I am RIDDLED with flu and seem to have spent most of the weekend waiting for my flu meds to kick in. To pass the time, I picked up Dearest Beast and it did a very good job of distracting me from my revolting sinuses and aching body. Rebecca works as a midwife in London in the early 1800s. Our hero Roger’s truly horrific 9-year-old daughter Fannie sets fire to Rebecca’s workroom (and house) through … Continue reading Dearest Beast by Felicia Grossman
We are here, the end of the series. It’s been a fun time. But did the final climax (i.e. this book) live up to the promised drama suggested in the preceding books? I made a critical error with this installment. I’ve been more active on social media lately and I let myself get swept up by the hype around Shattered Gods so my hopes were impossibly high. It is a very rare story that can … Continue reading Shattered Gods by Katee Robert
I persisted through this book for one reason: I NEEDED to know who the killer was. That’s it. That’s the only reason. As a mystery, it is compelling, twisty and enjoyable. As a romance, it made me want to throw my e-reader against a wall. So many of the secondary characters are total assholes. Truly. Even our heroine is a selfish dickwad. Across the characters, sometimes that asshole-ness is because they’re just assholes. For example, … Continue reading It Happened One Murder by Liz Lawson
Some might say that I’m not the target market for a show about university students when I’m a middle-aged mother with a surprising amount of grey hair*. To that person I will say, fuck you, I can watch what I want. *I only realised this when I shaved my head yesterday and saw all the grey hair on the floor. I watched the entirety of Off Campus over two days and I enjoyed it. It’s … Continue reading Discussion Post: Off Campus
It is no secret. I love. This. Series. With each book that is released, I wonder, can this one reach the same heights as the preceding ones? Each time, I am shown in no uncertain terms that it absolutely can. Gabriel runs a gambling establishment in London. Ginny’s brother loses his entire, newly inherited fortune while gambling at that establishment. As the older sister who stepped into the breach when her parents died, Ginny travels … Continue reading Game of Rogues by Julie Anne Long
I have now read a grand total of two dark romances. The first was so utterly shit that I didn’t attempt the genre again for a few years. While it was a very popular book, it was not at all appealing, and afterward I wasn’t sure what were hallmarks of the genre and what was just bad writing. I see now how wrong I was. It was plain bad writing. Butcher and Blackbird is the … Continue reading Butcher and Blackbird by Brynne Weaver
Dolly All the Time is set in the fictional seaside town of Whitfield, Rhode Island. The Whitfield family are the big, rich family in town and yes, the town is named after one of them. Stewart is the eldest son and desperate to prove to his family that he can be the new CEO and have a successful romantic life. As it is a family business, this is an important consideration for the board (made … Continue reading Dolly All the Time by Annabel Monaghan
I picked this book up for the following reasons: The colours on the cover – hello neon! The title – what could a ‘safari murder party’ be? The use of ‘safari’ in the title. I am a Zimbabwean/South African and while I have been on plenty of game drives and visits to nature reserves, I’ve never considered any of that a ‘safari’ even though they’re marketed as safaris outside of my region. Fletcher is an … Continue reading Safari Murder Party by Rachel Moore
While looking ahead at upcoming releases, I came across The Body in the Kitchen Garden, the sequel to The Potting Shed Murder. The sequel sounded intriguing and from time to time I’m quite partial to a cosy mystery and it has been a while since I read one. Why not see if I still enjoy them? So off to the library I went. Daphne, her husband, and her three children move to the English countryside … Continue reading The Potting Shed Murder by Paula Sutton
What Angels Fear has been mentioned positively a few times on the site but never reviewed. I became aware of the series when I received a marketing email for the 19th book in this series. When a series reaches that kind of number, there’s usually something special about it so off I went to the library for the first one in the series. It was initially slow going for me to get into but I … Continue reading What Angels Fear by CS Harris
For those of you who have had the pleasure of being edited by Head Smart Bitch Sarah, you’ll know that she’s a master at drilling down to the core of things – distilling language so that it accurately reflects your feelings on a book and, more importantly, the reasons for those feelings so readers can assess for themselves if that book is a good fit for them. Ed.note: thank you! While I am a reviewer … Continue reading On Reviews and What Makes Them Useful
