Book Review BLUSH & BLOOM Helen Hardt

Thank you to the author Helen Hardt, publishers Entangle: Amara Press, and TLC Book Tours, for an advance paperback copy of THE WITCH HITCH. Thank you also to NetGalley for an accompanying widget. All views are mine.

𝘈𝘷𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘕𝘰𝘸!



When I was invited to read BLOOM, Helen Hardt's follow up to BLUSH, I said absolutely, yes, I mean, have you seen these covers? They are gorgeous! I asked to read BLUSH first, so I could see where the story started  and I went in completely blind. I like surprises.

And wow was I surprised. BLUSH is a deeply personal story of Amanda, a successful but lonely young woman, who discovers her place among an underground S&M community, and falls in love with the perfect partner for her. I was impressed with the beauty of the prose here, and how sensuous the spicy scenes are. I think this book is an example of how fine smut can be: a good story and perfect spice.

BLOOM was not such a surprise, of course, and I don't think I enjoyed it as much for that. I love that the main protagonist is an old friend from BLUSH-- Amanda's sister, Francesca, recently broken up from her fiance, just before their wedding. It creates wonderful tension in the story. Again, I think the story in BLOOM is great, which elevates this piece in its genre. Very spicy again, although I didn't connect as much with the kink in this book.

I'm so excited to read the last book in the series, BLOSSOM, due out January 24. Honestly, I'm totally sold on the series. And I'm not typically a series girl! But this is really good work!

Blush:
Cover: 5
Character Work: 4.5
Story: 4
Settings / World Work: 3.5
Ending: 4
Steam: 5
Rating: 4.33

Bloom:
Cover: 5
Character Work: 4
Story: 3.8
Settings / World Work: 3.5
Ending: 4
Steam: 4.3
Rating: 4.26

Recommend? Definitely!
Dates finished: July 27 (Blush) and 28 (Bloom)
Format: Advance Digital Copy (NetGalley) and Paperback (TLC Book Tours)

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