glow. Every time something unusual happens to her she runs to Kaden to tell him about it and something unforeseen always happens.
The Revenge of a Rejected Mate by Pure Ink is on Goodnovel so it is pay-per-chapter. I have to ask myself, if I am wasting my money or if I should read on and give this a chance since, with editing, it has the potential to be really good. If the author gets a chance to read this review, I hope they consider asking me to be their copy editor. Together we can make this better.
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Mar 23, 2023 | Book Reviews
I opened Me, My Mate, and His Human Girlfriend by Annietroup1 on Goodnovel despite heavy reservations just to give the author a chance. From the title, I was assuming this is either a rejection story or a menage. Early heads up, it is (apparently) neither.
I like giving new stories and authors I encounter a chance. I actually recall adding this book to my library a while back but never got around to properly reading it because the first chapter did not engage me. To be honest, usually if the first chapter bombs, there is very little hope for me to like the succeeding chapters any better. To give the author the benefit of the doubt I decided to revisit it and read on.
First, the premise … Amanda (Mandy) is 19 and this is her 3rd year looking for her mate so she was not optimistic. At the party, she discovers that her mate is Alpha Mason and she immediately “nods her head no” (this tells me the author is Asian because in other cultures a nod means yes). It is common knowledge that Mason has a human girlfriend of long-standing (10 years) and has openly stated that he would not be leaving her for his mate.
Despite that, he still insists on taking her back to his pack. She rejects him but he does not reject her back saying that doing so will make him weak. In addition, he hides her away in the east wing of his house, isolated from everyone, and goes on with his life as if she was not there. The only change being he visits her every night to talk to her since his wolf insists.
In the meantime, he still maintains a physical relationship with his girlfriend every night which causes Mandy excruciating pain, needing the intervention of the pack doctor every night. Mandy is angry, infuriated even. After a bout of violence (against any object in her sight) she slowly degenerates. it takes her FIVE YEARS OF SUFFERING to finally decide to just end her life.
FIVE FUCKING YEARS!!! She allowed Mason to hurt her intentionally every day and it took her FIVE YEARS to realize that killing herself was the best thing to do since she can’t get help from anyone else. And when she does and is spotted by the doctor who then rushes to the hospital bleeding that is the only time that Mason realizes what a dickhead he is … after he intentionally (and I mean, told her to her face that was exactly what he was going to do) hurt her by having sex with his human girlfriend that entire time.
It takes Mandy almost dying for him to decide to dump his girlfriend of 15 years now to be with his mate. WHERE IS HIS BACKBONE?!? If he truly loved his girlfriend that much he should have rejected Mandy from the start and marked the human, not made Mandy suffer for FIVE FUCKING YEARS! If he believed that the Moon Goddess knew best then he should have done that mind wipe thing to the human and be with Mandy from day 1 of finding her.
So far, I have read all the free chapters and bought a few (I am now on chapter 9) and I am most definitely NOT liking this story. Both male and female lead characters are idiots and their story should not be told. Also, I am unhappy with the author’s grammar. Girl, hire a copy editor, PLEASE! Stat!
If despite my thumbs-down review you are still curious and want to get tortured for yourself (hyuk!) you can find Me, My Mate, and His Human Girlfriend by Annietroup1 on Wattpad and Goodnovel. Fyi, I rarely give an outright thumbs down so this should tell you how much this book angered me.
Single Dad’s Surrogate by Krista Lakes is a book I encountered when checking out the books on sale during Goodnovel’s 3rd birthday bash. Money (and Goodnovel coins) well-spent!
I mentioned that I found this book on 
I don’t know how it happened but Rise to Ultimate Power: The Great Awesome Power System by Strange Pen was recommended to me by Goodnovel and out of curiosity I opened it and started reading. It isn’t the usual kind of story I read on Goodnovel but when I checked “About the Book” I saw that it was just 74 chapters (so far) so decided to give it a shot.
Here I am posting this review and, of course, I intend to share the link to the story on Goodnovel where I am reading it. The funny thing is … when I try to search for the book using the search feature it says 
Sometimes it takes too long to get to a critical point and other times it feels like we are suddenly just there and the journey was skipped and the characters moved forward several chapters without letting us know. In addition, there are just too many antagonists and the characters are weak.
I opened Me, My Mate, and His Human Girlfriend by Annietroup1 on Goodnovel despite heavy reservations just to give the author a chance. From the title, I was assuming this is either a rejection story or a menage. Early heads up, it is (apparently) neither.
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