NB: This week, we’re taking a look back at some of our favorite and our most popular pieces of writing this year. We’ve got a week of best-of posts to share, with reviews, cover snark, sales, and more. We hope you enjoy this saunter through the archives, and most of all, we wish you and yours a wonderful holiday and a happy new year – with all the very best of reading.
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Looking at page views for the year, we have discovered our top ten most read reviews of 2017! These were the reviews we posted during this calendar year, and to be honest, I was pleasantly surprised at how varied the selection was. There’s fantasy, contemporary romances, and plenty of historical romances, too!
Give us a drumroll as we announce our top five reviews of the past year! Thanks to all of you creating an amazing, book-loving community!
5. Claimed by the Machine by Emily Tilton (March 6)
Review by Elyse
Grade: F+
First of all, you’re welcome.
Claimed by The Machine is a sci-fi erotic novella about some aliens who discover human beings, go to a brothel, and have buttsecks. They are not actually machines, but rather they are constructed out of organic material and I know this because machines don’t produce that volume of semen.
4. The Day of the Duchess by Sarah MacLean (June 27)
Review by Elyse
Grade: C+
I want to drink with Seraphina. I want her to hang out and come to book club and be my new friend.
Malcolm acknowledges that he’s been a douchebag, but like a true romance hero, rather than offer her a sincere apology making it clear he understands what he did wrong, he manufactures a scenario in which he can win her back. It includes the underwater apology cave he built.
I mean, underwater apology caves are the shit, and this one has stained glass and everything, but I’d take a Hallmark card and some honest conversation over that.
Unless Jason Momoa is in the cave. Then the cave wins.
3. Devil in Spring by Lisa Kleypas (March 1)
Review by Carrie
Grade: B+
Devil in Spring was so delightful that I read it slowly because I had to take frequent squee breaks. I truly cannot sufficiently express how overjoyed this book made me. That said, I don’t think it will be everyone’s catnip, because the main character sometimes seems overly young and naïve, even given her character quirks.
Truly, for me, this book is a delight. As I said, it will be a love it or hate it book for some readers. I’m sticking with a B+ grade because I can’t let the missing details about the game slide and I think Pandora’s characterization was somewhat uneven. However, the humor, the acceptance of an odd character by both a romantic partner and the two families, and the general sense of warmth made me adore this as a comfort read.
2. The Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare (August 22)
Review by Elyse
Grade: A
The Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare is a fairytale Regency that blends Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella and Batman.
Seriously. And it’s amazing.
I actually read it twice. The first time I was at home on a Friday night, enjoying a few rum and Cokes and unwinding. Apparently I can have exactly two drinks before I start loving everything and then forgetting I loved it.
I woke up the next morning surprised to see that Drunk Elyse gave it five stars on Goodreads because I didn’t remember the end. I opened it up to a random chapter and was like, “Who the fuck is Trevor?”
1. King’s Captive by Amber Bardan (February 16)
Review by Elyse
Grade: A
King’s Captive is one epic, delicious mind fuck of a book. I started it after finishing another book at 11 p.m. and read it in one glorious sitting (Bad Decisions Book Club, y’all) and when I was done I needed a cigarette. And I don’t smoke.
So first of all, this book is total crazysauce but the best kind of crazysauce. I was totally invested in what was happening. I gave up many precious hours of sleep for this book, and I love sleep almost as much as I love chips.
The way everything wraps up in the end is stretched my credulity a bit, but I was so invested in the wild ride up until that point, I didn’t really care. If you like darker romance or like me love a good psychological thriller, King’s Captive is so much your catnip. If you prefer your hero to be squeaky clean, then maybe steer clear.
And that’s our top five book reviews of 2017! What did you think? Were you surprised at number one?
Thank you for a fantastic year and we hope you’ll stick around for what we have planned in 2018!
Not a surprise to me. After I first read the KING’S CAPTIVE review on SBTB, I was so intrigued that I downloaded the book, read it over the course of a couple of days, and liked it very much—although I kinda, sorta figured out the big twist of why the heroine was being held captive by about the 2/3 mark. After that, I read a couple of other Amber Bardan books (one was a novella or short story, iirc) as a result of liking KING’S CAPTIVE. She really excels at plot twists and making seemingly-villainous behavior on the hero’s part both understandable and reasonable.
Love the list! I think a fund should be created to buy Elyse more drinks and books for future reviews.
I found 2017 rather dismal for HR. I am surprised at an “A” review of Dare’s book. I thought it to be the worst.
“Claimed by the Machine” is available on Kindle Unlimited…
I LOVED King’s Captive, it was such a surprise at the end right? Such a good book.