CW lifted from the book: The Girl Next Door includes a description of a sudden past death of a partner. I (Tara) am a Chelsea M. Cameron superfan, so I was excited when Shana asked if I wanted to review this with her. Unfortunately, although there were elements I liked about The Girl Next Door, it ultimately fell a little flat for me. Shana hasn’t read Cameron, but her catnip is small-town romances where a … Continue reading The Girl Next Door by Chelsea M. Cameron →
CW: sexual harassment I first heard about Something to Talk About last year and said “oooooh,” because it has tropes and character types that I like a whole lot: Hollywood setting Ice queen lead Boss/employee relationship Tabloid photo fallout Jo Jones is showrunner for the hottest drama on TV and rumours abound that she is going to head up the next Agent Silver movie (I imagined an American James Bond). Jo has no interest in … Continue reading Something to Talk About by Meryl Wilsner →
CW: torture including water boarding, cutting off a finger, implied sexual assault My little ears perked up when I first heard about this one. It has mermaids, witches, pirates, magic, lesbians, double agents, and a woman disguised as a man. What more could I want? I was right to be excited, because damn did it deliver that, and more. The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea (TMtW&tS) was so good that I tore through the … Continue reading The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall →
Tara was kind enough to alert me to the existence of a book about Charlotte Lucas, who is Elizabeth Bennet’s friend in Pride and Prejudice. We had so many feelings about this very strange book, which involves Gothic emotion and SO MUCH SEX, plus at least two flights across the moors, which I can only assume were dutifully wuthering. For those who are rusty on their Austen, here’s the background: Charlotte Lucas agrees to marry … Continue reading Lucas by Elna Holst →
When I read the blurb for Pursuing Pandora I was overcome with a burst of excitement. I immediately messaged Shana, with the comment “this book sounds so bananas that I’m tempted to check it out” and she agreed that I must. Check this out: Corporate lawyer Winter Carlyle is the first to admit that she’s become jaded with romance after a very messy public breakup. When her bossy aunt asks her to visit a high-end … Continue reading Pursuing Pandora by Maggie Brown →
CW: self-harm, threat of sexual violence, passing reference to possible actual sexual violence against a young girl Have you ever said to yourself “I want to read a Robin Hood story, but full of lesbians and other queer people?” Well, good news! Because that’s exactly what Nottingham is! I couldn’t have come up with a more joyfully queer interpretation of it if I’d tried. That said, it’s specifically the queer rep that’s joyful and not … Continue reading Nottingham by Anna Burke →
At-home workouts are great for people who don’t like group fitness classes, are too impatient to wait for weights or stations, or who want to keep moving on those days they want to work out but don’t want to leave home. And thankfully, there are tons of solid options on YouTube, so you can get a good sweat or stretch on, without having to pay for a gym membership. Now that we’ve all been told … Continue reading Fitness Options for When You Can’t Get to the Gym →
Queerleaders is a romantic comedy set in a Catholic high school. Mackenzie (Mack) has always known that she is a lesbian, but she is only out to her best friend, Lila. Mack has a huge crush on a cheerleader. When Mack is outed at school and bullied by the cheerleader’s football-player boyfriend, Chad, Mack rashly declares that she can steal ALL of the football player’s girlfriends — or, at least, get them to kiss her. … Continue reading Queerleaders by M.B. Guel →
CW: Homophobia, racism, toxic family, disordered eating Big Girl Pill is the first book I’ve picked up in a long time where I didn’t bother to read the blurb before diving in. Even though the cover doesn’t do it for me, I wasn’t concerned because I’ve enjoyed KD Williamson’s other books (she’s most known for a series where she pairs up doctors and police officers, which is like catnip for many an f/f romance reader). … Continue reading Big Girl Pill by KD Williamson →
CW/TW: child sexual assault in the book, and discussion thereof in the review. If you were to ask me who my favourite author is, I’d hem and haw and, after squirming and setting aside my guilt for not naming a dozen others, tell you it’s Ann McMan (if you’ve read my review of Hoosier Daddy, this is unlikely to be a shock). A large part of that is her versatility, how she hops genres with … Continue reading Galileo by Ann McMan →
When I’m having the kind of week where everything sucks and the world is a trash fire, I gravitate towards super fluffy, angst-free romances. Last year, I discovered one of my favourites, Marriage of Unconvenience by Chelsea M. Cameron. I was thoroughly charmed by the friends-to-lovers, marriage-of-convenience situation and smiled my way through it. So, when I heard she had another friends-to-lovers book coming out with a marriage element, I did a little happy dance. … Continue reading Didn’t Stay in Vegas by Chelsea M. Cameron →
