The Lodge is a wintery romance, but it only works if you don’t think about it too much. I enjoyed the book but found the plot too unlikely. I couldn’t buy that the story could unfold the way it did. Alix Morgan is an entertainment journalist who just landed the job that is sure to launch her career–she’s going to ghost-write the memoir for former boy band turned solo artist Sebastian Green. Sebastian belonged to … Continue reading The Lodge by Kayla Olson →
Ed. note: We’ve been asked to increase our coverage of and discussion of Dark Romance a few times by some of you, so to start, we have a guest review from Kimberly. If you’re a reader of Dark Romance and would like to talk about some of your favorites, please get in touch! This guest review is from Kimberly! Kimberly works as a student support specialist at a small university where she endeavors to instill … Continue reading Guest Review: Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton →
This guest review comes from Lisa! A longtime romance aficionado and frequent commenter to SBTB, Lisa is a queer Latine critic with a sharp tongue and lots of opinions. She frequently reviews at All About Romance and Women Write About Comics, where she’s on staff, and you can catch her at @thatbouviergirl on Twitter. There, she shares good reviews, bracing industry opinions and thoughtful commentary when she’s not on her grind looking for the next … Continue reading Love You a Latke by Amanda Elliot →
Kim is a longtime SBTB reader. She writes boring professional documents by day to fund her ever-growing TBR pile, which is currently overflowing with T. Kingfisher, mystery thrillers, and MM romance. Everything she knows about hockey, she learned from queer love stories or the Mighty Ducks franchise. … Recently, I’ve been on an M/M hockey romance binge (and let me just say “queer romance” + “professional hockey” is the Reese’s “you got your peanut butter … Continue reading Season’s Change by Cait Nary →
This guest review is from Danielle Fritz. Danielle is a former librarian who has a special affection for children’s lit and books about the funeral industry. She first cut her criticism teeth as a fanfic writer. A resident of the upper midwest, she’s learned to love beer and tater tot casserole and tolerate long winters. Most nights will find her cuddled up with her pups and wearing out her wrists with yet another crochet project. … Continue reading Haunted Ever After by Jen DeLuca →
After I finished Just Playing House, I immediately ran around telling everyone I knew to read it. I’m totally obsessed with this second chance + celebrity romance. It was cozy but with enough emotional twists and turns to keep me interested. Marley is a personal stylist with two goals. She wants to convince the department store where she works to promote her to a personal shopper for the rich and famous. And she wants to … Continue reading Just Playing House by Farah Heron →
CW: homophobia After a failed acting career in LA and a recent divorce, Mattie Belman has returned to her tiny hometown in Pennsylvania to teach theatre at the local all-girls Catholic high school. It’s weird enough that she’s thrown into the deep end of Catholicism as a Jewish lesbian, but her life gets way more complicated when the school’s arrogant soccer coach decides Mattie is her new enemy. Jillian Reed is the local hero who’s … Continue reading Loser of the Year by Carrie Byrd →
This is a hard book to review because there were a few elements that didn’t work for me, but I don’t think they’d stop other readers from loving Second Night Stand. But before I dig into everything I adored about this book, and how everything I didn’t like is my own fault, let’s describe the plot. Lillian is the aloof dance master of a Very Serious™ ballet company on the brink of disaster. Her backers … Continue reading Second Night Stand by Fay Stetz-Waters and Karelia Stetz-Waters →
This guest review is from Jeevani Charika! Jeevani (also known as Rhoda Baxter) writes award nominated romantic women’s fiction and romcoms. She has a YouTube channel teaching authors how to use Canva to make fun graphics. She is a ‘resting’ microbiologist. She lives in Yorkshire in the UK, where she enjoys eating cake, playing with Lego and, when she’s run out of excuses, writing. You can find out more about her (and get a free book) … Continue reading Queen of Tears (Netflix) →
The Idea of You is an age gap celebrity romance where the heroine is older than the hero. I didn’t mind the age-gap portion (in fact I appreciate a book where the heroine is the older one), but I had a lot of issues with how the heroine’s relationship with the hero would and did impact her daughter. Also I was pretty surprised by the ending which is very different from the movie the book … Continue reading The Idea of You by Robinne Lee →
I am no stranger to m/m hockey romances and I’ve reviewed a few here. This one has been on my TBR for a while and my library hold finally came in yesterday. Yes, I read it that quickly, folks. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that I devoured it. Ezekiel Boehm, or Zeke as he is more commonly known, is a gym teacher at a relatively posh private school. (The school is a Quaker … Continue reading Lucky Bounce by Cait Nary →