Under the Milky Way by Jess K. Hardy [Review]

Under the Milky Way (Bluebird Basin #4) by Jess K. Hardy
Format: ebook
Source: borrowed through Kindle Unlimited
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Date read: April 15, 2026

Bluebird Basin
1. Come As You Are
2. Lips Like Sugar
3. Wish You Were Here
4. Under the Milky Way - Paperback | Kindle

Jess K. Hardy
| Website | Amazon |

Synopsis (Goodreads):

They came for solitude and found each other instead.

After her son leaves for college and her empty nest feels more like an abandoned tomb, single mom Hannah James escapes to a remote cabin in Balsam Ridge, Montana, hoping solitude, stargazing, and small-town quiet will help her learn how to be alone again. What she doesn’t expect? A gorgeous stranger at her cabin door wearing only a towel.

Single dad Darryn Madigan has been retreating to Balsam Ridge every Labor Day weekend for years after visiting his brother Matthew in Red Falls. He’s there to unplug, reset, and enjoy the peace of an off-grid mountain town. But everything changes when Hannah shows up with heartbreak in her honey-brown eyes, claiming the cabin is supposed to be hers.

When Darryn gives Hannah a very good reason to stay, a vacation gone wrong turns into a steamy, serendipitous connection neither of them planned. But when real life comes calling, they’ll discover that making one perfect weekend last forever takes more than chemistry. It takes courage, honesty, and a little long-distance help all the way from Bluebird Basin.

Thoughts on Under the Milky Way: There's something about those Madigan men, isn't there? Darryn is a complete sweetheart who tries to rein himself in just so he doesn't scare away the best thing that ever broke down in tears on his porch. Hannah is...well, she's a little bit of an emotional mess (understandably so) and Darryn is just the thing she doesn't know she was looking for.

No lie, that Balsam Ridge magic sure knew what it was doing when it tangled these two together.

So. Darryn is on his annual Balsam Ridge retreat. He's not looking forward to the quiet and solitude maybe as much as he usually is, but a double booked cabin takes care of that. Hannah is everything he ever dreamed of in a woman. She fits him in ways he wasn't expecting. She's heartbroken about her son moving away for college and Darryn is able to help her through that since he's had his own experience with an empty nest.

As for Hannah, she did NOT expect to find a hot man who ticks off all her boxes in the cabin she rented. He's genuine and caring and he REALLY knows how to show a lady a good time. While she thoroughly enjoyed their time together, Hannah tries to be realistic and not get too attached because all great weekend cabin romances must come to an end. Right?

As a romance-adjacent aside: KEV! That man sure knows how to distill relationship problems down to their bare bones and relate it back to those sexy, sexy books he reads. The speakerphone roundtable with him and the other couples was EVERYTHING. *thumbs up*

Platform Decay by Martha Wells [Review]

Platform Decay (The Murderbot Diaries #8) by Martha Wells
Format: hardcover
Source: purchased
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Date read: May 7, 2026

The Murderbot Diaries
1. All Systems Red
2. Artificial Condition
2.5. Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy
3. Rogue Protocol
4. Exit Strategy
4.5. Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory
5. Network Effect
6. Fugitive Telemetry
7. System Collapse
8. Platform Decay - Hardcover | Kindle

Martha Wells
| Website | Amazon |

Synopsis (Goodreads):

Having someone else support your bad decision feels kind of good.

After volunteering to run a rescue mission, Murderbot realizes that it will have to spend significant time with a bunch of humans it doesn't know.

Including human children. Ugh.

This may well call for... eye contact!

(Emotion check: Oh, for f—)

Thoughts on Platform Decay: For a construct who doesn't really like spending time around people, Murderbot sure ends up spending a lot of time around people. Saving them, specifically. This time around, it's some of Mensah's extended family who've been caught up in the corporate politics stemming from when Murderbot and its people thwarted Barish-Estranza's almost-subjugation of an entire planet of people into indentured servitude. Yeah, Murderbot really messed up their plans and they are NOT happy about it.

(To be fair, ART and various others were also involved in stopping BE, but Mensah's family seemed like an easy target, I guess. Which is ridiculous when you consider they have a SecUnit willing to go to EXTREMES to keep Mensah and her family safe.)

Murderbot and Three have a plan in motion to rescue one of Mensah's marital partners, one of Mensah's offspring, and Nanna Naja (who might actually be related to one of Mensah's marital partners, but is (regardless) considered to be like a grandmother to the brood) from a nightmarishly large space station. Let's just say this is a high priority extraction with a lot of moving parts and leave it at that.

No, I can't leave it. Because when things go sideways, Murderbot has to make an agreement to help some others off the station. As the rescue group gets larger, things get exponentially more complicated. Murderbot has to come up with plans on the fly, deal with any potential fallout from making sure its people survive, and do whatever needs to be done to keep it and its charges safe.

GOOD TIMES. (As as aside, with so many SecUnits now able to code break their governor modules, what does that mean for the future? TIME WILL TELL, I GUESS!)

