Vengefully Yours by J Rose Black is a collection of short mystery and thriller stories. Both the writing and the characters was good but sadly this wasn't for me.

Really enjoyed this one. Such an effortless read with characters that really leapt off the page for me. Each short story was its own world that I visited for a short while (some shorter than others),. And I was sad each time I said goodbye. I hope the author will consider expanding some of these.

thought this was going to be right up my street and these are two of the genres I read from the most. All of the stories are told from the male perspective. There was a thread of similarities throughout- generally a senators daughter and an unsuitable romantic interest.

Unfortunately, I found very few of the characters loveable and didn't really understand why the romances were a thing. I didn't know if the stories were actually interlinked because so many of the stories had a similar plot line. The two that have stuck in my mind since reading are Stark Homecoming and Behind the 8 ball. I felt the characters in these two stories had more depth to them and I was genuinely interested to read about them.

Something I found quite frustrating with this collection is that every story had flashbacks to the past, and the timings jumped around a lot. I can understand what the author was trying to do: short stories and wanting to give a back story to characters must be challenging to do successfully. However, time jumps within stories are something that I find frustrating.

A mashup of different romance tales. Meh. It was okay. Some I loved, others I didn’t. I honestly wish this had been a full length following one couple. Would’ve been better.

What the actual fuck! Are you kidding me? I finished the 1st short story way too fast and I wanted more!! I wanted more of all the stories. Truly enjoyed this book. Vengefully Yours is 6 short stories packed into one book! Buckle up and get ready to jump into them!

Angel of La Seine:

This story is based in 1937 Los Angeles when Hero and his partner take on a job from Charles Marquis. Hero did a two year sentence and moved to Los Angeles from Chicago to start a new life. Little does Hero know that Marquis is going to ask him for a favor the moment he’s distracted by a beautiful goddess. When it ended, all I wanted was for this story to continue! My head is spinning of all the possible ways this story could play out.


In the dead of the night:

Rye is following Larissa as she’s walking alone back to the townhome he provided her. He’s been keeping a watchful eye over her for 6 years making sure she was protected. When Larissa sees Rye, she says that she knows him. She recognizes him but doesn’t know exactly who he is or why he was following her. They shared a passionate kiss and she asked how did he know her name. Again, I wish this story could have continued! I think they would be great together.


Behind the 8 ball:

Former navy seal Mac, was out having a fun time playing pool when Aurelie, the senator’s daughter, found him. She needs his help but will he go back down that road?

He met her 4 years ago when she walked into his auto shop searching for help. Which resulted in them sharing dinner at the beach. Even though she was the senator’s daughter she did things like continue to eat dinners on the beach with him, stop by the shop and spent the night at his place.


Stark homecoming:

Stellan, an assassin, met a girl, Verity, 10 years ago and she hasn’t left his mind since. He talks about her in his therapy sessions. When he’s on a mission, he’s distracted because he knows that she’s there. He was sent to her school for a mission and ended up getting close to her instead. Falling for her.


The nightmare: United Kingdom

Maxen used to be a Marine. He’s on a mission with Aveline, his lover, to track down a murderer. She remembers the place they were at being where her dad has took her before.


A fool to hold you

In 1948 Los Angeles, Joe is a detective who crashes a party and says he’s with Anne to get in. Little does Anne know by accepting his entry to the party that he would have some upsetting news for her.

She was the daughter of a crime boss but ended up falling in love with a detective while she was suppose to be married off to someone else.


Thank you to NetGalley for the EARC! As always, my review is my opinion and thoughts.

It felt like they were excerpts of books instead of short stories. I loved the idea of some them but they feel awfully short and a bit confusing to follow sometimes.

This book is a collection of three short stories, each surrounding different people with various backgrounds and interests and explores their relationships.

Other than the insane chemistry and the connections between the main characters and their love interests, I found this book extremely well written, with each story having its own descriptive imagery that almost brings the scene to life for the reader. I found myself really enjoying this book and found that despite the short length of this book, it was extremely fun and engaging to read, and really checked off the “enemies to lovers” tab in every single story.

If the author chooses to take these skills into a longer story entirely, I would DEFINITELY want to read that book.

Overall, I found the pacing, the tone, and the general atmosphere of this book to be very enthralling and believe that this just added to the sense of forbidden romance between the characters.

Love how every story had a "it's only the beginning" kind of end. And the whole 1940s vibe was noir-like, with the right amount of everything!

This was a delightful read with plenty of steam, the right amount of danger, and a fantastic romance. Could not put it down.