Reviews by Grade: B+
Book Review

The Love Remedy by Elizabeth Everett

The Love Remedy

This book gave my emotions a workout in the best way. Aside from a slightly disappointing ending, it was a delight! Lucy Peterson is an apothecary in London in 1843. She inherited the shop from her father when her parents died in a cholera outbreak. Lucy has two siblings, Juliet and David. Juliet is an apothecary at a women’s clinic in the East End while David seems to flit from investment to investment losing money. … Continue reading The Love Remedy by Elizabeth Everett

Book Review

My Brother’s Keeper by Tim Powers

My Brother’s Keeper

Y’all know I love my Brontës and I get so annoyed when either adaptations of their work or stories based on their lives get EVERYTHING WRONG, DAMMIT. My Brother’s Keeper is an eerie story involving the Brontë family, werewolves, and warring cults, and, darn it, it gets everything just absolutely perfect. I was so impressed with this book even though the whole warring cults thing was the least interesting thing about it. I’m copying the … Continue reading My Brother’s Keeper by Tim Powers

Book Review

At First Spite by Olivia Dade

At First Spite

This is my first Olivia Dade novel and it certainly won’t be my last. It was emotional, grown-up and absolutely compulsive reading. Athena has no direction in life. When the book opens, she’s working as a teacher an hour and a half away from Harlot’s Bay, the setting of the novel. She’s burnt out and really not sure what to do next careerwise. Her distress is particularly acute because at the age of 37, she … Continue reading At First Spite by Olivia Dade

Book Review

The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch by Melinda Taub

The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch

This was simply delightful. I’ve always wished for Lydia Bennet and Mary Crawford to run away together and be pirate queens. This is not that book – but it’s the next best thing. Told from Lydia’s point of view, the book posits that Lydia is a witch and that her sister, Kitty, is in fact a cat and Lydia’s familiar. In a world of secret magic where every spell has a cost, Lydia must figure … Continue reading The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch by Melinda Taub

Book Review

Bride by Ali Hazelwood

Bride

I enjoyed Bride so much that I might put it on the keeper shelf. It’s the first book I’ve read by Ali Hazelwood, so I can’t tell you how it compares to her other work. But I can tell you that while Bride isn’t perfect, it’s a fun, though violent, paranormal romance between a mysterious brooding werewolf leader and a deeply sarcastic vampyre. The narrator of the book is the sarcastic vampyre whose name, I … Continue reading Bride by Ali Hazelwood

Book Review

Throne of the Fallen by Kerri Maniscalco

Throne of the Fallen

CW: Graphic violence, blackmail, sexual harassment, and mind control If I had to pick one word to describe Throne of the Fallen, it would be ✨ decadent ✨. A second choice would be indulgent. It has the seven deadly sins in corporeal form, a journey through a seductive fantasy world, and it’s incredibly horny. It also reminded me delightfully of early 2000s paranormal romances, with its borderline corny details and powerful supernatural hero and plenty … Continue reading Throne of the Fallen by Kerri Maniscalco

Book Review

Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner

Cleat Cute

I had a crappy, stressful week and I was tired and I don’t care about soccer AND YET I found Cleat Cute to be delightful. Honestly if this book worked for me on this particular week it ought to work for anybody. This Grumpy/Sunshine f/f romance has clear traces to Ted Lasso but not so many as to feel derivative. It’s just a really nice story about two decent human beings falling in love. Grace … Continue reading Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner

Book Review

The Witchwood Knot by Olivia Atwater

The Witchwood Knot

CW: In the author’s words: ‘mild, non-graphic sexual harassment of both a female employee and a child’ More on that in the review though. I hadn’t intended on reviewing this book. I absolutely devoured Half a Soul and this book was set in the same world, so I planned a few happy evenings of returning to that world. Perhaps my memories of Half a Soul aren’t accurate, but I didn’t expect to have my feelings … Continue reading The Witchwood Knot by Olivia Atwater

Book Review

Second Chances in New Port Stephen by TJ Alexander

Second Chances in New Port Stephen

Second Chances in New Port Stephen is a delightful second-chance romance between two men in their forties who reconnect over the Christmas holidays. It’s not overly cutesy, and although a lot of the plot involves my least favorite trope (Poor Communication) and one of the characters is a little too self-centered for my tastes, I really enjoyed this book. Eli and Nick grew up in Florida together and dated in high school, long before Eli … Continue reading Second Chances in New Port Stephen by TJ Alexander

Other Media Review

Movie Review: Slotherhouse

Slotherhouse has no business being as fun as it is. I would never have dreamed that I’d so very much enjoy watching a puppet murder a bunch of people. With a ton of endearing characters played by actors who fully commit to seeming terrified by a stuffed animal, and a focus on sisterhood in all its possibilities and limitations as well as responsible animal ownership, the messages were heartwarming which, again, I did not expect, … Continue reading Movie Review: Slotherhouse

Book Review

The Dead Take the A Train by Cassandra Khaw and Richard Kadrey

The Dead Take the A Train

My Goodness, what have I become? There was a time when I was positively oozing the milk of human kindness. I was so full of empathy that I couldn’t bear to read about a character losing so much as a drop of blood. And yet, somehow, I’ve turned into a person who reacts to a scene of a character’s face being scoured off by tentacles with teeth by chirping, “Oooh! Carnage!” If this is relatable … Continue reading The Dead Take the A Train by Cassandra Khaw and Richard Kadrey

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