Lightning Reviews
Lightning Review

Toil and Trouble by Lisa Kröger and Melanie R. Anderson

Toil and Trouble

We are in the middle of a witchy pop culture wave (see: many, many recent witch-themed romance novels, for example). Toil and Trouble: A Women’s History of the Occult looks at the roles that women have played in America’s occult history. It’s a very complicated topic, and I admired the authors for being able to present an organized and inclusive, although not comprehensive, look at some of the many ways that women have been active … Continue reading Toil and Trouble by Lisa Kröger and Melanie R. Anderson

Lightning Review

Holiday Heroine by Sarah Kuhn

Holiday Heroine

Ed. note: This was intended to run in January but due to a snafu on our end, it didn’t publish. So, holiday romance? Sure! All year long, right!  … I’m a firm believer that there is no such thing as an objective review. If there IS such a thing, let me tell you up front that this review is not objective in the slightest. One of the first things I wrote for this site was … Continue reading Holiday Heroine by Sarah Kuhn

Book Review

A Very Merry Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams

A Very Merry Bromance

A Very Merry Bromance is the fifth book in the Bromance Book Club series, and while it can be read as a standalone, the sheer number of characters from other books can be distracting. It’s a Christmas romance, but it deals quite a bit with toxic families and childhood trauma, so I wouldn’t consider it cozy reading, which is what I had been expecting. Gretchen Winthrop had a one-night-stand with country music star Colton Wheeler … Continue reading A Very Merry Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams

Book Review

Sea Creatures Prefer Redheads by Brianne Gillen

Sea Creatures Prefer Redheads

One of my favorite movies as a kid was The Creature from the Black Lagoon and I always felt bad for The Creature. Sea Creatures Prefer Redheads played into that nostalgia wonderfully. Opal Prince is a costume designer and make-up artist for Neptune pictures in 1947. She’s the genius behind Kel, the monster in The Kelp-Dweller from Fathoms Below. Kel is a mishmash of her own forbidden monstrous fantasy and her secret crush on the … Continue reading Sea Creatures Prefer Redheads by Brianne Gillen

Lightning Review

Charming Colorwork Socks by Charlotte Stone

Charming Colorwork Socks

If you like colorwork and making socks, then Charming Colorwork Socks is a must buy for you. This book contains 25 adorable patterns, including holiday themes, animals, and my personal favorite: coffee socks. Most of the patterns involve only working with two colors at the same time, so it’s ideal for colorwork beginners who don’t want to manage too many strands at once. There isn’t much in the way of tutorials in the book, although … Continue reading Charming Colorwork Socks by Charlotte Stone

Lightning Review

The Belle of Belgrave Square by Mimi Matthews

The Belle of Belgrave Square

You know, I love a series that’s connected enough to be rewarding, but separate enough to be dipped into at any point. I did not enjoy the first book in Mimi Matthews’ Belles of London series, but I decided to give book 2 a try and I’m so glad that I did. As with so many of my reading kinks, they are so different from my real life preferences in human companionship. And as it … Continue reading The Belle of Belgrave Square by Mimi Matthews

Lightning Review

The Science of Women in Horror by Meg Hafdahl and Kelly Florence

The Science of Women in Horror

The Science of Women in Horror is disappointing in the sense that there’s very little science in it. Instead, it’s an overview of women as depicted in horror, along with interviews with women who have worked behind the camera. As such, it’s pretty basic, but it did add several films to my To Be Watched List. The cover promises “The Special Effects, Stunts, and True Stories Behind Your Favorite Fright Films,” but very little of … Continue reading The Science of Women in Horror by Meg Hafdahl and Kelly Florence

Lightning Review

Wash Day Diaries by Jamila Rowser and Robyn Smith

Wash Day Diaries

Wash Day Diaries by Jamila Rowser and Robyn Smith is a low-key but enrapturing graphic novel about Nisha, Davene, Kim, and Cookie, a group of Black women with deep and caring friendships. Each story lovingly depicts their hair care rituals while also revealing the soulful mundanity of the processes they engage in to care for themselves and others. Wash Day Diaries is as much about the relationship between the beauty rituals of these women and … Continue reading Wash Day Diaries by Jamila Rowser and Robyn Smith

Lightning Review

So This Is Ever After by F. T. Lukens

So This Is Ever After

Oh my gosh you guys, this book is just as dreamy and adorable as its cover suggests. I’m not usually fond of the trope in which the main conflict between a couple is that neither can bring themselves to admit their feelings. However, I have a soft spot for this charming story in which a young group of questers has to sort out their feelings while managing a kingdom that they didn’t think they’d be … Continue reading So This Is Ever After by F. T. Lukens

Book Review

Deep Water by Emma Bamford

Deep Water

I wanted to review Deep Water in part because I wanted to warn readers about some of the content. This book contains references to human trafficking, a sexual assault on the page, and a dog in jeopardy. So I know based on Hollywood movies (The Island), other novels (like The Reckless Girls) and at least two Datelines that if you say goodbye to your 9-5 and find yourself sailing to a remote tropical paradise inhabited … Continue reading Deep Water by Emma Bamford

Lightning Review

Flesh and Stone by Emily Hemenway

Flesh and Stone

Flesh and Stone is a gargoyle romance, by which I mean that it is a romance between a human man who is turned into a gargoyle by a wicked witch, and a human woman. Also there is time travel, sort of. I longed for something truly weird, and it was kind of weird…but it failed to either be the kind of super incredible that makes you go “Oh wow, this is good!” or the kind … Continue reading Flesh and Stone by Emily Hemenway

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