This book was like a warm hug. The characters were people I would love to know in real life, the relationships (romantic and otherwise) were tender, and gentle emotional healing was a major theme. In other words, my crops are watered, my skin is clear, my checkbook is balanced, etc., etc., etc. Let us start with our protagonists, Verity and Ash, who felt very real and immediate. Verity is clever, ambitious, and practical, and these … Continue reading A Duke in Disguise by Cat Sebastian →
Right now my brain is very, very tired. My brain doesn’t want puzzles to solve; it wants a nap, a cat to cuddle, and possibly a glass of wine. Rogue Most Wanted worked really well for my brain-fatigue; it’s a fake-engagement romance that features the heroine being welcomed into a warm and loving family. The black moment and resolution were pretty predictable, but predictable worked for me perfectly in this moment. I already guessed what … Continue reading Rogue Most Wanted by Janna MacGregor →
Devil’s Daughter by Lisa Kleypas is the romance novel equivalent of visiting an old friend and immediately feeling cozy and welcomed and nostalgic. It’s got witty dialogue, a self-aware and charming hero, a heroine is who slightly too pure for this world (but not so much as to be irritating), and cameos from Kleypas’s original Wallflowers. It’s not a perfect book; the conflict is weak and inconsistent, but I felt so happy and warm reading … Continue reading Devil’s Daughter by Lisa Kleypas →
An Inconvenient Marriage by Susanna Malcolm is a Regency marriage of convenience novel, which is normally my jam. Unfortunately the hero spends so much time with his head up his own ass that I can only assume it would take a team of highly trained medical professionals to get it back out again (Paging Dr. Nips, Dr. Nips to Proctology….). Honora Botham is an heiress of no small fortune, which means she can marry pretty much … Continue reading An Inconvenient Match by Susanna Malcolm →
The first book in the Debutante Diaries series felt underwhelming and, at times, aggravating. This Regency engagement-of-convenience story did have elements that could have made it stand out: the heroine proposes to the hero, the heroine is a talented artist, and the hero has a warm, close relationship to his grandmother and values her intelligence and wisdom. Unfortunately all of that is lost to some uneven plotting, a lack of internal conflict, and a dash … Continue reading First Earl I See Tonight by Anna Bennett →
An Earl Like You by Caroline Linden is the second book in the Wagers of Sin series and features a plot where the hero is involved in deceiving the heroine in a significant way. I really struggled with this plot and with finding any empathy for the hero, and I spent a lot of the book cringing internally over the humiliation the heroine would ultimately face. This book gave me a lot of second-hand embarrassment. When … Continue reading An Earl Like You by Caroline Linden →
I never thought I’d recommend a book because the hero grudgingly performs eulogies at doll funerals, but here we are. My life is weird sometimes. The Governess Game by Tessa Dare is so absolutely delightful that this review will consist almost entirely of squee. It will be laden with GIFs. I am basically incapable of talking about this book without my voice getting really high and squeaky. It’s like when I talk about puppies. That’s … Continue reading The Governess Game by Tessa Dare →
I am pretty certain that Leigh wrote this as RHG Bait, because she knew very well that I would be suffering just a liiiiiiiittle Poldark Withdrawl, so a Cornish heroine that is also the ringleader of a local smuggling ring is basically just what the doctor ordered. Kit is okay, too. We meet Kit, the hero, as he’s living a dissolute life. He’s a former soldier who was given an earldom, but an earldom without … Continue reading Counting on a Countess by Eva Leigh →
I read Beyond Scandal and Desire while I was on vacation, and while it may have worked really well for me five years ago, current Elyse is really frustrated with heroes who use the heroine as a device for their revenge. As much as I appreciated other aspects of the novel, my frustration with the overall plotline carried through the whole book. It did, however, teach me about the language of parasols. Lady Aslyn Hastings is … Continue reading Beyond Scandal and Desire by Lorraine Heath →
Someone to Wed somehow manages to both be a feel-good read and full of emotional catharsis. It hurts so good, you guys. I had all the feelings. So many feelings. Like a number of Balogh’s books, it’s a romance about healing – especially creating the space in which to heal – and that’s a plotline that works so well for me. At the age of twenty-nine, Wren Heyden is firmly on the shelf. Up until … Continue reading Someone to Wed by Mary Balogh →
Welcome to the latest edition of I Read This Shit So You Don’t Have To. Trigger warnings for discussion of rape and assault. When I picked up Scandal Becomes Her I was super excited for the gothic elements it offered. Instead I got a pile of WTFery and a hero who is solidly on Team Don’t Fuck That Guy. I’m pretty much spoiling the shit out of everything in this review, so if you actually want to … Continue reading Scandal Becomes Her by Shirlee Busbee →
