I have always loved dating tv shows. Do you remember the ones on MTV where the eligible dates waited on a bus until the lead called “Next!” in the face of the failing date in front of them? Or when they decided if they wanted to date someone based on the potential dates’ bedroom? I remember watching these shows on my tiny bedroom tv, mixed in with such gems as Flava Flav, Beauty and the … Continue reading Marriage Is What Brings Us Together Today
CW/TW: brief discussions of unidentified eating disorders and depression I cannot emphasize enough how hungry this book will make you. Accidentally Engaged might be my top pick for “don’t read while hungry.” Between our heroine Reena’s bread baking (there’s rye, there’s challah, there’s an ongoing battle with a sourdough starter) and her Indian and East African cooking, I was craving a feast pretty much the whole time I was reading this book. Reena is a … Continue reading Accidentally Engaged by Farah Heron
Before reading Julia Quinn’s latest release, First Comes Scandal, I hadn’t read anything in about two months. Strange, because like most romance readers I am ALWAYS reading something and because (like most romance readers) I always have books waiting for me. But as the time since my last read led into our current moment, the idea of picking up a book to read felt even further away. I didn’t have a lot of expectations coming … Continue reading First Comes Scandal by Julia Quinn
Blitzed is the third book in Alexa Martin’s Playbook series. I spent the entire time I was reading it thinking that it was the final book, but just so you don’t go into it with the same misconception: It’s not the final book! There is a fourth book, Snapped, to come. The heroine of Blitzed is Brynn, owner of HERS, a bar created predominantly for women. HERS has reached a level of fame that Brynn … Continue reading Blitzed by Alexa Martin
I knew I wanted to review this book pretty much the moment I became a Smart Bitches reviewer. Which means I’ve been looking forward to it for a little more than a hot second, my excitement building as I waited until closer to the release date to read it, letting it gather metaphorical dust on my Kindle app because I didn’t want to read it too early. That’s a lot of expectations for a book … Continue reading Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert
TW/CW: Murder, attempted rape, beheading/separated limbs. I deeply, deeply enjoyed The Beautiful by Renée Ahdieh. Or, a lot of it, anyway. The Beautiful takes place in 1872 New Orleans, where a young former dressmaker named Celine arrives after fleeing Paris. She arrives with several other young women from Europe and they are all to be settled in a convent together until they marry. Celine quickly becomes drawn to a young woman named Odette, who hires … Continue reading The Beautiful by Renée Ahdieh
I love road trips (as long as I don’t have to drive or navigate or really do anything other than eat snacks and sing early 2000s pop music). But I really love road trip books: the forced and shared isolation, the constant of the interior space against the changing of the external, the stops along the way, and the road itself: what it means and what it makes possible. So with all my love of … Continue reading Along for the Ride by Mimi Grace
A content warning before I begin: both the book and this review discuss depression, anxiety, and suicide. There is repeated mention of the male lead’s previous suicide attempt, and while it does not appear on the page, late in the book there is a flashback to his thoughts in that moment. It is my belief that these subjects are handled with the care they require. Fall is the third book in Kristen Callihan’s VIP series … Continue reading Fall by Kristen Callihan
