Highest Bidder Collection by Lauren Landish and Willow Winders
3.59 out of 5 Stars
Okay, so it's been a minute since I wrote a review, so... give me a minute, lol. :) Plus, on top of that, this is a review of a collection. Chaos may ensue. The whole thing will be Spoiler Free however, so if you're curious about them, you're safe from anything being ruined.
This four book collection contains stories that could be standalones, but they have common characters which, for me, means I tend to enjoy reading all of them in publication order as they reference prior things later on.
They are ALL dark romances with BDSM and some other pretty heavy themes. They also all have typos (only one or two and nothing major), so if you're absolutely unable to get over those, don't engage and bring the vibes down because of that tiny detail.
TW: SA
** Continue below if you are okay with that TW **
3.72 out of 5 Stars (Second favorite for me)
Dahlia is a young professional looking for some extra money to get her through a tight period and Lucian is struggling to get over his hang-ups with having a new sub after his relationship with his wife ended disastrously. She is introduced to Club X, where rich dudes and women members can safely indulge in their fantasies, and early in the book gets into a relationship with Lucian. I really liked them together! Dahlia's character development was shaky, which bothered me a bit, and overall I wish the story was longer, but on the whole it was very enjoyable. (Side note: All the books were short and could have used more plot development.)
I need to strongly preference something at this point -- and this applies to all of the mini-reviews: I am not a psychologist or mental health professional or any other kind of medical professional, so I may be completely off the mark here. But, what I really appreciated in this book especially is how Dahlia's past of SA is not brushed off. Furthermore, it's something that becomes part of the relationship she has with Lucian and he wants to help her heal from her experience and achieve the goals that she has set for herself in the healing process. I just really appreciate that because it isn't treated like a drama-enhancer or is reductive. Their story explores some of the nuance of how a past experience affects a present experience and how the present can help heal the past, which not every story does.
Sold (Katia x Isaac)
3.5 out of 5 Stars (Third favorite for me)
Katia is simply trying to build a normal life for herself after surviving a worst-nightmare history and she captures Isaac's attention when she goes to Club X. They really fit each other's needs and Isaac's goal also becomes to give Katia what she needs to process and heal. The best part about Isaac is that he's suuuuuper protective of Katia. But, I actually think I liked Isaac the least of all the MMCs though. I just didn't entirely like his attitude or his approach to the FMC. It's not like he's an asshole per say, but it just wasn't for me. Katia was a pretty good character, but also a bit plain? I'm not quite sure how else to describe it, other than it seemed like she was kind of just filling in the role of FMC.
3.26 out of 5 Stars (Least favorite for me)
Lilly is completely new to the BDSM lifestyle, but from watching and taking her time to learn everything, she is ready to explore that side of herself and has a good idea of what she wants. Joseph on the other hand, knows exactly what he needs and, like a good one, gives Lilly room she needs to explore what she wants and is ready for her when she decides to make that leap. However, his past comes knocking and throws a deep wrench in their happiness that he needs to sort out.
Lilly is the only FMC of these four books that doesn't have a history of some sort of SA. I'm not mentioning that because I think it adds or takes away from the story, but because in case someone is looking for one of these without the trigger warning, it's this one.
The reason why this one is my least favorite is simply because I felt like it was the one with the most potential for development, and it actually had I think the least amount. When you're loving something so much, you want it to be done well! And then when it falls short, it is the most frustrating thing in the world. Compared to Katia and Isaac, I liked Lilly and Joseph's relationship way more, but I feel like they weren't done justice, so I can't rank this book above the others. Like, Lilly's subplot alone could have been woven in so much better and used to heighten their dynamic, but... *sigh*.
3.88 out of 5 Stars (Favorite for me)
Arianna has a shitty POS abusive partner at the beginning of the book. He's manipulative, and gaslights, and is a definition of bad BDSM etiquette. I can go on a full rant, but I won't because this review is small. Zander (not the POS) is one of those MMCs where he portrays himself to the world one way, but then really he's super intense and people who know him know not to mess with him. I LOVE characters like that. Zander actually from the get-go has issues with Arianna's POS partner due to business beef, and it becomes part of the reason why the two get together. From there, there is a sort of dance between these three characters as business gets dealt with, the relationship between Zander and Arianna grows, and tensions with the POS relationship explode.
One of the things that I really loved about this book wasn't just the dynamic between Arianna and Zander, but was how there is a clear moment where Zander realizes what has been happening between Arianna and Danny and is like, "Hell no, this is not okay and will never happen again." Which, I would like to think that a man stepping up to protect someone is a low bar, but maybe it isn't anymore because I'm totally obsessed with this moment that Zander has. We love to see it. :)
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I forgot how much I love doing these reviews! They're a bit of brain-work as well when I'm not absolutely fangirling over a title, but still worth it.
Thanks for reading!
(And I guess welcome back??)
For me, I honestly only have a small few that I'm going to share. I feel like the online conversations around books have exploded and there are simply too many things to keep track of at the moment, and far too many opportunities to be led astray. So I'm going into this new year of books mostly curious, and simply open to whatever may fall onto my lap. What's "popular" or "outrageous" or anything else...? I find it hard to take some of these collective judgements at face value anymore so I'm blocking out a lot of that noise. These are the small few that I have read the descriptions of (or in the JLA case, simply love her) and I am looking forward to reading when they come out. 
Our Infinite Fates by Laura Steven