Alien Tower by Honey Phillips [Review]

Alien Tower (Alien Wolf Tales #8) by Honey Phillips
Format: ebook
Source: borrowed through Kindle Unlimited
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Date read: April 14, 2026

Alien Wolf Tales
1. Big, Bad Alien
2. Alien Huntsman
3. Alien Charming
4. Cursed Alien
5. Alien Song
6. Alien's Bargain
7. Alien Awakening
8. Alien Tower - Paperback | Kindle

Related Series:
(find all the books in the series on the 1st book review)
How the Aliens Were Won
1. Borgaz

Seven Brides for Seven Alien Brothers
1. Artek

Honey Phillips
| Website | Amazon |

Synopsis (Goodreads):

The tower was never meant to keep her safe.
It was meant to keep her hidden.

Locked in a lonely tower where the jungle meets the sea, Liora has spent her entire life under the protection of a watchful AI guardian. She has never left the tower. Never met another person.

Until a massive Vultor warrior appears at her door.

Baylin came south to investigate an almost forgotten structure mentioned in an old colony record. He never expected to find a beautiful female living inside.

Curious, brave, and far too trusting, Liora is fascinated by the dangerous warrior who has suddenly entered her carefully controlled world.

But when Baylin discovers she carries a powerful secret, he must decide if he can break the tower’s hold before the world discovers she exists.

Because the moment Liora steps outside the walls… everything will change.

Thoughts on Alien Tower: Restless Vultor warrior Baylin is up and he's on a mission to find a distant tower and the mysteries it holds. As it turns out the mystery is a sweet human woman who's curious and brilliant and who's never set foot outside her tower. A woman who calls to Baylin in ways he never expected.

Liora is caught in a cage she can't see. The tower is a prison, the AI threaded through it controls every aspect of her life. She longs to see the outside world and experience life, but she's been told it's too dangerous and she's safest within the tower walls. Baylin's arrival at her tower cracks open her understanding of everything she's ever believed. His very presence has her asking questions and pushing the boundaries the AI has set for her.

Together, they begin to unravel why she's been confined to the tower and how to dismantle the walls of her prison. Which is harder than it seems because the tower is impregnable and almost indestructible and the AI keeping the doors locked is sunk into every part of the building.

A mysterious structure, an AI that is determined to carry out what it's been programmed to do, a warrior who was looking for a purpose, and a gifted woman who finds joy in everything she encounters. *thumbs up*

RtP's Week in Review (08/23/26)

Reading the Paranormal's Week in Review

• Cottonmouth by Naomi Lucas [Review] - Naga love!
• I Punched an Alien and Now We're in Couples Therapy by Kimberly Lemming [Review] -
• Titanoboa by Naomi Lucas [Review] - More naga love!
• Copperhead by Naomi Lucas [Review] - Even MORE naga love!
• The Pixie in the Pickle Jar by Hailey Edwards [Review] - Ana and Rian!
• Stuffed by my Dryad Stepbrother by Zoe Krave [Review] - Monster love!

Bookish Delights

• Books added to the pile
• None!
• Currently reading
• C is for Captive by Honey Phillips

Stuffed by the Dryad Stepbrother by Zoe Krave [Review]

Stuffed by the Dryad Stepbrother (Green World Monster Stepbrothers #4) by Zoe Krave
Format: ebook
Source: borrowed through Kindle Unlimited
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Date read: April 5, 2026

Green World Monster Stepbrothers
1. Claimed by the Orc Stepbrother
2. Knotted by the Werewolf Stepbrother
3. Taken by the Minotaur Stepbrother
4. Stuffed by the Dryad Stepbrother - Kindle
5. Caught by the Drider Stepbrother

Related Series:
(find all the books in the series on the 1st book review)
Primal Monster Stepbrothers
1. Stepbrothers of the Green World

Zoe Krave
| Amazon |

Synopsis (Goodreads):

Escaping from the dying Earth through the portals was only the beginning. To find us a safe place in the Green World, my mother married the Dryad High Elder.

My stepbrother, Thorne, is a force of nature. He is seven feet of muscle and living wood, with glowing emerald eyes that strip me bare. While other dryads are the calm of the forest, he is the storm. He watches me with a hunger that has nothing to do with family. He looks at me like a rare flower he intends to transplant into his own private garden. I tried to keep my distance, but when he decides it is time to claim what is his, escape becomes impossible. He is determined to root himself deep inside me.

Thoughts on Stuffed by the Dryad Stepbrother: Reading these out of order (because the spidery dude caught my eye first) and Thorne is a little...huh. I don't actually know how to put this. Lily very much initially wanted to escape from Thorne and everything he represented where Hallie was VERY into Arans and could freely admit it to herself before things progressed. I guess I'm trying to say that Thorne had to use the stick (*snerk*) before Lily would admit to both herself and him that she wanted exactly what he wanted.

Anywho. Lily is trying to escape the forest and her Dryad stepbrother's influence. She's convinced herself she'd be better off in a rumored human enclave, but before she reaches the borders of the Dryad land, Thorne catches up to her. And he uses her desires against her to get her to admit that she really didn't want to escape after all.

