We all have our auto-buy story premises. Age gap, or May/December romances, are one of my top three and I’m always on the lookout for the next great one. Harper Bliss wrote one of my very favourites a few years ago, In the Distance There is Light, and she’s actually written a bunch of others that I’ve enjoyed too. When I saw she had a new age gap romance coming out, I did a little … Continue reading A Lesson in Love by Harper Bliss
CW/TW: Sexual harassment Some of you know that I’ve been doing guest reviews here at SBTB for a couple of years. So when it came time to choose a book for my first review as an official part of the team, I knew it had to be this one. It’s my favourite book of all time and to read it is to know me, so what better way to introduce myself? Jill “Friday” Fryman is … Continue reading Hoosier Daddy by Ann McMan & Salem West
A Month of Sundays is a contemporary f/f romance that tries to do too much at once. The slow progression of the romance, the value placed on family and friends, and the celebration of food are lovely, but this book needed to either leave some plot developments out entirely or be longer so they could be fully explored. I’d have voted for the latter because I enjoyed these characters. Rachel is an accountant for a huge … Continue reading Month of Sundays by Yolanda Wallace
The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics is a luscious historical f/f romance. I adored this book, which includes science, art, and feminism. It may be too slow for some people’s taste – this is a book in which people spend a lot of time either thinking about their feelings or talking about their feelings. It’s very much a drawing room romance as opposed to an adventure romance. However, if you have the patience for this … Continue reading The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite
TW/CW: Murder, graphic violence, racism, ableist language, mentions of rape and sexual assault. The Girl in Red by Christina Henry is the latest addition in her gritty fairy tale retellings. They aren’t part of a connected series, but Henry has done retellings of Alice in Wonderland, The Little Mermaid, and Peter Pan. This one retells Little Red Riding Hood where a young woman tries to get to her grandmother’s house following an outbreak of deadly … Continue reading The Girl in Red by Christina Henry
This guest review is from Aarya Marsden. Aarya Marsden is a pseudonym for an Indian-American college student and long-time romance reader. Her favorite authors include Ilona Andrews, Nalini Singh, Lucy Parker, Kresley Cole, Alisha Rai, Lisa Kleypas, Alyssa Cole, Tessa Dare, Meredith Duran, Mina V. Esguerra, Kate Clayborn, and many more. You can follow @Aarya_Marsden on Twitter, where she gushes about romance novels and is a firm advocate for a happily-ever-after. … Back in November … Continue reading Guest Review: Proper English by K. J. Charles
Many of the Bitchery have been talking about Any Old Diamonds by K.J. Charles. Well, now we have a great guest review of it by Claudia. A bit about Claudia: “At sixteen, I found my older cousin’s stash of Barbara Cartlands and assorted Harlequin-type romance housed in an old sewing cabinet and life was never the same! I love history, so I mostly read historical romance. Favorite authors include Meredith Duran, Mary Balogh, Miranda Neville, … Continue reading Guest Review: Any Old Diamonds by K.J. Charles
The Princess and the Fangirl is a romantic YA retelling of The Prince and the Pauper, set at a science fiction convention. This book, the second in the Geekerella series, includes a f/f romance and a f/m romance but is primarily about the personal growth of the two heroines, Jessica and Imogene. It is lighter than a piece of glitter but does a good job of capturing the crowded, crazy convention world. You can certainly get … Continue reading The Princess and the Fangirl by Ashley Poston
Moonstruck Vol. 1 is a cute but incoherent comic about a werewolf barista named Julie who lives in a world in which magical creatures abound. Julie is about to go on her second date with Selena. For reasons I failed to comprehend, Julie asks her centaur friend, Chet, to accompany her and Selena on the second date. They go to a magic show at which the magician makes Chet human and promptly disappears. The rest of … Continue reading Moonstruck, Vol 1. by Grace Ellis and Shae Beagle
It’s been a few days since I finished this book, and I’m still thinking about it. I look at food trucks differently, and I think about the language of food, how food is a way of care and of expression, and how good food can overcome so many barriers. I also find myself thinking about the painful emotional journey of one of the characters survives in the course of the story, and how much that … Continue reading American Dreamer by Adriana Herrera
The Summer of Jodi Perez (And the Best Burger in Los Angeles) is a body-positive f/f contemporary romance/rom-com set in L.A. This book is a light, fast read with plenty of humor, and with an angst level that is appropriate but never too heavy or whiny. The story is narrated by Abby Ives, who is seventeen. Abby is gay, which is an issue for absolutely no one except her mother, who seems to hope Abby will … Continue reading The Summer of Jordi Perez by Amy Spalding
