As the daughter of an Austenite, I feel compelled to read all queer Pride and Prejudice retellings. The heroine of Just as You Are was one of the most annoying versions of Elizabeth Bennet that I’ve read–anxious, judgmental, and self-absorbed at times. But I enjoyed Just as You Are once I let go of expecting this to align in any real way with the emotional world of Pride and Prejudice, and rode the wave of … Continue reading Just as You Are by Camille Kellogg →
Never Cross A Highlander has a one-click cover. Black Highlander stories are rare, and I’m glad this one offered some of the adventure and steam that dreamy cover promised. The book is slow in the middle, but there are swordfights, forced proximity while camping, sex by a waterfall, a hellion heroine, and a hard-headed hero who needed his family to tell him that he was in love. Here’s the book’s description: Ailsa Connery has waited … Continue reading Never Cross A Highlander by Lisa Rayne →
Verity and the Forbidden Suitor is not a stand alone book, y’all. I started reading and immediately flailed in a sea of characters that I might have cared about if I’d read the first book in the series. I was annoyed, but the book eventually settled down into an unabashedly romantic, and slightly gothic, story set in a racially mixed nobility reminiscent of Bridgerton. Dr. Theodore Darrington is a brilliant doctor with little patience for … Continue reading Verity and the Forbidden Suitor by J.J. McAvoy →
I was mildly annoyed the whole time I was reading Nora Goes Off Script but I also enjoyed the heck out of it. I’m not sure how to grade a book that’s simultaneously pleasurable and grating. Nora is a single mom and a Hallmark-esque screenwriter who just had her big break—her depressing script detailing her recent divorce from her self-absorbed husband sold for a bunch of money. The book opens just as the movie crew … Continue reading Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan →
When Sarah first told The Bitchery about the new US version of the British reality show The Traitors, I immediately thought it sounded too stressful for my taste. The Traitors has twenty contestants competing in a murder mystery game where a few of them are secretly Traitors, trying to eliminate the rest of the contestants and keep the prize money for themselves. They’re all trapped in a sprawling Scottish estate where they spend their days … Continue reading Stuff You Should be Watching: The Traitors →
CW: emotional abuse by parents The first thing you need to know about Sophie Go’s Lonely Hearts Club is that it will make you hungry. Sophie is a matchmaker in Toronto, and she loves food even more than romance. Sophie and her clients eat their way across the city, evocatively describing curry buns, guava candies, duck egg congee, nasi goreng, fruity pavlovas, and Krispy Kreme donuts. The second thing you should know is that while … Continue reading Sophie Go’s Lonely Hearts Club by Roselle Lim →
When I saw the half-naked men in promos for gay rom-com Fire Island, I erroneously assumed it was a reality dating show. That placed Fire Island in my mental queue just after finishing Love is Blind Brazil. Meaning moderately high, but not at the top of my To Watch list. But then Sarah told me it was actually a reinterpretation of Pride and Prejudice about a group of friends who vacation stay with their lesbian … Continue reading Movie Review: Fire Island →
I’m So Not Over You is a m/m contemporary romance about two men living in Boston who rekindle a relationship during a “fake dating’ weekend. I had a hard time connecting with the story, but Shana liked it a little bit better. Tropes include second chance romance, a wedding, fake dating, and ‘there’s only one bed’, and we know those are gold for a lot of readers! Unfortunately, it also has problems with the structure … Continue reading I’m So (Not) Over You by Kosoko Jackson →
Off Script is a Hollywood enemies-to-lovers romance, where the heroine has good reason to hate the dude she’s fake dating. She forgave him, but I couldn’t. Jada is an actress who’s been struggling to land another role since getting kicked off a tv show for a love triangle with a co-star. Her luck changes when she’s cast as the sidekick friend in a time travel romance. The only problem? Her character’s BFF is played by … Continue reading Off Script by Ashley Marie →
I have a weakness for both Scottish and Caribbean characters, so when I saw that A Caribbean Heiress in Paris paired a business savvy Dominican heroine with a progressive Scottish earl, I knew I wanted to try it. And since Claudia loves historical romances, I begged her to read it with me. (Claudia here: Shana had me at hello!) Luz arrives at the 1889 World’s Fair in Paris on a mission. She’s the recently orphaned … Continue reading A Caribbean Heiress in Paris by Adriana Herrera →
