**ARC provided by NetGalley for an Honest Unbiased Review**
I wasn't really sure how I felt about this book until the end. As someone who normally hates cliffhangers I gotta say this one certainly left me wanting more and suddenly caring more about the characters than I had before. The heroine throughout was just not all that likable for me and a lot of that had to do with her childlike behavior and mentality. I get that she's like that because of such a messed up and unnatural childhood but she just irked me. At first she took everything in stride and then suddenly everything was a all out fit and I just wanted everyone to sit down like adults and hash it all out.
I loved some of the originality in the book particularly about the rocks. In the heroines case magical rubies. They literally grow our of supernatural people's bodies and that's just not something I've ever read before. It was interesting and at times I felt like something in the supernatural world felt new and unexplored after years of the same old thing. The end also really sets up the stage for the next book as we finally have a handle on the heroines three men now. One isn't just being a cagey d*ck because he hates her, no there's much more going on than meets the eye. Of course now that two are ready to man up and state their feelings life has to throw a wrench in their plans and put a halt to any furthering of their bond. And dammit I need to know what happens and how things resolve. I'm hoping the heroine also grows up a bit or at least some of the amateurish writing will change and not leave me feeling so irritated and exhausted like dealing with a teen after a blowout. No matter, I'm invested now and need to know what happens next!

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for honest review.

Ruined by Rubies was an easy book to devour. It did start off kind of slowly (for me) because the first ten chapters just had so much information to digest. After that, things sailed by more smoothly and I was inching closer and closer to the last page.

In it, you will meet Tempe. Now she isn't happy with how her life is like but the day that everything changes? Well, it's safe to assume that she isn't a happy camper with this either. It's okay though because she can look at some pretty handsome men - Beau, Dev, and Asa. Of course, there's bound to be drama and tension between these four. I'll admit that it was annoying at time because I just wanted the bond to freaking happen. It never did.

Now after that cliffhanger of an ending? I'm only assuming the worst out of someone and I'm not happy. I definitely need to dive into the next book to see if I will get some redemption. Maybe? Not sure. I just want a reunion, death, and revenge. Not much if you think about it.

Ah, this book can't just end like that! This was a fun read, I was intrigued with Tempe's odd father and the creature that seemed to be following her. We quickly jump into the paranormal, learning about other races of magical beings and that Tempe is more than human. I thought the pacing was very quick and there was a good amount of drama and action.

Tempe is a friendly girl who's been isolated most of her life. She's excited to meet family she never knew and took the news of magic pretty well. I liked her connection with Beau and Dev, the way they're drawn to each other. I can't wait for the harem to form, but we need to figure out what's going on with her third guy Asa. I also loved Tempe's new best friend Meghan, she's sweet and took Tempe under her wing right away.

There are several mysteries we haven't gotten answers to and the ending is a total cliffhanger. I'll be on the lookout for the next book!

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. Thank you to Valentine PR & Literary Management and NetGalley for the copy.

I did not realize this was about a polyamorous relationship. I assumed it might be a love triangle. Had I known it was polyamory, I probably wouldn't have picked this one up. It's just not my thing. But I know some people are into that so I'm not scoring low because of that. I'm scoring low because this book a FULL of grammatical errors. So many it makes it hard to read sometimes. I'm also scoring low because it needed more character development. I'm all for an imperfect character, but I really want to get into her head to get to know her and all her flaws. But that doesn't happen with Tempe. Instead she just comes off as annoying and childish.

I enjoyed this book! Some great world building for a new author.

There is definitely a lot of evolution with the FMC, Tempe, from beginning to end. Sometimes I wasn’t sure if her moods fit her exactly, especially some drastic mood/personality changes, but I feel like a lot was settled at the end. She seemed to be adapting into the situation she was thrown into.

I would have liked to know a bit more about her potential men, some of their history was introduced but still a lot of mystery. I did appreciate their POVs, I think they gave a lot of insight but some did feel fairly superficial. Obviously the first book is more of an introduction to characters etc but I feel like it was much more about information than connecting with them at times.

That being said, there is a lot of information within this book. This is nice because the world is new to both us and the FMC. If we are overwhelmed with information, I’m sure she felt that way as well. We did get a lot of information about the world and most was explained fairly well. I think what we needed a bit more information on were the relationships between characters and their pasts.

Also, the pacing of this book would sometimes go from slow to pretty fast (like a few weeks). I know that is sometimes annoying but I liked that some of it showed that real time had passed for relationships to develop. Would have liked to see some of that relationship building though.

Overall, I think the world building of this book was really interesting and it did end on a cliffhanger. I will be checking out the second book to see where the series leads and hopefully there will be a bit more character development and focus.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of the book to review. This review is my own opinion.

DNF @25%. This book is badly in need of both a proofreader and an editor. There might be a good story in there, but it needs work.

I received a copy of Ruined by Rubies (The Lapidi Magia Series, Book #1) by Jay Leigh Brown from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This novel was okay, but not something I would read again or recommend. I simply was not engaged from start to finish. The summary was interesting and the writing was not bad, but the pacing was uneven, the plot needed to be tightened up, and the characters were rather bland and one dimensional.

Just wasn’t for me.