Things get physical, Lily learns just how creative Thorne can get with his ability to control the environment around him, and Lily has to come to terms with all the pent up feelings she has for her very dominant step.

The Pixie in the Pickle Jar by Hailey Edwards [Review]

The Pixie in the Pickle Jar (Groom & Doom #4) by Hailey Edwards
Format: ebook
Source: borrowed through Kindle Unlimited
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Date read: April 9, 2026

Groom & Doom
1. The Vampire in the Potting Shed
2. The Goblin in the Sink Drain
3. The Mermaid in the Shot Glass
4. The Pixie in the Pickle Jar - Kindle
5. The Ghost in the Pole Barn

Hailey Edwards
| Website | Amazon |

Synopsis (Goodreads):

Car bombs are exploding on the streets of Brentwood, and it’s only a matter of time before someone gets caught in the blast. Add to that a rash of poisonings that leaves several Walshes incapacitated, and the clan is more vulnerable than ever. And that’s before you take into consideration that Mercer Bates now rules the Sartori pack.

There’s also the small fact Carmichael is still out there, no doubt plotting his revenge. He might no longer be an alpha, but he’s still a threat, and Ana is his number one target. To eliminate the danger he poses to her new life, she’ll have to track him down. But she’s not the only predator on the hunt, and silver or not, her claws might not be the sharpest this time.

Thoughts on The Pixie in the Pickle Jar: Ana has dealt with a lot and the end isn't quite in sight yet. Her number one issue at the moment is putting a stop to Carmichael's claim on her and cutting off the threat of her being used against the Walshes. Well, that and the car bombs and the poisonings. I mean, all those are important. But until they figure out what to do about Carmichael, Ana needs to keep the bond between them intact so she can track him.

Which is risky and dangerous all all sorts of other things that are probably making Rian's hair stand on end. But he's wise enough to realize he needs to give Ana the space to make her own choices after she'd been punched down for so long. (Still, the guy is dealing with things, you know. THINGS.)

Meanwhile, there are those car bombs. And the poisonings. And Ana beginning to fledge into her dragon-ish nature. We have some closure on a few things and a few dangling threads that are leading us to the finale. THINGS ARE HAPPENING and I'm super excited about it!

Copperhead by Naomi Lucas [Review]

Copperhead (Naga Brides #8) by Naomi Lucas
Format: paperback
Source: purchased
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Date read: April 12, 2026

Naga Brides
1. Viper
2. King Cobra
3. Blue Coral
4. Death Adder
5. Boomslang
6. Cottonmouth
7. Titanoboa
8. Copperhead - Paperback | Kindle
9. Black Mamba

Naomi Lucas
|Website | Amazon|

Synopsis (Goodreads):

I do not want a bride. They are difficult to protect. And those males who are mated have homes—clans. I have neither.

My nest was destroyed. My territory usurped, and it is her peoples’ fault.

Julia’s. The unmated female soldier within Zaku’s home.

But when I discover nagas have arrived from across the land, and that she is going to choose one to help her get back to her people, I am unsettled by what she offers in return...

Then hundreds of ships arrive.

With the landscape changing, and the tides shifting, I must leave to find out what is going on.

Except I am not alone. Julia will come with me.

Because I do not want her to be with another. I refuse to imagine it. Even if the forest is dangerous, and it is entirely up to me to keep her safe, I will take her with me.

But what if there is no safer place for her than in my arms?

Thoughts on Copperhead: Oh my goodness. Krellix and Julia fought against the thing they had. Not by choice, mind you, but because they're both a little guarded (they play their cards SERIOUSLY close to the vest) and don't want to force a situation they didn't think the other wanted. There were other reasons, too. Ones I totally got. Krellix was still grieving the loss of his clan and his nest and didn't think it was fair to bond with Julia (or anyone!) when he had nothing to offer her. Julia was in something of the same boat. She'd been betrayed by her squadron and abandoned, but she was still going through the mental motions of being a soldier. She didn't want to form attachments because she saw her future on the front line of the war against the Ketts. Plus, the naga she was most drawn to was one that didn't seem interested.

Joke's on her, though, because Krellix was VERY interested. But since these two had some difficulties actually communicating with one another (not literally, they just didn't talk things out), they kept dancing around one another until they finally broke and convinced themselves that a few nights together would be enough.

Guys. GUYS. Nagas are not good at letting go. They're territorial about a lot of things and their special someone is TOP of that list. Krellix might *think* he can walk away (and he does everything he can to make it happen), but he's still heavily invested in Julia's safety. He wants her protected and he thinks the best place for that is within a human encampment, but the big guy is still out there. Making sure she's safe.

Things are happening on the Dreadnaut survivor front. There are hidden labs and baby nagas and THINGS happening. The humans are back on Earth (not by choice, but they are definitely back) and they have to figure out how to make things work with the new dominant species if they hope to continue surviving. MAN, I like this series!