Sometimes a blurb is so horribly misleading that it does a book a disservice. Certainly the blurb for this book is unhelpful at best. By describing things as ‘ghoulishly fun’ and ‘wickedly whimsical’, it’s clear that the person who wrote the blurb did not, in fact, read the book. There was no ‘whimsical fun’ for me in this book. But there was a lot of absolute brilliance though. This Gothic tale feels fresh and real … Continue reading A Dreadful Splendor by B.R. Myers →
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 →
While I wouldn’t call Spear a romance novel specifically, it is an amazing, detailed historical novel that includes a f/f romance. This book retells the Percival legend from the King Arthur mythos as a feminist queer fantasy story set in sixth-century Britain with elements of Welsh mythology. Nicola Griffith is known for her meticulous research, as seen in her novel Hild as well as in this story. This research lends Spear a grounded feel that … Continue reading Spear by Nicola Griffith →
I started reading Hither, Page, finished it too quickly, immediately hunted down the sequel, The Missing Page, and read that too quickly as well. One tagline I’ve seen reads, “cozy mystery like Agatha Christie but make it gay.” It’s not so cozy that the dead have about as much impact as a dissolving dead NPC in a video game; the cozy has sharp edges. For example, there’s the bucolic setting, but around the borders are … Continue reading Hither, Page by Cat Sebastian →
You know how sometimes you pick up a book because it looks like fun, and then it turns out to be clever and funny and tender and tropey and still somehow unique, and you read it all in one sitting and hop straight onto the Kobo site after midnight to order the previous book in the series? Yeah, that was A Most Unusual Duke for me. This story worked so, so well for me. It’s … Continue reading A Most Unusual Duke by Susanna Allen →
CW: discussions of sexual harrassment and an instance of non-graphic sexual assault. Friends, I stayed up all night reading this book. And this was no ordinary night…I had just had surgery (with great results!) but the after effects of anesthesia (which usually leaves me super sleepy) were powerless in the face of this tremendous romance. Two foolish peers have fought a duel over an opera singer. The outcome? The object of the duel, our rising-star … Continue reading After Dark with the Duke by Julie Anne Long →
The Duke Who Loved Me is a friends to lovers romance between James Cantrell, the new Duke of Tereford, and Miss Cecelia Vainsmede, the daughter of the man who acted as his guardian during his minority. It has some fun and interesting things going on in the background to the story, but it missed the mark for me for two reasons. The first was James’s insufferable self-centredness, and the second was the failure to resolve … Continue reading The Duke Who Loved Me by Jane Ashford →
Bombshell is a Victorian age romance with a ton of pining, and a heroine who belongs to a girl-gang out to dismantle the patriarchy. One of them specializes in explosions. Objectively I can look at this book and say that some readers may have an issue with how much time spent on the girl-gang scenes versus the romance, but also ONE OF THEM SPECIALIZES IN EXPLOSIONS. I think part of this imbalance is to set … Continue reading Bombshell by Sarah MacLean →
Devil in Disguise is a fun, hot romance that tells the story of Lady Merritt Sterling, the widowed daughter of the Earl of Westcliff, and Keir MacRae, a whisky distiller from Scotland. It’s very much fanservice for readers who enjoyed the Wallflower series, with Lillian, Westcliff and Evie all appearing in the story, and Sebastian, who is now the Duke of Kingston, playing a particularly prominent role. I am honestly not quite sure how well … Continue reading Devil in Disguise by Lisa Kleypas →
The Devil and the Heiress by Harper St. George is a tropey historical romance with light conflict. Readers looking for a lot of angst probably won’t enjoy this one, while readers looking for a romance with a lot of action and minimal conflict will be fine. It worked totally for me, but lately I’ve needed less darkness and fewer obstacles for the main characters to overcome in my reading. American heiress Violet Crenshaw is in … Continue reading The Devil and the Heiress by Harper St. George →
I love the Kat Holloway series to the point that I’ve recommended and purchased copies for people all around me. I knew I’d like this one, and I did, indeed. The challenge here is that this is the fifth book in the series, so identifying the audience for a review is tricky and tends to slow down my ability to write said review. Meta aside, a brief summary: Kat Holloway is still balancing her life … Continue reading Death at the Crystal Palace by Jennifer Ashley →
