Genre: Contemporary/Other
Book Review

The Switch by Beth O’Leary

The Switch

Content warning: Death from cancer – this occurs before the start of the book, but since Carla was Eileen’s granddaughter and Leena’s sister, there is quite a bit of reference to it. We also have a secondary character who is dealing with domestic violence, and there is infidelity and dealing with the aftermath of that. I want to be Eileen when I grow up. There, that’s my review. What, is that not enough? Oh, fine … Continue reading The Switch by Beth O’Leary

Book Review

The Road to Ironbark by Kaye Dobbie

The Road to Ironbark

Content warning: References to child abduction, the sexual abuse of children, and sexual exploitation generally. It is all referred to in fairly vague terms and is not depicted on the page, but there is a lot of upsetting back story. There is also a subplot that hinges on infidelity. The Road to Ironbark is two stories in one. At the tail end of the Gold Rush, Aurora Scott, a respectable widow with a less than … Continue reading The Road to Ironbark by Kaye Dobbie

Book Review

Pursuing Pandora by Maggie Brown

Pursuing Pandora

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

Book Review

Mangos & Mistletoe by Adriana Herrera

Mangos and Mistletoe

The best part of Mangos & Mistletoe is the mouthwatering descriptions of pastries created in a GBBO-inspired holiday baking competition set in Scotland. The worst part of Mangos & Mistletoe is the mouthwatering descriptions of pastries created in a GBBO-inspired holiday baking competition set in Scotland. Do not repeat my mistakes: you must not read this f/f enemies-to-lovers-in-only-one-bed novella without a plate of delicious pastries nearby. My baking experience is limited to an almost burned … Continue reading Mangos & Mistletoe by Adriana Herrera

Book Review

Ice Hot by Tracy Goodwin

Ice Hot

TW/CW: mentions of child abuse, emotional abuse, and addiction. Ice Hot by Tracy Goodwin is a contemporary sports romance featuring a hockey-player hero and a plus-sized designer heroine. I loved the hero’s emotional fluency, but while I acknowledge the topic of the heroine’s weight was handled in a way that I was fine with, I also realize that not all readers may feel the same as me. Christian Chase is the team captain for the … Continue reading Ice Hot by Tracy Goodwin

Book Review

Wanna Bet? by Talia Hibbert

The Roommate Risk

Wanna Bet by Talia Hibbert is a friends-to-lovers romance and it features–get this!–adults who have to do actual adulting in order to be together! Holy shit! Emotional accountability FTW! I am personally so sick of books that feature “all my emotional hangups are resolved because I want to put my dick in you!” as the solution to any internal conflict. In Wanna Bet? the hero and heroine had to do actual work on themselves in order to … Continue reading Wanna Bet? by Talia Hibbert

Lightning Review

Things to Do When It’s Raining by Marissa Stapley

Things to Do When It’s Raining

This book is more fiction than romance but I was tempted by the reconciliation storyline mentioned in the cover copy: After more than a decade, Mae and Gabe find themselves pulled back to Alexandria Bay. Hoping to find solace within the Summers’ Inn, Mae instead finds her grandparents in the midst of decline and their past unravelling around her. A lifetime of secrets stand in the way of this unconventional family’s happiness. Will they be … Continue reading Things to Do When It’s Raining by Marissa Stapley

Book Review

Lost and Found Sisters by Jill Shalvis

Lost and Found Sisters

Jill Shalvis is my go-to feel good author for contemporaries. I was stoked to see she had a new series coming out (Lost and Found Sisters is the first book in the Wildstone series). I enjoyed the book, but strictly speaking, it’s not a romance novel. So I enjoyed what I got -but I didn’t get what I expected. While I can’t fault the book for being tagged as a romance at places like Goodreads, I … Continue reading Lost and Found Sisters by Jill Shalvis

Book Review

Delicious! by Ruth Reichl

Delicious!

For those who love an element of foodie-ness in their fiction, Delicious! is a tempting piece of women’s fiction about self-discovery centered around people’s love of food. Its cast of eccentric characters is very Alice in Wonderland-esque, but too many pans in the fire and the heroine’s infallibility tended to make the book a bit of a slog. Billie Breslin has traveled to New York from California to take a job at a food magazine named … Continue reading Delicious! by Ruth Reichl

Book Review

Imagines by Anna Todd

Imagines

Full disclosure, I’m drunk right now. Not like, super drunk, but buzzed. I’m also going through one of those phases where I don’t have the focus to read an entire novel so I was looking for something in the short story category. Hence Imagines. Imagines is a giant-ass book of RPF (real person fic) by a variety of Wattpad authors. I hadn’t read RPF before (it’s like fanfic, but features actual celebrities rather than the … Continue reading Imagines by Anna Todd

Other Media Review

Movie Review: Captain America: Civil War

Captain America Civil War poster - Cap and Iron man facing each other menacingly

Marvel’s latest blockbuster, Captain America: Civil War is here and CarrieS, Redheadedgirl and I have thoughts. I also had three hard ciders and a rum and Coke so…. CA:CW is a movie about the consequences of all the other Marvel movies. While chasing down Hydra in Lagos, Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) misjudges her aim and accidentally blows a building up. People, including Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr), are concerned by the civilian casualties that occur … Continue reading Movie Review: Captain America: Civil War

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